Hiro sat unmoving in one of the numerous chairs of the waiting room. His hands were in his lap as he restlessly fiddled with his fingers. He was trying to be as patient as he could but given the circumstances, it was a hard thing to ask of him. Nurses walked by without as much as a glance.
No answer.
He had been sitting there all day, holding out for someone to approach him and tell him everything was okay, tell him he was allowed in to see who he'd come for. His eyes flickered up to the clock situated on the wall adjacent to where he sat. He followed the black hands as they moved with excruciating slowness around the grey face. He counted the soft ticks that filled the room, echoing as they grew louder the more time that elapsed.
No answer.
Every minute felt like hours. The longer he was there, the more anxious he became. His attention started to drift further and further away. He continued to wait, watching the two white barricade-like doors through the black locks of his hair covering his eyes for any signs of movement.
Still no answer.
Suppressing the growl of frustration that rose in his throat, Hiro let his head fall limply into the palms of his hands. His elbows dug into his knees as they supported his skull, swaying slowly from side to side in distress. He felt helpless. He was helpless. What was he supposed to do in this situation?
He didn't deserve such torment. When he had received the call, it had been as if his heart had exploded with joy and anguish. He could hardly believe it was real. The boy hadn't slept in days, fearing if he closed his eyes he would wake up and find himself back in the suffering depression he had been stuck in for the last four months.
The wait was excruciating! He had always heard that sometimes the most painful thing in life was the suspense of discovering something. Being somewhat of a sceptic, Hiro had never believed in such things. The idea that waiting for one sole reason or answer could cause such suffering in a person; the concept, in his mind, was unthinkable. Illogical. So exceedingly absurd that whenever he heard it, his mind wouldn't even process it.
Now though…he didn't think he could have been any more mistaken. It was like a form of torture. Waiting and waiting, with someone else's life being on the receiving end of the prayers he sent out. If only time could go faster! Any time those thoughts entered his head, he shook them away immediately. He had to keep telling himself, 'What if the nurses were to walk through those doors rights now and tell you it's too late? You'd be killing yourself, Hiro! Wishing that you had held on just that little bit longer so you'd have a moment more of faith that he'd pull through.'
Hiro was forced to tell himself that everything would be okay, that he would survive. Convincing someone else was one thing. But convincing himself? He might as well just call it lying to himself. That's all it was really.
He just hoped it wasn't too late.
The sound he had been so anxiously waiting for was finally heard by his numbed ears.
"Mr Hamada." His head shot up when the soft albeit impassive nurse's voice called his name. He started to wish Baymax could have been there with him as he gave in to his emotional state. He rose to his feet and made his way over to the glass she sat behind, gulping nervously. She examined the young boy for a moment long before flicking a switch on the underside of her desk that triggered the doors of the hospital to open. "Level 5, North Wing, room 108."
With a solemn last thought, he swallowed and entered. While he walked, his mind desperately searched for an explanation behind everything that was happening. They hadn't found the body in the fire and most people just assumed it had been cremated, but now they had declared this previously unidentified patient as his brother. Hiro kept trying to tell himself that it wouldn't be as bad as he thought. It was hard to sustain that notion as a reality when ever step he took brought him closer to everything he hoped for and feared.
As he neared the room containing the person wherein he frantically prayed to be recovered, he could sense the thought of everything he'd ever been taught start to drift to the darkest corner of his mind from which they might never re-emerge. He stood in front of the white curtain that appeared lustrous in the above lighting. He could feel his heartbeat begin to quicken as he extended his hand towards it. The sound of it pounded against his ears, making a part of him wonder if anyone else could hear it. His fingers finally reach the less than smooth material and drew it back. As soon as he saw it his legs grew weak and if he had not grabbed hold of the chair beside him, he would have collapsed to his knees.
Tadashi lay under the blankets, unmoving with his pale eyelids closed. Bandages were wrapped around his most of his body, the crisp white bindings covering his forehead only highlighting the severe burns that scraped from his jaw line down his neck. The exposed skin that was not burnt was moist from perspiration. His cheeks, now ashen and bony, made him appear completely lifeless. The worst of his injuries was the dressing covered stub where Hiro knew his brother's left arm should have been. The remains of the amputation procedure brought the taste of bile to his tongue.
Hiro stumbled over to the side of his bed, clutching the railing in his pale shaking hands. The sight made his heart feel as though it had been shattered into a thousand shards, all of which were now piercing into the rest of his body and driving the anguish through of him from the inside out. Tears started to well up in his eyes as he clasped his brother's bandaged hand and pressed his head to the stiff mattress, despite the pain caused by the railing compressing into the pit of his stomach. He wept like a child regardless of feeling the faint pulse in his Tadashi's wrist.
Someone approached him from behind and placed what he presumed was supposed to be a comforting hand on his shoulder. It wasn't comforting. It felt dead. He looked up to see Aunt Cass standing close to him, Tadashi's friends behind her, before his head fell to his chest in defeat. He didn't even acknowledge their presence, too shaken by his broken brother's dire condition.
