Chapter 48, everybody! In which Aunt Cass gets involved...

Moving on…OG!Obake leaving a nice tip is in reference to KaliAnn's fic Hiro or Villain on FFN. Saying that, someone else did a little drabble on Cass's thoughts in this scene which I referenced but I don't remember who did it and I can't find it now. Like good grief at least we're up to 63 Obake fics on AO3 but I'm responsible for a chunk of those and more than once I've gone back and discovered that some old favs have been deleted PLEASE I need content. T^T/

In other news: Aunt Cass's kid now, no takebacks. And…look isolation is very much a tactic abusers use because if there's other people telling you otherwise then you see through their BS and start running. Gaslighting is also a big thing they do—"Oh it wasn't like that." Don't buy into it, if you see that behavior start running, I'd like to thank my Mom for repeatedly explaining what those kind of people do so when I saw that sort of behavior I could get out of the situation.

The movie Aunt Cass is referencing is Cold Pursuit, by the way, while the quote from Fred is from Portal 2. The monster-capture games Obake's referencing is most likely Temtem or Nexomon those dudes are friend-shaped (I want a Tateru stuffed animal and have designed a Boltusk shirt I'd love to have, although the particular stuffed animal I picture here is the Nexomon Toxipore) and yes hugging stuffed animals helps. The movie they watch is Peggy Sue Got Married—watched it with Mom…last year, I think? And was struck by the fact that it kind of vibed closely with this fic, hence why it gets a reference. Keji is cage in Japanese, by the way, and focusing on texture is supposed to help jolt you out of a panic attack. And title-drop time!

Juxshoa, thanks for the review! Yes he is. D:

Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney

Okay, so. Usually Cass's days went better than this, she very rarely had any complaints about any of her customers. Sure, there were some exceptions, some guys were just plain rude, some guys like Bolton Grammercy had to be taken down a few pegs, but on the whole she was perfectly fine with her customers, both old and new.

And on the surface, she really shouldn't have any problem with this one particular customer, who had come in a little before Tadashi and Hiro went off to school, picked a corner seat, picked up a paper and ordered a coffee and whatever you'd recommend. She had gone with the blueberry scone, a nice thick piece because good night if you turned this guy sideways he'd disappear. Said skinny guy had disappeared behind his paper and not been a bother at all, was perfectly cordial whenever she came over and asked how everything was going.

So why did he make her nerves go all prickly?

She couldn't place it, kept eyeballing him and keeping him in her peripheral vision as she tried to figure it out, smothered it and stayed cordial when she asked him how he was liking everything. Yes, everything seemed fine and on the up and up.

It was when he said something as she started to turn away, her not-quite focused on him, when she glanced back and saw a familiar tic that she finally placed it.

Her mind was scrambling after that, it taking her everything she had to not start screwing up orders, so focused was she on rearranging everything with this new bit of information, slotting everything she knew into this new matrix. Obake had never talked about where he came from, never talked about his family, had no problem with them assuming he was an orphan. When they met him, he was living in an abandoned restaurant and so skinny he'd blow away under a stiff breeze, to the point that she had made it her current mission to fatten him up to a healthy weight.

Now she was wondering how much of that slightness was familial.

Because that had to be who this was! Now that she knew what she was looking for she could see it plain as day—yes he was older, dressed differently, wearing his hair differently, but he and Obake looked so much alike! Same nose, same jawline, same cold calculating eyes…the way he smiled was the same! Calculating, almost fake, studiously bland.

So now here she was in a quandary. Tell him his son was here, had been staying here…or don't, which was what every instinct was screaming at her. Obake had been living on his own—this just shifted his status from orphan to runaway. She had been the one taking care of him these past several months, it was stupid to be possessive but she was dangit parental instincts were kicking in—aunt instincts?—and she wasn't about to just hand him off to someone who showed up months after the fact.

