"Get some rest buddy," Hiro said to Baymax. "I am satisfied with my care."

The white medical robot, out of his red and purple armor, waved Hiro a good night and deflated into his charger.

Hiro plopped himself into his chair, pulling out a screwdriver from his drawer. Tonight had been a relatively calm, though they had stopped a bank robbery just an hour ago. The resulting fight managed to crack the visor of Hiro's helmet. It was a quick fix though, and one Hiro wanted to do before crashing for the night. There were, after all, still classes tomorrow morning.

Just as he replaced the plastic of his visor, a voice rang in the room. "Fascinating summary. Written in code so that no stranger would be able to decode it. It looked like you're talking about your day, but it's really a breakdown of all the criminals in the city, their habits, how often they reappear, their weakness and frequent targets."

Hiro spun around in his chair; his hand reaching for his Megabot controller. His fighting bot was the only weapon Hiro had on hand. 'I really should put more weapons in my own armor,' Hiro thought to himself. He was so used to commanding and leading that he was more than often everyone's eyes and ears in the battle that he didn't get involved directly in any of the fights. He had at one point considered using his microbots, but the stigma created by Callaghan lingered in his mind.

To his surprise, there sitting on his bed, was a woman with long black hair. Her purple eyes, more reddish in the light, flickered back and forth as she read Hiro's journal.

"Who are you?" Hiro asked. How did this woman get into his room? How did she know about his journal? The notebook wasn't something Hiro just left out, nevertheless what it meant by her breaking his code.

"No one of any concern," the woman said. She flipped the page, looking disinterested.

"Then why are you in my room? How did you get here?" Hiro demanded. He flicked on Megabot. The tiny robot wobbled to stand in between Hiro and the woman.

"Your tiny bot will be of no use to you," the woman said. She waved her hand and Megabot fell to the ground, unresponsive to Hiro's commands.

Panic began to bubble in Hiro's chest. There was an unknown woman in his room. His choice of weapons were fairly limited (there was a lamp to the left of him, maybe if he threw it…). Had someone figured out the identities of the Big Hero 6? Was this woman an assassin to take them out?

A glint of determination gleamed in Hiro's eyes. 'No, if she's after us, I have to survive long enough to warn the others.'

The woman, on the other hand, snapped Hiro's journal shut. "Tell me, Hiro Hamada. What would you give to have your brother back, alive and well?"

Hiro's heart clenched. What? Why would she offer something like that? "Tadashi's dead," he said in a shaky voice. He hated how at the mere mention of his brother, the mere possibility of him being alive gave Hiro so much hope and a desperate, desperate want. "He's dead, there's no way to bring him back," Hiro said in a stronger voice.

"Mmm," the woman said casually. She had slipped off of Hiro's bed and had wandered over to the screen that separated Hiro's side of the bedroom from Tadashi's. Her thin, pale fingers traced over the bamboo frame.

'No!' Hiro's heart wailed. 'Stay away from there!' Hope gave way to anger as it raged like a thick hot lava through Hiro's body. No one was allowed to near Tadashi's side of the room. Hiro didn't even let Aunt Cass talk him into packing up Tadashi's belonging.

"Let's assume for one moment that hypothetically that it was possible to bring back your brother and that I had the power to do that," the woman said, pushing aside the screen. "What would you offer to me if that was the case?"

Hiro stared at Tadashi's empty bed. He shook as the flooding memories of his brother spun in his head. Hiro was smart, brilliant and a hero. He was also still a fourteen year old who wanted his brother back. It was such an alluring temptation. Hiro wanted Tadashi back, wanted his brother. He didn't want to wake up to see Tadashi's empty bed, didn't want to be unable to look at family photos, didn't want to spend breakfast in front of the family shrine, in front of his brother's picture.

Without him realizing it, the words were already forming on his lips. "An-"

"No," the woman cut him off. Her eyes, gone was the purple only a dark and ugly red remained, pierced through Hiro's very fiber of being. "Do not promise anything, everything. Those are dangerous things to offer."

