"I won't."

With this promise, the boy reassured the girl.

He had no idea what to do.

He had no idea how he would do it.

But he would stay by her side.

He would protect her.

And he would save her.

"Can you stand?", he asked.

"I... can try."

Helping the girl up ever so slowly, the boy revealed that there were sharp scratches on her back, which were bleeding profusely.

Even so, the lashes were not all that deep - only that a large quantity of blood seemed to be exiting from them.

"I... guess we can't climb up again...", the boy whispered as he looked upwards.

With the injured girl, heading back up was an impossibility.

But even before this, Marcus wasn't so sure if he had the strength to climb back up himself.

'I didn't think this through, did I?'

As he slowly walked with the girl, whose steps were gentle and light, the boy began to think self degrading thoughts.

'I was really an idiot, wasn't I? I jumped down here without much thought as to how I would get out... and I ended up dragging her into this as well.'

And then, a shocking revelation overcame the boy.

'This is... all my fault... isn't it?'

Shaking it off, the boy refused such a sentiment.

'No. This isn't my fault.'

'It can't be my fault.'

'I'll help her.'

'I'll save her.'

'And so long as I become the hero... then I won't be the one who was wrong in the first place.'

----

[You were quite the demented little thing, wouldn't you say Marcus?]

[So focused on yourself, even in such a situation.]

[You convinced yourself in your little mind at the time that you were saving her.]

[That you were helping her.]

[That you were playing the part of the hero.]

[Ah... but I suppose most human children are demented like that, aren't they?]

[They certainly love their dreams... always imagining impossible things, chasing honors and heights which they could never possibly reach.]

[But at some point, they come to the same realization.]

[If their dreams are ridiculous, then they have two choices.]

[The first is that they give up on such dreams.]

[They grow up. They become adults. They realize that the world is not so easy that they could do such grand things.]

[And eventually... they settle into this rotten society.]

[They make up their minds and find some fickle peace, working day in and day out as if nothing is wrong.]

[But even this is the more practical of the two options.]

[For the other... well... the other would be to continue chasing your dreams, despite understanding the ridiculous nature of them.]

[These people... perhaps they will come to be known as geniuses. And I suppose that isn't technically incorrect.]

[But it is exactly these geniuses who are willing to sacrifice everything in order to achieve whatever dreams they have.]

[And it is exactly because of this... that people like THAT MAN are willing to give up their souls in order to pursue such dreams.]

[If you wish to do something so grand that it could only happen in dreams... then you must understand that it will mean giving up your very life.]

[And all too often... your life alone will not be enough.]

[So for those who remain unfaltering, focusing only on nothing but achieving these silly dreams, they start to give up everything.]

[Morality.]

[Kindness.]

[Compassion.]

[And soon, they fall into a pit of sin the likes of which have never been witnessed.]

[And this pit becomes an inescapable trap.]

[Yet within this pit... there lies success to be found.]

[For by giving up everything that is important to one, perhaps they can achieve even the impossible.]

[And yet... this all too often is at the cost of so many others.]

----

"Lie down. Here. I... I know my shirt is still wet, but if it can help block the bleeding for a bit..."

Marcus attempted to do his best to help the girl.

Yet their situation was dire.

They had no means to start a fire to warm them.

No means to bandage the wounds of the girl.

No means to hold any water to drink, nor to catch or find any food to eat.

They needed rescue, and they needed it now.

"You can lie down and rest for a bit. When you're feeling a bit better, we can go and try to find a way out of this ravine. Ok?"

Young Marcus attempted to comfort the girl with his words, yet she merely looked towards him with a tired expression.

"Hey... why did you come down here after me?"

As he met eyes with the girl, Marcus could not help but to ask this question which was lingering in his mind.

"What do you mean, Marcus? We were playing the game... and... my goal was to tag you, right? So if you came down here... then I should've followed you down here as well."

With this response, the lips of Marcus soured as he wrought his brows with worry.

"But... the entire reason I came down here... it's because you're a girl! You're weak, and you couldn't have followed me down here! I knew that you wouldn't be able to climb up... I knew that you wouldn't be able to make it down here... so I came here because I thought you wouldn't."

