I'm back! This got a lot longer than expected. This was just such an interesting idea to explore and I kept developing these OC's that were meant to just be background characters but ended up coming into play a lot more than I was planning. I generally don't use OC's so this is also a new experience for me. Also, this chapter involves a lot of systems and services that I have no idea how they actually work, especially in a fictional city that is a weird mix of two countries I've never been to. So just remember this is fictional and may not be an accurate description of what would happen in real life. I've never even been to a hospital before, except for the rare times I've visited someone else. Please enjoy!
Guest Review Responses:
GreenDayIsCool: Thank you! That's really encouraging. :)
The Phoenix, Part Two
His lungs protested considerably as he ran through the deceptive smoke. Despite his stinging eyes and the mind numbing heat, Tadashi kept his eyes peeled for signs of Professor Callaghan. He did not know what he aimed to do, but he knew he could not just stand outside and do nothing.
"Professor Callaghan?!" he cried as he ran towards the exhibition room, where the professor was last seen. He grabbed onto some metal railing as he swung his body around a corner. "Ow," he exclaimed when he felt the skin on his hand beginning to burn, the metal having heated up in the fire. Right- he could not help thinking as he hurried down a narrow hallway and through the all too familiar lab- metal, conductor of heat.
His eyes were streaming now due to the smoke. He heard a loud bang behind him and the smashing of glass as something towards the front of the building exploded. He winced, and continued down another hallway, he was going to have to find another way out. He turned a corner, only to realise that his path was blocked by a wall of flame. In panic, he took a few hurried steps back, only to find something connect with the back of the leg, causing the already weakened Tadashi to fall backwards and whack his head on the solid floor. He groaned and lolled his head back, his vision growing grey and blurry. He felt the heat closing in on him and his breath coming out in painful rasps. Just as he began to black out he heard a voice, drifting lazily around his mind.
"On a scale of… how w… rate… pain?"
And then there was nothing.
()()()()()
When he came to he was moving. His mind jumbled as white lights flew across his vision. He groaned in pain and he suddenly found a face leaning over the top of him.
"Sir?" she asked. "Excuse me sir, but could you tell us your name?" His mind scrambled and his heart began to flutter in panic. He should know that, shouldn't he? What was wrong with him? What had happened? In his panic, a name suddenly came to him.
"Hiro," he stated, his mind still struggling for information. Wait, there was meant to be another part? "Hiro… Ha… modo."
He tried to look certain, but just moving his forehead made his head pound and his face sting.
"Okay Hiro, do you remember what happened?" There was more clunking and whirring in his head as he tried his best to remember.
"Fire," he moaned. "So much smoke…" Everything faded to black again.
()()()()()
"Amnesia?" Tadashi repeated in disbelief.
"Do you understand what that is, Mr Hamodo?" a man dressed in white asked him as he stood next to the hospital bed, a nurse rummaging around the base of the bed as he set out the evening meal.
"Yes," he inclined his head tenderly. He had suffered serious burns, mainly to the right side of his body, including his face. To add to it he had also suffered a heavy concussion and a twisted ankle. What really upset him, however, was the fact that he could not remember where he had learnt what amnesia was, or any of what he knew, in fact.
"Can you remember anything from your past, Mr Hamodo?" the doctor asked.
"No," he replied morosely. "Just the fire. And the name, Hiro."
"Your name?"
"It must be," he said, attempting to frown, which caused him to wince, which caused him to hiss in pain. The burns on his face made it difficult even to express himself. He felt so tired and trapped. He could not even talk for the first week, fading in and out of consciousness. Now he could manage. But it was no small feat. His words were soft and gargled as he tried to use only one half of his mouth.
"Well," the balding man sighed as the nurse sat beside the bed, waiting for the doctor to leave so he could help Tadashi eat, "there's no Hiro Hamodo in our records, but we will keep looking. Still, you are a lot better off than you could have been." Tadashi held back a scoff. "You probably would have died, if it wasn't for that robot."
