AN: Here is where my story departs from canon, Bon Appétit!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.
Chapter 3: The Great Below
Clarice Starling was awake, her eyes were wide open but everything around her was like a dream... Or a nightmare. She was still in shock, holding back her breath as if he had taken it with him when he ran away. For a few seconds after she heard the swish of the meat cleaver she thought he had cut his own hand with... but when she opened her eyes and looked there was lesser blood than expected and he was gone.
Suddenly, the kitchen seems to be enormous and colder than before, Clarice felt her mind trapped in some kind of time loop in which her mind was replaying the previous scene over and over again. Against her stronger common sense she missed his presence and in her spirit, loath and longing were fighting each other fiercely.
Numb, though able to move, she walked outside the house where the lights of the helicopters were scanning the surroundings. The FBI and the police had arrived and soon she was enclosed by federal agents, with her hands lifted she took a moment to see the empty and bloody side of the handcuff pending from her wrist and then blinked a few times, internalizing what had just happened.
Yes, she had handcuffed him while he was stealing a kiss from her and he had chopped a part of his hand when she refused to give away the key.
"Above or below the wrist, Clarice? This is really going to hurt...". Dramatic bastard!
According to his rigid code that was the most plausible path to follow, having in mind he had stated long ago he would never hurt her. So far he had kept his promise and in that procedure he had assured both's safety: her hand and his freedom.
What happened afterwards was blurry, the memory of being lying in a medical stretcher and the faces of the doctors and agents looking at her like she was herself some kind of monster wasn't helping. On her way to the hospital she lost consciousness.
It took three days to get her body and mind clean of the drug feast that had taken place in her system. Throughout the time she had been unconscious mind and body seemed to have been travelling along a calm stream, going with the flow towards the sea. She could almost feel the soft and cool embrace of the water around her, could almost hear the chamber music whose agonizing peaks reminded her of the peace and fury of a tide. In that dream she was Ophelia and her hair was floating around her like a veil surrounding her naked body. Doctor Lecter's voice was roaring in the rolling waves of the sea but she couldn't fathom what he was saying… What was it? "You are a warrior, Clarice". Yes, I am. I can be as strong as I wish to be. I'm not Ophelia, I will not drown in this sea...
When she opened her eyes FBI Agent Pearsall and two more men were standing beside her bed, one a young FBI Agent and the other one a cop. The view of the first one brought a bitter after taste to her mouth given their last encounter where Pearsall, Noonan and Krendler had decided placing her on administrative leave. The view of the younger one woke up her suspicion just with his body language. She had seen him in the bureau building but had never worked directly with him. The third man seemed to be self-confident and smart.
"Did you ever think, Clarice, why the philistines don't understand you?", the Doctor's voice again in her mind clouding her thoughts.
The four of them exchanged looks and an awkward silence until Pearsall, her former chief, began to speak. "Agent Starling, I'm here to speak in the name of the Bureau. This is Special Agent Aced Growths and Detective Clarence Franks, from sheriff's department", both men nodded. "After the Muskrat Farm incident you were listed as missing, since we found John Bringham's registered .45 Colt -under your guard after his death- in the crime scene but no other sign of your presence there, and you had banished from your home. Four days later, we found you in a rented mansion on the Chesapeake Bay severely drugged by Hannibal Lecter with Paul Krendler's body in a wheelchair in the kitchen, and a piece of his brain cooked in a pan". Her shock at that moment was very real. Not because she hadn't forgotten Krendler's death, but because the images of that moment with its sounds and tasty odours came back to her from some little room in a corner of her mind. The memory of how good the brains smelled gave her nausea, her stiff shoulders and her clenched jaw revealed her inner tension and the feelings around Pearsall's words. The men watched her carefully but only the detective Frank gave her a recipient where to puke, and right on time.
Once she had finished Pearsall waited a few moments and continued "Starling, we know you're a victim here". -"Really? Your accusatory look doesn't say the same, Chief", she thought to herself-. "Although your situation is very complex."
"And that is because, Sir...", she managed to say. The rage was slowly beginning to build up on her.
"We need to perform a swab test and a rape kit..."
