Strings kept her body immobile, even so, she tried to fight them. Her muscles screamed with the force she put into them. Tears rolled down her face contorted with agony. She wanted to run to Sugawara, she wanted to make sure he was okay, but his body didn't move, rolled over himself, layed on the floor.

"All that despair you're feeling, I can feel it too." Michimiya said in a high-pitch voice. "It's an amazing sensation. All this power."

A ray of sunlight cut through the clouds. It might have been a trick of the light or maybe Oriana was seeing what she wanted to see, but she was sure Sugawara's figure flinched, just a millimeter and it was barely noticeable. Soon, Michimiya was shrieking in pain. The string she held became loose as she held her own head with her two hands, freeing Oriana from her grasp.

"What is happening?!" Michimiya shouted. "What is this?"

Something reflected in the space between Oriana and the other girl. Thin and practically invisible, the string had caught the light and Oriana could see it. Not wasting one more second, she raised her arm to cut the strings and immediately they disintegrated into thin air.

Michimiya peeked through her fingers, Oriana held her gaze. The girl was in pain for some reason, but that didn't mean Oriana would show her any mercy.

"How-," Michimiya interrupted herself with a scream. Then, she whirled and jolted to the roof door, she nearly fell midway as she disappeared behind the door.

Oriana let a pained sigh leave her mouth, right before her blades disappeared. She ran to Sugawara, kneeled in the pool of blood beside him and held his dear friend close to her chest. He looked paler than usual.

"Suga, please," she spoke with a brittle voice. "Please, say something."

Slowly, Sugawara started to open his eyes ever so slightly, just enough to Oriana drop her shoulders in relief.

"You're alive!" she tightened her grip around him. "Suga, I'm so sorry." she cried as she undressed her black robe and ripped it into two. Balling the tissue with her hand, Oriana rushed into applying pressure to the front wound.

Her tears fell in Sugawara's warm smile.

"It's fine. It wasn't you, I know that." his weak voice brought more tears to Oriana. "But it's not over yet, you have to go after her." he coughed.

"There is no way I'm leaving you here." Oriana cried.

None of them were healers and there was no one who would come for them. There really was only one option for Oriana, even if Sugawara insisted on the second.

"I'm bringing you back." she breathed heavily. "I'm bringing you to the Embassy, they can help you."

"You have to help-" he coughed. "You have to help the others, they're in danger."

"Don't be stupid! You're bleeding to death, you are the priority right now!" there was panic in her yelling and her tone was definitive.

Oriana called for her broom and it instantly came to her side.

"You think you can stand?" her voice was trembling.

"Yeah, I'm alright."

Oriana wanted to whack him for lying, but she thought she had done enough. Shifting to her feet, she helps Sugawara stand and positioned him in a way he would be leaning forwards on the broom.

"Keep the pressure here." Oriana led one of his arms to the fabric against his wound.

Oriana sat in front of him, one hand holding Sugawara's arm around her stomach, the other keeping balance on the broom. Suga's head fell lazily on her shoulder.

"Don't you dare fall asleep!" she shouted as she made sure the invisible cloak covered both of them. "Don't sleep, talk to me."

He hummed for a moment, as long he made some noise, it was enough for Oriana to be able to breathe.

"Now you saw my true ability." his voice was strangled by his own cough.

Oriana heard him despite the coughing. She was trying to process what he said, it was then she remembered how Michimiya shrieked from pain all of a sudden when nothing had touched her.

"That was you?"

"It's a power that was born with me," Suga explained. "I can inflict pain to someone by mere thought."

Oriana tried not to gasp, but her grip tightened around Suga's hands.

"That's why I left. I didn't like it, I could barely control it at first." his voice was strangled again at the end of the sentence. "Once I gained my grimoire, it got even more out of control and I- I hated it." he paused. "There is no one who should be able to inflict pain by the mere thought of it. It should never be that easy."

"It wasn't easy for you, was it?" Oriana interrupted him.

"Of course not."

"That power, it saved you and me. It gave us a chance." she was too focused to notice, but Sugawara lifted his head. "Because you have that power, because you used it, even if it cost you. You might have saved everyone. I truly didn't have a single clue of what I was going to do back there. So, thank you."

