Something is different.

Amuro Ray felt with his immense Newtype precognition when interfacing with the psycoframe cockpit. He had been in numerous mobile suits utilizing similar psycommu systems as either test pilot or in combat runs solo against other powerful cyber newtype weapons. RX-93, the Nu Gundam was the latest incarnate of that line of psycommu technology, a plating frame which had an unparrellel response time with newtype senses. At least from the technicians' understanding.

To the point that Nu Gundam was almost reactive as the movement of his body. The edge which Char arrogantly claimed to have handed over to Anaheim on Von Braun to incorporate into his mobile suit, the strongest Gundam of the Universal Century as of U.C. 0093.

However, that was not all he felt in this highly tuned cockpit against Char's pet cyber newtype and against Quess. His very feelings were trapped and amplified within the Psycoframe. It had made him stronger in his Newtype abilities, but the feedback had its toll as well. He could even feel the emotions of others in his proximity. Lieutenant Kayra Su's death, Quess's longing for a father-figure, Chan's guiding voice within the battlefield space, even Char's pain at the clash of their beam sabers.

A cloud of hatred had overwhelmed Char's previous compassion and set the current events to act out. He felt it, sympathized with it despite the inexcusable atrocity that it was. As he was sure Char felt his from his own mobile suit.

To feel his horror as a weaponized asteroid was headed towards Earth. The moment of despair in the face of all they had done to prevent Axis from colliding with Earth, only to make it worse. Half of Axis would render Earth into an unihabitatable, unceasing nuclear winter. Ten billion lives would end in a matter of minutes.

Char goaded his failures and savoured his victory over him one last time, as he created a new era of struggle. In the hopes that Humanity would learn to survive in the stars and look to Earth as a reminder of that day, Casval Rem Deikun smashed the Earth Federation to bits, and consigned an entire planet to extinction.

-Something is different.-

Amuro felt in that moment of lost hope and rammed himself against the bottom of the falling portion of Axis.

"Don't be stupid!" Char shouted through the contact link.

As Amuro heard a change in tone from haughtiness to partial fear of the former's seeming lunacy.

"I'll just have to try!"

With his own words, giving him the courage to protect all with the last semblance hope. Amuro pushed against Axis in a fool's errand to save the Earth.

Had he known the truth about his machine? That his will was being amplified upon the psycoframe into pure physical force. Or that his feelings would reach the 88th fleet and to every single mobile suit pilot?

As the 88th fleet GM-IIIs, Londo Bell Jegans and even Neo Zeon Geara Dogas joined in his reckless act of defiance against the Earth's very own gravity to seal its own fate. But unlike his suit, they weren't shielded for re-entry. Amuro watched as suit after suit exploded against the asteroid rock, such powerful thoughtwaves gathered into the psycoframe. Using this psyco field energy between Amuro and Char's cockpits, he expelled them all from this doomed task. And yet as the mysterious aura enveloped the asteroid, it wasn't enough.

Billions watched the doom approach their planet from their local tele. Fear, confusion, panic. But also caught the sight of a single white mobile suit refusing to yield against such an inevitable outcome. Another emotion stood opposing the despair that wrought their earth and future.

Amuro's convictions had inspired an entire world to hope again.

Feelings collectively gathered in one single unifying wish. No matter how hopeless it seemed, they wished that the Gundam would save them all.

Alone, the will of a single newtype pilot was not enough to move anything beyond funnel weaponry. But with the will of Humanity to cry out for salvation, channeling through his suit cockpit. That alone would suffice, although it would require a sacrifice that no one else could achieve until the following years to come when another suit bearing the name Gundam would be called upon to stop the impossible.

Ten billion wishes passed through a single psycoframe cockpit meant for one overloaded. And granted the Earth and Humanity one more chance to make amends for itself.

Axis had been pulled away.

In his sacrifice, his suit and body were engulfed in a blinding aurora. His last argument with Char conveyed their true emotions. Both had conveyed their lasting thoughts and had reached the pinnacle of the theory that Zeon Deikun had once preached decades ago. Enveloped in a gentle warmth that spoke of the hope that yet resided in the possibility for mankind to better itself.

