Chapter 3: Dream
"Mr. Hamada, correct?"
"That's correct, sir," Tadashi replied politely, stifling a yawn. He didn't end up falling asleep until half past three, then had to drag his tired body out of bed to meet up with another private tutoring company at eight. Luckily, Hiro was still asleep, and from the amount of energy the child had used the night before, Tadashi has pretty sure he would be out till the afternoon.
"Well," the head of the tutoring company sighed, "I don't know what to say, Mr. Hamada." He skimmed through the filed before him and remarked, "Your brother is certainly very talented… way above ninth grade material."
"Yes, he is," Tadashi couldn't hide the hint of pride leaking into his voice.
"He is very smart," the man continued carefully, "But, unfortunately, we have no more tutors that are willing to work with him."
Tadashi's heart sank. "Please," he begged, "there has to be at least one person that will do it."
"Unfortunately, no," the head sighed. "Your brother's made quite a name for himself in the private tutoring world," he chuckled. "I don't know what's worse, the stories they tell, or the complaints I receive about him."
"And I'm really sorry about that," Tadashi sighed, "but isn't there anyone in this company that hasn't had him as a student yet?"
"His stories have spread," the head shrugged. "Now even tutors that don't work for companies are scared."
"What can I do," Tadashi groaned. "I can't just leave him cooped up at home all day… he wants to learn!" He drew a hand through his hair and rubbed his neck, slumping his shoulders in disappointment.
The man hesitated, then opened a drawer of his desk. "There is one thing you can do…"
"I'm home," Tadashi called tiredly as he locked the door carefully behind him. "Hiro? You up yet, buddy?"
"Hello, Tadashi," a kind, robotic voice that was definitely not Hiro's replied.
Looking up in surprise, Tadashi almost tripped when he saw his college robotics project greet him at the door. "Baymax?" he gasped. "What are you doing out of your case?" Fear coursed through him as he tried to push his way past the inflated robot. "Is Hiro okay? What happened?"
"Your cortisol and epinephrine levels have elevated," the robot replied, tilting his head to the side. "This indicates that you are stressed. Or: worried."
"Heck yeah, I'm worried," Tadashi panicked as he still continued trying to get past the large robot. "How did you get activated?"
"I was alerted this morning at approximately 8:37 am by a sound of distress," Baymax reported. "It appeared Hiro had fallen out of bed. I placed him back and he fell asleep without deactivating me."
"Oh, thank god," Tadashi breathed, collapsing at the foot of the stairs. "And here I thought the knucklehead somehow managed to hurt himself in the hour I was gone," Tadashi laughed tiredly.
Baymax blinked owlishly. "I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care."
"I'm satisfied with my care," Tadashi chuckled. The robot blinked again, then waddled up the stairs to his case. Tadashi laughed one more time before following him back to the room.
Hiro was still asleep. The blankets were tangled around him, and the child was hugging his pillow like a teddy bear. A strand of his messy hair hung over his face, fluttering with each breath.
Tadashi gave a halfhearted smile and flopped onto his bed. Closing his eyes to take a short nap, he was dreading telling Hiro of the "other option" the private tutoring company had given him.
Tadashi heard a small buzz as he snapped blearily out of his sleep. Groaning as he rolled over, he fumbled around for his bag, hissing in frustration when he couldn't feel it. Annoyed, he opened one eye and grabbed the bag at the foot of his bed angrily. "Hello?" he answered groggily when he finally found his phone.
"Hey, Tadashi," Wasabi's voice greeted him. "Did I wake you?"
"No, no," Tadashi yawned, "I needed to wake up soon anyways." He sat up and reached an arm above his head to stretch. "So what can I do for you?"
"Do you mind coming over to Fred's place with Hiro?" his friend asked nervously. "Like, now?"
"I don't see why not. What's the occasion?"
"You'll see when you get here," Wasabi replied grimly.
Saying a quick farewell, Tadashi stood and stretched out his back. Feeling the satisfying crack down his spine, he sighed contently. Walking around the paper curtain, he snorted in amusement when he saw the blankets entangled around his brother's body. Somehow, Hiro had shifted in his sleep, a foot dangling off the bed and head on the opposite side.
