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talatomaz · 2 years ago

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imagine | bau x fem!reader x legends

a/n: this takes place during ‘rusty’ where the bau deals with an unsub who believes he’s from a parallel universe. and honestly, this idea has been in my drafts since the episode aired almost 3 years ago

warnings: usual canon violence.

word count: 2.9k

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when R encounters a case where an unsub believes he’s from a parallel universe, she finds that there’s more truth to that claim than she’d like to admit

i do not give you permission to repost or translate my fics on any platform - likes/reblogs are okay and are much appreciated

A famous writer once said ‘we must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.’

And if that wasn’t the most apt description for your life, you didn’t know what was. Albeit the life originally planned for you didn’t exactly line up with the life you were living now, it still kept you alive. But no one in your present life knew about your former one. Hell, you’d surely be locked up on insanity claims if you ever broached the subject. Especially being surrounded by a team of psychological profilers.

But this current case was threatening to reveal your past. And you didn’t know how much longer you could keep up the lie…

You and your team were investigating the vast number of decapitations of father figures and were struggling to find a connection; only believing that the unsub was simply killing surrogates of his own father for reasons yet to be revealed. But it ended up being so much more than that.

As you continued to work the case, though you couldn’t pinpoint it, you had this lingering feeling of being watched. You’d even caught glances of familiar eyes staring at you. The more you tried to shake it off, the more foreboding the feeling became. And it had all come to a head when the BAU were looking at the victims’ bodies in the Denver police station.

Your eyes narrowed as Luke placed post-it notes of symbols next to each contusion found on the different bodies. The symbols were eerily familiar but your mind struggled to make the connection.

“They may be mathematical symbols, perhaps part of a larger expression.”

Catching the last part of Tara’s explanation, it was like a switch had gone off in your brain. You hadn’t seen this equation, or at least these characters that formed part of the equation, in several years.

Oh shit.

“Schrodinger’s equation.”

The words slipped past your lips before you could stop it.

“You’re right. They form the basis of Schrodinger’s equation.” Spencer agreed as he walked up to the board and wrote the full equation down.

Seeing the expression face-to-face, so to speak, had you fighting to keep your panic under control. Between the feeling of being watched to this case to the equation which you’d vehemently used with an old team member to perfect a certain time travelling device, you worried at how much water this case held.

“It describes the probability that a particle will behave in a certain way in a certain place in a certain time.” Spencer continued to explain.

“The wider implications of this gave rise to Everett’s ‘Many Worlds’ theory. Which is that reality is, as we know it, is only one of many possible universes.”

Almost as if on autopilot, you gave a brief insight into something which had taken up a significant amount of your time in your previous life.

You’d realised your slip when you saw your whole team looking at you, even Spencer, with confusion written on their face. Whilst they knew you were smart, when you’d taken upon this life, you deliberately omitted several details, such as your affinity for science and all things physics, specifically inter-dimensional travel.

“Oh I-uh-saw it in a tv show once.” You lied, clearing your throat in an attempt to provide yourself with some sort of a reprieve. Luckily, that came in the form of Tara, who’d jokingly referenced ‘Doctor Who’.

“Okay, so does our unsub think he’s in a parallel universe?” JJ, your partner, asked which only facilitated the pounding of your heart. More so because you’d been on edge ever since you’d taken this case than in fear of your team finding out who you really were.

The rest of the debate became muffled as you drowned out your team’s voices - too busy on finding the missing link that was the linchpin of what you were feeling than adding to the conversation.

“Hey. Hey.”

The gentle rouse of your shoulder coupled with the whispered shout of your name had you jolting as you tried to clear your mind. Blinking, you looked up from your chair to see a blonde staring down at you.

For a moment, you could have sworn it was your old captain.

But that didn’t make sense.

She couldn’t be here.

None of them could.

Shaking your head to clear the cloudiness, your eyes refocused as you looked up at JJ.

“You okay? You seem a little distracted.”

The seasoned profiler’s eyes were narrowed in concern as she tried to discern your behaviour.

“Y-yeah, I’m good. Sorry, just got a lot on my mind.”

“I’ll say. You even sounded like Spence for a moment there with all that science-y talk.” JJ joked, playfully nudging you with her shoulder.

“You know you can talk to me right? About anything?”

The previous levity in her voice was replaced with a tone of seriousness and motherly-esque concern.

Thankfully, before you could give another half-assed excuse, Emily burst through the door.

“We got another victim. Let’s go.” Your Unit Chief called after you so you followed her and Mendoza to the crime scene.

✧── ･｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

After you’d all collectively delivered the profile, your team, specifically you, JJ, Tara, Reid and Luke converged back in the office as you tried to predict the unsub’s next moves. Albeit, you were distracted because the nagging feeling of being watched had come back.

