Chapter 21

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves,

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

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It took less than two hours to get to the university that Abigail was attending in Pennsylvania, and within that time Saskia's anger had boiled down to a simple, spitting simmer of rage that stayed below her skin.

"We're on our way there," Will had said after Saskia answered the call. "I'm with Jack. We'll be at the university campus within an hour."

"I'm twenty minutes out," Saskia said, putting the call on speaker. "I'm going straight to the dorms to see Marie. Poor girl was about to have a panic attack when she called me. Alana's calling me, I'll patch her into the call too. She's with Hannibal."

"Saskia?"

"Here, Jack and Will are on the other line too,"

"Okay, good. Are you heading for the campus too? We'll be there within forty minutes."

"What's going to happen when we get there, Jack?" Saskia asked.

"I've already contacted the local PD and told them the situation, or as much as they need to know for now," Jack stated, "They know that a student is missing and there is a high chance of them being held hostage by a serial killer. I haven't told them anything about who she is yet. They won't actually start an investigation until the FBI gets there."

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The first place Saskia went to when she arrived was the dorm. She had already called Marie back, asking which dorm room she was in before going in to find Marie passing back and forth. Before Saskia could even get to the girl, Countess jumped forward, took Marie by the sleeve and pulled her to one of the beds and made her sit. Countess draped herself across Marie's lap, refusing to let the girl get up.

"I guess that works too, Countess," She shook her head, sitting down next to the girl with a comforting smile.

Gods, she hated comforting people. She understood that sometimes a person actually needed the comfort, Saskia knew that sometimes she did too, but a lot of people didn't realise that they could detach themselves from their emotions for the time. Some would call it shock, but Saskia would call it prioritising things.

Take your emotions, place them into suitable boxes, preferable ones with lockable lids, and forget about the chemicals inside your head that are trying to control you. You are the one in charge, not the microscopic electrical impulses and chemical explosions inside of you.

But even now, Saskia was having a difficult time wrangling her anger into the appropriate box. It was an icy heat under her skin, barely contained by sheer will alone as Saskia knew she would make him atone for his sins against her.

Though not at all religious, Saskia was raised in a Roman Catholic household, even if her mother was considered a non practising catholic. Saskia knew the tales that the Bible weaved, of the stories of good and evil, right and wrong, saint and sinner.

Saskia didn't like to think in black and white when there was a whole rainbow of colours that could suitably explain chosen actions against the mere thoughts they had.

There was no such thing as pure in her mind. Of course, she knew that innocence existed, all children were innocent, and she never dared hurt a child. (even if she had thoughts of doing it because Gods, someone shut that kid up before I do!.) Saskia would never knowingly kill anyone under the age of eighteen, they were considered a child in her eyes, an old child but a child nonetheless.

They knew nothing of the world yet, not seen the horrors and tradiagies that plagued it, and since they hadn't added to it, they didn't deserve death in her eyes.

Another twenty minutes flew by, and Saskia hadn't noticed. Marie was calm, tear marks on her cheeks but otherwise she didn't make any other signs of sadness.

Hannibal walked into the room like he owned it, getting Marie to stand up and hugging her softly as he muttered that everything was going to be okay. Alana followed after him, coming to stand next to Abigail's bed where Saskia sat on the edge.

Saskia sat with her elbows on her knees, hands clasped together in front of her as she thought. She didn't give Alana an acknowledgement when she spoke, but Saskia heard it, processed it, and decided it wasn't worth memorising.

Saskia knew Abigail was going to be okay, but she had a small feeling of dread that Abigail might be traumatised yet again. She had been able to get the girl to come out of her shell and she didn't want Abigail to get back in it to protect herself from anyone or anything that could potentially hurt her.

A hand lifted her chin, allowing Hannibal's crouched form in front of her to appear and solidify in her vision. His eyes were narrowed the slightest bit and his lips pinched ever so much that it was barely seeable, his way of saying that he was concerned.

Saskia sat upright, suddenly completely aware that all of them were looking at her.

"Are you sure you're alright, Saskia?"

