A/N; Trigger warnings. Panic attacks, v*miting and various hospital scenes. This will apply for the next couple of chapters.

Month Later

'And next to present, Hiro Hamada.'

Yep, he was terrified. He offered a shaky smile to Honey Lemon's camera as she took a quick selfie, but it quickly dropped as soon as she dragged the rest of the group away. He could barely hear their shouts of encouragement over the roaring in his ears. Here he was, after so many hours of planning and sleepless nights, all the time he had spent in that god forsaken garage. All of the events, trips, parties he had missed out on. Now to see if it was all worth it. He was so close to what he wanted, what he desperately desired more than anything he had ever wanted in his life. And yet, he could. Not. Breath. His hands were shaking and he felt for sure that he was gonna pass out, die right there in the SFIT exhibition hall. Time dragged, he felt as though he had stood there, rooted to the side of the stage for hours. In reality, it was only a few seconds. He knew that. He knew where he was, what he was doing. What he was trying to achieve. He knew his siblings were right there, and he could hear the chatter of people around him. He clung to these things like a lifeline, trying to ground himself despite the panic that was steadily rising in his chest. He clamped his eyes shut, and run his sweaty palms through his hair. Suddenly, warm, familiar hands were on his arms, shoulders, back. They enveloped him and he could feel a heartbeat against his cheek. Breathe. It seemed to be saying. Breathe. Breathe. He took in great, gulping breaths of air, his lungs expanding gratefully. His mind slowed and he could feel his heart rate slowly return to normal. The arms did not let go of him until he had stopped trembling, and when he opened his eyes all he could see was his brother.

'Hey, don't worry. It's okay, you're okay.' He murmured. 'Are you sure you want to go up there?'

Despite himself, Hiro nodded. He was not going to throw away his only chance to go here just because he had stage-fright. Not happening. He returned Tadashi's fist bump and shakily climbed the stairs to the stage. He quickly rammed his transmitter onto his head and looked up at the tiny crowd that had gathered to watch his project. The bright light momentarily blinded him, and he flinched away from its harshness. He considered bolting, until he saw them all collected below him. Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon, Gogo, Aunt Cass, Rena, Tadashi. They looked at him excitably. He locked eyes with his elder brother. Breathe, he mouthed, nodding. He took in a deep breath and straightened up. He could do this.

'Hi. My name is Hiro, Hiro Hamada, and I-' the microphone shrieked shrilly, and he winced. He saw a guy out of the corner of his eye leave, bored. He tore his eyes away from his retreating back and looked at the judges. 2 women and Professor Callaghan. The latter was waiting patiently, kind eyes twinkling in the light. The two women were peering him, obviously unimpressed. He took another deep breath. If he wanted to get in here, he needed to up his game.

'This,' he boomed confidently, 'is a microbot.' He held up one his tiny bots and noticed a few more people taking interest. This gave him the confidence boost he needed and he ploughed on. 'Sure, it doesn't look like much, but when it teams up with its friends...' Suddenly, microbots had come spilling out of the blue bins they had brought, snaking their way across the hall, weaving in and out of people's legs. He heard a few gasps of surprise, and sighed in relief. So far so good.

'Things get a little more interesting.'

He was in a daze. People were cheering and applauding. Actually cheering for his invention. He felt giddy with relief, and pelted across the stage to where his family and friends were waiting for him. He dove into Tadashi's arms, hugging him tighter than he ever had before. He was pelted with high fives and fist bumps, and yet more hugs by both his sister and Aunt Cass. He was ecstatic, the grin on his face so large he was certain it would tear his cheeks into two. The celebrations of how well his presentation had gone abruptly came to a halt. He sensed someone standing behind him, and quickly whipped around. He almost broke his neck, looking up at the clean, well-dressed man who towered above him.

'Impressive.' He purred deeply.

'Alistair Krei.' He said in disbelief. The world's biggest business man, talking to him? It felt unreal.

'May I?' He asked, stretching out a hand to inspect one of his microbots.

'Sure.' He said, handing Krei one of his microbots.

'Extraordinary. I want your microbots at KreiTech.'

'Shut. Up.' He could hardly believe his ears, surely this wasn't real? Before he could even get a word in edgeways, Professor Callaghan had slunk over and stood by Krei. Hiro noticed that all previous kindness that he had shown had disappeared, only to be replaced by something that could only be described as hatred. It did not suit the man, his face had become hard and lined, eyes losing all of the twinkling they had just 5 minutes prior. It was then that he realised something was seriously wrong.

'With some developing, your tech could be revolutionary. Or, you could sell it to a greedy business man who only has his own self-interest at heart. It is your decision Hiro, but I wouldn't trust KreiTech with your microbots, or anything else.'

