YOU GUYS

IT'S DONE

RESISTANCE IS DONE!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

I cried while writing the end...

I hope you guys love this chapter! I'll post a quick credits chapter after this so I can properly thank everyone! please read it! it'll be fun!

thank you, my friends!

until next time...

peace out!

-HIRO-

(in case you forgot)

Suddenly, the world is a blur, microbots spiraling all around me. I hack at the tendrils with my plasma blades, but there's just so many of them. I think Obake might have brought reinforcements.

Baymax stomps toward me, flinging Wasabi and Momokase aside, and I remember that day I put Baymax into kill mode with a pang of guilt. But this time, it's not my fault—and Baymax's target is me.

My robot holds up his rocket fist—the one fist he has left, since I cut off the other one—and aims it at me. It powers up and fires, and I dive into the ruins of SFIT, wondering how on earth to disable Baymax. I'd have to get close enough to stab the access port…

The rocket fist shoots back toward Baymax—he'll probably try to shoot it again—and I see my chance.

I fling two magnet disks at the fist, and they lock on, trailing a stream of magnetism behind them. Since I have the other end, the disks pull me to the rocket fist, and suddenly I'm sitting on top of it as it reaches Baymax. I twist around, pulling out my graphene blade, and try to drive it into the port—but the fist shoots off again, and I hang on for dear life as it shoots into the sky.

I think I might scream, because my gauntlets start to slip from the rocket fist, slick with rain. To make matters worse, several long, sharp blades shoot out of Baymax's fingers and start swiping at me, trying to knock me off.

"Hiro!" Tadashi yells from below. "Hold on!"

"I'm trying!" I shout, but my gauntlets are slipping, and now I'm dangling from the rocket fist by only my fingertips. Another spin from the fist dislodges my grip, and then I'm falling, plummeting through the rain. And, yeah, I'm screaming.

The piles of rubble fly up to meet me, and I plunge into the ruins of SFIT. I let out a cry of pain as my leg twists under me, and I curl onto my side in the debris, having sunk in deep enough that I can't see the battle. I know I have to get up, but I don't want to—when I try to flex my leg, a jolt of pain shoots through my knee. Something's torn, probably a tendon or a ligament. Whatever it is, it's bad enough that I don't think I can put weight on it.

"Hiro!" comes Tadashi's voice over the comm link. "Where are you? What happened? Are you hurt?"

A scream echoes from above, and I realize I have to get back out there. Pressing the comm link button, I reply, "I'm coming, Dashi—I think I might've sprained my knee, though—don't worry, seriously! I'll be fine!"

"Can you walk?" Tadashi asks worriedly. "I can help you—"

He cuts himself off with a yelp of pain. "Sorry, Hiro—microbots—ow, seriously, stop it!"

That's it. Sprained knee or no sprained knee, I've gotta get back in the fighting before more people get hurt.

I get shakily to my feet, and my leg almost immediately gives out. Gritting my teeth, I manage to shift my weight onto my other side enough that I can stand, but there's no way I can run on this. Still, if I can do anything to help my friends, I have to.

With considerable effort, I pull myself up, back to the surface of the rubble. Things look pretty bad—Tadashi is struggling to fend off a horde of microbots, and Wasabi is just getting to his feet, blood dripping down his face. Mini-Max is soaring through the sky, shouting, "MINI-MAXIMUM VENGEANCE!" Krei is supporting Liv, trying to shoot lasers at the killer Baymax as the robot fires his rocket fist at everyone, its blades whipping through the rain.

I might not be able to run, but I can still shoot. I aim a sonic wave pulse at the rocket fist, knocking it off course as it sails through the air toward Chief Cruz.

Meg swoops down from the sky and lands next to me, asking, "Hiro, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I tell her. "But I'm just gonna have to fight from here—I don't think I can run."

"Then I'll help you," Meg says determinedly, and she wraps an arm around my shoulders, supporting me. "Come on—we've gotta take out Baymax! Everyone's so focused on him that we're not paying attention to Obake!"

"Okay…" I mumble, my brain racing to come up with a plan. "Meg, I'll be a decoy. Try to make Baymax go for me while you attack him—you've gotta stab his access port. That'll destroy whatever chips are in there, and then we can focus on Obake."

"But if his healthcare chip is in there, it'll destroy that, too," Meg reminds me, her eyes wide and scared. "And then we won't be able to rebuild him. Hiro, Baymax will be gone forever—the computers with his programming are gone, too."

