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Umberto Boccioni
1915
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"WHERE are you going?" Hannibal Lecter asked before his lover could walk down the hall. His eyes scanned her clothes up and down, average ones, probably the market.

"To the market." She replied, but felt something strange in his voice. "Want me to buy you something?"

"I'd like to speak to you first."

"Can it wait after-"

"No. Now." He demanded. She blinked a bit surprised, but with no other suspicions did as he asked.

He indicated for her to sit down, he appearentely had prepared some tea for them both, he wouldn't let her get away from the conversation so easily. As Alice sat down he brought in the two teacups carefully, the smell invaded her nose, it was different, something exotic. Hannibal only watched, waiting for her to taste it.

Alice coughed, almost choked when the liquid came down her throat as some sort of distillation of a dozen cough drops, strong and obliterating any previous taste in her tongue.

She pushed the cup away from her, as Hannibal calmly watched her suffer to rush and get some water, attempting to get rid of the bitter taste.

"What...what is this...?" She mumbled, taking the second water cup down her throat.

"Chinese herbal tea kuding cha." He spoke calmly, drinking his own tea so easily that Alice couldn't almost believe it. "You don't like it?"

"You know I don't like bitter tea." She replied, as he could sense some irritation in her voice. Alice sat down, observing his passive agressive stance. She knew that look. "What did I do now?"

"Did you do something?" He asked numb.

"I don't know. You're doing that face." She rest her arms above the resiliant glass dining table, as she observed their conflicted reflections. "That face you do when you're displeased by something."

"Do I make a face?"

"Almost unoticeably but yes, you do." She leaned foward. "What happened?"

Hannibal rest the teacup down. Adjusting his posture at the comfortable chair as he observed his fiancé. She seemed so pure, so angelic. The hair tied up in an innocent ponytail with colorful ribbons, the beige dress simple, but with some details in lace, the shoes a bright sparkling red.

"What was your relationship with Will Graham in college?" He asked, staring into those green to blue jewels.

"...Will? Why are you asking about him?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought we moved past this."

"So did I."

She became uncomfortable with his stance, almost as if he accused her that she was guilty of some crime. "I already told you what happened, I didn't kiss him-"

"I'm not speaking about that lusting act of his in my waiting room, Alice." He almost rolled his eyes. "I'm asking about you and Will during college.You told me you were friends." He said serious.

"And we were."

"Only that?"

"What do you expect me to say? Ask him yourself if you don't believe in me!" She said annoyed. "Why are you asking me this?"

He made a pause, then walked towards the kitchen and came back with a canvas. He spinned it around, showing the blue image that haunted her. Hannibal watched as Alice parted her glossy lips in surprise, shocked by his discovery.

"If memories could be printed into paper, this would be the most accurate description of it." He held the painting still standing in front of her. "I expected to be the first you'd show me your work....but I wasn't aware of this..."He glanced at the picture. "...remarkable art."

"Hanni..."Alice extended her arms in an attempt to calm him. "I was going to tell you-"

"When? Before or after your trip?"

Alice stared at him blankly. "My trip?"

He took a card from his pocket and threw it at her. Alice grabbed the piece of paper with flashing letters. The card she received from Taye.

"How did you get this? "

"It doesn't matter. When were you planning to tell me about this?"

"It doesn't matter! You can't just snoop around my stuff and accuse me!" She said annoyed.

"I thought we had no sec-"

"No secrets towards each other, yeah you tell me that all the time, I know that." Alice complained. "But some stuff isn't so necessary to say."

"Oh, so your tribute to your romantic rendezvous with Will Graham isn't something to tell me?"

"Romantic- are you kidding me?!" She shaked her arms. "Yeah, maybe I did feel something about him back then, but we never dated! You already know what happened!"

"Forgive me if I don't consider it normal enough for friends to swim naked at dawn, Alice. But I don't." He responded sharply, pointing to the blue canvas. "Especially friends who clearly have these...subliminal signals towards each other."

"Subliminal signals?!" She reacted to him.

"Yes."

"I thought you understood me!"

"I understood towards the point where you seek Will Graham as a clutch for remembering the past, not drowning into his essence and dedicating yourself to him in the present." Hannibal couldn't keep his tone steady this time, it had some altered pitches of rage.

