Before Hiro even managed to open his eyes and fully regain his consciousness, he felt the pain. His whole body was shaking and trembling, he felt so cold that it left a burning feeling on his skin. The wound on his temple was stinging and he noticed a sort of numbness that had spread up his leg. By the way his ankle was throbbing and burning though Hiro could tell that, if it hadn't been broken before, it most definitely was now.
When water went up his nose Hiro coughed and turned to lay on his side. When he turned further and let himself fall on to his back, there was a soft splashing sound and he could feel tiny stones against his back and lower body. He must have been laying in shallow water, he realized. He felt strangely calm amidst all this. Although he didn't know where he was, what exactly had happened and despite the burning pain in his body, he somehow felt relaxed.
It all came back to him slowly, the pictures of what had happened at the cliffs carved into his mind. He remembered Fred and Trina being shot, remembered the panic he had felt and how everyone had tried their best to protect him. But none of them had been able to stop Obake from pulling him to the edge of the cliff and to drag him down … he really had fallen off a cliff.
He took in a sharp breath as his heart beat quicker at the feeling of falling. The sheer panic and terror he had felt as the man had held him up by his neck and had pulled him down was still there, but it seemed to be locked behind a wall within him. It was a similar experience as his foggy mind that kept the memories he could not yet remember. He felt happy that he couldn't recall everything in detail, though. Because if he could, he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to handle it all. However, the more images that came back to him, the more his heartrate kept going up. He tried his best to suppress all the emotions, even if that meant that it was probably going to come crashing down on him later.
When Hiro slowly started to realize more of what was happening around him, he slowly blinked his eyes open. He found himself looking up at a grey sky full of clouds. It was still day, so it didn't seem like a lot of time had passed, he thought. He heard the birds chirping, the rustling of leaves and the soft buzzing of the waves drenching his clothes further.
He glanced to the side and saw himself laying, like he had suspected, in the pebble at a shore. A bit further ahead he saw more walls made of rock reach high up into the sky and he figured that those must have been the cliffs he had fallen off of. Looking at the height of them he realized just now how lucky he was that he was actually still alive.
With his body aching, Hiro slowly sat up, his drenched clothes weighing him down. He felt worse than he could ever remember. The pain was growing only stronger and he had to wonder if he'd ever recover from all of this. He knew that his ankle was broken and that his shin was bruised, a numbness had spread up his leg all the way to his thigh. He realized that the wound on his temple was bleeding again when he noticed the water beneath him having a pinkish color to it. His heart felt like it skipped a few beats as he tried to understand just how bad the situation was – he was injured too badly to make it all the way back to the city on his own, his friends were nowhere to be seen and he couldn't be sure that they were looking for him. Worst of all, he had no way of communicating with anyone.
When the panic slowly started to take over Hiro closed his eyes and called out to his brother as strongly as he could. He didn't know what to do. He needed help, guidance and, most of all, answers. Why was there no-one who could just make it all go away?
He continued calling and calling for Tadashi, but there was no answer. His connection with Tadashi must have only worked when he was asleep, Hiro realized in terror. He just keep calling and calling, but, eventually, the words his brother had told him came back to him. Tadashi had already told him what he should do if he ever got lost or didn't know what to do.
He just needed to do the next right thing.
Hiro repeated the words quietly, over and over again until he felt himself calm down a little. The next right thing was what he had to do, no matter how crazy it seemed. He thought long and hard about what the next right thing would be, what he had to do but found himself unable to decide. There were so many right next things … he needed to get away from the shore and somewhere safe, somewhere out of the cold. He needed to find his friends, get back to the city and home to his aunt. He needed to get away from Obake, away from this horrible place and just needed to forget that all of this had ever happened to him. Recovery was what he needed most of all.
As overwhelmed as he felt he slowly forced himself to focus on Tadashi's advice. It took all of him not to fall into despair and just give up right then and there. He remembered Tadashi saying that he should take it one step at a time … and that's just what he was going to do.