"It doesn't matter right now," I whisper, trying not to let my voice shake at the idea of destroying my robot. "He's trying to kill us all, Meg. We have to take him out."

Meg nods, but her eyes shimmer with tears. As if not wanting me to see, she dashes away, pulling out her graphene blade, and I know it's time to put our plan into action.

"Hey!" I yell, waving my arms around and trying to get Baymax's attention. "Baymax, over here!"

Sure enough, the robot's head swings toward me, and I try to act as small and vulnerable as possible. It's not hard—I'm both small and vulnerable.

"Meg, now!" I hiss into the comm link as Baymax starts to bear down on me. "Hurry!"

Megan comes up behind Baymax, circling around and aiming her blade at his access port. Baymax stops in his tracks as she leaps, driving the graphene into his chest.

For a moment, I think it's all gone according to plan, but then Baymax swipes at Meg, his blades slashing across her chest. My girlfriend screeches and falls to the pile of wreckage, her blade still embedded in the access port.

"Meg!" I scream as Baymax falls, collapsing onto the rubble. She did it—she destroyed Baymax, but at what cost?

Chief Cruz has noticed, too, and he runs toward his daughter. I limp as fast as I can toward her, but suddenly, a tendril of microbots whips through the air toward me.

I can't keep back a yelp of pain as the microbots crash directly into my visor, shattering it and flinging me backwards. The world turns into a blur again as I tumble down the pile of rubble and skid to a halt on the broken street.

Stars swim through my vision as I lay there, motionless, seeing double for a second. The glass of my visor is shattered, and it's an absolute miracle that the flying shards haven't blinded me.

I can vaguely hear the voices of my friends, yelling my name and Meg's over the comm link, but my head is spinning violently and my ears are ringing. I can barely think, let alone move. Warm blood is dripping down my face, and I can't tell where it's coming from.

Sitting up proves possible, if painful. I pull off my helmet—useless now, since it's pretty dented and the Plexiglas is broken—but leave the comm link, then run my hands over my face. My nose is dripping blood—it doesn't feel broken, but there's a heck of a lot of sanguinary fluid. I can tell that there are several cuts on my cheeks, as well as one on the bridge of my nose. Blood is also dripping into my eyes, and I conclude that there's probably a gash on my forehead, too.

"Hiro!" Tadashi screams over the comm link, Honey's and Wasabi's voices joining him. "Come in, Hiro!"

"I'm okay!" I gasp, trying desperately not to pass out at the sight of blood. "I'm fine—just a sec—"

I struggle to my feet, limping back up the pile of rubble. I can barely see, but adrenaline is rushing through me, and that—and the thought of Meg, badly injured or even dying—gives me the strength to scramble back up the wreckage.

As I drag myself back up, Momokase flies past me, her blades whirling as Obake shoots spear after spear of microbots at her. I fire up a sonic pulse and aim it at Obake, knocking him off balance. Wasabi, his wings broken and bent, drives his plasma blades into Obake's microbot pillar, but the villain knocks him off with a burst of microbots.

Obake slides across the rubble to where Meg lies, Chief Cruz bent over her. I realize with a jolt of terror that Obake is pulling out a gun—the same one he used to kill Fred. He's planning to shoot Meg, undoubtedly thinking that'll demoralize us.

And it will. I don't know if I could keep fighting if Obake killed Meg.

"Meg, Chief Cruz, look out!" I scream, and I lunge forward, trying to get to them before Obake does. Chief Cruz looks up as Obake fires his pistol, the bullet sailing straight towards Meg.

"No!" Chief Cruz roars, and he throws himself over Meg. Honey, having swooped down behind Obake, lets out a high, shrill scream as the bullet strikes Chief Cruz in the back.

The chief collapses over his daughter, and I rush forward, knowing I have to protect Meg in case Obake decides to shoot again. But Wasabi, Momokase, Krei, and Liv turn on Obake, keeping him busy.

Tadashi beats me to Chief Cruz, dropping to his knees beside the injured man and pulling him off Meg. "Chief Cruz! Talk to me!"

"Dad?" Meg whispers, one hand clutching at her bloody chest. I kneel down next to her, taking her other hand in mine.

"Megan," Chief Cruz gasps. "Let me see her—"

As gently as I can, I help Meg sit up, and Tadashi, pulling a roll of gauze out of his first aid kit, does the same for Chief Cruz. My brother desperately tries to pack the wound in the chief's back with gauze, but soon his hands are soaked in blood, and I know there's no hope of saving him.