His eyes becoming tear filled, the boy looked at the girl with pity and remorse.

"So why did you come after me?"

"It's exactly because you think like that!"

However the remorse filled words of the boy were met with the shout of the girl, who cried out with painful words.

"You think that just because I'm a girl that I can't follow you, that I can't do what you can, that I can't keep up!! And it's because of that... because of that... that I wanted to prove you wrong!!"

The girl was trembling as she shouted.

Her eyes were becoming bloodshot, and her entire face was red as she panted heavily to even get these emotional words out.

She was struggling and sweating, and as the young Marcus laid his eyes upon the pitiable girl, he felt his own heart clench in regret as he failed to utter any words from his open mouth.

For what could he say?

"What did you expect me to do?", the girl sniffled quietly as she turned away from the boy, revealing the bloodied shirt that the boy had laid on her back.

"Did you expect me to just give up? To just turn away and say 'Oh, well I'm not strong enough. I'm not coordinated enough. I'm not athletic enough to go someplace like that. So I better just let you win, because you're better than me and you can do those things.'"

With a croak, the girl seemed to be crying as she quietly uttered these hurt words.

"Did you really expect me to do something like that?"

At this point, the shivering was immense.

She quivered to the point where the boy could feel her trembling from the cavern floor beneath them, and he reached out his hand to lay his hand on the shoulder of the girl.

"Hey, I didn't mean-"

"Do you even understand how difficult it is to admit that you can't do something?"

It was at that moment, as the girl said this, that Marcus realized something deep within him.

Not the child Marcus, but rather the adult who merely spectated this entire scene.

'Ah...'

If he were in control of this body, perhaps he would have taken a deep breath.

'I understand now, Katelyn.'

Looking at the girl with sympathy, the man would have thinned his eyes with compassion.

'The dedication that is required to admit... one's own incompetence.'

"You don't have to do anything."

Yet Marcus was forced to watch his past self fail to recognize the feelings of the girl - for this past self wanted nothing more than the selfish role of a hero.

"I'm... going to find us a way out of here... and from this point on... everything is going to be fine. So... you can trust me."

"You... are an idiot."

With a weak tone, the girl smiled ever so slightly as she insulted the boy, whose head her words had gone completely over.

"But..."

As the girl turned around, the boy recognized that tears streamed down her eyes - and that they were filled with fear.

"Please don't leave me here."

And overcome with that horribly selfish desire to protect, he nodded with an arrogant sincerity.

"I won't."

So with pretty words, he reassured the girl.

"I'll protect you... and I'll be right here by your side... as long as you need."

----

The two sat.

And they talked.

The girl's voice became weaker and weaker as time passed, however Marcus did not falter, and stayed by her the entire time.

'She just needs some rest.'

'As soon as she is better we'll find a way out of here.'

'And we'll go home.'

However at some point, with her eyes half closed, the girl looked up to Marcus with a pained expression.

"My... head... hurts..."

And with these words, the boy realized something.

'She's sweating.'

'She's completely red.'

'She's panting so hard...'

'Is she... sick?'

And feeling her head with his hand, the boy immediately knew.

'She has a fever.'

As the adult Marcus was forced to watch this bitter scene, he wanted to shout out to the boy.

"You idiot."

"She has hypothermia."

"She's been sitting there in wet clothing the entire time, and you didn't even realize such a thing?"

Yet alas, Marcus could not say these words.

For he was trapped within the mind of the boy as a mere spectator.

"You acted like you could save her... when you couldn't even realize something so simple?"

[The past... is a difficult thing.]

Recognizing Marcus' reaction to such a scene, Seven seemed to put in his own input.

[We can do nothing more than look back and realize just how foolish we were.]

With a dissatisfied click, the creature spoke as if he empathized with Marcus.

[Yet my own past... that of my human past... this is not something I even hold any memory of.]

The boy got up, frantically looking around him for something to use as his childish mind attempted to come up with some sort of solution, yet he could not do so.

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[The only past I hold memory of... is that of a slave.]

