Chapter Text
(Drug use is mentioned)
Reid's POV:
I could feel my head throbbing as I began to regain consciousness. There was an awful smell of burning meat of some sort that almost triggered my gag reflex.
As I fully woke up, I took in my surroundings. It was dark, and damp for that matter. It appears I'm in a shed sort of building, in the corner there is a wood burner with some flames flickering now and again, and although it was a fire, no warmth was emitted from it.
That's when I realised I couldn't move. I was tied to a wooden chair in the middle of the room. My chest was bound to the back rest with a belt and my hands were zip-tied together in front of me. Luckily I could still move my feet freely.
That's when my memories come flooding back...
Me and Derek had gone to a suspected Unsubs house to ask him questions and as we were walking back to the car to go back to the team with our information we spotted him, Tobias Hankel, sprinting to the barn to the back of his property. Morgan and I knew if we wanted to arrest him, we would have to chase him, so I suggested we should split up. He took the barn and I, the field behind the barn. Before I knew what happened I was hit in the head and knocked out. Next thing I knew, I woke up here...
'Oh my God... Derek?!' I whisper to myself, silently begging he was ok. That's when I heard a noise, I snapped my head to the direction of the door as it swung open on its hinges, revealing Tobias Hankel standing before me.
He was carrying an armful of logs for the wood burner and chucked them into the crate next to the wood burner. 'What is your name, boy?' He said bitterly, 'I-' I trip over my words 'My name is Spencer Reid...' I manage to say. I could hear the femininity of my voice that only showed itself when I was scared or stressed, I had only been on Testosterone for a month so my voice was deep enough to pass when I was calm, but obviously my voice would give away my stupid biological gender. Tobias' eyes darken as he hears the hint of my feminine voice 'You are a sinner!' He declared. 'No-' I try to hide the shakiness of my voice but there was no point 'No, I am a man, just like you...' I replied to him. He spat back a reply, 'You are no man'.
'Sinners deserve to be punished, you hear me? Punished!' He says darkly before sitting on a rickety bench in front of my chair, grabbing my ankle and removing my right shoe and sock and pulling my foot onto his leg, 'Confess your sins,' he orders, 'I'm not a sinner' I reply, a shiver running down my spine as he picks up what looks like a wooden hammer or bat of some sort, and before I knew it, a sharp jolt of pain was sent up my leg as he hit it with the stick. I yelp in pain, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. As he moved onto my other foot, before he could hit me again, I had passed out from the pain.
When I woke up once again, I opened my eyes to see Tobias sitting in the corner of the room roasting what looked like a lamb leg on the wood burner. My body starts shaking as it fills with fear again from the memory of him beating me and I begin to panic. 'No-' I couldn't stop myself from stuttering, 'Please don't hurt me again, I'm not a sinner.' Once again, tears threatened to roll down my cheeks, but before they could, Tobias began to speak quietly as if he was talking to a frightened child, 'I won't hurt you.' He paused. 'You should eat, I also have something that should help with the pain, if you'd like it, that is...'. I nod and eat some of the food he gives me and drink some water, I felt better. I look up at Tobias who was approaching me again and knelt down in front of me holding a small bottle, similar to those of vaccines, that didn't have a label in one hand and a needle in the other. He fills the needle with the solution from the bottle and gently grabs my wrist, extending my arm so he could access the crook of my arm.
Before I could protest, he had already injected my arm with the stuff and I began to feel woozy. I fell in and out of consciousness, in and out of memories of my childhood, good and bad...
The next few days repeated the same; eat, drink, drugged and flooded with more memories. Until today, today was different, I could feel it as I woke up. When I opened my sleepy eyes, I was greeted with the sight of a video camera in front of me, the red flashing light telling me that I was being recorded. Behind the camera, there was another room I hadn't noticed before. In it there was a small desk and on it were five small monitors, showing what appeared to be video feeds of five different living rooms, live feeds.