Ah, yes, the robot. The nurses had informed him, after learning it from the paramedics, about how a large white balloon-like robot, who apparently went by the name Baymax, had carried his unconscious body out of the burning building and handed him over to the paramedics, saying something about going to a higher authority due to the seriousness of the injuries. Tadashi sighed as the doctor left. He looked across to the nurse, who kept a stony face and held out a spoon. Every meal time, Tadashi insisted on holding the spoon, but every time he fumbled and it slipped out of his raw bandaged fingers. The nurse picked the spoon out of Tadashi's lap once again, and proceeded to feed him, much to Tadashi's chagrin. Though the experience was not enjoyable for him, he did have to admit that he was his favourite of the nurses. He kept the chit-chat to a minimum, and did not try to pretend everything was well and good. He just did his job and left, leaving Tadashi alone to try and realign his thoughts. Which never got him anywhere.
()()()()()
There was much discussion following Tadashi's conversation with the doctor. Various experts came and went, the police questioned him and answered none of his. He was tired and in pain, with no one he knew of in his life and no one to tell him what on earth was going on. Oh sure, he had had the diagrams and slideshow, panels of experts explaining exactly what had happened to him. Tadashi understood all that. He was smart, they told him, to understand so quickly and completely. But no one could tell him who he was, or what was really going on in his head. Why all he saw was fire and the occasional whisper of Hiro. There were no faces, friend or foe. No memories of childhood, school, work. He knew these things should be there, but they weren't.
He cried, once, in front of that stony faced nurse. The young man had walked in on him with the lunch tray, seen the state of the man in the hospital bed and walked straight out. He came back shortly afterwards with a chocolate bar, which Tadashi suspected he had bought from a nearby vending machine. The nurse pulled the wrapper down and placed it in Tadashi's hands, which now only had thin gauze on them instead of great bandages. A chocolate bar he could handle. A spoon with anything fluid on it was still too much.
"Thank you," he croaked softly, taking a bite and slowly savouring it.
"I didn't know what flavours you liked, so I got the plain one," the nurse shrugged.
Tadashi frowned, a feat he could now manage by using only the good side of his face, a skill he had been practising for a while now. "I don't know what flavours I like."
There was a short pause while the nurse mulled that over, then he grinned wickedly at his patient. "I think we are going to have to remedy that."
And somehow, with just that little exchange, things brightened, if only a little and if only for a short time. While Tadashi still could not wait to get out of hospital and start hunting his past, or at least make himself a future, the hospital became a bit more durable. He found out the nurse's name was Charlie, and together they began to discover something about what kind of man Tadashi was. Through chocolate.
Every day, at lunch time, Charlie would sneak in a different flavoured chocolate bar. Once they had tried everything in the vending machine, Charlie began bringing some in from home. Soon enough they were trying strange new chocolate bars that had been imported from the other side of the world and bought in some obscure shop. They discovered Tadashi liked choc-mint but hated cherry, did not mind caramel and honeycomb but loved liquorish logs. They both disliked the pineapple one that Charlie had found in a specialised sweet shop on the other side of town, which resulted in them both spluttering and laughing hysterically at each other's faces. It was not much, but Tadashi felt like he finally knew something about himself and, perhaps, had made his first friend.
()()()()()
"I can go?" Tadashi was sitting at the end of the bed, his bare feet on the floor. The doctor nodded.
