Author's Note: First off, thank you to everyone who left such wonderful reviews! Second, about Baymax (or Mubō), he is in fact a spirit. I picture him looking pretty similar to the Baymax of the movie, just maybe a little more real and with some spirit-y stuff that you will get to see later. Anyway, here's Chapter Three! Time to meet some new characters!
Gees this building is falling apart, Hiro thought as he carefully climbed down the steps on the back of the building. The wooden staircase was clearly aged to the point that Hiro bet that one of the steps would snap if he were the proper height and weight of most fourteen year-olds.
Hiro tried his best not to look down too much, even though he was not an anyway even a little horrified of falling to his death. From a couple brief glances, however, he could tell that there was a train station down there. Was the train station just a ploy to get more humans for the buffet, or did the train work as transport for the spirits? Of course, if spirits were real and could travel the world, then people should have seen them before now. However, if Einstein was correct, this could technically be the fourth dimension, which would explain why people normally didn't see the spirits. If that theory were correct, then they probably couldn't see the train either, or maybe they would see it, but not understand it to be a train. It would also explain why humans weren't 'supposed to be here,' since homo sapiens were beings of the third dimension.
Regardless of his theory, it didn't explain why they ate pigs that used to be humans instead of eating normal freaking pigs.
Creak. Hiro jumped a little, searching for a handhold on the wall. His heart leapt to his throat and he cursed the bitter, ugly (he was just guessing), old, grumpy, prejudiced witch that clearly had no concern for employee safety. This place needed a new supreme spa lady.
Once he reached the bottom, he walked up to the door of the boiler room and knocked. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to keep his feet from nervously dancing. Huh, it's actually kind of chilly out here. He checked around to see if he was being watched. So far, no spirits. Though there was a window not too far from him, so he shifted his body to keep out of any possible line of sight.
The door creaked open and Hiro felt heat coming out into the night air. Despite the new warmth, he crossed his arms and wrapped them tightly around himself. He prepared to take a step in, when he realized that no one had opened the door. If they had the ability to just magic the door open, why did it take them so long? But after his eyes adjusted, he noticed that a hand was slowly leaving the door and retreating down a hall of whizzing machines.
Hiro froze for a moment, hoping that they didn't reuse human parts just to make a long arm that could open doors. He stepped inside, trying not to get burned by getting too close to the outdated equipment.
The hand and arm lead into room part of the boiler room, and Hiro finally saw who they were attached to. An old man was hunched over like a spider, spinning dials, pulling levers, and scratching his head all at once using multiple arms. After the initial shock, Hiro counted them. There were eight, if you counted the ones that acted as legs. Hiro supposed this man was Kamaji, but he was going to call him Spiderman.
"Um, excuse me, um, sir?"
The old man turned his head around. He had a mustache like the bottom of a push broom and black goggles that completely hid his eyes. He turned back around and continued with his work. "Yes, what do you want?"
"I was told that you could help humans get...ARGH!"
Before Hiro could finish his request, lumps of coal with little legs waddled into his vision. His brain was getting too much new, life-altering information at once. Unable to stop himself, he squatted down and picked one up, hearing what sounded like a tiny, adorable little scream as he did so. What were these things? What were they doing? Hiro ignored the one in his hand for a moment, and watched as the rest of them trekked across the floor and jumped straight into a burning fire. What the heck?
It was then that Hiro realized that it was in fact the black balls that were carrying them that that were animated. Breathing a sigh of relief that the witch here wasn't that much of a sadist, Hiro watched as little balls of soot threw the coal into the fire. He examined the one he had in his hand. The little soot ball was trying to pull the coal out of Hiro's grasp. Hiro poked it, making the ball dissolve and soot rain down on the floor.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" Hiro apologized to the now dead soot ball, guilt twisting in his gut. He and Tadashi were dead for sure.
Miraculously, the black dust on the ground reformed into a ball with tiny little eyes and scurried away into the line of little mouse-sized holes lining the wall.
Hiro gaped for a moment, amazed that it was possible for some grumpy old woman to make immortal soot balls. Or was it impossible to die here? Wait, no. He and Tadashi could be eaten, and from the most rudimentary definition, a completely digested body could not be considered alive.
Still, the fact that they could make unconditionally sentient servants with magic made Hiro a little sad. It made robotics seem like unnecessary child's play.
"You messing with my workers?" Spiderman asked.
"No, no sir," Hiro answered. "Well, I mean, not on purpose. I'm sorry."
Spiderman grunted. "Then get going." He resumed working, as if there had been no interruption.
"No, wait! Listen, you have to give me a job."
"Excuse me?" the old man asked indignantly.
