A/N: Hello. It's me again. I'm back.

I realize it's been over a month (I think), and I'm truly sorry for that. My New Year's Resolution is to update this story faster - I'm planning on just writing the whole thing, and then posting a new chapter every week. But, for the time being, think of this chapter as a Christmas present. Or, if you don't celebrate Christmas, simply as an end-of-the-year present ;)

Happy Holidays! I hope they turn out to be everything you guys imagined :) and I hope you like this chapter, as well. It took me a long time to get around to, and I managed to set up a new arc (or two) in the story.

Please leave a review, even if it's just to let me know you're still around. I got a tremendously wonderful amount of feedback last chapter, so thank you guys so, so much! Between all the amazing reviews and the astounding amount of people who suddenly added this to their "Favourite" and "Alert" lists, I feel like the luckiest person alive!

So, as my only request . . . please leave a review! Think of it as a Christmas present to me :D Plus, WE'RE ALMOST AT A HUNDRED REVIEWS! Can we make it before the New Year? That would really make my life. This would be the first story where I've ever made it to 100 while it was still in progress. I just want to thank you all for supporting me with this story, and sticking with me, even though I'm an inconsistent updater. But I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart!

I don't own Indiana Jones or the song at the beginning, which is "Miss Nothing" by The Pretty Reckless (one of my favourite bands).

Oh, and I promised I'd keep you guys updated on any new Indiana Jones movie news. Well, there has been a (slight) development. There has been a lot of back-and-forth between Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, meaning neither of them seem to be on the same page. Spielberg said "We've already agreed on the genre and the concept of the fifth movie," but Lucas has stated that "I don't have it yet . . . I have the storyline, but not the MacGuffin [the object that the movie revolves around, e.g. the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, the Crystal Skull]. I mean, I know what it's about, we just have to find a MacGuffin that fits into the arena we're working in." When asked whether or not Indy's "extended family" would play a part in the new movie, Lucas just laughed and said "Yeah . . . we'll see." So, what do you guys think of all this? Do you think they should make another movie? Please let me know in a review! :)

As for reviews . . . responses are at the bottom. Please enjoy this chapter, and tell me what you think!

- Lexi

Indiana Jones and the Black Tiger-Cat

Chapter 10: Miss Nothing

And as I watch you disappear into the ground/my one mistake was that I never let you down/so I'll waste my time and I'll burn my mind/I'm Miss Nothing, I'm Miss Everything

XxXxX

Madison (Madie) Clarke's POV

"Hey! Gramps!" Mutt cut into Indy's conversation with Sallah rudely. I sighed; sometimes he could be a bit ignorant towards others.

Sallah didn't mention the interruption, though, as he turned towards us curiously. Indiana crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at his son pointedly, obviously wanting him to go on.

"We have to get off the bus at Giza," he said, and I looked at him with a confused smile on my face. What was he going on about? "The hieroglyphics in that tiny cave that Madie and I went in said that, in order to find Ramla, we had to go to Giza."

"Who said we were even going to continue trying to find Ramla?" Indy asked curiously, fixing his hat more firmly onto his head.

Mutt blanched. "Well, I-I, I just assumed . . ."

"The whole reason we came here was to find Sallah. We never meant to get mixed up in this mystery. At first, I thought that if we found Ramla, we would find Sallah. But since we've already found him . . ."

"I'm getting a sense of déjà vu here!" Sallah suddenly exclaimed, turning to Indy and smiling. "This same thing happened when you came to Egypt to find your father! You told him that the entire point of flying out to Africa was the find him and bring him home – but then you two stayed and found the Grail!" he winked.

Indiana snorted, and sunk lower in his seat, tilting his hat over his eyes and signalling that he didn't want to talk about this. Sallah used this distraction to wave frantically at us, trying to convey the message that we were supposed to start grovelling.

"Oh, please, Indy!" I started, while Mutt and Sallah started yelling at the archaeologist at the same time. "Think of how important it'll be to Egyptian history if you find Ramla! It'll be one of the greatest archaeological find of the century! And what a big impact the Sons of Talib might have on the world if they find it first! You know you want to continue this adventure. And don't even give us that crap about it being too dangerous – we've been through worse. Probably. Besides, we found Sallah – so we need a new goal! I don't want to get home yet. Sallah got captured while trying to find Ramla . . . so let's finish what he started! Pick up where he left off!"

Indiana grunted, and all three of us shut up, waiting for his final verdict. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he looked out from underneath his hat brim.