The first step to doing the next right thing … was to get home. And in order to get home he needed to get up and find a way back to the city.
And so, with all of his remaining strength, Hiro pushed himself up and out of the water. His legs were trembling and head hurting, but he didn't give up. Instead he took in his surroundings and slowly started to realize where he was. The cliffs he had fallen off of were a bit further ahead, he could just tell by the way the current of the water was running downstream. The top of the cliff was barely visible because there was a lot of fog. He realized that his friends might not have seen where he had ended up at because of the bad visibility.
He realized that he was surrounded by the cliffs, they formed a sort of slot canyon around him. There was a forest spreading out behind him and, far off in the distance, he could see the red bridge. Hiro's heart skipped a beat and he couldn't stop his eyes from tearing up. The city wasn't too far away. If he just kept following the canyon through the shallow water he'd surely be able to find his way to the bridge. He was just about to start walking when he heard something far off to his right side.
"It's too far to walk."
He almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing the familiar voice. A shiver ran down his spine and he hesitated before turning around. He saw Obake laying in the shallow water, just like he had been. Unlike him, Obake didn't seem to be able to stand up. His head was turned to Hiro and even from this far off he noticed the bruises on the man's face. Even though his head told him not to, Hiro's heart ached too badly to just leave the man there. He made his way over with a small limp in his step as his broken ankle wouldn't fully carry his weight. The closer he got the more he could see the extent of Obake's injuries.
Hiro noticed both of the man's legs bent, apparently they had broken when they had hit the water after the fall. His left arm was bruised and had several cuts, it must have gotten dragged along the stones when the current had taken them downstream. As Hiro's eyes wandered down further, he noticed the wound on Obake's side. He realized quickly that the man must have been shot when he had dragged them down the cliff. The blood that was pooling out turned the water around him red and his skin was as pale as marble. Hiro realized one thing.
"Y-You're …" Hiro tried speaking but his voice was hoarse. He just stared down at the man in shock.
"Dying, yes, I am aware." Obake said coldly. He didn't really seem bothered by what was happening or by the pain he must have felt. "You must be happy."
Hiro blinked in confusion and shook his head. Although he knew what a horrible man Obake was, he was not happy. He was far from it, actually. His heart ached upon seeing the man like this, his stomach turned and he felt his eyes water. He wasn't quite sure why he wasn't happy or relieved that Obake could no longer hurt him but he just wasn't. He was upset. It hurt so badly to see him suffer and to see him dying.
"N-No, I'm not." He replied shakily. His mind was racing, he tried so hard to decide on what the next right thing was. "I … I-I won't let you die."
It made no sense, he thought to himself as he stepped closer and leaned down to grab Obake's arms. It made no sense at all that he was helping this man. He had kidnapped him, had erased his memories and brainwashed him. He had shot his friends, had used him as leverage and had dragged him down a cliff. He did not deserve his help at all.
The same thoughts kept repeating in his head over and over again as he gathered all his strength and pulled Obake backwards out of the water. His whole body hurt and his ankle screamed in pain as he pulled and pulled until the man was out of the water and laying in the pebble. Hiro let go of him and fell to the ground, panting heavily and trying to catch his breath. The same nausea from before had returned and it took him a few minutes to breathe through it. His temple was pulsating, and he had to press his hand to it in order to try and stop the wound from opening up further.
Obake had his head turned and looked at Hiro with his brow furrowed, but he didn't say anything. Instead their eyes met and silence spread.
As Hiro looked at the man in the pebble, their dark eyes fixed to one another, he felt so many emotions that it was almost impossible to describe. He felt so mad, angry and upset that all he wanted was to leave the man to die. But the larger part of him felt affection and so much warmth for this man that the thought of him passing scared him too much. For a moment Hiro didn't quite understand this strange mix of emotions, but he soon realized that it must have been because of the memories he had lost. His old and new memories didn't mix somehow. Or maybe he was just going crazy, he thought to himself.
