1Hannibal barely breathed as he watched Alana bend down and look at him. He stared back into her eyes as much as he could despite the vulnerable position he was in, so aware of it, so aware of the blade in her hand.
"Promise you will save Will?" she asked him and he wanted to scoff. He wanted to laugh. He wanted to spit in her face as uncouth as it may be, but he grit his teeth. He clenched his hands into fists despite the increased ache it caused to his shoulders and arms, the burn assisting him in biting back what he wanted to say, knowing that she, with her little idea that she was somehow Will's guardian angel, self-appointed though it was and thoroughly pathetic at it as she was, would refuse to release him.
"I promise," he said slowly, carefully, though he could not help but add, "and I always keep my promises, Alana,"
She stared at him for a few moments as he could feel the blood pumping around his body in anticipation and what he believed was fear. She was thinking about killing him, she was thinking about leaving him here, and she was thinking about releasing him, and he was not 100% certain on which one it was that she would choose.
She leant forward and the cold, sharp steel of the knife in her hands glinted off of the weak lights in the barn, and he held his breath waiting to see the choice that she would make.
The knife bit into the rope and with some effort she managed to cut through it, he watched as the rope slowly, too slowly, frayed and then finally he heard and felt the snap of it.
Alana placed the blade down in front of him, in reach, a little dramatic as she always was as she met his eyes one more time, but then he had to admit he was not one to talk. He was already reaching for the knife before the clip of Alana and Margot's heels started moving away. The click of Alan's crutch echoed through the barn as his numb, burning fingers closed around the handle of the knife, and he had a flash of amusement at the thought of her walking around in heels that would only cause her injury more pain, but seemingly unable to give up the image of femininity and so to her mind power she had clung to.
He pushed the pain wracking through his body from the angle he had been held at away and concentrated on severing through the ropes holding him as quickly as he could, only one real focus on his mind.
He grunted as his legs hit the floor and trembled a moment before they took his weight, he allowed himself a breath before he shoved himself to his feet, reaching behind himself to take the collar off, his fingers gripping and biting into the leather before he tore it off and threw it to the side.
He sucked in a deep breath in the stinking barn, twisting his head left and then right to loosen up the locked muscles while he allowed the rage, pain and other…emotions that he had been tightly controlling inside of himself to wash through his body like fire burning through him, acid washing through his veins as he tilted his head one more time and then he allowed the being that hid behind the person suit full freedom.
He stepped over the body of his guard and picked up speed despite his still pained muscles as he prowled out of the barn and allowed himself only a second to get his bearings before he set off across the grass and towards the manor.
The only thing in his mind was Will, getting to him before Mason's plan could begin, getting to him before anything was done to hurt him.
Will was his.
He stepped into the manor and sucked in a deep breath, taking in the scents in the building before listening keenly as he moved forward through the dark corridors, the few guards he came across were easily disposed of, their necks fragile under his fingers and hands as he gripped them and twisted them, as he listened to them cracking and was moving forward even before their bodies hit the floor. Their deaths did nothing but fuel the animal inside of him, did not but feed the adrenaline that was pumping hotly around his body.
He dispatched a few more with the blade he held, sliding it into the soft meat of their throat as easily as he would with his butter knife into the soft, creamy homemade butter he kept at home. Their blood spread over the flesh of his hands the same way his butter would spread over his toast.
They were nothing.
They were in the way.
They stood between him and Will.
He ignored the pull of the brand on his back, he ignored the knife wound on the other side to the brand where Mason had sunk the blade into him as he would a pig.
His mind was focused on only one thing, and nothing would stand in his way.
He came to the room where he could hear the beeping of a heart machine, only one, Cordell and Mason would not care if Will died on the table as long as they got what they wanted, even though Will's life did not belong to them and was not theirs to take.
They would regret that, though Mason was not his to kill, no that death belonged to Margot and he would not take that from her. He could make his message clear to everyone though, to Alana and her irritating interference.
He slipped into the room, his eyes locked onto Cordell as he leaned over the stretcher that Will was strapped to, Hannibal could smell the chemicals in the room, and he could see that while Will was awake, he was clearly immobilised.
