
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/10727055.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Rape/Non-Con,
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Hannibal_(TV), Intruders_(Film)
  Relationship:
      Will_Graham/Hannibal_Lecter, Matthew_Brown/Hannibal_Lecter, Matthew
      Brown/Will_Graham, Matthew_Brown/Will_Graham/Hannibal_Lecter
  Character:
      Hannibal_Lecter, Matthew_Brown_(Hannibal), Will_Graham, Mason_Verger
  Additional Tags:
      Robbery, Gambling, Breaking_and_Entering, Agoraphobia, Violence, Mental
      Instability, Mental_Breakdown, Anxiety, Anxiety_Disorder, Anxiety
      Attacks, Severe_Symptoms, Caring_robbers, Murder, Only_slightly_related
      to_Intruders_movie, for_Phobic_Home_seclusion, Hannibal_&_Matthew_are
      partners_in_crime, Mason_Verger_is_a_third_wheel, Conflict_ensues, Will
      is_too_innocent, it_hurts, Fluff, Angst, blah, Physical_Abuse,
      Psychological_Torture, Sweetness, rudeness, OCD, Depression, Adolescent
      Regression, Trauma, PTSD, Past_Child_Abuse, Implied/Referenced_Rape/Non-
      con, Trigger_Warnings, Brief_description_of_Rape/Sexual_Assault, Graphic
      Description_of_Corpses, Cannibalism, clears_throat
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-04-25 Completed: 2017-05-05 Chapters: 8/8 Words: 18308
****** I n t r u d e r s . ******
by toni_of_the_trees
Summary
     Matthew jerked awake in the passenger seat, uncrossing his arms as he
     caught himself from an imaginary fall. Hannibal looked to him with a
     slightly concerned expression, the younger man sighing heavily as he
     shook his shoulders and rubbed his tired face. "Falling nightmare-
     shut up. Was hoping I wouldn't wake up in the middle of a field
     somewh- oh, look, I fucking DID." Matthew slammed his head back
     against the headrest and groaned, Hannibal grinning at the amusing
     bratty man.
     "What's this now?" Hannibal stayed put as a truck without their
     headlights on passed their hiding spot and parked in front of the
     farm house. "Did you invite others without letting me know, Matthew?"
     "Huh? No, who the fuck is that, is that the guy you're talking about
     that lives here? What, did we wait for him to get HOME to rob him?!
     What kinda shit plan do you have here Hanner's?!" Matthew leaned
     across Hannibal and the steering wheel to try and see what he was
     seeing, Hannibal rolling his eyes as he pushed him back into his
     seat.
     "Let's see for ourselves."
Notes
     Hannibal usually has a tough time dealing with Matthew's impatient
     childish behavior.
     Today he's tested beyond that toleration.
      
     ---
     Ps. Techno Beethoven is what I imagine as a mashup of Matt and
     Hanni's musical interests sitting in the
     car with nothing to do but listen to a battle of genres. : P
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZzVnOmGtY
***** Smoke Rises *****
 
[hanni] [matthew] [mason]
 
Hannibal and Matthew pulled up to the isolated farm home with their headlights
out in the cold
fall night. Parking in the field, Hannibal turned off the engine and exhaled as
he relaxed in the seat,
glancing at Matthew when the younger man lifted and dropped his hands in his
lap.
"Problem?" Hannibal asked with a raised brow. Matthew scoffed and twisted in
his seat to look around
the dark field they sat parked in. "Uh, naw, I mean, just that I wasn't
planning on harvesting crops
t'night. What the hell are we doing here?"
"Patience. You need money to get out of your ridiculous debt, I'm not going to
let you go about
getting it by hurting innocent people. This farming man has a great deal of
money but for some reason
only has touched a small portion of it to pay off this farm. The rest is
apparently just sitting around.
I don't believe he'll miss it if a few hundred k dissapears. Strange thing is
I've been here a few times
to establish a visitors schedule and coming or going hours. For over 4 months I
haven't seen anyone
but a grocery delivery man and a woman dressed in expensive attire. I'm
assuming she's someone
he's become romantically involved with, there isn't much information on him
really in existance."
Hannibal stopped talking and glared at Matthew when he scoffed again and pulled
out a cigarette to light.
He clicked the doors unlocked, recieving a questioning look from the bright
green eyes. "You're joking, we're
hiding out in a field stalking a damn farm house and you want me to get out
your precious car to smoke a cigarette?
I'll be like a freakin' Indian out there sending smoke signals- hey look we're
here!" Matthew exaggerated his hands
as he snapped his seatbelt undone.
"You could not smoke at all if you're that concerned about alerting our
whereabouts, even
if I were to allow you to smoke inside the window would be open. You seem to
forget that
smoke rises no matter where you are."
"Sometimes it's really hard being friends with you-" Matthew grumbled as he
climbed out of the car.
Hannibal chuckled and checked his watch.
---
Matthew jerked awake in the passenger seat, uncrossing his arms as he caught
himself from an imaginary fall.
Hannibal looked to him with a slightly concerned expression, the younger man
sighing heavily as he shook
his shoulders and rubbed his tired face.
"Falling nightmare- shut up. Was hoping I wouldn't wake up in the middle of a
field somewh- oh, look, I
fucking DID." Matthew slammed his head back against the headrest and groaned,
Hannibal grinning at the
amusing bratty man.
"What's this now?" Hannibal stayed put as a truck without their headlights on
passed their hiding spot and
parked in front of the farm house.
"Did you invite others without letting me know, Matthew?"
"Huh? No, who the fuck is that, is that the guy you're talking about that lives
here? What, did we wait for
him to get HOME to rob him?! What kinda shit plan do you have here Hanner's?!"
Matthew leaned across Hannibal
and the steering wheel to try and see what he was seeing, Hannibal rolling his
eyes as he pushed him back into
his seat.
"I don't know who it is. I've never seen this vehicle before. It's not the well
dressed woman's and I've never seen
the young man- or another vehicle he could possibly use. It seems someone else
may know what we know."
"I'm not even sure I even know what we know, what the hell do we know? When you
try and talk to me all I
hear is money money money."
They waited almost 15 minutes after the stranger went inside, deciding to go in
finally.
Hannibal climbed out of the car and popped the trunk, Matthew watching as he
twisted in his seat then back
around to jump out as well.
Matthew rounded to the trunk and helped him grab the black totes.
"Simply follow my lead, don't touch everything, don't kill anyone, and we'll be
out in
no time." Hannibal quietly shut the trunk and threw the bag strap over his
shoulder, gesturing Matthew to
follow him, hidden by the tall wheat-grass as they went.
"Don't touch, don't kill, don't smoke, startin' to feel like I'm just here in
case you need someone to blame if
your ass gets caught."
Hannibal smirked and turned to wink at him, the sarcastic look on Matthew's
face changing quickly to shock
at the gesture.
"Am I a patsy, you jerk!?"
"If you keep your voice up like that you will be."

---
Hannibal peeked in the truck for a moment as they passed it, lightly stepping
up the porch steps to see the door
lock was broken open already.
They looked at each other curiously, pushing the door open slowly and stepped
in one then the other.
The house was dark, not a single light on, only the moonlight illuminating the
clustered furniture and
the complex twisting layout of walls, corners, turns, and halls each leading to
a variety of different areas of the
home.
"Where-"
Matthew stopped when Hannibal held a hand up, the other gripping his bag as he
gestured his finger up for the
man to listen with him.
Hannibal snapped his eyes to Matthew's widened bright green eyes when they
heard a muffled shout before a
heavy thump. Matthew snatched out his pistol from the waist of his jeans under
his black pullover hoodie and
shrugged the bag off his shoulder, lightly setting it to the ground as he began
walking around the winding
sectioned rooms. Hannibal sat his bag down slowly as well, just touching his
hand to his leather jacket
pocket to assure his blade was still there- shifting around the shadows after
Matthew.
Hannibal snagged Matthew's hood and yanked him back into a crevasse corner when
there was a louder thump
from above, the sound of bare footsteps hurrying down the stairway as a voice
laughed and cursed in the distance.
They stood frozen in their hiding spot as the second set of heavier footsteps
followed after the first ones.
"This is no time for a game of cat and mouse!" The voice called out as the
heavy boots hopped down
the last two steps and caught whoever he was chasing- the struggle muffled but
audible as a younger
voice cried out, the call for help was cut short with a violent sounding crack.
"There, see, I wouldn't have had to do that if you had just stayed put and told
me what I needed to know!"

Matthew furrowed his brow and stepped out of the shadowed corner, Hannibal
grabbing his wrist as a
warning but let him go when he spoke loud and clear.
"MASON?"
Hannibal practically rolled his eyes back into his head when he recognized the
name as someone Matthew
used to gamble with and stepped out with him.
"Matthew, buddy ol' pal! What a small itty bitty world it is to see you here!"
Mason grinned as he stood up
from crouching over the limp body.
"What the fuck are you doing here you god damned psycho maniac?"
"Yes, Mason, I'd love to know how you knew we'd be here and how you even knew
about, 'here'."
Hannibal added as he stepped over to see what he had done to the young man.
"Oh, well, Matthew here has a case of the loose lips- and you know how THOSE
always go," Mason
chuckled, "- you sink some ships!" He shrugged and snapped his latex gloves
around his wrist.
Hannibal glanced over his shoulder at Matthew with a disappointing look and
knelt down to check the
person's pulse.
"I never told you to go case the place yourself, if you wanted in you coulda
said something, ass! Now
what the hell did you do?!" Matthew stepped over to join Hannibal in the
crouch.
"Ah, this, ladies and gentlemen, is the very wealthy, beautiful I might add,
young man who just happens to be quite skiddish when
cornered. Little rabbit took off on me before I could tie him up properly to
get the treasure's location
out of him." Mason huffed and planted his fists on his hips as he watched
Hannibal turn the body onto
it's back.
Matthew pulled his small flashlight out and held it up to look at the
unconscious homeowner.
"Jesus, ya'll, he's gotta be like in his early 20's...we sure this isn't the
owner's damn kid?"
Matt worried his eyes over the young man, his pale skin and chocolate tousled
curls healthy and
youthful- a bruised cut on his forehead bleeding down his pink cheeks down to
his collar bone
and running across his laid flat shoulder on his bare torso. He frowned when he
turned the light
down to the paw-print decorated pajama bottoms.
"He's still got a pulse, thankfully. I'd appreciate if we went on from this
point on without harming
anyone else- Mason." Hannibal demanded with a sigh as he wiped a bit of blood
from the boy's
brow.
"Righty-O." Mason shrugged and leaned against the stairway beam, watching
Matthew and Hannibal
lift and carry the unconscious thing to the couch.
 
