Oh look…a chapter. It's been…a couple few months? Finally updating...I hope to wrap up this fic soon. Soon as I reveal who has the heart and who its accommodator is. And whatnot…

Enjoy.

-Man, as usual, is owned by Katsura Hoshino.

-Spoiler- LINK'S ALIVE. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I AM. –End spoiler-

The Sphinx Part 3

"Forgive me, brother. It simply had to be done…" Allen whispered to the prone form of Fiddler. His tongue had been hacked off and lay limp next to his body, the parasites that lingered on it withering and then died. It was always a sad thing to lose a family member. During his time with the Noah, he'd never gotten really close to that particular Noah, but the memory of Noah's Destruction was crying silently.

Neah had fallen silent, somber in his quiet mourning of a lost sibling. He hated having to do that, but it had to be done. After a few moments of mournful silence, Allen rose to his feet, his clothes in disarray from the battle. It wasn't near as bad as the area was. Small craters littered the room around him, splashes of blood hear and there.

"May God forgive you for your sins, Fiddler," Allen murmured, pulling his exorcism sword from the body. After a moment of concentration, his blade returned to its form as his left arm. He moved stiffly, as if injured. The two Noah had gone all out in their fight, and his genes were worn down. His healing would take at least a few hours longer than it would normally.

He still hadn't found the innocence though. Timcampy fluttered down towards the teenager, opening his mouth as Miranda's voice came out, all in a flustered panic as the sound of lightning hitting walls, and the twins annoyed screams of blue bomb, red bomb..."Allen-kun, the two twin Noahs are attacking Vahni…we found the Innocence. I have it…but it's two on one, and I'm not very helpful…I'm so useless!"

They found the Innocence, that was good. Allen was more worried about the two females stuck in an unfair fight of two on one. "I'll get there as soon as I can, Miranda-san. Oh Neah says to tell Vahni that a weakness of the Bonds is to try to get them against each other, that way when they tried to synchronize their attacks, if they're both thinking of something else they'll start arguing."

Allen couldn't rest anymore and began backtracking through the maze of Sphinx corridors towards the direction that Miranda and Vahnishikha were. He had to hurry. If Vahni was taken by the Earl…who knows what could happen. They'd be outnumbered, she knew several of the Ark door locations as well as the current location of the current Ark body. Shit. His body couldn't take another big fight right now…but being the martyr that he was… he'd fight anyway until his very last breath.

He made it to the main entrance hall of the Sphinx, where he had departed from each of the group, trying to figure out which way he had sent the two women. A crash from a floor above…oh there they were. Above him.

The ceiling suddenly cracked, as a figure came crashing through, landing on the floor. "Vahni! Are you okay?" Allen asked, dodging as Jasdevi, the true form of the Bonds came down from the ceiling having noticed Allen there now. "Idiot apprentice!" Allen was a bit too slow to dodge when Jasdevi's hair slithered out and slammed him into a wall. He was still weak from the previous fight…

Jasdevi approached Allen, now ignoring Vahni who was climbing to her feet, a gash to the side of her head healing as she went. A snarl from broke from her lips as she watched Jasdevi ignore her. She picked up a stone from the floor, tossing it up and down as she charged it with electricity and then hurled it at the back of Jasdevi's head. "Your opponent is me," she snapped, getting angrier about being ignored.

Jasdevi turned for a brief moment towards the girl, a scowl crossing his features. "This idiot owes us! He's going to pay all of Cross' debts to us! We're going to beat him until his eardrums burst with his own screams, and then we're going to drag him to Lord Millenium."

Allen was on his feet while the two were distracted with Vahni, silently activating his Innocence as he leapt into action, slamming his claws into Jasdevi's chest with a shout of "Edge end!"

Together, maybe he and Vahni could take out this Noah…but he was exhausted, she looked like she was exhausted as well, not being used to fights like this and had been fighting them for awhile already. Allen grabbed Timcampy by the tail, whispering to the golem and who opened his mouth and sent a message to the remaining group, Wisely and Marie. Miranda had the Innocence…it was wise to retreat.

