[Written for Twelve Shots of Summer: Nine Tales.]
A few days after Will left, Abigail was woken up by the sound of Alana Bloom knocking on the front door.
"Hello, Abigail," Alana greeted her. Abigail was pleased to see that Alana was walking. Sure, she had a cane, but there had been a very real chance that she would never get to walk again. The last time she had seen Alana, the older woman had been using a wheelchair.
"Hi, Dr. Bloom," Abigail responded.
"Is Will home?" Alana asked her.
Abigail shook her head, and Alana didn't seem all that surprised.
"He's gone to find him, then," Alana sighed.
Abigail studied her curiously, and realized that Alana was different than she had been before. She seemed colder, almost, but there was a glimmer of concern at Will's absence. Abigail realized that maybe Will wasn't the only one trying to hunt down Hannibal Lecter, and the thought scared her. Just what was he getting himself into? For the first time, she started to wonder if she should have tried to stop him from leaving, rather than try to convince him to let her go along. Most people definitely would have tried to convince him to stay, but Abigail had never been like most people.
"Who else is looking for him?" Abigail asked somewhat anxiously. Alana stared impassively at her, no longer able to be taken in by her perceived fragility. The sad thing was that, for once, Abigail wasn't trying to be manipulative. She was genuinely worried.
"Nobody that you need to worry about. I know you don't trust people, so I won't ask you to trust me. Instead, I'm going to ask you to stay out of this because you owe it to me," Alana finally answered. Abigail flinched at the older woman's words. The Alana she had known never would have said something like that to her, but then again, the Alana she had known was gone now, thanks to Hannibal, and thanks to Abigail.
"Fine," Abigail agreed reluctantly. There was really nothing else that she could say.
Alana handed her a business card. "Here's my phone number. Call me if you ever feel like you're in danger."
Abigail hesitantly took it. She didn't like the idea that someone might come after her because of her connection to Will and Hannibal. Then again, when wasn't her life in danger? It would just be easier to accept that she would never, ever be truly safe. She didn't really believe in reincarnation (or anything else), but if there was such a thing, she must have done some pretty shitty things in a past life. More than likely, though, Abigail was just simply unlucky, like so many other ill-fated people in this world.
"Thank you, Dr. Bloom," Abigail said as she ran her fingers over the edges of the card.
"Call me Alana. I'm not your doctor anymore, and I haven't been in a long time," Alana responded with a smile. It wasn't a particularly kind smile, but it was more genuine than the false cheer of the nurses and doctors at the hospital. "I'll try to come check on you again soon."
"Okay." Abigail was slightly bewildered. She had no clue why Alana would even bother. Still, she supposed it was nice that there was someone besides Will who still cared, even if Alana's care was mixed with resentment. "See you around, Alana."
When Jack Crawford came knocking a few hours after that, Abigail was far less thrilled. Seeing Alana was awkward, no doubt about it, but Jack was someone who Abigail would be glad to avoid for the rest of her life. From the start, he'd never liked her. He had seen the ugliness in her that everyone else was unable to see (or just didn't want to see). She had always resented how he insisted that she was her father's accomplice. The fact that it was true didn't make his constant suspicion any less grating. At least in their past encounters, Abigail had always had another person to help act as a buffer between her and Jack. This time, though, it was just the two of them.
"Hello, Miss Hobbs," he said politely enough. He didn't seem to be trying all that hard to keep the distrust off of his face, but she wouldn't have expected him to.
"Hi Agent Crawford," Abigail greeted, somehow managing to keep her voice level.
"Will isn't here, is he?" It seemed that the pleasantries were over now.
"No, he's not," Abigail confirmed.
Jack seemed far more weary than Alana had, despite having fared better against Hannibal. She vaguely remembered Will telling her that his wife had finally succumbed to cancer, so that was probably the reason why. Abigail supposed that she felt a little bad in some distant way, but she couldn't bring herself to care that much. She didn't like Jack, and she had never known his wife. This loss had no effect on her.
