Ai coughed as smoke was inhaled into his lungs, a numbness spreading through his senses as the smoke scorched his chest. Blue eyes watered as they were stung by the hot air, forcing the teen to scramble along half-blind as he followed the rest of the boys in their mad dash to the outside. He tried his best to keep himself looking at the flowing maroon hair of his senpai, something that was still easy to recognize even amongst the harsh oranges and reds of the flames devouring the forest around them.
"Watch out!"
A loud groaning above the silver-haired teen's head could be heard simultaneously to someone shouting, and he looked up in shock to see a fiery limb falling down towards him. He couldn't move; he found his legs completely frozen as he waited for the inferno to fall down and engulf him completely.
"Baka! Move your feet!" a low growl snarled next to his ear as a large rough hand grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the way, just seconds before the tree branch fell upon the ground and roared to life with hot flames. Ai found himself dragged at a fast pace through the burning forest, the hot hand gripping his arm tight enough to leave bruises. He squealed slightly at the pain, but it was enough to bring him back to reality and kick him back into gear to send him racing through the flames.
His soft cerulean eyes looked up to see that it was Rin who had grabbed onto his arm; Rin, who had saved him, and his heart instantly swelled with a warm, fuzzy feeling. It was shattered as soon as it appeared when he suddenly heard his name being called out from behind. Ai quickly swung his head around and caught a glimpse of blond hair before a blaze of flame shot up from the burning brunch and engulfed his view.
"Rin-senpai! We have- we have to stop! Nagisa-!"
"We can't go back! We go back, we're as good as dead," the red wolf snarled, not even slowing his pace as they began to make hasty progress away from the teen. How can you leave him? How can you leave your friend? the young boy thought with horror, looking back a second time and tripping over his own feet in the progress. "Pay attention!" Rin snarled at him, looking back long enough to flash him a maroon glare before turning back to continue pushing onwards.
Ai struggled with running away and leaving Nagisa behind, but when he turned his gaze forwards once again, he saw it. Rin's entire back was hunched over, his muscles taut with anguish and his mouth occasionally opening to release harsh curses over the roar of the fire. Leaving Nagisa behind wasn't an easy choice for him either, but he knew if they went back all three of them would just end up dead.
Weaving, ducking, and jumping above flaming underbrush eventually got them a lead on the fire, and they soon found themselves battling with ash and smoke rather than raging fire.
Ai didn't know where they were headed, and it seemed as though Rin didn't know either. Suddenly he began to recognize some of the trees around them, and it wasn't long after until they came across the roaring river that they had visited just the other day. Without hesitation the red wolf plunged into the flowing water, dragging a writhing rabbit behind him who let out a squeal at the searing cool of the liquid. Rin continued to move forwards, never letting go of Ai's arm, not even when they had reached the other side of the river and crawled out onto the bank. There they both collapsed from exhaustion, safe from harm even if the fire managed to make it this far. There was no way it would be able to get to the other side of the river.
"Damnit!" Rin suddenly cursed aloud, causing Ai to flinch as the wolf beat at the ground with a clenched fist. "What the fuck!? What the fuck kind of game is this!?" he continued to swear and claw at the ground in anger, ears pinned to his maroon hair and tail lashing back and forth on his backside.
"Rin-senpai..." Ai murmured sadly, but he couldn't think of anything else to say. They sat for a long time, listening to the raging inferno that continued to devour the forest on the other side of the river. Eventually the smoke would grow too thick for them to stay on the river's side any longer. Rin didn't seem to want to leave, so Ai grabbed one of his hands before dragging him to his feet and heading deeper into the woods without so much as a word.
The redhead followed without complaint, brows knitted together with worry. The sky was dark with clouds, making it impossible to tell how long it had been since the fire had started. An ominous rumble vibrated the sky just moments before drops of rain began to hail down onto the ravaged forest below.
"We need shelter..." Ai murmured, looking back at a distraught Rin who barely had enough energy to nod his head in agreement.
They continued to plod on through the forest, the ground that wasn't protected by the tree canopy slowly turning to mud and making their travel that much more difficult. Finally the silver-haired teen would see their salvation up ahead: a gaping mouth in the side of a large cliff. A cave, he sighed happily, tugging his senpai along behind him as he quickly ran to the entrance of the stone cavern before diving in.
