___

Jackson Pollock
1946
___

"WILL!" She ran and squeezed between the many agents, finding a small figure hiding themselves in a blanket. Will Graham had just found his doctor completely slashed on his office, his eyes still trembled, facing oblivion, as his head spinned with the possibilities. "Will...." Alice had finally reached him, squating on the ground to be at the same height as him sitting on the s bench outside the hospital. "Oh my God, are you okay? Did you get hurt?" She asked scared.

"Alice?" He looked into her blue eyes, instantly being conforted by them. "What are you doing here...how..."

"I called her." A feminine voice interrupted. They turned around to see Alana Bloom with a kind smile. "She is your emergency contact after all."

Will mentally cursed himself, he forgot to change the phone settings once again, but somehow he was glad he didn't. He was glad to have Alice there caring for him, trying to fix the blanket around him as a child in the cold.

"How did this happen? Ae you sure you're okay?" Alice asked again worried.

Se held her hands in hers, the warmness in them instantly recovering him from the sudden situation he was caught into. It was like she was the sun that energized him again.

"I am." He calmed her in a soft whisper through his quivering cold lips. "I'm fine."

"I came as fast as I could...I'm so sorry, I should've accompanied you-"

"No, it was better this way." He shaked his head and curly hair strands. "It could've been worse, what if..." His breath escaped his lungs with the possibility. "...No. It was better this way."

He caressed her hands softly, as she looked at him full of caring and tenderness. It just frustrated him how much she cared for him but yet couldn't accept his love for her.

"You're here... again." A familar voice cut the moment between them. Jack Crawford, dressed with a dark coat that protected from the coat, looked at them with a serious, repproving expression. "This is a crime scene, Miss Mallory, you shouldn't be here."

"I'm here to take Will home." She said firmly. "I am his emergency contact."

"And he is an FBI agent who was almost murdered by a suspect, please step away Ms.Mallory." he responded.

Alice got up with a non friendly expression, stepping hard on the floor while staring back at the agent. "So you can ask him to do his 'trick'?!" Jack didn't reply. "You are responsible for this too, Agent Crawford. It could've been Will's blood on your hands today." She warned him.

"You don't speak for him, Ms.Mallory." Jack stuffed his chest. "You should stop doing what you were not requested to." She clenched her jaw, her fists closed tight.

"Alice." Will got up from the bench and put a hand above her shoulder, he could feel her temper increasing. "Enough. Let's go."

Alice and Jack Crawford exchanged blazing glances in passive agressive attacks, but, with Will's interference, the battle was over for today, so she left with him.

At that night, Will insisted to be alone. Alice did not want to, but respected his wish, going back to Baltimore. For her luck, she avoided Georgia Madden, and Will successfully rescued the once "dead girl."

▫️

"I got in." The words escaped his mouth as he stared point blank at the bright screen, a small gap formed between his surprised lips. "I'm in." He pinched his arm to believe it was real. It was. "ALICE!" He yelled, while running towards the living room, almost falling as he tripped in his socks that slipped onto the fresh clean floor.

Alice almost jumped from the sudden scream. She only calmed down as she saw Colin standing in front of her with a huge smile covering his face.

"What is going on?" She asked clueless.

"I'm in! I got in!" He repeated multiple times.

"Colin, what are you saying?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"STANFORD, ALICE! I GOT INTO STANFORD!"

The declaration paralyzed her. The glass she washed on her hands slipped slowly, almost as a movie, the soap reaching the floor along with the multiple porcelain pieces crashing onto the floor. Colin smiled brightly, radiant...then why couldn't she do the same?

"The glass..." She muttered, unable to respond to his announcement. Colin quickly cleaned it.

"I am so happy!" He exclaimed ignoring the broken object. "I can't believe it, I did it." He never seemed so joyful, his eyes sparkled, his tone raised, his gestures were agitated. "We did it!"

Alice was still numb to her surroundings, she had to rely one of her hands on the beige kitchen counter so she wouldn't faint.

"Are you sure?" She tried to believe him, almost not wanting to. "Did they contact you? Was it an official email?"

