|| Disclaimer: Not mine. Wished it was but it's not. ||

1:

It had been Hiro's 16th birthday when his life changed drastically.

Okay, so perhaps not drastically. It wasn't all that life changing as more spiritually altering. One of those grand quests heroes go on to find themselves and end up with a grander prize then what they originally sought out for. And to a newfound 16-year-old boy that seemed like a drastic change.

Most of the minor details were foggy- repressed- because the one major factor that seemed to stand out was the fact that no one seemed to have remembered his birthday. Not even Aunt Cass who had always went out of her way to ensure that either him or Tadashi (back when he was still alive) had grand memorable birthdays where she ensured that they knew that she loved them like her own children.

But she didn't even bother even a second glance in his direction when he rose out of bed that morning, asking if he could find something for breakfast because the café was busy. He assured her that it was fine, settling for a bowl of cereal without milk because they were out. And when he told her good-bye she held him tightly but not any tighter than usual. It wasn't birthday tight and Hiro hated to admit it but it stung to have his birthday forgotten.

"Bye Aunt Cass," he whispered before going to slip out for class, her voice stopping him before he could leave the ever so busy café.

"Oh Hiro," she called after him and he tensed in anticipation because surely this was it; she had really remembered and was going to tell him happy birthday and how much she loved her grown little man and this cold feeling that's settled inside ever since he woke up find no special birthday breakfast will subside.

"Can you get some milk on your way back?" she asked him, turning away and Hiro felt his tongue turn to cotton because she had truly forgotten. Unbelievable.

"Of course," he replied, hesitating only a fractionally longer then he would have had under normal conditions before he stepped out in the frigid cold bundling his coat around his shoulders tighter before trekking towards school.

Two years ago he had gotten accepted into SFIT and the first couple of months afterwards had been rough- to say the least- but two years is a long time and he's gotten better. He's overcame the obstacles with his friends and Baymax- the last thing of his brother and something that helped save him from himself and something Hiro cherishes every day.

Except for today.

Today Baymax seemed to hover his every little movement, adding unnecessary commentary to his actions and it was frustrating to say the least. Not to mention that when he wasn't narrating Hiro's life he was knocking stuff over.

"Oh no," the robot chimed after a particularly loud crash and Hiro turned to see that he had somehow managed to knock the entire tray of the nearly microscopic parts Hiro was currently using for his most recent project.

"Baymax!" he complained, voice raising an octave as he rushed to restore what he could, "I've been working on this for months."

"I'm sorry Hiro. Perhaps I can help," the robot offered reaching forward but Hiro quickly waved him off.

"No, no," he denied dumping the now broken parts back on the tray before he brushed his bangs away from his head and replied voice tight, "It's fine."

"I'm sorry," Baymax repeated and Hiro sighed again, feeling his shoulders droop because the robot seemed so sincere- as impossible as that was.

"Its fine," Hiro reassured dejectedly as he replied, "I know it was an accident."

Baymax blinked at him, tilting his head to the side, before he asked in his robotic voice Hiro's become so familiar with, "Is something bothering you?"

Hiro sighed again, a deep one that resonated somewhere from the center of his chest as he shook his head and denied, "Nah. I'm fine."

Baymax blinked again but remained silent. Hiro just set the tray back on the table before going to return to his work. He didn't even make it all the way to his desk when the door was thrown open and in strolled Wasabi- a large African American man with an intimidating stature but Hiro knew he was really just a kitten at heart. He was also one of Hiro's closest friends and someone who Hiro would happily die for.

"Can I help you?" Hiro asked curiously because his friends, for the most part, respected his privacy and didn't make it a habit to come barging into his office without at least knocking.

"Where is it?" Wasabi demanded, voice equal parts angry and annoyed and Hiro blinked in surprise when angry eyes were directed towards him.

"What?" Hiro asked dumbly and Wasabi huffed as he went to rifle through Hiro's things on Hiro's desk.

"My missing wrench," Wasabi explained ignoring Hiro's noise of protest as he continued to search, "I have a system for a reason."