"I know he's gone searching for Lecter, so don't bother trying to lie about that," he told her, which was honestly just annoying. What would she get out of trying to hide that information? Anyone who knew Will could presume why he was gone. "I need you to tell me where exactly Will is looking."
"I don't know," Abigail said. She could already see that he was going to call bullshit, because of course he would never believe a word out of her mouth. "I really don't. He didn't want to risk me following along, so he didn't tell me specific details."
"You would have gone looking for the man who forced you to fake your death and kept you prisoner for several months?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's probably the Stockholm Syndrome," Abigail responded, widening her eyes and doing her best to look innocent. There was no actual point in it, as both of them knew better, but it was fun. Besides, maybe on some level it was sort of true? She probably would've gone along with Hannibal's plans regardless of whether her life rested on her compliance, though, so she wasn't totally sure.
"Sure it is," Jack sighed. "Well, if you can think of anything to help me, give me a call."
She bemusedly took the business card that he offered her and made a mental note to put it with the card that Alana had given her.
"Of course, Agent," she agreed pleasantly.
All of this waiting was starting to get to Abigail. She couldn't help but reflect on the months spent alone in that cliffside house that Hannibal had stashed her in. He came to visit when he could, but much of that time she was left to her own devices. She had ended up reading a lot, since Hannibal had left her plenty of books. He had also given her textbooks so she could keep up on her studies. She assumed that she would have been enrolled in school had they actually gone to Europe with Will as planned. She thought about that a lot during this time on her own. She liked to imagine a world where everything had gone right. Abigail knew that she shouldn't want that, since it would have involved Will and Hannibal killing Jack Crawford together, and likely other people as well. She shouldn't want to have a happy little murder family, but it's not like she knew anything else.
It did make her wonder if she would have been different if she had been born into a normal family. Would she have then been a normal person, or was she always destined to end up as she was? It was the age old question of nature versus nurture. She knew that Hannibal would say that she would always be like this. Will might try to argue differently, but she suspected that he wouldn't really believe his own words. He was still struggling to reconcile his actions these last few months with his idea of who he was. While it was true that he might have never killed anyone if Hannibal hadn't manipulated him into situations where he felt he had to, that didn't mean that the instinct wasn't already there. The same was true for Abigail. Hannibal had put her in a situation to kill Nicholas Boyle, and she had done it without even thinking. She had been fearing for her own life, but she knew it probably said something about her that her reaction had been to kill instead of just injuring him and running outside to get the police.
She found herself grateful when Will called her, since being stuck in her thoughts wasn't her idea of a fun time.
"How's Europe?" she asked.
"Haunted," Will answered. "Hannibal's presence has seeped into every crack and crevice. He knows that I'm here."
"How do you know that?" Abigail questioned, wishing once more that she was with him right now.
"He left me a present," Will explained, with a note of fondness in his voice that he likely wasn't even aware of.
Abigail was already switching Will to speakerphone so she could look up what he was referring to. "Where are you exactly?"
Will hesitated a moment before answering. He must still be worried that she would hop on a plane and go to wherever he was. She wasn't sure she would even be able to, though. She wouldn't put it past Jack Crawford to have frozen her passport to keep her from doing anything rash.
"I'm in Italy. Palermo, to be specific," he finally told her.
It didn't take long for her to find an article about a man's body folded into a heart and left in the Norman Chapel. "He left you his broken heart," Abigail murmured as she skimmed through the article.
She clicked out of it and looked for one that actually had a picture. That took a little longer, since most people did not want to disturb their viewers. It was almost a shame that Freddie Lounds wasn't there, since she had no compunctions about that. It was about the only thing that woman was good for. Abigail inhaled sharply once she found what she was looking for. It was horrifying, yet elegant. She could feel Hannibal's emotions as she looked at it, and she found herself wishing she could see it in person. She had a feeling that pictures couldn't truly do it justice.
