Change || The Promised Neverland

♫ Chapter One: Mud ♫

<< How much mud are you willing to wade through to get to me? >>

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Marin's eyes flickered back and forth as he stepped down from the safety of the trees. He'd been climbing and running through them since he was [Name]'s age. Speaking of the girl, he hadn't seen her today. At least, not yet.

Not seeing [Name] wasn't rare. She always kept to herself, and during the free time she would go off somewhere that nobody knew. But now Marin was well aware of what she did.

The day the two of them officially "met", he had seen her wandering the forest before stopping and watching the other four-year-olds. Her gaze had been blank, so he figured that she was just acting with no clear destination.

She should be coming any minute now. Ever since she had seen him and heard his song, she always hid in one of the trees surrounding the clearing to watch him. It was both endearing and kind of creepy. But he figured that he knew the reason. The music box was a big part of [Name]'s life, even though she probably didn't remember it. She must've been intrigued by the song itself.

Marin would call out to the girl, inviting her to come down or even join him. But the moment she realized he had seen her, she ran away. Every single time.

Caught up in his thoughts, Marin didn't notice when he tripped on a particularly big root of a tree.

Why is the ground getting closer? he wondered. Wait...OH NO--

His face planted into the ground, at a particularly muddy part as well. He groaned with distaste, sitting up and rubbing his face in a desperate attempt to rid of the mud that coated it.

A quiet snort stilled his hand. Marin looked up, not caring about the mud anymore. Up in the tree, [Name] was looking away from him, covering the side of her face as she snickered. She peeked through her fingers, saw his mud-stained, dumbstruck face, and then those quiet snickers developed into a giggling fit.

"Hey!" Marin pouted before smiling fondly. He must have been the first person to see her laugh. It was a shame, it sounded like his beloved music box.

Marin's offended face only made [Name] laugh harder. She toppled over in laughter, falling into another mud puddle below the tree.

Needless to say, the shock shut her up.

"Ewe!" she spluttered, rubbing her face with one hand and attempting to scrape out the taste of mud with the other. Marin cackled at her expense. [Name] glared at him, before grinning mischievously. She scooped up a sloppy ball of mud from the puddle, lobbing it at Marin.

It landed on top of his head, splattering his entire upper half. Marin stared at [Name] in mock disbelief from behind his dripping blue locks.

"Oh, that's it!" Marin said, pushing himself up from the puddle. He scooped together some mud of his own. [Name] grinned childishly, already preparing to meet his challenge. Marin struck first, throwing a well-aimed ball at his junior. Unfortunately, well-aimed shots don't count if your target dodges them. The (h/c)-haired child ducked, letting the unfortunate tree behind her tank the hit.

She jumped at Marin, throwing another ball of mud at him. Marin quickly intercepted it with a ball of his own. The two collided mid-air in a burst of the brown sludge.

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Isabella's usually gentle purple gaze was now disappointed and slightly cold when she surveyed the two dripping children. The two shivered, her eyes sending chills down their spines.