HIRO
I buckle my seat belt across my torso and take a deep breath. This could be the end or the salvation of the world. We'd better time this right.
I glance over at Tadashi and Honey Lemon, holding hands. They got married last year and seem willing to die if they at least die together.
We sit in the top of the massive kaiju that Fred made, about to jump several miles up and counteract the massive shock wave of the star that Obake created using my energy amplifier. I still feel kinda bad about that. I thought it would be a great project, but now Obake has it and he's going to destroy the world. And it'll be my fault. Amazing.
"You guys ready?" I ask, turning on the comm link in my helmet so the others can hear me.
"As we'll ever be," GoGo says determinedly.
"Even if we die, we'll at least die together," Wasabi says, and I hear the unmistakable sound of him kissing GoGo for what might be the last time.
"Gross, stop that," Fred groans. "Let's talk about deeper stuff. I, um, just wanted y'all to know that it's been an honor. I never dreamed I'd really be a superhero. But here we are. And I couldn't have asked for a better team."
"Aw, thanks, Freddie," Honey Lemon says, squeezing Tadashi's hand. "No matter what happens, we'll be okay. Any deep thoughts, Dashi?"
Tadashi rubs the back of his neck. "I'm glad we did this. I can't imagine a better path for me to have taken. And I'm ready to die for our city—and for all of you."
Baymax decides to cut in. "You have spoken meaningful words. I believe we have a chance to make our carefully thought-out and scientifically possible plan work, but we must jump soon if we are to have any hope of saving our beloved city."
"You guys are all so deep," I mutter. "I couldn't talk like that to save my life. But…yeah. I guess since we might die…I love you guys. I hope we all make it through this—but if we don't…" I clear my throat, suddenly kind of choked up. "Yeah. It's been an honor."
Tadashi grabs my hand. "It'll be okay."
I nod and power up the thrusters on the kaiju. "Alright, here goes. The city is counting on us."
And we shoot into the air, San Fransokyo getting smaller and smaller. Soon I can only see white and green and blue, and the stars surround me. Dashi and Honey Lemon seem to have decided to kiss as much as they can before we hit the ground. I allow myself a smile and return my focus to the kaiju, ready to direct it back toward the ground.
We start to plummet and I feel the sensation of leaving my stomach in the sky. I want to squeeze my eyes shut, but I need to focus. I struggle to keep them open as we descend.
As we break through the cloud cover, I see the star shrinking rapidly. I will the kaiju to fall faster, knowing we have to get there before it disappears or all is lost.
The star shrinks into nothingness when we're still far above it, and I have the sudden realization that we're not going to make it. Our only hope is to try to block the shock wave with the kaiju before it hits the city.
And we will probably die.
But that's a small price to pay for thousands of lives.
I grit my teeth and steer the kaiju forward, throwing it in front of the place where the star used to be.
And the world explodes.
Tadashi and Honey are screaming, I'm screaming, I can hear everyone else screaming as the kaiju is propelled horizontally toward the bridge, so fast that I think I might pass out from the g-forces.
The kaiju slams into the bridge. My seat belt is suddenly gone, and I let out a scream of terror as I'm catapulted forward through the windshield. Shards of glass are sprayed everywhere and I crash onto the bridge, bouncing several times. My head slams against the asphalt, my visor shattering into a hundred pieces, and the world goes white, then black almost instantly.
My last thought is that all is indeed lost.
I wake up to blurry asphalt and a lot of stars swimming in front of my eyes. I'm still on the bridge, sprawled facedown on the road. I tentatively lift my throbbing head, trying to get my vision to focus.
What I see causes me to almost pass out again.
The city is gone.
Most of it, anyway. The skyscrapers are shattered, the houses look like a hurricane tore through them. The power lines are all down, and this section of the bridge is one of the only ones still standing.
My city has been destroyed.
I lay my head back down on the road, a tear slipping down my cheek. We didn't make it in time. We failed San Fransokyo and everyone in it.
What good are Big Hero 6 if we can't save the city every single time?
After several minutes, I decide that there's no point in feeling sorry for myself and roll over onto my back, then sit up. I immediately regret it.
