Hey guys! I must admit, this is a pretty emotional chapter. I hope none of you have to cry, but keep a box of tissues nearby just in case. And have I ever told you how much I loved you all? No? Well I love all you readers and reviewers so much that it can't be explained in words :) Thanks! Oh yeah, and my W E and T keys weren't working for the first half of this chapter, so please excuse any mistakes. Buon divertimento!

Disclaimer: I dont' own anything you recognize

Characters are very AU

You have been warned ;)

~Bandit

Hunted

Wherever the Stars Are

Chapter 2

Deep breathing filled Ziva's ears, anxiety pulsed through her. Her eyes snapped open, and her bottom lip trembled as she looked around the dark hospital room for the source of the breathing. She checked her phone, which said that it was near two in the morning, and noticed it was the only source of light around. Not even the machines cast any sort of radiance. She felt a chill sweep through her as she realized that it was deadly cold. Puzzlement radiated off her as her eyes flicked back and forth. She turned around, wondering where the rest of her team was, but thought nothing of it. They'd probably gone home or something. But Gibbs had promised…

She reached to her pocket as she saw slight movement in the shadows, but found it's been taken from her. She breathing grew more rapid as she realized she had no way of protecting herself. Or Tony. She looked towards the bed, her eyes straining against the shadows, processing that she couldn't hear any sort of sound coming from where Tony should be, not even breathing. She crept towards the wall, her hands searching the smooth surface for the light switch. She flicked it on and the room burst with brightness. She instantly looked towards the bed. And screamed.

Tony lay on his back; his eyes open in surprise, though now they were filled with a vacant expression, and his mouth lay open, blood trickling out of the side. He had many cuts running across his face, and his nose was split open. A knife was lodging into his stomach, and the most haunting thing about it was his arms hung limply by his side, the hands cut off. Ziva choked back a sudden sob, and pressed herself against the wall, her heart fluttering, her eyes wide open as she searched the room for the killer.

The lights suddenly went out, and Ziva screamed again, trembling with pure terror. She desperately wished she had a knife or gun in her hand. Or a weapon of any sort. The lights flickered on again, flashing like strobe lights. Her face was screwed into a painful expression, she squeezed her eyes shut, and opened her eyes, to find herself staring into bloodshot, vivid green eyes. John. She whimpered as she was pressed into the wall. Her eyes flicked to Tony once more. John had killed Tony. A sort of bitter energy swelled in her.

She slid across the wall and tore off out of the horrible hospital room. She saw no one as she raced through the many hallways, and she could hear him limping after her. Her feet slid on the slick tile as she rounded a corner, and for a second she almost cried, but she got up nimbly and continued to run. Her heart continued to pound faster, and the lights went out again. She heard screams, but they were probably hers. She ran through the dark, desperate to get away, and ran headlong into a wall that had appeared out of nowhere. She held her numb head, where blood trickled down onto her fingers. She heard footsteps behind her, and felt fingers grasp at her arm.

Ziva twisted away from the grip and slipped into the large doorway that led to the cafeteria. The lights shimmered back, and another tragedy came into view. She avoided her eyes as she spotted Abby hanging from the high ceiling of the cafeteria, a rope twisted around her neck, but a knife had already severed her head. Ziva sobbed, tears mixing with the blood from the gash on her forehead. She felt her leg being pulled at, but she didn't waste time to look who it was. She ran forward, slipping on the puddle of blood, the horrible red liquid splashing onto her as she ran under Abby. She sprinted to the door, weaving between tables and chairs, but found that it was locked when she arrived, and she turned, still panting hard, and slid underneath John, who was approaching her with a triumphant smirk on his face. She scrambled blindly underneath one of the circular tables, and twisted around as John finally got a good grip on her leg, his meaty hands squeezing the leg so hard, she cried out just from the pain.

Damn he was fast for a guy who'd spent half a year in prison and who'd been shot in the leg.

"Hello, darling," John grinned at her. She trembled, but she met his eyes, obvious rage covering her face like a mask, and hissed at him like a cat before spitting in his emerald eyes. He growled, and punched her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She gasped and started yelling curses at him. He whipped out a shining, silver knife, identical to the one planted in Tony's stomach. She looked at him with fearful eyes, closing her mouth firmly. "Now, you're not going to scream or yell, okay babe? It's going to be quick, and you won't feel a thing. I promise. Just don't com—," Ziva kicked him firmly in the stomach, cutting off him off mid-sentence.

"You killed Tony and Abby and God-knows who else. I will never go quietly," she snapped at him, mustering courage she knew she wouldn't have during other circumstances. She scampered out of his grasp once more, but she felt something hit her back, and she fell with a soft moan as pain spread through her muscles, and blood ran down her. She turned as she hit the ground, and saw John cackling maniacally still standing right next to the table, no knife in his hand. Ziva then understood that the horrible silver thing as embedded in her back. She felt the world around her start to spin, and dots began to threaten her vision. John leapt over the table with amazing agility and tore the knife from her back. She started to scream, horrible, ear-racking screams as John took the knife and started to begin to hack into her back repeatedly.

