Still being revised.

Poetry by the great Lord Alfred Tennyson.

One morning about two months ago, as my uncle was returning home from where ever he had been for the past two days, I happened to turn the television onto the news. With my feet propped up on the table and a box of cereal in my lap, I watched in horror as images flashed across the screen. I remember that my uncle shared my bewildered expression. 'Now we go to footage taken from the research satellite of Heliopolis…' As the woman on the screen talked about the video, my uncle fell to his knees. They paused the footage when four…things… similar looking to the GINN stood up. Soon after, the video feed fell to static. The woman on the screen put a hand to her ear, listening to whatever news was being rushed to her. "And we're back with breaking news." Her once perky composure had shattered by that news, leaving her eyes somber and her voice remorseful. "We are sorry to announce that the research satellite of Heliopolis is no more. I repeat, Heliopolis has been destroyed. We here at Channel 8 News will bring you the latest news on this development at the top of the hour, every hour-" the television blinked off and the silence that followed was disconcerting

"It is all my fault." My uncle's haggard voice echoed some deep harbored self-loathing. He brought his hands to his face, staring at and through them. A ghost unto himself.

"N…no…th…they can't!" He shouted. I stood, placing the cereal on the table gingerly. Slowly, I crept to his side. Though I didn't really like the old man, I could only pity him as he fell into his mad ravings. At the time, I didn't know that indeed it really was conceivably his fault. Had he not given the plans to the Earth Forces, Morgenroete wouldn't have built them at Heliopolis, and the people there would have continued to live in peace… or whatever peace was found in times of war.

"Time for rest uncle." I cajoled, placing my hands on his shoulders and turning him towards his room,

"NO!" he bellowed in such a voice I had not imagined his frail state capable. I fell back a few steps, watching him fall into another bout of madness. "I…I already gave them plans…why did they take them… they're better…don't need the other five…only prototypes." He clutched his arms, staring wildly at me like some deranged beast.

"I'm going to call the doctor…" Before I could creep to the phone, he had lunged forward to block my path. "You tell no one." He hissed, steely eyes narrowing venomously. He had truly gone mad. But what plans had he given to whom, I wondered.

Soon, I calmed him to the point where he slid down the wall and stared ahead. "Do you know what?" he asked monotonously, turning his head towards me. I saw no life there in those empty eyes. "They found out. Somehow ZAFT found out that I designed the new mobile suits for OMNI, and demanded that I design some for them. My family-" I didn't have the heart to remind him that I was family as well…"is already dead, so they had nothing in which to coerce me with. But they said... they said that it would only be right for them to have G units. Or I'd be tried as a traitor for providing such things for the enemy." Inwardly, I told myself that these were simply delusions brought on by whatever stress he had put upon himself. "So… after I gave ZAFT plans for more..." he giggled madly, still staring at me with his empty eyes. "I built more. With the money…. In secret. They don't know. In the warehouse." He whispered, excitedly. "Three more. No one knows… no one knows…" he began to sing. "Much better. To destroy them all. Destroy both sides for what they've done. Both shall fall. Fall…fall...fall."

He suddenly crept onto his hands and knees. Like some maddened creature he crept towards me. I was against the wall and I didn't want to have to hurt my uncle. Though mad and unloving, he had chosen to shelter me for whatever reason. He reached towards me and I flinched. His lips curled into a smile as he slowly reached out and touched my cheek. Softly, in a sing-song voice, he murmured.

"Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;" I was almost afraid of him then. He always quoted poetry when in one of his spells... but never had be spoken Tennyson's 'Crossing the Bar', which ironically, was written a few days before the poet's death. How ironic indeed. But there was something about this one. Something I couldn't quite identify. He lowered his voice, eyes now glinting with some maddened plan that had slipped into his maddened mind. In a whisper, he leaned closer to me, cupping my chin with a shaking hand.

"For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar." My eyes widened, and even now I can remember that strange smile. It was as if he knew something… something that he was waiting for me to find out for myself.

The spell continued with its usual bouts of babbling technical terms and disorientation. I fetched some pillows and a blanket, letting him sleep in the hall between the living room and kitchen. He was hiding something, and whatever it was, it was killing him. If not quickly.

A month or so later... after another one of my uncle's spells, I finally decided to go see what he had been up to. Once darkness had fallen, I went back to my room, hurriedly shedding my pajamas (for I hadn't changed out of them all day) and grabbed the closest clothes I could find. I finished tying the laces on an old pair of combat boots and pulled the leg of my black pants back down. From my closet I grabbed one of my new shirts. It was actually just a black tank top. But because our money had disappeared, it was all we could afford.. Now adorned in all my 'sneaking' clothes, I ran to the front door. From his coat pocket I found a ring of old keys and some access cards that I assumed were to his 'warehouse.' Now the only hard thing was finding it.

"Oxygen systems operating at: 30 percent." The mobile suit announced, breaking me from my reverie. Going over what put me into this situation helped to pass the time…Let it babble to someone who cares…

It was dark, and I didn't like that. All the freaks came out at night. I paused, thinking about my own situation and the irony of my earlier thought. I ran a few blocks, till I came to the apartments where my friends Pari and Sho lived. A few people still ambled about, but none of them even spared me a second glance. You needed an access card to get into the place, I suppose it was for security purposes. But, lucky for me, Pari had given me one of hers. It felt kind of cool, acting like I lived there. But again, no one even looked at me.