"Completely sure! It's even signed and certified!" He said full of enthusiasm. "I'm in, Ali." He suddenly wrapped his arms around her tight.

It took a while for her to hug him back, her arms reaching for him slowy, delicately, as she could feel the tears approach her eyes, involving them as a shield that broke gradually, letting the water run through her cheeks, sour drops for sweet news.

"You're going to Stanford..." She muttered, admitting the bitter truth to herself.

"Yeah!" He aparted from her stkll smiling. "I wish Bree could see this."

"I'm sure she would be proud." That just broke even more her heart. "I am...proud of you." Alice's voice failed for a moment. She attempted to smile, but felt as if a thousand blades entered through chest. "I am very proud of you."

▫️

The door opened slowly, revealing a troubled, sad woman figure. Her eyes red from the previous and future tears, her clothes in boring shades, the first ones she found. She just she appeared there, at his office, like a lost puppy in the rain.

"Alice?" Hannibal questioned as he saw her. But he couldn't say anything else, she suddenly ran into his arms and hugged him tight, the impact was so strong that even him was surprised.

She sobbed and muttered in a suffering breath "He's leaving..." she conitnued to cry as her tears soaked his suit. Hannibal hesited at first, still clueless of what sbe meant, but still delicately embraced her in his arms softly, his lips touching her head sweetly.

"Who, my dear?" He asked warmly, completely broken to see her cry that way. It was weird how seeing Alice sad made him feel...less alive, almost morbid.

"Colin got into Stanford..." She mourned. "He will move to California, Hannibal..." A devilish smile she couldn't see was formed on his lips. "I... know I should feel happy for him but..." She sunk her face into his chest, he pet her hair, softly wandering his hands through the broen strands "I can't help but feel this...bullet inside my heart." Hannibal grabbed her chin delicately and lifted it towards him, admiring the expression she had, completely vulnerable, surrended, hepless. "He will leave...and I'll be...alone."

Maybe her sadness did upset him. But that expression. That vulnerability, submission and request to be saved...that thrilled him as never before.

"You are not alone, darling." He whispered to her, his eyes deeply staring into hers, almost hypnotizing them. "Not anymore." He cleaned her tears with his fingers, stroking her flushed cheeks.

He rest her head at his chest again as he held close, her eyes closing, smelling his cologne and feeling the warmness of his body as a drug that entered her veins and calmed her. That was Hannibal, the drug that consumed Alice, the euphoric dream that killed her softly, beautifully until there was nothing left.

"Thank you..." She whispered in a weak whisper "...for staying by my side..."

That's all he wanted to listen. To have her wrapped around his finger, dependent to him.

"I'll always be, darling." He spoke softly, satisfied, delivering a gentle kiss on her head. "I'll always be."

▫️

Abel Gideon had escaped. The FBI desperately searched for traces or clues that would indicate his location but found nothing. What they concluded was that he could possibly search for previous doctors that interviewed him, but nothing else. He had killed many since his disappearence and wouldn't stop, since his mind collided between hinself and the identity of the Chesapeak Ripper, the situation was risky and difficult.

In his maddening acts he kidnapped Freddie Lounds, taking her to the same place where Miriam Lass was killed, obligating her to write his story in her blog. He rambled about the Ripper's attempt to puzzle the FBI with Jack Crawford's ex intern's arm, when Freddie came to the conclusion:

"Aren't you the ripper?" She asked the chestnut bearded and insane man.

"Miss Lounds, I might be slightly fuzzy in this area, but there's no need to patronize me." He replied.

"I'm sorry." She wouldn't contradict him for her life's sake.

"It's like remembering something from your childhood..." He wandered his eyes through the dark place they were in. "And you're not sure it's your memory or a friend's one, then you realize sadly that it's just a photo in an old book."

"...You're waiting for the Chesapeak Ripper to come back here."

"Let's hope he gets the invitation" Dr.Gideon continued. "One thing we know about your writting: he is an avid fan of yours."

Miles away, in his living room, with a device in his hands, Hannibal Lecter observed with attention the recent news on the tabloid: "In the Ripper's Shadows". His objective eyes kept a secret he couldn't reveal: a desire to claim his true identity and honor.

