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Title: Just One Wish
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 902
Author's Note: One-shot.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Will Graham or Hannibal Lecter, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***


"What would you ask for if you had just one wish, Will?"

Will stared at Hannibal through the glass wall of the prison that the other man was kept in, not sure how to answer the question. He didn't think that he could.

What would he wish for? He would wish that everything had been different. That so many people hadn't died. That he himself hadn't been through such hell.

But it was useless to wish for things that couldn't be, he told himself firmly. Things were as they were. Wishing that it had all played out differently, that he had caught Hannibal sooner, wouldn't change a single thing. Wishing for the impossible would only make him feel even more regret.

He didn't regret that Hannibal was here. He didn't regret that this was the last time he would see the other man. He just regretted that they had ever met.

His life might not have been the greatest place to be before Hannibal had come into it, but at least he had felt safe. He had known who he was, and where he was going.

Hannibal had turned everything inside out, and not in a good way.

He was never going to be the same was he had been. He knew that, and Hannibal knew. There would always be a seed of darkness within him, one that would never go away.

He would have to be vigilant for the rest of his life, watching over that tiny kernel, never letting it sprout and grow. He would have to be careful to keep it buried.

He couldn't risk letting that part of him out into the open. He couldn't risk becoming like Hannibal, and the other man knew that as well as he did. That the possibility was there.

But he wouldn't let it happen, Will told himself firmly. He was better than that. He wasn't a killer. He had a conscience, and he would let himself be ruled by it. He wasn't someone who would kill for the thrill of it, for the satisfaction of playing god. He wouldn't turn into Hannibal. He was above that.

He had been pushed to the limits of his endurance, and he still hadn't fallen into the trap that Hannibal had tried to set for him. He hadn't become a killer. And he wasn't going to. He had killed, yes, but only in self-defense. He didn't enjoy it. He wasn't cut from the same cloth that Hannibal was.

No matter how hard Hannibal had pushed him, he hadn't let himself sink to those depths. And he never would. He had more integrity than this man had. He would fight the lure of that darkness.

Oh, he knew what he would wish for. He was lying to himself if he said that he didn't. But did he have the courage to say the words out loud? Or did Hannibal already know what the answer would be?

He wanted to knock the smile off those thin lips, take the smirk away from the lizardlike visage that smiled at him so casually from behind the unbreakable glass.

And suddenly, the words came to his lips, falling from them easily.

"What would I wish if I had just one wish?" he said, looking Hannibal in the eye, finding that easy to do for once. "I'd wish that I never had anything to do with a monster like you."

The words had their intended effect; the smile vanished from Hannibal's lips, and he eyes grew dark and stony. If Will hadn't known that the glass was unbreakable, he would have shivered.

But Hannibal couldn't get to him. The monster was behind the glass, and he was out here. He was safe. Hannibal was never going to interfere in his life again; he was never going to be caught up in those mind games, never going to be used to fulfill an agenda of evil ever again.

They stared at each other for long moments before Will got to his feet, without a word or an acknowledgement, and walked away. He didn't look back. He didn't have to.

He was leaving behind the worst experience of his entire life, one that he had never wanted to go through, and would never try to relive in his mind to figure out where it had all gone wrong.

He knew where it had gone wrong. The moment that they had first met.

He didn't let himself breathe fully until he had reached the outside of the building, and he was walking down the steps in the bright sunshine. Then, Will heaved a sigh of relief.

It was over. He never had to see Hannibal again, and that thought lifted a great weight from his chest. He felt free for the first time in what seemed like forever.

He didn't know what the future might hold, but it couldn't be as bas as the past.

He hardly noticed when a dark cloud passed over the sun, leaving him in shadow.

***