Chapter 21

Yuji and Elizabeth walked by the shelves, observing.

"I see..." Yuji said.

The shelves were fully stocked with multiple items, some fell on the ground but most are stocked normally inside.

"There's even working refrigerators..." Yuji said as he looked at the multiple fridges containing beverages, by the wall.

"but the power will eventually get cut off soon, we should probably take a bunch," he thought, as he took multiple beverages such as water and juice from the fridge, "but I wonder where should I put this?" he thought.

"Yuji!" Elizabeth called as she was walking towards him, holding a backpack, "Look!" Elizabeth said in an excited tone, "this store doesn't just sell food and ingredients, they sell this too," she said as she showed Yuji the bag, covering half of her face.

"I thought we could use this..." she said.

"She seems pretty excited..." Yuji thought.

"Great timing, I was just thinking of where to put these beverages, thanks," he said with a smile.

Suddenly, a blurry memory came flashing into Yuji's eyes.

A female with black hair standing in front of him, being unable to see her eyes, Yuji heard the girl speak, "See? I'm pretty smart, right?" the girl spoke in a smug tone, the girl's voice was soft, mature and was somehow comforting to hear, despite the smug tone.

"Yuji!?" Elizabeth called, forcing Yuji back to reality. "Are you ok?" she said in a worried tone, "you were suddenly staring in mid-air, then your hands started shaking..." she said.

"Huh?" Yuji said as he looked at his right hand while carrying the multiple beverages in his arms.

"I'm... shaking?" he thought.

"It's probably just because of the cold," he said.

He opened the zipper of the bag and placed all the beverages inside.

"Let me carry it now, it might get in your way later," said Yuji as he closed the zipper and held the bag.

Elizabeth nodded, still being worried about Yuji, she gave him the Bag.

Yuji wears the bag, placing it behind him, "let's continue," he said

As they continued to search again, Yuji began thinking, "what was that?" he thought, "nothing will come out of forcing myself to remember, but for some reason, I think remembering might help me..."

Yuji looked around, "Elizabeth probably got the shelves... I should go check out something else," he thought as he made his way to the registers.

The registers looked normal, despite the buff-legged Akuma being beside it.

Yuji reached the Akumas body and took a good look at it.

"It seems like it took more than one blow to kill this thing," Yuji said, "it has explosion marks and some slices on its body, as well as long burn marks... probably from lighting," Yuji smiled, "I guess that means their altogether... they're probably almost there by now... I'm glad..."

Yuji went beside the Akuma, and pulled out the knife stuck on its head, "this could be useful," he said.

As Yuji was checking the register Elizabeth had found herself in a certain situation.

While Yuji was in the front, Elizabeth was at the side looking at the shelves, and behind one shelf was a dead body of a soldier.

Elizabeth trembled for a moment, she took a deep breath, focused, and regained her composure.

Looking at the body carefully, she saw a certain object being held by the corpse of the soldier.

"That's... an amplifier..." Elizabeth thought.

With joy inside she went closer, yet, she was hesitant to approach the dead body.

"Come on! I can do this..." Elizabeth thought, as she swallowed and then took deep breaths, she then approached the body.

Yuji noticed the commotion Elizabeth was making, "what's she doing?" he thought, looking from a distance.

Elizabeth crouched in front of the dead body with her hand covering her nose, as she took a close look at what was on the corpse's left hand.

"Yep! it's an amplifier!" she whispered, "I wonder how Yuji will react," she said with a smile.

Yuji walked over to Elizabeth's location, and as he glanced at her, his eyes were suddenly alarmed, as he saw Elizabeth reaching for the hand of the corpse sitting beside the wall, as the corpse's eye began to move.

As Yuji saw the dark eye of the Akuma, he began to run at full speed to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth grabbed the syringe "Yes!" she said. But after grabbing the syringe, she was suddenly stunned by the situation she was in.

Elizabeth couldn't move as fear took over her body, leaving her in an immobile state.

The Akuma opened its mouth, as it grabbed Elizabeth's upper arm and pulled her close.

Elizabeth tried to resist but the shock left her weak and was pulled by the Akuma.

As the Akuma was about to reach Elizabeth's neck, Yuji suddenly placed his arm, covered with layers of newspapers right between the Akuma's mouth and Elizabeth's neck.

Barely making it in time, Yuji stuck his arm covered with newspapers on the Akuma's mouth and pinned it beside the wall.

He then pulled out the knife he took earlier from his back pocket and stabbed the Akuma's head between the eyes.

As the Akuma fell to the ground, Yuji quickly stood up.

Yuji breathes and stood still to calm back down, as he looked at the situation.

The Akuma was on the ground, no loud noises were made, and blood was dripping from his arm.

