Disclaimer: I don't own GundamW… I kinnda wished I did have a steak in it…

Chapter 1:
Solo

Duo slowly opened his eyes. It took a moment for his vision to return and focus on the ceiling high above him. Nothing new. Another unfamiliar ceiling in his life. It won't be long till this one is forgotten and he'll be under a new one.

He groaned as he turned onto his side. The pain at the back of his head was throbbing viciously. Not only that, his side was still sore from being roughened up when being pulled out of his gundam. Of course he had resisted being arrested by the OZ soldiers. It had taken them hours just to open the hatch of the Deathscythe. When it had finally been opened, he had kicked the first unfortunate soul who reached out to him square in the face. It took a while and some strong blows, but the soldiers finally managed to bring him under control, just in time for the first of the paparazzi to watch as they carried him away. What competent soldiers they must have looked like in front of the cameras!

"Ahhhh… crap…" he moaned, bringing his hands up to his face. He remembered the officer from earlier who had interrogated him, trying to get more information out of him about the other gundam pilots. He had refused to say anything. Not because he was keeping his fellow pilots safe, but really because he didn't actually know anything about them. Heero Yuy was obviously an alias, no point in even trying to follow up on that. And Quatre Winner, well, he probably stood to lose a lot more than anyone could possibly imagine, so keeping his name a secret was the best way to go. As for the other two, he knew nothing other than they were on his side and that was good enough for him. After a while, the officer had finally gotten upset with his uncooperative prisoner and informed the young pilot about his impending execution. Duo had strongly protested before someone hit him on the back of the head. Then, everything went black, but not before he left the soldiers with a few choice words.

He frowned as this last bit of information lingered in his mind. An execution was a little too much, he though. "Well, I have been living on borrowed time…" he finally grinned as he forced himself to sit up in his cell. Again, he looked up at the ceiling from the cold floor. His mind quickly reaching back in time, remembering the few, fragmented memories he possessed.

#####

The tiny apartment was filthy. The curtains and windows were always closed, giving the place a particular smell and an unpleasantly creepy atmosphere. But no one cared, at least not on this colony. Everyone was poor, and for the most part, not the ideal honest person one could be. The war had left this colony in ruins and its citizens in even worst shape. Anyone who could afford to leave did. Everyone else did what they could just to survive, even if it meant doing things of a questionable nature.

And in this dirty apartment, a small boy cautiously made his way towards the kitchen. There might be some food in the fridge if he was lucky. Unfortunately for him, there wasn't. Just more alcohol and expired microwavables. The boy sighed, there wasn't even water he could use for his hidden stash of ramen noodles. He eyed the beer bottles for a while. He had once used beer instead of water for his noodles, it hadn't been a good idea though. His stomach growled as he grabbed an opened liquor bottle in his small hands and took a few drinks of it. It was bitter and he didn't quite like the flavor, but it was better than nothing.

After placing the bottle back in its place, the young boy made his way down the dark hallway, careful not to trip over the piles of trash and cloths. He hated going into John's room, but there was a chance that he'd find some loose change there and be able to buy himself something to eat at the burger place down the street. He opened the door slowly, peering in and making sure that John really wasn't home before stepping in. His heart pounded in his chest as he searched the floor around the small dresser and under the bed. The last time John had found him in the room he had been beaten blue with a belt. The boy's mouth went dry as he realized that the only money he could find was sitting on the dresser. He weighted the choses before him carefully. Go hungry, eat the ramen raw, or take the money and maybe get beaten again.

The boy's head snapped back as he heard the lock on the front door being opened. He grabbed the money, sticking it in pocket and quickly left the room. He dodged into the bathroom when he saw John walk past the hallway and into the kitchen. He listened as the older man rummaged through the refrigerator for a beer bottle. The boy stood attentively in the doorway for a moment. He had to leave now. If the older man flopped down on the couch drinking, he would surely get pissed at the boy for trying to leave.

The small boy swallowed before dashing out of his hiding spot and heading to the front door. Unfortunately for him, he bumped straight into the older man as he was making his way to the room, bottle in hand. From his slow reaction and swagger, the older man was already drunk as he eyed the boy over. The boy's heart stopped as the man continued to glare at him. Slowly, the boy stepped aside as he tried to inch past the man, whose eyes never left him.

"You worthless shit!" John bellowed as he sucker punched the boy in the face.

The small boy fell to the floor and forced himself not to move. He clutched the side of his face in pain as he listened to John make his way into the room. As soon as the door closed behind the older man, the boy got to his feet and quickly left the house.

