guys!

here it is!

the last chapter!

73 PAGES y'all

i'm so happy

thanks so much silvie for always reviewing, i'm so glad you like the story!

y'all should go listen to You Do Not Walk Alone by Elaine Hagenberg on JW Pepper, it's a beautiful song and the lullaby i put in this story...i love it so much!

and...drumroll please...

i am proud to announce my newest story, Wasteland. It's a Big Hero 6 dystopian story set after the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano...i hope y'all like it!

thanks everyone, and here is your thrilling conclusion!

until next time

buda luda luda la

When I come to my senses, all I can see is floating ash and embers, stars, and smoke. My chest and lungs burn, and I can tell it's from smoke inhalation—not a good idea for my asthma. My head throbs, too, and every cut from the broken glass stings furiously. I'm pretty sure my whole back is bruised where I hit that pile of debris. I can feel little scratches stinging on my exposed ankles, wrists, and face, and my ribs haven't gotten any better—the bruise is throbbing painfully. Nevertheless…

I roll onto my back and sit up, suddenly coughing violently. My throat feels choked with dust and ash, and I can barely breathe. But I have to know if Tadashi is okay.

I struggle to see through the ash and smoke, trying to make out any sign of Tadashi. But deep down inside, I'm not hopeful. Tadashi knew exactly what he was going to do—he had every intention of destroying the portal with himself and Obake inside. He shot out enough electricity to blow up the whole apparatus—there's almost zero chance he survived.

Still.

Tadashi can't be gone.

I keep squinting through the smoke, rubbing at my irritated eyes, and calling out for Tadashi. My voice is so hoarse and scratchy that I can't make it carry for more than a few feet, but Tadashi is good at hearing me when I'm not loud enough. He had a lot of practice when I was a baby and would either cry so softly only Dashi could hear or attempt to burst everyone's eardrums. I was kind of a weird baby, I guess. Anyway, if Dashi is alive and conscious, he should be able to hear me.

"Tadashi!" I shout through the stifling air. "Tadashi!"

I hear no response, so I grit my teeth and stand up. If he's not going to come to me, I'm going to go to him.

After a few minutes of wandering around, I come across Professor Callaghan. He's unconscious and bleeding in several places, but his chest rises and falls evenly. He won't die—he can go back to prison, but I don't want him dead, so I'm glad he's alive.

Next I come to Baymax, still broken and scuffed from the microbots. He's completely punctured all the way through, but it's nothing I can't fix. He'll be fine—but where's Tadashi?

Finally, I can see another shape, slumped on the ground and unmoving. As I get closer, I can tell it's my brother.

"Tadashi," I whisper, and I limp toward him, falling to my knees. "You have to be okay, Dashi, please be okay, please…"

There's so much blood, so much. I'm struggling not to throw up—I hate blood, and it's streaming from my brother's head, chest, and side. Tadashi's arm is twisted at a strange angle and the brace I made for him is broken in several places. His clothes are ripped and torn, exposing more lacerations, and the side of his face is badly burned.

But.

His heart.

It's beating.

Tadashi is alive.

It takes a lot of effort to pull my big brother sorta-upright and loop his unbroken arm over my shoulders. Every muscle in my body protests, but I drag Tadashi over the ruins of the lab until we reach the street. I see no one driving past—great. I'm probably gonna have to take Dashi to…wherever the doctors are at the moment. It can't be the hospital, since that's kind of collapsed right now.

Stopping for a moment, I pull out my phone to see if it still works. It doesn't turn on when I press the button, and the screen is a spiderweb of cracks—so I have no communications either. Can this situation be any worse?

We could be dead, I guess. That would probably be worse.

Finally, after at least twenty minutes of limping down the sidewalk, I see an ambulance off in the distance. Maybe it's making rounds of the city to find anyone else caught in the collapse. Whatever the reason, we need it. I've gotta get Tadashi to a doctor fast.

I flag the ambulance down using my free arm, and it pulls up to the curb. Several paramedics jump out, all of them looking worried. One of them hurries over to us, pulling out a trauma kit. I was delirious when this happened, but I think this guy might be the paramedic that found me after I was swept away by the floodwater during the hurricane. I'd probably be dead if he hadn't gotten me to a hospital—I was borderline hypothermic and had a concussion and a broken hip.

"You again," the paramedic says, confirming my suspicions. "Somehow I don't think this was a result of the collapse."

He looks around, taking in the pile of ruins, the shrapnel from the portal, the microbots all over the ground, and finally Tadashi. The man's eyes widen and he yells, "Stretcher!"

The other paramedics pull a stretcher out of the ambulance and load Tadashi onto it, then place it back in the vehicle. The first paramedic looks me over and then calls, "He might be in shock—maybe one more, just to be safe."

And before I know it, I'm on a stretcher too and being shoved into the ambulance. The first man tells me gently, "It's gonna be okay. We're taking you to the emergency triage center—it's our replacement hospital. Don't worry, I think we have most of the supplies we would in our regular hospital."

