Chapter Summary: Hiro copes with his loss but he knows he's not alone. Then he finds something that would keep him moving forward...
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6 and its characters.
Three months has passed since the incident on Akuma Island as well as Abigail Callaghan's capture. Abigail confessed her crimes to the police while she's still recovering in the hospital. Krei visited her every other day and the two reconciled before Abigail was transferred to prison. The two remained in contact with Krei promising her that he will be the first person to welcome her back when she gets out. Krei's secretary continued working for her boss and there was no bitter feelings between them.
Abigail only sent one letter to Hiro and his friends to express her deep apologies for her actions against them. And to express her gratitude and way of redeeming herself in their eyes, she hid their secret identities from the police.
The whole city of San Fransokyo are now aware they are being watched over by a mysterious group of individuals who called themselves Big Hero 6. Some are excited to have superheroes protecting them while others are suspicious of them; nevertheless, the city became safer because of them.
For these past months, Big Hero 6 continued to protect San Fransokyo they committed to protect. Despite the team originally formed by a friend who got lost in his hate and revenge, they're still willing to honor his memory since it was his wish to help people—even if it became tragically twisted—that made them superheroes they are now. They haven't forgotten what Tadashi had done to them; however, they forgave him because they believed, deep down, he's still good and they dearly missed him every day. Especially Hiro, who is now trying to move on with his life without his brother.
Sitting on a tall wind turbine overlooking San Fransokyo Bay, two figures who happened to be superheroes were enjoying the stunning view of sunset. They could see the whole city and even parts beyond the bay that surrounded it.
Hiro sighed at the beauty. "This is incredible," he said.
He and Baymax are wearing matching bright red armor. It took days and nights for Hiro to rebuild Baymax back to his original marshmallow-like body, as well as upgrading him with a new armor and programmed a new fighting chip.
Baymax turned to Hiro and blinked. "Your emotional state has improved for the past couple of months. The treatment is working," he explained.
Hiro couldn't help but laugh and nudged the robot. "Yeah, that's right, buddy."
Then he and Baymax stood up together.
"Time to test that super sensor," he said. Earlier that afternoon, he upgraded Baymax's sensor so it'll help the team locate criminals faster.
Baymax's new lens blinked. He scanned the entire city, gathering readings on hundreds of thousands of people.
"Functionality improved. One thousand percent increase in range," he stated.
Hiro smiled in satisfaction and held up his hand in front of Baymax. The two fist-bumped.
"Bata-latala," they said together in unison.
Then Hiro became quiet for a moment and he glanced hopefully at Baymax.
"Hey, Baymax," he began. "Now that you've scanned the entire city. Is he… still out there?"
Baymax knew what Hiro was talking about. "I cannot locate Tadashi anywhere in San Fransokyo."
"So… he's really gone, then."
Hiro was disappointed and he fought back tears Baymax sensed his distress and placed a gentle arm on his should to comfort him.
"It is alright to cry," he told him. "Crying is a natural response to pain."
"I know," Hiro whimpered, wiping his eyes. "I'm getting better… but it still hurts."
"I understand your pain, Hiro," the nursebot said. "Tadashi was still my patient and I haven't finished treating him."
Hiro wondered if Baymax can still deactivate without his patient's permission and he knew the robot missed his creator since he often caught him staring wistfully into empty space once in a while.
"You won't leave me… right?" Hiro asked.
Baymax touched Hiro's chest. "I will always be with you."
Hiro smiled and hugged the robot he had come to love and trust before him. Baymax will always be there to remind him how Tadashi poured so much love and hard work into building him.
The communicator in Hiro's helmet turned on.
"Hey, Hiro," Gogo's voice was heard. "You and Baymax done patrolling? We can't start the party without you."
"Got it." Hiro turned off the communicator and climbed on top of Baymax. "Let's fly, Baymax. Everybody's waiting for us."
In the garage of the Hamada household, Aunt Cass and Hiro's friends decide to throw a small party for Hiro to celebrate him attending classes at SFIT. Four boxes of pizzas are stacked on top of each other on one of the tables next to a plate of Aunt Cass' spicy chicken wings.
Fred is playing with Mochi, trying to make the cat move and act like a Kaiju; Wasabi and Gogo are sharing jokes and flirtatious smiles; and Honey and Aunt Cass are taking selfies together.
Hiro and Baymax, after removing their suits, entered the garage and everyone cheered when they saw them.
"There's my little superhero man!" Aunt Cass smiled and hugged her nephew.
"You're just in time," Gogo smirked. "Fred kept whining since he couldn't wait to chow down on some pizza."
"Hiro, I got something for you," Honey came over to the teen genius. She handed him an envelope. "You can open it later. It's time for a picture!"
Honey pulled Hiro to the front as everyone gathered behind him, including Baymax. Honey lifted up her camera and took a snapshot of everybody.
"Alright, let's eat!" Fred boomed before planting his face on the first pizza.
Wasabi cried in disgust, "NOT MY FAVORITE HAWAIIAN PIZZA!"
"Um, excuse me?" a tiny voice called out. Hiro spun around to see a young Japanese boy around his age standing in the middle of the garage's opening. He's carrying what looks like to be a box full of dumplings.
"I'm looking for Miss Cass," he said shyly. "M-my uncle is a regular customer of the Lucky Cat café and when he heard that Hiro Hamada is alive, he asked me to deliver this for her."
"That would be me. Tell your uncle that I thanked him for his gift!" Aunt Cass said as she took the box of dumplings from his hands.
Hiro and the boy shared eye contact before the boy's face turned red.
"Um, you want to stay?" Hiro inquired. He couldn't recall when was the last time he talked to someone of his own age, but he felt more confident about it when he's not interacting with older people. "We have food for everybody."