"He knew that I would come," Will stated.
"He's still hurting, but he misses you," Abigail agreed. She almost asked Will if he missed Hannibal, but she already knew the answer to that. Instead, she said, "I miss you."
She could tell he was smiling as he responded in a surprised yet pleased tone. "I miss you too, Abigail. I'm sorry to leave you alone for so long."
Abigail shrugged, although he couldn't see it. "It's fine. It's not the first time I've been left on my own. The dogs are pretty good company, anyway."
Will let out a huff of amusement, though it sounded a bit forced. "Yeah, they are. I'm glad they're making you feel better." He was silent for several moments, and then started speaking again, more hesitantly. "I would've brought you with me if I could. You know that, right?"
Abigail sighed. "Yeah, I know. This is for my own safety." She'd definitely heard that one before, back when Hannibal isolated her. Not that this was at all the same situation, but she couldn't stop herself from making the comparison.
"I'm not trying to be like him," Will said, and she knew that she shouldn't be surprised that he knew what she was thinking. Even without his extreme empathy, he knew her well enough by now to guess. Gone were the days when she could actually hide things from him.
"I know you're not. But like it or not, we're both like him in some ways. That's what drew him to us," Abigail pointed out bitterly. "I know you wouldn't hurt me, though. Your love is different from his."
"Abigail, you know that you don't have to define yourself by him, right?" Will questioned. "You aren't your father, you aren't Hannibal, you aren't me. You can be whoever you want to be."
Liar, her brain thought, but she didn't voice it. This wasn't something she wanted to get into right now. "I'll let you know when I figure out who I want to be," is what she said instead.
"I'll be looking forward to it," Will told her. "I gotta go, there's a member of the Questura who wants to talk to me. I promise I'll call you again soon though."
"Okay. Good luck, Will," Abigail said.
She tried to ignore how empty she felt after the phone call ended, but she wasn't entirely successful.
Will did indeed call her again a couple days later, and she found out that he was apparently going to Lithuania now. He wanted to better understand Hannibal by going to where it all began. Even Hannibal had places he would not dare tred, and his childhood home was one of those places. Abigail immediately understood why.
Hannibal had told her about Mischa one of the times he came to check on her at the cliffside house. She had been bored out of her mind as usual, and so she was very thrilled when he showed up. There was always a part of her that was wary around him, because she knew very well what he was capable of. But he wasn't fixated on killing her like her dad had been, so she actually felt more comfortable around him than she had with her father.
"You remind me of my sister sometimes," Hannibal said. Abigail was surprised, since she hadn't even known that he had a sister. Before she could ask, he explained, "She died many years ago, when I was just a boy."
"I'm sorry," Abigail told him, even as she felt frustrated at herself for saying the words. She of all people knew how empty those words were in the face of tragedy. "What was she like?"
"She was quite unlike me. She was sweet, and trusting, and everyone adored her. She and I were alike in other ways, though. She was very clever, and knew how to always get her way." There was something so different about his face when he spoke of his sister. Between the love and the grief, he seemed much more human than he normally did.
"I wish I could have met her," Abigail said honestly. "What was her name?"
"Her name was Mischa," Hannibal said, speaking her name as though it were sacred.
Abigail smiled. "It's a pretty name."
And Hannibal smiled back.
Abigail was getting increasingly anxious. The last she heard from Will was that he was on a train with a woman named Chiyoh, who had apparently grown up with Hannibal. She was a little frustrated that there was still so much that she didn't know about Hannibal's life, when he knew so much about hers. Still, she was aware that she had gotten to see more of him than most people did. Will was likely going to be the only person who would ever get to see every facet of Hannibal Lecter.
Calling Will's phone wasn't helpful, since it went straight to voicemail. It made her worry that something bad had happened to him, because she knew he wouldn't ignore her like this. He was the only person she could count on, and he took that seriously. She couldn't shake the sense that something was very wrong.