My hand flies to my forehead, discovering a bruise the size of my palm. It must have happened when I hit the road. Or when I flew through the windshield. Probably the road. Regardless of when it happened, it really hurts. I pull off my broken helmet to better examine my face, running my fingers over my skin.
My cheek is scraped up pretty bad and I think my nose has been bleeding, but the rest of my face seems okay. My entire body is bruised and scraped from skidding across the road, and I have several cuts from the glass, but I don't think anything needs stitches. My ribs feel a little bruised, and my ankle shoots white-hot jolts of pain up my leg when I try to move it. I feel terrible, but I guess I should be glad to be alive. I could—should be dead, flying through the windshield like that.
I struggle to my feet, the world spinning suddenly. My ankle nearly gives out, but I grit my teeth and start to limp back to the kaiju, which lies broken on the bridge. I grab my helmet and press the comm link button, wanting to make sure everyone else is alive.
"Hey, guys," I rasp, my voice weak and hoarse. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
"HIRO!" Dashi exclaims. "Where are you? Me and Honey are still in the kaiju, but we can't find you! Are you outside? I'll come get you just hang on—"
"Dashi, I'm coming! Just gimme a second to check on everyone else!" I respond, sighing in relief. My brother is okay.
"Hiro," Baymax says over the comm link. "I have sustained significant damage, but I can be easily repaired. I will send you my location."
"Okay. Just hang in there, big guy," I tell him, adding fixing Baymax to my to-do list. "Anyone else?"
GoGo and Wasabi call in saying that they're injured, but not badly, and that they can easily get to the hospital. I think I hear more kissing. All I hear from Fred is a little sob from what sounds like a toddler. That's not good. I'll go check on that next.
After I've gotten all the information I can from the rest of BH6, I limp into the kaiju and see Honey and Dashi sitting on the floor, both of them a little banged up, but nothing I can see is really bad.
"Hey," I manage. "You guys okay?"
Tadashi lunges forward and wraps me in a bear hug. "We're fine—what about you?"
"I hit my head and I'm kinda banged up and I think my ankle's broken but I'm okay," I say in one breath. "Seriously, what happened to you guys? How long was I out?"
"About an hour," Tadashi says, glancing at his phone. "Is your head okay?" He pushes aside my hair and inhales sharply when he sees the bruise. "That looks painful."
I shrug. "Just a little. I'm fine."
Tadashi finally relents and looks over at Honey. "Do you have any Advil? I think Hiro might need some."
Honey rummages in her purse and pulls out two small capsules. "Yep. Here you go, Hiro." She hands the pills to me, along with a bottle of water. "Do you want any, Dashi?"
I take the pills and look accusatorily at Tadashi. "Are you hurt and you didn't tell me?"
Tadashi rubs the back of his neck and winces. "I guess I might have whiplash? But that's not super painful. And I'm more worried about you guys."
I glare at him and he caves. "I think my collarbone's fractured. And my ribs are probably broken. And I guess I'm kinda cut up from all the glass. And I might have sprained a couple fingers. But I'll be fine."
I gape at Dashi. Why is he saying this while appearing to be in so little pain? As much as I hate to admit it, I'd be sobbing on the floor like a baby if that many parts of me hurt like that.
"We've gotta get you to a hospital," I decide. "Honey, what about you? Are you okay?"
She considers this. "I'm fine, Hiro. But you need to go to the hospital first."
Honey's glasses are broken and there's a gash on her forehead, but nothing looks too bad, so I let it slide. "All right. Let's head out."
I press the button on my helmet. "Everyone who can, meet us at the hospital, okay? And if you can't, we'll come get you. Bring anyone else who's injured, and we'll get them all treated. Remember, they have to be treated first. Our mission is to ensure that everyone in San Fransokyo is safe. And—" My voice cracks. "The least we can do is get them help. We already failed them once. We can't fail them again."
I hang up, and Tadashi and Honey and I start the long trek to the hospital.
As we walk through the deserted streets of the city, I'm horrified by the sheer amount of destruction. This is our fault. We didn't stop it.
Huge areas of the city are crushed, some parts even on fire. The sky is black from the smoke and the overcast day, and lightning flashes in the clouds. This looks like the apocalypse. To be honest, it probably is.
This is truly the end of the world. My world, at least.
