Author's Note: This is a Hannibal AU of the movie Ringing Bell. It's pretty dark. The movie doesn't have a happy ending, but this fic does. Other than the ending, this fic is pretty faithful to Ringing Bell. WARNING: Minor character death, blood, gore, violence, adoptive family incest, and animal death.
Will is born on a sunny spring day, in the valley. He's a scrawny little thing, but he latches onto his mother's teat all the same. He's younger than most of the other lambs.
He loves living in the valley. They're taken care of by a kind old man named Jack, and his wife, Bella. They're guarded by a large, brown sheepdog named Beverly.
As Will ages, he plays with the other lambs, and with Beverly. He eats clovers, and drinks milk. His mother warns him to never play too close to the fence, for the mountains house a monster. The beast who eats his own kind. The Wolf King of the Mountains, Hannibal. Will, however, is a carefree little lamb, and pays this no mind.
A month after he's born, Jack takes him aside. Jack has a soft spot for the prematurely born Will. Will knows this, and enjoys the extra attention. Today, this extra attention comes in the form of a little golden bell that Jack fastens around his neck.
He wears the bell with pride. Little lamb Will prances around, bell ringing in the wind. Life will surely be this good forever, he decides. That is, until the night that the King of the Mountains comes.
Will is sleeping in the barn. His dreams mostly consist of milk and clover, but tonight they are dark. They consist of a large creature with a bloody maw, like nothing Will has ever seen. He awakens to the yelp of one of the ewes.
There, in the doorway, shadowed by the darkness and the storm outside, stands a monster. A huge monster with ash blonde fur, and maroon eyes, and a mouth full of fangs.
Beverly charges in, snarling, leaping onto the wolf. The wolf easily pins her, and rips out her throat. Will screams, which causes the wolf to look his way. The wolf licks his chops, hungrily, and pounces. Before he can touch Will, though, his mother covers him with her own body.
Will hears wet smacking, and crunching, and he smells blood. He shudders, beneath his mother, listening to the wolf's padding footsteps as he leaves. With some difficulty, he climbs out from under his mother. The sight that greets him is one he will never forget, he is sure.
His mother is dead. Her once white fleece is now crimson. Her bones are jutting out and broken. Will bleats out a scream, and begins sobbing over her body. The other ewes and lambs merely stare.
Will is filled with fury. He must find the wolf. He will kill him.
Will escapes the valley easily. Climbing the mountain is an exhausting task, but by the time he sees the natural rock shelter, with bones scattered around it, he knows he's found it. He slowly goes in.
The wolf is lounging on top of a boulder, licking his still bloody maw. He raises his brow when he sees Will. He grins and laughs. Will shakes.
"What are you doing here, little lamb? You'd better go home and get fat. I'll have you for my supper another day."
"NO! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!"
The wolf merely smirks. "And what do you suppose you can do about it?"
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Will screams. "I'LL GET STRONG AND BIG AND KILL YOU!"
"How on earth will you do that?"
Will stares up at the wolf. He's never been so angry in all his life. "I'll be your apprentice. You can teach me to be a wolf. I don't want to be a lamb anymore. All we're good fr is cowering."
The wolf smiles. "Interesting idea, little lamb. Come with me."
The monster leads little Will to the forest. He takes down a huge stag with ease. He looks at Will. "Still think you can make a fine wolf?"
Will feels sick, but he nods. The wolf rips off a piece of the stag's meat, and tosses it to Will. "Now tell me your name, my son."
"My name is Will."
"I am the King of the Mountains. I am Hannibal."
Will follows Hannibal through the forest, as they journey back to the cave. On their way, however, Will stops. He sees a bird on a rock ledge, trying to defend her eggs from a hungry snake. The snake bites the bird.
The bird drops to the ground. Will charges at the snake, and sinks his dull teeth into its' scales, accidentally knocking over the nest in the process. By the time the snake stops squirming, Will's black fleece is stained with blood. He drops the corpse, and looks back at the nest.
