Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, Bandai does.

Pairings: 1x?, 1x2, 2x? [eventually] Other pairings TBD

PLEASE READ BELOW:

Author's Notes: So you may not understand why I wrote this, but keep in mind that it is part of a bigger picture. I might not have been clear but this is a war fic, a World War II fic to be exact. It is also an AU Fic. POVS will be shifting from chapter to chapter but I will make it clear who the POVS belong to. The chapters are not clear cut but will be interwoven into each other. If you have any questions about anything, please leave a review and they will be addressed in chapters to come. I have finished this chapter and am currently at work on the next one. I really hope that you enjoy this fic, although a bit gore-ish.

Warnings: Adult content, Violence, and Graphic Language.

A Far East Movement

Black Dragon62

Chapter One: Dear John

My dearest,

I hope this letter finds you well and in one piece. I miss you dearly and I hope that you are missing me as well. Enclosed is a photograph of me, in the hopes that it will lift your spirits in the bleakness of this terrible war. I hope that soon you will find your way back to me like you always promised; and in the wake of these thoughts of your return, I remember those days when we would go to the beach, and the sun would shine on us in happier times. How you would laugh and run along the shore line, and how reading a book in the park together was more than a simple pleasure now... I remember our first kiss on the fourth of July underneath the fireworks at the church picnic.

Oh my darling how I miss you and I pray to God for your safe return. Please write soon.

Love, always and forever-

Your Caroline.

I smiled as I folded the letter back into it's original size, stuffing it into the envelope that had delivered it, stopping to sniff the delicate perfume that it was sprayed with before tucking it into my jacket pocket. I looked up into the faces of the men around me, and hoped that I could keep my promise to her. That I would return home alive, and hopefully in one piece.

France, June 5th 1944

The moral around me was so thin you could breathe it in and not even notice it. It was around midnight the night before we were to land on Omaha beach in Normandy, France, and the only thing that was present around me, was the fear that we would not live to see the following sunrise. The ship was on a fast track on the way to death and we all knew it, a few men were hanging over the sides of the ship, vomiting the dinner they had consumed only hours before, others were heavily smoking on the deck above, talking about tactics and what the morning was to bring. I lit a cigarette of my own and took a nice long drag, the cool June air blowing around me as the sound of the ocean beat against our ship.

"Thought I'd find you here." A thin figure emerged from the shadows. "Mind if I bum one of those?" He asked as I threw him the pack of lucky strikes. "Thanks."

"No problem." I said as I took another drag. "Nervous?" I asked Trowa as he joined me, leaning against the side of the ship.

"A bit." He lied as he lit his cigarette and handed the pack back to me, one which I tucked securely into my shirt pocket. "This is some seriously fucked up shit you know that Maxwell?" He said as he took a drag.

"Don't I know it. But, what else are we gonna do? Hide on the ship while everyone else goes to die in a blaze of glory?" I joked as he gave me an incredulous look. "You know I'm just kidding." I said as I took a longer drag. I was nervous as hell for what was to come. "Think we'll make it?" I asked him.

"To be honest Duo, I don't know." Trowa said as he watched the smoke disappear into the darkness. "We'll find out tomorrow though won't we?" He flicked the cigarette into the ocean and turned to lean on the rail. "I got a letter from my sister Catherine today." He said, trying to liven the mood.

"Oh really? What'd she have to say?" I asked, trying to be interested, anything to keep my mind from wandering back to the dark thoughts of tomorrow.

"She was just telling me that she had gotten engaged, and couldn't wait for me to come back so she could get married. She said she wouldn't get married if I wasn't there." He laughed, a sound I seldom heard from the quiet green eyed man. "I wonder if she would keep that promise if she got a letter saying that I wouldn't be coming back..." He quieted for a moment, and we both entertained the prospect that neither of us would be coming home. "Anyway, I saw you got a letter today too."

"Yeah, from Caroline." I said with a soft smile. I saw him raise his eyebrow at me and give me a grin. I'd never mentioned her before tonight. I liked to keep thoughts of her to myself. "My sweetheart back home. She writes me a couple times a week, and I get them at weird times. You know how the mail is here. Anyway, she was writing to me to wish me a safe return."

"That's nice." He smiled at me and gave me a pat on the back. "Well I'm gonna try and get some shut eye. We got a big morning ahead of us." He said as he walked away heading for the bunks, I stayed out a little bit longer, deciding whether or not I would be able to sleep.