"Yeah. I know," Hiro reassured as he went to yank his friend away from his stuff, "and I don't have your wrench."

"Well… where is it?" Wasabi demanded, "Because GoGo and Honey both said they haven't seen it and you three are the only people that use my stuff."

"Maybe it just got set down somewhere and forgotten. Don't worry, I'm sure it will pop back up," Hiro reassured clapping his friend on the shoulder in an attempt to be reassuring.

It didn't work. If anything, it just made Wasabi seem that much more depressed.

"I have a system," he repeated and Hiro nodded in acknowledgement as he racked his brain; had he used any of Wasabi's tools recently? He doesn't think so.

"How about we go out for lunch," Hiro offered him, as much for his friend as for himself.

Hiro's newest project he's been working on has given him a headache and his "birthday" breakfast was less then satisfying and it wouldn't be so bad to hang out with his friend. After all, with all the new classes they've all had Hiro's noticed a decline in the time they spend together.

Wasabi sighed again already shaking his head as he denied, "Sorry little man. I can't today. Perhaps tomorrow."

"Yeah. Tomorrow," Hiro muttered feeling his gaze drop.

Wasabi ruffled his hair on his way out, the door clicking shut behind him. Somewhere behind him, Baymax shuffled but remained silent.

And it was like that with the rest of his friends too; they were all just too busy to hang out with him and Hiro felt something twist in his stomach because it was his birthday but everyone seemed too busy to remember.

Growing frustrated over his lack of advancement on his project and his negative thoughts, he gave up and decided it would be best if he just went for a walk. Those always seemed to clear his head in the past and he figured why not? It wasn't like anybody needed him for anything and so he left Baymax on his charger before leaving the college.

Somehow he ended up at the cemetery.

He isn't sure how or why only that one second he was angrily kicking pebbles with his sneaker and the next he was out front of the place they buried his brother. Or, at least, the place they buried his brother's coffin- Tadashi's body was never recovered from the fire.

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day, he made his way past the graves to the one that's become as familiar to him as Baymax or Aunt Cass's kitchen. And when he caught sight of it, it was like getting struck with a bowling ball; all the air leaving his lungs as he legs wobbled and he felt like bursting out in tears again because no matter how long it's been it still hurt to see his brother's grave.

"Hey nerd," he greeted like he did every other time he visited the grave, "I hope you're doing well. I'm doing fine. Well… not fine, fine but I'm okay. Healthy. And, oh, today I turned 16 but I'm sure you remembered. You always remembered before and- I don't know why- but no one else seemed to be able to today. Not that I'm complaining it just- it hurts, ya know? No. Of course you don't know. What am I even doing?"

Hiro trailed off, looking around him at his surroundings as he felt a cold chill creep down his spine. He shivered, wrapping his coat tighter around his shoulders and he figured he might as well go buy that milk for Aunt Cass.

The store they shopped from was small and almost always empty, but they hadn't closed yet so Hiro figured they did fine which was great. He really liked the owner and his family, having saved his daughter once during one of their nightly watches.

Today, though, it was unusually crowded and a man hunkered over has passed him six times since Hiro's stepped foot inside, which saying that was weird was an understatement. Hiro didn't say anything, though, grabbing the milk from the fridge and going to stand in line.

He had just managed to reach the cash register before the creepy man reappeared from somewhere behind the many, many shelves and it was only then that Hiro realized why he seemed so off. He wasn't a costumer and he wasn't planning on buying anything and it didn't take a gun now pointed in his general direction for him to reach that conclusion.

"Hands up and money in the bag!" he barked at the red haired girl a couple years older than Hiro as he shoved a bag in her arms.

"Please," she whimpered instead, fear paralyzing her, "Please, don't hurt me."

"Put the money in the bag," the robber repeated as he reached forward to shake her, to jostle her into moving.

"Don't touch her!" Hiro barked bravely feeling a protective surge of anger overcome him because one of the few things he couldn't stand are bullies taking advantage of those weaker than them and this guy definitely qualified as a bully.