Mostly because she thought she had some of Obake's measure by now, and she was almost convinced that he did nothing without a reason. It was how she was finally able to work him around to someplace where they could have an understanding—convoluted and conniving Obake could be, but if you gave him a good reason to do something he'd do it.

He had to have a good reason for running away from this guy.

She wished she could duck out—or even ask one of the boys, Baymax even—to warn him, didn't know what would happen if the two interacted. Would he want to go with this man? Maybe she was misreading it—maybe there was some heartwarming Hallmark ending waiting just around the corner.

Somehow, she doubted this.

Eventually the guy left, leaving a sizeable tip (oh gosh please don't be a jerk when a guy left a twenty-dollar tip on a ten-dollar meal she really wanted them to become a regular) and everything died down enough that she was able to flip the sign and go off in search of Obake.

"Obake?" she called, going to the boys' room when the garage was empty. "Obake are you in h—"

Cut off a gasp when she finally caught sight of him, squashed into a corner, huddled up on himself and staring at nothing, trembling badly.

The half of his face flashing some ghastly skeletal pattern did not help matters.

"Obake?" she asked, parental instincts finally overriding her shock, mincing close like he'd bolt if she moved too fast. "Obake, are you…." All right? Could you ask a stupider question?

Because up close he looked like he had that night when he had his whole breakdown in the bathroom—like his whole worldview had shattered, like he had realized something and that realization had broken him. Gently sit next to him, gingerly hug him close, start rocking softly, telling him it was okay—

"I didn't change anything," he managed finally, sounding hollow—like an eggshell that had the guts sucked out of it, where one tap would destroy it. "I didn't change anything it's still happening I should have—"

"Shush," she said, sensing that he was going headlong into hysteria. "It's okay—it's okay listen to me—he's not coming back, okay? He's not coming back I won't let him hurt you, okay? You're safe here."

It took her a few beats to recognize the cracked noise he was making as a hollow, mirthless laugh.

"No, I'm not," he said. "We're not—nowhere is safe—"

"Listen," she said, holding his shoulders so she could look him in the eyes—that thing on the side of his face was still there did that guy do that to him? "Listen to me—guys like that want you to think like that. They want you so terrified that you think well maybe it's not that bad—that's a lie, okay? It's a lie you deserve better than that." Because now she was absolutely certain she had it figured out—why Obake had been living by himself, why he seemed so confused at regular life, why he kept holding back and drawing away, flinching at contact…why he was having this total breakdown now. Whoever that guy was…he had made Obake's life miserable.

Hug him again, feeling how stiff he was at the contact but with some idea of why now. "Listen," she told him. "Listen—it was really brave, getting away from him, okay? That was a really big step but you took it and it's a good thing. This…this here is because you know what a good life looks like and you're afraid of it going away, but it's not, okay? So long as I'm here it's not." Mental note, buy tarps and bleach and weights—chicken wire too, that Liam Neeson movie she had watched recently suggested that was a good idea. Also rope, probably.

He went quiet and still for so long she thought that he had passed out—started when he spoke finally.

"But it is," he said. "It's all going to be gone and nothing I'm doing seems to make any difference."

Hug him tighter, try to get through to him through sheer force of will.

"That's why you don't do these things alone."

Obake woke, disoriented, sure that he had lost several hours but not sure why—where was he? This wasn't his base—

Ah.

Okay you know what forget ah this was what qualified as a total screaming breakdown—Fred had jokingly said that he should avoid contact with his former self because that could possibly wipe out time forwards and backwards, but he had also sounded like he was quoting something and that had made Obake brush it off as idiocy.

But at the same time…he couldn't explain why he had reacted so badly at the sight of himself, sitting there in the café like he had been before, watching Hiro walk right by him and laughing inwardly—

I didn't change anything.

Actually scratch that maybe he could—the shock of knowing that all his hard work was amounting to nothing, that he was hurtling towards doom, a countdown to catastrophe that despite all his best efforts was coming whether he liked it or not.