What was becoming of them?

"It is just a painting!" She screamed leaning forward, as her voice echoed through the mansion they considered their previous temple to love.

"We both know it's not just a painting. What happened at Kingman's Lake?" He questioned once again.

She silenced herself. Looking into his hazel betrayed eyes. Her body shivered frustrated with that situation. She loved that Hannibal loved how he always supported her no matter what, but sometimes he was just impossible to deal with. This was one of those times.

"Who cares about what happened?" She whispered helplessly. "Why is it important to you?"

"Because you clearly keep thinking about it."

"My subconscious traveled to a comforting memory of my own as I painted. A comforting memory when I was conflicted. What is the matter about that?" Maybe being reasonable would solve that conflict, she thought.

But it didn't, because what mattered to Hannibal is that the comfort memory she had wasn't with him, but with Will. You see, since Hannibal met Alice she became the subject of most of his thoughts, his muse. His compositions, drawings, poetries, and mementos all surrounded her. But Alice was more freed, and open-hearted to any sort of inspiration. In some way, Hannibal dedicated himself to her more than she did. And that hurt him. Deeply.

"What happened at Kingman's Lake?" He insisted, unable to scream at her, only muttering.

Alice felt her fists close in anger, and lifted her chin up, in rebalance. "I don't know. Tell me your thoughts."

"You went with Will Graham that night to the lake. Your best friend who you grew deeply affectioned to." He spoke clearly as he watched her face stone cold. "Both exposed to the moonlight, the shared promises and dares you overcame together. Drunk into that dark lake with nothing covering you, besides your feelings towards one another." His blood boiled into his veins. "He...held you in his arms......and?"

Alice couldn't believe in him. She was hating that, hating those interrogations, his tone, his thoughts. Her eyes became teary at how he cornered her with those questions. "And? What do you think?" Alice spoke through her teeth. Hannibal remained silent, she read him all too well. "I don't enjoy telling lies. You know that. So I'll be honest with you: Yes. We kissed. That was the only time Will and I kissed during college." Alice said at once. "We kissed, and then someone came in, we ran out of the lake and were almost run over in traffic by some cars, just as two crazy kids laughing at their mistakes. That is the truth"

Hannibal paralyzed. The realization hurt him even more than he expected it to.

"Why didn't you tell me this?" He barely could look at her.

"Should I? A matter that happened way before? How would it be relevant to you now?" Alice pointed to his face, wanting him to feel just as bad as he was making her feel. "I kissed him. Yeah, I did. And you know what? After this...stupid reaction of yours, I wish I had...I had...." She wanted to hurt him. "I wish I had fucked Will Graham!" She screamed, Hannibal let the painting down instantly, his face was serious almost angry, walking towards her. Alice stepped back. "You are really asking me about something that happened a decade ago. A decade ago! When I didn't even know you!"

"But you painted this when you were with me."

"Oh fuck off, Hannibal!" She whimpered frustrated. "I've always been loyal to you since we met, and what have you done? Asked me to be honest, not trusting me enough! And now you're being jealous of something that happened a decade ago!" She was being reasonable though. "I've always wowed myself at your intelligence but you look so stupid and immature now."

His blood boiled. How could she speak of him that way? The situation was out of his control, and he hated that. "I suggest you lower your tone." He said in an almost threatening tone, but she wouldn't be intimidated by it.

"Or what?" She spoke through her teeth, he widened her eyes. What the fuck was happening? "I don't want to fight with you. I've got stuff to do."

"And what are you going to do? Meet Taye and speak about your travels?" He mocked. "The same man I wanted you to avoid."

Her expression became cold as a stone. "How do you know about that?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Have you been following me?!" She realized, her eyes wide open as he didn't reply, confirming her suspicions. "Oh my God, what is wrong with you?!"

"What is wrong with you?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "That man is not a good person. He is fooling you."

"No, he isn't, he is my friend."

"Your friend? Oh, please, Alice." He rolled her eyes at her. My Goodness, she hated that so much. He was being so bitchy. "That man is nothing but a good friend."

