hello! thank you for all the lovely reviews! don't really know whether i'm sad or glad to say that this is the final chapter of this story... but anyway, i hope you all enjoy it. i don't think it's what most of you expected, but i've had this ending in my head for a while now, and it just didn't work for me in any other way.

so, here's the final chapter. hope you enjoy! (or, at least, that it's somewhat up to your expectations haha)

"Dani! We're gonna be late if you don't hurry up!"

Dani rolls her eyes, snags a donut from the counter, grins at Aunt Cass and waves a quick goodbye before she steps out of the café, onto the pavement. The two Hamada brothers are already sitting astride Tadashi's red moped-scooter-thing, Tadashi's face a little scarred, Hiro just grinning at her brightly.

"Your lessons start late today," Dani says, accusingly, as she jumps up onto the scooter behind Hiro and is rewarded with a helmet being shoved onto her head.

She likes the helmet. Tadashi let her decorate it herself – black and white, with Danny's DP insignia on it. She knows she probably looks like some crazed fangirl or something, but she doesn't really care. She's even got a little Baymax head painted onto the helmet, and she can still remember the Hamadas' massive smiles when they'd seen it.

"You sure you're doing okay?" Hiro says, over the noise of the traffic, as they speed through the streets: "I mean, you're coping, right? You know, you can always ask for help – "

"I'm good," Dani says, beaming at him, though he can't quite see her. "I was born with the genes of a fourteen-year-old, remember. And Danny wasn't exactly an idiot, he was pretty smart."

Hiro falters: "I know, I know! I mean, just in case, you know? And I used to come here, and it wasn't all that great – "

"That's 'cause you're a genius, idiot," Dani says, affectionately, as Tadashi skids to a stop in front of the high school that he and Hiro used to go to, and Dani hops off. She drags off the helmet, shakes out her hair, and Hiro finds himself glaring at a couple of guys - jocks - nearby staring at her.

"Hey, earth to Hiro – "

She's looking at him oddly as she presses the helmet into his hands, and he finds the heat rising up into his face as he takes it from her, her hands small and cooling against his.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah." He clears his throat. "So, you'll come by the lab later? Fred says he's got a new batch of comics for you to read."

It's a redundant question, he knows. Dani always comes by the lab after school.

"'Course," she says, and she beams at him, that thousand-megawatt smile that seems to light up the whole world, and he finds himself smiling back slowly, goofily, before catching himself and flushing deep, dark red. "I can buy food for you guys on the way. Just text me. No Chinese, though."

She makes a face, and Hiro laughs.

It's been four weeks, three wonderful, crazy weeks since the portal exploded and she, Baymax and Abigail had come spinning out of the portal. He'd nearly become a nervous wreck in those few minutes that she'd been inside, and Wasabi and GoGo had had to hold onto him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, like throw himself into the portal after Dani and Baymax.

Then they'd come crashing out, and she'd stumbled to her feet, still in her ghost form, beaming so brightly that he'd hardly realised it when he'd wriggled out of Wasabi's grasp, and had flung his arms around her so hard and so tightly that they'd both toppled back onto the ground.

He hadn't been able to say anything, just stared at her with his arms around her as they sat sprawled on the ground, and he'd managed to choke out: "Don't ever do anything like that again."

She'd just stared back for a moment, eyes wide; and then she'd smiled, and said, "I missed you too, bonehead."

She'd registered for the high school about two weeks ago, after intensive tutoring by Tadashi and Hiro, once the older Hamada had gotten out of the hospital, just shortly after Callaghan's arrest – but like she'd mentioned, she had the genes of a relatively smart fourteen-year-old. She'd gotten the stuff down, no problem, and Aunt Cass had gotten her a place at the school.

Before the high school, though, she'd given Hiro and the rest of the gang an explanation. (Excluding Tadashi – none of them were quite sure how to bring up the fact that they'd all dived straight headfirst into a life-threatening situation, with Hiro leading the way. He still didn't know about their superhero alteregos.) She'd explained her situation as a halfa, though she'd only just stated that it had happened in a lab when she was twelve, and that was that.

It was only to Hiro that she'd explained the whole issue. How she was actually a clone – Danny's clone, to be exact – and that was all that she was.

"No," he'd said, immediately, without thinking. "That's not all that you are. I mean – you're Dani. You're human, you feel, you think, you care. After all that's said and done, you're still Dani Fenton, and that's, well," here his face had turned pink, "that's a pretty kickass thing to be, y'know?"

She'd smiled so widely that Hiro had found himself smiling right back.

The thing about Dani, though, is that even after everything, he's still, well, her best friend. And while being her best friend is an amazing thing to be – he could never imagine his life without her in it, not anymore – he'd, well, he'd like to be something just a little more than her best friend.

