You ran out of the building, down a flight of long stone steps, and down the street to hid among some large plants. Tears threatened to fall but you kept them at bay by breathing deeply, looking up and blinking.  It was only slightly raining, but enough to make you take shelter under an awning. The hotel the BAU team was staying at wasn't too far away but you didn't trust yourself to remember where it was exactly as you struggled to keep your deep sobs internal.

He was back. The Carpender, as they call him.

It was nearly two years ago when he had taken you captive and subjected you to all the horrors that were his signatures to his killings. But just before he was about to truly end your suffering, the BAU found you and you were given several months to recover.It took you nearly four months to finally open up to your therapist about what happened exactly. But never in a million years were you going to tell your team what happened.

Sure, the forensic team could tell what he did to those who had already died. But there are things even a forensic team could never discover. Phycological things. Mind tricks and manipulations that left you guessing if your own hand was really your hand or a maggoty flesh wound that needed to be chopped off. Your life was a game to him and now you feared he was back for a second round.

You were told they caught him shortly after they rescued you. Spencer, your closest friend, even said he got a few blows in before Luke had to restrain him. But it seemed the Carpender was able to carve his way out of his sentence on death row. Now he was back to his routine and you were having a hard time keeping things together.

You heard footsteps behind you. Fear burst through you and you screamed as you turned around, holding up your arms around your head as you coward against a row of bushes. You started to shake as your breathing became rapid. You closed your eyes and willed the person to leave. But you heard a soft voice instead.

"(Y/n)?"

You opened your eyes but didn't move, not trusting your ears. A pair of shoes appeared in front of you and instantly you knew who it was. Slowly your breathing went back to normal as you watch them crouch down then felt gentle hands on your shoulders. You internally winced as your body's immediate response was to flinch at the touch. 

"(Y/n), it's just me, Spencer."

You took a deep breath and nodded, your face still in your hands. "I know. Sorry."

Spencer didn't force you to move or to look at him as he just crouched there, holding your shoulders. "Don't apologize. It's me who should apologize."

You shivered as you faced Spencer, looking around him at the drizzling rain but not at him. "Why are you sorry? It's not your fault with what happened. I'm just..." you let out a breath and shook your head slightly before meeting his worried gaze, "I'm not sure what to think at the moment."

Spener took a tentative step forward, his hands still on your shoulders. "But there is something on your mind."

You looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. "You know me too well," you looked down, leaning into his touch as you closed your eyes and quietly replied. "He can't still be alive, right? It's not really him is it?"

Spencer enveloped you in his arms and you leaned into his chest, wrapping your arms around his middle. You felt his hand hold your head gently as he spoke. "Luke and Emily made sure he sentenced to death row. He's long gone and buried."

You nodded against his chest, your hands taking fist fulls of his sweater. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out then," you mumbled into his chest.

Spencer held you tighter as he spoke, his voice rumbling in your ears. "No, it doesn't. But it's going to take one to find his accomplice."

