What are the odds

5

"Tanaka! Suga!," Nishinoya's voice echoes out into the abyss. He'd been going slow, not wanting to walk right past his missing friends and also not wanting to get lost and yet, he was exhausted, mere seconds away from collapsing.

His little legs were beginning to tremble with the effort but he refused to give up. He was making his way in a wide circle around the bus, at least, he hopes he was. Calling out as he goes.

"Suga? Ryuu? please guys," He calls out as tears start to gather.

Rays of light were starting to come from the horizon but he couldn't go back yet.

"Suga? Tanaka?" he calls again.

"Noya!" He hears a reply. It takes him a second to even register, and then another to question if he's really heard anything at all. "Noya is that you?" He hears Suga's familiar voice from his right, strained but still strong.

"Suga!" he shouts out in excitement, rushing to the sound of his seniors' voice and almost sliding down a cliff in the process.

"Careful!" Suga shouts up at him from where he was sitting at the bottom, shoulder bracing him against a tree.

"Hold on, I'm coming,"

"Wheres everyone else? are they okay?" Suga asks as the libero looks around to find a way down. The way down comes in the form of roots from large trees protruding from the cliff face and making a ladder most of the way down the side.

Finally, his luck seemed to be turning up.

"I'm sure Daichi's looking after them all, he probably has Hinata and Kageyama running laps around the bus as punishment for being idiots already,"

It takes Nishinoya a solid fifteen minutes to make his way down the cliff, muscles threatening to give out at every movement. He still has to drop a fair distance where the roots end. When he finally makes his way to his teammate, he's so excited that he pulls him into a hug, disregarding the possibility of injuries. Suga lets out a pained whimper but tightens his grip around the younger boy. He could feel Noya shaking as soft sobs escape his lips.

"Shhh, Noya its okay," Suga says reaching up to card his fingers through the brown hair tickling his chin. "Shhh, you're okay, we're okay,"

"I was so scared Suga, I am so scared, I couldn't find Ryuu, wha- what if he's hurt, what if he's" A sob cuts of his panicked rambling.

"I know, shhh I know," Suga comforts, "But remember who we're talking about yeah? It's Tanaka, he's strong and smarter than we give him credit for. We'll find him,"

After a moment, Nishinoya pulls away, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Are you okay Suga-san?"

"Yeah, just a couple of cuts and bruises, help an old man up will you?" Suga replies extending his arms out for some assistance which of course, Noya happily gives. "Now, how the hell are we meant to get out of here?"

Suga is still leaning heavily on the tree as he looks towards the roots Noya climbed down on noticing the large gap between where they end and the ground for the first time.

"Heh, I didn't really think that far ahead," the shorter of the two says nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

Not too far away from them, the majority of their team was walking around calling out their names. With the aid of daylight, they were having far less trouble with stray roots and slippery patches than Noya had been having hours earlier.

Ennoshita was the first to find Tanaka, half-submerged on a riverbank a half hours walk from the bus. "Tanaka!" he calls out running forward effectively drawing Asahi's attention from not too far away. The water around the boy was a murky brown rust colour and it took Ennoshita a moment to realise it wasn't just due to dirt. That realisation had his stomach churning.