Fox-face and Flames

Twenty-first Encounter: Ookami ( 狼)

∟ "Wolf"

The petals tumble across the still surface and perform somersaults along the water's edge. [The young man] stares at them dissonantly.

[You] have been here before.

"Well I hope you've been here before, Ponyboy. We're in your fucked up head after all."

You start and turn your head. Behind you stands a woman who has blood red hair. A woman who has no face. It's as if her eyes, mouth, and nose have been carved clean off of her face. You can't help but feel slightly disturbed at the sight of it.

"That's not very nice." The woman continues to speak with her unpresent mouth. "I certainly wouldn't expect the old you to think things like that. This either means A, you're becoming slightly less unrefined in the head, or B, you are becoming alarmingly more unrefined in the head. Pick your poison."

You try to say something — you aren't exactly sure what that something is — but you find that you cannot move your lips.

"Stop bullying him, Sierra." Comes a hiss from behind. It's a familiarly unfamiliar hiss. "Or I'll punch you."

You turn. It's a man this time. He also has no identifiable features.

"- - -, please stop…"

Neither does she.

"I would be lying if I said that that wasn't really violent…"

And neither does she. For a second, however, she does. For a second, you see your brother's features flicker across her carved expression. But that's impossible. There is no way your brother could be in such a distorted place like this.

You think the girl who spoke last feels your gaze on her, because she raises her head and looks at you. At least, you think she's looking at you.

"Wake up, you nerd," the girl says; and as she says this, her face suddenly becomes identifiable to you. "Your brother needs you."

Confusion.

You reach out for the girl's arm and your fingertips brush against her skin and then—-

— her skin peels against your touch. Her skin peels in shades of black and red revealing something grotesque and awful beneath. You pull back in surprise and horror and fear, but that grotesque thing grabs at your retracting arm, grips your wrist tightly with pale fingers. Its nails dig into your forearm and draw blood. The red liquid seeps from the crescent moon cuts and dribbles onto the still white lake. It doesn't hurt. You can't feel the pain. Yet, as you stare at the crimson droplets that are slowly staining the water, you feel panic ripple through your chest. If this continues, the pure whiteness is going to be stained and tainted. Again.

"If you're too weak to do it," the thing whispers with curling lips as it pulls you close, "use me."

You wake up with a blood curdling scream.

Hiro found a scream ripping through his throat as he was jolted into painful consciousness by a bucket of water to the face. The cold dampness of the liquid blurred his vision and froze his mind in a combination that inflicted a mixture of terror and confusion. By some miracle, while he was trapped in that mixture of frightened befuddlement, he was able to realize that he was cuffed to a cold metal chair.

"Wha…?"

A shape loomed out of the corner of his eye.

"This is quite nostalgic, you know, Alice? I first laid my eyes upon the true form of Fox — ah, your brother if that makes thing clearer — when he was looking just like you. Like brother like brother I suppose."

The blurs sharpened into images: a quiet dark room with tiled white walls, a metal door off to the right, dim overhead lights, and a man wearing an amused smirk.

"Y-You're…" Hiro tried, attempting to keep the shakes in his voice (Was he shaking because he was cold from the water or because he was afraid?) even.

"Tako." The smirking man smirked thinly. "Ah, yes, we've met once or twice before."

"The pleasure is all yours." Hiro spat thickly. He realized then that he was not shaking with cold nor fear. He was shaking with rage. This man standing before him was the cause of his misery, his brother's misery. This man was the man who shattered his brother to pieces.

"Quite." Tako agreed with a slight nod. "It'd be even more pleasurable if I could punish you for destroying my masterpiece, for bleaching Fox's humanity—

"S-Shut up, you tentacle porn bastard." Hiro hissed without really thinking. "Tadashi isn't yours!"

"True. He's not mine anymore." Tako sighed dispassionately, his smirk finally dropping. "But you are." With that, his smirk returned. "And I can carve up another Fox with you instead."

'Carve'. The word sent gruesome images spinning in Hiro's head. His brother chained down and whimpering, painful cuts, disemboweled bodies, and sharp red pain. Hiro began to feel something bubbling at the pit of his stomach. Nausea..? … Fear? He began to desperately wish that Baymax was by his side, that his friends were by his side, that his brother —-

No, Tadashi can't go through anything like this ever again. Anyways, this was all going according to plan. Right…?

