DISCLAIMER: As if it weren't clear enough, I do NOT own Total Drama.
A/N: This is just a quick little thing I wrote up about why Brick wears his dogtags. Nothing too special.
A young, fourteen year-old Brick MacArthur jogged back to his home, panting and sweating. He had just finished his daily 6:45 a.m. 5k trek around the neighborhood and was ready to open the door, see his favorite neighbor, Gunther Noelsen, back from military duty, and enjoy the rest of his saturday with him. Gunther was Brick's favorite neighbor, despite their obvious differences in age. He played baseball and talked with Brick, stood up for him when bullies were around, and was always by his side. Seeing his face again would absolutely make Brick's day after months of waiting.
He stepped up onto the porch and knocked on the door, smiling, but that smile was met by a dismayed frown.
"Mother? What happened? Where's Gunther? He promised to meet me here," Brick inquired, stepping inside the foyer and kicking his shoes off.
"I... it... just..." Mother stammered as she failed to find the right words. She sighed and lead Brick over to the living room and sat him down on the couch, putting her body right next to her son and resting a hand on his shoulder. "He's... not coming back."
"So he's staying at the war for a little longer?"
Mother ran her hand through Brick's hair warmly. "No, son. He was... he was killed on-duty."
The young Brick's eyes widened, and his hands started shaking. "No... no! No, that couldn't have happened! I bet-I bet he's right next door, to surprise me!"
"That's not it, Brick, wait-" He had already been out the door before she could finish.
"Mrs. Noelsen!" Brick called as he dashed over to the Noelsen's house.
She was sitting on a lawn chair on the porch, chin resting in her hands, a somber expression on her face.
Her expression told Brick everything.
"No... it was real, wasn't it?"
Mrs. Noelsen, Gunther's mother, nodded and sniffled.
"He's never coming back?"
She shook her head.
Brick couldn't describe what he was feeling at the time. A mixture of grief, depression, and anger ran surged through him and blinded his thoughts. Gunther was his first friend when the MacArthurs first moved into Cedartown. The first person to go up to him and talk to him, and the first person he felt comfortable around. Gunther was a saint in Brick's eyes. Nice, compassionate, a good listener. He was a noble young man, a patriot, the kind of guy that never backed down from a fight.
But none of that mattered now. He was gone. And he left an empty hole in Brick's heart.
"He... he wanted you to have this..." Mrs. Noelsen reached into her pocket and pulled out two dogtags.
Brick, fighting back tears, grabbed the dogtags and looked at the words engraved on them.
Brick: If I die, fight for me.
It was continued on the second dogtag.
I'll always be by your side.
Brick managed to crack a smile through the tears and clutched the dogtags closer to his heart. He would listen to the dogtags. He would fight for Gunther. And his country.
That was the day Brick decided to join Cadet Camp. That was the day where Brick decided to never give up, to never back down from a challenge. That was the day Brick decided he would follow a code of chivalry, so if he were to go down in battle one day, he would go down with honor. For he knew that, no matter what he did, Gunther would always be next to him with the dogtags he wore.