You smiled into his sweater as your fists relaxed. "Good thing I got you, huh?"

~~~~~

You sat on a love seat, wrapped up in a warm blanket with a cup of your favorite warm drink in your hands. Everyone was gathered in the hotel room talking, eating, and looking through old files and new ones. The police station was currently under construction but you weren't bothered, you liked being with everyone where it was cozy. Especially considering what this case was about.

You pushed aside the hundredth file and sighed, laying your head on the armrest of the seat, closing your eyes for a moment as you spoke. "My eyes will bleed if I have to look at one more piece of paper."

Luke sighed, throwing a file down on the floor next to him. "I'd rather get shot at then get any more paper cuts."

Everyone let out small laughs. Penelope rolled her eyes and smiled. "No, let us be glad there are no bullets and it's just paper who's our enemies for a moment." She reached over from her couch and used the end of her fluffy pen to tap Luke's fingers. "There, all better." Then she handed him another file.

Luke chuckled but took the file, leafing through it. You took a sip of your drink and looked around the room. You were safe. You were alive. You weren't going to be taken away. YOu closed your eyes and let out a slow breath. You were safe.

Movement next to you make you open your eyes seeing your favorite genius take a seat next to you, a new stack of papers in his arms. He handed you half and got comfortable as he started looking through his stack.

"The only thing I can get any idea on is the gender. It has to be a woman. A man, even a psychopath, would have a hard time being this detailed and thorough. These new victims are all killed to near exactness as the others."

Luke shrugged. "She sure knows how to get the job done."

Spencer nodded. "The original Carpender was a Visionary killer. He thought he was accomplishing something that told to him by a god of some sort. Killing those eight women was a job. But now that he is gone, his accomplice now sees this as a mission to fulfill."

Rossi didn't look up from his papers as he spoke. "Yes but there is one victim missing. What is stopping her from completing this one? She is taking a lot longer than the Carpender."

You let out a slow breath. "That's because she needs me."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to you. Spencer reached out and placed a hand on your arm. "Don't. (Y/n)..."

You placed a hand over his and shot him a small, sad smile. "It's okay Spence, they need to know at least this much."

Closing your eyes you took a deep breath then spoke, Spencer's warm hand grounding you from disappearing into the past.

"The sixth woman was dumped where I was taken. The seventh woman died while I was in captivity. She ended up killing herself and that left the Carpender very angry. He wanted to save me for last for something. But now that was all ruined. Now he wanted me to take her place, but he didn't want to kill me yet."

You paused. You felt another hand lay atop yours. You turned to Spencer as a tear fell down your face. he held your gaze as you continued, his gaze never wavering and his hands holding you steady.

"He made me do some unspeakable things to the seventh woman and to another he had captured. But I helped her escape, but not before she was physically marred. She didn't make it ten blocks before he caught her again and killed her. Ironically, her body lead you to find me. Then he was livid. He had stopped leaving the room and recording his voice and started beating me and...."

"Wait," JJ got up from the bed she was leaning against and came over to stand next to Emily's chair, "You said he was recording his voice?"

YOu tore your eyes from Spencer's face and nodded to JJ. "Yeah, he recorded everything either by writing it down, voice recording, or video."

Rossi turned to Emily. "Why don't we have that in evidence?"

Emily looked shocked. "I had no idea he had any."

You shook your head. "I thought I told you guys about it. One of the grunt agents came up to me and took my statement where I included everything then they left."

Emily shook her head. "I didn't get any type of report. We were waiting to take your statement until you were ready to think back on it again."

You looked around the room. "But I told somebody..."

Spencer looked puzzled. "But who?"

The room fell silent, you could hear the blood rushing through your veins. Loose papers and stacks of files forgotten, the BAU team sat in a thick silence as their minds turned with the new information. Spencer still had his hands around yours, the touch a much-needed anchor to the whirlwind of emotions that were battling inside you.

Suddenly Emily spoke. "Guys, I haven't been fully honest with you."

All eyes turned to her and your heart hammered with anticipation. Luke cocked his head to the side.

"This is about the body isn't it?"

Penelope looked between Emily and Luke. "What body? Who's body? Did you find a body?"

Emily shook her head. "We lost one." She looked through a file and pulled out a paper, looking it over before handing it to Rossi who then passed it down. "The Carpender didn't die by capital punishment."

Your blood ran cold. Spencer sat up and shook his head. "You said he died on Death Row."

Luke nodded. "He did, but someone got to him first before the injections."

You stared at nothing as your fears from earlier came back in drowning waves. No. This can't be happening.

Rossi piped up. "But..."

Emily sighed. "But when we came back to get the body for our investigation it was gone. Everyone thought the other was taking care of it and therefore no one was leaving it wide open for the taking.

Penelope shivered. "So now we not only have an Apprentice Carpender but a zombie too?"

Spencer's hands squeezed yours in frustration. "And why didn't you tell us this?"

Shaking her head, Emily closed her eyes and uncrossed her arms, letting them fall to her side in defeat. "I know, I'm sorry, that's totally on me. I just didn't want to worry any of you. To be honest, since we didn't profile him for having an accomplice, I didn't think that it would be worth bothering any of you. I have a team looking into it but with the main threat out of the way and (Y/n)'s recovery to focus on, I left it on the back burner. And for too long it seems."

Spencer scooted to the edge of the couch. "But now this means that there may not have been an accomplice at all. This looks all too precise and familiar, too good to be a copycat. Are you even sure he was dead?"

You sat up too, turning to Spencer with utter and complete fear rushing through your body making your hands cold and your heart beat frantically. Your eyes fell on the table that had the eight victims from the case two years ago and the seven from now. Thier bloodied bodies a stark contrast to the pale yellow and white of the papers and files are strewn about the room. You just stared at their pictures as you tried to deny what your mind was figuring out.

Suddenly Emily's phone went off. After a few short replies from her end, she sighed. You didn't look away from the pictures as she spoke.

"They found the eighth victim."

You closed your eyes slowly and let your tears fall silently as your mind filled with all the memories you tried to suppress. The Carpender and his nine gangly fingers. His nine yellowed teeth. His nine tools of torture. His nine chanting words he whispered under his breath as he stroked your cheek nine times. The nine flashes of light that went off every nine seconds. The nine blows to your back when you didn't cry nine tears.

His ritual of nine had to be completed and you were his ninth.