I always feel so guilty seeing alerts that people have favorited the story when I was studying for my exams. Well, now that I'm more free in the next few months, I'll try my best not to procrastinate!
(try being the keyword here)

Fun fact: I opened my drawer, saw a pencil of the brand "Chic", and a ticket saying "...Repertory", and combined them together to form "Chicatory".

vsco girls: sksksksksksk

The bugs were here.

Yue Xin's hand shot towards her black Pocket—

"You!"

Just a little closer, a little more...!

Her head was spinning, and even lifting her jelly-like arm was already taking too much effort—

Ms Chicatory's pale fingers circled around her wrist.

"Look at you, you can't even move. Trying to escape is futile."

The poison throbbed within her. She thought she would be fast enough to let Vermillion out. She thought it would work, it would have taken Ms Chicatory by surprise, and then she could kill her, and make an escape. Seems like she overestimated the strength she had left.

Bugs were now scuttling up her arm and legs, drowning her in the horrific sensation of tiny feet all over her.

Like the fear that was clogging up her already muddled brain.

She couldn't die here now. Not yet.

Something...anything!

Yue Xin ignored the bruising grip the woman had on her other wrist and tried to slide the Pockets tied on her arm down to her hand.

Blue eyes flashed with anger as a hand slammed Yue Xin's head into the couch. Creepy crawlies flew off in every direction. "Stop it. You shouldn't be able to move."

Qi...Her Qi was too slow in cleansing the poison.

She wanted to cry. The fear was painful. Everything was painful.

"N...No..." Yue Xin wheezed, Ms Chicatory was untying her Pockets from her arm.

"You like these pouches so much? I'll give it back to you, don't worry," Ms Chicatory threw the pouches onto the floor behind her, "After you're dead, that is."

Without her pouch, she couldn't call on Vermillion or the stone to protect her. What do I do? Helpless, once again. Ms Chicatory's face morphed into a masked one for a split second.

Ms Chicatory grabbed her wrists, dragging her off the couch. Yue Xin's back slammed into the floor, causing her to cough out the little poison her Qi had managed to expel, staining the plush carpet brown. "Filthy wench! You're dirtying my house!" A heeled shoe struck her in the stomach, but all it did was make Yue Xin cough more poison out.

With some poison out of her system, Yue Xin was beginning to regain more clarity and control over her limbs.

The blond woman stepped forward, crushing bugs under her shoes as she dragged Yue Xin towards the kitchen by her wrists.

The creepy crawlies were running away.

The Heavens had given her a chance.

"Hey hey, Neko-chan, have you seen Mystery Girl?"

Luffy poked the black cat's side, the latter giving a warning growl as it stared the little boy down with its yellow eyes.

"She has two buns on her head, and kinda looks like this," The boy pulled his rubber face into a deadpan expression, "I want to play with her, but I can't find her."

The three brothers had ditched their hooded figure disguise because the 'Legs' were too restless. Poor Sabo had to have Ace's fingers shoved up his nostrils a few times before they decided that enough was enough.

"That pawn shop there looks good." Ace and Sabo were focused on their mission, listing down plausible replacements, "But it looks kinda..."

The two older brothers raised their brows at the thick, gold-plated door that looked more like the vault door of a rich noble's.

"Ace! Sabo!" Luffy waved a rubber arm at them, pointing to the black cat that was now stalking away. "Blackie saw Mystery Girl! He says he will bring us there!"

"Ah, well, we've seen enough shops anyways. Let's go."

Ace and Sabo raced after their younger brother.

"So...How does a cat know?"

"It's Luffy."

"Yeah, it's Luffy."

Yue Xin was trembling. She didn't want to admit it, but she was trembling in fear.

Not in front of the Wu Zun, but in the face of a slim woman which she normally could have taken out in the blink of an eye—

Yue Xin couldn't accept that she was showing such weakness.

Her legs dragged against the polished wooden floor, friction burning her. Some bugs faded in and out of view. Soon, the wooden floor was replaced by cold tiles, each clack of Ms Chicatory's heels sounding like a countdown to her eventual death.

