(Okay this one needs a slight word of explanation. Yes, this is another short one. It had to stand alone. You're going to hate me when you read it though. I know you will. But trust me when I say you will understand why I did it. I hope. Oh it will be kind of "in and out" in perspective as there is "lost" time going on as Hiro dips in and out of consciousness. )
Hiro could hear something that sounded like either sirens or incessant beeping all around him but he couldn't see anything. It was pitch black, as though he were in a room completely cut off from the rest of existence. Except that wasn't right. He knew it wasn't. But why couldn't he see anything?
The soft sound of air moving in his lungs echoed in his mind. Whoosh. Shh.... Whoosh. Shh... Whoosh. Shh.... His throat tickled and he tried to resist the urge to cough. Why was his throat so dry? Or was it something else? Now that he thought about it, he could feel something pressing against the inside of his throat, like a thick tube. Why was that there? He couldn't help but feel his heart constrict with panic, not understanding what was going on. And with that, the sound in the background increased dramatically, an alarm sounding.
"Shh," a soft voice soothed as the area behind Hiro's eyelids brightened slightly. Unfortunately, the increase in light hurt. Then the most uncomfortable feeling filled his lungs as he heard something like a low level vacuum being used. He couldn't resist the urge to cough, his oxygen supply suddenly a lot thinner than it had been only moments before. The sound was horrible.
Someone was gently holding his wrist. At least it felt like someone was holding his wrist. His whole body felt weird, like it was stuffed inside a sausage skin. Except that he couldn't feel anything on or around his chest. Everything else, however, tingled painfully, though no one area seemed worse off than any other. Except for when he coughed. Thankfully, whatever was happening to him was of short duration as oxygen flooded his lungs once more.
Voices came in and out of focus, though he couldn't understand a single word any of them said, outside of the occasional encouragement. And the light seemed to flicker behind his closed lids. Whether this was because time passed in odd stretches or because someone was just playing with the light was anyone's guess. Hiro had no idea.
When it was pitch dark in his thoughts, he thought he heard Tadashi's voice telling him to hang in there and asking him why he'd decided to be so reckless. Only he couldn't remember anything that would warrant such a berating. His existence was the soft whoosh of breathing, the beep of something in the distance, the cold feel of something covering his skin like a constraining second layer, though he was sure it wasn't supposed to feel that way. Why did it feel that way?
Then there came one of the most uncomfortable moments he could remember to this point. He felt something being slid out of his throat, rubbing against the sensitive lining. It made him cough and gag a bit, but once the sensation stopped, he found he could breathe. And with that realization, his eyes opened for the first time, though he flinched against the soft light filtering down on him.
"Continued oxygen treatment through less invasive ventilation," someone was saying, though his eyes wouldn't focus enough to figure out who was talking. But he felt something soft and rubbery being placed against his nose and mouth, sending fresh oxygen down into his lungs in a way so dissimilar to previous means that he couldn't immediately figure out what was going on. "Many of his burns will require more extensive grafting once he's stabilized further. However, forty percent of the burns seem to be healing on their own. We'll have to wait and see about the rest."
Is that what had happened? He'd somehow gotten burned? But he couldn't remember how or when. And when he tried to talk, his eyelids drooped, his throat feeling raw as he coughed. "What's wrong with me?" he managed between haggard breaths.
Soft fingers lightly caressed his face, though he still couldn't tell who was there. Though his eyes had somewhat adjusted, the light was still too low for him to see much of anything. "It's going to be okay," a familiar feminine voice assured him. "You're going to be okay."
Whatever else the woman might have said was lost in a sea of exhaustion. Keeping his eyes open was so tiring and he felt himself slipping back into the inky void he'd woken up in. Maybe someone had introduced something into his system to make him sleep. Maybe he just couldn't handle what was happening to his body. Either was possible. He had no answers, just the blissfulness of oblivion.
Hiro woke to intense pain, neurons firing off as his skin was exposed to the elements. He gasped and his body tensed as someone dabbed something on his overly sensitive skin. He tried to flinch away but that brought on a fresh wave of agony as his back pressed too forcefully against the mattress behind him. At least he didn't feel the soft rubber against his face anymore, though there was something attached to his nose. He just couldn't reach up his arms to touch it. And he felt hot, so very hot. Shouldn't he be sweating?