"That's what I'd like to say at least." Tako sighed dispassionately. "Unfortunately, Sora has other plans in mind for you." He paused, then added: "Older Sora not the younger one."

"Doctor Tien Long." Hiro replied steadily, before he smirked. "Yeah, we've met. Can't say I've met his younger Sora guy or whatever."

"Well, I wouldn't think so." Tako raised a playful eyebrow. "The boy's in a coma, Alice."

"Stop calling me that." Hiro scowled darkly, internally mulling over the information he had been given. "Since you're so fond of stalking me and my brother, I'd hope that you'd at least know my name — unless you're less intelligent than I make you up to be."

Tako frowned and then grinned his strange dissonance grin: "Quite the nasty tongue on you, Alice. That wasn't very nice."

"Yeah, well," Hiro retorted, "I wasn't trying to be nice, seeing as you have me bound to a cliche metal chair in a dark room."

"'Cliche'," Tako repeated, "that's more of Snake's word isn't it?"

Hiro froze, his blood running cold. Hebi… She had been with him when Tako and the gangster had attacked them, hadn't she? Where was she? Was she okay? Had Tako…?

"The Snake is fine, if that's what you're wondering." Tako replied absentmindedly. He reached over towards Hiro's face with his fingers extended towards the adolescent's dark hair. He smiled fondly as the boy pulled away. "She was built resilient like your brother and the rest of us, after all. Another beautiful piece of work — not as beautiful as Fox was, of course."

"You're crazy." Hiro shook his head. "You're legitimately crazy."

"Aren't we all, Alice?" Tako prodded in a playful tone.

"No, I'm pretty sure you're the only crazy one in this whole thing." Hiro grimaced. "A guy who chooses to work for the people who experimented on him and tortured him? Can't get any crazier than that." Hiro paused, watching Tako's expression darken slightly, before he added: "Maybe you've got Stockholm's Syndrome or something." The word was featured prominently in the psychology textbooks Hiro had been mulling over the past few weeks.

"To have Stockholm syndrome, one would need to feel some sort of attachment for their abuser and captor. I do not. Sora is simply an associate of mine, the ink that bleeds words into this story. " Tako explained matter-of-factly. "I'm simply an observer. No, that's not right either. I guess you could say I'm the writer of this tale."

"Don't let Sora hear you say that." Hiro scoffed darkly. "He's the head of CASCO isn't he? Who knows what he'll do to you." He paused. "On second thought, go ahead and keep rambling. I want to see what happens."

"I hate to disappoint, Alice," Tako laughed lightly, "but I'm sure Sora is already very aware that I'm using him. He is just too human to care."

Hiro remained silent.

"I guess that's my cue to tell you the origins of this story, right?" Tako questioned in a rhetorical tone as he pressed a slender finger against his lips. "I'll sin against Snake again and be cliche about this."

Hiro observed Tako with narrowed eyes.

"It all started with Sora Junior." Tako started, bending low and next to Hiro's ear. "Sora Senior — Keiji, as you know him — loved him desperately. After all, Sora Junior was the only attachment Keiji had in this world. His wife had died in childbirth so that social link was gone. And Keiji had always prided himself with his detachment from the world until that point. But that's besides the point." Tako whispered such phrases into Hiro's ear; and the latter squirmed against the elder man's heated breath as it brushed against his face. "So, as you know, Sora became a successful man. A successful scientist majoring in biochemistry. A scientist who also had some experience in the business field. Ah, there's no CASCO yet at this point."

"And there's no concept of personal space either." Hiro muttered despite himself.

"And then misfortune struck." Tako continued, pulling away from the adolescent. "Unfortunately for the Soras, Sora Junior came down with a chronic illness. No cure. He just got worse and worse and Keiji's mental health followed in those footsteps." Tako paused, flourishing his hand dramatically. "'What's the point of living if the one thing I live for will just disappear in the blink of an eye? Other people don't matter — only me and him do. If he doesn't exist, the world doesn't exist… so it's only natural that the world would work to save him, isn't that right?' And by world, I do mean people, Alice. And thus CASCO was created to find a cure through the Doubutsu Experiments. A way to immortality, a way to become unafflicted by mankind's worst diseases."