"Should we tie him up?" Matthew asked as he adjusted the legs on the cushions.
"No. He'd only wake up frightened. Search the house for what you're looking
for- it'll likely be a safe or
a hidden compartment. Anything you'd like to share with us, Mason?" Hannibal
straightened and looked
to the dirty blonde man dressed in a pea-coat and slacks.
"Oh, simple things- the boy's name is Will Graham, he's...mmm, 24 years old if
my math is right from his
birth certificate. I had some time to snoop around before I found him in the
upstairs bedroom. As you
can tell, he's quite the reader. Loads of newspapers and books throughout the
home. Likes to keep up
with the times for sure! Let's see...his parent's passed about 6 years ago,
death certificates...he got this
lovely little farm and country home estate from them. Along with, golly what a
load of money, he doesn't
seem to touch for anything. I do believe he donates to charities of medical
research often, but that's
more under the radar- which he seems to prefer. I only found out through his
mail."
"Wow...how the hell long were you here without the kid noticing you?"
Matthew scoffed in disbelief.
"Hm? Only about 10 minutes before you showed up. I dropped by a few times
before tonight."
Mason laughed and toyed with a small blade as he walked over to the couch and
leaned over to look
at the boy.
"You're insane." Matthew sighed.
"I'M insane? This youngster hasn't left the house in a solid two weeks! I had
to sneak around quiet as a church
mouse just to do my little treasure hunts!"
Hannibal quirked his head at that, blinking up from the couch to Mason.
"You noticed that about him too- that he never seems to ever be seen coming or
going?"
Hannibal ran his gloved fingers over the curly mess curiously now, examining
the gash on his forehead again.
"So, what, he's a lazy kid who likes to read alot. Has a ton of money, gets his
groceries delivered and stocks
up on newspapers to maybe collect the comic strips or some shit- I'm honestly
not here to learn the kids
life story, can we just get the search on?" Matthew grumbled impatiently,
pulling his flashlight back out.
"One of us needs to watch the boy in case he wakes up. This may take a while."
Hannibal said, picking up his
bag to pull his own flashlight out. "I'll take first watch since I've
contributed a good amount more to help
you gentlemen, I could do for a break off my feet." Mason smirked and dragged a
wooden chair over
in front of the couch, sitting down to cross his arms and ankles over one
another.
"Yeah, just don't get all psycho on him if he wakes up- let us know as soon as
he so much as fuckin' yawns."
Matthew snarled at the smug man, shining the light in his face as the thin
glasses reflected bright in the beam.
"Aye-Aye capn' Brown!"
 
---
***** Rabbit Hole *****
Chapter Summary
     "Look who's awake!" Mason beamed with a grin, taking a step down
     towards him as he gasped and
     took off into the kitchen to find the phone with fumbling hands. He
     groaned when he saw the cut
     cord on the line and tossed it before hurrying into the study-
     slamming the door shut and locking it
     behind him.
     Mason skidded to a stop at the door and laughed, jiggling the handle
     before kicking the frame.
     "What the hell is going on down here!?" Matthew called out, running
     down the stairs.
     "Little rabbit is on the run again!" Mason shouted through an amused
     smile, both of them looking to
     Hannibal as the man licked his lips and sighed.
Chapter Notes
     Mason's a pos but he's adorable so, hush.
     :p
 
 
[Will] [Mason] [time] 
 

Night turned dangerously close to day, their search fruitless as they all grew
frustrated, trading places as Will remained
unconscious on the couch. Hannibal's turn to watch him was spent stitching up
the injury and cleaning
the blood from his pale skin.
He tilted his head a bit to stare at the boy, ghosting his thumb over the
slightly parted pink lips that
breathed so softly. He raised a brow when the light touch caused Will to stir
with a short moan.
Glancing around to see Matthew or Mason weren't anywhere around, he took his
glove off, stroking the
soft messy curls back gently a few coaxing times.
"William- can you open your eyes for me?"
Will groaned and tried to, cringing as he attempted sitting up.
"No, you need to stay resting flat for a while until I'm sure you haven't
suffered any brain damage...I need
you to open your eyes for me dear, it's alright."
"I...I got hit with something...someone-" Will swallowed and cracked his eyes
open as he coughed to clear
his dry throat, blinking up at Hannibal in confusion.
Hannibal could swear his heart needed to take a moment to restart when those
baby blue-green eyes opened
and batted dark beautiful lashes up at him. He stared at him with a half smile
and shined the light to each
pupil to check the dialation response.
Will squinted and blinked a few more times at the bright beam, looking at the
white medical gloves then
to the leather jacket the stranger was wearing. When the light turned off he
furrowed his brows at the
handsome man, his ashy golden hair dusting over a sun-tanned brow- sharp
chiseled features that
seemed somehow intimidating but gentle and alluring at the same time.
"Can you tell me your name and what kind of cat you have?" Hannibal studied the
boy's soft groggy
expression as it changed to almost repulsion. "M-my name is Will Graham, and I
don't have a cat, I
don't like them, they like to cling to ankles..."
Hannibal chuckled from his chest and smiled with a nod. "This is true...you
seem fine. I'm glad."
Will strained as he sat up on the couch, grunting at the ache. "...where are
the cops?"
Hannibal quirked his head at the boy and waited a moment before he realized
what he was thinking.
He thought Hannibal was a paramedic called to his home after the break in. That
the intruders were
gone and the ordeal was long over.
"William, I need you to stay calm and stay seated-"
"Oh god...you-you're one of them, what, " Will crawled up onto the cushions,
falling over the back of the
couch to the floor and stumbling to his feet as Hannibal just missed grabbing
him with a foreign curse.
Will headed for the stairs, freezing three steps up when Mason stopped at the
top with a curious look
and knife in hand.
"Look who's awake!" Mason beamed with a grin, taking a step down towards him as
he gasped and
took off into the kitchen to find the phone with fumbling hands. He groaned
when he saw the cut
cord on the line and tossed it before hurrying into the study- slamming the
door shut and locking it
behind him.
Mason skidded to a stop at the door and laughed, jiggling the handle before
kicking the frame.
"What the hell is going on down here!?" Matthew ran down the stairs with his
flashlight swinging in his
hand.
"Little rabbit is on the run again!" Mason shouted through an amused smile,
both of them looking to
Hannibal as the man licked his lips and sighed.
"You didn't tell us the fuckin' kid woke up? We coulda caught him if he bolted,
which he DID, where is
he, in HERE?" Matthew grabbed the handle and tried it as Mason had with a
scowl.
"He was fine, and calm, I believed he was being complacent but it turns out he
was just confused as
to who I was. He assumed I was a doctor and that the police were here."
Hannibal pulled out a
tool and began working at the doors lock, pushing the two aside.
"Why the shit would he be kept at the house for treatment while cops
investigate a crime scene? Plus
why didn't he go for the front fucking door, heading upstairs seems kinda
fuckin' stupid?"
"Try not to hurt yourself thinking so hard, Matthew." Hannibal muttered as the
knob popped open.
---
Will huffed as he crawled into a medium square in the wall, pulling the panel
back in place,
crawling out of the other end carefully beside the fireplace in the living
room. He padded lightly
across the carpet, spotting the three men entering the study and hurried over
to a cornered pantry,
closing the doors quietly to hide in.
Holding his hands over his mouth, he tried to hold his breath and listen where
they were.
 
Matt: ("Where the shit did he go? There's no way out of here- the window is
locked from the inside still."
Mason: ("Little bunny boy seems to have a few tricks up his sleeve- lookie
here! A rabbit hole!")
Hannibal: ("He has escape routes in the home...Matthew, if you'd be so kind to
see where this leads?")
Matt: ("Hell no, and get stabbed in the eye coming out of who knows where with
the kid waiting for me!?")
Hannibal: ("Good point...but he could also have left the space and is running
across the field to flag down a
passing car to alert the authorities at any moment now.")
Mason: ("I wouldn't want to dusty up my pea-coat, it's quite expensive. I'll
risk he ran.")
Matt: ("Jesus Christ, what pompous psycho ate a pile of trash and shat you out,
Mason? Fine, I'll go. Ya'll start looking
around the fucking house meanwhile, would ya? Be productive or some fucking
thing!")
Will held still and listened to the two men depart the study, one pair of steps
going up stairs and the other
circling around the halls and corners near him.
---
Matt coughed and choked on dust as he punched the wall panel loose and climbed
out beside the chimney,
standing to brush webs and mess from his hoodie with little results. Mason
stopped beside the couch and
stared at Matthew with a smirk.
"Tsk, see now that would have been my darling coat."
"Who the fuck wears a peacoat to a robbery you fuckin' tool?"
"How is it you're one of the few people I tolerate being so rude to me? I'm
sure you're just venting your
hostility towards me because you wouldn't dare speak to old man Lecter that
way." Mason scoffed and
leaned over to peek under the dinner table's cover.
"Really? Hey Hanners, you're a fuckin' tool." Matthew called out as Hannibal
descended the stairs with his
flashlight. Mason stood back up and turned to look at Hannibal with curiosity
on his brow.
"And a very well functioning one at that, Matthew dear." Hannibal responded as
he reached the bottom and
looked around with searching eyes.
Matthew raised his shoulders in a deep shrug with a cunning grin as Mason
rolled his eyes and abandoned the
quarrel.
 
