Chapter Text
After a night of the best sleep Yuu had ever gotten in his life --seriously, Mikaela had laid out some blankets on a couch for Yuu to sleep on and they were ridiculously soft… especially by Yuu’s standards, since he had only ever slept on cold stone floors-- and the most delicious breakfast Yuu had ever had --once again, not that the bar was set very high--Yuu got to wracking his brains over what he could do to help them escape.
“Hmm… I assume you’ve already tried building a raft.” Yuu said casually while helping Mikaela grind more grain for bread. Yuu hadn’t suggested it right away because it just seemed like the first thing one would try, but when no immediate response came, he looked up to see Mikaela blinking at him with a look of pure and utter confusion.
“A… what?” Yuu was fairly certain he had spoken clearly, but perhaps the noise of the rocks churning together was louder than he had thought.
“You know, a raft. Or a boat of some kind.” Yuu expected this to clear everything up, but judging by Mikaela’s absolutely befuddled expression, this was not the case. Surely Mikaela knew what a boat was. Yuu knew what they were because sometimes he could see them leaving from the shore, or returning with boxes full of mysterious treasures. Sure, Mikaela might never have seen one, but he knew what plenty of other things were without seeing them, so why should this be any different?
Mikaela waved a hand in a gesture to prompt Yuu to explain what the hell it was that he was talking about, which made Yuu realize how woefully awful he was at explaining things.
“Well… you see…” He muttered, looking around them to see if he could find any form of example. After a few painfully awkward seconds, his eye caught on a shard of wood leftover from the pile they had used for the fire the previous night. Yuu picked it up, holding it flat like a raft would be. “Like this, but a lot bigger. Big enough for several people to stand on it at the very least.” He explained before dropping the small shard of wood into the barrel full of rainwater just outside the window. Of course, it floated to the surface, bobbing merrily.
Yuu had still assumed it was simply a miscommunication, or a word that was different between them, but apparently not considering how Mikaela was now staring at the floating ‘raft’ as though it was some form of witchcraft.
Yuu blinked at him curiously. “You… seriously didn’t know that was a thing?” Mikaela shook his head quickly, his eyes still fixed on the surface of the water. Yuu furrowed his brows in thought. “There was really never a leaf or a twig or something that fell in water at some point??”
Once again, Mikaela shook his head. “Not that I recall. If such a thing were to happen, I think I would have remembered it...”
Something in that sentence made Yuu start to think… ‘Not that I recall’... Yuu thought back to the conversation they had before, about Mikaela not knowing how he knew the things he did. Was it possible that perhaps something was toying with his memories? Making him remember and know certain things, while withholding other information? But… why? That didn’t make any sense… then again, neither did this entire situation.
“Well alright then, it’s settled. To escape this island, we shall build a raft.” Yuu declared, standing up.
Mikaela raised an eyebrow, looking up at Yuu, and then back to the small piece of wood. “I highly doubt we can both escape on that.”
Yuu rolled his eyes. “Not that, I mean something a lot bigger.”
Mikaela still seemed suspicious and doubtful, but he stood, gesturing for Yuu to lead the way. “I highly doubt this will work, but I suppose there’s no harm in trying.”
“That’s the spirit!” Yuu said with only a tad of sarcasm in his tone.
Yuu was rather glad he had someone to talk to now, especially because doing all this work would be torture without someone to help and keep him company. Just thinking about it, Yuu knew there was a lot of work to be done.
--
Before long, the sun was low in the sky again, painting the world with vibrant strokes of orange and pink.
When Yuu had explained the plans to Mikaela, Mikaela had known it would be grueling work, but he had no idea it would be this painstaking. By the end of the day his entire body was aching, and they were both covered in sweat.
There was a pile of logs in front of the house that they had spent all day cutting down, and according to Yuu, there was still a lot more to do, even though they both decided it was best to call it a night for now.
They were both panting and exhausted, not to mention hot. Mikaela wanted nothing more than to cool off in a bath, but as he turned to walk inside, he heard splashing behind him. He looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Yuu walking into the water.
“What are you doing?” Mikaela asked, turning to face him fully now.
“The water’s nice, you should join me!” Yuu called back. Mikaela couldn’t see his face with the sun behind him like that, but he was sure the dark haired boy was grinning that impish little grin of his.
“You’ll get your clothes wet.” Mikaela said dryly, walking closer to the shore so he wouldn’t have to keep shouting so loud.