It was mere moments until they arrived at the Embassy. There was no one to receive them. As Oriana carried Sugawara down the stairs, she yelled for help. Thankfully, they were quick to react and had an emergency room for this kind of situation. They reassured Oriana her friend would be fine and she could finally breathe with relief. However, her troubles were nowhere near done. There was still work to do and she was ready to go back.

"Oriana!" Sugawara called before she could leave the room. "Go home and eat something!"

"What?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Don't you dare go back there without eating!"

It struck her, Charmy's meals would replenish her mana and her strenght. She would be back in tiptop condition, probably even stronger. As one of the staff acted as a nurse and cut the fabric of Sugawara's shirt, another one pushed Oriana out of the room.

"We got this under control." they said. "We will send backup to the Karasuno Highschool as soon as we can."

There was no time to lose and Oriana's mana peaked inside her body. It was now or never. Oriana burst through the school's roof entrance still in her broom, she knocked down the door and the metal slid down the first flight of stairs. The dark mana was overwhelming inside walls, but her senses were just as sharpened by Charmy's food. The feeling of oppressiveness was stronger on the second floor. She climbed out of the broom. Michimiya had to be there and somehow she had to lure her outside the building filled with students.

"And me thinking you had forgotten all about me."

Oriana whirled at the sound of Michimiya's voice.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily." Oriana's grimoire glowed by her side.

A grimoire hoovered by Michimiya's side, it glowed a dark purple colour.

"Good. That means you haven't forgotten your friends either." she flicked her wrist in the air.

Oriana heard the faint sound of steps that came from every direction. Whirling her head from one side to the other, she tried to count them, but it was impossible. There must have been hundreds of students surrounding her. In the stairs, in the corridor behind her and by Michimiya's side were familiar faces. Daichi, Hinata and the rest of the volleyball team stared at Oriana with blank faces and dark looks in their eyes. Just like the rest of the students. Was Michimiya really controlling everyone? Just the sight of it made Oriana's skin crawl. It was just like the elf incident. She knew the faces, they were her friends, but they weren't them anymore.

"How about we settle this outside?" Oriana tried to control the fright in her voice.

"So you can ambush me? I don't think so." her shrill tone penetrated Oriana's ears. "I still haven't given up on keeping you, but let me say that you have been a terrible, terrible friend."

"I know that."

Oriana shifted to a fighting stance, but the absent faces staring at her kept her from using any spells. She couldn't risk it. There were too many people there. She didn't want to fight her friends. Not again.

"I know I haven't been a good friend to anyone. I lied about my past, I didn't even tell them my real name." her voice was tight with regret. "But I'm here now. And I'll save everyone alone if I need to!" she shouted, never letting go of Michimiya's gaze.

"Is that right? Tell me how are you going to fight me when I have full control of your friends."

With no answer from Oriana, the girl cackled maniacally.

"Yes, feed me with your despair!"

Oriana closed her fists by her sides. There must be something she can do, anything.

"What are you going to do with all these people?"

"My friends, you mean?" she hummed. With her typically cheeky look on her face, her tone changed completely. "We all fucking burn in the end. We will all die together, my choir of friends, we will all scream together in hell!"

Oriana's body froze as she processed those words. Her body was frozen in fear, she could only muster up a simple question that instinctively slipped her tongue.

"Why?"

Michimiya's gaze fell to her feet as she spoke lower than usual.

"I won't die alone. I will never be alone again. I will have my friends with me!" she shouted the last sentence.

"Like hell I'm going to let you do that!" Oriana screamed, mustering up all her courage. "Bone Creation Magic: Combat Claw." long claws made of her own bone emerged from her knuckles, they surpassed the length of her fingers. "Velocity Rush."

With this, Oriana rushed in mid-air to Michimiya, prepared to slash her throat if needed. However, as she blinked, Michimiya disappeared. In her place was Kiyoko's deadpan expression. Oriana stopped in her tracks just in time.

"You really think it will be that easy?" her voice said behind Kiyoko's figure. "I have an army of my dear friends to protect me!"

