Will doesn't know what day it is. He supposes it doesn't matter.
He lives above ground in a house on a desolate cliff.
The bluff is still eroding.
He's promised not to escape. He is a man of his word.
Hannibal made him promise and he means to keep it.
Will stares at the sun, and its rays warm his skin.
For many days it didn't.
He came to find the Chesapeake Ripper, to see if he could expose him.
He left his dogs with Alana.
He didn't tell Jack he'd gone to confront Hannibal, nor of his suspicions against his friend and therapist.
Hannibal easily subdued him and tied him up.
"I won't hurt you," he said. "I'm going to take you away."
"From what?"
"Every place in the world that hurts you and ties you down."
"Will you kill me?"
"No," said Hannibal gently. "Not you."
"Why not me?"
"You are special," Hannibal said and he felt the pinprick of a needle against his neck, and then there was only darkness.
He was in a dark room, but he was fed and spoken too every once in while.
Hannibal would drug him and then take him into the light to bathe him, and run gentle hands over his body.
"Where am I?" he asked once.
"With me," said Hannibal. "You are safe and I won't harm you."
"What if I try to run?"
"You won't," said Hannibal. "Will you?"
"No," he said.
He was in the light often enough.
If he behaved.
If he didn't Hannibal kept him in the dark, and read him poetry in his soft, determined voice.
He read of love and passion and death.
"Do you love me?" asked Will.
"Yes," said Hannibal.
"Am I Persephone? Here because I ate pomegranates..and human flesh."
"Yes. You are in the Underworld."
"Am I safe here?"
"Hades loved Persephone."
"Is that an answer?"
"Yes, my love."
He supposed it was.
In the dark he touched himself and spoke Hannibal's name.
Hannibal heard, and played him music.
His hands were shaky as they spilled sure white stains.
"My love," said Hannibal. "It's time you found the light."
"It scares me."
"I'm with you."
"Are you?"
"Yes. I will never leave you."
So it was.
He can't quite recall when he first slept in Hannibal's bed.
Not in the dark.
Hannibal asked him to do so in the light.
He held Will close all night, breathing in his scent.
Will felt safe.
Eventually Hannibal undressed him and sucked him off, eyes locked with Will's.
Will came with a shudder, pearls of liquid spilling into his devil's eager mouth.
In the light he almost explodes with joy.
The dark is gone, and he supposes he should miss what he had.
Hannibal looks after him now.
"It's time we left," says Hannibal.
"Where to?"
"Europe, I think," says Hannibal. "You and I will see all we've never seen together."
"Persephone back in the world."
"Yes. The things I can show you.."
"I can't wait," says Will.