"Fine. We'll get off in Giza."

"Yes!" I cried, jumping forwards and hugging my professor. He grunted again, but this time, I could see that he was smiling. "We're supposed to go to the pyramids," I mentioned, to try and clear up the specifics. "The Pyramid of Khufu, to be exact."

We sat in silence for the rest of the ride. I stared out the window at the sands blowing across the desert, and the occasional town with Arabs skittering around, minding their own business and going through the motions of their daily lives. More than once, I tried to summon up the courage to ask Indiana about the notebook, but I never managed to say anything. Something made me rip the page with the hieroglyphics out of the notebook, though. I don't really know why, but something just possessed me to do it. I shoved it in my pocket when no one was watching, feeling like a thief. I guess I did it because I wanted to feel important to the adventure – not just some dead weight. If I had the paper, then I was of some value, right?

XxXxX

"I never realized the pyramids were so . . ."

"Astounding? Inspirational? Majestic? Awesome? Motivational? Powerful? Important?"

". . . big."

Indiana rolled his eyes at me. I mean, I may have been an archaeologist in training, but really, the only word I had to describe the Great Pyramid of Giza was big, while Indiana could figure out a hundred different words that were probably a lot better than that. He was looking deeper into the history than I was. But I mean, seriously . . . there was no way to get around how vast the pyramids were.

All the pictures I had seen had never truly captured the sheer size of the pyramids. Photos made them seem . . . tiny, I guess . . . compared to what they really were. I could've swore they scraped the sky, and as I stood at the base of them, I had to lean all the way back in order to see the top.

We had quickly embarked at the station at Giza, and headed straight here, to the pyramids, as fast as we could. Obviously, Sallah wanted to get home to his family as soon as his possible, but we had decided to make this stop first, hoping it would be quick.

We had been standing at the base of the biggest pyramid for what felt like forever before Mutt started marching forwards. "Are we just going to wait around here, or what? I don't know about you guys, but I actually want to go inside, rather than gaping at the exterior."

Marion and Indy exchanged an incredulous glance. "Mutt actually wants to go inside an ancient structure?" Marion gasped.

"Well, duh. It's hot out here."

I rolled my eyes and trailed after him slowly, trying to memorize all the details of the pyramid. We had to climb up a few of the limestone blocks in order to get to the entrance, but that was fine by me – it meant I could actually touch the stone that the ancient Egyptians had touched so many centuries ago.

It was cool and dry inside the pyramid, and the intense dryness in the air made the inside of my nose itch. Trailing a hand along the wall to my left, I climbed the dusty and sandy steps, deeper into the great stonework.

"So . . . what exactly are we looking for?" I asked Mutt, hurrying to catch up with him. "The notebook doesn't say anything about what we are supposed to find, nor does it pinpoint exactly where in this pyramid it's going to be hiding."

"Examine the book again, doll," he said to me without looking back over his shoulder. "It might say something in there, on a page that we missed."

I knew he was wrong, though. In the silence that had followed our attempts to convince Indy not to give up on the adventure, I had thoroughly gone over the book – and the page I had ripped out – countless times. I probably had the page that was shoved in my pocket memorized by now.

I only realized then that I was still wearing Mutt's leather jacket. "Here," I said, shrugging out of it. "I don't need it anymore." Though I don't exactly want you to put it on yourself – those are some damn nice arm muscles you've got going on, Mutt, I added silently in my head.

Almost as if he read my mind, he stuck out his hand and pressed the jacket back into my chest. "It's alright, baby," he said. "I don't need it. You can hold on to it for a while longer, if you want."

"If you say so," I frowned, and then put the jacket back on again. The outside was black leather, with his name stitched in silver over the left breast, and numerous pins on the lower right-sided lapel. The inside of the jacket was a warm and smooth red fabric of some sort. Whenever I moved it, I got a fresh whiff of leather and hair grease – Mutt's smells. Breathing deeply, I continued on after him in the passage into the pyramid.

The stone passageway wore the marks of countless tourists, but the magic of one of the most ancient structures ever – and one of the Ancient Wonders of the World – shone through brightly. I realised that I had just visited two of the Ancient Wonders in one day – this pyramid, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

As I climbed up a ladder in one of the passageways, Indiana tapped me lightly on my shoulder to get my attention. "Do you still have that book I gave you?" he asked, looking up at me with his surprisingly bright eyes. I nodded, chewing on my lip and wondering if he would notice the missing page when I gave it back to him.