"And you're being nothing but a good boyfriend now." She snapped back at him. "What is wrong with me having friends?"

"I don't trust him. That is all"

"Well, but I do. And you have no reasons not to do the same."

"Yes, I do." But he wouldn't tell her that yet. He wouldn't tell her what he discovered. No, he would take measures to resolve that matter by himself.

Hannibal took a deep breath, he was trying his best to be considerate and calm, but her behavior was maddening him. "I want you to get rid of this painting."

"It's my painting. Made with my materials. By my hands. With my memory." She growled pointing at the canvas and tapping her chest. "It belongs to me and I decide what to do with it."

"Why is it so important?"

"It is finally something of my own." She let it go. "Since we started dating all we have is shared or it's yours. Mostly the last one. This art is mine. What is wrong with me trying to do this on my own?"

"Do you want to be on your own, is that it?"

"I'd like to breathe sometimes." She said. "Breathe without worrying if I'm not committing a mistake in your eyes."

"You can't be serious about this-"He shakes his head with a bitter smile.

"I've been thinking and..." She gave a deep breath, her heart was shattering into pieces. "Maybe we are rushing things between us."

Hannibal paralyzed. The whole world seemed to stop.

"What?"

"I think...I think we should..." Her breath escaped her lungs painfully. "...we should take a break...from each other."

Hannibal's eyes were wide, open, and his heart...his heart ached, ached so much he thought he would die.

"You can't be possibly serious."

"I-I am."She stuttered. "Hannibal, this engagement...maybe it's not the time yet...we shouldn't have announced anything-"

"Is it because of Colin's reaction?" Hannibal became desperate. He couldn't lose her. "We talked about this, you said you forgave me."

"Because I didn't want to fight with you!" She yelled. "I take so much just to keep you! And what do I get in return? Only bullets!"

Her chest sunk without air to breathe anymore. Hannibal had a bitter taste in his mouth, as they continued that hurting chain.

"Oh, so that is what you think? Great...wow, great, Alice, I guess we are finally being honest with each other, aren't we? If you hate us so much you could've just said it"

"Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"I've always loved what we have, but this...the way you act with the people around me, how you want to control everything..." She almost stopped breathing for a moment. "It's suffocating me." Her eye teared up. "I love you. But you're making things so difficult right now." The tears broke away from their fragile shields, her lips quivered in the midst of the emotional battle. "Everybody asks me if I'm fine, but the truth is...that I'm not fine at all." She let it go, finally admitting the truth to herself. "I lost my friend, my brother doesn't speak to me, Will is acting weird, and I don't have Bree with me anymore. The only person I have...it's you." She whispered, realizing the dilemma she established in herself, cornered into that maze of love and possessiveness. "And I'm bleeding, Hannibal." She begged. "I'm bleeding slowly...and I don't know what to do. It feels like...feels like all of this is going down and I want to fix it, I miserably try to fix it." She frowned "But to do this, you need to let me be alone for a moment. I need to think and see it all with my own eyes." Alice sighed. "Let me go, Hannibal."

He remained silent for a moment and didn't answer, leaving her in that suspenseful pause that only added more to her anxiety. As Alice believe the argument was over, he walked back to the kitchen, closing her eyes and sighing relieved. Of course, he'd understand her, he loved her-

An object glistened into the room, metallic, dangerous.

"What are you doing?" Alice's eyes were glued to the object he was holding. "Hannibal, why are you holding that knife?" Her breath escaped her lungs, and the world tilted for a moment, A horrible sensation took over her chest.

"You want to fix the situation, Lissy." He said, something in his figure leaning down to catch something that haunted her. "I will help you with it." He lifted her painting with his arm, and, the other one held the knife. Her heartbeat stopped, she knew what he was going to do.

"Hanni, no-"

"But I can't let you go." The sound invaded her eyes sharply, just as the metal invaded the fabric, cutting the middle of the canvas mercilessly as he slid the object in half, in a long cut that expanded itself in her sight.

"NO! HANNIBAL! NO! PLEASE!" She tried to stop him, crying, but it was too late, to worsen the situation, he threw the canvas on the ground and stepped on it, breaking the wooden structure. Now there was just half-blue fabric scattered on the floor, as Alice kneeled, trying to helplessly mend the pieces together, but it was useless. "No...no...what have you done...?" She sobbed. "Why did you do this?" She looked up at him, her sight blurred by the tears.

