cook_the_rude | (no subject)

(no subject)

"Going my way?"

Hannibal had turned the car around, opened the door and dropped the body of their police escort as he'd never drop that much litter. He still wore his grey uniform from the State Hospital, but his smile was utterly free.

The car smelled of gunshots and blood, but it would do.

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"To the place where we meet the Dragon," Hannibal says. "My cliff house. Taking the advantage of picking the field of battle. I'll show you the salient points when we get there."

Edited 2018-12-30 10:07 (UTC)

Will nods and closes his eyes again. The motion of the car starts to lull him to sleep. One hand falls open on the console between them, palm up.

Hannibal turns on the radio, an utterly mundane gesture; but because he is Hannibal, the slightest twist of the dials brings on a Brandenburg Concerto, calm and quiet.

The common preferences of the cops who used to inhabit this car mean that the sound favours the bass; with Bach, it means that the basso continuo will come to the foreground, increasing the soporific effect of the car's gentle motions.

Will sleeps easily for the rest of the journey, only waking as the cat turns into a gravel driveway. "I smell the ocean." he comments without opening his eyes.

The car stops.

Hannibal reaches out to briefly touch Will's still-open palm as the motor cuts out, and the radio falls silent.

"We're here," Hannibal says. "At the cliff above the sea; I'll show you."

Edited 2018-12-30 10:33 (UTC)

For a moment Will's fingers close around Hannibal's, transferring the smear of dried blood. But then he lets go and rubs his cheek, opening the door and stretching and he gets out.

It's nice. He could like it here. If they hadn't come here to die.

Hannibal stands, and stretches to the sky, and breathes in deeply.

"Home away from home," he says. "Jack's lot never found it."

"How many didn't Jack find?" Will asks, slightly amused. He heads for the edge, stepping past a ring of larger stones.

"Enough," Hannibal says. "He missed a few of my places, and most of my stashes. I let him have those that were burned anyway, or not that useful."

"And now me." It's said softly, mostly to himself. Jack missed many things. Including how far from being his man Will had become.

"He thought you his useful tool," Hannibal says, starting to walk around the house. "He thought he could dump you into a peaceful life and pick you up whenever he wanted to. I do have to blame him for not realising you'd break. He lost his former edge since Bella's death."

Will doesn't follow. He stays where he can see the ocean. Where he can hear the regular beat of the waves.

"It wasn't Bella. It was you. And me."

"Because he fell for my traps, and underestimated you?" Hannibal says. "Ah, but do you think he would have if Bella had still been with him? She saw through me much sooner."

"We weakened his sense of infallibility. At a time he couldn't control life and death, he thought he could control other things. Us."

"And then, one of us had to be the very monster he was hunting," Hannibal answers. "What a blow. Then, he first got the wrong one, and when he finally got the right one, you failed to drop back into the line as if nothing had happened, just a small regrettable mistake."

Pause.

"What a surprise."

"How many times did he believe he has the Chesapeake Ripper?Abel Gideon, Chilton, me, you. And even once he had you-" he gestures around. To their freedom. However temporary.

"He didn't manage to hold on to me," Hannibal nods. "He never realised I only stayed for your sake."

"No. No, he didn't." He walks closer to the edge, feeling the salt on his skin. "I doubt Alana knew."

"She was too scared to think straight," Hannibal says. "Which is why I threatened her and her family, now."

"Will you? Hurt them?" his tone is neutral but Will keeps his back to Hannibal now, eyes only for the waves.

"If we survive the Dragon," Hannibal says, "do you think I'd waste resources on making her unhappy, just because?"

Pause.

"If she had been thinking straight, she'd have realised I don't usually threaten people. As long as she's running in the opposite direction, she can't get in the way again."

"You don't usually break promises either."

He turns his head then. "I need a shower. Do you think we have time?"

Hannibal steps up behind him, and smiles at him.

"She is on borrowed time," he says. "We all are, and cannot run from it. Even the earth crumbles underneath our feet."

Standing beside Will, he peers down at the roiling sea in its narrow bowl between the cliffs, white waves foaming up at the bluff, eating at it, while the middle stays dark.

"The bluff is eroding," Hannibal says, conversationally. "There was more land when I was here with Abigail; more land still when I was here with Miriam Lass."

"Now you're here with me." He reflects, turning to look at Hannibal.

Hannibal is still looking into the abyss.

"And the bluff is still eroding," he says. "You and I are suspended over the roiling Atlantic. Soon, all this will be lost to the sea."

He catches Will's eyes then, and smiles minutely before turning towards the house.

"And yes, showers are definitely on offer. I don't want to risk dying in this unperson suit."