All of that happened, while across the room, the pure woman he adored giggled with shy smiles and furtive glances, as she used one of the pages from his sketch book and drew something on it.

He couldn't risk being revealed and loosing her.

▫️

The FBI surrounded the area but Gideon managed to circle it,  reach one of their cars, and get ready to leave...if it wasn't for the gun held against his nape, and the troubled man who held it.

Will Graham, still out of his mind, conduced Abel Gideon to drive away, with no appearent destiny, as the FBI could finally rescue Freddie Lounds and Dr. Frederick Chilton, who had became a victim of the alledged Ripper's copy.

▫️

"What are you doing?" Alice whispered at his ear with a smile, attempting to sneak and watch the drawing over his shoulder.

He felt his cheek burn by how close she was. His heart fluttered as a teenage boy's. "You can't see it yet." He said smoothly, holding the sketchbook against his chest hiding it from her view. "It's not done."

"Ah, come on, Hannibal" she embraced her arms around his neck from behind, he instantly smiled shy. "I bet it looks amazing, you're so talented.

"Stil, it isn't ready to be shown." He muttered.

"Not even to me?" She smirked irresistibly attractive. He lifted his head to see properly, her face was now just inches from his.

"You'll be the first I'll show it when it's done. I promise you." He thought for a moment if he should reveal it or not. "After all, you're my inspiration."

Alice blinked twice, curious, fascinated. "Am I?" Hannibal nodded.

"Tu es ma muse" He said with heart eyes.

"What does that mean?" She chuckled. "Speak on a language I understand!"

"That shall remain a mystery then."

"Come on, Hannibal" she poked his cheek, he lifted his eyebrows surprised, but couldn't contain his laugh. She was simply so adorable. Just then her phone beeped. "Oh wow, it's late I should go home."

"Would you like for me to give you a ride?"

"No, it's okay. Colin's waiting for me...." She said, as Hannibal opened the door "...we promised to go out and celebrate his admission at Buttercup's." They didn't know they were being heard until they saw who standed outside.

Will Graham was behind Abel Gideon, who stared back at the two of them with a mocking, reckless face by the door.

"Will?" Alice asked confused, unaware of the gun her friend held against the criminal. She didn't recognize the short and bearded killer since she didn't watch the news recently, actually, avoided to. Hannibal said that it could lead her to traumatic experiences related to Bree's death, so she just believed him.

But Hannibal knew something was wrong just by watching the look in Will's eyes. He was crossing the line of sanity slowly, until he could finally fall from it.

"Alice, you should go." Will gained strentgh to speak, but didn't look at her, almost as he made great effort to just stand still. "Now." Abel Gideon watched his reaction with deep interest.

"What is happening?" She noticed his strange reaction, then glanced into the strange man's eyes in front of her...they were troubling, conflicting, and scary...something didn't feel right.

"Alice, right?" Gideon dared to speak to her, analyzing her dolly figure. "Nice to meet you. Agent Graham's friend?" Will pushed the gun more against his back. That just confirmed to the fake ripper how much she meant to the agent.

Before Alice could reply, Hannibal also interrupted the interaction, defensive. "Alice, I believe I should speak with Will and his guest privately, if you don't mind."

She glanced at Hannibal and something in his tone and expression sounded more like an order than a suggestion. The situation was suspicious, but even if she didn't understand, or tried to, something told her that they wouldn't explain it now. So she decided to trust them.

"Okay..." She replied cautiously. "Goodbye." She tapped Hannibal's shoulder, squeezing it lightly, almost as a way to tell him to be safe. The gesture was subtle, but he noticed it, almost as he gained more strentgh from her just by that. Will made some way for her to pass, hiding the gun before she could see it.

Once she crossed the door, the chaos took over again. Gideon and Will entered the house, and the craziest episode happened at Hannibal's dining room.

"Where's Alice?" Will breathed heavily, still holding the gun. Dr.Gideon sat at the head of the table, while Hannibal standed on his feet by the agent's side.

"She left." Hannibal replied. "She is safe."

Will nodded, the only thing that he could think straight was concerning about her safety. That made Gideon even more curious about it.