The ecstasy in her voice made Oriana step back, but she barely had the time to move before Asahi's body lunged at her. With her flying spell still in effect, she was able to jump from his grasp, but there was not enough height to escape the grasp of his hand.

"Asahi! Snap out of it!" she pleaded as she tried to yank her ankle from the grip.

"He can't hear you. None of them can."

As Asahi pushed Oriana to him, Michimiya appeared from behind Kiyoko. It was a desperate move, but it was all she had. Oriana let herself be pulled, as soon as she was close enough, she swinged her claw at the mage, but someone else was already in front of her. Unable to stop her movement, Oriana scratched someone's shoulder. She retracted from them to not do too much damage, but as she looked into their dead eyes she realized it was Daichi who she had just scratched. He didn't whine or move. There was no reaction in his face. Then, Asahi threw her body to the floor with force. Oriana glided on the cold floor and stopped a few meters away from Michimiya, at the bottom of the stairs, just where she started.. As she breathed heavily, she told herself not to cry. Even so, Michimiya could feel her despair from a mile away.

"Look what you did! My lovely Daichi."

Oriana grunted as she tried to pull herself up. Sugawara's blood was still staining her knees and was stuck under nails. Her bone claws dripped with Daichi's blood. She made her claws retract from her trembling hands and the dripping sound stopped. She never wanted to fight her friends ever again. She couldn't let it happen ever again.

She brought herself to one of her knees and leaned on it. In between breaths, Oriana spoke,

"You say they are your dear friends-" she lifted her head to meet Michimiya's gaze. "But you are willing to use them as shields? If they truly are your dearest friends, you would protect them at all costs!" her throat hurt and scratched from her yells.

Oriana carried the blame from what had happened in this building and to her own friends, that is why she would now fight to protect them. She would rise, she would win.

"My friends are protecting me! Me!" the other mage yelled back. "I'm that important to them! And soon, you will join them too."

"You can't force people into friendships like that." Oriana struggled for air. "Friendship is built on trust. Friendship is a bond that can't be broken. And the strings you're using to control everyone, they are breakable."

"Let's see you try then." Michimiya scoffed.

She turned the pages of her grimoire, in search of a desperate solution, a plan. Something she could do. She held herself on a wish for the Black Bulls to burst through the walls and save her. However, it would never happen. She was alone.

"Bone Creation Magic: Morph Touch." her bone tendrils extended from the nape of her neck.

"Again? How many people are you going to hurt before you realize there is nothing you can do against me? Unless, of course, you are planning on fighting your own friends."

"Velocity Rush."

All she needed was an opening.

In a flash, she was above Michimiya's head. Fueled by anger, she was faster than before. With the Black Bulls in mind, she knew there was a way. She only needed to aim one single tendril in her head. One shot and everything was over. Everything would be back to normal.

"Oblivion Omni Bullet."

Wide open from above, with no one who could shield her fast enough, the single bullet hit Michimiya's forehead and her body fell with a thud.

Friendship, a bond that would never be crossed. The family you get to choose, the ones that cross your mind all the time. The ones that you would do anything to protect.

Oriana opened her eyes to be faced with the grey sky above. She could feel the bumps and falters of someone's walk. When she realized she was laying on fabric, she understood she must have been carried on a stretcher to the outside of the building. She jolted her body up and alarmed the two men who carried her as a result.

"Don't move too much. You must have used a lot of mana." one of them warned, but a sense of urgency flooded her.

There was something she had to check on. Oriana kicked her legs out of the stretcher and ignored the protests from the two men as she limped to the police van. She couldn't take two steps before she bent over herself in pain. Despite the pain in her ribs, she didn't give up. She applied pressure to her side and bit the inside of her cheek to hold in the cries. When she grabbed hold of the handle on the back door of the van, Oriana exhaled.

It wasn't as easy as she expected, but she managed to get the door open with a pained swing of her arm. Inside was one single person, crestfallen and hands behind their back. They flinched to the sudden light, but as their eyes adjusted, they were able to lift their head and open their eyelids to Oriana. A smile opened on their face.

