Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. Here's to a happy new year and a fruitful 2020.

Chapter 1 – Let It Snow

"Wow."

There was definitely something great in telling a tale that seemed so mind-boggling that no one would believe it.

But the unbelievable was a normal occurrence for Hiro Hamada. And making the city of San Fransokyo snow was one of those occurrences.

Being gifted Tadashi's snow machine, losing it, getting it back, and making it work had taken a lot out of him. A lot of emotions had been put on the metaphorical table, but at the end of that day, he could put all of it aside and just enjoy the company of his family and friends.

...And smack Fred in the face with a giant snowball. That helped, too.

All of the memories had come rushing back to him as he scrolled through the photo album he had put together in his phone. All of the smiles (including Go Go's), all of the fun...it had been one special day.

Hiro had taken a sip from his evening hot chocolate when he had a thought.

A secret thought.

There was one other person that he could share that day with.

Providing she weren't asleep or anything.

"That's...such an amazing story."

And it turned out she wasn't.

Hiro had the laptop on his shins as he finished recalling the tale to said person on the screen. She had her head resting in her hands as she stared at him with bated breath. Even though she had only recently woken up, her brown eyes were transfixed on him. Her red scarf was around her neck, perhaps to get into the mood of his story.

"I remember reading about that in the news when I was visiting my family overseas for Christmas, but it didn't register with me until you started talking about it just now. That was you?"

"Yeah," Hiro answered. "Well...Tadashi, really. I didn't really do much of anything."

"But still. It had to be awesome to have snow, if just for one day. You're so lucky."

"I would have never thought I would see the day you would be jealous of me, Karmi."

She titled her head at him, a couple of strands of long hair falling over her eye. "Don't get used to it, Genius Boy."

That dang smile got him every time, even though it was seventy-six hundred miles away. He liked the way it looked; he wished it could be right next to him instead of on a screen.

But that's another story for another time.

"So where is the machine now? Keeping it ready for a snow day off of school?"

"Nah, Aunt Cass would probably sniff that out," Hiro replied. "It's...somewhere."

Karmi stared at him incredulously. "You lost it?"

"No, I didn't lose it. I just put it away for safekeeping. It turns out the changing the barometric pressure of the atmosphere tends to short-circuit very small and intricate tech. I fixed it, but...I want to keep it for the future. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

"I guess." Karmi pulled her scarf a little tighter around her neck. "Wonder if your brother made one for warm weather. I could sure use it right-"

All of a sudden, Hiro heard a loud noise come from the side of the screen. Karmi instinctively turned to her left to face whatever was coming. Whoever it was seemed to surprise her, as she slightly recoiled in her seat.

A second person came into view. It was a much older woman with a pair of glasses on her face. The dark brown hair, glasses, and white headscarf made it very clear who it was: Karmi's grandmother. Hiro had never seen her before, and Karmi had only mentioned her a couple of times in passing. Karmi had clearly muted her microphone, because her mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. It looked like they were having an animated conversation, the woman motioning her arms around.

About a minute passed before Karmi remembered that he was still on the call. She hit a button on her computer, mumbled a few words and pointed at the screen, and the old woman glanced down to see Hiro blinking back at her. He nervously waved and said one of the few words that she had taught him in Urdu. "Umm...salam."

This got her very excited, because she rattled off a bunch of sentences that he had no hope of understanding. He desperately turned to Karmi, who got the hint. She butted into the one-sided conversation with her and started rambling in Urdu.

To her credit, her grandmother stood there and nodded to whatever she was saying. After Karmi was finished, the woman leaned into the camera to eye Hiro a second time.

"And you are teaching him?"

"Umm...yeah," Karmi replied, absentmindedly scratching at her neck. "Just a little bit."

"She's a good teacher, ma'am." Hiro felt like he had to cut in. "She's very patient with me. Much more than I probably deserve."

The old woman chuckled, the lines in her mouth growing more distinctive. "You are very thin. Do you get fed enough over there?"

"I do, yes. But I'm young. Still have a lot of growing to do."