Canvassing the office, you looked to see if anyone was paying any particular attention to you or your team - which was when you finally locked eyes with a patrol officer. Analysing their behaviour, they didn’t carry themselves in the normal way cops did, which inherently raised further flags in your mind.

“Maybe we just need to step back and look at things differently.”

As JJ spoke, you excused yourself. Ignoring the confused protests of your team, you walked up to the officer and stopped in front of them.

“Who are you?”

The officer’s lips curved into a smile but what stuck with you was how familiar the smile was. Almost as if you’d seen it before.

“Wow, I’m offended.”

As you opened your mouth to speak, you were suddenly flanked by JJ and Tara.

“Who are you?” This time, the question was sternly repeated by JJ.

Instead of outwardly replying, the officer leaned in closer to you - unknowingly to you, they slipped something into your pocket - and whispered something that had your back straightening and the hairs on your neck standing up in revered shock.

“Hey, lil T.”

Your jaw practically dropped in shock. It was a nickname you’d not heard in almost 3 years and only one person called you that.

Charlie.

Your team members were too focused on your reaction to notice that the shapeshifter had disappeared.

Suddenly the pieces began to fall into place.

The familiar eyes you kept catching lingering on you belonged to Charlie, a notorious shapeshifter who was a member of the Legends. That likely meant that the rest of your old team was here, including your sister.

And if they were here, it meant that someone was displaced out of time or universe and, considering the nature of your current case, you’d correctly figured out that it was the unsub you were searching for. He really must be from a parallel universe. Another Earth.

But you couldn’t figure out how he got here.

Especially after the Crisis on Infinite Earths which led to the formation of Earth Prime and your eventual move to this Earth.

“Who the hell was that? Did you know them?” JJ asked, her hand on the small of your back.

Instead of replying, you were interrupted by a vibration coming out of your blazer pocket. Fishing in the pocket, you pulled out the phone and stared at the device. Answering the phone, you spoke cautiously, “Hello?”

“God, I have missed your voice!”

“Cisco?!” You whisper shouted into your phone.

Why was he randomly calling you out of the blue? Unless…oh fuck.

“I’ll be right back. I’m fine, I promise.”

Not waiting around for JJ or Tara’s reply, you walked into an empty office and began to speak freely.

“What the hell is going on, Cisco? Why is Charlie here?”

“Yeah, um, about that…”

“Let me guess, someone stole one of the extrapolators, didn’t they?”

There was a slight pause before your friend answered, “Maybe.”

“Fuck. This is not what I needed right now. How did this happen?”

Cisco then went on to explain that meta human who had once had razor sharp knives for hands had somehow broken into Star Labs and stolen the inter-dimensional travelling device.

You scoffed at his explanation, “Explains why this guy’s able to decapitate heads so easily. God, how many times have I said that you guys need better security?”

“Back up, decapitation as in heads removed from their bodies? Oh, that’s nasty.”

“It’s also my job to catch this person, Cisco. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Well, from what I can tell from the location tracking and mechanical data, the device is broken which is why this guy hasn’t travelled back to Earth Prime. But you’re gonna need to get that device back before you arrest him.”

“Now, how in the world do you expect me to do that?”

✧── ･｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

After ending the call with Cisco, you knew you had to clear things up with JJ before you could follow his instructions. Dragging the latter into the empty office you’d just been in, you watched as she stared at you with her arms folded across her chest.

“Are you in some kind of trouble? Tell me I shouldn’t be worried.”

“I’m okay, JJ. Honest. I just-” you sighed, “I didn’t realise it but I know that officer. They were from my past. A long time ago.”

“And that phone call?”

“Was from an old friend I’ve not spoken to in years. It just surprised me, is all. But I promise I’m okay. Go on, use those profiling, lie detector powers on me. You’ll see.”

JJ laughed dryly before smacking you on the arm, “Shut up.”

Then she sobered and abruptly brought you in for a tight hug which you returned.

“I’m here for you, alright? You’re my family and I love you.”

“I love you too.” You replied back before smiling when she pulled away and held your face in her hands.

In the corner of your eye, you spotted Charlie in the far end of the station signalling for you to follow them.

“How about I get us some actual drinkable coffee from one of the coffee shops near by whilst we’re waiting for Garcia to come back to us?”

“Sounds like a great idea. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

Your timely suggestion was merely a ploy to get out of the station so you could meet up with the Legends like Cisco had instructed you too.

Reaching the empty alley way that Cisco had led you too, you rocked back and forth on your heels before turning when you heard the voice behind you.

“Lil T. It’s so great to see your face.”

You couldn’t help the smile that painted your face when you saw Charlie in their true form and moved to hug them.

“I still can’t believe you’re here.” You said, hugging your friend closely.

