I know I haven't written anything in a while, but this just randomly came to me. It's written kind of odd, there's no dialogue and it's third person. Kind of a reflection on the fall of the BAU. Also, several character deaths.
Nothing could last forever. No matter how pure, no matter how good, everything had to end eventually. The BAU team had been in trouble for a while, but nobody expected they would reach the breaking point so soon. Actually, it wasn't one event that ended the team. It was more a series of events, ranging from tragedies to the inevitable. In the end, it still only took about a year for the team to spiral out of control.
Looking back, one could say that JJ's departure was the beginning of the end. Her leave wasn't a tragedy, per se, but it still shook the team to the core. None of them had expected JJ to be taken so suddenly, taken by an agency even more powerful than the FBI. Once the team found out the Pentagon wanted JJ, they had only a few days to say goodbye. Then she was gone.
Prentiss was the first tragedy. Caught by a past she had tried to escape, running from an identity she tried to bury. Only a few months after JJ left, Prentiss was taken by a former enemy. The worst part of her death was the idea that it could have been avoided. If only she had confided in the team, trusted in her friends with the secrets of her past. They could have saved her. None of this had to happen. Why didn't she trust them? Weren't they friends. Maybe she was too close to the team. Prentiss would die for her team. Didn't she know they would do the same for them?
The departure of JJ and the death of Prentiss very nearly ruined the team. But they were strong, weren't they? They could get through this, together. They took every measure to protect each other. But none of them could stop schizophrenia. They had noticed the signs for weeks, maybe months if they thought about it. The headaches, the mood swings, and two events that could be classified as triggers. None of them wanted to believe it. Maybe he was just grieving.
He wasn't. Reid killed three former unsubs in a vigilante rage before his first schizophrenic episode ended. Overcome with horror, he killed himself with the knowledge that he was a murderer. He had become exactly like the people the team put away, at least in his mind.
That was it for Garcia. She had lost too many friends, seen too much death, too much pain. So she escaped with Kevin, bought a farm out in the country. With her abilities, Garcia managed to disappear, leaving no way for the team to find her. None of them heard from her again, not even Morgan.
He knew he never should have trusted people. Morgan learned at a young age to never get too close to someone. It always ended badly. Almost the entire team was gone. He had lost his best friends, and he saw no reason to live. Morgan never thought life would get this bad. Years of church stopped him from suicide, but Morgan became reckless and angry. In the end, he died serving his country, like his father. He confronted an Unsub alone, a foolish, unnecessary risk. Three bullets to the chest killed Morgan. Everyone called him a hero.
Hotch had watched over the course of two years as his life fell apart. First Hailey, then each team member, one by one. He had devoted his life to his career, and he had lost everything. Hotch resigned from the FBI, distanced himself from the memories as much as possible. He took a local law enforement job with regular hours, choosing to spend as much time as he could with his son. It wasn't too late, Hotch would rebuild his life piece by piece. And then maybe one day, the nightmares would finally end.
Rossi stayed the longest. He stayed two more years, long enough to help get the BAU back on its feet. He had helped build the BAU from the beginning, and he rebuilt it again. Rossi remembered when he was on the original BAU team, how different it was from Hotch's team. Hotch's team was more like a family. They were closer than collegues, they were friends. Maybe that had been there downfall. It's better to have loved and lost than never too have loved at all. Rossi couldn't halp but think of that quote as he reflected on the lost team. Was it really better to love if it meant losing everything? Everybody from that team was now dead or emotionally scarred for life. Not a day passed when Rossi – cold, unemotional, distant Rossi – didn't think about the team he had lost. Was it all worth it in the end? He would probably never know. But it was too late to change anything.
Nothing can last forever. Most things aren't even remembered. The new BAU team would soon forget the tragic past that gave them there jobs. The FBI moved forward. Life moved on. Everyday, people died and people left and people gave up. Love was lost, trust was broken, and people were left to wonder – was the love worth the pain?