"Where'd you get it, Indy? Is it yours?" I questioned as we stepped off the ladder, and continued down a passage that we had to duck in, in order to avoid hitting our heads on the ceiling.

"No," he frowned. "It was my father's."

"Was?"

"He died in July."

"Oh. I'm sorry," I turned to him to give the older man a sympathetic look. "July of . . . this year?" He nodded. "Wow. I'm really sorry to hear that. I guess the wound of his passing is still fresh, huh?"

Indy shrugged. "We weren't that close. I went on an adventure with him to find the Holy Grail, and after that we vowed to try and understand one another better . . . you see, we would go years and years without speaking . . ." he trailed off.

"But you never really managed to keep to that promise after your adventure?" I tried to finish for him.

"Precisely. I mean, we did have a better rapport after finding the Grail, but it still wasn't an ideal father-son relationship."

This made me stop and think (well, not literally stop; if I had done that, Indy would have walked into me). I didn't know if Indy realised it, but the same sort of thing was happening with him and Mutt. For me, that was the last thing I wanted. I loved Indiana, and I was in love with Mutt. It wouldn't do for them to always both be fighting over everything.

"Indy . . ." I started, trailing off. How was I supposed to phrase this? "You and Mutt . . ."

The old archaeologist started laughing. "Yes, yes, Madie. I know. Don't worry. I need to make more of an effort to reach out to him, unless I want us to end up like me and my dad."

"I can imagine I'd be hard," I smiled to myself, glad that Indy already realised it and wasn't offended by what I had said. "I mean, you were absent for, what, nineteen years of his life?"

Indy nodded. "I know. And I regret that. But hopefully, I can make it up to him somehow." I shifted in Mutt's leather jacket and looked forwards to make sure that my greaser was far enough away so that he couldn't hear us. "But . . . can I please have my notebook back? It's one of the few things I have left of my father's, and I carry it around as a memory of him."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure," I stumbled over my words. Now that I thought about it, I realised that everything in that tiny book, excluding the strange hieroglyphics at the back, had to do with the Holy Grail. It must have been like a map that Indiana had followed with his father.

Fumbling through the pocket of the leather jacket, I pulled the book out carefully and handed it to my professor, hoping he wouldn't notice the missing pages. "It was his Grail Diary, as he called it," Indiana explained about the notebook. "He put nothing in there but his research about the Grail. That was his lifelong passion, you see."

I frowned. Something didn't add up. What about the hieroglyphics? Surely, they didn't have anything to do with the Grail. "Did you kids write anything in there?" Indy asked, tucking the book into the leather satchel that rested on his hip.

"No . . ." I said slowly, deciding not to explain about the hieroglyphics just yet. "Tell me, did your father ever travel to Egypt?"

"Quite a few times," Indiana said bluntly. "When I was younger, we-"

"Did he come before he died?" I cut him off. I honestly didn't want to stop Indiana from telling me about his childhood – I was very confident it would be an enlightening and interesting story – but I was trying to figure something out here.

"Strange that you mention that, because yes, he did," Indiana frowned. "He died here, actually. It was in an airplane crash, when he was heading home." His eyes clouded over. "I've been thinking a lot about his death since we came here. I mean, how could I not? He was my own father. It's only natural that just walking around these streets reminds me of him. To think, he was here only a few months ago, alive and healthy . . ."

Something wasn't making sense in his story – or rather, there were too many pieces of missing information. "How did you get his Grail Diary back, then? Considering that he never made it home?"

"Someone sent me all his belongings," he shrugged. "I just assumed that it was everything the airport officials had scavenged up in the crash wreckage."

I found it odd that Indiana hadn't investigated earlier into this mysterious lack of information, but maybe he had been overcome with grief and lack of motivation to do it. Nevertheless, I knew that something was wrong about his story. How did Indy's father get those hieroglyphics into his Grail Diary . . . and why did he "die," or at the very least go missing, a few days after?

We arrived in the Queen's Chamber after a few more short minutes. Our huge group – me, Indy, Mutt, Marion, Sallah, Abbas, Femi, and Alfie – could hardly fit into the room alongside the other tourists.

"Where do we start looking for Ramla?" Femi asked, sliding up to stand beside Mutt. I didn't comment on it, though; Mutt had assured me he would never fall for any of her ridiculous antics.

