Wake

by Atkar

"Maybe if you just hit it-" "Oh, just shut up, Ymir," Krista snapped, straightening up and rocking the boat. "This is your boat, you should get it working again." The engine of the motorboat they're using blows so they end up stranded on an island. (Yumikuri oneshot)

Wake

"Maybe if you just hit it-"

"Oh, just shut up, Ymir," Krista snapped, straightening up and rocking the boat. "This is your boat, you should get it working again."

The freckled girl was stretched out against the bow of the boat, one bare foot repeatedly tapping the deck. Krista glanced pointedly at Ymir's abandoned shoes but the other girl ignored it. "Not my boat, my boss' boat." She waved a nonchalant hand at the motor that Krista had been bent over for the better half of an hour. "I know fuck all."

Krista sighed. "Great."

Ymir twisted her head around to look at where the boat was drifting towards. She raised a finger to point at the landmass they were slowly approaching. "That's the island we wanted to get to, anyway." She turned back to give Krista a triumphant grin. "See? No problems."

Krista was quick to wipe that smirk off her face. "A deserted island with no civilization, communication links, or anything to repair this thing with. We have nothing with us except what I packed for lunch." She lightly kicked the rucksack at her feet. "And our phones have no signal out here. We're stuck with a dead boat we don't know how to fix."

Ymir's grin did fade, but she still shook her head with an air of easy recklessness. "Look at all those trees, bursting with fruit. We're surrounded by drinkable water that's full of fish. We'll be fine."

Krista's eyebrow twitched. "Are you seriously suggesting we live on this island?"

The other girl shrugged. "My boss will realize her boat and her best employee isn't back on Monday morning."

"It's Friday afternoon."

"We can survive the weekend."

Krista looked back at the distant riverbank and wished she hadn't agreed to come out to the small island situated in the middle of the huge river that was supposedly full of vibrant and exotic wildlife. When she had asked Ymir what that actually meant, the girl had replied, "Lemurs, maybe?"

"So, you packed lunch?" Ymir was eyeing the rucksack hungrily.

Krista moved the rucksack farther away from her with a foot. "We'll save it for dinner. Or breakfast. I don't want to starve."

Ymir scoffed. "It's just the weekend. You can survive two days without food."

Krista bent over the motor again, blindly trying to find the problem that had made it cough and splutter and die. The tank was full and they had a bottle to refill it if need be, but the motor itself had given up the ghost.

"And I told you," Ymir continued, "there's fruit and fish to be had."

"You've never been to this island before," Krista reminded her. "They could be poisonous plants and vicious predators."

Ymir didn't reply. She gazed out across the waters at the island as if trying to spot anything living swinging in the trees or prowling in the bushes that lined the shore.

It was another twenty minutes before the boat had drifted close enough to the island that Ymir could hop out into the shallow water and pull it up onto shore, her bare feet splashing water so droplets sprinkled along Krista's arm. Krista grabbed her rucksack and Ymir's shoes, jumping out to help Ymir drag the boat farther up away from the water, tying it up on a thinly branched tree with some rope.

"Here, look." Ymir plucked a ripe-looking fruit off a nearby tree and threw it towards Krista.

She caught it and scrutinised it. It was an odd reddish colour and it definitely wasn't a fruit she frequently saw in the supermarkets. She chucked it back to Ymir. "You have it."

The other girl shrugged and took a bite, turning in a small circle to observe their surroundings. "It's like a little jungle," she mumbled around a mouthful of fruit.

The island's environment was a stark contrast to the land on the riverbank. It seemed more tropical than the cooler breeze that swept through the woods and grassy fields. She turned and tried to peer through the trees and undergrowth at the other bank of the incredibly wide river, wondering if that side was more like the island than their side. She had never been this side of the river. In fact, she rarely went near the river and had only left her hometown to go to the nearby university – where she had met Ymir. Ymir lived farther up the river in a smaller town and had graduated from university a year after Krista had started, but they had still kept in touch. Now Ymir worked at a building merchants, saving up money to pay off her debts and waiting for the moment her degree would land her a better job, and then hopefully move out to travel the world one day. She had promised to take Krista with her, to see the sights by her side and share all the new experiences the world had to offer, and this small island was the first taste. Krista was in her final year at university and she wasn't prepared to miss her early Tuesday morning lecture if Ymir's boss didn't realize her boat and employee were missing and failed to come look for them.