"You might not understand it now, Lissy. But all I'm doing it's for us."

Her chest was filled with anger. "How could you? Why?" She muttered through her teeth. Hannibal tried to pet her hair but she almost growled at him like an angry little wolf.

"It seems you need some time to clear your mind, but you won't need to travel to another country." He adjusted the buttons of his suit, walking down the hall towards the exit. "I hope you've come to your senses once I arrive. Until then..." He took a key from his pocket and looked at her with a creepy tone in his voice. "Stay here and think about what you've done."

"Hannibal! Hannibal come back here!" She got up from where she was and hurried to the door, but once she tried to open it...it didn't. "Hannibal...?" She gasped, looking at the door, and forcing it to open, all she could hear was the wood refusing to do as she wished. "Hannibal! Hannibal what the fuck?!" She forced it to open again, it was useless.

Hannibal had locked her up.

Alice hushed towards the door at the back of the mansion but it was also locked. He had predicted, planned it. Her head spun, and her breath hitched. Did he really keep her as a prisoner? That couldn't be real. The Hannibal she loved would never do this...wouldn't he? She always thought of his protective behavior as a quality, but now? How did they get here? What if the others were right, what if she isolated herself and only focused on him, letting him take command of her life? Looked like it.

She needed to get out of that mansion. Her phone, where was it? She couldn't find it anywhere. Goddamnit, he took it.

Alice tried to calm herself and not panic but she couldn't stop crying, how could someone she loved, hurt her so much like that?

"I've always known you were weak." A voice spoke behind her. Her whole body shivered and crept into taking a look. Her eyes widened. "Shameful to have you as my daughter."

"You're dead. You're not here." She shakes her head.

"But you want me to be, don't you? I'm in your fucking head after all." The white-haired man grinned, his yellow-toned teeth sparkling in sassiness.

"I don't. Get out of here." She growled at her father. "I can deal with this alone."

"That bruv, what was his name? Freud. Yes, that one." Edgar Mallory mocked his daughter as she looked everywhere for a spare key. Hannibal also took hers. "You looked for someone just like me in the end. How does it feel?"

"Shut up." She demanded.

"You're stuck in this house just like I used to do with you and Bree."

"Stop it." She whimpered, covering her ears.

"Do you think she'd approve of this guy? Ha. Well, I do. He's just like me."

"He is nothing like you." She looked back at the man she wanted dead again, the illusion in her mind. "Hannibal is a good person, he is just...confused."

"You're defending him. Shite, Ali." He spits on the ground in disgust. "You will never change, do you?"

"I do. I've changed." She took a deep breath. "You know nothing about me."

"Oh, but I do. I know that you will sit down now, cry and wait for him to arrive, just so you can apologize and become a happy, pathetic little family again. That's what you are." His eyes locked into hers. "A people pleaser."

"I'm not." She held her urge to sob. Looked around, and found a fabric to dry wishes in the kitchen, wrapping it around her hands. "You wanna see? I'm gonna show it to you. I'm gonna show it to you, your asshole!" She cursed and faced the nearest window, taking a deep breath closed her eyes, preparing for the impact.

Her hand crashed into the window, breaking and scattering glass pieces onto the floor, crystalline pieces that even through the fabric cut part of the fabric, she groaned in pain, but now was able to unlock the window and lift it open.

"Did you see this?" She turned around, the illusion wasn't there. "Jerk." Alice glanced at the window. There was no other choice after all. She jumped the window and ran for her freedom.

While Hannibal ran toward someone's death.

▫️

"I told you, I'd pay you on Monday." That charming smiling man said with an angry tone. Cleaning his hands dirty with clay, and walking through his apartment. Directing himself towards the door to pick it up. "Look asshole, get out or- Hannibal?"

"I apologize, Taye, but my fiancé won't be able to fall for your games anymore" He approached the man with slow, careful steps.

"How the fuck did find this place?" Taye stepped back, widening his eyes at the intimidating man with an immaculate posture.