"It could be anywhere," Marion sighed. "This is a pretty big pyramid." Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Femi left Mutt's side and walked towards the back wall, where one of those air shafts was blocked off by a heavy piece of stone, set there by the ancients.

"How about we split up into groups," Indiana suggested. "That way, each group can examine another part of the pyramid."

"Good idea," smiled Sallah. "I just wish that these artifacts were easy to find- FEMI! What do you think you're doing?"

The young Egyptian woman had smashed the stone blocking the air shaft, and was now reaching into the hole in the wall, groping around inside of it with her large hands. Mutt jumped forwards and grabbed her around the waist, trying to pull her back – but not before she had managed to take a hold of whatever it was she had been reaching for.

"What was it that you were saying about wanting artifacts that were easy to find?" she asked proudly in her heavy Arabian accent, holding out an object in the palm of her hand.

An object identical to the long black one Mutt had pulled out of the canvas painting of Ramla.

"Umm . . . wow," I couldn't help but say. "That seemed rather easy. How'd you know it was in there?"

"I did not," she shrugged. "But where else could it have been? This is practically the only place in the pyramid that has not been overrun by archaeologists - and thus, the only place where objects have gone undiscovered."

I shifted my weight from foot to foot nervously. "I gotta hand it to you, Femi . . . that was actually pretty brilliant."

"I know," she simply smiled, moving over to stand beside Mutt. She tried to link her arm through his, but he pushed her off rather violently; I had to hide a smile.

Indiana took the piece from Femi and carefully examined it to make sure it was what we were looking for, before gently giving it back to her. It was the exact same as the other piece Indiana had in his bag. I still didn't fully understand what the pieces were, exactly. Maybe when we had collected all the little bits, they would form a map to some sort, pointing to the resting place of Ramla?

A while later - after exploring the rest of the pyramid, of course (we couldn't let a perfectly good trip to the Great Pyramid go to waste, after all!) - we began to head back outside. If things went as planned, we'd all be back at Sallah's place within the next half an hour.

Of course, things never go as planned.

I was just leaving the chamber that we were in when I heard a scuffle and a slight scream behind me. Turning, I couldn't see anything in the shadows, so I simply continued on my path - until I realized Femi was missing.

Femi, who still had the black Ramla piece.

The thought of telling someone like Indy, Sallah or Mutt briefly crossed my mind, but only momentarily. Instead, I turned and headed up the passageway on my own, bound and determined to investigate whether or not it had been Femi's scream that I had heard.

Big mistake.

As soon as I stepped foot back in the chamber we had previously been in, someone attacked me from behind. They shoved me forwards, and I went sprawling into a display case, before tumbling to the floor. I stuck out my hands to try and stop my fall, but all I succeeded in doing was scraping them raw and bloody against the floor. With a crash, my attacker tripped over the display case himself, and came stumbling on top of me, pinning me to the floor. The breath was knocked out of my lungs, and I couldn't find the strength to move as I looked up at the face of the man who had originally shoved me. He was an Arabian man with extreme facial hair and glittering black eyes that reminded me of beetles.

With a slight screech, I tried to skitter backwards, but the man's heavy body was weighing down on my legs. Pain flared up in the one that had been shot with a poison dart when I was searching for Pandora's Box, and I gritted my teeth against the pain. It may have been an old wound, but it was a deep one.

Behind the man who had me pinned to the floor, I spotted another two figures crouching by the entranceway. One looked to be an Arab similar to my attacker. He was holding a limp female shape - the other figure - honeymoon-style. Femi.

The man on top of me reached towards my face slowly. I couldn't tell what he was trying to do until I spotted the white funny-smelling cloth in his hand - he was going to knock me out with drugs!

My eyes widened as he placed the cloth over my mouth and nose, and I breathed in the smell of chloroform against my will. My hands fumbled to push the man off me, but it was too late.

I was asleep within minutes.

XxXxX

Review responses to:

Belle of Books: Wow. I feel honoured - no sarcasm :P thank you so much! I hope to hear from you again; your words really mean a lot to me.

MandaPanda89: Good to know someone can tolerate my lateness ;) but it's great to consistently hear from you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Melody: I can't believe you always manage to leave a review, considering you don't have an account and can't alert this story! It means the world to me that you keep reviewing :) Glad to know you enjoyed the chapter about Madie's thoughts - I put a lot of work into that. And thanks! It means a lot when my readers mention my "problems" - it shows that you guys care about me, I guess :P so thank you so much! I hope to hear from you again, if you're still around :D and thanks for all your kind words!

