So. I got you another chapter. I really liked this chapter somehow…opinions? I didn't get a chance to throw out the Heart yet in this heart…but yeah. And chapter 209 spoilers are out. No Allen in it. ;o; Just Johnny and Kanda. Which is saddening because Kanda and Johnny have had more page time than Allen.

AND WHAT ABOUT POOR LAVI?

-Man is owned by Katsura Hoshino.

The Sphinx Part 2

The sounds of footsteps resounded from around him and Neah frowned deeply, his head tilting to the side. "Those are not my footsteps…" he muttered to himself. Neah always talked to himself, it was how he'd passed the time these past oh…thirty-five years since his original death. Sure, he'd had Mana when he'd possessed his dog, Allen. In general though, dogs couldn't talk so it wasn't the best conversations in the world. He was actually…happy when that dumb Cosimo had gone and beaten the dog to death. He was sad for the abuse it had been put though…but he could then find a new host.

That host had been Allen. From the beginning, he'd been attracted to the boy. He knew of all the hardships he'd gone through in that circus, all the abuse he'd been put through. They were kindred spirits in a way. The kid needed help…he wouldn't live long in that place. Not with how they were treating him. He'd taken refuge in that abused body and settled down in his mind until his time came. He had been the one to summon Timcampy to that circus to rescue Red from the lion cage the ring master had thrown him into. Although, he was slightly annoyed that the child was unstable enough in his mind to try to beat the one who'd beaten his doggish body at the time. He'd been unstable enough to even attack Mana because he was angry at him for protecting Cosimo. Red…the true Red, not the Allen he had become under his influence had felt guilty for it and taken to traveling with Mana.

It was Allen that Mana had loved. Mana had loved Allen like he was his own son. Despite being slightly out of his mind, Mana had loved Allen.

The footsteps continued and Neah frowned lightly to himself, his head tilted to the side. Could one of the other groups have found the Innocence already? It was unlikely. There was also the off-chance that some Akuma and Noah had arrived. "Allen. Can your eye sense any Akuma?" Neah questioned lightly as Allen took over the vision for their joint body. There were indeed several Akuma coming. "Switching, Allen." Neah commented as Allen took over their joint body again. Neah knew if he used his Noah abilities to destroy the Akuma, then Allen would be highly annoyed with him for doing that. After all, Akuma not destroyed by Innocence, the souls were lost forever. As much as he hated how selfless Allen was for these Akuma, he couldn't help but admire his nephew. He'd learned well over the years, even with Marian as his master.

Psh. Take over Allen's body. What had he been thinking? Neah loved his nephew to absolute bits. He hadn't exactly told the General the entire story of what would happen when he found a new host…so he supposed that was his fault for Allen believing that he was a bad uncle at first.

There wasn't enough room to fight in that corridor. Best lead the Akuma on a merry chase into a bigger chamber. His pace increased down the hallway and the resounding footsteps sent Fiddler and his Akuma into a frenzy of trying to catch up with whoever was ahead of them.

Allen skidded into a large chamber, but it was empty. Timcampy fluttered down onto his shoulders, his mouth opening as Allen sent a message through the golem to the other group's golems. "Be careful, there's Akuma behind me, so there's probably some behind you."

A disembodied laugh and Allen froze. Level four. What the heck. He could barely take one on. Greeeaaat. Well, he hadn't actually attempted to take one on with his Noah powers or his Noah form. Pale skin shifted to ashen, eyes flashing gold…Allen leapt back in his Noah form as a blast of purple Dark matter crashed into the ground before him.

"Innocence activate," The claw of Allen's Crown Clown and the dark matter from the level four Akuma collided, sending both flying into a wall. A whip from nowhere now, slimy with odd…oh shit. Allen dodged the attack and glanced at the way he'd come in where Fiddler now stepped out, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in all it's freaky glory.

"What's with that tongue?" Allen asked, shuddering lightly in disgust. "It's digusting."

"The previous Corrosion was worse," came Neah's simple response with the slightest of shudders of his own as a frown crossed his features. "Watch out for that level four, Allen. It shouldn't be too much of a problem for you, now being the Noah that you are."

