[ MP ] Nothing Left to Say - Imagine Dragons

( Please forgive me, as it is 3 am and this is nowhere near as refined as I want it to be. I'll likely fix or delete my own response when I'm up in the later morning hours. ) 
 
 All of the planning in the world could n't have prepared any of them for this. 
 
 Diana stared up into the Red Spire's heights, tears streaming along her scars, as thumps, thuds, and cracks echoed around them. Ekvir grabbed her arm, ready to whisk her out of harm's way, but she yanked her limb from his grasp as she made her way to the steps. Her royal armor creaked as her knees bent, feet lifting and dropping as she climbed, and her lifelong companions followed. 
 
 `` You know what's going to happen when we deal with this.'' Rosette's cool hand rested on her shoulder, the touch sucking away warmth even through the steel. 
 
 `` We ca n't do anything else at this point.'' Her voice cracked. `` I'm the Queen. I wo n't let her continue... this,'' she waved her dagger sideways, at the spiraling staircase and the skeletons that lay strewn across the stairs, `` this mockery.'' 
 
 `` She killed the Keeper,'' the Void Matron said gently. `` I do n't know if it's possible to reason with her.'' 
 
 `` I do n't know where you find the intent to talk within me, Rosy.'' She grasped her dagger between her teeth, resting both hands on the hilts of her swords. Her father's swords; wrapping her fingers around them gave her strength, knowing he once had dealt with a Wild One with the same blades. 
 
 Behind her, Ekvir and Akahele exchanged looks of concern as the noises of gore came to their ears, the breaking of bones sounding meatier as they climbed. Akahele gripped his staff tighter, the white glow at its head wrapping around its entirety as he murmured his soft prayers. Ekvir pulled his sword from its sheath, his weapon wrapped in shadows as he rested it over his shoulder. 
 
 After what felt to be eternity, the ensemble stood before the grand door, pulsing with crackling red light and sparks of green. Diana inhaled and rubbed her eyes dry, shaking her despair off; she could weep later. Ekvir stepped to her side. 
 
 `` It is n't her anymore. I'm beginning to doubt she was ever a real human being; her existing as a manifestation of the Tumor's effects is more likely,'' he said. `` There's only one end to this disaster.'' 
 
 ``...'' Diana nodded and looked at Rosette and Akahele. `` This is it.'' She swallowed. `` Any regrets that any of us would like to air?'' She looked up at the door. `` I kind of regret never flying that damn dragon in Irinth.'' 
 
 `` All of us wanted to ride that fucker, believe me.'' Ekvir dropped his sword some so that the tip hit the ground. `` Let's go.'' He nodded to Rosette, who stepped up to the door and raised her hands. Behind her, a grim shadow formed, rising over her and stretching its own arms in the air. With a vicious slam, the doors broke open, falling to the floor. The sound of mutation stopped abruptly as the group entered, and they stared in horror at their old comrade. 
 
 Standing as tall as a giant, with limbs bent in strange ways and hands gnarled into inhuman appendages that defied explanation - Leela was no longer the wizard that had traveled at their side. Teeth and claws clacked and scraped against each other as monstrous, wide eyes spotted them, and the maw that had once been the same mouth that shouted obscenities and spewed nonsense now roared, spit and bile dripping from what counted as lips. 
 
 ``...'' Diana steeled herself, setting her jaw and drawing her swords. `` It's a beautiful night to die.'' 
 
 `` Agreed, my Queen.'' Ekvir steadied his sword in both hands. Her Consort had never once showed fear - even now, facing death head on, he did n't falter as he ran straight toward the beast. The priest shot forward with surprising speed, wings of light erupting behind him and allowing him to launch into the air, and she took after them with a battle shriek that tore her voice. 
 
 -it is 3 am and i ca n't write fantasy battle scenes when i'm tired- 
 
 The room lay shattered, the remnants of the creature that had once been their wizard were drying out on the floor. Rosette wove a bandage around Diana's arm as the woman finally awoke, the final blast having knocked both her and her Consort into the dreaming world. 
 
 She sat up, staring at the carnage. Drying blood stained her father's blades and she exhaled shakily, turning her eyes to the corpse in the middle. 
 
 ``... Leela...'' She pushed Rosette away as she forced herself onto her feet, staggering forward and falling on fours. Her aching limbs only throbbed harder as she crawled closer, and she looked down at the face of her old friend. Eyes wide open and staring at nothing, mouth agape in her final death cry. Broken fangs littered the floor, and Diana absently pulled one out of her hand as she sat properly next to the dead wizard. 
 
 Tears ran down her cheeks as she closed her friend's eyes, biting her lip as she bowed her head, and she finally let out a sob. A wretched sound, she knew, but it ached to hold it even though it was damning to release. 
 
 Hands rested on her shoulders and she looked up at her Consort, hating her weakness, but he only looked tired, bandages wrapped around his head. 
 
 `` Queen, cry as much as you need.'' He dropped to his knees behind her and rested his head against her back, closing his eyes. `` It's over.'' 
 
 ``... she...'' She wiped her eyes, ignoring the crust of blood on her hand. `` I... I ca n't... she...'' She inhaled, breath shaking as it entered her lungs, and she let loose a scream - the scream she had held in the back of her throat when her father was slain before her, the scream that she'd swallowed the day of her exile, the same damn scream that had been burning her for so many years. 
 
 There was n't anything to say. 
 
 It was... It really *was* over.
