Alright. So I've had this idea for a while now, and I can safely say that it's time to get it out. I cannot guarantee it'll be that great- parts are a little shaky as I write them- but I do have chapters written out pretty far in front of this. I just have to type them. This fic will be Gen, and it will borrow from several authors. I have received permission from each of them and I will cite each fic as I use them, probably at the end of the chapter, with an actual link on my page. This chapter doesn't have any though, so it shouldn't be a problem here.

Disclaimer: I would love to own Criminal Minds and get to see all these beautiful people in real life, but I can't so I clearly don't own it.

Doubt. A seed, once planted, never really went away. Dr. Spencer Reid did know, on some level, that these people cared for him. Yet on another, there was always that doubt.

People he loved left.

That, to him, was a simple truth that he could not avoid. The people he loved always left him, and he couldn't help that, and some part of him always expected them to leave like Gideon had, like his father had, or worse-the way his mother had. He knew it wasn't her fault that she wasn't always there when he needed her, but that didn't help him when he needed it, and only served to fuel that doubt. He had no idea that it would make him such an attractive target for their next unsub.

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"Our next case is in Athens, Tennessee. Peter McDavis went missing while walking his dog last Thursday, and was held captive for 18 hours before he was found lying dead at the side of the road three blocks from his home. Cause of death was cardiac arrest, believed to be caused by electric currents which came through the nodes attached on either side of his head, given the burn patterns they left." JJ flashed the pictures onto the screen, showing first the victim, an older white man, then his dead body, which appeared to have been gently laid on a softer patch of the ground. Another picture zoomed into his face to show the pattern of the burn marks, which were oval shaped and ran down the side of his face. The largest were at the temples, and next to each eye there was a slightly smaller burn. Along the cheeks two longer but skinnier ones rested along the curve of the nose. About two centimeters from the corner of his mouth rested the smallest burn, almost unnoticeable.

"Four days later, in Dayton, Trisha Macintyre went missing on her way to work from her favorite coffee shop." JJ flashed the picture of a middle aged Latino woman "She was found the next day with the same burn patterns as McDavis, and it is believed she was alive for only twelve hours after her abduction. She was dumped three blocks from her office, cause of death was an aneurism."

"Two days later, Natalie Turner went missing while walking to the Tennessee College of Applied Technology. She was only held for about 5 hours before her death. She was found just outside of the college campus boundaries." The young black woman stared back at them, her eyes open in the picture of her body. "She had the same burn patterns on her face, same cause of death as Macintyre.

"Just a day after that, Justin Anderson was abducted on his way home from work, he is still missing, and just four hours ago Angela Paxton was abducted on her way to work." JJ finished.

"Any reason besides the death count make them think that these are connected?" Hotch asked.

"At each abduction site, a large white card with a single word in black letters was found. McDavis was Greed, Macintyre was arrogance, Turner was betrayal, Anderson was depression, and Paxton was adoration." JJ put up the pictures of the different abduction sites as they'd been found.

"So these are punishments for having undesirable characteristics?" Morgan asked.

"Well electrocution is one way to make people change." Rossi said.

"Justin Anderson diagnosed with reactive depression, but he was the only one with any type of mental illness." Reid looked up from his furious flipping of the files as Garcia spoke.

"The coroner's report says that there was a decrease in the severity of the burns from one victim to the next, and there were no traces of any toxins or drugs, though there was a needle mark in their shoulders." He said.

"So what, the unsub is trying to make them live through the torture longer, but somehow it's backfiring on him?" Morgan asked.

"The burns aren't consistent with the amount of electricity they'd need for torture or death, and there doesn't appear to be a lot of burns on the bodies." Prentiss pointed out. "So maybe torture isn't this unsub's goal."

"Regardless, this unsub is escalating. Wheels up in twenty." Hotch said.