From behind me, Tobias approaches and puts a, I assume loaded, revolver to my head. 'Choose a sinner to die.' I hear him say. I panic and look at the middle one, it looked as if no one was home so chose it 'the centre screen, I've chosen that one,' the light on the camera still flashing in front of me and I assume it must be connected to a computer that is streaming this somewhere...
Later on, I heard a noise from one of the monitors ahead of me, the one I had chosen earlier. A figure dressed in black crept up to the woman sitting on the couch next to her husband and stabbed them both... the woman screamed before her body fell limp on the couch.
The next day, Tobias dragged me outside and pushed a shovel into my hands, he ordered me to dig my own grave, so I did. Whenever I stopped he would threaten to shoot me so I continued until it was dark. And that's when I heard them, sirens, the beautiful sound of sirens nearing the edge of wherever I was. Next I saw the lights and then I saw my team, my amazing, smart team.
The only problem was, I could barely walk due to my foot injury so I couldn't run in the direction of my team so I sat there and waited for them. I heard Tobias near closer to me and put the gun against my head but before I knew it, a bullet was through his chest and he slumped to the ground, lifeless. Before the team got any closer I quickly grabbed the small bottles of the clear solution, which I identified as Dilaudid, and slipped them into my pocket before Derek hurried over to me...
Derek’s POV:
Me and Reid had split up to go search for Tobias Hankel, as soon as we did, it immediately made me feel sick to my stomach. Something was wrong... I quickly ran out of the barn and frantically searched for Spencer, he was nowhere to be seen, I scoured the field in the hopes of finding him, but he was not there... he wasn't there.
I called Hotch, I didn't know what else to do, he picks up and I freeze, I don't know what to say. Hotch is the one who speaks first.
‘’Morgan? Is everything alright?’’
‘’No, no, everything is not alright’’ I answer, “It’s Reid, he’s missing, he’s- Tobias Hankel is the Unsub he took Reid!’’
“Calm down Derek! He’s going to be ok!” was all that he said before hanging up.
After I had calmed down, I went to the location where the team had set up, and we got straight to finding Reid. Aaron could tell I was stressed, but he couldn’t tell how bad it actually was... I was worried sick about Spencer, I kept having nightmares at night, about Reid dying, I couldn't do this anymore, I needed to be able to do something, I needed to do something to save my best friend...
After a week of nothing but stress, nightmares and the constant feeling of sickness whenever even a glimpse of what Reid might be going through enters my mind. This morning, when I went to see if the team had a lead, instead of finding the team in the main room, I found them in the room Penelope had set up her computers in, they were gathered around one screen... when I saw what was on the screen I saw Reid's face... his sweet, sweet face... I couldn't do anything about it. Oh God... I was going to throw up... ‘Oh God...’ was all I managed to whisper before I ran to the window and threw up... Aaron put his hand on my back to calm me down.
“I’m sorry, I just hate seeing him like that... I can’t do this Hotch, can you take me out of the case until you find him...’ I manage to ask
“Sure, I know how much you care about him, I'll make sure that I call you once we know his location and then you can come with us to get him. Is that ok?” He replies.
All I can do is nod, if I open my mouth, I have a fear I would vomit again. I needed to see him soon though, I couldn’t bear my life without him, and its only been 6 days, six!
Two days later, I woke up to my phone ringing, it was Aaron, I answered the call immediately;
“Have you found his location?!” I ask as soon as I pick up.
“We have, we’ll pick you up on the way, get your vest on.” Hotch replies.
As soon as they picked me up, my heart rate sped up, we were getting him back, I was getting my best friend back, no, he was more than that... he was more than a friend to me. We pulled up to the location that Reid was at, it was dark, but I would do anything to get him back.
And then I saw him... he was knelt on the ground, digging, I think. Tobias was watching him, I saw the gun against Spencer's head. I didn’t know what happened, but what I do remember is Tobias Hankel fall to the ground, dead. I run over to Spencer, it took all my strength to not burst into tears. I bring him into a tight embrace.
“My God, I missed you so much” I say in a shaky voice before crying into his neck.
End of Chapter