Death smiles at us all.
Mind you, it's a bit hard not to when your face is all teeth and skull.
Hannibal looked at the cowled shape and smiled back.
"IT GRATIFIES ME TO BE ABLE TO THANK YOU IN PERSON FOR YOUR MANY AND VARIED GIFTS, DR LECTER. I PARTICULARLY LIKED HOW YOU WRAPPED MR DIMMOND AND DISPLAYED HIM ABOVE MY MOSIAC."
Hannibal gave a small bow. "At your service…"
They both look away from each other at the shadowy, blurred shape coming into view and moving towards them.
"GOOD OF YOU TO JOIN US, MR GRAHAM."
"That was the plan," replied Will, looking at Hannibal with a relieved expression, as though given the closure he needed on seeing the successful execution of their fall into the Atlantic.
"YOUR DESIGN PERHAPS, MR GRAHAM. NOT MINE."
Will looks at the hooded figure, a frown on his face. "I'm not sure I understand…"
"OF COURSE YOU DO NOT. HAD YOU UNDERSTOOD THE TRUE NATURE OF YOUR BEING, WE WOULD NOT BE HAVING THIS EXCHANGE. NOT YET."
He moved towards Will and loomed over his slight form, all but consuming him with hollowed eyes.
"YOUR STORY - YOURS AND DR LECTER'S - IN ITS NEXT INCARNATION, HAD JUST BEGUN WITH THE SLAYING OF YOUR RED DRAGON. ALAS, YOU TOOK IT UPON YOURSELF TO END THE TALE BEFORE IT HAD EVEN BEGUN."
Hannibal remained silent throughout. He wondered briefly if Death ever took a sabbatical, and if so, if He would allow him to stand in.
"I DON'T APPROVE WHEN MORTALS INTERFERE IN MY DESIGN, MR GRAHAM. HOWEVER, ANY DECISION ON THE MATTER IS NOT MINE TO MAKE."
Will and Hannibal watched as Death snapped his fingers. Two cracks appeared in the air beside Him, widening to accommodate the echoes of their human guise.
"DR LECTER, IF YOU PLEASE. HE'S WAITING." Hannibal looked towards Will before entering the sliver of darkness, allowing it to envelope him. Will couldn't deny the pang that rippled through his own shadowy form as he disappeared from his sight.
He turned to Will then, His outstretched bony hand, guiding him towards the other portal.
"MR GRAHAM. IF YOU PLEASE." Will went unresisting, swallowed up and spat out by the vortex instantly. He wasn't sure what he had expected of the afterlife, but it wasn't this.
"Well, well, well. If is isn't the hotshot profiling empath," the Beast spoke with a timbre that vibrated through every cell in Will's body, seduction oozing from every pore. "Welcome to Hell, Mr Graham. I've been expecting you…"