Together As One

"Together As One" is a Season 5 thread written on May 6, 2015 and August 22, 2015. In universe, this takes place the day after Treepelt and Vox's wedding day and is the final thread of the main storyline of Battle of the Grounded Dungeon. 
== Summary ==
== Full Text ==
Vox Arnason: Vox awoke the next morning, the sun shining through the room that he and Tree occupied. He could feel the weight of the evening before in his head, but it couldn’t shake the happiness he felt.
It had been a long time since he had been able to feel this good.
He gently rolled over, nudging Tree in an attempt to bring her to a conscious state.
“Hey… good morning, Tree. Time to get up.”
Treepelt Halfpaw: “Mmh…” She shuffled between the blankets, blinking slowly awake. Vox’s face came into focus and she smiled sleepily. “Hey…” she mumbled. “That time already?” 
Vox Arnason: “Yeah…”
He kissed her forehead gently, taking a moment to revel in her company.
“You don’t want to waste any time on your first full day as Treepelt Arnason.”
The two took their time preparing themselves for the day. She assisted him in putting on his clothes, as not having a second appendage to grip caused some grief.
“Thanks, Tree.” He was very much frustrated at the relearning of doing what once was an easy task.
“Haddock wants us to meet in the Hall. We don’t want to be late.”
Grey Bergman: Lady Grey fluttered her eyes open, but she wasn’t as wide-awake as she usually was. Instead she felt as though Shadow and Midgardsormr were both sitting on her head. Her head pounded as the light peaked into her eyes, but she forced herself to sit up. Only then did she realize that she wasn’t in her white nightgown. She was still in her clothes from the day before. That was when she remembered. The wedding. Getting drunk. She couldn’t help but feel that the wedding was not yesterday…but…an eternity ago.
“Lady Grey,” a guard said walking up to her. 
“Hmm, yes,” Grey said yawning. 
“I’m sorry to wake you, ma’am,” he said, “but the King has requested a meeting. He would like for you to report to him quickly.”
“Oh, okay,” she said struggling to stand up. “I’ll be right there.”
“Very well, then,” said the guard. 
“Come on, Shadow,” the Lady said to her best friend. “Let’s start rounding up the troops.”
Kira Maer: Kira awoke with a pounding headache, the flying fish- the whole reception, she didn’t realize she had drunk so much liquor.
“Ugh..there must’ve been more alcohol in that than I thought..” she held her head, still in her dress from last night. 
“Kira, you feeling ok?” her sister asked. 
“Yeah, this’ll be gone by the afternoon.” 
“Anything I can..make?” 
“You know a good hangover cure?” 
“I’ll go fix it right up.” Svied left to cook. 
Cairbre was still passed out on a couch near the reception hall, the morning light non-existent in his deep slumber.
Seasick: “Well this is the last time I drink with these rebels. Literally.” Seasick growled at Furious the next morning. Hungover with a splitting headache, Seasick was in no mood to socialize. However, numerous rebels around her spoke of King Haddock holding a meeting, much to Seasick’s annoyance.
“He just had to hold a meeting the day after the wedding didn’t he? He couldn’t wait one more day???” Seasick complained as she stomped off to where the meeting was being held.
Greg Ericson: Greg awoke with a groan and clutched his forehead, and to make matters worse his bed was a lot harder than it usually was. Then he realized he was lying on the floor with his shirt tied around his head. Wild night i guess. He thought as he sat up, pain shooting through his skull. He heard that the king had called a meeting and figured he might as well show up. He noticed a lot of the others were still passed out though, so he created and sent out several copies of himself, to wake the others using various stimuli such as sound, smelling salts, and in extreme cases cold water. None of it was real of course, but illusion magic was a beautiful thing. He also had his clones tell everyone about Haddock’s meeting, then set off for it himself.
Hrinthe Fishgiver: When Hrinthe awoke, it was to the wonderful scent of fish and flammable liquids.  Then she realized that said flammable liquid was something she had spent the night drinking.