He was aware of Cordell taunting Will, he could absently hear his voice and the words, he did not fully take them in as he scanned the area and worked out how he was going to do this, and yet still those words fuelled the fire in his veins and made the beast inside of him snap and snarl even more. He dared think that he could touch Will? Scar him? Maim what wasn't his to maim?
He padded across the floor on long practiced silent feet, stalking across the room with a predator's precision, his feet being placed in careful precision in front of him as he crept forward though his eyes never left Cordell's figure hulking over Will who looked smaller and vulnerable where he was laid out on the operating table, bare chested and far too still as Cordell reached out with the scalpel towards Will's face.
Will's eyes were wide with the terror of being locked in his own mind as he stared up at Cordell, able to do nothing but wait for the pain that was coming. Hannibal met his eyes when they flicked over Cordell's shoulder, obviously catching the movement behind the man as Hannibal reached them, his eyes widened further, but they relaxed, and something Hannibal hoped with relief reflected through them.
Cordell let out a satisfying gargling noise as Hannibal slid the knife into his throat.
"I would have liked to have taken my time with you, to really draw this out, but I can not risk you harming Will any further," Hannibal whispered in his ear as he tugged the other away from Will and threw him down to the floor, standing over him and looking down at the man as he grasped at his throat, trying to stem the blood pumping out of him, his eyes wide and fearful on Hannibal standing over him, the wound on his face large and obvious and made Hannibal smirk in delight at seeing it again.
Cordell's eyes slipped over Hannibal and to the opposite side of him from Will.
"Do not worry, Mason will get his new face, as promised," Hannibal said without taking his eyes off of the man, "and once he wakes again, Margot is going to kill him,"
"No…" Cordell managed to splutter, driving a small dribble of blood from his lip.
"Yes, how do you think I got free?" Hannibal shrugged elegantly, running an assessing eye over Cordell he was satisfied enough with the state that the man was in to half turn and reach out to gently pull the needle from Will's arm that was pumping the drug into him keeping him paralysed. "I do wish it could be me, for the damage that he has done, but oh well," Hannibal stroked a gentle finger down Will's face, where Cordell would have cut into it to remove it, meeting those blue eyes that haunted him. He turned and watched expressionless as Cordell dropped to the floor and spluttered a few more times, the pool of blood around him ever expanding before, with one last guttering breath, he passed.
Hannibal let out a satisfied noise and poked the body with his foot, nodding satisfied that he was dead before moving to grab the blanket covering Mason and spread it over Will instead, quickly making his way around the bed and removing all of the medical equipment quickly, removing the strap holding Will's head in place and throwing it to the side.
He lifted Will's head and rearranged the headrest of the bed so that it would be more comfortable for the younger man, before carefully lowering him until his dark curls rested on the bed, and then all gentleness left him as he turned and grabbed Cordell, grunting he used all his strength the heft the body onto another stretcher, and then he shoved the body next to Mason's where he was lying unconscious, unknowing of what was happening around him, unknowing of what would happen to him.
Hannibal stared down at him, and he would have liked nothing more than to take his life, he would have wanted nothing more than to slit his throat, to carve him up, to shred him for what he had dared to do.
But this death was not his.
He blinked when a phone went off, breaking the silence in the room so suddenly that he would have started had he been anyone else. As it was his eyes sharpened and he looked up to meet Will's eyes, those blue eyes startled at the noise, confused, about what was happening now, what was happening overall.
Hannibal reached into Cordell's coat, a mockery of a doctor's coat, and pulled out his ringing phone.
"Alana, I did not expect to hear from you so soon," Hannibal drawled.
"Did you save Will?" She asked. To the point.
"Yes, I stopped Cordell from harming him," Hannibal said and then turned his eyes to the scarred mass of Mason's face. "Mason is still alive as well, he is here in the operating theatre," he added.
"Good, the baby is dead," Alana said softly, the emotion clear in her voice, her grief for Margot.
"I thought that it would be as much," Hannibal hummed. "I have a plan,"
"What are you going to do Hannibal?" Alana sighed, sounding so tired and weary that Hannibal had to bite back a taunting laugh, she had gotten herself involved in all of this, involved with Mason and Margot.
