Chapter 18

Earlier, from Yuji's perspective.

Pure darkness was the only thing he could see. As his consciousness slowly drifts away, his life came flashing before his eyes.

Yuji started having flashbacks of unwanted memories, he kept deep inside of him.

A child, looking about 8 years old, was looking at a broken mirror, as he stared at himself. It was Yuji, back when he was younger.

"Hey... umm," a female's voice was heard, coming from the person behind Yuji.

"I'm ok, let's go," Yuji said.

They slowly walked to the door of the house, as they were about to go outside, Yuji took a look around the house.

The house was a modern one, yet completely out of shape, with no working lights, dusty floors, barricaded broken windows, it was like the house was abandoned or was being used as a shelter from a dangerous incident.

His memory flashes again. Yuji suddenly sees himself running, "over here!" he shouted, as he went inside a room along with a girl who seems to be as old as him.

Yuji locked the door.

BAM* BAM*

As an Akuma outside keeps banging on the door, Yuji along with the female stood silent, covering their mouths.

After some time, the sound stopped, as Yuji looked at the female.

The female who was with Yuji had long silky black hair and was wearing ragged and dirty clothes.

"Yuji..." the black-haired girl said as if she was asking what should they do.

Yuji placed his ears on the door, trying to suppress his fear and anxiety, he listened.

BANG*

A loud sound suddenly emerged from the silence.

Yuji suddenly wakes up, coming back to reality, he heard a loud sound coming from the corner of the whole floor of the building.

Taking a good look at the place, it seemed to be an office for people who work on computers.

Yuji took a look beside him and saw a broken window.

"This...is where I..." said Yuji, as he tries to move closer to the window.

"Agh!" Yuji groaned, feeling the pain from his whole body, as he tried to move it, "Sh*t, I... can't move,".

Suddenly another sound came from the corner of the floor.

"So that sound was real..." Yuji said, "how unlucky,".

Later, footsteps could be heard, walking across the floor.

Yuji was at the far corner, beside the glass window and the stone wall, as office tables block his vision of what was causing the sound, even though he already has a good idea of what was causing it.

Yuji stood silent, as he listened to the sound of the footsteps, coming closer and closer.

Yuji tries to move his arm, only to feel pain and agony.

As he lay down on the floor, he realized that he could only hope that the worst won't come.

And as the noise came closer and closer, Yuji started feeling anxious as his body trembled with fear.

And after a few seconds, the worst came.

An Akuma appeared at the other side of the corner and was staring directly at Yuji.

"I have to move!" Yuji thought as the Akuma walks closer.

"If I could push it out the window, I'll..." Yuji thought as he doubts that anything will go well anymore.

"But... I have to do it!" said Yuji, "I have to try and stay alive!"

As the Akuma gets near Yuji, he suddenly felt numb and moved his arms forward, as the Akuma kneeled down trying to bite him.

The Akuma seemed that it was unable to move its right arm, as it was using its left one to sway Yuji's arm.

Yuji grabbed the Akuma by its shoulder, as the Akuma tries to remove one of his arms away.

"AAAGGHH" Yuji shouted, as the intense pain he felt from his arm, became stronger and stronger, he forces himself.

As the struggle continues, Yuji was losing his strength, as the Akuma was slowly getting closer and closer to his neck.

"I... can't push this thing!" said Yuji, "is this..."

As Yuji was about to accept the situation, a loud shout suddenly emerged from a distance.

" AAHHH!" A female from a corner shouted as she charged toward the Akuma.

She successfully pushed the Akuma outside the window as she fell on Yuji's stomach.

"ELIZABETH!?" Yuji said, "Agh!" he groaned as he suddenly felt pain in his body.

"So... sorry," Elizabeth said, sitting down beside Yuji.

Raising her arms, her eyes and hands glowed, as she placed them on Yuji's chest, and she began healing him.

Yuji twitched from the pain, "why are you here?" he asked.

"Please bear with the pain, your organs have been severely damaged," Elizabeth said, "also, in exchange for saving my life, I'm saving yours!" she said as she smiled at Yuji.

Yuji stared at Elizabeth, staying quiet, not knowing what to reply.

After a few moments, Elizabeth's eyes and hands stopped glowing, as Yuji began to move.