-Captain, this heat warms the universe, doesn't it?-

Amix the cloud spectrum of colours, a familiar voice carried them in its loving embrace.

-…La-.. lah….?-

He heard Char's voice in his mind somewhere amidst this brilliant expanse.

-You were never wrong, Captain. But, neither was Amuro.-

-Lalah?-

Amuro called out to the polymorphic light which shaped itself into a flying swan.

-You've given this world something to hope for, both of you.-

The newtype phantom of Lalah Sune addressed both of them as if she held them in equal regard.

-A future of possibility.-

This time, another voice spoke that held more concern for Amuro. As the figure of his current lover appeared before him.

-Chan?…. Don't tell me….-

But instead of conveying regrets, she smiled and flew towards him and happily embraced him in this bare-naked light form.

-And now…-

-there is a distant place.-

The voices of Lalah and Chan seemed to come together to form one single ethereal voice.

-Far beyond, over the rainbow…-

-Those children, they cry out in desperation.-

-Lalah…. Chan…. Wh-…. What are you trying to tell us?-

Confused even in his fully awakened state, the ghosts which had haunted them gave them such cryptic messages. Hadn't they already finished what they had done in the physical world? Weren't they free to roam the space in the broadness of their conscious will?

Didn't they deserve to be with the ones they loved?

Still connected, Amuro could feel the shared sentiment as Char, as he could feel him.

-A chance is all they need, give them this one thing.-

Then, Amuro began to slip from Chan's embrace.

-Chan!..-

-Lalah?!-

The same happened with Char.

-Show them that the possibility still exists.-

-Lalah!... Lalah! Are you going to leave me again?!-

-I have always been with you, Captain.-

-And I will always be with you, Amuro.-

Chan's voice also reached Amuro exclusively.

-Now and forevermore.-

The voices overlapped but did not lose their meaning.

-And if one of you should lose their way.-

-Remember, White Devil….-

-Red Comet…-

Amuro felt as if his body were surfing in lukewarm tides, as if sucked down into a maelstrom away from the familiar warmth of their planet, their home. As the last words would forever linger in his mind even though the nightmares of his loss would disappear.

-There is nothing you cannot achieve together.-

…..

…...

…..

How he longed for this warm and gentle aura that could never last. After the phantoms of Lalah and Chan had vanished, Amuro meekly clung to whatever residual heat that remained like a baby chick. He didn't care about the world any longer, all he wanted was to be with the ones he loved. Why did they vanish from his side?

Amuro was stuck in this state for what felt like an eternity. Even so, the residual warmth he previously felt did not subside, but in fact rose. Until it became quite unbearable even for him.

It was becoming stuffy, even as the surrounding darkness should have been cold.

-To waste away on such lingering emotions instead of living them….-

Regret started to fill the gap that had formed in his heart. Why was he left in this perpetual state of limbo instead of true freedom? Or was this the true end for all who died?

-I don't want that!-

"I WANT TO LIVE!" Instead of thinking that, he had screamed his desire.

And in doing so realized something strange. Why could he speak his words and hear them?

Hadn't he transcended beyond flesh?

He wiggled around in the dark to get a feel of his body which he realized he had the sensation of.

*… -elling you… there must be something neat in there!...*

He heard the faintest of muffled voices and a gimmer of hope returned to him. He was not dead, merely trapped somewhere. He didn't need a newtype's intuition to tell him that.

*…. We really shouldn't be here… I-.. If Haeda hears we went out of the compound, not even Orga could cover for us!...*

*Only if they know, you mean. Don't be such a scaredy cat, Takaki.*

*Won't they? We're supposed to be on drills.*

*Cheh! For what they care, we're planting those damn landmines again!*

Amuro could hear the voices of children to which he was assured he was not in space, as he wouldn't have heard anything at all.

*(Thump)(thump)* The repeated vibration of a solid object striking what felt like a cocoon that engulfed Amuro.

*(Thump)(thump)* Again, that sound persisted in a rhythmic fashion.

