Opening his eyes, it took several times of blinking before everything came into focus. He was laying on his back looking up to a very ornately decorated ceiling. As he looked at the ceiling, he felt very content and at peace. He decided to close his eyes and drift off again. Then he remembered where he was and sat up quickly, calling out, "McGee!".
Two figures came to his side and tried to hold him down. He started struggling against the hands trying to restrain him.
"Boss. Boss! It's us! Calm down!"
"Tony?" Gibbs stopped struggling.
"Yeah, boss, it's me. Ziva too."
He was allowed to sit up, then acting totally on emotion, Gibbs pulled the two of them close and hugged them tightly.
Relieved that their team leader and father figure was alive, Tony and Ziva hugged him back. They stayed that way until Gibbs' realized someone was missing.
"Tim? Where's Tim?"
Tony pulled back and shook his head. "Don't know. After that light swallowed us the next thing I know, I'm waking up here. Ziva was already up and you ... we thought you were dead. Thought we had been locked in here with your body ... for punishment."
Gibbs reached up and cupped DiNozzo's face in his hand. "I'm not dead. I'm okay." He looked from Tony to Ziva so they could see the truth of his statement in his eyes. He released Tony and touched his own chest. Where there should have been a gaping hole, there was just his chest. "In fact, I feel completely fine ... better than I've felt in years." He stood and looked around the room.
Tony, not sure if Gibbs should be upright yet, kept his hand on the team leader's upper arm. Feeling the same way, Ziva held onto Gibbs' other arm.
The room was stunning and relaxing. The headboard and posts of the bed were made of a dark wood, with intricate gold inlay. The bedspread was dark, earthy colors making the bed look warm and inviting.
In front of the bed was a gold vanity and chair. To the left was a pitcher and small wash basin, on the right a wardrobe that was made of the same wood as the bed posts.
The room was comfortable and cozy and made you feel as if you never wanted to leave ... that is unless you are Team Gibbs.
"So you say that we are locked in here?"
Before Tony could answer a voice came from the door. "Of course it's locked. How else do you expect me to keep visitors from wandering around."
Gibbs, Tony and Ziva turned as one to face the man speaking. He was in yet another form, but this time, each of them recognized him immediately.
"Death." Ziva breathed out.
The man nodded to her. This time he was a very attractive man with blonde hair and clear baby-blue eyes. "I have many names, but I like Hades, so you may call me that."
Gibbs was angry. He pushed through his two agents, who tried their best to hold on to him. "Where's Tim? What have you done with him!?"
Hades smiled. "Someone like him always over does it. He is recovering. Follow me." He turned and started walking, knowing the three would follow.
They were in a long hallway that had doors on each side. Every door was different; some were wooden, other were steel, or plastic, or a precious metal like gold or silver, some were of a material none of them recognized. They were all in different colors and some had decorations while other did not.
"What is this place?" Gibbs asked in awe.
"The Golden Halls. Behind every door is a virtuous soul who has earned the right to an enjoyable after life."
"This place has to go on forever!" Tony said as he walked along, still holding onto Gibbs.
Ziva, always the most practical, posed a question. "Whose room were we in?"
Hades smiled. "That room is not yet occupied."
After walking for what felt like an eternity, they came to the end of the hall and made a right. In front of them was a glowing door. This door was unlike any of the others they had passed.
The group paused, unsure if they should go in.
Hades laughed. "Don't be afraid now. Go on." He held his arm out, waiting for them to walk through the door first.
Gibbs looked to each of his team. They took a collective breath, then stepped through the threshold.
XXXX
Gibbs had to put his hand over his eyes because it was so bright in the room.
"Can none of you see?" Hades voice came from behind them.
A collective "No" came from Team Gibbs.
Hades sighed. "Very well."
They could hear him make a noise that sounded like a clap, then the lights were lowered. In front of them was their missing teammate and family member.
"Tim!"
"McGee!"
"Probie!"
He did not stir. He was laying on a glowing bed, while four glowing orbs floated around his bedside.
Gibbs turned to Hades. "Is he alright?"
"He will be."
"Will be?" Gibbs looked at his man, then back to Hades. "Can we please just get a straight answer?"
"And here, I thought you'd finally learned patience." A new voice joined them from the side. Ari stepped out of the shadows, smiling from ear to ear.
"Brother!" Ziva couldn't help herself, she ran over to him and hugged him.
Surprisingly, he hugged her back. "See, I told you everything would be okay."
She nodded against his chest. Her eyes watering, but she wouldn't let herself cry.
Gibbs sighed. "Well?"
Hades sighed as well. "Every person is born with a light. Some have a stronger light than others. Every so often, there is one whose light is so bright and brilliant that it can be shared and spread to others. Which in turn makes the receiver's light stronger ... and sharable."
"Okay, so Tim has a strong light, I don't understand ..."
Hades cut Gibbs off. "Evil does not wish for good to grow. If someone with a strong light keeps passing it along, keeps letting it grow, then there would be no place for evil."
"Okay ... and?"
"How have you come so far and are yet so thick!?"