"Your security is weak. And Alice is safe. Safe from people like you." He approached further the man, Taye looked around, searching for a plan. He had a bad feeling. "I knew there was something wrong about you." He looked at the apartment that Taye never revealed to others. It wasn't the same house where he received them before.

It was a dirty, almost dark apartment in a criminal area in Baltimore. Rats ran on the ground, and noise from neighbors could be heard everywhere.

You can fool Alice, Colin...but your cocky smile and pretty sentences never fooled me." Hannibal stepped in carefully, making a disgusted face at the apartment's situation. He took a small handkerchief from his suit and covered his nose because of the smell. "And my suspicions were confirmed once this...unfortunate 'coincidence' about Colin and Nadira happened."

Taye stepped back, his eyes were agitated, defensive. "I don't know what you're talking about, leave."

"What happened to your politeness, Mr.Caddel?" Hannibal mocked in disdain. "A friendly and charming man. A man wandering through his next rich victim at a well-known market, when he bumps into a kind but naive woman. Alice." Hannibal explained. "You see, you're as good as the detective I've hired to learn about you, Taye. Or should I call you, Bruce?" He gave a wicked smile. The man trembled, he saw his plan being uncovered in front of his pupils.

Hannibal removed an envelope from his long coat and threw it in his direction. Taye quickly opened it, revealing fake IDs, documents, and photos taken in secret. "You're indeed an actor, Bruce Hammings. Except for that ring's story, which you actually stole from your mother, and Nadira, who is indeed your cousin, daughter of the uncle that kicked you out of their house once they discovered your robbery, everything you said was a lie." Hannibal said as he watched the man finally realize he was caught. "You used her as a mean to attract Colin. You made him have his backpack stolen on the first day in college, so he couldn't know the directions for his class and go to Nadira's instead. All of that, as an excuse, so your paths could bump into Alice's again. So you could gain her trust after I distanced you both."

Hannibal watched the food rotten in a corner, some papers on a desk with written scripts to fool his fiancé. But he still kept calm.

"So, once opportunity appeared, you threw your bait, a trip to...where? Jamaica? Have you ever even been to Jamaica, Bruce?" Hannibal grinned. "So you set a trap, a financial one, where she'd hire this...ghost traveling agent you and Nadira created, so you could take her money in this...miserable, sick, and twisted plan of yours." He looked into the man's eyes. "You're a criminal, Taye Caddel. A great one, I must say, since you practice your acts since you were a little boy. You could've gotten away with this..."He turned his sight to the only light that came through the window. "...if I didn't exist."

"So if you don't exist..."Taye gave a creepy, bloody smile at him

In a sprint, Taye lifted up a knife, speeding into Hannibal's direction, the doctor held the blade in his hands, cutting himself as the blood dripped, but manage to take the criminal to the ground. The criminal crawled to reach for his weapon again, but the doctor held his feet, pulling him back with a formidable strentgh he couldn't match.

Something started to ring. His phone that had fallen next to him. Hannibal grabbed the knife, and stabbed his back in a tortuous movement. Taye groaned, but still tried to reach for the phone. "Na...Nadira..." He mumbled as his mouth covered inside with blood and the liquid ran down his chin. Hannibal twisted the blade on him, Taye agonized in pain.

The doctor let the blade there, in the middle of his back, as he stepped into Taye's hands, breaking his fingers one by one and the actor screamed. He found an even more interesting method to end it all.

He walked towards a shelf, finding one of his so well made vases, which surprisingly, had two initials on it. A.M and T.C. "From pottery class, I suppose?" Hannibal observed tbe man twitch in pain, but neither deny. "Poetic isn't it? To have your ending by something made by your own hands."

"You..." Taye gasped, his body trembled with his spare strentghes, the nails clenching into the wooden floor, sour tears running down his eyes. "Motherfucker..." He chuckled maniacally. He spit blood on the doctor's shoe. Hannibal made a face, kicking Taye's body, who curled up in more pain.

"Spare your forces, Bruce." Hannibal lifted the vase in the air. "It'll be over soon."