"You did tell your boss where we were going, right?" she asked Ymir, passing her shoes over so she could pull them on.

She heard her take another large bite from the unknown fruit as she put her shoes on with one hand. "Yeah. She gave me a few pointers on how to use the boat on the river as well."

"But nothing on how to fix it."

Ymir hummed in response and they fell silent, listening to the sounds of the island. Birds chirped in the tree canopy above, some fluttering branch to branch, and Krista spotted a few eyes watching them through the leaves. There was a constant buzz, quiet but distinctly insect in nature, and it made Krista's skin crawl but she fought to ignore it as she had only seen a few fat flies lazily pass by and a dozen fruit flies hovering around a rotting fruit on the ground.

Ymir checked her watch, dumping the core of the eaten fruit onto the ground. "Sunset will be in a few hours. Want to find somewhere we can make camp?" She waited until Krista had turned around to look at her before she gave her a soft smile. "We could watch the sunset."

She nodded, but glanced back at the boat. "Should we camp nearby?"

Ymir studied the ground in search of a discernible path through the undergrowth that animals may have frequently used. "The boat will be fine. There isn't anyone to steal it and I doubt there are big enough animals to destroy it." She gingerly pushed a thorny branch to one side. "We can get through here."

Krista joined her and saw that a trail disappeared into the bushes and went farther into the island's jungle, probably paved out by tiny feet. She hoped those tiny feet belonged to rabbits rather than foxes. Then again, she doubted the foxes from the woods would have swum across the river to inhabit the island. Something else probably stalked through the undergrowth here. She hoped she didn't have to find out what.

Ymir shuffled sideways through the thorny bushes, making sure to hold the branches back so Krista could safely follow after her. After a while, the trail opened up to a small clearing, the sun filtering through the canopy of leaves to create a circle of light that touched the debris covering the jungle floor, small and medium sized rocks coated with green moss bubbling up through the dead leaves and snapped branches.

"Here?" Ymir suggested, dancing towards the circle of light so a halo glimmered around her dark hair and flittered across her freckled cheeks.

Krista glanced uneasily around the clearing. "Isn't there anywhere higher up?"

Ymir paused her ungainly dance to consider the answer for a moment and then looked for another trail continuing into the jungle. When she found it, it was wider than the first one and it was easier to walk behind each other without the danger of being slapped or scratched by branches or thorns.

Krista flinched away from a spider hanging in its web. "Can we go faster, please?"

Ymir's back was tense – she'd had to walk past the spider too and insects, particularly spiders, made her more uncomfortable than they did Krista. "It wouldn't be good if we got lost," she called over her shoulder.

But their pace picked up anyway.

They found a spot on a small overhang, clear of surrounding trees for a couple of metres so the sky above was empty of leaves so the sun glowed bright and the sky shone a light blue. Krista peered over the edge, seeing that just below was a small cave. It was very open and she could see the back wall so she could see that no animals were sleeping just below where they would be camping.

"We need firewood," Ymir declared after kicking away the last piece of jungle debris and small stones that had peppered the overhang. "And food. And a good spot to watch the sunset."

Krista knew that meant travelling even deeper into the jungle – the boat was on the wrong side of the island to watch the sun fall to the horizon, so they would have to cross the rest of the island to reach the other shore. Fortunately, the island was a small one but Krista was sure the farther they went the more risk there was of coming across something they didn't want to meet.

"You stay here, I'll go," Ymir said, already walking back among the trees and bushes before Krista could stop her.

"Fine," she said to no one. "I'll just stay here. In the middle of nowhere. On a deserted island. On my own. Perfectly safe. Thanks." She sighed, dragging a hand down her face, and dropped her rucksack onto the ground, crouching down beside it. She unzipped it and took out one of the Tupperware boxes she had packed. This one contained fruit she knew were edible and tasty wrapped in cheap kitchen towel. Though by how fast Ymir had eaten the odd reddish fruit, it had been tasty and she hadn't collapsed yet. She took one of the wrapped fruits and replaced the box into the rucksack, folding the kitchen towel in with it as well, and began to eat the piece of fruit, throwing the core off the edge of the overhang when she had finished.

