So the idea for this story was given to me by tumblr user tarranthitop97. All credit goes to her/him, I just wrote what was asked :) This is merely a prologue to get the mood set, and another chapter will be put up shortly.

Enjoy

Moonlight was the only glow that led him through the forest- lighting his way as he walked step by careful step. Leaves crunched beneath him as the loose forest ground gave way under his footfall, his dirt-marked shoes sinking into the ground with each landing.

Will Graham did not know where he was going. He did not even know if he was awake. At this point, though, he supposed that he should stop trying to decipher the difference between reality and delusion. The topic really did become quite an epidemic in his frazzled mind.

Tall trees leaned in on Will as he made his way deeper and deeper into the forest. His only guide was the hulking figure of the strong stag ahead of him, which had not looked back at Will since their encounter at the forest's edge. Will had no idea why he was following this creature, but every protest in his mind telling him to head back somewhere safe was forced into silence by his own curiosity.

When Will had come across the stag what seemed like an hour ago, it gazed at him calmly, not making a noise as they observed one another. It did not give off the angry and frantic energy that it normally was in when Will had encountered it numerous times before. This time it merely bowed its head and then gazed at Will before walking into the dense trees behind it. Will almost felt obligated to follow.

This encounter was what brought him to his current predicament. Will was starting to feel a sliver of doubt plant itself into the back of his mind. Where was he heading? Why did he follow it in the first place? Why could he not stop walking?

Just as abrupt as it had shown outside of Will's home, the stag disappeared, leaving Will behind in the dark and dangerous woods. The young man was shocked at the stag's sudden leave, and he gazed around him, looking to see where he was. The trees that surrounded him were no different than they were during the entire walk, and there was no sign of any importance in the area he was now in.

Once he was convinced that he had imagined the whole encounter, a choked and pained shriek sounded from behind him, and Will's heart leaped to his throat as he turned around, only to lay eyes upon a hideous creature he had never seen before in his life. His first instinct when seeing it was to turn around and run- get as far away from it as possible. It had the body of a man, but its eyes were yellowed and glowed in the night as it gazed at him, almost patiently. One of its gangling arms was abnormally elongated, brushing against the ground as it stood before him, not moving. Its back was hunched and body twisted in a deformed and painful-looking manner. Just as Will was about to run from the creature, it reached out to him with its normal arm- almost as if begging for help. The yellow eyes which Will had initially marked as frightening were now wide with hope, beckoning for Will to come to it. Realizing that the creature had yet to perform any sort of assault on him, Will pushed down his anxiety and made his way closer to it.

What the being had done next surprised him. It gestured to a path in the forest, then pointed at Will, gesticulating for him to follow. Seeing as he was very hopelessly lost, Will had obliged, following the creature with a sort of guarded space between them. He was pretty positive that the random twists and turns the creature led him through wouldn't end up bringing them anywhere, besides ending up deep enough in the forest to lead him even more astray than he already was. His legs had other thoughts, though, and they traveled with confidence in their strides, ushering him on and urging him to trust the creature ahead of him.

No crickets chirped in the still, cool night- no owls hooted in their wake and no wind rustled branches. Not even the creature ahead of Will made any more noises, despite the fact that his hanging arm was drooping against the ground as they walked. Everything was eerily quiet. It felt almost surreal when Will's steps made crunching noises against the leaves, as if he were something unnatural and foreign in this strange woodland. It spooked him- as things often did these days, and Will felt a sudden longing to get back home to his dogs, the only place he felt the tiniest inkling of safety. He would have to head back soon, anyways. Jack would get angry if Will were to disappear, and he couldn't risk running off when the copycat killer was still at large, mocking the police force as he takes victim by victim, barely slipping out of Will's grasp every time.