Chuckling softly, he crouched down by the slumbering child and poked his cheek lightly. Hiro mumbled and swatted at Tadashi's hand, then rolled over and snuggled into the blankets. Rolling his eyes, Tadashi jabbed Hiro's back. He felt his brother jolt and sit up with a yelp, turning and glaring at him. "What was that for?" Hiro demanded, rubbing his side angrily.
"Rise and shine, little bro," Tadashi chortled. "Have a nice sleep?"
"For the most part," Hiro yawned. "I think I fell out of bed?"
"Yup, you did," Tadashi confirmed, pulling up the blankets that had fallen off the bed. "Baymax helped you back up." Grabbing a shirt from Hiro's drawers, he tossed it at his half asleep brother and said, "Get dressed. We're going to Fred's."
"Why?" Hiro muttered, struggling to find the opening of the shirt he was just given.
Tadashi shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But it sounds urgent… wonder what's up…?"
Twenty minutes later, Tadashi parked his moped behind Wasabi's familiar van by Fred's mansion. Hiro clambered off, not bothering to hide yet another huge yawn. "Stay awake, knucklehead," Tadashi snorted, holding on to Hiro's shoulders to steer him to the door. "You can take a nap when we find out what's wrong."
"M'not sleepy," Hiro mumbled unconvincingly, already nodding off despite walking towards the luxurious front porch. Tadashi rolled his eyes and knocked loudly on the door. Barely a second passed when it opened.
Heathcliff opened the door and bowed his head. "Hello, Mr. Hamada. Fredrick has been expecting you."
"Good morning, Heathcliff," Tadashi replied good-naturedly. "How're things?"
"I am well, thank you for your concern," the butler replied blankly. "This way."
Tadashi steered Hiro past the door when the butler moved to the side. Heathcliff led them down several large halls, passing many magnificent paintings. No matter how many times he visits, Tadashi felt he would never get used to the grandness of Fred's mansion, especially considering the fact that said friend "recycles" his underwear.
Heathcliff knocked on Fred's door and called out, "Master Fredrick, your friend is here."
The door flew open, narrowly missing Heathcliff's face. The man was probably used to it now, considering that he didn't even blink. Fred grinned and slung an arm around Tadashi's neck. "Tadashi, my man! Glad you could make it!"
"Well, Wasabi did say it was kinda urgent," Tadashi chuckled, walking in to his friend's cluttered room. "So what's the problem?"
"The problem," a familiar female voice that was definitely not Wasabi replied, "is that you have an old friend back in town."
Tadashi smiled grimly at the speaker. "It's been a while, Chiyeki."
"Likewise," the female replied bluntly. "Now, hurry up and get inside. These cookies Heathcliff made are delicious."
"It's nice to see you're still the same," Tadashi sighed, stirring absentmindedly at his cup of tea.
Tomoe's sister had grown her hair down to the middle of her back. A few blue streaks decorated the sides of her otherwise jet-black hair. She still wore rather dark clothing, but there were a few splotches of color on her dark gray sweater.
"She showed up at my place around 11 last night," Gogo said as she munched on a cookie. "Scared the living daylight out of my mom."
"And again, I'm sorry about that," Chiyeki sighed. "But it was important, and I didn't know where else to go." While Chiyeki had been recovering from her gunshot wound, she had stayed at Gogo's apartment that she shared with her middle-aged mother. It was only for a few days, until she could find a place of her own, but Gogo's mother had made it very clear that she could come over whenever she liked.
"Where's Honey?" Tadashi asked, noticing that his tall blonde friend was nowhere to be seen.
"She's babysitting for her neighbor," Gogo replied. "Something about them leaving town for a week or so? She's just watching them until their aunt gets off of work."
"We called her to ask her to come over, too," Wasabi explained. "Those kids sound like a handful, you could hear them screaming in the back."
"So what is it that you need to tell us, Chiyeki?" Tadashi asked politely. Hiro had hogged up Fred's bed and was softly snoring in deep slumber.
"I still keep in touch with some of my sister's old sources," Chiyeki started nervously. "And Yoichibei-san hasn't exactly cut all ties with me. However," she paused, looking at the group of friends fearfully. "One of my sources and some of his have confirmed that Koetsu is back."
"What does he want?" Tadashi fumed. "I thought we cleared up this whole thing three years ago!"
"Chiyeki," Gogo suddenly said quietly. "You need to tell them."
"Tell who what?" Wasabi asked. "What's going on?"
