Twisted Vengeance

Centuries

Again, Elle found herself fleeing from where she was, angry that they never really could figure out the things she carefully laid out for them to find. She just wanted to be happy. And now she never would be happy. Because how can you be happy when the people you care about are gone. It wasn't even that they were gone. It was that they had left her.

Elle retreated from the suburbs into a place she knew well. There was an empty warehouse a few miles away into the suburbs. Elle knew herself, well enough to know that she wanted this to end, wanted to back herself into a corner. If they really didn't care, she didn't want to have to cry or kill again.

She would get half of what she wanted and the team would get what they wanted. Everyone would end up happy, after the affects wore off. Elle would be just another case, another criminal put away on a shelf as a case file. And then she would just be an old friend who happened to be away. Away, meaning known as a serial killer. But if they ever told their friends about her, they would say she had gone away. Better than the alternative of saying she was a serial killer.

Elle walked faster. To anyone else, she was just a woman. To the team, she was Elle Greenway, the killer they all used to care about. Elle thought a lot. She thought about what she had failed to do. She thought about the fact that after this, everything would be different. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Elle stopped in her tracks, realizing the lives she had altered in her plot. She looked up into the sky. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I hurt you! I'm sorry you died. Just so you know, a piece of me died every time I pulled the trigger. You have a place in my heart!" Elle screamed at the sky. "But mainly, I'm sorry that I couldn't stop in time to save you all!"

And Elle stood there, sad, but happy that she got the words out. So Elle cried, knowing that her journey was almost over. And she understood how those women felt in their final minutes.

Elle picked up her walking pace, walking faster as she approached the warehouse. This was the moment she had feared for, but knew was coming all along.

The warehouse looked as though it was crumbling, but it was the perfect concealment. She could hide for as long as she needed in the brown walls and wait patiently as she waited for the BAU to arrive.

Elle walked up the stairs of the warehouse, to the third floor that waited above. She thought about everything, and nothing. She thought about how this was going to play out, how her finale, her endgame, would make them all remember her as who she was, not who she is.

Because deep down, she wanted to believe she was a good person. She was a good person. Was. She wasn't anymore, but the first person she had hurt had been one who had traumatized women, a rapist. So Elle wanted to remember herself as a good person when she wasn't free anymore. She was a good person, ruined by the world around her. And that's the saddest way to live.

The warehouse was sturdy enough to hold people's weight, but not for the shipments it used to have. So it became a hideout, a place people would probably remember as the place where the serial killer, Elle Greenway, a former FBI agent, ended everything she started. But Elle wasn't in it for fame. How could she care for something that meant so little in the long run?

The top of the warehouse was the most secluded, and when people came up the steps, they never really made it to the top. It was only dumb kids who wanted to explore, or maybe people looking to find some old supplies. Elle had been here multiple times, and never had she been interrupted.

Daylight was still showing through small cracks in the warehouse's wall. Light illuminated it, and it almost looked like a kid's hideout. Instead, it was a killer's.

And so Elle waited, and she waited, thinking about everything, nothing, then everything all at once, time after time. Thoughts pounded through her mind. Was her plan the right plan? Should she just escape now? Should she just stop killing and hide somewhere they'd never find her? Should she forgive them and run, hiding and not killing? Should she ditch the plan and save herself, instead of caring if she still meant anything to the team?

But she had to stay, had to pay. And then her mind turned back to how she wanted to be happy. She wanted with every part of herself to be happy, to be sane, to not be afraid of her own mind. And she wanted to be anywhere but here because here, her existence, had been messed up because of her actions.

Actions have consequences. Say what you will, but every time you do something, something happens because of it. And Elle did a lot of good and bad, and she herself was scared to face the consequences. And she knew deep down that that was where everything had gone wrong for her.

Night fell, but Elle had not been bored by sitting there. She had simply felt the emotions that no one would usually feel in the span of a few hours. Elle had come to a conclusion about her plan.

She had to do it. She had to stop this, end this. And Elle knew that it was time to face the consequences. But she knew she was going to go out with a bang. Though Elle was sad, she was angry. And so she was going to tell how she felt and eventually end this stupid lie, the lie that she had lived through.

Elle took out a burner phone from her pocket. She dialed a number. "Hotch," she referenced him by his nickname for the first time. "I'm going to let you find me."

Author's Note:

Guys, the story is almost done. I'm so thankful you've stayed with me so long. I'm sorry this chapter took so long to update, I've had a lot going on. I hope you enjoyed today's chapter. I wanted to reveal Elle's character a bit more. Sorry for the cliffhanger!