"The police will continue to try and find your identity, but until then we cannot keep you here. I will give you some information on some charity homes and such until you can get back on your feet." Tadashi wrung his hands together. He had not thought of that. He had no money, and no one to lend him anything. "I'll also give you some information on government funding. Unfortunately you do not qualify for a lot, but you may be able to scratch together something." The doctor's voice was flat and dreary, but when Tadashi looked up he saw pity in the man's eyes. He knew he was very pitiable, but it was still hard to have people constantly looking at him like that. He also was aware that it was just the beginning. He may have been without a huge amount of memory, but he knew that it was not normal for people to have half of their face melted. While he could hide his amnesia, there was no way to hide that. Scuffing his feet on the floor, the doctor continued to give him information as he stared at his marred body reflected in the window. He had lost a lot of movement in his right arm and hand, and it took a lot of rehab for him to walk without a limp. One way Tadashi had kept himself entertained was learning how to write with his left hand, as fine motor skills had become close to impossible with his right. They told him if he continued to exercise it, it may become possible one day, but it was not guaranteed. Flexing said hand, he nodded his thanks to the doctor and was left to his own thoughts.
Charlie came the next day, with celebratory liquorish logs and they talked about nothing until Charlie was due to leave to see his next patient. Tadashi still had no plans. He had the paperwork from the doctor, and was free to leave when he wanted, but he had nowhere to go. He moved to look out the window, but all he could see was his disfigured face reflected back at him.
()()()()()
Tadashi pulled nervously at the clothes Charlie had gifted him as a going away present as he stood at in front of the receptionist as she checked him out of the hospital.
"Okay Mr Hamodo, you are free to go," she smiled at him. He nodded at her and wandered out of the hospital. As soon as he exited the large sliding door, he froze. He was suddenly hit with all the noises, smells and colours of the real world. It was also cold. He sunk his neck into his hoodie and placed his hands in his pockets. Now what? With a bit of research and persuasion, Tadashi had managed to receive some government funds, but it was not nearly enough to live on. So, first step, find some work.
()()()()()
"Tari, get over here!" Tadashi shouted over the roar of flames, peal of sirens and gushing of firehoses. A very young looking volunteer firefighter trotted over in his oversized firefighter suit, almost shaking with nerves. "Okay, I need you to watch the hoses. If anything breaks, you know where the spares are. Rani and I are going in."
"But the building is about to collapse-," Tari began to protest.
"And that's why we need to get those people out of there," Tadashi stated plainly.
"But the captain…!" Tari's voice faded into the background as Tadashi ran to meet one of his main partners near the entrance of the building. They nodded once to each other, then ran in. It had been a bit over a year since Tadashi had stepped out onto that crowded street. He went through quite a few low paying jobs before he found his calling. As far as he knew he had no qualifications, and he didn't have enough money to go to university. Firefighting, however, had a certain attraction to it. He told himself it was because he was preventing people suffering the same fate he did, and that was partly true. However, it was the fire itself he was really attracted to. It was the only memory he had of his past life. It was the one thing he had to clutch at with his scarred fingers. Scars from a past he could not remember.
They told him he was brave, working with fire every day after what had happened to him. He wore the physical reminder of such pain for everyone to see. What they did not realise was that it was also a weakness, giving into that desire to seek out flame.
With Rani at his side he ran through the building, smoke glowing a fluorescent orange. Whenever he did this he felt an itching in the back of his mind, as if he was about to remember something. This was why he had become so addicted to this. They both herd the sound of distraught coughing and turned to find a group of three weakened people surrounding a collapsed woman.
"This way!" Tadashi cried, pointing in the direction they had come. "Quick!"
This was received by nervous tittering. "But Rosie…," one began, looking back at the unconscious woman. Tadashi moved forward to pick her up.
"I've got this," Rani interrupted, pushing Tadashi out of the way. He paused to study her, but she ignored him, picking up the limp body with ease. "Move it," she commanded.
Tadashi turned around and ran after the others, Rani close behind him. He was pulled short when a door slammed shut in front of him, pulled by the drafts caused by the fire. He yanked at it, but it was jammed. The heat was becoming more and more intense.
"Oh for Pete's sake," Rani exasperated, moving forward to help him, but the door suddenly gave way and Tadashi's elbow came into contact with Rani's nose with some force. This was followed by many cusses from Rani and apologies from Tadashi. She hissed in pain for a few moments, but then straightened her back, the unconscious woman still in her arms. "Move it!" she shouted at him. He complied, and continued to weave his way through the building and out the door to come face to face with a very cross looking captain.