"A rape kit?", her voice was louder this time "With all due respect Sir, I don't need a rape kit. We know how Hannibal Lecter's MO works, he isn't a rapist". The memories of the Doctor working on her, suturing the wounds while she was drugged came back in a flash and a shudder racked her body, fear and excitement mixed up together. The impression of not being quite herself returned to her, not with the struck certainty of knowledge, but in the form of a wild animal roaming in the dark, a bug humming under the cocoon.
Certainly, wondering about her inner transformations wasn't a wise move to make in front of her… Enemies? Well, positively not his friends anymore, not even her allies.
"Agent Starling, you have to understand, the rape kit is the most rational decision...", this time it was the detective Frank who was speaking.
Rational? What curious choice of words… Maybe her reason was what was under exam. What was she afraid of? "Goddamit, Clarice, take the fucking test", she thought "Don't attract more suspicion on you. You don't need that now. What you need is time, buy time".
"Ok" she replied dryly, crossing arms on her chest, swallowing her pride and her stubbornness just for once. "This is a waste of time, their waste of time". The men left the room in searching for the nurse.
With the nurse came along a physician of the FBI Forensic Department, both females. The test took two hours, after that she was so tired she fell asleep. The touch of a warm hand on hers drew her out of her dreamless dream, it was Ardelia.
When she opened her eyes Ms. Mapp was standing by her side with a worried expression on her face and swollen eyes "Shh, don't speak. I'm not supposed to be here, I sneaked in" she explained in a low, soothing voice. "I was worried as Hell, Starling. I thought you were dead", her wiry arm trembled as she pressed Clarice's hand may be too hard, at first she thought Ardelia was angry with her but then she figured out her friend had been under a lot of stress.
Ardelia's creamy brown skin was shining under the room pale electric light and her chocolate curls came down along with her head as a cascade while she breathed out heavily. "They declared you a missing person; I knew the son of a bitch had something to do with all this, I knew he had you kidnapped ", she managed not to sob.
"You mean Krendler or Lecter?" Starling asked with the first smile since all this had begun.
Ardelia chuckled a bit "Both". The pressure on Starling's hand diminished as Ardelia's shoulders relaxed from the initial tension.
"They are going to charge me, right?
"Why? For being kidnapped and drugged by a psycho? Under my dead body" she wanted to sound affirmative but she couldn't "Doctor Lecter left a message in Margot Verger's answering machine and took the blame for the Muskrat Farm butchery and Mason Verger's death, that is closed case. You only have to explain why John's gun was there and where Lecter kidnapped you". She went silent for a few seconds before continuing, letting her words sank in Clarice "It will be silly if the Bureau wanted to charge you for Krendler's death, but if they do, we will fight".
"Mason Verger is dead?" she inquired almost speechless, her mind was working fast. John's gun! She had almost forgotten it. But aside about that, a phone call? Could be a letter but definitely not a phone call. Not at all the Doctor's MO. True, he had called her once on the night of her graduation but this… This was really strange, there was something else going on here.
She forced herself to come back to the conversation. "Of course they wanted to do it. They have come here to see if I make a slip, if I have a gap in my story, even before sending me a lawyer", Starling sounded really pissed off and Ardelia gestured her to slow the tone "I had to take a rape kit because they wouldn't take a no for an answer". I had taken the rape kit and something more, she thought to herself. It had been a hard and delicate choice to be made and had required all her skill not being caught in the process but now, she almost congratulated herself for her decision.
Ardelia looked at her doubting if she should or shouldn't ask what she wanted to ask, finally she decided her honesty towards her friend couldn't be compromised "And what do you believe the test will tell us?"
Clarice looked at Ardelia directly in the eye "Doctor Lecter isn't a rapist. He has a strong behaviour code and for him to rape would be unspeakably rude" she explained a little bit tired of the topic "Yes, he is insane and yes, he eats the people he believes they deserve it. I'm not in that range".
"And in what range do you think he puts you?" FBI Special Agent Mapp asked her, but suddenly she didn't want to know the answer, she was there for her friend. "Forget it, girl" her hand weaving in the air. "I came here to help you. I have two things to tell you, off the record. You won't like either of them".
"Shoot".
"The Bureau found a bag with human remains in the mansion of Chesapeake Bay: they were your father's, Clarice" before she could react Ardelia said, "And Jack Crawford has passed away".