"Hey," a soft voice soothed on one side. "It's going to be okay."
This was not the same voice as before. This one was masculine and made tears prick at his eyes, but it was one he decidedly recognized. "T-tadashi?" the word escaped his lips before he could even register what it meant. It had taken him a moment to connect the images before him with the fragments of his memory, mostly because Tadashi wore a mask over his face and had on a gown of some kind over his usual clothes. At least Hiro assumed he was wearing normal clothes underneath it. The pants looked funny though.
The resulting silence his confusion created was filled with a soft chuckle. "Good morning, bonehead," his brother greeting, gently ruffling his hair. "I wondered when you'd wake up."
Hiro resisted the urge to arch his back as more soft pressure was applied to one of his legs. The cloth was cool and soothing but also caused his pain sensors to fire off. "What happened?" he gasped, his breath a little short. Part of him said he should be shivering but maybe it was more because his legs twitched with the nurse's ministrations.
"Deep breaths," Tadashi encouraged. "They're just changing your bandages, and making sure your body heals." He idly played with Hiro's hair, a fond expression on his face, though there was the hint of worry still deep in his eyes. He exuded a sense of calm that almost seemed forced.
It took Hiro a moment to realize something was wrong. There was something different with his brother. There was a large bandage on one cheek, his left hand partially covered in gauze. And his hair was much shorter now. In fact, it looked like someone had shaved his head. "What happened to you?" But despite these observations, he doubted that was why he felt a sense of impending dread. It was almost as though he expected something bad to happen.
Tadashi let out a sigh as heavy as all his combined years could produce. "Not nearly as much as happened to you, though I did try to prevent it from happening. It just didn't work all that well."
His answer was no real answer at all and Hiro couldn't help but feel let down. "No. what happened to you?" The emphasis he used on the last word almost made him cough, but he managed to suppress it. He didn't want to alarm his brother, which would likely effectively shut him up.
The older Hamada ran his hand across the back of his neck, wincing slightly. The skin there was still healing. "Don't you remember? Any of it?"
Don't you remember? Those words sent a tumble of images and emotions into Hiro's mind. Flames. Explosions. Desperation. He had to find someone, to stop them from doing something really stupid. But why couldn't he remember?
"At the showcase," Tadashi reminded. "You presented your project, which surpassed Callaghan's and my expectations I might add." There was a hint of pride in those words, though it seemed to diminish with the next sentence. "We'd gone over to the bridge by the lab when the fire alarm at the showcase went off."
Hiro could almost picture himself as he awkwardly leaned against the arched railing of the bridge, all bravado as he imitated his brother, only to have him tease him about his fly being down. Then the sound that had changed everything blared into the night. But hadn't he just waited for his brother on the steps of the building? Deciding, only at the last minute, to go after him into the flames? That didn't explain how he'd ended up in his current state. Unless he was somehow wrong about what had happened.
"When we got to the building, we discovered someone was still inside," Tadashi continued. "I went to go in and you tried to hold me back. But I couldn't let someone go without help so I pushed in anyway, expecting you not to follow. Except you did."
Wait. What? Hiro couldn't remember any of that. The monitor next to them increased in tempo as he tried to process what his brother had just told him. It wasn't by much, but just enough that he could hear the difference. He lifted his hands into view, only to realize that not only were they covered with white gauze, but that his arms were as well. What was going on? He felt so hot. Why was it so hot? Hadn't he been cold just a little while ago?
Tadashi seemed to sense the subtle change as well as he paused, almost as if debating on continuing, but he somehow sensed his brother needed to know. "I was able to avoid most of the flames inside, but, as soon as I realized you'd followed me in, I couldn't focus on the other person who was still in there. I had to get you out. You got caught in one of the smaller explosions, crying out in pain. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have known you were there. I tried my best to get to you, to cradle you in my arms as I ran for the exit. And just as we almost made it out, everything exploded."