Tadashi was now second-in-command, and still working his way up, much to the disgust of the captain. It was a cause of friction within the squad. While Tadashi was liked among most of the firefighters, he knew there were those that whispered behind his back. Some claimed that his past was far darker than what he claimed. That he was some serial killer or such, who had burnt himself to hide his identity and then claimed to have amnesia so he could change his identity and start over. He had no idea who had come up with such an elaborate scheme, but it was not him. It was so ridiculous that most did not believe it, but some were still sceptical. And Tadashi had an idea who had started the rumour.
Marric raised an eyebrow at him while Rani handed the woman over to the paramedics. "Again Hiro?"
"They were in danger! That woman probably would have died of it weren't for Rani." Tadashi glared at the overbearing man.
"Leave Rani out of this. We both know it is you who leads these suicide missions. You know the rules. No one does anything without my permission. Especially when it is as stupid as that. I am the captain, and don't you forget it."
"No, sir," Tadashi mumbled. "Sorry, sir."
Rani returned to Tadashi's side, holding some gauze to her bleeding nose, given to her by the paramedics. They did not have time to treat her fully, but they could do that for her.
"Miss Linette, what happened to you?" the captain asked, tone lightening considerably.
"Hiro had an argument with a door, and I got in the middle," she grumbled light heartedly in a nasally voice. Marric turned to glare at Tadashi before smiling sweetly at Rani. "The meds say it's broken," she continued.
"I'm sorry to hear, let me know if there is anything Hiro can do for you," the captain replied, grinning wickedly at Tadashi.
"Well," Rani began with a glint in her eye, "there are many things Hiro can do for me, but I do not think you need be involved, Captain."
"I see," Marric responded, all humour lost from his face, striding away to discuss something with another firefighter.
"What an overbearing crumpet head," Rani complained to Tadashi, who shrugged.
"He's just doing his job."
Rani seemed to find this hysterical. "He's doing a lot more than his job."
Tadashi looked at her in confusion. She just rolled her eyes and moved to talk to one of the fire victims, who was looking a bit dazed.
()()()()()
When Tadashi arrived at the fire station a few days later, he was met with hushed silences and whispers behind his back. He ignored them, telling himself that they meant nothing and pretending he did not notice them. He walked into the central workspace where a lot of the firemen spent their time when not on call. He was met with a silent room of people all looking at him. The captain stood at the forefront of the group, arms crossed and lips pulled into a stiff line. Rani was behind him, peering around his arm to look at Tadashi in a wide eyed expression.
"Morning?" he greeted warily,
"Hiro-," Rani began, only to be silenced by a glare from Marric. Instead she continued to hold eye contact with Tadashi.
"What's going on?" Tadashi asked, trying to sound casual.
"There have been some… accusations made against you, Mr Hamodo," Marric explained coolly.
"What?" Tadashi shook his head. "Who would do that?" He looked to Rani for answers, and her gaze flickered to the captain and back to Tadashi, her face apologetic. Tadashi followed Rani's gaze to the icy eyes of the man before him. "How did this happen?" he asked, rubbing his hand through his hair and over his brow.
"Well," the fire captain began in an almost flippant tone, "I have had a few of the men approach me about you using your position as an advantage against others and risking men's lives in order to appear more heroic." Tadashi gave the group a disbelieving look as Marric continued. "And then there is the latest abuse against Miss Linette here," he gestured to Rani.
"Abuse?" he could not believe what was occurring in front of him. This was childish, and he could not understand someone's motive to do such a thing.
"You hit her," he gestured to Rani's taped up nose and bruising around her eyes.
"But I-," Tadashi began.
"Rani, did he hit you?" Marric cut the young man off.
