Descent into Madness

"Descent into Madness" is a Season 5 thread written on April 12, 2015. In-universe, it takes place after "Eleven Years of Friendship."
== Summary ==
== Full Text ==
Satine Sadow: The world was wrong. Wrong. There was no color… no sound…nothing.
Satine staggered through the halls of the dungeon, her breath heavy and hot under her stolen guard’s helmet. She… she had to kill the king…complete the mission…
Adrenaline sang through her blood, blinding her to the pain of the still-bleeding gash on her head, and the blood that was beginning to trickle from her eye. Kill the king… kill the king…
There. There were guards outside that door… the king must be there. Blink. The guards were down, their heads on backwards. She didn’t remember snapping their necks… but she could feel the tingling in her hands. Open the door…
The King was asleep. Shut the door. Quiet. The helmet pattered
to the floor, then the rest of the stolen armor. Her face was covered in blood, making her look even more demented than she felt, if that was even possible.
The desperation was creeping up her throat…Kill the king… kill the king… kill.. A bloody hand covered his mouth, and two eyes, deader than most corpses, looked down at the sleeping regent.
Kill the King.
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: He jerked awake, eyes widening in shock. Eye met eye; shock met a deadened stare. He tried to throw himself up to fight her, to launch himself out of the bed, grab his sword, and combat her one on one… his heart pounded once when his legs did not respond. Oh my gods. Hel! Fear boiled up at once. Hands tried to pull himself up, to grab at her and throw her away. Limited mobility. Oh my gods oh my gods. Tried to scream around her hand, was not heard, tried to move himself away, couldn’t, grabbed right at her hand on top his and at least tried to throw that aside, to push away the hand clamping his mouth so he could shout. Help!
Satine Sadow: He was red. His fearful read eyes looked up at her, and she stared back. Kill the King…. Kill the king.
Her free hand went up to pinch his nose shut. Her blood was on his face. It was dripping on the bed, the floor–not that it mattered.
Complete the mission. Kill the king.
She watched him struggle to breathe. She watched the fear. She watched the devastation.
They will ALL pay.
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: He had never been this helpless. Thor, nowhere close. He had always been able to fight, always been able to stand, always been the one others feared, the swordmaster, the fighter, the victor. He tried to open his mouth to breathe through her hand… just to swallow blood. Throat protested. Couldn’t cough. Not enough air. Diaphragm spasmed. 
He threw his arms up to try to throw her off, grabbed at her and tried to yank with half the body he could move. He was not thinking clearly, thoughts overriden with a mantra Ohmygodsohmygodsohmygods.
Satine Sadow: Her heart was pounding in her ears. She was so close… For a moment, stability returned, and so did color and sound.
She pressed down on his mouth harder, ignoring his feeble attempts the push her away. She had the advantage. She could see it in his eyes. Soon they would shut forever, and she could go after someone else.
Her face stung, and her eye throbbed. How odd… Why–
Simplicity… Was flying…Was death… Was the dragon.
No.
Simplicity… Was death…And no more.
Kill.
The color was gone again. Her body shook with rage and desperation as she held on, watching the red fear begin to fade from his eyes.
Complete the mission. Do it now.
Grey Bergman: Grey led the rebels back solemnly back to the dungeon. Another battle had been fought, but…unfortunately, the dragons had abandoned them including her best friend…her sister, Shadow. The Night Fury she had known and loved for 11 years was gone. There was no way for sure she was ever going to get her back. She had found herself walking to where King Haddock rested during his recovery. For some reason, she felt the need to go see him. The guards hadn’t told her to go up there, but she felt like she had to.
She walked up to his room and gasped at what she saw. The two guards keeping watch over the king…dead… Their heads….were…backwards… Their necks were snapped. Her heart began to pound as she looked at the door to the King’s room…closed. 
“NO!” she shouted as she opened the door. Sure enough, a familiar figure was standing over the sleeping King. With adrenaline pumping through her body, she ran toward the figure and plowed herself into her. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!” The two of them plowed into a nearby wall. When Grey roughly turned the figure around to get a look at the face…she gasped when she recognized the woman…who strangled her…and almost burned her to death. “You….”
