7I do not own Big Hero 6.
Enjoy!
Tadashi Hamada was not smart.
He knew it.
His Aunt knew it.
His little brother knew it.
Everybody who had ever met him knew it.
But he wasn't always like this.
He got into an accident that killed his parents but saved him and his brother.
However, it left him stupid.
But his Aunt still took him in.
But he had been a burden ever since.
While his brother was showing genius tendencies and advancing, he was struggling in class, repeating years and getting taken advantage of.
Eventually, due to his disability, he was put in the 'special class' but when you go from A to E, you know something is wrong.
Because of the classes, he just needed to come in a few times a week and when he wasn't there, he was helping his Aunt in the cafe.
Helping out, only required that he could read and follow instructions.
He knew he could either be helping out until his Aunt grew too old to run the shop.
Then he would be working under new management or he would be taken to a special home.
The worst option for him was having his little brother take him in.
Tadashi knew he was a burden to his brother, it was his brother who was always helping him out and not going out there and living.
There was a time when Hiro would look at him with admiration but as Hiro IQ grew he, eventually his brother realised he was pretty stupid.
It was embarrassing to have his little brother walk him to class, Hiro skipped grades and his Aunt walked him.
Eventually, she got too busy and he became the guy the Tram people knew to help.
It was embarrassing.
He often wondered if his family life would be a lot happier if he disappeared.
Did they really love him or were they keeping him because it was the right thing to do?
One day, he found out his answer.
One evening, Aunt Cass didn't know he was outside her door when she complained to her friend on the phone about how hard it was to take care of him and how a day hadn't gone by where she wished he had died in that accident.
She also went on to say, how she felt terrible for Hiro, how Hiro had become the older brother and how she and Hiro hide from him that Hiro had entered an amazing college because he didn't want Tadashi visiting it.
Hiro was making every excuse he could not to come home.
And then she dealt the final blow to him.
The truth was, the accident never changed his IQ.
He was always mentally impaired.
His parents were so good to him, that they made him believe he was smart when he really wasn't.
It was just how parents made their kids feel like their the smartest person in the world.
They didn't even plan to enrol him into school, they were going to tell him he was too smart for school and have him be an assistant to them.
At least he could follow instructions.
They even secretly hoped that they would outlive him so that they could stop him from realising the truth.
The truth was, little him had been told he was slow after the incident and he just thought the incident had turned him slow and nobody bothered to correct him.
"Tadashi took his own life." Said the god.
"Sweet Jesus," she said.
"Human beings latch on to bonds in their darkest time," said the god. "But what killed him wasn't his bonds but the exposing of a lie. The lie he told himself gave him the tiniest hope that maybe one day, he would wake up normal. He believed that parts of his brain swelled making him stupid and it just needed some ice. So when he found out that, that wasn't the case..."
"It destroyed him," she said.
"Everybody needs hope even if it comes from a lie," said the god. "Hope is what pulls people through the absolute worst of times. When the world is against you, hope is that rope that people climb, to get through the darkness. I want you to give him hope"
"Wait, how can I give him hope when his Aunt keeps an eye on him and he's taught stranger danger?" She said.
Was she going to become a tutor?
But what normal adult would not be suspicious if a tutor wanted to train somebody who was classed as mentally impaired?
Would she become a doctor?
That's thousands of dollars of treatment that the family did not have the money for.
And would it work even?
Would she become his friend?
But because of Tadashi history of being used, there must be several adults keeping an eye on anybody he interacted with.
There was no way, she could think to give him hope without a reasonable adult saying 'That's bull-crap'.
"Actually...there is one way," said the god, before whispering something in her mind.
Her eyes went wide as she said. "Are you serious...?"
"It would take a lot of effort on your end but it would be a huge confidence boost for him and it would make being not loved hurt a lot less," said the god.
"But to give me that power?" she said.
"Don't you want it?" Said the god.
"I do," she said. "But that's going to Frick the world up, won't it?"
"Tadashi and Hiro are supposed to Frick the world up but only Hiro is doing it," said the god. "He made Baymax. So Tadashi deserves something too"
"Alright, it's going to be awesome though," she said.
And they shook on it.
The world came back and Tadashi hid his head underneath bed covers, he was playing a game on his phone.
He knew how phones worked, phones were designed to be so easy that even a one-year-old could operate a smartphone.
Aunt Cass had gone out for Hiro's parent's evening, leaving him locked alone in the house, with his thoughts.
Thoughts of despair.
His Aunt looked so proud when she was going out to be with Hiro and celebrate Hiro smartness.
Only when Hiro was mentioned did her eyes light up like that.
He wished somebody could look at him with genuine pride and not the pride of seeing a cripple do something normal.
Suddenly he heard something.
It sounded like a helicopter.
He took off the bed covers and sat up and turned to the sound, what he saw next was something he wouldn't have thought would happen to him in his lifetime.
A small helicopter robot, yelling. "I've found you, your highness!"
Tadashi stared at the thing now in his bedroom, was Hiro doing something smart again?
"Your highness, you don't know what I've been through!" said the robot coming closer. "It been so hard trying to find you, you should have stayed with your adopted parents but there gone."
"Hiro...is that you?" He said he didn't know his little brother could act.
The robot gave him a deepened look and said. "Wait. A minute. You honestly don't know who you are, do you? You adopted parents were supposed to explain it to you on your 18 birthday and...oh, my god"
And then it zoomed closer to him and it beamed something that made him feel his world spin.
It was a video.
