Quietly Emily walked along the docks, listening and looking out for their unsub. Distantly she could see Hotch confidently walking in the opposite direction, seemingly having spotted the man they were looking for. Slowly the female agent followed her boss but she stopped in her tracks after she took a few steps.
From one of the docks she could here a weak, muffled sob echoing through the night. Quickly she looked in the direction her boss had gone but swore softly when she noticed that he was already out of sight. After that she silently made her way towards the noise while pointing her gun in front of her and listening for footsteps or other indicators that the unsub might be close by.
While she walked she noticed the cold winter air seeping through her clothes making her more and more aware of how cold it really was. Especially so close to the frozen lake. In her head she cursed at JJ for picking a case here, where it was below freezing but she had to admit that the case had been urgent.
Their unsub, Clark Balton, had killed six women in only two weeks. He would let them almost freeze to death before killing the women by strangling them. The body's would then be dumped all around town, on playgrounds, in front of a supermarket and even at the school. Clark was smart too, they only found him because he got sloppy while kidnapping his seventh victim, Kate Delling.
Finally after walking for just over a minute the female agent reached the dock where the sobs came from. Carefully she walked further towards the noise until she spotted a crying almost naked women laying there all alone. Emily quickly looked around, searching for the unsub, before walking towards the freezing women.
When she reached her, Emily freed the victim before she took off her jacket. Gently she gave it to Kate before asking her with a soothing but pressing tone, "Did you see where Clark went?", Kate didn't answer right away, she only stared at the agent, so Emily asked again, "Did you see where the man that brought you here went?", her voice sounded more urgent now which seemed to startle the shivering women. Seconds after that Kate opened her mouth to answer but an urgent shout interrupted her.
"Prentiss look out!", Hotchs voice cut through the silence like a hot knife through butter, startling Emily and scaring Kate. With wide eyes the female agent turned around and looked right into the crazed eyes of their unsub.
Quickly she tried to point her gun at him but Clark was slightly faster than her. He gripped her wrist and twisted until Emily dropped the gun with a pained grunt. After that the man punched her in the face making her yelp. In return Emily kicked him in the stomach before pushing her thumb into his eye, pressing until blood seeped down his face making him scream in pain.
The unsub let go of her after that, pressing his hands on his wounded eye while whimpering silently. Emily turned around then, telling Kate to run to Hotch before turning back towards Clark who threw himself at her with an angry yell. While the two of them rolled around on the dock, fighting for the upper hand, she could distantly hear her boss talking to Kate shortly before his footsteps came closer and closer.
She could already see Hotch pointing his gun at the unsub, making her breath out in relief but before her boss was able to shoot, Clark tightly gripped Emilys shoulders and rolled them off of the dock and onto the frozen lake.
They fell onto the ice with a thud and a pained groan. The unsub wasn't deterred by their change of terrain and continued to hit and try to choke Emily while the agent desperately tried to get the unsub off of her so she could get back on safer ground.
The two of them continued their fight until a loud crack could be heard, making both of them stop in their tracks. With wide eyes the agent looked at Clark, hoping that he would see reason now that their life was on the line but to her shock the man smiled at her. He then leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I'm not afraid to die, are you?" His voice was dark and lazed with hardly concealed glee.
After that he gripped the agent by the shoulders once more and banged her head against the ice so hard that a cracking sound was heard almost every time her head hit the ground. Emily tried to defend her self, she really did, but her vision was blurry and black spots danced around her field of sight while her body started to feel heavier with every passing second. She hoped silentlyHotch would finally shoot him but knew that he wouldn't risk breaking the ice beneath them in fear of loosing Emily to the freezing water.
Only moments later, after her head hit the ice for the umpteenth time, an even louder crack was heard and she felt the ice beneath her give out. Shortly after that freezing water was all around her, engulfing her body completely and sucking all the warmth out of her. Desperately Emily tried to fight her way back over the surface but Clark grabbed her tightly, making it almost completely impossible for her to move more than an inch.
Only a few seconds went by like that, with her struggling without success, before she felt her body go numb from the cold while panic surged through her whole body. Emily barely felt it when the unsub let go of her and she didn't see him again after that. The agent wasn't even sure how much time passed after he let her go, the only thing she knew was that she didn't feel the cold anymore. She only felt how her lungs constricted and how much her chest hurt from breathing in the freezing water.
She wasn't even strong enough to struggle while her body sucked in more and more liquid. The only thing she could do was stare at the ice above, desperately hoping her team would get to her in time but she knew deep down that it was too late by now.
Shortly after she took another lung full of water before her eyes closed for the last time in her too short life.
Emily didn't even feel how her boss grabbed her by the waist to pull her out of the water or how he gave her CPR to no avail. She certainly didn't feel Hotchs hot tears dripping on and sliding down her ice cold cheek.