A/N; Eeek! It's been so long since I updated this….I'm so sorry, my lovelies. ;~; I decided to break this part into two parts, two chapters. So I can give all my readers something to read and while I work on part two. I want part two of this to reveal who has the Heart. /3 So I want it to be super amaziiiing. I almost named this chapter It's So Hot...but then I just went with the Sphinx them.
-Man is owned by Katsura Hoshino
The Sphinx Part 1
"Think cold thoughts…cold…cold," Neah muttered to himself inside of Allen's mind. He wasn't about to go take over Allen's body when it was so hot in the area they had arrived in. "Think cold thoughts, Allen! It's so hot."
"Stop complaining, Neah. But…Tyki's in freezing Russia?" Allen commented wryly with the slightest of smiles. Next to him, Wisely in his turban on snickered about the conversation going on in Allen's mind. Allen gave him a bored look, and shook his head. Of course. His brother had no sense of privacy.
"That doesn't help me. At all. Useless nephew," Neah drawled, and then glared in the direction he knew his brother was in. "Wisely! Get out of here!" Neah snapped.
Allen grinned at Wisely's sudden sullen look. "Yes well…he's possibly dying of heatstroke in there…I don't see how. I'm the one in the sun…and he's sort of already dead…" he drawled as the group of Noah and Exorcists trudged unhappily across the desert. "I should have gone with Tyki to Russia…I remember going across this desert for Master Cross debts…"
Wisely snorted, and rolled his shoulders in a shrug, finally drowning out Neah's annoying babbling about it being hot. He didn't get how the man could be hot, when he was lurking around in the subconscious of a teenager…couldn't he just…think up something cold on his own? Or did he have to work in concert with the former traitor to get things like that to work? It was something that Noah's wisdom may have to look into. Knowledge was power, after all.
Allen was now chatting it up with the newest member of his family, trying to get to know her. So far, he knew very little of her, although Wisely seemed to know more than he was showing. He read minds after all and enjoyed butting into people's heads. "Vahnishikha, was it? What an…odd name."
"Vahni, Allen-san," came the simple response from the girl, as she squinted into the distance, catching sight of the great Sphinx in the distance. "Is that the Sphinx, Allen-san?" She asked, as gruff as ever. She seemed to be the type that didn't speak much, like Toriado. Allen hadn't had much opportunity to really get to know his sister; Neah and Sheryl were usually all over her. Neah was definitely spending too much find around the pervert of the Noah family, and the sister-complex of the former Black Order if he was niece-complexing over somebody he barely knew. Although, he did the same thing with Allen…it was still a little bit odd.
"I know you're thinking about me, Allen. And if it weren't so negative, I would be flattered," came Neah's drawling voice, as he took over Allen's body. He blinked around for a moment, announced. "It's too hot. But I've never seen the sphinx before," before returning to Allen's mind to fan himself with his hand. "So hoooooot."
"He's so…annoying sometimes," Allen muttered, causing Neah to pout unhappily and fall silent to sulk on his own. How could his adorable nephew call him annoying! It was so uncouth. So…unfamily like.
The group stopped in front of the giant cat-like construct, frowning slightly as they searched for an entrance. Now would have been a good time to have Tyki with them Allen decided in dull amusement. His hands flickered over the outside of the stone, looking for what could be an entrance into the Sphinx.
"I could help you, Allen," Neah supplied helpfully, "You called me annoying however. Apologize and I will gladly get you all in," he stated in a rather cheerful tone. "There are still abilities you have yet to master that I have, nephew dear. I want an apology."
A snort from Wisely who was listening in as he gave his brother a look that told him to apologize to Neah before he caused his head to implode. Allen dryly gave Neah an apology, which he happily accepted before taking over Allen's body, once again giving the slightest of complaints about the heat.
"Neah-san?" Miranda asked slowly, watching Neah happily switch to his own appearance and then beginning rapping his knuckles against the walls of the Sphinx, pressing his ear up against the stone. "Solid here…" He stopped at the paw of the Sphinx and tapped it lightly. "Hollow…" Closing his ears, he listened to the Tune of the stone, running his foot back and forth over the sand, listening to that Tune in concert. Then he hummed a few lines, the tune of the stone changing to that of the sand. The paw of the Sphinx fell into the sand.
The group gasped in horror. He'd just defaced…pawed a national monument in Egypt. Miranda's hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. "Neah! What? How could you! The Sphinx."
Neah boredly looked behind him at Miranda, smirking at her closeness to the blind man, Marie, he remembered it was. He shrugged his shoulders lightly. "It's just a paw. Besides, once I'm out of the area not manipulating the tunes will go back to normal and it'll be like nothing happened at all," He drawled, striding into the opening he had made. "Well, are you coming or not?" the group hastily moved to follow the Noah.