"He did, but it was-,"
Marric did not let her finish. "It's okay sweetie," Rani turned to glare at him, "no need to stress yourself."
Seething, Rani turned back to catch Tadashi's overwhelmed expression, a child being blamed for something he did not do. Her heart ached for him. Tadashi sighed.
"What do you want from me Marric?" he held his arms out in defeat, his shoulders slumping.
"I want you gone," the captain leered.
"What, so I can join the station a few blocks down?" Tadashi tried to reason.
Marric's eyed glinted maliciously. "Oh, I don't think you will be doing that."
"Across the city?"
"I don't think that will be happening either."
Realisation spread across the man's scarred face as he recognised the full extent of the captain's reach. He could keep Tadashi out of every fire station in town, and possibly further.
"You wouldn't," Tadashi shook his head in denial.
"Oh, but I can. You have no paperwork, not even a birth certificate. We have no idea who you are!" A few of the men began to shift uncomfortably as they saw the young marred man begin to crumble.
"I have amnesia," his voice wobbled slightly, "I'm not some criminal. I'm just trying to make something out of nothing."
"And he didn't mean to hit me," Rani growled.
"Of course he did sweets, stop trying to defend him," Marric patronised her.
"I am not defending him, I'm telling the truth!" she practically shouted.
"What are my options?" asked Tadashi, his tone already defeated.
"Stay here, we'll press charges and you may be out of work forever. Leave peacefully and never return to this precinct and I'll let you go in peace. I'm not really the bad guy here Hiro. I want you to go on to do great things, but I cannot do it at the expense of my men." Rani glared and a few others gaped at him in disbelief, but Tadashi just hung his head.
"I guess I'll go then." Tadashi shrugged his bag back over his shoulder and turned to leave. There were a few protests, but Marric hushed them. Tadashi had never been particularly popular at the station. He was too strange. To pathetic. They sympathised for him, but no one wanted to be his friend. So there was no one, except perhaps Rani, who would go down fighting for him.
"Goodbye Hiro, if that is even your name," Marric sneered.
Tadashi turned to look at the older man, and a few hearts tugged at the sight of his sad eyes. "I don't even know." And with that he left. Behind him he could hear the sound of a fist making contact with flesh, and a pained groan from Marric, followed by a string of insults from Rani. His lips twitched up slightly at that as he left the building for the last time.
()()()()()
The next few months were hard for him. Work was scarce and he was not the most employable man. The circumstance of his leaving the fire squad had spread and he was finding it even harder to find employment then he was before. So he found himself with too much spare time and not enough money. He discovered he had an aptitude for technology when his neighbour's laptop broke down. And then it was like the opening of a floodgate. He his small apartment slowly turned into a workshop as he began creating things. That became his purpose in life. He would find all sorts of odd jobs in order to buy parts for this invention or that. Originally he thought he could use this as a job, but he was quick to find out this was not the case.
"You're in San Fransokyo," one man he approached laughed, "tech central. Every tech head in the country dreams of workin' 'ere. And look at you! No qualifications, no history, not even a 'bot."
"I'm working on one at-"
"Yeah, well so is nearly everyone else in this friggin' city. Look, I'd love to help, but you've got nothin' goin' for ya." And with that Tadashi thanked the obnoxious shop owner, ducked his head and walked home. He got a similar response from the few others he approached before he gave up.
He found his mind drifting back to his old work though. The firefighting. And that was how it started, he began to make a machine to fight fires. It almost worked to. But then a wire sparked and set the newspaper on the kitchen table on fire. He swore and started the motions of putting it out, but paused as the fire caught his eyes. He found himself mesmerised by the flames, whispers of memories rushing past him and raising the hairs on his skin as they brushed past, but there was nothing solid. He shook his head and proceeded to throw a soaked tea towel over the top of the flames, wincing at the scorch marks on the table. His landlord was not going to be happy.
And that was when things changed.
