Author Notes: Hello again, everyone! Enjoy this next chapter :)

Beta & Co-author: jeangirlmy

- Chapter Start -

With one arm looped around Bai HaoTian's neck, Jiang ZiSuan drags her backwards to the front of the stage. Wu Xie follows and keeps his gun trained on him, aware of the knife pointed at her throat.

"Wu Xie, you know I only want to kill you," Jiang ZiSuan says. He's squinting and blinking, like he can't see well. "Or are you going to give up the woman again this time? It wouldn't be your first time anyway."

He gives a mirthless laugh.

"Let her go," Wu Xie orders and jumps a bit when something lands on his shoulder. "Princess! Go back to Huo DaoFu."

Instead, she crawls inside his jacket collar and peeps out.

"Your girlfriend isn't very obedient, is she?" Jiang ZiSuan sneers, voice slurring. "Just like this tomboy here. Jie Jie too. I should've known."

Wu Xie resists the urge to roll his eyes.

"A-Ning wasn't my girlfriend. Neither is-"

"Give me the gun," Jiang ZiSuan interrupts, holding out his free hand. It's not very steady.

"Are you alright?" Wu Xie asks, curious despite himself. "What happened to your head?"

"Your good friend smashed a bottle over my head, that's what!" Jiang ZiSuan snarls. He yanks aside his jacket collar, showing another bandage. "And your girlfriend bit me!"

Wu Xie huffs in surprised amusement.

"Who, Princess? She doesn't bite anyone. And she's not my girlfriend."

"Of course she is!" Jiang ZiSuan shouts. "She bit me when I pointed a knife at her!"

Wu Xie's eyebrows shoot up.

"You pointed a knife at Princess? But you saved her from Mr. Jiao's men earlier."

"Not her! Your other girlfriend here." Jiang ZiSuan tightens his grip around Bai HaoTian's throat, making her gasp and struggle.

"Ahh." Wu Xie narrows his eyes, fingers tightening on the gun in his hand. "She's my good friend so you shouldn't have done that."

"They're all your girlfriends! They follow you everywhere!" Jiang ZiSuan sounds a bit hysterical. "Now give me the gun!"

Wu Xie opens his mouth to argue and closes it again. He can feel Princess crawling out from his jacket collar.

"Stay inside," he mutters to her.

"Give me the gun now!" Jiang ZiSuan doesn't look very steady on his feet. He's also standing at the edge of the stage.

"Fine, fine. Take it." Wu Xie turns the gun sideways and holds it out.

As Jiang ZiSuan leans forward to grab it, Bai HaoTian sinks her teeth into his forearm, causing him to cry out. At the same time, Princess leaps from Wu Xie's shoulder to Jiang ZiSuan's.

"Ahhh!" Clapping a hand to his neck, Jiang ZiSuan stumbles backwards and trips over the raised edge of the stage.

Bai HaoTian hurriedly ducks out from under his arm. Wu Xie leaps forward to grab her as Jiang ZiSuan falls into the ravine, arms flailing.

"Princess!" Wu Xie yells.

- o -

Jiang ZiSuan gains consciousness and groans. Opening his eyes, he quickly squeezes them shut again with another groan. If his vision was blurry before, it's even worse now, tinted with neon bright colours. The ringing in his ears is louder, and his body feels like it's been run over several times by a truck.

He squints up at the faint light from far above. He'd be dead if not for the wooden boxes he'd smashed into on the way down, which served to both break his fall as well as give him a new set of bruises.

Something moves inside his collar and crawls over his chest. Raising his head, he stares at Princess who stares back at him. There's a smear of red on her lips.

"There you are," he says softly. "The one who bit me, and twice at that."

He frowns and raises his right arm.

"That tomboy bit me too, didn't she? What the hell is Wu Xie teaching you all?"

Princess reprimands him in the form of a sharp fingernail poking his nose.

"I didn't say anything wrong!" Jiang ZiSuan pushes himself to sit up and groans again, clutching his head. "Ugh, my head hurts."

Leaping to the ground, Princess continues to stare at him.

"I won't hurt you," he tells her, feeling a bit hurt. "I saved you from Mr. Jiao's men, remember?"

Princess regards him for a few moments longer before climbing onto his leg and scuttling up to his shoulder once more.