"I never would have guessed that the paws of the Sphinx were hollow and that they lead into the inside…" Miranda commented, feeling Marie's hands on her shoulders, steering her movements in the darkness.
"If not the paws, then some other part of the sphinx would be hollow." Neah commented wryly, descending into the darkness. "Egads. It's really dark in here…Switching back to Allen. He's got some good night-sight going on."
Miranda used the walls to guide her way down the corridor, with Marie also providing aid to the German woman. Her feet lightly made their way down the stone hallways when one of the stones fell in slightly and there was a rumbling sound, the German woman tripping forward into the Noah of Wrath walking in front of her, dragging Marie down with her. The weight of two people sent the female into Wisely who then crashed into Allen. The group fell into a very messy pile on the floor with Allen groaning in mild pain on the bottom.
His nails tapped lightly against the ground in annoyance as he sighed. "Well…sounds like we triggered something," he commented wryly. It was probably a good thing that they had fallen into such a pile at the time because when they all look up, there were sharp arrows embedded into either walls. He looked up at Miranda as the group removed themselves from his person and smiled. "Well, you saved our hides from being impaled with arrows, Miranda. Thank you," he stated rather cheerfully because she was busy apologizing to people for falling into them.
The group continued at a much slower pace, wary for more traps to be unleashed upon their unsuspecting archeological group. They were archeologists in a way, searching through the sphinx and what not.
As the group entered into the main chambers of the Sphinx pyramid, they were met with many different pathways to choose from. Allen frowned deeply, feeling the presence of the Innocence from all directions, to confuse his Noah senses. There was a staircase leading up, one leading down, and one leading into the other Sphinx paw, and then one leading farther back into the sphinx on the same ground level. "Well. This is going to pose a mild problem." He decided. "Three potential directions." He began counting the number in the group, frowning more. There were five of them. Three directions. All of which were likely to be riddled with traps. He had options he could choose from. At this point in time, Neah returned to control because this main area had light filtering in down from the holes in the ceiling as well as torches along the wall from who knows how long ago. How they stay lit for so long was a mystery in itself. Neah was also better adept and deciding what to do in these situations. Neah frowned lightly as he and Allen went through their options.
One: they could go down each way as one giant group. Pros of that would be keeping them all together. Cons would be the time it would take and a higher chance of traps being triggered.
Two: they could split up and each take a way. Pros of that method was how long it would take, a small group might be less likely to trip a trap. A con of that would be a higher chance of injury and somebody would be alone. Unless Allen and Neah counted the other as person number six.
Neah's foot tapped in annoyance against the sandy ground. He didn't want anybody to get hurt…but it was the best way to go. Now for the groups. "Marie go with Wisely, Miranda with Vahni, and then I'll go alone…actually I'll be with Allen…but it's like being alone. I'll go down, Vahni and Miranda can go up, and Marie and Wisely can go straight through." Timcampy fluttered around his head, as did Miranda and Marie's golems. "Keep in touch."
However, before the groups departed, Neah pulled Miranda over to him, lowering his voice. "Make sure you don't trigger any traps this time. If you find the Innocence, try to keep Vah away from it. I've been working on her control, but I don't know how well she'll do solo." The woman nodded and the female Noah took the lead in heading up the stairway.
"Are you sure about splitting up like this, uncle?" Allen asked warily.
"Of course not," Neah answered rather cheerfully as he started moving down the stairs. A misplaced step triggered a trap, flatting out the staircase and sending Neah sliding downwards. "Of course I would trigger one after warning people not to," he muttered crossly. He came to the end of his slide, sliding into a pile of sand on the ground. He snorted dully in annoyance, rising to his feet. "Allen. It's dark. Guide me, nephew."
"So demanding, aren't we, uncle?" Allen commented, using his adept night-sight to guide his uncle through the darkness. Too bad he often left out little bits and pieces, which caused the man to trip every once in awhile. The Fourteenth was just getting more and more frustrated with the whole process.
Upstairs, the other three members of the Noah family were arriving and trying to decide which ways to go themselves. They also had three ways to go and the same options, but with less people.
"I'll go straight, Jasdero and Devit can go up, and Fiddler, you can go down. Take as many Akuma as you want, children," The Earl stated, clapping his hands together. "If you find any traitorous Noah, then kill them. If you run into that adorable girl Wrath reincarnated into, I want to try to get her over onto our side." A fake sob broke from the Earl's large mouth. "I just want to be one big happy family again."
Oh did he now?
A/N; So. Yeah. I'M FINALLY DONE BEING A LAZY WRITER BLOCKING IDIOT. For now. We'll see how long this lasts. xD
Next chapter; Part 2. Big Noah-Third Side battle. The Heart is revealed.