The coldness from the ground was the first thing he noticed.
Taking a deep breath Hannibal Lecter carefully studied his surroundings. There was snow on the trees, making the branches heavy, the leaves were nowhere to be seen. He could feel the cold on the tip of his fingers and of his nose, for a brief moment wondering why he wasn't wearing gloves.
A sound caught his attention, steps of some creature approaching. The scent hit him before the sight of it, he was disturbed by another known smell. His hands trembled, but not because of the cold.
A white young doe came into his line of vision, the animal had its spots red. It watched her with intensity before turning to look to whatever was coming, Hannibal followed the gaze of the doe. What he saw made him hold his breath.
Her hair was gold, her eyes blue, she wore a purple warm dress and held a small flower. When blue eyes met maroon she smiled widely before running to the man.
"Anniba!"
Dr. Lecter fell to his knees in the snow, all of sudden there was no monster, there was no rude, no expensive clothes, there was only that little blond girl who hugged him so tenderly, so tight. He closed his eyes, letting the air make its way out of his lungs as he remembered how to breath.
His lips almost didn't pronounce the name, it hadn't been said in a while… "Mischa!".
Hannibal was suddenly aware of something running down his cheek.
Pain, guilt, the time he missed her, the feeling of having failed her and their parents.
"Anniba!" she said again softly before facing him and smiling.
Lecter touched her face and saw Mischa point to some place on the woods, he followed her gesture with his eyes. A lion cub, a female one. The cat approached them, stopping by Mischa's side.
When Hannibal faced his little sister he understood, watched as his sister placed her hand on the back of the young lioness.
A whispered escaped through his lips. "Clarice"
Mischa nodded with a small smile.
Hannibal Lecter was used to the scent of fear, it was the other smells that he needed a moment to recognize.
He could smell fear, endorphins,... L'Air Du Temps… Clarice.
"Hannibal… Hannibal." her voice was agitated, he saw her expression pained when he opened his eyes. He saw relief. "You were shaking." she said. "Muttering 'Mischa'..."
There it was. The reason of her fears. The broken teacup getting back together, her unwanted wake up call.
"Hannibal…" she tried, he sat on the bed, eyes never meeting hers. She saw him swallow.
"I saw her." he said. "In a dream." Dr. Lecter felt his wife's gaze on him, alert. "She came to tell me something, to show me something." His maroon eyes met her blue ones. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Clarice was puzzled. "What? Hannibal, what are you talking about?"
He studied her body with his eyes, her breasts exposed to him just as her legs, but his gaze stopped at her belly before he looked into her eyes again.
It was all the answer she needed. Clarice gasped, a hand covering her mouth.
It took her a while to process, she faced him with hesitation and hope.
"Hannibal-"
"Can we call her Mischa?"
Clarice nodded quickly before pulling him into a kiss, she was experiencing too many feelings to say something, he could smell most of them.
In the back of Hannibal's mind, after some walking on his memory palace, Mischa opened a door, there was a empty room. Accompanied by her white doe she grabbed a red crayon from her pocket and wrote on the wall.
M for Mischa.