The chill of the cold tiles travelled up her back as she looked around the kitchen. Her 'saviour' was set on a determined route towards the gleaming kitchen knives displayed neatly on their stands.

No. She still had a chance. She could control her limbs better now. Her hallucinations were fading.

Yue Xin prayed that the Heavens would aid her once more.

She could use her Qi to essentially self-destruct, but that was a suicide attempt. She would either die or be never able to use Qi again.

Unacceptable. There must be another way.

There was only using her Qi to defend herself from Ms Chicatory, but that meant that the poison would take over her again without her Qi cleansing it from her veins. So she only had a short window from defending and escaping before the remaining poison in her body took over.

Yue Xin tried to hack up more poison, but she only managed small coughs.

"What would your mother love seeing?" Ms Chicatory mused in a sing-song voice, "Maybe empty holes where her baby daughter's eyes had been? Its quite poetic; eyes are the windows to one's soul, and she will never see yours again."

"Or maybe," The sound of a knife being removed from its stand grated against Yue Xin's ears, "chopping off your fingers so she can't even bear to link her hands with you?"

Yue Xin met eyes with the demonic woman. The hatred and glee condensed within her predatory smile, the shadow of madness within the sunlight that shone on them both made the little girl freeze up.

No!

"Oh, dear me, I have forgotten your tunic. This needs to be a perfect crime. I can't have officers sniffing out me can I?

Yue Xin's eyes followed the knife as she placed it down on the counter.

If only I can get to it...

Chocolate-brown eyes roved around the kitchen for all possible exits. Bugs were milling in from the connected hallway. But the tsunami of legs had subsided to a small wave now.

The sound of a drawer being opened and the smell of trash wafted towards Yue Xin. "Here it is."

Not yet, not yet, stay still...wait for the opportune time!

Yue Xin used every inch of her will to lock her arms down as the woman ripped away the cotton dress from her body. Ms Chicatory was lost in her own monologue, "You lowly Edge Town people are always so disgusting. Your clothes were such a mess I couldn't stand having it touching my bedsheets," Her arms were yanked through her long zhong yi and tunic sleeves, the waistband tied into its usual ribbon at the front.

Ms Chicatory was clever. Details like murdering her in the right clothes and even wearing her outfit for her correctly was something not many might have cared about. If she had planned this out so meticulously, Yue Xin didn't doubt she had already found some other scapegoat to take on this crime.

Not that this realisation helped stop her from trembling, but Ms Chicatory's effort did save Yue Xin from the trouble of finding her tunic back from the crazy woman. She only had to kill this woman and get back her pouches, then escape back to the Empire before anyone could trace the death to her.

Now!

Yue Xin gathered her strength, and spit.

Black blood splattered across Ms Chicatory's face. She screamed in disgust, drawing the hairs on Yue Xin's arm up. The insects froze in their spots.

Teeth cut into her lips as she pushed her Veins to concentrate her Qi on her right hand. Ms Chicatory stumbled back, wiping at the blood that blinded her, "YOU BITCH!" Her pale hands searched for the knife left on the counter, fingers circling around the handle, "I'LL— "

Her words were drowned out by the guttural scream that came out of Yue Xin. She felt like she had been dragged across sandpaper like a match, igniting every part of her. Her Veins, her muscles, her flesh— all were shrivelling up into blackened soot the more Qi she forced into her right hand, abandoning the poison that still wrecked havoc on her insides. She almost lost herself to it as she shot forward, hand aimed at Ms Chicatory's throat.

She only had one chance.

The deranged woman growled, bringing the knife down on Yue Xin's hand, body twisting out of the girl's reach.

Yue Xin was only seven after all. Her arms were not as long as Ms Chicatory's, nor was she as fast as she could have been with the poison slowing her down.

The knife didn't cut through Yue Xin's coat of Qi on her hand, but it stopped its trajectory towards Ms Chicatory's neck. The girl didn't stop to see the confusion flashing across the woman's face, using the momentum to flip and kick Ms Chicatory in the chest.

