Dual Fates

Chapter 20: Over the wall.

"Hnnn...?" Razor sharp teeth wickedly grinned at the view through Uviel's eyes. A dark silhouette shifted in his position as he remained standing and lit-up red fingertips wiggled on occasion, to navigate on other screens around him. Those long cords that protruded from his silhouette's head had done nearly the same, one would detach and plug into a different slot nearby. "So, she heard me somehow...? Chuckling, she says?~ Haha, I may have slipped up for a moment..." maniacal laughter soon filled the room once his head tilted back and his arms rose.

With so many screens flashing and lighting up a small portion of his space, just barely did his lower half show. Covered in a long, tattered, white sheet around his waist and a bare torso with thin lines trailing around his forearms. However, his face, being blanketed by the shadows around him was barely noticeable, aside from the gleaming red eyes that pierced through them and his fingertips that rose into the air.

"Just a small mess up, nothing I can't cover up. However..." his last words trailed off before it showed his cybernetic eyes in a closer view, widening further than they were before. "The weapons in her are working exceptionally well... Hahahaha!" once more, his laughter filled the room and left behind an ominous echo that could stir even the sleeping dead.

~~~Saito~~~

Through the pathway, Saito steadily paced herself to where the other fellow students sat and saw that Midoriya's fight had already taken place. Right behind her at the height of 6'4, followed a man clad in red whose gray and short hair barely moved an inch from his speed.

Fangs protruded from his lips as his stern, dark red eyes, glued themselves to Uviel's backside. It was obvious that thoughts swarmed his mind and not once did his attention on her falter. Though it's none of my business watching over students in 1-A, there weren't any other teachers available during this tournament to keep a watchful eye on her. Cybernetics is what gives her incredible strength, I was probably the best and possibly the only choice for this situation. Despite his reluctance of wanting to take care of students outside of his own class, it was surprising to receive a call from the Recovery Girl.

Being informed of what Aizawa said made his protectiveness spike, there was no doubt in his mind that the Principal would've picked him to do the job all the same. This girl, may be a danger to herself and others. That last bit being said, he wouldn't dare let any nearby students or citizens become victims to a girl that wasn't in control of herself...

Stunning blue hues looked around for the 1-A students, that blue jumpsuit that many of the participants wore was replaced with her black hoodie, the mask she tended to wear to hide, and her previous black and red pants with the cybernetic design on the sides. Her long, fiery-red bangs flailed gently during her pace but upon noticing her friends and spotting the enthusiastic boy greeting the others, she paused.

A foot frozen in mid-step, her gaze wide, it was hard to notice the crimson painted on her cheeks beneath her mask. The sound of her heartbeat reached her ears in that moment, so upon seeing her little crush her head lowered with a shove of her hands into her pockets. He's here already? I thought he'd go back to Recovery Girl after his match! Though it was silly to hide around her friends, it felt more comfortable to do so since she was disqualified and strangers outside of her class surrounded the stadium.

The closer the girl got, the more clear Kirishima's voice rang in her ears; his high spirits always seems to fascinate her. "Yeah, I'll be up against you next, Bakugo. Let's have a good fight!" A bright smile on his face and enthusiasm lacing his words as he stood near the dirty-blonde bomb, caused her to raise her head so she could watch.

Sharp eyes, as usual, Bakugo's frown and displeasure never seem to fall flat for anyone that speaks to him. I'll kill you," A straight answer was what the boy received, not even a glance in his direction but other than that he chuckled at the usual Bakugo response.

"Haha, I'd like to see you try! But man, you and Todoroki can both shoot off powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground. Like, BAM!" A dramatic rise of his arms was what the darker redhead did when he answered.

"And you can do it with no time lag." Hanta Sero popped in a comment after he leaned over, the boy almost sounded jealous but was hardly shown on his face.

"I'm not just shooting them off. Don't underestimate'em." With a quick pause, Bakugo continued after hearing a quick huh from the darker redhead. "If you overuse your muscles, the muscle fibers tear, and if you keep running you'll run out of breath," a simple explanation, the dirty blonde stared at his hand after lifting it and pondered for a moment on his previous fight. There's a limit to how much power I can produce, too... From there he recalled past events he underwent, moments that Uviel wasn't there for.

Well, that's obvious... A pair of blue hues rolled at how stupid it was to hear that from him. Anyone with a brain would know something that simple. In her mind she finished and watched the boys from the side, they seemed to not notice her standing near the seats just a foot behind them.

"Quirks are physical abilities, too. They must also have some kind of limit," Once more the blonde spoke, but this time Kiri managed to pop in a comment.

"If I think of it like that, I guess that makes sense... Then, against the instant-killer Todoroki, Midoriya wants..." contemplation was clear on his face when he moved his attention back to the two on the stage. However, upon hearing a familiar small voice behind them, all heads turned to see the cybergirl who stood not too far from Vlad King.

The man clad in red simply folded his arms and leaned against the wall, after she stepped closer to the group. "E- Endurance...? Testing how long he can keep fighting or something? Stamina's key in a fight, whether it's in real life or... In a game," despite her words being a bit muffled, they heard her nonetheless and watched as she stood to Eijiro's side. Her eyes were glued to the stage in awe once they began to pick up their fight again. Looks like I missed out a little... disappointed, she was. Even though her attention was on the fight, the cybernetic girl couldn't help but feel the heat rise to her cheeks due to the closeness of her and the energetic redhead.

"W- Why are you wearing that again?! Don't you remember? It's okay to be seen without your mask and hood on!" Frantic, Kiri was upset that she chose to wear those two things again. His frown and sympathetic eyes showed just how concerned he was.

"S- Sorry... It's just..." Her gaze never left the fight, she wanted so badly to observe and learn what she could. "There are...so many people here. I...I can't...!" Now this time, her small hand pulled her hood over her head further to hide what face was left to be seen.

"Damn it, no one's gonna judge you! You've been seen on a large screen in the tournament so it's not like people are gonna care about what you look like..." For once in her entire school life in U.A, from Bakugo's peripherals, his eyes moved to view the lighter redhead.

This shocked mostly everyone around him, normally he wouldn't care but from being around her for a little while, it seemed he warmed up a tiny bit. The ticking time-bomb himself clicked his tongue and returned his attention to the fight, unaware of the astonished stares he received.

"Yeah, what he said!" One of the students agreed until..something, caught everyone's attention. The fight became more intense, hearing every word of what Midoriya was saying to Todo, air bursts and ice flying across the stage...