"Should have known better, the ol' man likes to collect pets." 
 
---
***** Environmental Factors *****
Chapter Summary
     Will heaved a broken shaky breath as he took another step, dropping
     to one knee as the porch swirled
     and vibrated violently around him. The stars blared as bright as the
     moonlight itself while the 'gentle' night
     breeze screamed against his eardrums like sirens, mixing with
     screeching nails on a chalkboard.
     The voices around him muffled as he tried to crawl forward, sobbing
     when the rigorous lucid vision grew
     more and more blinding, a higher pitched ringing forcing him to stop
     and cover his ears.
     The front door closed in slow motion as he was carried away
     from it, an exhausted whimper escaping his lips as he sat cradled in
     the foreign man's arms.
Chapter Notes
     Yuuup.
 
[will] [Hannibal] [mason]
 

"What shall we do with our sweet little jumpy boy once we find him?" Mason
asked as he rounded the connecting
rooms into the kitchen, mindlessly checking cabinets. Finding a box of
chocolate cordials, he pulled it from the shelf
and tore it open to snack on.
"It'd be nice first of all not to leave traces of our presence here- but I see
you're just going to continue on your
line of recklessness. We'll just calm him down, ask him where the money is, and
leave. He's already terrified."
"Right, I mean, I'm good, I don't think he's seen my face yet, but you two he
definitely did. What, do we threaten
to come back and kill him if he talks or some shit?" Matthew sighed in
frustration, shoving the chair from
beside the couch.
"Not an option gentlemen, if you want no part in my final duties after tonight
you're welcome to see yourselves
out with your shares- meanwhile I'll have to spend a little time skinning a
rabbit. I can't have my precious name
tainted or threatened by a little boy, see?" Mason pursed his lips and shrugged
with his knife waving in hand.
"Dude,-" Matthew started, ready to scold and put Mason down again but was cut
short when the young man
bolted from the pantry and ran for the front door. "SHIT!" They all ran after
him across the large room and
turned the corner- all skidding to a stop a few feet away from him.
"What the fuck...?" Matt muttered, Hannibal and Mason silent as they stared at
the boy.
Will stood frozen in the doorway with his back to them, his hand gripping the
knob of the wide opened door
so tight his knuckles pinked on his ghostly pale skin.
"...why did he stop?" Matthew asked, steadying his breath from the quick sprint
ending so abruptly.
Hannibal approached the boy slowly, noticing he had began sweating profusely,
his muscles trembling as
he stared at the porch mere inches from his bare feet.
Mason quirked an interested smirk when Hannibal snapped his fingers beside the
young man's ear, only
receiving a twitched flinch as he still stood petrified in place before the
entryway.
"What the fuck is wrong with him? He afraid to go outside or something?"
Matthew started to put it
together, Mason and Hannibal along with him as they thought of how they had
never seen him leave the house
to the point they didn't even know he lived there.
"Let's test it out," Mason took off his coat and hung it on a free rung nailed
to the wall by the doorway,
"-run along little rabbit, you're free!" He wrapped his arms around the boy's
waist and lifted him up, taking a step
past the door frame onto the porch- grunting when Will suddenly gasped and
twisted against him with a shout.
"Oh- we've got a live one!" Mason chuckled as Will slammed his hands to the
wood frame screaming in protest
with kicking legs flailing in the air.
"N-NO NO, DON'T! DON'T TAKE ME OUT, I CAN'T- PLEASE, PLEASE! STOP! PLEASE
STOP!"
"Mason- put him down." Hannibal demanded, Mason laughing in excitement as he
put the boy back down.
Will whimpered and began hyperventilating, pressing his back against the door
as he was surrounded by the three
men. "How delightful, the poor thing is afraid of the outdoors, he has nowhere
to run! Boy did we hit the jackpot!"
"It's not fucking funny, will you shut your trap for two god damned seconds you
nut?...Hannibal fix him,
what the hell's wrong with him, he's freaking out and it's freaking me out."
Matthew reached out to grab
Will's wrist, feeling the pulse pumping frighteningly fast. Matthew's shocked
eyes told Hannibal to do the
same, handing him the boy's wrist to feel as well.
"He's having a panic attack...let's get him away from the door-"
"No, no, now, let's not be too hasty! Let a guy work his magic, will ya?" Mason
squeezed past them and stepped
outside. Hannibal scowled at the man and watched him reach in and grab Will's
hands.
"You can do it kiddo, baby steps now! Baby steps! You want to come outside?
I'll hold your hands, nothing's
gonna hurt you out here, it's nice and breezy!" Mason stepped back half a foot,
pulling Will's shivering frozen
body toward him a bit, the boy gasping with a short whimper as his toes neared
the edge of the frame-way.
"Mason-"
"You want your money? Let me get it out of him so we're not here till breakfast
checking the insides of
every book, nook, and cranny!"
Hannibal and Matthew didn't like it, but stood and watched curiously at the
strange torture Mason was eager
to explore.
"Here, I'll change up the game darlin', I'll step aside- and you're free to run
away, we wont chase you or shoot
you. We'll just lock you out so we can hurry along our search for your little
treasure while you struggle to reach the
road and flag down a car; if there are any at this hour in this isolated cozy
place. I'd say we'll have enough time."
Mason let his hands go and stepped aside from the doorway on the porch holding
his arm out to present
the escape route.
"-OR, now listen close, you come back inside with us. Tell us where X-Marks-
The-Spot, and we'll leave you to
live your peaceful young life to an old ripe age with all of your limbs in
tact!"
---
Will stood in the doorway trembling in dread, his vision blurring as he tried
to move his feet, but they refused, like
cement bricks weighing his ankles down in place.
He looked at the blonde 'Mason' man smiling at him out from the porch, the
environment around him shivering
like a broken screen glitching in his eyes.
He twitched a quick frown as he shuddered a harsh terrified breath, taking a
step out from the doorway- then
another, and a heavier dragged third.
Matthew and Hannibal worried their eyes at him, wondering if they were really
going to let him go, that maybe
he had been faking it knowing he would be caught unless given the opportunity
to dart.
"Atta boy, push through it! You seem like a trooper, get going little hare! You
were so fast hopping about
inside, I'm sure you can manage better than those measly little steps Willy,
come on!" Mason egged him on
excitedly patting his thighs and waving him on out of the home.
Will heaved a broken shaky breath as he took another step, dropping to one knee
as the porch swirled
and vibrated violently around him. The stars blared as bright as the moonlight
itself while the 'gentle' night
breeze screamed against his eardrums like sirens, mixing with screeching nails
on a chalkboard.
The voices around him muffled as he tried to crawl forward, sobbing when the
rigorous lucid vision grew
more and more blinding, a higher pitched ringing forcing him to stop and cover
his ears and scream.
His own voice was faint to him, feeling his heart beating like a building timer
ready to set a bomb
off in his chest as his veins mimicked the sensation of burning hot ice.
His hyperventilating caused him to black in and out, he tried to grab a crack
in the porch wood in
attempt to steady the surroundings from spinning out of control. Failing, the
ground was suddenly
gone from under him.
The painful vision faded from a hideous searing static to a blurry haze as he
tried to keep his eyes open, blinking
slow as he was lifted and brought back inside. The front door closed in slow
motion as he was carried away
from it, an exhausted whimper escaping his lips as he sat cradled in the
foreign man's arms. The
worried crimson eyes were the last thing he saw staring straight into his
before passing out.
The last thing he heard from the thick accent-
"No more of that...he's agoraphobic.
We're done with this game."
---
Matthew groaned as he rubbed his face in frustration, seated in the chair
beside the couch. Hannibal raked his fingers through
the boy's sweaty curls- the exhausted petrified thing lying on the couch with
his head in the foreign man's lap.
Matthew slid his hands from his brow to his jaw and sighed, staring at the
boy's hooded tired eyes that looked off
at nothing, trained beside the fireplace. Will's breathing slowed, but trembled
as he shivered every now and then.
Guilt filled his chest as he started to imagine how scared the 24 year old must
be. Living all alone with such
a crippling fear of leaving the house, losing his parents at the age of 18 to
deal with his phobia on his own. Now
facing a group of terrifying intruders- big older men with weapons and bags of
tools breaking into his only
safe place. Not to mention one of them a borderline sociopath terrorizing and
knocking the daylights
out of him with the butt end of a knife, threatening to skin him alive and cut
him into pieces.
"Fill me in on what the hell is wrong with the kid again? Cause I'm hurtin to
get out of this debt from these
nut-jobs but I'm not about to get some bad juju on me for robbing a disabled
kid."
Hannibal saw Matthew's face twisting in the guilt and regret, the younger man
itching at his wrist as he
pushed his dirtied hoodie's sleeves up to his elbows.
"From what I can tell by his reaction and symptoms, he has an aggressive level
of the disorder...it's basically
a ruthless anxiety in situations where his mind perceives an environment to be
unsafe with no easy way to
get away. Typical people with it wont go to open spaces, public transits,
shopping malls or step outside
of the home as the most severe situation. Obviously...young Graham here has the
worst of it. What I'm
afraid of is the fact that sometimes overexposure can result in symptoms
lasting over half a year after
the incident. Inflicted people usually go to great lengths like he has to avoid
the situation. We just
happen to be his bad luck card...."
Hannibal frowned and glanced at Mason, the man sitting on the arm of the couch
poking holes in his latex
gloves with his knife. Mason caught the look and raised a brow- "What, we're
blaming me for something
the poor sweetheart has had for lord know's how long? How does one get to this
level of fear, doctor,
please, enlighten us so I can still my beating heart?" Mason waved his knife
before returning to toying
with it as he chuckled curiously.
Matthew looked to Hannibal, waiting for the intelligent answer as well.
Hannibal sighed and leaned forward to see Will's eyes still cracked open and
distant as he tried to come back
down from his paralyzing anxiety attack.
"It's caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The
condition often runs in families, and
stressful events- such as the death of a parent or being attacked, could be
horrible triggers. I'm guessing he
had a mild case of it and it dived for the worst when his parents passed at
18."
"You're telling me he hasn't left the house since he was 18 fucking years old?
He's fucking 24?"
Matthew rubbed his temples, unprepared to take in this unexpected information.
It was supposed to be a
simple rob-job. Not a guilt trip with life lessons and counting your blessings.
Mason stayed silent as the two talked, his focus turning to grazing the tip of
the knife blade on the couch
fabric.
"Yes. So...I suggest we be gentle with him..."
"I suggest, we keep it up until he breaks completely! Then that solves our
little, conundrum, with leaving
little bunny with our names, faces, and plans, I can NOT be the only one who
thinks it's just- PERFECT!?"
Mason stabbed the knife into the arm rest, standing up as he chuckled in wild
disbelief.

