Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

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Ardelia hadn't been this angry in a long time. Had the whole world gone Insane? First Dr. Lecter shows up at her house out of freaking no where and tells her she has to go get Clarice. Which, she was only happy to do, but then Clarice started acting weird too. She was still pissed that Clarice had choked her like that but was more worried for her safety at the moment.

Their need to find Clarice led Jack to suggest the help of one of his previous protégés, none other than Will Graham. Now Ardelia had no problem admitting that Will had a weird insight into what Dr. Lecter would do, but that still didn't mean that she didn't thoroughly detest the guy.

And her current situation did absolutely nothing to change her original idea of the man. Taking a deep breath once again, Ardelia tried to calm her beating heart. However, this was not so easy to do since everything in her mind screamed for action. Turning over as much as the linked hand cuffs allowed, Ardelia nudged Jack.

His eyes flitted open wearily before focusing on Ardelia's furious face.

"What's wrong? Is it time to switch shifts?" Jack asked, not yet realizing the situation they were in.

"No, it's not time to switch shifts! Look!" Ardelia spat as she lifted her arm, the linked handcuff chain clearly visible.

"We're locked around this Damn tree, with no way out, while Clarice is out there somewhere with a serial killer and an overzealous ex-FBI agent! That is What is Wrong!"

Jack listened to Ardelia's outburst with thinly veiled amusement. He tried to calm her down, however Ardelia wasn't really in the mood to listen.

"Calm down, Ardelia-"

"I will Not Calm Down! Because of Will we're stuck here-"

"Ardelia."

"In the middle of a forest-"

"Ardelia!"

"What?!"

"I have the handcuff keys," Will explained quickly, hoping to douse Ardelia's anger.

It took a moment for Ardelia to realize what Jack had said.

"Really?"

"Yes, Really, now could you please stop yelling?" Jack asked exasperatedly as he pulled out his keys from his pants pocket.

Ardelia was almost too shocked to speak.

"He just left you with those, but how-"

"I have an extra set. I daresay, he had several more pressing matters on his mind, enough to make him forget about such petty technicalities as these, Ardelia," Jack said as he unlocked his wrists.

Ardelia was still surprised but she did suppose that an upcoming meeting with Lecter was enough to distract even the most observant of people.

She held out her hands and soon enough her own cuffs were unlocked as well.

Ardelia didn't waste a moment.

"Come on, lets go find Will before he does something stupid," Ardelia muttered as she pulled Jack to his feet. Jack got up and followed quickly.

It wasn't too hard to follow Will's trail, since his feet made clearly seen imprints in the snow.

About five minutes later, they were still following the trail. Up ahead, Jack spotted the dark outline of a gun, it starkly contrasted with the pure white snow that surrounded it. Ardelia jogged over to pick it up before continuing.

A couple moments later they heard muffled voices up ahead. Ardelia and Jack nodded at one another and quietly made their way over towards the voices as quickly as possible.

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Will was not exactly pleased with the way his plan turned out so far. He had lost his gun and now the only thing between him and Lecter was Clarice. He gripped her shoulders tighter and held the knife closer to her throat as he surveyed Lecter from across the clearing.

He tried to stay calm as Lecter started to speak.

"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?" Dr. Lecter asked threateningly.

Will wrenched Clarice's head up higher, exposing more of her neck.

"Try anything Lecter and you will regret it," Will snapped as convincingly as he could.

Unfortunately the threat did little to sway Lecter and his eyes only narrowed further as began to pace before Will. Still flipping his harpy open and closed in time with his steps.

"Such anger, Will! It's entirely unnecessary," Lecter chastised.

Clarice felt Will subconsciously tighten his hold upon her in his anger. She hoped that Lecter knew what he was doing...

"Unnecessary?! Are you really so surprised that it has come to this, After everything you've done to me!" Will shouted, loosing his temper quickly.

Lecter smirked slightly.

"What I Did to You? Now, Will...you know everything that I did was only to help you," Lecter replied evenly. His voice calm, although he still kept his eyes trained on the knife at Clarice's throat. He took a step forward and Clarice realized that Lecter was just trying to keep Will talking so that he wouldn't notice him moving closer.

"Help me?! Nothing you ever did Helped me in the slightest!" Will shouted indignantly.

