Title: Invictus
Prompt: My Best Friends Mistake
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Invictus, William Ernest Henley
She walked on, torch focused on the ground, Reid at her side. This was one house, of a possible three, where he might be.
She was beginning to lose hope that they would ever find him. It had been almost a week- and a week was all they had. The case had started in the most basic and general of ways. A file on JJ's desk, a quick rundown of material, and then they were flying to New Hampshire. It was basic, a profile that they had used many times before and one that they knew well enough to do it in their sleep. Thinking through it, Emily considered that perhaps they had taken him for granted.
Any unsub who could tackle and defeat Aaron Hotchner on a quick investigation of one of the crime scenes was a tough guy. He had a pattern- kill within a week and leave a message declaring mankind corrupt and obliterated, unjust and cruel. The messages were from poems, books- and famous ones, at that. It wasn't just Reid that them.
They had talked it through for hours, interviewed for days, and along the way they had received over 100 pictures of Hotch in uncompromising pain. A video had turned her stomach; he was cut, bloody, bruised. His capturer, they were no closer to finding.
And of course, she kicked herself every time, because it was her fault that he had been caught at all, and her determination and fierceness in attempting to find the unsub had caught the rest of the team off guard. She and Hotch both had gotten into trouble at that scene. The unsub had overpowered the two of them separately and dragged her across the courtyard of the house where he had threatened to take her unless Hotch left with him. She despaired when Hotch agreed, knowing that he was signing his own death warrant. She felt a thump on her head and she passed out, found three hours later by Rossi and Morgan.
None of them knew how close she had gotten to Hotch after Haley left; it was their private secret. Her best friend, and she had left him down in the worst way possible. This was her fault. If only she'd noticed the presence lurking in the trees...
They had picked and chosen from a list of suspects, finding out more about each, but they all knew that in truth it was only a matter of hours before Hotch, like the people before him, would be found dead in a relatively public place, a message on him or inside his clothes for them to find. They eventually selected the three most likely and Emily took Reid with her to one residence. Rossi went with JJ to another, and Morgan took a local officer with him to the third.
And so here she was, walking quietly.
***
"They won't find you in time," the unsub growled. Aaron Hotchner looked back at him, straight into his eyes, disdain coursing across his face.
"I wouldn't be so sure. They've caught smarter than you."
He was rewarded for his insolence with a sharp thump across the head; he tasted blood in his mouth but nonetheless raised his head and faced the unsub again. "You know it's true, that's why you're pissed off. You know that they're probably only minutes away from here," he asserted calmly while his ears rang- Please, please be only minutes away, I can't hold on much longer-
He was met with a barrage of violence- an insecure unsub taunted and aggrieved was more likely to hit out than anyone else, but Hotch knew that it would prevent him from looking out the windows at his surroundings, ready to pick off any of the team that might come here to find him. The assault rifle leaning against the door frightened Hotch- nobody would stand a chance if the unsub saw them coming.
Desperately, he tried to shield his head, but it made no difference. The blows rained down and he felt himself passing out. His legs were kicked, chest and stomach pummelled, head throbbing and with difficult breathing, he finally, happily, faded into blackness.
Time passed. Hours? Or only minutes? He couldn't be sure, but he was strangely aware of what was going on around him. The unsub, pacing... pacing... looking out the window and lifting the rifle, preparing himself for the team that might arrive. Hotch felt panic rising inside him, he needed to wake up and take the unsub's focus away.
In his attempts to move himself, he spluttered and coughed, blood spraying from his mouth and nose as he roused himself. He was on his side, face pressed against the cold floor when his eyes opened fully. He felt drowsy and claustrophobic, tried to yell and failed, tried again and failed. His voice simply wouldn't work. So he tried to move instead, making enough noise that the unsub turned to him.
"You are running out of time, Agent Hotchner. There's no sign of your team, no way that they will find you. Perhaps I should finish you now..."
He raised the gun and pointed it. Hotch glared back at him, furious at himself for being here and getting caught; furious that he would never get to tell her that this was not her fault.
***
The unsub fell to the floor in a sudden rush. Hotch stared beyond him to the calm face of Spencer Reid, handgun raised and pointed.
"Aaron!" Emily screamed as she came through the door, running toward him and rushing to free his hands. His wrists were bleeding from the rope burning into him and he looked worse than Reid had after the Henkel incident. He simply lay underneath her, trying to move and failing miserably; trying to get up and not being able to.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this is my fault- Reid, get a medic down here!- I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should have watched closer!"
"Em...Emily... It's not your fault. I'm glad... glad that it was me," he struggled with the words and was surprised when she reached out to touch his face gently.
"I'm not glad," she said, "You held him off so that we could get closer."
"I had to," he murmured.
"I can take care of myself," she noted softly, holding one of his hands and massaging the burns on his wrist.
"I know that. But still... it was worth it to keep you safe."
She helped him move into a sitting position, but she wouldn't let him get to his feet and though he protested, she stood firm about it. "No way. You've had the worst week in history, you're not getting up until I say so."
He half smiled at her as she sat next to him and propped him up, holding him close as he shivered. His shoes were gone, jacket in a heap on the floor, shirt torn and bloody- and still, she felt safer with him than anyone else.
"Why didn't you let him take me?" she asked softly, "You knew that he would kill you."
"But I didn't know that he wouldn't kill you," Aaron said, "And that's a chance I'm not willing to take."
She looked at him and her lip trembled. She reached for his face and wiped the blood from his lip, smoothing his hair back and trying to relieve his pain in any way she could. As a single tear slipped from her eye, he reached up and brushed it away. He kissed her cheek softly and whispered, "Thank you for coming to find me."
She wrapped her arms around him and sitting on the floor, they hugged for a long, long time.
***
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
Invictus, William Ernest Henley