"Will?" he heard her call his name. The warmth of her voice made him come back to reality.

Hannibal. Hannibal. The echoes inside his head faded.

He found Clarice in Catherine's bedroom, upstairs. It was way too pink for his taste. Or anyone's taste. One wall was covered with pictures of Catherine with her boyfriend and various friends. Clarice was holding an old, pink music box in her hands.

"Look what I found," she put the box down and pointed at some old polaroid's on the wooden desk.

There were three of them. Catherine was shown there, upfront and nude in some kind of SM pose. In the second there was a penis shown close to Catherine's head. The third was a picture of Catherine's and the unknown man's full naked body in full action.

Clarice raised an eyebrow and waited for his response.

"They were inside the music box, behind a small fake wall. I used to have one of these when I was younger," she said. Will looked at her.

"Without those kinds of pictures, offcourse," Clarice added quickly.

"Maybe Zeller was right after all," Will said, referring to the fact that she might have liked to be tied up.

"Not really relevant for the case but- ya know," Clarice spoke, her accent thicker than normal.

Clarice took a plastic evidence bag out of her pocket.

"For Jack?" she asked. Will nodded.

"Can't believe the FBI didn't found these", Will mumbled.

"What on earth are you doing in my daughters room?" a furious voice asked aghast.

Clarice was speechless.

Ruth Martin, looking like she was about to murder them with her bare hands, was standing in the door frame of her daughters room.

"Mrs. Martin. We are FBI special agents Will Graham and Clari-" Clarice began.

"I WANT THE TWO OF YOU OUT OF MY DAMN HOUSE," Ruth exclaimed.

"What's going on here?" a male voice came from behind Senator Martin. It was Paul Krendler's, FBI director Purnell's husband and even a bigger tiran than his wife.

The older woman recalled Hannibal Lecter's words very clearly.

"You can't trust Jack Crawford or Will Graham. Or Clarice Starling."

Paul Krendler had followed Ruth's screaming to find Will Graham and the trainee that met the description of Clarice Starling that was given to him. Paul thought she was quite pretty, maybe that's how she got into the FBI.

"This is a crime scene, not a damn amusement park. What are you doing here?" Paul Krendler spoke.

Clarice put the bag in her pocket. Not fast enough, Martin saw it.

"What was that?" her voice sounded angrier than ever before.

"We found something," Clarice added quickly.

She showed them the plastic bag with the pornographic pictures.

Ruth's face turned white as stone.

"GIVE ME THAT, THIEF" she ordered.

Clarice handed her the photographs, Krendler snatched them out of her hand. Krendler raised an eyebrow upon watching the pornographic evidence.

Ruth inhaled deeply and looked as if she was about to throw up.

Will used that moment of confusion to reach out to Clarice and softly touch her shoulder. He meant to sooth her and whispered, "it will be fine". She shook her head softly.

Will took a step forward.

"We need to send this to the Behavi-" Will began.

"These pictures," Ruth held them up, as if she wanted to be as far away as they could, "are not going anywhere."

"Senator, I-" Clarice began.

"Especially not Jack Crawfords' unit," Krendler closed the gap between Clarice and himself. He was standing right in front of her.

Senator Martin's phone rang. She answered it immediately.

"Have they tracked William Rubin?" she hissed. Will followed her conversation with great focus.

"The police has already searched this room. They found those pictures and were wise enough to put them back where they found them," he said. Paul Krendler looked like an asshole with a dirty, badly shaved beard, Clarice thought. If he hadn't worn an expensive suit, he could easily be mistaken for a drug addict. Clarice could smell his breath, a mix of coffee and cigarettes.

"Give me your badge, Starling," he ordered. Clarice gave it to him.

"That's some clever detective work," Krendler said. Clarice knew he wanted to get a reaction from her so she just stared at him.

"Quantico delivers some good detective dogs," he continued.

"And no thieves," Clarice added.

"I know that," he replied.

"You don't say," Clarice looked him in the eye.

"Stop it," he ordered.

Will put her hand on her shoulder before they would start fighting. Clarice took a step back, avoiding the confrontation. Clarice kept staring in Krendler's dead eyes.

"Who's William Rubin?" Will asked to break the tension.

"Lecter gave us a name," Krendler said proudly. You're wrong. He's playing with you.

"Do you believe him?" Clarice scoffed, trying to hide that little feeling of jealousy. She had all the pieces of the puzzle inside her hands, she only needed to put them in the right order.

"We have no choice since Jack Crawford's dream team screwed things up. He knows you lied, Ms. Starling. There will be consequences for you and the rest of the BSU."

Krendler turned to Clarice, "You're not off to a great start, Starling. I want you back in Quantico tomorrow 9 AM. I'll check if you are there. If not, you can start packing your suitcase," he said with joy in his eyes.

"Yes, sir" she obeyed. You can go fuck yourself.

"HE WHAT?" Ardelia bounced on the bed.

It was 7 AM when Clarice had finally got home in her dorm. Two hours before Krendler's deadline.

Ardelia nearly sat on her lap to get Clarice to tell her everything. From Lecter's words to Krendler threats to kick her from school.

"YES," Clarice copied her best friend, "and that's why I'm here. He said 9 AM."