"I am feeling generous, you did let me go after all. Give me half an hour and then come to the theatre, Will and I will be gone, but I will leave you Mason and a little present,"
"What present? Your presents can be undesirable!" Alana hissed.
"This one will not be, do you know what happens when you stimulate a prostate with a cattle prod?" Hannibal asked before hanging up and throwing the phone to the side. He moved to pick up the cattle prod from one of the operating trays, out of place amongst the proper surgical items, but not when taken into the context of Mason's brutality and animalistic hunger for power.
He had a lot of work to do, and very little time to do it in.
He had just finished cutting loose the skin around Cordell's face, carefully done though not as careful as it would have needed to have been if the skin was going to be transplanted, he was making the last cuts when Will let out a noise.
"Ha…Ha…Han..Hannibal," Will managed to say, the drugs finally washing out of his system.
Hannibal made his last cuts and threw Cordell's face onto the metal table beside him and turned to move as swiftly as he could to Will's side. The younger man had been watching him from the corner of his eyes as he had worked on Cordell, and Hannibal had felt his eyes on him throughout, his gaze burning through Hannibal's skin more than the brand on his back had.
Will's blue eyes gazed up at him as his hands started moving on the table and his leg twitched, movement making its way back around his body.
"Easy, it will take a few more minutes now that you have feeling for you to be able to move properly," Hannibal said as he reached out and rested his hand over Will's chest.
"Are you going to kill me then?" Will sighed looking at the scalpel in Hannibal's hand and then up at the man who was utterly covered in blood, for the first time his outside somewhat showing what was on the inside. As he looked into Hannibal's eyes he could see how much the other had let his beast out, his eyes looked as though they were red with the blood covering him, they were blown and they were snapping with the adrenaline and blood lust firing through him.
"What?" Hannibal's accent even seemed heavier at the moment, there was a weight about him, a danger that always simmered below the surface though incredibly well hidden away from the world.
"I want it to be you that does it if it is going to happen, I was thinking about it, and it shouldn't be anyone else, I don't want it to be anyone else," Will said, unable to take his eyes from Hannibal as he stood before him.
Hannibal reached forward and pointedly placed the scalpel still in his hands down onto Will's chest, the cold, bright metal bloodied as it was marring the pristine white of Will's chest, the bloody fingerprints that Hannibal left behind less of a marr and more of a claim.
Will watched confused as Hannibal moved around the gurney so that he was not standing at Will's head, instead, he prowled around until he was standing at Will's side, all without his eyes leaving Will's face. His expression was unreadable and yet utterly dangerous. Will blinked when Hannibal reached out, slowly and carefully, and ran a bloody finger over the scar on his stomach, the red coating his hands filling in the dip of his scar as though he were opening the wound again.
Will sucked in a deep breath as he felt the touch on the sensitive scar tissue, and remembered the icy hot feeling of the blade sliding into his stomach as Hannibal held him in place while he sliced into him. Hannibal's eyes had left his as he looked at the scar tissue, and finally, Will could read an expression on Hannibal's face.
"Will," Hannibal rumbled out. "Will, my sweet Will, I have tried to kill you, remove you from my life, I…"
Will blinked at the hesitation on Hannibal's side, he did not think he could ever remember a time when Hannibal had hesitated speaking before, it was as though he had everything planned out in his mind before he said it, and of course, it came out eloquently and perfectly. To hear him hesitating was jarring.
He reached down and wrapped his arm around Hannibal's forearm, the muscles firm and solid under his hand as he slid it downward, ignoring the slickness of the blood and gore that slicked up his own hand as he went, he paused when his fingers touched leather, and he looked down confused to see leather handcuffs around both of Hannibal's wrists. Pushing that aside for the moment he slid his hand further down until he could wrap his fingers around Hannibal's hand.
"You confused me so much…you confuse me so much. I know what I am, I know the type of monster that I am, I know what my brain should and shouldn't be able to do and process, I know the things I am able to feel, and I know the deficiencies as according to society that I am meant to possess because of what I am,"
"A Beast behind a human veil," Will said softly.
