Big Hero 6 Plus One

Chapter 9 | Ariyana

Word count: 1.9K

Total time (estimated): 1 month

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The minutes ticked by while Hiro sat beside his aunt and friends inside the local police station. He hadn't said a single word since the police had escorted them there. The entire room was completely silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The tense silence was deafening to Hiro.

It was just past 11:00 PM, an hour and a half after the fire and explosion transpired around 9:30 PM. But to Hiro, it felt much longer than ninety minutes.

There was no news regarding Tadashi and Ariyana. Hiro was still processing the horrifying, heartbreaking truth that he might not have a brother or a sister anymore.

Hiro remembered the last thing he heard before the explosion: Ariyana's horrified scream. "TADASHI!!" Ariyana's scream of terror echoed in Hiro's mind. That scream may very well have been Ariyana's final word. Tadashi and Ariyana could both be dead, and they would have died the same way: risking their own lives to save someone else's.

How would Tadashi and Ariyana have died? Burned alive by the flames? Thrown against a wall and killed by the impact? Crushed by debris? Asphyxiated by smoke inhalation? Killed by the force of the explosion itself? Hiro shuddered as he mentally listed how his brother and sister could have died.

Was only one of them killed? Both of them? Neither?

All anyone could do was hope the fire hadn't claimed both Tadashi and Ariyana's lives.

Finally, at ten past eleven, two search and rescue workers came to the police station, their yellow uniforms covered in ash, dust, and soot. Their faces were solemn. Hiro feared the worst. He braces for impact.

"Are they okay?"

"We found one of the victims. The girl. By some miracle, the girl was alive and breathing when we found her."

Sighs of relief erupted from the group. Hiro nearly fell over. Ariyana was alive.

"Where is she?"

"She's in the hospital, being treated for smoke inhalation, a mild head injury, and a severe burn."

Hiro's blood ran cold.

"When we found her, her right thigh was severely burned. At this point in time, it's unclear whether it's a second-degree or third-degree burn. We believe the blast threw her against the wall or against debris, and she hit her head. She was found close to the front entrance of the building, near the stairs and front entrance, underneath some sort of steel debris that had somehow created a makeshift fireproof shelter and protected her from the intensity of the flames. She had most likely crawled underneath the debris before she fell unconscious. She was unconscious but alive and breathing when we found her."

"W-what about my brother?" Hiro asked.

The two workers' faces became solemn. "So far, we haven't found any other survivors or bodies, dead or alive. If the boy is still inside the building, he would have died a long time ago from smoke inhalation or from the fire itself. We're still searching, but it's highly unlikely the boy will be found alive. I'm sorry."

If Tadashi had survived the initial explosion, he would have died only minutes afterward from smoke inhalation or from the fire itself. There was no way Tadashi was still alive.

Hiro felt tears forming in the corners of his eyes, but he blinked them away. The search was not over yet, and Ariyana was alive. Right then, his primary concern was Ariyana.