Time was running out.

Ms Chicatory's beautiful features contorted into something hideous as she was sent flying back.

Yue Xin aimed for her throat again.

"DIE! YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD!" Ms Chicatory screamed, grasping another knife from the rack she was sent flying into, "DIE!"

"Here?" Ace looked down the quiet street, the quaint houses lined up neatly on each side. "You sure?", he asked again, scuffing his shoe against the paved walkway.

The cat— or Blackie— turned its nose up in the air as if to say "Believe it or not". Another tabby cat that had joined them on their way here meowed.

"Blackie's friend said he saw the girl and the woman enter here. He didn't pay attention to which house."

Blackie had inquired his fellow feline friends about Yue Xin, since he only saw them for a short distance. Each cat hadn't given up the information for free though, demanding a payment of a tin of cat food or some head rubs.

Blackie meowed. Then it stalked away, tail high up in the air, exposing its glorious behind to the three brothers. The tabby cat trotted off to somewhere else.

"He said 'You're on your own. Goodbye.'" Luffy waved a hand at Blackie's retreating figure, "Thanks Blackie!"

"We came all the here just for this?" Ace shook the pouch that held the money they had gotten from the pawn shop, "Our pouch has gotten lighter just looking for that annoying girl— and we have to search houses now? I'm not doing it."

"C'mon Ace, we're already here anyways," Sabo persuaded, "We spent all that money, we can't give up now."

Luffy added, "Ace, you want to play with Mystery Girl too right? You want it too don't you?"

The freckled boy suddenly found the lamp post beside them very interesting.

"Mrrow."

"Woof."

The knife scraped past her cheek, on the coat of Qi Yue Xin had thrown out at the last moment.

She had not thought that the struggle would take that long.

Was she scared of killing someone? Was she scared of killing Ms Chicatory, that she was unconsciously holding back?

Yue Xin asked herself, and the truth could not be any clearer.

She wasn't afraid. Maybe, she had never been afraid of killing since the beginning. Maybe, she was just a little curious what killing a human might be like.

Who knew? But she didn't care about how she might be a little fucked up— she needed to get rid of this woman threatening her existence. The little window of time the angel trumpet's poison gave was coming to an end. She wouldn't be able to move afterwards with all the pain from the aftereffects of pushing herself.

Killing intent struck out at the woman before her. Ms Chicatory's own killing intent wasn't about to resign to playing the second fiddle; it closed in with a similar intensity, determined to swallow the little girl whole. Yue Xin's Qi-coated hand clenched into a fist.

Both of them stared at each other with bated breath, waiting to see who would throw the first move.

Yue Xin's eyes narrowed. She lunged foward, her fist raised—

Ms Chicatory reciprocated by getting into a defensive stance, and then suddenly, there was nothing.

"W-What..."Ms Chicatory's breath rushed out of her in shock.

Yue Xin had feinted an attack. Her real goal was the three pouches in the living room.

The walls shimmered as the insects turned back in one wave, their legs skittering over each other, rushing back down the hallway to find the master who had birthed them.

Ms Chicatory screeched in frustration, brandishing her two knives. The little brat was never going to get away. "I'm going to pull all your intestines out, AND STRANGLE YOU WITH IT!"

Yue Xin couldn't hear anything at all.

Her sight was dimming, and she was stumbling. But the Pocket was so close, almost in her reach—

"Wooo~" The husky whined, ears pointed down. The tabby cat headbutted the husky, trying to calm the anxious dog.

A distant, chilling scream.

The three brothers were already scaling the pastel-painted pipe, to the apartment where wilting, purple hyacinths sat on the windowsill, smothered in bindweed.

Yue Xin felt her legs give out beneath her.

No, no! A little more!

Ms Chicatory's heels stomped down the hallway as Yue Xin pulled at the carpet, dragging herself closer to the Pocket. Just as the crazy woman appeared in the doorway, Yue Xin used her last burst of Qi, and tapped on the black Pocket.