"Ah, I mean," Hiro tried again. "Could you please give me a job? I'd really love to work for you." Did that last line sound too fake?
"You'd love to work for me?" he asked, obviously not believing it. "Well, I've already got all the work I need, so you can go somewhere else."
"But," crap, what do you say to that? "I swear, I'm really smart! I'm a child prodigy!" Normally that line got all of the adults to adore him, but maybe that wasn't a thing here. "I'm basically an overly above average smart human!" That sentence sounded better in his head.
"With an overly talkative mouth," Kamaji commented, sounding like a disapproving old man.
Hiro's heart pounded. This wasn't supposed to happen! He didn't have any other options! "But Mubō told me that you could get me a job! Please!"
"Just because I helped make sure one human got a job doesn't mean I can help everyone! Especially if it's whiny."
Hiro felt furious. His eyes stung and his heart pounded. This eight-legged freak denied his request, insulted him, and referred to him as 'it.' He needed this job! They were going to kill Tadashi, and if Hiro failed, they were going to kill him too. It was a life or death situation and this idiot wouldn't even listen to him.
"Sir, please," Hiro said firmly but politely. "I need this job. I don't have anywhere else to go, and I'm going to be eaten if I don't work." He swallowed. This whole situation seemed surreal. "Please, I-I'll do anything. I won't even talk if you don't want me to."
Before Kamaji could answer, a small door slide open and a woman about his height climbed through and called out, "Dinner time!" She carried a basket in behind her and stood up. Then, noticing Hiro's helpless expression, her smile faded. "Umm, am I interrupting something? Wait." Her eyes doubled in size. "A human!" she yelled, pointing finger at Hiro.
Crap. Well, she didn't look like how Hiro had been picturing Yubaba, so she probably wasn't the witch, and therefore not as big of a threat. She was probably just one of the workers. But she looked like a normal human, with a small nose, fine eyebrows, green eyes, and brown hair pulled back with a tie near the ends. She wore what must be the uniform - a baggy pink top and short pink shorts with a blue apron, all made out of ancient-looking wool. Not an outfit that Hiro would appreciate wearing.
"What, and you're not a human?" Hiro shot back. It was probably not the smart thing to say.
"Excuse me?" she retorted, eyes narrowing.
"I...ah, I..."
"Pardon him, he's my grandson." Kamaji said.
"Wh -?" Hiro shut his mouth and made his face neutral.
"He is?" the woman asked, looking at Hiro like a bug under a microscope. Hiro nodded.
"He's not the brightest, but he wants to work here," Kamaji continued, ignoring Hiro's shocked face. "Will you take him to see Yubaba?"
"Ah, your grandson, I see," the woman nodded, clearly not buying it. "I'll take him. Come on little guy."
Hiro couldn't move for a moment. Taking him to see Yubaba? Kamaji wanted him to go directly to the witch that wanted to kill him. He balled his fists and stood his ground.
"No! I'm not going to go like a pig to a slaughter house!" Hiro mentally high-fived for brilliant word play. "You can't send me to the witch!"
The woman giggled, and Hiro felt blood rush to his face. "She's not going to turn you into an animal; she's going to give you a job."
Couldn't they at least treat him like he wasn't a five year-old? "But -"
"She's under a magical contract," said Kamaji. "She has to give a job to everyone who asks."
Well that would have been great to start out with. Hiro forced himself to calm down. There was no way anyone would take him seriously if he was constantly acting like a baby. "Okay, let's go."
The woman raised one eyebrow. "Not even a 'thank-you' to the man who is recommending you to the witch who will be forced to hire you?"
Now that Hiro thought about it, that sounded like a pretty deadly thing to do, that is, if Yubaba's contract didn't extend to employee safety. "Thank you, Kamaji. Sorry for, well..."
Kamaji nodded. "Just get goin'."
Hiro followed the woman to the door. She turned around and examined him. "You don't need your shoes or your socks."
Hiro looked down at his feet, not entirely wanting to walk through an old spa barefooted. But he wasn't going to test his luck, so he took them off. "Um, where do I put them?"
"Just let the soot sprites deal with them."
"Okay." Hiro set his shoes down and let the little soot balls take them away, not really liking leaving something that he owned in the hands of strangers. He left the room using the small sliding door.
"Come on, little guy," the woman called from the top of a thin wooden staircase.
"Little guy?"
She smiled evilly as he clambered up the steps behind her. "I'm helping you, I get to call you what I want."
"Well, my name's Hiro, so you could just call me that." She was kind of pretty, and he wanted her to at least take him seriously.
"You'll get a new name when you work here."
"Huh?"
"You won't be going by 'Hiro' here; it's just part of the deal."