Yuu shrugged. “So? They’ll dry.”
“Considering how you ended up here, I would think you’d have an aversion to the sea.” The water was just licking at the tips of Mikaela’s toes now, while Yuu had walked further up the shore so he was only ankle deep.
“It’s not the water that’s bad, it’s the one memory I have with it. That doesn’t mean I should avoid it, it just means I should make a few good memories. So, care to join me?” He asked again, holding out a hand for Mikaela.
“This is silly.”
“That’s not a no.” Yuu teased with a smirk that Mikaela found to be quite contagious.
“No, I suppose it isn’t.” Before the words even had the chance to fully leave Mikaela’s lips, Yuu had grasped his wrist and was tugging him into the water. Not having expected this, instead of running along with Yuu, Mikaela simply tripped and landed face-first into the water.
Sputtering, he quickly sat up, flipping his now soaked hair out of his face and glaring up at Yuu, who had nearly doubled over in a fit of laughter.
“Usually when someone pulls you in a certain direction, you’re supposed to actually go with them.” Yuu teased.
Rather than retorting verbally, Mikaela grasped Yuu’s ankle, tripping him so he landed in the water beside Mikaela with a rather satisfying splash.
Yuu scrambled to get his bearings, standing up in the shallow water and shaking his head to clear the sudden disorientation. He shot a glare at Mikaela with an adorably childish pout, and for the first time in Mikaela’s life, he genuinely laughed. Not a snort or a light chuckle, but actual, real laughter.
After Mikaela started laughing, Yuu couldn’t help but burst out in it as well, splashing Mikaela lightly as he did.
“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be, hmm?” Mikaela asked with a grin, splashing Yuu back with an even larger wave.
Yuu’s cheerful grin turned to a devilish grin then, and a part of Mikaela knew he was about to regret what he just did. Yuu splashed him with a veritable wall of water, knocking Mikaela back for a moment before he launched his counter-attack, which drenched Yuu completely... well, again.
“Alright, you’re asking for it.” Yuu proclaimed, tackling Mikaela into the shallow water and pinning him against the sand further up the shore, where the ends of the waves just barely rose the water up to his ears.
Mikaela looked up at the other boy with bewilderment, surprised and breathless from the change in pace.
Yuu’s clothes clung to his skin from the water, and his hair was even spikier when both wet and disheveled. His face was slightly red, and he was just as out of breath as Mikaela was, though his emerald eyes shimmered with adrenaline.
Well, Mikaela wasn’t going to give in that easily. He suddenly hooked his leg around Yuu, using his weight to turn the tables. Yuu must’ve seen the glint in Mikaela’s eyes though, and easily managed to duck out of Mikaela’s arms before he could be pinned down.
He stood up quickly, turning and starting to run further into deeper water. Retreating so quickly? No- the way he grinned at Mikaela over his shoulder said otherwise. If he wanted to be chased, very well then, Mikaela would chase him.
Mikaela hadn’t realized how difficult running through water could be, and it took him so long that by the time he had caught up to Yuu, they were up to their necks in the water. Still, Mikaela did eventually catch up, and when he did, he didn’t hesitate to tackle Yuu into the water.
Perhaps there were worse people he could be stuck on an island with.
--
Shinoa had almost forgotten how scary the open ocean could sometimes be when you didn’t have a direction in mind.
Simple exploration was one thing. Shinoa’s excellent internal compass meant that she could easily find her way back if she needed to, and even then, she decided what direction she would try out that day. Even when she swam to the abandoned village, her sense of direction had been the opposite of where her former home was.
Now… looking out at the endless expanse of open water before them… Shinoa didn’t know where to start.
She had a destination, but she didn’t know where it was, and neither did the strange mermaid girl. She was searching for a needle in a haystack, and she had no clue where to start.
She realized she had been stalling for too long when the mermaid girl squeezed her hand curiously, as if she was asking if something was wrong.
Shinoa plastered on her best reassuring smile, nodding decisively. “Yeah, I’m okay, just thinking…” She tried to hide her growing agitation as she tried to think of what to do. Sitting there and doing nothing wouldn’t help, but picking a random direction only to find it was the wrong direction was worse. Ugh, why did this have to be so difficult?!
As Shinoa sat thinking herself in circles and trying to figure something out, the mermaid girl seemed to notice something in the distance. Shinoa could practically see the fins on her ears prick up. Before Shinoa could open her mouth to question, the girl grasped her hand and started tugging her off towards whatever it was she saw.