So that was it. Sora Keiji was willing to sacrifice the entire world just to find a cure for his son. Hiro wondered whether that was selfish or selfless. Either way, it disgusted him. But… not too long ago, hadn't he also been willing to sacrifice everything and anything in the same way? The thought made Hiro's stomach twist. That fact was besides the point. This Sora Keiji person, this Doctor Tien Long —- Hiro would make the man answer for what he'd done.

"Such pure humanity intrigues me." Tako smiled dissonantly. "So, I stayed. And then I saw your brother, and then I saw…" His eyes narrowed yet his smile remained constant. "You."

"Really wish you hadn't…" Hiro muttered.

"You're the endgame, Alice." Tako clasped his hands together. "Will you become a true animal and paint a beautiful story? Or will you reach the climax and end up like a failure like your brother?"

First confusion. Then alarm. And then fear and nausea. And finally pure uncontainable rage.

"Shut your mouth!" Hiro hissed. "Don't you dare talk about Tadashi like that!" He clenched his fists, felt his nails dig into his palm. "You don't know anything."

"Do you know why members of the Doubutsu experiment were given animal code names?" Tako asked lightly, ignoring Hiro's rage.

Hiro once again did not reply. He simply clenched his teeth tightly together and lowered his burning gaze.

"They were given animal code names because in the middle of all that chaos — all that confusion — they were able to become what they truly were. Animals." Tako twirled around Hiro's chair and stopped short right in front of him. He bowed down, gripping the arms of the chair, and pulled the adolescent close.

Hiro swore his heart stopped beating then and there. He could feel the older man's eyes prodding into his skin, and his skin prickled uncomfortably in turn. What was this psycho searching for? Hiro just wanted the man to leave so he could figure out a way to escape, a way to find Keiji, and a way to take this whole thing down.

"You might as well join the tradition, don't you think, Alice?"

The adolescent paused.

"After all, you're going to be the last participant in the Doubutsu Project." Tako explained.

So I was right, Hiro thought pensively. His throat suddenly felt dry and his head light. The image of raining needles entered his mind. That's not going to happen. I'll stop this before that happens.

"That," Tako continued, studying Hiro carefully, "and I realize now that you've already become an animal."

Hiro scoffed despite himself.

"Can you guess what kind of animal you are, Hiro?" Tako questioned quietly, his dark eyes pooling into Hiro's own.

"What? Don't tell me. A squirrel?" Hiro grimaced.

"You are human, Hiro." Tako whispered. "The deadliest animal of them all."

Tadashi awoke with a scream ripping through his throat. Blurry shapes, startled by his shout, shifted around him. Enemies. Survive. He hissed, snarled, clawed at the unidentifiable, at anything that moved—

—and then sinewy arms wrapped around his torso and a hand shifted through his matted hair.

"Tadashi, it is suggested that you take deep and slow breaths. You may accidentally trigger hyperventilation if you do not even your breathing."

The odd mechanical voice seemed unreal in the blurriness of the world around him. Was it even real — the voice? Was any of this even real?

His mind suddenly went back to the dream — or was it the memory? — of the clear white pond, the pond that was slowly becoming stained red. His mind went back to the grotesque figure that resided there. The grotesque figure who wore his face.

"Am I even real?"

The arms that were wrapped around him tightened.

"Honey, of course you are…"

…

Cassandra Hamada sat on the white bed at the center of the crowded room cradling her eldest nephew in her arms. Despite the perilous situation, she felt a tingle of nostalgia twinge inside of her chest. She had cradled Tadashi and Hiro just like this not too long ago. Actually, now that she thought about it, it was quite a long time ago.

Hiro…

Her heart fluttered, her mind swam, and she wrapped her arms tighter around Tadashi's tense form.

"Baymax," she whispered, glancing up at the robot who stood by the bedpost beside her, "is he going to be alright?"

"Although his heart rate is unusually high," Baymax informed her in a calm and even tone, "all of his vitals are stabled. He only suffered from a minor concussion."

Cass winced, recalling how she had smacked Tadashi over the head with a metal pipe only hours before. She then recalled his dark and murderous expression the instant before she had cracked down on him; and she frowned in turn.

