Title: What A Wonderful World
Author: S. Mark Gunther
Part: 1/?
Summary: The aftermath of war, failure, love lost, and high expectations.
Pairing: None yet
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: This series is owned by people other then I. all I do in this 
fic is merely an artistic representation of their series. I take no creative 
royalties from this series except for the creative license to create.
Archive: To anyone who asks.
C&C: Begged for

---
"I only have but one regret in my life: That I was not able to do everything 
over. Life needs a reset button."

-- CrimsonX

I write, therefore I am.
I sing, therefore I am.
I desire, therefore I am.

"...Presence of people not for me,
Well I must remain in tune forever,
My love is music...
...I will marry melody..."


_________________________________________________________________
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: WAWW.txt

What A Wonderful World
By S. Mark Gunther

"I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world..."
-- "Louie Armstrong - What A Wonderful World"


***

     The plains grass of the testing site waved softly from side to side in 
the late summer wind. A setting sun framed the entire area in its warm glow. 
Sounds from the military base surrounded the area in a din of activity. And 
yet, to Kou Uraki, all was silent. All was quiet and the only thing on his 
mind was...

     ...There! With a flick of his wrist and a swish of his Gundam's arm, 
the target was sighted in his scope. A moment later, an eighty-one 
millimeter shell destroyed the metallic target ending the exercise. With a 
sigh, he popped open the hatch of his machine and hopped down to the soft 
grasses below. As he left the Gundam itself began to expel its steam and go 
silent like a tired warrior taking a rest. Kou walked to the woman holding 
the clipboard and looked down on the results.

     "You did it, Kou," the young woman said with only a slight trace of 
emotion in her voice. "You hit your first one hundred percent since the time 
you've been here."

     "Thanks."

     "I know I don't sound very happy for you, but it's only because your 
form is still off. You shift your right arm too much when you try to circle 
blast the groups. It's throwing your balance off. And I know you can do 
better then this, Kou..."

     "What happens if my form goes up but I lose my shooting skill?" Kou 
asked with a sardonic smile as he looked up at the shooting range attendant.

     "Then I'll keep drilling you till both your form and your shooting are 
at one hundred percent!"

     "You would, wouldn't you...?"

     "Of course I would," She said as her voice caught for the briefest of 
moments in her throat. Her eyes gazed to his face and found that his eyes 
were locked upon one particular place. The place his eyes always seemed to 
be locked onto since he came to the base. The young woman sighed and gripped 
Kou's arm with her right hand, softly yet firmly. "I just know they are 
going to call you up to the front lines soon. And I will not send a 
substandard pilot to the battle lines."

     "I know that." Kou's voice had a distant quality as he looked off into 
the place he knew she was. She had to know...she just had to know...

     "Then wake up!" Her yell forced Kou to look at her and with that came a 
slightly pained smile and a crisp facial shift.

     "I will. Thank you, Sergeant Holliday. Thank you for taking all this 
time with me...no one else will..."

     "Please. Call me Amanda. And stop thinking that everyone hates you 
here. We're all just very busy. This is the only base that the earth can use 
after the entire Stardust fiasco. I'm helping you because I both want to and 
have to." She had to avert her eyes to keep from blushing and because of 
that she missed as Kou's arm slipped from her grasp and he walked away. By 
the time she realized that he had gone, she was alone. The winds blowing 
more on her back as the final gasps of the sun fell behind a nearby hill.

     Amanda smiled softly as she turned and put her papers into her binder. 
Leaving the Gundam for the next day's training, she walked towards her small 
house to file her report. Something told her that central command would be 
very interested in her new findings...

***

     The ground felt hard and unyielding as Kou walked away from Amanda. 
Soon he felt her presence gone from his body and all he could wonder was why 
she kept on being with him when all he did was mess up. Ever since he came 
to the base and was reunited with the rest of his friends, he still couldn't 
take his mind off of her. Nina Purpleton. The woman he loved and couldn't 
stop loving.

     His work had helped him grow stronger as a pilot and as a person, but 
it did nothing for the frustration he felt when he saw her walking by. All 
they did now was smile and wave, passing a greeting or two between them as 
they passed to wherever they had to go. She still was as beautiful as ever, 
her smile still as radiant as the first time he had ever seen it. And yet he 
knew the sad tinge that seemed to curl just off the sides of her mouth and 
her eyes as she spoke. It seemed to permeate every part of her body, ever 
fiber of her skin and face.

     He knew he was the cause, at least partially, for this sadness in her 
heart. He knew that he could have saved Gato on the colony, he knew he could 
have helped her escape and take the man who had shamed both him and his 
beliefs under his protective wing. And yet he couldn't. His choice rattled 
in his brain every time he saw her sad face, every time he gazed upon her 
working at a desk. Whenever he was close to her he saw it.

