"Sometimes, you have to be your own hero because sometimes the people you can't live without can live without you." ~Anonymous

She finally stood up; her bottom was wet from the dewy grass as the sun finally made it's decent on the horizon. Her legs cramped from her sitting for hours and her cheeks were stained from salty tears that betrayed her feelings. Leiko had spent the whole day at her lover's grave as she told him stories of adventures he was missing, how his younger brother had created super suits for the whole gang and now they were fighting crime, how Honey Lemon and Fred finally started dating, and how Baymax seemed to have his own personality and is an independent robot now.

Sighing as she placed her small hand on the worn gray headstone, she let her fingers trail down the lettering that read,

Tadashi Hamada

2053-2075

"You are going to help so many people"

Feeling her breath hitch and her heart race made her drop to her knees in front of the headstone and rested her forehead against the cold, damp stone. Grimly smiling at the trinkets that she had left at his grave everyday for the past 5 years. Picking up the small black box, her fingers shook as she opened the box, there laid a ring. It was a gold band with three diamonds flush against the surface.

Tadashi had proposed month before the accident. It was 3 AM and she was already on her sixth cup of coffee, her eyelids fluttered as she strained to read the blueprints in front of her. "Maybe a quick nap…" she thought, placing her head against the desk. She felt something touch her shoulder, she jumped in shock and spun around to see a startled Tadashi Hamada holding his hands up. "What the fuck!" she yelled at him, "Don't scare me like that!"

"I'm sorry!" he replied, alarmed. "I didn't know anyone was still here, I forgot to plug Baymax in and didn't realize it until my alarm went off. What are you still doing here anyways?"

"I need to finish the body of my bike, it isn't aerodynamic at all!" she grunted in frustration and plopped back down on her seat. "I'm so angry and frustrated and I just, don't know what to do."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "You need sleep if you want to get anything done."

She swatted at him, "I'm fin…" she started to drift off mid sentence.

"No you're not," he laughed and picked her up, "Up you go."

"Dashi," she muttered as she snuggled up against his warmth, "put me down."

"Let's get you home," he smiled and carried her outside.

"That's across town…"

"It's fine, I'll be your knight in shining armor who rescues the beautiful maiden and brings her home," he proclaimed, setting her on his scooter.

She almost choked on her gum, "It's almost 4 in the morning and I live across town! Are you crazy?!"

Tadashi pondered for a moment before breaking into that goofy grin of his, "You can come over to the cafe, Aunt Cass wouldn't mind."

She sighed in defeat, "Alright,"

When they got to the cafe, Leiko was mostly asleep as Tadashi carried her up into his room quietly, not wanting to wake up Hiro and Aunt Cass. He gently set her on his bed and tucked her in before preparing to leave. "Where are you going?" Leiko mumbled.

"To sleep on the couch," he looked at her puzzled.

"It's okay, I'll go…" she fumbled off the bed and wrapped her blanket around her as she shuffled towards him.

He grabbed her shoulders and smiled, "It's fine, just go to sleep."

She pouted thinking he was an idiot, "I'll sleep if you sleep with me stupid."

Laughing softly he picked her up and put her back on the bed before laying down next to her. "Marry me?" he whispered into her hair and she snuggled up closer to him.

She was already dozing off and her eyelids fluttered a bit as she tried to stay up, "You're asking me this while I'm half asleep?"

"I see no reason why I can't," he grinned into her soft hair.

"Idiot," she leaned up and kissed his jaw before falling into a deep slumber. That was the last time they had been so close, the last time she would wake up to arms and legs wrapped protectively around her, and the last time she ever saw a peaceful Tadashi.

A glass rose lay between her knees and the headstone, a tear fell upon it with a splash and it reflected all the colors that had dimmed when he died. She remembers when Tadashi had given her that rose, she had been working on her bike, frustrated because the wheels weren't as efficient as she would like.

He had hugged her from behind, earning a squeal from her as he set a cup of coffee by her side.

"How's it going?" he asked kissing her hair.

"Stop bothering me," she swatted him away, "I can't get the wheels to stay on!" She threw another wheel prototype into the bin across the room and grunted as she pulled the blueprints out from her desk. "This is useless!" she exclaimed dropping her head to the table and groaning.

"Hey, don't give up! I'm still working on my 50th prototype with Baymax, and one day he's going to help so many people!" he exclaimed grabbing her hand.

"You're right, I can do this!" she stood up and slammed her hands on the table, "I won't give up!" Tadashi grinned and kissed her cheeks as she sat down and furiously scribbled notes down."

Tadashi laughed, "I'm glad I could be of service beautiful."

"Stop distracting me," she laughed and spun around in her chain before punching his arm.

Tadashi pulled her up and spun her before handing her a glass encrusted rose. "If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I would have one because you never leave my mind," he beamed, flashing a dorky smile.

"Idiot," she replied, as her cheeks were aflame.

"Leiko, I promise, I will stop loving you the day this rose die," he proclaimed lifting her up and spinning her around.

"Put me down," Leiko squealed as laughed for the first time in weeks. Both of them had been frustrated with finals and building their inventions for the final project in engineering. He was building a nursing robot to help people and she was making a bike ran with electromagnetic suspended wheels, moments like these were rare. When he finally put her down, he leaned down and pressed his soft as a pillow lips against hers. Tadashi Hamada, her three-year boyfriend and fiancée, had stolen her heart and three days later when he burned away, so had her heart. It was almost five years ago.

"Idiot…" she muttered, letting out a bitter laugh, "All you ever wanted to do was help people. Ironically, the one you wanted to help didn't even care about you dying." Tears streamed down her face as the image of him running into the burning San Fransokyo Institute of Technology Invention Hall after Professor Callaghan, "You can't always be the hero...I know you wanted to help everyone but you can't always be the hero."

She punched the stone imagining it was his shoulder, she didn't feel it, the pain inside her hurt too much for it to. That moment when the blast hit, time seemed to stop. She was too slow, she couldn't catch up to him, she was so close to Hiro and Tadashi when he had ran in when the fiery certain death destroyed the building leaving his brother screaming his name. His body was a lump of coal when they manage to stop the fire, charred beyond recognition; the only thing that was left was an onyx ring that she had given to him for their one year anniversary. From that day on, there was so more color in her life, no more red like blush he had when they first kissed, no more browns like his eyes that use to stare back at hers, no more blues like the sky they stargazed under, no more black like the infamous San Fransokyo Ninja baseball hat he always wore, no more nothing. Looking up into the darkening sky, the stars seemed to appear like the ones in his smile, she was there in reality and yet she felt so far.

CRACK

The sound made her jump as she turned to see Hiro walking towards her. "You're still here," he marveled.

"Yeah, I was about to leave," she muttered feeling her throat close up again.

"He was an idiot," he informed her. He walked to her and put a hand on her shoulder, as he set another bot down on Tadashi's grave.

"I know," she sighed clenching her teeth, she didn't want to let Hiro see her cry even though her eyes were puffy and red

"But he was an idiot who loved you," he reminded her, giving her a hug, "and besides, I don't think he would approve of you being out here while it's dark and cold. Come on, Aunt Cass made some of your favorite cookies."

"I know," she stood up and smiled a bit at the grave, "I'll see you tomorrow stupid."

As they were walking away, she turned around once again and gave the grave a two-finger salute.