"But-"

"I pose this question to many people," the woman said. Her voice was cold, frigid like ice. "Everyone always says the same thing. Anything. Everything. None of them are fully prepared to give everything, to give anything. I posed this very question to Robert Callaghan about his daughter. Oh, I warned him of the same thing, still he said, anything, everything. Look where it got him, his reputation in tatters, the remainder of his life in prison, the death of your brother, the near destruction of the city, and the deep realization that his daughter may be alive but will never willingly go to see him."

A chill ran down Hiro's spine. The reason why… Abigail was still alive in the portal was because of this woman? Hiro drew in a sharp breath. Did that make this woman just as responsible for Tadashi's death as Callaghan had been? If she had never made this offer to Callaghan, would Tadashi not have died?

"Anything, everything," the woman spat. She took a step closer to Hiro; her presence looming in the room like a giant. "Are you prepared to offer that, Hiro Hamada? If I demand your robot friend Baymax? Or your aunt, asleep downstairs? What if the price to bring back your brother was your genius, your intellect, would you want to be a child who doesn't understand the basic of calculus, much less engineering anymore?"

No. Not Baymax, not Aunt Cass. No. Not them. His intellect, though? Hiro would rather be an average stupid kid if that meant Tadashi was alive. He didn't need to be a genius (even if that was the only thing that Hiro used to define himself these days because everything else was because of Tadashi. But Hiro was not Tadashi, could never be. He wasn't good enough for that).

Was it worth it though? To accept this dangerous, dangerous offer from this unknown and strange woman? To have Tadashi back? Dare, Hiro hoped to try? Dare, he hoped to dream? Dare, he trusted this stranger's word?

For Tadashi, yes.

"If it's mine to freely offer," Hiro said slowly, trying to word it carefully. "If it's mine to freely give, whether it's my intellect, my money, or my ability to walk, then that is what I would offer. But things like Baymax, who belongs to Tadashi first, like Aunt Cass, who is her own person, no. And nothing that will ultimately cost me my own life because what is the point of bring Tadashi back if I die in his place? I still won't see my brother and Tadashi will be the one drowning in grief instead of me."

Hiro couldn't do that to his brother. Tadashi lived through their parents death and Hiro remembered how depressed Tadashi got whenever he thought about them. In many ways, Hiro had been lucky because he had been so young, his limited understanding and foggy memories dulled the pain and loss. It wasn't that Hiro didn't miss his parents, but how do you really miss people you didn't really remember? Between his parents and Tadashi, Hiro rather have Tadashi back. And if Hiro died in Tadashi's place, Hiro knew that would break his brother. No, Hiro couldn't do that to his brother.

The woman seemed to relax. In the pale moonlight from the window, her eyes were now tinted blueish purple. A soft smile appeared on her face. "A wise answer," she said gently. "I always knew you two were my favorite for a reason."

She extended a hand out to Hiro. "Take a leap of faith, Hiro. Do you want your brother back?"

Hiro hesitated. He didn't know this woman and yet… and yet, he knew she wasn't lying. On a subconscious level, he trusted her. But… But, she may not be lying, but that didn't mean it was going to be easy? Her earlier question, what would Hiro have to give to bring his brother back?

Was it worth it? Was it worth the risk? Was it worth the price? Tadashi would be so angry if he ever found out what Hiro was considering. His big brother always warning him to be careful, to stop -choke- playing with fire.

Hiro's gaze wandered to his desk. There, innocently sitting on the corner was a picture of him and Tadashi. It was a picture Honey Lemon had taken while Hiro had been building his microbots. Hiro had fallen asleep on Tadashi's lap, exhausted from the building. She had teased Hiro a little about how cute he looked asleep on Tadashi's lap, but all Hiro saw in the picture was the pride and love reflected in Tadashi's eyes.

His nerdy big brother had done so much for Hiro. If their situations were reversed, Hiro knew Tadashi would accept without hesitation.

Hiro reached over to shake the woman's hand. "Yes."

The world turned to black.

xXxXx

"Hey Hiro. Wake up, bonehead."

"Tadashi?"

This is a oneshot. Something small I wanted to explore. The ending was purposely left open because, well, I wanted you to draw your own conclusions as to whether 1) the woman could be trusted and 2) what Hiro gave up in exchange and 3) whether that's really Tadashi at the end. To be honest, this was originally part of a larger storyline, but to me, it felt complete once I had reached this ending. Though, if you read through my YJ stories, the woman should be familiar to some of you.