Ari laughed at Hades' exasperation. "They know, they just don't want to believe." He then turned sad. "I don't blame them. It is a hard truth to hear." He looked Hades right in his eyes. "Please spell it out for them."
Team Gibbs was shocked by how much emotion Ari was showing. They quietly waited for Hades to decided.
"Oh, very well!" Hades huffed. He then looked at Gibbs. "Do you remember what Ari told you evil was, true evil."
All three nodded.
"That is true, even in the living world ... especially in the living world. When someone with such a bright light is born, evil is drawn to it and will do everything it can to either destroy it or consume it."
No one said anything while what Hades said soaked in. Tony was the first to explode. "Wait one damn minute! Are you telling us that all the horrible things that Tim went through as a kid ..."
Hades nodded. "Yes. They were attempts to make Tim lose his light. To turn him, so that evil would grow instead of light."
"So, his car accident ... it wasn't really an accident was it?"
"That, I cannot say for sure."
"Why not! Aren't you some sort of god! Don't you know ..."
"I am the ruler of MY world!" Hades bellowed. "Nothing more and nothing less."
The team once again fell silent as Hades continued. "At the time of his accident, he stood before me blazing. I was so struck by how he could still hold such a bright light, after everything he had gone through, that I knew it was not yet time to deprive the world of such an individual."
"Then why did you take him from us?" Ziva wanted to know.
"To spare a soul is not something that is done easily ... or without consequence. To balance out my ... gift, I give the soul rules to follow. If they cannot hold up their end of the bargain, then I am within my rights to reclaim what is mine."
"But ... we all end up here anyway ... what does it matter ..."
"Do you really need to ask me that, Gibbs? You tell me if it matters if you die of old age having lived a full life or are cut down in your prime. If you get to see you loved ones grow and flourish. If you get a chance to say goodbye." Hades stared at Gibbs until the team leader nodded his understanding.
"I let the world have a strong, brilliant light and what happens to it ... it is used and taken advantage of! It is mishandled and taken for granted! Obviously my gift of light was not ready to be accepted and appreciated, so I took it back!" He looked at each of the team. "Now you tell me if it matters when I take a soul."
Each of them looked away from Hades in shame.
It lasted only a moment for Gibbs before he once again became angry. "Then why punish Tim? Us, I understand, but why was he out there fight for his existence instead of behind one of these doors enjoying his after life!?"
Hades shrugged. "The price he paid for breaking the rules. As I said, everything comes with consequences."
"He did nothing wrong!"
"He put himself in a position that the closest people to him did not value him ... which can wear on a soul ... which can cause his light to extinguish. Which is the exact opposite of why I spared him in the first place. No, what he let happen to him is as much his error as it is yours."
Hades looked at the team in front of him, seeing them finally realize the domino cause and effect that all of them, including Tim, had allowed to take place.
"Don't feel too bad for your friend. He did not suffer long, as he and Ari had quickly found their way to each other."
Tony spoke very softly, "Yeah, but those flashbacks ..."
Hades smiled. "He was learning to control them. Eventually they would not have plagued him. He and Ari would have spent eternity at the edge of my world, keeping each other company. Both finally finding someone that appreciated and needed the other."
"So, this was not a test?" Ziva asked in a very small voice.
Hades smile turned softer. "Oh, I don't know about that. There are tests and challenges that are faced every day. Some small, others life changing. Some given to you and some you make yourselves." He knew they were all starting to feel the weight of their actions and decided they had paid enough of a price. "I am not displease with how events unfolded."
"Really?" Tony asked hopefully
"Yes, really. Besides, the afterlife has been unchanging for far too long. It was nice to have something ... shake it up."
"Shake it up?"
"Yes. You all caused quite a stir. Especially in the Marsh. The ripples of what happened there will be far reaching. It will be interesting to see.
"So what did happen out there?" Tony's curiosity getting the better of him.
"Your friend shared his light with everyone that it touched."
"Everyone? Even Archer? I would have figured Tim would have killed him."
"No, DiNozzo. Someone like him is not a destroyer."
"But ..."
"Don't confuse upholding the law and defending loved ones with destroying. Yes, he has killed, but has he ever done so out of hate or malice." When he received three head shaking a negative answer, Hades continued. "When he kills, it starts the cycle over for the person. Here, when his light touched Archer and everyone else, it gave them the chance to start over."
"Reincarnation?" Ziva asked in surprise.
"Yes. All those souls get a new chance to do things right. Something they would not have gotten if they would have stayed here."
"So how many souls are we talking about?"
"Well, Gibbs, let's just say the Marsh of Regret is empty for the very first time ... ever."
Gibbs blinked in shock. "The entire Marsh? All those souls?"
Hades nodded. "And then some. Didn't I tell you he over did it." He smiled at Gibbs with a twinkle in his eye.
Just as Gibbs was about to say something, movement caught Hades' eye. "Oh, they're finished."
They all turned to see the four floating orbs leave Tim's side. They came away from the bed and floated in front of the team, weaving and bobbing in between each other. They finally settled one in front of both Tony and Ziva, while two were in front of Gibbs.
Then then each of the orbs started to change ... in to a person.