What happened next was so fast that no one could comprehend it.

Vermillion and the stone popped out, the former gearing up to skewer Ms Chicatory in the doorway. The stone positioned itself in front of Yue Xin, activating a defense shield immediately. At the same time, the window shattered into brilliant glimmering pieces as three boys came crashing in. Luffy's pipe accidentally caught onto the floating Vermillion, sending its aim off center. Flowerpots were overturned and petals trampled into mashes of colours under three pairs of feet.

There was only a brief moment of silence, punctuated by the sound of twanging metal as Vermillion buried itself into the wall inches from Ms Chicatory's head.

"What is this," Ms Chicatory straightened, only sparing a glance at the sword trying to free itself from its concrete prison before focusing on the three new intruders, "Your brothers have come to save you?"

The trio looked down at Yue Xin beside their feet, who was struggling to raise her head to look at what was going on. "Ver...Vermil..." The sword buzzed in frustration. The wall it was buried till the hilt in was supposed to be Ms Chicatory's heart.

"Yo, freaky bitch, care to explain what's going on?" Ace snarled, pointing his pipe at the knife-wielding woman.

Ice-blue eyes flicked between the three brothers, taking in their small bodies and battered iron pipes, "I'll just kill you all anyways. Four of her children dead. Your mother would be very delighted."

He recognised the emotion seething out of the woman. He seemed to never be able to escape it.

Ace's teeth ground together, "Fuck you."

Luffy was the first to strike. He jumped across the coffee table, Sabo and Ace launching into action behind. The youngest had his pipe directed at the head, while Sabo and Ace each aimed at a knee. It was as if they had rehearsed this multiple times beforehand, but of course they didn't need to— months of fighting together against jungle beasts had brought their teamwork to an unimaginable level.

Ms Chicatory managed to kick out at Ace, raising her knives at the same time to block Luffy's frontal assault. Sabo's pipe caught the behind of her knee, pulling it out from underneath her. Ms Chicatory tumbled forward, knives lashing out wildly, "YOU BRATS!"

Sabo blocked a swipe from the woman with his iron pipe, the other two rolling out her reach. Ace righted himself, running towards the crawling Yue Xin who had been trying to gather all her pouches and stuff it into the safety of her tunic.

"Let's get out of here!" The freckled boy pulled Yue Xin onto his back.

"W...ait...Mill...Vermill..." She slapped weakly at his shoulder, reminding him not to leave her precious friend behind.

"Sabo!"

"Got it!"

"Luffy!"

"Okay!" Luffy replied, rushing in to block Ms Chicatory as Sabo went to pull Vermillion out of the wall.

Ms Chicatory screamed, "You're not going anywhere!" The woman brought her knife down at Luffy, intending to stab right through his eyeball.

Luffy hadn't spent all those time in wild jungles and treacherous ravines— courtesy of a certain hero of the Marines— to get stabbed through the eyeball. He twisted his rubber neck off to the side, trusty pipe knocking the knife out of Ms Chicatory's hand with a deft thrust.

"I have it! Let's go Luffy!" Sabo threw the sword at the ruined window. Vermillion let itself sail through the great big gap, finding Ace sliding down the pipe, carrying an almost-unconscious Yue Xin. Luffy ducked another attempt from Ms Chicatory to cut his face open and extended his arm to punch her in the face. Sabo took the chance to swipe at her legs while she was distracted, successfully toppling the woman face-down into her carpet.

Luffy jumped out of the window, not even bothering to climb down the pipe. He was rubber anyways.

"My baby...You can't do this to me...Give me back my child!"

Sabo turned back to see Ms Chicatory pushing herself off the ground, her hair an unrecognizable mess, the white dress rumpled and dirtied. Hollow eyes sought out brown ones.

"Baby...My baby..."

Sabo leapt out the window without another look.

Flower meanings:
Purple hyacinths - Sorry, Please forgive me, Sorrow
Bindweed - Dead hope

You can interpret it however you want.