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

Title: Planning Vengeance
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: writers_choice
Prompt: #538, Vengeance
Author's Note: Sequel to "Up From the Depths."
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.

***

"So, you now know who attacked you." Hannibal leaned back in his chair, staring at Will. "Or, you do in a certain sense. It's unfortunate that you didn't see a face."

Will sat in the chair opposite him, hands clenched in his lap. "I'd give anything to know who he is. And just why he attacked me," the younger man said, his voice betraying his frustration. "All I know is that he doesn't want me to get in his way."

"It's rather obvious why," Hannibal countered. "He's a killer, Will, and you catch killers and put them behind bars. He doesn't want to be incarcerated, so he has 'warned' you to stop you from pursuing him. He hopes that this will deter you, that you'll be intimidated."

"Well, it's not going to work," Will said, his jaw set. Hannibal could see how tense he was; the younger man almost looked as though he would shatter at any moment.

This was not a promising start to their session.

He was worried about Will, worried about the fact that his young lover seemed so intent on hunting down his attacker and confronting him on his own.

Will was only taking his life into his own hands if he tried something like that, and Hannibal wasn't about to agree with him on that subject, or give him the opportunity to do anything foolish. If Will met his attacker face to face, he would have others around him.

Hannibal would make sure of that. There was no way that he was letting his lover risk his life over a man who, as far as Hannibal was concerned, deserved no consideration.

It was bad enough that this man had been killing innocent people, and making Will's life -- and his job -- so hard for him over the past few weeks, Hannibal reflected. But he had attacked Will himself -- which made him fair game.

Hannibal had no intention of letting this man go unpunished. Will had one idea of what the punishment would be when he was caught. Hannibal had another.

No one touched his Will and survived. No one. He would exact his own vengeance.

This man wasn't going to live to be put behind bars. In Hannibal's eyes, he didn't deserve to live in a prison, to have taxpayers' money fund his continuing life, and to have a chance to think about what he had done. No, he didn't deserve any of those concessions.

What he deserved was death, a painful one. The man had dared to touch WIll, to harm him. And Hannibal wasn't going to allow anyone to do that and continue breathing.

Just the thought of that .... person having his hands on Will, touching him, harming him, inflicting those bruises, made Hannibal feel murderously angry.

Will thought that he could find the man -- if he could manage to pull a face out of his memory. Hannibal wasn't sure that he could do so; after all, Will had been sleepwalking through the experience -- though he didn't see how that was possible.

How could anyone sleepwalk through being attacked and beaten?

But somehow, Will had, even though the experience had obviously been painful. It worried him that Will had stayed asleep, his mind numbed, through such a brutal beating.

He was afraid for Will, afraid for his safety. This killer obviously knew how to find his young lover's home -- he had attacked Will in the woods near his home, and had apparently laid in wait for him. That meant that he could easily target Will again.

That was what worried him more than anything else -- that Will would be attacked again, and possibly harmed even more this time, before they could identify the killer.

Hannibal didn't think that Will would be able to break through that veil that was between his body and his conscious mind when he was sleepwalking -- at least, not on his own. The idea that Will had presented to him only a few days ago of being hypnotized came to his mind.

Of course, being hypnotized wasn't going to guarantee Will's safety -- or guarantee that he would be able to identify the killer. But it was worth a try.

Why not? He knew that Bedelia could do it.

"I believe that we should consider your idea of being hypnotized, Will," he said, looking directly into the younger man's eyes. "I think it could tell us who this man is."

Will seemed to consider his words for a few minutes, then he nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah. I think you're right. I might have been sleeping, but my unconscious mind might have managed to get a 'look' at him without me knowing it."

It was a slim possibility, Hannibal knew. But it was one that they had to explore -- for Will's sake. They had to find out who this man was, and make sure that he didn't get close to Will again. And Hannibal knew just what he planned to do to that man once he was found.

"I'll call my friend and arrange it," he said with a nod. "Tomorrow morning." That would give them both the rest of the night to think about this -- and for him to plan his vengeance.

***