Title: Too Bad, Too Late, Too Hard

Author: Sobakasu

Rating: PG 13

Warning: Mature Themes, Language, and Yaoi (1x2 3x4 5xOC)

Disclaimer: *sniff* I WANT GUNDAM WING.keyword:want.I do not own it so the boys will only bend to my will through fanfic.life sucks eh?

Prolouge

A crash from the living room in a medium sized suburban neighborhood house awoke the six year old little boy from his bed. Like any regular six year old Duo was a curious. Slowly he climbed from his bed holding his teddy bear harder and harder fearing what had caused the crash. He peeked into the living room to a scene that would stay imprinted in his head for his whole life. His father stood menacingly over his mother who was curled up in a ball, both her eyes held bruises and her left cheek was bleeding freely. She looked up at his father in fear.

"YOU BITCH! I work for the whole day and when I come home all I want is some warm food and I come home to find COLD food? What the hell are you doing all day!?" Nickolas Matthews screamed at his wife.

"I.I..I'll heat it up for you." His wife, Katrina offered trying to her onto her feet. She never got a chance as he hit her sending her back to the floor. Duo was trembling, what was happening? Why was his daddy hitting his mommy?

"Mommy?!" Duo cautiously stuttered out stepping into the middle of the doorway. Hiss father turned to him angrily.

"GET UP STAIRS! IT'S PAST YOUR BEDTIME!" Nickolas roared.

"Duo, please go back bed, listen to mommy ok baby?" Katrina begged.

"But.mommy, you're-"

"GET UP STAIRS RIGHT NOW!! DIDN"T YOU HEAR ME! THAT WAS AN ORDER!" His dad yelled roughly grabbing Duo by the upper arm and tossing him back into his room so hard that when Duo feel he banged his right cheek against the opposite wall. "DON'T COME OUT OF THIS ROOM UNTIL I TELL YOU!"

Duo scrambled from his falling place to under his covers holding back tears, boy's don't cry.

Duo woke up that morning still trembling in his bed. His mother walked into his room an ice back at hand her own injuries from the night before already tended to and hidden under mass amounts of cove up and powder. Duo sat up looking at his mom fear evident in his violet orbs. His mother gave him a reassuring smile before placing the ice pack in the little boy's bruised cheek.

"It's ok baby, This will make it all better."

"Mommy, why did daddy-"

"Don't worry sweetie he won't do that again, I promise, now if any one asks what happened with your cheek tell them you tripped and fell, ok? I want you to be mommy's big boy and do that" Duo nodded. His mother placed a kiss on the boys forehead and fondly caressed the boys medium length plait of hair "Ok then, let's get going, we need to get some clothes on you for school."

Duo spent the next two weeks in fear when he returned to his house. His mother had promised his daddy wouldn't hurt them again, but his mommy lied, Duo would wake up in fear to hearing falling and thuds coming from the living room. Too scared to do anything else except curl up into a tight ball and hope that his father wouldn't come for him.

The Sunday of the second week Duo heard his mother let out a cry of pain. Scared for his mother he quickly walked to the living room. Katrina held herself up with the help of the wall. Nickolas came towards her his eyes holding a drunken gleam. Her view then fell on a moving figure at the doorway. IT was Duo.

"DUO!" She sobbed. "Got to bed, don't worry about mommy I want you to go to bed." Duo stood still and didn't move. He was mommy's big boy and he had to be strong and protect her.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR YOU MOTHER!" His father roared.

"But Mommy is hurt." Duo said looking at his mother's state.

"WHY YOU!" He father screamed. "I want you in your room NOW!"

"Please Duo, listen to him!" his mother begged. "go back to bed!"

"Mommy, you're hurt" Duo whimpered.

"HOW DARE YOU DON"T LISTEN!!" His father began stalking towards him. "I'll teach you!" He was merely inches away from Duo when a click brought his attention back to his wife. She stood stabilized holding a hand gun out ready to shoot. He let out a maniacal laugh.

"Get away from him" Katrina hissed.

"You wouldn't pull the trigger, you're too weak" He spat out.

"Nick, get away from him."

"Come on Katrina, you think that you could pull the trigger? You're too stupid.You wouldn't kill me." Nickolas said slowly walking towards Katrina.

"Get away" Katrina sobbed clicking the safety off. Nickolas didn't stop. She shot. Nickolas Matthews fell to the floor.

"MOMMY!" Duo sobbed running into his mother's arms. Katrina held her son tight ignoring the fact that she was bleeding profusely onto him.

"It's ok Duo, everything is going to be ok." She repeated.

"What are we going to do about Daddy?"

"Don't worry I'll take care of it. I want you to go back to bed ok?" His mother said calmly. Duo nodded and began heading towards his room.

BANG

Duo's heart clenched in fear. He ran back to the living room. The scene before him was to be imprinted into his very soul for many lives to come. The scene that was probably the downfall of Duo Matthews's normal life. His mother lay bonelessly on the floor blood oozing onto the floor from the bullet hole in her head. His father merely feet away from her bleeding. Duo's mind saw only red. Only death.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Police officers never expected the scene they walked into in the Matthews household. Both adults collapsed on the floor, and a small boy curled in a corner sobbing, his eyes glued to his mother's motionless body, her bloody handkerchief clutched into his hand. He examined both adults. The woman, Katrina Matthews was instantly dead with the bullet hole through the head, the man; Nickolas Matthews had a faint slowing pulse that had paramedics and officers struggling to save this man's life. Another officer approached the now trembling form of the boy, Duo Matthews, the boy refused to move, mumbling about his mother, about when she was going to wake up. The office gently lifted the frail boy and placed in the back of a police cruiser. He gave simple instructions to the officer. The boy was to stay at the Maxwell orphanage until his father recovered, or was to permanently stay there if his father passed on.