He considered finding a doctor, yet he knew that such a thing would mean abandoning the girl and running off on his own.

[And that of a monster.]

He considered carrying her on his back, yet he knew that the girl would be too heavy for him to carry, and he didn't want to aggravate her sickness anymore.

And even if he could do such a thing, he had no idea where he should go in the first place.

Would there really be a way out that didn't require climbing?

These fears crept up within the boy as he sat there, unsure of everything.

And that insecurity only increased as time passed.

"Ngh... ngh..."

The girl began to cry out in pain, the fever raging as she sat there in the wet clothes while the boy did nothing to assist her.

'What do I do!?!?'

And as he continued to panic, accomplishing absolutely nothing, the sound of a snapping twig was heard from the entrance of the cavern.

'Someone... someone has come to help!'

"NO!!! Nobody has come to help!!!"

Marcus wanted to shout this out as he recalled the events of this day - an event which he had suppressed from his memory.

One which he wanted to - and desperately attempted to forget.

Yet one in which he could never possibly hope to completely shove away into a corner of his mind.

"Hey! Hey!!! We're here!!! Over-"

The boy rushed over with excitement and hope in his eyes to greet whatever savior had approached - however he was stopped in his tracks as his jaw fell upon witnessing it.

A bear.

It towered above the boy, making him feel completely insignificant before the beast that stood in front of him.

It glared at him with a hungry gaze, at which the boy immediately relieved himself.

'Oh... my goodness...'

Frozen in place, he couldn't even run.

Fear coursed through his veins, stopping him from taking a single motion as his breathing increased to the point of hyperventilating.

And in that instant, death became a possibility in the mind of the boy for the first time in his life.

'How terrified of death I was at that time...', Marcus lamented with a sour tone as he merely watched the pathetic affair with shame.

'I... need to...'

Overcome with terror, the boy considered his options in a matter of moments as his life flashed before his eyes.

'What do I need to do?'

And as he stood there, the image of the sick girl who slept behind him came across his memory.

'I need to save her.'

'I need to protect her.'

'I need to...'

Yet even as he thought these things, the boy slowly backed away from the animal, which was cautiously investigating as it followed him with its eyes.

He stepped back, eventually taking his place in front of the sleeping girl, putting up his fists as if to fight.

'I need to... be a hero... right?'

[A true hero is not someone who slaughters.]

[It is not someone who wins.]

[It is not someone who saves people.]

[It is someone who sacrifices themselves for the sake of another.]

[Therefore... in order for someone to truly act as a hero... suffering... and perhaps even death... is the first requirement.]

[Anything other than that is nothing more than glorified bullying.]

And as the boy stood there with his fists up, in a position to protect the girl, Seven spoke his mind as Marcus wanted to avert his eyes from the scene which was about to be displayed.

And then, it happened.

'No...'

The fists of the boy began to quiver as the animal slowly approached, and his expression turned to horror quickly.

'No...'

Backing away, the boy fell backwards, tripping over the body of the girl.

"Ugh!"

The half asleep girl let out this sound as the boy fell backwards, and she slowly awakened to see the pathetic boy who had fallen with such a pitiful expression.

"Mar...cus? What are you... so... scared of?"

Whispering this statement, the boy looked to the girl, then back to the animal.

And without a word, he stood up once more.

And he put down his fists.

'I can't be a hero.'

'I can't save anyone.'

'I can't protect you...'

'I can't even protect myself.'

And as he thought these things, he turned around.

"I'm sorry...", he quivered.

"Marcus... where... are you..."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't... leave..."

The girl grabbed the foot of the boy as he tried to run off, stopping him for just a brief moment as he turned back to see the bear standing above the girl.

"I'm sorry!!!!"

Kicking away the hand which grabbed at his foot, the boy started to run.

Abandoning the girl, and any semblance of courage or will to fight, the boy left her for dead as he attempted to salvage at least his own life.

BANG!

Thud.

And just as he made such a decision, he heard a sound.

A sound which stopped him from running any further - for he was forced to turn around as soon as he recognized it.