She muttered her next words, clear and low so only Hannibal heard them, "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, The frumious Bandersnatch!" She nodded her head, shaking off the unwanted nerves. "Either Leroy needs to be put down, or put away. A monster of his creation shouldn't be allowed to live freely."

Hannibal inclined his head, standing up as he breathed in. "Hello, Will, Jack."

"Miss, are you able to give a statement?" Jack asked Marie politely, to which she nodded.

Alana walked over to her, watching Countess as she got up and off of the girl. Alana followed Marie outside after grabbing a coat for the girl, Jack close behind as they left the dorm room and into the cold mid March evening.

"Where could he have taken her?" Will asked out loud.

"He's going to wait until midnight to kill her,"

"Why midnight? It wasn't mentioned in your book."

"Today is the twentieth, the twenty first victim is killed on the twenty first."

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Very few times in her life has Saskia Alasite been scared, but Alexandria Alasite had been scared for most of her life. From abusive mother, distant father, lying sisters, and monstrous Exes, Alexandria had a life full of different amounts of pain that had turned her into Saskia.

She remembered when she still went by her given name, it had been more than a decade ago when she had introduced herself as that. Even her documents had now stated her prefered nickname. It suited her better, this new version of herself that grew from the meek child to a timid teen to a peaceful adult.

Peaceful didn't mean harmless.

Peaceful meant you were capable of great violence. If you were not capable of that violence, you were harmless.

While the version of herself that was Alexandria was harmless, the variation of Saskia was peaceful with a savage track record.

If she had to guess, she slowly started to become Saskia when she was attacked by the two girls in her teenage years. It was one of the earliest memories she had where she wasn't afraid of pain, of sorrow, of being hurt.

While Alexandria was the victim she used to be, Saskia was the survivor she became. And a survivor did what they did best, survive by any means necessary, even if it meant creating a monster to keep you safe.

Gods, she regretted creating Leroy Harris into what he was now.

Will would have said that it wasn't her fault but it was.

Saskia took a perfectly good, functional human being and watched him break under her scrutiny for perfection. She took his mind, breaking it, shattering it into tiny pieces before she picked the ones she liked and rearranged them to fit back together. She laced the edges with a rotting gold, bland and greying, that would soon later decay into infection. She took his body, showing him how to use it to the best effects, and watched him flourish under her guidance. His emotional state was the hardest bit to control, instead of letting her leave after she grew bored of her creation, he let her go for a time before coming back to show just how much he grew.

He wanted her back for years. She had left him just like a God did its creation after a time. She knew exactly when her work was done, or rather when it could be left to evolve, and evolve he did. He evolved a love that was one part adoration, two parts obsession, and too many parts insanity as the gold around the edges of his broken mind let the pieces fall back to the ground where he picked the mud splattered sections and pocketed them.

The Greek had several different types of love.

She felt Eros, the lustful and passionate love for him for a time, and for others in her life. But that passionate love only lasted for so long, until she realised it was more Ludus, the type of love that was usually associated with young love, almost a playful game that didn't last long.

As his creator, she felt an unconditional love towards her creation of him. Agape was a good word to describe what the Christian God felt towards mankind, the type of love that didn't take into account the worthiness of the person. One that cannot be broken no matter what happened.

Saskia did not feel love towards Leroy Harris, and hadn't ever since he decided to take her books and desecrate her life's work. That was something she could not forgive because he knew what her writing meant to her, and by taking it and making it reality, he had put the final nails into the coffin he would eventually call his home.

Just as a Christian couldn't pick and choose what they wanted to follow in the Bible, Leroy couldn't pick and choose what he wanted to do with her books. He defiled her writings, taking what he wanted and interpreted them as he saw fit.

This angered her more than it should have.

Was this what the gods felt when their creations strayed away from what they had chosen for them?

She would never know.

"The fire alarm was pulled in one of the lecture buildings," Alana ran back into the room, her eyes wide.

Saskia stood up, brushing off her trousers with a stony face as she shoved her anger into the correct box and filed it away for the time being.

There was no time for emotions.