SerenityAngels: Okay, okay, I did. I'll try to do it faster next time - sound good? ;)

Merlincrazy: Ah, my oldest reviewer. What a treat it is to still be hearing from you :D and I'm glad you like Sallah! He's one of my favourite characters, too. I'm hoping to hear from you again - you truly are my most loyal reader, and I appreciate that a lot more than I can say!

x XRoweenaJAugustineX x: I'm guessing you'll be introducing Fluffy to me again *runs away and hides in the corner sheepishly* anyway, your review made me laugh, so thanks for that! I can see Madie going cavewoman, too xD you're right not to trust her, though . . . and that's all I'm going to say ;) I hope to hear from you again - thanks so much for sticking by me!

RogueMetamorph: I'm glad you're back! I was wondering where my best reviewer had gone ;) I'm glad you enjoyed chapter eight, considering there wasn't any action . . . just thoughts! I really enjoyed writing that chapter, though. And, as you said, getting inside Mutt's pretty little head ;) I loved the last line of your review, though. It made me laugh xD I'm glad to see that you enjoyed the part where Sallah met Mutt - to tell you the truth, the whole story is based around that part! Well, sort of. I got that part stuck in my head, and from there, I chose the plot line. It's more or less the oldest part in the story ;) and I hope you liked what I (sort of) did when Henry's notebook . . . but trust me when I say that won't be the last you see of it! It's one of my new arcs ;) Anyways, thank you so, so much for your long reviews. I adore them, and they make me so happy (ignore how cheesy that sounds). I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. In the meantime, though, take care! I love hearing from you all the time :D

camilia85560: Je suis contente que tu sois contente que Sallah soit de retourne! Ça me fait plaisir que tu as aimé le chapitre ;) et oui . . . le baiser était la partie du chapitre que j'ai aimé le plus! La famille Jones est une famille chanceux, oui? (est-ce que chanceux est un mot? Je ne pense pas, alors, désolée!) ;) Et, tristement, non ;( Je ne pense pas que je vais les emmener dans le temple du graal. Merci beaucoup pour ton «review»! J'aime écouter de toi - ma seule lectrice français! :D

lovingangel1511: It's great to hear from new people, such as yourself! Your compliments mean a lot to me :) I hope you enjoy this chapter as well, and thanks for the encouragement!

BookGal26: Aww, thanks for the compliment! And, just between you and me . . . I don't like Femi either! ;) I'm glad you like Mutt and Madie together, though - this is the first real romance I've written, so I'm glad it turned out well. I hope to hear from you again, and thank you very much for your review!

KrazyCookieRaider: Sorry it took so long . . . but it's great to have a new reader! :) I hope you continue to read and enjoy, and I can't wait to hear from you again!

the one who breathes nitrogen: Whoo, that was a long review :) but that's good. I love long reviews. And yours was one of the best I've ever had.
Thank you so much for all your ConCrit. I've never actually had any before, so it was really appreciated. In a way, it opened my eyes to a lot of things ;) and thanks for making it ConCrit, rather than a flame! It really means a lot to me.
Alright. Regarding your suggestions about the Mutt/Indy relationship . . . thanks :) I'll definitely be thinking a lot about what you said. In a way, I sort of started it in this chapter . . . but I'm planning on elaborating, so don't worry. And I'll take a look into expanding a Marion/Indy relationship as well :)
As for your next comment . . . wow, I feel like such a dumbass. I completely overlooked the fact that Madie loved James beforehand xD so thank you so much for pointing that out. I'll definitely have Mutt bring it up. Also, you mentioned watching how I describe people when in 1st person, and thanks for that, too. It'll definitely help me improve my writing, which is what I aim to do in the long run ;)
Lastly, thanks for the suggestions on clothing. I have grandparents that grew up in the fifties, but I don't get much chance to talk to them about what they wore when they were younger. All I know is that girls did wear rompers. But I really appreciate all your clothing suggestions! :)
As you can (hopefully) see, I'm very, VERY grateful for all your suggestions (and not putting them in flame form). I'll definitely take all of them into heavy consideration. So thank you for everything you helped with! I certainly hope to hear from you again ;) plus, it's always nice to hear from new people and know that there are others reading my story! I really appreciate all you've said and done. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart :)

XxXxX

Thank you guys so much for all your love and support. I honestly wouldn't be here without you :D let's make it to 100 reviews! Whooo! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

- Lexi