"Is Tadashi gonna be okay?" I whisper, my voice still scratchy. "And…" Something else occurs to me. "And what about Professor Callaghan? He was there too…I don't think he's hurt too bad, but he should probably get treated…"

The paramedic presses a button on the wall and talks into a small speaker. "Send someone back—there's another man, not badly injured but in need of medical attention." He cuts off the call and turns back to me. "We'll do everything we can to help your brother, kid. I'm hopeful, but we'll see."

Several minutes later, the ambulance pulls up to an amalgam of random medical supplies, spread over an empty parking lot. Doctors, nurses, and paramedics are rushing around treating patients—some of them look injured themselves. They must have been in the hospital when it collapsed.

"Who's your regular physician, kid?" asks the paramedic. "Your brother will go to emergency care, but you can probably just get checked over."

"Dr. Armstrong," I tell him. "Do you know if he's okay?"

"He works on the first floor, usually, so I think he's probably fine…let me see if he's available."

The paramedics carry my stretcher over to a small cabana-like tent, under which Dr. Armstrong apparently resides. His arm is in a sling and a gash on his forehead has been stitched back together, but at least he's in one piece.

"Got another one for you, doc," the first paramedic says. "He just needs a checkup, we think."

"Thank you, Mr. Meese," Dr. Armstrong tells him. "This is routine for this kid, so it shouldn't take too long."

The paramedics set my stretcher down and leave, and Dr. Armstrong starts shining flashlights in my eyes and pressing on every part of my body.

"How'd this happen?" he asks, pulling back and staring at me expectantly.

I sit up, relieved when my head doesn't spin. "Stopped the guy who broke out of the hospital. Almost died in the process."

"That's normal," the doctor sighs, pushing his glasses up and starting to pull out bandages and gauze from a large first aid kit. "How'd you do it?"

"Tadashi—" I whisper, my voice catching. "He dragged Obake into the portal…then he blew it up. I think he meant to trap Obake inside, but Dashi got flung back out somehow…and now…"

I sniffle a little, and Dr. Armstrong puts a hand on my knee. "They'll do everything they can, Hiro. He'll be okay, I'm sure of it."

The doctor gently wraps gauze around the cuts on my arms and back and places band-aids on the smaller scratches. My right cheek and eye are a little swollen, so Dr. Armstrong rubs some kind of cooling cream on my face. The worst of it is probably the bruising all over my back and ribs—he gives me some ibuprofen and tells me to take it easy. Thankfully, I've managed not to break any bones this time, and I don't even have a concussion. Dr. Armstrong says I was probably stunned by the impact with the ground, and then I couldn't see through the smoke. So at least I'm not hurt that badly—but I'm not worried about that.

I'm worried about Tadashi.

Dr. Armstrong somehow manages to get a call through to Aunt Cass, even with most of our power lines down and nearly no service. She tells us that she'll be there as soon as Mochi is done at the vet. Her tone gives nothing away—I'm really worried about that.

About five minutes later, Aunt Cass comes barreling through the triage center, Mochi in her arms and Honey running behind her—as best as she can while eight months pregnant.

"Hiro!" Aunt Cass shrieks, and she throws Mochi into Dr. Armstrong as she wraps me in a huge bear hug. "Hiro—my baby—what happened?"

"We stopped him," I whisper. "I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Aunt Cass asks worriedly, drawing back and cupping my battered face in her hands.

"I'm sure," I reassure her, giving a half-smile. "I'll be just fine. How are you guys?"

Aunt Cass releases my face and gently pulls Mochi out of Dr. Armstrong's arms, stroking the cat. "Mochi's fine. He was just a little beat up, nothing serious. And Honey and I missed the worst of it. But what about…"

"Tadashi?" Dr. Armstrong breaks in. "I can take you over to emergency care and we can see how he's doing."

I climb off my stretcher, still a little shaky but better than before, and we set off across the parking lot.

A minute later, we come to a larger cabana with several stretchers set up under it. There are CT scanners and x-ray machines standing like sentinels at the edges of the tent, and IVs are hooked up between the stretchers. It really looks like a hospital.

Dr. Armstrong leads us to the edge, where a young, female nurse is hooking up an IV. She steps back when she sees the doctor, revealing a young, dark-haired man on the stretcher.

Tadashi.

He's clothed in only a hospital gown, his head is wrapped in bandages, his arm is in a sling, his whole body is covered in gauze and ointment, and the brace for his back is lying at the side of his stretcher—he can't walk at the moment, I guess. I've gotta fix that. Dashi's face is covered in some kind of cream, and I can see stitches through the holes in his hospital gown. He looks terrible.

But he's alive.

Tadashi is alive.

"Hiro," he whispers, and holds out his good arm. I cautiously approach my brother, then fling my arms around him.

"Why the flip," I mumble into Tadashi's shoulder, "did you try to sacrifice yourself, you idiot?"