Were they trying to break into this confinement as part of a scavenging expedition? From what he heard them say and pieced together, it seemed as if he had somehow miraculously re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

What of Axis? The Earth?

His anxiousness overpowered his fears. He had to know.

(Thump) "HELP!" Amuro shouted at the top of his lungs to get their attention.

*..Uwah!... Did you hear that?!*

(Thump)(Thump) Amuro shook his body to make whatever limb that was loose strike the metal walls which he had no doubt were the psycoframes.

"I'm trapped in here! Please help me!"

*It came from the thing!... Quick, Takaki! Run back and borrow the torch from the old man!* The more enthusiastic of the pair told the other.

*Ride, listen…. We should leave…..*

*What, why?*

The sound of his meek companion dissuaded him from speaking so loud by shooshing him. He could only guess the suspicion that person had for the derelict of what remained of Nu Gundam crashing in wherever they were. He knew that if they chose to leave him, there was no way anyone could find him. The minovsky reactor wasn't functioning any longer, so no auxiliary power remained to open the hatch. Amuro, was effectively shrouded within a metal casket of Gundarium Alloy.

"Please…. I don't want to remain buried here…"

*Mmmmnah! I'll get it myself! You in there! Don't die on me yet!*

*O-Oi! Ride! Ride!*

The cautious one seemed to chase after the eager one who ran back to their home to retrieve cutting equipment. Amuro gave a sigh of relief, someone had heard his plea and willingly agreed to rescue him.

There was some hope after all.

-Show them that the possibility exists.-

The hollow voice run deep in his memory.

"Chan…. You-… Be with me wherever I go." Warm droplets fell from his face as he recalled the memory of his loved one.

He will not squander this chance to change the workings of this corrupt system. As Lalah's ghost said, Char was right to be afraid of the outcome which humanity was heading. But Amuro was also right to believe that they could change. Just because they failed a few times, Zeon's call, Char's speech at Dakar, Axis Shock…

"Huh?" Images flashed by him that seemed unrecognizable.

A white mobile suit, a black-gold one of the same type, and a hybrid of Nu Gundam and the Sazabi.

Why did he think that he failed at Axis? And what kind of name was that, Axis Shock?

In the moment of dizziness, a knock came on his confine from outside.

*Oi! The fellow in there, hold your breath. Imma gonna cut through this plate.*

At first, Amuro didn't know what the person meant. But then after five grueling minutes of hissing sounds a bright light sparkled on top of him, sending cascading hot metal flying everywhere.

-Are you nuts?!-

Amuro thought to himself, the fellow outside was using some form of welding or plasma torch. It would cut through but would burn up the remaining oxygen he had within the cockpit. His normal suit no longer had air supply and the cockpit air recycler was dead. He understood what they meant by hold his breath.

Amuro didn't hesitate to do just that for as long as he could. Poisonous fumes from the spall liner being cut made his eyes tear. He didn't know for how long did the person outside cut for, but it seemed almost the maximum he could hold his breath for.

A molten red line from where the person had cut the base hinge of the centre torso armour.

-It's not enough…..-

Amuro realized they didn't have time to cut the remaining three ends to make an opening, when the cutting stopped and rattling sounds took place outside. Along with the winding of a vehicle engine. They were going to tear the hatch open with a towed vehicle. The more he sat in his dark place, the more worried he was for their methods at cutting him free. Very little regards were given to safety, were they not educated on the proper drills. Even in school, everyone was given a semester of working on junior mobile suits. So they should know how it works, right? Unless he was in a very rural part of the Earth, there was always that possibility.

Amuro felt his eyelids losing its strength apart from his entire body as the engine winded hard from plying the heavy hatch open. Just as they were about to close, a searing light shone straight through the crack made by the bent hatch.

"Alriiiight! Keep going, Takaki!" He heard the energetic one telling the cautious one no doubt at the wheel.

As dusty air far from being clear rushed into the confines and returned Amuro from nearly suffocating to death. He coughed hard, but he was fine.

