Trigger warning
Chapter Eight: Time Killer

Luna felt embarrassed, she had told Derek everything, every single morbid detail of the life she left behind in Chicago and every happy detail of the life she left in Los Angeles. Derek told Luna to stay with him until they got this Taylor situation sorted. She knew it would happen, he would go all big brother mode on her without giving her a second to breathe.

"How long do you expect me to stay here? I do have a life and a boyfriend in L.A."

"Just until we figure out what this Taylor guy's deal is then you go home."

"Der, that could take weeks, hell months even. I have a life in Los Angeles. I came here for help but maybe I should do this on my own." she stands up from her spot.

"Luna Marie Morgan Sit down right now." Derek was serious, the tone of his voice said it all that and he used her full name,  she of course sighs but does as she's told. "You come to my door crying fearing for your life and get an attitude with me, no absolutely not."

Luna rolls her eyes as Derek's fiance Eden comes into the room, she places a mug down in front of her before doing the same to  Derek, before standing by him comfortingly. "Be nice Derek."  she scolds and Morgan of course sips his drink but decides to listen to his woman.

"All I'm saying is you're not leaving until this Taylor person is behind bars." Derek mutters as Eden hits his shoulder, she rolls her eyes at her soon to be husband.

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime? Huh?" Luna asks, looking around the couple's house, it was average size and had three bedrooms, enough for them to live comfortably with their dog and any future kids they planned on having.

Eden pulls Derek off to the side, she had several Ideas several plans, the couple talked bickering in the corner, while Luna texted, athena telling her she was taking her vacation days for a while, to not enjoy being alone for too long because she would find her way back, as far as Eddie. What could she say? Hello Edmundo I left because my psychotic ex boyfriend is on the hunt for me and I didnt want you to get hurt? She was thankful to have left him a letter, explaining how she needed time that this isn't goodbye, it was simply see you later.

Eden and Derek walk back over to Luna who was fiddling with her hands. Eden nudges Derek who kisses his teeth.

"I will Talk to Hotch about seeing if you could help the team out."

"As In me working for the FBI?" Luna's eyes were about to bulge out of her head.

Derek nods as she squeals, hugging him.

Never in a million years did she think she would be working for the FBI let alone the BAU, it had been an entire year since she arrived in Virginia. She didn't think she would stay this long honestly no one did, she liked working with the team and honestly they could use more women.

There was Blake, she was very inquisitive, blunt, Garcia, Luna called her a fairy, which absolutely described her, JJ who was the mama bear and former liaison until Garcia started doing it. There was Hotch the team leader, he still couldn't believe that Morgan had a genius sister. Rossi the rich italian who said she was way too pretty to be related to Derek, and lastly the other resident genius Spencer, he had the exact same IQ as Luna several Doctorates and Degrees and could read 20,000 words per minute which definitely impressed Luna.

He was also very smitten for Luna, she was simply perfection in his eyes. Things had been harder since Maeve. He had finally  found the courage to move on to step out of his comfort zone and just around that time he finds out about Derek's other sister, the one who is in every childhood photo on his desk, who is probably twelve to fifteen in every photo.He had never met her in person until now and he was forever thankful. She was a breath of fresh air.

The team found themselves being called in late that night. Everyone was stepping out of different elevators.

"You must be peeved." Garcia turns to see Blake stepping out of an elevator.

" I get to Dulles, make it through security, about to board the plane to Boston, and bam, I get the call."

The elevator pings again and Luna steps out clad in a tight red dress, her heels clicking against the marble flooring, a go bag brimming in her hand, she had been on a date with a guy she met on a very secure site. It wasn't going great though, seeing as all she could think about was Eddie and his smile and his face and what he was doing in that second.

"Hubba Hubba." JJ comments as Reid's jaw is almost on the floor.

"Wooza, Someone have a hot date?" Garcia says as Luna nods. Eden gives her a reassuring smile.

She just smiled bashfully. "Yeah, I got the call half way through the dinner entree. Which was lobster." Everyone winces.

" I say we all demand a vacation."

" From who, the guy that works 3 jobs? Good luck with that." Spencer jokes which doesnt go unnoticed by anyone.

//

It had been forever since Eddie saw Luna, since he felt her warmth, he goes by her apartment and sleeps in her bed from time to time when it seems too hard to go on with life. Of course he believed her, her past seemed to haunt her every waking moment of her life. He didn't want anyone else. He wasn't going to date anyone but Luna, he was waiting for her no matter how long it took. He now knew how Buck felt about Abby.

Life seemed to take a big toll on everyone lately, between Los Angeles's weather and Luna's sudden departure it was like everyone was in a bad fucking mood, like they could sense that the color had drained from the entire world. Athena would remind everyone that it was temporary that Luna would be back, she had a life in LA afterall, that she was taking some time for herself and her family.

The puzzle pieces of what was and what is? Werent fitting together, it was like he knew the difference between reality and fantasy but in this moment they were the same. Playing a sick and twisted game with his mind and his heart. What do you do? Well Eddie Diaz all you can really do is pretend it doesn't bother you, to keep it locked away only for you to see.

