FOUND: A Hannigram Devil AU

32

Will could do nothing but stare at the ground, lost in a trance, as Hannibal leaned in and hugged him like he'd been waiting for centuries to do so. His arms around Will's neck, both of their bodies lying in a desperate heap on the wet grass, they were so close that it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended. Their skin began to glow slightly, and Will felt a warmth in his chest. He was so nimble— wispy, even. Made of fog.
     Hannibal wept into Will's shoulder, racking sobs of joy that Will had never heard from anyone before, let alone such a stoic man. Detached, he lay his hand on Hannibal's back. It was an empty comfort, as he was nowhere near present. He could probably stare into space forever, thinking. Small whimpers occasionally escaped his lips. He wasn't breathing. He couldn't. He didn't need to.
"My Angel," Hannibal cried. "Angel. Angel!"
Will didn't respond. Words were a whole dimension away. He didn't notice the low, keening wail coming from him until Hannibal leaned back and took his hands.
"I know you're scared. I know you're confused." He bowed his head as if he were praying and began to kiss Will's knuckles. "But please, Angel, just take a moment. Bask in it." Will felt Hannibal's lips brushing across his skin as he spoke. "Bask in it."
He tilted his head back, closing his eyes. Will, unsure of what else to do and hoping that it would bring some clarity, followed suit. There was not even a hint of noise. Not a single cricket or a gust of wind. The rain had come to a stop. In life, there is a hardly noticeable hum that comes from simply being on the earth, coexisting with so many unseen cycles; even that had vanished. They were immersed in complete and utter silence. A silence that none of us will ever know.
It was so lovely. So peaceful.
     "Do you hear it?" Hannibal breathed, barely audible. Will, transfixed, nodded. His blue eyes filled with tears.
     "You don't have to be quiet. Speak to me," Hannibal begged. "Please, angel. I want to hear you speak."
     "I—" Will jolted at the sound of his own voice, which reverberated like Hannibal's.
     Hannibal smiled in delight. "Keep going. Don't be afraid. Do you know who I am?"
     "Lucifer." The name slipped out before Will could even think about it. "Lucifer."
     "Yes. Yes, it's me, Angel." He cupped Will's face in his hands, wiping his thumb across Will's cheek. "That's me. Do you remember?"
     "Wait. No. No." Will finally felt himself snapping back. "Hannibal? You're— no. You're not Hannibal. Not right now. What's happening?"
     "No, I'm not. Hannibal is my host. My disguise. Just like your previous body will be yours."
     Will was crying. "I don't understand," he muttered. He stared down at his smooth, pale hands, normally so tanned from the sun and covered in scars. "What am I?"
     Hannibal— Lucifer— kneeled next to him and took his hands, holding them gently. "When God and I began to create, we knew we couldn't do everything by ourselves," he explained. "Eventually, once we realized this, angels began to appear alongside us. For every core element we created, there would be an angel to accompany it. One for light, one for dark, one for fire and one for rain. They helped us retain control over our creations.
     "When I challenged God, a small group of my angels defended me. They challenged him along with me," he explained. "As a result, they were punished along with me, too. God banished them to Earth and cursed them to become human for eternity— that is, unless I found them." He choked out a bitter laugh. "It was a detail meant to mock me. God never expected me to find any of them."
     Will felt weak and afraid. "You're trying to say that I'm.."
     "Yes." He gazed at Will's new skin with wonder. "You are one of them. You, Will, are one of my dear fallen angels. My Angel of Tranquility."
     The sentence was a physical thing, causing Will to double over in distress. No matter how deeply he searched through his mind, he had no memory of what Hannibal told him. All he had were his experiences, shaping his life as Will Graham. He was a human! He couldn't even begin to imagine Heaven or Hell.
"I'm..I'm really an angel? I'm an angel?"
     "You are."
     "But I don't remember anything. Should I?"
     "I don't expect you to. You've lived through so many lives." Pity blossomed in Hannibal's eyes. "You've been human for eons, reincarnated every time you die with no memory of your previous life. It's pure torture." He leaned in to hold Will again. Will lay his head on his chest. "When I met you, when I looked into your eyes, I caught a glimpse of who you really were. I think I untapped some kind of memory. You..you grabbed onto me and said my name. Begged for help."
The static. The fear. Frozen in place. "I don't remember any of that."
"I know. I made it that way. I figured it would be too destructive for you to remember something like that. But.." Hannibal reached up to touch Will's wings. "You looked at me, and you said 'I want my wings back. It hurts. I want my wings back.'" His voice cracked. "It hurt me so much."