Yuji stood up, and moved his arms, "Woah, I feel completely fine!" he said.

Elizabeth smiled, "I'm glad," she said.

Yuji looked out the window and saw that there was nobody around, "What happened? where are the others?" he asked.

"Ray said he could handle the Akuma if he's the only target, so he led the Akuma away while Layla ran straight to the center of the city," Elizabeth replied.

"Your healing is extraordinary," said Yuji, "you could have been extremely useful to them, why did you go after me?"

Elizabeth stood up, " Because I chose to..." she said.

"What do you mean you chose to?" Yuji asked, "I'm grateful and all, but why? you have nothing to gain by this..."

"Because I'm also grateful to you," said Elizabeth, "if it wasn't for you I might..." Elizabeth stopped and shook her head, "No, I'm sure I wouldn't have made it this far,".

"That's... not true," said Yuji.

"Yes it is!" said Elizabeth, "If you didn't handle the situation back at the facility, I would have died some way there, since I have no way of fighting back, not just that, but if it wasn't for you earlier, the Akuma would have hit me, and I would be in a critical situation..."

Elizabeth approached closer to Yuji, "I know you noticed, I have a great ability, but my class is only D and it's not very far from being powerless," she said, "otherwise you wouldn't have done that earlier,".

Elizabeth suddenly stopped talking, noticing that they were very close to each other, they both got flustered.

Elizabeth quickly stepped back and turned around, as she was blushing, "so... what should we do now?" she asked.

"She saved me despite the situation, and she trust me that I could come up with something after," Yuji thought, "I can't let her down,".

"The center of the city isn't that far from here now, right?" said Yuji, "then I think we should...", as Yuji was talking, a sudden explosion occurred from a distance, taking their attention.

"Another one!?" Elizabeth said.

"I guess this means Mr. Gin is ok, that was the second after all," Yuji thought, "Let's go," he said, "that explosion is sure to take some attention, we need to move,".

Elizabeth nodded.

And so, they walk back down the stairs, but as they were walking down the steps of the stairs, a sound of shattering glass emerged from the second floor.

"That sound came from the opposite side of where we were," said Yuji.

"Then... it came from Ryan's side, right?" Elizabeth said.

Yuji looked at Elizabeth and had a realization.

"Your right... we were only one large building apart," said Yuji.

They both stood silent, as they hear demonic laughs from the second floor.

"Was that... a laugh..." Elizabeth said, sounding nervous.

"I've heard, some Akumas tend to make different noises," Yuji said, "but this one, has got to be one of the most disturbing of all,".

The laugh got louder and louder as they hear gory sounds coming from the second floor.

"What's...those sounds..." Elizabeth asked with a shaky voice.

"This is bad..." said Yuji, "we need to get..." suddenly a body came flying down the stairs. The body fell down and rolled over in front of them, leaving blood trails on the stairs.

"GAH!" Elizabeth let out a quick shout, as she quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

"Did it notice?" Yuji thought, "anyways, we need to get out of here!"

Yuji grabbed Elizabeth's wrist and dragged her away from the stairs.

As they were running, they heard the Akumas laugh again, creeping closer and closer.

"Crap! we need to hide!" Yuji said.

Elizabeth spotted a rectangular locker used for storing long items, "Over there!" she said. And with no hesitation, Yuji and Elizabeth went inside to hide.

They stood silent for a few seconds, waiting if the Akuma will head there.

A minute had passed, and the Akuma did not appear.

"The Akuma isn't showing up, but it's better to stay like this for a while..." Yuji thought, he took a glance at Elizabeth and was suddenly mesmerized by her.

Thinking about it, Yuji thought that he was currently in a situation where he is stuck close to one another.

"Now that I take a good look at her... I... didn't realize she was..." Yuji thought as he felt Elizabeth's chest pressing at him, with her heavy breath touching his skin, making him flustered.

"WHAT AM I THINKING RIGHT NOW!!" Yuji thought as he shook his head over and over.

"huh?" Elizabeth whispered, "did you... notice too?"

"Huh?" Yuji said, being flustered.

"The body... wasn't it..." said Elizabeth.

Yuji's memory quickly flashes back to what the body looked like.

With a straight face, he looked out the small rectangular holes of the locker, "Yeah... it was... one of Jack's group,".