"A beast," Hannibal's lips tipped up in amusement. "Yes, I like that. I was sure of what I was, I was sure until you came along. I thought you were game, I thought I was intrigued by you and wanted to take you apart, I thought that you were different, yes, but at the same as much a plaything as anyone else was to me," Hannibal said softly.
His fingers closed around Will's hand even though Will made no move at all, certainly not to pull away. His grip was firm, but not painful, it felt more like an anchor point to Will in that moment as his eyes remained locked on Hannibal's face while Hannibal stared at the scar on his stomach.
"I thought that once I had finished my game with you, that would be it. I could not have been more wrong," Hannibal huffed to himself, and he reached out with his other hand to stroke his finger down Will's scar again. "I could no more kill you than I could eat my own heart and survive it,"
Will watched wide-eyed as Hannibal leaned down and brushed his lips to the scar on Will's stomach, his lips lingering before he stood up and met Will's eyes. "I care for little in this world but my freedom and I would gladly give that up in a moment if it meant your survival if it meant that you were still in this world. It is not possible, I should not be able to, but I love you,"
Will stared at Hannibal utterly stunned at the declaration, unable to believe that he had heard what the other had just said, but as Hannibal stared at him unfailingly, covered in the blood of those who had stood between him and Will, the younger man could feel the words sinking into not only his mind but his heart as well.
Hannibal moved easily when Will used their entwined grip to pull himself into a sitting position, reaching out with his other hand to help Will into a seated position. He felt a real sense of satisfaction at the sound of surprise that Hannibal let out when Will kept moving forward and pressed their lips together.
The noise Hannibal let out was utterly bestial.
He wrapped his arms around Will and tugged him close against his bare, bloody chest and sank into the kiss, devouring Will even as Will devoured him, he buried his fingers into Hannibal's hair and pulled lightly, pulling him in as closely as he could.
"Wha.." Will blinked as he ran his fingers down Hannibal's naked back and felt damaged skin.
"Dearest Mason wished for me to have the full experience," Hannibal rumbled.
"Your back," Will cried out, managing to turn Hannibal around enough to see the wound.
"It does not matter," Hannibal shook his head. "We need to leave,"
"Hannibal…" Will took his hand and stopped him. "I know we do, but…"
"What is it?" Hannibal frowned a little, turning to face Will.
"Where are we going? Are we going together, or will you be leaving me?" Will asked.
"You were the one that tricked me, that did not choose me," Hannibal said, a snarl on his lips that he would not normally have let out, whether it was because of the events that had recently happened, how close to the surface he had allowed his beast, or simply because it was Will he did not know, but he could not control it the way that he normally would.
"Don't Hannibal," Will turned fully on the gurney and allowed his legs to hang over the side of it as he let Hannibal's hand slip from his, looking into Hannibal's maroon eyes and trying to ignore the fact that the good doctor was utterly naked beside the blood he was wearing.
"I showed you myself, I offered you myself, I offered you everything that I was, and you rejected me," Hannibal growled.
"I showed you myself, I offered you myself, I offered you everything that I was," Will spat out, throwing the words back at the older man, who actually stepped back as though Will had struck him as he looked into burning blue eyes. "More than that I trusted you, and you threw all of that back in my face and made me live my worst nightmare, the thing you knew that I feared more than anything else in this world and you made sure that I lived it,"
"I did not know what it was that you were to me, I thought you were a game," Hannibal said lowly.
"And I wanted revenge for that, I wanted you to feel what you had done to me," Will shook his head. "I did what I did because I was hurt, and because I thought that I was nothing more than a game to you, that you would have me back in my nightmare, being poked and prodded like a bug on a pin in a snap of your fingers if you lost interest in me, or I stopped being entertaining for you!" Will didn't mean to allow as much emotion out as he did, but he suddenly found that he could not hold it back either.