A bit of time had flown by, she guested it's been maybe...five minutes or so? However, those very words that Izuku said to Todo, caused Saito's eyes to widen and a stray tear to fall... It's your power, isn't it?! His comment echoed as though her mind was like a dark cave. Almost immediately did memories of her past flash through her eyes, recalling those moments in her old schools of all the bullying she had undergone and the pain she went through. Just watching his fight, seeing the passion and seriousness written on his face, her heart thumped.

From her hoodie's pocket, out came her tiny hand and clenched her fingers onto her opposite arm. She's not even remotely human! One kid in her memories exclaimed with their dark silhouette pointing a finger her way. I bet people use her because she's a robot! She passes through every grade with flying colors! Another child shouted to their friend as her tinier self stood there heartbroken. She won't ever be a hero, her emotions are artificial! They have to be! Someone else yelled to her past principal who didn't appear to agree with having a cybernetic child in their class.

More tears strayed from her only visible eye the more she recalled those horrible words. Look at her, she doesn't even care if she's here or not. What a loser, why attend school at all? Some older kid spoke as their gossiping mouths grinned in her direction. A quirkless girl? Wow, and she even lost her parents to an explosion? A shame, if she had power they would probably still be alive. A boy who seemed to be around ten years old, gave a sympathetic frown as he stood next to his friend and watched the poor girl hide as she strode down an ominous hall.

Useless, worthless, Quirkless, a robot, a monster, a fake...a mannequin. I'm not a monster! Her current mental voice screamed as more tears streamed down her cheeks. Her new determined eyes squinted as they stayed glued to the fight on the stage and watched flames whip out from Todo. It was a bit difficult to hear the two talk aside from those previous words, but... She could feel the emotion in the air between them and her own heart thumped harder after her gaze lit up with shock.

Mom, dad, both of you... You guys always wanted what was best for me and I just kept hiding away from the world... Away from life, always...hiding! Everyone's so nice to me, they accept me...and what do I do...? I still hide, like a coward! No, I'll prove to everyone...that I'm not useless. My power...is my own, my cybernetics is my own! My path is my own! I'll make use of what my parents gave me when I was dying... I want to make them proud. her throat tightened the more her tears fell. In doing so, her hands lifted to remove the mask and her hood.

No one paid attention to her sudden change in confidence, the mental wall she chose to fight to get through. Something inside her grew tired of it all, of hiding...all the time. The next thing she did, she removed her hoodie entirely.

A red tank top was revealed, exposing every cyber line in her skin, the beautiful pale complexion from all the years of hiding in her dark house. The girl was moved by Izuku's words, even when the entire stadium lit up with fire and an explosion that wiped out a lot of debris and the stage, she remained standing. The force of it all nudged her back a little, but regardless, her feet remained firm on the floor. I'll face the outside world again...and become a hero for my parents... For myself and I'll do it my own way. That was her last emotional monologue before her stern eyes saw the clouds of dust clear to show Midoriya.

There the boy stood; however, with his head lowered, Izu tumbled to the ground in pure silence and left an astonished Todo there with his jaw hanging. "M- Midoriya is out of bounds. Todoroki moves to the third round!" The skimpy teacher announced with her whip pointing towards the boy.

The entire stadium screamed and cheered for the victor who stood panting in astonishment, even a few of Saito's classmates roared with excitement near her.

After their cheers calmed down, a familiar voice next to the girl shocked her out of the hidden thoughts that swirled in her mind. "Whoa! Saito, you took off your hoodie!" Ochaco, who sat nearby with the others, gazed upon her sudden change of confidence and beamed a bright smile.

Uviel jumped at her unexpected words, she had hoped no one would notice but her hopes were crushed when all heads turned to her and gasped. "GAH-!" Heavy red flushes on his cheeks, Kirishima was taken aback by the show of skin. Red eyes wide with surprise alongside his gaping mouth and a step back from her, proved how shocked he was. He couldn't help but take notice of the finer details about her, after she finally revealed the rest of herself.

The said cybergirl simply turned her head away from their astonished gazes, however, never did she try to rush her hoodie back on; not only did Kiri's cheeks burn crimson but hers did as well. "Y- Yeah... After...hearing what Midoriya said, I..." Upon hearing her begin to explain, everyone remained seated with their eyes glued to her frame.

They all waited for her to continue, even Eijiro chose to stay quiet and give her a moment. "My power is my own... I wanna use the cybernetics that my parents gave me to save my life, to... I don't know, be a hero? They've always wanted what was best for me, they always tried to get me to go outside and have fun...after my limbs were replaced. I didn't exactly have the best school life in the past but meeting everyone now, all of you sort of just... I just feel..." Saito couldn't really put it into words, it felt difficult for her to explain when so many eyes were on her. Embarrassed, red-faced from the attention, her eyes barely peeked over to them in her peripherals.

"Relieved? More confident?" Ochaco blinked her brown eyes questioningly as she leaned forward in her seat and listened. Watching her simple nod, a beaming smile graced her lips and saw UV-Ray turn to fully face everyone.

"Not just that..." Uviel started with a moments' pause when her blue hues blinked to look to her side and back. "Ever since I...got these cybernetics, I've done nothing but run away. All because of how much I was made fun of and ashamed of my quirkless self, no one except Haru...accepted me. Until...you guys...appeared. I'm so tired of hiding...and being a coward..." Then and there, her head lowered to hide the tears that strayed from her eyes, and her fists balled tightly beneath her hoodie she held over her forearms.

She hated the amount of attention, but she wanted to try her best to say thank you to everyone who kept trying to encourage her to step out of the dark hole she hid in. "I just wanna say...thanks," with her head lifting, those blue eyes streamed more tears that made everyone stare at with slight awe.

"Whoa, Uviel... Haha, no problem! This is U.A after all! We all have to keep each other on our feet!" Kiri exclaimed with so much energy that it made the lighter redhead's gaze light up with surprise. Suddenly, with his own fist clenching and his head looking away, those sharp teeth gritted into view when tears brimmed his eyes. "Saito, that was so manly, so brave of you...! To step out of your shell like this is one step closer to gaining more confidence and courage...!" After his little episode from the love of all things manly, Uviel's next words made a few students laugh behind him.

"I'm not a man..." Slight anger could be heard in her voice before her arm rose to wipe away the remaining tears.

"He is right, though, Saito," Tsuyu, who wasn't too far from her, lifted a finger to gain her attention and saw her gaze meet hers. "It takes a lot of courage to take off a hard shell that you've built around yourself from so much trauma," As soon as she said that, quite a few nods came from other students, except Baku, and was soon accompanied by Mina who beamed with joy.

"We're happy to be your friend, Saito! If anyone chooses to try and hurt you, leave it to me to give them what-for!" A confident grin graced Pinky's lips when she gave a fist-pump into the air. All she received was a shy nod and an appreciative smile that the cybergirl tried her best to hide.