Neah was right. The ease of which he clashed with the level four and Fiddler's whip-like tongue was astounding. When he'd been human…this fight would have been impossible for the likes of Allen Walker as a human. With his sword of exorcism in hand, he cleaved through half of the level four, both sides falling before exploding behind him.

Allen Walker's cape fluttered out in front of him as he hefted the sword lightly over one sword, gazing at Fiddler. Noah vs Noah...Destruction's Musician against Noah's Corrosion.

Neah's voice entered Allen's head again, quietly asking if he wanted Neah to do this. Neah had taken out this Noah once before…so a second time should be fairly easy enough. Allen didn't have time to respond as he defended against the tongue again, eyeballs glaring up at hum. Oh god. How disgusting. He swung the blade at Fiddler, trying to get in close to try for a second time to cleanse the Noah within. Maybe this time…he wouldn't fail.

Damn. Allen swore as the whip-tongue disarmed him, sending the blade flying and imbedding itself into the wall of the inner Sphinx catacombs. The tongue lashed out again, striking Allen across the chest. It pulled back and hit him a second and a third time as Allen lay prone against the wall, momentarily stunned by the strikes.

Neah's voice rose in panic. "Allen. That tongue…his saliva has paralyzing effects."

Allen rose to his feet, slightly unsteady as he reached his hand out, summoning his sword. Fiddler dodged it as it came flying by him and into Allen's waiting hand. "Stupid uncle," he panted in annoyance. "Could have told me that sooner. Anything else?" For once, Allen spoke out loud, not bothering with his mind-speak as the tongue struck the metal of his sword. That thing was a /lot/ stronger than a normal tongue should be. Allen skidded back a few inches from the impact and scowled. "Jesus…that tongue is awful." He muttered.

"Cut it off. S'what I did." Neah drawled boredly, but was really interested in this fight. After all, he was worried about his cute nephew. He wished Allen would have let him handle this fight…but he wanted to do it himself. Always the independent one, his nephew. He never liked to ask for help…he didn't want to worry other people, bother them, or get them injured with his problems. "It'll take a least a few minutes for it to reattach."

Noah's Corrosion giggled at Allen's disgusted face and retracted his tongue slightly to stick it out at him childishly, the eyeballs attached to it lighting up in glee and amusement towards the Noah. It lengthened again to lash out at Allen, moving too quickly for Allen's broadsword to hit to be able to detach from his mouth. The sword and the tongue collided again with each other.

The stairs continued upwards and the curved back towards what both females assumed to be the head of the Sphinx. They two remained mostly silent on their way upward until Miranda tripped on a step, sending the German female exorcist sprawling into the Noah walking in front of her. There was a growl of annoyance as the two landing into a pile on the floor, but it was probably a good thing Miranda had tripped because above them, arrows were sent flying into the walls on either side. Miranda's clumsy nature had saved them yet again.

The two lay prone on the floor for a moment and the coming silence brought them noises from below them. Jasdero and Devit were arguing down below them about what to do with the 'idiot apprentice' when they found him. What were they going to do to make him pay back their debts?

"We could sell him into slavery, Dero~" Devit announced, nodding his head. "He's a hard worker it seems and he'd make us a pretty penny, wouldn't he?"

Jasdero's head tilted to the side playfully with a smile, the stitching no longer covering his mouth. Their fight with the exorcist 'vampire' had opened their eyes to their childishness. Although they were still childish, they had matured in a way that made them slightly more serious about their abilities and their family. They hadn't just matured in their personality; their appearances had matured as well. The Earl was very proud of his cute little children and their growing up. They grew up so fast!

Miranda grabbed the younger girl's hand and began to run up the stairs. This was a bad place to fight and she wasn't even sure if the girl could fight…and there were two of them. Oh for once in her long life, Miranda wished her innocence had been an offensive one. Like Kanda, Allen, or Marie's. Those three were so strong…and so was Lenalee in her own graceful way. While Miranda was useless in true battling. She couldn't even heal injuries that were accumulated forever.