If only it were that simple

//

"Sorry you guys had to come in again. Garcia?" Hotch enters the round table room with  Rossi and they take a seat at the table.

" Yeah. Two women, Sarah Beck and Jill Elks, were found in a park in Glendale, Arizona, within the last 3 days. Both of them were single, in their late 20s, and following their normal, low-risk routines when they were abducted."

" Where were they taken from?" Blake asks.

" Sarah was on her way to a theater group rehearsal, and Jill was abducted from her apartment. The unsub broke in through a window."

" Well, clearly, he's hunting a specific type." Reid says as Luna nods.

"He left the jewelry untouched."

" Yeah, it's not about robbery." Eden speaks up.

"Both women were sexually assaulted, and then they were shot in the heart and left in that prayer position."

"That's odd."

" Maybe it's religious. It looks like they're leaning on a cross."

" Their hands are tilted forward."  Morgan points to the pictures on the screen.

" He could have made them supplicate and their hands clenched in rigor mortis. So they're possibly praying to atone for their sins." Luna says simply as Reid nods in agreement.

" I doubt that. Both women have pretty clean backgrounds."

" Since the posing was done postmortem, maybe it's a representation of the way in which he made them beg for their lives." Reid explains.

" We've definitely seen that before."

"He's getting off on the power. Let's head to Arizona. Wheels up in 30"

"Who knows where inspiration comes from? "Perhaps it arises from desperation. "Perhaps it comes from the flukes of the universe, the kindness of the muses." Amy Tan.

The team were on the jet doing their usual debriefing. It was done rather quickly and Luna and Reid were assigned to work together, and after changing out her clothes she sat there thinking,  longing for his touch and his warmth. She missed everything about him, and of course she missed everyone else but him, he was the calm in your storm and she wasn't doing. Barely sleeping, trying to put up a good front. She was truly and utterly miserable and maybe this is what Taylor wanted for her. Since she had been to Virginia there had been no text messages from him.

Glendale Arizona was mostly dry and absolutely humid which did nothing for Luna's hair at all. She,  Reid, JJ and Hotch were at the police station. Reid and Luna were talking with the latest victim's husband. He explained how his wife was having an affair and he had not seen her for two days, but that he also didn't know who she was having the affair with.  They thought that Maybe the unsub was killing people who were cheating on their spouses.

They call Garcia and she shoots down their theory and of course they are back to where they started. With nothing, no leads or anything. The next day rolls around like a thick smog and Luna finds herself fighting with the idea of getting up and going on with her day. She doesn't want to, in fact she would rather stay in this terrible hotel bed until the case is over and go home, not virgina home Los Angeles home , to her Eddie and her fire squad. She missed them and little did she know they missed her more than anything in the world right now.  But she was at the precinct going over things with Morgan and Rossi, while Blake, Hotch, Spencer, JJ and the Sergeant assigned to the case were all at  the latest crime scene. Luna was  trying to screw her head on straight, Spencer could see how sad she was, how depressed and lonely she looked, but how easily she hid it. 

Its an hour later when everyone else returns to the precinct and the team is ready to give their profile.

Hotch starts off the profile. "We believe that this unknown subject is a white male in his early 30s. Initially he targeted white, blond women in their 20s but is expanding his victim pool."

" His M. O. is to rape his victims and then shoot them in the heart. At the disposal site, he poses them as if they're praying. He's trying to convey a message that only he understands."

"Before he kills his victims, he forces the women to consume human flesh. It's called projected cannibalism. Typically cannibalism is a willing choice, but the act of forcing someone to engage in it is a form of torture." Reid continues.

" It tells us that the unsub is sadistic and most likely delusional. The emergence of those delusions would have caused difficulties in his relationships and jobs in the past. He may have been institutionalized or locked up as a result." Luna finishes.

"He sees himself as an enforcer and is punishing these women for their sins. He may have an overdeveloped sense of morality and feels the need to superimpose this on others."

"Our unsub could have shot  his victims anywhere, but he chose the heart, suggesting that he's been hurt by somebody close to him who's clearly the center of his rage."  Morgan says.

"This is the comfort zone our unsub is operating in." Reid points to a part of the map he circled. " We should increase police presence within this area. He's also devolving rapidly and could resort to even more extreme measures to punish his victim."

After telling the profile to the precinct the team gathers into the room where they are working.

"You know what's odd? Usually in cannibalism, it's the visceral organs and the fleshy parts being eaten. But this unsub is making the victims eat exclusively from the head. Why?"

" That may be symbolic. It's the one body part a person cannot survive losing." Blake says as everyone nods.

" All right, so why don't you two keep looking into that, and then we can devise a neighborhood canvass questionnaire, check for any attempted break-ins in the area."  Derek orders as everyone nods.

"Someone's practicing for his new role. Look, rumor has it Hotch is putting in for Strauss' job."  Eden just zips her lips like a key not saying anything.

