A/N: Warnings for "character death" and dark thoughts. Also, Hiro seems to go a little crazy there at the end...
[Chapter 4]
Slowly, darkened brown eyes slid open. His mouth was open, and his whole face felt wet. His insides were positively churning, and his eyes felt they were being consumed by the darkness. His fingers twitched limply at his sides, but he could honestly say he couldn't feel the ground beneath him. He tried shifting; there was no ground beneath him. His heartbeat quickened, but he couldn't feel that either.
I'm so numb... Tadashi's dead, and Baymax must have crashed somewhere. Maybe I'm dead now...
The space around him almost felt heavy, like the silence was pressing down on him. Like Tadashi's death was a weight he now had to carry...
There's something I have to do... What is it?
Hiro finally realized that his mouth was filled with water, and tears streamed down the sides of his face. He slowly gulped it down, but it had no taste. He felt weak... Lost... Hopeless...
If I'm here, why isn't Baymax here with me?
His mind was tired, as was his body. He wanted to sleep... But why should he deserve sleep when Tadashi was dead?
His eyes stated to slide back to a close anyway.
Tadashi's dead...
-{[(•)]}-
"Tadashi is here," Baymax insisted.
[Where is that dark place...?]
Hiro angrily fought him, but his ire was a lie. He was miserable, and he just wanted his big brother. He was small, and alone, and helpless, against a powerful man with a powerful weapon. It wasn't even a weapon... The man was using the tools he specially made to help people...
[This is all my fault...]
If he hadn't wanted to go to college, if he had stopped Tadashi from going in, if he had taken better care of his microbots... If and what it's and I could've's that wouldn't change a thing. Tadashi would still be dead.
[I don't want to exist in a world without my big brother...]
"Tadashi is here," the nurse bot persisted. Hiro wanted to scream and rip all his hair out and sob, all at the same time. He denied the robot again, feeling violent with how the depression threatened to overwhelm him.
[He wasn't dead all that long ago...]
But... Then Baymax's internal projector provided images of Tadashi's tests and trials when creating the nursing bot. Despite the sleep deprivation and frustration, his big brother was in his element and looked so pleased with himself. Hiro felt tears fill his eyes and a bittersweet smile curled his lips. This was how he always wanted to remember his brother, happy and warm... and alive.
The team came then, and they started to form plans to stop the deranged professor. But, not before hugs and apologies were passed around.
-{[(•)]}-
Krei was having some kind of press conference in front of the Krei Industries buildings. People gathered, some with cameras and some with old style pens and pads of paper, to listen to what he had to say. The presentation was rudely interrupted when a masked man atop a large, black mass appeared, causing people to panic and scatter. Tendrils reached from the mass to grab Krei and lift him high into the sky.
Hiro, Baymax, and Tadashi's friends quickly arrived on the scene just as the unstable portal appeared from the black mass and activated. Pieces of the buildings drifted up into the blue light and disappeared, probably forever.
The team began to attack the masked professor, but they were quickly subdued. Honey Lemon was protected by a ball of her own making, but that little amount of protection had been turned into a death trap. Gogo was wrapped up in a ball of microbots, and Wasabi was trapped between two pieces of thick cement. Fred's limbs were slowly being pulled from his body by tendrils of microbots; Hiro found himself flying through the layers of a building, just barely keeping himself from flying into the portal by grabbing onto a twisted rod.
[Think... Think! What would Tadashi say?!]
Tadashi's advice hit him like lightning. Everything snapped into focused; the dulled background noises sprang forward, and his eyes suddenly picked up on every speck of dust floating up into the portal. He twisted his head, staring at his friends.
[Not just Tadashi's... They're mine now...]
Hiro screamed out Tadashi's words, and he watched in satisfaction as they broke free. He told them to get rid of the microbots; the sounds of victory could suddenly be heard from the ground. The thirteen year old confronted the professor, and Baymax pulled him away from the portal.
Caillighan's plan had failed.
The portal came crashing to the ground, shaky and unstable with a ring of metal barely containing it. Someone shouted about how it was going to explode, but Baymax informed them that a female was inside. Bright, brown eyes widened.