"Dad, please," Meg rasps, one hand still pressed to her chest. "Don't go."

"You have to—keep fighting," Chief Cruz tells her, reaching out and touching his daughter's cheek. "Don't give up, Meg. You can—you can still stop Obake."

"Not without you," Meg whispers, tears suddenly dripping down her face. "Please, Dad, no."

"You'll be okay," Chief Cruz promises, mustering a weak smile as he looks over at me. "Take—take care of my daughter, Hiro."

"I will," I vow, my voice trembling.

"Keep fighting, Big Hero 6," the chief murmurs, his eyes closing. "And never—never forget—that God is on your side."

Chief Cruz goes limp, falling against Tadashi, and I pull Meg closer to me as she starts to sob. Tadashi is crying, too, and I can feel some kind of liquid dripping down my face. I can't tell if it's tears, blood, or rain, but it could be anything.

"Help!" cries a voice, and I'm jolted out of the moment. I look up to see Obake wrapping tendrils of microbots around Honey, with Liv and Krei tied up in a similar fashion. Momokase and Wasabi are both trying to cut apart the bots, but everyone is too high up.

"Let them go!" I shout, gently lowering Meg back to the ground. "What do you want, Obake?"

"I want my city!" Obake rages, slamming Krei into the pile of rubble. "And I will not stop until I have it!"

"What if I agreed to join you?" I call up, knowing full well I could never do it but wanting to see what Obake will do. "What if I helped you—would you leave us alone?"

"I don't want you anymore, Hiro!" Obake yells. "I want my sister back!"

Déjà vu flashes through me, transporting me back to the day we fought Callaghan. He wanted Abigail back, and we all knew that our fight wouldn't do anything about it. Surely Obake understands that?

"You can't bring her back!" I yell, squinting against the rain. "Trust me, Riku!"

Obake's real name seems to strike a chord in his soul, and suddenly, everything stops. The microbots stop trying to attack us, and everything goes silent except for the pounding of the rain.

"I know I can't bring Rinah back," Obake says softly, his voice trembling. Then his face hardens, lighting up so brightly it casts shadows on the ground. "But I can avenge her."

He puts his hands together, forming them into some kind of sphere. The microbots drop their current captives onto the pile of rubble, and Wasabi rushes over to Honey, half-catching her before she can hit the ground.

I watch in horror as the microbots curl into a massive ball, rising into the sky just like the star did nearly a year ago. It's going to explode—I don't know how much power it actually holds, but it's not gonna be pretty. At the very least, it'll incapacitate us enough that we won't be able to defend San Fransokyo anymore.

"We have to stop it!" Tadashi screams, and he launches himself into the air. Wasabi follows him, then Liv, then Mini-Max, who is still yelling about vengeance. But they appear to be the only ones with functional wings—the rest of us can't fly up there. All I can do is fire sonic waves at Obake, trying to knock him off balance. Honey shoots chem balls at him, too, but he dodges every time. I try to take a step forward, but the adrenaline from earlier is wearing off, and my knee trembles, unwilling to support my weight.

Everything is chaos—people are screaming, jets of light and fire are shooting through the air, and the giant ball of microbots is actually starting to glow—Obake is putting so much pressure on it that it's heating up. When he finally lets it explode, it'll probably set fire to the whole city.

Please, I beg God as my head starts to spin again, the adrenaline wearing off to the point that I drop to my knees. Please help us think of something—anything—

And then a voice carries over everything, screaming, "Take me!"

Obake is still holding the microbots in place, but it looks like the makeshift bomb has stopped heating up. He looks down at the source of the voice—Momokase, who is standing beneath him with blood dripping down her face.

"I was the one who took Rinah's life!" Momokase yells up to Obake, trembling all over but standing her ground. "If you must avenge her, kill me—but let them go! Please, let the others live! Would that not be enough for you—to take the life of your sister's murderer? You do not need the city, Obake! You do not even want it! You only wanted justice for Rinah, to carry on her legacy—surely taking my life is sufficient revenge!"

Obake looks stunned, and Tadashi wails, "Momo, no!"

"I must do this," Momokase tells him, still staring up at Obake. "It is the only way."

"No, it's not," Tadashi tells her. "Please, Momo, I can't lose you!"

"My life is worth only a fraction of this nation's freedom," Momokase replies, and to my surprise, a tear slides down her cheek as she turns to my brother and presses her lips to his cheek. "I'm sorry, Tadashi."

