Author's Note: Hiiiiiii! Sorry if this is semi-late. I kind of rushed on this because I realized I haven't updated in like seven days...oops, well blame stupid exams. You guys are so nice! I was surprised by the amount of reviews from the last chapter and I'm sorry that I made some of you cry! *offers tissues* Also thank you for the favorites and follows! They make me happy :) Originally I planned for this to be a bit longer but then I realized that it was a little too long so I had to cut this chapter in a half(cuz I'm just lazy like that today). Plus, I didn't make a plot line yet so I'm basically writing this as I think of things and ideas for chapters. So yeah...hope you like this chapter and if it's a little crappy I totally understand, because I am just not feeling it today :/

Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero 6!


Chapter 9: Acceptance

Tadashi thought that he would return to the real world as a ghost, but he was so wrong.

He blinked, staring at the now bright yellow void he stood in after Hiro had woken up and disappeared to go back to their aunt.

...Where am I?

The void he was in was just like the warm, shining sun in Hiro's dream that engulfed the two brothers as they hugged one last time. It kind of felt...warm. It was like a light halo, shining brightly and humming with energy. It made him feel warm inside, like the hugs that Aunt Cass gave him and Hiro or how he felt when Hiro made him proud.

"Hello?" He called.

His voice echoed across the butter yellow plain, but there was no response.

He sighed, and frowned as he stared at his hands. They weren't clear anymore...they were solid, fair skin came into view as he moved his hands, and proceeded to look at the rest of his body which was also back to normal. Tadashi didn't know why this happened, but he also had a sinking feeling that he couldn't go back to San Fransokyo to watch over his family and friends.

...Is my time up? I'm not a ghost anymore...so now what?

Tadashi's frown then turned into a nostalgic smile, and he closed his eyes, embracing the warmth of the bright light around him. It didn't matter, Hiro was happy. If his little brother was happy then he was too. Even though it saddened him that he wouldn't be able to watch over his little brother or family anymore, he was at peace. He at least got to see Hiro grow up and mature a little, even if it was only for three years.

He got to watch Hiro make new friends, memories, and grow up. The only thing he regretted was never being there to watch him grow up and be there to help him. Tadashi knew he was a horrible big brother, and he could never forgive himself for abandoning his baby brother in front of the convention building. When he first died, all he could think about was his baby brother's face which haunted him. Wide innocent brown eyes filled with fear, his mouth opened as he yelled his name with an arm outstretched as he ran into the flaming building.

But Hiro forgave him, even though he didn't know if he could forgive himself it was comforting that his brother didn't hate him for running into the building and understood exactly why he did it. Even in their short time together it was enough for Tadashi, he had gotten to say what he wanted to Hiro. That's all he wanted and needed to do, anything for his little brother.

Because Hiro always came before anything no matter what.

The older Hamada tucked his hands into his pockets, finally feeling at peace with himself. Tadashi started walking, he didn't know where he was going and it didn't matter where he was going. As long as his baby brother was happy and breathing. He adjusted his hat on his head, smiling as he saw an image of his younger brother smiling happily with his friends and Aunt Cass at the café.

"I'll see you soon Hiro, not now, but soon."


Hiro groaned, and smacked his forehead against his desk.

Stupid exams...

It was Friday, and so far over the past week he had been in a really good mood. Even if that dream wasn't true, it made him happy. It made him feel...relieved. He saw Tadashi, and usually his dreams ended up with Tadashi getting farther away from him. That was the first time he had seen Tadashi in about three years without him running away, and he actually interacted with Tadashi. His intellectual side of his brain kept saying that it was a dream, but his heart and gut urged that that was actually Tadashi, not some figment of his imagination.

That was the best dream he had ever had ever since Tadashi died. Although it did earn him odd looks when he kept smiling after he woke up, whistling and humming tunes to himself as he worked when they knew he was cramming studying for exams and stressed on different projects he was working on. He found it amusing, especially since Fred thought he had been replaced by somebody else or that he had been transported to another world.

But nope, those happy moments soon faded and were shattered with the dreaded monster that haunted every college student: exams.

Hiro rested his head on his palm, eyes droopingly lazily as he glared at all of the papers on his desk.

Around exams his lab usually looked like a disaster. Papers were scattered all over the desk, sticky notes littered the bulletin board with various papers taped or stapled. His trash can was overflowing with paper coffee cups and crumbled balls of paper. His hoodie hung off of his rolling chair half dragging on the floor and his backpack was thrown off to the side. Textbooks were piling up around him and covering his papers, dominating his whole desk with the exceptions of pencils and his phone that laid...somewhere in this mess.