She stepped back to allow Karmi to come back into view. "I must be going. It was good to meet you."

Hiro decided to take a chance on another phrase. He only hoped he would get it right this time. "Ap ka din acha guzrae."

Karmi's grandmother widened her eyes for a moment, and her smile got bigger. She bent down to Karmi and muttered a few words in her ear, kissing the top of her head at the end. Karmi's head ducked further into the folds of her scarf, her cheeks now matching the color of it.

As she walked off-screen, Hiro leaned forward. "Wait, what did she say?"

Karmi's eyes came back to the camera.

"What did she say, Karmi?"

Her mouth came back into view, her neck burning red. "She...um. She said that I should stop everything I'm doing and take your hand in marriage immediately."

Hiro's face started getting hot. "Well, it would be hard for me to do that, since you're so far away."

Karmi glared at him.

"Sorry."

"Trust me, if she could still drive, she'd take me to the airport right now. But she's just joking. I think."

An awkward moment passed, Karmi still staring toward her door. Hiro wasn't quite sure what to say. Maybe it was because of the embarrassment. Or the impromptu conversation with her elder. Or the possibility of finding himself engaged at the ripe old age of fourteen.

Or maybe all of it.

"Anyway, what were we talking about?"

Thank God Karmi came in with the save. "Snow. We were talking about snow."

"Oh yeah, right." Karmi turned back to him. "You're lucky. I've never seen snow before."

"Wait, really? I thought you get snow where you are."

She arched her hand over her head. "In the upper edges of the country where there are mountains, yes. Not so much in my neck of the woods. So between here and San Fransokyo, I've never experienced it."

"Well, maybe you will."

"Yeah, now that you have a snow machine. I'm totally going to make you use that for me."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Is that all I am to you? A genius that you can use to cater to your every whim?"

"Yes. Took you long enough to catch on."

He took a moment to take a look at the time. Karmi must have noticed him, because she spoke up again. "You look like you're plotting something. Are you plotting something?"

"No."

"And that's exactly what someone plotting something would say."

"Karmi, I swear to you that I'm not plotting anything. You know me. I could never get anything past you. You're too smart for me."

She stared at him, the end of her scarf now around her hand. "And now you're buttering me up. Yeah, you're definitely-"

Karmi stopped mid-sentence, now looking off to her right. Hiro knew from past calls that there was a window overlooking the front yard. Maybe something outside caught her attention.

"Karmi?"

She got up from her chair and walked out of view, her gaze still on the window. About five seconds went by without Karmi uttering any sort of response. Hiro was just about to shout out again when her hand came across the screen and pulled the laptop toward the window.

From his vantage point, he couldn't see the street below, but he could see the nearby tree poking out in the frame.

And its branches were starting to get covered in-

"Hiro."

The computer turned to bring Karmi's face back into frame. They stared into each other's eyes as hers started to glisten in the morning light.

"What did you do?" she whispered.

"I don't know what you're-"

"If you complete that sentence, I will kill you."

Even though she had never carried out that threat before, it sure sounded serious now. Hiro's lips slammed shut.

"I'm going to ask you again. And don't insult my intelligence this time." Karmi leaned in even further. "What. Did. You. Do?"

Hiro took a deep breath in through his nose. He was just about to open his mouth when a sudden loud crash came back from the direction of the door.

And a pair of arms came into view to pull Karmi's body toward them.

Her grandmother had made a reappearance, yelling several things in a flurry of Urdu. She sounded very excited, much more than she had been just a few minutes ago. She pointed out the window and continued to yell as the right side of Karmi's face continued to stare at Hiro.

After what seemed like an eternity, her grandmother let go and walked off, excitement still in her voice. Karmi rubbed the side of her face, an imprint of the embroidery from her relative's shirt on her cheek.

"Let's say, hypothetically..."

Her eyes went back to him.

"Hypothetically, there's a certain superhero that wanted to work on a better transportation system for one of their team members, specifically the one someone named after a bear. And after helping with said construction, they wanted to test it out by making an intercontinental trip. As an added incentive, they could make a visit over to...somewhere...where they could bring a little precipitation to a region that's never experienced it before."