A short silhouette appeared over the harsh glare, reaching his hand down.

"Come on!"

Amuro reached up and caught a rather small hand that pulled his entire body weight out thanks to a winch system the person hung suspended from. One surprisingly muscular hand for such youthful features that adjusted within his view. Amuro's feet touched the outer surface of the hatch which told him that the suit had been lying on its back when it crashed.

"… Thank you."

In response to his show of appreciation, the young boy with strawberry orange hair awkwardly scratched his head. Amuro did his best to hide his astonishment that such a child would do such a thing as rescue him on his own, where were his parents or any other adult?

"uh-… ahahaha! No worries, mister!"

In that time when the boy who wasn't even in puberty congratulated himself on a job well done, Amuro scanned the surroundings to his surprise.

In the horizon and beyond was nothing but desert and Rocky Mountains, Amuro had landed somewhere in the desert frontier. Having once travelled on such a terrain decades ago during the One Year War, in Nevada if he was correct. There were few places on Earth comprising of plains such as this. Sahara, Gobi, the Great Australian Desert, and Nevada. It was now a matter of where he landed this time and how he could get in touch with the authorities to get back to Ra Cailum, to get back in the fight. If there was still such a thing.

Amuro casted a look back to what remained of his mobile suit, only for his fears to be proven true. Only to find the cockpit sphere remaining and embedded into the ground substantially. Although, strangely enough, there was an absence of scorch marks, let alone a crater.

"Hey, mister. What were you doing buried in there?" The orange curly-haired one asked him.

"Why, you ask? My mobile suit somehow managed to survive re-entry."

"What?! You're a mobile suit pilot?!" The other child with blonde hair suddenly got excited as did the orange haired one. The shine in their eyes could possibly become a beacon to any rescue craft within the area.

Amuro smiled and gave them a crisp salute.

"Allow me to express my thanks once again. I'm Lieutenant Amuro Ray of the Federation Space Force, Londo Bell."

"Londo-…. Bell?" Both children cocked their heads showing their ignorance to the unit. A forgivable mistake in Amuro's book, Londo Bell hadn't exactly built a reputation for itself yet apart from housing two of the Federations' most decorated heroes, himself and Captain Bright Noa.

"It's the unit which I serve in, we perform counter-terrorist operations against anti-government forces." He somehow managed to garner their awe at the description, at least the parts that they knowingly nodded their heads in understanding.

"Say, if its alright with you both… Could you show me the way to the nearest settlement? I'd like to contact my people to tell them I'm alright."

The boys seemed to enter another discussion on their own, particularly to discuss the worries of the blondie once again. Amuro could only smile at such innocence, he'd properly thank the family for these kids' rescue. Who knows how long he could've been trapped in that capsule to cook under this hot sun. Which part of Earth was he again? He didn't know it could get this hot, he was torn between taking off his normal suit which trapped the heat and keeping it on to protect his skin from burning.

"We'll bring you back to the base, you alright with that?"

A base? So there was a military installation nearby after all.

"Please take care of me, um-…"

Realising due introductions were necessary, the orange haired boy pointed over to the blonde-haired kid.

"That chicken is Takaki."

"Hey!" Takaki called out for his unwanted assistance.

"Then introduce yourself properly!"

"Alright…. T-Takaki Uno. I turn twelve this year… Currently caring for my sister."

"Nice to meet you, Takaki." Amuro reached out with his hand towards the boy who looked baffled for a moment before cheerfulness returned to his cheeks.

"I-Its nice to meet you too, Mister Ray! Uh- I mean Lieutenant R-."

"Amuro will do." Seeing him struggle with formalities, Amuro gave him the informal address instead. He earned enough of his respect to be out here in what seemed to be a harsh desert.

"Uh- Yes, A-Amuro! Please tak-."

"Eyyy…. You took so long!" The orange haired kid grappled his arm over the child Takaki's head and rubbed his knuckles against his head in a friendly way.

"Ahem, as for me. The name's Ride. Ride Mass, remember it alright, mister? One day I'm gonna make it big out-." Before he finished his sentence, he found himself held from both shoulders by the strange pilot. Who looked at him with a strange aura of familiarity.

