DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS NOR DO I OWN ALEX RIDER. I'M A NOBODY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

EVERYBODY DIES

III: Epilouge

Four Months Later:

Alex had lots of regrets in his life that he'd never be able to fix. He regretted being a curious, naive child. He regretted getting involved with MI6. He regretted dragging Ben Daniels into this stupid undercover mission. He regretted all the deaths that he caused.

He was an inch away from death. It was easy to sense. Three months in a cold cement prison and three months of torture was bound to kill him.

Alex didn't feel the panic that was usually associated with death. Instead, he felt calm and, dare he say, happy to finally escape the damn world of espionage.

Would he meet his family once he died? Would he encounter all his dead friends? Ben Daniels, for one. He'd died merely a day ago. Maybe Tom Harris, who had been murdered nearly half a year ago.

Alex had seen too much. He'd heard too much. He'd simply existed too long. He just wanted it to be over.

The physical pain had somehow faded to a throbbing numbness, but his mind – oh his mind! Alex felt like his thoughts were on fire, burning him in internal agony.

Someone picked him up, but Alex couldn't tell who it was. All he could tell was that the person was rough. His wounds were jostled, but Alex couldn't feel it. He just wanted to fade away.

The last thing he felt was the hard ground under his nearly broken back.

EVERYBODY*DIES

"Triple homicide with a dead Petty Officer in the park," Gibbs called to the team in the squad room, "Gear up!"

Ziva moved slowly and reluctantly, which hadn't gone unnoticed by her team. She'd been that way ever since Alex had disappeared four months ago. She hadn't gotten a single peep from her old friend. Not a call, not a text, not a single clue.

She knew that no one on her team really cared about Alex. They had only known Alex for two days. The most that anyone had said was from Ducky, who said that he "had been a good lad".

"Come on, slow poke!" Tony called to Ziva.

She entered the elevator, glaring at the agent, "I will show you a fast poke."

Tony raised his hands in surrender, exchanging a look with McGee that Ziva didn't miss.

"The park" that Gibbs had mentioned wasn't the one close by NCIS' headquarters. They had to drive out about half an hour, but it had taken longer, due to the traffic, which Ziva had no problem cursing out. In Hebrew, of course.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Tony pulled Ziva to the side of the crime scene once they'd arrived. He looked more serious than Ziva had ever seen.

"I am fine," Ziva said haughtily, crossing her arms.

Tony frowned, "You are not fine! You've been depressed ever since Alex disappeared. We're all worried about you."

"I am fine," Ziva repeated, snatching the camera out of Tony's hands. She stalked away, back towards the crime scene.

"A jogger spotted them at around 0530 this morning," the Metro police officer was briefing Gibbs, "Didn't see who did it. Claims to have seen one of the bodies move around though."

Ziva got to work, snapping pictures of the scene before letting Ducky through.

"Petty Officer Chase… Wilson," Ducky looked up at Gibbs, whose face turned hard at the name.

"Wilson," Gibbs repeated.

Ziva started at the name. Was this Alex's idea of a cryptic message? Was he still alive?

The man was beaten in a similar fashion as the original Wilson. A single gunshot wound between his eyes signified his cause of death.

Ducky pulled the thermometer out of the Petty Officer's liver, "Time of death… I can't say for certain, but his death was twelve hours ago. No more than twenty-four to be certain."

The next body was splayed awkwardly, puncture wounds in his hands and bare feet. Blood stained the rest of his clothes.

"It looks like this poor fellow's demise was caused by exsanguination, but I can't be sure until I perform the autopsy. Full rigor mortis. This fellow died more than twenty-four hours ago." Ducky moved on to the next victim.

Ziva watched with undisguised interest. Maybe it was the way the last victim's blonde hair reminded her of Alex…

The man was on his stomach, his face in the grass. Ducky pointed at the blood on the grass next to the victim.

"This poor lad was the one to move," he said to Gibbs, "First stages of rigor mortis. I'd put his death to about… two to four hours ago?"

But Ziva was barely listening. Hell, she was barely breathing. She stumbled towards the body, mouth dry.

"Ziva?" Gibbs started towards her, catching her as she stumbled over one of the dead bodies, "Ziva, what's wrong?"

She couldn't answer him. She couldn't even thinking properly, much less say anything.

Because the man on the ground was someone she knew. Someone she had talked to just months ago. Someone she hoped to hear from. Someone she loved.

The man on the ground – not a victim – was Alex Rider.

EVERYBODY*DIES

Garbed in all black, the NCIS team was among those who showed up at Alex's funeral. They had flown to the United Kingdom with Alex's body once their case was solved.

No one had uttered a single word on the flight. They seemed to understand the pain that Ziva was facing and opted to stay respectfully silent.

Ziva recognized many of those who came. They were mostly important figures in military intelligence. The head of MI6, the head of MI5, her very own father, the head of CIA, FBI, and even the Prime Minister.

"The whole alphabet," Tony muttered, voicing aloud what no one was willing to say.

Ziva managed to crack a smile at his joke.

From what she could see, there was no one outside of the business that had come. No friends, no family.

Ziva vaguely recalled a time where Alex mentioned this. It was on a mission in Iraq. The same one that Alex had saved her life – for the seventh time.

"...a brave and patriotic man," Ziva wasn't listening to the service. Instead, her eyes were fixed on the coffin. No tears escaped her hard eyes. No sign of any grief at all.

"He will be missed by all..."

Ziva bit the inside of her cheek, sensing the feeling of tears behind her eyes.

"Hey," Gibbs put a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay to cry."

Ziva didn't look up at him.

"It's okay," Gibbs pulled her into a sturdy hug. Silent sobs racked her body.

Unbeknownst to the horde of military intelligence officers, a black haired, green eyed teenage boy slipped away, a smirk playing at his lips. Under his breath, he murmured triumphantly, "Operation Everybody Dies: complete."

A/N: Wasn't that ending just stupid? What was I thinking...? I would have completely rewritten it, but ya know... the dreaded schoolwork... WHYYY?

Anyway... bye...

-Alice