"How are you feeling?" Hannibal asked calmly.

"I feel like I'm losing my mind. I-I don't know what's real." He stuttered as sweat dripped coldly through his heated face.

"It's 7:27 pm. You're in Baltimore, Maryland, and your name is Will Graham. " Hannibal assured him clearly.

"No, I don't care who I am!" Will yelled violently. "Just tell me..." He suddenly pointed the trembling gun in his hands to Dr.Gideon " ...if he's real."

In his mind, Will Graham allucinated with a figure from the past that haunted his mind for months now.

"Who do you see, Will?" Hannibal questioned.

"Garret Jacob Hobbs." He answered without hesitation. "Who do you see?"

Hannibal glanced at the silent Abel Gideon sitting at his chair and staring back at them. "I don't see anyone." He lied.

"No, he's right there." His voice broke with fragility.

"There's no one there, Will." Hannibal manipulated his weak mind.

"No, no, you are lying-"

"We are alone. You came alone."

"Alice saw him, ask her, she saw him!"

"Alice only saw you, Will." Hannibal insisted. Will shaked his head, his memories twisted. "Will, you came here alone. She saw you arriving alone. Do you remember coming here?"

At this point, Will cried and his voice cracked. It was a scene to shatter anyone's heart. But not the doctor's. "Please, don't lie to me!"

"Garret Jacob Hobbs is dead." His therapist affirmed. "You killed him. You watched him die."

"What's happening to me?!" He groaned as he shaked and convulsed.

"Will." Hannibal called him. "Will you're having an episode. I want you to hand me over the gun."  The agent's eyes twitched, showing the white underneath them, while his breath sharpened. "Will, I want you to hand me your..." The man didn't react. " Will?" Hannibal dilligently took the gun from his hands, the agent didn't do anything about it. He examined his eyes, by watching them closely, pulling the lashes up, to make sure he was in a perfect and trembling trance. Once he was convinced about it, he directed himself towards his prime guest. "He's had a mild seizure."

"That doesn't seem to bother you." Abel Gideon observed the cruelty behind the doctor's subtle gestures.

"I said it was mild." Hannibal said neutrally while sitting at the other side of the table. "Are you the man who claimed to be the Chesapeake Ripper?

"Why do you say 'claimed' ?"

"Because you're not." He simply answered. "You know you're not, and you don't know much more about who you are beyond that."

"Are you the Ripper?" Abel Gideon finally reached his own terrifying conclusions.

"A terrible thing... to have your identity taken from you."

"Well, I'm taking it back, one piece at a time." Gideon replied proudly. "You should see the pieces I got out of my psychiatrist."

"Alana Bloom was one of your psychiatrists too." Hannibal hinted the serial killer's mind . "Is that right?"

"Yes. Dr. Bloom." Gideon remembered.

Hannibal's phone suddenly started to buzz above the table. Both of them quickly looked at the ID on the screen. Alice.

"Aren't you going to pick it up?" Gideon teased, with his eyes glued to the monitor curious.

"It can wait." He wouldn't tell him about Alice, he turned around the phone, the screen facing the table.

Gideon noticed that both him and Will were protective about the girl. "Is that the same woman who just left?" Hannibal did not change his posture to don't show any evidence of what he thought. "Are you and agent Graham close to her?"

"Why the sudden interest?"

"Can't I be curious about a pretty lady?"

"Not without hidden intentions." Hannibal coldly said. "You are not interested in her." He affirmed. "You seek Alana Bloom."

"Do I?" Gideon played, risking his life.

"What if I told you where to find her?" Hannibal set his trap. "Would you be interested?"

▫️

"Will? Can you hear me?" A voice echoed as he blinked his eyes, the visions twitching between darkness and light, until the figure shaped itself in front of him. "Repeat after me: 'My name is Will Graham'. "

Still trembling and covered in cold sweat, the agent stuttered "My name is Will Graham..."