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He took his vorpal sword in hand;

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

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The lecture building in question was one that was dedicated to humanities, and the one that Leroy Harris was holed up in was the lecture room for law and sometimes a room for one branch of Religious studies or another.

It wasn't a very large room for a lecture hall. With about two, maybe two and a half, dozen off brown coloured seats, all tucked up neatly in their rows, the room seemed bigger than it actually was. The huge windows that sat to one wall had long curtains obscuring the vision of the people outside.

The police and FBI had already tried to send someone in, but quite quickly realised that if they wanted to keep their men alive, they shouldn't allow them in. One lay motionless on a gurney already, stabbed in the throat where his vest and helmet didn't protect.

Leroy Harris paced in front of the desk, knowing the girl's eyes were on him. He had strapped her to the desk chair, binding her with leather ropes at the shoulders, hips, elbows, wrists, knees, and feet. It would take quite a bit for her to get out of them, he knew.

He didn't want to kill this girl. She hadn't done anything to him, not even when she was able to speak like now. Nothing was gagging her and yet she was calm and quiet, but he knew that this was a facade.

What was it with women lying to him?

He shook his head as he paced, the bloodied knife in his hand as he twisted his wrist as he walked. He could hear them outside the door. They didn't dare open it again because he had already injured two of their men within moments of it opening.

The windows were covered in a dewy condensation, forcing him to pull the curtain back just enough to wipe at the glass. He watched as the police and FBi had the building surrounded. There were only two ways out of the building, the front door and the roof. He didn't fancy a dive onto the cement below so he stayed where he was, safe in the room while he held the girl hostage.

Another three people came out of the opposite building, one that was usually a dorm, and then he paused to watch them walk closer.

There she was with them again.

Why was she always with them?

Or, why were they with her?

Even Leroy knew she deserved better than them, better than anything they could offer. She had refused his advances, and there she was, with them.

Even he was below her but he knew his place. She hadn't realised where his place was. He was supposed to be her advisor, her helper, her partner, and her lover.

Though he felt sorry for the incident with the knife, he hoped the gift of the severed womb would be enough to show his love for her. She had to know that she had scared him that day in the forest, telling him he would be imprisoned, didn't she?

He had followed the two men for a while now, and he was sick at the sight of them with her.

They stood next to her, one of either side. When one left her side, the other stayed to speak to her. He could see the affection in all of their movements from where he stood in the room, mostly hidden. It felt intimate to watch them interact, it wasn't right how calm and serene Saskia looked with them. She was supposed to be like that with him.

He was the one to help her kill Samson. He killed her mother for her. He had planned on killing Evelett too but he couldn't get to her. He was the one to return a piece of her back to her. Though she couldn't have children anymore, it didn't mean they couldn't still raise a family.

She was supposed to be with him.

Picking up the walkie talkie the police had tossed into the room, he chose his next words carefully.

"I want to speak to her alone."

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The Greek had another type of love.

Mania.

Obsession.

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Jack stood to the side as an officer spoke to him, telling him of Leroy Harris' request. He wanted to say no, to say hell no and fuck off to him but he couldn't. He had to ponder for a moment before coming to the trio, they had to decide.

"He says he won't speak to anyone," Jack started, his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat. "He will only talk with Saskia in person and alone."

Will turned to her, knowing she was already weighing the pros against the cons as she did when faced with a decision like this. "You can't go in!"

She sighed.

"He's got Abigail, Will," Saskia bit the side of her thumb. "I have to go in or he will kill her. We're already at twenty victims, I'm not going to allow Abigail to be the next one."

Will inhaled, his nostrils flaring in anger as he watched her eyes, her blank, cold eyes that were calculating the risk. Those eyes told him he had to trust her on this.

Stopping a passing FBI agent, he asked for a bulletproof vest and a FBI jacket. In situations like this, they were always plentiful. He looked back at Saskia with cold determination in his eyes. "If you're going in, you're putting a vest on and keeping it on. Do you have your gun on you?"

Saskia lifted her left foot, showing the very small gun she had also purchased. It fit inside the band of her boots and was hidden by her jeans.

