Main Hannibal Fan Fiction page | new stories page | Will/Hannibal slash page | other pairings page | gen stories page

Title: Searching For Clues
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Everett Hobbs (Original Character)
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: writers_choice
Prompt: #636, Search
Author's Note: Everett's face is Benedict Cumberbatch.
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 Lee Fallon, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Everett hadn't found any new clues. That was obvious.

Will rubbed his tired eyes, glancing around the area in front of his house. Soon, it would be too cold to sit out here in the late afternoons; it was already chilly.

How much longer would they be here? He had talked to Everett about moving to London, though he didn't know for sure yet if it would be on a permanent basis.

He wasn't sure that he wanted to live in a city permanently -- and he wasn't yet ready to give up his home here in Wolf Trap. Yes, it was far too close to Hannibal, and of course, his nemesis knew where he lived. But he was still hesitant to leave. It felt too much like running away.

One thing he had learned over the course of his life was that trying to run away from his problems only made them worse. He had to stand and face them.

If he didn't stand up for himself, if he didn't put up a fight, even a losing one, then Hannibal would think that he could be victimized -- and he wouldn't stop.

There had to be some clue that he'd let behind.

But he and Everett had both scoured all of the evidence several times. They'd both been back to several of the crime scenes, and they'd found nothing.

It was so frustrating to know that Hannibal was going to get away with all of the evil that he had perpetrated if they didn't find a way to bring his guilt to light, and stop him.

How were they supposed to do that? Will asked himself, running a hand through his dark curls, a frown of utter frustration on his face. He had no idea where to start; he'd done all that he knew how to do, and he'd kept coming up against one brick wall after another.

There seemed to be no way to prove Hannibal's guilt, not conclusively. And even though he was out of jail now, he knew that some people still suspected him.

Which wasn't fair, but then, life was rarely ever fair.

One thing he definitely wasn't going to do was give Hannibal another chance to frame him for crimes that he hadn't committed. Which meant that he would really have no choice but to leave Wolf Trap and go away with Everett, if only for a little peace of mind.

He seriously doubted that Hannibal would try anything like breaking into his home while he was away; the man had never seemed particularly interested in the place.

If he wasn't there, then he doubted that Wolf Trap would hold any interest at all for Hannibal. At least his house would be safe from being ransacked.

Of course, he could always ask someone -- probably Jack -- to come to the house periodically and look things over, to make sure that nothing was disturbed. But nothing had been bothered during the months that he'd been in jail, so he didn't think that would be a problem.

No, they had much bigger problems than that.

At the moment, their main problem was finding any proof of Hannibal's guilt, anything that could tie him to the crimes of the Chesapeake Ripper.

The bastard had managed to hide his tracks well, Will thought, his lips curling into a sneer. And he'd been thorough with his frame-up job. Hannibal had known exactly how to carry things out, just what would make Will look inescapably guilty.

Hannibal wouldn't have cared one bit if he had lost his life, if he'd been given the death penalty for crimes that he hadn't committed. He would have considered it all a huge joke.

He hated Hannibal, hated him with every bit of venom that it was possible to produce. He wanted nothing more than to see his nemesis behind bars for the rest of his life.

Losing his freedom would be a hell on earth for Hannibal.

So that was what Will wanted to condemn him to. Losing his life wouldn't be nearly enough. He wanted Hannibal to suffer for the rest of his days.

Even so, he conceded to himself, that wouldn't really be enough. He deserved to suffer for eternity for all the pain and heartache he'd caused the families of his victims.

He wasn't even thinking of himself in their number, but he knew that he had every right to. Not only had he been through hell when he'd been suffering from the encephalitis that Hannibal had induced, but he'd also had to go through losing the child he'd thought of as his adopted daughter.

He would never be able to forgive Hannibal for that. Of course, there was no proof that Abigail was dead, but Will knew in his heart that she was.

He had just begun to open his heart, to feel that he had someone in his life who understood him and who he could care for, when Hannibal had taken her away from him.

And he'd done it in one of the cruelest ways possible.

The worst thing was that he'd made Will believe that he himself was the cause of her death. Even knowing that he wasn't didn't ease his guilt.

He should have been able to save Abigail, somehow. He should have figured out far sooner just what Hannibal was, how evil he was, and what he was capable of. He should have been able to shield Abigail from that evil, to protect someone who was no more than a child.

But he hadn't been able to do it -- and now all of the clues that he and Everett so desperately searched for might have been destroyed, covered up forever.

They wouldn't stop searching for clues, though. They never would.

The two of them would never rest until they had Hannibal where they wanted him -- behind bars, with the entire world knowing just how evil he really was.

They wouldn't stop searching for clues, Will vowed. Not until they had Hannibal behind bars, to pay for the crimes he'd committed, and any threat to them was neutralized forever.

He just hoped that they could manage to do that.

Will sighed, standing up to go into the house. He had the definite feeling that stopping Hannibal's crime wave would be harder than it seemed. Much harder.

After all, Everett had been trying for quite a while now, and he hadn't succeeded on his own. But maybe the two of them working together could manage it.

After all, two heads were better than one, weren't they?

Will couldn't help smiling at that thought, his heart leaping. Yes, he would go to London with Everett, and they would build a new life for themselves there, as a couple.

Together, they would defeat Hannibal, and they would put their respective pasts behind them. They would keep searching for clues, and at some point, they would be rewarded.

Hannibal was going down. His freedom wouldn't last for much longer.

They'd put him behind bars, if it was the last thing either of them did.

***