Promises to Keep

Chapter 9: Life upside down

Everything had changed, and Will wasn't sure if he liked it.

He clicked off his cell phone before Jack could pick up, putting it down with a sigh. He couldn't bring himself to turn Hannibal in. Not now. Not yet. Maybe he would do it at some point. But at the moment, his emotions were in too much turmoil to do so.

And anyway, he didn't have proof, which was what Jack would want. All he had was Hannibal's words to him, the confession he'd made.

Hannibal could refute that confession at any time. He could say that they'd had a lovers' spat, that Will was so angry at him that he'd made this wild story up. And Jack would more than likely believe him, as Jack was all too willing to dance to Hannibal's tune.

Jack would never believe him.

Even if he swore that Hannibal had confessed to being the Chesapeake Ripper, Jack would laugh him off -- or think that he was crazy.

Jack already thought he was crazy, Will told himself, his inner voice tinged with disgust. Jack just wanted to use his empathy for his own gain, and then when he was done with Will, throw him away as if he had never existed, taking all the credit for himself.

That bastard would never believe that Hannibal had confessed to dozens of murders. He would never believe that his good friend Dr. Lecter was a killer.

Will believed it. He had seen the look in Hannibal's eyes when his lover -- no, now his former lover -- had told him what he'd done.

Hannibal wasn't making a joke. He was absolutely serious when he'd told Will that he was a killer. Will had no doubt that Hannibal, for once, had been telling the unvarnished truth, and not playing mind games with him or trying to manipulate him in some way.

It was the truth. Hannibal was the Chesapeake Ripper, and knowing that changed everything between them. Hannibal could no longer be his lover.

He couldn't give himself to a killer.

And yet, he couldn't bring himself to turn Hannibal in. Was it because there was some part of him that still loved Hannibal, even though he knew his former lover's deepest, darkest secret? Or were there more secrets that were even worse than what Hannibal had already confessed?

Will shivered at the thought; if there were more secrets, then he didn't want to know. He wasn't even sure what he would do with his knowledge of this one.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to feel. Will only knew that everything about his life had changed within seconds, when Hannibal had uttered those few words that had sent his life topsy-turvy, upside down and inside out.

Any other changes that were made would be up to him.