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English
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Part 11 of Stranded , Part 25 of Chron’s CM/DC
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Published:
2023-02-15
Completed:
2023-02-18
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3,765
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2/2
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Darkness has kept the light concealed (six feet under)

,

Summary:

This can’t be happening

He kicks and punches at the box he is in, but he can’t get out. All he succeeds in doing is make dirt fall through little cracks in the wood and onto his face.

No please no-

As he tastes the soil, his mind overflows with panic.

Help, please hel-

He has to get out. He has to get out. He has t-

B, please he-

Notes:

Thanks to keirraizel for help with brainstorming and formatting, and raccoonwriter for being coauthor!

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Jay wakes up with a groan. 

 

He opens his eyes, but it’s too dark to see anything. 

 

No

 

He tries to sit up, but there is something in his way. 

 

No

 

He frantically feels around. 

 

No

 

This can’t be happening

 

No no no

 

This can’t be happening

 

Please

 

N-

 

He kicks and punches at the box he is in, but he can’t get out. All he succeeds in doing is make dirt fall through little cracks in the wood and onto his face. 

 

No please no-

 

As he tastes the soil, his mind overflows with panic. 

 

Help, please hel-

 

He has to get out. He has to get out. He has t-

 

B, please he-

 

He’s not sure when he starts screaming, but he is sure that no one can hear him. He doesn’t know what he screams, no idea if words come out of his mouth, and if they do, if they are anything remotely understandable. 

 

Help, please, please no-

 

He screams and kicks and claws until he runs out of oxygen. 

 

Please not this, anything but this, help please, B hel-

 

He doesn’t feel the splinters digging into his fingers as he claws, he doesn’t feel his toes breaking as he kicks. 

 

No, please no. B, help. Please. No no no no n-

 

As he starts to lose consciousness, his last thoughts are almost unintelligible, so consumed by panic. 

 

No. No no no no no. Please no. Help please. B, help. Please. Dad please. D-

 

As he loses consciousness, the last thing he feels is overwhelming fear. 









A couple hours ago:

 

“Morgan?”

 

“Yeah Todd?”

 

“I think we should split up, this place is pretty big.”

 

Morgan looks around the property, at the house, barn, and other buildings scattered around. “Sounds good. I’ll take the barn and you take the house?”

 

Todd gives a thumbs up, and they split. 

 

Morgan doesn’t find anything suspicious in the barn, but he does get to pet a dog. Maybe he shouldn’t have pet the dog, it was snarling something fierce at him, but once he talked it down, it was just too cute. And he didn’t lose any fingers, so all’s well that ends well. 

 

As he tries to figure out if the ladder to the hay loft will hold his weight, he hears faint sounds of a struggle in the distance. 

 

On his way to the commotion, he hears a gun go off. 

 

His heart stutters in his chest, and his legs start moving faster. As fast as they possibly can. 

 

He runs at a speed only possible due to the adrenaline in his system, but it’s not fast enough. 

 

He reaches the house just as a pickup truck speeds away.

 

A pickup truck with an unconscious Todd in the back. 

 

His hands shake with uncontrollable anger and fear as he pulls out his phone. 












“What do we have so far?” Hotch asks the room.

 

“I failed to protect Todd. I failed my teammate.” Morgan says with barely hidden self loathing. 

 

“Don’t blame yourself Morgan.” Reid speaks up. “It could have happened to any of us. And Todd can take care of himself. He no doubt got a few good hits in, and we can have hope that he’ll find a way to survive until we find him. It’s Todd after all, he can survive just about anything.”

 

“I guess so.” Morgan sighs. 

 

“Morgan, did you get a look at the unsub?” Hotch asks. 

 

Morgan nods. “Middle aged, white male, shaggy brown hair. He had a tattoo on his neck, but I couldn’t get a good look at it.” 

 

Hotch stands up and approaches the projector which is shining a map of the city they are in onto the wall.  A red circle shows the property Todd was taken from. 