His mission became more sinister, the machine changing from something that put out fires to something that also created them. He told himself it was one of the features, used to make fire breaks and controlled burns. Why he needed them in the city he was yet to work out. Maybe he was to join a rural fire station. Surely Marric could not reach that far. Whatever the reason, though he cared not to admit it, he still found himself enchanted by the flame, attracted to it and the secrets it held.
()()()()()
One night he found himself watching the news on his very small television set while he stuffed some poorly cooked spaghetti in his mouth. As it turned out, he was not a very good chef. The news rolled past without him even noticing. What did catch his attention, however, was the piece on the Big Hero 6. He listened to the story of their latest rescue of a train stuck in a tunnel, and marvelled at their costumes and secret identity.
The idea did not come to him until halfway through the next day, in the supermarket of all places. He could become his own hero. Be a firefighter in his own right. Get in and out before anyone else saw him. He knew how the firefighters worked, he knew how to avoid their attention. When he got home he went straight into making himself a disguise and making his gadget into a pack that a single person could wear. It took a lot of late nights and long hours at work to get something useable together. It was a Tuesday afternoon when Tadashi could finally put together the final piece and try it on. He eyed himself in the mirror. The black suit was two piece, breathable, yet fireproof. It had the appearance of a soft leather but felt and functioned quite differently. The pack fit snuggly against his back, moving easily with him as he bent himself into various shapes to get a better look. A control panel was on his left arm, where he could change the pack to different settings to expel various substances from his palms, mostly in order to put out fires. He smiled at his handiwork, before moving over to pick the final piece of the costume off the end of the bed. The mask.
It made a very solid statement. It only hid the intact part of his face, leaving the scarred part for all to see. Since he had been aware of what occurred around him, his scar had defined him to others. It was what they saw. But it was not who he was. The other half, left mostly unseen, was the one that bore all his expressions and emotions. It was the part that held pieces of his past, lines in the corner of his eye from laughs he could not remember. Lips shaped by parents he never knew and eyes that had seen things he would never see again. That was the identity worth protecting, even if he did not know who that person was. He left the scar out for all to see and all to judge.
Shaking himself out of his morbid reverie, he pulled off the chunkier parts of his costume and then collapsed on the couch. By some miracle, the fire department had not cancelled out his pager, so he sat said pager on the table next to him. And waited.
()()()()()
The first rescue went well. No one even noticed he was there except one elderly man he helped out of a second story window, and they all thought he was delusional. The second was a bit harder. The building was small and there were a lot of people about, making remaining hidden a lot harder. Quite a few people noticed a shadow haunting the area, and one even tried chasing him down, possibly assuming that he was the arsonist. The third, well, a pattern must have formed, Tadashi was going downhill; the third was a disaster. He already suspected that there would be problems, as he ran his plan through his head on his way to the fire. It was close enough that he just weaved his way through the alleyways to get there. It was in his old precinct. His fire station's precinct. He was going to see some old faces. To make it worse, it was his first daytime rescue. He caught the glow of fire-lit smoke up ahead and shook his misgivings from his mind. He had a job to do.
He snuck in around the less accessible back and eyed the situation, assessing whether he really was needed or not. Unfortunately, it appeared he was. The building appeared to be a family business and, along with a few customers, he could spot a distressed family out the front. He came in closer so he could hear them. He tried to ignore the fact that the man they were talking to was none other than Marric.
"Talia…," the middle aged man began to cough. "Talia was still in the storeroom."
Marric nodded and kept his features professionally calm. "We are doing our best sir. I assure you we are doing our best to help."
"Codswallop," he heard the unmistakably harsh voice of Rani accuse as she came into view. Tadashi's eyes watered a little with pride as he saw the stripes of a second-in-command on her uniform. "We haven't even got any men in there! Sir," she added on hastily at the end. Marric turned to glare at her in a you-are-not-helping kind of way, so she glared back before turning around to issue some more commands.