     The paved road turned into a makeshift gravel street that led to the 
main compound. His eyes seemed to be locked in a permanent stare as he 
walked towards a nondescript building with the word tavern over its doorway. 
He smiled softly while going into the smoky tavern, knowing it would be 
another night of drinking and sleeping in his bed, sweating through another 
bad set of nightmares and tortured dreams. As the man who was to die is 
almost peaceful and serene on the final judgment hour, so too was Kou as he 
sat down at the corner booth. A small red booth light was the only 
illumination for his place of dishonor. Just as he liked it to be, so it was 
everyday he came. The bartender/owner knew just what he liked and never 
failed to deliver.

     "Evening, Uraki," the bartender called out to him from his bar. His 
hands wiped down a glass with methodical precision as he watched the 
waitress on duty make the specialty of the house just for their best 
customer.

     "Evening, Sam," Kou called back. His feet sighed out in relief as he 
sat down in the oversized booth. Soon the pitcher of chilled vodka sat 
before him, the glass sweating making small water rings on the plaid checked 
tabletop. He smiled tiredly at the waitress who smiled back and nodded to 
the bartender as she left the table. "Can I get a small dinner in about one 
hour with another pitcher, Sam?"

     "Sure thing, Uraki. Hard day for you on the field?"

     "Not nearly as hard as usual. But I'm glad I have the day off tomorrow. 
I intend to have to be carried home tonight."

     "Those dreams happening again?" Sam asked, his hands now resting easily 
on the wooden top. Kou shook his head in the positive much to Sam's chagrin. 
"You have got to stop doing this to yourself, Kou. You've atoned for your 
sins. All you can do now is move on."

      "Sure. I know that. You know that. Tell my subconscious that and we'd 
be alright."

      "Suit yourself," Sam replied, knowing full well from Uraki's words 
that he wanted to get drunk alone. "But sooner or later you're going to have 
to deal with it. And who'll be the one to deal with it with you? Me, your 
long-suffering bartender. Me, Uraki! Samson Uriah Larinov! And don't you 
forget it!"

     "I never do, Sammy," Kou said smiling and laughing a little. Soon both 
men were laughing at their daily repartee. Sam laughed along with Kou but 
his mind was still troubled. He saw Kou everyday and knew what he drank in 
the many moods he was in. On a good day it would only be a glass of beer and 
a whiskey chaser. On a normal day, perhaps a six pack of the local hard 
cider. But on the bad days only a chilled pitcher of vodka, three hundred 
fifty to four hundred grams, would do. And tonight was one of those very bad 
nights if he wanted food as well as drink. Didn't he know that his cook 
couldn't cook to save his life?

     The tavern lapsed back into agreeable silence as the sparse evening 
crowd of regulars had not shown up yet. Kou sighed softly and poured his 
first drink of the night. Gulping it down, he remembered how he stumbled on 
the bar he called home. The first night he came to the base had been 
disorienting and downright frightening to him, just fresh off the jump ship. 
He had been in the space ship that he inhabited while his case was reviewed 
for 6 months and his fragile equilibrium was shattered as he saw Nina's face 
for the first time on the ground. The reunion was tense and slightly less 
comforting then a root canal to him. He had begun to look for a place to 
hide and lick his wounds almost as soon as he heard her first words to him. 
Stumbling through the streets after finding his room for the night, he had 
found the small bar and asked for a drink. Things happened, he cried at the 
bar while the few patrons there comforted him and got him drunk, and very 
soon he had a place to go and be welcomed.

     The vodka was sweet and downright fiery as he drank it and he smiled 
inwardly at his good fortune. He liked the tavern. It was quieter then the 
other bar on the base, a rough and rowdy place where the other test pilots 
went to test their manhood by guzzling vast amounts of the local firewater. 
He didn't like the idea of seeing his fellow pilots beat one another up 
after a long drinking spiel and he had no interest in being seen and known 
by those who could peg him for being the gaffer, the choke artist that he 
had been. And since most of the base knew that he was who he was, Kou 
quickly realized that the bar he had stumbled upon was his place to be.

     He heard the door open and a wolfish whistle escape from Sam's face. As 
he turned to the door, his eyes began to burn and his stomach churned, as he 
looked upon Nina's face for the first time in a long time. She walked in 
alone and looked very tense, almost as if she was waiting for something 
untoward to happen to her upon her entry. His heart began to beat faster in 
his chest as he watched her walk to the bar. The eyes that watched her felt 
heavy and riveted to her body. As she and Sam talked softly for a few 
moments, he could feel his hands clench and release silently under the 
table. Soon she walked to his booth and sat down, a glass in her hand and a 
solemn look on her face.

     "Kou," Nina said softly as she sat her glass down on the table.

     "Nina."

     "What are you doing here all alone?" her voice warbled a bit in her 
throat as she spoke, the anxiety resonating from her heart causing her 
reactions to change from stiff calm to shaken stoicism.

     "I'm about to get drunk. I've had a hard day on the range and I'm 
tired. My nerves are shot and I'm not feeling that good. I've received the 
day off tomorrow and I want to get drunk tonight." Kou took a sip of his 
glass and proceeded to fill Nina's glass from the rapidly warming pitcher of 
vodka. She drank it down slowly while Kou topped off his own glass. "I'd ask 
if you're going to stay, but something tells me you want to talk."