"Aah!" he let out a scream as a force suddenly collided with his chest, throwing him backwards onto the floor and ripping his hand out of Rin's. "No!" he cried, blue eyes wide as he struggled with his attacker. His whole body writhed, hands beating against a solid chest and legs looking for something to kick. One of his feet suddenly embedded itself in something soft, causing a grunt to escape his attacker's mouth as he was thrown backwards and off of the silver rabbit. Ai dashed to his feet, blindly looking around for Rin.
"N-Nitori?" he recognized that soft voice, and he looked up into the soft green eyes of Makoto. The olive-haired boy was hunched over with a hand rubbing his sore stomach, lips drawn into a soft but gentle smile.
Ai released a sigh of relief, followed by a 'thank god, Makoto' from Rin who stood nearby. Movement from further in the cave revealed a soaking wet Haru, who appeared to be completely distraught and shivering. Rin looked around with worried red eyes before turning his gaze back to Makoto.
"Where's Rei and Nagisa?" All he got was a simple sad shake of the olive-haired teen's head. No one knew where their two friends were.
All four of them headed further into the cave where they could no longer feel the spray of the rain. It took a while before they were able to find dry wood further inside of the cold cave, and Rin was quick to start a fire for them. He commented dryly on how he had learned how to make a fire with just wood and friction when he had moved to Australia, before falling into dark silence once more.
No one spoke as they gathered along the cold floor around the fire, all of their eyes watching the fire dancing, the memory of their escape still burned into their skulls. Ai found himself reliving the moment over and over again, and he squeezed his eyes shut to try and drown out Nagisa's parting cry as they ran and left him behind in the inferno. Without saying anything Rin would suddenly reach over and wrap one of his arms around Ai's shoulders before tugging him sideways into a comforting hug. Neither boy said anything, just rode out their grief together.
The silver rabbit opened his eyes, realizing he must have fallen asleep at some point last night. He turned to the cave's entrance and was greeted by sunlight as it began to kiss the front of their doorstep, announcing day. Did we really just sleep the night away? he wondered as he slowly roused himself, looking around to see the other three boys still fast asleep around the dead fire that had burned down to only a few lit embers.
His stomach suddenly growled and he realized they hadn't eaten for an entire day now. Releasing a cough, he began to move the wood in the fire around to rekindle it and let its warmth envelope them once more. He would sit in silence, waiting until his friends woke themselves from their sleep and gathered around the fire once again. This time, they needed to discuss their next course of action.
"We need to go and find them... I'm sure the fire's been put out by now," Makoto sighed softly, green eyes turning to look out into the bright light that was streaming in through the cave's entrance.
"Yeah..." Rin muttered, and Haru and Ai both agreed silently.
"Find who?" a sudden voice prompted from the entrance, and all four whipped around in relief. Nagisa was standing at the entrance covered in soot, minor burns, and a crooked, yet happy smile spread across his face. Rei was standing beside him, leaning on the smaller boy with blue hair tousled and red glasses askew on his face.
"Nagisa! Rei!" Makoto sighed in relief, getting to his feet as he ran over to the two boys. Thank god they're alright, Ai thought to himself, releasing a heavy sigh as his worries completely disappeared with the appearance of the missing boys.
Rei seemed to have trouble walking, so Makoto took him so that Nagisa could limp further into the cave and sit down around the fire. He placed the game board and dice on the ground in front of him, clearly pleased with having saved the two most important items for them at that point in time. As Makoto laid Rei down on the hard ground and lifted up his left pant leg to take a look at the leg he couldn't put any weight on, Nagisa began to quickly tell them what had happened.
After the tree branch had come crashing down, he had thought he had been completely separated from the rest of them. After running around blindly for a while he eventually found Rei, who had gotten his left leg stuck under a part of the branch that had not yet caught fire. Thankfully Nagisa was able to free him quickly and from there they had done much the same as the rest of them: headed towards the river to get across to safety. For most of the night they slept along the river bank before waking up early in the morning to search for the rest of them.
It hadn't taken Rei long to find Haru's scent - Rei blushed a deep red as Nagisa proudly boasted how well Rei knew the smell of Haru - which eventually led them to the cave.
"At least everyone's safe," Makoto sighed at the end of Nagisa's story, a soft smile on his face for a moment before it disappeared. "But... Rei... Your ankle is broken."
Thanks to everyone for the follows!