Hiro shivered as there was a breeze blowing through the canyon. The longer they stayed here the more probable it was that they'd both freeze. And so, without even thinking about it, he took off his hoodie and started biting at the sleeve's seams. The blood from the wound on Obake's side was still pooling out of the man and had started soaking the pebble. There was no question in Hiro's mind that the next right thing was to save the man from bleeding out.
And so he bit at the seams until they came loose and he was able to pull the sleeve off. He didn't really know how to stop a bleeding or how to give first aid, but he just decided to go with his gut. He pressed his hoodie to the wound and applied pressure, just like he felt it would be necessary. His arms were shaking as he tried his hardest to apply enough pressure. It was like he could his battery being drained as he knelt by Obake's side and tried his best to save the man's life. He noticed the man's eyes on him the entire time but didn't look back at him.
"Are you actually trying to save me?" Obake asked with a low chuckle that irritated Hiro. "Or are you trying to speed things up? You must be so happy that I'm dying and that you'll be back with your friends soon. And your silly Aunt-"
"Can you stop?" Hiro hissed and shook his head as he kept pressing on the wound. "I-I'm not happy, okay? I … I don't know how to feel about this or a-about you. I just …" he sighed shakily as he tried to find the words, but there were none. No words could really describe how he was feeling at the moment. As he kept trying to find the right words it suddenly felt like it wasn't him that continued speaking: "I just can't let y-you die. If … If I don't help you … then who will … someone has to help." And with that Hiro fell quiet again and continued working on the man's wound. His heart was beating a bit lighter after having said those words, he felt like a weight had been lifted off of him somehow.
The bleeding seemed to get less and less with each second that passed and Hiro eventually grabbed the sleeve he had bit off and tied it around Obake's slender waist, securing the cloth. He tied it tightly so there would still be some pressure and sighed in relief when there was soon no more blood coming out. It wasn't going to hold for long, Hiro knew that, but it had to do for now. At least until they could get back to the city.
"C-Can you … walk?" Hiro asked softly and glanced down at the man's bent legs. They both looked twisted. "Or … stand?"
"You're not listening again." Obake said and groaned a bit in pain as he seemingly tried to move his legs. The pain seemed immense. "The city's too far to walk."
"So?" Hiro put on the single-sleeved hoodie and shivered at the cold feeling of the wet fabric against his skin. "W-We have to get out of here … w-we'll die if we don't get going …" his teeth clattered as he spoke. Out of the corners of his eyes he noticed the sky slowly turning to a pinkish color and he knew that time was running out. "The sun is starting to set so w-we have to hurry. L-Let's go."
"Just forget it." Obake insisted and shrugged. "I can't walk and you won't make it far on your own. I'm already dying and you'll freeze before anyone can find you. It's over."
"S-Shut up." Hiro grumbled. He felt extremely upset listening to the bitter words of Obake. He knew that their situation was bad and that the probability of them not making it was high, but he had to try. Now that he knew that he had a family and friends … he just had to get back to his old life. He just wanted to forget that all of this ever happened and wanted to pick up right where he had left of at, wherever that was.
He grabbed Obake's arm and pulled the man up into a sitting position. Obake winced in pain and held the semi-bandaged wound on his side. Hiro mumbled an apology but kept working on trying to get the man to stand up. Despite Obake's relentless protest and orders to Hiro to just give up, Hiro did anything but that. He could barely stand on his own and having Obake slumped over his shoulder didn't help, but he just knew in his heart that this was the right thing. There was no way he could let the man die out here.
"W-We need … to find … the way." Hiro started panting as he supported Obake's entire body weight that threatened to drag him down. The man was so much taller and heavier than he was, it was hard to stand yet alone take any steps.
"And how do you expect to find it?" Obake asked breathlessly. The exhaustion and pain seemed to slowly be getting the best of him, Hiro noticed. He didn't answer and just slowly took the first few steps. His ankle almost gave way under his weight, but Hiro managed to somehow stabilize himself and to keep walking slowly, but surely. Obake seemed to try his best to walk, but it was hard.