Ymir returned surprisingly quickly, loose branches stuffed under one arm and a collection of more odd fruit carried in the other. She dumped them onto the ground a few feet away from Krista, looking to her for some form of approval. "Here we go."

Krista looked them over and nodded. "So what now?"

"Sunset!" Ymir announced, pointing a finger up at the sky that was slowly fading from blue to orange.

They trekked through the undergrowth again, Krista hearing small animals dash away from the sound of their approach. The trees were closer together the farther they went, the undergrowth thicker, and the spider webs and buzzing insects increasing in number.

But then the bushes parted and they stood on the other side of the island, a small strip of sand bordering the water's edge. They looked out across the river and saw the sun settling down towards the horizon, the oranges and reds and yellows and purples spreading out and reflecting off the water like a thousand glowing lights rippling under the surface.

Ymir stepped out onto the sand, disturbing the smoothness of the small beach, and took a seat beside the water, dusting off the palms of her hands before pulling off her shoes and letting the river lap against her toes. "Krista," she called softly, holding out a hand for her to take.

Krista dropped to the sand, joining her fingers with Ymir's and leaning against her side. They didn't say anything. They just watched the sun fall and the horizon glow, so many colours changing as if caught in a slow dance that only lasted a moment. And then the sun was a simple dot above the river, the sky a dark blue, the stars decorating the world above instead.

And then everything was dark and they still sat on the small island beach, listening to the water drift in and out, the sound of the river flow, the whisper of a breeze through the trees behind them, the last calls of birds before they settled down for the night, the rustling of creatures prowling the taste of wilderness, the cries and breaths of something out there.

"It's getting cold," Krista murmured after the sky had turned truly black and they had watched the stars and the moon sail the ocean of the night into view.

Ymir released her hand and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer, placing her chin on top of the blonde's head. Her other hand felt for the hand she had just left and their fingers rejoined. Krista smiled. Ymir had no intention of leaving the small beach any time soon to trek through the jungle of the night in search for the camp. But neither did she – the quietness, the tranquillity, and yet the noise of life surrounded them, and it was beautiful.

"This is what I want our life to be like," Ymir whispered to her, her eyes shining as bright as the stars above. "I want us to travel the world and go where we want and see so many things together. I want us to watch the sunset and wake up beside each other when dawn comes. Sometimes at home, sometimes in places we never imagined we'd see. And maybe our home will end up somewhere we never expected. Maybe we'll have more than one. Maybe the entire world will be our home. Maybe we won't need one." Ymir paused, absorbing the sensation of the cool night breeze flow from the river and over their skin. The river was lapping at her ankles now and she closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of the cold world and the warmth of Krista beside her. "One day…" she promised in a whisper. "If that's what you want."

Krista turned her head so her lips pressed against the pulse at Ymir's neck and she knew the other girl could feel her smile. "It is." She didn't care where she was or where they went, as long as Ymir was there with her. And to share moments like these, to discover and experience the world together…it would be just as amazing and beautiful as Ymir's dreams.

Ymir's chest rumbled with the small laugh that bubbled up and slipped out across the dark waters. She lifted her head and leaned slightly away from Krista, her eyes searching hers in the shadows of the night, and then Krista felt the other girl's gentle smile as their lips pressed together.

"I love you," Krista whispered when Ymir pulled back for a second.

"I love you too," she breathed back, drawing back for another kiss.

They decided not to venture back into the dark dangers of the island jungle and instead settled on the rocky border of the strip of sand, falling asleep with their hands clasped together and their faces resting against each other.

When morning came, it shone so bright that Krista's closed eyelids glowed vivid red. She groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and blinked, squinting out across the river. The first thing her eyes found was the creature at the shoreline, its head bowed in the sand as if searching for something, burying its nose and then huffing a noisy breath.

"A tortoise," Ymir suddenly said, the other girl also waking up with the light of dawn.

"I've never seen one before," Krista mumbled, afraid that if she spoke too loudly the creature would startle.

