Title: Avenged
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: writers_choice
Prompt: #555, Avenge
Author's Note: Sequel to "Blood on His Hands."
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Hannibal Lecter or Will Graham, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.
***
He would avenge himself on Hannibal Lecter.Will's lips thinned into a grim line at the thought; every time he thought back to the time he'd spent in jail, anger swamped him, threatening to overtake his senses.
He took one deep breath, then another. Anger wasn't something he could afford right now. Anger was hot, red and blazing. He need the calm blue of control at the moment; he couldn't let a haze of anger get in the way of the plans that he had to make.
There were things he had to do that couldn't be done in the heat of anger -- and anger was a danger to him at this stage of the game.
He couldn't let Hannibal know that he was angry. Not for any reason.
He had to make Hannibal believe that he was forgiven, that Will trusted him again. That was going to be one of the hardest things he'd ever done.
trusting Hannibal was something he should never have done, and pretending that he did was going to take every bit of dissembling ability that he possessed. It was hard to be around the other man without wanting to flinch and back away.
He knew too much about Hannibal now, too much that he hadn't known before. And even though he didn't know everything, what he did know repulsed him.
This wasn't a person he wanted to be friendly with. Not in any way.
His visions had shown him too much about Hannibal that he didn't want anything to do with. They'd shown him that Hannibal belonged behind bars.
Not only was he the Chesapeake Ripper, but he was a cannibal. Will was absolutely positive of that, even though the only proof he had of it was what his visions had shown him, and what he knew in his gut to be true. Hannibal was nothing more than a monster.
A monster who wore a disturbingly human face. But was it? he asked himself. He'd always thought that there was something .... different about Hannibal's countenance.
There was a reason that the man's face had always slightly disturbed him. And now he knew that reason for that; it was because of what was hidden behind that false mask of humanity. If the mask was ripped away, it was hard to look at what had been revealed.
Will had never known anyone who harbored such evil, and he hoped that he never would again. Knowing one monster in a lifetime was far more than enough.
It was still hard to believe that Hannibal had committed so many crimes.
How could one person be capable of harming so many others? And what was so twisted in his psyche that he was driven to such horrific acts?
Will had a hard time reconciling the calm, sedate man he knew with the crimes that he knew Hannibal had committed; they hardly seemed like something he could do. Yet he had, and Will knew that for a fact, even if no one else wanted to believe him .... yet.
His hands clenched into fists at the thought; he had to close his eyes and take a deep breath, to remind himself that this would be an uphill battle.
But he would make people believe him.
It wouldn't be easy to expose Hannibal for the killer that he was; he knew that. And it very well might not even be possible for him to do it alone.
If only he could count on someone -- anyone -- he knew to help him! But even though Jack was coming to believe in him, it wasn't happening quickly enough. Will wanted this to be over and done with, to put that monster behind bars and avenge himself.
No, not just himself, that voice in his head chastised him. He shouldn't be selfish. He should be doing this for all of Hannibal's other victims, as well.
Particularly Abigail, he told himself, his breath catching slightly in his throat. A teenager, a child who had barely had a chance to live before Hannibal had taken her life.
He still felt guilty about that. If only he had been able to see Hannibal for what he was much sooner, and had been able to unmask him, then Abigail wouldn't have died. As it was, Will felt that he had failed her -- and he would carry that guilt with him for all of his days.
He wanted, no, needed, to avenge Abigail just as much as he did himself. And all of the other people hwo had suffered and died at Hannibal's hands.
They all deserved to be avenged, to find justice for themselves.
All of Hannibal's victims deserved to find peace -- including himself, Will thought with a sigh. But it remained to be seen if he could bring them the justice they should have.
The only way that justice would be served, to his way of thinking, was for Hannibal to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Death was too good for him; that would be too easy. And it wouldn't be as satisfying as locking that monster up for good.
What he really wanted to see was Hannibal in a cage, pacing and restless, knowing that he had lost any chance of freedom, and that he would never kill again.
He wanted to see that monster thwarted and utterly defeated.
That was what any decent person would want to see. Anyone who had any kind of a sense of justice would want to see Hannibal put behind bars.
For him, it would be a personal victory to know that he had managed to defeat someone who had tried their best to turn his life into a living hell. He would be able to stand on the right side of those bars, and let Hannibal know that he had won his freedom.
He wouldn't taunt Hannibal aloud. No, there was no reason for that. But he would let that monster know that he was in the right just by being a free man.
That would anger Hannibal, he knew, but the other man would be helpless to do anything about it. He would no longer be able to harm Will, or anyone else, with his machinations. His evil would be contained; it would never be able to spill over and hurt anyone again.
And that would be Will's revenge. That would be the best way to avenge himself, Abigail, and all of those other people.
To make sure that Hannibal would never again do harm to anyone.
That might not seem like much of a way to avenge anyone, but for him, it was everything. Taking away the freedom of someone who prized it was a terrible blow.
And that was what he wanted, Will thought, clenching his teeth. He wanted to strike a blow that would hurt, a blow that would bring Hannibal Lecter to his knees. He wanted to witness the pain that blow would cause, to see it with his own eyes.
He wanted to look on Hannibal behind bars, and to have the satisfaction of knowing that he was the one who had put him there.
After all, it was what Hannibal had intended for him.
That fate was something he wouldn't have to suffer now, and strangely, he thought that was also thanks to Hannibal. He didn't understand the reasoning behind that.
Why would his nemesis have put him in jail, only to have him freed again? Was Hannibal trying to teach him some sort of lesson about the value of freedom? That wasn't something he needed to learn; he already knew that lesson, and he'd learned it the hard way long ago.
Still, being in jail had given him another taste of what it was like to lose his freedom, enough to know that it would be a fitting fate for Hannibal.
It might not destroy him, but it would be a start.
Avenging himself, Abigail, and all of those other victims would be a good feeling when it finally happened. Will wasn't going to deny that. But that wasn't why he was doing this.
He simply wanted to put a killer behind bars, where he belonged. Yet, the revenge side of things would be satisfying, but even more than that, it would feel good to know that he had served justice, that against all the odds, he'd done what he'd set out to achieve.
Maybe once Hannibal was safely behind bars, he would be able to sleep at night. Maybe the dreams would finally leave him in peace.
Or maybe they would seek to avenge themselves on him.
***
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