"Will…"
"I felt things for you that I have not felt for anyone else, I trusted you and opened myself up to you in a way that I have not to anyone else, and I thought that you cared for me. It felt as though my heart was constantly being crushed in a vice when I understood what had happened and thought that it had all just been a game to you, being in there was painful and hell, knowing that you did not feel for me the way that I felt for you hurt more, I felt hollowed out, I felt as though I would shatter at any moment from the pain I was feeling, my heart ached constantly, seeing you hurt and made me feel better at the same time, it felt as though I could not breathe when I couldn't see you, but having you in front of me and knowing that you were as untouchable to me as touching the fog around Wolf's Trap hurt me more than I can even put into words,"
"Will…"
"And at the end of it all still loving you, still wanting you, even while knowing that I couldn't be yours and you couldn't be mine, knowing that that space was between us that looked so thin but felt wider than an ocean was always going to be there keeping us apart, keeping you from me…"
Will let out a startled noise as Hannibal's lips pressed against his, firm but asking for nothing more than the repeated press of lips, his arms wrapped around Will to pull him to the edge of the gurney so that Will and he were pressed tightly together, chest to hips, Will's legs automatically wrapping around Hannibal's bare waist. As Hannibal pressed their lips together again he slid his hands down Will's arms and took his hands, moving to wrap the younger man's arms around his waist and pressed them there before burying his fingers into Will's hair.
The scent of blood was heavy over Hannibal, but under it was the pure scent of Hannibal, for the first time as unveiled to Will as the rest of him was, everything seemed to have been stripped away and the other was standing in front of him as he was.
The scent of his sweat should have been off-putting to Will, the younger man thought absently, but it didn't, instead, it sent an electric spark through Will, he smelt good to him, and all Will wanted to do was bury himself into that scent, to bury himself into Hannibal and never leave, he wanted to fall into Hannibal so that they became one and he never needed to know his life without that scent and these arms surrounding him.
"I could not now live my life without you in, I don't want my life without you in it, it is impossible because no matter where you are, or the distance that is between us, you are a part of me, you are part of the heart that I have not known existed for decades, and it only exists for you, it will only ever belong to you," Hannibal said softly against Will's lips.
He stepped back a little and Will found his fingers gripping onto Hannibal to try and stop him, despite the words that he had spoken, despite the hurt echoing through him, the one that always lived there, and the fresh hurt from having spoken it out loud finally, despite all of that he couldn't bare the thought of Hannibal stepping away from him.
"I can only ask for forgiveness and for a chance, apologies are useless for the hurt that I have caused you, and for taking advantage of the trust that you gave me, I didn't understand what was going on, or what it was that I was feeling for you, I knew you were different, so different to anyone that I have met before, but I did not know how until it was too late, and I had already started down that pathway," Hannibal took Will's hands in his and lifted them to kiss his wrists.
"Hannibal," Will said, not sure whether he wanted to tighten his grip on Hannibal or press him away, that ache in his heart that he had been living with feeling as though it was being cracked up even further.
"I have not your empathy or a true understanding for emotions and feelings. I can not promise not to make mistakes again in the future when it comes to you, though a poor excuse, I have not felt these things before and I do not always know what to do with them. I do ask that you are patient with me, and understand that I have not had these feelings for anyone before, and I know that I never will again," Hannibal said softly.
Will could only blink at him with wide blue eyes, not having expected this at all, not having expected Hannibal to ever say these things to him.
"You deserve this to be said to you properly, to be done properly," Hannibal raised Will's hands to his lips again. "I offer you my heart, and myself, everything that I have is yours, everything that I am is yours. I want a future with you Will, I want the rest of our lives to be entwined together, more than anything I just want you, how, where, I do not care, as long as we are together,"
"Together," Will licked his lips.
"If you do not wish to go with me…I will understand, and I will stop with the games, I will stop trying to claim your attention the way that I have been," the words were clearly painful and difficult for Hannibal to say, and it was clearly said reluctantly, however, Will fully believed that should he say that he did not want to see Hannibal again, should he say that he wanted nothing more to do with him, Hannibal would walk away from him.
Will turned his hands in Hannibal's and gripped onto the other's wrists, using the grip he pulled him forward again so that the older man was standing into bracket of Will's legs, and then he reached up to cup the back of Hannibal's neck and drew him down to press their lips together again.
Hannibal leaned into him, wrapping his arms around Will and holding him closely as he kissed back, rubbing his hands over Will's cool bare flesh with one hand while his other hand reached up to bury into Will's curls.
