Reveal the Role, Play the Part
Summary: Will Graham has his mind and his sight back, and though the view from here has never been bleaker, it is something to hold onto.
He can see him now. Will Graham can see. The fog lifted and the skies are not blue, but he knows up from down at the very least. He has found the stag of his nightmares through metal bars. A self-satisfied smile and eyes so cold, empty as ice and how did he not see until now? He was always meant to see inside the minds of murderers, to press into their thoughts until theirs pressed into his. They, all of them, are etched into his skin, and yet he walks with one, dines with one, confides in one but does not allow the possibility to invade his thoughts.
And yet.
He does not quite blame himself.
He's been the masterpiece all along. Elegant strokes to tear at the edges of his sanity, pieces scattered and reformed, mosaics of bloody glass. It is so hard to see when you are the victim, the killer, and the weapon all in one. It's a dazzling mess of destruction, reaching out to those Will cares for, with him as the burning center.
He knows Alana is crying for him somewhere outside these bars, knows that Jack is filing away misgivings and insecurities and shattered trust, knows that Abigail is dead at Hannibal's meticulously clean hands.
It's Hannibal's win and Will's loss now, but not, not completely. Because at least he knows who he is now, with certainty, with sharp clarity.
He's the man who wanted to save Abigail Hobbs, the man Jack was right to trust. He's the man who takes in strays that in turn take him in. And he's the man who would love to kiss Alana Bloom senseless, kiss her, consequences be damned, until she knows that his mind may waver but his heart is whole, undamaged, and hers.
He may be behind bars, but his mind is no longer its own prison of misgivings and false memories, swayed by lies and inflammation of the brain. He has purpose now, for truth and revenge and he is propelled by human emotions.
Emotions like love and anger and compassion that Hannibal does not know, can only mimic.
His name is Will Graham, and he's never been the monster in this story.
And that knowledge will suffice for now.