“Where are we going?” Shinoa shouted, hoping her voice carried over the sound of the water rushing past them, but if the other girl heard her question, she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, she kept swimming faster and faster, and even Shinoa wouldn’t have been able to keep up if the girl wasn’t pulling her by the arm. If they went any faster, she was fairly certain her arm would be pulled out of its socket.
Suddenly, the girl halted. How she was able to stop so quickly in water, Shinoa had no idea, but Shinoa wasn’t nearly fast enough and gave herself whiplash when she slammed into the mermaid.
“Ow! What the-” Shinoa stopped what she was saying when she saw the other girl’s troubled expression. She looked around her quickly as though she was trying to find something that was just here but had suddenly disappeared. “Er… are you alright? Were you looking for something?”
The other girl nodded quickly, narrowing her eyes in concentration. “Something.” She muttered, clearly agitated.
“Well… what is it?” Sinoa asked, before realizing how dumb of a question that was. “Sorry- I keep forgetting that you can’t really… um… yeah.” She tried to think of other things to ask to get more information, gnawing on her cheek as she concentrated.
“Is it gone now?” She asked, looking at the other girl who sighed in defeat with a solemn nod. Whatever it was, it must’ve been important, since Shinoa could see the other girl was on the edge of tears.
“Gone…” She whispered softly.
“Hey, it’s okay! We’ll find it again, okay? Soon, I promise.” Shinoa said, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder in attempt to reassure her.
It was only in that moment Shinoa realized she didn’t even know what to call the other girl… this entire time she had just been ‘the other girl’ or ‘the mermaid’. Thinking aloud, she muttered, “I wish you could tell me your name…”
The mermaid looked at Shinoa with a perplexed expression, frowning slightly. On the bright side, Shinoa seemed to have taken her mind off of her distress by giving her something new to focus on. “Me…” She said thoughtfully.
Shinoa tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Me? Your name is ‘Me’?”
The girl shook her head before hesitating for a moment, gesturing as if to say ‘kind of’. At Shinoa’s confused look, she spoke again. “It’s…” She scrunched her nose at her inability to say the right word, instead spreading her arms out to signal to Shinoa that she meant ‘bigger’
“Me…. Oh! Mi! Part of your name is Mi?” She guessed, feeling a strange sense of accomplishment when the other girl nodded quickly.
The mermaid scrunched her eyebrows together rather adorably as she tried to think of how to explain the rest of it. “Soo.” She said. Hmm, so she could cut off the letters of words too. Apparently with some difficulty, but still… she was getting more and more interesting by the second.
“Misoo?” Shinoa asked, though the girl shook her head. This time, she made a fist with her left hand, and then a fist with her right with a gap between them before she moved her hand and gestured to where the gap between them had been.
“There’s something in between them?” Shinoa asked, and once again the girl nodded frantically. “Well, what is it?!” Shinoa would’ve never guessed something like learning someone’s name could actually be fun, but it was almost like a puzzle in a strange way.
“-t” The girl answered, seeming to find this oddly fun as well.
“Mitsu?” Shinoa guessed. “Your name is Mitsu?” It was a rather pretty name, Shinoa had to admit.
“Yes!” Mitsu exclaimed, grinning so widely Shinoa had to hold back a laugh.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mitsu. I’m Shinoa.” She said with a joking bow, to which Mitsu rolled her eyes but seemed internally amused.
“Alright, well, do you have any idea where this thing you’re looking for has gone?” As fun as their conversation had been, the sooner they got back to trying to figure out the mystery that Mitsu was, the better. There were still other matters at hand that they had to deal with, primarily, figuring out what happened to Mitsu’s village.
Mitsu nodded hesitantly, though it was with a slight shrug, like she had some vague idea now but nothing solid.
“Any starting point is better than nothing, so lead the way.” Shinoa said, gesturing out to the vast ocean around them.
--
It had been several days since Mikaela and Yuu had started building the raft, and though there was still lots of work to do, they had made quite a bit of progress. Mikaela knew he would’ve given up long ago if it weren’t for Yuu’s unrelenting enthusiasm urging him to keep at it.
On the shore they had gathered a rather large pile of logs, and they only needed a few more now, but Mikaela was starting to feel as though his arms would fall off. That didn’t even begin to cover the splinters and rope burn they both had all over their hands from trying to create rope to tie the logs together.