Satine Sadow: “GREY!” The sound from Satine’s lips was unholy, her eyes
suddenly turning manic. She swung her fists, aiming squarely for the Lady’s jaw. “YOU ARE DEAD!”
Everything was red. There was no definition, no shapes. Everything was red, like the blood pouring down her face. Her attack may have been wild, but years of conditioning still made the blows extremely dangerous. “DIE YOU HUMAN FILTH!” She hadn’t even reached for her knives yet… and she had no intention of doing so.
Grey Bergman: Grey screamed as Satine’s fists made contact with her face. Within seconds, the mad woman was suddenly on top of her punching her a few times in the face. 
“STOP! STOP IT!” she shouted pleadingly over the woman’s command for her to die. No…she was NOT going to die…not today. She wasn’t sure where she got the adrenaline, but the Lady suddenly gained enough strength and plowed her right fist into Satine’s left cheek throwing the woman off her. 
Satine Sadow: Red. Black. Green. Red. The impact of Grey’s fist stunned her shattered mind for a moment, but only a moment. Knives… there were knives in her boot… they were usable.Gain the advantage. Fight. Kill. Make the emptiness go away.
A spinning disc of silver was moving towards the Lady, and Satine found herself drawing another knife from her boot. She was lunging, her hand driving the second knife low into the Lady’s stomach.
Grey Bergman: Grey screamed at the top of her lungs as the knife drove into her stomach. The pain was sharp. It was as though her body was on fire. She closed her eyes tight trying to prevent the tears from leaking out of her eyes and refusing to let the woman gain the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. 
Satine Sadow: Black and white… red edges… the Lady was in sight again. Satine drove the ball of her foot into the Lady’s chest, wanting her prey on its back. Everyone…EVERYONE was going to pay for the devastation inside. 
First is first… Kill the King. Kill the king with the Lady watching, and then torture and kill the Lady. She jumped, kicking the same spot with her other leg. Put her down. Gain the advantage. Fight. Kill.
So simple. Simplicity was death, after all.
Grey Bergman: Grey fell to the ground on her back holding her stomach as the blood seeped through her hand. She groaned in pain as she stared up at the woman. 
“This…is your last chance…” she said with all her mustered up strength. “Leave now, and I won’t have the guards seize you.”
Satine Sadow: Black and white. Red. The words bounced off of Satine, and she physically shrugged them off. Finish the mission. Kill the king. She kept moving forward, her back hunched over, her chest heaving.
“Sim-sim-plicity…” the words were barely intelligible through the anguish of her voice. Her hands were shaking, but she kept moving forward, her steps sluggish, as if she were trapped in quicksand.
Grey Bergman: Grey didn’t pay attention to how mad she sounded. She had one mission as she slowly stood up pushing down all of her fear of this woman down. She forgot about the stab wound in her stomach and unsheathed her sword. 
“King Haddock is my friend,” she said through clenched teeth, “and I…will…not let you…HARM HIM!” With that she ran after the woman with her sword raised.
Satine Sadow: She could hear the sword. That was all. Satine turned, the blade grazing down her left shoulder. Another silver circle traveled towards Grey. Then another. Another.
Satine stooped and rolled away from the blade, looking up at the Lady with her blood covered face. She had a sword… she stole it from one of the guards. It was out in a flash, a flash of light against the monochrome. She had a mission. She had to finish it.
Grey Bergman: Grey glared at the woman as her eyes quickly darted to the King behind her. The woman wasn’t saying anything as she unsheathed a sword…a sword from one of the guards, but she knew what this lady wanted. A fight, and that’s exactly what Grey was going to give her. Within seconds, Grey lunged with her sword raised.
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: Haddock’s vision cleared. Black morphed to spotted flashes of light and dark, swirled, stabilized to a view of the ceiling above him.Gods, did I black out? He was still recovering breath.
Noise.
Scuffles. The crashes of battle.
He noticed the would-be assassin and Grey baring blades, starting to fight.