Krei dismissed Callaghan with a quick wave of his hand. 'Robert, I know how you feel about me. But Hiro, you have to understand, I am offering you more money than any 14-year-old could imagine.'

She picked

Hiro felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at his sister and Rena locked eyes with him. He hesitated, considering his options. But he was happy with what he had, he did not need money. And, more than anything, he trusted his sister with all of his heart, and he knew what that look in her eyes meant. Don't trust him. With a slightly heavy heart, he shook his head.

'I appreciate the offer, but they're not for sale.'

He saw a dark shadow pass across Krei's face and knew instantly that he had made the right choice.

'I thought you were smarter than that.' He sneered, before turning on his heel and stalking off.

'Mr Krei.' His sister's voice was icy cold, and it was so unlike her that Hiro looked up at her in surprise. There was fire in her eyes and her mouth was set in a thin, hard frown. 'That's my brother's.'

'Oh!' Exclaimed Krei, all anger he had just showcased seemed to have evaporated. 'That's right!'

He tossed the microbot back to Hiro, who caught and it shoved it deep into his pocket. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Rena squeezed his shoulder before letting go, and he appreciated the gesture. All tension melted away as Callaghan looked over at him and positively beamed. He produced a letter out of his pocket and handed it to him.

'I'll see you when classes start.'

Rena watched Hiro, beaming as he danced his way down the stairs leading out of the exhibition hall. He'd done it! He'd actually gotten in! She was so relieved she felt as though she was going to start sobbing. She had no idea what he would have done if he hadn't gotten in, but knew enough about him to know that it would not have been good. She looked over at Tadashi, knowing that what she felt was nothing compared to pure elation he must be experiencing. He was practically quivering with excitement and she had to suppress the laughter that she felt rising in her chest.

'Come on geniuses! Let's fuel those hungry brains! Dinner is on me!'

'YES! NOTHING IS BETTER THAN FREE FOOD!' Fred yelled, absolutely beside himself. She rolled his eyes at him and fell into step with Honey Lemon and Gogo, who were enthusiastically discussing the tech that they had seen on display. She joined in with the conversation about the jetpack designed for cats, and a few minutes passed before she realised that neither of her brothers were no longer with them.

'Hey Aunt Cass,' she asked, turning around and waiting for her Aunt to catch up a few steps. 'Where's Hiro and Tadashi?'

Her Aunt put an arm around her and squeezed, 'Oh they went for a walk together, Tadahsi said he'd meet us back at the car.'

Rena's blood ran cold. She had no right to be jealous, she knew that. She wasn't 10 anymore. But... it did still sting. They were meant to be in this together. A team!

'Speaking of things missing,' Aunt Cass interrupted her string of thoughts and she could not be more grateful for it. 'Where's your hoodie?'

'Crap! I must have left it in the hall and forgot to pick it up! I'll head back and grab it, see if I can find those two and get them to hurry up because I am starving!' She broke away from her Aunt, and jogged back towards the entrance. They had walked surprisingly far in such a short amount of time.

Something was wrong. As soon as she came within earshot of the hall, a shrill ringing pierced her ears. She picked up her pace, panic slowly rising in her chest as she realised what that alarm was. She rounded the corner and saw the smoke billowing from the building, the angry flames huge and reaching up to the sky. She fell to her knees, shaking, hand clasped to her mouth in horror. Hiro. Tadashi. She was up on her feet before she knew it, pushing past people, desperate to find them, pull them back to safety. She was screaming and screaming their names, becoming increasingly more nauseated for every second that passed without them in her view. She was nearly at the entrance when she saw a green blazer out of the corner of her eye. She pelted towards the sight of her elder brother, catching up with him and Hiro at the foot of the stairs. She grabbed Tadashi's sweaty hand and began to pull him away, but to her shock he pulled his hand out of her grasp. It was then she realised Hiro, a few feet behind them with tears in his eyes and screaming 'NO' at their brother with increasing desperation. She clocked on.

'Tadashi Hamada.' She croaked, 'don't you dare. DON'T YOU DARE GO IN THERE! TAKE ANOTHER STEP AND I SWEAR TO YOU I WILL STRANGLE YOU.' She was screaming again, and her lungs were quickly filling with smoke. 'Please! Please don't leave us!' She pleaded. She'd never begged for anything in her life, but knew that if her brother was to run into that death trap, he would never come back out. Ever.

'Callaghan is in there! Someone has to help!' He yelled, and quick before she could do anything he had turned and and ran into the building. She felt like she had been winded, watching her brother run into the flames. Hiro ran towards her and she threw an arm out, blocking him from going any further. She picked him up and ran, wanting to get away from the building. Then, she could leave Hiro and run back in for her idiot brother. She gently put Hiro on the ground, out of harms way, and faced him, tears running down her cheeks.

