Chapter 4

Tadashi was just in time to see Hiro unwittingly activate Baymax. His brother looked surprised to see Baymax. To be honest, he was kind of surprised too. He may have forgotten that he'd stored his robot in his old room.

He did his best to catch his breath while he watched Baymax pester Hiro over his stubbed toe. Running all the way from Fred's mansion may not have been the best idea. He missed his moped. It was too bad he hadn't carried that on with him to the afterlife.

SNAP. There went the shelf. And…all the action figures on top of it. Ouch. Hiro may have been a veritable genius, but he apparently lacked the common sense to tell him not to use a single shelf as leverage. Baymax attempted to help Hiro with his injuries again, however unwanted his assistance was.

Now that he thought about it, he probably should have programmed something for that in. If people didn't want his help, then Baymax probably shouldn't keep attempting to fix them up. Some people got violent when you kept insisting on helping them when they didn't ask for it. His robot's squishy exterior would hold up fine against things like fists, but if it ever got punctured… well, it would be a lot harder for him to go around helping others. If only there were some way he could program Baymax to-

"Your tiny robot is trying to go somewhere," the robot's voice broke through his thoughts. Tiny robot? Was that what he thought it was?

He stepped closer to Baymax, peering into the container he was holding. It was a microbot. What the hell was that doing here? He thought they all got destroyed that night he- no. He was not going to think about that. He'd had enough of those thoughts for the day.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you, uh, find out where it's trying to go?" his brother replied.

"Would that stabilize your pubescent mood swings?" Baymax asked.

"Uh huh, absolutely," Hiro deadpanned. His brother was an idiot. Baymax had zero understanding of sarcasm, so now he was heading off to see where the microbot was trying to get to.

"Hiro, you're my little brother, and I love you, but if you get my robot damaged over something so stupid, I am going to strangle you." That was obviously untrue, but saying it felt right. It felt like he was a normal guy telling off his kid brother over something harmless. God, he missed being alive.

"Baymax?" Hiro asked, turning his head to look for the robot. The bell on the door downstairs jingled, and Hiro flung himself to the window, gaping at the sight of Baymax wondering down the street.

"Baymax!"


While Tadashi may not have been pleased by his brother's careless behavior regarding Baymax, he had to admit it was good to see Hiro being active again. For the first time in ages, he got to see his brother running around San Fransokyo like he used to. It was definitely an improvement to the endless moping he usually saw. Nothing like a big scare to really get you going….

Speaking of panic inducing things, what in the world were they doing in front of this creepy old warehouse? This place looked like it would collapse under a strong gust of wind. Hiro wasn't actually thinking about going in there was he?

Why yes, yes he was. And he had to choose a completely unsafe way to do it. Splendid. If Tadashi had a corporeal form he would have cuffed his brother over the head for doing something so colossally stupid.

Fortunately Hiro and Baymax made it through the window unscathed.

It suddenly occurred to Tadashi that he had no idea how he was going to get inside. Oops.

He paced in front of the warehouse for a bit, chewing on his lip as he tried to figure out a solution to his problem. He had to think fast too because he didn't want to leave Hiro alone in a situation like this for long. His brother had a special knack for getting into trouble. And he had a feeling nothing but trouble was going to come from this microbot situation.

God, what was he going to do?! He was having flashbacks about all the other times Hiro had gotten himself into dangerous situations, and it was not helping at all. Because unlike all the past times, he wasn't going to be there to help Hiro. GOD, WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE?

A slight burning smell caught his attention. He turned on the spot until he found the source- a small patch of grass was smoldering off to his left.

An absurd solution to his problem popped into his mind. He grasped the chain locking the doors and took a deep breath.

"This is crazy," he whispered to himself. What other option did he have though? Crazy would have to do.

He stared intently at the chain in his hands, trying to find that scorching heat he sometimes found inside him. Nothing happened.

This was ridiculous. Every time he got upset he ended up combusting, but now that he actually needed some heat, he couldn't do anything! What was he supposed to do, have a full blown panic attack in front of this musty old warehouse? Would that burn down the doors? That would be way too dangerous. That's why he was staring at this stupid chunk of metal in the first place, trying to melt it in vain.

"I can't believe this is happening. Am I destined to be completely useless forever? Argh!" he shouted at the sky.

"Okay, Tadashi, this is just a minor setback. Time to pull out your thinking cap, and- and think of something." So far so bad. He couldn't even think of anything sensible to say to himself. He wished life was more like a movie. Then he'd probably have some sort of wise guru to give him advice.

Hmm. Well, none of those around. Maybe he could be his own guru? That seemed like a dumb idea. Then again, he didn't have any other ideas, so he might as well try.

Now what would a guru say? They'd probably ask him a question. Why did he need to melt the chain? To get in the warehouse. Why did he have to be in the warehouse? To be with Hiro. And why did he need to be with Hiro? Because he was his big brother, damn it! He was supposed to be there for him, to keep him safe, and watch over him. He wanted to protect his brother because… because he was scared. Cold crept into his limbs as he admitted the truth. He was scared his brother would get into big trouble he couldn't save him from. He was scared that Hiro would get hurt- that he'd end up like Tadashi. If anything ever happened to Hiro…he'd never forgive himself. Just thinking about it made his chest hurt. A world without Hiro Hamada was too cruel a world to imagine. He couldn't let that happen. Not when he was alive, not now, not ever. No matter what it took, he would protect his little brother. And that included melting this stupid ch-

"Oh," he breathed in surprise, looking at the last of the metal seeping through his clenched fingers. The remainder of the chain and the lock attached to lie in a heap on the ground. Perhaps he should look into becoming a spiritual wise-man.