"Aunt Cass…?"

Tadashi stirred in her arms, craned his neck, and blinked up at her in confusion.

"What's going on? What happened?"

Cass opened her mouth in surprise and then closed it. Did he not remember? It wouldn't surprising, seeing how he had forgotten everything twice in a row now. She paused, her gaze darkening as she recalled the things Gogo had informed her of. She had told the young woman not to sugar-coat anything and boy did she not sugar-coat anything. Kitsune, Project Doubutsu, CASCO, and the Big Hero Six. At this point, drowning in all of this information, Cass wasn't sure how she felt. Angry? Worried? Scared for her two nephews? Frustrated at herself for not noticing all of this sooner? How could she let her eldest nephew — her son —- become like this? How could she let her youngest son get stolen away from her right under her nose?

…

Tadashi observed his silent Aunt worriedly, before his eyes caught onto the four other figures standing in the room. One of the figures was Baymax, his reliable nursing companion, his prized invention, his friend, who stood by his bedpost. The second figure was Gogo in the flesh. She was dressed in a strangely familiar yet odd yellow suit and was standing by the bedpost as well. The two other figures stood in opposite corners of the room. Tadashi only recognized one of these figures — cropped black hair, pale lids from which heavy lashes sprouted. Maeko Rice. She was studying him with a blank expression, and it unnerved him for some reason. And the final figure? Tadashi knew for sure they he had never seen the stern crossed-armed dark-haired woman in his life, yet he felt a pang of nostalgia as he observed her.

His eyes danced around the room, and he took note of his surroundings. He was sitting in a small white bed. That much was clear. Stationary medical equipment was set up on his left, and to his right was a metal table. Resting on the metal table was a black fox-like mask. Right... He had gotten the mask at the festival. The festival...

"You got a concussion, Hamada boy," Gogo informed him as she crossed her arms. "We're in Mizuki Clinic right now." She paused, side-glancing with narrowed eyes at the older woman whom Tadashi didn't recognize. "San Fransokyo General is shut down for some reason right now. The clinic is being used as a substitute."

"Oh… right." Tadashi frowned. He glanced around the room. Maybe he could lend a hand to the clinic staff?

"Don't even think about it, young man." Aunt Cass frowned darkly and threateningly at him. "You need to rest right now. Take care of yourself before you take care of others."

Tadashi winced at the scolding and murmured a quiet "Yes, Aunt Cass". It was then that he finally felt the full heat from the gaze of the woman he didn't recognize. He turned his head slowly in her direction and flashed her a quiet smile. Her eyes widened in response and her face twisted.

"Are…" Tadashi tried as he observed her expression. "Are you oka—-"

And she was on him in a blur of black just like that. Aunt Cass was ripped from him and thrown to the side against the wall like a ragdoll. Tadashi barely had the time to shout his aunt's name, before he was grabbed by the scruff by the unknown woman. He struggled against her grasp in surprise and winced as her nails dug into his skin.

"Don't you dare say that! Don't you dare say that after you led Hitsuji to his death! Don't you dare say that after Usagi's disappeared!"

"I… I... " Tadashi shook his head uncomprehendingly. Each spoken name drilled a needle of pain into his skull; and as he stared into the woman's dark brown anguished eyes, the pain increased ten-fold. Shaking this pulsing pain off, he evened his breathing and gently raised his hands to touch the woman's shaking arms. "I… I'm sorry."

The woman paused, her eyes widening once more and her expression twisting yet again.

"I can't believe Hebi, Usagi, and Neko found you like this... And said nothing to me." Ookami whispered, gazing at Tadashi as if she was certain that he was a mirage.

"Ookami, let go of him!" Came Gogo's husky shout.

And the woman — Ookami — was torn away from Tadashi's bedside. Gogo lifted the woman up by the scruff and gazed at her evenly. While this was occurring, Tadashi quickly hopped out of his bed and aided Aunt Cass back up to her feet.

"We have more problems than that right now." Gogo murmured to Ookami steadily. Ookami glared at her, glanced at Tadashi, observed his actions, and then averted her gaze.

"Yes," Ookami replied steadily, gesturing towards Tadashi without actually acknowledging him, "and this is one of them."