     "Did you have someone give me this?" Nina asked while sliding over an 
envelope with her name on it. Kou took the envelope and read it; his eyebrow 
rose just higher then was his norm. "This was given to me just before I went 
to lunch this afternoon."

     "By whom?" Kou replied softly, his eyes scanning the simply scratched 
words.

     "One of the office secretaries gave it to me. She said another woman 
had given it to her to give to me. She said it was from you. Now what's 
going on?"

     A small smile creased Kou's lips as he refolded the letter and placed 
it in its envelope. His hands then gripped the glass and lifted it to his 
mouth, the cold alcohol sliding into his gullet. His smile remained perched 
on his face throughout. "Well I can say for certain that I didn't write 
this."

     "How do you know? How can you lie like this to me, Kou?" Nina responded 
in a calm yet angry voice.

     "I'm not lying to you. I know who wrote this and I know why they did 
it."

     "Well who was it?"

     "My gunnery sergeant. Amanda Holliday. She's the one who wrote this. 
Though I can't say I don't agree with some of what she's wrote there..."

     "How did she know all of this?" Nina asked warily, still not sure about 
all of the things she heard. Her hand grew cold on the glass from holding it 
and she placed both her hands on her lap to warm them.

     "Because I told her. I told her about us, and how much I've missed you. 
And my nightmares about the war. All of it. She's been the one to get me to 
start living again because she's listened to me." Kou sighed and slumped 
down a little in his seat, the tiredness in his face becoming more and more 
apparent. "I've been training with her for about 2 weeks now and she's been 
trying to get me back to a point where I can go back to the front lines. 
She's been commissioned to get me flying again because apparently I'm needed 
to pilot a new Gundam."

     "A new...a new Gundam?"

     "Yes. A Gundam that the government is building just for me is what she 
is training me for. They seem to think that I'm the pilot that can get a 
victory from the Zion forces. I have 6 weeks to become flight ready again, 
in her eyes."

     "Amanda's?"

     "Yes."

     Nina felt the ice in her heart begin to melt at the thought that she 
would be faced with another painful goodbye. Her hand reached out to touch 
Kou's and she found it to be cold, oddly stiff and tough. Not like the hands 
she had felt holding her on the federation galley...not the hands that had 
held her as she kissed him...

     "It's not a big deal. I want to go back. I have to atone for my 
failures. I failed the federation in Stardust. I failed everyone. I 
especially failed you." Kou's voice dropped lower and lower as he spoke the 
angry words in a bitter monotone. He looked over and touched Nina's hand 
with his and for a long moment not a word was spoken between them.

     "What if I don't want you to go? What if I want you to stay here, with 
me? What if I don't want to see you die trying to chase demons you'll never 
catch?" Nina asked softly as she clasped Kou's hand. Her eyes began to tear 
slightly at the corners and she felt the control of her emotions begin to 
melt. "What if all I've been waiting for you to do is tell me you want to 
stay? You think you've had problems, Kou Uraki? You think you've had demons? 
What about me losing one of the two men I've loved most in this world?"

     "What about you, Nina?" Kou asked, his eyes round and full, his cheeks 
stained with slow rolling tears of his own. "What about you caring about 
someone like me? Someone who's failed you not once, but twice?"

     "I don't know what, if anything is wrong for me loving you. I've 
watched one of the loves of my life die. I've watched him be consumed by 
hatred and anger, depression and rage. I've seen his death and watched his 
life. If anything, all I want is a normal life again for you, me and this 
whole planet." Another sip of the still cold liquor passed through Nina's 
lips. "You never failed me, Kou. You only showed me why I grew to love you 
in the first place. And...And maybe this all is showing me why I still love 
you."

     For a long moment, neither person spoke. Then, in a slow and solemn 
motion he stood up and pushed his chair back. Without a word or a look at 
Nina, Kou walked to the counter and pulled some money out of his pocket. He 
laid some bills in front of Sam's register and looked at Nina. She looked 
back at him and without saying a word she walked to his side. Together they 
walked out of the door as silently as was their usual custom. Sam merely 
looked at the still half full pitcher of alcohol and smiled a knowing smile.

***

     "Kou?" Nina asked as they sat on a hillside just outside the base. The 
night's panoramic sky seemed to stretch endlessly in front of them as they 
sat next to one another. A soft wind swept by them and rustled the grasses 
as they sat.

     "Yes, Nina?"

     "Why did you bring me here?"

     "I...I've always wanted to bring you here, Nina. I saw this site once 
on one of my first walkthroughs of the base and the surrounding area. I..." 
Kou said softly, his voice catching slightly in his throat, "I wanted to 
take you somewhere where I could kiss you again. I..."

     "Kou, stop."

     "Wha..." Nina's lips, gently touching his and pressing closer, cut off 
Kou's words. He responded immediately, closing his arms around the woman he 
loved with a tightness that only distance could generate. As the shooting 
stars in the sky soared by their heads, Kou Uraki and Nina Purpleton resumed 
their love affair. As Nina drew closer to his body and they moved closer to 
the ground, Kou could only think one thought: 'It truly is a wonderful 
world, after all..."




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