Struggles in the Dark

Avalon had only been inside the anomaly for a few minutes, but he was already starting to feel odd. This wasn't the same as the feeling he was getting before, which was just uncomfortable and slightly unnerving. Now, he felt almost light-headed and short of breath, even though he knew that he was getting enough air. The only explanation he could come up with was that this place was emitting something, either into the air or as some kind of energy field. Whatever it was, the affects were obvious and likely to grow worse with prolonged exposure. 'Let's just hope I don't run into-' he thought before his motion tracker beeped a warning.

Spinning around, he saw some kind of…creature emerge from one of the larger clusters of metal crystals that dotted the area. It wasn't all that tall, barely coming up to the Kataphrakt's waist, but it still approached him regardless. Bringing his gun up, he decided that it was better safe than sorry and pulled the trigger. The armor-piercing round left the chamber and struck true, blowing several pieces from the creature's body but doing little real damage. A few more shots served to sever one of its arms, and it was at that point that it jumped.

Ducking and jumping to the side, he turned around to try and keep track of it only to notice that there were now several of those things coming for him. Looking at the motion tracker, he saw that it was now showing contacts all around him. However, he had somehow missed the warnings, and that alone told him that this place was really starting to mess with his head. Alerts like that were designed to be irritating as all hell purely to get the user's attention, so the fact that he'd missed it did not bode well.

Jumping over another creature, he landed on one of the buildings long enough to push off again and activate his Jump Kit to get some distance. Pulling the magazine out of his rifle, he swapped it for high explosive rounds before cutting loose. Explosions lit up the streets as he blew chunks from these creatures, yet it seemed to hardly slow them down. Whatever they were, it was clear that his current loadout would be useless against them.

'Yeah, it's time to leave,' he thought as he turned and began retreating.

Unfortunately, he only got as far as the next block before something slammed into the side of his Kataphrakt and sent him into an apartment building. Pushing himself out of the damaged wall, he saw another of those creatures. However, this one was much bigger, with long, thick arms and some sort of red eye on what he assumed was the head. That was about all he could take in before it roared and came at him again. Bringing his gun up, he fired straight into its gut and sent it stumbling back with the explosion. Taking advantage of that, Avalon turned and continued withdrawing. It was abundantly clear that this place was far too dangerous to explore blindly, and he guessed that he only had an hour, two at most, before the affects were likely to become life-threatening. He needed to get out.

Of course, that was easier said than done, since from the inside you could only see about a quarter-mile clearly before things started to become shrouded in darkness. Taking a moment to consult his navigation system, he turned about before taking another street that should lead him out of this place. But things can't ever be that easy, as that large creature smashed through the building to his right and just kept coming. Avalon didn't even have enough time to bring his gun around, so he braced himself as it tackled his machine. The force of the impact was enough to light up damage indicators on his right arm, although it appeared that he still had use of that limb for the time.

As it reared back and prepared to drive a rather large claw into the Kataphrakt's chest, Avalon rolled onto his back before firing a missile point-blank. The explosion blew several pieces from it and sent it flying back with a roar of anger and pain, but the proximity also harmed him. His chest and head were hit with heat and shrapnel, although the real damage came when one of the boosters for his Jump Kit took a large chunk of concrete. A quick check as he got back up confirmed that it was too damaged to function, so long jumps were now out.

Looking up, he saw that creature getting back up again and brought his rifle up in response. If it wanted a fight, then it was going to get one. Activating several more missiles, he braced himself as it-

'Stop!'

The word was so sudden and loud that it almost made him fire out of reflex. Looking around, Avalon tried to pinpoint the source of the voice but came up empty. Somehow, that one command had also forced the creature to cease in its attempts, something he was sorely tempted to take advantage of at the moment.

'You will not hurt him,' the voice said as several more of those smaller creatures seemed to come from nowhere and steadily surrounded him.

Activating the external speakers, he said, "It's called 'self-defense,' so it's not my fault that this thing decided to jump me."

He had no idea where this person was, or how they were making their voice sound like it came from everywhere. But maybe, just maybe, he could talk his way-

'You will go with him,' it commanded, the tone leaving no room for interpretation.