"Your mother…. Is her name Sayla?"

"My… mom?-…" The boy's confusion only grew when Amuro began to shake him hysterically.

"Please answer me!"

The boys hadn't the slightest clue who this Sayla person was to him. She was a sister to Char, but had once been an old flame to Amuro himself.

So when the boy who shared not only the same surname as Artesia Som Deikun's alias, but certain features which were similar to himself. Amuro got caught up in the illusion that she had sired a son who might have blood relation to him. No matter how far the coincidence was, a possibility existed.

"Let goooo!" Ride used considerable force to ply himself away from Amuro's solid grip and fell on his backside. When he broke from his own disillusions, he realized how ridiculous he was.

"What's the big deal, mister!" Ride angrily waved his hand at him.

"I'm sorry." Amuro waved apologetically enough that he gained their understanding.

"Nah. It's fine. But what gives?" Ride deserved to know at least that much. So Amuro explained the coincidences that led him to believe that Ride was the son of Sayla and quite possibly his own.

Although, such a statement would've gotten him laughed at. There was no such emotion from Ride or Takaki. Instead there was a sad look of longing which puzzled him.

However, Ride was the first to break that expression and returned to his eager persona.

"Alright, we'd better get back before we get the old man in trouble."

Takaki agreed with Ride's statement as they seemed to leave the capsule entirely. Didn't they come to scavenge parts? Amuro was content with the outcome if they decided against it.

Military tech was valuable on the blackmarket, and there would be no small amount of buyers who wouldn't want to get their hands on even the electronics within the cockpit for sales. Which reminded him, Amuro jumped back into the cockpit and released some latches under the control panel. With a hiss from the seals breaking, Amuro pulled out a compact blackbox. Within, carried not only the combat data of his recent clash with Char but also the blueprints for both the psychoframe and the gundam itself. RX-93 v Gundam was after all a single prototype war machine with a significant credit to its investment and research. Although, he was cautious about returning the data to Anaheim in particular. Seeing as they had apparently built the Neo Zeon their mobile suits as well, what manner of abomination could they churn out with his flight combat data alone? No. This data would go back to Londenion at Side 1 to be archived, not even the Federation HQ at Cheyenne Mountain or the Augusta Labs.

The psycoframe technology was too dangerous. Not in capacity alone but raw untapped possibilities, if fallen into the wrong hands would potentially recreate another unstoppable war between machines that could convey their pilots will.

With the blackbox in hand, Amuro turned another handle behind the seat which set the self-destruct and climbed out of the cockpit.

"We need to go, I've rigged the counter to go off in a minute."

Realizing what he meant, the kids rushed over to their means of transportation.

"Come on!" They waved for him to come aboard.

Although it was urgent, Amuro had never seen such a machine they were riding before.

It looked like a primitive junior mobile suit, although on wheels. The only big statement on the machine was its large-caliber autocannon clipped to the side.

"I'm coming!" Amuro jogged up to the machine and climbed its rear to get to the hatches on top where their heads protruded.

"Let's go!" Ride, assuming a commander's seat, ordered Takaki to drive it at maximum speed away from the incoming explosion.

(BOOOOMM)

As Amuro turned around, amidst the plumage of smoke, burning bits were falling like fiery snow. A wave of nostalgia hit him as, yet another suit had served greatly in keeping its pilot, him safe despite its final outcome. Amuro gave a final salute of respect to what remained of the Gundam now laid to rest on the desert sands.

"Um, Amuro… Was that really necessary?"

"It was, I don't want anything falling into the wrong hands."

"Mmmm… seems like a waste. You could've salvaged some parts, mobile suits are rare these days." Even Ride had the same idea as Amuro, for a child he really thought out of the box from his age group.

"By the way, which desert is this? Nevada?" While not seeing many deserts aside from the ones he knew, this desert was seemingly novel onto its own. For one, the entire ground was hard enough for the small wheels of this junior mobile suit to run without shaking about or stressing the locomotives. And the sand was fine redish, which desert was he on?