They handed Will the vest and jacket. He nodded for Saskia to take off her jacket so he could put the vest on her.

Knowing the hoodie would be too bulky for the vest to be put on properly, she shrugged it and her coat off. That left her in a black sports bra which left little warmth as the wind blew. Will undid the vest, helping her put it on before velcroing it tightly against her so he could have some assurance that it would try and keep her safe. He would have prefered to keep her out of all of this but when she had a goal in mind, it was hard to distract her.

Will untucked her trapped hair from the back of the vest, letting her put her pullover hoodie on before letting her shrug the FBI jacket on.

"You'll have to be escorted in but you're going into the room alone," Jack's face was creased with anger and slight worry. "There is a mic on the side of the vest, we'll be able to hear you. All you really need to remember is that when you say Pumpkin, that will signal for us to come in."

"You will not take any unneeded risk, will you?" Hannibal said, a hand on her bicep in an almost painful grip.

She shook her head, taking his hand off of her arm and held in her own. She gave it a squeeze which was returned. "And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!"

Saskia held a small smile as she felt their sides. Will had to hold Countess back as Saskia walked. It was almost painful to hear the groans and whines of her dog as she got closer to the door. Looking back a single time when she reached the door, she took a breath in and with a smile, she nodded once.

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As soon as she caught sight of him, she softly frowned in concern. Of course she was concerned with him, he had patches of blood around his hand but none of it was his, he assured her. She looked happier to know that.

"Why did you do this?" She asked.

It was a stupid question. "Because it was the only way you'd see me. You don't want to see me so I made it so you had to."

"Why would you take Abigail?"

"Because you care for her. You wrote her book, of course you cared for her. It made sense for her to be the reason for you to get back into the light." He pocketed the knife, realising that her focus was on him and not what he had. "You wouldn't come by yourself so I made it so we could be alone together, like old times."

She exhaled slowly, her shoulders slumping. "Like old times…"

"See? You understand why I had to do what I did. I didn't mean to hurt her but she put up quite a fight."

"Is she alright?" Her eyes darted to the girl and relaxed when the girl nodded. "I'm not surprised she put up a fight, she's a survivor after all."

"We're all survivors, aren't we? She survived that, you survived me, and I survived you. I survived the game."

Her smile was soft, warm, welcoming, beautiful. She looked so beautiful with her eyes bright and lips curling into the grin of acceptance she always had around him. It was a smile she never had around them. He was the only one to get to see this.

"You survived," She repeated, taking a step closer and watched his face for any reactions. When there wasn't, she took another step and watched a doe eyed smile appear on his face. "You did so well. No one was supposed to survive the game and yet you won. I'm not surprised. You had potential but I never knew you could win."

"I won? Yes, I did win, didn't I? Is there a prize for winning?"

She shook her head. "Is there any certain prize you want?"

"I want you," He said without pause. "You fully and wholly be mine. I want to be yours and you be mine. Your shoulder, how is it?"

"It's fine," He didn't look pleased by that answer. "It healed, I healed. It's barely there anymore." That made him happy. "Isn't it the full moon tonight? Do you want to go upstairs to watch it? I remember we used to do that all the time. I love doing that with you. I miss that, the long nights and early morning."

She used present tense. She loved watching the full moon with him, even after years of not doing it. She must have remembered it fondly, thus remembering him fondly like she always should.

Earlier, he had heard that the building was evacuated. There weren't any police in there anymore, so it was safe for them to walk upstairs. But what about the girl? He was surprised she hadn't asked about her more. She must've not cared about her as much as he had thought.

"And her?" He asked, nodding towards the bound girl.

She shook her head, holding her hand out non threateningly. "Leave her. I just wanna do as we used to. God, I missed doing that with you. It's been… lonely, I guess."

Of course she was lonely. He hadn't been there for years. She had realised that he was the right one for her, after all of the trials of others he allowed, she saw the truth.

He touched her hand, holding it in his hand softly as he more or less pulled her towards the stairs that allowed them to go upstairs. It took less than a few minutes to get to the roof but it was worth the look on her face.