She finally got desperate enough to call Alana. She could also have tried calling Jack, but the mutual dislike was still a little too strong for him to be her first choice. Talking to Alana might be uncomfortable due to Abigail's immense guilt, but it was still far more preferable. The first call didn't get answered, but Abigail decided to try once more.
"Dr. Alana Bloom speaking," Alana said after finally picking up the phone.
"Hey, it's Abigail," she responded.
"Are you in danger?" Alana asked in a sharp tone, sounding far more alert than she had a moment ago.
"No, I'm fine, I'm just worried about Will. He hasn't answered my calls the last couple days," Abigail hurriedly explained as she paced around Will's living room.
Alana sighed. "Will and Hannibal have both been captured. I promise you that I will do my best to make sure Will is safe."
It had been a while since she had felt this type of fear, though it still felt familiar. Usually, though, she was afraid for herself. It was different, feeling this fear for someone else, and Abigail really did not like it.
"Who took them? Where are they?" Abigail demanded.
"I'm not telling you, because I don't want you getting involved in this. There's nothing that you can do to help, and you getting involved would only put you in danger and make it even harder for me to help Will," Alana told her bluntly. Abigail winced at the harsh words.
"Fine," she muttered before hanging up the phone.
Abigail threw her phone in frustration, and then immediately regretted it. She picked it up and groaned when she saw all the cracks on the screen. It still seemed to be working at least, so that was something. She ran her thumb along the screen absentmindedly as she tried to calm her racing thoughts. She was reminded of how Hannibal would shatter teacups, only to be dissatisfied when they failed to come back together again. Was this something that he had told her about, or was this a conversation that he'd had with Will, who later told Abigail about it? Not that it really mattered in the end. The lines between them were far too blurred at this point. She still wasn't entirely sure where she was supposed to fit into this.
Winston nudged his head against her legs, and Abigail realized she was likely worrying the dogs. They were probably used to weird behavior, though, since Will was their owner. Abigail shoved the phone into the back pocket of her jeans, and went to pet Winston. A flash of red caught her eye before her hand made contact with the dog's head, and she realized her thumb was bleeding.
"I must have cut it on the broken glass," she said, not entirely sure if she was talking to herself or to Will's dog.
She put her thumb in her mouth and licked the blood off of it. The metallic taste was strangely comforting.
The barking of the dogs woke Abigail up from her restless sleep. She felt incredibly disoriented, having been awoken from a dream where she was talking to her dead father. It wasn't the first time she had conversed with a talking corpse in her dreams, but it was always a bit disconcerting. The smell was probably the worst part of it.
She could barely hear the sound of a car pulling up to the house over the barking of the dogs. Abigail felt the familiar icy fear in her veins, but she didn't allow herself to stay frozen for long. She threw herself out of bed and grabbed the gun from inside the dresser. It was a bit difficult to load, as her hands were shaking slightly, but then she took a deep breath and steeled herself. Will had spent hours having her practice with this handgun. She knew how to use it, and she would if she had to.
Abigail crept down the stairs in the faint light of dawn. There were two sets of footsteps approaching the front door. Her mind raced as she contemplated where to position herself. She decided on going to the corner of the room by the front door, so it would block her from view once it was opened. It would give her the element of surprise, which she would need since she was outnumbered. At least it was only two to one, which wasn't terrible odds all things considered. If these were Mason Verger's men, though, she could assume they'd be dangerous. It could be someone else, but it had occurred to her after her conversation with Alana that Mason Verger had the means and motive to capture both Hannibal and Will. What he might want with her, she didn't know, but she wouldn't let herself be caught without a fight.
She was shocked when the door was unlocked. How the hell did these people have a key to Will's house? Abigail bit her lip as she raised the gun. She reminded herself that she had killed before, and so she could kill again. She wasn't about to let herself be a victim once more.
