Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season One

Compulsion: Final Part

"Okay, gorgeous, I've put this thing through every audio filter I've got," Garcia said over the line. "There's only one thing I can tell you for sure. This guy isn't saying 'Karen'. It's more like 'Ka-rone'."

"Garcia, what the hell is Ka-rone?" Derek asked.

"If I figure it out, does it earn me a night of passionate lovemaking?"

"Most definitely, sweetness," he chuckled, "with Reid." At the mention of his name, the young genius turned to look at Derek with a confused look.

"Hey, Reid, Garcia says it's not 'Karen', it's actually something' more like—"

"Charon," Gideon interrupted when he entered the room in a hurry. "I do it because of Charon."

"That's Hebrew," you noted. "It's God's word in anger."

"The motive is now religious?" Elle asked.

"Well, you know, in a lot of religions, God is related to fire. Well, brahman is fire in Hinduism, and the Jews see God as a pillar of fire, and Christians worship God as a consuming fire."

"Okay, so we're looking for a theology major. Maybe he's punishing the other students for their sins," Derek thought.

"What's the most sinful place on campus?"

"Come on, Elle. When I was in college, that was everywhere," Derek sighed.

"A fraternity? A campus bar?" Hotch spitballs.

"No, 'cause that's not consistent with the previous targets. What about the idea of baptism by fire? Aren't we all supposed to be tested through fire in revelations?" Derek asked.

"Look, it's good, it's good, but let's please do not jump to conclusions. Religion might be a part of it, but it's not necessarily the prime compulsion," Gideon sighed.

"Compulsion," you and Spencer said at the exact same time, your eyes meeting his in a knowing gaze.

Judging by the way his eyes lit up when you said the exact same word as he, you knew he was thinking your exact thoughts.

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Since you had a strong feeling that compulsion was part of this unsub's MO, you and Spencer sent back and watched the video of Matthew burning to see if you missed anything with this new information. Spencer sat in front of the computer and watched the video while you stood behind him in case you needed to look away. It wasn't the gore that affected you, it was the pain you felt that was transferring from the video onto you.

As the video played, you watched as Matthew screamed as the fire consumed him. Without thinking about it, you grabbed Spencer's shoulder and squeezed in order to contain your emotions. He looked up at you to make sure you were okay, and that is when you realized what you did.

"Sorry," you muttered, letting go of his shoulder.

"It's okay," he assured you before going back to the video.

It's been hours just watching the video over and over again, and the more you watched it, the easier it became. There was nothing that was coming to your mind, but Spencer might have something. He got out of his chair and went to the board that the rest of the team was working on, looking at the words they wrote down. He grabbed the marker and uncapped it, pausing right before he went to write something.

"Outside the box," he muttered.

"You got something?" you asked.

"Maybe," he sighed.