But he'll deal. This is Dani, after all.

"You're pretty deep in thought," Dani says to him. Tadashi, thankfully, has turned his head away, acting as if he can't hear them, which Hiro's pretty grateful for, though he knows that he'll probably get seriously teased on the way to SFIT. "You okay?"

"Who, me? Yeah, I'm doing – I'm doing great!"

The guys from earlier, Hiro notices, are still staring at Dani, and unconsciously he scowls. Of course, he should expect this, because Dani's really pretty, and really funny, and she's great, and she's kind, and she's got a good heart, and she's just downright amazing -

She raises her eyebrows, but doesn't say anything.

"I'll try and bring back some ice cream," she says to him, in a low voice, so that Tadashi can't quite hear: "I'll try and freeze it so it'll stay cold."

"Try and get a fancy flavour," Hiro says to her, grinning.

Dani rolls her eyes. "I'll get your favourite. Plus, I've got a major craving for gummy bears." She grins, sticks out her tongue at him: "Maybe I'll get some for topping."

"Gummy bears are the best topping of all," Hiro informs her, and gets a laugh out of her, which makes him smile even wider.

"Hate to break up the sweet romance, but you've gotta go in soon, Dani," Tadashi says, his voice breaking into their conversation, familiar but unwanted, as he twists back around to look at them. He taps his watch, gives the girl a pointed look.

"Yes, Mamadashi," Dani says, and Tadashi looks indignant at the name, spluttering, and Hiro bursts out laughing. She grins, and before Hiro can say anything, she darts in, kisses him on the cheek, and steps back.

His face turns a bright, bright red so fast that he's not surprised if he can be seen all the way in Amity Park.

"See you!" Dani calls, and she runs off into the building, long dark hair flying out behind her.

"S-see you," Hiro mumbles, staring after her, a hand to his cheek as his face continues to flame red.

Tadashi only grins, shakes his head as he starts up the scooter: "Oh, this is gold."

They hear unfamiliar laughter coming from the lab as they walk in, and stop at the sight of a strange, pretty dark-skinned girl with wild, curly black hair falling down her back standing across from Fred, dressed in shades of yellow and orange, kind of like Honey Lemon.

"Hey," Tadashi says, and he sends that familiar, friendly smile her way: "Hi there."

"Hey," says the girl, and her eyes are bright, bright green.

"She came over to check out the school," says Honey Lemon, by way of explanation. "She's thinking of applying here when she finally gets out of high school next year! Isn't that great?"

"Seems just right up my alley," says the girl. "All this building, experimenting – "

"It's a lot of hard work," Tadashi says, grinning. "It's not just building what you want."

"Nah, that just comes later, doesn't it?" says the girl. "Still, my science grades are pretty good. And I've been dreaming of this school and its scholarship program for years. I can already think up a couple of stuff for that showcase thing, to get in."

"You prepare early," says Wasabi.

The girl shrugs. "I like to be prepared. 'Sides, I've got friends in the city. So it won't be that bad. I won't be lonely, anyway."

"Well, if you do apply here, you can always look for us," Tadashi informs her. "I'm Tadashi. Tadashi Hamada."

Her eyebrows raise slightly.

"This is my brother, Hiro," he adds, shoving Hiro, who smiles distractedly at her.

"Hiro," she says. "Hiro Hamada?"

He blinks in surprise. "Uh, yeah."

"Cool," says the girl, and Hiro isn't quite sure that he likes the look in her eyes. "So, Hiro Hamada. What do you think of ghosts?"

"Ghosts?"

His voice comes out an octave higher than usual.

"Sure," says the girl. "Did I never introduce myself? Sorry 'bout that. I'm from this town in Illinois. Amity Park. Most haunted town in the US."

A smile crosses her face; an almost teasing, mischievous kind of smile, the same way Tadashi smiles whenever he's about to tease Hiro endlessly about something.

"The name's Valerie Grey," she says. "Think you know a friend of mine. Danielle Fenton."

He thinks of the kiss on the cheek she's just given him, and a goofy smile spreads over his face before he can stop it.

And then another thought strikes him, another bunch of stories that Dani's told him surfaces in his mind, and he swallows.

Oh, no.

Somehow, Hiro thinks that Valerie isn't quite as laidback as Danny is, regarding him and Dani.

-end-

hello! there you go, the ending of this story! hope you liked it (: and while it's the end, constructive criticism is still great and would be wonderful. and, uh, if you guys have any requests, or anything like that, you could, uh, always let me know and i'll see what i can come up with!

thanks for sticking with this story, guys. hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it!