All her conviction fled, however, when she heard a familiar voice speak after the door opened.
"Hello, Abigail."
Hannibal Lecter stepped past the door with Will unconscious in his arms. At his side was a woman who's dark eyes immediately zeroed in on the gun in Abigail's trembling hands. She instantly moved to step in front of Hannibal and pulled out a gun of her own. Abigail would probably have been jealous of the fluidity and grace of the older woman if she wasn't so shocked.
"It's quite alright, Chiyoh. Abigail isn't a threat to us," Hannibal said in a pleasant tone.
"You sure about that?" Abigail forced more confidence into her voice than she actually felt.
"You're a clever girl, Abigail. You know that there would be no point to you trying to harm us right now. I assure you, you are in no danger from either of us," Hannibal answered her.
He turned away from her then, as if to prove that he really didn't think she would try anything. A part of her did want to shoot him, just to see if she could. But in the end, he was right. She wasn't going to start something with him if she didn't have to, and honestly, she was more concerned about Will right now. She reluctantly lowered the gun and put the safety on. Hannibal's companion, Chiyoh, did the same, though she still watched Abigail with an intense gaze.
Abigail followed after Hannibal as he carried Will to his bed. She frowned as she saw the long cut on his forehead. He also seemed pretty bruised up. Still, he was here, and he was alive, so she was more relieved than anything else. Will was strong, so she knew he would recover from whatever had happened to him.
"Do you mind keeping an eye on Will while I fetch some medical supplies for him?" Hannibal asked her.
Abigail just nodded in response. Hannibal left the room without another word. Abigail sighed as she continued looking at Will. It was surreal that he was here, safe, after she had started assuming the worst. It was even more surreal that Hannibal was the one to bring him back home, but she wasn't ready to start processing that yet. Instead, she just watched the rise and fall of his chest, content to see the proof that he was still living. She could feel Chiyoh still watching her, though, which was slightly disconcerting.
"So what's your deal?" Abigail asked without taking her eyes off of Will.
"My deal?" Chiyoh's accented voice sounded bemused. "I am here to protect Hannibal."
"What, like a bodyguard? I didn't think he needed one," Abigail commented.
"Sometimes, he needs protection from himself," Chiyoh stated. That got Abigail's attention, and she finally turned to look at her.
"I guess we all do, sometimes," Abigail said thoughtfully.
For all that most people thought that Hannibal was a heartless monster, he did have feelings just like anyone else. He just tended to not care about most people. And when he did care about someone, that could be even more dangerous than him not caring. After all, she had been the collateral damage when Will hurt Hannibal's feelings, so she knew firsthand how dangerous and unpredictable his emotions could be.
Hannibal came back with supplies, and Chiyoh stepped outside, ostensibly to be on guard in case anyone else showed up. Abigail had the feeling that she just also didn't particularly care much for being around other people. That was kind of relatable, honestly. Most people were rather exhausting.
Abigail assisted Hannibal as he took care of Will. They worked mostly in silence, and it was jarring how easy it was to be around him. She supposed that she should be afraid, but he had already said he wasn't here to hurt her. Whatever else he might be, Hannibal was a man of his word. He might decide later on to harm her, but for now she was safe enough. Besides, most of his attention was on Will. He was mostly methodical in his work, but she did catch him stroke Will's face once. It made her wonder if Will was aware that Hannibal loved him. He probably wasn't, since Hannibal's love was so unlike normal love. But Abigail had been the recipient of a deadly and possessive love before, so she could see it. Of course, the love her father had had for her was a different kind than what Hannibal had for Will, but the similarities were still there.
"What happened to the two of you?" Abigail finally asked once they were done.
She could see that Hannibal had been put through the ringer too. He was just as bruised and bloody as Will was, though of course he still moved around as if he were in perfect health. His pain tolerance really was something else.
"We happened to each other," Hannibal explained, which, yeah, that tracked. "And then Mason Verger happened to us."