A pair of cold gray eyes focused on him as a crooked smile spread across the robber's features as he sneered, "What do I have here? A hero?" the gun was pointed at him as the robber gestured to the floor and demanded, "Sit down kid."

And Hiro had better things to do then get shot so he begrudgingly obeyed, turning reassuring eyes to the still frozen cashier and prompted gently, "It's okay. Do what he asks."

Green eyes blinked before the teenage girl quickly obeyed, stuffing the cash into the bag, and Hiro actually thought that they were going to be okay. That she would just hand over the money and all will be fine.

He should've learned better by now.

Alarms blared from somewhere in the distance and Hiro would've probably been able to hear a pin drop by how silent it suddenly became. Completely still as everyone tuned in to the noise, relief flooding through all their veins but one. And it just so happened to be the guy with the gun.

"Who called them?" he shouted gun waving wildly before settling on the still petrified cashier as he growled, "Answer me before I start shooting people."

No one answered; no one even moved and Hiro saw it before anyone else did. The slight twitch of the jaw, the tremor in his arm.

They weren't all leaving here alive.

"NO!" he screamed as soon as the connection struck and he leapt off the ground to shield the girl. To stop the gunman. To save someone.

The gun went off and the next thing Hiro knew he was falling.

Waking up under normal occasions were usually a pain especially when it was so early the sky was still dark but this time it was different kind of hurt. It seemed more physical and it left him crumpling back on his face after he tried sitting up.

"Ow," he whined face pressed against coarse and he blinked again because there was no way this was the floor of that store.

Thoughts of the store seemed to jolt him back into awareness and had him bolting upright, head spinning, as wide frantic eyes took in his surroundings. One thing was for certain, there was no way he was at San Fransokyo anymore.

He appeared to be on a beach with the endless white sand and miles of sea foam green ocean that gently lapped against the shore. A picture perfect beach that you find on postcards but near to impossible to find in real life and if Aunt Cass was here she'd already got her camera out…

Hiro's eyes widened as he thought of her aunt, the sudden pressing need to get back to her overcoming ever sense he has because she lost Tadashi and she doesn't deserve to lose him too.

"Come on Hiro," he goaded himself, hand pushing his bangs back as he paced back and forth, "Think."

But he came up with nothing. He didn't even know where he was at or how he got there or if it was even real life. For all he knew, he was on some insane acid trip and whenever he came too some druggie had some serious explaining to do- like why they were drugging him to begin with.

Except some part of him knew drugs wasn't the cause of this. He isn't sure how but he was positive that this wasn't the work of drugs and it wasn't something that will just work themselves out of his system.

So that left him where, exactly?

A noise from far down the beach caught his attention and every muscle in his body froze, tensed in anticipation. His ears focused on the sounds and he was able to make out the faintest hints of what sounded like a fight and where there was fighting there was people and Hiro didn't need to think about it before he was bolting down the beach.

Two years ago the run might have left him panting for breathe afterwards but two years of secretly fighting crime and running all over the city gave him the endurance he needed and he was stumbling upon the fight several minutes later. Only it was clear that this was unlike any fight he's ever witnessed before, ever been a part of and he's been in plenty.

There was a man in cloak on the beach, face covered and appeared to be a little taller than Honey Lemon and a tad bulkier than Wasabi. Surrounding his feet was a glowing white circle with odd symbols etched among the interlining and despite the lack of wind in the air his cloak still flapped behind him, and he was fighting against two other people and appeared to be winning.

Both the other figures appeared shorter and wore masks. Hiro idly wondered why but his thoughts were quickly diverted when the figure dressed in tightfitting white let out a burst of flame from their palms. Hiro's mouth dropped open as wide eyes watched the column of flame shoot towards the man in black and watched as the man held up a single hand, catching the flame in his palm, absorbing it.

"What?" he exclaimed before he could stop himself.

Three sets of eyes focused in on him and he immediately felt out of place because these people looked dressed for fighting and here he was in his khaki pants and thick brown coat- a college student surrounded by warriors.