" See no evil, hear no gossip." Rossi says as Eden nods in agreement.

" Oh, come on, we see evil all day long."

" Rossi says if we want to know, we gotta ask the big man himself."

As if on cue the big man walks into the room engrossed in a file, not noticing all eyes trained on him.

"I've asked Garcia to compile a list of break-ins in the area and also a missing persons report." He looked up at everyone and the room was silent. " And yes, they did talk to me about the section chief job."

" Do you want it?"

" I know what I don't want is an outsider coming in and questioning every move that this team makes. I told them that I'd think about it."

''So what happens if you accept?" Spencer asked as Eden just rubs her friend on the shoulder comfortingly

" It means this would be my last case in the field, but nothing's been decided. And as soon as I figure out what to do, you'll be the first to know."

The next few hours were spent trying to figure out who the unsub is if they had a lead or not, the sergeant had a ex parole who fit the description but he was a bus and while Reid, Eden and JJ went to the coffee cart outside, Reid got the M.e report handed to him, he and Luna brained stomped and came with that was happening. Very long story short, they believed the unsub was obsessed with the praying mantis, making his victims eat pieces from the human head and the way he posed  them after he killed them. 

Of course at this point everyone was looking at them like they had two heads.  The praying mantis can kill any of a multitude of creatures, but the most interesting fact is that oftentimes the female mantis engages in sexual cannibalism, meaning she'll bite off the head of her mate once copulation is complete, sometimes even during intercourse.

"So that's what someone did to our unsub." Blake nods a little taken aback by the pairs rambling.

" It also explains why he shoots his victims through the heart."

" But the center of our unsub's anger didn't bite off his head." JJ says as Luna nods.

" No, but she hurt him so badly that she got into his brain."

"So he's flipping the script." Blake suggests as the pair nod.

" He's completely taking it over. He basically sees the victims as the praying mantis out to destroy him, so before they can get to him, he rapes them, forces them to engage in cannibalism, thereby taking away their control of the situation." 

" He's essentially walking them through the mating behavior of a captive praying mantis, only entirely on his terms." He even mirrors the decapitation of the insect by forcing them to eat pieces of a human head, only it's not a male human head, it's a female human head." Luna finishes as JJ nods she still wasn't use to the fact that there was two genius IQs on the team.

" The woman that's the core of his rage." Hotch says as Luna and Reid nod again.

" Exactly. Now all women are his enemy. They're his predators, and he believes they're out to get him."

Of course they loop the rest of the team in on the two genius's ideas. Which turns out to be right, after calling Garcia they find out from a DNA sample on file that the victim is a woman by the name of Heather Clarke, she has been missing for two weeks. Now all they needed to do was connect Heather to someone that matched the profile.

" No, zero, zero. There's nothing there."

"There's got to be something. See if her parents ever filed a restraining order." Rossi says

" Oh, creepy bingo. When Heather was 16, she broke up with a guy named Wallace Hines. Wallace did not take the breaking up well. He went into an emo downward spiral."

"What happened to Wallace?" Eden asked.

"He was hospitalized. In fact, he's been in and out of institutions for over a decade. He suffers from acute delusional disorder."

"Where is he now?"  Hotch asks.

" He was living with his mom until very recently. He moved two miles away from her, right smack in the middle of the hunting zone."

" So Wallace kills Heather, and when that doesn't alleviate his rage, he begins killing other women." Derek suggests as everyone nods.

"Send us both addresses. Blake, you and Reid notify Heather's parents." and just like that everyone is off on their way.

Morgan, Luna and Eden all went to Check out Wallace's apartment. While JJ, Hotch and Rossi were at the mother's house. After some searching of Wallace's place they find a chef's jacket for a place called "Wheelers". After hearing from the others that Wallace was on the loose. The trio pile back into the SUV.

"5-5-David, I just saw our armed suspect going south down holden. He's in a dark Ford Taurus, turning right on Washington near Holden."

" That's right near us." Derek mutters as Eden pulls at her radio attached to her vest.

"We're approaching that location from the north."

"That's it. That's him." Luna points to the car in front of them from the backseat.

"In pursuit of a black Ford Taurus going westbound on Washington, crossing State. Arizona license plate 52B7HN"

There's a high speed chase that happens, Luna is holding onto the handle above her head, she wasn't use to her brothers chaotic driving, of course Derek manages to get  Wallace's car to crash, a horn is blaring towards them as  A semi is about to hit them Morgan moves the car out of the way just in time and they all pile out, arresting Wallace from his car.

Hotch's phone rings and he answers it. "Yes. I'm sorry? Thank you" he stands up and approaches the group. " We got the wrong guy."

" What?" Derek sits up in his chair as does his girlfriend.

"The fingerprints at the restaurant don't match"

"Hotch, how is that possible?"  Luna asks. All she wanted to do was go home and not to her chaotic apartment, home to LA. Maybe it was time for her to stop playing FBI agent and be the true woman she was always meant to be.

Josh Billings once wrote, "there are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared... Twins."

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