A/N: Shortly before finishing another project, I just couldn't keep myself from starting with this one. (smirks sheepishly)

This story is another winner of my poll. THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart and soul, to all those who have voted already – there are so many of you! (HUGS) To those who haven't voted yet, to poll's still open.

FULL SUMMARY: As far as the team knows Spencer Reid was killed by an UnSub two years earlier. So when Morgan sees someone who looks exactly like his late friend he thinks it's just a coincidence. But then he sees the same exact replica again, this time shooting a male UnSub to death just before the man would've killed Morgan. Is he going crazy, or is there something someone's hiding from the team?

WARNINGS: Gore, language, overall disturbing material… (blinks, looking around) Hey, where'd ya all go?

DISCLAIMER: Trust me, I'm not making a dime with this. (snorts, and sighs) But oh, a girl can always dream…

Awkay… (takes a deep breath) Releasing a new baby is always nerve wrecking so I'm going through with it before I change my mind. I really, truly hope you'll enjoy the ride!

The Golden Dragon

'I should've known that it's you'

On most days Dr. Spencer Reid loved his job as a federal agent. That evening in Kentucky wasn't one of them.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand, and glanced towards his wristwatch. It was pushing eight p.m. It was the fifth day of their current chase and he knew he should've been resting when he got the chance, but his mind was too restless.

He'd been missing a variable. Now he was finally beginning to get a picture of what it was.

He was just about to refocus on the ten diaries he'd found when his cell phone started ringing. "Hey Morgan", he greeted, trying to ease his spasming back.

"Hey, kid. Where are you? JJ said you took off an hour ago."

Spencer took a breath, his eyes stinging from the lack of light. "There was nothing else to do so I went check out Susan Thompson's house. I'm going through her diaries."

"Wasn't she the first victim?" Derek sounded confused. "Her house has been searched through several times. What new could you find from there?"

Spencer frowned. He wished he knew. "I'm… not sure", he confessed. "But I feel like I'm missing something."

"I see." Derek sounded tired and he couldn't blame the man. They'd barely slept since the beginning of this case. "Look, I know that your mind works in its own special way. But you'll get sick if you don't rest, okay? I'm on my way to the motel right now. It's not a huge detour if I pick you up."

Spencer breathed a couple of times. To be honest he was relieved by the offer. He was getting absolutely exhausted and the abandoned house was giving him inexplainable creeps. He immediately decided not to ever share the latter observation with Derek – the man would never let him live it down. "Thanks. I'll…" It was just then he noticed it, right there on the pages. The missing variable, the hidden truth behind all this.

Spencer's head spun violently and he felt so sick to his stomach that he actually gagged dryly while bringing one hand to his lips. It felt like the floor under his feet had been disappearing and his whole body started shaking. "Oh no…"

"Reid?" Derek's voice was full of worry. "What is it?"

And then Spencer heard the steps. The steps that shouldn't have been there.

His heart racing beyond all limitations, Spencer turned slowly. His eyes grew impossibly wide as he faced the person behind him.

"Reid!" Derek's voice was loud and frantic but he couldn't even register it anymore. "Reid, goddamnit, what the hell is going on? Reid!"

Blood stilled right into Spencer's veins. Sadness filled his eyes while realization dawned. "I should've known that it's you", he breathed out, so quietly that even Derek couldn't hear it.

Sometimes he really hated being right.

Derek Morgan had never had an actual panic attack. But he suspected what went through him as he sped towards Spencer's location came quite close. When Spencer stopped talking he was almost sure that his heart would simply explode.

"Reid!" He was screaming.

He should've never, ever left Spencer alone. He should've…

And then, through the rush of his blood and the thunder of his thoughts, he heard the sharp, merciless gunshot. A body fell to the floor, as did Spencer's cell phone.

Tears filled Derek's eyes without him even noticing it. "Reid!" There was no reply, nothing whatsoever. "Spencer!"

The phone call was disconnected.

Derek's hand shook pitiably while he tried to redial Spencer's number but before he ever did his cell phone started ringing. "Reid?" he practically cried out.

"Morgan?" Aaron Hotchner sounded alarmed. "What's going on?"

Derek gulped convulsively, struggling for words. "Reid… He went to Susan Thompson's house. There was a gunshot." It took a long moment before he managed to speak again. "I… I think he's in trouble."

He heard a car roaring at the other end of the phone. "I'm already on my way." With that Aaron hung up.

Derek tossed away his own phone as he accelerated the vehicle even further, hoping and praying from the bottom of his heart that he wasn't too late already.

By the time Derek's car flew to the front yard of a old, clearly very much unloved house two familiar SUVs were already there. It was beyond him how Aaron got there so fast and at the moment he couldn't have cared less.

No longer able to think clearly Derek parked the car so hastily that it was a miracle he didn't cause damage, then jumped out and dashed into the house with such speed that he almost fell down. The entire building appeared empty. There wasn't even a single piece of furniture in the rooms he could see, let alone evidence of people being inside it.

"Reid?" he called out. Nothing but the wind snarling in the corners answered him. "Reid! Hotch! Are you in here?"

It was then Emily Prentiss emerged from a room right beside the staircase upstairs. There was something that looked like tears in her eyes. Her hands and clothes were soaked in red. "Stay there, Morgan. Trust me."

But oh, Derek didn't have the slightest intention of staying put. His eyes narrowing and his heartbeat getting out of control once more he ran, climbing two or three stairs with one step. Emily reached out a hand towards him but there wasn't a thing she could've done to stop him. He didn't freeze until he was actually inside the room and faced the sight there.