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Tadashi murmured.

The two conversing women paused, glancing at him. After a moment of silence, Ookami nodded in Gogo's direction as if prodding her to speak. The latter sighed and rubbed the back of her dark head before grimacing.

"Look, Hamada Boy, I'm sorry but I'm going to keep this short, blunt, and simple." Gogo sighed, approaching him slowly. "Your brother, me, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Baymax, and Fred are part of the Big Hero Six—"

"Wait." Tadashi did a double-take. "Wait. What?"

"We're superheroes." Gogo continued. "And a couple months back we were investigating some murders that had to do with this company called CASCO."

"Wait. Backtrack for a minute, Gogo." Tadashi shook his head. "Y-You're telling me that my brother, my robot, and my friends are part of the Big Hero Six?!"

"Yeah, that's what I said." Gogo rolled her eyes. "Anyways, while we were investigating CASCO—

"Hiro is so dead!" Tadashi hissed, before he paused and pointed an accusatory finger in Gogo's direction. "And how could you guys just go off and do that?! Don't you know how dangerous that is?!"

"We were investigating CASCO," Gogo continued, ignoring him, "and learned about this Doubutsu Project that CASCO was funding. It involved human experiments."

"Human experiments…?" Tadashi blinked, side-tracked by the sudden change of pace and suddenly feeling nauseous.

"You…" Gogo paused, averting her eyes. "You were part of the experiments too, Tadashi."

"Huh…?"

"You just forgot about it." Gogo muttered, placing a hand on her hips. "You called yourself Kitsune and back then you didn't remember anything past the Doubutsu trials. You didn't recognize Hiro or any of us."

"Wait…" Tadashi shook his head as a dizzying sensation overwhelmed him. "Can you slow down a minute…?"

I told you you were too weak.

Tadashi froze at the quiet voice that whispered at the back of his mind.

"Tadashi," Gogo sighed, approaching the young man and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "they have Hiro."

And just like that, the dizziness that had consumed him was shattered by sheer horror and panic.

"What?!" Tadashi exclaimed, placing his hands on his friend's shoulder and shaking her roughly. "What do you mean they have Hiro?!" He paused, realizing his violent actions, and forced himself to release his friend from his iron grip. He held his hammering head and glanced around the room wildly.

"Fred, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon are already on it." Gogo explained to him in a calm and even tone. She paused, side glancing at Ookami, before she continued. "The animal group is on it too. They're all checking out San Fransokyo General. Baymax's scanner's last picked up his signals there. The two of us are gonna head there in a few."

Aunt Cass bit her lip and clenched her fists. How could she be so useless in this situation?

"Hiro…" Tadashi shook his head. "I-I have to save Hiro. Please, let me go with you—

"The way you are now," Ookami spoke suddenly, observing him closely, "you can't. You'll just be problematic."

"He's my brother!" Tadashi whispered, shaking his head. "Please, I can help—"

"Tadashi…" Gogo frowned lightly, placing a hand on his shoulder again. "She's right… Right now," she paused, staring into his eyes steadily, "you're not well, Tadashi. You'd only get hurt."

Tadashi shook his head.

You're going to get hurt if you go out there too. Hiro is going to get hurt too—

—- all of these unspoken thoughts swam in Tadashi's mind, but they were overwhelmed by another onslaught of thoughts that seemed like they were not his own:

You're too weak. Switch places with me.

None of this made sense to Tadashi, yet at the same time it couldn't make anymore sense.

"Tadashi." Gogo tried once more, her grip on his shoulder tightening. "It's alright. We'll find Hiro for you."

"Tadashi." Aunt Cass drew from behind him.

He turned his head and found his aunt gazing at him calmly yet seriously.

"You need to stay here."

No.

"We're heading out now." Gogo murmured, removing her hand from his shoulder. She walked over to the corner of the room where a wooden table rested and picked the yellow helmet that rested on top of it off of it. "We'll be back." WIth that phrase hanging in the air, she fixed the helmet onto of her head and exited the room in a blur of yellow.

