Title: China (Prologue)

Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me. Neither does anything from The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.

Summary: The NCIS team get involved in the case of the murder of a lonely petty officer. Eventual Tiva.

Notes: I finally finished reading His Dark Materials series (yup, only a few years late to catch up to the trend there…) and the following quote from The Amber Spyglass really struck me and strangely inspired this story. Trying something new with a casefile-type fic. We'll see how it goes!

"I'd made myself believe that I was fine and happy and fulfilled on my own without the love of anyone else. Being in love was like China: you knew it was there, and no doubt it was very interesting, and some people went there, but I never would. I'd spend all my life without ever going to China, but it wouldn't matter, because there was all the rest of the world to visit."

…

"I thought: I want to go to China. It's full of treasures and strangeness and mystery and joy."

The Amber Spyglass

Philip Pullman

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Prologue

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Petty Officer Clara Holloway had often considered her final moments on earth.

In her fantasies, her death had taken many forms.

She'd be heroic, saving the life of someone – a young child, preferably – and remembered by many with honour, gratitude, and not a small amount of awe.

She'd be a tragic victim. Drunk driver races over to the wrong side of the road late at night. A robbery in a grocery store goes awry. Flowers at the spot of her death. News coverage. People upset at the unnecessary loss of her life.

She'd be angry and suicidal. She'd snatch her life away from all those who had hurt her, downing pills with generous shots of tequila and vodka. She'd leave everyone else to pick up the pieces and wonder in sadness and pain what had gone wrong.

She'd never considered this option.

She'd never considered dying in fear, in pain.

There was always a reason for her death; it was supposed to have significance. It was supposed to bring people together or tear them apart.

It was not supposed to be humiliating, her half-naked body slowly drained of all life, semi-consciously watching on helplessly as blood eased out of her wounds.

She was supposed to have achieved so much more in life.

She was not supposed to be alone.

And then, in darkness, she surrendered.

It was over.

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