"I'm glad you're home though. Thought you had run of with Graham," Dee said, giving her 'the' look when she named Will.

Clarice cheeks went red.

"This would be so romantic if it didn't involve a serial killer," Ardelia said. Clarice rolled her eyes and thought about Hannibal Lecter. Then her thoughts slipped to Jack Crawford, looking for the wrong guy.

"I need to think. I have everything but it just needs to… connect," Clarice spoke.

"Seems like you connected with Lecter's bestie, so can't you 'share' the connecti-" Ardelia's sassy comments were cut off by a pillow thrown at her face.

"Thanks for the very useful comments, Sherlock Holmes. Are you gonna help me think or what?" Clarice said.

She checked her phone, no missed calls. Clarice had tried to call Jack for the last 10 hours.

No response. She wanted to tell him about what happened with Krendler and more important, that Hannibal Lecter was lying to Mrs. Martin.

Will was tired. Tired of driving. The lack of sleep. The lack of nice thoughts. He needed to get some rest before the next body would be found. Than this crisis would start all over again.

The empath could see him. Not Hannibal, but him. He wants to become what he desires the most. Buffalo Bill wanted to change what mother nature had not granted him with. He would not stop before his masterpiece had finished.. and maybe he's never stop.

Shoot. Skin. Sew. Repeat.

Will shook off the horrible feeling, hoping it would no haunt him in the dark. The night with Clarice next to him, was the most peaceful night he has had in years. Ever since… him.

He hadn't seen him, only glances of what Will imagined him to look like. Long blonde hair. Long eyelashes. Female facial features. Tall. Jack would never catch him without his or Hannibal's help.

He shared Clarice's anger over the fact that the Buffalo Bill case had got more media attention just because the daughter of a Senator was kidnapped.

Clarice. He couldn't explain it how he felt around her.

Somehow her sudden absence had struck him harder than expected. He felt alone.

Will pulled the sheets over him and hoped he'd drift away soon.

Will found himself in a familiar space. Some place he hadn't been for a long time. As well as in his dreams as in real life. The light was dim. There was classical music playing in the background. Will found himself in one of the larger leather chairs.

"Will" he heard Hannibal's voice echo trough the huge cabinet. He was sitting in the chair on the opposite side of where Will was sitting.

Hannibal was dressed flawless as ever, a skill that even he, after all their time together, hadn't mastered. Will couldn't help but smile a little about how bittersweet this reunion in his mind felt.

"Back in the field, I heard, helping Jack and his new little bird," Hannibal said without any expression.

"No," Will spoke while shaking his head. His body felt heavy, unable to move. He was stuck here. The man could not reach out to him.

"Yes, you are. You're obstructing the law by not telling what you know and by bedding the trainee. You're ruining her focus on the Buffalo Bill case," Hannibal's jaw clenched a bit at the end of his sentence and avoided eye contact.

Was this... jealousy? Will thought about it for a bit.

"I can't give Jack what he wants," Will mumbled.

Jack had been his friend, boss and his own devil. Pushing him into a bottomless well of misery. Over and over.

"Because Jack didn't give us what we wanted?" Hannibal asked.

Peace.

To be left alone.

Let us start over.

The memories came back in flashes.

A door that was pushed open.

Hannibal dragged away from him in handcuffs.

Jack making sure Will wouldn't end up in prison.

Alana hiding her despite towards him.

"Compromises" Jack had called it.

"Yes," Will spat the word our as if it was venom.

"You know where to find him," Hannibal teased with a smirk, before taking a sip of his glass red wine.

"Why would I tell them?" Will thought he sounded like a mischievous, younger and darker version of himself.

He didn't want to give Jack what he wanted… but innocent girls were dying. The struggle deep inside him continued. His heart wanted to help Clarice and Jack but the head said 'no'.

"I'm trying to get something out of this," Hannibal said.

Will thought about that for a minute. He would never set a single foot out of prison. Jack, Alana and the rest of the FBI would make of that.

The rest of his life, Hannibal would be condemned to live in a tiny, dark cell. Will had been there himself once, he knew what Hannibal went through.

"A way out," Will said. Hannibal smiled.

Will didn't know if he should smile or cry to know Hannibal soon would be free again. Dr. Lecter was mad at him for sure, for leaving him behind even though it was against his will. But he did nothing.

He would come after Will, maybe after murdering Alana and Clarice first. Clarice didn't deserve this. He could bargain over her life. She could be spared.

The view became blurry again. Will gained more control over his body, the room disappeared.

His eyes were still fixed on Hannibal, wanting to remember this form.

The pre prison Hannibal.

The one Will knew.

The one Will had loved.

About this chapter - notes:

- I know I deserve some punches in the face for not updating in ages. But hey, I suddenly got some inspiration so, here I am!

- Yes, Season 4 will probably happen but only in a few years. I will patiently wait for a new season that will blow everyone's socks off.

- Argh, my grammar sucks. English is -obviously- not my first language. Can someone help me out?

- Do you like my -more proper- introduction of Paul Krendler?

- Also: Thank you for the lovely reviews! People are actually reading my sh*t, amazing.

You can always comment on this story or PM me. I don't know that many fannibals so I'm happy to talk to you.