[Can I let her die so easily?]
Frightened, nervous, anxious, Hiro boarded Baymax and flew into the portal, determined to not loose anyone else if he could help it. He was trembling inside of his suit, and a light sheen of sweat coated his body. His heart thundered, resounding inside his helmet, and his breaths came short and quick. He assumed Baymax had chosen not to comment.
The nursing robot quickly located Abigail, and the duo flew forward with desperate precision. They dodged floating debris and flew around drifting masses of metal and cement.
[metal and cement... it's familiar... i'm scared... i don't want to be here...]
They reached the pod, with Baymax floating around to the back to push it forward. Hiro directed them over, under, and around the chunks of buildings that swam slowly through the dimension. Unfortunately, he spoke too late, and a large mass of cement tore off Baymax's armor.
[He can't fly us back... We're trapped...]
Tears flooded Hiro's eyes as Baymax prepared to launch them through the portal. He was being forced to choose between a human being and what was left of his brother...
[Tadashi's dead...]
A sick part of him wanted to just leave Abigail behind and keep his new friend.
[I don't want to loose him again... I don't want to loose Baymax...]
The thirteen year old hugged the nursing bot goodbye. His chest ached, because his heart was breaking. Maybe, it could just stop beating altogether; it hurt entirely too much.
"Are you satisfied with your care?"
The words rang like a bell. They haunted him as he and Abigail were pushed through the portal. The pod crashed, and Hiro tumbled over it, safe as the portal finally burst.
[baymax...]
Everything was a blur after that. He didn't even notice as Abigail was pulled from the pod, loaded into the ambulance, and taken to the hospital. The professor somehow ended up with police, and the team eventually migrated home. Hiro carried Baymax's robot glove, he remembered that much, but he didn't remember coming upstairs or getting on his bed or even when the tears started flowing.
[Another one... Gone...]
Somewhere along the line, he looked back on his life and wondered if everything was worth it. He thought about his weak body, and how the trip to the doctor's office had gotten his parents killed in that crash. He looked back on all those bot fights, which he felt really stupid for now, and how Tadashi always had to come rescue him. Then, when Tadashi finally made him worth something again, when he finally put himself to good use, he let Tadashi run into that fire. He died because Hiro was too afraid to stop him...
Hiro had begun to mentally deteriorate.
He led Tadashi's friends into a death trap, almost getting all of them killed. He was the one who led them to Krei Industries and let all of them get hurt and trapped. He was the one who decided to fly in the portal.
He was the one who left Baymax behind.
[What if... what if he's still on...]
Hiro vaguely wondered when he had moved to the shower and turned it on. Cold water poured over his head, soaking his clothes and washing away his tears. He felt empty, numb again.
[When will it all end?]
He stared momentarily at the razor on the counter. He mulled over the idea, and he decided it was probably useless.
[Everything I love dies, but I always manage to survive...]
The thirteen year old wearily turned off the shower. He stood and returned to his room. He changed into dry clothes and laid down on his bed again. Turning his head, he stared at the bright red glove beside him.
[At least he can't feel anything, right? He can't feel lonely or sad, and he gets to look at pretty colors forever. And he never has to work again. Maybe... Maybe he's happier like this? He doesn't have to take care of some brat anymore. And he doesn't have to worry about anything...]
Hiro felt so weak... When he last eaten? When was the last time he just went for a jog just to jog, or practiced karate just to have fun? When was the last time he built something useful?
[The microbots...]
Slowly brown eyes slid to a close.
-{[(•)]}-
The next morning, Hiro half-expected Baymax to wake him up, but he could feel the rocket glove on the bed, right next to him.
[It's all that's left...]
His- no, Tadashi's friends came back to walk him to school, and he let them. Wasabi carried Baymax's glove for him, and they casually moved through campus. Hiro felt anything but casual, yet he let a smile slide on his face.
[I'm just a hollow shell now...]
He waved goodbye to the older students and moved to his lab. Wasabi put the glove on one of the counters and left. Hiro didn't bother asking him to stay.
[Who knows? He might die if I become too friendly...]