     Will listened intently, feeling everything fall into place. A lot of things made sense now: Hannibal's talk of how Will was meant for bigger things, how killing was a way to show who was more powerful. The murders he'd committed, the dreams, the way Hannibal treated him like he was the most precious thing in the world. He was being steered back onto the Devil's path the whole time.
     Even eating part of Elliot Budish. Hannibal was preparing him for how he'd have to eat after he became an angel again.
He would have to eat like that now. The idea didn't bother him.
You're so close, Hannibal had said in his office, pressing their foreheads together in a desperate attempt to reach Will, to get him to understand. And he was right. Will had been close.
     And Will had paid him back by trying to get away.
     Will's eyes spilled over, tears running down his body. Hannibal had been trying to save him from an eternity of torture, and he'd turned and run away. He couldn't have expected Hannibal to tell him the truth— Will never would have believed him. He was having trouble believing it now. Out of his own fatal flaw, his paralyzing fear, he'd almost walked away from his chance at salvation.
He'd wanted to kill himself. Lose his one chance at salvation by restarting somewhere else in the world in a whole new life. Lose Lucifer forever.
     He turned his head to look Hannibal in the eyes. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't see it until now. I turned away from you so many times..I was so horrible. I can't believe.."
     "Angel, no. I don't blame you. I was just so worried that I was..I would be alone forever. And that you would miss your chance. But it's over now." He was crying again. "We don't have to be alone anymore."
     Will mirrored him, his soul overflowing with relief. He'd been cursed to suffer, but now he'd been set free. They both wept as they held each other, their bodies shimmering, beings of light with human minds. Their ethereal selves combined with human emotion was enough power to rule galaxies. Nothing was stronger than the two of them together.
     "My Angel," Hannibal said into Will's hair. "You're finally here. I've been waiting for so long." He smiled. "All of your pain is over now, beloved. You'll never suffer again. Your pain is over!"
     "You saved me. You saved me!"
     "You saved yourself. Isn't it breathtaking? Don't you feel lighter than air?" There was laughter in his voice. "Can't you feel the two of us coming together?"
     An image took over Will's brain in that moment: standing in Elliot's barn with Hannibal towering over him, chanting over and over again in a deep trance—
     "You found me," Will realized. "You found me." He felt nothing but gratitude; it was almost too much to bear, rays of joy hitting his chest and making him shine. He couldn't stop thinking about how things could have been. Suffering for one lifetime was enough— he couldn't imagine what his poor soul had been through. It had culminated into so much exhaustion, deep depression that had made a home inside of him centuries ago. He'd been close to crumbling under all of the weight; his next lives probably would have been even more miserable. And it never would have ended. His brain would never remember, but his soul would have, getting blacker and blacker.
     But now he was wiped clean. He could fly free again.
"You found me!" He sobbed with joy.
     "I did. And you found me. We found each other." Hannibal cradled Will's cheek and kissed him on the lips, smiling. "I'm so happy...I've never felt like this before."
     Will understood the feeling. He never remembered feeling even remotely safe, but here and now, he was impenetrable. His soul was conjoined with Hannibal's, twisting and binding together until they were one. They couldn't be one without the other; without each other, they were suffocatingly alone. Will got the feeling that from this moment on, they would never be apart again. The idea made him want to rejoice.
"Thank you," he cried. "Thank you. Thank you."
Hannibal gave him another kiss. When he spoke, their lips brushed. "Here's how you thank me."
     They kissed for a long time, sprawled out on the grass and soaked with rain. Will felt mud and water and grass getting into his wings, but he didn't care. He just wanted this.
     "What did you call me?" Will asked between kisses. "Earlier?"
     Hannibal gazed at him with love. "Tranquility," he told him. "You are my Angel of Tranquility." He ran his fingers through Will's wet hair. "It was your element. You had it ripped away from you— how does it feel to have it back?"
     "Beautiful." Will didn't hesitate. "So beautiful."
"It's what you told me you wished for on the day we met. That was my ultimate proof that it was really you."
"I never want to go back again. Don't make me. Don't make me live like that again."
"You're willing to run?"
"I have to. I can't live any other way."
     "Then we need to leave." Hannibal's face turned more serious. "They're going to find us."
     "I know. We don't have a lot of time."
     "Look at us. Look at what's around us." He gestured to the frozen world, bending to their will. "Time means nothing. Where do you want to go?"
     Will knew exactly where. He told Hannibal just that, and Hannibal nodded.
     "Okay." He got a determined look in his eyes. "Here's what we're going to do."