Hannibal gently stood, moving a couch pillow under Will's curly hair and
straightened his stance, pulling his
leather jacket off his shoulders and folding it up before handing it to
Matthew.
Mason recognized the threat loud and clear, raising his hands in surrender as
he backed away from the living
area. "Right, right, alright, I see, we've aDOPTED little Will now, I get it.
I'll stand in the sidelines and watch your
ill-equipped train, wreck itself, right before my eyes. Wont touch a hair on
the cute lil' boy's fluffy head."
"No. That's not good enough, actually, Mason. I don't trust you...and that's
not a good side of my opinion to
be on. Matthew here knows that. He's reckless but only reckless to himself.
You, on the other hand-
you're reckless to everyone and everything around you. You're impulsive in the
worst ways, especially
for a sociopath. I'm not a fan of that. At all." Hannibal stepped forward, his
eyes dark and heavy as he
seemed to grow more terrifying than Matthew had seen him in a long, long time.
Mason sensed the danger in the air weighing down in the room, grinning wide as
he laughed and
pulled his knife from the couch arm.
"I hate to tell you, but I've got a secret you're going to want to hear before
you make any rash decisions."
Mason stammered with a chuckle, keeping the blade between him and Hannibal as
the man loomed closer with
predatory eyes locked on him.
"Mason, put the knife down before you hurt yourself...or...rather, it gets used
against you."
Matthew said with disinterest on his tone, already moved from the chair to
where Hannibal had been seated
to assume the task of comforting the boy with gentle strokes to his hair.
"Want a hint? It has to do with you're precious treasure hunt-" Mason was cut
short when the knife was
skillfully twisted and snatched from his hand, the blade pressing firm against
his carotid artery as he huffed
a shocked cackle of a laugh with hands held up in another surrender.
Hannibal stared into his smirking eyes with disgust on his scowl, twitching his
cheek to a crooked smile.
"I promise you your secret isn't as worthy as what I feel for you, or your
'precious' name, Mr. Verger."
 
---
***** Adolescent *****
Chapter Summary
     "He's not going to tell us. He's still battling his symptoms, but he
     did manage to tell me not
     to go in 'the room'. Which means there is one, and there's something
     in it he doesn't want
     us to see." Hannibal lowered to one knee and felt along the bottom
     edges of granite counter,
     leaning over to inspect the area.
     "He did? Oh, well, hell, naturally the proper response of a bunch of
     dim witted burglars like us
     should do is just the opposite and fuckin' search it out, huh?" Matt
     scoffed and bit his lip nervously,
     watching Mason and Hannibal examining the kitchen before looking back
     at the sheet of paper.
Chapter Notes
     I'm straying, lord, someone stop me :p
 [matthew] [will] [hanni]
 
 
"Hannibal, I'd actually like to hear what he's talking about. He's a sneaky
fuckin' prick, it might be important."
Matthew cut in, looking up at the intimidating man with a slight plea in his
eyes.
"C'mon, promise it's worth it doc, cross my little heart hoping, not, to die."
Mason grinned and swallowed
hard against the blade.
"We're listening then." Hannibal didn't budge, keeping the weapon in place.
"Right, okay, I understand that- gotta keep me in check I get that. Well,
William here, he's actually got a
neat little secret room hidden around here. What's absolutely WILD, is that I
haven't been able to find
it! Now, since we found his dusty old rabbit hole in the wall, I'm starting to
think the boy has a much
much bigger hole that leads to WONDERLAND."
Matthew and Hannibal both furrowed their brows at that, Matthew standing up
after moving the pillow back
under Will's head and approaching the two.
"What the hell are you talking about? Why should we believe you?"
Matthew touched Hannibal's wrist gently, asking him quietly to lower the knife.
Hannibal shot a short disappointing glance at Matthew and did so, putting it in
his pocket to keep
it from Mason.
"I was going to save the information for myself to explore after offing the
kid- again, plans change,
no need to bully me over it any longer-, but I suppose I've been cornered into
sharing. Let me show
you a pretty picture, it's in my coat back at the front of the house- am I free
to retrieve it gentlemen?"
"I'm not particularly interested. Matthew I'd be happy to find you another
means of financial gain
if you'd allow me to dispose of Mr. Verger here."
"Ah ah, let me show you before you get too hasty with ending our adventure?"
Mason cut in before Matthew could answer.
"Go get it, hurry up." Matthew scowled, shoving him on to follow him through
the house.
Hannibal rolled his eyes and stepped over to Will, crouching down to check his
eyes.
"I wont let anything happen to you, William...if you can talk, or move...let me
know. I'm right here."
Will blinked a few times, his shoulder twitching once before he managed to
raise his eyes up to
Hannibal's face.
"D-don't...go in the bad room..."
Hannibal tilted his head with a short squint.
Now he was interested.
---
Mason and Matthew moved to the kitchen, Hannibal leaving Will on the couch as
he
joined them.
"See, this is a blue-print of Mr. Graham's home. One of my visits I noticed the
home seemed
to come to a stop, here in the kitchen between the hall and bathroom?" Mason
pointed from
the kitchen to the bathroom door down the hallway. Hannibal and Matthew
glancing from
the sheet to look and back.
"I'll make it simple for you, the house is bigger than the blue-print shows!
So, this kitchen has
had a little work done, hm? I haven't been able to figure out just where, but
something in
here is going to take us somewhere interesting and I am just ITCHING to find
out what."
"So the kitchen is what..." Matthew began walking heel to toe in a line across
the kitchen,
stopping at the counter with searching eyes after counting the distance.
"-4 feet longer than the doodle says. What could you possibly hide in four feet
of spare space?"
"A stairway? Maybe an elevator?" Hannibal muttered as he ran his fingers across
the counter's edges slowly.
"A stairway. Okay. There's stairs under the kitchen, that's our new theory. Why
not just ask the
kid what this is all about? I feel bad but I'm kinda wondering-"
"He's not going to tell us. He's still battling his symptoms, but he did manage
to tell me not
to go in 'the room'. Which means there is one, and there's something in it he
doesn't want
us to see." Hannibal lowered to one knee and felt along the bottom edges of
granite counter,
leaning over to inspect the area.
"He did? Oh, well, hell, naturally the proper response of a bunch of dim witted
burglars like us
should do just the opposite and fuckin' search it out, huh?" Matt scoffed and
bit his lip nervously,
watching Mason and Hannibal examining the kitchen before looking back at the
sheet of paper.
Mason paused and stood up straight, looking to Hannibal curiously.
"The boy spoke to you?"
"Mmhm..." Hannibal answered blandly, standing to feel around the top edges of
counter now.
"And the three of us are just, dawdling about in the kitchen while he's alone
all the way across the
house?"
"He's not capable of moving at the moment, Mason- you're paranoia is getting
quite tedious to
listen to."
"I'll go check on him." Matthew sighed, folding the paper and bringing it with
him as he left the kitchen.
---
 