~~~Haru~~~

From atop the far edges of the stadium away from the audience, a stray tear cascaded down a tan cheek and got carried away by a small breeze. Those long, brown bangs and low ponytail gently waved from the gust, Haru stood just above the other students and citizens who watched the fight. "UV-Ray... I'm so happy...that I managed to push you this far. You're so stubborn, but I was just as stubborn as you and wanted you to do something with yourself instead of watching you hide in the dark all your life. You're my best friend, I couldn't just watch you suffer and throw yourself away like that. But...I think it was a somewhat mistake to have you join U.A... Because, you wouldn't have gone through this if it weren't for me. You did gain new friends, but...you also got disqualified," Har-Har's blind hues were half-lidded with depression as she remained facing in the direction of the students.

Despite her running away earlier, she chose to check up on Uviel and see if she was okay by listening in on everyone. However, hearing their conversation, she felt it safe to leave her with them for a while and disappeared out of thin air like the many times she had before. As soon as she arrived to the side of the building away from the entrance, her feet were about to calmly leave until the sight of someone before her made her halt.

Through her eyes, the smell, the colors, the vibrations, she knew who it was and it startled her. A pair of hazy green eyes widened in fear, at the coloration of her father standing several feet away from her and the odd kane he held to his side. "It's time to go home, Haru..." Those very words, harsh, deep, and intimidating, made the brunette's breath pause for a second when she stepped back an inch.