Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, I am only borrowing them for entertainment purposes.
Clarice's mind was in turmoil as she walked down the lonely road that led away from Verger's farm. The unsettling silence and confusion of the situation kept disrupting her thoughts. She stopped suddenly and turned,
"Dr. Lec-"
"Please, I believe by now we know one another well enough for you to address me by my first name."
Clarice was taken aback, she needed to focus.
"Oh..fine,...Hannibal. I'm going to ask you a question and I need you to answer truthfully."
"I always do Clarice."
"o.k." Clarice took a deep breath and continued:
"If I were to let you go, how would you spend the rest of your life?"
Dr. Lecter allowed a small smirk to cross his face as he said,
"If you were to let me go?"
In one fluid motion Clarice stepped back and raised her gun level to Dr. Lecter's chest.
"Now, I more than anyone, would not be foolish enough to underestimate you, Hannibal. But to tell the truth, you're not really at your best right now, what with your injuries and everything. So you would do well to stop with your stupid psycho babble shit and answer the goddamn question!"
Clarice was breathing heavily now, the situation making her angrier by the minute.
However, this display of aggression in no way affected Dr. Lecter. He simply remained standing as if this were any ordinary conversation.
"What would you have me say Clarice, hmm? That I will go on my way and never again harm those that need disciplining? What about you, Clarice? You are no longer the innocent student I met all those years ago. You are a...murderer, Clarice. Just Like Me."
Clarice's arm started to waver as she backed up, farther away from Dr. Lecter.
"No, I'm n-not like that!"
Dr. Lecter advanced towards Clarice as he asked her,
"No? You're not like that? You have never taken a life, you have never felt hate so great that you enjoyed pulling that trigger?" Dr. Lecter took one last step towards her, closing the distance between them.
"I think you're lying to me, Clarice."
"Fine, You're right!" Clarice yelled. "But at least I Was doing it to Save Someone Else! Those that I killed would have hurt someone else."
At this Dr. Lecter showed the first sign that he was becoming agitated. He lunged forward and seized the gun from Clarice's hand and threw it deeper in to the woods as he said,
"And those that I killed were Blameless, You think?! All of them were murderers, pedophiles, or just plain wretches of society. Oh and that nurse Chilton is so fond of showing everyone, her ineptitude caused the death of many of the other inmates. I'm sure they didn't mention all those details in those case files you endlessly pour over, did they? So I ask you Clarice: What would you do now, when faced with remorseless criminals? What could you do, without that badge and the F.B.I to back you up? Perhaps call up the local authorities, as you most likely did earlier today. I don't need to guess what kind of reaction that got you. So, Clarice when faced with murderers, with no lawful way to stop it, what did you do?"
"I came here on my own." Clarice mumbled, just starting to see what Dr. Lecter had known all along.
"And, for the sake of one "criminal" you shot three men inside that barn over there. So now you ask me: what I will do if you let me go? I'll do exactly what you have done, and not rely on others to uphold those values that we so admire."
As Clarice looked at Hannibal with fresh eyes they heard the sound of branch breaking not far off, deeper inside the woods...
Who could it be?? What will happen next? coming soon!! Review are welcome and greatly appreciated.