"They can be hundreds of years old, you know," Ymir commented, straightening up and stretching out the stiffness in her legs and back. Then she snatched up her shoes, shaking out the sand they had collected, and pulled them onto her feet. The tortoise barely registered their presence, despite Ymir's blatant voice and movements. "I wonder if there are more of them."

Krista glanced around at the trees behind them, scratching absentmindedly at the dozens of mosquito bites she had suffered in the night. "There's probably more of everything on this island."

Ymir laughed once, offering a hand to Krista and pulling her up onto her feet. "We've survived the first night. Nothing's killed us yet."

Krista's eyebrow twitched, scratching the bites more furiously. Ymir noticed and grabbed both of her hands, swaying their arms between them. "We'll have a fire tonight. That will keep the buggers away and keep us warm. It was a bit chilly last night."

Krista agreed and they left the tortoise treading the sand, trekking back through the jungle, trying to recognize the path they had taken from the overhang they had chosen as camp. The piles of firewood and fruit were still there, but Krista's rucksack looked like something had tried to ransack it. There was a large gnarled hole in the side of it and she quickly strode over and checked to see what had been taken. Thankfully, the Tupperware boxes had made it impossible for whatever had been tearing into her rucksack to get to the food. She plucked out the water bottles she had bought and chucked one over to Ymir who caught it with graceful ease. She twisted the cap off her own and took a long drink.

Ymir sipped from hers. "Let's check the boat," she suggested, motioning in its general direction with her water bottle.

Krista wiped the stray water dripping down her chin. "Sure." She picked up her rucksack, careful to position it on her shoulder in a way that the boxes inside wouldn't fall out as they walked.

When they reached the opposite side of the island they were surprised to find that the boat wasn't alone.

A woman glanced up as they emerged from the undergrowth, Ymir picking out leaves and dusting off tiny bugs that had fallen in Krista's hair and on her shoulders. Krista was reaching up to do the same to Ymir while the taller girl lowered her head when a voice startled them.

"Ymir! There you are!"

They turned, Ymir almost tripping and skidding down the bank, and saw a woman standing by the motorboat, her hands on her hips.

"Boss?!" Ymir cried out, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

The woman narrowed her eyes, the morning sun making her glasses glare brightly at them. She kicked the boat with the corner of her boot. "My boat didn't come home last night."

Ymir seemed surprised to hear that. "You checked last night?"

The woman didn't appear to be amused by Ymir's disbelief. "The pier is only a two hours walk from home. I checked." Her frown dissolved into a worried smile. "Are you guys alright?"

"The motor broke," Ymir interjected before Krista could respond. "We were stranded."

"Ah," the woman only said.

Ymir raised an eyebrow. "You expected that?"

"Suspected," the woman corrected. "But you're alright?" She was eyeing the red bites on Krista's arms and lower legs that dotted her like a dozen hot small brands.

"We're fine," Historia told her. "Thank you. And thank you for coming out for us."

The woman waved the thanks away. "I thought you might need a rescue. I knew Ymir hadn't prepared for a sleepover."

Ymir laughed but it sounded humourless.

"I'll tie the boat to mine." The woman jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "You guys just board and I'll take you home."

"Thank you," Krista said again as they passed her.

"Nice boat," Ymir noted with a touch of sarcasm when they saw the much larger and much more expensive-looking boat anchored a short distance away from the island, a rope trailing across the water from the railing to the woman's hand as she tied a knot securely on the much smaller motorboat.

They climbed onto the boat, the woman joining them soon after. As she fired up the engines and pulled away from the island, the motorboat dragged behind in their wake, the woman flashed a toothy grin at them. "Did you enjoy yourselves regardless?"

Krista and Ymir shared a smile. "We did."

Krista's gaze swept over the riverbank ahead, across the glittering waters, over Ymir's faint but contented expression, to the woman steering the boat. When she saw Krista watching, she nodded in acknowledgment.

"I haven't introduced myself," she realized.

Ymir pointed at the woman. "Boss," she said as way of introduction. Then she pointed at Krista. "Krista."

The woman pushed her glasses up her nose with a finger. "Well, yes. I am your girlfriend's boss." She flashed another smile. "But you can call me Hanji."

"It's nice to meet you," she said, politely.

"Pleasure is all mine," Hanji replied, even bowing a little with a small flourish before returning to steering.