While each of them tried to soothe him with words of comfort, Hiro ignored them and continued to sit in silence. Aunt Cass was called out by one of the doctors to discuss some issues regarding her eldest nephew's condition. Honey Lemon was kneeling by Hiro, trying to receive some sort of response from him. Fred and Wasabi had the same idea as her as they stood by his side. Gogo was sitting on the chair on the opposite side of Tadashi's bed, gazing into Hiro's grief filled eyes as he stared right through her. She could tell none of their attempts to cheer him up were working, so she rose to her feet and gathered her friends.
"Guys, can you give me a minute or two alone with him?" she asked, keeping her voice soft as she casted a gentle glance over her shoulder at the distraught boy.
They nodded in silent agreement and left Gogo alone in the room with the Hamada siblings. She sighed quietly as she walked back over, her hand stroking Hiro's hair. He blinked up at her but his pained expression did not change. She smiled half-heartedly as she wrapped a tender arm around his shoulders.
"Why did you send the others away?" he asked in a shaky tone.
"I figured you could do without everyone crowding you" she explained. "Are you okay?"
"I thought he was gone" Hiro whispered, his eyes teary.
"I know" she said sympathetically, thinking over what she was going to say to him in her mind. "We all did. But Tadashi is here, he's still with us."
"Gogo?"
"Yes Hiro?"
He avoided her gaze. "D-Did you…I mean, were you and Tadashi…" His sentence trailed off awkwardly but she understood what he was trying to say. She chuckled softly.
"Me and Tadashi? No, we're best friends but that's all" she assured. "Tadashi was there for me at a time when I needed it most. He was the only one who never gave up one me, just as I know he never gave up on you."
Hiro looked down at his unconscious brother. Sadness glistened in his eyes. Gogo sat down in the chair with him and held the boy closer to her body, unaware that a small smile had broken through Hiro's tears when she did.
"I might not be able to understand exactly what you're going through but Tadashi is like family to me too, to all of us. He loves you more than anything."
"What if he doesn't wake up?" he mumbled, sniffling. Gogo pressed her lips to the top of his head.
"He will. He mightn't be in the best condition he's ever been in but he's as strong as you are and he'll pull through. That's a promise."
They sat together watching the weak rise and fall of Tadashi's bandaged chest. Hiro would never admit to it but being in Gogo's arms made him feel surprisingly safe. The pain he was feeling suddenly seemed like less, even though nothing appeared to have changed.
"No more wondering what happened to the body" she murmured, Hiro's head resting on her shoulder. She kept a protective arm around him, wanting nothing more than to shield him from all the horrible things that had happened. "Tadashi is here. He might have lost his arm but the most important thing is that he's alive. That's all that matters."
Her hand entwined with his, bringing it up to her soft lips for another kiss that made Hiro beam. He wiped his eyes dry but his gaze flickered back to where his brother lay. He couldn't stop himself from staring at the gnarled and blistered stump that had become of his arm.
"I don't want him to wake up without it" he whispered, a slight break in his voice.
Gogo looked thoughtful. "He doesn't have to."
"What do you mean?"
"You could build him a new one" she said in an optimistic tone. She tapped his forehead affectionately. "Use that big brain of yours."
Hiro felt helpless to do anything else so the idea of building him a prosthetic arm was intriguing to say the least. He had all the knowledge and gear needed to make one, and knew his friends would be willing to help too.
Gogo was right. Tadashi had always been there and was the kind of person who would sacrifice everything for others; something about his brother Hiro now took very literally. It was only right that they should do something for Tadashi in return.
Weeks passed and there had been no news concerning Tadashi awakening. Hiro had spent every possible moment by his brother's side, only leaving when he was forced by the nurses or dragged home by his aunt. His friends had taken it in turns to keep him company while there and ensure his spirits remained high.
Knowing his brother had come so close to death, that they had mourned and held a funeral for that empty coffin that now laid buried deep beneath the earth. Remembering what it had felt like to be alone had been what kept Hiro by his side all that time. He could still feel the agony of that experience and though a part of him knew it would most likely haunt him for the rest of his life, he wasn't about to let that get in his way. He had lost his brother once before. Never again.
His head rested on the side of the bed, his lack of sleep over the past weeks causing him to have drifted off into a deep sleep. He had been holding Tadashi's cap, the rim of it being used almost as a pillow as he kept the hat close to his heart. Something metallic and cold brushed against his fingers. His dreary bloodshot eyes blinked open, expecting to have touched the railing while shifting in his sleep. He wasn't expecting to see his hand in the gentle grasp of the prosthetic arm he had made his brother. As he lifted his head, his black hair sticking out in all directions from the awkwardness of his nap position, two warm brown eyes stared back at him.
"Tadashi…"