She was beautiful, eternally and utterly god like in her beautiful with the moon making her glow softly. He smiled at her own smile, the little curl of the lips at the moonlight dancing around her.

He went to suddenly hug her, feeling the stiff material under her hoodie.

She looked at him, her eyes sad with a pout on her lips. "I'm sorry. They wouldn't let me in without it… I really wanted to see you so I had to agree to their demands."

The pout was so cute and so sad. She wouldn't lie to him, not again.

Saskia made sure to keep hugging him, keeping his back to the edge of the roof where she could see the police and FBI going into the building. She used a hand, waving upwards and stopped when she noticed that Jack put a thumbs up. She continued to hug him, using her keen hearing to know that Abigail had been taken by the thuds of footsteps before she came out and was quickly hidden.

She knew that there was some sort of SWAT team on the roof, but they couldn't do anything while she was there because she could be used as a hostage.

"Who was going to be your twenty-first victim, Lee?" She used her childhood pet name for him, knowing that it would butter him up.

"It was supposed to be you," He said quickly, "Because I thought you had betrayed me, left me alone. But I was wrong. You've come back. Of course, you had to. We will end this like we started, together."

Saskia knew he meant that both of them would tip over the edge, knowing that the ground would most likely kill both of them. Both of them stood close to the edge of the roof, too close for Saskia's liking. She knew she had to convince him of anything he wanted to think, not too difficult when she knew what she was in his eyes.

A god.

"Like we started, we end," He said, his smile utterly euphoric as he watched Saskia get out of the hug and stare at the moon. He held her hand, kissing her knuckles as he took a step towards the ledge.

She smiled once, letting his hand go before taking everal feet back in quick succession. "Pumpkin!"

Within those seconds, the team of trained agents came out of hiding. Saskia was pulled to the side and swiftly escorted down the stairs as other agents rushed upstairs. They had to be quick, Leroy Harris was in handcuffs but he would still fight them. They couldn't allow him to jump when he had a long life sentence to carry out.

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Saskia was on the ground, her arms around Abigail as Alana tried to speak to both of them. Neither were listening, only wanting to make sure the other was alright. Abigail had already been sent to the ambulance for a quick checkup. Besides a bruise on the back of the head and a few rope burns on her wrists and ankles, she would be fine.

Countess growled deeply in anger, quickly pouncing onto the woman with whines and groans. Hades hadn't been allowed onto the grounds until the very end, soon joining the pile of two females before dragging Abigail along too.

"Okay," Saskia laughed, patting both dogs on the back. "Both of you, off. I wanna get this vest off."

She shook her the jacket and the facade she had played off as Leroy passed her in his handcuffs. Shrugging off the hoodie again, she began to undo the vest.

"What?" He snapped, eyes wide with disbelief and lips curling back in anger. "You lied to me?"

Saskia rolled her eyes as she undid the vest completely and took it off. "As if I would commit suicide. You should know me better than that, Leroy. It isn't in my nature."

He was confused. What did she mean? Why didn't she fall with him? Didn't she want them to be together? No. She wanted to be with them.

Leroy swore he would get them back, but Saskia just shrugged his comments off and went back to talking to the small group.

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After such a long night of getting prodded at by the FBI agents about what happened up there, Abigail and Saskia were allowed to go home. Abigail had asked if Marie could stay the night and they agreed. Hannibal didn't want to split them up after such a traumatic day. Abigail had almost dropped straight away, going to her bedroom and leaving her door ajar.

The three of them watched Abigail and Marie asleep in the middle of the bed, both dressed in what they wore during the day. They were too tired to get changed but at least they had taken their coats and shoes off before climbing into the bed. Both of them were curled up in the middle together, an arm draping over shoulders here, legs entwined there. They looked so comfortable surrounded by the mass of dogs.

Even Hades and Countess were in the pile, sleeping against each of their backs as the others draped themselves all over the bed and somehow still fit.

Pip was snoring in the middle of both girls, spread out like he owned the place.

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