GRAVE DIGGER
criminal minds, aaron hotchner
hoteldenouement
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     The Grave Digger digs. Rebecca Adler dies. That's just how the story goes. That's just how the story was always going to end.

2009. Virginia. Rebecca Adler stands peacefully in a lecture hall, the hopeful faces of new FBI recruits staring back at her. She pretends she's happy, that this is the life she wants for herself, that she doesn't still dream of the field, of the cases she once worked. Aaron Hotchner approaches her after class, and asks her for one final favour. One final profile. A ghost from her past has returned, and the FBI needs her expertise to bring him down. She knows him better than anyone, after all. She'd survived him, once. If there was anyone that could get into his head, anyone that could figure out how to catch him — it was her.

The Grave Digger carves another hole into the ground. There's no body to fill it yet. Still, the Grave Digger digs. The Grave Digger digs. The body will come. The body will always come.

2003. New England. Rebecca Adler makes a gamble. It doesn't pay off. With the blood of a half dozen agents staining her hands, she throws herself into her work. She studies. She profiles. She gains a reputation for being one of the best out there. None of it is enough. None of it will ever be enough. None of it will ever clean the blood that stains her soul; none of it will ever purify her.

      But she's one of the best — and when a string of murders begin occurring, it's only natural the police turn to her. They turn to the BAU. They had to — the murders make no sense. There's no consistent victimology. No consistent motive. No consistent manner of capture. Nothing consistent at all — except for cause of death.

      All the victims were buried alive.

      The Grave Digger digs another grave. They give it a pretty headstone. They carve a name upon the wood, and lay fresh flowers before it. There's no body yet, but it'll come. The body always comes.

2006. Vermont. Rebecca Adler is found barefoot, wandering through a frozen forest. Jason Gideon pretends he doesn't know the details of how she ended up there. She pretends to be grateful. The FBI pretend she isn't suspect number one in one of the worst serial killer investigations America has ever seen. She retires from field work, becomes a lecturer in the Academy, and tells everyone that asks that she barely remembers the last two years of her life. Her brain must have blocked the trauma out. It's amazing, what a brain will do to survive.

      It's amazing, how accustomed Rebecca becomes to the lies.

      The Grave Digger's graves line the clearing. Too many to count. Headstones before each. Flowers, too. Some fresh. Some completely withered. Still, there were flowers. Before all of them, there were flowers. The Grave Digger falls silent, and the graves are exhumed. The deceased are returned to their families. Closure is offered, at long last.

2009. Brooklyn. Rebecca Adler lies in a hospital bed, unconscious and slowly slipping away. Aaron Hotchner pretends he doesn't blame himself. Pretends he wasn't the reason she was there, wasn't the reason she's dying. His team pretend she isn't — that she'll survive this, even with all the doctors saying there is barely any chance.

And the Grave Digger begins digging another grave. There's no body yet, but it'll come. It'll come. It always comes.

The Grave Digger digs. Rebecca Adler dies. That's the way the story goes. That's the way the story was always going to end. The Grave Digger will always dig. Rebecca Adler will always die.

       Why fight fate?

      Rebecca Adler is a criminal profiler. She knows how people's past shape their future, how their situations affect their decisions, how their surroundings alter their endings. She knows that there's weight behind the theories, that people can be predicted — but she's never been a determinist. She's never believed things can't be changed.

       The Grave Digger will stop digging. Rebecca Adler will live. Fate has no power over her — there's no science to fate, no logic or reason behind it. She will survive. The Grave Digger will fall. Rebecca Adler will win. She will. She will. She will.

She'll repeat those words to the end. Even as she begins to flatline. Even as her team sob.

Even as, six feet deep, she feels the dirt begin to surround her.

♛

REBECCA ADLER

Is this really the world?
Shall I grieve? Shall I hope?

♛

Grave digger, grave digger
Send me on my way
Release me to this earth
Within this shallow grave

Grave digger, grave digger
Bring me to my knee
Forget what I have done
Forgive me if you please
Save me if you can
The time for me has come
Let me be the one that got away

Grave digger, grave digger
Slowly fill my grave
Whisper to your God
Allow me to be saved

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TIMELINE
2003 — 2006   ( the before )
2009 — 2011     ( the now )

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WARNING . . . this story contains the usual criminal minds content, and as such comes with the usual criminal minds content warnings. the ones most applicable to this story, however, are as follows: violence, death, loss of loved ones, murder, mentions and depictions of mental illness, ptsd, brainwashing, and cults. i'll always try to put a content warning at the start of each chapter. if there's anything in particular that acts as a trigger for you, please let me know and i'll include warnings for that at the start of a chapter too if it may appear. please put your health and well-being first. if these themes are likely to distress you, prioritise yourself and either don't read or read with caution.

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GRAVE DIGGER
( started — 14th february 2024
completed — ??? )
hoteldenouement

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a/n:

that might be the worst summary i've ever written in my life but you know what? we're rolling with it. anyway welcome to grave digger, aka probably the darkest story i've ever written. it's set over two time periods, and both break my heart. i've been in the criminal minds fandom for years, but have always avoided writing for it but i started rewatching it recently and tragically i caved.

anyway rebecca and hotch are the loves of my life. it's the slowest burn in the history of slow burns, but we'll get there. i'll break your heart on the way, and those two will break each other's, but i PROMISE we'll get there!!

i hope you enjoy this story!!