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Title: Personal Mission
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Everett Hobbs (Original Character)
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: Table 2, 20 in 20 Challenge, tv_universe
Prompt: 8, Black
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.

***

This case wasn't going to be simply black and white.

Everett frowned as he went down the front steps of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, his thoughts still in the building with Will.

He knew that the young man he would be defending wasn't a murderer. He liked to think that he could read guilt in people's faces, in their eyes. And there was nothing guilty about Will Graham. He couldn't have committed those murders. He wasn't that kind of person.

Everett knew that everyone had a dark side, but he didn't believe that the darkness in Will's psyche had come out in that way. No, he had been framed. That was obvious.

It had been a very good set-up, but Everett was sure that he could see behind it -- and he was sure that he could prove it had been a frame job. There had to be a way to do so; the FBI wasn't even attempting to prove Will's innocence. They were ignoring crucial evidence.

Those people had supposedly been Will's friends, he thought in disgust. Some friends, since they were willing to throw him under the bus.

Didn't Americans know how to do their jobs?

No, it wasn't that they didn't know how, he amended. It was that they didn't want to. They could have even been told by the bigwigs in the FBI that they shouldn't, that this would be a good way to get rid of someone they considered a maverick, someone who was, well, different.

He knew about Will's empathic abilities, of course. And he couldn't help thinking that someone who was very uncomfortable with them wanted Will out of the way.

He was here to keep that from happening, Everett told himself firmly. He wasn't going to let Will be given a sentence of death -- or let him rot away in a jail cell, or in an insane asylum, for the rest of his life. Will Graham deserved much better than that.

This case was much more than just the open and shut, black and white trial that the FBI was trying to make of it. Someone wanted Will dead, or at least incarcerated for life.

Everett intended to prove who that someone was, to expose their evil to the world, and to make sure that they took Will's place behind bars. He wasn't going to stop until he'd accomplished that goal; he had his own reasons for wanting to do so, very good ones.

But those reasons were in the background, at least for now.

His main objective was to make sure that Will Graham was released, and that his name was cleared. Will would be a free man, exonerated of any crime.

Everett was sure that the FBI was part of the frame-up; he didn't believe that it could have been executed so perfectly without some collusion somewhere within the ranks of the authorities. Someone was working with the real killer, someone who feared and resented Will.

Well, he would prove that, too -- and he would make sure that the people who had conspired with the killer were behind bars, right along with him.

Everett didn't know just how he was going to do that. But he knew that he would, whatever he had to do. He would gain Will his freedom -- and prove him innocent.

The one thing he knew for sure was that Will Graham was not a killer. He could see innocence in those extraordinary blue eyes -- innocence, along with anger that he had been so unjustly imprisoned. He knew that Will's resentment was growing.

And who could blame him for that? Everett thought. No one would want to be incarcerated for crimes that they hadn't committed, forced to pay for someone else's sins.

If he had his way, Will wouldn't be there for much longer.

There was so much more to this case than met the eye; he had known that when he had first heard of what was going on. He'd made sure that he would be accepted as Will's lawyer before he'd come to the States; he wasn't going to let the FBI shove him away from this case.

Everett didn't doubt that he would have to work hard to unravel this tangle; someone -- or several someones -- obviously wanted Will to suffer for their crimes.

But he would untangle all of this and free Will, no matter what it took. And, if he was very, very lucky, he would also be able to have his own revenge as well. No one had to know that he was personally involved in this; that was his secret.

He had lost all that was dear to him, lost everything that had meant the most in his life -- and the person who he knew was behind these murders would pay dearly for that.

All of his investigations, all of the careful work he'd done to piece two and two together over the past five years was finally coming to fruition. Being able to save Will Graham from a fate that he didn't deserve would only be a very sweet icing on a delectable cake.

But none of it would be easy. Not at all.

He would have to find proof that the person he thought had done all of this was actually behind it, and he knew from experience that they didn't leave clues behind.

But somehow, some way, he would find some. He would get to the bottom of this, and he would set Will free. He would link this case to one in the past that had affected him personally, and he would finally see his nemesis -- and Will's -- put behind bars for the rest of their lives.

Just the thought of that made Everett's full lips curve into a smile, his pale eyes narrowing as he thought. He already had an idea of where to start.

This case was far from black and white -- there were so many shades of grey involved here that he would have to be careful not to lose himself in the mists. Nothing was ever just black and white -- everything had its grey areas. But this case had more than most.

Still, he would get to the heart of it all, and he would put the man responsible behind bars. He'd make sure that Will Graham was exonerated.

He'd do whatever it took. It was his own personal mission.

***