"Oh, I happen to disagree. Think back to our little discussions, Will. Back when we were both on the same side, back when I was trying to help you become a better hunter. I told you that you had only one weakness. One weakness, that once gotten rid of, would make you unstoppable, what was it?" Lecter took another step forward.

"I don't have time for this, just-"

"Oh, but time is all we ever have, Will. But, for all our sakes, I'll just supply the answer, since you seem unable to at the moment. Your Fear made you weak, Will. All that I ever did was to rid it you of it!"

Lecter took another step forward, two more and he'd be within arm's reach.

"All fear is the fear of loss, Will. I took that from you. Once you've lost your career, your wife, even your own pitiful Vanity, life didn't seem so bright, did it? But then again, the darkness didn't seem so dark then either. You should be Thanking me, Will...I freed you," Lecter ended, almost in a whisper as he took another step forward. Will shook his head, trying to keep focused.

Lecter nodded reassuringly at Clarice as he started to take another step and close the distance between himself and Will.

Suddenly, Ardelia's very irate voice rang throughout the forest.

"Both of you Stop!" Ardelia shouted.

When she and Jack had entered the clearing and saw the seen before them, Ardelia believed that her question that she asked herself earlier that morning had been answered. The World had gone Insane! Will was strangling Clarice and Lecter wasn't murdering anyone...at least not yet. The evil gleam in his eyes didn't look too promising though. A bit confused, Ardelia aimed the gun that she had found only moments before. Quickly moving it back and forth between Lecter and Will.

Jack stepped up beside Ardelia. He too, was just as confused by the situation as she was.

After taking a moment to think, Lecter decided to try to use Ardelia's presence to his advantage. Forgetting Will for a moment, Lecter turned to Ardelia.

"Look what he's doing to your friend, Ardelia. You should protect Clarice by whatever means necessary," Lecter hinted persuasively.

Ardelia's eyes darted back and forth between the two men indecisively. Will, was starting to become impatient.

"Damn it, Ardelia. Lecter is Right there, Shoot him!-"

"Why shoot me? I'm not the one with a knife to your friend's throat," Lecter argued back calmly, as if he was debating an everyday matter.

Ardelia let out a frustrated groan.

"O.k. enough with this! Will, you let go of Clarice Now! Lecter...just...just don't Move, got it!" Ardelia shouted, she was sick of these stupid ass mind games that always involved Lecter.

Will looked back and forth between Lecter and Ardelia. He was so close! If Ardelia would only shoot Lecter, damnit. But No, she was too worried about Clarice to do what was necessary, just like he knew she would be.

"Fine, I'll let her go, but you better sure as hell shoot and ask questions later if Lecter so much as flinches!" Will spat as he thrust Clarice from him.

Clarice stumbled and Lecter grabbed her arm before she could loose her balance completely. Straightening up, Clarice rubbed her sore throat and glared at Will.

"Clarice, you o.k., girl?" Ardelia asked.

"I Was fine, before he showed up!" Clarice jerked her head at Will.

"Yea, I know he's an ass, Clarice, but we needed him to find you. Now, please just come with Jack and I-"

"No, Ardelia! I tried to explain before, there's nothing left for me back there anymore-"

"There's no point listening to her!" Will practically screamed and went on.

"After all we've done, you're just standing there-" Suddenly Will stopped, the glint of his own firearm reminded him of its presence beneath a nearby bush. He darted towards it. Seeing, Will's intention, Lecter grabbed Clarice's arm once again and pulled her towards the cover of surrounding trees.

Will whipped around and aimed his gun at Lecter's retreating form. Ardelia, afraid that he would accidentally hit Clarice, dashed towards him and pushed his gun away.

Unfortunately, the gun had already been fired.

Ardelia cursed at Will as the last tendril of Clarice's hair flew out of sight behind the darkened trees.

Clarice staggered, the searing pain in her side stole all of the strength from her body. Hannibal reached down to grab her arm more securely to keep her from falling. Worry for Clarice and anger with Will battled each other for prominence in Lecter's mind as he fled the clearing with Clarice.

Lecter wasn't one to delude himself. Things had went from bad to worse in a matter of moments. Will, he could handle one on one, even with Clarice as a hostage. However, Ardelia and Jack...complicated things. Their overwhelming need to 'protect' Clarice almost bordered on obsession, however it wasn't really a fault that Lecter could punish though, could he? Mainly because he doubted Clarice would ever forgive him if he were to get rid of her friend or former mentor, but also because part of him respected their unwavering faith, no matter how annoying they turned out to be. However, if their stupidity led Clarice to harm, no amount of respect would save them, Hannibal thought savagely.

