Eraserhead and Scribe II

Eraserhead and Scribe II Chapter 1

Please note, all pictures are drawn by my daughter and used with her permission. This is volume two of the Adventures of Eraserhead and Scribe. It may go a little slower than volume one did. But at least I'm a little more familiar with how things work here now.

Aizawa looked up from his desk when Midoriya and Todoroki entered. It was late morning. They should be in the gym with All Might, practicing their ultimate moves. They both looked hesitant, so he prompted them, "Shouldn't you be with All Might?"

"Just...we were wondering if you were going to see Miss Scribe today." Midoriya looked at the floor.

Aizawa glanced at his watch. "I should have already left." He sighed a little. "Yeah."

"We wanted to see if you...if you wanted one of us to go with you this time." Todoroki looked as awkward as his age would demand, but Aizawa could tell the offer was sincere.

He rose. "Thank you. Both of you." He looked at his watch again. "But your training should take precedence. Miss Scribe would not want either of you to miss out."

He waited for them to leave, then packed his bag with the few things he would need for the short train ride. He knew he could call for a helicopter. Many of the hero agencies had offered. Jeanist. Kamui Woods. Joke, even, though he doubted she had access to a helicopter herself, but she could call in a favor.

And of course All Might.

So many owed Scribe so much. The aftermath of the incident that had left her in a coma had shaken the hero world to its core. Not just the small world of UA with its students and teachers who would happily have taken her place, but a much wider world than he had ever imagined.

Even the media had been more understanding than was their custom. Aizawa had given a brief statement outside the hospital the first night, exhausted and feeling as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest and left on display for the entire world. After that, he'd been pretty much left alone.

It was nothing short of a miracle.

And still he had to face today, and he knew it would be no easier the longer he put it off. He stood, shouldered his bag and flipped the lights to the classroom off as he left.

***

The slight figure by her bed at first reminded him of the boys standing by his desk. He frowned. None of them could be here. So who...? Even as he wondered it, the figure turned.

Aizawa's eyes blazed and he launched himself forward, the capture scarf looping around the dark figure at the same moment. His momentum carried him forward and they both crashed into the wall, Aizawa recovering first, his forearm at the throat of the man with the red eyes and shaggy gray hair. "What are you doing here, Shigaraki?"

Shigaraki glowered at him, but he didn't resist the bonds of the capture scarf or the elbow at his throat. "What do you think I'm doing here?" He growled. "I came to see her." He jerked his head at the bed. He returned his attention to Aizawa. "And to figure out how the hell you let this happen to her?"

"I'm..." Aizawa stopped. How the hell did I let it happen? He gave the capture scarf a jerk and turned away, releasing Shigaraki, not even caring that he'd let the leader of the League of Villains loose. He dropped into the chair beside her bed, looking at her pale face, the machines monitoring her heart rate, the IV drip...and her limp hand. She'd been like this for a month. He took her hand and lowered his head slowly to the bed. "You're right."

Shigaraki groaned. "You think she'd want you to just give up like that? Tell me what happened." Aizawa looked up at the other man in surprise. Shigaraki gave him a narrow look. "We need to figure out what we can do to help her, not just sit here feeling sorry for ourselves."

"You think I haven't gone over it in my head over and over again?" Aizawa rose. "Every...damn...day. Replaying it like I could change it. It was Murder Hornet. Normally we wouldn't have gone so far out, but when Kamui Woods called, it was right at one of our breaks. He wanted help capturing the bastard. We agreed." He stopped, remembering with a shudder the moment when Scribe stopped answering her com. And when he reached for her consciousness, he found nothing. He made an impatient movement. "Read the papers if you want to know what happened. It's all there. We were separated, and I couldn't protect her. We caught him, but the price..." He motioned at Scribe's motionless body.

Shigaraki shoved his hands into his pockets, almost as if to avoid reaching for the other man. "She deserves better than this." He paced back and forth, restless. "I read the damn papers, but... It shouldn't even be possible. Murder Hornet's not that strong."

"That's what I thought, too." Aizawa shrugged, holding her limp hand in both of his now. "We were wrong, I guess."

"You're certain it was him?" Shigaraki paused on the other side of the bed. "Did you see him poison her?"

"He was there. He said it was him after we captured him. Why would he do that if it wasn't?" Aizawa shook his head. "It wouldn't be..."

"Rational?" Shigaraki's dry chuckle had very little humor in it. "Who's rational these days, Eraser?" He dropped his gaze to Scribe's pale face and took one hand out of his pocket. Aizawa tensed, but Shigaraki just brushed a lock of her hair from her face with two fingers, then looked up. "It's certainly not rational for us to be sitting around here like this."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, feeling strangely that the other man was right. But what else was there to do? The antivenin had been ineffective, Recovery Girl was at a loss, and doctors were befuddled by her unresponsiveness. "What—?"

But Shigaraki had turned away, flipping the black hoodie up to cover his shaggy gray hair, burying his hands in his pockets. "I'll be in touch."