"You should've seen the look on your girl's face...when I offered her to leave this place.." THe criminal showed his true colors and grinned "that bitch's tired of you...stupid enough to fall for it..." Taye hissed, his sight blurring as he faced his ending. "And I can see...you're even worse than me...."

Oh, that made Hannibal pissed. "Indeed. I am much worse than you." Hannibal clicked his tongue. "Your fatuous idea would never work. I'd never let you fool Alice." Hannibal lifted even more the vase in the air. "You're a rat, Bruce. The worst type of human to walk in Earth, scum." He whispered through bis teeth. "You're not even worth of being prepared as a meal."

The vase slipped into its' fatal ending smashing Taye Caddel's brain. The red consuming the floor as his eyes paralyzed, the breath ended. There was now only a disphormed shell of the human he was, of the well disguised criminal he was.

Hannibal observed the man for a moment, with no regret inside his merciless soul. "I should've killed him sooner.' He cleaned the blood that dripped from a scratch on his lower lip, scrunching and hissinh. "This is what I get for playing nice." He sighed.

The phone rang abruptely, with his gloves, he took it and looked at the ID on the screen. Nadira Caddel. "Hello? Bruce? Bruce where are you?" Hannibal listened silent as he stared at her dead cousin on the floor. "Bruce, did you talk with Alice? Did she fall for it-" He turned off the device, let it down on the floor and broke it with his foot.

Now, time to clean up the crime scene.

▫️

"Some psychiatrists are so hungry for insight that they may try to manufacture it." The sun haired doctor dressed in blood's color explained cautiously across the interrogation table. "How deadly that can be for the patient who believes them."

"You were Dr.Lecter's psychiatrist, he wasn't yours." Will's deep conflicted eyes met hers, leaning foward, seeking information into his risky journey with Jack Crawford in order to catch the Chesapeake Ripper once and for all.

Bedelia Du Maurier tried to appear calm abd controlled, but just as them, she also feared the doctor. "I told myself that, but I was under Hannibal's influence." She spoke in that whispery and sophisticated tone of hers. "And what he did to you made that abundantly clear." Will remained silent. Her eyes landed at the metal table in front of them, opaque and half illuminated just as the grey cubicle they were in, only decorated by the black mirror on the wall, where Jack Crawdord observed and heard their conversation. "Tell me, is she still by his side?"

Jack approached the glass, intrigued. Will Graham looked at Bedelia confused. "Who?"

"Alice Mallory."

"...Do you know Alice?"

"I've seen her once or twice. She doesn't know me or my relationship with Hannibal, of course." She established cautiously, the hands above her lap holding her expensive purse. "Most I know is from what he told me in our sessions."

"Did he talk much about Alice in your sessions?" Will asked.

"Greatly." She replied without any doubts. "From the moment he met Miss Mallory, he started to develop a deep...fascination towards her. Wich led to a progressive and...concerning, obssession."

"You mean she's all he thinks about."

"Alice brought great progress towards his mind, towards his humanity. A progress I didn't believe it would ever happen to him." Bedelia explained. "With her...he saw the world differently, he gained some sort of...will to live." It was almost adorabke if she didn't add the next part. "But it also lead to a codepency on her. He needs her. Needs desperatly to the point that he will do anything to keep her by his side. Even cross limits she wouldn't accept."

"What limits?"

"We know what." They exchanged glances. The word was simple enough: murder. "Is Alice Mallory still by his side?"

"...Yes." Will Graham cold notice the blonde's sad reaction over his speech. "You seem worried. Why?"

"Just like all of us, she is by some sort ubder his influence as well."

"Don't you think there's the possibility that he might reveal who he truly is to her?"

"No." She shaked her head. "There is sonething Hannibal made clear whenever in our sessions about her. He admired her optimism, her way to overcome difficulty and see tbe best in orders, but most of all, her innocence. She is, in his eyes, an angel." Will almost vomited. "But that doesn't mean he will persuade her."

"Persuade into what?"

"Into killing someone." The sentence made him paralyze. "Has he ever tried to do that to you?" Will didn't respond. "He will." She completed. "And it will be somebody you love, and you will think you have no other choice."

Will looked down at the table, aborving the woman's speech and declarations. The situation perphaps was worse than he imagined.