Ookami lingered for a moment longer. Her narrowed eyes ran along Tadashi's features, Tadashi's expression. It was an expression she had never seen on the man before. An anguished, distraught, helpless expression. Seeing him wearing such a thing made her feel uncomfortable. She wanted to smack it right off of him. It didn't suit him at all. How could he wear such a thing after he stolidly sent Hitsuji to his death? Hitsuji had just been a kid. And… at that moment, Ookami came to a realization. Kitsune had just been a kid too.

"Damnit," she muttered darkly, turning on her heels towards the doorway. "I can't stand you like this."

And she exited the room without another word.

Tadashi stared in utter disbelief at the swinging doorway that had just swallowed up one of his best friends and an apparent acquaintance of his.

"Hiro…"

"Tadashi," came Baymax's soothing voice, "please rest. You are experiencing an alarmingly high level of stress."

Hiro. His Hiro was in danger. Maya… Maya was too. Wait… Maya? Maeko. Maya?

Tadashi's head swam in confusion. His legs buckled uselessly beneath him, and he slid to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. He gripped his buzzing head as the voice that was yet was not his own whispered to him at the back of his mind.

Ta-da-shi. Can you really handle all of this? You'll be lying if you say yes. I mean, you've seen me, haven't you. You've seen how I am, haven't you. How you are.

He felt the thing creep up behind him, felt the thing wrap its pale fingers around his neck. He was choking. He couldn't breathe. The world around him became dotted in red. Red flowers.

It's too late to go back to how things were. You can only move forward now. You can only survive and keep that promise. You know that you can only do those things through me, right? It's the logical thing to do.

"Tadashi, look at me, sweetie!"

A far off echo.

"You need to calm down!"

"Tadashi, I advise for you to take deep and calm breaths."

Stop wasting time. Stop being a complication. Stop being weak. Stop existing.

"... Maeko? What… What are you doing…?"

Tadashi Hamada, become [me] again.

A soft clicking sound emanated through the air. The grotesque thing was gone (?); and in its place was his aunt who was holding him tightly and tensely. A shadow was shrouding him in darkness. Maya… No, Maeko's shadow. He raised his eyes in her direction and came face-to-face with the nose of a small gun. He wasn't surprised.

"You killed my sister."

It was an accusation. It was a fact. And it was stated as calmly as such.

"And? Are you going to shoot me?"

Maeko's dark eyes narrowed.

"Kitsune." She stated the fact just as calmly, her finger drifting towards the trigger.

At the center of the city, three adults gathered together in the corner of a ruddy shack and hovered over a single device.

"Well, Robert," one of the three muttered, "it was a pleasure working with you again."

A grunt was the response.

"Dad…" The third of the trio murmured. The third's eyes were narrowed. "What are you going to do with this?"

"Hopefully…" Robert responded in a tired tone as he rubbed his eyes. "Hopefully this will do what Hiro wanted it to do - fix things."

Next Chapter: Ningen (人間)

∟ "Humans"

"'Dios mio… Are those things supposed to be human?'

…

Hiro observed the sleeping boy with stolidness.

"So… you're the one who started all of this, huh, Sora Junior?"

…

"Please, Hiro," Sora Keiji gazed at Hiro with sorrow. "Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same for your brother. I've looked into your personal history, Hiro. Your brother - he meant everything to you, didn't he? You'd do anything for him. I understand that, Hiro. That's why I gave your brother freedom. So, please, in exchange… Give my son freedom."

Hiro gazed at Sora and then down at the needle filled to the brim with clear liquid held in his hands.

…

"Dude, this is just like some trippy Resident Evil mash-up."

…

So, are you going to accept me now, Tadashi? I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't devour what little is left of you.

…

A sickening crunch filled the air followed by the heavy scent of iron.

'Fred!'"

A/N: Huzzah! I am alive! Kind of. Sorry for not updating these past two minutes and sorry for the short-ish chapter as well. I've been overwhelmed with my AP exams and graduation stuff, but all of that stuff is over now.. except for the graduation part but meh. I also have one regular exam tomorrow so also meh. After this though, my updating schedule should be back to normal… Hopefully.

Thank you to all those who stuck by, read, followed, favorited, and reviewed! So many this time! (Probably because I haven't updated in two months. Sorry about that still… u n u) Sorry for not responding to all of the reviews this time as well. I read every single one of them and appreciated all of them very much. I'll respond to the next ones, I promise!