A/N: Something a little different. I've had this written for a little while now, and while I'm working on the next chapter of Reverie I figured I would post this in the meantime. Enjoy!

Prologue

The sky was darkened over the city of Quantico as it rained mercilessly for that entire dismal week. There had been no new cases and it had given the tired men and women of the BAU a well-deserved chance to rest and spend some time with their loved ones. By the time they all gotten a call from JJ telling them they had caught a case, they had all suddenly realized a few long days had passed and no one had heard from him. When the realization hit them they frantically tried to get a hold of the profiler.

Every call they made ended up going to his voice mail. Every time one of them showed up on his stoop to ring his doorbell they were met with a closed door and silence from within. It concerned them all, but they could only assume that he was facing some inner turmoil and had decided to take a small vacation on his own. One of them had suggested: perhaps to his mother's in Chicago? But the youngest was skeptical of this theory. He had never gone this long without telling the rest of the team where he'd be. Even in his darkest nights when he cut himself off from everyone in his life, there was always one he would turn too. There was one person whom he entrusted his life to that they were sure would know what had happened to him.

She didn't.

She had seemingly sent a thousand text messages to his phone over the last three days. She had lost count of the times she had called. His voicemail was full of her concern, understanding and even a few threats. She had received nothing in return. The last time she saw him he had dropped off animal companion at her apartment. She had been looking after his faithful dog for an extended period of time now as he had insisted he had to get his carpeting in the entryway replaced. He had explained to her he didn't want the goof thinking it was a chew toy while he worked.

That was last Friday.

Upon coming to the conclusion their friend was missing after hearing that not even she had heard anything, Aaron Hotchner called in an investigative CSI team to search his home. When the doors had been opened and the perimeter secured from a possible foul-play situation, the house had been searched thoroughly. The techs had found some cold take out still neatly in a bag on the kitchen counter. They'd found the den's flat screen glowing and playing the sports network. Even a half drank bottle of beer was left on the coffee table. It was as if he was there, simply having a shower upstairs or even working in the backyard on one of his many sheds. He was nowhere to be found.

They had begun working the situation immediately. Even Strauss recognized the strangeness of the situation and had pushed all of their cases aside until they could find even a small lead as to where Morgan might have gone or even better if they heard from him. Rossi had been selected to make the call to Fran Morgan, with bated breaths they had all hoped…prayed she had heard from her son. The alarmed questions and quiet sobs of realization over the speakerphone tore them apart. Their eyes saddened, their hearts broke and they were silent as Rossi had told his mother he would immediately inform her of any developments. As soon as the receiver was put down Garcia's body began to quake in fear as she was unable to contain her emotions as she was pulled into a tight embrace by JJ. He was officially missing.

Weeks went by. They worked to the absolute strain of their abilities in an effort to find even a whisper of a lead on the agent's whereabouts. They called old friends from Chicago, people he had gone to college and played football with, they had even called every old girlfriend they could find in his address books. Not one person knew or had spoken to him since he had vanished. It was frustrating for the members of the BAU. Due to the long days and longer nights their eyes became bloodshot, their posture wavered, but they dismissed it by reasoning that he would do the same for any of them. After three full weeks of not a single lead there was a breakthrough called in by an officer a few cities over. His car was located and identified parked in a parkade outside of a strip mall. Upon clearing the scene Reid had torn open the door of the SUV. Looking around the vehicle he noticed it was similar to the state his home had been left. A cup of coffee was still in a holder on the dash, a few miscellaneous wrappers adorned the seats and everything looked relatively undisturbed with no sign of a struggle.

His phone had been found under the front seat. It was off, which had prevented them from tracking it. It had been given to Garcia. When she turned it on notifications for her phone calls, text messages and voicemails flooded the screen. Her hands trembled…He hadn't even seen any of them. That was the last physical lead they ever received.

The next one had come a few days later.

She was sitting in her office, dark rings under her eyes. She shook as she typed, taking a few large sips of her coffee. She hadn't slept in two days but she was not about to when he was still gone…away from her. Swallowing deeply she clicked the few program windows down and opened her email, deciding to see if any of the other team had sent her anything to be searched on the new case they were currently assigned to. Strauss told them this morning she was unable to allow them to devote all of their time to Morgan's case. Despite her desperate cries of plea with the older woman, the team had had no choice and was currently working hard on a new string of murders in Iowa. Her tired eyes scrolled through the few bold new messages until her eyes stopped on one.

Her coffee cup slipped from her fingers and clattered the floor.

'Morgan says Hi :)'

She felt her hands trembling as she clicked the email and it opened into a new window displaying a darkened, shaking video feed. Her heart thudded and she brought her quaking hands to her mouth in shock. Huddled against the wall she recognized him, his broad shoulders were slouched and there were scratches and bruises all over his exposed body. His wrists and ankles were bound with fraying rope and there was a cloth tied over his eyes. Fear encircled her heart as she took in the sight of her broken hero. She felt her stomach heave. Previously unable to find her voice she could only scream out the names of her team, praying they would hear her cries.

The entire BAU team raced into her office when they heard her screams. As all of their eyes transfixed on the monitor they watched as a dark figure walked in front of the camera. The only thing they could see on the person was their piercing green eyes. The figure brought their hand up, displaying a kind wave as the person casually walked behind the slouched agent. Their eyes widened as they watched the shadowed person grasp Morgan's forehead as they brought his hanging head up. Garcia's head began shaking slowly…no…no! The figure pulled out a gleaming blade from their pocket and gingerly placed it under Morgan's stubble-covered chin. With one forceful movement the figure moved the blade so fast the mortified viewers of the feed didn't even blink. The mysterious person carefully angled its body back in front of the camera, blocking their view completely as if they were trying to shield what they had done. The hooded being waved at them again before the feed ceased into a torrent of white noise.

That was the last time they had seen Derek Morgan. They had not been contacted again.

Over the next passing months the video had been dissected by the best analysts completely trying to determine what had transpired on the other end. The many techs could only shake their heads solemnly. They could not determine what had happened to him. One said he was likely beaten into submission, another said the figure more likely slit his jugular. The only thing they could determine for sure was that he had been murdered in front of his entire BAU family.

When Penelope had been informed of the results, she angrily dismissed the other techs findings - she refused to believe it. Whether it was denial, or the extreme shock of being the one to receive the email, no one could say for sure. She didn't believe it because she could feel it deep in her heart…he was alive. She rationalized with herself that if he was gone, she would be able to sense it. At that moment she was only sure of one thing:

She would never stop looking for him.

A/N: Don't kill me. I promise there's an entire story to this. This is only prologue after all! ;) I would thoroughly appreciate a review! tell me what you think! what you think will happen, who you think's behind this? so many questions!