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Title: The Dark Side
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1drabble
Prompt: 40, Alternate Universe
Author's Note: Sequel to "Shadow on the Moon."
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.

***

"There is so much more to who you are than you realise, Will." The words were soft, enticing.

"Is there, Hannibal?" Will hated the sound of his own voice; he hated saying the words. He hated feeling as if he were an actor in a play.

He felt as though he was inhabiting some kind of alternate universe every time he was around Hannibal now; he had to slip out of himself, become someone else. And he didn't like the person that Hannibal wanted him to be, the mask he had to put on. Not at all.

But this was the only way to catch Hannibal, he reminded himself. This was the only way they would bring him down and put him behind bars, in his proper place.

He had to keep up this act, and he had to be good at it.

"Of course there is," Hannibal told him, raising an eyebrow. "You know that everyone is an amalgam of light and darkness. You simply don't let yourself access your dark side."

"That dark side isn't going to do me any good," Will said with a shrug. "It doesn't help me in my job, and it doesn't help me become a better person, even if it does give me .... satisfaction," he finished, making the word sound almost like a question. "Sometimes."

"Only sometimes, Will?" Hannibal asked, his voice very soft. "I would venture to guess that the darkness in you gives you more satisfaction than you care to admit."

Will shrugged, trying to give off an air of nonchalance that he didn't feel. "It does now, but that doesn't mean I'm going to wallow in it."

There. That should give Hannibal something to think about. Will hoped that he was giving the impression of sinking into that dark side, albeit reluctantly; Hannibal had to believe that his primal beliefs were changing, that he was becoming the monster Hannibal wanted him to be.

Of course, it wasn't true, and it never would be. But making Hannibal believe that it was so was integral to their plan to put him behind bars.

Will was less sure every day that he could carry this off.

But he had to, he told himself. Even though he felt more and more as though he was falling into some kind of alternate universe, he couldn't stop.

If he did, their best hope of catching Hannibal would go down the tubes, and he couldn't risk that. They had to bring this monster to justice; he needed that closure for himself, as well as for all the other victims of his heinous crimes.

So he had to keep doing this, for as long as it took. And he had to hope that he could somehow manage to convince Hannibal that he was being turned to that dark side.

He could only hope that this alternate universe wouldn't swallow him alive.

***