WRATH: A Hannigram Fanfiction

29- Manger

"No. No..."
Will twitched in Hannibal's arms, furrowing his brow in fright. He whimpered, and the sound immediately woke Hannibal up. He looked down at Will, stroking his hair.
"Will," he whispered, trying not to startle him.
Will twitched, much more violently this time. He let out another fearful cry, and Hannibal tapped lightly on his cheeks. "Hey, Will. I need you to wake up. Wake up, Angel."
He did, gasping. His eyes searched Hannibal, taking him in, and it took him a few seconds to finally calm himself. He sighed in relief.
"What happened, love?"
"My body." He bowed his head, hiding his face. "It just...it broke. It shattered. Right in front of my eyes." He brought a hand up to his face. "I thought I was going to die."
"Your body was one of the only stable things you had left, and even that collapsed in on you." Hannibal kissed his head. "I'm so sorry."
"It was the worst pain I've ever felt."
"I can help you forget," Hannibal said. "In seconds, I can completely erase it."
"No, no. I don't want to forget." He rested his head up against Hannibal's sternum, so close to his Soul. "It was terrifying and painful, but it was a miracle. It...it's something I want to remember for the rest of my existence. Even if it scares me."
"I'll be here. I am going to give you everything you've ever wished for, Will. You'll never suffer again."
"Hannibal." Will's voice became apprehensive. There was something in there that was being held back.
"Yes."
"I'm so hungry."
—————————————————————————
Will lay reclined in Hannibal's bathtub, his arms slung over the sides with his neck resting on the rim. The tub was big enough for him to stretch his legs— the biggest tub he'd ever been in, he said. Hannibal sat over him on a stool, massaging Will's scalp as he lathered shampoo into his hair. He'd been thinking of Will all day.
"There are people mourning you," Hannibal said. Will opened his eyes, which were glazed over. It was like the past few days had sent him into a dazed euphoria. He had everything that he could ever want: a warm house, filling meals, endless entertainment in the form of books and television and even an exercise machine. Will was constantly on that machine, channeling his anger into something productive. He smiled softly; he smiled so often now. He looked younger.
"Really, now?"
"Poor Miss Katz came to my office to break the news of your death. She was devastated. Jack hasn't come to work in days."
"A whole two people." Will shifted, and Hannibal's eyes were drawn to his muscled shoulders. "Good to know."
"Your students were dumbfounded."
"I think someone should make a lesson or two about me. Hell, we could probably stretch it into about a week. 'What Not To Do When Solving a Crime.' First step: don't kill the perp yourself."
"Alright, but is Hobbs ever going to be able to hurt anyone again? No. And now you're happier than you've ever been."
"Second step: don't fall in love with another killer." Will grabbed Hannibal's wrist and kissed it. "He'll be a bad influence."
"I'm a great influence." Hannibal smirked. "Think of where you'd be if you didn't follow my advice."
"Not here, that's for sure." Will relaxed. "Not like this."
"Very soon, my Soul, we'll be leaving this city. I'm planning for the day after tomorrow." Hannibal gently lifted Will's head and cupped a hand over his eyes. He splashed water onto his hair and let the suds fall out. "You won't have to be cooped up in this house. We can go wherever we wish."
"Don't worry about me. Your house is probably quadruple the size of mine." Will inhaled sharply as Hannibal began to massage his shoulders. "Oh, my love.."
Hannibal smiled. He could pamper Will for years. He would. He'd had it easy compared to the eons of suffering his Angel had been through. He wanted to nurse Will's fragile Soul back to happiness.
"Are you trying to butter me up?" Will asked. "It's working."
And there was also that. "Jack Crawford is coming over for dinner tomorrow night."
"..Hm." The disdain was immediately present in Will's face. "Okay."
"It won't be for long. You know I can't stand him just as much as you."
"It's more than that. He pushed me over the edge and didn't give a shit."
"I'm not having him over because we're good friends. I'm having him over because it would be odd if I didn't. We've both just lost a friend, after all."
"Sometimes I wonder if I should thank him," Will replied. "After all, he's the reason I met you."
His face was playful, but Hannibal saw something different in his expression. A hint of betrayal. Confusion. Jack, a man he'd wanted to consider a friend, had really hurt him. No matter how happy he was now, Jack had ruined his life.
Will's voice snapped Hannibal out of his thoughts. His lover was looking up at him now.
"I'm sorry, love, what did you say?"
"Do you wanna get in with me?"
—————————————————————
Jack was due to arrive in mere minutes, and Hannibal couldn't find Will anywhere.
He'd scoured the entire house inch by inch, calling out to him, but it was as though he'd completely vanished.
"Angel? Will!" Hannibal shifted from annoyance to anger to pure terror all in seconds. Panicking, he thought back to their last conversation. It had only been about an hour ago. Had Will given him any sort of clue?
Shouldn't be too long— I told him seven.
Perfect. Will had been laying back on the bed, reading. Hannibal finally found the tie he'd been looking for and shut the dresser drawer.
