Brontide

A Criminal Minds Story

Her feet pounded the forest floor as she sprinted after the figure that was just a few yard ahead of her. The cold air bit her nose and cheek as the chilled wind blew back her hair. There were shouts and yells through her comm alerting her that her team was not far behind. Rocks and roots stuck up from the ground causing her to stumble and slow in speed. Unfazed she regained her pace and continued to chase after the Unsub.

It was snowing, but she couldn't tell as the soft falling flakes flew around her as she rushed by. The small amount of snow that was already on the ground, caused the dirt to become muddy and her sneakers to be slick.

"Prentiss, it's too dangerous. The storm is coming in… Fall back," She heard Hotch call out.

"No, I can still see him Hotch. I can catch him," She sputtered as she picked up a burst of speed.

"That's an order, Prentiss….," He began to say something else, but it was all jumbled and mixed up. Emily figured she was out of range, or something was interfering with the signal.

Dodging a tree, she noticed her vision start to cloud and the flakes around her growing in size and increasing in speed. The shadowed back of the unsub in front of her started to fade and disappear.

"FBI! Stop," Emily screamed, and the retreating figure slowed, just as the snow seemed to. Slowly she stepped towards him, her gun out and ready. The cold metal became on with her palm as she held it confidently.

As she neared a safe distance, she called out once again her eyes still on the shadowed figure. Blinking away snowflakes, she took her eyes off of the Unsub for just a moment, and he was gone.

Baffled Emily stood her ground, her eyes shifting from one direction to the other. The pounding of her heart thudded against her chest as she gulped slightly. A bitter sense of fear creeping its way into her senses.

The steady pound of footsteps from behind her caused her to flinch greatly as she turned around and readied her gun to fire. Then she saw him, the Unsub, his dark figure approaching her and the the flash of a gun through the white haze. It was pointed at her.

And she fired.

Suddenly the snow completely cleared and she could see… Her chest tightened as her gun clattered to the ground.

"No…," Emily tried to move forward, but she couldn't.

"Emily," the distant, shocked voice rang through her ears as Emily looked into the cerulean blue eyes as they shimmered with utter confusion. The blonde looked down to see the red that was staining her blouse, and she too let her gun drop to the ground.

Emily cried out again for she had shot JJ.

She shot JJ.

Then the blonde crumbled to the ground, her hands holding on to her stomach as her body shook blood staining the single layer of white snow beneath her.

"Emily," Her weakening voice cried out.

But Emily could not move.

"JJ!" A cry from the wood shouted as one Spencer Reid raced out from the trees. Falling to his knees he placed his hands onto the gruesome wound. "We've got an agent down! Can anyone hear me? We have an agent down…. You're going to be okay. It's okay."

Reid looked to Emily for help, "Go get some help. I think we're out of range!"

But Emily didn't move.

"Emily!" His eyes coming to a realization, before settling into hurt as he looked at her fallen gun on the ground. "How could you…"

"I'm sorry!" Emily whispered and then she ran.

Emily shot up from bed screaming, "I'm sorry!"

Her heart was leaping as her eyes wildly darted trying to adjust to the dark room. It took her a full half a minute before she realized that she was in her own room, in her own bed. In an attempt to calm herself down she brought her knees up and placed her head between them. Her ragged and uneven breath slowed down as she concentrated on her breathing.

"Just a dream Prentiss, It was just a dream," She comforted herself as she rubbed her bare arms.

But the guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach did not subside as the image of JJ looking confused and hurt clouded her mind along with Reid's look of complete shock and betrayal.

This wasn't the first time this nightmare has come to her amidst her dreams. Sometime Morgan is there instead of Reid. Once it was Garcia. The one constant is that she shoots JJ and then runs. They have been happening every night for the last couple days.

Shaking her head from the images that won't leave her, she glanced at the clock. 5:45. Just enough time to get ready and be a bit early for work.

Emily took a deep breath as she stepped off of the elevator and onto the familiar floor. There were dark circles beneath her eyes and it wouldn't take a profiler to see that she wasn't sleeping well. That something was bothering her.

Putting on her best poker face she pulled open the doors to the BAU, determined to make her first stop the break room.

"Morning Emily!" A cheerful, yet slightly genius-like voice greeted her. A harsh image of Reid pleading for her to get help assaulted her mind.

"Morning Reid," Emily answered without looking at the genius as she placed her stuff on her desk and took off her coat and sat down. She could feel his worried gaze on her as she laid her head in her hands.

She had a massive headache.

"It is freezing out there!" Bellowed one Derek Morgan as he entered the bullpen. Emily smiled slightly, grateful for the interruption that would take the young doctor's eyes off of her for just a moment. "And there isn't even snow! It's just bitter, grey and bitter."

Derek shrugged off his coat and rubbed his hands together, "I just do not like the cold, at least this type of cold."

"Then you are not going to like where we are headed next," JJ called from above as she made her way down the stairs. Emily quickly averted her gaze from the blonde as the nightmare plagued the back of her mind.

"We have a case," Reid smiled with a cheerful tone, Emily sent a rolling eye in his direction.

"California? Florida? Texas? Anywhere warmer than here?"

JJ just shook her head as she handed them each a folder, "Alaska."

"Please tell me that I am not coming?" Everyone turned to see their colorful technical analyst with her bright yellow mug with polka-dots, in one hand. As it was so close to Christmas she has turned to wearing the season's best. Today she had earnings that were of red and green bells, along with a dress that went with it.

"I'm not going right. I get to stay in the lair as usual?"

"Sorry Pen," Jayje shrugged as she handed her a file as well, "BAU room, Five minutes."

Morgan flipped open the folder, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Emily nodded.

So did she.

After all, Alaska had woods. Lots of woods.

Okay, how was it? Should I keep with it? Please let me know what you think of it so far and if there are any questions or if the story is confusing at all.

Thanks!

-HCB