'I'm going to get him, I promise. You need to stay here, don't move a muscle. Hamada rule 23.'

He opened his mouth to say something, but cramped it shut. It broke her heart to leave him there, a crumpled, sobbing mess on the grass, but she had to go back and get Tadashi. She turned, and ran back towards the burning building, despite every one of her instincts screaming at her not to. She was almost there when -

BOOM

She was flying through the air as though in slow motion. She could not think of anything except for Tadashi, burning in the fire, the smoke engulfing him, the smoke, the smoke that was filling her eyes and ears and brain and making her vision swim. She howled in pain, pain at the world and Tadashi and the fact that she was flying through the air. Then, as suddenly as it had started, she heard a loud crack as she landed on the cold, hard ground and everything went black.

She stirred feebly, faintly aware of a crushing pain radiating from her left arm and hot blood trickling down her leg, kneck and forehead. Rena's head felt as though it was full of treacle, thick and heavy. If only she could go back to sleep, she was in so much pain and sleep felt so nice...

Then she sat bolt upright, the ghastly smell of smoke in her nose reminding her of where she was. Her voice was hoarse as she screamed her brothers name. She didn't even feel the pain as she dragged herself to her feet, focusing on nothing but getting Hiro to safety and Tadashi... Tadashi. No. She could not think about that now, she had to get to her baby brother. She could feel her screams scratching away at her raw throat as she half walked, half crawled around on the ground. She saw a feebley stirring figure out of the corner of her eye and made her way towards it as fast as she could, stumbling and slipping on the concrete. She reached him at last, he was lying on his side. She grabbed him under the elbows and attempted to hoist him up, only to be greeted with a scream of pain from her left arm. She let go quickly, face screwed up in unbearable pain as she considered a plan. She knew they had to get away from the smoke, and fast. She shook him gently, and Hiro awoke.

'Hey.' She croaked, but that's all she could manage for she was attacked by a brutal coughing fit, raw lungs screaming in pain as she inhaled great, huge mouthfuls of soot and smoke and air. Hiro didn't need telling, he scrambled to his feet and draped one of her arms around his shoulder, hoisting them both up. She pointed feebly to the bushes, and they staggered towards them. She knew they must have looked like they were attempting a bizarre, sick three legged race and suppressed a manic desire to laugh. They reached the plants after what seemed like an age, instantly collapsing on the grass. After a few more minutes of coughing, Rena sat up and looked at her brother.

'Are you alright?' She croaked.

He shook his head. They locked eyes and started sobbing. Rena took a shaking arm and pulled her brother into a one armed hug. He clung to her, wailing. She looked towards the burning building and her stomach cramped.

Tadashi.

Before she could stop it, she knelt forwards and vomited. Her throat burnt and her lungs ached, and her arm was screaming with the sudden movement. She was faintly aware of the distant sound of sirens, and a young woman running towards the pair, crying and her arms outstretched. Rena clung to her Aunt as though she was a lifeline, retching and crying. She didn't even want to look at Hiro.

'Where's Tadashi?' Aunt Cass sounded strangely calm, despite the situation. She pulled her niece away from her and looked her in the eye. 'Where. Is. Tadashi?'

Rena shook her head, lips clamped tight together in an effort not to spew again. Aunt Cass seemed very far away all of a sudden, and the curtain of darkness enveloped her once more.

'Hello? Miss, can you hear me?'

Rena awoke again in an ambulance, an oxygen mask on. Her arm was bandaged and she could feel stitches in various places on her arms and head. She nodded feebly, gulping in the clean air.

'Okay, can you sit up for me? There's a good girl.' She did as the paramedic said and sat up gingerly. The paramedic smiled as though she was a very tiny girl. 'You're gonna be fine, we just need to take you to the hospital to get you checked out for smoke inhalation and get that broken arm properly bandaged up and x-rated. Does that sound okay, sugar plum? Now, we are just gonna take this off, and you tell me your lungs hurt at all.' She pulled the mask off and Rena jumped to her feet.

'Where's my brothers?'

The paramedic looked slightly surprised, but seemed to note the tone of urgency in her voice.

'Well dearie, your little brother, Hayden is it? He's perfectly okay, we suspected that he may have hit his head but there were no signs of concussion. He's had to be stitched up as well, but nothing too worrying at all. It seemed you took the brunt of the damage.

Rena breathed a sigh of relief. 'I want to see him.'

