King of Pride Rock

Till We Find Our Place

On the Path Unwinding

In the Circle

The Circle of Life

Even though Tony had expected such a gruesome sight, the scene still made him sick. The entire Savannah, once rich and green was now fruitless and gray. There wasn't even blood on the lifeless ground. It was as if, in an instant, the entire area had been turned to stone. He snarled as he stepped forward, crushing the sparse, blackened weeds beneath his feet. Ziva kept apace with him as they stalked the overbearing Priderock with both fear and fury in their eyes. At a gesture from her companion, the lioness broke away and began to make her approach from the back. Within the lightning among the clouds, Tony saw a brief flash of memory. This assault was not so different from those they had done as partners. Hopefully this would be one of their more successful missions, but he couldn't help but wish they had their guns.

Vance stood at the base of Priderock, yowling irrationally at an aging lioness with brindled red fur. Tony watched impassively until Vance shouted her name at a volume that made even the stone tremble.

"I am ten times the Director you were, Jenny!" Vance roared. "Do not mock me!"

"Even Jethro would make a better Director than you!" Jenny shouted back at him. "And nothing you say or do will change that! He will come!"

"Your partner is dead." Vance growled, eliciting a chill that crawled the length of Tony's spine. "He is not coming back for you."

"You're wrong!" Jenny shook her head. "In this world, the dead walk as if they were still living. Jethro is here!"

Tony looked around stupidly for a moment before he remembered Kate's words. Then…he looked toward Jenny with a sense of unreality. In the real world, she was dead. Why didn't that hold true here? As if to answer, the baboon materialized behind him with a sigh and a shake of her stick. "The heart wants what it wants, DiNozzo. You blame yourself for Jenny's death. You want a chance to correct your mistakes."

"I do. I want to save her." Tony crouched. "I will. This time, I will do things right."

"You can't change the past." Kate whacked him on the back of the head with her stick. "Don't do this to yourself, Tony."

When Tony turned back, Jenny's lion-rendered body lay on the ground. Her mouth was open, her eyes wide and lifeless. Roaring with righteous fury, Tony sprang from his hiding place and landed right in front of Vance. "Murderer!"

"She was sick, DiNozzo." Vance leered. "It is not my fault she fell over dead."

"Liar!" Tony roared. "You took everything away from me! Gibbs, McGee, Ziva, Abby! Why not take Jenny away as well? I'll make you pay for what you've done to us!"

"Don't you think you're being a bit over dramatic?" Vance grinned.

"Maybe he is." Ziva hissed, appearing behind Vance. "But I'm not."

"You're not getting away this time, Vance." Tony growled. "Face me!"

Vance glanced between the two lions nervously. Then, true to his cowardly nature, he ran. With a roar, Tony and Ziva chased him up Priderock to the uppermost spire for their final confrontation.

Lightning struck the dried ground bellow, sending the world up in a river of liquid fire. Sparks seemed to rain from the sky rather than the droplets that splattered the land in a fine mist. Tony slipped on the moistened stone and cracked his jaw. Ziva leapt over him and tackled Vance before he could take advantage of his adversary's mistake. A savage roar rippled out of her and added an impressive weight to her blows.

She batted Vance between her two massive paws, slicing open his cheeks with her claws. Lightning snapped overhead and opened up the clouds to reveal a tiny space in the heavens where specters of the past gazed down at the scene in the form of a million stars. Tony stared up at the spliced sky, blinking past the rain that spilled into his eyes. Do it, DiNozzo, an unknown voice murmured. Be what you are. No more, no less. You are not your mistakes. Remember who you are.

"Tony!" Ziva screamed as Vance knocked her over the edge. She grappled onto the side of the cliff. Broken pieces of the gigantic rock tumbled to the fiery pit below her, igniting within the inferno with an unholy hiss. Vance grabbed her paws, lifting them ever so slightly to disconnect her from the meager handhold she'd found.

"Ah, this looks familiar, doesn't it?" Vance glanced over his shoulder, and for a brief moment the dark lion's shape changed ever so slightly. In a single bright flash of lightning, Ari was the one holding his sister suspended above her own doom. Ziva's eyes widened in shock at the unexpected twist. "Yes…quite familiar. Now I shall have my revenge, dear sister."

Tony roared and leapt at the transformed demon. He landed on the lion's back and sank his teeth into its pelt. "You're not taking another partner from me!"

