Mar 1, 2024 - (Will) I can tell

𝔎𝔬𝔡ė𝔩 𝔫𝔢 𝔞𝔟𝔲?
 
𝐻𝓊𝓂𝓂 𝓌𝒽𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝒾𝓃𝒹𝑒𝑒𝒹 😏

Ruining lives 𝖎𝖘 fun, but I think we can create something even more magnificent from the ashes.

𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒸𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒!

Stop eating them

 

"𝔑𝔬."

 

"𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃 𝓝𝓞? 𝒫𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶 𝑔𝓁𝓊𝓉𝓉𝑜𝓃 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓅𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓈𝒽𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝓂𝒶𝓈𝑜𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓈𝓉?"

 

"𝔜𝔢𝔰, 𝔟𝔲𝔱 ℑ 𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔱. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔪𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔨, 𝔰𝔬 ℑ 𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔷𝔦𝔫𝔤. ℑ𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔞 𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔭𝔲𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔥 𝔪𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔦𝔱, 𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔩… 𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔞𝔪 ℑ 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔶𝔬𝔲?"

 

"𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓃𝑜 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓅𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒥𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝓂𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒻𝑒𝓌 𝒾𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓈." Will pinched the bridge of his nose "𝒲𝒶𝒾𝓉 𝐻𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒷𝒶𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝒾𝑔?"

 

Hannibal stared at Will for a long, stunned moment, before deflecting his question with another question. "𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔡𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔨?"

 

"𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝒶 𝓁𝒶 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒? 𝐻𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈?" his eyes darted everywhere as a deep sense of foreboding settled in his gut.

 

"𝔚𝔦𝔩𝔩, 𝔥𝔲𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔦𝔰 𝔧𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔨𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔪𝔢𝔞𝔱," Hannibal explained calmly. "ℑ 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔱𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔶𝔬𝔲, ℑ 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔫𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔣𝔢𝔡 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔫𝔶𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔥 𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱."

 

"𝐼 𝓈𝓊𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓈 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝒹𝑜𝑔 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈" he sighed "𝒪𝒽 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒹𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉? 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝐵𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒… 𝒸𝑜-𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝑒𝓇?"

 

Hannibal's eyes didn't narrow, exactly, but something chilled within his gaze. "ℑ'𝔪 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔢 𝔰𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰, 𝔚𝔦𝔩𝔩," he said, keeping his tone casual despite the roiling jealousy threatening to devour him, as he had devoured so many others. "𝔅𝔲𝔱 𝔰𝔥𝔢 𝔨𝔫𝔢𝔴 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔪𝔲𝔠𝔥. 𝔖𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔬 ℑ 𝔴𝔞𝔰, 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔪𝔞𝔡𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔞 𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔢𝔫𝔡. ℑ 𝔡𝔦𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔣𝔢𝔢𝔡 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲, 𝔥𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯. 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔩𝔞𝔰𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 ℑ 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔱." He allowed a faint note of irony to slip into his last words, betraying their double meaning.

 

Will frowned slightly but then shrugged it off, there was something off about Hannibal and Will just couldn't place what. The eyes gave it away plus the added inflections in his tone sent a shiver along his spine. "𝒲𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝐻𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒷𝒶𝓁. 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓇; 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝓊𝒶𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓁 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊" Will tried to run his hand through his longer hair but the chains halted his movement and he sighed despondently.

 

"𝔖𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔪𝔢𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔉𝔅ℑ 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔞𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔪𝔢. 𝔖𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔡𝔲𝔱𝔶-𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔬 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔧𝔬𝔟 𝔲𝔫𝔩𝔢𝔰𝔰 ℑ 𝔭𝔲𝔱 𝔞𝔫 𝔢𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔥𝔢𝔯."

 

Will was reluctant to argue but he wanted to shout and force Hannibal to understand that Beverly was more than just a co-worker she was becoming Will's friend. Instead he replied "𝒮𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹"

 

"𝔜𝔢𝔰." Hannibal's gaze remained cold. "ℑ 𝔞𝔪 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔤𝔬𝔬𝔡… 𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖘, 𝔚𝔦𝔩𝔩."