"Raise both of your arms." Hannibal instructed. Will lifted them up a tiny bit. "More." He did as he asked. "Good." He lowered them again. "Although you may not feel like it, I need you to smile." He definetely didn't feel like it. Will forced the most sufferable and creepiest of the smiles, Hannibal approved, replying to the gesture. "Good." He led Will to sit down on a chair as he continued. "It wasn't a stroke." He explained. "You may have had a seizure. Tell me the last thing you remember."

"I..." Will still tried to recover his breath. "I was with Garret Jacob Hobbs"

Hannibal touched his wet forehead "You have a fever. You were hallucinating." He continued "You thought he was alive, here in this room with you."

"I saw him." Will assured.

"It's a delusion disguising reality." Hannibal convinced him. "Don't let that slip you away." With this words, the doctor got up from his chair, grabbing his coat. " You killed Garret Jacob Hobbs once. You can find a way to kill him again."

Will noticed his rush to leave. "Where is Alice?" He asked weak.

"Home." He told him.

"She saw Hobbs too.."

"No, she didn't. She only saw you and let us talk privately." He informed him.

"Where are you going?"

"Abel Gideon is still at large. He mutilated Dr.Chilton, they found him clinging to live." Hannibal explained. "I'm worried about Alana." What a liar.

"Alana..." Will tried to get up but almost failed and fell on the floor.

"No, no, no, Will..." Hannibal made him sit down again. "You're in state to go nowhere but the hospital. I'll call Jack, tell him where you are."

"Call Alice..." he muttered. Hannibal gained a serious expression, and, instead of helping, he simply ignored and walked through the door.

Flashes blinked in Will's mind, and although the evidences pointed to Alana being the next target, something inside his head screamed, repeated over and over.

"What is happening?" Alice's voice echoed at the dephts of his conscience.

"Alice, right? Nice to meet you. Are you Ageng Graham's friend?"

Will Graham stumbled but crawled out of the chair, managing to stand by his feet and walk out of the house.

"...we promised to go out and celebrate his admission at Buttercup's."

Not even a minute later, Hannibal came back, actually, he had never left. A sinister smile was formed in his lips as he realized that his friend disobeyed him as he expected him to.

But he mistook Will's destination this time.

▫️

"I don't know, if I'll ever be myself again." Abel Gideon reflected as he stared at the café's window. "I don't know if I've got any left over. I spent so much time thinking I was him. " He continued, as he watched a brunette cheer with her brother by lifting their cups in the air and laugh. "It's got really hard to remember who I was when I wasn't him."

"Alice." Will suddenly spoke. "She is important to the Chesapeak Ripper. That's why you came after her, didn't you?" Both of them looked at the warm café with a neon sign written "Buttercup's".

"Sounds fair, doesn't it?" Gideon's eyes shined with doubt and conflict. "If I'm him, I'd protect her...If I'm...me, I should kill her so he can get out of my head."

"And who are you now?"

"Now, I'm you." Dr.Gideon continued, as Alice Mallory almost choked on her coffee because of Colin's jokes. Will Graham mistook his image with Garret Jacob Hobb's again, glitching his realoty with illusions. "We're both looking at her." He muttered  "Just those kind of people who shouldn't be in a relationship." Gideon explained his essay. "You and I are already committed. It's hard to be with another person when you can't get you out of your own head."

Will trembled, already suffering from his ilness and mistaking reality with dreams. "I want to get out."

Gideon agreed. "We all want things we can't have." He glanced at Alice once again. "But if I kill her...something so special to him...like he would kill her...maybe I could understand him better."

When Will looked at Gideon all he could see was Hobbs's corpse talking through him. His whole body shivered. "I wonder if then you would finally understand what you've become." Hobbs's whispered.

Will shaked his head, trying to escape the rabbit hole he had fell into. But the madness, the pressure and the fear were too much. Between the laughs and smiles coming from the small coffee with huge glass windows, Will Graham only could think about her safety, even on the tightrope of his sanity.

He only had one choice.

Colin gasped with the sound that reached his ears, the people at the café immediatly became agitated, and Alice gripped onto her brother's hand asking if he was alright.

When they both looked outside the window, between the darkness of the night and the woods that circled the area within the white snow, she could see a figure letting a gun slip from his hands and fall on their knees on the ground.