 

He opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get a single word out, the conference room doors burst open, revealing three figures. 

 

Standing in the doorway are Tim, Dami and Oli.

 

A furious Tim, Dami and Oli. 

 

Tim holds a snarling Dami and Oli by their collars, barely able to contain them, his crutches hanging unused off of his arms. 

 

The boy and the dog are literally snarling, Hotch doesn’t know which one is more terrifying. 

 

The agents in the room look around in confusion, not understanding how they could have gotten here. Their current location is multiple states away from Quantico. 

 

“What are you doing here? And how did you get here?” Hotch asks. 

 

He is ignored as Tim and Damian stalk up to the table, leaving Oli to stand guard at the door. 

 

Damian pulls out a chair for Tim, but not one for himself. The way he stands at Tim’s shoulder makes Hotch think of a little bodyguard. 

 

“What kind of imbecilic agents lets one of their own, my Baba, get captured!?” Damian demands. The amount of vindictiveness in his tone sends shivers down their spines.

 

The shift uncomfortably as Dami stares them down, fiery violence in his eyes. “What is your planned course of action?”

 

“Some of us will go to the location Todd was kidnapped from, see if we can learn anything helpful, and the rest will investigate other possible leads, like cameras and property records.” Hotch explains hesitantly. He doesn’t want these kids involved in the case, he didn’t even want them to know what had happened until either Todd had been rescued, or he had put off telling them for as long as he possibly could. 

 

But Damian is surprisingly intimating. It’s obvious he will do anything to get his Baba back. 

 

Anything. 

 

And Tim is also frightening, despite him doing nothing but sitting and staring at them silently.

 

Damian scoffs. “We have a better plan. You are lucky we are here, it’s clear that you will need our assistance in this case.”

 

Tim pulls a tablet out of a bag Dami is holding and sets in on the table. He presses the button to turn on the screen and everyone leans in for a closer look. 

 

On the screen is a GPS location, as well as lines with numbers showing vitals; heart rate, oxygen levels, and blood pressure. 

 

“What’s this?” Rossi asks in surprise. 

 

“Tt. It’s Todd’s location and vitals.”

 

“That’s great! But how?” JJ asks. 

 

Dami rolls up his sleeve as well as Tim’s to reveal matching red, green, and yellow silicone bracelets. “Todd has one as well. We got a notification that his vitals dropped, so we rushed right over. I desired to go directly to the location, but Timothy insisted we rendezvous with you first.”

 

“You did the right thing by coming to us first.” Hotch says. “Judging by those stats, Todd is unconscious, but alive. I’ll contact SWAT and we will head there immediately.”

 

“Very well.” Dami nods stiffly, his muscles tense. “Who shall we ride with?”

 

Hotch opens his mouth to say that there is no way they are coming with, but one look at them causes him to shut it. He knows how to pick his battles. This is a battle he can’t afford to fight right now. Not while one of his agents, his family, may very well be fighting for his life. 

 

He opens his mouth again, his face blank to hide the unnatural fear he feels in the presence of them. “We’ll take two vehicles. Morgan, you two, and myself in one, Rossi, JJ, Reid, and Prentiss in the other. Let’s go.”









The ride to the location is tense. 

 

Morgan tries to apologize to Tim and Dami, but Tim ignores him and Dami responds with words intended to hurt. "I wish it had been you that was taken, not Baba."

 

It’s a success. Dami’s words hurt more than Morgan would have expected. Sure he wishes that as well, but hearing the words out of the child’s mouth increase his guilt levels tenfold. 

 

Damian holds back his sobs, just like his mother taught him, for as long as he can. Until Tim sees his struggle and opens his arms in a silent offer for a hug. Damian accepts the offer and hides his face in Tim's chest. He lets out quiet sobs. He’s already mourned one father. He doesn’t want to mourn another. 

 

It hurts Morgan even more when he sees Dami’s tears. At least he has Oli to pet. She doesn’t blame him. Probably. 

