Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
A/N: This chapter contains a little cussing, some sexual innuendo, and violence. All the components for a happy little Hannibal fiction world. Anyways just thought to remind you. Personally I don't think it's anything too bad. But hey, better safe than sorry. If you don't like it, don't read it. Anyways, to everyone else, happy reading!
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Surprisingly, Will was the first to awake. Jack and Ardelia followed soon after, and the trio was ready by 6:30 am.
The sun had just risen; the bright morning rays glinted off the snow that covered most of the ground.
Will had decided to start looking around the woods surrounding the road leading into Darcy. About half an hour into their search, Ardelia started voicing her doubts about his choice.
"You know...just because our witness only saw them on the road to Darcy, doesn't mean that they didn't actually go into the town. Perhaps we should look around the road leading out of Darcy."
Will sighed as he walked over yet another fallen tree trunk.
"Lecter would not go into a town unnecessarily. He would have left the road beforehand."
"Unnecessarily? There was a snowstorm not a day ago, he probably ended up staying In the town for Chris sakes! That is what any sane person would do.-"
"And there's your problem. You're thinking too much like a reasonable F.B.I agent. Lecter, although extremely intelligent...is not sane. Waiting out a snow storm in the forest unprotected was a reasonable risk when compared to staying in a motel room, for Lecter," Will explained, almost at the end of his patience.
Ardelia only sighed indignantly. She never understood Lecter or what he did. What did he do to get Clarice to go with him? Ardelia didn't have the faintest clue, and that scared her. But damn if she'd let some psychopathic killer go off with her friend while she had say in it.
After about ten minutes of moving through thick terrain, Ardelia was about to give up and start searching the road leading out of Darcy, no matter what Will said. Before she got the chance to leave though, she heard Jack shout somewhere up ahead. Both Will and Ardelia moved through the trees towards Jack. They saw him standing in the middle of a small clearing with a narrow dirt road just barely noticeable, leading back towards the main road over to their left.
"I found my car," Jack informed as he gestured ahead. The black paint just barely glinted underneath the heavy foliage that covered most of the car.
Will started forward excitedly. But instead of searching the car, like Ardelia expected him to do, Will only started looking around the ground surrounding the car.
"This way," Will shouted as he picked out a path that led deeper into the forest. Ardelia hurried forward.
"Wait, shouldn't we check the car?"
"What for, Lecter wouldn't have left anything in it anyways."
"How do you know?-"
Will stopped and turned back around to glare at Ardelia.
"I just do! Once you've tracked Lecter enough, you learn not to waste time with the obvious." Will almost shouted and turned back around to follow the trail. Ardelia and Jack followed, falling back so that Will would not be able to hear a conversation between them.
Jack placed a comforting hand on Ardelia's shoulder.
"Don't worry, he knows what he's doing. Soon enough we'll find Clarice."
Ardelia sighed.
"I hope so, I'm not sure how much longer I can put up with him. Something's not right. Was he always this way?"
A shadow passed over Jack's face.
"No, there was once a time when he was just like any of the other agents that I came across. But then, he saw too much, he understood too much. Molly was the only thing that kept him grounded. He was starting a new life with her and then I...brought him back. Things changed after that. Molly left and so did his link to the real world. Over the years he buried himself in the everyday boring jobs he managed to find, whose only purpose was to support his alcohol habit. I think he had given up thinking about his old life. We brought it all back once we stepped into his doorway. And now he's just as focused on catching Lecter as he ever was. You can say a lot of thing about Will, but never let it be said that he's not passionate. He never does things half-assed, if he wants to forget, then he will, no matter how much alcohol it takes. All we did Ardelia was change his focus. Don't be upset when he snaps out at you, it 's not really you he's thinking about. Lecter is haunting his every thought; he has to let it happen that way. He has to, in order to get inside his mind," Jack explained.
Ardelia nodded, starting to understand Will a little better. However, that understanding did little to ease her mind.
The trio continued to hike throughout the day. They didn't stop very often, if at all. They were each set on getting to their destination as quickly as possible. The trail was very faint and took most of Will's concentration to follow accurately.
It was close to noon by the time Will broke the silence.
"So, Ardelia, what is Clarice like?"
Ardelia only looked up ahead at Will, incredulously.
