Chapter 8, everybody! In which Obake is getting used to family life….

So the one scene was actually written way early on, like one of the first scenes I jotted down. Obake and Tadashi end up referencing a scene from the Shadow movie because of it though. Also references the fic that inspired this one, Ctrl-Z—I'm telling you, that fic was a trip and I'm sorry it never got finished I would have loved to see how it resolved.

James the apple, thanks for the review! Yes, he's making progress….

Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney

The next month was spent getting acclimated to this new wrinkle. No need to worry about Big Hero Six meant he could take his time and get used to this, this little family, figure them out from every angle for later plotting.

And what had he found out in this month? Well….

They were tight-knit. The brothers might as well have been joined at the hip and with that in mind, it made sense that Tadashi would notice Hiro slipping off to bot-fight, or that Hiro would see straight through the fake-Tadashi he had tried that Halloween. Cass seemed to know everyone backwards and forwards, knew the precise way to bribe them into doing what she wanted.

Another important thing: the children were literal children. Without the tragedy of losing his brother forcing him to step up, Hiro Hamada was still possessing of an immaturity befitting his age.

He wasn't sure what Tadashi's excuse was.

Tadashi had been subdued for the past month—made sense, he was convinced his favorite robotics professor had died—but was starting to bounce back from it. Also a point of interest: apparently he liked to sing along to his Walkman/iPod/whatever it was supposed to be while he did his chores. And use whatever cleaning implement he was using as a microphone. And…okay, let's be fair, Obake had taped one or two for blackmail….The point was, this was not an unusual sight, and if it weren't for the sheer irony of Tadashi Hamada singing "Stayin' Alive" he'd probably do what he usually did and tune him out.

Hiro complaining about Tadashi's singing was a bit harder to tune out, but added some ambiance to the new blackmail video he was taping. Fred coming in and helping him with the dance moves was just icing on the cake.

"Ah, irony," he couldn't help but mutter as Tadashi started into the chorus again.

"Ah, pain," Hiro groaned, covering his ears. "You guys are SO LAME!"

"Is any of that dirt getting outside?" Cass called from the other room. Like she was one to talk—he would bet good money that Tadashi had picked up this little habit from her.

"There's plenty going on the phone," Obake said, heavily amused.

But the next issue to address.

"No," Tadashi said, snatching the blanket away from him before he could grab it. "We've been trying to get you to a real bed for weeks now, we've got an actual pallet upstairs you can use, get off the couch."

"Under no circumstances am I sharing a room with children," Obake countered, narrowing his eyes at Tadashi.

"Excuse me? And what does that make you?"

An adult that didn't much care for the concept—and even foregoing all of the complexities of his situation, Tadashi snored and he'd rather not. Not that he could actually share some of this information.

So instead he opted for "Oh you're right I'm sorry I forgot that I don't use a mop for a microphone."

"It's good for the lungs," Tadashi insisted. "And I'm getting tired of coming in here to drink coffee and watch the morning news and end up sitting on your legs every time."

"I'm utterly convinced you do it on purpose."

"Maybe I do, but that's because couches aren't beds. You know, regular beds," he added when Obake started to mention fold-out couches, as he had for the past several nights. "And this is not a fold-out couch."

"Tadashi, don't push it," Cass counselled as she went past. "He'll go for it when he's ready."

Obake didn't really care for the look Tadashi was giving him, had his concerns validated a few minutes later when Hiro came in and flopped down on the back of the couch.

"Tadashi sicced me on you again," Hiro reported happily.

"Does it not bother you, being used in such a manner?" Obake asked him.

"I mean it could, but this is more fun. Come on, try one night?"

"Your brother snores."

"I know," Hiro said, nodding sagely. "And see, the way I figure is, I shouldn't be suffering alone."

"Dirty pool."

Hiro blew a raspberry at him, flopped down on the couch.

"Is this my punishment for saying no?" Obake asked, tugging his legs against his chest. "Or are you taking over the couch to convince me to retreat to the bed you keep trying to sell?"

"Mmm, bit of both," Hiro said. "At least, now that you mention it—"

"You had no plan, did you."

"What about this plan?" Hiro asked, sitting up. "You bargain with Tadashi, say you'll try it for a night, and if it doesn't vibe then at least you tried it and he can't argue that anymore."

Good to see some cunning was starting to rub off on him. "We'll see."

"Great! Come on," Hiro said, grabbing his wrist dragging him off the couch.

"Hey! I didn't say right now—"

"Oh we're going for the physical route?" Tadashi asked, drinking a cup of milk in the café kitchen. "I was gonna hold off on that until Aunt Cass was asleep."

"Obake has a proposition," Hiro announced, elbowing Obake. Ow.

Sigh, look at Tadashi. "I try it one night—one. After the one night, whatever my decision, you respect it."

"Done," Tadashi said, expression mild. Too mild.

Obake immediately rounded on Hiro. "You two planned this, didn't you?"

"Hey it worked, didn't it?" Hiro asked, grinning broadly.

"You rotten—"

"Too late, you said yes," Tadashi said, flipping Obake over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and hauling him upstairs. "Good work, Hiro."

Glaring at the grinning boy following, Obake reflected that he hadn't accounted for being a bad influence on both brothers.

Sleep was rough, as he expected—especially with the constant threat of you try sneaking down and you revoke couch rights. It was nonsensical and annoying, and he was not used to trying to sleep when there were others around, but he did eventually fall asleep on the pallet provided.

Woke up in the middle of the night, thirsty—squint at the digital readout—three AM. Why did a need for water always strike at three AM?