"I cannot surrender San Fransokyo!" Obake roars suddenly, pointing his pistol at Momokase. "I will kill you, Momokase, and all of Big Hero 6 will follow! Rinah did not deserve to die by your unworthy hand—she and all my people will be avenged, here and now, or so help me, I will destroy the very foundations of this earth!"

"Not so long as I live, you won't!" screams a voice, and then, through blurred vision—I think I might be close to passing out—I watch my brother draw back from Momokase, holding a shuriken.

A flash of bright blue, a whistling sound, a small thunk—and then Obake is standing motionless on his pillar of microbots, looking down at the shuriken sticking out of his chest.

And then the pillar crumbles, and the sphere of microbots falls to the ground with a mighty crash, and rubble flies everywhere as Obake collapses on top of the massive pile of microbots, motionless.

Dead.

I struggle to stand, to do something—but my knees turn to water and I collapse, blood still streaming down my face as shadows start to creep in at the edges of my vision. Someone is screaming, several people are sobbing, and the rain pours down through it all, washing San Fransokyo clean of the blood that has stained it since the war began.

And then I hear Tadashi speak the beautiful, long-desired words, words I've wanted to hear for what feels like years.

"It's over."

—TADASHI—

I can't think, can't feel, can't take in anything but the shocked expression on Obake's face as the throwing star strikes him in the chest. He collapses, the microbots crashing down, and Momo yanks me to the ground as the impact flings several sharp pieces of rubble through the air.

As soon as the wave has passed, I scramble back up, Momo standing beside me. I stumble over to Obake's body, verifying that he is, indeed, dead.

I just killed a man.

A man who would have killed us all, destroyed America, and plunged the world into nuclear war, yes, but still a man. And I killed him.

"It's over," I mumble, dropping to my knees. "It's over—it has to be…"

"You saved us," Momo whispers, putting an arm around my shoulders. "Tadashi, you did it."

"But—I killed him," I gasp, my voice shaking, along with my hands. "I'm a murderer, Momo. A monster. I just took a human life."

"You are not a murderer," Momo says sharply, grabbing my face in her hands and turning it to face her. "Murder is the shedding of innocent blood, Tadashi. Obake was not innocent in the slightest—and besides, it was in defense of your country. You are not a murderer—you are a hero. God has the right to slay the wicked, and sometimes He uses people like you to do it. I forbid you to blame yourself—this was the only way the war would end, and I have never met a purer soul than you. This does not diminish that purity, Tadashi. And I would love you no matter what you did."

Of course, I burst into tears, and Momo puts her arms around me, gently rubbing my back and murmuring, "It's okay, Tadashi. Everything will be alright."

After several minutes, we break apart, and I wipe the tears out of my eyes. The first thing I see is a North Korean soldier standing on the wreckage, and I instinctively raise my electricity blaster. But the soldier simply looks at Obake's body and then turns around, running back down the pile of rubble and yelling in Korean.

Seconds later, to my amazement, the fighter jets turn and fly away, moving toward the ocean. The infantry starts to disperse, running down the street, and the robots stumble around in confusion.

The North Koreans are retreating.

It's really over.

The war is over.

"Tadashi!" Honey calls from next to Baymax, her voice shaking. "You should probably see this."

I get shakily to my feet, wincing as my head throbs. I don't think I have a concussion, but I definitely hit my head at some point—probably when Obake attacked me with a ton of microbots, right after Hiro's attempt to disable Baymax's rocket fist.

Blood trickles down my cheek as I stumble over to Honey, Momo trailing behind me. When we reach Baymax, I realize that Megan's graphene blade is still embedded in his access port—and that his healthcare chip is still inside, smashed into glittering green fragments.

"I don't think we can rebuild him," Honey says softly, tears dripping down her face. "His programming is gone."

"Yeah," I whisper, looking down at the robot. "I'm so sorry, Baymax."

"He would have been proud of us," Honey breathes, wiping her eyes. "I know he would have."

We stand there in the rain for a few moments, and then I hear a weak cough from behind me. I spin around, suddenly remembering Hiro and Megan. Both of them are limp on the ruins of SFIT, bleeding and motionless beside Chief Cruz's body.

"Oh my gosh," I breathe, limping back over to them and dropping to my knees again. Hiro's unconscious—hopefully from exhaustion rather than trauma or blood loss—and Megan seems only half-awake, blood soaking her chest.

"Crap," I mumble, pressing my comm link. "Wasabi—I need you to carry someone. I'll grab Hiro—is there anyone who can take Chief Cruz?"