The boy shook his head and twiddled his fingers. "Oh, thanks for the invitation, but I need to be somewhere. It… It was nice meeting you."
Hiro held out a hand for him. He knew his brother would encourage him to meet new people.
"The name's Hiro," he said with a smile.
The boy blushed again and shook Hiro's hand.
"Y-you can call me Yasuo."
The party ended on a good note and Hiro's friends went home for night. Aunt Cass picked up the dirty plates while Hiro and Baymax dropped the empty pizza boxes into a huge trash bag.
"That was fun," she grinned.
"Yup," Hiro nodded. He could feel his cheeks mildly burning. "I'm definitely going to feel your chicken wings in the morning~"
Aunt Cass pressed her lips on his head.
"I'm so proud of you, sweetie," she sighed. "Are you doing well with college?"
"It's exciting so far," Hiro replied while Baymax swept the floor behind him. "The Robotics Lab got a new professor and I'll be starting my new project next week."
"Don't strain yourself too hard," Cass said. "You need to work with both your college work and superhero duties to make sure they don't conflict with each other."
"Got it, Aunt Cass." Then Hiro went back picking up the mess from the party. "You go on ahead, Baymax and I will clean this place up."
Cass gave her nephew a warm smile before walking out of the garage.
Minutes later after the garage is clean, Hiro collapsed on the old red couch near his computer. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling and thinking what to do next. He could start on his robotics project early, or...
Remembering the envelope Honey gave to him earlier, he curiously opened it and he couldn't help but smile when he saw what it is.
It was the photo Honey took of the group before Hiro present his microbots demonstration at the SFIT showcase. He stared longingly into Tadashi's happy face, he looked so different compared to his last appearance when he was bitter and ruthless.
Hiro wished he could have done something to save his brother but he knew Tadashi would never forgive him. He couldn't understand why Tadashi just gave up on him when Hiro never did.
"I missed Tadashi, Baymax," Hiro said in solemn voice. "I don't know what my future would be like without him… but at least I have you, Cass, and the rest of the guys with me." He placed the photo on his table next to his computer. He remembered something else. "He wanted to tell me something that night before the fire happened. I wished I knew what it was."
Baymax slowly approached his patient before stopping in front of him. He knew what to do to make Hiro feel better.
"Tadashi is here," Baymax suddenly said.
Hiro smiled with sentiment.
"I know," he said. "He'll never be gone as long as I remember him."
"No, Hiro. Tadashi is here…"
Then a display screen began to flicker on Baymax's stomach. Hiro immediately sat up when he noticed the nursebot is running a video. A feeling love and happiness washed over Hiro the moment he saw his big brother on Baymax's screen.
"Hey Baymax!" Tadashi in the video greeted the robot. He was wearing a gray cardigan over his black shirt. His familiar baseball cap fitted comfortably on his head. "Sorry for not working on you lately. I've been busy… Today's showcase day, and my brother's attending later tonight. I hope he can get into SFIT. If not, I'll have to beg Callaghan to admit Hiro."
He laughed and Hiro kept watching, growing teary-eyed to see his brother again; the old Tadashi still wide-eyed and full of kindness, and unblemished by anger and grief.
Tadashi then rubbed his neck guiltily and he sighed.
"Hiro has been working on his project for weeks. I know I got him to do this. But to be honest, just a couple of weeks ago… I had a change of mind. I secretly wanted Hiro to stop what he was doing."
A melancholic expression appeared on his face.
"Hiro didn't have a normal childhood since he's way smarter than most kids his age. Because of that, he skipped a lot of grades and couldn't relate to anyone. I took it upon myself to protect him from anyone who'd bully him or take advantage of his intelligence. But at the same time, I pushed him hard to be more productive so I guess that's why he snuck out to these botfights. … However, he doesn't have faith in his own talents, he's afraid of messing up in front of people. … Maybe Hiro doesn't have to win an admission to the school, he can just apply normally. His age wouldn't be a problem and his high school teachers can send recommendation letters for him."
He slowly smiled and his eyes glowed with pride.
"But when I saw him being so passionate with his project and how much he wanted to get into the school, I knew I did the right thing… I could never been more proud of my brother. I can't wait for him attend SFIT with me and the others."
Tadashi glanced to his left as though someone is calling for him. He turned back to Baymax and quickly adjusted his cap.
"Well, I better get going," he said with a huge smile on his face. "I gotta get ready for Hiro's demonstration. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Until next time, Baymax. I am satisfied with my care."
Fin.
NOTE: Heads up! I might write an extra "chapter" (more like a one-shot) showing deleted scenes that I never included in the fic due to pacing issues and other things, as well as an epilogue. Yeah, so my fanfic isn't completely over yet!
((And so my fanfic came a conclusion! This has been an amazing journey even though it ended tragically for Tadashi.
I've been wanting to make this kind of AU where Tadashi couldn't cope with his grief and he becomes a villain, his morals and sense of justice becoming ironically twisted. Even if he did survive from the previous chapter, he would never bring himself to accept his mistakes and would force himself to leave Hiro anyways since he (in his own thinking) believes he's unworthy of his brother's love, or anyone's love.
(On a personal note: This fanfic is a "semi-healing project" for me trying to overcome my own loss, and my pain is probably evident in some parts of the fic. But this fanfic, as well as the movie and my fellow BH6 fans, slowly helped me with my grief and so I'm grateful for it.)
I know I more or less left some things unanswered, but I will gladly explain them! You can ask me in the replies here or in my museblog " .com" on Tumblr.
Thank you so much for reading my fanfic. While it's probably not perfect, I'm glad you took the time to stick around and see it to end. I might write a sequel fic of the BH6 movie sometime in the future, but with a twist: some characters who are mentioned or appeared in the au might show up in the sequel. So keep an eye out if you're interested. Thank you once again!))