Opening your eyes, you froze when you saw two other people approaching. One of whom had tears springing to your eyes.

Pulling away from Charlie, you flung yourself into your sister’s arms as the tears fell shamelessly down your face.

“Oh my god. Zari, I never thought I’d see you again.”

“Me either. I’ve missed you so goddamn much. Are you okay?”

Your sister asked, cupping your face similarly to how JJ had done so minutes earlier.

“Better now that you’re here.” You hugged Zari again, your head resting against her neck as you tried to engrave this moment in your mind forever. Especially since you didn’t know when you’d next be able to see her again.

“What am I? Chopped liver?”

You laughed at your old Captain’s interruption and hugged her too, “Hi, Sara.”

After you’d all quickly caught up, you’d relayed what Cisco had told you causing the three of them to nod.

Grabbing your hand, Zari slipped the bracelet on your wrist, knowing you knew exactly what you needed to do.

✧── ･｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

“We should split up.”

After your conversation with the Legends, you’d gotten a call from JJ who’d told you that they’d figured out the unsub’s identity and where he’d likely be. Which is how you ended up at the entrance of an abandoned gold mine.

Running into the mine, you weaved in and out of the tunnels trying to locate Kyle Peters. Then you heard cries and yelling which led you to the unsub and the two children he’d kidnapped. You knew your team was following closely behind you so you only had a small window of opportunity to get what you needed.

As Kyle continued to wrestle with his demons, you peered your head around the rocky man-made tunnel and used the air totem that Zari had given you to discreetly lift the broken extrapolator from his jacket pocket that was close to him and use the wind powers to let it travel to you. Grabbing it with your free hand, you pocketed it with a relieved sigh and then stepped out into the open to confront the unsub.

The rest of your team flanked you as you tried to talk the unsub down.

“Kyle, I get it. Believe me, I do. I know what it’s like to be displaced from your home, your family, from everything you know and to find yourself alone in this new world.”

“No! I have to fix it!”

You knew you had to steer the conversation to prevent any mention of the extrapolator device.

“But you have to face the truth, Kyle. These sacrifices you’ve been making won’t fix things. It won’t bring back your son. Kyle, face the truth. He’s gone. Ethan’s gone.”

You countered, keeping your voice level as your gun remained trained on the murderer.

“God, I’m so sorry.” Kyle started to cry as he dropped the axe to the ground.

Holstering your weapon, you approached the unsub and cuffed him before handing him off to another officer.

“Here you go.”

You said, handing the broken extrapolator to Sara who thanked you.

“Oh and you can take the totem back. Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

Zari stopped you by placing her hand on yours, “Keep it. We found a way a while ago to split the power in two so now we can both have one. It also means we’ll have a way to see each other. In the totem, I mean. We can be connected.”

“We’re always connected, Z.”

“You know there’s always a spot open for you if you want to come back.”

“I appreciate it but I think I’m okay here. This is my life now. And honestly, it’s a good one. We get to fight bad guys and not those with powers and stuff and we’re making a huge difference here.”

Sara nodded in bittersweet resignation.

“I’m going to miss you.”

You hugged Zari again, “I’ll miss you too. I really should be getting back but say hi to everyone back home for me, will you? And tell Cisco that I’ll kick his ass myself if he lets another one of our tech pieces get stolen again.”

“I’ll pass on the message.” Sara said as you all laughed.

✧── ･｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

Having finished with your debriefs - and finding relief in the fact that Charlie had memory wiped Kyle’s mind so he wouldn’t reveal the extrapolator’s existence - you were on the jet back to the BAU with your team.

“All this talk about alternate realities. Who do you think you’d be in a parallel universe?” JJ asked you and Reid.

You laughed as Spencer explained why he’d be a cowboy and how the rest of the team fit into his world.

“What about you?” JJ turned to face you.

Laughing to yourself, you realised that this was the one time you could actually tell your team the truth and not worry that they would commit you.

“I would probably be a part of time travelling legends who rectify anachronisms or wrinkles in time with the help of our other Earth-bound superhero friends who fight crime. If all of that existed, of course.” You added when JJ smirked at you with a raised brow.

Her focus then shifted to the bracelet on your wrist.

“Oh hey, I didn’t see that bracelet before. It’s beautiful.”

Looking down at the totem, a soft smile appeared on your face, “It’s a family heirloom. I have one piece and my sister has the other.”

JJ reciprocated your smile as she wrapped her arm around your shoulder, allowing you to burrow into the blanket that she had draped over her.

With JJ’s cheek resting on your head as she hugged you close, you felt your heart settle.

Deep down, you knew you’d made the right choice. The Legends was your past but the BAU and this team were your future.

And there was nowhere else you’d rather be.