That also tracked. Abigail muttered, "God forbid the two of you deal with your emotions in a non-destructive way."
Hannibal seemed amused rather than offended. "Unfortunately, that is not in our nature. Neither is it in yours."
Well, she couldn't exactly argue with that. For all her attempts to be a normal, functioning human, she always seemed to fall short.
"I'm glad you both made it back in one piece. Well, more or less," Abigail admitted.
Hannibal graced her with a smile. "And I am glad that you survived what I did to you."
"Did you intend for me to live?" Abigail asked, although she feared hearing the answer.
Hannibal's face turned serious. "No, I did not," he answered honestly. "But I am glad that you did. I do not waste time on regret, but I can admit that my actions that night were a bit rash."
Abigail knew that was the closest she was ever going to get to an apology from him. It did hurt that her survival had been entirely accidental on his part, but she did appreciate that he didn't lie to her. It was enough for her to know that he did care about her enough to be pleased that she was alive.
"I don't want to be used as a way to punish Will," Abigail told him. "If you ever decide you want to kill me, I want it to be because of something that I did."
It was risky, demanding something like that. However, it was less risky than just telling him to never try to kill her again. She wasn't going to delude herself into thinking that she would never be at risk of being harmed by him. He was a killer, and she understood his nature. She had killed people too, so it wasn't like she could really claim a moral high ground. But she hated the thought of not mattering at all as her own individual. She wasn't just an extension of anyone else. She didn't want Hannibal to kill her, of course, but if he was going to, then she didn't want it to be because he was feeling pissy at Will.
He studied her for a moment, and then nodded. "Very well. I will no longer use your life as a weapon against Will."
Abigail smiled at him. "Thanks."
"You are quite welcome, Abigail."
When Will woke up later, he seemed surprised to see both Hannibal and Abigail sitting in chairs next to his bed. He focused his gaze on Abigail, and she could see that he was relieved to see her.
"Hi, Will. You scared the shit out of me when you didn't answer any of my phone calls," Abigail told him. She could feel Hannibal's disapproval at her language, but she didn't care.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Chiyoh pushed me off of a train, and my phone broke in the process," Will explained. He seemed pretty annoyed by that, which was understandable.
"Wow, she doesn't mess around, does she?" Abigail asked. She was a little impressed, but mostly she was annoyed that Chiyoh did that to Will.
"Chiyoh is very capable," Hannibal cut in, sounding rather proud.
Will shot Hannibal a disgruntled look, and then said, "Abigail, can you give us a few minutes to talk?"
She wasn't exactly pleased by this request, but she wasn't going to deny Will this. She did allow herself to sigh dramatically as she stood up. "Okay, I'll be in my room."
Abigail trudged upstairs, although a part of her really wanted to eavesdrop. Still, she was sure Will would fill her in on anything that she needed to know. She flopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. She realized in that moment just how exhausted she was. She hadn't gotten much sleep the last few days with how worried she had been about Will, and also the fear that she could end up being targeted as well. So it wasn't surprising that she ended up falling asleep, though she would feel frustrated with herself when she woke up.
"Where's Hannibal?" she asked Will once she came back downstairs.
"I told him to leave," Will said calmly.
It took her a few moments to process this, since she was still feeling rather groggy.
"Wait, you did what? Why?" Abigail demanded.
"Because he's dangerous and has hurt both of us more than once?" Will seemed surprised at her shock.
"How long ago did he leave?" Abigail asked, looking out the window at the darkness. Fuck, how long had she slept for?
"It's been a few hours, Abigail. He's long gone," Will answered, completely unapologetic.
"That wasn't your choice to make for both of us!" Abigail knew that she sounded distressed, but she didn't know how to stop it.
"Your safety is my priority. I know that I'm not your father, but I still want to protect you. He's not safe, and he's not good for us," Will told her seriously.