"What do you mean, what do you want to know?" Ardelia asked suspiciously.
"Well, that's what you're here for, isn't it? Because you know Clarice."
"I'm here because I care about my friend, and intend to help her get rid of that conniving bastard, " Ardelia retorted. She did not need her purpose in this escapade questioned, least of all by Will.
Will inwardly sighed, but reminded himself that this conversation would be necessary if he was going to have a snowball's chance in hell of catching Lecter. He tried to focus on the positive, he already found out that Clarice trusted Ardelia. That could prove useful later on. Will braced himself and continued.
"Ardelia, I am not a fan of Lecter anymore than you are. I'm only asking because, the more I know about the situation, the better chance we'll have of getting Clarice out of this alive and well. So can you please just tell me about her, why she is with Lecter or what she may be thinking." Will played dumb. He didn't want Ardelia even suspectingthat being with Lecter was what Clarice actually wanted. But he needed other information on the ex-agent and playing ignorant of everything made things easier, Will felt.
Ardelia sighed but complied with Will. He could be polite enough when he wasn't being an arrogant bastard.
"Well, I know Clarice met Lecter on assignment. I can only assume that Lecter has blackmailed her or something of that sort to get her to go along with him. What else is there to know? She lives for her job, sleeps very little, and runs during her free time. She doesn't have any hobbies...except maybe going to the firing range on the weekends, she's a very good shot and has won several tournaments. Oh and her best friend other than myself goes by the name of Jack Daniels. Anything else you wish to know?" Ardelia finished curtly.
Will only shook his head in response. He wondered for a moment what it was about Lecter that drove his 'associates' to drink heavily, before going on to more important matters. He was not too happy to discover that Clarice was adept with a pistol. Will had fired enough guns in his time be considered proficient, but he was no where near the standard that Ardelia hinted Clarice of being. Will made a mental note to get Clarice's fire arm away from her as soon as possible. Most of the other information wasn't that important to Will. Except maybe Clarice's habit of running. That may come in useful, Will decided.
After that, Will remained silent most of the time. Deciding instead to focus on following the trail. Jack and Ardelia hung back most of the time, speaking of earlier days and happier memories.
It was almost dark before the trio began to see a break in the tree line. They hurried forward to the rim of clearing. Will stopped Ardelia and Jack from venturing farther into the clearing as he took in the vast expanse of snow covered land.
A large comfortable looking Log cabin dominated the area, and a smaller version stood farther down the hill.
Ardelia pulled herself out of Will's grasp.
"Why are you stopping us? Clarice is Right there, isn't she?" Ardelia demanded, gesturing towards the large cabin that stood not more than 100 yards away.
Will pulled her back farther into forest, closely followed by Jack.
"Yes, your friend is right there, but so is Lecter. Trust me, Lecter knows his residence's better than the back of his own hand. Going in there would be tantamount to suicide. We stay here until they come out, only then will we strike."
Ardelia looked as if she were about to disagree before Jack cut in.
"That is probably the best course of action."
Ardelia sighed.
"Fine, but what do we do until then?" Ardelia asked exasperatedly.
"We? You and Jack can rest. I'll keep watch, I never sleep well anyways, without some help that is," Will muttered as he glanced back at the cabin that could just be seen in the distance through the trees.
Ardelia and Jack agreed, and said they would take over the watch in the morning. However, unlike Hannibal and Clarice, Jack and Ardelia had only packed weapons, cuffs, and some rope for their trip. Still they made do with their large jackets and were soon sleeping against a large tree that helped to prop them up.
Will watched Jack and Ardelia settle in for the night before turning back to watch the cabin. As he waited for his two comrades to fall into a deep slumber, he went over his plan once again. Ardelia and Jack had served their purpose. He didn't want to hurt them, but the truth of the matter was that they would only get in the way. Will understood that he would need to use Clarice to get anywhere near Lecter and with Ardelia and Jack around...well that was going to be a bit hard to accomplish. So the first thing he would need to work on was getting Jack and Ardelia out of the way.
After about 15 minutes he was confident that Jack and Ardelia wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
He silently took the bag that held the group's supplies. Extra gun ammunition and miscellaneous items lined the bottom. Duct tape, rope, and several pairs of handcuffs took up the rest of the space. Will looked down at the supplies and then back to the pair sleeping before him, propped against the large tree.