Barton and I had known each other for almost a year, we had been together in Charlie Company 2nd Ranger Battalion in Africa where we met, all the way through Italy, and now into France. We had gotten close to each other because we were about the same age, most of the other guys from our stick were older, and most of them had gotten killed when we arrived into Italy, deciding that we were brothers in arms, we stuck close to each other, and we, along with a few thousand other guys were chosen to join the 1st infantry in Operation Overlord, the taking of Omaha beach. No one knew what to expect, and neither did I. I just hoped that I would live through it.

On the morning of June 6th, the air was so fucking cold that I could see my breath in the goddamn air. I was not fucking happy. Trowa and I loaded up into one of the smaller boats that was heading towards the French shore. In the morning when we all woke up, we all had a moment to take in the view, and what we saw chilled us straight to the bone and brought vomit up into our gullets. The gray foggy morning showed us a gray beach with obstacles all along the shore, tiny boats in the distance, landing on the cold and unforgiving shore while tiny dots of men tried to run up the beach, only to be cut down by a huge bunker at the top of a sandy hill. Man made fences blocked them from us... And that's where we were going. To our certain deaths.

Trowa and I stood next to each other, loaded up with our packs, canteens that sloshed at our sides, our rifles covered in plastic bags while the boat roared and bucked with the waves of the unyielding ocean. We could now hear the bombs going off all around us, the splashes of the water from these bastards blew onto us with the ocean spray, and gunshots and machine gun fire was getting ever so close. A few guys were puking their guts out onto the wet metal floor of these tiny boats, about forty of us jammed like little sardines into these metal cans that drove ever closer to the shore. Trowa kissed the cross that Catherine had given him, never a religious man, but the thought didn't hurt. I pressed mine into my chest, hoping that it would help me make it through hell and back.

"Charlie Company! We reach the shore in 5 minutes! God be with you!" The boat driver yelled over the roar of the ocean.

"Left side stick! Right side stick! Clear those murder holes, and we'll see you on the beach." Our captain yelled as the engine started to die down. As soon as we heard the spin of the ramp opening up, we started to run into the gun fire. The guys in the front never stood a chance, so Trowa and I decided that our best course of action was to jump right over the side into the freezing cold water. Running up right into the shelter of an X shaped obstacles, we hid while waiting for orders. The gunfire was so loud making it almost impossible to hear anything, the bombs going off deafened us almost completely. We saw Capt Jackson and followed him, dodging the dead bodies that littered the beach and the screaming men that were cowering under the shade of the obstacles.

The beach seemed to stretch on forever, miles and miles of death between us and our destination. "WHERE'S OUR RANDEVOUS POINT?" Yelled someone next to us.

"Anywhere but here!" We yelled as we ran again for cover, this time diving into a steep little hill of sand that lead into enemy territory. Barbed wire fences stretched all along the beach to keep us out of our primary objective. We looked around confused about what was to happen, waiting for divine intervention to help us out here. The enemy fire wasn't letting up, we didn't have a fucking chance, and that wasn't fair, but we had to think and we had to do it fast. Our Capt arrived a few minutes later and yelled for the men in his company, Trowa and I shouted our attendance, and so did Parks, McDonald, Conner, Miller, and Schiff.

Another man landed right next to me as he dove for cover. "Chang here from George Company Sir!" The Asian man said as he banged a jacket against his helmet, then loaded it into his rifle. Our CO gave us orders to collect weapons and ammo while he tried to get a dispatcher to relay that DOG One was not open and that we did not hold the beach. Barton and I picked among the dead bodies quickly while running for cover every few seconds, gathering up as much as we could. After we were loaded up, we dove back for the cover of the sand hill and handed out what we had collected, keeping a few jackets and rounds for ourselves. Then we heard everyone yelling "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" And we all balled up for cover, and the bagalores exploded, and everyone started to run through the opening it had created. We were in business.

Chang, Barton and I ran like hell through impact craters for defilade from the machine guns on the higher ground. Painfully slowly but surely we made our way to the trenches on the higher ground, and a standoff began. The enemy popped up like moles, throwing hand grenades and opening fire on us every few seconds. Chang and I started to open fire on the fuckers while Barton went off with Doyle, Parks and our CO to clear the bunker of the enemy fire. Bang. Grenade. Bang bang bang bang. Chang picked them off with pin point precision, it was almost scary, and I'm glad that he was on my side. I picked a couple people off before we started to run along the trench again, meeting up with a few other guys from Fox Company, who were in the midst of firing off a few rounds at men popping up from fox holes. Suddenly they stood and with raised arms they surrendered, three of them where shot on sight while the others were hauled out of their hiding places and marched off in another direction. I looked around and a lot of other men were doing the same thing, giving up and being taken somewhere else.