Again the awakening was unpleasant, she had opened her eyes to the dying lights of the twilight between spasms, gasping for air. She had been crying until she had fallen asleep of tiredness, now her cheeks were aching because of the tears she shed for her father and for Jack hours ago in the silent loneliness of her hospital room. She couldn't remember anything of her nightmare but she had the strange feeling of having her head working constantly, even in dreams.
Ardelia had gone with the promise of coming back later, after Jack's funeral the next morning. Her friend was determined to fight with Noonan if it was necessary. She had talked about lawyers, Clarice's good records and her position as a victim. But Clarice knew they wanted to take her down, to make her vanish, because with her Paul Krendler's death and all the mess around it would disappear, and Doctor Lecter's shadow over the FBI too. She was the solution to all their problems and they wouldn't let her go.
No, if there was a lamb, it was her this time and her butchers were anxious to slaughter her. She and Ardelia couldn't fight against the FBI machinery, she had to save herself, she had to fly. She saw it clearly for the first time since she had woken up to all this. Over and over again she wondered why the Doctor had exhumed her father's remains and she despised every second without an answer. Patience wasn't one of Clarice's stronger qualities.
Now that she had regained consciousness and clarity of mind, more questions were arising in her head: How had the police found the Chesapeake mansion? Exactly what was Doctor Lecter doing with her? She couldn't remember, just some small flashes and his voice poisoning and drifting every inch of her mind... She was terrified by the fact that she almost missed him. Terrified and angered beyond word.
No, they still have a lot to talk about and certainly the Doctor might agree with her. But first, she needed some information. She managed to get off the bed and stand on her feet, a mild dizziness took her over for a moment and then vanished, she had to be gone after the night shift round, early in the morning. She looked for her bag in the wardrobe, the belongings Ardelia had brought to her from her home: her driver's license, some clothes, money, a photo of Ardelia and Clarice together the night of their graduation, she held it in her hands for a few minutes with mixed emotions. But it was time to move on.
She laid herself again on the bed and waited with the patience that only came from resolution. First was the medical review without changes, then the nurse with the dinner, that one wasn't near her build. Too tall and skinny.
About 1 AM a nurse came into the room to do a scheduled check, from the corner of her eye Clarice had seen a man sitting on the right of the door. The thirty-something woman talked as soon as she noticed Clarice was awake, trying to be friendly -You must feel so protected with your partners outside, Don't you?
It took some seconds to Clarice to weigh the different possibilities and reach a plausible path to follow, the woman was near her size and build. -Yes -she answered making an effort to look worried, she had never enjoyed playing the damsel in distress but this, this was survival. -Are both of them out? -her voice was almost a whisper -I don't want that psycho coming after me here...
-Oh, no, dear -that condescending tone almost broke her facade -There's only one now but the other will come soon -she assured soothing her.
-Good to know.
She jabbed the needle in the nurse's neck while covering her mouth with her hand, once the sedative was empty she held the body against hers until the woman fainted.
The clothes exchange was rushed and soon she was ready to go. Clarice watched the sleeping nurse in the bed while searching in the pockets of the uniform for something useful, the woman snored covered with white sheets and she felt an ache in her chest: this was so wrong... But necessary, she reminded herself.
"Now, go to the left straight to the bottom of the hallway, then go to the first emergency door, and then to the stairs", she told to herself in a whisper "You can do it".
Before she could think twice her hand was on the knob opening the door, she left the room walking without rush, avoiding raising suspicion with her body language.
She heard a low cough on her back and the guard asked: -She is a demanding patient, isn't she? Is everything alright?
Clarice turned her head slightly without revealing her features and answered: -You have no idea. She's sleeping now.
A chuckle from behind dismissed her from the conversation. She followed her path.
Once on the stairs she was almost hyperventilating and her legs trembled, she couldn't faint now, she had to escape. So, this is the way Doctor Lecter had sneaked in the hospitals without being noticed: trusting in the belief that everything is good until something proves that something is wrong.
She lost ten minutes trying the locker key in the nurse pocket, finally she found a bag with car keys and clothes inside, among other things. Twenty minutes later she was on her way to Quantico.
Tracklist
Tristan und Isolde Prelude - Richard Wagner conducted by Karajan
The Great Below – NIN
Right Where It Belongs – NIN
Beautiful Nightmare (Head Down) – NIN
Last Cup of Sorrow – Faith No More
I'm deranged – David Bowie