"No need," comes a voice, and I hear the sound of a chopper overhead. Heathcliff is back—thank goodness.

"Where do you wish to go, Master Hamada?" Heathcliff asks after landing the helicopter and stepping out.

"Back to Basemax, I guess," I tell him. "I've got all my medical supplies there. We'd better go fast, though—I don't think Megan can last much longer. She's lost a lot of blood."

Wasabi, Liv, Krei, and Honey follow Momo and I into the helicopter, Wasabi carrying Chief Cruz's body, Momo carrying Megan on her back. I scoop Hiro up gently, relieved to find his chest rising and falling.

When we land back at Basemax, we all rush inside, and I gently set Hiro down in his bed before running to the bathroom and pulling off my wet, bloodstained armor. After changing into clean clothes and scrubbing my hands furiously, I put on a pair of examination gloves and wash those too. Megan needs stitches immediately, and I have to be sterile if I don't want her wounds to get infected.

"If you guys could, like, not watch," I mumble as I bend over Megan's bed with my suturing kit. "That'd be great. I know, I'm a guy, but I'm also a doctor. I just don't think Meg would want her, you know, chest exposed to everyone."

Everyone seems to understand, and they all go to change.

"Come see me after I'm done!" I call after them, then put on a surgical mask and pull out my needle.

Upon inspection, Megan has three long, deep gashes running across her chest. I clean them out, then rub numbing cream over the wounds and put in the sutures, of which there are—in total—forty-seven. That's the most I've ever had to do.

After the stitches, I check Megan over for other injuries, discovering several scrapes and cuts but nothing worse. I bandage the smaller abrasions with Band-Aids and bacitracin, then tape gauze over the larger ones. She should be okay with a lot of rest and maybe some painkillers.

When I'm done with Megan, I move on to Hiro. My baby brother is still passed out in bed, looking exhausted even in sleep. As I gently brush a hand through his hair, though, Hiro's eyes open, and he whispers, "Tadashi?"

"Hey, buddy," I murmur. "What's up?"

"Did we…did we win?"

"Yeah," I tell him, my voice cracking. "We did."

Hiro smiles faintly. "Awesome."

I smile back, relieved beyond belief that Hiro and I both made it through the war. Sometimes—okay, probably just about the whole time—I didn't think we would.

"Do you think you can go change?" I ask. "It'll be easier for me to treat you, and besides, you're all wet."

"Yeah," Hiro mumbles, sitting up and putting a hand to his forehead. "Ow—killer headache. Hey, is Meg okay?"

"I should probably check you for a concussion," I say worriedly. "And yeah, she's okay. Forty-seven stitches, yeah, but I think she'll be fine as long as she rests. Go change, and then I'll patch you up."

Hiro goes to the bathroom to change, and I flop down on the bed next to his, exhausted and aching all over. Miraculously, I don't think anything's broken, but I still kind of want to lay down and not move for the rest of the day.

When Hiro comes back, now dressed in his hoodie and cargo pants, I sit up and pull a roll of gauze and several Band-Aids out of my first aid kit, asking, "Okay—where does it hurt?"

After careful inspection, I determine that Hiro doesn't need stitches, that his knee is undoubtedly sprained, and that he doesn't have a concussion, just a headache. Figuring my own knee is healed—wow, the jet crash was forever ago—I simply take my brace off it, adjust it, and put it on Hiro's knee. I patch up all his cuts and scrapes, taping gauze over his cheeks and forehead, and place a Band-Aid over the bridge of his nose. By the time I'm done, half of Hiro's face is covered in gauze and he's drifting off to sleep again.

"Good night, Hiro," I murmur, pulling the covers over my baby brother and giving him a kiss on the forehead—a ritual for us, since Mom used to do it every night. "Sleep good. We'll wait until you wake up to do a memorial service."

"G'night," Hiro mumbles, and his eyes close as he lapses almost immediately into sleep. I smile and pull his covers up a little higher, covering his skinny shoulders. I think he might've lost a few pounds over the course of the war—we've gotta find some more food.

I go into the main room to treat everyone else's injuries, of which there are many. Wasabi needs stitches in his forehead, Krei has several broken ribs, and Liv's wrist is fractured. Momo and Honey, thankfully, don't seem to have anything worse than considerable epidermal abrasions—although I think Momo might be hiding something or other, but I'll corner her about it later. By the way she's acting, I think she might have a concussion.