Hiro guided Obake back into the shallow water. They had to take the way through the water along the cliffside, he figured. That was the best way they could ever hope to meet anyone. There was no way of telling where the woods would lead and there was a chance that his friends were looking for him along the cliffs. Maybe even a fisherman or someone would spot them, he thought.
They kept making their way painfully slowly, but Hiro never doubted that this was the way it had to be. Deep within himself he knew that he had to help this man, because if he didn't … then who would? Although he knew that he was never ever going to forgive Obake for what he had done to him, he couldn't bring himself to just leave the man behind.
They didn't speak the entire time they walked through the shallow waters but the silence which had spread between them wasn't uncomfortable. Hiro figured that Obake must have feared dying, despite the façade he had put up. The way the man was fighting now to try and get back to the city, to get help, was enough proof. And Hiro noticed how he also relied on the man's help. He knew that he wouldn't be able to make it back to the city all on his own, no matter how hard he'd try. At least this way, even if they didn't make it, he wasn't going to be all alone.
When they eventually reached a small clearing Hiro sighed in relief. The sun had almost set completely and it was getting colder and darker. Hiro knew they had to make camp somewhere and warm up and rest. And when his eyes landed on an abandoned bag amidst the pebble his heart skipped a beat. He started walking quicker and dragged Obake with him who groaned in pain.
"L-Look!" Hiro exclaimed and pointed at the bag. He carefully let Obake down in the pebble and rushed over to the bag as quickly as possible. There were some things scattered around and he could have cried when he found a lighter, some matches, few types of creams and even a light sweatshirt that must have belonged to a woman. Someone must have used this place as a campsite and forgotten their belongings, he figured. Whatever it was, this must have been a sign. This was their silver lining, Hiro thought in relief and gathered all the things that lay around.
"W-We can make a fire!" Hiro said and put all the small things down in front of Obake. The man had leaned back against one of the larger rocks that were scattered around and seemed to try and rest. His face was pale and lips blue, Hiro figured that the blood loss and the exhaustion had taken its toll on him. He quickly grabbed the sweatshirt and started to pull it over his head. It was difficult as the shirt was way too small for the tall man, but Hiro kept trying until he had somehow fit Obake into the shirt. It was tight on the man, but that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that he had an extra layer of clothing to warm him up.
"You should be wearing this … You must be cold." Obake mumbled a bit breathlessly. His hand was pressing against the wound on his side and Hiro realized with horror that it had started bleeding again. "It's too late for me any-"
"Stop." Hiro cut him off immediately. He didn't feel cold right now. He felt weakened, but the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins right now kept him up and enabled him to keep going. As he watched the man whom he had trusted so much before shiver in the cold, he did not hesitate to get back up and to head over to the woods. He needed wood to burn.
He had never made a fire before and didn't know what exactly he needed, but he realized that, even if he only had a couple of sticks, it would be better than nothing. And so he grabbed a few sticks from the ground, broke a few off some trees and gathered some dry leaves from the ground as well. He had no idea if any of what he was doing was right or not, but he just kept following his gut.
With every step Hiro took his ankle burned and head ached, but he kept going. He kept thinking about Tadashi and how he had told him to do the next right thing. And no matter how he thought about it, this was what he needed to do. Even if he couldn't quite explain why. It just was.
"Have you ever made a fire before?" Obake asked as Hiro put down the small pile of sticks and leaves in the pebble. He heard the man's words but didn't quite understand them. So he just shook his head, hoping that it was enough of an answer and tried to arrange the sticks in a way that made sense to him. But his hands were growing so cold that it was hard to control them. He tried to ignore the faint blue color of his fingertips.
"Hiro." Obake called out and he realized that he had been called multiple times. His mind was a bit foggy and vision slightly blurred as he looked up. Hiro could slowly feel all the exhaustion get to him. "Let me. I know how to make a fire."