It was a video of a baby who was dressed like a prince building the same robot he saw before him now and putting the final piece in place.
"This is you," said the robot. "You built me, 18 earth years ago. You were one of the smartest babies in the universe. While others had to be carried, you walked out of your egg sack"
He saw a man feet coming into frame and take a seat next to the baby, the camera showed a man who looked exactly like him but buffer and less clean-shaven.
The man ruffled the baby's hair.
"And what is this invention called Tadashi?" Said the man.
"Pizza," said the baby and Tadashi almost laughed with the man.
That baby was him.
"Well, nice to meet you, Pizza," said the man. "Will you be my little boy's friend? He a special little guy and we need somebody to make sure he doesn't get into trouble when I or my wife aren't around"
"Affirmative. I will make sure the prince doesn't get into trouble" said the robot sounding younger.
Baby him gave a pout, while the man laughed.
The video froze.
"But you did." said the robot now. "You were so curious, you got into so much trouble and you liked to blast me with those horrible human things called bubbles"
The robot shuddered as he showed him more clips of mischievous baby him.
Tadashi was amazed because he had never seen a home video of baby him before.
"You and your parents were such a happy family," said the robot, showing him a picture of him and his parents.
The woman was beautiful, the baby him was a bit older and everybody looked to be having a good time in the photo.
It was a photo, he wanted to see.
"...so, what happened?" He said, "I'm here and..."
Well, he wasn't even an average level of intelligence.
"Mental blocks," said the robot.
"What?" He said.
"It's something to stop you from being smart," said the robot. "You were the only heir, lots of assassination attempts. Your parents sent you to Earth to protect you. They only found out later that the person who suggested it was a traitor. That person blocked your genius, bound you, took your memories and made your adopted parents believe they were you real parents, and then tried killing you. Without your guards or your smarts to defend you, you would have been easy. But somehow you survived"
Tadashi blinked.
Wow, he had no idea that he had such an amazing and deadly backstory.
"And where is the person now?" He said.
"Executed," said the robot, making him uncomfortable. "Your parents were furious. They truly love you, you were supposed to go to Earth and learn how to deal with common people from a common person point of view. Not this"
Indeed, he was grades behind his peers, he was in a special class, he was stuck working in his Aunt cafe as a waiter or sometimes cook.
If it wasn't for school, his Aunt would never let him go out alone.
He was 18 and was only allowed to handle a dollar or two, enough to buy sweets or crisps.
The guy who made him stupid had done him so dirty.
"So...can you make me smart again?" He said.
"I can," said the robot making him happy. "But it will kill you"
"What?" He said.
"Think of your IQ like a shaken can of coke." said the robot. "If you know a can was shaken, would you open it immediately?"
And he shook his head, he learned from many shaken can pranks not to open what he hadn't paid for himself.
"Exactly, it explodes and goes everywhere," said the robot. "The smart thing to do is open it gently and let the gas out slowly. Then you open it fully to drink it. That's your IQ. It's been on lockdown for so long that it bubbling in your head. Release it all at once and it would kill you. Your mind will explode."
He screamed.
"The same goes for your powers as well," said the robot.
"I have powers?" He said, expecting lighting to come out of his fingers or to be able to use the force like a Jedi.
"Yes. But if you tried as you are now, it would kill you." Said the robot, stealing his thunder. "You need training but you can't go back right now. No human has ever been teleported to the planet, you're so bounded now that the machines can mistake you as human. You need to full unblock yourself to go through"
And Tadashi was sad.
In his mind, he imagined having family dinners, he imagined having his own room, he imagined being showered with praise and getting hugs.
Very childish stuff, but he had been deprived of so much.
Especially now that he was 18.
"However, I will be here to unblock you," said the robot. "I can travel between worlds and get you the Serums you need. I have one right here"
The robot opened the bottom hatch and on a thin robotic hand was a purple small tube.
"It's alright to be weary-" the robot didn't even get to finish.
Tadashi grabbed it, opened the cork and then drank it.
Years, of dreaming of being smarter and wanting an actual award had him disregard anything concerns.
When he downed it, he was surprised.
It tasted just like a strawberry.
"It tastes nice," he said, but he didn't feel any different, he expected pain from his head like in movies or his body to pulse.
The robot knew what he was thinking and said. "The first Serum was overseen by your mother. She wanted to make it as tasty and as painless as possible. This Serum was made years ago when she found out"
Tadashi looked at it.
Mother...
Had he ever been given something that was made with so much love?
"Well, it may not be obvious to you since the first block has been removed but it will be tomorrow," said the robot. "So I'm going to room with my creator for a bit"
The robot flew to one side of his pillow and powered down.
And for the first time in a long while, Tadashi smiled.
He laid down, his sorrow-filled heart was now breaming with hope.
Wasn't this the legendary sleepover, his Aunt wouldn't let him go on?
Sleeping with a friend...
Tadashi drifted off to the land where he was super smart.
Several hours later, his Aunt came home, humming a tune and noticed the lights were off.
She made to Tadashi room and frowned.
She spent hours being made to feel stupid and now she was seeing her 18-year-old nephew sleeping next to a mere toy.
She saw it as a toy and not the advanced machinery it was.
After all, her nephew was 18 and still wearing Velcro shoes because he couldn't do laces, how could he be near something so advanced and it not come from her or his little brother?
She shook her head and left.
She could always count on her oldest nephew to make her feel like the next Albert Einstein.
Little did she know, the same toy was given her a cartoonish middle finger right now.
And scene!
