Chapter 14: Future
After crashing back into their world, the portal finally broke down and exploded. Baymax put Hiro on the ground as Gogo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred rushed towards them worriedly. When Hiro felt the ground, he blearily opened his eyes and made the microbots let go of the pod, letting out a gasp of relief. Callaghan headed straight for it, opening the vehicle and cradling the unconscious girl in his arms, muttering 'thank goodness' over and over like a mantra. The indigo hero smiled tiredly. Tadashi, on the other hand, was too worried to pay attention to his old teacher and turned to Hiro, who had suddenly activated the bots again and retreated to a rooftop, leaving the group behind.
"Hiro! Wait!" Tadashi cried out. Immediately, the older brother and the group followed after Hiro and found the younger brother sitting with a hand to his forehead, groaning on a pile of microbots. The older brother jumped off Baymax and went up to the younger, crouching down and looking the younger brother over. "Hiro, are you okay?!"
"Just tired. Bad headache."
"Is it because of that weird thing you were doing earlier?" Honey Lemon questioned worriedly, glancing at the lifeless microbots. Hiro nodded slightly, grunting.
"I have a feeling it might be. Does anyone have any Advil?"
"No." everyone replied.
"Drat. J-Just give me a second." Hiro lay back, putting an arm over his stomach as he tried to get the pain to settle down. With everyone's eyes on him, the prodigy sensed that the agony he was feeling would only be the beginning. He could feel it in his gut, already imagining what questions were going to be asked. He groaned. For now, however, he would deal with one headache at a time. Baymax approached the suffering patient.
"That anomaly in your brain is currently overactive. I recommend relaxing with an ice pack on your head." Hiro hummed.
"That sounds nice." With permission, Baymax bent down and his palm lit blue, placing it on Hiro's forehead. The younger brother let out a happy sigh, the coolness feeling nice against his pounding head. The gang watched as Hiro relaxed and nuzzled Baymax's hand like a kitten. It was…cute.
When they heard sirens, the group flinched in surprise and turned to the demolition below. The police and paramedics had finally arrived. Krei ran up and started explaining to the police what had happened while Callaghan continued to hug his daughter, not even bothering with the people surrounding him. The paramedics rushed to each of them, some working to encourage the former professor to let them take care of the unconscious woman in the pod. Not much later, Callaghan was handcuffed and placed into a police car. The daughter was taken away on a stretcher.
Tadashi felt a pang in his heart as the ambulance doors closed. Even with everything the former professor had done, the college student felt emptiness at the idea that the rescued pilot would meet her father again in jail. He could only imagine what the two must be feeling, present and future. With such a time gap between them, there was bound to be confusion, guilt and adjusting.
Turning his head, Tadashi looked back at his brother. How was Hiro felling about all this? The younger was in an interesting insider-outsider situation, being part yet not involved with this universe, so it must have been incredibly confusing. Tadashi narrowed his eyes. The world had given Hiro back to him and he was determined to keep the younger brother safe. He was determined not to lose Hiro again. He was determined to make sure Hiro felt like he belonged, take him home. Tadashi approached the younger brother when Hiro let out a frown.
"What's wrong, Hiro? Got a brain freeze?" he asked in concern. As the gang turned to the two Hamadas, Hiro blinked, sitting up.
"No, no, I'm okay." Hiro stood up, getting out of Baymax's hold. He then turned to the microbots and made them move. "I think I can move on now."
Tadashi flinched in worry. "W-Wait, what about your headache?!"
"I think I've rested enough, guys. I have the strength to make it to Fred's house. Let's go!" With that, Hiro took off on the microbots, hand holding his head.
The group turned to each other worriedly and followed the younger.
The journey back had been relatively silent, everyone in their own worlds and wondering different things, yet unable to voice them. Once the group entered Fred's bedroom, Fred gasped and the others blinked in confusion. The brunet's room was a mess, figures lying on the floor and electronic devices sitting where they didn't belong.
"My babies! W-What happened?!" the comic lover exclaimed, picking up the action figures frantically and placing them on the shelves where they belong.