The two females scrambled to their feet and hurried onward. Who knows how long it would take for them to find a perfect place for them to actually battle and fight without destroying the precious inside of the Sphinx. After all, Neah had already destroyed a paw…and they wondered if it had been repaired yet. Somebody was bound to notice the fact that the paw wasn't there sooner or later and come to investigate. And if the Noah were there then so were the Akuma and it would put people in danger.

The staircase came to an end and the two emerged into a large room. It was the treasure room…how had archeologists not figured out this room was in the head of the Sphinx? Had the Innocence been hiding it for millennia away from the humans?

The walls were lined with Anubis statues, ten on each side, the muzzles twisted into a snarl of protection. As they entered the room, their eyes began to glow and a snarl broke from their muzzles. The removed themselves from their pedestals and began approaching the two females, holding large axes. "Intruders upon the master's treasure must be destroyed." They spoke in unison before lashing out with the axes towards the two women.

Tch. Vahni scoffed towards the Anubis statues, frowning towards them. Neah had been teaching her how to use the lightning based powers of the Noah of Wrath…you'd think they have fire because it was an angry element, like Wrath generally was. They had lightning though. Angry, too, she supposed in a musing tone in her head.

Hair billowing around her face as she moved, she summoned the lightning just like Neah had been teaching her. Even if they were stone…she could still blast them to pieces. And if that didn't work, well…she'd still just blast them to pieces. Light from behind her and she could tell that the other woman had activated her own Innocence in the form of her Time Out to prevent damage from being done to the room itself.

Lightning blasted the head off of one Anubis statue, but there were still at least twenty of the blasted things. As a snarl left her lips, one of anger, she lashed out against with lightning towards them. The one she'd blasted the head off shattered to pieces because it'd still continued to walk towards her.

"Vahni-san!" Miranda screamed as one swiped her aside and into a wall, momentarily stunning the girl who had never been a real fight until now. Neah's words filtered into her mind. Remember what made her angry…that was where the power lies in the Noah of Wrath. Anger. Sheer anger. She remembered everything that made her angry, her mother, a mere prostitute who had abandoned her in the streets, never knowing her father…the three men who adopted her into their family and abused her in ways one couldn't understand. It all made her angry.

Her lips turned into a twisted snarl of rage as she prowled now, working purely on the instincts of anger that came with her nature as the Wrath of Noah. The presence of the Innocence buzzed around in her mind, but she forced herself to ignore it. She had to. Her family would grow displeased with her if she destroyed it.

They were family to her now. As much as she hated the idea of having a family after what her first and second one had been like…she'd become close to the other five Noah that defined her family. The man who had adopted her as his daughter was more of a father than anybody could ever be. He was weird and doted upon his cute daughter…but he was a father.

"Blue bomb!" A massive ball of ice was flung into the room, shattering upon its collision with the nineteen remaining Anubi. They all froze just as Vahnishikha lashed out at them with lightning. The added freezing of the Anubi with the lightning suddenly rushing through them shattered them completely, the stone falling helplessly to the floor.

Jasdero and Devit strolled into the room, resheathing their two toy guns at the side as they looked at their sister, ignoring the other woman there. She would be dealt with later. "You should come with us to your true family, sister," they spoke, their hands intertwining now. "Lord Millennium would very much like you to return to his side, Wrath."

All three Noah were suddenly prone…tears running down their faces. Vahni's hand flashed to her face were tears ran unbidden from her eyes. She was confused. Why was she even crying?

Jasdero and Devit were crying as well, but they were crying tears of black make-up. A Noah had just died. "Our make-up ran!" They cried out in sheer annoyance, wiping at their eyes. "What bastard caused our make-up to run? We'll kill them! Kill. Kill. Kill." Whether their threat was directed towards the Noah killer or the one who had killed a Noah was really unknown.

The tears continued to fall and they wouldn't stop.

A/N; I know I said that I'd reveal the Heart this chapter. But. I got side-tracked by doing this. This chapter was about 2000 words on its own…so I decided to do it in three parts. I figure that it'll end in a few more chapters…or something. I think. I dunno. What do you all think?

Next chapter; Maybe I will reveal the Heart…and who died. I think we all know who did though.