Well if she can't refuse me, then I'm going to put some edits in my application. "Okay, well, what's your name?"
"Abigail."
"And your real name?"
She paused, seeming to consider the question. "I don't know. I guess I've been working here a long time."
Hiro raised an eyebrow. "No one just forgets a name! That's information stored in implicit and explicit memory! Even Alzheimer's patients remember it. Something's gone really wrong if you don't know it."
"Whatever, kid." They exited the stairwell and entered the bath area.
Steam surrounding the room and enveloped everything like a cloud. Spirits filed in and were taken to huge baths (well, for a lot of them, they were appropriately sized). Hiro and Abigail climbed another staircase, this time walking above the baths. From here, Hiro got a look at what he'd probably be doing. Workers scurried about in ugly old uniforms, one scrubbing a spirit's wing, another was carrying plates of food, and another was cleaning a tub. All Hiro could see was physical work, which meant exercise, which he considered disgusting. It didn't help that the insanitary room smelled like sweat and mold.
They reached a landing and walked to an elevator. A few spirits looked up as they passed, sniffing the air. Hiro walked closer to Abigail.
The elevator door opened and Hiro jumped inside, Abigail trying not to laugh as she followed. It was in moments like these that he wished he were a little less awkward and a little more like Tadashi. Even when Tadashi acted awkward, everyone thought he was cool. Hiro twisted his hands and looked around, not really sure how to behave right now, especially since all his body wanted to do was sleep.
"You nervous?" Abigail asked.
"I'm a bot fighter, takes more than this to scare me." In truth, his heart was pounding and his voice was shaking.
"Aw, baby." God, that was annoying, even though it now sounded less condescending and more teasing. "Don't worry so much. You'll get a job and a position and you'll be getting some sleep before you know it."
"Yeah." The elevator came to a stop. "Well, bye. See you around."
"Ditto." The gate of the elevator closed and Hiro stood alone.
Hiro breathed. "Alright. Scary witch that eats people. Let's do this." He lifted his head high and marched to a door with a creepy knocker shaped like a face. Hiro considered using it, but he had a feeling that it would eat his fingers if he tried. So instead he raised his fist and rapped on the wood.
"Well, look at the little human boy. You must be the other one," said the knocker. Even though Hiro half expected it to be alive, he jumped a little when he saw it talk. Registering what it just said, he yanked the door open and ran inside before it could turn him into a pig.
The other one?
Even in his sleep deprived, anxiety driven mind, he felt furious. No one hurts his brother. Nobody. This woman was going to pay.
He stomped down the grand hall, passing extravagant room after extravagant room. It was like someone vomited bright, shiny colors and jewels on the walls. The rooms seemed to never end, arranged with the logic of a funhouse. Hiro was just beginning to get lost when he heard an old woman's voice. "Oh, do hurry it up."
He felt a tug on his shirt as if someone had grabbed it. Next thing he knew, he was flying through the maze of rooms and dragged into an overly fancy office, where the woman who must be the witch was doing paperwork.
She sat like a bird of prey, with beady eyes and an obnoxiously large, beak-like nose. She was huge, not in an overweight way, but in a mutation kind of way. Her head alone probably weighed enough to topple the rest of her body over, not counting the mountain of hair on her head that was tied in a bun. When she looked up at Hiro, he could see that she had huge eyes with a clown amount of eye shadow and a huge wart at the top of her nose, right between her eyebrows. She regarded Hiro with a misleading smile. He was right about the old, ugly thing. "Look who decided to -"
But Hiro was smart. He wasn't going to let her do anything. "CAN I HAVE A JOB?" he yelled, perhaps a little too loudly.
She blinked, clearly annoyed. Good. "Rude little thing, aren't you. I apologize, but the answer is no."
No, that's not right. Kamaji might have not liked Hiro that much, but there was no way that he would lie about something like this, right? And Abigail was nice, she wouldn't, right? "But, you can't refuse me. You're under contract."
She looked at him with a neutral expression, however, her eyes were looking a little more murderous. "And who told you that?"
There was no way he was going to throw Kamaji or Abigail under the bus, especially to this dirty mistake of science. "That's not important. You have to give me a job!"
"Get out of my sight."
His hands were shaking, but he wasn't going anywhere. "I'm not leaving until you give me a job or you let me and my brother go home."
"We are fully employed right now, there is no reason that I –"
"That's why you make them into pigs!"
She blinked and then glared at him for his rudeness. "What did you say?"
"That's why you turn them into pigs." Hiro brain just made a connection, and when that happened, he no longer cared about keeping a verbal filter. "You're fully employed, but you can't turn any stray humans down, and you can't just let them stay here, since it's not allowed. So you turn them into pigs to get rid of them without making the other spirits think you're just a heartless murderer. That's genius!"