She did not blink. Not even once.

"This is all, of course, hypothetical. There's no way that...specific situation could ever occur."

The two geniuses sat in silence, their gaze not breaking. From the corner of his eye, he could see the accumulation of snow on the branch outside. It must've gotten to almost an inch by now.

"You don't understand what you've done."

Hiro smiled softly. "I think I do, Karmi. You wanted to see the snow. I made that happen."

"No."

He saw that her arms were crossed, her hands shaking on her biceps. "You really don't understand."

"Then explain it to me. Make me understand."

Karmi's eyes were starting to water as she stared down at the keyboard. The window behind her was starting to frost up, obscuring his vision of the outside, but now all he was focused on was her.

"You remember what I said earlier? About the mountainous regions that get snow?"

"Yeah."

"...That's where my grandparents met."

Hiro's eyes widened.

"That's where they got married. That's where they raised my mom. That's where my parents lived before they moved to America and had me. The last time my grandmother saw snow was...was the last year my grandfather was alive."

His hand landed on the laptop, the tips of his fingers running over the keys.

"Every winter, my grandfather would rent a horse-drawn carriage and they would ride around the city as the snow fell. It was their tradition. They did that for almost fifty years. And then he got sick and couldn't do it any more."

Karmi looked out the window.

"My grandmother has entire albums of pictures over the years. I've looked over all of them; they're so beautiful. I could see the excitement in her face every single time. The snow reminds her of him."

Her voice went down to a whisper.

"This is the first time since my grandfather's passing that I've seen her this happy. This animated. I don't even know what my parents are thinking right now."

The brown eyes went back to him.

"And it's all because of you."

Hiro found his voice again. "Karmi, I...I didn't know."

"Now you do. And I know you were just trying to do something nice for me, but you've done so much more than that."

Karmi clenched her fist and held it over her chest.

"If I wasn't so far away, I would kiss you right now."

Hold up. Did he hear her correctly? "W-weren't you just threatening to murder me like five minutes ago?"

"Would you rather me do that?

"No."

"Then shut up."

A muffled voice came into the room, and Karmi turned to answer it. "I'm coming! Give me a minute!" She brought her attention back to Hiro. "I have to go. My grandmother wants to take me outside and show me her patented killer snowball technique. I don't know if I even have gloves. I have to go find some."

"Then I guess I'll talk to you later," Hiro said. "Have fun."

"Genius Boy."

Karmi was still in frame, tightening her scarf around her neck, but she was out of her chair and walking around the room. She peered into her dresser and pulled out one of her trademark sweaters, pulling it over her shirt. Satisfied with her attire, she came back over to the computer and leaned down.

"Tell Captain Cutie and Red Panda thank you for me."

"I will."

"And thank you, Hiro...for being the best friend that a girl can ask for."

The camera on her computer suddenly went out of focus as her face crept closer. Her lips hit the lens, plunging her screen into total darkness. After a second, she pulled back, the only thing on screen was her wide smile. The picture then cut out, the call ended.

And Hiro only found out when he himself looked down...his own lips on his own camera.

"Yeah," he muttered, closing his laptop softly. "Friend."

He then grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it out a couple of times. He wasn't aware of how much he had been sweating. Was it because of Karmi? The situation?

Both?

"Is it hot in here, or is it just me?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Because I clearly did not learn the first two times I did this. :P

I had to think about where I wanted to put this in my so-called "fan verse". I have suspicions that "The Present" is just a special episode and wasn't meant to fall into any particular point, so that's what I'm treating it as here: a Christmas episode, but with a flash-forward to where we are now.

Also, I hope that I've translated the Urdu properly. I'm still learning on how the exact translation is done.

Now that there is a proper release schedule for the rest of the season and not a bomb release, even with everything that's happening personally, I feel like I can do a good job in getting these stories out. So, I hope everyone will enjoy the third installment of Continuity. Let's see what happens.

Read and review, if you like. Until next time.