The entire building was woken up in the early hours of the morning by a frightened scream. Sheets flew around a flailing form as it scrambled to get away from something.

"It burns! It burns!" The same two words were repeated until finally Aunt Cass rushed up the stairs to Tadashi's side of the room. She instantly flung the sheets and blankets away from the flailing male, grabbing him in a tight hug.

"Shhh, shhh... You're okay, Tadashi."

The screaming words faded into silence, Tadashi's arms slowly returning the warm gesture. Aunt Cass pulled away far enough to look down at her nephew, smiling comfortingly.

"You had the dream about the fire again?" She asked, petting his head in comfort.

Tadashi couldn't find words as he stared up at his aunt. Something was off, but Cass assumed it was the lack of sleep. She turned to Hiro's side of the room, seeing the boy sitting up and looking their way.

"It's alright, Hiro, go back to sleep." She nodded to him, hoping he'd listen. A growing boy needed sleep. Tadashi was the restless one, though. Now he was looking left and right, up and down, at Cass and at Hiro... He wouldn't stop looking around as if in a panic. He looked over the entire room, stopping on a calender and a clock once. "You're fine, Tadashi. Go back to sleep, little book worm." She chuckled lightly, turning to walk back down the stairs.

The boy across the room scanned Tadashi for a reason to his actions. He seemed confused, but why? He could see something else in those eyes... Pain? Sorrow? Hiro stayed in his bed, continuing to look at Tadashi until their eyes met. He could tell the older boy was waiting for a reaction, but when all he did was smile at him and wave he seemed to be at his most confused state.

"Hiro," Tadashi started, slipping out of bed and stumbling over to his brother. "Hiro, what happened? Hiro, I shouldn't be here. Hiro-" Tadashi came closer as he spoke, stopping at the foot of the boy's bed. As his foot steps ceased, so did his muttering. This boy that was in his room had the crazy hair, the clothes, even the gap in his teeth. But the look in his eyes was not that of his brother's. It was a look he'd never seen Hiro give anyone, and that was saying a lot. He knew every look and gesture that his brother gave people, and this look of...emptiness? was not one of them. "...Hiro?" He asked again, leaning forward and grabbing the boy's shoulders. He now had one knee on the bed, propping himself up while looking his brother over. The boy frowned at him.

"Is that my name?" He asked, and Tadashi stared.

He began to formulate a list in his head of things that were currently wrong.

First of all, Hiro did not remember his name.-Tadashi pulled away and brought a hand to his head in exasperated thought.- Second, the last day that he remembered being aware of was not today.- Tadashi sat down in Hiro's desk chair. - Third of all, he was back from the dead. Tadashi knew that the fire was real. He knew how it happened, why it happened, he knew he was supposed to be dead. Why was he here?

As the older brother made actions in thought, the younger watched innocently. Why was this man so confused, he wondered. He figured that if anyone was confused it would be himself, given that he couldn't quite remember his name let alone much else.

Tadashi ignored the curious looks from his little brother, turning in the chair towards Hiro's computer. He was about to turn the monitor on and see if there was any hints there that may help him but stopped. There was a book sprawled out across the keyboard. Tadashi looked it over once, twice, then he panicked and slammed the thing shut. He stared at it, the hand on the cover, the dirt and tears, the three written on it. He felt dread and anxiety, turning to his brother.

"Hiro, you didn't." He pleaded with himself, hoping that maybe his brother was still in there.

Hiro did not respond. He stared at Tadashi, then crawled to the edge of the bed and slid down on his feet. It seemed as though he had to balance himself before he stepped over to Tadashi.

"I had a dream that told me you'd be coming back. I don't really know who you are, or where you were. But I missed you." Hiro leaned forward and hugged his brother before sitting down on his bed.

There they sat, staring at each other. Hiro with his hands in his lap, hair a mess and eyes tired, and Tadashi with his elbows on his thighs, leaning froward. He waited a moment, getting himself together. He needed to talk to this boy, but he couldn't do it if he was crying.

"I missed you too. I really did, Hiro." His voice cracked as he looked down at his hands which were nervously fidgeting with one another. "Yes. You're name is Hiro. Hiro Hamada. You're my younger brother. That lady that came in the room before was our Aunt Cass." Tadashi looked up to see if this sparked anything and was met with a curious face.