Well whatever he planned on doing, it would be better if they stayed asleep during it, Will decided.
After thinking a couple of moments, Will thought of a plan. Taking a pair of handcuffs he first handcuffed Ardelia's right hand to Jack's left. Afterwards, he combined the remaining cuffs into a makeshift chain of sorts. He then connected the end of the chain to Ardelia's left hand and wound it around the opposite end of the tree to connect to Jack's right hand on the other side.
It was painstaking work, connecting everything together while the two slept. However, eventually the task was done and both Ardelia and Jack were loosely chained to the large tree that they had leaned against while sleeping.
After checking his work over one last time, Will took the rest of the supplies and walked forward to the edge of the forest, leaving the two other sleeping agents behind.
Sitting down in the shade of a tree, Will began his long vigil, alert for any sign of movement within the cabin. Will was not one to sugar coat things. He knew he would probably end up having to shoot out their car's tires as the two left the cabin and end up giving away his position. But he would do what needed to be done. He only had one pair of handcuffs left, but hopefully if everything worked out, Lecter wouldn't be needing any further types of binding in the near future...
"You know, you're not the only one who knows how to cook eggs," Clarice retorted petulantly as Hannibal shooed her out from in front of the stove.
"One doesn't merely 'cook' eggs, Clarice. They are to be prepared-"
Before Hannibal could go into one of his lengthy descriptions about the subtleties of proper egg preparation, Clarice cut him off.
"O.k. I give, you clearly have the upper hand with regards to culinary skills," Clarice relented as she sat down at the small kitchen table across from the stove.
She leaned back comfortably and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the smooth wooden chair beneath her.
Hannibal watched her amusedly out of the corner of his eye as he added some more ingredients to the omelets he was making.
"Tired, Clarice?" Hannibal asked none too innocently.
Clarice opened one eye a sliver before closing it again, enough to glimpse a small smile dancing upon Hannibal's lips.
Deciding to play along, Clarice replied.
"Yes, actually. Last night was quite tiring."
It took all of Clarice's restraint to keep her voice even and face blank..
Hannibal, still smirking, didn't miss a beat.
"Well, is your present lethargy worth last night's exertions?"
"Oh, definitely," Clarice replied sincerely before continuing.
"Although, since I've only had tedious sticky fumblings in the backseats of cars to compare it too, one can't be too sure."
Clarice lasted about two seconds before she was forced to abandon her blank face and replace it with a smirk as she started laughing.
Hannibal scoffed as he flipped over one of the omelets effortlessly.
"Oh, Clarice, you know I was only playing with you. Eight years in solitary confinement can become quite tedious, even to the most well trained mind."
Clarice only looked up at Hannibal incredulously. Only Hannibal could escape from that and refer to the time as a 'tedious inconvenience'. Before Clarice could ponder the matter further, Hannibal placed a plate before her. The omelet was a perfect half moon shape and smelled wonderfully.
Hannibal sat across from her, with his own plate before him.
"So is the omelet satisfactory?" Hannibal asked after Clarice had taken a bite. Clarice just rolled her eyes.
"Now you're just fishing for compliments," Clarice teased and continued.
"But rest assured, the eggs that you 'prepare' are the best I've ever tasted."
Hannibal nodded, satisfied with Clarice's answer, before turning to his own omelet.
"So do we have a set time for leaving yet?"
"I'm planning our departure for about 7:00 this evening. It would be better if we traveled at night," Hannibal explained.
Clarice nodded and continued eating.
In a matter of moments, Clarice was up in flash and started rinsing off her dishes.
"Well I'm going to go get ready," Clarice said as she left the kitchen.
Clarice had gotten up first that morning, but had yet to get ready. She had thought she would be nice and had went down to start breakfast. It figures that Hannibal would come down completely dressed in beige slacks and white sweater not ten minutes later to take care of the whole affair. Clarice sighed, well she would just have to figure out how to be more sneaky. Oh and help him get rid of his 'knowing everything' fetish thing. Clarice laughed to herself as she walked up the stairs.