The black haired teen grumbled under his breathe, reaching to shuffle around some papers in a pile on his desk as his eyes wandered to the clock.

8:50 p.m.

He looked back to his over flowing desk of papers, then back to the clock tiredly.

Exams were in four days, and he still had to review for other subjects and work on projects. Sure, he attended study sessions with the others and they all had to admit that they procrastinated a little and crammed a lot of studying. With his projects, super hero patrols and exams coming up his schedule was full. Even though he was smart, he didn't want to just slack off. He now understood why Tadashi always came home a little later than usual, drop his bag on the edge of his bed and just fall asleep instantly. Exams were a pain, and he kind of felt guilty for bugging Tadashi...

Hiro sighed, and he went to pick up his pencil and stare at the paper in front of him, ready to write down whatever question it was asking for so he could just get this over with and go home where his fluffy bed waited for him.

"Don't pull too many all-nighters at the lab."

He hesitated when he was about to set his pencil on the paper to begin writing and sighed, dropping the pencil to rub his eyes when the familiar voice rang from his mind. He could still picture Tadashi from the dream, giving him that painful smile that was so sincere and loving, yet sad.

"Take care of yourself." His brother's comforting voice chided again.

"I promise..."

Hiro looked at his phone, where he saw a message from Aunt Cass asking if he wanted her to wrap up his dinner and he smiled. Aunt Cass would want some company...and he made a promise to Tadashi. He was going to keep that promise, he would not break it. Plus, he did feel bad when he came home late at night from SFIT and Aunt Cass would already be asleep. He would go to the dinner table and there would be a plate there, wrapped up with a tiny sticky note that his Aunt always wrote for him.

The younger Hamada smiled, getting up from his chair and putting his hoodie and jacket on, before shrugging on his backpack and locking his lab room.

"Going home early tonight?"

Hiro nodded, and smiled at Wasabi who was at his work table straightening his tools once again. "Yeah, I...figured Aunt Cass would need the company."

The larger man smiled, and nodded. "Tell her I said hi, and rest up Hiro. You need it."

Hiro nodded, and walked out of the lab where he was met with a chilly breeze slapping him in the face. He shivered, hugging his jacket closer to him as he put on his helmet and started up his moped, and drove to his house as quickly as he could in an effort to escape the cold.

Once he arrived by his home, he parked his moped in the garage and trudged up the stairs.

"Hey Aunt Cass."

"Hiro!" He was greeted with a tight hug, in which he smiled and returned it. "You're home early! I thought you were going to stay at the lab late to study for exams or work on your project." She chirped happily, her green eyes sparkling.

Hiro gave her another smile, "Well I decided to come home early, you know, for dinner."

His Aunt smiled brightly, reaching up to brush some snow from his jet black hair. "Oh you didn't have to! Now go upstairs and get yourself warm, dinner is ready." She said.

He gaze her a lazy salute, going back upstairs to drop off his backpack and change into sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. He loved the dinner, because turns out she made his favorite, her infamous hot wings. Hiro listened as she chattered on about the day, which customers she ran into and the big request she got for an upcoming Christmas party. She was always enthusiastic and a chatter box so he was used to watching her ramble on and on, but that didn't mean that he ignored her. He did owe her some attention after his busy college days and the late nights at the lab.

She must have noticed him spacing out because she paused, blushing lightly. "Oops, I talked too much again."

Hiro shook his head and chuckled, "No, it's alright I'm listening." He assured.

The brunette frowned, "Hiro...you look tired, maybe you should go to sleep."

His head snapped up from dozing off and he shook his head, "No, I'm fine. You're still talking and-"

"Hiro I'm fine, you're the one who needs more sleep. I swear you've been living off of caffeine for the past week. We can talk later, your sleep is too important." She insisted, swiping the finished plate form the table and putting it in the sinks.

Sleep did sound very inviting...

Hiro furrowed his eyebrows, and hesitated. "Are...are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" She said, bobbing her head up and down.

He sighed in defeat, and got up to help her clean the dishes but she once again swiped it from him and pointed to the stairs. "Sleep." She stated.

Hiro laughed lightly, giving his Aunt a brief hug. "Thanks Aunt Cass." He said, before walking up the stairs and falling onto his fluffy bed. He sighed in relief, relishing in the fluffiness of his pillow and burrowed himself into the blankets, drifting off to sleep as his exhaustion finally crashed into him.


Ring!

Aunt Cass looked up from the counter, and smiled widely when two familiar faces came into the café.

"Miya! Hikari!" She happily exclaimed.