"Oh yeah. Sorry, my fault." Everyone turned to Hiro incredulously.
"W-Was it that strange trick you were doing earlier?"
"Uh, yeah. I just found out about it and, well, I tested it out. Your stuff just happened to be next to me." Hiro replied, scratching the back of his head guiltily.
"Since when can you do any of this anyway?" Tadashi asked. If his Hiro had been keeping superpowers a secret from him, the elder brother wouldn't know what to think. Hiro's thoughtful look and tilt of the head didn't help his feelings settle. The younger brother let out a little laugh.
"To be honest, I only gained this ability recently. I noticed the signs a few days ago, but just confirmed it this morning."
Tadashi was a little relieved to hear it, the idea of his little brother keeping secrets now erased from his mind, but he was still worried. "I-Is it safe to use? You have a very bad headache."
Hiro shrugged off the concern, placing a hand on his forehead. "I think that so long as I don't overdo it, I'll be fine."
The time-traveller moved to a corner of the room, Baymax following after him. Hiro then started removing Baymax's armour. When the last piece was off and Hiro started removing his gear, Baymax sat on the floor with a plop and extended his arms as if asking Hiro for a hug. The patient rubbed his ribs unconsciously and took a seat. The group stared with a raised brow, watching as the prodigy let cold hands calm his burning ribs. Hiro let out a grunt of uncomfortableness and adjusted Baymax's hands slightly so that his injuries wouldn't sting so badly. Finding that there was no good position, he sighed disappointedly and looked back at the rest of the group, noticing their stares.
"…Aren't you going to sit down?"
"A-Ah, right…" Tadashi stuttered, moving to take a seat at the computer chair. Gogo, Honey Lemon and Wasabi moved to the bed, sitting on the structure at the same time. Fred was still running around, putting figures where they belonged. Hiro watched the brunet run around with a guilt filled blush until Fred was finished.
"So how does it feel to be a technopath?" Fred asked curiously, finally taking his seat on a nearby chair. Hiro tilted his head, raising a brow as he picked up one of his gear cuffs.
"Is that the term for this?"
"I think so."
"Huh. Okay then." Hiro looked up them with a bored look on his face. "It's very exciting when I don't have a mind splitting headache."
Everyone let out a little smile at Hiro's amusing statement. The mood felt lighter, like this situation wasn't such a big deal. After all the drama, all the fear, all the action, a little humorous sarcasm was needed. And it told them that Hiro was definitely Hiro no matter how aged he was, cutely sassy. When the mood passed, the gang took notice of the thoughtful look on Hiro's face.
"It all started when I came here…Could traveling through time and parallel worlds have such side effects?" Hiro mused, bringing a question to the minds of the people around him.
"Hiro…how did you get here?" Hiro cringed at Honey Lemon's inquiry before closing his eyes and his shoulders sagged. The group was quiet, waiting for the answer as Hiro seemed to think carefully about what he was going to say. After a while, when Hiro opened his eyes, there was a dull and sad quality to his expression.
"It would probably be best…if I start at the beginning."
It was a completely ordinary day, large fluffy clouds floating around the sun. Baymax, Fred and Honey Lemon were on hero duty until the rest of Big Hero 6's school day was over, letting Hiro walk to school without a care. This had been their system for three months, balancing their school schedules and saving the city perfectly. With such convenient management, life couldn't be more peaceful.
However, when the leader of San Fransokyo's team of heroes went passed the school doors, he was approached by a man that would change everything.
"Excuse me. You're Hiro Hamada, right? The science prodigy?" Hiro stopped, turning to the source of the deep voice. There was a man much older than him, standing straight like a soldier at the entrance to the college. This posture made the man much taller than Hiro and the large muscles made the hero leader wary. He didn't look like any of the teachers here. His clothes were dishevelled and faded. There was a determined look on this man's face, piercing black eyes analyzing and it made Hiro shy. The young college prodigy didn't like talking to strangers.