After taking a quick shower, Clarice walked over to her room. Her room that she hadn't even slept in yet. Seemed more like...the room that housed her clothes. But she needed clothes and for that, the bureau in the room would work out well enough. After pulling on some plain jeans and dark blue sweater, she found some broken in running shoes that were close enough to her size to not cause discomfort.
After strapping her firearm to her thigh, she was ready and quickly trotted back downstairs to find Hannibal.
She found him in front of the fireplace, reading. He rose a single eyebrow at her attire.
"Going somewhere?"
"Yea, just out running. I don't get the chance to run in snow often, they close the running track through the forest back home when it does. Now's my chance," Clarice informed happily.
Hannibal smiled slightly, taking in her happy expression. He never knew someone to get so happy over the prospect of a morning run through the snow.
"Well then, be careful," Hannibal called out. Clarice waved him off and was already out through the front door.
Will almost couldn't believe his luck when he saw Clarice come running out of the cabin early the next morning. At first he thought that maybe the woman had finally got some sense and was trying to escape. But after a couple of moments, it became apparent that she was just out for a morning run. She was running the opposite direction of Will, but would most likely circle back. Will started jogging through the forest, keeping his pack close at hand. He meant to interrupt her as she finished her circuit, but if he wanted to get some time to prepare he would have to hurry.
Clarice had decided to run around the clearing, just outside the tree line. She had not forgotten how rocky and unstable the ground was inside the forest and wasn't about to run through there. The clearing was just fine for her at the moment. She had been running for about the last ten minutes and was about to finish. Usually she ran for much longer. However, the heavy snow covering the ground and biting cold took up more of her energy than usual.
Her limbs started to feel a bit numb and sluggish as she neared her self imposed finish line. Already she was looking forward to the warm heat of the fire that was surely waiting inside.
Suddenly she heard a twig snap from somewhere inside the forest. Out of habit, she quickly withdrew her weapon and stopped beside a tree. Her breath was coming out in short shallow gasps. The cold seemed to seep even deeper into her skin, now that she wasn't moving around.
After a couple of moments of tense waiting, Clarice almost convinced herself that she had been hearing things. She looked back at the cabin in the distance and then back into the forest.
Clarice bit her lip for a moment in indecision. Again she heard some rustling further in the forest. This time she knew she wasn't imagining it. But still...it was a forest, could be an animal or something.
Or it could be the FBI, Clarice reminded herself, still coming to terms with the fact that she was now a fugitive.
But then again, that didn't make sense either. The FBI weren't ones to wait around. If it was the FBI, Clarice was pretty sure she would be surrounded and ordered to glue her ass to the floor by now.
Could it be Ardelia and Jack then, her mind asked. She found it a little hard to believe that either of them had found the cabin. But even if they did, wouldn't they have come out by now? Tried to talk to her or something?
All in all it didn't make much sense
Clarice was about to make her way back to the cabin, when she heard yet another scuffle and several footfalls. Distinctly human, Clarice decided, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Well, this wasn't the FBI and it wasn't Ardelia or Jack. Clarice was getting quite fed up with this new threat. Clarice stalked resolutely into the forest, gun raised, determined to find out who this person was.
Will was exceptionally happy with his luck that day. He was actually going to be able to get Clarice on her own, making matters with Lecter later on a lot easier. Unlike Lecter, Will felt that he would be able to lull Clarice into a false sense of security. All he would have to do then would be to handcuff her, hold her at knife point, find Lecter and shoot the bastard while he was too worried about Clarice to move. Simple plan, yes, but Will decided he liked simple better, complicated ideas always had a way of coming back and biting you in the ass.
But back to the matter at hand. Clarice was approaching and Will needed to get her attention. He broke a twig in his hands and watched Clarice as she quickly ducked behind a tree. Will waited for her impatiently. He ended up having to move around a little bit more until Clarice finally started walking forward into the forest.
Will sighed as he saw a firearm still clutched tightly within her hand. Time to start acting, he acknowledged.
"Clarice?" He whispered. Clarice stopped and whipped her gun around in his direction. Although it was daylight, the thick leaves of the trees above blocked out most light. For a moment, Will feared that Clarice would shoot him without even seeing him. He held up a shadowy hand.
"Wait, don't shoot. Ardelia sent me."
"Who are you?" Clarice asked, her gun still pointing at Will.