The blood was everywhere. And in the middle of it lay Spencer, with Aaron fighting desperately to control the bleeding from the gunshot wound on the younger man's chest. Spencer's half lidded eyes appeared terrifyingly glassy and the man's lips moved although it was impossible to tell what the genius was trying to say. If there wasn't blood there would've been no color on Spencer's face. The younger man was obviously in a state of shock, maybe even worse.

And then Derek moved, blatant despair and sheer terror driving him. Spencer looked at him but it was impossible to tell if the man really saw him. He took the brunet's hand, held on as tightly as he could. "Hey kid." His voice was shaking but he didn't give a damn. He swallowed hard. "Hang in there, okay? You're gonna be fine, but you need to hang on for a bit."

"Did you see the ambulance?" Aaron inquired in a sharp, steely voice. Only the unsteadiness of the unit chief's hands betrayed his true feelings over the situation.

Derek shook his head, unable to speak.

This was a nightmare, right? Nothing but a nasty bad dream.

Just then Spencer's hand shifted slightly in his. A tear, just a single one, slipped to the man's cheek while his body seemed to convulse. This time the words were barely audible but coherent. "I'm sorry." And Spencer closed his eyes.

Derek's heart stopped for two seconds while he shook his head vehemently, fear overloading his entire body. His eyes stung so badly that he was almost sure it'd drive him insane. "No. No, kid, hell no."

But Spencer remained limp, unresponsive. Lifeless.

What came next was pure chaos. Paramedics arrived, shouting and pushing him and Aaron out of the way. One of them sighed in a way that said it all. And soon all that was left of Spencer was the blood, already drying against wood.

When he remained paralyzed Aaron's hand grabbed his shoulder. The unit chief's pale skin was completely stained in red and pain was clearly visible in the man's eyes. It was the final proof – this wasn't a dream. "Let's go."

Derek nodded, then followed the older man although his feet barely carried his weight. Outside the room Emily was waiting for them, her arms folded to her chest and her eyes suspiciously red. None of them spoke as they made their way to one of the three SUVs waiting outside, making a soundless decision to let Aaron drive.

The gradually falling night around them was the darkest they'd ever seen.

Chaos control was a part of Jennifer Jareau's job description. Or was, back when she was still a media liaison. She'd always imagined that it was something she was good at – and she was. But that night nothing could've kept things from falling apart like a house of cards.

The hospital's waiting room was absolutely quiet even though the entire remaining team sat there as she entered. The stench of blood that came from Aaron and Derek's clothes was so heavy that she wanted to throw up. She couldn't understand how the others were able to stand the reek.

All eyes turned towards her when she emitted a quiet, unidentifiable sound from the back of her throat. Expectations and terror were loudly evident in eyes that usually attempted to hide absolutely everything. "Well?" David Rossi was the bold one to ask.

JJ shook her head, swallowing against the bitter taste in her mouth. "They… didn't know anything yet", was the best she managed.

The room sank back into the dark waiting, each person present fighting with their all to keep themselves from falling apart completely.

For some reason JJ's eyes locked with Emily's and a sudden, sharp flashback took her back to the day she'd told the rest of the team that they'd lost her. The brunette's hands were reddish and visibly sore from how she'd brutally attempted to get rid of Spencer blood on her skin. JJ looked away, feeling sick to her stomach all over again, and wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't even notice the moisture on her cheeks.

She closed her eyes, and the only thing she could see was Spencer's smile.

Just before leaving the police station he'd started telling her this twisted romance story of a man who slayed everyone responsible for murdering the woman he loved, all the time hoping and praying that he'd be killed as well so he'd get to see her again. Spencer couldn't leave her without telling her how the story ended.

He couldn't just leave her like this.

The room's door opened so suddenly that the group of well trained agents shuddered, caught off guard. The tension could've been cut by a knife when they faced a middle-aged male doctor – Carter – who was still wearing bloodied scrubs.

The look in the doctor's brown eyes warned them long before the man shook his head and whispered. "I… I'm so sorry."

Aaron shuddered like he'd been shot but remained firm, stone hard. David fell back to the chair he'd been occupying with a heartbreaking, utterly defeated expression. Emily turned towards the window so that her face couldn't be seen. Penelope Garcia burst into loud sobs. Derek left the room, almost knocking JJ to the floor on his way out. JJ herself couldn't feel absolutely anything, inside or out.

It was like she'd been shot to death as well.

And just like that a huge part of the world around them fell apart.

None of them noticed the woman who'd been standing in the nearby corridor all along, watching them with ice blue eyes that wouldn't give away anything. She ran a hand through her long, nearly black hair before turning around and walking out of the building without a single glance backwards.

As soon as she made it outside she took her cell phone and dialed numbers. It wasn't a surprise that she was greeted by a answering machine. "It's been done", she announced, then hung up.

As she walked towards her motorcycle she didn't even notice that it began to rain heavily, marking the end of two month drought.

TBC, OR NOT?

A/N: Poor Reid – and the team, too! (sniffles a bit)

Sooo… The big question goes, do you guys think this is worth continuing or not? PLEASE, leave a review and let me know your thoughts! I don't think it's a surprise that it'd mean the world to me. (gives puppy's eyes)

Thank you so much for reading this!

Who knows, maybe I'll see ya again later.

Take care!