Elizabeth regained her composure and quickly stood up, "I'm so sorry!" Elizabeth said, "thanks to you I'm..."

Elizabeth suddenly stops, as she saw Yuji falling to the ground.

Yuji suddenly fell down to the ground, as his face showed signs of intense pain and suffering.

"Yuji!" Elizabeth shouted, "what's going on!?"

Elizabeth looked at Yuji's arm and saw blood coming from inside the newspapers wrapped around his arm.

"No..." Elizabeth said in a shaky voice, as she was hoping that it was not what she thinks it was.

With shivering hands, Elizabeth removed the newspapers wrapped around Yuji's arm.

After she removed it, Elizabeth was stunned full of despair, as she saw a wound shaped like two teeth that had sunk into his flesh.

"Your..." Elizabeth said, full of despair, then she suddenly recalled, "wait... don't people die almost instantly when they're bitten..."

Elizabeth glanced at Yuji again and saw him, seeing him breathe heavily, suffering from the pain.

Elizabeth had a little hope, as she moved closer to Yuji, she began to activate her ability to see what was happening on his body.

"What's this!?" Elizabeth said in shock, "Your cells are somehow holding the virus off, but they're quickly losing!"

Elizabeth looked around and saw the syringe she dropped on the floor, she grabbed the syringe and thought "It's all or nothing..."

"S...t... op," Yuji said with a trembling voice, as he looked at Elizabeth with one eye as the other one was closed due to pain.

"If you don't make it..." Elizabeth said, looking at Yuji with a tiny smile, "then everything would be pointless..."

"let's see..." Elizabeth said, "if the serum increases the strength of his immune system, the best place is...here!"

Elizabeth injected the syringe on the opposite shoulder of where he was bitten.

"It works!" Elizabeth said with little joy, "the cells are fighting back!"

But the joy was short lasted. After the cells started fighting against the virus, his organs began to take damage.

"No... if this continues, he will still die..." said Elizabeth.

She raised her arms over at Yuji's chest, where the most conflict seems to be happening, as her eyes and hands began to glow.

"The cells are fighting back, and while it's trying to adapt to the virus, it's damaging his organs as a result," Elizabeth thought, "but if I keep healing his organs until his cells adapt, then he'll live!"

After a few seconds.

"The cells are starting to lose again..." Elizabeth scowled and looked at the syringe, "If I inject all of this into Yuji... then his ability will increase its strength..."

Elizabeth injected the syringe into Yuji's shoulder again, "it's worth a shot!" she thought as she presses the button at the back of the syringe, which releases all the serum inside the syringe.

The serum quickly spread on Yuji's body, pushing back the virus.

"Yes!" she said, "the virus almost seems like it isn't moving! now all I have to do is..." Elizabeth's eyes suddenly shrunken with shock, as her body started to tremble.

"No..." she said, as she began to lose sight of the cells.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!" she shouted.

"My ability is weakening..." Elizabeth said with a trembling voice, "I can't heal as good as earlier... I'm practically useless now..." she said as she placed both of her hands on her head, looking down on the floor.

With a teary voice, she asked "what would you do in this situation..." as she looked at Yuji.

Yuji was breathing at a steady phase as if he was trying to minimize the pain by lesser movements.

"His... still trying his best..." Elizabeth thought.

Elizabeth slapped herself in the cheeks and started to breathe deeply.

Regaining her composure "I need to think..." she said, "right now my ability is weakened, which means it's about to run out..."

She stared at Yuji, "right now Yuji is holding on... for who knows how long..." she thought, "if I'm going to save him, I need an amplifier,".

Elizabeth looked at the exit, "If I go back to the apartment building, there's still a chance I might end up with nothing..." she thought, "I need a place where I can get one for certain...but where..."

Elizabeth looked at Yuji's hand, suddenly realizing something.

"That's right... it should still be there..." she said.

Fear crawled all over Elizabeth's body, making her shiver with the idea she came up with. Yet she had the resolve to do it.

Elizabeth crouched beside Yuji, "I'm going out for a bit... please hold on until I get back," she said, as she tried to hide the fact that she was trembling with nervousness and fear, in front of Yuji's blurry vision.

"E… li..." Yuji tried to call her name, as she stood up and started running towards the exit.

"That case Yuji was holding before..." Elizabeth thought, "he said he was holding on to it until he got hit by the Akuma... in that case, it should still be there..."

As the thought crossed her mind, the gory scene they saw, back inside the locker, flashed back to her mind.

With shivering hands and intense anxiety, Elizabeth stopped and looked at her hands, she clenched her fist and it glowed a faint light.

" There's still a little left..." she said.

with an uncertainty of what's going to happen, "This is... my only chance to save him..." she said, as she ran outside the store and made her way back to where she found Yuji.