"Will...?" She realized, getting up from her seat and running towards the door. Colin followed, confused, but not willing to let his sister go alone. The wind tried to stop her, furiously vanishing the clear path away, but she persisted, reaching the cold place he lied on. Alice immediatly grabbed him in her arms, as he mumbled nonsense, closing his eyes. "Will." She called him desperate. "Will!" She shouted. People at the café stared through the windows curious, but none of them helped. "Will, wake up!" She tried to slap his face, but he didn't react.

Alice cupped his face, he was freezing, his lips quivered fragile. She tried to hug him tight, warming him with her body, and talk to him so he could wake up. She was panicking, and fearful of loosing another person she cared about.

"I'll call an ambulance." Colin grabbed his phone, staring completely terrified at the two men on the floor, the snow between one of them turned red and a gun rest on the ground. "And the cops..."

▫️

"Where is she?" His fast steps showed apreehension as he asked the surprised nurses. "Alice Mallory. Where is she??"

A secretary searched for the name he informed in the system, no results for any patients with that name.

That still didn't calm him, actually, it was a strange vision to see that always serene man in suit walking fastly through those hospital hallways, carrying his coat on his arm as his eyes scanned nervously the crowds searching for her.

But he couldn't find her, and somehow, something inside his mind touched his brain with a blade, watching it bleed as it affirmed "it is your fault", repeating it over and over again, "she is dead, and it's your fault." His breath became harder to keep up, the white walls seemed to spin and pressure, he could smell her crimson, sweet blood in the air, as his mind previewed the image of Gideon coldly killing both her and Will.

He had sent them both to death.

"Doctor Lecter." A familar voice made the world shift into place, the noises disappeared. "Doctor Lecter." Hannibal turned around, watching Jack Crawford stand by a hospital door, as Colin Mallory sat on one of the hallway's benches talking with Alana Bloom. "Over here."

He walked towards them, his heart beating faster as he watched Colin's completely destroyed and frightned expression. He already expected the worse, but wouldn't know how to deal with it.

"Where is she?" Hannibal asked worried. "Alice?"

"She is fine." Alana spoke calmly, noticing his visible concern. "Will arrived just in time."

He couldn't hide his visible relief, he exhaled heavily, his large shoulders relaxed. Even Colin surprised himself by how concerned he seemed about his sister. Maybe he did care about her.

"And how is Will?" Hannibal asked.

"He remains one piece, for now." Jack said, crossing his arms. His eyes showed a visible concern as well.

"His temperature is 105." Alana explained. "White blood cell count is twice as normal, and they still couldn't find the source of his infection."

"They will." Jack assured.

"You seem confident." Hannibal commented, now recomposed.

"I am." Jack explained confident. "Even with a temperature over 106 degrees, Will was able to bring Gideon down and save Alice Mallory." Jack replied, resting his head against a wall.

"Jack..." Hannibal tried to get into his head. "I would recommend you to suspend his license to carry firearms."

"But if he didn't have a gun, he wouldn't have saved Alice!" Colin got up from his seat, rebelling against the doctor.

"Will is not in a stable mental condition, Colin." He tried to be patient with the teenager. "Carrying a gun might become dangerous, both for him and for others. He saved Alice tonight, but his condition will deteriorate in the future. We can't afford any risks."

"The kid's not completely wrong." Jack suggested. Hannibal mentally cursed Colin once again.  "You and I are going to have a different opinion about who Will is."

"I know who Will is." Hannibal said.

"Will knows who he is." Colin retorted.

"Exactly." Jack agreed with the boy.

"Yes, he does." Hannibal said, not changing his tone. "But our experiences shapes us. How do you think this experience will change him?"

Jack looked down, thinking, Colin was reluctantly taken by Alana Bloom out of the discussion, bribed for a chocolate bar.

"What I can't stop thinking about though is...why would Abel Gideon attack Alice Mallory?" Jack questioned.

"Maybe...well that's just a theory..." Hannibal tried to don't make it a big deal. "No, forget it..." He shaked his head.

"What is it?" Jack asked curious. "What is your theory, doctor?"