"No rescue missions until I say the word!" he yelled after the determined woman. Tadashi saw Rani struggle to do as she was ordered. Marric continued to try and assure the upset family, who were even more shaken by the exchange that had taken place before them.
Tadashi pulled away in a hurry, running to the back door, breathing a sigh of relief when the hot handle of the rear door gave way and allowed him into the back of the building. Surely the store room was in the back somewhere. Luckily, it appeared he had come through the loading bay area and the hallway was sign posted for him, though some of the labels were now peeling off the walls. He ran through, occasionally putting out fires that got in his way. He reached the back office, and looked around for another door. He knocked a flaming bookshelf over by accident, causing some papers on the desk to catch fire. He stared at the destruction for a moment, mesmerised, but in the silence that followed the crash he heard a raspy gasp. He turned to find a young woman with cropped brown hair staring at him, aghast. He froze for a moment, and in that moment the girl ran. "Wait!" he cried, running after her.
It did not take long for him to catch up.
He found her collapsed in the middle of the hallway, appearing to have tripped over a fallen chair in her smoke induced haze. Sighing, he picked her up and made his way back out, having a bit more trouble this time.
()()()()()
Rani growled to herself in frustration, Marric was being a pompous ass, as per usual and this fire was not going out. That girl was going to get incinerated if they did not do something soon. She could not wait to get out from under the control of Marric the Malicious. Seeing that another blaze had reignited itself in the shop window that they had just extinguished, she made up her mind. Screw Marric, she was going in. She spotted an alleyway that would hopefully take her to a back entrance, and raced towards it.
"Linette!" she heard Marric shout disapprovingly behind her, but she ignored it. She then heard the sound of someone pursuing her so she ran harder. She did not get far, however, until she ran into the person she was meant to be saving, in the arms of a tall dark figure.
"Wh- ahh, what?" was all she could manage to get out of her mouth as her eyes ran up the tall figure to find he was masked. He quickly turned his face away, placing the unconscious woman down and turning to leave. It was then, however, that the girl regained consciousness and Marric arrived. After a moment of shock, the girl screamed and scrambled away from the imposing figure.
"Him!" she cried. "He lit the fire!" Tears were now streaming down the girls face.
"Rani?" Marric asked from behind her, trying to find out if she had any idea what was going on. Since no one else was going to do anything, Rani ran forward to grab the man's hand, bracing herself for a fight. Instead, he just turned to look at her with a defeated expression on the revealed part of his face.
"Hiro!" she exclaimed- too loud.
"What?!" she heard, Marric behind her still.
"Hiro," she repeated softly, reaching for his mask. He suddenly leapt back, wrenching his arm out of her grip. She began to approach him again, but he shrunk back further.
"Back!" he cried, flames leaving his hands and laying a barrier between him and the other three. The young woman screamed in alarm, Marric had a stony expression, while Rani just looked on at him with a shocked expression. Tadashi just shook his head and ran.
And ran.
And ran.
He did not care who saw him anymore. People shouted out warnings or screamed in alarm as he ran past, flames occasionally leaving a trail behind him. He found himself stuck in a group of people as night fell, and shouted out in frustration in the middle of the shopping square. He surrounded himself with his only comfort. The flames. He drew a ring around himself, screams reaching him through the circle of flame.
That was when they arrived. The Big Hero 6. It was then he realised what was happening. They were the good guys, the heroes, and they were fighting him. What did that make him? He could see what was going on, he knew that they were just trying to help. But he was scared, he was so scared. What were they going to do with him? When this was over, what would happen? They would probably put him in jail. Lock the freak up, with no one to bail him out. So instead, he fought. He fought for the family he never knew, and the friends he did not even know whether they existed.
But he lost. Soon his suit was disengaged and all his fire put out. The burning in his mind petered out to a defeated flickering. His last fireball was a direct hit, but that no longer mattered. Panting, he collapsed to the ground as he was surrounded by the two men in green.