The man in black pointed at him and Hiro froze about the same time the ground trembled beneath him. He tried catching his balance but the tremors just intensified and he lost his balance and fell on his side, twisting his wrist on the way down.

"Ow," he panted before he was aware of something above him and he just managed to kick their legs out from underneath them.

The third figure- a man in dark blue- tumbled beside him and Hiro scrambled backwards on his feet. His newest attacker just laid a palm against the sand and vines thicker than Hiro's waist sprouted from the ground; entwined themselves around Hiro's legs and efficiently pinning him in place.

"Dude!" Hiro complained struggling to free himself because in this fight he had no advantage, especially not bound in place like he currently was and his mind was suddenly flashing back to two years ago with a fight against microbots.

That had been different though. He hadn't been alone.

The figure in blue just seemed to snort, unimpressed by Hiro's lack of abilities, as he rose to his feet and rose both his arms. As if on cue, the vines started to tighten, constrict his airway, and Hiro choked as he tried in vain to free himself. The more he seemed to struggle, though, the tighter they seemed to get.

Then the figure in white was there, shoving the arms down as he shouted, "Stop!"

The man in blue did and the vines disappeared, causing Hiro's weak knees to buckle as he crumpled on the sand. Both his hands rose to his throat as he doubled over in a coughing fit, wheezing for breath.

"Hey kid," his savior- the man in white- asked and they sounded concerned, familiar, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Hiro reassured sitting upright and taking careful stock in the scene before him.

The man they had been fighting was gone, probably used his sudden appearance as a distraction to escape, and now he was alone with the one in blue who stood several inches taller than the one in white. And the man in blue didn't appear happy once he realized the man in black had escaped.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" he shouted ripping the mask from his face to reveal a face that would've been handsome had it not been for the long dagger scar that ran from his left temple to the very end of underneath his right eye; the same eyes now burning with fury directed towards him as the man snarled, "I'll kill you, you little brat."

"Erik no!" the white figure shouted smacking the hands away again, a blast of something going wide and created a hole in the sand; Hiro gapped.

"Why would you stop me?" Erik snarled and the figure in white ignored him as he removed his mask to reveal a face so startling familiar it felt like Hiro had been struck, leaving him gasping for breath.

"T-Tadashi?" he choked out, eyes wide as his brain tried to come up with a reasonable explanation to it, to this because Tadashi was dead.

Erik's suspicious eyes narrowed back on him while the Tadashi lookalike just tilted his head, squinting at him like he was trying to figure out how the stranger knew his name and Hiro felt like crying because there was no way his brother couldn't remember him. He doesn't think he'll be able to handle that too.

"Who are you?" Erik demanded but then Tadashi must have recognized him because shock made his eyes widen and features pale.

"Hiro?" his brother asked and Hiro nodded, letting out a strangled noise from somewhere in the back of his throat.

"Hiro?" Erik demanded face glowing with distrust but Hiro didn't care because Tadashi was there and he recognized him and everything was going to be okay now.

Tadashi must have been thinking along the same lines because he was suddenly there, engulfing Hiro in a warm hug Hiro missed and Hiro just clung back desperately because he isn't sure what's happening but Tadashi was there and everything will be okay as long as Tadashi was with him.

Erik disagreed.

Wrapping a single arm around his waist, Erik yanked him from Tadashi's grip, tossing him on the ground like a ragdoll. Hiro hit his sprained wrist on the way down and couldn't stop the scream of pain from escaping his throat.

"What's wrong with you?" Tadashi demanded, eyes blazing angrily, and Hiro knew his brother rarely ever got angry but when he did it was terrifying.

Erik seemed unconcerned as he gestured towards Hiro and demanded, "How can we be certain that this is your brother and not just another trick to try and capture you?"

"Capture you?" Hiro asked suddenly scared because who would want to capture his brother? Tadashi never does anything wrong yet it seemed like everything always tried so hard to hurt him and it just wasn't fair.