By the strands of Hel’s hair, I need to help!
 His hands fumbled outward toward a stand by the bed.There should be my knives in the upper drawer.
Satine Sadow: Satine howled as she dove out of the way, rolling to her feet. There was a set of throwing knives laced between the fingers of her off-hand, which began turning into flying silver discs. Some ended in the wall, some were aimed straight for the Lady’s head
Keep going. Circle around to him. Friendly fire or malicious intent. Kill the King.
She backed up, inching towards the king as the Lady swung at her. The collisions of the swords brought white flashes to the red world, but the devastation was still growing.
No. Unacceptable. Fight. Win. Kill the King to torture the Lady. Do it now.
Grey Bergman: Grey ducked, dodged, lunged, crossed swords…the whole nine yards as she fought Satine. Their blades rang as they clanged together. Grey couldn’t help but notice how tired she felt as she fought the madwoman. Her eyesight started to become fuzzy. She was breathing heavily, but she shook it off as best as she could as well as the feeling of blood seeping through her shirt. She had to save Haddock! She had to get this woman out of here! 
When the two women finally crossed swords, Grey noticed something else… They were getting closer to Haddock… Grey felt her heart pound. She was going to try to use their fight to kill the King, but she also noticed something else… The King was fumbling through a drawer in a nightstand. He had an idea. She smirked to himself realizing what she had to do. Keep Satine occupied for just a little bit longer. Keep her busy. 
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: Haddock managed at last to grab the knife blade by its handle and pull it up to him. Finally! No longer helpless! He looked up, staring at Grey and the assassin, wishing they were not so close together. 
I either have to throw it and pray it hits the right person, or hope Grey gets close enough I can stab the attacker.
Grey Bergman: Grey looked over at Haddock again and saw that she was right. He had a knife, but of course, she remembered his condition. Clearly, she was going to have to help him out on this one. As she kept her sword locked in place against the woman’s, she darted her eyes over to Haddock. She had to do this carefully…and quickly. Despite her bleeding stomach, she mustered enough strength to move so that the woman had her back to Haddock and was close enough for the King to reach her. This had to be done!
“SIR, NOW!!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. 
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: Haddock threw the blade. It whirled, spinning. As soon as his fingers released the blade he gave a sigh of relief.
He had aimed true. It hit the woman in the back near the neck, right near the shoulder blades.
Grey Bergman: Grey quickly backed away as she watched the woman howl in pain as the knife hit her. As soon as the woman looked back up at her with pain-filled green and grey eyes, the Lady wasted no time and brought her fist back ramming it into Satine’s left temple causing her to fall unconscious to the floor. Grey breathed heavily watching the would-be assassin with her sword ready to strike in case the woman tried to get up again. 
“You alright?” she asked frantically darting her eyes quickly over to Haddock and back to the woman. 
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: “Alive,” the king snapped. “We may speak more after she is locked up.”
Grey Bergman: “Right,” the Lady quickly replied. She hissed in pain clutching her bleeding stomach. She quickly grabbed some rope lying on the floor, bounded the woman’s hands and feet and removed the knife sticking out of her back. As soon as she was sure the woman couldn’t harm them, she looked up and took a deep breath. “I NEED BACK-UP IN HERE!”
As soon as she said that, two guards came running into the King’s room. 
“Lady Grey, what is it?” one of them said. 
“This…woman…is an assassin,” she said breathing heavily pointing to Satine. “She had just tried to murder the King and killed those two guards outside the door. She’s nothing but a danger to us. Get her out of here…lock her up!”
“Yes, ma’am,” the guard said carefully picking up the unconscious woman with his comrade. 
They were about to leave when Grey suddenly hissed and bent over in pain. All three looked at Grey and saw how she was holding her stomach. When she brought her hand away, they were able to see the red that stained her palm. 
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: Haddock glared at the guards. “Don’t just stand there!” he snapped. “Get a doctor! Do you think I am qualified to patch up a wound?”
The guards darted off, one of them carrying Satine away, the other charging quickly for a doctor.