 

Will exhaled rolling his eyes "𝒥𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒 𝐻𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒷𝒶𝓁, 𝓈𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹, 𝓌𝒽𝓎 𝐵𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓁𝓎?" he clasped his hands together and leaned forwards dipping his head to capture the Dr's focus.

 

"𝔖𝔥𝔢 𝔤𝔬𝔱 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔠𝔩𝔬𝔰𝔢," Hannibal said simply. To what, he left to the imagine. Did he mean, she got too close to fingering Hannibal as the serial killer he was? Or did he mean, she got too close to Will? Too close a 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥? He watched carefully for Will's reaction.

 

𝓗𝓮 leaned back as far as he could before the chains started to tug at his wrists. "𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒" Will tasted the words upon his tongue, dissected them and reformed them together again. "𝒮𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒, 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓀𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝒽𝒾𝒹𝒹𝑒𝓃…. 𝒯𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒 𝐻𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝒷𝒶𝓁, 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈?"

 

"ℑ𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔨?" Hannibal asked, his tone and face completely neutral, still watching Will. "𝔓𝔢𝔯𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔢 𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔦𝔱."

 

"𝐼𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀" Will leaned forward "𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉’𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓈𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌, 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒'𝓈 𝒶 𝒽𝒾𝒹𝒹𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒟𝓇 𝐿𝑒𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐵𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝒶𝓌 𝒾𝓉" with a head tilted to the side the former agent studied the man before him, he only needed to break through that wall and he would have the Dr bang to rights.

 

Keeping his expression neutral still, Hannibal asked, "𝔄𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔪 ℑ 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔨 𝔅𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔶 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔠𝔩𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔱𝔬?" Though his expression remained the same, there was a lilt of challenge in his voice.

 

Will looked at the other before he tapped the table "𝒴𝑜𝓊… 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀…" he started before shaking his head "𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝑔𝑒𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒? 𝒲𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝒹𝑒𝒶 𝒾𝓈 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓈" he huffed as he turned to look at the small window. The Dr was right, although Will was loath to admit it, Beverly had been becoming…. Closer to him.

 

"𝔅𝔲𝔱 𝔦𝔱 𝔦𝔰𝔫'𝔱 𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔭𝔬𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔰 𝔞𝔱 𝔞𝔩𝔩," said Hannibal. "𝔒𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔴𝔦𝔰𝔢, 𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔰 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔴𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔟𝔞𝔡𝔤𝔢𝔯 𝔪𝔢 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔡𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔥𝔬𝔴'𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔴𝔥𝔶'𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔦𝔱 𝔡𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯. 𝔑𝔢𝔦𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔡𝔦𝔡 𝔰𝔥𝔢."

 

Will turned at that last comment "𝒪𝒻 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒟𝓇 𝐿𝑒𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇. 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝑔𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇" he clenched his fist "𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓃𝓉…. " his voice trailed off "𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊… 𝒜𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓂𝓅𝓁𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝑒? 𝒟𝓇 𝐿𝑒𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔… 𝒥𝑒𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓊𝓈" Will's eyes bore into the other searching, searching for a response, an emotion, a flicker of perhaps something he too felt inside, confirmation.

 

"𝔒𝔫𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔫'𝔰 𝔬𝔭𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔬𝔫," Hannibal countered frostily. "𝔗𝔬 𝔪𝔢, 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔩𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔢. 𝔚𝔥𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔯 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔰𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔦𝔫 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔦𝔰 𝔦𝔪𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔞𝔩, 𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔥𝔬𝔴 𝔡𝔦𝔡 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔣𝔢𝔢𝔩 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔥𝔢𝔯?" The question of jealousy thereby answered itself. A slight tension of the eyebrows had crossed Hannibal's face for a fleeting split second before he forced his mask of neutrality firmly back into place.