"Alright, everyone!" Eren spoke, silencing the cheering crowd "let's decide on what to do next."
For some reason, the voting made him a lot more confident. Whatever insecurities and reservations he had before, disappeared once Armin proclaimed him as the chief.
The dark-haired boy took the conch from his bespectacled friend.
"I suspect" he started "that this is an island. But we don't really know that for sure. So, the first course of action is to determine whether we are actually in the middle of an ocean, or simply on a continent."
The notion seemed relatively important as most of the children affirmed his words with hasty nods.
"I want a volunteer to come with me" Eren continued after a short pause "the two of us will try to find an answer to that question and possibly look around while we're at it…"
Before he could even finish, Marcel jumped up from the sand.
"I'll go with you" he exclaimed with a wide smile.
While Eren didn't necessarily trust the brown-haired boy, he did seem fit for this excursion and denying him would defeat the purpose of asking for a volunteer.
"Okay" he agreed.
As he turned around, motioning for the boy to come along, he caught a glimpse of Armin's uneasy expression. That made him stop in his tracks.
"While we're gone" he spoke, backtracking a few steps, before standing in front of his blonde friend "Armin is in charge."
The bespectacled boy looked towards him with wide eyes. Eren ignored it and shoved the conch right into his hands.
"It's pretty sunny here, isn't it?" He said to Armin "retreat towards the treeline and find some shade or you'll get burnt."
He looked towards the position of the sun. It definitely seemed bigger than the one he was used to seeing in his village. It wasn't noon yet, so they probably had a few spare hours, before they needed to find fresh water.
"You coming?" Marcel asked him, stopping his train of thoughts.
"Right" Eren replied and waved towards his friends, before turning on his foot and starting to walk along the shore with the brown-haired boy.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, his companion finally spoke out.
"I think we should go up the hill" Marcel expressed "if we are on a continent, circling it will be impossible."
"That would mean going into the jungle…"
The two stopped and turned towards the woods. The treeline here was way denser and darker than where they held the gathering. Even though the scare of unknown frightened Eren, this dark, tropical forest somehow had the opposite effect.
"Let's go" the young chief exclaimed, stepping into the jungle.
It momentarily got dark. The crowns of the exotic trees wouldn't let much light onto the ground and only small amount got past them. The bedding here, wasn't sprawled with grass, instead soft, mossy roots would lay there, almost like snakes crawling on the ground.
"Watch out" Marcel grabbed him by the shoulder, after he almost tripped on a slippery, rotten root.
"Thanks" Eren said back to him.
He realized that it was strangely quiet in here, almost as if it was an entirely different place.
"So" the dark-haired boy started, trying to break the silence "are you all from the same school?"
"You mean our little group?" Marcel asked with a small smile "yeah, it's called Marley High. It's the best in Stohess."
Stohess was a name he had heard before. His father would visit his patients there, as it was one of the cities closest to Shiganshina. Eren looked at his companion's attire. The uniform seemed to be made of a pretty thick material and under that, he had a white shirt. In front of the vest, there was a school badge, with the name 'Marley' written over a shell.
"It's pretty warm here" Eren spoke again "why don't you just take it off?"
At that, the other boy looked at him with wide eyes.
"Oh, you're right" he said, before placing the badge in his pocket and taking off his vest.
"You seem neat" Eren expressed "this whole predicament has to be tiresome for you…"
"What are you talking about?" Marcel asked in confusion, while tying his vest around his hips "this is my dream come true."
Something inside Eren fired up at those words. He too, had been experiencing similar thoughts, ever since he had found himself here.
"Alright" he spoke with newfound vigor, before striding forward once again.
The ground curved upwards more and more and soon they could see their destination. The top of the hill.
"So, where are you from?" Marcel asked after a longer pause.
"Shiganshina" Eren responded, trying to find his footing on the steep ground "me, Armin and Mikasa are all from there."
"Oh" the other boy acknowledged "I actually come from abroad."
So, he wasn't a native. Maybe that was the reason Eren felt uneasy around him.
"Me and my brother Porco come from the colony of Liberio" Marcel explained "back there, we would often help at the harbour with unloading ships. I remember that many old seamen would tell us tales about where they've been and what they have been doing. It always amazed me how those people could experience so many cool adventures…"
The vegetation thinned out near the top. After a few more steps, Eren finally stepped onto the flat area that stood above everything.
From there, he could see it all.
It really was an island. A beautiful one at that.
He could see the ocean that spilled its waters all around the shores. He could see the yellowy beaches, along with 'their own', where they've been just a few minutes ago. Finally, he could see the dense tropical forest growing all around the island.
But along with the beauty of all that, another thing settled in his mind.
There were no settlements, no harbours, no chimneys with smoke coming out of them. Not even some villages with primitive huts that he had read about in a book about unknown lands.
"Gosh, it really is a desert island" Marcel concluded, bringing Eren out of his thoughts.
"It does seem so…"
As the two boys looked at each other, the smiles on their faces started to grow wider and wider, until both of them laughed happily.
"We're all alone on a new adventure!" Eren exclaimed as the two danced at the top of the hill.
"No grownups, no school, no nothing!" Marcel seconded, as he jumped up high in the air, as if he was trying to reach the sky.
"We are free" the dark-haired boy yodelled joyously, before banging his fists against his chest.
Their happy outburst soon tired the duo and so, they settled down on the soft grass.
"Incredible" Marcel spoke with a goofy smile "now, we'll be able to live all those amazing adventures those sailors wouldn't stop talking about…"
"Yeah" Eren said.
Whatever reservations he had during the morning, disappeared completely once he experienced the true extent of this new adventure. They could do anything. They could build huts, hunt animals for meat, they could even…
'Wait' he thought to himself.
Throughout the whole ordeal, he would only think about what he wanted for himself. And suddenly, the worried face of Armin and those hollow words of that blonde girl from the beach replayed in his mind.
"Come on" Eren spoke, as he stood up from the grass "we still have a lot of things to do."
At that, the other boy made a sour face.
"Oh, come on" he said, visibly upset "why can't we enjoy the view for a little longer?"
"We're stranded on a desert island" Eren spoke seriously "given the sweltering heat, if we don't find fresh water soon, we'll all pass out from exhaustion before even the night comes."
He pointed his finger towards 'their' beach.
"They need me" he said "they need us. Right now, we need to fight against the odds, if we want to think about lasting here long enough for the navy to come and pick us up…"
"You really think that will happen?" Marcel asked him doubtfully, raising his eyebrow.
He had no choice but to believe. If he didn't…
"Come on" he commanded, with a harsher tone this time "let's find our own place here…"
Marcel sighed and slowly stood up. It was clear that the two of them, although sharing the same mindset, were obvious rivals.
And so, the duo started walking back down, to join the rest of the survivors on the shore.