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Title: Things Better Left Unsaid
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: Otherwordly Challenge, tv_universe
Prompt: Tacenda - Things better left unsaid, matters to be passed over in silence.
Author's Note: Sequel to "Created Anew."
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.

***

It was so hard to keep quiet, to hold his emotions inside.

Will wanted to tell Hannibal exactly what he thought of him, how much he hated what this monster wanted him to become. He wanted to shout, to scream, to tell the truth.

But he couldn't do that. As much as he wanted to spit those words out, to fling them into Hannibal's face, he knew that there was no way he could do so. He had to keep to his plan, had to follow along with what he and Jack had decided to do.

The best way to trap Hannibal was to make him think that he was getting what he wanted, and what he wanted was Will's soul on a silver platter.

His real feelings about all of this had to remain unsaid.

The only person he could talk to was Jack, and even then, he didn't think it was possible to make his boss understand the repugnance he felt.

Just looking at Hannibal made him want to take a few steps back; he couldn't stand to be around the other man, and he couldn't help but wonder if Hannibal sensed that tension in him. It hadn't been there before; at least, he didn't think it had.

But Hannibal would more than likely put it down to the fact that it should take Will a while to trust him fully again. Will hoped that was how his thoughts would go.

Of course, he was never going to trust Hannibal again. That was impossible. He'd been a fool to ever think that such a monster was trustworthy; his senses had always told him that something was wrong with Hannibal, he just hadn't known precisely what it was.

Now that he did, it was too late to save far too many of Hannibal victims, he thought sadly. But at least he might be able to save any future victims from the same fate.

That would make everything he had to deal with worth it.

Just knowing that he could save others, knowing that he could do some good for people, would get him through all of this. He would defeat Hannibal and see him behind bars; he would get justice for all of those victims.

It would probably be one of the hardest things he'd ever done, but Will was sure that he could make himself rise to the challenge.

After all, he had right on his side, he told himself firmly. Hannibal was a criminal, a monster. He had been allowed to perpetrate his crimes for far too long; he'd gotten away with them for years with no one being the wiser. Well, it was time for that to end.

It was time for Hannibal to discover that he wasn't omnipotent.

That was where Hannibal would make his fatal mistake, Will mused. He was too sure of himself; he thought that he couldn't be caught, or be stopped.

Well, he was wrong about that. Will and Jack were going to take him down, and even though Will wasn't thrilled with the idea of using himself as bait, he knew that there was no other way. It was the best chance they had of capturing Hannibal and putting him in prison.

Hannibal was focused on him, and if he was what that monster wanted, then they had to focus on giving him what he wanted -- to an extent.

If he wanted Will, then he had no choice but to play the bait.

There was so much he would have to remember, so much that he would have to cover up and hold back. It wasn't going to be easy, and Will had his doubts about the plan.

It was his plan, but he had to admit that he didn't have all the kinks completely ironed out yet. He wasn't sure just what he would do, or where this would take them. He just knew that he had to get Hannibal to make some kind of confession, to talk about what he'd done.

Then he could arrest the bastard, in his capacity as an FBI agent. That was the only that they would be able to trap him. They had no other choice.

Still, getting Hannibal to talk about his crimes wasn't going to be easy. The man was far too canny, and too cautious. He wouldn't simply start talking out of nowhere.

He would hold things back, only refer to them obliquely. Will was sure of that. He knew Hannibal too well to think that he would simply sit back and talk about all that he'd done, or even brag about it. He might be one of the most arrogant people Will knew, but he was also circumspect.

Even in his pride and hubris, he would still be cautious. Will would have to make Hannibal trust him, to draw out those confidences a little at a time.

The problem was, he didn't know how much time they would have.

He might not have enough time to wait for Hannibal to take him into his confidence. He might have to try to push things, and that could prove to be dangerous.

But even if it was dangerous, again, he didn't have a choice. He couldn't wait forever for Hannibal to feel comfortable enough to talk about his crimes; he had to get that confession fairly quickly, or Jack would start to get antsy and call the whole thing off.

Not only that, but there were some things that he didn't want to talk to Hannibal about. He didn't want to open up as he had before all of this had happened.

He could no longer trust Hannibal with any of his own secrets.

Not that he'd ever really trusted the other man with many of them, Will told himself, thinking back over their past sessions. He had always been wary of Hannibal; even though he'd begun to open up and tell the other man more about himself, he still hadn't trusted him completely.

And that had turned out to be a very good thing, hadn't it? Will thought with a sigh. Hannibal had proven that he couldn't be trusted, not for one second.

It was bad enough that Hannibal had been inside his head as much as he had, that he had managed to form a working knowledge of Will's psyche. That had been his intention all along, hadn't it? To get inside Will's head, to brainwash him into being something he wasn't.

Hannibal was insidious in that respect.

That was something Will didn't want the two of them to talk about once they resumed their sessions. It was something that could be passed over, that didn't need discussion.

Hannibal knew what he had done -- and Will wanted him to know that he was aware of it, as well. He wanted Hannibal to know that this time, he was going up against someone who wouldn't capitulate to his will so easily, someone who would fight back.

But he also had to give the impression that he was being seduced into being what Hannibal wanted him to become. That wasn't going to be easy for him to pull off.

He wondered if he could do it -- but he had to. He had to keep quiet about his real feelings, to pass over some subjects in silence and to completely dissemble in others. He wouldn't really have anyone who he could share his innermost feelings with. Not now.

Not that he'd been able to do that with Hannibal before, not really. He'd shared things to a point, but he had always pulled back before he'd felt that he was revealing too much.

He could be cautious and canny, too. And so far, he had been.

There had been good reason for him to be that way, Will thought with a grim smile. Something had told him that he'd be glad in the future of not telling Hannibal everything.

Now, he would do what he had to do to put Hannibal where he belonged. He had the bare bones of a plan, and he was refining it with Jack. First and foremost, he had to get back into Hannibal's good graces -- even though he wondered if he had ever left them.

The first order or business was to get Hannibal to trust him, just as Hannibal had tried to do with him. It didn't seem as though it would be an easy thing to do.

But he had to try. No, not just try. He had to succeed.

There were so many things he wouldn't be able to talk about. So many things that it would be better to pass over in silence, avoiding topics that could be dangerous. Too many things that he had to remember to avoid, things that could get him into trouble if he wasn't careful.

He just hoped that he could remember them all.

The last thing he could afford to do was to give Hannibal any inkling of what he and Jack were planning. He had to believe this, had to fall for it hook, line, and sinker.

If his nemesis didn't believe his act, Will told himself, then he -- and maybe Jack as well -- were as good as dead. If Hannibal couldn't be brought to believe that Will was changing and transforming, falling under his spell, then there could be a fatal ending.

The thought made him shudder. He had to get this right -- and he had only one chance to do it. One gamble, one chance to hit a home run out of the ballpark.

Whether he could do it or not remained to be seen.

***