"Baymax!" the lean suited hero cried as he and his two female companions attended to the large robot. His head shot up at this. The name was so familiar, it was a tiny piece of his past. The robot. The robot that had rescued him. Apparently unaffected by Tadashi's successful shot, the robot stood up and while the boy cheered, and Tadashi seized up as memories flashed through his mind, hours spent in a laboratory working. A blur of faces he could not quite make out.
"Baymax?" he could not help but call out questioningly when he saw the robot catch his eyes. He stood up slowly, fighting the urge to move towards the too familiar robot as all weapons were pointed at him. Instead, the robot came to him.
"Tadashi is here," it responded, causing him to gasp in painful realisation. Tadashi. The name. Even more familiar than Baymax.
"Tadashi," he mouthed, testing the feel of it, his brain full of fireworks as memories slowly began to return to him in nonsensical chunks. In amazement, he placed his hand on the soft chest of Baymax. He only just registered the cry of protest from the tall lean figure who appeared to be the leader of the group. He turned to look at the helmeted boy.
"Who are you?" the suited boy asked. "And why are you using my name?"
Tadashi mind whirled as he tried to grapple everything that was happening, as the Earth slowly returned under him. "Your name?" he asked dumbly.
"Yes, Hiro," the boy prompted.
Tadashi had to pause and taste that word in his mouth as well. Something was lingering right on the edge of his mind. Something important. This Hiro was important. "Take off your mask Hiro."
After taking a moment to realise what he meant, the boy agreed, but only if Tadashi would take off his. Tadashi did not even pause in taking his off. It just felt like the right thing to do. He threw it to the ground dismissively, then looked back to find himself face to face with big brown eyes. That was the trigger. Those eyes, set within the round face, framed by large spikes of floppy black hair, was all it took. As the memories flooded back along with the memories of what he had just done in comparison, he became overwhelmed and a sob escaped his lips as he fell back to the ground. He was home, but this was not how it was meant to be. The boy, so important to him that even severe amnesia could not erase his name, looked blankly at him, making it worse. He was reminded of a younger version of the same child, looking up at him with those same blank eyes as he asked where Mummy and Daddy were.
The boy became alarmed as Tadashi was reduced to tears in front of him. "Hey. Hey, it's okay," he tried to comfort, leaning down in front of him. He felt the others crowding around them, circling them into their own private little bubble.
"Forgive me Hiro?" he begged desperately, feeling even more lost now he had found where he belonged.
Hiro began to make noises of agreement when he took another look at Tadashi's face. "Tadashi?!" The boy cried, finally recognising him. Yes, he nodded, that was who he was. Tadashi. Feeling the urge to hold Hiro the way he used to when the boy came to him in search of comfort, he pulled the limp Hiro into his lap and encircled his arms around him, sticking his nose in his brother's hair. His heart warmed as he felt Hiro bury his now tear soaked face into his shoulder. He held that position for what both felt like no time at all and an eternity. He heard a squeal of delight and felt another set of arms around him. He knew that perfume and feather light hair anywhere as Honey Lemon joined the embrace. He soon felt more and more bodies join the circle, each name coming back to him as they did.
It was only now he realised that the fire, that he had felt was the only connection to his past, was in fact the main barrier. The fire was what had separated him from his family, but now that the fire was extinguished, something raw and new had arisen from the ashes.
So there we go. If you have any questions I will happily answer them. I am considering writing a third part about Tadashi adjusting back to his old life. Would anyone be interested in that? And if so, who would you rather Tadashi be partnered with? My favourite is Tadashi X Charlie, but there is also Tadashi X Rani and good old TadaHoney. I would go straight with Tadashi X Charlie except I'm hesitant about pairing a character with an OC. What do you think? I will take your opinion into account, as I have not made a decision yet. Thank you so much for those who reviewed last chapter, I love reviews so much, as does pretty well any author. The favs and follows were also very encouraging so thank you for those as well.