Hi everyone! Thanks for the awesome feedback last chapter - I couldn't be more humbled than to have you all as readers! It means a lot! :)

I tried to make this chapter very emotionally charged. Ehh... tell me how I did!

Thanks! I'll update soon - reviews, favorites, and follows are awesome and much appreciated!

(And oh, Big Hero 6 won an Oscar so YEAHHH congrats to them! We clearly all loved the movie and that's why we're here reading fanfiction about it haha!)

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 7: Drowning

Hiro didn't remember how he made his way back home, exactly. He vaguely recalled sprinting through the darkened and deserted streets – his arms tightly wrapped around Baymax's deflated body – but everything else was a hazy blur.

He didn't think; he just ran. His mind was not focused on the present, but on a voice from the past… a voice that still opened a fresh wound inside his heart.

"When are you going to start doing something with that big brain of yours?"

"Use that big brain of yours to think your way out! Look for a new angle!"

…Tadashi…

"Hey… use that big brain of yours and stay out of our business from now on, alright?"

Hiro pushed open the front door of the café, and the bell jingled quietly above him. He stumbled inside and searched for the light switch, but yelped when two strong arms crushed him into a hug.

"Hiro," Aunt Cass nearly sobbed, her embrace warm and comforting. Hiro went limp – he dropped Baymax's compacted body to the floor and stood there, arms slack by his sides.

When Aunt Cass pulled away Hiro noticed that her cheeks were streaked with tears and her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

What time is it? Hiro thought to himself dazedly. He glanced at the clock and nearly choked.

3 AM.

Oh no…

"Where have you been?!" Aunt Cass cried, grabbing Hiro by the arm and leading him to a table. She pointed to the chair and he quickly sat, guilt churning in his stomach.

"I-I didn't know what to do!" Cass continued hysterically, pacing around the table. "I was just about to the call the police, but – I wasn't sure – I thought maybe… I didn't –"

She abruptly stopped and took a shuddering breath.

"I'm sorry Aunt Cass," Hiro muttered, unable to look up at her.

"You weren't at the University today."

Hiro looked up, startled. He expected her to be glaring – seething – but instead her eyes were just… tired. Worried. She was pleading with him to explain.

"I wasn't," Hiro agreed.

"I called them," Aunt Cass said, taking a seat across the table from him. "You haven't even enrolled."

"That's right."

"So you weren't there at all today," Cass muttered to herself, trying to figure out just what was going on with her nephew. "And you weren't with your friends either, they said so on the phone –"

Hiro flinched, panic gripping his chest. "You called them?!"

"Of course I did!" Aunt Cass snapped, slamming her hand down against the table. "You've been gone for hours, what did you expect me to do? Sit around and just wait?!"

Hiro sucked in a deep breath, his head starting to throb where he had been hit earlier. The events of the night were starting to weigh on him, and he could feel his brain start to surrender to the idea of sleep...

"Tell me where you were, Hiro. Please."

He bit his lip, glancing to the side and avoiding his aunt's face.

"Hiro –"

"– I was bot fighting."

Aunt Cass went silent, and Hiro clenched his fists and closed his eyes. He hated lying to her. He really did… but…

"Listen, remember our deal… If you tell anyone about what you witnessed here today… and we catch wind of it…"

"You'll kill me."

The heavy silence pushed down onto the small family. Aunt Cass sat – blinking rapidly – trying to wrap her head around what her nephew had just admitted. The disappoint that flashed across her face crushed Hiro's heart.

"I thought… I thought you weren't doing that anymore…"

I'm not!

"I am."

Tears pooled at the bottom Aunt Cass's eyes and she turned away – her head in her hands. "This isn't what Tadashi would have wanted, Hiro," she cried, her voice barely a whisper. "He'd be so disappointed if he were here…"

Hiro flinched – his chair scraping against the floor as he stood abruptly. He stumbled toward Baymax and picked up his body before retreating to the stairs.

"Hiro!"

Aunt Cass started to chase after him, but he backed against the wall and shook his head furiously.

"He's gone, Hiro – but that doesn't mean we get the right to stop living," Cass said to him, trying to get him to see reason as she wiped away tears from her cheeks. "That's not what he would have wanted us to do and you know that!"

"I hope you've learned your lesson, bonehead."

"I'm not giving up on you."

"Use that big brain of yours to think your way out! Look for a new angle!"

"Hey… use that big brain of yours and stay out of our business from now on, alright?"

"Aunt Cass… please," he begged, clutching Baymax tightly – anchoring himself down to keep his own sanity intact. "Please… I can't…"

He choked back a sob, his thoughts running rampant. What do I believe anymore? He thought to himself, images of Tadashi and the fire flashing through his mind. And… unbidden – the memory of the man in the purple mask – unrelated but connected to his brother in some way, but how? Why? Why was he feeling this way? What was even going on anymore?

The world tilted and shifted, and his head throbbed. He dropped Baymax once again and felt a dizzying sensation overtake him.

"I'm going to throw up," Hiro gasped, his stomach lurching. Aunt Cass's eyes widened as Hiro veered toward the bathroom.

