A/N: Much awaited, here is the next chapter! And thanks for not hunting me down for doing this to the team. I was warned that this story is becoming more and more AU, so I guess I should put that in the synopsis as well. Anyway... Beta read by the Gubelicious editor frog - thanks doll!

!! WARNING !! Character death in this chapter! If you don't like it, don't read it! And don't flame me! You have been warned!

Reid closed the door to the bedroom where his best friend lay, deprived of life and breath. He leaned against the white wooden door, running his hands over his face, wiping away the salty tears from his pale cheeks. Morgan was gone, lying in a pool of blood – and no one had been able to help him.

The young agent felt so helpless. Was there nothing he could have done?

The others had gone downstairs with Garcia, trying to calm her down. She was in a state of dissolution after watching Morgan die before her eyes. The blonde technician kept screaming that it should have been her, and between sobs and coughs she called out Morgan's name in despair.

Reid shook his head. This was pure insanity. Pushing a few brown curls out of his face he drew a deep breath and ventured down the dim staircase.

One by one, he thought. We're dying one by one.

-o-o-o-

Downstairs in the dining room adjoining the kitchen, Garcia sat in the sofa with JJ beside her, crying silently. She had calmed down somewhat from the shock, and clung to her colleague's pajamas like a small child. She was devastated over losing Morgan. He was the most important man in her life, and now he was gone.

It physically hurt as she thought about Morgan's lifeless body falling to the floor with a sickening thump. The one thing Garcia was thankful for was that his head had been turned the other way. She never had to see life disappear from his eyes.

JJ held her friend and colleague close as she looked at the men around her. Hotch was stoic as usual, but the armor was getting cracked. Losing two team members in less than two hours was getting to him, and JJ could see his eyes turn moist every now and then as he sat on a chair by the windows, contemplating what to do next.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. As much as the team wanted to trust each other, there was a certain air of suspicion hanging over the members of the BAU. And all suspicion was directed at the same person.

Gideon.

The former agent knew he would be the object of this suspicion, and had come to terms with it. Despite the fact that it hurt him deeply that the people he worked so close with for such a long time had completely lost their trust in him. Standing by an oak dresser, he could see the distrust in nearly all of their eyes as they avoided making contact with the older man.

All but Reid. He looked at his former mentor with so much pain in his eyes, so much disappointment. Gideon had not yet had a chance to explain to his protégé the true reasons behind his sudden and unexpected departure, and seeing the young man look at him with so much suffering emerging from his brown eyes caused the former agent's heart to painfully break into a thousand pieces. All he could do right now was to silently apologize to the young man who looked at him imploringly, as if once again asking "why?".

Reid looked at his former mentor. He could see the older man was in pain. A part of him hurt along with him, but a bigger part was glad; glad that the man he once looked up to, the man he once idolized, felt the aftermath of his actions.

Garcia sat sobbing in the couch next to JJ. She couldn't comprehend that Morgan was actually gone. Refusing to let go of her friend's pajamas, she clung to it for dear life. She felt the couch shifting slightly as Reid sat down beside her, placing an arm around her.

"I'm sorry, Garcia. I know how much he meant to you." The young doctor leaned over and placed his head next to hers, leaning his chin on her shoulder.

The only thing getting Garcia through this moment was the feeling of having her closest friends around her. Closing her eyes, she drew a breath and squeezed Reid's hand which was resting on her leg.

Rossi paced by the windows. There were so many things not adding up in this house. Who was in there with them, and why was he slowly killing off his team? If he had wanted to kill them all, why not just blow up the house; or burn it down?

This is all about the game. The UnSub wants to watch us break down and turn on each other. It's a mind game.

He drew away the curtains from one of the windows and looked outside once again. The pitch black forest looked less than inviting, but he would choose it over this house from hell any day.

As he put his hands on the window sill and leaned over, his fingers bumped against something lying a few inches behind the curtain. Looking down, he discovered something that made his heart skip a beat.