Those are just the worst injuries—everyone has countless scrapes and scratches and bruises, and I use a whole tube of bacitracin and two boxes of Band-Aids on them. When I've finished tending to everyone else, I finally patch myself up—I was lucky to escape with nothing but a few gashes and burns from the robots' lasers. My formerly white cast is streaked with blood, most of which is not mine. The cast hasn't been white since the fall of Sycorax, actually—it's been a while. I don't think my arm is even healed yet, since it's only been maybe five weeks since the jet crash. It feels like it's been five years.

After I've done everything I need to, I flop down in my bed again, exhausted. Draping an arm over my eyes, I let out a long sigh, too tired to even cry over what we've lost. It's only about ten in the morning—we fought for three or so hours—but all I want to do is lay down and sleep for a month.

"Hey," whispers a soft voice, and I remove my arm from my face to see Momo standing above me.

"Hey, Momo," I reply, sitting up and scooting over. "You can sit down if you want."

She sits, her posture similar to that of a hunting cat.

"You can relax, you know," I murmur. "No one's gonna hurt you."

Momo smiles, and I do too as I remember saying the same words to her at the first resistance meeting, so long ago. I can't believe I've known her for this long—only five weeks, just like the jet crash, but it feels like forever.

"Do you have a concussion?" I ask, realizing that Momo doesn't seem to be looking directly at me. "You've been walking a little weird, like you can't see where you're going, and—I don't know, I just think it looks like you have a concussion."

Momo sighs. "You know everything, Tadashi. I believe you are correct."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask, pulling a couple of ibuprofen capsules out of my first aid kit. "I could've helped earlier, you know."

"I did not wish to burden you," Momo tells me, accepting the Advil with a nod of thanks. "You have enough to do."

"That doesn't mean you get to go without medical care," I reprimand her.

"I would have been fine," Momo assures me. "How are you feeling, Tadashi?"

I flop backwards onto the bed with a deep sigh. "Tired. And my head hurts. And I just want to sleep. And…" I close my eyes. "I'm scared, Momo."

"But the war is over."

"Maybe I'm selfish," I mumble. "But I'm scared for myself. I just killed Obake, Momo. He was only trying to do what his sister wanted, and I killed him for that, when I knew I would do the same for Hiro."

"But you would not have taken innocent lives," Momo insists, laying down and staring at the underside of the top bunk. "Obake was not innocent, Tadashi. He would have killed us all and destroyed the rest of the country if you hadn't killed him. I forbid you to blame yourself for his death—you saved us all, Tadashi, and I have no doubt that one day you will go to heaven."

"I hope you'll be there too," I whisper.

"Perhaps," Momo agrees. "But I have a long way to go."

"You'll be fine," I tell her. "You've got more good in you than you think."

Momo smiles, and I lean over to kiss her cheek. After I pull away, she stands and walks away, murmuring, "Get some sleep, Tadashi. I love you."

"Love you too," I call after her, then curl up on the bed and bury my face in the pillow, suddenly reflecting on everything we've lost during the war.

So many people—so many friends. Aunt Cass, GoGo, Fred, Professor Granville, Abigail, Professor Callaghan, Chief Cruz. All gone trying to make a better world, trying to keep us all safe.

And they succeeded. World War Three is over, and we're going to honor their legacies every way we can.

Still…they shouldn't have died. We even lost Baymax—what kind of doctor am I going to be without him? I don't even have his chip anymore, let alone his programming—the only copies were on the computer in the garage of the Lucky Cat and in my lab at SFIT.

I wish Baymax could give me a hug right now. It'd make me feel better.

Just as I'm drifting off to sleep, a burst of glorious inspiration occurs to me, and I realize that all is not lost. Maybe I can bring Baymax back—it's a long shot, but if I can just get to the police station…

I allow myself to sleep for a little while, but after a few hours, I leave Basemax and start to run down the street, hoping against hope that the police station hasn't been destroyed.

When I reach the station, I'm relieved beyond belief to see that it's still standing. It seems abandoned, so I slip inside, searching for the room with the Buddy Guardians in it. Hiro reprogrammed them during the robot revolution—they all have copies of Baymax's chip.

Finally, I come to the room with the robots inside, and I pop open the access port of one of them, my heart threatening to pound out of my chest. If this doesn't work, I guess I could try to entirely recreate the chip, but I know Baymax would never be the same.

The green chip slides out of the access port, and I struggle not to whoop in joy. I have Baymax's chip—I can rebuild him, exactly as he used to be.

I walk home through the storm, my face turned up to the pearly gray sky, and let the rain wash everything away.