"Hey...you feelin' any better kiddo? I heard you talked to my friend a minute
ago...wanna talk to me?"
Matthew sat down in the chair in front of Will, touching his knuckle gently to
the boy's cheek.
Will stared at him and blinked a few times before he finally managed a nod.
"Really? Good, that's awesome...uh...my name's Matt...if you didn't already
figure that. Bet you think we're
all a bunch of morons using our names and not wearing masks and all that, huh?
Ha..that's uh...cause we didn't
think you'd be here kid...ya surprised the shit out of us. Well, at least me
and the old man."
Will remained silent, still watching Matthew's shy regretful demeanor in front
of him. It was calming.
Matthew cleared his throat and chewed his lip for a moment.
"Well...uh, can I ask why you don't want us to go in whatever room you're
talking about?"
"..it's...a bad room..."
Matthew raised his brows and pursed his lips, shocked to hear him answer,
curious at the small childish tone.
"Here, I'm sure you're tired of laying down like this, let's sit you up, hm?"
He stood and helped carefully move Will to sit upright in the corner of the
couch, propping
a pillow between the armrest and his bare torso.
"Blanket?"
Will shivered and nodded, watching as the man grabbed the throw and tucked it
over his shoulders.
"Okay...so, why's this room a bad room? Is there something dangerous in it?"
A shaken head, no.
"..kayyy...is there something, illegal in it? Like painted money or bags?"
Another no.
Matthew sighed and thought.
"Something icky? Like, bugs or...rats, maybe smelly, like rotten meat?"
Will shifted his eyes from Matt's shoulder to his eyes for a second then back,
a soft shrug.
Matthew caught it and felt his nerves chill.
"...this room smells bad, okay...so, do you ever go down to it and try and fix
the smell?"
He nods and shudders, managing to move his fingers and clench the blanket
tighter.
"Are you afraid of the room, Will?"
"...one..of them.."
Matthew widened his eyes at that, a short scoff of disbelief.
"One of them is scary, there's more than one room then...so, what's so scary
about this one,
maybe I can protect you from it, make it go away?"
He glanced up to see Hannibal approach and stop a few steps behind the couch,
resting his
hands in his pockets as he gestured for him to ignore his presence and
continue. Mason
remained in the kitchen searching for clues.
"I...don't want anyone to go to the rooms...they're not good rooms..."
Will's eyes welled up in tears, a stifled sob as he began trembling again.
"Hey, hey hey- okay, here, take this, this is a pretty picture of your house,
here,
look at it and I'll be right back, just 30 seconds, you can count it if you
want."
Matt handed the blueprint to Will and brushed a quick stroke pushing the curly
brown hair
back from his brow for a second before he rounded the couch and lead Hannibal
back a few steps.
"What's wrong with him, it's like he's suddenly 10 years old right now?"
Matt hissed, glancing at the couch and back to Hannibal.
"...there's a chance he's been through a much deeper trauma than we're aware
of. The over exposure from
earlier likely triggered something that's caused his mind to regress to his
adolescence...it's his symptoms
trying to protect him from any further trauma. From what I've seen before, this
seems a lot like..."
"Like what?"
"It's a lot like someone who was abused as a child. If the agoraphobia ran in
the family it's possible whatever
member had it used him as an outlet. Did we ever figure out if Mason knew just
how his parent's both died
when he was only 18?"
"...shit..do you think-"
"Matt?"
They both looked back to see Will turned in the couch looking at them with
questioning eyes.
"Uh, yeah kid?"
"It's been over thirty seconds...." Will frowned and stared at him as he
returned to the couch
in front of him, crouching to a knee.
"Sorry about that...I won't break anymore promises, I'm not as great a counter
as you are. I
do have a question though, if you're up for it?"
"..okay..."
"How...um...what happened to your mom and pops, do you remember?"
Hannibal came over as well now, sitting in the chair beside Matthew as the man
sat crouched
at Will's eye level. Will shifted his eyes from Matthew to Hannibal, leaning a
bit to see him better.
Hannibal smiled sweetly at him and nodded. "It's okay William, we just want to
know more about
you, we're curious and would like to be friends. We'll tell you about us if you
tell us about you,
how's that for a deal, sweetheart?"
Will licked his lips and nodded after a few moments. "Okay..."
"Yeah? Good...okay, well...do you want to answer my question first or do you
want me and Hanners
to tell you something before you do?"
"..mm..." Will simply grunted, tearing small corners from the paper to distract
himself.
"Alright...lets see...you got anything to tell, Hannibal?"
Hannibal chewed his lip for a second before speaking,
"I don't like cats. Cat's like to cling to ankles. It's quite troublesome, like
little clawed hunters."
Will scoffed, stifling a short giggle as he looked up from the paper and nodded
at Hannibal.
Matthew turned to look at the grinning man over his shoulder in confusion, then
back to Will.
"You agree with him I see, ha...so, your turn, if you're ready."
"Mom and Dad just went away. I don't know where, uncle Neal didn't tell me
where."
"Uncle Neal? Where's Uncle Neal now?"
Matt glanced at Hannibal, a small fear in his eyes that someone could show up
at any moment.
Will didn't respond, frowning as he tore more bits from the paper.
"William, honey...where's you're Uncle Neal?"
Hannibal tried now, leaning forward with his forearms on his thighs.
"...with mom and dad."
---
Matthew paced the kitchen shaking his head as he rubbed his jaw nervously.
Hannibal leaned against the counter across from Mason on the other counter.
"I don't like this dude, I'm pretty sure we need to quit looking for these
'rooms' and get
the hell out of here, something's not right. This kid, he's got some more
issues than just
being fuckin' scared of the outdoors. I get that he was probably beat up or god
forbid fuckin
touched up as a kid but for gods sake, I'm starting to think mom, pop, and
uncle Neal are
still in this fucking house and I don't want to smell what 6 year old corpses
smell like."
Matt laughed sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air with a disbelieving
shrug.
"You're reaching pretty far with that theory Matthew-"
"No no, I like this, I really do actually, do you know what this means!? Little
bunny isn't a bunny after all!"
Mason clapped his hands together as he bit his lip excitedly.
"It means, he's the FOX, you see? Poor dear probably knew that, oh say, big ol'
uncle Neal killed mommy
and daddy- and scared little rabbit saw him take them to his secret lair under
ground! After so long,
likely suffering horrible, god awful abuse from the brute, he was too scared to
say a word about it, hm?
So then, when sweet Will finally comes to his senses and gets the GUTS to stand
up for himself, he
evolves. The hare becomes a snare. He kills the big scary man and hides him to
rot with his own
evil-doing down below!" Mason bit his lip as he nodded through his assumed
explanation. 
"...are you insane? The kid is scared to step foot outside, even before he was
terrorized into acting
like an actual child by YOUR psycho ass he wears Disney pajama's and collects
comic strips, doesn't
know how to handle, manage, or spend money- which by the way is who I assume is
this 'fancy
dressed woman' you often saw Hannibal, she's probably a lawyer or some shit
trying to keep
his finances in check or some shit! He's harmless!" Matt spat through his
furious rant. 
"I'm not insane, but now I'm thinking little Will actually IS, ha! I failed to
mention the death certificates
were dubbed 'death in ABSENTIA', which means they gave up searching for the two
and decided they
had to be deceased wherever they were. That was made official when he was 18,
they had been missing
since he was 13!"
"I'm getting fucking sick of you telling us shit only when it's convenient for
you to open your trap,
you're full of shit, Mason, this is getting way too out of hand and I'm about
done dude."
"No...I think Mason might actually be right about this, Matthew."
Matt snapped his eyes to him wide in shock.
"You're joking. Why. What makes you believe that heap of trash!?"
"Trust me...it makes every bit of sense compared to what I've dealt with in my
years being a psychiatrist."
"This is riveting! I couldn't have expected a more exciting night even if-"
Mason was cut short when Matt held up a hand, looking down at his feet with a
curious expression.
"Guys..." Matthew slid his shoe a bit to the right, scrunching his brows
together as he stared
at the floorboards.
"Did anyone notice the wood changes colour from here?"
Hannibal squinted at it and stepped away from the darker wood onto the lighter
side toward the hall,
Mason standing on the edge of the darker as he crouched down to examine it.
"...ohhhh, I've seen something like this before, quite an expensive trap door I
believe." Mason smiled
as he ran his fingers across the cracks.
"I'm sorry, a fucking WHAT?"

Just at that moment, the floor craned, the sound of metal scraping and snapping
hard beneath
their feet with a muffled thud.
"What the shi-"
Matthew and Mason both startled when the floor suddenly dropped from under
them, Hannibal surged
forward and grabbed Matthew's fingers before he fell through, Mason
disappearing into the dark shadows
with flailing limbs.
"FUCK, PULL ME UP!" Matt cried, his fingers slipping out of his glove
half a second before Hannibal could grab for his wrist.
"Shit!" Hannibal cursed and dropped to his knees, leaning over to watch as
Matthew dropped into the
dark with an echoed shout. He cringed when he heard a heavy thud, Matthew's
painful grunt in the dark
at the same time of Mason's louder scream followed by psychotic agonized
laughter.
"Matthew, are you alright?!"
"I'M FUCKIN PEACHY, I THINK MY ASS BROKE MASON'S HIP!"
"THE FALL BROKE MY LEG BUT I'M HAPPY TO ADMIT MY HIP IS FINE."
"HOW THE HELL IS YOUR HIP FINE, I'M PRETTY SURE IT WENT IN MY ASSHOLE FOR A
FUCKING SECOND!?"
"I HAVE PROMINENT SHARP HIPS, AND IF IT DID I'M SAD TO SAY I DIDN'T ENJOY IT AS
MUCH AS I'D WANT TO."
"YOU'RE FUCKIN' GROSS."
Hannibal rolled his eyes and stood up looking around. "I'll be right back."
"BACK, WHERE YOU GOING!? GET US OUTTA HERE!!"
---
Hannibal frowned and sighed at the empty couch and dropped blanket- the entire
paper torn to shreds
scattered across the floor.
"So it begins..." He muttered  with a smirk, picking up the one larger piece
torn around the kitchen.
---
***** Under the Stairs *****
Chapter Summary
     "Alright...what's this you've got now?"
     "It's for you to talk to your friend Mr. Matthew, I'm too nervous to
     talk on it and I'm afraid he's mad at me for
     putting him down there with the rabbit man on accident."
     Hannibal smiled and shook his head, "He's not mad at you but I'll do
     the talking if you want. What
     do I need to tell him to do, William?"
     "Uhm, tell him not to go in the right door...he should close it."
Chapter Notes
     I feel like I'm confusing myself, feel free to point out mistakes,
     I've been frustrated thinking about where I'm going with this for
     like 4 days.
     *sweats nervously*
[matthew] [bedroom] [will]
 