 

Tim stares emotionlessly at the tablet. He doesn’t want to feel the pain and fear, so he doesn’t let himself feel anything. 

 

Suddenly the vitals spike. 

 

They rise for about a minute, high levels that indicate Todd is panicking something fierce, and then suddenly start to lower. 

 

And lower. 

 

And lower. 

 

They get dangerously low. 

 

Deathly low. 

 

There is a long, piercing beep as the levels flatline. 

 

Everyone freezes in shock and pain. 

 

Hotch barely manages to stay on the road. 



Todd is dead. 



Agent Jason Peter Todd-Wayne, coworker, friend, family, and father of two is dead. 

 

And it’s all Morgan’s fault. 

 

 

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Tim steps out of the vehicle, his expression hollow. His eyes are dry, unlike the rest of the vehicle’s occupants, but he has no doubt that his eyes will be as wet as the rest of them as soon as what just happened sinks in.

Right now, he feels as if he is in a fog. He feels like the air around him is thick jelly, difficult to move through. The sounds around him are muted, he can’t understand what anyone is saying. He can only hear a static buzzing.

But he can see their faces. The expressions on their faces tell him that they know what has happened, and that they are in the early stages of shock and grief as well.

Someone gently takes the tablet out of his hands, he doesn’t know who, and then he is pulled into a hug.

He thinks it might be Spencer’s arms around him, judging by the smell of old clothes and books, but he can’t feel the warmth of Spencer’s arms or chest. He feels as if there is a barrier between himself and everyone else. Like he isn’t entirely in his own body, just attached to it by a thread.

Oli whines beside him, close enough that might be leaning or rubbing against his leg, but he can’t be sure.

A small hand slips into his and starts pulling him somewhere. He follows numbly, tripping over his own legs and crutches until someone wraps an arm around his shoulders to support him.

They stop moving. The people around him look at the tablet, they point at something on the screen, then look around their surroundings.

They don’t find whatever it is they are looking for.

Tim lets his head drop, too exhausted to hold it up.

He stares numbly, unblinkingly, at the dirt underneath him.

The freshly dug dirt.

It takes a few long moments, coherent thoughts are as slippery as ice right now, but Tim eventually puts the pieces of the puzzle together.

Fresh dirt.

Missing Jay.

Fresh dirt.

Missing Jay.

He falls to his knees and plunges his hands in the dirt. He feverishly starts scratching at the earth, digging with an energy only possible due to the adrenaline surging through his veins.

He gasps for breath, and tears start falling off his face, turning the dirt on his hands into mud.

Someone gently pulls him away, and he falls the rest of the way to the ground, sobs wracking his body.

He watches from the place he collapsed, as if in a trance, as people appear with shovels and continue digging where he had begun.

A small figure glues itself to his side, and he unconsciously puts his arm around it.

Someone tries to pull him and the figure against him away, speaking words Tim can’t understand over the static fuzz, and the roaring of blood in his ears. Whoever it is doesn’t succeed.

The figures digging the hole get shorter, and shorter, and the pile of dirt beside the hole gets taller and taller.

Suddenly, when the digging figures are about waist deep into the hole, there is a flash of light. They jump out of the hole in fear, and Tim hears shouting. Lots of shouting.

Nearly drowned out by the shouts is the sound of beeping coming from the tablet laying on the ground nearby.

Beeping sharp enough, and loud enough, to cut through some of the fuzz and the fog.

With shaking arms, Tim crawls towards the sound.

He stares at the tablet, unable to comprehend what his eyes show him.

He blinks.

And blinks again.

Jay’s heart is beating.

His brother is alive.

The tears streaming down his face turn from tears of pain into tears of joy as he watches the people with shovels frantically remove the last few feet of dirt.

Medical personnel appear with a backboard, and as soon as enough dirt is removed, they lower themselves in the hole with the board.

Tim's heart beats frantically as he watches agents and officers work together to bring Jay out of the hole.