##

"What are you doing, Duo?"

The little boy looked up over his shoulder at the voice that had addressed him. "That's not my name!" he snapped.

The older boy standing over him simply shrugged. His dark brown hair was a mess as usual, but he was wearing new cloths. A dark vest and a white button up dress shirt, both of which were far too big for him. Where he got them from was anyone's guess. "I just thought it was a good name for you," he stated flatly. "You don't trust anyone and you seem to hate everyone, yet you bring food for us," he was referring to the rest of the war orphans under his care. "It's almost like you have a split personality," he grinned.

Duo returned his attention to the ground and continued to draw in the dirt with the stick in his hand. "I couldn't bring you anything. Fridge is empty", the little boy replied dryly. He made it a point never to get attached to others. There had once been a girl he had known some time ago, she was slightly older and took care of him for a while. Where she came from, he never knew, but she taught him to never be stingy and always give what he could. However, she had died when the Alliance and Colony Resistance Forces clashed. After that, he tried to do what he could for the orphan children, whom he knew had far less than he did.

"Now what happened?" the older boy reached down.

The small boy slapped the hand away and pulled his long hair over the side of his face in order to cover it. "Go away!" he throw the stick at the older boy, but to no avail. The older boy was four, maybe six, years older than him. He easily overpowered him, taking a firm grip on Duo's tiny hand and brushed his hair off to the side, revealing a fresh black eye.

"That looks nasty…" he finally said after examining the small boy.

"Go away Gavroache!" Duo exclaimed as he pulled away from the older boy. He paused for a moment and looked up the other boy, "Garoch…?" his little face scrunched up as he tried to remember the older boy's name. "Just go away!" he finally got annoyed.

"I told you to just call me Solo" the older boy informed, "everyone else does. And I'm not going anywhere." He knelt down next to the small boy. "You can't go back home," he warned. "That man will only end up killing you."

"He won't" Duo replied as-a-matter-of-factly, "he needs me to go with him in order to get money from charities."

Solo eyed the small boy over for a moment. For a five or six year old, Duo was much smarter then he let on to. Even if he didn't say much, his tiny mind was always working. He was sly and manipulative. Solo had watched the young boy use others as distractions while he stole from venders. At other times he'd even pass himself off as a girl while carrying around some younger orphan in order to gain pity and sympathy from adults, normally resulting in receiving money or a free meal. Solo sighed, if he lived to adulthood, that boy would be a force to be reckoned with.

Duo glanced over at the older boy from the corner of his eyes. This colony was full of orphaned children as a result of the war. It was just something normal now. Solo himself was an orphan, but different from the others. Most children just ran around on their own causing trouble, trying to live day to day, and eventually getting killed. But Solo was different. He had started a gang of orphans in which everyone looked out for one another. The elder children took the younger ones under their wing and took care of them to the best of their abilities. All the food and money that they gathered, they brought together and shared it. Once, some kids from outside the group had taken money from two of the younger orphans, which resulted in Solo and the older children to hunt the kids down and take their money back. They were a tight knit family, of sorts.

"I still can't let you go back," Solo finally said. "Just come back with me to-"

"Where?" Duo snapped. "With you and the others in the alley? You guys sleep out in the streets!"

"At least we don't sleep in fear," Solo snapped back just as angrily. "We never wake up to someone beating us for no damn reason!"

Duo stared back, wide eyed and mouth half opened. He was about to protest the statement, but couldn't. He did sleep in fear. Correction, he hardly slept due to the fact that he was terrified of John.

The small boy finally got up from his place without saying a word and started on his way back home. He didn't want to back, but it was the only thing he knew. And besides, it wasn't as bad as Solo made it out to be. John wasn't around the majority of the time and he had a sort of safe haven. There were normally leftovers and finding change on the floor was common. Best of all, he didn't have to worry about either Alliance or Colony Resistance members trampling him over, like Solo's group had more than once experienced.

"Duo!" The older boy called out, but was ignored. The small boy continued on his way and soon disappeared behind a corner. It was his home. It was the only thing he knew.

A/N: Yes, I still live. I can't guarantee how often I'll be here, but I will try to finish this in a timely manner. I found the outline for this story while cleaning out files on old diskettes and thought, "I should finish this!". Again, this is another 3 chapter story, this time dealing with Duo's past (like the past two stories that dealt with Trowa and WuFei). I hope it's well received and liked. Enjoy!