Flames all around, climbing up the walls, eating the ceiling. An acrid smell in the air, robbing him of breath. The taste of chemicals in his mouth. Why had he gone in there again? That's right, to save Tadashi, to keep him from dying again. Again?
"Over seventy percent of your body was burned," Tadashi continued. "Your chest and arms were the worst. Your legs were burned as well, though not quite as badly. Somehow, most of your face was protected, though we may never know how."
How? How had it ended up like this? But, in the long run, wasn't it better this way? He'd accomplished what he'd set out to do. He'd saved Tadashi from the fire, even if he'd put himself in danger instead. Tadashi was alive. That's what counted. Except something was wrong. He could sense it. What was it?
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," Tadashi continued, as if there hadn't been a pause at all. "I should have listened to you and stayed with you outside. I knew the fire was too big for anyone inside to survive. I'm sorry."
Why did everything feel so surreal? Like this was just a dream, that he was floating instead of lying there? And why was Tadashi sorry? Hiro tried to shake his head but couldn't. "Don't be sorry," he said, though it took a great deal of effort to say it. It almost felt like the air was as thick as the molasses Aunt Cass used to make her gingerbread.
But then he focused back on his brother as a small sound caught his ears that he'd never expected to hear. Was Tadashi crying? Tadashi never cried. What had caused that? But it couldn't be denied. Hiro could see the water dripping from the corners of his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Hiro," Tadashi said again, his voice choking up his words. "I should have listened to you when we were outside the showcase building. If I had, none of this would have happened. I'm so sorry."
Then realization hit like an asteroid plummeting to earth. What an odd thought that was. The heart monitor was going off like crazy, his heart thudding in his chest like a hummingbird's. And, now that he thought about it, his breath seemed to come less easily, almost as if he had to force it. There was an odd sort of chill in his bones despite the heat that filled the rest of his body. The nurse who'd been bandaging his legs had moved to the IV stand at the head of the bed, a syringe in her hand. What was that for?
The door opened from the hallway as a small arsenal of doctors and nurses rushed into the room, all in masks and gowns. One of them touched Tadashi on the shoulder. "You need to leave," he told him. "Now."
It took Hiro a moment to process what was going on as the man tried to lead his brother away. "No!" he screamed, his throat raw from the sound. "NO! I want Tadashi! Tadashi! TADASHI!" He tried to thrash around, arms holding him as gently but firmly as they dared. But he'd expounded more energy with his outcry than even he cared to admit. Instead, his body was wracked with hoarse coughing as phlegm caught in his throat.
"We need to keep him calm," another voice spoke up, its owner gently nudging Tadashi back to his place at his brother's side, though out of the way of the equipment they'd brought in. The other doctor didn't protest.
Tears rolled down Tadashi's visible cheek and were just as quickly absorbed by the mask he wore over his nose and mouth. His eyes were red from them. "It's going to be okay," he soothed his brother, running one hand across his rumpled hair like he had so many times while growing up. "Everything's going to be okay."
All around him, Hiro could hear and see the flurry of activity, though his mind refused to acknowledge or even fathom what was going on. Someone had placed an oxygen mask against his face as his eyes lost their focus. He could feel the change as the air practically forced its way into his nose and mouth. His heart felt like it would burst with how fast it was pounding. His entire body ached with a fire burning him from the inside out. Except for the chill that was at odds with everything else, a chill that felt somehow safe and peaceful. But, all through that, he could still feel the pressure of Tadashi's hand on his head, even though it was getting harder and harder to focus. "Ta...da...shi....." he managed from behind the mask.
"I'm still here," Tadashi assured him, now pressing his hand firmly against Hiro's head, just above his ear, as if the extra pressure was somehow needed. As if Hiro wouldn't be able to feel it without that extra bit of pressure. And maybe he wouldn't have. "I'll always be here," he whispered as the tears rolled freely, his breath hitching in his throat. "Always."
Hiro tried to reach for his brother's hand, somehow managing to make contact with it before all of the monitors went silent in his ears, his body suddenly feeling light. The last thing he remembered was hearing Tadashi's cry of denial as it filled the room.