"There's an academy," Chiyeki began, "that specialized in training children into being assassin. Yoichibei and my sister were their greatest patrons, and…" she looked down guiltily, "I was sent there for a few years when I was younger."
Everyone (that was awake) gasped. "What was it like?" Wasabi asked cautiously.
Chiyeki shuddered. "It was horrible. Everyday, it was train, train, train… the final exam was to kill everyone in your class. I escaped after spending three years in that hellhole… But that's not the issue." She took a deep breath and said, "That school isn't just training for killers. They also funded research for experiments that are usually kept secret by big business owners."
"How is that our problem?" Tadashi asked, sipping carefully at his still steaming cup. "Last I checked, Yoichibei was done with revenge and I doubt Koetsu would have any need for that stuff."
"It's our problem," Chiyeki replied, slightly annoyed, "because several of the head scientists went missing a few years ago. I've tried tracking them down, but they literally disappeared off the map." She sighed. "Koetsu's behind this, I'm sure of it."
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Tadashi started carefully. "For all we know, they could just be going into hiding."
"All I'm saying," the woman replied stubbornly, "is to keep an eye out for possible danger. Besides, there's all that news going around about that escaped prisoner…"
"Oh, right," he sighed. Grabbing a remote, he turned on Fred's flat screen TV. They managed to catch the closing segment of the morning news.
"Officials have yet to find the escaped convict," the reporter stated. "There is heavy consideration of a city-wide curfew, but until we get more information, it is highly recommended that citizens stay home and lock all entry ways. Children should not be out alone, and…"
"He escaped a few months ago, right?" Fred asked. "Maybe he left San Fransokyo and went to some other big city."
"Doubt it," Gogo said monotonously. "He already established that SF was his quote-in-quote 'hunting grounds' when he was still active. Why would he suddenly change now?"
"Well, you never know," Wasabi murmured nervously. "It's been what… ten years now since he got caught?" The large man sighed. "They were only transferring him from some other city when he escaped."
"Who knows," Tadashi shrugged. "For now, we're just gonna have to be extra careful. No more midnight strolls, right?"
"Never took you for a late-night hike type of guy,"Gogo said sarcastically.
Tadashi grinned back. "I'm not. But Wasabi is."
"Hey, they're very relaxing!" the man said agitatedly, trying to defend himself.
"Whoa, you go for walks?" Fred asked excitedly. "Dude, the last time I went for a legit hike was when my parents dragged me with them to the Alps."
The dark conversation quickly turned into laughter and witty banter. No one noticed Hiro twitch slightly as he slept.
Flames erupted all around him, engulfing him in their burning embrace. Ropes wrapped themselves securely around his body, making sure he couldn't escape. Suddenly, a flaming dragon emerged from the fire, jaws opened wide to swallow him whole.
Hiro sighed and said, "That's enough, Peniel."
The dream disappeared almost immediately. The fire died down and the ropes vanished. Everything was replaced by an endless black space. The dragon snickered and in a small cartoonish pop, and a poof of smoke, turned into a person.
"A dragon? Seriously?" Hiro said judgingly, arching a brow.
"Hey, it's your brain," the "person" defended as she laughed. "You used to be terrified of them, remember?"
"Yeah, when I was like, 2," Hiro snorted.
The little girl in front of him deflated. "You're no fun," she pouted, crossing her arms over her white sundress.
"After seeing this stuff every night, you'd be surprised how fast I got used to it," Hiro replied dryly, floating over to the girl.
She appeared a few weeks after the whole New Life fiasco. Hiro had been in bed, struck down by yet another fever. He fell asleep, only to wake up to a dream.
It was a pure white, endless space. It stretched on forever and he was surprised to see himself floating. As he looked down, he felt his stomach drop when he realized there was no floor.
Feeling a panic attack rising, he looked around frantically, desperate to wake up.
That's when she appeared.
A little girl in a white dress.
Smiling at him.
Then he screamed and woke up.
Arms flailing as he blinked back to consciousness, it took Tadashi a near hour to get him to calm down. He fell back asleep almost immediately after, only to return to the same space with the same girl in front of him.
"What do you want," he asked her, voice trembling.
She tipped her head to the side. "Why are you scared?" she asked innocently.
"Because you tried to strangle me a few months ago!" he yelled back accusingly. His voice echoed through the empty space.
She blinked. "Ohh," she murmured in realization. "Is that where this form came from?" A wicked smile crept up her face. "Then what about this one?" she giggled.