"I"m...just a friend of Ardelia's," Will replied quickly. He didn't think that revealing that he was Will Graham would have any positive effect. Will was immensely grateful for the dark forest, it hid his scarred face which would likely give him away. However, Clarice still kept her gun leveled at him. He'd have to go a step further.
"Please, Ardelia just wants to help you. On the way here, she got hurt-"
"Hurt, what's wrong with her?!" Clarice almost shouted.
Will grimaced, this was not going as well as he had hoped. He'd have to act soon and subdue Clarice before Hannibal came looking for her.
"She's fine but she needs you.-" Will started before he suddenly lunged towards Clarice and pulled the firearm out of her grasp.
It was sheer luck and astonishment that allowed for the gun to slip from Clarice's grasp. Will quickly threw the gun farther into the forest. It was going to be hard enough to subdue Clarice without her weapon.
His hand still griped her wrist and he pulled her forward, off her feet. In a fluid motion he turned her around and had her back pressed firmly against his chest, with his arm wrapped in a vise-like grip across her front.
However, Clarice began struggling in earnest and they both ended up falling onto the cold snow-covered ground. They both continued to thrash about upon the ground, trying to gain the upper hand.
Unfortunately, Clarice was already tired out by her run and almost numb to the bone. She started losing her strength quickly.
Will acted on his advantage and soon had her pinned beneath him. He quickly flipped her over and had her hands clasped behind her back. After a brief struggle, he was able to close the handcuffs around Clarice's wrists. He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the cuffs click and lock. Now the hard part was over, or so he thought.
Gasping for breath after the fight, Will leaned forward over Clarice in order to disentangle his legs and get up.
At the opportune moment, Clarice brought her head up sharply. Smashing the back of her skull into Will's face. Will cursed and staggered forward, clutching his now bleeding nose.
Before Clarice could run, Will grabbed his knife from his belt and pulled Clarice up against him once again, her back to his chest. This time, however, a knife was pressed to Clarice's throat.
"Move and I'll slit your throat. Now, I don't want to hurt you, but Lecter's going to pay one way or the other!" Will hissed into Clarice's ear, a mixture of blood and spittle accompanying his threat.
Will took a steadying breath. So far, so good. Keeping the knife pressed to Clarice's throat, Will reached behind him and grabbed his gun from his holster with his other hand. Now all he had to do was find Lecter.
Suddenly, before another thought could pass through his mind, he felt a searing pain in his foot. Clarice had stamped down on his left foot as hard as possible before yanking herself out of his grasp.
Will's gun slipped out of his hand as he winced in pain. Clarice kicked the gun underneath a nearby bush before turning and running toward the clearing. Unfortunately, with her hands tied behind her back and numb legs, Clarice wasn't able to get very far. Will ran after her and had her pinned on the ground in a matter of seconds. Will yanked her up again, this time causing the collar of her sweater to rip before his knife resumed it's position against her throat.
Clarice continued to struggle for a moment before Will pressed the blade of the knife a little deeper into her already cut throat.
"Stop moving!" Will ordered.
Clarice took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. She could feel blood dripping onto her shoulder from Will's bleeding nose.
The sun glinted happily upon the pristine snow covering the clearing up ahead. It seemed to taunt her as she was pulled back deeper into the forest.
Will was now thoroughly pissed, his nose was bleeding and his foot was throbbing painfully. To top it off, he had lost his gun! When he felt Clarice struggle again, it took all of his restraint not to slit her throat then and there.
"Move one more time, and you'll regret it," Will spat into Clarice's ear. Anything just to keep her still!
Clarice was about to argue back when a third voice behind them cut through the chill morning air.
"Good Day, Will. I just love it when old friends drop by. Care to stay for dinner and catch up for old time's sake?"
Lecter smirked as he watched a stricken and shocked Will turn to face him, Clarice still clutched tightly to his chest.
His eyes narrowed as he saw the knife pressed against Clarice's throat, a steady stream of blood already leaking from the cut.
Lecter sighed and looked back up at Will, catching his eye. He winked as he simultaneously withdrew his harpy and flipped it open...
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Ooo0 cliffhanger, don't shoot! (hides behind couch). Well tell me what you think, anything is welcome. Special thanks to all previous reviewers!!!