A/N: Alright, let's try this again. This is the first fanfic I have put effort into and I hope that it will hold your interest as well as mine. Please tell me if I'm making myself too Gary Stu and ways to help remedy that. Also, I'm new-ish to the herd and just came out of the stable recently so if I'm wrong on some character aspects notify me. Also, there's one f-bomb, so… yeah. Now, the mandatory disclaimer;
I DO NOT OWN THIS EXCEPT FOR THE SHAMELESS SELF INSERT OF ME AND MY WRITINGS! MLP:FiM BELONGS TO HASBRO!
EDIT: Wow, there were a LOT of mistakes. Hope I fixed them all.

I am dying. I can feel my heart slowing, my body shutting down. I can feel the splinters, the burns, the bruises all over my body. I can hear the voices of people around me. But worst of all, I know that I will never get to say goodbye.

(TWO HOURS AGO, SOUTHWESTERN OHIO)

"Come on Brian, we don't have all day!" I heard my friend's older brother call for me from his car. We were going out to eat dinner in some restaurant in the Greater Cincinnati area, and then hang out in his apartment.

"Hold on, I still gotta grab some things!" I called out my window as I pulled on my grandfather's old Vietnam War army jacket and grabbed my knife from its sheath to make sure it was still sharp. I've always carried a knife with me. Even to school, I would keep a small pen knife in my coat or jeans. I thought I wouldn't need it, but it was nice that it was there. The one I took with me was five or six inches long, with a leather sheath. Once I had grabbed that and some money (of which I didn't have much of) I ran down the stairs and hopped into the back seat.

My friend, Aidan, is probably borderline insane. He always does the weirdest things, and tells even stranger stories about the craziest things. Hell, I think he's done crack or something, but I'll never know. He's kind of short, probably around 5'1, and has red hair which always sticks up all over the place. Me? Well, I am pretty tall for my age (2), 5'9, and somewhat lean. I have shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. The difference between me and him? He gets all the ladies. I'm just the antisocial "wild" boy who spends most of his time in forests. I don't blame them for not accepting me, it's human nature to destroy what they don't understand.

We drove for at least a half hour with me listening to Aidan's craziness and his brother trying to drown us out with an assortment of rap music and hip hop. It wasn't my favorite, but I didn't complain. It gave me a break from my crazy buddy's wild stories and jokes until he realized I wasn't listening too hard.

"And then, he lit the paper thing stickin' outta the bottle (1) on fire with 'is lighter and threw it up in the air!" I couldn't hear what he said after that because his brother had turned the music up again. We climbed out of his brother's Accord and walked into the restaurant, completely oblivious of what was about to come.

For the most part, dinner was the same as the car ride. My friend and his never-ending tales of whatever the hell he does, his brother ignoring us, me listening and observing our surroundings. I've always been an observer, a sentinel, if you will. I'm only thirteen years old, but I've seen things that I never should have. I've seen people killed in front of me, people who are so wounded they have to hold their own intestines in, people who are mourning for their families. I know how those children feel. I lost my father when I was three or four: I can't remember. My mother became addicted to alcohol and eventually started to beat me. Some say I've never been the same. I just call it growing up.

Once Aidan and I finished and paid the bill, we started to walk to his apartment, which was about ten or twelve blocks away. His brother "went" to the bathroom, but he ditched us after he paid his share of the bill and drove off to God knows where. It wasn't a problem, as we were both boy scouts and had hiked many times. We decided to take a small shortcut through an alley. Big mistake. As soon as we couldn't be seen from the street, three armed thugs with handguns made their presence known.

"PHONE AND WALLET! NOW!" One of the thieves came up to me and started to search my pockets. My knife was under my jacket and I couldn't get it with the man right in front of me. Aidan looked at me, speechless. I could see emotions cross his eyes. Confusion, anger, sadness, and most of all, fear.

"Hey boss, this one's got somethin' on 'im." Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit! I thought as he went up to my coat pockets. "Jackpot! This one's got at least 60 bucks with him!" Alright Brian think. There's gotta be a way out of this. Three men, two armed with semi-automatic hand guns. And all I have is a knife that I can't get to unless I want to get shot…

"Check the inside pockets too, don't want to leave anything." Dammit! He's gonna find the knife! Think think think! As soon as I opened my jacket, my hand went to the knife. A gunshot rang out and I heard a cry of pain as I saw Aidan crumple to the ground.

"AIDAN!" I yelled. I felt tears in my eyes that I had no time for. I blinked them back quickly as I saw one of the gunmen swing their weapon around to face me. No time to think! I felt a burning pain on my forearm as I swung my knife around, hoping to connect with flesh. It did. I managed to make a deep laceration in his right arm. He dropped the gun, which I took advantage of. I sidestepped and kicked his knee from the side and heard a loud crack. I grabbed the gun, only to find it had no ammo in the magazine. One of the other men grabbed a trash can lid and used it like a shield while the other gunslinger opened fire. I turned and ran, but there was a brick wall. I was cornered. The man with the lid was closing in, as well as the gunman. I could hear them yelling to each other, their loud footsteps in the seemingly normal back alley. Shit! Luckily for me, they weren't as fast as I was and I ran straight towards them, kicking down the shield man and charging the gun thug. Once again, I felt a blazing pain as I was shot in the leg and I fell to the ground.

"Nighty night, you little fuck." The man was holding the gun to my temple, and the other was tending to the man I had slashed. I laid my head on the ground, and looked hope right in the eyes. The shield man must have been armed too! There was a snub-nose revolver that had three left in the cylinder next to me. I reached out but not fast enough. The gun thug let his guard down as he kicked the revolver away, which gave me a chance to grab his arm, twist it hard enough to get him off of me, and limp towards the gun. As soon as I grabbed it and incapacitated the unarmed thug, I turned to face the leader.

"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" He roared as he fired at me again, loading his weapon. I turned and fired, this one catching his shoulder. "NOW YOU DIE!" Another shot went off as I ran behind some metal garbage cans. I could hear him running at me. Will he ever give up? And how the hell has somebody not heard all this? I jumped the cans, hoped my revolver had a shot left in it, and pulled the trigger. The revolver went off and the bullet went wide, catching a pipe which immediately started hissing. What the hell is that smell? Is that- My thoughts were interrupted by a blinding light and an explosion as he pulled the trigger.

He's referring to a Molotov cocktail if you are wondering.

I'm thirteen. Don't like it? Suck it up or get the hell out.

So… What did you think? I know it should be longer but I didn't know much as to what I was going to do for the fight. Read and review, constructive criticism would be appreciated, but flames are accepted as well. Also, do you think I should give Brian a love interest? Just curious.

-Lazer