"Ziva!" she shot up, hitting her head against the bedside, a blood-curdling scream erupting from her mouth, "Ziva? Shh, calm down you're okay!" she turned and looked up to Tony, who was leaning over the side of his bed, his voice hoarse as he reassured her. Her breathing wouldn't slow down though. She got to her knees, and looked into Tony's concerned eyes, not daring to say anything as nausea washed over her. She'd never felt so afraid in her life. She'd been killed.

"Oh my God," she muttered and placed her head in her hands, silent tears spilling as she recalled the nightmare, "I'm sorry, Tony," she took her head out of her cupped hands, "I had this horrible dream. John had attacked you while I slept, and he killed you, and then he chased me around, and he'd killed Abby too, and then he killed me."

"You're okay, Ziva, it was just a dream," he pulled against the many tubes connected to his arms and managed to get them free enough for him to put his hands around her face and caress her cheek. He took a ragged breath, the machines helping him, "Gibbs has been here all night too."

"Where is he now?" she whispered.

"He went to go get coffee," Tony reassured her, his voice calm as he pulled his arms away from her sullen face as she got up, using the side of the bed for support.

Gibbs burst through the door, a gun pointed at Ziva. Ziva jumped back and crashed into Tony, who grunted from her weight, "I heard someone scream," Gibbs' eyes darted around the room, still holding his gun out in front of him. Ziva blushed.

"I'm sorry, Boss, I had a bad dream," she whispered, her cheeks growing redder by the second. Tony chuckled, but his cough ended in a dry cough. Gibbs sighed and finally put the gun away. Ziva was reminded of the dream, and she reached to her hip, where she was relieved her own gun was. She smiled slightly, and returned her eyes to the doorway, where Abby stood her eyes wide. Ziva jumped up quickly, causing the place where the bruise was forming to ping with pain, and tackled Abby in a hug. Abby gave a small yelp of surprise, and Ziva continued to embrace her friend, "You're alive…"

Abby's eyes widened as she listened to Ziva's comment, "And why wouldn't I be alive?" Ziva just pulled away, grinned, and met Tony's eyes, her own glimmering with a faint trace of tears.

Tony thrashed up from his sleep, breaking tubes away; he sat up, bewilderment crossing his mind. He fell from the bed, hitting his bullet wound against the chair that sat next to it. Alarms went off in the distance, but to Tony they just seemed like mosquitoes in his ears. He struggled to get up, determined to be okay, but his breathing got shallower until he was gasping for breath, but he couldn't get any air. His glazed eyes rolled back into his head as tried to breath, and unconsciousness took over him.

Ziva and Gibbs raced into the room from the waiting room, hearing the commotion, and Gibbs backed away as nurses flooded into the room. She was convinced he would die if she looked away, so she watched them go to work, and she could feel herself screaming as she was shoved out of the way, and two people told her she had to leave. Probably Ducky and Gibbs. But she wouldn't budge as she watched the nurses hook a shaking Tony to a breathing machine, his lips tinged with blue, and place him on a movable bed as the bullet wound started to bleed again. She started crying and she raced forward to his side, where the nurses told her to get out of the way. She didn't want to. She could feel herself being pried away from him, "No! No! I won't! Let me go! Leave me alone!" she dropped to her knees, the person still holding firmly onto her arms as she watched Tony being rolled away, tears flooding from her eyes, "No..."

She was dragged away from the room, and noticed it was Ducky who'd done so, but Gibbs had left her. She thought she saw amusement in his eyes, but it must have been a trick of the light. She curled into a ball at Ducky's feet and started to cry. What would happen to Tony?

A/N: Aww... told you it was going to be emotional... Hope you liked it! ;) Please review! It's makes me very very happy :)

Here's a sneak peak:

She smiled sheepishly as McGee and Gibbs stared at her in surprise. "Don't mind me," she said in a sing-song voice as she danced around the stuff and into the passenger side, "Just a tad bit nervous. You know," she buckled her seat belt and looked at Gibbs' who was looking at her incredulously, his hands still locked on the steering wheel, "Are you going to drive, or am I going to have to do that agian to convince you?" She slammed the door as he started up the engine, still peering at her with shock.

Haha, you guys have NO idea what's in store for you :)

pirate-princess1: Thank you! :D I hope this is soon enough to please you? ;)

Etain-Cassiopeia-Lestrange: As you can see *gestures to the story* I wasn't treasing you ;) Thank you :)

ForeignMusicLyrics: I know... I am evil, but thanks for the compliment ;) Thanks for reviewing :D