"How would you catch him?"

"Hannibal can get lost in self congratulation." Bedelia said calmly. "At his own exquisite taste and cunning." Jack and Will listened attentive to their last hope. "Whimsy." She looked down for a moment. "But perphaps there's another variant now that will be a great factor to help you."

"What is it?"

"You mean who." Will understood her words almost immediatly. "One can be fortified by love, but also killed by it." She spoke determined. "A precisive and traitor attack from who he most admire. If you want to make Hannibal Lecter suffer, that, is your best weapon of all..." Will took a deep breath. "...Alice Mallory."

▫️

Taye's house seemed empty, no one picked up the door when she knocked. Alice couldn't call him, since she didn't have her phone, and neither someone to rely on. She was alone and frustrated.

Took and wild choice and she speeded with her scooter to somewhere far away: Wolf Trap, Virginia.

It was colder than she expected to be, and her figure trembled within the snow as she reached the doorstep and knocked on the old wood surface. It didn't take long for a familiar figure pop into her sight.

"Alice?" Will Graham looked at her shocked. Her lips quivered, almost blue, and her skin was a pale shade of white, almost at the same tonality as the snow on the ground. Her whole body shaked helplessly, as she finally saw him. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you wearing a coat? It's freezing-"

"I can't go back there." She gripped onto his shirt, her eyes were teary, desperate. "Will he locked me into the house. I can't go back there."

"What? Alice what is going on-"

"He locked me, he broke my canvas, he's...he...I...help me..." She hiperventilated, her sight blurred, and within seconds, Alice Malllry brokedown, fainting into her friend's arms, freezing with the madness and the cold.

▫️

Something licked her face. It was wet and sticky, smelled like the forest and some mix of meat. Her sight sharpened enough to recponize the figure of the fluffy dog who always seemed to care for her, Winston.

Her body slowly responded to her movements, as she embraced the warmth of the sheets and the fireplace that was on. The house was cracky but firm, and something smelled deliciously from the kitchen. It didn't take long for his figure, in a soft white sweather, come up into the living room, watching her lied on the sofa.

"You're awake...Thank God..." Will Graham muttered, squatting next to her, and softly touching her cheek to check her temperature. "What happened to you? Why did you come into this cold in just a thin dress?" He complained.

Alice suddenly held his hand. Her eyes seemed scared, sad. "Will, did you tell him I'm here?"

"Who?"

"Hannibal."

"No...why?" He knew something wasn't right just by the look in her eyes. "Did he do something to you? Your hands are cut, Alice-"

"He locked me inside our house." She revealed. Will almost lost his breath. "You better sit down before you listen to what I have to say."

After explaining all the trama to the agent, Will Graham couldn't help but feel even more concerned with the situation. They needed to do something and fast. But he couldn't just let Alice come back to that house alone. If he did, he'd never see her again.

He couldn't imagine how mad Hannibal could've been now, imagining his expression once he opened the door and din't found her there, only a broken window. A rage so intense that consumed his whole being.

Something in that rage was similar to his.

"That asshole..."Was all he could say. "You will stay here. You can't go there again."

"Maybe Hannibal is just angry...I...I don't know...what if he wants to talk-"

"Alice didn't you just hear what you've told me? Hannibal just tried to hold you captive. Broke your belongings and who knows what else he would do." Will snapped back through his teeth. "He isn't just mad Alice. He is out of control and dangerous."

Her thoughts immediatly drifted towards her friend's theory. "Don't start it." Will made a face. "He isn't a killer, he is just jealous."

"Jealousy can lead people to do crazy things." He looked into her eyes. "Such as murder."

"Hannibal is not like that." She refused. "He will come to his senses but..."

"But you don't want to go back in there now." He understood her completely. "You can stay here." He set his hands softlt on her shoulders, leaning foward so she could feel the truth in his words. "Alice you are safe here. Okay? Nobody will hurt you. I will keep you safe." She nodded, believing in him. "Want some hot chocolate?"

Alice smiled, completely numb to the subtle button she pressed into Will's maniac side. He was, after all, just like Hannibal Lecter... "Yeah, I'd love that."

...If he had the opportunity, he'd never let her go.