Still, his current situation left him with limited options, and that was one thing that the ever open-minded doctor hated. His usual fall back plan of murdering his pursuers without discretion was clearly not going to work out this time.

Hannibal stopped running. Clarice had become a dead weight and could hardly support herself anymore. He propped her up against a nearby tree and looked around the dimly lit, snow covered forest for ideas. Not particularly the most inspiring place, Hannibal mused. It held bad memories...With an effort, Hannibal focused back to the matter at hand while he tried to keep a cold sense of dread from stealing over him. He inspected Clarice's wound and quickly realized that it was much worse than the one he had suffered days before. Will had fired at much closer range and into her side as well, just under her ribs.

Things were not looking good. Hannibal doubted he would be able to heal her himself with the limited supplies he had, even if he was able to get her back to his cabin on time, undisturbed.

That meant that Clarice would need more...professional medical help. The kind of help that wouldn't let two fugitives simply leave once their assistance was garnered. Sighing, Hannibal made up his mind.

He gently lifted Clarice's now pale face towards his own. Her eyes had taken on the glazed look of one in immense pain but quickly focused once Hannibal came into her line of vision.

Hannibal spoke softly, but quickly.

"Clarice, listen to me. I won't be able to get you to a hospital on time, on my own. You're bleeding too much and need help that I can not give you. Here, take this," Hannibal ordered as he placed a single car key from his pocket into Clarice's own limp hand.

This is a key to one of my cars located in the garage off the side of the cabin. I don't doubt that Ardelia and Jack will be arriving any moment. They will be able to get you help more quickly than I would be able to. When they come, tell them about the key and where the car is. Now this is very important, you'll probably be in the hospital for a couple of days at the least, after that they will start questioning you about the events over the last several days. I don't care what they ask you, just lay all the blame on me. I don't know how soon I'll be able to come back and get you but until then, you have to make sure that you stay out of policy custody. It will be much easier for you to disappear once again if you stay out of jail."

Clarice nodded numbly, but Hannibal could see she was still a little worried. He leaned forward gently and embraced her, effectively soaking his own shirt with her blood.

"Don't worry, as long as you distance yourself from me, you will be safe with them...I'm sorry that it came to this," Hannibal muttered, indicating her wound.

"I'll be alright, I don't blame you for this," Clarice said as clearly as her bruised throat would allow. Suddenly a look of pure hatred crossed Clarice's face and Hannibal had no doubt who she was thinking about.

"You forget about Will for now, Clarice. That's my problem and he will be dealt with accordingly."

Clarice only smirked wearily, too tired to say much more. Hannibal heard Ardelia and Jack approaching.

"I must go now, Clarice...remember be careful and don't admit you were apart of anything! I Will come back for you," Hannibal reiterated emphatically.

Clarice nodded and then he was gone.

Moments later Ardelia, Jack, and Will came bounding over to Clarice. Ardelia gasped as she saw Clarice's wound. She turned to Will and delivered a swift punch to his unprotected jaw.

Will, totally unprepared for the onslaught, fell to the ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He exclaimed as he spit out some blood that was coming from several cuts inside his mouth.

"You'll be lucky if that's the least of your troubles!" Ardelia screamed at him as she rushed over to Clarice.

Will sighed and looked back into the forest, of course Lecter was no where to be found. It would be stupid to go looking for him now, even with a gun. Without Clarice to distract him, Lecter would be almost impossible to sneak up on now. Out of options for the time being, Will turned back to listen to Clarice tell Ardelia about a car that they could use to get back down the mountain.

Lucky thing for her too, Will mused, if they didn't hurry he had no doubt that Clarice would indeed bleed to death.

Shaking off a twinge of guilt, Will looked back out into the forest. He was a bit disturbed at what Lecter had told him back in the clearing. Everything he said was true, the only reason he hadn't pursued Lecter before was just lack of ambition and opportunity. But now, nothing would stop him. With a wry smile, Will promised himself that one day soon he would thank the good doctor properly for his new found freedom...

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I'm sorry I took a while to get this up, I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner. Until then Reviews are very much appreciated. Special thanks to previous reviewers, they are very helpful!!