"…And if I say no?"

'Then you die where you stand,' it replied as several of those creatures took a step forward.

Avalon brought his weapon up out of instinct, but he could do the math easily enough. They had him outnumbered, they could take a hell of a lot of punishment and without the Jump Kit he'd be restricted to pure ground movement. Considering that the big one had proven several times to be capable of keeping pace with him at that speed, and the fact that he was now thoroughly turned around, his chances of fighting his way out were looking about as far from good as they could get. However, there was an opportunity here.

If this voice was the one controlling this place, which seemed rather likely, then he could at the very least learn how this place worked. Even if he couldn't, he'd be in a prime position to bring this 'Lightless Realm' crashing down if things got bad. Had he not been suffering a minor migraine, Avalon would have probably given this more thought than that. But the pain had been steadily progressing beyond a casual annoyance, and it was slowly starting to affect his judgement.

Lowering his weapon, he waited as the creatures stepped back while the big one turned and started to walk away. Taking the silent hint, he followed it while keeping an eye on the others. Thankfully, they didn't move to follow them, so after a while it was just the two of them walking through the abandoned streets. After a few minutes, he considered unloading into this thing and making his way out. However, that thought was quickly squashed as the pain suddenly grew more intense. Putting one hand on his head, he remembered that he was still wearing his helmet as he struggled to focus. The effects of this place were growing worse, and now it wasn't just with time. He could tell that the closer he got to the center of this place, the stronger this feeling became.

He needed to leave. But before he could even try to turn and retreat, the pain assaulted him again.

"Gaahh!" he cried, both hands flying from the controls as he felt like his head was about to split in two, "What…what is it with this place? What's it doing?!"

He didn't even realize that he had still been trying to move forward, and without his attention on the controls to maintain balance the Kataphrakt fell rather quickly. The feeling of slamming into the ground was an almost welcome relief compared to whatever was assaulting his mind. Because now, instead of simply being in pain, he was starting to hear things. There were whispers coming to him now, with only a few words coming through clearly at any given time. What made it even more confusing was that it was in at least a dozen different voices, and it was steadily growing louder.

"Ahh! Make it stop!" he pleaded as he pulled his helmet off and tried covering his ears, but that didn't do anything as the voices and pain continued to grow, "Please, make it stop! Make it STOP!"

Unknown to him, when he opened his eyes, they were glowing.

Sitting in the main control room, Takao tried really, really hard not to tap her foot in frustration. It'd been at least three hours since Avalon went into that damn black mess, and they hadn't heard a thing from him since. She'd tried to call him back when his transponder's signal began to fade, but by that point the interference this place was putting out had already cut off their communications. And so, she was left to wait while trying to not let her worry get to her. She'd already had to stop herself from running simulations based on what little information they had about this place, but just sitting still and hoping was starting to become torture on its own.

It didn't help that, now that they were closer to the anomaly, she was starting to get a… fuzzy feeling. It wasn't the warm, cuddly kind, but instead it was what she imagined being slightly drunk felt like; she was still aware of her surroundings, both with her own senses and the Container's sensors, but it was…fuzzy at the edges. There was definitely something wrong with this place, and she could understand why it'd been unsettling to Avalon when they were approaching it.

A part of her wanted to take the Container into it to try and retrieve him, but she knew that was foolhardy at best. They had no idea what was in there, or how it would affect their systems. And judging from the few reports from survivors of the Lightless Realm, madness was a very real possibility.

"…He'll be fine," Sen said suddenly.

"WAH!" Takao cried as she almost jumped from her chair. Turning slowly to regard the smaller girl, she tried to keep her composure as she said, "Sen… how long have you-?"

"Ten minutes and thirty three seconds," she replied promptly as she looked at the main view screen, "You haven't left this room since you came up here two hours, fifty eight minutes and seven seconds ago."

"…Is that worry I hear?"

"I am concerned, yes," Sen confirmed, "Your continued concern for Captain Blade will not change our current circumstances. It is also bordering on your observed attachment to your previous human commander."