 
 

Matthew groaned as he stood up, wincing in pain as he stretched his back.
"How bad's your leg?" He asked, unable to see anything in the pitch black area.
Only a dim glow from
the opening about 15 feet above to see the kitchen ceiling tiles.
"I'm going to say a solid 10 out of 10 on definitely broken- but a 6 on pain
because I've broken several
before. Boy, how much you wanna bet the child isn't on his precious little
couch anymore? Probably found
his way to, oh, I don't know, a fancy ol' switch somewhere to trap me down
here?"
"Yeah yeah, you're quite the victim. I'm down here too if you didn't notice."
"Ah huh, yes but you were JUST about off the area. You practically had one foot
out before it opened,
didn't you?"
"Yeah? So? Why didn't he wait till I was all the way off it if it was just
about you then, hm?"
"I got a little too close to leaving it! Ha, I started to look at it too and he
knew he'd lose the
opportunity if he waited too long and risked the timing! You were almost saved
by the doctor,
if you weren't wearing such cheap gloves you wouldn't be down here and my hip
wouldn't
be preparing a nasty bruise!"
"How the hell would he have seen where we were, the kitchen is way too far away
from the couch
and if he was watching us I'm sure we would have noticed."
"Ah-" Mason paused to cringe as he scooted up to lean on the wall. "He probably
has some sort
of security system we haven't seen...likely in one of his hidden little fox
holes somewhere. "
"Y'know...I don't want to hear your theories anymore but the scary fact that
you've been right
about way too much has me cornered to thinking you're right. This kid is full
of surprises, I'll tell you
that for sure..." Matt huffed.
"Good- now start feeling around for a light switch then, would you dear?"
"Uh huh.." Matt grunted, running his hands along the shadows against the wall
slowly up and down
as he went.
---
Hannibal did a quick once over through the winding floor looking for Will,
stopping in the
kitchen when he reached it again.
"How are things going down there?" He asked, leaning over as he squinted at the
dark area.
"Eh? Trying to find a-" Matthew's shout was cut off with a flinch when dark
orange lights suddenly flickered on
around the room, illuminating the cement surroundings and dingy cracking floor.
"...light switch..." Matthew finished, straightening back up after half-ducking
the surprise.
"I see you found it, anything interesting to see Matthew?" Hannibal crouched
down now to see just Mason's
waist to toes and Matthew step under the hole to look up at him.
"Uh, I didn't find a switch. They just came on their own. There's um, there's
two big metal doors- guys I'm
not even kidding now, I'm not ready for some fuckin' Saw 7 shit, there's a
camera in the top corner. I never
liked those damn movies, they're set up for failure like 80% of the time! Plus
with Mason as a team mate,
he's already fucking useless not to mention broken, I'd be screwed, get me the
fuck outta here." Matthew began
to panic, laughing sarcastically to hide his confusion and frustration.
"Now that's an interesting new idea-" Mason started with a raised brow.
"NO- shut up, don't you DARE try and convince me the kid is a real life Jigsaw
or so help me fucking God."
Matthew snapped at Mason with a pointing finger, warning him to abandon his
train of thought.
"Calm down Matthew, they're either motion activated or the boy turned them on
for you. I'm going to find
him. I'll give you something for Mason's leg first, if I can't find him I'll
find a ladder or something like it. Be patient."
Hannibal stepped over to the dinning room and broke the legs from an old
weakened chair, pulling the tape from
his tool-bag and tossing the items down along with a flashlight for Matthew to
catch.
"Do I snap it back in place or just tape it up!?"
"Feel for the bone, it'll be an unnatural lump under the skin, use your common
sense as to what angle and how
much pressure you need to use, realign it and tape the wood on either side of
where you had to push."
"Right, okay, I'm ready for the nightmares- here Mason, bite on my flashlight
or something, I don't really know
what the fuck I'm doing." Matthew sighed as he prepared the process.
Hannibal couldn't help but smirk when he heard the crack echo from the floor
followed by Mason's muffled
screaming, the shout diving into pained laughter after a few moments.
---
Hannibal pouted for a moment, looking out the window as the soft faint light of
daylight started to form
behind the dark night clouds. Straightening his leather jacket and checking his
pockets for the two feld blades,
he started back through the house, going upstairs this time.
He spent a while treading lightly before he actually started to call for Will.
"William, I'm not going to hurt you, and you're not in any trouble. I
understand why you'd want Mason out
of the picture, he's not a very friendly man. Come out, dear." Hannibal stood
in the middle of what he was sure
had to be Will's bedroom, his hands in his pants pockets as he studied the mess
of comic books, textbooks and papers.
A shelf beside the bed had a row of action figures lined across the top, the
shelves below filled with college level
textbooks on multiple subjects.
He smiled when a small creak squeaked from inside the closet. Turning gently on
his heel he leaned over a bit to
see the boy push the sliding door to the side, his curly head poking out from a
hole in the floor of the closet.
Will toyed with a small remote as he stood only past his shoulders out of the
opening, his big blue eyes shifting from
Hannibal's shoes to his face with a curious expression.
"There's my sneaky little pup...you've got quite a few interesting hiding spots
around here, thank you for coming out
before I got too worried. Would you like to show me what kind of toys you've
got down there?" Hannibal stepped forward,
taking his hands out of his pockets as he crouched down at eye level with the
boy.
"As long as you don't try and let the rabbit man out?"
"Rabbit man...Mason? You remember him calling you a rabbit?"
"I donno...I'm kinda starting to remember stuff, I remember him hurting me and
saying he was going to hurt me worse. I don't
like him. He also said I have rabbit holes. They're not rabbit holes, they're
my safe spaces. Well, some of them.
You can see, come on." Will climbed back down and Hannibal followed down with a
bit of struggle through the
tight spot.
"...this is under the stairs." Hannibal muttered to himself after dropping from
the small ladder. A stack of 6 computers
sat on a small desk, the area was narrow but about the size of a typical home's
master-bathroom, the stairs being wide
enough to be considered two sets allowed for the space.
"Yeah, neat huh? I can see inside and outside with the buttons and stuff. Look-
"
Will sat on the stool in front of the computers, Hannibal hovering over his
shoulder as he watched the
screens flicker and change after each button he pushed on a keyboard.
He raised a brow as he studied them, the black and white images of the front
porch, the room
with Matt and Mason, the kitchen, living room, and two black screens.
"What are these two supposed to show, William?"
"I don't have the lights on in those rooms, I don't like those."
Will chewed his lip and sighed, staring at the dark images.
"Why not?"
"Why? Cause I don't have to go in them anymore, I'm not a stupid doll anymore."
Will clicked a button, the camera zooming in on Matthew as he stood with his
back against the wall,
hands in pockets staring up at the lens.
"...a doll, William? Did someone make you play pretend when you didn't want
to?"
"I'm not supposed to talk about it. We should get Matt out and lock the rabbit
man down there,
I'm getting tired and I need to take my medicine." Will pushed three keys at
the same time, stretching
his fingers over the board before letting them go.
Hannibal frowned at the shirtless boy and watched the screen Will focused on,
Matthew startling away
from the wall as the large metal doors popped an inch open. Only one of the
black screens lit up.
Are one of those going to lead Matthew out?"
"Mmhm...he has to go through the bad room and you're going to have to go
outside to unlock it
for him. You gotta go down into the storm shed outside and move a really heavy
metal shelf to see
the door."
"How do you know it leads outside with your illness, dear?"
"I tried to leave that way before...I pushed open the upside-down doors and
only lasted a few
seconds before I climbed back down the steps, I got really dizzy and couldn't
see for a long
while. It got really cold and I fell asleep in the shed. You should wear your
jacket when you
go down there." Will wiggled his nose and picked up a walkie-talkie looking
device from
beside the computers.
Hannibal furrowed his brows and thought on what Will had said, possibly
reffering to an attempt
to escape whatever horrors took place in this bad room.
"Alright...what's this you've got now?"
"It's for you to talk to your friend Mr. Matthew, I'm too nervous to talk on it
and I'm afraid he's mad at me for
putting him down there with the rabbit man on accident." Will looked up at
Hannibal with sad
eyes, pursing his bottom lip out a bit as he held the device out to him.
Hannibal smiled and shook his head, "He's not mad at you but I'll do the
talking if you want. What
do I need to tell him to do, William?"
"Uhm, tell him not to go in the right door...he should close it cause it's
really smelly and stuff...my
buttons open both of them when I push it so I couldn't just choose one."
Hannibal nodded and clicked the button on the side before he spoke.
---
"Well? What's in door number one?" Mason asked from the floor, leaning over a
bit to see in the
dim fluorescent lit room Matthew wandered around in.
"A god fucking awful smell that I told everyone earlier I didn't want to have
to ever fucking smell,
a metal table type slab thing sticking out of the wall, nothin' on it, and what
looks very much like
a fridge possibly filled with dead body parts." Matthew frowned as he leaned
over and inspected
the thick rusting deadbolt on the dusty fridge.
"Wonderful! See any sign of a key to peek at the treasure?"
"Scuse me? You think the boy hid the money with a dead body in a fridge?"
"BodieS, possibly, and why not?"
"I wouldn't open this fucking thing even if there was a million bucks in it."
Matthew flinched and ducked when there was a harsh static and click that echoed
loud in the underground
area, looking up with wild confusion as he stood back straight.
("Matthew- William says you should leave the room you're in and close the
door.")
"I knew it, he finally did it- the doctor has ascended to another plane of
being, he's God now."
Mason chuckled as he watched Matthew step out still curious and confused.
"Kid has a whole speaker system rigged up in the place- that's cool. How do we
talk back so
I can tell him I'll kiss his ass for the rest of my life if he doesn't put me
in a fridge?"
---
"Matthew looks like he wants to speak back, is there a way for him to talk to
us from down there, dear?"
"No, this is so I can talk to people outside so I don't have to open the front
door...they speak into a
button out there but that's the only one. I need to take my medicine and those
make me sleepy,
I don't wanna see him go through the bad room anyway...can you get him out and
promise me
the rabbit man is going to stay down there?" Will stood from the stool, rubbing
his eye before
looking at Hannibal with a curious look.
"Of course, come, let's get you those medications and some shut eye, I'll
handle the rest of everything
and maybe have some breakfast ready for you when you wake up?"
Will perked up at that, smiling with a satisfied nod.
"Good boy- I'll let him kno~" Hannibal stilled when Will suddenly lifted on his
bare toes to peck a quick
kiss on the man's cheek and hurried up the ladder to his bedroom.
Hannibal blinked a few times before smirking, touching his fingers to the
slightly wet spot as he clicked
the radio back on. "Give me a few minutes to put William to sleep, Matthew, he
needs medication."
---
"Really? Okay, fuck me right, damn. I'll just chill down here with a few dead
bodies and an injured
sociopath. This is exactly what I planned for night. I'm never listening to him
again."
"I was under the impression it was YOU who went to HIM with the idea to rob
someone so you weren't
very, hm, talented, with the skills he bears?"
"YEAH WELL, it's a good damn thing he's not a gambler cause he has a lousy
fucking sack of luck with picking
a winning card, now shut the fuck up." Matt snarled at Mason who rolled his
eyes in return.
"Quit stalling and see what's behind door number two, would you?"