Ari released Ziva to confront his more pressing challenge. The lioness shrieked as she dropped but fell silent with a sickening crack. Now beyond the limit of mortal rage, Tony shook his head, tearing Ari's shoulder open with a wet crunch. Then, without pause, he threw himself from the dark lion's back to dive at his throat. Ari parried with flashing teeth. The dark lion tore Tony's muzzle with a tooth as they grappled. Blood scattered on the rock beneath them as the two males slashed and chomped at each other in a fight to the death. At a critical moment, Ari slipped in his own blood and fell to the ground. Tony never paused to consider mercy. As soon as the bastard fell, Tony was on him. Ari would never rise again.

He ripped apart his enemy's corpse needlessly and threw his head wildly as her roared out the depth of his bloody insanity. Finally, utterly spent, he collapsed on top of Ari…or was it Vance? Confused, he blinked at the dead lion and shook his head. It didn't matter. He was alone again. His tears joined the rain.

Then the damn monkey whacked him on the head.

"What was that for?" Tony growled. "I saved the Pridelands. What are you hitting me for?"

Kate chuckled. "Are you just going to leave Ziva there?"

"She's dead." Tony squeezed his eyes shut. "I can't help her. And I can't bear to see…"

"She's not dead." Kate dragged him to the ledge. "See? She landed on that ledge down there. Her leg's broken, but she'll be all right."

"Ziva?" Tony leaned over the edge. "Ziva!"

"Tony?" She groaned, squinting up at him.

"I'm coming! Hold on!" Carefully, he slid down the rock to her side. He laid down beside her. His legs were shaking too badly to hold him. "You all right?"

"I'm starting to really hate my curse." She joked as she tried to move her broken leg. She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes against the pain. "I should have just let you kiss me."

"Yeah." He laid an almost tender paw on her side. "You should have."

She purred quietly, wishing that she were still in a form that would allow her to show human affection. Kate swung down onto the ledge beside them with a warm smile on her face. "We never met, Ziva. But I am glad that you are there to take care of Tony for me."

Ziva blinked up at her with a feline smile on her face. "I wish I could have known you, Kate. I think, perhaps, we might have been friends."

"No, no. Not quite friends." Kate laughed. "Unless you would consider an anti-DiNozzo alliance."

"Kate…" Tony sat up. "What happens now?"

"What do you mean?" Kate shrugged. "Surely you've seen this movie, Tony."

"Ziva won't survive out here with that leg." Tony glared. "And if she dies…so will I."

"You're right. There's no happily ever after here." Kate gestured to the swirling clouds with her stick and they began to descend toward them. "Did you learn your lesson?"

"What lesson?" Tony sneered. "This was all just a dream, wasn't it?"

"Just a dream, DiNozzo?" Kate leaned toward him. When the misty clouds touched her, the baboon dissolved into the human Kate he'd known. But she was different. There was a peaceful glow about her that pulsed like the sun. An angelic aura surrounded her that was so bright that light itself was all she needed to wear to preserve her modesty. A glowing white cross floated on an insubstantial chain around her neck. "What do you believe?"

The clouds touched Ziva with the same gentleness. When they receded, she sat up and looked exactly as she had the last time Tony had seen her. Tony's throat worked with emotion as he reached out to touch her. By the time his paw reached Ziva, it had transformed into a human hand. They embraced one another as the once gentle clouds began to whirl about them in a frenzy as if to pull them apart again. But the harder the wind pulled, the harder they held on to each other.

"Let go, Tony." Kate murmured as her physical body disappeared behind a wall of light. "You'll never be apart. In your heart, you'll always find them."

"I'm not letting you go!" Tony yelled at Ziva. "I won't!"

"It's okay, Tony." His partner relaxed her grip. "We'll find each other."

"You can't go back to Israel." Tony shook his head. "I can't go back to my ship. Let us stay, here and now. Forever."

Her eyes darkened. "Tony, this is just a dream."

"It doesn't matter." He glared. "Nothing matters but this. Ziva, I—"

"It's time, DiNozzo." Kate's voice called. "Have faith. Trust her."

"It's okay." Ziva repeated, quieter. "I can take care of myself."

He swallowed, almost unable to breathe within the vortex. Then, with a heavy heart, he relaxed his grip until he was holding onto her by her fingertips. "We'll find each other."

Ziva nodded. He let go. She disappeared.

And with her went the light, the rain, the shadows, the Pridelands and the memory of all he'd seen or done that night. There was only darkness and a new beginning.