Eraserhead and Scribe V

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Much later, after he'd settled Eri with Ochaco and Yaoyarozu and returned to Scribe, Eraser unwound himself from her. She rolled over on the bed and smiled up at him. "Where are you going?"

"We never ate dinner. Aren't you hungry?" He stroked her face with the back of his hand, wondering again how he'd lived so many years without this love in his life. Rational or not, there was no way he'd ever give her up willingly.

"I guess. I hadn't thought about it." She grinned, sitting up and stretching. "Haven't been thinking about much for the last little bit, actually. It's been a nice break."

He leaned down and kissed her. "I'm glad I could give you a brain break, love, but you do need to eat. You've lost weight these past couple of weeks."

"You fix the food, I'll eat it, promise." She brushed his hair back and ran her hand lovingly over the stubble on his face.

He turned his head, kissed her palm, then pulled away to go to the kitchen. Thanks to Scribe, there were usually at least a few things for sandwich makings in the refrigerator. He made a sandwich and halved it, starting back to the bedroom. He paused on the threshold, however, surprised to see his wife sitting cross-legged on the bed, her hands resting on her bare knees. Her mane of shimmering, opalescent hair fell over her shoulders, outlined against the black of his shirt.

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

And she was meditating. He wondered why. If Shigaraki had promised to stop the nightmares, did she need to meditate in order to try to control them? But it couldn't hurt, could it? He studied her face, noting the peacefulness of her expression.

He remembered how difficult she'd been when he'd first started training her. She hated meditating. She'd gotten better over time, but she'd rather be doing something active than sitting and trying to maintain control over her thoughts and inner feelings. He smiled a little, entering the room and setting the plate aside. When she didn't stir, he decided to wait for her and sat in the chair beside the bed, pulling out his phone to check his emails. He knew his wife. Even now, she couldn't stay in a state of meditation for longer than half an hour.

He scrolled through the emails absently, but his mind was crowded with thoughts and images of the day. The villain who thought Scribe was a double agent, Scribe's own performance as a double agent. Kamui Woods's suggestion that Scribe might not be suited to hero work. Laughing with Eri, holding them both and feeling irrationally, almost perfectly happy.

I don't care if she can't be a hero. All I want is for her to be my wife. That wasn't even it, either, though, was it? He didn't want Scribe to be his wife. At least, not just his wife. I just want her to be Scribe. I want her to be happy and whole. I want to live my life with her. He sighed a little. Could that happen? Could Scribe be happy if she wasn't saving people? Even before she got her hero license, she'd worked as support for heroes.

I should talk to All Might about it. He knew Scribe back then. Aizawa reflected with wonder that Scribe had only come back into his life a few months before. So much had happened since then, though. It felt like a lifetime.

I just hope it will be a lifetime. He didn't let himself think that sometimes a lifetime could be very short, especially where heroes and villains were concerned.

***

What am I looking for? Scribe stood in the dark apartment of her mind, looking around. It wasn't the first time she'd done this. She often wondered if she'd adopted this visualization for her innermost thoughts on her own or if Shigaraki's vision of it had influenced her.

I've always been able to keep it together better here than in my own head.

She knew that was true. She'd been in Shigaraki's head, had seen him as a crying child and as an angry adult. She had no desire to go back there anytime soon. Why was it easier for him to be sane in her head?

He wasn't super sane today, though. She shivered mentally at the memory. Her minds' eye focused on the spot where he'd knelt, bleeding, and thrown back his head with a cry of painful, maddening victory. Why victory? What could be worth the pain he's going through now?

Even as she thought it, she knew she shouldn't care about his pain so much. When she'd believed the connection between them was gone, she'd found it so much easier not to care what was happening to him. But it was never gone. And now I can't forget what I know.

She knelt on the spot in her mind where he had, but she stopped herself from reaching out to him, a little startled that she even needed to. She thought he meant what he'd said about stopping the nightmares, but she wasn't sure that was her main concern. Why am I here? I love Shota. Why am I worried about Tomura?

The very fact that she didn't add his last name to her thought told her the answer. She bowed her head. Because I care. I care that he is in pain, even if it is as he says, something he wants. But there's nothing I can do about it.

But there was, and she knew what it was. She raised her head slowly. I can be ready. Whatever you're doing, you're doing to realize your final objective: a world without heroes. I can be ready to fight you, Tomura. And I will.

She stood from the spot where Tomura Shigaraki had knelt and cried out in triumph. But he wasn't triumphant yet, and when she thought of the people she loved he would have to go through to be triumphant—Shota, Midoriya, Todoroki, Yaoyarozu, Ochaco, all of Class 1-A, all of the teachers and heroes she'd worked with since her return to Japan—she knew she could fight him to death itself before he would obtain his goals.

I shouldn't have come. I just can't seem to say no to you. He had come to her because he knew she needed to ask him something. Of course, she'd been so disturbed by his appearance, she'd totally failed to get the information she needed, but maybe she still held the upper hand where he was concerned. Maybe she could use that, if not to save him, at least to protect those she loved.

You won't win, Tomura. Not this war. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin and sent the thought straight to him as she emerged from the meditation to find Shota waiting for her.