"U-Um, yes, I am. Can I help you?"
"I think you can." Hiro tilted his head. "I am working on a project that I think you will be greatly interested in." That piqued the boy's curiosity, the call of science bringing the black haired boy into the discussion.
"Oh? What is it?"
"A time-travel machine."
Hiro froze. That call of science was the voice of the devil. As appealing and convenient as the subject seemed, it was incredibly dangerous. Used for good intentions and the whole world would implode on itself. Used by bad people and nothing would remain. Time could not be controlled without horrible consequences. No one knew what happened if it worked, but any change to the space-time continuum would be disastrous. Time-travel simply wasn't worth it. This man was crazy if he thought he could access this power.
"Y-You're kidding, right? That's impossible, not to mention dangerous!" he shouted. The mysterious stranger seemed unfazed by his answer.
"So? We are people of science. We can modify the formula of time so that it doesn't give problems." The stranger started moving forward with a presence that made Hiro afraid and back away. This man was clearly delusional.
"Time isn't going to be manipulated so easily! You could end up destroying everything!"
"What does any of it matter?!" Pressing forward faster, mystery man made Hiro stumble in backing away until finally he hit the wall. "What does it matter if the person I love most isn't here?!"
Hiro stared at this man with wide eyes. This person had lost someone important to him too. Gears of the mind started to click, speculating the possibilities of what this man has been through. His heart panged with a sudden constricting grip. Hiro's face twisted, troubled eyes pressed together and lips in a disturbed frown. What was this feeling? Sympathy? Dread? Yearning…?! The stranger smirked, seeing something in the prodigy's eyes, slamming his hands on the wall to trap the boy, bring his face to the boy's ear. Hiro squeaked fearfully.
"You've lost someone too, haven't you? Don't you want to bring him back? Don't you want to be with him again?" Hiro shivered as the manipulative devil's words shook his core. He started to feel scared. His mind really wanted to say no, but his heart wanted what this man was proposing so much that he felt the word yes at the back of his throat. He wanted Tadashi back. He wanted his big brother so much. Hiro's heart constricted in fear and desire, and this mad man sensed it. "If we succeed, we can stop them from ever leaving us."
Hiro felt like he was going to break, shivering harder and starting to cry. His lips parted, ready to let out an answer. Hiro wasn't even sure what it was and that terrified him. 'Someone help!'
"Hey!" The two turned to see two people approaching them. Hiro felt so relieved.
"W-Wasabi, G-Gogo!"
Gogo ripped the mystery man's arms away and Wasabi took Hiro's hand, moving the fourteen year old away from the dangerous man. They glared at this stranger who was scaring their friend, standing protectively in front of the teen. Hiro started taking deep breathes to try and calm down, squeezing Wasabi's hand for comfort.
"What are you doing?" Gogo growled. The stranger's eyes became dull and void.
"Nothing." he said monotonously.
"Then why is he crying?" The tall man looked at Hiro, making the boy stiffen and hide behind the bandana wearer. The stranger's eyes narrowed and looked at Gogo and Wasabi for a quiet moment. He turned away, walking out of the college silently. Gogo and Wasabi turned to Hiro worriedly.
"Are you okay?!" Wasabi asked.
"Y-Yeah…"
"As if! You're shaking." At Gogo's words, Hiro's eyes widened and he hugged himself, trying to stop the shivering. Gogo narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What the hell did he want from you?"
"H-He wanted me to help him invent t-time-travel."
"Are you serious?!" they yelled in response.
"He w-wants to save someone he lost. A-And I started thinking about Tadashi! I-I actually considered helping that demon!" Hiro started to break down, crying and hiccupping. He tried to wipe the tears away, thinking about his brother and hating himself for letting the idea of bringing him back no matter what. Hiro slid down the wall, burying his face in his knees. Wasabi and Gogo sat down to rub circles on his back comfortingly. "I-I know the present is more important than the past, but if that man comes back, I don't know what I'll do!"
Gogo slowly brought Hiro into a hug. "It'll be okay. We won't let you do anything stupid, so woman up."
