Morrie was standing up when I entered the living room. He was glaring at Bedelia Du Maurier who remained in her seat.
Morrie was the one to see me first. "Abiel," He seemed to breathe out my name rather than actually articulate it.
My godmother turned to look at me. "We were just talking about you." She said with a knowing smile.
"I know," I replied. "I have been listening." I stopped and stood at least a meter and a half away from the back of Dr. Du Maurier's chair.
"Is that so?" My godmother asked, rising from her seat.
I pulled the gun out and cocked it, then aimed it at the back of my godmother's head as she stood up.
Seeing me do so, Morrie gave me a pleading look and shook his head. "Abiel, don't do this please."
"You should listen to your roommate, Abiel." My godmother said without even turning her head. "The sound of the gunshot you are about to fire will also be the sound of yourself shattering to pieces."
"I don't care." I said. "I broke once, long ago. I killed two people in the process, killing you would not make any difference." At that moment, I had convinced myself that this would justify my actions.
"Abiel," she said in a voice that echoed with mocking fondness. "You are very much like Hannibal."
Her words drove me into a bout of madness. Fury has rendered my vision black. My hands that were cold as ice have moved on their own. I pulled the trigger. I heard the gunshot reverberate throughout the room. Surprisingly though, I also felt warmth. It circled around my wrist and pulled me down. When I came to, I was kneeling. There was a mark on the floor in front of me where the bullet I fired had gone. Morrie was holding my wrist, kneeling beside me and wrestling the gun from my grip.
"Don't break," Morrie told me as we struggled for the gun. "Not now. You have been piecing yourself together. Wouldn't that just go to waste? Abiel, listen to me." He was able to snatch the gun from me and then place it on the floor.
This made my wrath direct itself to him. "How dare you..." I told Morrie between gritted teeth, my voice shaking with rage along with my entire body. He always interferes ever since he arrived in my life. He always keeps me from breaking in very unwelcome ways.
He clasped my face in one hand, and forced me to look directly into his eyes that were so blue and looked at me so piercingly I felt electrocuted. "Whether you like it or not, I am not allowing you to break, you hear me? Not now, not ever."
As Morrie spoke, the front door had burst open and footsteps rushed into the living room.
I managed to shake Morrie off of me and stand up.
"There you are, Will Graham." My godmother said. When I looked at her, she was pointing a gun at me as she smiled at my father who stood by the living room's threshold.
I was frozen on the spot, not knowing what to say or do.
"Abiel," Dad called, panic apparent on his face.
"Morrie!" Margot Verger exclaimed upon seeing her son. She was about to run to him, but she stopped when she saw the gun pointed at me.
"Mr. Verger, go to your aunt and leave." My godmother commanded, looking at Morrie. "This is none of your business."
Morrie stood up. "No." He turned to Margot Verger. "Ma, I'm not leaving Abiel."
"Morrie, just leave." I told him with what little calmness I could muster.
"No." He said sternly. It seems he has picked up the gun I fired moments ago and was now aiming it at my godmother with shaking hands. "I'm not letting you harm him further."
"Very well," My godmother said flatly. "We all know you cannot shoot me or anyone for that matter."
Morrie knew that, I was certain, and yet he tried to be firm as he nervously pointed the gun at Dr. Du Maurier. His Ma can only look at him with worry.
Turning to my father once more, Dr. Du Maurier spoke. "How does it feel to be helpless whenever you watch your children face death?"
"Bedelia," my father said. "My son has got nothing to do with what you have against Hannibal and me."
"But he is Hannibal and you, Will." She replied as if she was stating a fact that can never be questioned. "He is the ultimate fulfillment of your dark, dark marriage with Hannibal, and the embodiment of both of your monstrosities. He is the cord that binds you." The way she said so reminded me of Jack Crawford and how he spoke of me with such ire that made it sound like he spoke of the devil's spawn.
I sighed in resignation to what Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier said about me. It was all I am to the world, anyway, and that is the truth. No matter how much I tell myself that I am more than that, that truth finds vile ways to insist itself on me—to force me to just accept and embrace it.
She fired a shot, and my left chest stung. It was immediately followed by another and I fell to the floor, my abdomen bleeding. I placed a hand over the wounds and how they burnt like tongues of hellfire licking me. I thought of all those animals I shot hunting when I was younger. In the end, I was to be just like them.
As my vision began to falter, I heard another pair of gunshots and a woman scream out "Mordred!" Morrie has shot my godmother twice. A bullet for each that had pierced me.
Long strands of pitch-black hair fell upon my face as Morrie lifted my head onto his arm.
"Damn it. You're losing a lot of blood." He said, his face contorted with dread. "Abiel," Morrie called. "Abiel, hang in there dude."
I chuckled weakly. "Dude, why'd you do that?"
Morrie's eyes began to fill with tears. "Abiel, you won't have to break now." He said. "You won't have to break now, so please hang in there. Your dad's here, I'm sure Dr. Lecter still wants to see you again. Your parents love you, Abiel. There are people who love you."
"Seems so," I struggled to say despite the agonizing pain and dizziness that were consuming me fast. "Too late to realize that, though."
"No! No, no, no," Morrie said hurriedly in panic. "No. Don't say that, it's not too late. It's not too late."
I felt someone else kneel beside us. A hand was placed over my own that was covering my wound. That hand sent a surge of warmth into me. "Son," was the last word I heard before I succumbed to the excruciating pain and felt my consciousness drifting away.
Author's Note:
Wow. You've read up to this point! That's so cool, dude. So cool of you.
I watched the season 3 finale before finishing this chapter and I wished waited for it before writing this fanfic. If I were to do that, Abiel would grow up with his parents and all. But that would just miss the point of this story, right? It's about a child who has grown to loathe his parents and that same loathing makes him break. So let's just pretend that they survived and Hannibal was back into custody and blah blah blah. That finale felt like a lover had just slammed the door right in front of my face and I have no idea if that lover will return or is gone for good.
Anyway, Abiel's struggle ends here. It was fun with you guys. Many thanks to-naaah, kidding. Of course I would not complete this fic with an even number of chapters that is not a multiple of 10!
Not sure if I should let Abiel live, though. Ha ha ha. Rest assured that there's gonna be a chapter after this. We all need some closure.
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