[i]"Nobody should never be talked down like that," Jace said, still staring in the direction they had ran off in. He was still breathing heavily as he started to come down from his adrenaline high from the fight, so his words were a little forced. Though he'd been heavily outnumbered and out-aged, he was taller than any of them and had more fighting experience. They all got in a few good punches on one another but Jace never had any back down when it came to a good fight. Besides, after only a few punches on the first two he had attacked, the others took off running and they soon followed suit. All bark and no bite, those idiots were.
     Even though he was only thirteen, he had always been taller than any of the other kids, but a gentle giant, he was not. Ever since he'd been old enough to hold up a fist, he was getting into some sort of fight about anything he could conjure up the story for in his head. They wouldn't even allow him to attend school, anymore, ever since he got in a fight with the mayor's son and broke his nose; not that he didn't have it coming...
     "They didn't hurt you, did they?" Jace finally turned to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, moving him around to look at the boy to see if they had roughed him up but didn't find any visible marks. He was actually surprised he wasn't crying for the hurtful things they had said about his dead mother. If Jace could remember his mother, he would have been in tears despite his tough guy persona. 
     Once he was satisfied that he hadn't been hurt, he grinned brightly at him. Blood was smeared on his front teeth where his lip had been busted and had a bruise setting in on his left cheek, but it didn't faze him at all. "Good thing I came along to help out. Always wanted to put that bunch in their place." He then extended his hand. "I'm Jace, by the way..." [/I]