"It's what I do," Tadashi replies. "I wasn't going to let you get hurt."

"I got hurt anyway." I step back and gesture at my bandaged face and arms.

"Well, it would have been worse if Obake had gotten his hands on you."

I nod, consenting. "True."

Aunt Cass and Honey step forward to greet Tadashi, and there are a lot of tears from both women. Tadashi seems surprisingly energetic despite the terrible ordeal he's just been through, and he talks and laughs just like normal.

"Oh, Hiro—do you think you could fix my brace sometime?" Tadashi asks, fingering the metal contraption. "It's kind of helpful, so…"

"Yeah, of course," I reply, picking up the broken pieces. "It's nothing I can't fix."

Tadashi gives me a small smile. "By the way, do you know what happened to Obake?"

"I have no idea," I whisper. "I didn't see him, so…you did it, Tadashi. He's gone, and he's not gonna come back. So…yeah. Thanks for saving me."

Tadashi leans back on his stretcher. "Always, Hiro. Always."

Honey and Aunt Cass smile down at him, looking radiant. I'm so glad we're all okay.

Then a thought occurs to me, and I gasp. "Baymax! We left him back there!"

"Oh my gosh!" Tadashi yelps. "Did we even make sure he was still alive?"

I stare at the ground. "He's punctured, Dashi. I can probably fix him, but I didn't check to make sure. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Tadashi murmurs. "I'm sure you were doing more important things."

"I was dragging you to safety," I tell him. "Is that important enough for you?"

Tadashi cracks a smile. "I'd prefer you'd just leave me behind and save everyone else, but I guess that works."

"You idiot," I sigh. "So selfless and noble."

"You'd do the same."

Yeah, I would. I'd make everyone else get out before I saved myself. Maybe Tadashi and I are more alike than I thought—neither of us can live with leaving people behind.

I'm deep in thought when suddenly, Honey lets out a small yelp and doubles over, clutching her stomach.

"Honey!" Tadashi yelps. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

"My water just broke," Honey gasps. "She's—she's coming—"

Dr. Armstrong, standing behind her, yells, "Nobody panic! Just because we've got a few more weeks to go—oh my, that's a lot of amniotic fluid—I suggest we give her emergency care immediately!"

He puts a hand on Honey's shoulder and leads her across the parking lot toward a group of doctors who seem to have nothing to do—they're probably obstetricians or gynecologists or something.

"Wait!" Tadashi yelps. "That's my wife! Take me with you!"

Aunt Cass and I grab Dashi's stretcher and wheel it hurriedly across the asphalt, following Honey and Dr. Armstrong.

Honey is laid down on another stretcher, and Dashi's is set next to her. He stretches out his good hand and gently clasps his wife's.

"You're gonna do great," Tadashi whispers. "She's gonna be fine."

Honey gives her husband a small smile, then leans back on her stretcher with a deep breath. "Let's do this."

—TADASHI—

Nine hours later, at two in the morning, Evangeline Ethel Hamada is born. My daughter is here.

She's beautiful—fine blond hair, light caramel skin, and hazel eyes just like mine. Eva looks like both her parents, and like all her ethnicities—American, Japanese, and Latina—and she is perfect. I've never wanted anything more then what I have right now.

This is my family, and they will be mine forever.

I couldn't be happier.

Hiro stands next to my stretcher, gazing down at my daughter. He's gonna be the best uncle ever—he was so excited when he found out Honey was pregnant. And Aunt Cass—I don't know if she's Eva's grandmother or her great-aunt, but she'll be amazing either way. And Honey will be the best mother—this is all she's ever wanted, a family.

And me?

I'm going to be Eva's daddy, and I'll be able to do everything I've ever wanted to do with my kids.

Run with her.

Throw her up in the air as she laughs.

Lift her up and walk with her on my shoulders.

And even if I couldn't, I would still love Eva and do everything I could to be a good father to her, raise her to be good and kind and loving.

And my family will always be there by my side.

Hiro, who helped me to walk again. I wouldn't be able to do anything without him.

Aunt Cass, who has cared for me for years and who always made sure I knew I was loved.

Baymax, who we need to fix, but who I created to help people, and who will always keep us safe.

Honey, my one and only, who went through so much pain to bring our daughter into the world, who stayed by my side for the last two years.

GoGo, Wasabi, and Fred, who are gone but not forgotten, who will watch over us forever.

And my parents, who are waiting patiently for us to return to them, and who we will keep in our hearts as long as the world will stand.

We're a family, and that's all that matters.

Then I remember the words of my mother's lullaby, and I realize that they are perfect for me and my family—

May you always remember

When the shadows fall

You do not walk alone.

The shadows have fallen, but they're dispersing. Things are getting better.

We can rebuild.

I can walk again.

Our family is growing.

The road I walk may be dark, but it is a road I can walk.

And I have never walked it alone.

al fine