“Good Hel! Are you alright?” the king exclaimed.
Grey Bergman: “Yeah…yeah…I’m fine. It just hurts,” she said slowly walking over to Haddock. “She stabbed me while I fought her.”
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: “That is hardly ‘fine’,” the king snorted. And at that snort, he started coughing. Grimacing, he tried to wipe the blood from his face. “After you are cared to, I need a bowl with water and a rag.”
Exhaling, he said, returning his attention to Grey, “For all you are injured… Grey… thank you. You saved my life.”
Grey Bergman: Grey smiled as she sat down on his bedside holding her injury. “You’re very welcome, Sir,” she said. “I’m really glad I got here when I did. To be honest, I didn’t know she was even here until I saw the guards outside. I was just coming up here to check on you.” Chills went up her spine as she realized that…had she been a minute…or even a second too late…she and Haddock wouldn’t be sitting here talking right now.
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: “Glad you did.” He felt incredibly chilled thinking about how close to death… and how helpless… he had been throughout the entire ordeal. I can’t protect myself like I used to.
Grey Bergman: Grey could see that the thought of him not being to defend himself like he used to weighed on the King as well. She sighed as she placed her clean hand on his shoulder again. She would’ve tried to hug him again, but she wasn’t sure how willing he would be to let her hug him a second time. 
“Sir, it’s alright,” she said. “We’re both still here, and we’re okay. Besides, we still made a great team. I couldn’t have brought her down without you.”
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: “I suppose you’re…” Haddock paused, a revelation coming to him. His eyes shifted, almost twitching, as thoughts raced through. “I…” Something for sure was triggering, a chain of reactions, each idea sparking into the next. His eyes were almost fervent… and they certainly had determination, even hope. “I… you know what, Grey, we can do this. I can still…” 
And his eyes lingered on his sword, which was resting, sheathed, across from the bed, where it had been untouched since his injury.
Grey Bergman: Grey looked at Haddock and at his sword…all the way on the other side of the room. Her eyes widened as she realized what he was implying. She was about to protest when she suddenly stopped herself as she laid her eyes on him looking so determined…so sure of himself. She couldn’t bring herself to bring him down. Besides, perhaps…this could be promising.
She took a deep breath and smiled. “Yes, we can, and we will…together.”
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: “Indeed.” He reached over toward the sword, which was just out of reach with his current position. However, after using his arms to belligerently scoot himself over, he grabbed the sheathed weapon and set it on his lap. He stared at it for a while, thoughts still churning. Then, with an exhale, he pulled the blade from the scabbard and held it up perpendicular to the ground right before his eyes.
It was like he had never held this particular weapon before. He tested it, rotating his wrist to get a sense of the weight and balance of the blade. “I have a few ideas,” he said. “When Ragnarok is over… perhaps I’ll need a sparring partner.” He nodded toward Grey. “You might have to start easy on me.” Yet his determination was set, his choice made, no mind the inherent difficulty of the ideas formulating in his mind.
“And…” now he was mulling to himself again, “…perhaps I’ll have to talk to Mera about her opinion on some of the smaller dragon species for…”
Grey Bergman: “I would love to be your sparring partner, Sir,” she said gently smiling at the King trying to contain the excitement that was about to burst from her body. She couldn’t believe how a close call with an assassin actually led up to King Haddock asking her to be his sparring partner. However as his voice trail at his last statement, she kept calm. “And as for dragons, I’m sure we can find something.”
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: “Absolutely imperative,” he said. “I’ll need the dragon for mobility.”
Grey Bergman: “Couldn’t agree more,” she said. “It would be easier to get around with a dragon. I’d imagine it would take a lot of training, but we can do it.” 
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: “Training I can handle,” he said. He sobered slightly. “It’s better than the alternative.”
Grey Bergman: Grey nodded as she squeezed Haddock’s shoulder a little tighter. “Sure it is,” she said, “and from what I can see, there isn’t anything you can’t handle.”
Category:Grey Bergman
Category:Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second
Category:Satine Sadow
Category:Events
Category:Season 5
Category:BOTGD