It was quiet as he stepped into the warehouse. He wasn't sure if he had expected this or not. Part of him had, but another more suspicious part of him had expected lots of shouting and mayhem. Quiet was good though. It mean his brother was probably fine. And look- there was Baymax, looking over at-

"Oh no," he heard his robot's mechanical voice say before all hell broke loose. Good things never lasted for long. Instead they were replaced by swarms of microbots trying to attack your brother and the robot you made.

"Hiro, this way!" he yelled. By some miracle, Hiro actually went in the direction Tadashi prompted him in, dragging his far too slow companion behind him. The clatter of the microbots chasing them was nearly deafening. To his chagrin, his brother sped right by the doors- which he of course didn't know were unlocked now- and somehow they all ended up getting launched right out the window. Fortunately for Hiro, Baymax cushioned his fall. Unfortunately for Tadashi, he hit the ground straight on. If he weren't already dead, he almost certainly would have broken something.

Honestly, the rules for being a ghost were so confusing. He could touch inanimate objects like walls and microbots and the freaking ground, and even plants, but living creatures? Not so much. It didn't look like he had to worry about long term physical injury either. He could definitely feel pain though, he noted ruefully.

"Just walk it off… No pain, no gain," he groaned miserably as he picked himself up off the ground. He wondered if this is what it felt like to get hit by a semi-truck. It was probably close.

He trailed after his brother as quickly as he could. If only Hiro would run a little slower…


Fred stared dejectedly at the wall in front of him. The sheer wonder of the afternoon's events had dissipated almost immediately after his visitors left. They had been amazing of course, but he couldn't help but feel that they were hiding something from him. It really didn't seem as though it had anything to do with his plans for the future either. He brushed it off at the time, but only because they were unlikely to tell him the truth. He had a nagging suspicion it had something to do with Tadashi.

He sighed, rubbing a hand across his face. Everything became so complicated after Tadashi died. It all happened so fast, there was barely any time to blink. One minute everything was looking bright, and the next minute it had all burned to ash and bittersweet memories.

If only he could turn back time.

Sadly, he did not have this ability, so he was reduced to flipping forlornly through the scrapbook Honey Lemon had helped them make. It was a nice memento, but that's all it was- just an object to remind him of what once was. He'd much rather have the real thing- a real person to hold his hand and tell him it was going to be okay. To be fair, he did have that in his friends and in Heathcliff, but... nothing could really replace who he was missing. And he didn't want anyone to.

It was such an odd thing. He wanted to feel whole again after having such a huge part of himself ripped away, but he didn't want anything to take Tadashi's place. That part of him that belonged to Tadashi would always belong to him, and he wanted to keep it that way. He didn't want someone or something to come in and cover up that part of his life. The idea alone twisted up his insides. It felt like it would be betraying Tadashi and all the time they spent together. He didn't know what to do though. It wasn't as if he could take the broken pieces of his life in his hands and patch them up together with duct tape.

Oh Tadashi, why did you always have to be so brave?

The answer to that was because he was Tadashi. And he wouldn't have had him any other way.

He smiled his first real smile in days. Even after he was gone, Tadashi still found ways to make him smile.

He lifted their scrapbook back into his hands and perused through it again. It wasn't very old, but the pages were well worn from use. He often found himself flipping through it, sometimes up to nine times a day. He couldn't count how many times Heathcliff had found him like that, just sitting on the bed or the floor with the tear-stained pages in his grasp.

After a little mindless page turning he finally settled on the picture he always had trouble tearing himself away from. It was arguably his favorite picture of them together.

The gang had been goofing around in the nerd lab that day- getting absolutely no productive work done after Fred had shown up. Not that any of his friends had been getting any work done before he came. Tadashi had actually been asleep when he arrived. Fred had walked into Tadashi's work station to find Honey and Gogo drawing on his boyfriend's face with markers while Wasabi looked on in a mix of amusement and horror. The sight made him burst into laughter, waking Tadashi up in the process. They all had a good laugh after that, including Tadashi once he got a good look at his face.

The picture was taken a few minutes later when the rest of the group decided to clear out and pretend they were working again. It only showed them from the shoulders up, but he remembered the exact moment when it was taken as if it had just happened mere moments ago.

Tadashi had been straddling his lap, arms thrown carelessly around Fred's shoulders with his hat on backwards so their foreheads could touch. They were both smiling- Tadashi's shoulders had still been shaking a bit with laughter. His boyfriend's eyes were closed, crinkling at the corners, but his own eyes had still been open, capturing the look of utter happiness on the other's face.

It was a perfect moment captured in a perfect picture. Honey must have snapped it right as she was leaving. She was good at taking impromptu photos. It was probably for the best she took it with that side of Tadashi facing her. The other half of his face had a drawing of a dick on it- courtesy of Gogo. Honestly, that would have been really funny, but he supposed the side with flowers and hearts scribbled on it was a bit classier.

There was a familiar ache in his chest that grew the longer he gazed at the photo. He knew he was supposed to move on, to find someone new or at least stop pining over what he lost. He just couldn't imagine doing it. How did anyone move on after their other half was taken so abruptly from them? How could anyone become what Tadashi had been for him? In his mind it was simply impossible. No, he was destined to live a lonely single life until the end of his days. He wondered if he'd learn to cope with the pain. He'd never stop missing Tadashi or stop wishing that he could have prevented his death.

Sometimes he even wished he'd died in that fire too.