Dashi helps me limp through the city, as my ankle keeps almost giving out. We pick up GoGo and Wasabi, both injured—a warehouse literally collapsed on top of them. Wasabi is carrying an unconscious GoGo in his arms, which is pretty adorable and an impressive feat—GoGo would murder anyone else who tried to carry her like that. And Wasabi's knee is messed up, so he must be really devoted to GoGo to carry her even while he's in pain. His ACL is probably torn or something. I don't know.
We discover Fred several minutes later, passed out on the docks with a group of toddlers surrounding him. All of them are filthy and some of them are bleeding. That was Fred's assignment—evacuate the daycare. He'd at least gotten them out, but evidently the star had exploded before they got very far.
Honey runs ahead to the café to get Aunt Cass and Baymax so they can help us carry all these kids and the unconscious Fred. She hurries back with my aunt and my robot, both of whom pull me into a hug as soon as they see me.
"Oh my gosh, Hiro, are you okay?" Aunt Cass asks frantically. "Are you hurt? How bad? Do you need Baymax to treat you? Do you want some donuts?"
I smile. "Yes to the donuts. And I'm okay. I've gotta fix Baymax anyway, so he won't be treating anyone for a while."
Aunt Cass sighs in relief and moves on to Tadashi. When she's satisfied that we're both not dying, she scoops up two toddlers and directs everyone to pick up their own.
I look at Baymax for a few minutes, determining that he can still function—it's his scanner that's broken. I can fix that at home, but that'll have to wait. We've gotta get these toddlers somewhere safe.
I pick up a little guy who has evidently been crying for a while. My heart breaks. Poor little kids, all alone without their parents. We'll have to fill that role for now, I guess.
We must look awful, limping through the streets, all of us covered in dirt and blood. And this is our fault. We couldn't save the city. But we can try to save these kids, and the rest of the citizens of San Fransokyo. It's the least we can do.
The toddler I'm carrying buries his face in my chest, letting out a tiny whimper. I lean down and stroke his soft dark hair. "You okay, little guy?"
He looks up at me with huge green eyes. "No."
"Aw, I'm sorry," I say. "What's wrong?"
"My head hurts an' I'm all alone an' my mommy an' daddy are gone an' Lizard Guy was tryna save me but he got hurt and it's all my fault." The toddler presses his face to my breastplate again, cuddling me for all he's worth.
"I'm sorry," I say again. "That's not fun. What's your name, little guy?"
"I'm Sawyer," the kid mumbles.
"Hey, Sawyer. I'm Hiro."
He perks up. "Like a supahewo?"
It takes me a minute to realize he said superhero. "Yeah. Like that. I'm part of Big Hero 6."
Sawyer beams. "You're so awesome," he says dreamily. "I wanna be just like you when I gwow up."
I smile down at him, but inside, I wonder if just like me is a good thing to want to be.
We finally make it to the hospital after several hours. Sawyer has fallen asleep in my arms, which is adorable, but now he's dead weight. My arms and shoulders hurt almost as much as my ankle by the time we reach the hospital, and Baymax helps me limp inside.
The doctors already seem pretty busy, but we give them the sob story about the toddlers and they let us in. The rest of us will have to wait. I was pretty sure we'd have to, but that doesn't lessen the pain at all.
I massage the bruise on my forehead as I sit down in one of the waiting room chairs, letting out a sigh of relief. I didn't realize how much my ankle hurt until I took pressure off it.
Tadashi collapses in the chair next to me, wincing. "Owww."
"You okay?" I ask, worried.
"I'm fine," he groans. "Everything just hurts."
"Same." I lean back in my chair. "Mostly my head. And my ankle. But I'm fine—definitely not as bad as you."
"Hiro, I'm okay—"
"You have several broken bones and probably a couple sprains! You're not okay, Tadashi. You don't have to be a big strong man all the time."
Dashi gives me a half smile. "But that's what I am."
I laugh a little. "Maybe. But you don't have to act like it all the time. Cry if you want to. I'd want to."
"I'm not gonna cry," Tadashi says determinedly. "I wouldn't cry in a million years."
"You cried when you married Honey," I remind him.
Dashi rubs the back of his neck. "That was, like, my wedding, Hiro. Who wouldn't cry at their wedding?"
"I bet I wouldn't," I tell him. "I'd just be happy."
