Eraserhead and Scribe II

Eraserhead and Scribe II Chapter 11

Scribe spent the next few days clinging to the memory of Shota's eyes. She could forget everything else but those eyes. Those eyes woke in her a need to find herself, a need to find her way out of...of wherever it was she was.

Slowly she started to remember. She was sitting across the breakfast table from Tomura when she first remembered Class 1-A. She began to cry softly and Tomura looked up, his brow creased in surprised anxiety. "My love, what is it?"

She could only shake her head in rejection of his question. He couldn't understand. He wasn't even Shigaraki, who might have understood some of it. He was a computer program, designed to make her feel safe in Shigaraki's presence. Who had done it? Her heart told her it wasn't Shigaraki. He wouldn't do this to her, even for her love.

And it didn't even matter who was doing it, anyway. What mattered was building up her resistance to their methods. How far would they push it? How far must she push the boundaries to force them to punish her? She tried thinking of Shota. Nothing happened. So she looked directly at the man across the table from her. "Who is Shota?"

He looked up, almost lazily, his blue mane of hair falling over his red eyes. He grinned a crooked grin. "Sorry?" But then the black things came, running all over her, looking for places to get inside her, to poison her with blackness...and she gave in and screamed until he gathered her into his arms, hushing her. "Shh. It's okay, baby. Don't worry. I've got you."

She knew she had to get to the point where she could face the things crawling over her inside and out. Because they weren't real. They were just there to punish her. So she tried it again a few hours later when they sat on the balcony in the bright sunlight...and later when they were eating dinner...and then later after they went to bed...each time managing to withstand the torture a little longer, even though the black things became more punishing the longer she managed to deal with them.

Finally she stood before the mirror again and the light was on but the dark was on the periphery. She could hear them rustling. This was it. She knew she could refuse to call for Tomura. She'd nearly done it earlier, but had given in when she felt them on the insides of her eyelids. This time she was prepared. They're not real. And neither is Tomura. Someone is trying to brainwash me, to make me forget Shota. But that would never work. She had figured out the secret to withstanding the torture was in his eyes. If she thought of Shota and her love for him, the black things had no chance.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Then she reached for the light switch and grinned at herself just before she flipped it off. "Bring it on, guys."

It's no good, Doctor. You're going to have to end this one way or the other.

I just can't figure out why she's not responding. She obviously cares about him. She's done everything she can to avoid hurting him. But...

But it's like I said from the beginning. Her attachment to Eraser is...more. If we kill her, it gets rid of one hero and seriously wounds another—

Weren't you the one who was afraid of what Shigaraki would do if he caught us? He'd kill us himself if he ever found out we harmed her.

You think he's that involved?

I know he is.

Then we gotta find another way out of this. Even if it's just cutting her loose.

***

Shigaraki knocked on the doctor's door, surprised when it opened almost instantly. The doctor looked him over appraisingly. "You look better. Having any trouble with the ribs?"

"Not the ribs, Doctor." Shigaraki moved past the doctor and into the room. "I'm uncertain about your latest project, however."

The doctor looked tired, but he hurried to say, "Don't let Dabi's pessimism about the Nomu bother you, Tomura. I've got it under control—"

"You and I both know I'm not talking about Nomu, Doctor." Shigaraki faced the old man. Their eyes met and the doctor inclined his head slowly. Shigaraki nodded. "That's what I thought. I'm not bringing Dabi in on this discussion yet because I figure it was your idea."

"It wasn't." At Shigaraki's disbelieving look, the doctor shrugged. "It was never my idea. It was your master's. In a way, anyway. He never intended for you to be alone all your life. And she could be very good for you...and at the same time very helpful for us and maybe a bit of a wound to the hero community when she turns her back on them."

"Especially to All Might and Eraser." Shigaraki pursed his lips and nodded. "I see the value in that." He looked at his feet, then back up. "But it's not working well, is it, Doctor?"

"I just need more time—"

"Hmm." Shigaraki considered the old man for a moment. "I know you're very gifted in the brainwashing department, Doctor, but am I wrong to think you usually need the brain to actually be present?"

"Ah, that's the genius here!" The doctor looked pleased with himself. "I have created a quirk that allows another person's consciousness to be transferred from one brain to another."

Shigaraki gave a start of surprise. "Why don't you show me how you accomplished this?"

"Good, good. Let's do that." The doctor beckoned him back into his workroom. He indicated a Nomu hooked up to several machines, including electrodes attached to the brain. "There. I created this Nomu with that hybrid quirk, then I sent him into Murder Hornet's hive. Murder Hornet helped us complete the transfer and get the Nomu out of the hive after he poisoned Scribe."

Shigaraki looked at the Nomu in repulsed fascination. "You put her in there?" He leaned over the Nomu. Unlike most, this one appeared to be mostly brain, the body wasted and underdeveloped. He looked at the doctor. "How will you get her out?"

"The Nomu will do it when I wake it. But..."

"But?" Shigaraki raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I haven't quite figured out exactly how to get her to return to her body. I...I will, don't get me wrong. I just haven't yet."

Jesus. Shigaraki fought for control. He stuck his hands in his pockets, intent on not reaching for the old man's neck. He could easily kill him right now. To do something like this without an actual exit plan... He managed to nod slowly, as if in understanding. "What happens if the Nomu wakes up before you figure it out?"

The doctor rubbed his hands together. "Well, that's interesting. It could be that she would go back to her own body on instinct. It could be that she would...not. If she isn't drawn back to her own body and mind, eventually they will die without her consciousness, of course."

Shigaraki nodded again. "Can you put someone else in there temporarily? And bring them back out again?"

"Possibly. In theory, if we hooked someone up directly, it would be without much risk." The doctor looked at him curiously. "Who do you have in mind?"

Shigaraki smiled slowly. "Me."