"This has nothing to do with that!" Takao exclaimed, turning away as her face started to go red.

"Your emotion simulators are disagreeing with your statement."

"Stop looking at my code!"

"As you wish," Sen relented as she turned to leave, "If you do not wish to remain on stand-by, there is something we could try."

"Wait, what?" Takao said suddenly, turning back to Sen as she stopped, "How do you know?"

"I've spent the past few hours gathering information from this world's satellite network," she explained, "It appears that a facility was set up nearby in order to study the anomaly as well as combat its influence. They may have information that will prove valuable."

"Great, then let's get going!" Takao decided as she started warming up the engines.

"Takao," Sen said sternly even as she countermanded her controls and shut the engines down, "This world's technology is comparable to the humans in our own world. If we suddenly appear with this vessel, it will only complicate things."

"So…what, then?"

"I suggest we approach on foot," Sen offered as Takao got up to follow, "If we appear as human, then it's possible we may learn more about this world and how this anomaly works. They may have discovered a method for fighting back that can help the Captain."

Sen's reasoning made sense, and Takao decided that it would be much better than just sitting around and hoping things turned out alright. Besides, she was interested in seeing how different these people would be to the ones she'd known. Who knows, she might even run into alternate versions of Gunzou's crew.

Leaning back against one of the hanger's walls, Atago watched in mild fascination as the Exia's GN drive was extracted. Without the rather large casing on its back and the various other components, it wasn't that big. And yet, it was made surprisingly well, although going over what they had in the system on its design showed that almost half of the size was simply because they'd lacked the technology to make it smaller while keeping it stable. And while cutting the size down would probably be a good idea at some point, right now she was more focused on completing the Double 0.

The damaged sections had finally been removed after almost two hours of work, leaving very little of the original frame left. To make matters worse, the other drive had been in a semi-dormant state thanks to rather significant damage. She'd already tasked two Karels to dismantle the damaged part of the drive while she went about fabricating the necessary parts.

In truth, she was only paying half attention to the repairs, since most of her thoughts were focused on what Allan had told her.

"So, you're saying this organization was originally founded to end war?" she asked, just to be clear.

"In a sense, yes," he replied as he turned his gaze from the Exia to her, "Although, it wasn't in the way that most people thought. The members of Celestial Being believed that they would end up forcing humanity to only use force as a last resort. To the rest of the world, they simply appeared to be a walking contradiction. They claimed to want an end to fighting, but they employed force to end war, punishing all parties involved."

"That's just stupid."

"I would agree, but I also understand what their founder ultimately intended," he said with a smile, "The intent was, actually, rather simple; give humanity an enemy that they could never beat divided. In doing this, he ensured that humanity would have to unite in order to stand up to the power of the Gundams. That, in turn, would eliminate the need for self-destructive wars between the various nations. At least, that was the intent, but…things began to diverge from the Plan."

"Let me guess," Atago began, glancing at him, "Someone decided to change the plan, didn't they?"

"In a way," Allan said as he looked back at the machines, "Several of the major supporters of Celestial Being realized that, with a few minor changes, they could use the Plan to put the world under their control. One of the main architects of this alteration was Alejandro Corner; he and his family had been plotting to exploit Celestial Being since they were brought into the organization. Through his influence, both within Celestial Being and the United Nations, he was able to obtain the basic design plans for the GN drives as well as the resources necessary to mass-produce them and suits designed to use them."

"Wait, you're saying these things can be built on an industrial scale?"

"Not in the conventional sense, and that wasn't his intention. Alejandro didn't see the importance of true GN drives and settled for the pseudo-drives he was able to make. Their operation time was limited, and they would require periodic recharges to remain functional, but they served their purpose in leveling the field with Celestial Being."

Looking down, Allan took a few moments to organize his thoughts. He wanted to make sure his recounting of this history was accurate, after all.

"The first signs that things were starting to go wrong was when the three major power blocks held a joint military exercise," he said after a while, "At the same time as the exorcise, the Human Reform League leaked information to a known terrorist group, enticing them to attack a nuclear waste storage facility in the area. It was, frankly, the perfect bait."