The prodigy whimpered and sniffled in her chest, choking out his sobs.
Hiro was too emotional to go to class that day. Accompanied (escorted) by Gogo and Wasabi, they decided to watch some heartwarming home videos and eat gummy bears to calm down. The prodigy had eaten six large bags before Wasabi decided to keep him away from the rest. When they met up with the others that night and explained what happened, they agreed that Hiro should probably not go to school alone until they were sure that 'Seishin,' which was what Fred decided to call him, was not a threat.
A day. A week. A month. Time went by, relatively back to normal, until three days after Hiro's fifteenth birthday, something horrible happened…
Valentine's Day Gift
Tadashi walked quietly down the street, his little brother's small hand in his. It had been two years since his parents died and he wasn't feeling better. Ever since that tragic day, Tadashi was quiet, spoke monotonously and barely reacted to anything. He barely smiled, only doing so to encourage or cheer up Hiro. His grey world reflected in his actions towards others. He tried to fix this by taking care of Hiro. The elder brother took the younger to school and played with him.
But responsibility was not enough to break Tadashi from the wall he created to prevent others from getting any closer to him.
Hiro, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as depressed. He barely remembered his parents at this time, only having vague images of the memories. However, the five year old did, in fact, remember that Tadashi didn't used to act this way. The big brother used to be much more energetic and caring, having much more investment when they interacted and played. Now his brother may as well be a stick that talked to him sometimes to tell him to brush his teeth and go to bed. That bugged the younger child. Tadashi shouldn't be acting this way. Their brotherly relationship felt void and stoic like this. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to fix it. Such things as depression and sorrow were still foreign to him. At most, he wide eyed child thought that so long as he was himself, the old Tadashi might return.
Normal conversation, however, was also a foreign concept to the five year old.
"Hey, big brother, why is the school acting so weird today?" Tadashi blinked in registration and turned to the boy holding his hand blankly.
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone is acting funny! There's pink and red hearts everywhere, even some of my classmates are wearing those colours. There were also these heart shaped chocolates!"
"Oh, that's because it's Valentine's Day." Hiro tilted his head, not familiar with the term.
"What is that?"
"It's a day when people express their love with chocolate and kissing."
"Oh."
Silence had come between them again. Tadashi wasn't thinking much of it. Hiro was probably just processing the new information. He turned his attention back to the road, eyes staring blankly at the sidewalk and mind void of thought. Suddenly, out of the blue, Hiro pulled Tadashi towards him, forcing the older to bend down, and kissed his big brother on the lips. Tadashi's eyes widened in shock and immediately broke the connection, making Hiro tilt his head in confusion as the elder brother started freaking out. 'Thatwas my first kiss! T-That was Hiro's first kiss!'
"W-What are you doing?!" Tadashi exclaimed. Hiro didn't understand his brother's reaction, ignorant to the fact that he just lost his first kiss, which was supposed to be a big deal, but not to the five year old's mind.
"You said Valentine's Day is the day we express love with kissing. I love Tadashi, so I kissed you."
Tadashi gawked at his brother's naïve yet not nature. "I meant to a girlfriend or boyfriend!"
Hiro puffed his cheeks in annoyance. "Well, you should have said that first!"
The younger brother started walking ahead of the older. Tadashi could only stare at his brother's back, his mouth twitching and unable to form words. His brother was completely naïve and ignorant. He thought Hiro was smarter than this! He had to fix this. Who knows who would target his innocent little brother?! He had to teach Hiro social conventions and common sense fast!
Ever since then, Tadashi doted on his brother whenever he could. The older brother made himself into the best role model he could be for his brother, being kind and caring to others, helping whoever he could and guided Hiro through life. He talked more, creating conversations about whatever he thought was important; holidays, technology, stranger danger, trying to teach the younger good advice. This time together made Tadashi smile more, noticing his cute little brother's antics and love for gummy bears.
They were closer now. And nothing would break them apart. Tadashi would make certain of that.