Matt pushed the heavy door open and froze in the doorway.
"...ohh, boy."
The light above was a dim orange, a metal desk centered against a wall across
from the entry
with a wood chair pushed in. A computer sat on one end of the desk, and a
medium boxed tv
with a VHS player attached to it sat on the other end.
Beneath the desk next to the chair's legs was a large cardboard box sloppily
closed with dented
corners and torn worn edges.
Above the desk was a long single pane of glass window the length of the whole
wall and up,
whatever on the other side covered in dark shadows.
"You gotta come see this..." Matt said with a bland tone, stepping back out to
help Mason stand.
He struggled as the man limped with him into the room, grunting as he was
placed in the chair
with a painful huff.
"Interesting set up...what's in the box?"
"...tons of VHS tapes with weird labels...some of them look like kiddie
handwriting and some
of them are like cursive and shit."
"Hmm..wonder how we turn the light on in our little bonus mystery room?" Mason
asked as he
studied to monitors and walls around him.
"Maybe if-"
Matthew stopped when the lights suddenly flashed on behind the glass, his eyes
widening when
he saw the insides.
"Oh my." Mason chuckled and covered his mouth.
Hannibal stood in the other room with a hand on a switch beside the door he had
just stepped through.
He looked curious as he looked around the new discovery. It was a moderately
sized bedroom set up,
a queen sized bed covered in satin and lace sheets with a pastel patterned
butterfly comforter made
tidy on the mattress as thin see through creme curtains draped down from tall
white wooden bedposts.
The walls were decorated with soft pink paint and framed pictures of animals, a
tall chestnut wardrobe
and matching bedside tables the only other furniture besides a long dresser
matching the length and
placement of the metal desk they sat opposite of.
"How the fuck did you get in there?!" Matthew shouted in confusion, standing up
from digging in the
box of VHS's.
Hannibal stepped over to the dresser and picked up a dusty tube of lipstick,
setting it down to
run his fingers across the wood before he stopped and looked directly at them
through the
glass, quirking his head a bit with a raised brow.
"Can he not hear me?"
---
Hannibal stared into the large long lengthened mirror framed in intricately
detailed thick gold, tilting
his head slightly as he noticed the strange thickness to the dusty glass.
He knocked on it four times in a 'ratatat' rhythm, scoffing when Matthew
finished the beat with the
last two knocks from the other side of the mirror. "One way glass...interesting
touch..." Hannibal
smirked and shook his head as he ran his eyes around the room again.
"Now how did you get from there to here, Mr. Neal..." He muttered, searching
the walls beside the mirror
with his hands.
---
"Shit...one way glass, he can't see us."
"There has to be a way to get from in here to in there." Mason said as he
turned on the two monitors.
"...the wall is different under the desk, the room is cement but- oh shit."
Matt dropped back down and pulled the box of tapes
out, banging his knuckles on the hardwood pannel. Mason watched as Hannibal
heard the knock and stepped back over.
"It won't budge-!"
"Try sliding it to the side instead of pushing, boy." Mason said as he leaned
over in the chair to watch.
"Oh," Matt gasped when it scraped and dragged aside into the wall, raising his
brows when he was face to face
with Hannibal who held up the false front of the dresser.
"Why hello there, long time no see." Hannibal smiled as Matt grinned and backed
up to allow him in.
---
***** Home Movies *****
Chapter Summary
     ("My name is Will, I'm ten, aaand my Dad got me a camera for my
     birthday to make, um, like a real life diary. But, diaries are for
     people with secrets I think...I don't have any secrets so I thought I
     could just make mini movies for fun! I'm gonna call it Will's World,
     cause it sounds right, y'know?")
Chapter Notes
     Put me in the ground and pelt me with stones.
     Just do it. I made myself drunk-sad writing this.
     Punish me. Please. *tries to act tough*
     *is so sorry*
See the end of the chapter for more notes
 [matt imagine] [neal] [will] 
 
 
Hannibal stood and dusted his knees off from crawling through the low space,
running his hand
through his loose bangs with a sigh.
"Lovely of you to join us doctor." Mason huffed with a short laugh.
"How the hell did you get in there? Where's the kid?"
"William is sleeping on the couch, his medication put him out quickly he hadn't
gotten a chance
to explain in detail to me how to get through the area to you. I see you've
helped yourselves
into his things? What is this?" Hannibal turned from inspecting the blank lit
screens to look
at the box of tapes before leaning over to the keyboard.
He pushed a few buttons he had seen Will hit and the computer monitor flicked
to a split screen
of a few squares showing various parts of the home and outside.
"Uh, yeah, we didn't get very far with it- how'd you know how to do that?"
Matt scrunched his brows together and stepped closer to see the square with
Will sleeping
soundly bundled on the couch.
"There's a setup much like it under the stairs, what are the cassettes?"
"Huh? Didn't watch anything, honestly don't think we wanna, now that I see the
um...other room."
"Little William certainly didn't have a little sister as far as I figured out~"
Mason added with a chuckle.
"Could you not laugh at that? Cause I'm seriously considering letting Hannibal
loose on your ass."
Hannibal smirked as Mason quieted quickly, leaning over to pick a tape from the
box and popped it
in the VCR connected to the TV.
"-or we could watch one, fuck it...you're a curious doctor, I get it." Matt
mumbled as he leaned against
the chair edge Mason sat in.
"Oh goodie, movie night~" Mason chimed with a smile.
"What was that one labeled, was it the kiddie scribble or the cursive?"
Matthew asked as Hannibal pressed play and turned the volume up.
"Scribbled, 'me and dad'." Hannibal answered, his eyes focused on the screen as
it fizzled
and cleared up a moving faded coloured image.
"Oh.."
---
 