"Celestial Being intervened," Atago guessed, seeing few other likely outcomes.

"They did," he confirmed, "And in doing so, they brought almost nine hundred other mobile suits down on their heads."

It took Atago a moment to fully grasp the scale that battle must have been at. She'd seen the specs for the various faction's mobile suits at that time, and just imagining that many of them suddenly attacking her was… rather unnerving. She knew from looking at the designs for the Gundams that, while they were powerful in their own right, they were far from invincible.

"I can't imagine that fight went well," she commented, unable to keep some of the unease from her voice.

"It didn't," Allan replied, "They fought valiantly, but the combined forces had the full advantage of numbers. They cycled the units through various forms of attack, from face-to-face combat to artillery and air strikes. Their weapons wouldn't be able to penetrate the Gundam's armor, but the constant combat and bombardment would tire the pilots. In the end, it almost succeeded, but it also had the unintended side-effect of giving Alejandro the opening he needed."

"Just before the four Gundams were captured, four new machines entered the battle." At this point, Allan began to scowl as he recalled what he'd read about them. "They were called the Gundam Thrones," he explained, "And they embodied what Alejandro would have done had he been in charge of the organization. Everything about them was designed to invoke fear, while their designations swept any sense of individuality away. Rather than names, like the Exia and Virtue, they were given numbers; Eins, Zwei, Drei and Vier. They tore into the combined forces, freeing the other Gundams before they all withdrew from the battle. In the end, the combined forces lost almost a third of their number, and they had nothing to show for their efforts."

"That's…rough," Atago muttered. She tried to imagine what that would have been like for her kind, only to realize she didn't really have to. After what'd happened with Kongou's attempt to take out the 401 and its crew, she had a pretty decent idea of what it felt like to come so close only to lose so badly.

"Of course, it didn't stop there," Allan continued, grabbing her attention again, "The Thrones then began their own version of 'Armed Intervention.' But rather than stepping in and stopping existing conflicts, they sought to stop them at their source. Three days after the failed capture mission, the Thrones leveled an HRL military base in the heart of the Russia. There were no survivors, and nothing that was left was even close to salvageable. From there, they systematically wiped various bases from the map, spreading their destruction to all of the nations. It didn't matter to them if you were a major player or a small country barely hanging on; if you had a standing military and at least one base, they flattened it."

"That…seems rather extreme," Atago said, her unease only growing, "I mean, I get being mad they were almost defeated, but leveling entire bases? Killing everyone they came across? That's just…just…"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'escalation,'" Allan supplied, "And it's true, but that was the intent. Alejandro had designed the Thrones, and their missions, to achieve a rather specific outcome. By decimating the world's militaries and further driving home the superiority of GN-based technology, he made it so that when he offered them that technology, they jumped at the chance without a thought."

"Before he made his offer, Celestial Being responded to the Throne's militant actions. Several of the original Gundam engaged the Thrones, led by the Exia and Avalon's mentor, Setsuna F. Seiei. Their confrontation with the Thrones resulted in a split in the organization, and it also led to the pilot of Throne Vier turning on the others. Unlike the other Throne pilots, he'd seen their actions as the travesties that they were, and he decided he'd have no further part in it. After their little skirmish, he broke away from the others. I guess that's what saved him in the end."

"The Earth forces retaliated, didn't they?" Atago asked, although she felt like she already knew the answer.

"They did," he confirmed, "Using the mobile suits and GN drives Alejandro provided, the militaries of the major power blocks ceded their authority to the UN, creating the largest standing military in history. These machines, dubbed GN-X or Jinxes, were able to fight on par with the Gundams. With weapons and armor to match, the UN teams were able to overpower the Thrones and ultimately destroy two of them. They then set their sights on the rest of Celestial Being, who'd withdrawn to space."

"Can't say I'm sorry to hear those bastards got…" Atago began before a thought occurred to her, "You said two of them were destroyed. What happened to the third?"

