Strings (BNHA x OC) [Rewrite]

39 || A Teacher's Torment

Eraser Head drifted awake, quickly feeling a crick in his neck. Before opening his eyes, he rolled his head around, relieving the pain.

He steadily opened his eyes and looked around himself. He found that he was hanging much like a marionette from a tree branch by several black strings that wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso. When he didn't feel the earth beneath his feet, he looked down, finding himself suspended a few feet above the ground.

Lying on the ground near his feet, he spotted his goggles and capture weapon; he was disarmed.

"Glad to see you're up — it's been a bit."

His vision snapped to the side, seeing Puppet leaning on a tree with her arms crossed over her chest.

His thoughts immediately went to his class. "Where are my students?" he demanded.

"Relax, they're all alive," she responded smoothly.

"Where?" he repeated, voice now deadly serious.

"Probably running... and running and running while my souls chase them through these woods." She pushed herself up off the tree, stalking over to him and circling around him like a vulture.

"You have me!" He craned his neck over his shoulder to look at her. "You said you'd let them go!"

"You're correct, I do have you, and I did release them." She walked around in front of him and paused, stopping her circling. "I'm not the one keeping them here — they're doing that on their own."

His facial features contorted to form a confused expression.

"They're all trying to get here to rescue you." She folded her arms behind her back. "My souls are keeping them away so I can take my time with you."

He grimaced at the possible implications of those words.

He shook the uneasy feeling away. "Leave them out of this. This is our conflict—between us."

Puppet sighed, taking a few steps towards him. "I'll let you see them then, just to ease your conscious."

His brows knit together. Let me... see them?

He knew that there was no way that she wouldn't let him go, so how would he be able to see them?

When she approached him, he pulled at the strings around his wrists, as if they would release. It was futile.

"Stay away from me," he growled.

She looked at him boredly. Despite his protests, she continued to advance and stopped in front of him.

She looked up at him, as he was dangling above her eye-level. Reaching up with both hands, she placed her fore and middle fingers against his temples.

Her fingers started to glow a misty white.

For a moment, nothing happened. Puppet just watched Eraser Head expectantly, waiting.

His head suddenly started to pang with pain, and he made an attempt to shake her off. She only dug her fingers more into his skull to keep him still.

His mind started to fog, the pain soon becoming overwhelming and he groaned.

He could barely make out the next words she said to him.

"Bye, Eraser~"

His vision swirled and shifted, the world around him distorting. His sight turned foggy and partially white, seeing through something else's eyes.

Through the fog, Eraser Head was able to see Todoroki. The hero in training was fighting off a few of Puppet's souls. He was doing relatively well against them, controlling his flames with sharp precision and not burning down the forest around him.

As Eraser Head shifted to try and look in a different direction, he found that his vision was fixed towards wherever the entity he was seeing through was looking.

This is a soul's vision, he concluded.

Todoroki sent flames billowing at the soul that the erasure hero was seeing through and his vision switched to another soul's view.

In his view now was Yaoyurozu, along with Sato and Ashido. Yaoyorozu was bleeding and collapsed on the forest floor. Knelt beside her was Ashido, attempting to help her. Sato stood in front of them in a defensive stance, facing off against multiple attacking souls, even though he looked exhausted.

It was then that Eraser Head registered what he was actually seeing; his students were being brutally beaten by Puppet's souls.

No! He wanted to scream but his vocal cords wouldn't vibrate and he stayed mute. He could only watch, nothing more.

The view abruptly switched over to another soul's vision and the teacher was now seeing another two of his students: Jiro and Ojiro. Jiro was unconscious and bloody as she was carried in Ojiro's arms. The tailed teenager also looked battered as he ran through the woods while the soul that Eraser Head was seeing through-as well as a few others-chased them.

The vision switched again, and now Eraser Head could see Shoji, Kirishima, Uraraka, and Iida. Iida was still trapped in his crumpled hero costume and was laying on the ground. Uraraka was using her quirk on him, lightening him up. Both Kirishima and Shoji were shielding Uraraka and Iida from the souls surrounding and attacking them.

The erasure hero's head started to throb again, his vision shifting again as he faded back into his surroundings. He instantly looked around to locate Puppet, finding her standing against the same tree she had been when he'd first woken up.

"STOP! CALL OFF YOUR SOULS! THEY'RE KILLING THEM!" he yelled in a panicked tone. When she said nothing he added one last plea. "PUPPET PLEASE!"

"They won't finish them off. I only instructed my souls to keep them away from us, getting them to the brink of death if needed." She walked over and got eye-level with him. "Your students are impressive; each and every one of them is trying to get to us in order to rescue you."

"CALL THEM OFF!" His voice was now turning hoarse.

She let out a small hum and slightly tilted her head to the side. "Beg for it then."

What?!

A few silent seconds passed. "You want to save your students? Then beg for it, Mr. Aizawa~" she repeated with a grin.

Eraser Head swallowed and his chest constricted. He didn't have a choice — Puppet was in complete control.

He took a moment to curse at himself and gather his words before giving in and saying what she wanted to hear.

"Please," he said, "Puppet call off your souls... I-I'm begging you."

He could hear the defeat in his own voice. He couldn't recall the last time he'd stuttered with his words.

He let out a shaky breath, looking down at the grass. Tears welled in his eyes, but he managed to keep them from spilling.

Without his knowledge, Puppet had stepped closer to him. She settled her hand on the side of his face, making him flinch. Her hand slid beneath his chin, hooking a finger under it and lifting his head up, not allowing him to hide his emotions.

He breathed through gritted teeth as she looked at him, utterly amused at seeing him in his current state.

By this point, she had used enough souls to garner light headache and feel somewhat fatigued. Though in her mind, it was all worth it, just to see this.

Seeing as he did do as she requested, she called off her souls from attacking the students still within the woods.

"Congratulations, you've swayed me." She let go of his head. "Your students are safe."

Eraser Head didn't respond, he only looked back down at the ground.

"I hate you... I hate you so much..." he mumbled after a moment.

Puppet didn't say anything back, letting him wallow in his sorrows.