"Ah."

Tears filling his eyes and self hatred evident in his expression, the boy looked to the front of the cavern to see a man with a rifle in his hand - and the bear which was right behind the girl who laid on her side was now on the ground with a bullet straight through it's brain.

"It's dangerous to be playing around in these caves. Why don't we get you two home?"

----

A local hunter happened to be tailing the bear.

"I wasn't planning on killing it today, but I was trying to find out where it lived... though when I saw that there were a couple of kids playing here... well, I guess I had no choice but to end this battle here and now."

Those were the words that the man stated with a light chuckle as he skinned the bear, gathering all of the parts which were of worth while ensuring not to allow anything to go to waste.

On that day, the two were taken home quickly, and a doctor came by to ensure that Katelyn would be fine.

She was sick for a few days, but with the help of some antibiotics to control the fever and the care of her parents, she was up and about within a week.

However Marcus was terrified.

He was terrified to meet the girl again.

Terrified to face her after the pathetic display he had put on, abandoning her to run for his own safety.

Ashamed of doing such a thing after making all those promises, not to leave her, not to abandon her, and to protect her.

He had failed.

He had failed completely as a man.

On that day, the fearful Marcus realized something crucial.

'I... won't ever say that I'm going to save anyone.'

He was weak.

'Ever again.'

He tried to act like he was some sort of hero.

He wanted to impress her.

He wanted to be reliable.

He wanted to help her.

He wanted to save her.

And yet, all of these things were only his desire to show off.

At a mere 8 years old, his dreams were crushed.

The very idea of heroism became a curse in the mind of Marcus.

For he knew that attempting something which he could not achieve would only lead to such a situation.

Failure.

What would have happened if that hunter had not shown up at that moment?

The girl would have been killed.

She would have died there on the spot, and it would have been Marcus' fault.

It would have been his fault for jumping down the ravine in the first place.

It would have been his fault for not being fast enough to catch the girl as she fell.

It would have been his fault for not knowing that she would get hypothermia from the wet clothing.

It would have been his fault for bringing her into that cavern.

It would have been his fault for fleeing as the enemy attacked her.

And it would have been his fault... for promising that he wouldn't leave her.

After a few days had passed, Marcus understood one thing in his mind.

'This was my fault.'

'Everything... was my fault.'

And so, making this decision, the boy headed to the house of the girl with his head hung low.

'I... need to make up for this.'

Knocking on the door, the boy waited impatiently as he stood in front of the house.

'There is nothing I can do to apologize... but even so... this is something that I have to do.'

Opening the door, Marcus was met with the parents of the girl.

At which he fell down to his knees.

"Forgive me."

With this simple plea, the boy appealed to the two as tears formed in his eyes - yet even as his throat choked up, he forced himself to speak.

"It's my fault that Katelyn was hurt and sick... it's my fault that everything happened to her... and it's my fault that she was almost killed."

As the boy bowed before the two parents like this, the father looked down on him, gritting his teeth as the wife stopped him from lashing out at the boy.

"Do you understand the danger you put her in?", he threatened with a vile tone.

"Honey... he's apologizing..."

"Do you think an apology could make up for it if she had DIED?"

Slammed with the harsh words of the man, Marcus understood the reality of his words.

He was right.

Death was final.

It only happened once, and once it happened - such a thing could not be taken back.

"Get out of my face... and I never want to see you near my daughter again."

With this statement, the door was slammed as Marcus was left bowing on that porch.

He sat there for a few moments, comprehending what had just happened before accepting it.

'Of course... he would be mad.'

Slowly, the boy stood up as he turned around to leave, his head hung even lower than when he had arrived.

Yet just as he turned around to leave, the door opened once more.

"Do you want to see her?"

Standing at the door was the husband, whose veins seemed to lighten just a bit - and standing behind him was his wife, who had likely spoken to him just moments before.

"I... don't have the right to see her."

With this statement, Marcus spoke with a soft tone, however it reached the man.

"Well too damn bad. She wants to see you, so you'd better get your ass in here or I'll never forgive you for what you've done, boy."

----