Nothing.

"You did something bad. You're not in trouble, it wasn't your fault... I don't even know what it was. But you and I are going to fix it, you got it?" Tadashi asked, and Hiro nodded, a sad look on his features. Tadashi thought again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Tell me about your dream."

Hiro closed his eyes, trying his hardest to remember all that he could.

"I was in a room with a lot of bottles. I think they were bottles... And the room was very tightly locked up. I was facing the door, which had a drawing on it-"

"Wait." Tadashi spun to look at Hiro's desk quickly, grabbing a pencil and paper. "Draw it." Hiro gingerly took the items from his brother, setting it on his legs. He drew it relatively quick and handed the paper back to Tadashi.

From what Tadashi could see, it was an eye with an "X" through it. He frowned, unsure of what exactly it meant but knowing that it was important.

"Then what?"

"The eye started glowing, and this little triangle man with a hat came out!" Hiro looked down bashfully. This must sound really silly to his brother. He wondered if he'd always had strange dreams like this? That must be why this man was so interested. When he looked back up, he was met with a grim look. "What? What did I do wrong? I'm sorry, I don't know what I did, I'm sorry-" Hiro began to panic, scooting himself back on his bed until he fell off the other side.

Tadashi was instantly up, rushing to his little brother's now panicking form. The boy was scared and confused, Tadashi felt guilty. He shouldn't have looked so angry and lost.

"I'm sorry!" Hiro choked out again, and as Tadashi picked up his younger brother he could feel him shaking.

"Calm down, it wasn't your fault." He tried to soothe Hiro into a state where he could at least talk, rocking him back and forth. When his brother finally stopped hyperventilating, he sat down with him in his lap. "Tell me the rest. I'm not mad."

Hiro hesitated. He felt like this dream must have been far more important than other dreams he'd had or his brother wouldn't have been so pushy. He didn't want to make his brother mad again, especially when he didn't know what was going on. With a deep inhale he brought himself to a slightly better state.

"He said, 'He'll be back, so you can stop being a baby about him being gone. Just remember a deals a deal, kid. If you need me, contact your cipher!'" Hiro imitated the voice and words perfectly. He even got the constantly screaming intonation that only could be Bill's. "'If you waited any longer then he would have been a sure goner!'" He paused. "I don't know what it all meant, but that's it. Then I woke up and you were here. I had a feeling it had to be you I was hearing about."

In Hiro's mind, he smiled and told himself that he was glad for the triangle man's help. What a nice guy.

Tadashi moved his brother off of his lap, moving to grab the journal before kneeling in front of his brother.

"Is this him?" Tadashi asked, holding the book open to Bill's page.

Hiro's eyes widened while he nodded furiously.

"How did you know!?" He asked in amazement, grabbing the book from Tadashi's hands. He excitedly looked it over, running a hand over the page while reading it.

Tadashi watched, almost sick. It was four weeks ago that he had met Bill. It was three weeks ago that Tadashi found this journal, three weeks ago that he'd died. And it was only hours ago that his little brother met Bill and killed what made him himself-took away his memories... Now here he was, looking like the happiest kid on the planet and all because of that crazy demon from god only knows where.

"He's nothing to be happy about, Hiro." His voice was low and angry. "Hiro, he gave you amnesia! Look at this, it says not to summon him! You can tell he's evil, don't be so happy!" The younger boy became quiet and less excitable, but refused to let go of the book. Even when Tadashi lightly tried to pull it from him, the boy refused to let it part with him. "Hiro, give me the book." Hiro backed away, hugging the book to his chest while climbing back onto his bed. "Hiro, give me it." Tadashi moved forward and Hiro glared at him, holding the book tighter.

"This book is all that I can remember. You're not taking it away from me, T..." Hiro paused, trying to remember the other boy's name. Tadashi knew this and his posture slackened with grief.

"Tadashi. My name is Tadashi." He quietly told his younger brother, turning around and walking to his bed. As he climbed in he looked over his shoulder at the shaking form clutching the journal and quietly sighed before letting himself fall onto his bare mattress, too tired to care about blankets.