Curl up tighter, wracking his brain for some idea—yes he had the painting and the journal now, but he needed the amplifier and unless he could get one half-made he was still looking at a major setback—there was a way to derail this, there had to be a way to derail it—he had deleted the plans and all evidence of Krei's failed amplifier and the original one was destroyed, so he'd have to make it from scratch and he knew he'd be leery about doing that.

Mostly because one of the end results of that miscalculation was flashing in his skull right now.

Okay no—no having this nervous little breakdown we weren't doing that today obviously we only have a few weeks left—deep breaths, deep breaths, no need for someone to see that and start asking probing questions—

Finally push himself up, realize he was in his little pallet and that someone had tucked one of Hiro's stuffed animals in next to him. Squeeze it, figured it to be some creature from one of his monster-capture games that he was invested in. Not something that would find its way on his bed. Look at the extra blankets—

Cass.

Oh no. No. Nononono how much did she see? Guess? The SK? Did she see him and think…well the actual answer was out what did she think?

Scrub at his face when it started flashing—no. No. Calm down, just—we don't have time for breakdowns anymore all this was going to be gone and he had to do something.

He had to get up.

Push himself up, still feeling wobbly—stagger to the stairs, relying heavily on the railing as he made his way down, feeling a thousand pounds heavier. All his hard work…all his hard work and what did he have to show for it?

All his hard work, gone just like that—undone by that—that—

Cass had apparently seen too much, considering she had been watching the stairwell. "Hey," she said, putting the tray of cookies aside to come over. "Are you okay?"

Lie to her lie to her lie to her come up with something—

"No," he sighed, looking away. Well if we're going to be truthful. "I don't want to talk about it."

She nodded, like this was expected somehow, felt his forehead before putting a hand to his shoulder. "We could go vege out on the couch, watch a movie and overdose on cookies."

Glance blearily around the café, note the overabundance of baked goods and the lack of customers. "You closed?"

"Yeah, felt like a day I should knock off early." Hand him a warm drink and gently push him to the living room. "You want to go find something?"

He wanted to find his old self and…he didn't know. Knock some sense into him. Wring his neck so he didn't destroy all this. Explain to him that there was more to life than just…taking it.

My greatest failure wasn't my defeat at the hands of children, he thought, sinking heavily onto the couch. It was…everything else. Thinking that all of this wasn't worth it. Thinking….

Thinking that it was better to end it all than persist.

I thought I was hated by life itself—I was going to take my revenge on it all, I was going to…and then I threw it all away. This—this is my punishment. To see how it could have been, to see how my world could have been…and then be doomed to watch myself throw it all away again.

One day I'll look out over the bay and watch myself wipe it all out for the simple reason that I could. And I, fool that I am, got rid of anyone who could ever stop me.

"Hey."

Look up, hoping he didn't look as wretched as he felt—knew from her expression he was.

"I brought soup too," she said, putting a tray down. Glanced at the TV. "Not find anything?"

He hadn't even given the device a thought. "I didn't look."

She nodded, looked hesitant…eventually disappeared back into the kitchen. He stared at the blank device, not able to bring himself to move. Despair was weighing him down, crushing him—

And then it was the bay and the remains of his lair crashing down, crushing him—

Gasp, twitch—no—no not that not again—

Flinch when Cass touched his shoulder and handed him one of Hiro's stuffed animals. "Hug this."

He took it, stared into its glass eyes a moment, looked back at her. "Seriously?"

"Pillows are for screaming in, stuffed animals are for hugging."

He watched her go back in the kitchen, looked back at the stuffed animal, debating…looked back up when she came over and put another tray down, picking a plate laden with cookies off the top of the soup bowl and setting it down.

"Experimenting is important to the scientific process, right?" she asked, looking at him before picking up the remote.