"My friend!" Michimiya screeched. "You came for me. It makes me so happy!"

Well, she was certainly back to her normal behaviour.

"You're okay…" Oriana said between heavy breaths.

"I thought you were going to kill me, but you didn't. It means you must care for me!"

Oriana blinked. This girl really had high levels of courage, but none of notion. Even after Oriana paralyzed her with her omni bullet, she rambled about being her friend. Her shrieking voice was annoying and Oriana had to fight the urge to close the door as soon as the girl spoke, but even so, she was finally able to drop her shoulders in relief.

"We are going to be great friends from now on!"

"Are you clinically insane or incredibly annoying?" Oriana scoffed, a soft smile appeared on her face.

"I don't know, probably both." she shrugged. "But I finally understand."

"Hmm?" Oriana interjected.

"How friendship works. You can't force people to be your friends, right?"

Oriana noded in response.

"That's why I'm asking you if we can be friends now."

Michimiya's smile wasn't her usually cheeky expression that Oriana had always hated. It was a genuine smile, so bright that Oriana couldn't help but smile honestly to her as well.

"I think we can be friends now."

A/N:

I might or might not have given Oriana PTSD. My bad. It just adds character, don't worry about it. (It's a joke, please don't take it seriously)

Literally put her in a similar situation as the elf incident (as in she had to fight against her friends, kind of) and I didn't even do it on purpose. I always planned on Oriana and Michimiya fighting, but I didn't know how it would go down until I wrote the actual scene. Also, I am aware that Oriana over-reacted to Sugawara's injury, but I want you to know it was on purpose. Oriana is a emotional driven character (no shit) and extremely hard on herself. For thsi reason, it made sense that she would panic at the mere thought of her being the cause to her best friend's injury. If it was dramatic, that was the point.

Furthermore, I have bad and good news for you guys. Since I can't ask each one of you personally which one you would rather know about first, I'll start with the bad news.

This fic is about to wrap up. I already planned it and there will be two more chapters. The fourteeth chapter will be posted tommorrow if I can. The last chapter, I'm not gonna lie is really hard to write, because I don't know how to end it in a way that won't be painful, mostly to Oriana. Prepare for even more angst coming your way.

The good news is that I'm going to write a second installmente to Dishonesty! In one of my sleepless nights, I had a rush of ideas that were too funny to go to waste. I just have to write them! I'm thinking: Karasuno boys go to the Clover Kingdom and we will have Sugawara and Oriana act as tourist guides. Of course, the boys would meet the Black Bulls. Can you imagine the chaos? Cause I can and it's really funny. And I don't know how I didn't think about it before, but imagine Oriana usign modern/internet speech and no one having a clue of what she is saying. I know it's not part of her speech pattern, but Oriana using a slang word because she remembered it out of nowhere and then noticing how no one understood what she meant and then she just starts using slang to confuse everyone for fun. I think it would be hilarious. Also, I have had this scene in my head with Oriana and Zora that I didn't get a chance to write and I'm itching to do it. I could've written this scene in any Zora fanfiction with any other original character, to be honest, but since I'm writing a second installment to this fic, I might as well write it with Oriana. There is something I need your opinion on, though. I've been taking advantage of the time between the elf incident and the next arc, the Spade Kingdom arc, I believe? I don't read the manga, so I'm not 100% sure. I've benn avoiding writing the fight with the new demon, because it will definitely fall short of the cannon story. The ideal situation would be to basically re-write the cannon fight and insert Oriana on the plot, but with all the fillers the anime is getting, I have no idea when the arc will actually start. I could also stall for time and use the ideas in the fillers or come up with another story line like I did for the first installment.

I just know that if I ended Oriana's story here, it would be really unsatisfaying (you will understand why) and there is still so much it could happen and I could take this story pretty much anywhere. So many possibilities!

Just tell me what you think I should do. I will definitely re-write the next cannon arc with Oriana, unless I change my mind meanwhile or if you guys are not interested in reading that, but while that aires or not, I have to write something. I have plenty of ideas right now, but it only goes so far.

If you could help me with this dilema, I would really appreaciate it!