Yubaba looked at him oddly, probably not expecting the reasoning or the compliment. "I'd turn you humans to pigs regardless. You are nothing but greedy, selfish cry babies."
"Tadashi wasn't," Hiro accused, amazed, but still willing to push her out the window.
"He ran around like an idiot in here, not caring that he was disturbing guests who are in dire need of relaxation. We can't have riffraff like that going around here; this is the best bathhouse in the world!"
It is? Hiro wondered. "I bet you lost some tips, huh?"
"An occurrence which won't happen again."
Hiro was about to give a clever retort when he remembered just why Tadashi ran in like an idiot. "Wait, someone was screaming."
"What?"
"The only reason Tadashi and I came in was because someone was screaming." More anger piled on top of his rage, making him fully awake. "You turned him into a pig because he was trying to help someone!"
"Please," Yubaba said, irritated. "You are currently the only human here. If someone was screaming, it was probably just an angry customer."
"Then why didn't someone here check it out?" He remembered Mubō, the spirit that wanted to heal. He almost seemed like he didn't belong here with people like Yubaba.
"Maybe someone did. It died down eventually."
"So you admit someone was screaming!"
"You'll be screaming in pain if you don't shut your mouth."
"No. I'm asking you for a job. The only way I'll change my mind is if you fix my brother and let us go."
She glared at him. "I'm not someone you want to be threatening, boy. You'd best stop talking now. Oh, wait." She reached out a hand and made a motion that looked like she was zipping his lips.
Suddenly, he couldn't open his mouth. No! He struggled, willing his lips to part, straining every muscle in his face. Open!
"There, that gets rid of that problem." Yubaba chuckled.
Oh, no, it doesn't. Hiro stormed across the room, right to her desk and grabbed a quill (of course the spirits couldn't write using pens, that would be too easy). He gripped it angrily, prepared to argue in writing if need be.
"I would be careful if I were you. Once you write something, it can be difficult to take back."
Well, I'm a little too mad for your cryptic crap.
"It's a pretty special quill."
Sighing internally (not that he had a choice), Hiro set the quill down.
"I hate to admit it, but you were right. I did make an oath - an oath that I regret to this day. So, since I don't have another choice, I'll hire you. You just need to use that special quill to sign your name on this paper. I'll give you one minute. You may not speak or argue. You either sign your name, or you can join your brother."
What? But he needed to argue! There was no way he could read the contract thoroughly, look for loopholes, and argue for benefits in that amount of time. He picked up the paper. It was written in an older form of Japanese that Hiro couldn't understand. Panicking, Hiro scanned the page, looking for at least some key words that he might know.
"Time's a tickin'."
Hiro swallowed. He hated uncertainty. Reasoning came easy to him, and knowledge was never far behind. Not knowing something, especially something that could ruin his life, killed him. He knew that there were probably some tricks in the contract, but Tadashi was counting on him. And, of course, he didn't want to be turned into bacon.
He gulped. Time to take a jump. Hand shaking and mind already regretting, Hiro signed his name, probably giving away his soul. He was never going to let Tadashi forget this; Tadashi would owe him forever.
"Good," Yubaba said, finally unzipping his lips. "Well, Hiro, what a nice name. I'm going to keep it if you don't mind."
"What? What does that even mean?"
"Shush!" she said impatiently. "From now on, you will be called Tomeo."
"Okay, I get it, weird company policy. Now, what exactly do I have to do?"
She looked him up and down. "Wait about fifteen more seconds."
"Huh?" There was a pause and then a voice behind him said, "You have called me?"
Hiro spun around, thankful to hear a familiar voice. "Mubō!"
"Ah, yes." Yubba said. "You weren't who I was expecting, but you will do. Take Tomeo to get a uniform and find him a room. We're about to close, so we won't make him start until tomorrow, but I think I've got the perfect job for our young friend."
That didn't sound good.
Mubō turned to him and Hiro nearly gasped. Mubō's once plain black eyes now had a red light shinning where pupils normally might be. "Follow me, Tomeo."
Hiro/Tomeo followed Mubō out the door, feeling like something was missing or stolen. He hated being under someone's control and he hated uncertainty; and in this world, Yubaba was the deity dictating his nightmares.
Author's Note: Looks like this world doesn't work the way Hiro thought it would. Can he be polite long enough to get Tadashi back, or will he tick off Yubaba so much that she just offs them out of spite? Guess we'll have to find out!
Tomeo is an allusion to Hiro's father in the Big Hero 6 comics.