Still, no matter how rough the work got or how tired they were, Yuu never seemed to run out of energy or cheerful banter.
Though at first Mikaela hadn’t been exactly fond of sharing his island with a stranger, and had thought of Yuu as a guest who would only be there for a very short time, until Mikaela could get him off the island. Yet… as the days went on, he started to think of Sanguinem as their island. Sanguinem started to feel like less of a home and more of a prison, and through it had always been his jail, he had never felt any sort of emotion towards it --negative or positive-- until now. Now he yearned for the day he and Yuu could make their home and start a new life somewhere else, where they could both be free.
Every time he imagined starting a new life, Yuu was always there with him. Mikaela had spent almost his entire life by himself, and yet now that Yuu was here, Mikaela couldn’t imagine a world without him.
He never mentioned that to Yuu, of course. Whenever he thought about sharing his life with Yuu, Mikaela’s heart began to pound and his cheeks turned red for reasons he didn’t understand. Mikaela noticed he was starting to enjoy Yuu’s company far more than he had when they first arrived, and one day, when Mikaela was making rope while thoughtfully watching Yuu help him, he realized that he was truly happy with Yuu.
Shinoa had been his friend, sure, but whenever she came there was always that lingering sadness with the knowledge that she would soon have to go. With Yuu… it was different. Yuu didn’t have to leave for who knew how long at the end of the day, and with Yuu it was a different kind of happiness. Mikaela couldn’t quite make sense of it, but it was there. The emotions he felt with Yuu were unlike anything he felt whenever he spent time with Shinoa. Mikaela’s heart never fluttered like that when Shinoa smiled. He never felt his gaze lingering with something he might’ve mistaken for longing --if he didn’t know any better-- when he spent time with her. But with Yuu…
There was something unique about Yuu, not that he was human, not that he was male… no, something else. Though Yuu and Shinoa were the only two people he had ever met, Mikaela had a strange feeling that he would never feel what he felt for Yuu with anyone else.
At the end of another long day, Mikaela and Yuu collapsed beside each other on the sand, exhausted and panting.
“Well Mika, we’re almost done.” Yuu said between attempts to catch his breath. “Soon we’ll be ready to start actually building the raft, and after that, we can find out why you were here in the first place.”
Mikaela raised an eyebrow at the nickname. It wasn’t one he had heard before, and yet… he kinda liked it. It was a nickname Yuu gave to him, after all.
“What makes you think we’ll find the answers we seek out there?” Mikaela asked, rolling over to look at Yuu.
“Dunno,” Yuu said with a shrug. “I just do. We’ll never know if we don’t try.”
Mikaela felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips. “Fair enough.” Answers or not, with each passing day he was growing more and more eager to finally get off this island. He felt a desire he had never felt before, to see what was out there… what the world was like outside the one tiny place where he had spent his entire life.
--
Two weeks and many more splinters and calluses later, the raft was finally finished. It was a simple design, but one Yuu had seen in his father’s sketches. It was nothing more than a square of logs a little larger than Yuu if he laid down, tied together with painstakingly made rope. The sail was nothing more than a thinner log tied upright with a sheet for the sail, and though it wasn’t much, Yuu knew it would be enough.
They packed plenty of food, mostly bread and dried meat with a few fruits and vegetables for the first few days. Yuu didn’t know how far it was to the nearest land mass, but he wanted to make sure they were prepared in case it was an extremely long journey. They packed plenty of sheets and sticks they could use to make a small tent in case the heat from the sun became too intense, and they tied it all down tightly with whatever rope they hadn’t used to build the raft itself.
Yuu had no clue what they’d find on the long road ahead, but he was excited to find out. He wondered if they really would find out how Mika had gotten to the island and why he was there. Most of all, he wondered about Guren. Where was he? Had he made it to land alright? Was he out looking for Yuu? Or did he assume Yuu was dead… That would only make sense, Yuu should’ve died when he fell. Yuu felt a lump in his throat at the thought that Guren was off somewhere with no knowledge that his son was alive and well… No, Yuu couldn’t afford to think about that now. He had to stay positive. He had to believe that the answers Mika and him needed were on the road ahead, and so was Guren.
Before they left, Mika set free the animals he had, leaving them to roam free on the island, for he no longer had a use for them, and the morning after they finished the raft, Yuu and Mika set sail.