—HIRO—

When I finally come out of sleep, I feel a lot better—everything hurts less, and for the first time in a while, I actually feel rested. I wonder how long I was out.

"Hiro?" whispers a voice, and I roll over to see Megan awake in her bed, gazing at me with exhausted eyes.

"Meg!" I exclaim, jumping up out of bed. My head spins suddenly, and I sink back down onto the bed until the dizziness passes, rubbing my forehead. "Whoa—sorry. Still got a headache."

"Are you okay?" Meg mumbles, wincing as she speaks. "Is…is the war over?"

"It's done," I tell her, smiling as widely as I can with the gauze taped over my face. "And don't worry, I'm fine—Tadashi patched me up. How're you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," Meg rasps, managing a weak smile. "Are we gonna do a funeral?"

"I think so," I reply, standing up again, more slowly this time. "Tadashi said they'd wait until we woke up. I think everyone's been sleeping—we can't be the only ones. Hang on, I'll go check."

Trying not to put too much weight on my injured leg—Tadashi braced it well, but it still aches a little—I limp out into the main room, where my brother is sitting at the table, soldering something together, which he hastily shoves under the table.

"Hey, Hiro!" Tadashi exclaims, striding over to me and wrapping me in a hug. "You've been out for, like, a whole day. Don't worry, you're not the only one—everyone else has been asleep, too."

"What're you working on?" I ask, trying to edge past Tadashi to see his project.

"A surprise," Tadashi replies, smiling. "I'll show you when it's done. Are you okay? Anything I forgot to bandage?"

"I'm fine," I tell him. "Don't worry. Are we gonna do the funeral?"

"As soon as everyone wakes up. Is Meg awake? I need to check on her."

"She's awake—here, you can come in."

I lead Tadashi back into the bedroom and over to Megan's bed, where my girlfriend is sitting up, fingering what must be the stitches in her chest. She smiles when Tadashi and I come in, and my brother goes over to Meg's bed to give her a checkup.

When Tadashi has verified that Meg is okay, he pulls both of us into a hug. "I can't believe we all made it, you guys."

I smile and relax into the embrace, remembering the night in the labor camp when we planned our escape—so long ago. I can't believe we all made it, either.

Everyone else starts to wake up, and I realize that it's probably time to do the funeral. I wonder what we'll do—I think it would be great to have some kind of memorial service for everyone we've lost, even if we already did funerals for them.

As soon as everyone is ready, we head outside, Tadashi and Wasabi carrying Chief Cruz's body, which is wrapped in a sheet. We don't have a coffin or anything, but we can still bury him—something we haven't been able to do for anyone else we've lost.

It takes a while, but we manage to dig a hole in the soft, sandy ground near Basemax, big enough to hold Chief Cruz's body. Several rocks, engraved with names using plasma and graphene blades, serve as makeshift headstones for our lost friends. After the chief has been buried, we say a few words, and I support Meg through her speech, during which she cries. A lot. I think I cry, too, especially when I speak.

"We lost a lot of heroes," I whisper, looking at the row of headstones. "But their legacies will live forever, and I—I know they're happy now."

And that's all I can say before my throat closes up, cutting me off. Meg's arm tightens around my shoulders as I put a hand over my face, trying not to let the tears drip down my cheeks.

We stand by the grave for several minutes, letting the rain patter softly down. After what feels like an eternity, Tadashi whispers, "I…I have a surprise, you guys. I think it'll help us all feel better."

He goes back inside, and I follow him, wondering what on earth Tadashi could possibly be talking about.

"Stay here, you guys," Tadashi tells us as we reach the main room. "I'll go get him."

Him?

My brother ducks into the training room, and I can faintly hear him whispering, "Come on, buddy." Who is he talking to?

Tadashi comes back out into the light, a faint, almost embarrassed smile on his face as something follows him into the room—something huge and white and marshmallow-like. My eyes widen as I realize what—who—it is.

"Baymax?" I whisper, my voice shaking.

"Hiro," Baymax says, and I fling myself into his arms, burying my face in his soft white surface. This time, I'm not even ashamed to cry, because my best friend is back, when I thought I'd never see him again. Baymax strokes my hair gently as I sob, saying, "You will be alright."

Finally, I pull back, wiping my eyes, and then wrap my arms around Tadashi, whispering, "How—how'd you get him back?"

