Eraserhead and Scribe II

Eraserhead and Scribe II Chapter 12

Scribe stood at the window looking out. She could hear the dark things scuttling, but none of them approached her. She wasn't scared of them anymore, so they barely served a purpose except to remind her she was held there against her will. Tomura—or the program that had been created to represent him—barely did anything anymore. He was there in the background, but she mostly just ignored him.

She spent her time remembering. Shota, Midoriya, Yaoyarozu, Toshinori...she went through all their names in her mind, fixing faces to them, knowing this was the way she would get stronger, the only way she could hope to escape. All of Class 1-A, all the teachers at UA. Her love for these people was the only thing strong enough to bring her out of this shadow world.

She heard his step behind her, and she whirled, wondering if it was some new method of torture her captors had come up with. But the Tomura Shigaraki that emerged from the shadows was not the one who'd rescued her so many times. This one had an edge to him that the other had lacked. He wore a long leather coat and kept his hands in the pockets. He looked at her through the overgrown mess of blue-white hair. "Hello, pretty. It's good to see you again."

"Tomura?" She whispered his name. Was it really him this time? And what did that mean?

He tilted his head, smiling a little. "I like the way you say my name, pretty."

She took a step back. "What...what are you doing here? Are you...did you take me? Were you the one...all along...oh, please tell me you didn't do this."

He shook his head. "No. I didn't, I swear. But I've got to bear some of the burden of responsibility. Someone else did it."

"Someone you know?"

"Yes, but I swear I didn't know myself until recently." He took a few steps closer to her and lowered his voice. "I don't know how much he can hear. I told him I was coming to see if I could get you to cooperate." He cast a disparaging glance at the other Shigaraki sitting beside the kitchen table reading a newspaper. "I convinced him the real thing could talk you into cooperating better than a computer program."

"But that's not why you're here." She looked up at him. They stood very close together now, but she was still turned partly away from him.

"No." He sighed. "No, pretty, I'm here to get you back to Eraser."

Her breath hitched in her chest. She turned and put her arms around his neck, leaning against him. "Thank you. Oh God, thank you, Tomura."

He froze, but then his arms went around her, and she realized in this space his quirk wouldn't hurt her and he must have realized that too. He bowed his head and held her close for a moment. "It's going to be fine, pretty. I'll make sure of that."

He released her after a moment and stepped back. His fingers still held hers, and he was still very close to her, his voice low. "I need you to do something for me."

"Okay." She nodded.

He smiled a little. "That was easy. Don't you want to ask me what? Eraser would."

"How do you know—" She broke off, amazement filling her. "You've been working with him?"

"I couldn't let him give up on you." He shrugged. "But I don't have long enough to tell you the whole story. Listen, you need to keep thinking about Eraser. Keep him right in the forefront of your mind. And try to make contact if you feel you can. Don't let anything take your mind from him."

"That's easy enough." She felt a surge of longing rise in her.

"That's good." He nodded, then raised one hand and brushed her hair back from her face. His eyes looked so sad, it reminded her of seeing him beside her hospital bed. "Forgive me, pretty."

"Tomura—" But she broke off when he lowered his lips to hers and she realized he was asking forgiveness for this kiss more than what she'd been through before. She'd grown used to being held by the Tomura in this reality, but the real one was subtly but definitely different. Stronger but much less sure of himself. She remembered how young he actually was, though his quirk had aged him cruelly in both body and nature. Oh, how different could he have been if the world had not turned its back on him so early. She could taste what might have been on his lips now.

And then he stepped away. He nodded. "Keep thinking about Eraser, pretty." He smiled a little. "We're going to get you out of this."

***

Shigaraki opened his eyes to see the doctor leaning anxiously over him. He sat up, feeling the tug of the lines the doctor had attached to his head and chest. He waited impatiently for the old man to remove the sensors.

The doctor finally finished removing them all. He stood back while Shigaraki rebuttoned his shirt over the bandages. "That seemed to go well."

Shigaraki raised his brows. "Your problem is you underestimate Scribe, Doctor."

"Oh, I won't do that." He shook his head. "But you made more progress with her than your counterpart. In a short amount of time, too."

"Hmm." Shigaraki remained noncommittal. "You still don't know how to get her back to her own body, though."

"Not for certain without having her here. And even then..." He shrugged. "She's been in there much longer than you were. If I wake the Nomu and she can't find her way back..."

You're still underestimating her. If she can make contact with Eraser when the Nomu releases her, he can bring her back. He looked at the doctor curiously. "You are the one who found out about Murder Hornet's daughter, aren't you? You told Dabi to use her to distract me."

"Dabi only followed orders, Tomura. And he didn't like it. But yes, I had that bit of intelligence in my pocket for a while. We used it to convince Murder Hornet to cooperate in Scribe's capture." The doctor looked down. "This was all done by your master's wishes."

"How is it that you're still taking orders from my master?"

"Instructions he left." The doctor fixed Shigaraki with a stern gaze. "And some of those are...open to interpretation."

"Got it." Shigaraki shrugged. "Well, I need to think about this latest interpretation you've made of my master's wishes, Doctor. I'll let you know what I decide. In the meantime, recall Himiko. I don't want her attracting attention at the university since I know Murder Hornet's daughter is a dead end."

He hopped off the table and tucked his shirt in. He needed to get in touch with Eraser as soon as possible. Once everything was in place, he could instruct the doctor to wake the Nomu. And then it would be up to Eraser and Scribe.

But even as he thought it, he remembered kissing her. She hadn't pulled away, and he wasn't sure what that meant. Had the doctor done any permanent damage to her with all his psychological reprogramming? Did she see him differently now? Or was it still just the odd connection between them?

What would happen when she came back?