"Will Graham is a an old friend of Alice..." He started. "And um...well... as time developed, so did Will's feelings."

"Do you think Abel Gideon tried to kill Alice because she was special to Will Graham?"

"It could be a possibility." He lied. "Both Gideon and Will had troubled minds, which could lead eventually for them to collapse when they met." Hannibal informed. "Gideon might've tried, in his lack of identity, to take Will's."

"And how did Gideon know Alice?"

"Will could've have told him while delirious. When he realized what Gideon would do, he went after him." Hannibal manage to charge on his friend all the suspicions.

"So, Gideon thought he was Will and tried to kill his crush?" Jack summarized, finding the theory insane.

"Again, it is just a theory." Hannibal affirmed.

"At this point, I believe in anything." Jack agreed. Hannibal was internally satisfied to fool the agent. "But why would he kill Alice if Will loves her?" Jack furrowed his eyebrows.

"Multiple reasons. Maybe to understand him, or somehow, claim that she would be his forever by killing her." Hannibal tried to use his therapy talk to convince him.

Jack whistled impressed. "Well, that's a lot to take in."

"What matters is that Will got Gideon before it was too late. The psychological effects of their encounter might end soon, since Gideon was brainwashed to believe he was the Chesapeak Ripper, not Will Graham." Hannibal spoke as a true professional.

"You're right." Jack nodded.

A pause in silence, even if he had gotten away with it, something else made Hannibal unquiet and anxious.

"Do you know where Alice and Will are now?" He asked.

"At Will's hospital room, number 253." Jack informed.

"I shall visit them, if that's the case."  Hannibal told him. "Please, excuse me."

▫️

The steady sound of the machines and the cold air just made her even more worried. Her hand held his above the matress, as he watched him sleep, but even his expression didn't seem peaceful.

Alice wished she could do more, but Will's situtation only seemed to get worse. It cut her apart to see him destroyed that way. If only he listened to her. If he stayed with her in that past...things would've been so different from now.

The sudden "click" of the door being opened surprised her. She was still a bit scared over the events of that night, but her heart paced when she saw who it was.

"You're here." She spoke thankful.

Hannibal closed the door and quicly walked towards her, she got up and before she could react, he immedialty embraced her tight in his arms, almost as if they hadn't seen each other in ages. He didn't say anything, only closed his eyes, getting high on her perfume.

She could feel his increased heartbeat, Alice has never seen him so concerned, almost guilty. His whole posture was tense, nervous as he embraced her so tight that she believed that he would never let her go. His knuckles became white by how tight he gripped onto her.

"It's okay...I'm okay..." she whispered softly to him, carressing his back with her hands.

That was the second time that Alice was almost murdered, and in both possibilities Hannibal Lecter semed to loose completely his mind. It was unclear what would've happened to him if Gideon had fullfilled his purpose.

Alice Mallory became as important as the air he breathed. Her presence by his side was indispensable.

She managed to make Hannibal give her some space so she could properly look at him, pulling aside the strands of hair that fell above his hazel eyes, as he looked at her desperate, seeking shelf into her arms. "I'm fine, Hannibal." She assured him once again, caressing his face, leaning to touch her forehead against his. He closed his eyes, focusing only on her, pretending the world disappeared for that moment.

"I was worried." He was the one attached to her this time. "Worried of..something happening to you...I...I was so..." he felt his heart stabbed multiple times by imagining her dead, actually the idea made him want to die. And yet, he didn't understand how he felt. It was all very new, recent and confusing. But also miraculous.

"I't's alright." She looked into his eyes, they were watery, fragile. "I'm here with you, Hannibal."

He smiled softly, kissing her hand that rest on his face, as a reminder to believe she was there. Alice then turned around, observing her friend lying on the hospital bed, as Hannibal embraced his arms around her from behind.

"Do you think he will recover from this?" Alice broke the silence. Hannibal's gaze directed to his friend still unconscious.

"I am not quite sure." He replied in a sad note. "The path Will insists on following is difficult and tortuous. I'm afraid it may cause him serious damage."