Abigail knew that everything he was saying was true. It was completely ridiculous for her to feel so upset. Hell, she'd contemplated shooting Hannibal in the back earlier! She had spent months feeling angry and hurt and betrayed. And yet it hadn't taken much for her to want him back in her life. She hated the fact that she was so fucked up that she still wanted him around. She hated that she was still a foolish little girl who wanted to have a family. What had she expected? It wasn't like the three of them could really be a family after everything. But she had still wanted that, so badly.
Abigail slumped into the chair that Hannibal had been sitting in earlier. Maybe it was in her head, but she could swear that she could still smell his cologne.
"We could have made it work," Abigail said in a small voice.
Will looked at her sympathetically, and reached out a hand to her. She slipped one of her hand's into his, and he squeezed it tightly. "I know how you feel, Abigail. I missed him too. I still dream about making a different choice back then. But things happened the way they happened, and I am not going to risk your life."
She couldn't find it in herself to stay upset with him. Will loved her, enough to put her own well being before anything else. Even her father hadn't done that. No matter how mean or ungrateful she had been since they met, Will had always done his best to care for her. How could she be mad at him, in the face of that?
"I do see you as my dad, you know," she told him. "And I'm sorry for all the times I said otherwise."
"You don't know how much that means to me," Will told her, but the soft smile on his face said it all. "And you never need to apologize to me."
"Yeah, I kinda do. I know I can be, well, a brat, and you've been so good at putting up with my bullshit. So I'm sorry, and thanks," Abigail said, smiling back at him.
"Well, that's all in the job description of being a parent, or so I've heard," Will laughed.
Abigail laughed with him.
Abigail helped Will get up when they heard the police sirens approaching. It had taken longer than she would've expected for them to show up. She followed Will to the door, and listened to him tell Jack that Hannibal was gone.
But apparently he wasn't, as she heard him announce his presence.
She and Will stepped outside onto the porch and watched Hannibal stride forward and get onto his knees in the snow.
"You finally caught the Chesapeake Ripper, Jack," he said as he put his hands behind his head.
Jack frowned at him. "I didn't catch you. You surrendered."
And then he turned his head and looked directly at Will. "I want you to know exactly where I am, and where you can find me."
Will did not look happy about this at all, but Abigail couldn't stop herself from smiling for a moment. Hannibal's gaze switched to her, and he smiled as well. It felt oddly fitting that the infamous Chesapeake Ripper would only be caught on his terms. This was a victory for him, rather than a defeat. It must sting for Jack, who spent years on this case, to have such a hollow victory in the end. And as Abigail looked at Hannibal, she just knew that he didn't plan on staying in prison. This was only a temporary stop for him, until he finally got what he wanted.
She knew it would take time for her to decide how she really felt about all of this. She didn't want Will to be distressed, and she knew this was going to weigh on him. She truly did love her adoptive father, and wanted him to be happy. But despite it all, she did still love Hannibal too. He was still her other father figure, and Abigail knew that a part of her was always going to want the three of them to be together in the end. Whether or not that would pan out, only time would tell.
In the meantime, she would need to start planning for her future. Maybe it was time to start applying to colleges. In the past, she had dreamed about working for the FBI like Will. That was never going to happen now, but she had other options.
Abigail found that she rather liked the idea of studying psychiatry.
Noiz: This was written for the TSoS: Nine Tales week three prompts, [Students and Sensei] and [Blood Limit]. Title is once again from "Welcome to the Family" by Avenged Sevenfold because why not? I'm slacking it this summer, but I'm definitely going to try to get at least one more thing written for this year's TSoS prompts!
I started on this a year ago, and would come back here and then and write a little at a time. Then yesterday I had a call with Aviantei and managed to write six more pages in two hours and finally get this finished. So thank you for the support, Avi!
I have more ideas in mind for this AU, so it's entirely possible that there will be a sequel to this. When that'll be, though, I'm not sure.
Please don't forget to go see what others have been writing for TSoS!