"Tadashi's gone… he died in the fire."
"Tadashi may not be in his physical form as of this moment," Baymax replied, gently pressing one of his inflatable fingers to Hiro's chest. "But he's here as long as you remember him."
The young teen forced a sad smile on his face, turning around to face his computer. The words hit him more than the balloon-robot would think. But it still hurt to think about his dead brother. The fire, if he had held on to him for just one more measly second…
"I am sensing that you are in pain. Would you like the comfort of your friends and loved ones?"
He shook his head. "No." Then he straightened up, suddenly getting the idea out of nowhere. Tadashi was in the fire a full minute before the nerd lab exploded. A full minute gave him enough time to either find professer Callaghan, and try to get him out or… he could've used one of the inventions that hadn't burned down and used them. He shook his head, it wasn't possible. Tadashi would've made an appearance of some sort if he were able to get out. And he would've tried to find the professer first- he was selfless as that.
He knew that that there was no way that he could've made it out alive, Tadashi knew that he would die, he knew that he wouldn't survive… but he still went. And the school exploded, exploded just as the younger saw the silhouette of his brother running to the door. He died in a fire trying to save someone. He thought that he sacrificed enough to let someone live, someone who ended up burning to ashes with him.
But then, why was he so desperate to go back into the ruins of what was once that school? There were so many- too many- spaces left in that puzzle. The microbots and the transmitter could have made it, and if they did, someone had to be alive. And even if they weren't, he just had to go back there. The urge to go there wasnt resistable.
The teen turned around in his swivel chair to face Baymax, a look of determination visible in his brown eyes. "Baymax…"
The nursing-robot stopped cleaning- or putting back the books that he had accidentally knocked down- and looked at him. "Yes, Hiro? I am sensing a strong emotion and mood swings- the source: Puberty."
"No…not that,"
"Then what, may I ask?" The marshmallow-like robot asked, cocking his head- if he could, that is.
"We're going back to the nerd lab."
Somehow, with all the squeaky squeaky sounds Baymax made, they managed to sneak passed Aunt Cass- which included partially rolling down the stairs which ended painfully- for Hiro that is.
'The man in the Kabuki mask…' the teen thought to himself as they walked through the empty streets, a dim light leading them every once in a while. 'Why's he doing this? Haven't I lost enough already? My family died, my brother died… everyone I've ever held close is just slipping through my fingers, and they're not coming back.' He looked up at the sky, the image reminded him of the sky only a week ago, except, then, it was covered with suffocating smoke. "What more do you want from me?" He asked, still staring at the moon. "Haven't I lost enough, already?"
His eyelids felt like bricks, his throat felt like it was on fire, his whole body was numb and he couldn't movie a muscle, it felt like the only thing that he could do was think, and with much force, breathe. 'That's it,' he thought to himself. 'I'm dead. I left Hiro trying to save Callaghan, and I died, or we both died…or…' Even the slightest thinking gave him a pounding headache, a groan escpaed his lips.
"I see that you're finally awake, Tadashi." Callaghan? Tadashi forced his eyes open, and was almost blinded by the light, how long was he out? The looming silhouette of the seemingly dead professer was what he saw, other than the ceiling. 'But didn't he die in the fire?'
With as much strength he could muster, he moved his lips trying to say and ask, what he wanted. "Pr…professer Callaghan?" He murmured, coughing. The same question kept ringing at his aching mind: How was his professer alive? He remembered everything in a hazy blur. The fire started, everyone managed to get out- save for Callaghan, he ran in there. His memory started to fog up. He spotted the man, and he was wearing a headband?- no, a …what was the word again? A transmitter of sorts, and the next thing he knew, he collapsed from the excessive amount of smoke entering his lungs, and tiny robots- no, microbots, were swarming over to him.
The stone blue eyes held some sort of relief. Callaghan set down his pen that he was writing with, and smiled slightly at his number one student. He looked back to his computer, then the holographic image and information of the wounds and scars if the boy. A wry chuckle escaped his lips, not looking back at his student, he asked, "Why did you run in after me, boy?"
A confused look passed his student's face. Tadashi only stared at his former mentor with confused and shocked brown eyes. "What…" He started, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat. "What do you mean? I ran in after you to rescue you! You could've died!" He cried- gaining his voice back somewhat.
The former professor's eyes stared at a portrait on the wall in front of his with a solemn gaze. His eyes not shifting the slightest bit from the picture. "I wanted to. After everything that's happened, I don't deserve to live." He heard the younger ask after what happened, and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I lost my daughter." He said, voice cracking as he stared at the picture, the portrait, of his daughter.
"H-how? What happened?"
Callaghan gripped the edge of his desk so tightly, he thought that his bones might break. "Krei." He spsaid through gritted teeth as anger built up inside him. "That good-for-nothing waste of existence is the reason she's gone." He said, and the younger didn't have to be a genius to know the obvious hatred lacing the man's voice.
The younger frowned, then looked up at his mentor confused. "Krei? I knew there was something uneasy about him… but how did you lose your daughter?"
The professor's mind swarmed over with the old memories as his eyes cackled with a burning fury. "He had an invention: teleportation machines. And my daughter was the tester-er, being his" He spat the word out. "Fiancée and all." He swore that he could hear Tadashi choke on a breath as he said the word, but he couldn't blame him.
"F-Fiancée?"
"Yes, " He replied bitterly. "You are correct. But it seemed that the foolhardy man had a miscalculation, and the entire mechanism exploded before my daughter could appear through the other. I knew that I never should have given him my blessing. And now, Abigail…" He didn't seem to completely acknowledge that Tadahsi was still listening. He took the picture from the wall, his hand clasping at the frame as a lone tear slid down his cheek. "Abby, my beloved, darling daughter, the only one I had left…is gone. And she's not coming back." The tear splashed onto the picture.
Tadashi thought that Hiro must've been feeling the same thing.
In fact, it was pretty much a mirror image. The normally hyper energetic brown eyes of Hiro's were staring down at his shoes, his eyes clouded with tears, and Baymax noticed that. "My sensors indicate that you are in pain? Is it physically hurting?" The marshmallow like robot asked, placing an inflated hand on the teen's shoulder in a sign of comfort.
Hiro sniffed slightly, then wiled his eyes on his sleeve. "No, Baymax. It's a different kind of pain.…it's emotional pain."