Sapphic September: A Collection

What Could've Been (Marigail)

Fandom: Hannibal

Pairing: Marigail (Marissa/Abigail)

Prompt: forest

Summary: In another world, before Abigail falls in too deep, she and Marissa go hiking, and Abigail lets her in on her secret — well, sort of. Pre-canon AU.

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Part of Abigail feared that no matter what she did, she could never escape her father. But she still hoped, perhaps naïvely, to scrabble together at least one tiny piece of her life that wasn't his, wasn't fundamentally connected to him in some way. She clung to it like brittle driftwood tossed by a stormy sea. Her hope, and her will to live, to survive, were the only things keeping her from joining the two girls who had already gone missing in Minnesota. The dots had not yet been connected between the cases, but it was only a matter of time before they were.

She didn't want to think about it. She couldn't.

Eat or be eaten. What else was she to do?

. . .

Abigail announced over dinner, as casually as she could and directed mostly at her mother, that she was going hiking with Marissa over the weekend. One thing, she begged to any god or deity that would listen. Let me have this one thing, and I'll... well, she would what? Stop acquiescing to her father? Show him her neck and be done with it? Tell the next girl to run?

Whatever you want from me, she thought. Whatever you want, just give me this one weekend with Marissa, and I'll go quietly.

Dinner passed without protest. Abigail let herself hope that she was in the clear...and then her father stopped her in the hallway before she could reach her bedroom.

Nobody had answered her pleas. She was all alone.

"You're going hiking with Marissa." It was a statement, and yet a question at the same time.

Abigail forced a smile. "Yes."

Sometimes, she struggled to look her father in the eyes. Other times, like now, she couldn't look away. They had eyes of the exact same color. It was like looking in a mirror. A mirror that said it loved her so much that it couldn't bear to see her go.

You'll always be your father's daughter, Abigail. There's no escaping it.

"Don't forget that we have another college tour next weekend."

Abigail's heart dropped into her stomach, but while her smile faltered, it did not fall. "Okay, Dad."

He nodded and looked as if he was about to walk away, but then stepped in closer and put his hand on her shoulder. "Be careful." His eyes bored into hers, pinning her in place like a butterfly to a display board. "I couldn't bear it if anything were to happen to you."

He kissed her on the forehead and then moved away down the hall to the kitchen, where he would do the dishes and smile and laugh and spin his wife around to 60s rock, while his only daughter curled up in a ball on her bedroom floor and hyperventilated.

. . .

Abigail hugged her backpack tightly to her chest as Marissa drove them to the hiking trails that Saturday morning. The backpack was heavier than what she would usually carry, but something had driven her to pack far more than she needed for one hike. The closer they got to the forest, the more ridiculous she felt about it. There was no logical need for the excess food and clothes she'd packed. It wasn't as if they would get lost in the woods or spend more than several hours there. She told herself the extra supplies were for Marissa, who was a very inexperienced hiker. Maybe Marissa would need something in her bag and then Abigail would be grateful instead of embarrassed that she'd brought so much with her. It was definitely not the manifestation of a childish impulse to run away from home. Nope, not at all. She tightened her hands into fists, nails cutting into the palms of her hands.