Krista caught Ymir's eye and the other girl was smirking. Krista could suddenly understand just why Ymir loved working at the building merchants despite being able to do so much more and wanting to do so much more.

When they reached the riverbank, Hanji let them climb over the railing and walk through the shallow water onto land. She called out to them, "I'll see you Monday, Ymir. And it was lovely to finally meet you, Krista." She waved them farewell and the boat roared away, a wash of white in its wake as Hanji steered it at a high speed across the river, the dead motorboat rocking side to side behind on its rope.

Krista shifted the rucksack on her shoulder, checking that nothing had dropped out.

"We never made a fire," Ymir said, mournfully, as she stared out at the island in the distance. "We never had the lunch you packed. We never tried all those fruit. We never did get attacked by a rabid beast."

Krista gave her a look, but decided not to comment on that last sentence. "We can still have the lunch." She shrugged her rucksack off her shoulder and patted the Tupperware boxes inside through the gaping hole in the side. "Let's go to the park and have breakfast."

A grin spread across Ymir's face. "Let's," she agreed, taking Krista's hand in hers as they walked up the riverbank, through the thin line of trees and onto the pavement. The road was empty save for a few early morning joggers and dog walkers and one or two drivers off to work or coming back from the night shift. The park was a fifteen minute walk away and they began making their way towards it, only stopping to grab some bite cream from the 24-hour store.

They sat down at the picnic bench that was shaded by a large oak tree and Krista let Ymir rub the cream into her bites while she unpacked the food out onto the table.

"I hope it all still tastes okay," she mumbled as she opened the box containing the sandwiches.

"It will do," Ymir assured her, spinning the cap back onto the tube as she rubbed the cream into the last bite.

They started to eat breakfast, Krista relieved to find that everything did taste alright even after a night in the island jungle and after an attack by an unknown scavenger.

Taking another swig from her water bottle after finishing her food, Ymir caught Krista's eye again and smiled. She placed the bottle onto the table, slowly and carefully as if taking the time to think about her words before she next spoke. "I've always said I would show you the world," she began, "and we'd do everything together. One day, when everything was sorted, when we were ready, but…"

Krista frowned, suddenly concerned that she wouldn't like what Ymir had to say.

"But that's going to be a long time away."

"I can wait," Krista interrupted before she could say anything else. "I can wait for as long as it takes."

Ymir smiled, softly. "Thank you." She reached up to stroke a thumb against Krista's cheek. "But that's not what I'm saying."

Krista blinked, confused but remaining quiet so Ymir could finish.

"There's…something I want to ask. Something I think we're ready for. Something I think we can do now, rather than wait for…" She cut herself off with a deep breath, as if gathering her courage. "If you would like…after you graduate, would you like to move in together?"

Krista opened her mouth but no words left her lips.

Ymir seemed to panic and was quick to elaborate. "I said last night that we would have a home, or the world would be our home, or we wouldn't even have one, but I thought that maybe we can make a home now. A place for the both of us, together, that we can share before we go off to wherever. I thought that maybe…I…" She looked away, her cheeks burning red, something unsettled in her expression as if her thoughts weren't matching with her words and she was struggling with the nervousness strangling the whole process.

"Y-yes," Krista finally choked out.

Ymir looked at her blankly. "Yes?"

Krista nodded. "Yes. Definitely yes."

Ymir's wide grin returned, her eyes glimmering with happiness. "Seriously?"

"Seriously, yes."

Ymir shot forwards, enveloping Krista in a tight hug, laughter singing in her ear. "Yes! Make sure you graduate now!"

Krista laughed back, lightly slapping Ymir's back in response. "Of course I will."

"I love you, Krista," Ymir softly said in her ear when her laughter had faded away in the morning breeze.

"I love you too, Ymir, you idiot," she replied, pressing a kiss to Ymir's cheek.

"Next weekend, we're going back to that island and making a fire and celebrating this with toasted marshmallows as the sun sets," Ymir declared, kissing Krista's cheek back.

"Oh, no, we're not," she said, but Krista was laughing. "We still have the rest of this weekend, anyway. Where are you taking me?"

Ymir leaned back, gazing at Krista's face as she contemplated her words. Then she grinned wickedly, "Just you wait and see."