There was a small pop and a poof of smoke. Hiro shielded his eyes, but when he opened them he felt sick.
Aunt Cass was standing in front of him, with the same smirk on her face as the little girl had.
He didn't hear himself scream, but the echoes that bounced through the whiteness told him otherwise. He stumbled back, floating through the air as he frantically moved to get away from her. Spinning around, he stopped cold when "Aunt Cass" materialized right in front of him.
"Or this one?" she cackled, changing yet again. This time, the transition was more like a shimmer, a mirage rather than some cheap magic trick.
Hiro whimpered as Tadashi smiled nastily at him. "How's this one?" his brother giggled, still with the girl's voice.
"Please stop," Hiro whispered. "Why are you doing this?"
"Tadashi's" face fell. He changed back into the little girl, her face equally as crestfallen as his older brother's had been. "I'm sorry," she murmured, before everything turned black and he woke up yet again.
The real Tadashi was gently shaking him awake, smiling kindly and shaking a small bottle of pills. Medicine time.
Tears emerged in his eyes. He latched on to Tadashi's waist and cried, happy to see his actual older brother. To this day, Tadashi had no idea why Hiro had been so emotional over taking medicine.
A few days later, Hiro fell asleep and woke up again, this time in a black space, facing the girl he had seen before. She was crying silently into her hands. "I just wanted to be your friend," she sobbed quietly, not turning around to face him.
Hiro hesitated, then sighed. After his fever broke, he thought about his weird "dream." She didn't seem like she wanted to hurt him, and she looked like she had no idea what she was doing was hurting him. He floated over to her and said, "Hi, I'm Hiro" and stuck his hand out politely.
She sniffed and looked up slowly. Tucking back a few strands of her long black hair, she smiled and said, "My mommy called me Peniel."
Which leads them back to where they are now.
Three years later and Hiro still didn't understand her version of "fun."
"Why do you insist on scaring me every time I fall asleep?" he sighed.
She shrugged. "What else am I supposed to do, it's fun."
"Uh huh," he snorted. "You could help me keep out all the shouting, you know."
"Why?" she asked, tipping her head to the side. "You should listen to what they say."
"I don't appreciate being yelled at by a toaster every morning, thanks," he said humorlessly. "And I suppose I have you to thank for my major freak out last night."
"That was all you," she shrugged. "You're learning too fast."
"What does that mean," Hiro sighed. "I mean, sure you've helped me learn how to control my 'power', but most of the time it's you, isn't it?"
"It was," she replied bitterly. "Now, it's you. Your brain can control it now."
"That's not what I want," he said sharply. "It was cool for a bit, but not anymore. I want to be normal, not some freak that can control technology.
"Well, what can I tell you?" she smirked. "It's not my fault you have such a giant brain."
"Not. Funny," he growled. He winced when he felt his control slip, allowing in at least ten different voices, and all complaining about different things. Apparently, Fred's lamp didn't like the bulb the comic book geek was using, and his TV was sobbing over some drama on channel 57.
"Watch it, Einstein," she chuckled grimly. "I just said you had control over it. Don't lose it now."
"Thanks for the tip," Hiro scoffed. A light shined through the darkness, accompanied by someone calling his name. He sighed and stood up. "That's my cue."
"See you later," she said half-heartedly. Smiling nonchalantly, she whispered as Hiro disappeared, "Good morning."
"Hey, little bro, time to wake up," Tadashi said quietly, shaking Hiro's shoulder lightly.
Hiro blinked awake, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He yawned and murmured blearily, "Did I miss anything?"
Tadashi snorted. "Yeah, just the whole meeting, no biggie" he laughed. "Chiyeki left a few minutes ago. We're gonna go get some breakfast with Fred, Gogo and Wasabi."
Hiro smiled his trademark gap toothed smile. "The place with the blueberry pancakes?"
"With extra whip cream," Tadashi recited humorously as he flicked Hiro's nose.
"Awesome!" Hiro cried, scrambling out of bed. He pushed his dream quickly to the back of his mind. Like he always did every morning.
Hehe sorry for no updates ^^ kinda had no wifi for a bit...
It might just be me, but I feel like the BH6 fandom ain't doing so well anymore... O-o
But w/e right? WE WILL KEEP CHARGING ON MWAHAHAHAHA
Yeah, I'm pretty tired tbh... enjoy this update...