"I'm here, with you, and I'll continue to be here as long as you want me to be."
🔥 The darkness of Will Graham 🔥
They say we should fear the dark. That, in it, our nightmares haunt us, wanting to be part of the tangible world. Maybe that's true. Probably not. Two men in the shadows of their respective hearts wait for each other, they've been doing it for too long, and it's only now that they see each other.
- Am I too late?
- It's never too late when it comes to us.
Hannibal would have waited as long as necessary, knowing as he did the final destination. He himself had charted the path, pulled the strings, and pulled Will's strings as he saw fit. Always, of course, up to a point. For nothing is certain and everything is possible and, in that possibility, other ways of getting there had been born to stay.
- Where are you?
- I've always been here, darling. Always with you.
Will stretches out his arm and nothingness comes over him. He should be afraid but he feels at peace with himself. Was this what he dreamed of as a child? Will smiles, he didn't even have dreams then.
- Touch me, Hannibal. You brought me here.
A strong hand on his and the security of knowing he is not only accompanied, but also loved. Will clings to him with the freedom to choose to do so, which is the best freedom there is, though it's not clear to him whether letting go would be as easy.
- Ask, mylimasis. Ask and it will be yours.
That same hand reaching up to his face, touching him so gently it hurts. Did he deserve it? Does a monster deserve to be loved?
- Let me feel you. See you. I want you by my side. I've been through too much to back out.
- Do you want to? - Hannibal asks.
- No.
- Good - Hannibal rests his thumb on Will's lower lip. Very good.
The kiss that follows is the very definition of desire, longing, patience and hope for it to happen. Will doesn't know if it's him crying or both of them, but it doesn't matter.
- Tell me where we are. It's too dark.
- You think you're dreaming, that it's not real?
- I know it is, but why can't I see anything? Do you see, Hannibal?
From behind the embrace that's more home than anything else. Hannibal's voice in his ear as he asks him to open his eyes, that when he does, he'll see as clearly as he does.
- Wake up, Will. Your heart has already chosen.
The sweat under his skin and the soaked sheets that bind him to the present. He blinks, he's so tired.
- Can you see me now?
Again the same hand, close and sweet, on his face. Again the words and those lips on his.
- He opens his eyes. I've long since decided to live in the blue that's in them. Open them and tell me what you see.
And Will, whose heart has already chosen, enjoys the brightness of the day that shines even brighter with Hannibal in it. He grabs the psychiatrist by the collar of his shirt and pulls him into his body, knowing exactly what he wants.
- You. Me with you. I see this is not the end but the beginning. Will you stay by my side?
Hannibal takes off his shirt, rests Will's hand on his chest and nods.
- Will you stay? That's the right question. And it's the only one I don't know the answer to.