I'm going to clean up. You alright?
Mhm.
Hannibal had kissed him before leaving him alone in the bedroom. When he came out, dressed nicely with his hair dry, Will was gone.
     There was a knock at the front door. Hannibal groaned— he would have to chase Jack away somehow. Feign illness, force him to leave...he couldn't sit and waste precious time with Jack when Will was missing.
He thought. Nothing in that talk stood out to him— it was normal, domestic. Will was more satisfied now than ever. He would never try to run away, would he? No. No, he had too much to lose. Had someone found him? Taken him? No; Will wouldn't let that happen. He would have shed his body and scared the daylights out of whoever thought they could take him.
Hannibal began to awfulize. What if God had somehow found out about their reunion? What if his Angel had been ripped away from him again?
     He was so caught up in his worries that it took him a while to notice the eerie silence in the house. Something was missing, and it wasn't just Will.
     There had been no noise at the front door. Shouldn't Jack have knocked again by now?
     A sudden surge of energy ran through his chest, sending him stumbling forward. Will, wherever he was, had transformed.
     Hannibal bolted.
     He threw open the front door to see his Angel, skin glowing and wings spread, kneeling over something in the dark. There was a wet, disgusting sound that was all too familiar to Hannibal— he'd heard it on his victims time after time. He didn't think; he rushed over to the scene without a second thought.
     Will was destroying Jack's body while Hannibal watched him with awe in his eyes. He'd watched Hobbs's murder from a distance, but now he got to see his Angel's passion up close. He was ruthless, yanking at the organs and letting blood spurt from between his fingers. He wasn't doing anything with them; he had formed a pile on the ground, ever-growing.
     Hannibal smiled, relieved.
"You had me worried for a moment. You were supposed to wait for me, love." He raised his arm to touch Will, but the fiery look in his beautiful blue eyes made him jolt back. He felt utterly human in that moment, despite what lay beneath the surface.
     He understood the feeling. The undying hunger, the inability to control it. He didn't blame Will for attacking on sight.
     "Was I? Sorry. I couldn't help myself." Will tore out the lungs with both hands, holding one lung out to Hannibal with an expectant look on his face. His eyes were dynamic, swirling with multiple colors, and Hannibal had to put effort into not becoming entranced.
"I'm just so hungry." Will's voice was weak. He looked weak. He hadn't shed his body in a while, and as Hannibal looked him up and down he realized how emaciated his Angel really was. "I saw him, and I really couldn't wait."
"Angel." He grabbed Will's face. "I understand. It's alright. Of course you're starving; look at you."
     "Look at me." Will smiled to himself. "I did it on my own."
Hannibal released his wings and let his skin dissolve. He leaned into his Angel, shaking his head. "You've come so far. You're so beautiful."
     "It was so easy. He was human. I'm not." Will blinked. "He's nothing compared to us."
     "A prized pig, ready to eat."
"Please." Tranquility stared down at the pile he'd gathered with ravenous starvation.
     "Yes." Lucifer took up the lungs without hesitation. "We'll both eat."
"Together?"
"Yes. Together."
They stared at each other with compassion and cunning before raising the meal to their mouths to take a bite.
     Hannibal preferred his meals cooked, but there was something about this primal consumption that was so satisfying. Lucifer enjoyed the way that the raw organs felt in his mouth— they were warm from resting inside of the body for so many years, and fresh blood gushed out of them with satisfying pops. He felt tissue between his teeth.
     It was gratifying to see Jack, a man capable of causing so much hurt, reduced to nothing underneath them. He was raw meat being ground underneath their teeth. Squirming blood vessels and muscle tissue, all sliding down their throats and straight into the Soul, where his body nourished these beautiful creatures.
     Tranquility tore out the heart, holding it up between their faces. They both leaned in to take bites of it, sinking their teeth in, sinners tasting the forbidden fruit. A vein rolled around Lucifer's mouth, and he played with it with his tongue. He spared a glance at his Angel, who was still remarkably clean— they both were, for any blood that hit them would simply evaporate into the night as soon as it touched their skin. They would always be flawless.
     They shared the last bite of the heart, their lips meeting. They kissed deeply, knowing that they were going to be together for eternity, and that both of them wanted that. They needed no one but each other.
     Jack was unrecognizable. Deflated. An empty sack.
Will was silent for a long while, analyzing what they'd done. He closed his eyes, sitting back on his knees and thinking.
"I...I thought I'd be able to make it," he said. "I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry." He stared down at his hands. "I didn't mean to..."
"Angel. It's alright." Hannibal laced their fingers together. "You were starving. When creatures like us are starving, we become something else. I'm so sorry I let things get this way."
"I'm better now. I feel better."
"Good. I won't let this happen again." The two of them stood up, hands clasped together.
     "I think we need to go," Will said. "I think it's time."
"I think so, too."
     Destiny awaited. Lucifer held his Angel close, encircling them with his massive wings, and together they disappeared to somewhere greater.