Struggle out of bed, down the steps, heading for the kitchen, keeping a hand on the wall to steady himself in the darkness—the fog must have rolled in with windows left open, something about the air felt off. Stumble around in the kitchen, pat around gingerly until he found a cabinet, open it, carefully feel out a glass to use, run it under the tap—

The sound of hissing water didn't stop when he turned it off.

Confusion—wave his hand under the tap—it was off, what—

Something sounded deeper in the café.

Start—feel around for the light switch—it would reveal him to whomever was in here but at least then he could see a knife or something he could use against them—

Found it, flick it—

Instead of the warm little 'running lights' that the Hamadas had lining the crown molding of the café, the switch activated a bunch of computer screens instead.

Very familiar computer screens.

He felt cold, a lot colder than could be accounted for with his lower body temperature, gingerly mincing towards the screens—several were catawampus, more were broken, beams and blocks of concrete scattered throughout—him, wading through water—

"You IDIOT."

Spin around, glass slipping from nerveless fingers to shatter somehow—

Looking down on him, half his face glowing, was…himself. As he had been, an adult, before this insanity. Himself, looking like a corpse usually did after being left to rot half-submerged in water for two months.

"What—" he managed to get out—

"Look at me. LOOK AT ME. What are you doing, going soft about these brats? They. Will. Kill. You. You will die if you allow them to live. You know this—why are you acting like an idiot? LOOK AT ME!"

Try to scramble away, but the water was like soup around his legs, like tar—bumping into glass digging into him—

His corpse seized him by the neck, throttling him—he tried fighting it off, grabbing at its wrists only for flesh and bone to squelch between his fingers—tried to shove it away, crabs spilling out between the ribs as the coating sloughed away—

"Kill them, you idiot! You're destined to die if they live! Do you want to see all your hard work go down the drain a second time!? DO YOU!? THEY DON'T CARE FOR YOU, YOU FOOL! WAKE UP! WAKE UP—"

"Wake up, wake up—

"Obake, wake up!"

Air suddenly surged back into him in a pained gasp—flail, arm connecting with someone grabbing him—startle, thrash upright—

Upright?

He looked around, lost, thrown, attention not settling on any one thing for much longer than a few seconds—took an agonizingly long time to place himself as being in the bedroom, where he finally ended up after ages of the brothers' wheedling—

They will kill you.

Hiro was still asleep, snoring softly.

Tadashi was sitting next to Obake, a glass of water in hand, looking concerned.

"Are you okay?" Tadashi asked gingerly. "I had to get up—get a drink," he added, looking at the glass in his hand. "And when I came back up you were kind of…."

Kind of having his subconscious pointing out what an absolute idiot he was—wait, how much—he didn't—not out loud—

"I'm fine," he managed to get out, bury himself back under his covers, making sure the left side of his face was completely covered—he wasn't sure if the SK responded to dream-induced stress, but he didn't want to find out—didn't want to explain that. The current narrative was simple—adding that just added unnecessary complications.

Didn't feel like Tadashi moved though, was confirmed by his next statement. "That looked like some nightmare," he said softly. "Do you…do you want to—"

"Go. Away," he ground out. On the list of things he didn't need, sympathy from the Hamada brother who was supposed to be dead was high on that list.

You need to kill them. You'll die if you let them live.

No. No, so long as he kept Big Hero Six from ever being a thing he was fine. He'd be able to talk Hiro into his corner properly this time—he was fine.

Bed shifted—Tadashi getting up…no accompanying creaks saying he was getting into his own bed.

"I just—" Tadashi started. "I get it. I've been…having them a lot lately. So, you know…if you want to talk…."

Curiosity got the better of him—pull down the cover a little. "What could you possibly have nightmares about?"

Tadashi wasn't looking at him. "About…what would have happened if you hadn't—if you hadn't stopped me." Look at Hiro. "Sometimes Hiro's stuck in there." Sigh, shake his head. "It's…it's stupid." Wave it off, glance at him like he expected him to share—look away just as quickly. Took a step to his own bed—

"I dreamt my own corpse tried to kill me." It slipped out, he wasn't sure why—still rattled from the mental image, perhaps.

Tadashi stopped, looked at him in concern. "You have issues."

"So do you."

Tadashi looked like he wanted to argue that, coughed on a laugh, smiled at him. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe we all do."

Maybe. And maybe a cause for concern too.

"You said your nightmares are about me not stopping you," he said, tilting his voice in a question.

"Y-yeah," Tadashi muttered, rubbing his neck. "I don't know why I would, but…maybe it's my mind processing what could have been. It could explain why I needed water at three in the morning," he said drily, indicating the glass he was holding.

"Maybe." Maybe he was somehow remembering the original timeline, what could have been. What wasn't, thanks to Obake. Ironically.

Also ironic: him, dreaming of a watery death, contrasting with Tadashi, dreaming of a fiery one.

Shake his head finally, turn his pillow over and go back to trying to go to sleep. Tadashi looked like he wanted to comment further, shook his head and headed for his own bed—

They both heard it, the sound of a dream going sour—snapped to attention at Hiro bolting upright, blurting "Tadashi!"

Tadashi was immediately over at the other bed, full Big Brother mode activated. "Hiro—you okay? Bad dream?"

"Yeah, just—stupid nightmare," Hiro muttered, scrubbing at his face.

Now this was interesting—lay there, pretending he was trying to get back to sleep…Hiro had survived the blast in the original timeline, but had watched his big brother run into the fire and die. And now here they were…what? Feeling some of the ramifications of affecting the timeline?

He didn't know. And the part that galled him was that there was no way to know. He couldn't delve deeper without painting himself as insane.

Just…he had to just keep feeling this out, figuring out where life was right now, how he fit into it. He could figure this out, he was smart.

Now here was hoping he was smart enough.