"Throne Drei and its pilot managed to find shelter with one of Celestial Being's intelligence agents," Allan told her, "The pilot, Nena Trinity, was ironically the one that caused the rift in Celestial Being. Between two of their missions, she…'accidentally' fired onto a party and killed almost everyone."

"…You don't mean…"

"I do," he said, "It was for petty and childish reasons, and two of the other pilots didn't even think about it. The pilot for Throne Vier, however, saw it differently. It's why he broke away when the original Gundams attacked them."

Taking a moment to process what she'd just heard, Atago found that Avalon's home world was much more turbulent than she'd thought; controlled by three national alliances, only to have everything thrown into chaos by one organization. Then that same organization fell to disorder and infighting as one man tried to twist it to his own ends. And judging from how this tale was progressing, she didn't see a good end for them.

"So, how did it go in space?" she asked.

"In a word; badly," he replied, "But there was a silver lining to it all. Alejandro Corner was confident he'd won by that point, since the loyalists to the organization would only be able to rally around the original Gundams. Therefore, if they were destroyed then the only way Celestial Being would survive would be if he allowed it. At the same time, he had already begun positioning people within the UN to begin reforming it into a true world government. Everything was in place for him to assume control of everything, and it was lost by one simple misstep."

"He had assumed that Celestial Being's founder hadn't foreseen the possibility of treachery, so when he tried to seize control of Celestial Being's Quantum Processing System, he triggered a system trap," Allan said before pausing, a rather satisfied smirk on his face, "The program erased all data on the original GN drives from the system, as well as the personnel files on all active Celestial Being members. It also unlocked a previously hidden system within the GN drive's black box, something even his copied drives did not possess. Can you guess what it was?"

"…The Trans-Am," Atago replied, remembering the power it'd shown. The ability to double a given machine's performance, even for a limited time was astounding. Of course, she now knew that it came with serious side effects, but the benefits couldn't be dismissed out of hand.

"Because of that, Celestial Being was able to put up one hell of a fight," Allan told her, "Four Gundams, a handful of support machines and equipment and one unarmed carrier ship against 30 GN-Xs and a Mobile Armor, and they managed to beat the UN forces bloody. Only one of the UN ships survived the engagement, and three of their suits. But it wasn't without cost…"

"…One of the Gundam pilots was killed in the battle, with another captured. Several crewmen of the ship were killed, and the ship itself was severely damaged. Three of the Gundams were so badly damaged that only their drives were salvageable, and the Exia went missing in the end," he said, "The losses were staggering considering what the UN had thrown at them, but it was ultimately declared a victory. Celestial Being had seemingly been destroyed, or at least so badly beaten that it'd take them years to recover. It seemed like it was over."

"But it wasn't, was it?" Atago asked.

"The UN began reforming into the Earth Sphere Federation, reforming the militaries of the major economic blocks into one single military," he said, "But there was friction and resistance, especially from groups who held onto past prejudices. In response to this, the Federation established the A-Laws. They were formed as a private force under the direct control of the Federal Assembly, and they were essentially the Secret Police of the Federation. They found and silenced decent, using whatever means necessary."

Looking up, he took a breath to steady himself. No matter how much he disagreed with what'd happened in Avalon's world, the fact remained that he couldn't change Avalon's past. Not without causing severe damage to his present.

"And it worked," he admitted, "With the critics silenced, the Federation consolidated power and cemented itself as the new superpower. Almost two years later, they began expanding the A-Laws while making their presence known to the public. To the rest of the world, they were the peacekeepers of the Federation, sent in to deal with terrorists and fanatics. But in practice they were the cane, used to beat down and destroy anyone that questioned the established system. It didn't matter if you were anti-Federation or simply an average citizen with some seemingly innocent questions. If the A-Laws had you in their sites, there was only one end for you; death. This was the world Avalon stepped into when he joined the Federation military."

Avalon had no idea how long he'd been unconscious, but what he did know was that he vastly preferred it to what he experienced the moment he started waking up.

Where am I? What's going on?
What happened? Where am I?
It hurts so much, make it stop!
My husband, where is he?
Suto, where are you? Mommy's worried about you!
Make the pain stop, I can't stand it!
Why can't I feel anything? Why can't I-oh, God!