The eggs are shattered on the grass. Will sobs. He had tried so hard to save them. Hannibal stares at him.
"Why?!"
"It is the way of the world, Will. Come, let's go home."
When they do get to the cave, Will stares at himself in the pond. He sees his black fleece has blood on it. He notices a black feather poking out from his coat. He decides it's from the bird. Even though the bird was pale blue.
Years pass, and Will's training is difficult, and long. Every day, they work until either Will completes the goal Hannibal has set for him, or until Will drops to the ground from exhaustion. If the former happens, Hannibal will reward him with a tongue-bath, and extra food. If Will fails, he gets to bathe in the cold water of the pond, and gets just enough meat to sustain the necessary amount of strength he needs.
Either way, Will still works his hardest the next day. He charges at dead trees over and over, until his horns begin to sprout, and he is able to knock them over. The day after he knocks down a living tree is the day Hannibal decides to spar with him for the first time. Will finds the task impossible. Hannibal is too quick, too strong, too cunning.
"Your problem is that you fight fair. It doesn't matter how you win a battle, as long as the fight is won, and you're fighting on the right side."
The next day, Will pins him. Hannibal looks both frightened and proud of his charge. Will grins at him.
"You are ready, my son. What is it you want to do now?"
"I want to kill you."
They stand on the top of the mountain, several paces away from the other, but still facing each other. Hannibal is so proud of his son. Will is so eager and strong.
Will charges at Hannibal, and the battle begins. Hannibal snarls and bites Will. He claws, and uses his body weight. But, by now, Will is as big as he is. Will pins him.
Hannibal smiles. "I knew that one day, someone would defeat me. I'm happy that it's you. Take care, Will."
"Thank you, father." Will stares at Hannibal. He's covered in blood. He licks his face, softly, before pressing his front hooves hard on his father's rib cage. There's a loud crack, and Hannibal's eyes close.
Will journeys back to the valley. He's excited to see his herd again. He arrives at the barn, but the sheep are cowering in the corners.
"What are you doing? I'm one of you. I'm Will."
"You are a monster! Please leave us! Spare our lambs!"
Will leaves the barn, and the valley. As he travels back to the cave, he hears a faint crying. He recognizes it as a fox kit. He follows the sound to an upturned burrow. It smells of Man, dog, fox, and blood. Will glowers.
He hates the fact that men kill for the sake of killing. Even when he and Hannibal had killed, it was never without reason. He noses around the burrow, and finds her.
A tiny, fox kit. She's so small, obviously, a runt, probably still weening, and unable to speak yet. He gives her a gentle lick, and she chirps. He picks her up in his mouth, and continues walking.
He brings the kit, Abigail he decides, to the cave, before setting her down gently. As he enters the cave, he smells him. Hannibal. But how?
He sees the wolf lounging on the same boulder he was when they first spoke. He's coughing a bit, and is wincing as he does, but other than that, he's acting normal.
"What? You barely even cracked one. I can breathe just fine, and nothing is punctured. It should heal without a problem. Although, you will need to hunt for us for a while."
Will feels dazed. "Us?"
"I assume we're taking in the kit. What's her name?"
"Abigail. She was all alone, and her burrow smelled of Man and blood."
Hannibal smiles. "It's your turn to take in an orphaned child. We are her family now, Will. We are her mother and father."
"We can't be mates, Hannibal! It's not right! We're both males and of different species!"
Hannibal laughs, heartily. "Look at yourself, my dear. Tell me, do you see the same ram you were before."
Will approaches the pond. He stares at himself in shock. A monster stares back.
He's huge, and his black fleece is punctuated with downy black feathers. His horns are as sharp as Hannibal's fangs, and are black as night.
He feels Hannibal nuzzle him. Abigail stumbles over to them, craving warmth and attention. "Still think the rules matter, Will?"
"I suppose not. This is all still so strange to me. But…I don't want us to change."
Hannibal licks him, and Abigail purrs. Will feels content for the first time in years. He has a family again.