Chang and I ran over to the stone bunker that had been giving us hell in time to see fire explode from the bunker, and watch men on fire running and screaming from the doorway, others opting to go over the edge and plunge onto the sandy beach where no one opened fire, I heard McDonald yell from another trench, 'Don't shoot! Let 'em BURN!' We saw Barton over by the trench, watching the men burn.

It really seemed like forever. The fighting. And then the silence. It all seemed so long, I thought to myself as we sat around on sandbags, sharing cigarettes and thanking God that we lived through that shit. Trowa came over and sat next to me, handing me half a ham and cheese sandwich while we talked to the other guys, trying to figure out where they had come from.

"Hey how are you doing?" Trowa asked me as he took a huge bite out of the sandwich.

"I'm ok. Better than a few hours ago." I laughed and bit into my own half. "You?"

"Ok." He said as he looked over at Chang." "Hey, where you from?"

"Hm? Originally from George Company over at the 101st. But a bunch of guys in my unit got killed, so they group me along with a bunch of other guys." He said as he took out a buck knife and started to clean it off with his shirt. "Where you guys from?"

"Charlie Company 2nd Rangers." I said, finishing off my sandwich with another bite. "We got sent into this shit storm about a month ago." I said as I looked around and took everything in. A lot of guys were still shaken up. Many of the men that sat around and tried to recover were fresh out of basic training, many not even seeing battle before this, I felt bad for the poor bastards, I really did. "Mighty nice shootin you got there Chang."

"Wufei. And thanks. I believe that I was made into a fine instrument of warfare, making me an excellent sniper." He said as he stowed his knife. "Sorry, I missed your names."

"This is Duo Maxwell, and I'm Trowa Barton." He shook the man's hand, as did I. We waxed on like that for a few more minutes before the mail guy came over.

"Maxwell. Barton." He said as he handed us a few letters before moving on.

"Hey I got one from Catherine!" Trowa said happily as he tore into it and devoured it's contents.

I got one from Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, wondering how I was doing and if they could send anything my way. I was considering asking for cookies while I opened yet another letter from Caroline. I got one from her the day before, and I wondered if she had sent several in the same week. I unfolded the letter and a small silver ring fell out, I picked it up and started to read it.

Dear Max,

She called me Max, she thought my name was too weird, so she always opted to call me Max...

I hope this letter finds you well.

Daddy and I have been listening to the radio a lot lately, and we heard that the war is intensifying in Europe, and I was worried... Daddy said maybe it was time to be realistic. That I should be aware that you might not be coming home. And if you did, that I should be afraid of what war had made you become.

I'm really sorry to be sending this to you, but I have to be realistic and stop waiting for you, waiting for someone who might never come back to me the same man that left me... I can't wait for you... And I can't bare the thought that one day I'll receive the news that you won't be coming home at all, instead receiving a folded flag.

I can't live in a dream Max. It's already been 2 years, and while I care for you, I need to think about what's best for me now. I need to start thinking about getting married, and having a family with a man who will be here for me, to take care of me, the way you never can.

Enclosed is the promise ring that you gave me the day you left for God knows where. It doesn't seem fair to keep it, and it's not fair to keep it to remind me of you everyday, so I'm giving it back. I hope that you'll understand.

Caroline Dempsey.

"Good news?" Trowa said optimistically. But he knew that I had just gotten a fucking Dear John letter. Thankfully Chang kept his mouth shut and started to dig in his pack to look away. I sat there feeling like a fucking idiot.

I squeezed the ring in my fist and crushed the letter in my other hand. I couldn't believe it. I honestly felt like I didn't have a reason to go home anymore. I just fought for my fucking life, and for nothing. I was mad. I was sad. I was angry. I was upset. I wanted to yell, scream, and cry all at the same time. I grabbed my lighter, and set the letter and the envelope on fire, the other guys had moved on, so just the three of us sat there, watching the tiny flame burn the paper, the letters running together as the paper turned black and then turned to ashes. I took off my cross on it's thin golden chain, and placed the ring on the chain, replacing it on my neck. I was making a solemn promise that I would go back home alive, no matter what it would cost me, that God would give me a reason to go on, that I would find someone to give this ring to.

We sat there for a few more minutes, watching from atop the hill as ships rolled towards the shore, as tanks rolled down the beach, and men marched in formation. I watched as the waves rolled in, the bodies of fallen men sprawled all across the gray beach, while the ocean waves crashed into them, red with blood.

And that concludes Chapter One. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am currently writing the next chapter as well as working on another 1940's story called "Japanese Sunrise" which I hope will entertain you as well. Please leave reviews! Thanks! :)