The elevator took me up four floors. After it 'dinged' to let me know that we had arrived at my chosen floor, I shot out of there just as the door had barely opened enough for me to squeeze through. There was no time to waste.

I skidded to a halt outside Pari's apartment door, slipping the access card into the slot before my hair had a chance to land on my shoulders. The door skimmed open and I crept in. Her parents were visiting family on Aprillius Four, so I wouldn't scare anybody. I found her vegged out on the couch, bowl of popcorn in her lap. I poked her shoulder carefully, though despite my efforts, she still squeaked and shot up into the air. She whirled around, blinking when no middle-aged man with a knife lunged at her. "Well hi." I muttered as popcorn began to rain down on us. "Oh hey, what are you doing up-" I grabbed her arm mid-sentence and nearly dragged her to her room.

I waited in the kitchen as she changed, having given her only, "we're taking a trip." for an explanation. She walked out, dressed in black jeans, a sweater, and black ballet flats. Who knew she owned so much black? "So- where we goin?" she asked casually, reaching back and braiding her jet-black hair. The dim lights darkened her already raven eyes to the point where the whites stood out in stark contrast to them and her dark chestnut skin.

"Now lets go pick up Sho." If we were going to need anybody, it would be him. Upon entering the hall, we nearly crashed into our aforementioned rebel. "Heyo." He whispered, glancing down at our clothes. "Going somewhere?"

"Really? What made you think?"Pari rolled her eyes, stealing his cap and ruffling his short cinnamon hair. As a matter of fact, Sho had on pretty much the same as us, except that he had a black newsboy cap, which Pari was now hiding behind her back. "I dunno where we're goin, Caiohme just broke into my apartment and kidnapped me."Pari explained, pointing at me with a mock mutinous air.

I glanced at the blinking lights. "Caiohme..." I felt the word as it caressed the inside of my mouth. It's my name, though I don't know what made my parents think of it. "It's Scottish, and s'posed to be pronounced KEE-va. But I like to say it like, Ki-oh-may. It's prettier." I grinned stupidly, watching the warning lights blink. My headache was still there, but I think I've gotten used to it. I don't know…

We sat in the hallways for a while, trying to think of any abandoned warehouses. "I can't think of a single one in Maius. Not that I know many." Sho sighed, drawing his knees to his chest. "And why are we trying to find it?" I didn't answer, I was busy thinking of anything that my uncle had said pertaining to a 'warehouse'. "He said something about how, 'diamonds and rubies danced over deadly secrets in the house where madness dwelled." I muttered, resting my head against the wall.

"That's it!" I shot to my feet, holding the access cards in the air triumphantly. "A house where secrets are. Secrets that drove him made. And…and." I blinked, trying to gather the fleeting moment of understanding. "Diamonds and rubies… uh…. Damn! Maybe… Hey!" I whirled around to look at Sho. "Aren't there some old buildings beneath the radio towers?" Sho looked at me oddly, cocking his head and thinking for a moment. "Yeah.. But…" "That's it!" I nearly shouted, shoving the cards into my pocket and grabbing both of them by the arm. "The tower has white and red blinking lights. Which are the dancing diamonds and rubies."

"This is getting weird."Pari yelled as we burst through the doors and out into the night.

It was nearly morning by the time we arrived. Though, to our relief, our trip had been without incident. We stood before a cluster of large buildings with low glass domes. It looked as if the strips of copper that covered the outsides of the edifices were long beyond the point of repair. They were now green with large splotches of rust and decay. The buildings were close to the ground and hidden by taller buildings, shielding them from almost every view. "But they look so old…" Sho commented as we made our way to them. "Almost looks like someone made 'em look like that. Wouldn't the council do something about these buildings though?"

"Nah- they're too busy. And if someone pays them enough, they'll probably let them make the buildings look like anything they want." I didn't pay attention to their conversation, I was too busy looking for any kind of door.

Now that I looked at them, the buildings looked like those old air hangers you see pictures of in museums. Except that there wasn't any kind of debris or shrapmil sitting on the ground around them. "Hey guys!" I called, jogging over to a small door on the side of one of the larger buildings. A large number three was painted in black on the front of the hanger building, so it only made sense to use the access card with a simple number three on it. "Guys… this could be some top secret military thing." Pari took a step back as I slid the access card into the small slot. "Come on P, you read too many books." Sho grabbed Pari's arm and dragged her back over, despite her protests. The door slid open silently. Beyond it was a gaping darkness penetrated only by the night seeping through a broken ceiling tile. And even that little bit of light faded into the void within. There was a small clicking noise; like a switch being thrown somewhere within. In a blinding moment, the black abyss within the hanger was dissolved into a pure white nothingness that washed out everything in its path. As the lights dimmed and our eyes adjusted, we realized that Pari might have been right…

Chapter 6 Teaser

"I couldn't leave my friends alone. It was my fault they were in this damnable situation. I wouldn't let them face the consequences alone. I turned slowly, watching my uncle. I saw no mercy in his eyes. Only the soul-consuming madness that had destroyed his life. And now it was about to ruin mine and those of my friends..."

Palpable Horror