Change || The Promised Neverland

♫ Chapter Three: Understand ♫

<< Could you help me understand? >>

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"Come on, [Name]!" Marin called. "Just jump!"

[Name] gulped, staring at the branches in front of her. She took a step back, the branch under her shaking as she did. Marin sighed.

"[Name], you were the one who asked for this," he reminded her. "If you can't do it, get down--"

[Name] rapidly shook her head. "I'm fine," she assured. Marin smiled uncertainly.

"Alrighty," he said reluctantly. "But be careful."

[Name] tip-toed across the branch, stopping when the branch began to dip downwards. Her arms were stretched out to keep her balance. She hesitantly took another step forward, only to retreat it when the branch hinted at breaking. Marin sucked in a breath.

"I don't know, [Name]," he said. "You better jump soon, or it's going to break."

"I knOW," [Name] squeaked, her voice turning high pitched when the branch shook again.

It had been one week since Marin had agreed to teach [Name] to "tree-travel". He'd started by teaching her to stand and walk on branches (the number of times she had slipped and fallen was infinite), figuring out which branches could hold her weight and which couldn't. Only then did he let her start jumping.

That only lead to more falling and more broken branches, but she eventually got the gist of it.

"Come on, you can jump at least this far! You've done it before," Marin said. "And don't think I didn't see you leap-frog your way over Michelle."

"That was different, I was hyped on adrenali-"

CRACK.

The two children froze. Their eyes trailed down to the limb and the source of the sound.

At the root of the branch [Name] was standing on, there was a small crack, and it was rapidly growing. 

She only had a brief moment to scream before it all came crashing down. 

Literally.

"Crap!" Marin cursed, rushing forward to catch [Name]. He was barely able to secure her in his arms before the fallen branch toppled on them both. Marin winced as the branch broke on his back, focusing on shielding the terrified girl underneath him.

He grinned through the pain at [Name], who was trembling from the shock of falling. 

"You alright there, [Name]?" he asked. [Name]'s lip quivered. Marin's eyes widened. "Hey now, don't cry, I, uh..."

[Name] clutched the collar of his shirt, burying her face into it with a sob. Her tears soaked the porcelain white cloth as she sniffled quietly. Marin stiffened, his mind scrambling in panic. What was he supposed to do? Crying toddlers weren't his forte, that was Susan's thing.

Marin pushed himself up, securing [Name] to his chest with one of his arms. He leaned against a tree, muttering to himself.

"[Name], I'm fine," he assured. "I'm not hurt."

She didn't respond. Marin sighed, patting her head. Reaching into the collar of his shirt, he pulled out the music box necklace he cherished and dangled it in front of the sniffling girl. She peeked an eye out in curiosity, but kept her face hidden in the white cloth.

Marin smiled. With one hand, he turned the key on its back. [Name] wiped her face, peering curiously at the mechanism. The song she had heard when they first met started to play.