"Remember the Buddy Guardians?" Tadashi asks. "When you reprogrammed them, you used copies of Baymax's chip—I remembered while you were asleep, and I ran to the police station to see if they were still there. I was up all night finishing him, but—yeah. I think I got it right."

"Thank you," I mumble, struggling not to let any more tears fall. "Thank you so much, Tadashi."

"Anything for you, little bro," Tadashi says warmly, and he pulls me closer to his chest. "You wanna go for a ride?"


Several hours later, I've finished printing off Baymax's armor, and I fit the pieces onto him as he blinks down at me. Stepping back, I survey my work—Baymax looks just like he used to, tall and strong and kind. A lot like Tadashi, now that I think about it.

"Everything's ready," I announce, turning to address the rest of Big Hero 6. "Let's go."

Tadashi scoops up Mochi, cradling the cat in his arms. "Hiro and I can go first, and then Baymax will come back for the rest of you. Make sure your armor's on, so you don't fall off."

Baymax wraps his arms around Tadashi's chest, and for the first time in months, I climb onto the robot's back, locking my magnets onto the ports. I can't believe we're going to fly again.

"Baymax—wings," I whisper, and Baymax takes off, soaring up into the sunset.

Vibrant colors spiral around me as I let out a shout of delight, the last of the rain pattering down onto my helmet as we fly through the remaining, wind-torn clouds.

Tadashi's scream of terror quickly turns into joy, and the flight is over far too quickly. Baymax deposits us on top of a wind turbine—the same one we rested on a year ago for our first flight.

"I will return with your friends," Baymax tells me. "Do not fall."

"I won't, buddy," I tell him.

Baymax flies off, and Tadashi pulls me into a side hug. "I didn't know riding Baymax was so fun."

"It's pretty awesome," I agree. "And you're gonna do it a lot more now—being a member of Big Hero 6 is a full-time job."

"But I'm a medical student!" Tadashi yelps. "I can't fit that into my schedule!"

"Too bad, dude. You knew exactly what you were signing up for."

Tadashi laughs. "Okay, I guess I can be a superhero. Just don't expect me for every night patrol when I get into my residency."

"We'll manage—we've got Momokase. Speaking of which, are you still planning on marrying her? Because I've decided I wouldn't be entirely opposed to that—we could use some more, you know, happy events."

"I do really want to marry her," Tadashi murmurs, staring into the sunset. "As soon as I've got a ring, I'll propose. And you'll obviously be the best man."

"That'll be awesome," I whisper, then look out over the bay. It's even more beautiful now that we're free—free of North Korea's occupation, free of everything Obake and Jeong put us through.

San Fransokyo is safe, and soon it'll be whole again.

Baymax has to make two trips, but eventually all of us are standing on the wind turbine, looking out at the vibrant sunset as the clouds clear, exposing the brilliant sky.

"We made it," Meg whispers, her arm around my shoulders. "You guys, we actually made it."

"I knew we would," Krei declares. "Never doubted it for a moment!"

Liv shoves him playfully. "You pessimist."

"I'm a realist!"

"Same thing." She kisses him on the cheek.

"It's been an honor, you guys," Wasabi says. "It hasn't been easy—"

"—but we're here," Honey finishes. "And that's what matters."

"Do you think the others are watching?" Tadashi whispers, looking up at the sky. "Because if they are, I bet they're cheering for us. We owe all this to them—and to God."

"They would certainly be proud of everything we've done," Momokase tells him. "I'm certain they're watching, Tadashi."

"This was a positive outcome," Baymax decides. "The war has ended, and now we must reconstruct the city. I estimate that it will take approximately five years to completely rebuild it."

"I don't care how long it takes," I whisper, watching the sun sink into the ocean. "It'll—it'll be alright."

"It will," Baymax agrees, and he wraps his arms around me.

We stand there, silent, on top of the wind turbine, robot, boy, and team.

Not just team.

Family.

It's amazing how much a war can change you—it's been a long, hard seven weeks, but overall, I'd say I've changed for the better. I've grown closer to my friends than I could ever imagine, and I even fell in love.

But most importantly, I've learned how important it is to rely on God, to trust that everything will be okay as long as He is on our side. I'm glad He chose to use me to help save the world.

The sun dips below the horizon, and tiny pinpricks of light begin to appear in the darkening sky. The first real night of freedom is beginning.

I stare out at the horizon, at the bay, at the bridge, and a deep sense of peace spreads through my chest as I realize that, finally, everything is calm and safe and shot through with sparkling light.

We stand there for a long time, robot, boy, and family, watching the horizon until all light fades.


al fine