Duo was greeted with kind and warm open arms of the Maxwell church. His life slowly came together, he cried when realization set in, his mother was never to come back. He attended his mother's funeral crying on Sr. Helen's shoulder her hands calming him down. Nickolas was not properly stablilized for a month and another month was for his recovery. A week before his release from the hospital Father Maxwell and Sr. Helen pulled Duo into the main office. A woman wearing a business suit sat there and introduced herself as Melanie Harper, she was a social worker. That when Duo's dream of staying in the Maxwell church shattered

"Well, it seems your father is recovered and you will be returning to live with him on Friday, but I hope you will not forget us, you can visit us." Father Maxwell said cheerfully. He gave Duo a light smile but the gleam of fear in Duo's eyes made his face turn into a frown. "Aren't you happy? You'll go back to your father?"

"No, No, No, NO" Duo sobbed embedding his head into Sr. Helen's skirt.

"DUO!?" Sr.Helen asked shocked at the boy's reaction.

"He must've gotten rather attached to the place, he probably doesn't want to leave." Melanie offered. "I think I'll stay in his old house with him from today, he'll get himself reattached"

"Ok, I'll get his stuff" Sr. Helen said patting Duo's plait. "Don't worry Duo, you don't have to worry about anything, God will always watch over you" Duo sniffed and looked at Sr. Helen.

"So he'll protect me?" Duo asked. Sr. Helen nodded. Duo followed the nun to his room and helped her packed walking back he met up with a young girl who had befriended him.

"Where you goin?" the girl asked her gray eyes examining Duo's state.

"I'm going back home." Do said sadly. Morgan's eyes dilated in shock and hurt.

"WHY!?" The girl retorted clutching Duo's hand,

"My daddy's got better" Duo replied. Morgan looked at him and tears brimmed in her eyes.

"I'll Miss you DUO!" She whimpered giving him a light hug. Duo sniffed hard and held his own cries.

Duo departed the Maxwell church with a broken heart. Leaving the safe haven he entered territory of danger that only his eyes had seen. He walked into his house; it was clean and ready to be re-inhabited. His eyes were glued to the very spot his mother had fallen. Flashes of the broken and abused woman his mother was flashed through his eyes. He shut them and quickly made it to his room, hoping his past time in the house would not repeat

Life never got better. His father came back. The "nice lady" left and the drinking began. Duo would work to make sure his father was not as angry as the night before, and the night before that. His mask of a happy child involuntarily slipped onto his face. At night the screams, the yelling, the beating it all began.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! YOU'RE MY SON!" his father would yell picking up Duo by the hair as the boy sobbed. "Boys DON'T cry!"

"I'm sorry daddy" Duo would whimper stopping his tears. "Please stop"

"I won't STOP! And you can't leave! You can NEVER leave! No one would want you! NO ONE!! You hear me?!"

Each week would get worse and worse. Duo missed more and more school due to injuries. Finally after 5 months of his torture, Duo left.

The boy spent over 2 months on the street living off scraps and trash. He hid in corners. He knew what the uniformed men would do. They'd take him back home. Duo spent his birthday in a gutter. Stealing became a second nature. Duo would do anything to stay away from his dad. It was one day that he was stealing,, the police at his heals, that he stumbled upon Father Maxwell. Literally. The boy was running away from a street vendor and ran into the priest.

"DUO?!" Father Maxwell asked in shock.

"Father Maxwell!" Duo gasped and clkutched the elder man's arm. " Don't make them take me back home. PLEASE!!"

"Sir, I'm very sorry" A police officer said trying to pry the braided child off the priest arm.

"NO NO NO NO!!" Duo yelled and looked up at Father Maxwell in search of help.

"Men, could you give me a second?" The priest asked. The polic officers agreed and The priest sat on the curb leading Duo to sit besides him.

"Now tell me, my child, why do you not want to go home?"

"It hurts."

"What?"

"The beatings. they hurt, I don't want to hurt. I don't want to go home" Duo replied holding his tears boys don't cry. Father Maxwell looked at the boy shocked.

"You're father's been hitting you?" Duo nodded looking down and ashamed.

"I'm sorry" Duo whispered. Father Maxwell took the boy into his arms giving him a hug.

"You are not the one who should be sorry." He said and turned to the police.

"This boy has an abuse report to file. I wish to take him back to Maxwell orphanage when were done."

"But sir, he stole from that street merchant" A police retorted. Father Maxwell approached the street merchant and with a nod from the man he returned.

"The man wishes to not press charges now if you could escort us to head quarters?" Father Maxwell asked taking Duo's hand.

Duo's life at the orphanage began after that. His father was arrested for child abuse as well as for the abuse of his deceased wife. He's to be in jail for 10 years. Duo still has nightmares over his life on the street, over his life at his home, but his life improved and Duo's life became a happy one.

TBC

I hope the prologue didn't seem rushed.I really wanted it to run smoothly but while looking over it I was positive it didn't so I gave it to a friend and asked her, she said it was fine. I gave it to another one and said it was fine. But now I'm thinking they just said it was fine because they're my friends. please tell me what you think!! Review and I'll get you the next chapter!