'Dearie you can't possibly- ' the paramedic took one look at her desperate face and faltered. 'Well.. alright. Your lungs don't seem as bad as we feared and-'

Rena hadn't heard her, she tore off and quickly found Hiro and Aunt Cass huddled together at the steps of an ambulance. He had an orange shock blanket wrapped around him, and she could see the scarily blank look on his face, like he'd been lost. She whimpered quietly, and sunk down next to him. She pulled him close and hugged him tight, he didn't even seem to notice. She didn't even need to ask where Tadashi was. She could tell by the look on his face. It hit her suddenly, and she buried her face in her hands, a strange numbness creeping across her chest. She wanted to die. Curl up right there, and die. Where would she be without Tadashi? He had always been there, always. To dry her tears and laugh with her and, and-. She closed her eyes and let the pain consume her, sobs wracking her body. She wanted to scream, scream at the injustice of it all. Had she not suffered enough? First her parents, and now this? She had had enough of the grief, the mind numbing, all consuming grief that filled every cell of her being. Then, a voice yelled out of nowhere. Suddenly, people were running back towards the building. She lifted her head from her hands and looked blearily towards the swarm of paramedics advancing on something. No, not something. Someone. She saw a familiar trainer sticking out and was up and running towards him before she knew what she was doing. She was stopped by a line of tape, and clung on to it, stretching her neck out for a view of her brother. She took in short, sharp gasps of air, and ran her fingers though her hair for the hundredth time that hour. Her brother, her gentle, kind, strong brother was lying there. Burnt. Was he breathing? Oh christ, was he breathing? She hoped to god he was couldn't take the suspense, and tried to tear through the police tape blocking her from Tadashi. A police officer approached her as she ducked under the tape and pushed her roughly back.

'Stay back.' He grunted, 'they've just pulled a kid out and need all the room they can get. He's not looking good.'

'Please. Let me through. I- he's my brother.'

The police officer looked shocked, realising what he'd just said. 'Look kid, it's better for you not to see him. I wouldn't let you through even if I was allowed to, some things are best off not bein' looked at.' She nodded numbly, realising that she was fighting a losing battle. He patted her shoulder awkwardly before turning away from her, leaving her to clutch pathetically at the tape. She could hear the paramedics, and realised how suddenly how strong they were fighting to keep him alive. He had become so close, the idiot.

'Don't leave me alone.' She whispered, closing her eyes and letting hot tears run down her cheeks. 'Please Tadashi. Please.' Her knees gave way and she sunk to the floor, whimpering quietly. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the fire, the fire that had almost snatched him away. The fire that may still snatch him away if the paramedics slipped. She felt arms hug her from behind and jumped. She whipped her neck around, not realising that Hiro had crept up behind her. She wrapped her good arm around him. Tight. They crouched there for a moment in an awkward hug before he broke off and pulled her to her feet. She ruffled his hair, sending flecks of ash and soot flying everywhere. He smiled faintly and took her hand.

'He's gonna pull through this.' Rena said, surprising herself at the confident tone she seemed to be speaking with.

'You think?' Hiro croaked. He looked up at her, scarily blank eyes looking up at her.

'Yes. It's Tadashi, he would never leave us.' Her voice faltered at that last statement. He did leave them. He chose a professor over his own family, running into the fire without a care of what would happen to them if he never came back out. No. Rena stopped herself. It's Tadashi. Of course he cared, he just wanted to save Callaghan. Because's he's Tadashi. She let out a shaky breath, conflicted. Hiro didn't seem to notice, and nodded at her. He cared about the two of them more than anything, she knew that. They both did. Aunt Cass came up from behind Rena, and put a warm hand on her shoulder. She smiled, her Aunt Cass was such a calming presence, she could make anything better. Anything.

'They want you back at the ambulance, they're saying they need to take you back to the hospital.'

Rena looked over at Tadashi, a gurney was being rolled towards him. 'In a minute.' She answered softly, putting her head on Cass's shoulder and closing her eyes momentarily. 'Sorry for vomiting on you earlier.' Cass laughed gently, the sound was like music to Rena's ears. She squeezed Hiro's hand, and turned away from Tadashi and the fire. Panic arose in her throat as she said 'let's go find out what the situation is.' He was alive, she knew he was. She would know if he was dead. It was this strange confidence that allowed her to put one foot in front of the other as they headed back to the clump of ambulances. Aunt Cass broke away from her and Hiro, and went to speak with one of the paramedics. All confidence she had felt earlier had disappeared as she saw the guy's anxious face. She clutched Hiro tightly as they spoke, fearing that if she let go of him she would surely collapse. She walked over to them, and one simple sentence was enough to make Rena lightheaded with relief.

'He's alive.'