It took several beats for him to place what she meant, his line of baloney to keep her distracted from the boys' truancy, focused instead on teaching him how to bake cookies. It was all foolish nonsense, a vapid distraction…one that simultaneously filled him with warmth and cold. Warmth because it was a good memory, a hint he belonged somewhere…cold because by his own insolence he was to lose it all.

Couldn't bring himself to look at her, hugged the stuffed animal to his chest as she flipped through the channels. She thought that by being there, she'd be helping. Like he wasn't visiting doom upon this family simply by existing. No matter what the iteration, he wasn't deserving of this family.

My character probably won't survive this story.

Maybe that was what he needed to do. Slip off, confront himself…destroy them both so this family could go on existing. Maybe he would be…maybe this time, having a reason beyond a mental blue screen of death….

She had settled on a movie, from the sounds of it, something with Nicholas Keji in it—Fred had succeeded in getting him to watch National Treasure by turning it into a movie night involving the whole nerd herd; it had surprised him by actually being something interesting.

All that would be gone soon.

Hug the stuffed animal tighter—wait what was it about panic attacks? Focus on texture. Maybe—

Deep breath. He was running out of time, but that didn't mean he could curl up in a ball and have a breakdown now. He had made his bed and had to lie in it, yes, but that didn't mean he had to accept being smothered by it.

His mistake, his biggest mistake had been giving up, thinking death was his only option. He had been wrong—he had been so, so wrong and now….

Now that he had been given this second, impossible chance…he couldn't waste it. Not like before. He had to save this, somehow.

Lift his head up finally, watch the television blearily for several long minutes…startled Cass by speaking finally. "What is this?"

"Ah—Peggy Sue Got Married," she said, still absently stroking Mochi. "Peggy Sue—the main girl—got into an accident and I guess it sent her back in time? She's trying to change how she ends up this time around—"

"But nothing works."

She blinked at him. "Um…yeah. I didn't think you were paying attention."

Oh the irony. "It's because it doesn't work. Trying to go back, to change your fate…it's not going to happen." Him gleefully getting rid of Big Hero Six and thinking things would go well…and then being suckered into caring for this family…his undoing was that he cared, he thought. Cared for the boy enough to save him over himself, learned to care for these people….

He was reminded of the how and why he had been tricked into it when she rubbed his shoulder, concern evident. "You sure you don't want to talk about it."

"I'm positive." You'd never believe me. None of you would ever believe me. How can I tell you that all this will be gone soon? You'd think I was being daft, defeatist…when the irony is I've never wanted to win more in my life. I have to win—I have to because if I don't all this will be gone. Look at her, at her doing her best to make him feel better with no idea, no concept of what was going on.

"You deserve better," he muttered, looking down and away.

She wouldn't know why—couldn't know why—would never actually accept the idea that he was some…what? Cuckoo in the nest? Changeling, perhaps? A pox that had found its way in. People like her never thought of concepts like that, that anything bad could really sneak into their house. He was expecting her to laugh at that and say that she had it good now.

He wasn't expecting her to lean in closer, looking like she desperately wanted to reach in and rip out all those dark thoughts plaguing him. "So do you."

Did he really? After everything, after all the manipulating and machinations that never amounted to anything anyway? Look at her, confused, prompting her to continue.

"I have no idea what's going on," she said—an understatement. "I don't know who that guy is. But I can guess. And…I'm going to guess you had a bad life, with him. That you ran away. That whatever was going on, it was enough that you figured on your own was better.

"But you don't have to be on your own anymore. You have people who care, who want to help. You don't have to do it by yourself, no matter how much you think so." Brush his hair back. "It's okay to let others help."

She had no idea. Really had no idea. She probably thought he was his own father, for crying out loud.

And yet in many cases, she wasn't wrong. He did have a bad life, he realized. He did run away from it. He had figured on his own was better…and yet he wasn't now.

He let himself be tugged into a hug, mind whirling. No. No there had to be a way to fix this. He could still avert this disaster. But if he couldn't….

If he couldn't he was looking down the barrel at having to revive Big Hero Six.