"Nevada? Where's that?" It was clear that he wasn't in the continent of North America then.

"A state in America." Amuro clarified.

"America? Is that like one of them space colonies?" Now that was starting to sound weird, when would an Earth-born native not know the continent of North and South America?

"Stop the suit." A sense of dizziness overcame him as he requested the vehicle to halt.

"Sorry, Amuro but we have to get back soon-." Takaki's explanation was cut short by another plea from him.

"Please! Stop the vehicle!"

Takaki reluctantly halted the mobile vehicle, allowing Amuro to dismount and fall to his knees coughing out fluids.

"Uh- Mister Amuro!"

"O-Oi! What's happening, Mister?!"

Ride patted him on the back wondering if he got easily car sick, strange for a mobile suit pilot to have though. Amuro was not ignorant to his strange surroundings, nor did he require newtype cognitative abilities to exclusively derive that there was something terribly amiss in his assumptions.

"Uh- Hey!" Ride called out as Amuro ran up a ridge-line on their flank to the mobile worker. On top, it granted him a better vantage of his surroundings.

Amuro eyed the horizon over the ledge to a canyon that lay below them, however his eyes were glued to the front. There were multiple things that he noticed were wrong. Like the absence of any sort of wildlife at all, no sounds of a bird of prey overhead, no hiss of the snake, not even the chirp of a cricket. Then, there was the heat. Normally it was fine to be high in such places, however the glare was more intense that before. That could only happen if the Earth got closer to the Sun which brought about a suspicion that Amuro couldn't shake. Ride came running after him and caught up to him where he sat dangling dangerously off the ledge.

"…. Ride, where are we?"

"Where you ask….." Ride looked at him strangely. How could a professional mobile suit pilot not know where he was?

"What era is this?"

"Huh? Oi, Amuro…. What kind of question is that?" Ride became rightfully suspicious of his queries, even doubting his claim that he was a mobile suit pilot. Although the big question remained as to how he got trapped in that capsule.

"Is this the U.C. 0093?"

"U.C.? What the heck is that? It's the post disaster year 323."

The honesty of the child had made Amuro's heart dropped into the sand beneath his legs. Post disaster era? An aftermath of a war so disastrous that it became the milestone for the new era? How much time had passed between the time he lived and the present? Amuro's breathing became so erratic that Ride couldn't fail to notice.

"Hey, take it easy, Amuro. Relax! Relax!" He tried to calm the adult in front of him.

"Look, you clearly need some help. After we return to the base, we'll tell the boss you need escort to the hospital! Amuro?"

"Where am I…..?" Amuro repeated his previously unanswered question.

Not knowing what else to do, Ride could only answer him. Without realizing the shock, it would place upon his new pilot acquaintance.

"We… We're currently along the Valles Marineris, the biggest canyons in all of Mars."

(plop)

"O-Oi! Don't scare me, Amuro! Oi! Oi! Amuro, wake up!" Frantically shaking the unconscious Amuro, he yelled for Takaki's assistance in carrying him back to the base of their workplace, the Chryse Guard Security PMC.

It wouldn't be long for Amuro to come to his sense in the days to come, however the facts told to him were too much for his weakened state to handle. Call him an embarrassment for a military soldier. But to be told that the life he knew no longer existed whilst projecting the image of all those friends and family he knew were no longer within his reach, or that he was far beyond the jurisdictions of even the Earth Federation. Because Amuro was not in Federal territory to begin with.

He was on Mars.

And the question had yet to be answered as to his current circumstance as his last thought before falling down was…..

-How did I get all the way here, Chan?-

Author's Notes:

Commissioned on special petition by several readers. I have no intention of expanding the Axis Shock story beyond this chapter and another one after this while RaK and GoC are left hanging.

If you feel this story warrants a continuation and are willing to get your hands working on the keyboard. I will grant permission to whoever wishes to pursue this story and all its intellectual rights which I do not own beyond creative writing. Please do seek my consent first by sending a private message over with a desire to do so before writing as there might be conflicting stories with others.