"What is purer than to be cognizant of what you provoke in another human being? You are light, you are fire, you are everything beautiful that the word love means."
🔥 Humanity 🔥
Will had never believed in anything resembling any kind of religion. He thought that that which had not been scientifically proven was not worthy of even being mentioned. Will Graham believed in himself and his ability to do whatever he set his mind to. He believed in the calm of the lake, to which he went less and less. In the warmth of his animals back home, his non-human family. And he believed in Hannibal.
- What do you see, Will?
Behind him, smiling, the man who had brought him down and then lifted him above all the others. With Hannibal Will could be himself without fear of judgement. Was it love, admiration, or a reaction to? Perhaps, in time, he would find out.
- I see death, but I also see life - he replies.
- Well, my dear, very well. Both are linked, and one without the other would not exist. Duality, Will, balance.
Will turns, his hands bloody, dripping as a puddle forms beneath him. Is it happening or is it his imagination?
- Am I dreaming, Hannibal?
- What do you think?
Hannibal gently rests his hand under Will's chin and kisses him. He notices Will's smile in his and he smiles in return, proud, happy to be able to share his world.
- It's real, as real as how I feel about you.
Hannibal embraces him, blood now on his shirt, desire under his trousers and fire burning in his heart.
- Don't forget who you are, Will. Keep for yourself a piece of what you now barely visit.
- Why?
- What if one day you needed it? We should all have a place to return to.
Will pulls away from the embrace, his gaze steady, the blue of his eyes dull.
- You won't leave without me, Hannibal. Not after all.
- Mylimasis... - Hannibal fleetingly remembers Mischa and his face contracts.
- I'm not her, and I don't need you to protect me.
Because Will had begun to believe in something more than Hannibal, and that was his lost humanity. The one he showed him when he woke up, coffee in hand, as he devoured him with his eyes. The same one that at any given moment of the day he heard in his moans, which filled everything, which said more than they were silent. Because Will Graham didn't believe in any religion, but he did believe in Hannibal Lecter and his way of seeing the world.
- What if the day comes when you decide not to believe? - Hannibal says, his tone of voice annoyed. What if you find out that I'm not what you really want?
Will's hand tints Hannibal's lips, and he watches, stunned, as the former profiler then wipes it away with his tongue. He gasps. Will could be many things, and insatiable was one of them.
- Too much I've lost along the way to back down, Dr. Lecter. Too much have I gained to run from us now," he adds, unbuttoning Hannibal's stained shirt. That won't happen. If it ends, it will be because we both fall.
That Will believed in Hannibal was as real as feeling his heart beating hard and fast every time their naked bodies were one. And just as real was that Hannibal loved Will more than he was capable of expressing with the words that left his lips. That his sketches fell short when it came to Will, and there was no musical instrument capable of capturing the emotions he had once again felt because of him, for him.
- I love you.
Yes, maybe Will had found in Hannibal someone to believe in besides himself. But Hannibal had been born, again, with Will Graham in his world, his humanity forgotten, his humanity lost.