"O-Okay." Hiro nodded and carefully pushed the pile over to the man. He handed him the lighter and watched as Obake got to work. Although even the slightest movement must have caused him immense pain, the man somehow managed to the turn the tiny pile of sticks and leaves into a fire. Hiro gasped as he watched the little flames dance on top of the sticks and the pebble, his eyes fixed to the orange core. He teared up as he scooted as close as possible and held his hands to the flame to try and warm them. It was only then that Hiro finally realized how cold he actually felt. The single-sleeved hoodie didn't provide any warmth, instead it seemed to rob him of it. His drenched clothes hugged his body tightly, his damp fringe covered his forehead and he felt like he was taking a swim inside of his shoes. His fingers, feet, nose and lips felt like they were made of ice.
"You okay?" Obake asked and Hiro could hear the worry in the man's voice. He looked up at the man and furrowed his brow in confusion. For a moment he considered whether he actually wanted to ask what was nagging at him. Maybe it would be best to just leave it and never talk about any of this, he thought. But if he didn't, he thought that he might never truly find peace of mind …
"C-Can I ask you something?" Hiro spoke up, his teeth clattering. The warmer his hands got the colder his body felt. He could barely control the shivering that came. Obake didn't respond and so Hiro went on: "Y-You took my memories … you hurt me … and pulled me d-down a cliff … I-I could have died." tears dripped down his cheeks as the reality of what had happened to him hit. His heart ached so badly that a tightness spread in his chest and made it hard to breathe. "W-Why are you worried now … I don't understand … w-why? You obviously don't care … why worry now? It doesn't make any sense …" he sobbed quietly as he kept asking 'why'. Although he had usually felt rather confident with himself, right now he felt just like a little kid. He didn't understand what had happened or why it had to be him going through all of this. There was nothing he could do right now other than cry like a child. He felt so tiny in front of this man that had taken everything from him.
For a long time Obake did not respond. Hiro could feel the man's eyes on him but didn't really care. All he knew was that he should hate him, he should have left him to die back on the shore, shouldn't have treated his wound. But he didn't. His emotions were so strangely mixed, it was too confusing. He knew why that was, he knew that it was because Obake had wiped his memories and replaced them with others. It wasn't his fault that he felt like this, but Hiro couldn't help but feel guilty. Guilty for having forgotten his brother, his friends and his aunt …
"Hiro." Obake spoke up eventually, his voice low and soft. "You cannot understand but I was trying to help you." Hiro needed a moment to understand the words and glanced up at him. When he noticed Obake looking straight at him he immediately looked away, uncomfortable with the eye contact. "You don't remember, but you finished school at thirteen and entered college at fourteen. You're the smartest child I have ever seen, probably than anyone's seen. You are a prodigy."
Obake stopped talking for a second and seemed to wait for a reaction from Hiro which did not come. He just stayed silent and held his hands back to the fire. He didn't really care about how smart he supposedly was or what he had achieved at what age. He wanted to hear about his friends, his aunt and his brother most of all.
"No-one understood your true potential." Obake then went on quietly when Hiro didn't respond. "Your professor, friends, aunt … they all held you back. I know what you can do and how you'll be able to achieve your true potential. But it's not by studying in dusty libraries or by playing with your silly little robot. You needed something else. You needed opportunities. And I knew that the only one who could give you just that was me. So I took you."
"Took me?" Hiro repeated and furrowed his brow. For a moment he didn't understand what he had meant by that, but he quickly figured that 'took' meant kidnapped and that he hadn't come out of his own free will like Obake had told him before. He felt anger rise in the pit of his stomach. All of this was not answering the question he had asked and it slowly started to make him mad.
Obake stayed quiet for a moment. Hiro noticed the pained expression in the man's face and couldn't help but to feel just a tiny bit sorry. Something was obviously hurting him and didn't leave him alone. There was something hiding there, under the surface that Hiro, maybe no-one, had ever discovered. Hiro waited a long time for the man to continue speaking, but he didn't. They just sat there, as close to the little fire as possible, with the sun having set completely and darkness embracing them.