Will wasn't even a police officer- he wasn't an FBI agent or a detective or anything of that sort, due to his mental instability. He was a teacher, for God's sake, and he still felt utterly responsible for the killer's actions- as if he were the only person that could catch the menace. That guilt and feeling of obligation towards this case was what kept Will on it- it was what stopped him from saying no every time the bureau came crawling for his help, begging him to aid them in complete lack of recognition towards his mental state.

Wandering aimlessly through this unearthly forest would more than likely get Will killed, and he suddenly wished he had thought this through a little more. The young man knew very well that being stone cold dead would not benefit Jack or the case in any way. A nauseous feeling settled into Will's stomach at the thought of neglecting his duties, and Will tried to calm the panic that started to blossom there. The creature only continued walking, not giving Will any sort of explanation as to where they were headed.

Just as he began convincing himself to try and find a way out of the maze he was in, a harsh huff enveloped his hearing- cutting through the thick silence and startling the young man as he jumped in his skin.

He knew what that sound meant.

With a cold dread laid under his flesh and an aching anxiety rising in his throat, Will slowly turned around-

There it was.

The stag.

He could never escape it- the sharp antlers and black, soulless eyes of the beast followed Will everywhere, sneaking into his nightmares and worming its way into every day of his life. It followed him like a shadow- always there but sometimes forgotten. The creature was not calm as Will had previously seen it, but was now irritated as it almost glared at him.

The stag huffed out another harsh breath, antlers bared as hooves dug into the ground, kicking up leaves as it bucked its head forward- as if it were declaring its dominance and power to Will, challenging him to attack.

His heart pounding in his chest, Will backed up, trying to maneuver his way carefully out of the stag's path. It wouldn't have it, though. With more angry breaths, the animal lifted its spiked horns now as it swung its head back and forth, urging Will not to move, lest he prefer to be pierced by said antlers- a fate that all those girls had met.

Licking his dry lips, Will closed his eyes tight, his breath shaking in his throat and coming out broken as he tried his best to calm himself. It did not work, and images of degraded, bloody women pierced by antlers filled his vision. He was on the field with the body of Cassie Boyle. The young and innocent woman was ruptured by blood-soaked antlers and displayed on an open grassland, her lungs removed from her chest as she was left there to rot. Marissa, Abigail's friend, reaches Will's memory next. Before he knows it he's in that attic again, the sight of Marissa's pale body mounted on stag horns filling his sight, and he feels oh-so nauseous and very very guilty.

The abrupt and loud sound of the stag's breathing jolts Will from his trance, and he's back in the dark night of the forest, present and vulnerable before the powerful creature. But it's not looking at him, now. The stag's attention is drawn behind Will, and- taking his chances, Will bares his back to the stag to look behind him.

A man-like figure is standing among the trees, and he would have escaped Will's attention completely were it not for the pale silver glow of the moon's light. His body was bathed in black from head to toe, and antlers stood upon his own head- a perfect camouflage for the darkened shadows the trees provided. Will couldn't help but wonder how long the antler man had been there- watching and stalking him, going unnoticed as Will blindly followed frightening creatures.

A cold shock ran through Will's spine when he realized that the man was looking directly at him, face turned towards him and black, skin-covered eyes unblinking. Perspiration now beaded at Will's skin as he tried to convince himself this was not real- that he was dreaming this whole thing and in reality he was lying in his bed, twisting and turning among sweat-soaked sheets. But the stag behind him saw the man, too- and the adrenaline he felt pumping through his veins was more than enough proof that, yes, this was very real.

The stag let out nervous and angry noises from behind him, but he couldn't bother to worry about it, seeing as the antlered-man was now slowly making his way towards the shock-stiff Will Graham.

He was tall, his body bony and ribs protruding from beneath smooth dark skin. His arms were thin and reached to fingers that extended into sharp claws, which were now lifting up slowly at the nightmarish creature's sides. Upon closer observation, Will could detect a face on the man, and his bones ached from beneath his skin when he recognized the familiar shape of the mask.

It was the face of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.