Miya, short for Miyako was a close friend of hers. They went to high school together, but Miyako sadly had to leave in order to go to SFIT while she went to a different college. They were all best friends along with Hiro and Tadashi's mother. Cass had met her sister-in-law through Miyako, and it turns out that her older brother was already well acquainted with her sister-in-law. A few more years of dating and the next thing she knew, she had two adorable nephews that were left in her care because of a devastating car crash on one rainy night.

Miyako went on with her studies after college and soon met a man by the name of Takashi Tsuyoki. They married, and had a daughter named Hikari. Takashi was a polite man, and had the same love and passion for robotics as her nephews. The man was a role model of Tadashi's after all. But Takashi's main field in robotics was mainly to create things to help people, sadly he died in a subway station trying to protect a little girl when there was a gun shooting there.

Hikari was an enigma like Hiro, a genius at a young age and attending college at SFIT after they moved back to San Fransokyo. She had inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's black hair. She was like a mix of both of them, she loved the field of medication and robotics. When she was little, Aunt Cass would often take Hikari along with Hiro and Tadashi when she babysat them to the park, or wherever they planned to go. They were all very close, and she considered Hikari family even though she technically wasn't.

But as the years went by she never thought that the close friendship would progress into something else. She knew Hiro had a crush on Hikari, everybody knew even though he probably still hadn't figured it out. The way he blushed around her, teased her, or gave into situations easily. Miya and her betted on when they were going to get together, because they would absolutely be so adorable! She couldn't wait until they got together so she could take more pictures and make them so embarrassed. Honestly, sometimes even the smartest people could be so oblivious to the most obvious things...

They both smiled in response and greeted her at the counter, "Morning." They both chorused.

Cass quickly stepped around the counter and pulled them into a big hug, "It's been forever!" She squealed, and let them go.

Hikari sweat dropped as her mother rubbed her ribcage from the tight hug, "It's only been less than a month though..."

The brunette immediately waved it off, "Bah, it doesn't matter. So what are you here for? Coffee? Pastry?" She offered, signaling the display case.

Both of the Tsuyoki's immediately looked somewhat nervous and giddy. "Um...Aunt Cass?" Hikari looked around. "We might want to take this conversation...somewhere else." She said slowly.

She raised an eyebrow at the two but didn't question it, leading the two into the backroom. Miya looked around the backroom, and furrowed her eyebrows. "Where's Hiro?" She asked.

Cass shrugged, "He's probably upstairs sleeping. He didn't really look too good yesterday...my poor baby is working himself to the ground with schoolwork." She explained. "So...what did you want to tell me about?"

Miya looked hesitant, but spoke anyways but what she said first made her freeze. "It's about Tadashi..."

The woman looked down, her sorrow from her nephew's death stirring inside of her as she tried to not cry. But she knew that Miya wouldn't bring something up like this randomly and swallowed, "What about him?" She asked.

Hikari smiled widely, her bright blue eyes sparkling with happiness like clear crystal blue water on a sunny day. "Well...what mom is trying to say is that he's alive!"

...Alive?!

She immediately froze, staying at the girl like she just turned into a cow or something and repeated her words hollowly, "He's...alive?" She said slowly, and the girl nodded vigorously.

"Mom found him through her old mentor at Yokohama hospital. He's been in a coma for three years and they never bothered to identify him since his identification card wasn't found and he had some burns so Dr. Hideyoshi called for her help. He's been there the whole time, he isn't dead!" She insisted, and scrambled for her phone. "Here, I have proof!" She tapped away on her phone in a hurry, and then shoved the phone in her face.

Tadashi.

There was no denying that it was her nephew. Even though he looked fragile, pale, and a little more skinny with some pink sink around his neck disappearing under his shirt it was him. He had bags under his eyes, and laid motionlessly on the bed, sleeping peacefully.

Cass gasped, and covered her mouth with her hands with wide eyes. "Oh my...he's alive!" She said incredulously, and snapped her head to look at them. "HE'S AL-mmph!"

Miya slapped her hands against Cass' mouth and her gaze flickered upstairs. "Don't yell! We can't have everybody knowing!" She hissed.

She nodded insistently, and took a deep breathe when the older Tsuyoki took her hands away from her hands. She couldn't believe it, her nephew was alive. HE WAS FREAKING ALIVE! All she wanted to do right now was scream to the rooftops that he was alive and squeeze her nephew in a tight hug and make sure he was real...right after she gave him the scolding of a lifetime and yanked his ear! Oh ho, he was in for a big lecture when he got home!

But then she remembered what Hikari said and her eyes widened in panic, "Wait...you said he's in a coma." She said softly, and felt sorrow fill her heart. She felt like crying right there but knew it wouldn't help with anything. The important thing was that he was alive, not dead and burned, but alive and breathing.