The emotions he feels when he sees Jay lifted out of the hole and set in the ground are comparable to an intense storm, they hammer at him until he’s gasping for breath.

He crawls towards Jay, and when he is close enough, he collapses on top of him. He feels the warmth of his brother’s living body, the rapid rise and fall of his chest. He lets his eyes close and his body go limp as the emotions barraging him successfully shatter his defences.

So overwhelmed by emotions and exhaustion, he barely notices Jay clinging tightly to him, using him as an anchor to get through his panic attack.

His eyes having been filled with tears as he approached, and now closed, he does not notice Jay’s new hair colour.

And he doesn’t notice Dami silently slip away.

 

Baba is alive, and out of that nightmarish hole.

Timothy is lying, barely conscious, on top of Baba, and Baba is doing his best to smother Timothy in a hug, despite the fact he’s shaking from panic.

Damian’s first impulse is to hug his Baba. To see and feel for himself that he is alive.

But he restrains himself.

He is not the same as when he last saw him.

His hair is now completely white.

Knowing what he knows about magic, and the price it demands for miracles like cheating death, Damian can’t help but be wary.

He knows that the pit changed his Baba, and not for the better.

What if whatever brought him back to life this time has also changed him?

Dami takes a deep breath and tries not to stop his hands from shaking.

Then he turns away.

There is something Damian has to do.

Something important, totally not something to procrastinate facing his fear. When he completes his mission, he can ascertain what, if any, changes have happened to his Baba.

What the cost was.

 

Damian is very knowledgeable.

He was trained by assassins, and by Batman, and he is the grandchild of the Demon.

Damian knows that the unsub will be attracted to the commotion, and will likely be hiding nearby, watching and waiting around to see if his plan worked.

To see if his latest victim is found dead or alive.

No one notices him slip away.

Baba and Timothy are barely conscious, and everyone’s attention is on them.

Damian green eyes scanned the area, looking for a well hidden vantage point. When he finds one, he lets out a low grow and slinks his way towards it.

The hunt is on.

As he approaches the thicket of trees, he sees a flash of movement. He looks around, and notices a few agents walking close enough to the trees that their presence scares the hidden person. The person carefully, quietly starts moving away from the agents, and Damian scoffs when the agents don’t notice the movement.

Damian follows the person, moving like a ghost. The person speeds up once out of hearing range of the agents, and then stops a little later to catch their breath.

Damian stalks forward until he’s just a few feet away, then purposely snaps a stick with the weight of his foot. The sound makes the unsub jump and spin around.

He makes eye contact with Damian and freezes in place.

The lengthening shadows brush against Damian, and the breeze blowing through the trees make the shadows move in an almost unworldly way. They contort themselves around him, distorting his features.

The sound of growling permeates the air.

Growling Damian recognizes as belonging to Oli. Taking inspiration from her, he lets out a few terrifyingly inhuman sounds himself.

“You attacked the offspring of the Bat and the Demon. You tortured and attempted to kill my Baba." Damian growls, his voice twisted by his rage. “You shall pay.”

"W-what?" The unsub stutters out.

With a roar, Damian launches himself at the sorry excuse for a human, his eyes unnaturally bright as they reflect the last rays of sunlight.

 

The agents and officers at the scene hear a faint, bloodcurdling scream in the distance.

A group, including Hotch, Reid and Prentiss immediately start running towards the source.

They see a person laying on the ground.

A person who matches Morgan’s description of the unsub.

Guns drawn, they cautiously approach him. He’s laying face down, crying out in fear and pain.

"Please, help me. T-there was a demon. Don’t let it get me, please. I-it had g-green eyes and c-could teleport," The unsub begs. “Please, I’ll d-do anything, I’ll confess to everything, j-just don’t let it get me.”

The agents look at each other in confusion.

"Maybe he is trying to set himself up for an insanity plea?" Reid takes a guess.