Alice sighed heavily, her whole body trembled with the crescent anxiety and stress. Hannibal kissed softly her head, almost as a medicine to calm her, as she let her arms embrace her completely. She felt in ecstasy with his touch.

"Who was that man that he shot?" She asked curious.

"A killer." He replied. "A very dangerous one."

Alice looked promptly at her lover. "But Will and him went to your house." She said nervous. "How-"

"Will tried to arrest him, but he escaped just after you left." Hannibal replied. "Must have followed you. Will had a seizure, that's why he took longer time in my house."

"Oh my God..."

"About what you saw..." Hannibal manipulatively instructed her, as a snake whispering into Eve's ear "Please don't tell Will about it."

"Why?"

"He will feel guilty if he becomes aware that he was the one who accidentally set Gideon after you." He lied. "Besides, that may damage even more his mind, since he keeps mistaking Gideon for Hobbs and having allucionations."

"That's why he shot him? Because he thought it was Hobbs?" Alice fell into his lies.

"Maybe." He told her, causing Alice deep sadness and concern for her friend. "Can you promise me that you won't tell him?"

She looked intensely into his eyes, something in them forced her to accept his proposal, to blindly trust him. "Of course."

"Thank you." He said softly. "If he asks if you saw Gideon at my house, tell him that no one else was there. Alright?" Alice nodded affirmative. "Good." They both looked at their friend on the bed. Different thoughts and ideas of their own levitating through the air. "What matters now is that you're both safe." He mumbled delicately against her hair. "That's all I want for you."

▫️

"You don't look so well."

"I feel slightly...troubled at the moment." He replied, crossing his legs elegantly.

"Why is that so?"

"I almost caused damage to someone, and that made me feel....in pain." He found the sentence weird. 

"You cared for that person. Felt empathy towards them."

"I never depended on others...but whenever something might happen to her..." Hannibal Lecter made a pause. "I feel this...thunderstorm that shakes my whole being."

"You became attached." Bedelia Du Maurier analyzed her most complicated patient.

"Unconsciously." He explained. "I did not desire to be attached, I didn't even believe that was possible for me." He continued. "I just felt this way once in my life...a long time ago." He recalled with sadness.

"And what happened back then?"

"It caused me pain." He insisted.

"And you don't want that to happen again."

"I will do anything in my control to don't allow it to happen."

"So you'll distance yourself from her?"

"No." He spoke calmly as if that was the simplest and most reasonable thing in the world. "Instead, I will distance any possible danger from her." His eyes sparkled with an ugly obssession. "She will never be harmed or put into risk ever again."

"You can't control someone's life Hannibal" Bedelia feared of what became of him.

"But I know what is best for her." He believed in his sixk imagination. "She was neglected her whole life by her family, her friends...But still found purpose in it." He reflected amused, almost seemed completely mad. "There's this...sparkle of hope and joy, the way she sees things..." Hannibal lost himself in his words for a moment. "...she is flawed, but also represents the best in humanity in every way possible." He stopped for a moment. "She completes me."

"She became a need." Bedelia continued. "You feel incomplete,  broken without her."

"I like to think that she is some sort of medicine for me." Hannibal gave a half smile.

"Medicine can lead to addiction."

"Yes." He nodded. "You take it moderately, it's beneficial."

"You overdose and it can have unfortunate side effects." She added.

"Side effects can be temporary." His madness spoke through him with wide eyes. "They can be a boost to our psychological immune systems to help fight the existential crises of normal life."

"Alice Mallory does not present you with problems from normal life."

"No. She doesn't."

"What does she present you with?"

He thought for a moment about her question.

"The opportunity for a companionship."

"You imagine a life by Alice's side, but do you know if she feels the same way?"

"She will."

"Once again, you can not control that, Hannibal."

"I can try to." He spoke, Bedelia suspended her breath anxious. "If I manage to control each and every aspect that may not be favorable or harmful to her, won't I be the cause of her happiness?" He asked, as the doctor noticed his sanity was completely gone. "I can guarantee her the perfect life."

"That is called manipulation, Hannibal." Bedelia reproved.

"No, Dr.Du Maurier." He shaked his head and smiled creeply, his eyes glistened with passion. "It is called caring."