Chapter Seven – Hell With An Axe

Author's Note: And now the fun with dreams finally begins! For those interested, Rossi's dream is based off of the episode Damaged (3x14). Just in case, while the dreams are based off of these episodes, it's not going to be exactly what happened. Dreams alter things. Timing, what you see, minor details… so don't be expecting a complete replica of an episode, though I have tried to keep most of the quotes the same and incorporated as many details as I could.

Before he became aware of anything else, he noticed the smell. Pine, the sweet scent of a Christmas tree. Odd.

As the blackness faded, the smell remained, though it was out of place. The scents of popcorn and French fries fit with the high pitched laughter of children, musical games, and cajoling adults. So did the clowns running around, and the balloon animals floating past his face. He could make out what most of them were but a few were oddly deformed. Huh.

The carnival was nice, happy. Rossi couldn't stop the smile from sliding across his face. Unless you were afraid of clowns, carnivals were fun.

Until everything was splintered by the blood curdling screams of children.

The image of the carnival shattered like a mirror. As the pieces rained down beside Rossi, he could see the glittering images of games, balloons, candy apples, and happy, smiling children. That was the way children should be. Not like this. Not screaming like their entire world had just shattered like the carnival.

As the screaming continued, the smell of pine increased. It invaded Rossi's senses, and he contemplated what it was from when the screams began to form words.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Two words. That was all, but it was enough to make his stomach twist into knots. The screams were coming from the house swaying back and forth in front of him. He was sure of it even though he didn't know why he felt so confident about that fact.

He lurched forward, running for the door. At first it didn't seem like he was getting any closer as he batted aside shadowy objects that continued to get in his way, but all of a sudden he was on the front steps standing before the door.

When he reached out for the knob, he saw the heads on the door and froze. Three silhouettes about the size of small dinner plates gleaming in gold. Each one had a single name engraved on it. Connie, George, Alisha. At the top they were all interlinked with a gold chain. Somehow Rossi felt like that chain was linked to him as well, tied so tightly around him that he was suffocating.

0~0~0~0

"It's starting," Hotch said softly when the sudden beeping filled the room.

The pace was quick, slightly faster than a normal heartbeat. None of them doubted where it was coming from. It had to be the monitor attached to Rossi's chest.

JJ hovered nervously next to him, staying as close as she could. She'd watched Rossi's expression go from smooth to suddenly tense. The beeping had started right after that. Even as she watched, the strain became more evident on his face, and his breath hitched a few times. She reached out and squeezed his hand.

"Hang in there, Rossi. Please, just hold on."

0~0~0~0

Rossi raced up the steps, breathing heavily and praying he could stay standing. The ground was shifting beneath his feet and making it nearly impossible to keep his balance. When he'd finally made it up the steps he shot down the hallway like a rocket. The children were down there, still screaming at the top of their lungs. He had to reach them.

The sight that greeted him when he'd run through the open door into the master bedroom sent him to his knees. A little girl covered in streams of blood from head to toe stood screaming in the middle of the room. Beside her screamed two younger children as they clung desperately to the slightly older child.

Rossi managed to peel his eyes away from them and take in the rest of the room. Most of the walls and floor were splattered with blood, though it seemed to center on the bed. The bed where all he could see was a foot sticking out from the covers. A foot covered in just as much blood as the rest of the room.

He didn't want to get closer. He didn't want to see what was hidden beneath the bed's covers. He didn't want to see any of it, yet his body moved on autopilot against his will. It brought him to the bed and reached for the edge of the comforter, beginning to pull it back.

No, no, no, no! He didn't want to see this! His arm didn't listen though and simply finished revealing the ravaged bodies of two adults. They'd been brutally mauled, almost chopped to pieces. Rossi whirled away instantly. He couldn't look at what had been done to these children's parents.

Instead of getting away he came face to face with an axe. Blood dripped from the head, slowly running down the handle. No, it was running up the handle. Rossi stared wide eyed in horror as the blood continued toward the head of the axe and disappeared until it was clean. Like brand new. Like it hadn't been used to murder two people.

For the second time Rossi fell to his knees. He'd expected to feel the hard floor connect painfully. Instead the impact was soft, and he seemed to sink. He looked around frantically trying to figure out what had happened. When his eyes shifted he found himself surrounded by plush toys. Little stuffed animals with bows tied around their necks, stuffed sports balls, glowing toy swords, and glittering light sticks. They were all the cheap kind you would find at a carnival.

And they were swallowing Rossi.

He was sinking deeper and deeper into the pile and couldn't escape. Even though he tried to claw his way out, to throw the toys far away, more kept pouring in on top of him.

Soon enough his screams were mixed with those of the children along with the never ceasing smell of pine, and the farther he fell, the colder it became.

0~0~0~0

Morgan had never heard Rossi scream. Never. He'd seen the man shaken, but this was far beyond that. This was terror, pure and simple.

"Wake him up, JJ!" Hotch insisted, his voice cracking like a whip.

"I'm trying!" JJ cried back desperately as the beeping continued to blare at a frantic pace.

"Rossi! Rossi wake up!" she shouted as she shook him.

He was breathing hard, and once in awhile a strangled scream slipped past his lips again. At first JJ's desperate attempts to wake him seemed to do no good. Suddenly Rossi shot up to a sitting position, his eyes wide and breathing hard.

"Rossi?" JJ asked gently as she rested a hand on his arm.

His head snapped toward her, fear still gleaming in his eyes.

"You solved it, Rossi," JJ soothed. "You got the guy who did it. It's over. For them and for you."

Rossi listened intently, and his breathing finally slowed. He closed his eyes a moment and shuddered. When he opened them again the beeping had stopped and he seemed much more in control.

"Dave?" Hotch inquired.

"I'm alright." He smiled warmly at JJ and rested his hand on hers. "Thanks to what she said."

JJ looked down nervously.

"I didn't say anything special," she murmured.

"JJ, I don't get how you can be so clueless about how good you are sometimes," Emily muttered in exasperation.

"I'm not… I didn't…" JJ floundered.

Emily and Morgan started laughing. Rossi grinned, though it was still a bit tainted by sadness, and shook his head. JJ looked frantically back and forth between them all.

"Guys, I didn't do anything!"

That only made Emily and Morgan laugh harder. Even Hotch was amused and allowed one side of his mouth to curl upward. Olivia was smiling too. She may have just met JJ, but she could tell the other woman was good with words and dealing with people.

JJ sighed and shook her head at them. She really wished they would stop teasing her.