(A/N): Hey ya'll I'm back! It took me a while to get the dates, characters, and information for the story, so apologies that it took so long. You don't know HOW many errors there were in the dates of my outline. If you see any holes in the dates, feel free to tell me.

Also, I don't know how many years a season consists of, but if each is one year, that means they would be around the end of season 10.

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds isn't mine

Present Day…

"Happy New Year, fellow crime fighters," Garcia said casually as everyone filled in the briefing room, "we've got kittens to save." Morgan raised an eyebrow at her. She gave him that 'I couldn't help it' look, and turned to the screen. "Ok, so this case is relatively nearby, only an hour and a half away, in Markham. There have been three bodies found along the Appalachian trail by hikers." Penelope pressed her remote, and a picture of a body showed up, as well as a headshot of a man. "This is Nathan Carter, a freshman student at Yale,"

"Hey, that was my safety school!" Everyone glanced at Reid, who just shrugged.

Penelope cleared her throat and continued. "And," she raised an eyebrow at her notes. "huh. Major in chem. engineering and minor in economics. Smart kid."

Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry, sir. Um, let's see, he was last seen on December 20, 2013, and his body was found on December 21 last year in Shenandoah National Park by hikers who must really like walking in the cold." She pressed the remote, and another picture came up.

"Taylor Nelson, twenty-year-old sophomore at Penn State. He was coming back to Virginia to visit family. Taylor went missing on December 20, 2012, last seen at a library, and his body turned up exactly a year afterward, in 2013."

She pressed the remote again. "This is Josh Wilder, nineteen years old, a sophomore at Columbia University. He went missing on December 20, 2011, found, again, about a year later, December 21, 2012." Penelope turned to her coworkers. "All three victims are Caucasian, in their college years, and male. Good students, not the top, but not lowest. COD was a gunshot to the head."

"And they were all abducted on the same date?" Kate interjected.

"Yep."

"His targets are very specific," Hotch said. "Resemblance of a lost love one?"

"Probably. We'd need to look into recent deaths or separations of a Caucasian boy who was in college," Morgan said.

"Hold your horses children, I'm not done yet." Garcia turned back to the screen as another photo came up. "Oliver Harper was reported missing on the same day, just thirteen days ago. Twenty-one years old, junior in the University of Virginia. He was last seen hiking with friends, but when he went to the restroom, he didn't get back."

"We still have a year before the UNSUB kills him," Kate commented.

"But if he finds out we're investigating him, he might kill Oliver before the date to try to make us back off," JJ debated.

Hotch continued to look at the screen. "No, I don't think so. This date is very important to the UNSUB. I don't think that anything would throw him off his MO."

Morgan said, "Even so, we can't take that chance. Who knows what this UNSUB does to them for the year."

Hotch nodded. "Be in the SUVs in twenty, we'll brief then."

As everyone started to get up, Garcia asked hopefully, "Sir, am I coming along?"

Hotch looked at her and gave her what seemed to be a smile. "Yes Garcia, ride along with Morgan." She beamed and hurried to gather her things.

In the SUVs...

"Let's go over victimology," Hotch said over their phones as they were driving.

"Targets are Caucasian college boys," said David.

"The UNSUB doesn't seem to have an interest in their degrees. Creative writing, geology, chemistry engineering, nursing? They're all over the place." Kate said, reading the file.

"There's not a lot of breathing time between victims," Reid commented. "After dumping a body, he goes straight the next. This UNSUB is extremely motivated."

"No traces of the UNSUB are found where the victims were supposedly kidnapped or where they were dumped," JJ said.

"An organized and efficient killer," Morgan mumbled.

JJ looked at the crime scene photos. "That's strange. No restraining marks," she said.

"It's possible that they developed Stockholm," Hotch answered. "The UNSUB could have gotten the victims to sympathize for him and possibly built a relationship so that they didn't have to be restrained."

"Strangely, in an FBI study of 1200 hostages, 92% of them didn't show any symptoms that associated with Stockholm, but-"

"Yes Reid, we know, we know," Derek interjected.

"Sir, the autopsy reports came in," Garcia said from behind Morgan and Reid. "All three victims sustained permanent damage to the cilia, which was probably caused by repeated gunfire at close range. There were some broken bones that didn't heal THAT well, shallow cuts, and-" she shivered, "whip lashes."

"It doesn't seem like the UNSUB wants to cause permanent damage, but more like he wants to afflict fear," David theorized. "If he wanted more pain, than he would have had deeper cuts, maybe even have used electric shock and ice picks."

"And gunshots are to generate fear. Good work Rossi," Hotch said.

"Well then what's the point?" Kate asked. "I would get if this UNSUB were a sadist, he would go off the torment of his victim. But dumping the body with a blanket over him shows remorse, and he would get a much higher fear rate if he used more extreme methods like electrocution, drowning, deeper cuts. None of the UNSUB's MO match sadism."

"The blanket might not be remorse at all," JJ added. "Look at the victim. Hands by their side, blanketed from their neck down, eyes closed. The UNSUB might be trying to convey the image of sleep or death. If he had remorse, he would have probably covered the face too so he wouldn't have to face him."

"We're thirty minutes out, sir," Garcia informed them.

"When we get there, JJ, you and Morgan interview the victim's parents and people they were last seen with. Reid, go over the crime scene photos and geography, try to bring the UNSUB's MO together. Garcia, the first thing you should do is search the area for deceased or separated Caucasian boys, ages seventeen to twenty-four in the past 10 years, and cross-check that with a death or accident on December 20. If you get nothing, spread the age and time span. Kate, stay with her to make some connections. Rossi, you and I are going to the places the victims were last seen and dumped."

Three Years Ago- In the Barn...

The sound of my own screams were ingrained into my brain, the wretched sound playing over and over while I curled in the corner of the cell. Blood seeped along my scarred back, dripping to the ground. The pain spread along my back, going by the cuts that were embedded into my skin.

As it was playing over and over in my head, the scene became more and more agitating. I remembered the feeling of the leather slamming on my back, gasps escaping my mouth. I remembered the screaming, the coughing, the groans of pain. I remembered when Sam shouted angrily at me when I pleaded for him to stop. His words became a jumble to me. All I could understand was him saying that he expected more of me.

What was I expected of? To not feel the pain? To not try to make him stop? Did he think that I was stronger? Because I wasn't. Never was, never will be. The pain was too excruciating, too numbing. No one could go through something without screaming for mercy. But he kept on shouting, hitting, stomping harder, and harder, and HARDER...

How much longer will I need to go through this? I thought. How much longer until he gets so frustrated that he'll kill me?

I was supposed to have hope. Hope that JJ would come storming in and rescue me, that I would be found somehow. Hope that somehow, they would find clues that led them to the barn in the middle of nowhere.

Somehow, the hope I had before had vanished.

But for a second, it came back, when I heard a whisper from across the room. "Hello?"

(A/N): The profiling part was a bit rushed, I know. I was really nervous to post this chapter specifically because of that. If you have any comments or corrections, feel free to tell me!