"True but..." She sucked in a breathe when she heard her best friend pause. "He's showing signs of waking up really soon, I administered the serum Hikari made last year specifically for coma patients about a week ago. Thankfully it was a successful and he's been responding more than he ever has in the last two and a half years. Tadashi was transferred to San Fransokyo hospital last night and is under private observation in a private room. He should be waking up any day now." She announced, looking at her flustered daughter proudly.

Cass let out the breathe she had been holding and immediately pulled Hikari in a hug, and she felt the girl squirm in her grip. "Thank you! Ah! I could just squeeze the living-"

"Aunt Cass...c-can't breathe." She squeaked.

She quickly let go, and watched in amusement as the girl heaved for air, and shot her a weak smile. The brunette woman furiously wiped away the tears of relief from her eyes and turned to Miya. "When can I see him?" She demanded.

"Right now if you want." She offered.

Most of her screamed yes, but she knew that she had to look after the café. Even though nobody was here right now since it was so early on a Saturday morning.

"I can stay." Hikari offered.

She turned her eyes on the girl, "Really?"

"Yep." She nodded. "I need to ask Hiro about our project anyways, and he said that he needed to talk to me concerning Baymax's upgrades. I'll just hang around here and let Hiro know where you two went." She shrugged.

"Thank you." She said again, but frowned. "I'll close the café, it won't hurt for today anyways." She scurried up to flip the sign from open to closed and turned to them again. "...Are you going to tell Hiro?" She asked.

They shared a look and Hikari looked a bit miffed, "I don't know...he's kind of busy with exams...you know."

She knew what the blue eyed girl was talking about. Around this time of the year Hiro was always busy burying himself into work. She was worried about her nephew. Yesterday she could tell he did his best to listen but just wasn't up to it. He was so busy with exams, Big Hero 6, the café, and projects that he hardly had any time to himself anymore. If she were to mention that Tadashi was alive and in the hospital...well, he would just drop everything he was doing and set himself up for failure during exams. Her youngest nephew had too many things to do, but only had one body and limited time to do it.

Cass shook her head, "We should wait." She suggested. "Hiro has too many things to stress about now, and he might end up stress eating like me." She joked.

Hikari nodded hesitantly, "Right..."

Cass set her hands on Hikari's shoulders and gave the girl a warm smile. "There's food in the fridge, and don't be afraid to make yourself at home. Make sure Hiro eats breakfast, sometimes he tends to forget because he's in a rush or he's too busy. I'll try to be back before sundown." She assured, grabbing her coat and purse on a chair in the backroom.

Hikari smiled, and nodded. "I got it, now go to Tadashi. I'll let you know if anything happens around here with Hiro, just don't come back too late or Hiro will get suspicious." She said, before using the stairs to go to the apartment above the café.

Cass clutched her purse after she put on her jacket, and felt herself becoming more and more anxious as they drove to San Fransokyo hospital with one thought in mind.

Tadashi, I'm coming.


Meanwhile in the attic above the Lucky Cat Café, when Hiro woke up he immediately felt like he wanted to puke his guts out.

He squirmed in his blanket, feeling way too hot but with the occasional shiver at random moments in his make-shift blanket burrito. Hiro moaned, scrunching his nose at the sweat that dripped down his face before finding the strength to open his eyes.

Ouch.

He blinked, his fuzzy vision becoming a little more clear as the morning light shone through the blinds from his window and burrowed his head into his pillow at the incoming headache.

I think I'm going to be sick...

His eyes watered as he sniffed, and forced himself out of his bed. Hiro felt his stomach lurch, and he exhaled gripping the bed sheets as he snapped his mouth shut. He winced at his headache, momentarily freezing in order to make his head stop spinning before he stumbled across the room, and to the bathroom in a hurry.

In a matter of seconds he was on his knees on the cold tiled floor, heaving into the toilet in pain as his dinner from last night came up. He didn't know how long he was there, all that mattered was how his throat burned and his insides threatened to flip inside out. He continued, his throat aching in protest when nothing else came up besides stomach acid as he clutched the toilet seat and squeezed his eyes shut in pain.

Hiro didn't even notice the footsteps clambering up the stairs as he panted with sweat dripping down his face, and rush to his bathroom until the lights flickered on and he flinched.

"Hiro?"


Author's Note: Was it bad? Meh, I don't really care...I just didn't feel up to writing this but you guys were so generous with the amount of reviews and feedback from the last chapter that I couldn't just leave you guys hanging. Tadashi's gonna wake up soon...so get ready for fluff and teary reunions in the future! Have a nice day and review when you can! Reviews motivate me...XD