"That's better. I - ow!"

She bites him again.

"Princess!" He slaps a hand to his wounded neck, but she's back on the ground and watching him intently.

"What was that for?" He demands, scowling at her. His vision goes blurry again and the ringing in his ears get even louder. He squeezes his eyes shut, feeling rather sick.

"ZiSuan."

Jiang ZiSuan's eyes snap open at once.

"Who's there?" His mouth falls open at the figure standing before him. "Jie? Is that you?"

"Jie, I've missed you so much!" He scrambles to his feet, almost falling over, and rushes over to her.

"ZiSuan, what are you doing?" A-Ning looks sad.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are you doing with your life? You've only had one goal for the past ten years which is going after Wu Xie."

"That's because he killed you!"

"I died because I was careless. It had nothing to do with Wu Xie."

- o -

Bai HaoTian frees a frantic Huo DaoFu from the marionette while Wu Xie goes to find and untie Jia KeZi and Li JiaLe. They all search around the area and find another route off to one side of the stage. It leads all the way down to the ravine that Jiang ZiSuan and Princess fell into.

"Hurry up," Huo DaoFu urges the others. "Princess is with that deranged man. She could be injured. Or worse!"

"I'm sure she's fine," Wu Xie soothes him only to be glared at.

"She's your pet! You need to discipline her so that she doesn't go running off!"

"She's got a mind of-"

"Shh!" Jia KeZi hisses at them. "I can hear Jiang ZiSuan talking to someone - his sister? - but I don't hear anyone replying."

"What about Princess?" Bai HaoTian whispers.

"I can hear her heartbeat. She seems to be fine," Jia KeZi replies to everyone's relief.

"Jiang ZiSuan?" Wu Xie asks.

"His heart is racing, like he's anxious or upset."

They creep closer and peer around the corner. Jiang ZiSuan is standing with his back to them. Princess is a short distance away, staring intently at him. There's no one else there.

"I'll be good, I promise," Jiang ZiSuan says. "Wait! Don't go yet, Jie! Jie!"

He reaches out again, fingers closing over thin air. Then his arm falls back to his side and his head dips. Swaying, he falls to his knees.

"Princess," Wu Xie says quietly and smiles when the shellfish spins around and scuttles over to him, going up his leg and arm and then sticking to his neck. "Are you alright?"

She reaches up to pat his cheek, misses and pats his lips instead.

"Jiang ZiSuan? Are you alright?" Wu Xie asks. He curls his finger around the curious one slipping inside his mouth and pulls it out.

Slowly, Jiang ZiSuan gets to his feet and turns around. His face is wet with tears. Everyone except Wu Xie takes a step back at once.

"Are you alright?" Wu Xie repeats.

"Thank my sister, Wu Xie," Jiang ZiSuan says. "She made me promise not to go after you anymore."

Everyone exchanges glances at that.

"Well, that's good to know," Wu Xie says and shrugs. "Although I'm dying anyway so you'll get your wish soon enough."

"Are you planning to stab him in the back?" Huo DaoFu demands, point blank.

Shaking his head, Jiang ZiSuan runs a hand down his face.

"I never go back on my promise. Especially to Jie."

His gaze shifts to Princess and he hesitantly holds out his hand. Princess leaps to his shoulder and points to the new wound in his neck as she looks back at Huo DaoFu.

"Yes, yes, I noticed your handiwork right away," Huo DaoFu says dryly. "Please don't make this a habit, alright?"

"I... don't blame... her." Jiang ZiSuan's eyes close and he crumples to the ground.

With a put upon sigh, Huo DaoFu starts to shrug off his backpack.

"Wait. I think I hear those clams again," Jia KeZi says, causing Li JiaLe to look around in alarm.

"We need to get out of here," Wu Xie says. "Can you two...?"

"Alright," Li JiaLe says. He and Jia KeZi hoist Jiang ZiSuan up between them, pulling his arms over their shoulders.

"Let's go," Wu Xie says and leads the way.

- Chapter End -

A/N: Thank you for reading! Yup, Princess has venom that causes hallucinations because I have a real soft spot for Jiang ZiSuan, and everyone and their grandmother know he only listens to A-Ning. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it :)