The voices returned with a vengeance, and it was all he could do to try and force them out. They wouldn't stop; no matter what he tried they just wouldn't stop! Gritting his teeth, he tried to force himself through the pain as he pushed himself up. Unsurprisingly, the Kataphrakt was lying on its side. What was surprising was his surroundings seemed different, but he couldn't focus on that right now. Typing in a few commands, he tried to power the machine back up only to get no response. Emergency power was still functioning, but the main batteries were either down or somehow disconnected. Either way, he'd have to go outside to know for sure and make any repairs.

Rolling to the side, he checked to be sure his sidearm was still there before opening the hatch. There was a slight grinding as the head of the Kataphrakt slid against something outside, but it still moved enough to expose the hatch, which he opened a moment later. Pulling himself out, he landed as gracefully as he could manage before looking around. Something had brought him just outside what looked like a stadium, but that wasn't what really caught his eye. The most striking thing was the trees.

Before this, he hadn't seen a single living thing in here, but now he was seeing glowing white trees. He wasn't sure if they were alive in the conventional sense, or it this was some strange phenomena. Either way, it probably didn't matter. Turning back to the Kataphrakt, he moved around to inspect the pack and the back of the machine for damage. The process was painfully slow, since it was taking a considerable amount of his concentration to try and blot those damned voices out of his head. It was thanks to that effort that he didn't hear someone approaching.

'So, you are the one.'

Whipping around, Avalon brought his gun up without a second thought as he finally met the source of that voice. It was a young woman, with long white hair and pale skin, and wearing a simple dress that just barely came to her knees. Her face was a mask of indifference, but he could tell that she was far more than she appeared. His Sense was shouting something to him about this woman, and he wasn't sure it was entirely good. Of course, that was obvious when he considered that this woman was somehow projecting words into his mind, which was the only way he could describe her method of speech.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, at least trying to project confidence.

'Lower your weapon, or die,' she commanded, completely ignoring his question.

Almost as if in response to her order, that creature from early stepped out from behind one of the nearby buildings before it looked straight at him. However, Avalon had stopped worrying about it the moment it broke his concentration. With that momentary lapse came a new wave of pain and vertigo. His gun clattered to the ground, dropped from limp hands as he bent double and tried to keep from retching.

Whatever this feeling really was, it was loud, loud and powerful. If he'd known this was what his new Sense would expose him to, he'd probably spent more time back on the Nexus preparing for this. As it was now, he couldn't do much more than drop to the ground as his legs gave out.

"Please…" he managed without looking up, "Make it stop… Whatever the hell this is, make it stop!"

Looking at his shaking form, the woman was conflicted. At first, she'd assumed that he was another threat to be eliminated. The way the Lightless Realm reacted to his presence told her that he wasn't just another human, that there was something else there. But looking at him now, and the obvious effect this place was having on him actually made her feel…pity. He wasn't a threat as he was now, even if he wished to be. In fact, based on his reaction to the atmosphere here he'd likely be dead in another hour or so just from constant exposure. So now, it wasn't a matter of whether or not she should have him killed, but if she should take the chance and save his life.

Fortunately, it wasn't even a choice as she walked forward and picked up his weapon.

Alone and at the mercy of a stranger, Avalon struggles to learn just what has happened, both in this world and to himself. Meanwhile, his fledgling crew begins to learn more than they expected while trying to recover him.

Next chapter; Revelation

While survival is never pretty, the question still remains; where do you draw the line?

A/N; Sincere apologies for how long this took to get out there, but I can assure you that both I and this story are still very much alive. Long story short, things happened in real life that required my attention, and by the time I had time to write again I'd kinda lost the thread for this story. I got it back, though, and I will be trying to continue it to the best of my abilities. I simply ask that you understand updates may be less regular for a little while.

On a slightly related topic; my dumb ass went and watched a decent chunk of Iron Blooded Orphans, and now I'm conflicted; do I use it later down the line, or one of my pre-planned series? I'm actually unsure, and it's kinda irritating.