And now her head felt… funny.
She stood from where she had apparently perched herself on top of a reception table, spikes and all, and hopped off of it.  
She fell flat on her face, gouging the floor.
Ooooowwwww… I feel funny.  Why does my head hurt?
“Because you got drunk last night,” came a familiar voice, giggling.
Kiri sat there with a couple of other witches, all three translucent and unnoticeable to regular mortals.  They all looked highly amused.  Hrinthe recognized one as Lillith.
Does drunk mean not liking the sky? Hrinthe asked after she dazedly managed to get to her feet.
“It means not liking many things,” Kiri laughed.  Her ghostly hand gently brushed across Hrinthe’s snout.  “Come on now, there’s a meeting that the King is holding.  Best not be late.”
Hrinthe nodded.  Okay.
She began to make her way towards the hall where it was taking place, awkwardly waddling in its general direction while muttering things about Grand King Haddock Master Fish King of Wind Fishy…
Warren: Warren awoke to Greg’s voice and something about a meeting. Responsibility was calling again it seemed. “Mmmmm morning, babe,” she hummed groggily. Feeling sort of fuzzy and sick, she opened her eyes, squinting against the light, and reached up to touch her boyfriend’s face. Her hand passed through. She blinked. “What.” What was in those drinks? It took a few seconds for reality to penetrate her growing headache. “Illusion magic, right.” She let her arm fall and dragged her other hand over her tired eyes. “Kay, I’m coming….” she mumbled.
Ingrid Rehan: Ingrid woke up to a persistent banging sound and some physical sensations that made her instantly wish she could go back to sleep. It had been blissfully dreamless, for once. But now… Who the heck is making all that noise?
She rolled herself into a sitting position to snap at whoever woke her up, only to stare blankly as one Greg Ericson stopped rapping on the door and told her about a meeting King Haddock was holding.
“He’s summoning everyone? So soon after last night?” Ingrid asked. Greg shrugged and left, presumably to wake more people.
With a sigh, Ingrid hurried to make herself look presentable.Well, at least I don’t feel that bad. She had kept herself mostly lucid the night before, to better appreciate everyone’s drunken antics; the decision seemed to be paying off.
During her preparations, she reached under her pillow, found nothing, and felt a jolt of panic before she remembered. Ah yes, I gave it to Treepelt last night, she thought with an absent smile.
She soon set off for the meeting, passing bleary-eyed people on the way. Let’s see what this is all about.
Cairbre: Cairbre heard a voice, whispering about a meeting. He saw a young man in front of him.
“Meeting?” he scratched his head. “Are you my mummy?” he asked. His vision just starting to clear up.
“Next time I’m not drinking soo much.” he slowly got up from the couch, still in his clothes from the reception.
“Who has meetings right after a wedding?” he spoke under his breath to the nearly empty room, “make a berk out of all of us.”
He brushed off his brown tunic and went to find some water to wake himself up.
Nalaagura Ep'ha: Nala perched her astral form on one of the walls of the dungeon, casting her thoughts idly around the rebellion. She caught word of…a meeting? What could it possibly be about?
No. She would not come. But she would listen. This was for the rebellion, and she would let it stay like that. She could not banish herself completely, she had too many emotional ties. Some motherly emotion within her kept her watching over the mortals that lay within the husk of their prison. Nalaagura would stay.
Grey Bergman: Lady Grey of the United Revolutionaries pushed her way through the crowd of hungover rebels trying to ignore her pounding headache herself. She kept looking over her shoulder to see if Warren, Greg, Asha, their dragons, and Shadow were following her as she tried to find her way to King Haddock promising to kick whoever spiked the drinks the night before in the butt once she would find out.
Soon enough, she saw the King standing at the front with Stonegit and his family. She gave a small smile as she made her way to join him…as his second-in-command. 
“Good morning, Your Majesty,” she said. “I…hope you had a pleasant rest last night.”
Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: Haddock did not feel much in the mood for small talk. His eyes were wearied, still, burdened from the recent past and his current trials. He did not respond to Grey beyond an acknowledging nod of his head, though that nod was kind enough a response in his own way. It provided an answer, even if it were not a verbal one.
He watched everyone enter. All the survivors of the rebellion were coming to hear him speak. Many appeared fatigued; some were burdened from Ragnarok and the Middy Trial, while others 
mostly seemed frazzled because of late-night partying. A number had gone drinking late last night, the king remembered with disapproval. Those irresponsible fools. Yet everyone looked upon him with the curiosity of a people wondering why he had called the meeting.
It was not a meeting, really. He simply wished to speak some words. Actually, he didn’t want to speak any words. He didn’t. He would much rather be by himself, healing mentally and physically. The wedding between Tree and Vox last night had already drained him enough as it was; he needed nothing more to task his mind.
Yet it was his duty to speak, perhaps. His duty… for maybe one more speech. For once this was done, then so could he check off his goals as complete.
He closed his eyes. Breathed in. Breathed out. Felt his chest rise and fall in his torso. Everything had been accomplished. All he had striven for had reached its goal. He had accomplished what had once seemed impossible. 
Freedom.
Everyone’s freedom.
His eyes looked to Stonegit, who seemed to have aged so much in so short a time. He looked at Mera, who seemed much more interested in the children playing at her feet than her husband. He saw Grey, Greg, Ingrid, Tree, Vox, Warren, Hrinthe, Seasick, Asha, everyone… and everyone changed.
Not one pair of eyes was the same as when they had escaped the Grounded Dungeon.
“Some of you I have known near my entire life,” he began. His voice was gentle, but it still carried enough for everyone to hear. “Others I met when I first began the rebellion, or in the dungeon, or even later in life. On all accounts, we have not known each other for very long. We are a young community, a young family, but one which has endured much. And for that reason, we are far stronger than communities which have lasted centuries.
“Indeed, with the coming of Ragnarok, those places have been destroyed… while we live on.
“And it is onward we shall live.
“I before said we have ended the Battle of the Grounded Dungeon. And that much is true. We have also, since that time, ended the war in Ragnarok. There have been many endings in this life recently. And there is another ending that is approaching soon: once it is safe to depart these sanctuaries, we will resettle the world and part ways.
“We will return to families, to friends, to homelands. We will build new homes and form new friendships and perhaps not see the old. Some of us may see one another, but others may drift apart. All that is fair. There share be partings. Yet it does not negate the face these days with us together - us - have been very special indeed.
“And though it has been hard, I do mean… special. Through all the pain, we did find… we did create… times of joy and bonding.
“I want to thank each and every one of you for fighting with me. For standing by me. For believing in me and respecting me. It is…” and here Haddock paused, and a distant look crept over his eyes: something… humble… a new expression on his face, but one which would become more and more humble with passing years. “It is more than I have deserved. I was not much of a king, not one who deserved people as admirable as you.
“Thus it only necessary I thank you in return. It is because of your steadfastness, loyalty, courage, and strength that we are here today. And that is a truth that will always remain.
“It… will always remain.” He took a breath.
“No matter what life has before us, it will always be true that we came together.Always true that we fought together. Always true we protected one another.Always true that here, this day, we have congregated as one people.
“So endings may come. But nothing will ever erase this moment. So long as we remember it, these times we spend together… there will never, never, be an ending.
“We stand here today, members of the Grounded Dungeon Rebellion. And forever, forever, forever… this is who we shall be.”
Category:Events
Category:Season 5
Category:Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second
Category:Grey Bergman
Category:Greg Ericson
Category:Warren
Category:Vox Arnason
Category:The Warden
Category:Cairbre
Category:Ingrid Rehan
Category:Hrinthe Fishgiver
Category:Kira Mær
Category:Treepelt Halfpaw
Category:BOTGD