The teen fiddled around for a while before he eventually gravitated back toward what was left of his brother and friend. Ignoring how his eyes burned, how the tears wanted to fall, he uncurled the fingers of the glove and stared at the thin, green treasure inside.
[Baymax-!]
A delighted, teary-eyed laughed bubbled out of his throat, and he immediately set to work. The night of that last bot fight, when Tadashi first brought him here, Hiro remembered their talk in sudden clarity. He could see the mechanics of Baymax's infrastructure, feel the white vinyl against his hands and face, hear the smooth, robotic voice calmly talking to him.
[There's something I can do... For both of you. I'll rebuild you, Baymax, and with this chip, I'll keep you alive, Tadashi... And I'll finally be useful, I'll finally help people...]
By the end of the week, filled with sleepless nights and countless coffee breaks, Hiro had rebuilt the nursing bot. He felt proud of himself, but he still prepared himself for failure.
Tadashi's chip slid into place in the robot's chest; it couldn't be called Baymax yet, not until it acted like him. The machine powered up, and it blinked a few times before looking down at the short teen. Hiro's breath caught, and he felt his brown eyes fill with both doubt and hope. Everything around and about him suddenly seemed to race and slow to a crawl, and everything and nothing existed all at once.
[Is it him?]
Though no mouth opened, two magical words were still spoken.
"Hello, Hiro."
-{[(•)]}-
[I'm alive. And I'm going to use my time to help people. Like Tadashi. Like Baymax.]
After Baymax was reactivated, life started moving again. Hiro's grief was once again bearable, and the team got together to make some decisions.
Everyone wanted to stay together and work for the good of San Fransokyo.
The college students found themselves funded by Fred's father and . Their suits were modified, and they began to practice everyday.
Racing through the streets and across rooftops, they patrolled the city. Hiro closed his eyes as Baymax made a sudden dive before curving upwards towards the sky. Then teen opened his eyes and found himself staring into the sun-
-{[(•)]}-
Everything exploded.
Blinding light scorched his eyes; all he could see was a never ending ocean of white with bold splashes of color, but nothing made sense. Everything was blurry and out of focus, always shifting and changing and flowing into each other. Noise burst into his ears, rattling his skull and pounding against the sides of his head. All he could hear was loud. Sound pressed in on him from all angles. Something was screeching, and something else was blaring, and a third something was screaming all kinds of things that just blended together into one big mass of sound. Heat burned his skin, and it covered every inch of his body. Cold stone was suddenly beneath his fingertips, and there was air flowing though his hair, and he could breathe. An excruciating weight had been lifted from his leg, and something oozed down his leg.
Through the jumbled mass of light and sound and feel, something reached out and grabbed his arms. A terrified scream wobbled its way from his throat, and he weakly fought the touch. It burned, and he didn't want it.
I want Baymax...
He was being lifted, and someone was talking, and sirens were flashing, and lights were blaring, and the sun was honking, and cars were glowing and something was holding him. Familiar sounds drifted through his ears, but he couldn't hear them at all.
"...s h... ay?"
He wanted I scream, he needed water, he wanted Baymax, he needed everything to just shut up and be dark again.
"...senso...privation...uiet...light..."
His eyes moved all over the place, flickered here and there and lookie there and oh something moved, and his ears strained to hear everything all at once.
His field of vision was suddenly covered by a wall of white. It didn't hurt though. It was dark white, nice white, and it felt soft, and it needed to stay there. There were also things in his ears, and the noise screeched to a halt. Soft music gently drifted to his ears, lightly floating around and distracting him.
Everything unexploded.
Only one person could be holding him.
Baymax...?
A/N: WHOOOOO! Finally! He's out of the cave! That only took five or so chapters, pshhh. ;)
On a different note, WHOOOOOOOO! Four day weekend! Thanks you President's Day! ^uO
And, on another note, I FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE BAYMAX'S FACE IN EMOJI! (o-o) -That is Baymax.
Last note, Lol. Question of the update! If you could be any kind of shoe, what kind of shoe would you be? I'd probably be a pair of black Converse.