For now.

Vahni suddenly found herself falling into the Ark, thanks to Allen. A loud swear left her mouth as she watched the ark gate close. "Stupid reckless martyr," she muttered angrily, storming off to go find Rhode or Sheryl. Rhode because she could reopen the gate and Sheryl because well…he always knew where Rhode was, that damn daughter-complex.

As she walked, searching for one of the too, another gate opened and Miranda and the Innocence came falling through as well. Miranda landed on Vahni, sitting on her backside and she squeaked. "Oh my god. Vahni, I'm so sorry!" she wailed, quickly removing herself from the Noah.

"You sure that was wise, idiot apprentice?" Jasdevi asked, prowling around Allen who was on his guard against the Bonds of Noah. He was on the defensive for now. He couldn't take another big fight like the one with Fiddler. An attack of Jasdevi's hair sent Allen flying into a wall. He winced in pain as he slid down the wall. Maybe it wasn't smart to send Vahni away…but he didn't want her to get hurt.

Neah was getting really worried; Allen couldn't take much more of the attack. Even if they switched, it wouldn't matter. They shared the same body. Different soul, same body wouldn't heal the Noah or regenerate the healing capacity of the Noah genes.

Allen crashed into the wall again, snarling as he sank down onto the ground, panting heavily and leaning on his sword. Where were Marie and Wisely? He needed them to get there so he could send them away with another gate and leave himself. They had the Innocence.

Speak of the devil, the wires that made up Marie's finger weapons shot towards Jasdevi, wrapping the single Noah entity in wire and flinging him across the room away from Allen. "Allen, are you alright? The Earl's behind me; Wisely's holding him off, but he can't for much longer."

Allen nodded, wearily rising to his feet using the sword as he and Marie began heading backwards, retreating from Jasdevi for now towards where Wisely was attempting to hold off the Earl. "Clown Belt!" Streams of white wrapped around Wisely's midsection, yanking him away from a cleave of the Earl's sword.

Allen was lightly using Marie to lean on, as he glared at the Earl. "You've lost this round, Earl. You are down one Noah, Fiidora." He informed him opening an ark gate as he rushed them into the gate just as Jasdevi's hair slammed into Allen and Marie, sending them tumbling through the Gate. Wisely, pardon the pun; wisely choose to follow after them the gate closing behind him.

Marie recovered before Allen, helping the Noah to his feet. The injuries that Miranda had temporarily healed were returning and weren't healing. "I'm fine, Marie. Just worn out. The fight with Fiidora really exhausted me." He staggered for a moment, but managed to keep his footing.

"Shounen!" Allen vaguely remembered falling into Tyki's arms, snuggling into Tyki's chest. "I'm home."

"But you came home injured," Tyki stated, rather miffed at that little fact. He had explicitly told Allen /not/ to come home hurt. And what did the little martyr do? Came home injured. Vahni had been unable to find Sheryl or Rhode, but had found Tyki first…and he was just as good a find as they were, being Allen's lover. When she'd told him Allen had sent her and Miranda through the gate to hold off Jasdevi until Marie and Wisely returned, the Pleasure of Noah had been sent into a panicked frenzy.

He was just glad that Allen was safe though…his arms wrapped lightly around the boy as he lifted him up into his arms, bridal-style. "Welcome home, shounen." He would keep his shounen safe, no matter what happened.

That…didn't turn out like I wanted it too. I was hoping for…a big fight between the Earl and Allen, the Heart popping up from where I've hidden it…but instead, I got this. I suppose there'll just have to be one final giant battle to end it all eventually…

Oh well. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I'll try not to take so long in releasing the next chapter. Or at least release a chapter of another fanfic before long. I feel bad that I'm such a lazy procrastinator…-Miranda mode- PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR BEING A FAILURE OF AN UPDATER.