They butchered, they prepped, they cooked, they showered.
They made love with Hannibal writhing above Will in ecstasy. They ate, and finally, they slept. Or rather Will slept while Hannibal stared thoughtfully at the empath curled up by his side. He caressed his hair, knowing all too well that the situation was becoming unsustainable. Will's unleashed and unbridled passions would be the end of them both. Ergo, Hannibal would have to end him.
Such a pity, he mused. I was finding this incarnation of myself quite fascinating. All good things…
"And you are quite sure the wildlife in this region, specifically the bears, will come and take care of your… quarry?"
"Amy assured me. She and her father have hunted in this area here frequently. Predators are part and parcel of this wilderness," Will replied.
They had driven a few miles from the cabin and now walked side-by-side in the half light of the dawn, hauling the bags of body parts deeper into the forest. Hannibal watched the gentle shadows dance across Will's features. Light and dark, playing against each other for dominance. An eternal, unresolvable dance of angel and demon. I thought I could reboot the chrysalis, truly shape it in my own image, Hannibal thought to himself. You left me no choice but to try Will, and now I do what I do with a measure of regret I did not think I was capable of.
"Once this is done," Will continued, "we can leave this world behind and start again, Will." He stopped and half looked over his shoulder, a slight upwards tilt to his head, as he took in the fading stars above through the gaps in the trees, features reminiscent of the former profiler. "I feel like I've dragged you into my world."
Hannibal had fallen a step behind Will and out of his immediate peripheral vision. He slipped his hand into the inside of his jacket and drew out the needle.
"You have," said Hannibal, as he stepped up behind him. He observed the moment of confusion, followed by realisation and the look of betrayal, ghost over Will's face as he slipped the syringe into his neck.
"And I have appreciated the company," as he lowered Will's pliant body to the cool, soft moss beneath his feet.
"I'm curious, Will. How long have you known?," Hannibal asked. Will, immobilised by the drug, but fully conscious, was sitting leaning at the base of a tree where Hannibal had placed him.
"That I'm not you? Does it matter?," Will slurred, looking up at Hannibal through his drug-induced haze. "There is no beginning or end, no time to measure where you and I are concerned, Hannibal. I am the diastole, you are the systole. Do you really think, after finding me, you will survive separation?"
"I will survive, Will. As I have always done, long before you came into my life."
"But it won't be the same," Will breathed. "I changed you."
"You certainly did. On that fact, I cannot disagree," Hannibal said, as he arranged the bloody body parts around Will.
"Goodbye, Will. I shall miss our time together," Hannibal said, as he turned from the scene.
"What?," whispered Will. "Not taking any trophies?"
Hannibal turned and hunched down level with Will. "Not this time, no. This is your design, Will, not mine. I have chosen to respect that. Now that I have tasted you in other ways, ways that I found more satisfying than I expected, there is no need. As you said yourself, you changed me."
"You have grown in unimaginable power, Will," he said, standing again. "I can't let that evolution continue. My compassion is no longer inconvenient, now that I have changed you enough to let you go."
And then he was gone.
It wasn't long before Will heard the shuffling of a large body moving through the undergrowth in the morning light.
He closed his eyes, waiting for death. At least he wouldn't feel much thanks to the drug still numbing his nervous system and the electrical impulses that would shard up his body and into his brain, telling him of those final moments of agony.
The animal, a large bear, stumbled through the bushes to his right, obviously drawn by the scent of the bloody human carcass at Will's feet. He opened his eyes again at the sound of the groan from the animal, watched as it collapsed a few feet away.
He barely had time to register the sight of the dart jutting out from the side of the animal, before another body came crashing through the bushes through which the bear had cleared a path.
"Amy…?"