He didn't remember much – just the pain, and his tears streaking down his face, and the vague yet comforting feeling of his aunt's hand on his back as he puked over the toilet and drowned in the confusion and the guilt and the sadness that was consuming his life.

Tadashi... I need you... where are you?

He groaned and cried and yelled out, yet Baymax - his battery having long since died - remained lifeless and unresponsive on the cafe floor.

Tadashi winced, looking to the side and clenching his fits together as Callaghan redressed his wounds on the side of his body. The skin was still red, raw, and inflamed. There would definitely be some scarring, but Tadashi could honestly care less about that. At least he was alive…

And it's all thanks to him… Tadashi thought wearily, watching the older man cautiously. Callaghan pulled back and smiled at his handiwork before retreating to the table where his computer sat.

The pair had grown accustomed to the strained silence. Callaghan knew that Tadashi resented him – knew that he was still seething over how he had been forced to treat his own brother.

"You're lucky I hadn't just killed him," Callaghan had laughed once Tadashi had escorted Hiro away from the warehouse.

Tadashi wondered if the professor could actually kill his younger brother. Did this man – this once kind and generous man – did he really have it in him? Was he a murderer…?

I'm here, Tadashi thought to himself, watching Callaghan click away on his computer. Why am I here? Why did he…?

Callaghan exited his tab on his laptop and Tadashi blinked – staring at the screensaver on his computer.

"Who is that?" Tadashi asked, speaking to the older man for the first time in a long while.

Callaghan flinched and looked down at his home screen. It was a picture of him and a younger woman – most likely in her twenties. They were both smiling widely and posing under the Golden Gate Bridge. Tadashi had never seen Callaghan look so happy before...

"That's my daughter, Abigail," Callaghan grunted, closing the computer and swiveling to face the older Hamada.

"She looks like you," Tadashi observed casually, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Callaghan actually had family. He'd never mentioned it in class before…

"She looked like me," Callaghan corrected, and Tadashi's eyes widened slightly.

"Past tense…"

Callaghan nodded. "She's dead."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Tadashi said sincerely, and he truly did feel sadness for the man. However demented his former professor had become, Tadashi still knew what it felt like to lose someone close to you. His parents flashed painfully in his mind.

Loss was a serious matter – even Callaghan deserved someone to talk to about it...

"What happened?"

"It doesn't concern you," Callaghan snapped, rounding on the young man furiously. "You are to remain silent and do what I ask, do you understand Mr. Hamada?"

"When someone you love dies, the best thing to do is to talk about it out loud," Tadashi muttered quietly, leaning back against the wall – his body aching and tired.

"How would you know anything about how I am feeling?!" Callaghan yelled, stepping up to Tadashi threateningly.

Tadashi merely stared at Callaghan – the older man already knew about Tadashi's situation with his parents as he had told him about it sometime ago in class. Slowly, Callaghan's face went slack and he backed away.

"I… I apologize."

"I'm sure my brother is also experiencing a situation similar to yours," Tadashi said boldly, and Callaghan's eyes widened. "He thinks I'm dead. If you'd just let me –"

"No."

Tadashi sighed, running a hand down the side of his face.

"You mentioned revenge," Tadashi tried again. "You said that you were using Hiro's microbots for revenge…" His mind clicked. "Revenge for who? Revenge… for Abigail?"

Callaghan was on him in an instant, his hand fisted in the collar of Tadashi's shirt. He shoved him against the wall and Tadashi felt his side flame up in pain, but he kept a level face with the older man.

"You are crossing a dangerous line here, Mr. Hamada," Callaghan muttered furiously, shoving him again. "You think you're a genius, is that it? You think you're intelligent enough to assume what my plans are, don't you?" He pushed Tadashi to the side and he fell to the bed, catching himself with his hands.

"I hate people like you," Callaghan spat. "You – and your brother. God, I should have killed you both."

"But you didn't," Tadashi said cautiously. "Why is that?"

"I'm not discussing this with you any further!" Callaghan yelled, glaring at him. "You will do as you are told, do you understand me? Do you know how easy it would be – how easily I could crush your brother – your aunt – your friends?!"

"I do know," Tadashi nodded quickly, the mere thought horrifying him.

"And that's why you will continue to help me – understood?"

Tadashi wanted to stand and question the older man further, but he held his tongue. "Yes, sir."

A tense silence fell onto the pair before Callaghan relaxed and smiled – his threatening demeanor evaporating like a puddle on a summer day. "I'm glad we can finally come to an agreement," Callaghan nodded, his voice considerably kinder. "I wish you'd use that big brain of yours more often, Mr. Hamada."

Tadashi flinched and passed off the sudden movement as pain in his side. His mind started racing – did he know? How could he possibly...?

"That was what you said to your brother," Callaghan mused. "I liked it – you probably scared the wits out of him!"

Tadashi nodded, trying to hide his distress. "That's what I was aiming for."

"I'll just have to adopt that saying myself," Callaghan laughed boisterously, turning back to his computer. Tadashi's fake smile fell from his lips, and he glared at the older man's back.

Over my dead body you will.