Tadashi's gaze dropped as he thought about it before he asked in a serious tone, "How's Aunt Marie doing Hiro?"

Hiro blinked because surely his brother had hit his head fighting or something.

"Aunt Marie?" he asked confused, "Don't you mean Aunt Cass? Tadashi, is something wrong?"

Tadashi's stern expression melted as he turned back to Erik and proclaimed, "See. He didn't fall for it so he's not a trap," and then a thought suddenly struck him and Tadashi's hard gaze focused on Hiro and he demanded, "Hiro, why are you here?"

A sudden ghost of a pain blossomed suddenly across Hiro's chest and he subconsciously rubbed it tenderly before he shrugged, "I don't know. Tadashi, where are we?"

"Yeah, well, join the club kid," Erik suddenly sneered unfriendly as he picked up a stick from the ground and snapped it in half, "All anybody knows is that one second they're living their lives and the next they're waking up on this beach."

Hiro thought about that before he turned to Tadashi, who was now wearing a guilty expression, and he couldn't help but ask, "Tadashi?"

Tadashi met his gaze as he whispered in a broken tone, "Hiro, you shouldn't be here. It's dangerous."

"No kidding!" Hiro exclaimed back because within waking up on the beach he's already witnessed a fight that seemed straight from a movie and had been nearly killed twice by the same guy; the guy who currently stood at Tadashi's side like that was where he belonged.

Tadashi just shook his head because there was no way his brother could understand and the look infuriated Hiro but also had his heart aching at how familiar it was, reminding him just how much he missed his brother.

But then another thought struck Hiro and he frowned.

"Tadashi, you're dead so how are you here right now?" he asked and the look Tadashi gave him resembled a deer caught in a hunter's crosshairs while Erik just burst out in loud laughter; Hiro cringed, even his laugh was annoying.

"Kid, it seems your brother wasn't as dead as you first originally thought," he cackled, hands on his knees as he bent over still laughing.

Hiro's wide gaze focused on Erik before back to Tadashi, who seemed to be trying to piece what Hiro had just said together. Hiro could only stare back because he watched as Tadashi ran into the burning building and he watched as the building exploded and there was no way anybody could have survived that.

Only, Callaghan had. He survived and stole Hiro's microbots and, until a couple moments ago, Hiro always believed his brother, but Tadashi wasn't dead. He was alive and whole and standing in front of him with a concerned expression and looked fine. Better than fine.

"Oh, how did you do that sick trick with the fire?" Hiro asked as his brain flashed back towards the white figure shooting the fire at the man in black as he scrambled to his feet to approach his brother again.

Erik narrowed his gaze but didn't make a move to stop him; Tadashi just grinned at him softly, fondly, before he explained, "I'm not entirely sure, just that whenever I woke up here I was capable of doing it."

"You mean, you didn't build anything?" Hiro asked confused because superpowers were cool but fiction, something in Fred's comic books and nothing more.

Tadashi just shook his head before splaying his palms out face up and a sudden burst of flame sprouted on his brother's hand. It was small and concentrated, like a candle's flame, and it moved around his brother's fingers with ease.

"Wow," Hiro murmured in awe before he blinked and replied reasonably, "That's impossible."

"Obviously not," Erik sneered and Hiro chose to ignore him.

Tadashi's hand closed and the flame blinked out and he sighed before agreeing, "I know. I used to think the same thing but I can't deny that it happens, Hiro. I don't know how and I don't know why only that it happens."

Hiro nodded in understanding, still in awe at what he just witnessed.

"Yeah, this is great and all," Erik suddenly spoke up as he moved past the brother's, up the beach and towards the thick forest standing at the sand's edge, "but it's getting dark and I think it would be best if we started moving back."

"Moving back where?" Hiro blinked as he watched Tadashi nod seriously.

Tadashi's eyes met his and his brother offered a supportive smile before gestured with his head and proclaimed, "I think you'll really enjoy this."

Hiro didn't bother arguing, just followed obediently behind his brother, ignoring the ever growing feeling that they were being watched.