Eraserhead and Scribe II

Eraserhead and Scribe Chapter 14

Scribe watched the dream reality she'd been living in disintegrate around her. At first she was horrified, even as she knew Shigaraki was keeping his promise. He was setting her free. But she must find her way out of this decaying world.

... 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...

She reached for him, but there was nothing under her feet or above her head or anywhere anymore. She was nowhere, a more complete blackness of nowhere than she would ever have thought possible. There were no black things anymore. There was only the one nothing now. Shota. It felt weak. She summoned her strength and concentrated. Shota, oh please, be there.

Her mind was filled with memories of him. The first time they met in the hallway of UA, the day she used her quirk to make him kiss her, the day she felt his pain at the USJ and fell to her knees in her small apartment, uncertain if he was dead or alive—the day he kissed her again, the expression in his eyes when he talked about his students...and oh, the kids. She thought of all of them, and her heart felt as if it were buoyed by her love for them. Oh Shota, we have so much more to do.

Keep thinking about Eraser, pretty. We're going to get you out of this.

She kept his eyes in the forefront of her mind and reached out...and she felt something. But it wasn't Shota. Tomura?

Come back to us, pretty. We need you.

And she felt him then, Shota's consciousness reached for hers. She felt as if he caught hold of her hand and pulled her into his embrace. He felt solid in the black nothingness and her heart was filled with love for him and then she was opening her eyes in the white room she'd seen once before. But she felt weak and tired and could only just register that Shota held her and Toshinori stood behind him—and Tomura waited in the background. His eyes met hers and he bowed a little. Welcome back.

***

She woke in the darkness with Shota's arms around her, and she was almost afraid it was a dream. But he was real. When he felt her stir, his arms tightened for a moment as if he were afraid she would leave him. "Scribe?"

He sounded tired. She figured he probably was. The effort of reaching each other through the void of nothingness had exhausted them both. The doctors had come to examine her and All Might had left to tell the students she was awake. At some point Shigaraki had also gone, though he hadn't made a big deal out of it and she'd only noticed afterward.

She turned toward Shota, breathing in his scent, curling into the warm embrace of his body. "I'm all right, Shota."

He kissed her forehead. "I'm so glad you're back."

"Me too." She felt the gratitude, too, deep in her heart. But she also felt an aching sadness. Why was that there? She was almost afraid to look at it, as if it were a scab that would start bleeding uncontrollably if she picked the fragile covering off...

And as much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew what this scar on her soul was.

Tomura.

But all I've wanted since I remembered Shota and who I am was to get back to him, to be here in his arms. I'm here now. I can't...I can't miss Tomura. It was never real. He wasn't even real.

And yet her heart ached with a loneliness she couldn't even explain. Like...homesickness. She vaguely remembered that feeling. She'd felt it briefly when she first came to UA. She'd felt it again when she left home finally. And since then, there'd either been no home to miss or she'd been there. I'm home now, but I feel like something is missing.

Tomura.

He didn't answer. But maybe she hadn't really reached out to him, either. Because I can't. He left because he said he would. He was only here to help me get home. And now I'm here. I'm where I belong.

But no matter how sternly she told herself that, she couldn't wipe memories of him from her mind. Simple things. The touch of his hand on her face. His slightly lopsided grin. His arms around her...safety. I'm going insane. She laid her head against Shota's chest and cried as quietly as she could, hoping she wouldn't wake him. But of course she did, and all he could do was hold her because she couldn't even explain why she was crying.