It was a Desert Eagle Mark XIX .50 AE, with a laser sight. Picking up the heavy piece in his hand, he turned to the rest of the team.

"I think there are still weapons in the house."

The others looked at the powerful handgun, hoping that whoever was in the house didn't have one of those as well.

"We have to have another look around." Hotch proclaimed rising from the chair. "I'll feel a lot better when everyone is armed. At least then we have a fair chance."

The others nodded in agreement, but Garcia grabbed a firm hold of the couch. "I'm not moving. I'm not going back up there." Shaking her head she refused to budge from her position.

"You can't stay down here, Garcia. It's too dangerous." Hotch tried to get his subordinate to think rationally, but to no avail. She kept shaking her head frantically.

Reid looked up from his place on the sofa, eyes connecting with those of his superior. "I'll stay with her. I have a gun." The young doctor was in no mood to be paired up with Gideon again, who had not said more than a word to him since he found the gun in the dresser. Knowing none of the others would want to go with him, he would surely be paired off with him.

He'd rather stay with Garcia.

Hotch nodded. "All right. You stay here, and keep your eyes open. JJ, you go with Rossi. Gideon..." He paused to look at his former colleague. "...you are going with me."

Gideon nodded and followed Hotch up the stairs. JJ and Rossi was right behind them, Rossi holding his Desert Eagle aimed ahead of him, ready to fire at anything that moved that wasn't a part of his team.

-o-o-o-

Garcia and Reid sat on the couch, the blonde woman snuggling up to the young doctor; still sobbing slightly. He stroke her hair as he looked out through the window. The darkness outside gave him the creeps. He shuddered at the very thought of what could be lurking out there. The only upside here was that the lights in the house were still reasonably bright.

"It's so hard..." Garcia squeaked into Reid's shoulder.

Reid held her tighter. "I know..." He didn't know what else to say to the woman struggling with all kinds of feelings inside. Loss, desperation, fear and grief; only a few of the emotions he could imagine circling inside his poor colleague. All he could do was hold her.

-o-o-o-

JJ held the peeler in her hand as she followed Rossi into the rooms, one by one. They were re-checking every room for hidden weapons, this time more thoroughly. So far, the hunt had been less than successful. No weapons had been found, but at least this time they checked behind the curtains. The small red dot from Rossi's laser sight darted over the walls as they entered the second room on the right upstairs. A bedroom. A very empty bedroom.

-o-o-o-

Hotch and Gideon slowly walked down the hallway, approaching the doorway to another room. Hotch held the gun high, aiming it straight forward as they turned a corner. As they entered the next room, both men readied themselves for what might be about to come.

But the room was silent and empty. Searching it carefully, the men didn't say a word; not until Hotch lowered the gun, turning to his former colleague.

"I suppose I should ask you why you left."

Gideon sighed, knowing that the question was doomed to surface more than once during the time in the house. He didn't have time to answer his former superior before Hotch continued.

"But the thing is; I don't really care. You have issues, we all know that, but that still doesn't give you the right to abandon everything and leave."

Gideon drew a breath and opened his mouth to say something, not knowing what, but never had the chance as Hotch continued his speech.

"You should know this though; you hurt someone more than anyone when you left, and I know you know who I'm referring to. He took your departure very hard, and it took him a long time to even manage to deal with it. I'm not even sure if he's over it yet."

Hotch felt anger rise inside him as he spoke to his former subordinate, and tried his best to restrain his emotions, knowing he had to let the man before him know the damage he caused by leaving.

"Did you even care about how he would take it? Couldn't you at least have talked to him? Your presence here hasn't exactly helped him in his recovery. Gideon, there are very few – if any – people in this house right now that trust you, and frankly – I don't know if I do either. " He couldn't go on in fear of physically lashing out at Gideon, so he turned away, searching a dresser.