"You'll cry, Hiro. You'll see."
Upon finishing our conversation, the doctors come in, saying they're ready to see us. They lead all of us into a back room and start to patch us up. My doctor is my regular physician, Dr. Armstrong.
"Hey, Hiro," he says, adjusting his glasses. "This again?"
"Yup," I mutter.
"You come in an awful lot, Hiro. Where does it hurt?"
Several minutes later, my ankle has been splinted, there's gauze taped over my forehead, and all my cuts and scrapes have been patched up with a bunch of band-aids and gauze and bacitracin. I still have a headache, but it's slowly subsiding. And I can walk properly now, so that's definitely an improvement.
Dr. Armstrong leads us into another room, where they've placed Fred in a bed. His head is bandaged, but he looks mostly okay—what's wrong with him?
Dr. Armstrong begins, "Guys, I don't know how to tell you this, but…"
Fred suddenly opens his eyes. "Hey, guys!" He looks at me, his eyes widening in surprise. "Oh, are you Tadashi's little brother? You look like him."
I gape at him. "Fred, it's me, Hiro."
"Is that your name? Cool."
Dr. Armstrong sighs. "So…yeah. Fred has amnesia. He remembers his friends, but nothing about Big Hero 6. That's why he doesn't know who you are, Hiro."
I bury my face in my hands with a groan. "Can we get his memories back? Are they still there?"
"They're still there, but he can't access them. He's got a concussion, and his brain is messed up. He hit his head pretty hard."
I rub my forehead, almost indignantly. "I hit my head too and I don't have amnesia!"
"I know, but I guess you might just have a thick skull or something. Besides, Fred was hit by the shock wave. You were in the kaiju, so it was only the impact with the bridge that threw you. Not as great a distance as the shock wave would have produced."
I sigh. "Alright. Is there a way to fix him?"
"Fix me?" Fred asks, bewildered. "Why do we need to fix me? I'm fine, really."
No one pays attention. Tadashi chimes in, "Will he get better over time? Does he even still love superheroes and comic books?"
"Of course!" Fred says indignantly. "Who doesn't?"
"So you're telling me we have a superhero who doesn't even know he's a superhero?" GoGo asks, leaning against Wasabi. "That's great. Just great. What should we do, just leave him here while we go out and fight Obake?"
"That would be optimal, yes," Dr. Armstrong admits. "I'm afraid you'll have to be Big Hero 5 for a while."
"They've got me," Tadashi says. "I know I'm not really a member, but I can help, you know."
Honey kisses him on the cheek. "You're not doing anything until you're all better, Dashi."
Tadashi brushes her hair away from the stitches on her forehead. "Then neither are you. Or you, Hiro," he adds, throwing a protective-big-brother look at me. "I mean it."
I groan but don't object. "We all have to at least help with the rebuilding, right? That's our job. And we have to find Obake and take him down once and for all."
Dr. Armstrong tells us, "I don't think any of you should be doing anything like that until you've all recovered." When we protest, he adds, "I don't think you can help your city if you haven't helped yourselves first. Go rest for now, and then we can talk about fixing this place up."
We head back to the café sans Fred. Thankfully, my house hasn't been completely destroyed—the roof is falling in and the water and electricity are both out, but it hasn't collapsed, so we at least have somewhere to stay.
Tadashi and Honey go over to their side of the room and close the door. I don't want to know what they're doing in there, so I just change into pajamas and curl up under my covers. It's much warmer in here than it is outside—the clouds are so thick that no light comes through and it's freezing. I can hear the storm raging outside—thunder and lightning but no rain, which isn't good. It would really help to put the fires out.
I close my eyes and pull the blankets tighter around me—I'm freezing. My head still aches, so I bury it in my pillow, trying to sleep. I'm also so tired I can barely think straight. But I'm too worried about our city to sleep. What will Obake do if we don't stop him right away? The prospect is scary to think about. He'll destroy everything that wasn't already collapsed by the shock wave. And he doesn't seem afraid to hurt innocents. A lot of people are dead.
And we weren't able to do anything about it. I feel so bad. We failed San Fransokyo when it really needed us. We could have done better. We should have done better. We never tried to fail. But we did.
I finally fall asleep, listening to the raging storm, one thought running through my head over and over again.
What have we done?