"I want to go with you, I want to be with you. I don't want to be without you again," Will murmured into Hannibal's mouth.
"I was not sure you would," Hannibal breathed out, relief clear in his voice.
"I love you, more than anything I love you, and I don't think that I can imagine my life without you in it, I can not imagine not being about to see you every day, to touch you every day, to be able to just be with you every day. My life feels as though it doesn't make sense without you in it, and the ache in my heart at the thought of not being with you feels as though it will swallow me whole,"
Hannibal pulled Will back against him, the younger man wrapping his arms around the strong muscles of the other's back and holding onto him tightly as he lost himself in their kiss.
"We need to leave," Hannibal sighed against Will's mouth.
"And find you some clothes," Will chuckled. Hannibal glanced down at himself and hummed as he realised that he was still unclothed. "You didn't think to stop and get some trousers?"
"Getting to you was more important," Hannibal shrugged. Will smiled and leaned up to kiss him again before he slipped to the edge of the gurney as Hannibal kissed him once more and then moved over to Cordell to remove some of his clothing. "William!"
Hannibal hurried back over when Will tried to stand and his legs went from underneath him, sending him crashing to the floor.
"I hate other people calling me William," Will huffed from where he was lying on the floor staring up at the ceiling.
"But not me?" Hannibal asked, appearing in Will's line of sight.
"Not you, I like it when you call me that," Will hummed.
"Come on," Hannibal reached down and slipped his arms under Will's back and knees and lifted him back onto the gurney.
"I am not getting far like this Hannibal," Will said softly.
"Not on your own power no," Hannibal agreed, striding over to Cordell and stripping him quickly, yanking the clothes over the blood covering him with a faint grimace, and grabbed the shoes that he was wearing.
"What do you mean under my own power?" Will asked confused as Hannibal grabbed Will's clothes from where it was sitting on the side and brought them over to him.
"I am going to have to carry you out of here," Hannibal said as though it were obvious.
"You can't carry me all of the way out of here," Will blinked.
"I am not that old, and I am stronger than I look," Hannibal huffed amused.
"That isn't what I meant, I know you are, but it is a long way," Will shook his head.
"You have agreed to come with me, I am not parting from you now for something as simple as this," Hannibal shook his head. He helped Will into his clothing again before moving to grab the hammer again and slipped a couple of the silvery scalpels into his pocket.
Will watched him slightly fascinated as Hannibal prowled around the room gathering what they would need, he was fully seeing the man that he had caught glimpses of, he was seeing Hannibal as he truly was, the beast and the man.
And he could see the bond between them, finally, he could see that tether that had been so invisible to his eyes before now. He had thought that it was there and becoming clear before Hannibal had tricked him and set him up, it had faded a little, become the finest of connections, thinner than a hair, but to Will's frustration and anger at the time, the connection had maintained. Every time Will had tried to cut it, snap it, sever it, every time he saw Hannibal it seemed to renew itself, hanging on in there despite his best attempts.
As time passed after he had been released from prison and his anger had passed, he had been determined in his revenge against Hannibal, though he had faltered at moments as his feelings for Hannibal didn't leave him no matter how much he tried to push them away, and again that bond survived between them, invisible to Will's eyes still, but there and tangible.
Now he could see it, blood red of course, thick and twisted tightly in a way that could easily become tangled and restrictive, but he believed now that it wouldn't, now he believed that it would represent the strength that their bond held, their bond that managed to withstand so much to allow them to be here right now, to allow them to have a chance at a future together, to allow him to have a future with Hannibal.
"What is it those beautiful eyes are seeing?" Hannibal asked, reaching out and cupping Will's face as he stepped in front of him.
"Our bond," Will said meeting Hannibal's maroon eyes.
"Is it strong?" Hannibal asked, tilting his head slightly, not questioning Will's sanity as so many, nearly everyone would question.
"Yes," Will nodded.
"Is it beautiful?" Hannibal smiled.
"It is blood red and shining," Will reached out and cupped Hannibal's face with both of his hands. "It is stunning," he said before pulling Hannibal to him and pressed their lips together again.