Gideon stood in the other end of the room, knowing that anything he said would fall upon deaf ears. Hotch had already made up his mind. He knew the others didn't trust him, but Hotch?

-o-o-o-

"I feel sick." Garcia sat up straight in the couch, running her hand through her hair.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Reid asked anxiously.

"No... Water. I need water." Garcia held her mouth as she looked at her colleague next to her on the couch.

Reid rose, still holding Garcia's hand. "Stay here, I'll get you some."

Holding the gun, the young doctor walked into the kitchen, and began searching the cupboards for a glass. Finding one in the very back of the cabinet over the sink, he filled it with water. Feeling his own throat being dry as well, he first finished the glass for himself, and then refilled it for Garcia.

The hand roughly grabbing his hair from behind caught him by total surprise as it yanked his head back. Dropping both the gun and the glass, his head was violently slammed into the cabinet in front of him.

As he slumped to the floor, the young doctor felt his world turn into a blur; a warm liquid flowing down his face. Reid could still hear the sounds around him, but only shadows danced before his eyes.

He saw movement in front of him, someone moved into the dining room. The young man tried to call out, but his entire body was malfunctioning, and all he could do was to lie on the floor and watch.

The movement in the dining room consisted only of shadows and blurs, but he could hear the sounds. He heard Garcia's muffled cries, he heard her fight for her life against an unknown assailant. There was a thud, and then – silence ensued.

As Reid eventually regained his mobility and sight, he held the kitchen counter and supported himself to a standing position. Looking into the living room, a ghastly sight came before him.

Garcia lay on the floor in the middle of the room, a transparent plastic bag over her head. Her eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling. As Reid staggering approached her, he could see the tongue hang out of his colleague's mouth. She had turned a faint shade of blue.

"Help! Oh God! Help! Hotch, Rossi!"

He fell to his knees as he heard the rapid footsteps in the staircase. When the rest of the team came rushing into the dining room, guns drawn, they were met by a grisly view.

The young doctor had just finished ripping off the plastic bag covering Garcia's head and was searching for a pulse.

"Reid?" Hotch stuck his gun into the lining of his boxers as he knelt beside his frightened subordinate.

Reid shook his head slowly. "No."

JJ nearly hyperventilated. "What... No! You were supposed to protect her, Reid! What the hell!?" The angry stare she gave her youngest colleague wasn't made any better by the fact that she now clutched the peeler so hard her knuckles whitened.

"I-I-I just went to the kitchen!" Reid tried to explain, tears filling his eyes. "I was getting her water, and-and-and someone slammed my head in the cupboard!"

Now was the first time Hotch noticed the wound on Reid's forehead, and looked out into the kitchen. A large stain of blood had colored the light cabinet door a bright red. Reid's gun lay on the floor next to a small pool of blood and shards of a shattered glass.

"I couldn't... I..." Reid burst into tears and buried his face in his hands.

Hotch placed a hand on his shoulder, not saying a word, and looked at the others. JJ looked like she could freak out at any time. Rossi held his composure, and Gideon leaned back on a counter as he ran his hands over his head.

"This isn't happening... It's not!" JJ tried to convince herself that it was all just a bad dream, and that she would wake up at any time in her own bed.

Rossi on the other hand, knew this was no dream. Part of him wanted to smack the woman beside him for being so hysterical. But another part wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

"It is happening, JJ. And we have to deal with it." He settled for telling her the truth, no matter how rough.

A tear fell down JJ's cheek as she turned away from the group and the corpse of her best friend. It hurt so horribly to have to live through this.

As they stood there in the dining room, the familiar melodic whisper was heard throughout the house; with a message no less disturbing than the last.

Six little agents, looking for a ghost

Maybe the one that haunts them the most

Who is the one who carries the blame?

Who of you is the one with the shame?

One agent remained with the wish to survive

She lost her breath, and then there were five...

A/N again: I've said it once and I'll say it again: Please don't kill me.