Hiro felt like he was getting even colder with each second that passed. Although his hands had warmed up, his whole upper body and legs felt like ice. His ripped hoodie provided no warmth at all and his wet clothes only drained him. He noticed himself shivering but tried his best to suppress it. Even though it was spring time he feared that, despite the fire, he was not going to survive the night.
"Put on the sweatshirt." Obake eventually broke the silence between them. When Hiro glanced up he noticed how the man tried to pull the shirt off and over his head, but couldn't. The wound in his side pained him too much.
"I-It's okay." Hiro mumbled. "I'm alright …"
"You're freezing."
"S-So are you. And you're injured …" Hiro's teeth clattered again and he scooted even closer to the tiny fire. If he moved up even more his clothes were going to burn, he thought. As he looked at the flames his vision doubled for a second and he felt his arms tingling. "I-I'm fine." He added when Obake opened his mouth to say something else. He blinked the double vision away quickly and was starting to get upset again as he had still not gotten a response. The worry Obake showed him confused him so much after what had happened tonight and he just wanted to know why he was acting like this. But, to his surprise, when Obake spoke up again, he found the man to be answering exactly that question.
"I'm worried about you because I care." The man sighed. Hiro could hear that this was very hard for him to say. "You're just fourteen so you won't understand, but … you're just like me when I was your age. I was also a child prodigy and knew that I was destined to do so many great things in life. But … I was held back. By my professor, my family and my friends. No-one believed me that I could do what I had set my heart on. They all tried to stop me. And when they couldn't … they gave up on me."
As Hiro listened to the man's story his vision doubled again. There was a kind of drowsiness growing inside of him, making him sleepy and less alert. His feet had turned numb. But he continued listening.
"You are so lucky you have your family." Obake went on and let out a chuckle. It wasn't a happy sound that came from him, instead it was much sadder. "You have no idea what it's like when people throw you out onto the streets like garbage. I gave you a new chance to avoid all of this. To have a successful and fulfilled life as a scientist under my wing. You could have been great, Hiro. But instead you … made a choice."
"Hm?" Hiro hummed and blinked at the man in confusion. He didn't really understand what he meant when he told him that he'd made a choice. To him it all felt very arbitrary. He had been kidnapped from his home, had been taken from Obake again without his consent, had been injured and had been dragged down a cliff. None of this seemed to be based on a choice he had made, he thought. But thinking was getting hard, he realized as he tried to find answers to all the questions that started piling up in his head. His mind got even foggier and eyes heavy.
"Are you alright, Hiro?"
He heard Obake's voice like it came from behind a thick wall of ice. The cold was getting so intense that he could barely feel his feet and arms anymore. His hands felt like they were burning as they were slowly getting too close to the fire. Obake's voice got through to him again, but he didn't really understand the words.
"W-What?" Hiro asked and tried to focus his eyes on the man in front of him, but it didn't work. There were four pairs of eyes looking at him instead of two. He blinked again a few more times, but his vision didn't get any clearer. It only got worse, he realized. "A-Are you …" he started to speak but forgot what he wanted to ask. He felt like he'd forgotten even more all of a sudden. Nothing made any sense. He didn't know why he was here or what exactly had led to them being here. The only thing he was that he was cold and that he just wanted to go home.
Before he even knew what had happened the whole word suddenly shifted and instead of the nice little fire in front of him he only saw the dark night sky and a few stars scattered around. They were so pretty, he thought but couldn't linger on the thought. The stars disappeared from his sight into darkness as his eyes closed. He couldn't keep them open any longer, they were way too heavy. And so he just lay there in the pebble, body shivering and mind wandering inside the fog. Faces came up, voices reached his ears and unclear visions appeared in his head.
At least he'd see his brother again if he were to die right now, Hiro thought as he drifted off.
*