"I’m not insane! I-it really did happen. That t-thing, it did something to me. It touched my neck and I-I swear I heard a crack! It hurts, it hurts! Help!”

"Reid, call an ambulance?" Hotch orders.

“Why would this supposed demon attack you?” Prentiss asks the unsub.

The unsub’s voice trembles in fear. “I-it said that I deserve to feel trapped. T-trapped forever.”

As they wait for the paramedics, no one puts away their guns. Hotch starts reading rights and listing crimes. "You are under arrest for multiple murders, kidnapping a federal agent, and attempting to murder a federal agent."

When the paramedics load the unsub onto a stretcher, Hotch snaps cuffs around the unsub’s wrists, attaching them to the bars of the stretcher. He doesn’t want to take any chances with the monster who hurt his agent, his family.

 

Dami slinks back to Timothy and his Baba, just as they are about to get loaded into the ambulance.

Jason is refusing to lay down.

Which is very understandable. He has just been trapped, forced to lay down, inside a coffin. To be asked to lay down, inside an enclosed area, can’t be bringing back good memories.

"Please, Sir. We need to get you to a hospital." A permedcal tries to persuade him.

Jason violently shakes his head.

Damian takes a deep breath. Changed or not, his Baba needs his help.

Damian walks up to Jason, his big green eyes shiney from tears he has been trying, and failing, to hold back.

“Perhaps these paramedics can make the stretcher sit up." Damian speaks. “Would that make it easier to go in?”

The paramedics get the hint, and let Jason sit up. After a little more convincing from Dami, and some medical intervention to reduce his panic, Jason allows himself to be put in the ambulance.

The convincing involves Damian promising to not leave Jason’s side, and that the half conscious Timothy also rides in the same ambulance.

As the family rides off into the sunset together, Damian believes everything will be ok.

How can it not be when they have each other?

 

In the hospital, the team gathers in a huddle.

“Todd has a number of broken bones in his toes and feet, as well as damage to his fingers, but the doctor believes he’ll make a full recovery.”

The team sighs in relief and Reid speaks. “Tim is being treated for dehydration and exhaustion, and he will also recover.”

Hotch speaks. “Our unsub, however, will not make a full recovery. His neck is broken. Doctors say he’ll never walk again, and he’ll frequently be in a lot of pain.”

As awful as that sounds, the team can’t bring themselves to feel bad for him. He took their friend, their family from them. Almost permanently.

“I’m glad this is over now.” Rossi says and the others nod in agreement.

Except Morgan. “Hold on. Are we not going to investigate who broke the unsub’s spine? Obviously it wasn’t a demon, but whoever did it is dangerous and should be found, no matter how much he deserved it. And I’m happy Todd is alive, don’t get me wrong, but does no one else think it’s strange that he was dead for a solid 15 minutes, and then came back to life with a flash of light? And his hair is suddenly white? None of the other victim’s hair turned white.”

“Reasons for hair to turn white can range from a vitamin deficiency to stress.” Reid speaks. “In the case of stress, it's because the body has to decide what it needs to focus on. The human body isn't going to focus as much on hair when it needs to conserve its energy for its vital functions. Hair pigmentation probably isn't going to count as a vital function, so losing hair colour could be a stress-related reaction. And Todd was in an extremely stressful situation.”

“That may be, pretty boy, but have you ever heard of a case of all the hair turning white in such a short amount of time?”

Reid doesn’t respond, having no answer.

“Maybe we should just count our blessings and let it go.” Rossi shrugs.

“Or maybe we should call Scully and Mulder.” JJ says half seriously.

“We can’t.” Reid shakes his head. “The X-files got shut down again.”

“Again? Really?” Prentiss asks.

Reid nods his head.

The team look to their leader for guidance. “Rossi is right. We should spend time with those we love rather than look for answers that in this case may never be found. Someone else can figure out who injured the unsub, and we can focus on making sure Todd heals well.”

With that, the impromptu meeting ends, and the team goes to visit their friends. Their family.

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