Will sat in front of the camera, about 10 or 11 years old, his curls long and
wild touching just past his thin bare shoulders. He laughed as he tried to
adjust the lens, the picture blurring and focusing a few times till it cleared.
His grin was wide and glowing, a single canine tooth missing from the pearly
smile.
He plopped down in a bean bag chair and licked his lips before speaking.
("My name is Will, I'm ten, aaand my Dad got me a camera for my birthday to
make, um, like a real life diary. But, diaries are for people with secrets I
think...I don't have any secrets so I thought I could just make mini movies for
fun! I'm gonna call it Will's World, cause it sounds right, y'know?")
Will stopped, looking just past the camera with bright blue eyes and parted
lips.
("Breakfast will be ready soon Will...oh, is this diary time? My bad..didn't
think you'd be using it so early after just getting it yesterday.")
("No Daddy, I'm making MINI MOVIES, it's WILL'S WORLD! I'm gonna do all my
impressions and stuff, not a diary!")
("Right I forgot, sorry, that sounds fun Willy. I gotta head to work real soon
though, I'd like to have breakfast with you before I do? It's gonna be a long
day again. Come on.")
("Okay, can you bring me home some more tapes in case I use these up by
tomorrow?")
Wills father laughed and stepped into view from the waist down, straining as he
picked Will up in his arms and fumbled with the camera.
("You've got a box full of them kiddo, if you use all those up by tomorrow I'm
sending them to Hollywood for a 6 part movie series. I'll make them keep the
name, it suites you. Will's world.")
Will giggled and twisted in his fathers arms, hanging upside down when he
noticed him struggling to figure out the camera operations with one hand.
His curls fell as he swung in the strong arms, mimicking a monkey with rib
scratches and chimp noises before grinning into the lens when his father
laughed at his silliness- then reached around with his thin arms to turn it
off.
--
"That was so sweet I may vomit." Mason said as he cleared his throat and
watched Hannibal eject the tape to put another in.
"His dad seems nice..." Matthew scratched at his head with a frown, dreading
what had to be a gradual decline in
positive video sets.
"What's that one?"
"His writing again...labeled 'dinner'."
---
The screen lights back up, a sunny day beaming through the windows as the
camera shook and straightened in Will's hands facing himself.
("Welcome back to Will's World! Mom made tealpa for dinner-")
("Tilapia, Will...") Will's mom said quietly across the table. Her hair was
dark and long, lazily pinned up in a messy nest of a bun ontop of her head. She
was pale and skinny like Will, bags under her green eyes as she stared down at
her plate- poking the food with a fork.
("Oh, tilapia, sorry mum...mum?")
She looks up from her distant thoughts and blinks at Will, her eyes shifting to
the lens then past it to Will a few times before giving him a sad smile.
("Yeah sweetie?")
("You should come make videos with me so you're not so sad all the time...I
know it gets boring, but I can make it better...I wish the outside didn't make
us sick, then I'd take you out on picnics and stuff.")
Will sat the camera down on the table and padded around to his mom, hugging her
arm as she leaned over to kiss his curls.
--
"Shit, you were close to being right...it WAS a family member but it wasn't the
piece of shit who hurt on him, it was his mom...they both can't go outside."
Matthew chewed his lip and stared at the woman, beautiful in such a sad state.
He could imagine himself stepping in to hold the depressed woman's gentle face-
to tell her everything was going to be okay as long as she had that precious
little boy by her side. He could imagine Will with the same lonely expression,
sitting at the same table alone in his older age with no one else at the table
with him, stripped of his loving parent's presence. 
His heart ached at the thought.
"It affected him much earlier than I thought too..." Hannibal said with a
frown, staring at the screen as he tilted his head at the sweet gesture and
comforting words the young boy used to cheer up his mother.
---
("That's very sweet of you darling...eat your dinner. Uncle Neal is coming by
soon with some new supplies. Don't waste your tape on me. Go now, love.")
Will pouted and stood on his tip toes to kiss his mothers cheek, skipping back
to his seat. The tape whirred and went black, then static before resuming later
in the day.
Will ran to the door, aiming the camera at his mom as she unlocked it and
walked away down the hall, gently pushing Will along with her as he tried to
record the outside when the door opened.
("William step back you know you get dizzy if you stand too close...")
("Hi Uncle Neal~ I'm making a movie, wanna be in it?")
A tall slender but taut man in a suit stepped down the hall with a brown paper
bags in his arms. His hair black and slicked in a professional side comb with
black rimmed glasses over his dark brown eyes. Will toyed with the zoom on his
face as he smiled down at him walking to the kitchen.
("Oh? Sounds fun! I'd love to be an extra, when's my close up?") The man
grinned as he sat the bags down on the counter.
("I'm doing it right now! You're starring on Will's World!") Will giggled when
the man gasped and made a funny face, turning the aim to his mom when she
rounded the counter holding a dark blue shawl draped around her shoulders. She
planted a small greeting kiss to the man's cheek before looking in the bags.
("Will, Neal got you some new shampoo and conditioner, it's late, why don't you
go take your bath and try them out. I'll be right up to help comb your curls
and bring your medication...") She sounded tired as she helped Neal unload the
bags, her eyes heavy as she glanced at Will and the camera he held.
("Hey, I can take care of him, you look really tired Olivia...you should get
some sleep. Here, I got you this fancy tea from Whole Foods, some scrawny kid
with a piece of metal in his eyebrow told me it's supposed to help for better
sleep. I'll brew you a cup and bring it up to you, go on.")
Will was quiet as he tried to zoom in on Neal's face as close as he could, then
doing the same to his mom as she sighed and nodded. "Here we have Uncle Neal
being a hero for mommy, she really likes sleep."
("I'm a hero huh? Sounds like someone's hinting that they wanna stay up and
watch a superhero movie. What movie is it this time?")
("Yes sir, indeed I do, I wanna watch Iron Giant again.") Will turned the
camera around to himself and nodded, ("Uncle Neal always brings the best movies
for me.")
("Get your butt to the bathroom and we'll see. Keep it down so your mom can
sleep, hm? I'll be right there after I get her tea.")
Will shook the camera in a silent nod and turned it off. The tape ending there.

---
"So this guy's our guy huh?.." Matt twitched his nose with a scowl. 
"Love the suit." Mason said with pursed lips.
"You would...let's risk this one....try, 'tired'. Matthew handed Hannibal one
from the box,
the kids writing even sloppier on the white label.
---

Will looked into the camera, seated on the edge of his bedside as the room was
dark but glowing with soft blue projected stars and planets all over the room.
He licked his lips and glanced over the camera, adjusting the stand a second
before sighing and rubbing his nose with the back of his wrist. He sniffles
once and looks back to the lens. His big blue eyes were watery and tired, a
deep flushed rose red heated on his pale clear cheeks.
("I um..haven't made a movie in a while, like, a few months but, I'm bored...I
can't sleep...mum isn't doing really good and daddy is still always working so
long.")
--
"Few months, where'd his hair go, he had it down almost past his shoulders, now
it's up at his ears, who cut it?" Matthew furrowed his brows as he paused the
tape, pulling the box out from under the table and digging through the films
furiously.
Hannibal watched his friend, curious over his suddenly triggered his outburst
over the simple hair change.
"He has gorgeous lushious locks, but I hardly think there's a tape-" Mason
started, stopping when Matt slapped his
hand to the metal table and stood back up.
"Got it...it's either cut, or cutting, gamble for me and pick." Matthew held up
the two tapes and huffed through a slow rising adrenaline.
Mason blinked a few times and rolled his eyes when he could tell Matthew was
growing dangerously upset about the discovery, gesturing his hand at 'cut'.
Hannibal nodded in agreement, resting his hands in his pockets as the younger
man hurried to change it.
"Right. Ok." Matt swapped the tapes and waited as it started.
---
Will walked up to his mom as she sat on the couch with a cup of tea in hand,
the woman lifting her eyes when she noticed Will sit on the small rounded
ottoman in front of her.
("William, what did you do to your lovely hair..why did you do this?!") She sat
her teacup down to the lamp side table and hurried off the couch, taking the
camera from Will and setting it on the couch just angled as it tipped in the
crease to show her drop to her knees and run her fingers through a choppy
uneven mess of curls.
("I don't wanna look like a girl anymore...so I tried to get rid of it so I
don't.")
("What? Will hun oh, I thought you liked having your long hair, everyone adores
them, no one ever mocked you for them- in fact they were quite jealous any time
they dropped by...")
(" I don't CARE! I fixed it, I'm not a girl anymore!") Will shouted in her
face, a sudden barrage of tears spilling down his red cheeks as he sobbed. She
seemed stunned and confused, holding the thin boy's shoulders beneath a grey
hair covered PlayStation t-shirt.
("...okay honey, here, go bring me the scissors and the brush and comb, will
you? I'll fix it up and make it nice and neat for you darling...be careful with
them, remember, pointing away from you when you walk...")
Will returned, still sniffling as she nestled her knees around him on the
ottoman, humming a soothing tune to calm him as she combed and trimmed his
curls.

A door slammed shut somewhere in the house in the recording.
Will jolted, Olivia gasping when he did- ("Will you can't jump like that when
I'm holding sharp things near your head, don't do that.") She smacked a gentle
hand to his thigh as his gym shorts rose up in his seated position.
He stared at someone off camera passing through, his bright wide eyes following
the person with fear.
("You're Uncle hasn't been in a great mood lately, don't worry about him...he's
just trying too hard to keep us safe and taken care of. Your father is paying
him to build those neat little tunnels and hiding spots around the house, have
you been having fun exploring those?") She leaned over a bit with a soft smile
as she combed her fingers through his shortened curls.
("...I did at first, I'm bored of them now....why do we need them, the house is
big enough to be two farm houses and a shed, it doesn't make sense to make
secret places...")
("Well, sweetie, with the way you and I get sick when we go outside, it makes
it difficult to feel safe inside with no where to go if there's ever any
trouble. The hiding spots are for family only though okay, don't tell any of
daddy's work friends if they come over, ok?")
("...it should be just for me and you, I coulda built it for you..")
Olivia paused her combing and pulled him back into her arms, stroking the curvy
short bangs back from his forehead to lean and look up into her eyes.
("It'll be just for me and you then William...") she whispered, almost too
quiet to hear as she pressed a kiss to his brow and returned to evening his
locks.
---
Hannibal popped the tape and looked at Matthew.
"What are you betting, uncle's already showed young William what he really
wants the hiding spots for?"
"...yeah. Son of a bitch started grooming him and the kid is trying to defend
himself the only way he can think of."
Matthew sighed and rubbed his cheek to fight a permanent scowl.
"Mr. Neal likes them pretty in pink."
Mason added, turning his gaze from the screen to the frilly lace decorated bed
in the next room.
Hannibal put in another, cursive labeled 'finished'.
---
The recording wasn't by Will this time, the tall man behind the camera paced
around the finished product of the secret underground bedroom. The decorations
fresh and dust free.
This went on in detail, admiring each doll, toy, picture and pillow around the
room.
The second room with a fridge full of food and snacks beside a table of folded
fresh laundry.
Neal ghosted his hand over everything he focused the camera on.
---
Mason ticked his tongue, "Such attention to detail. Not enough on the boy- he's
going to hate it." Mason muttered as Matthew shook his head and Hannibal put
another in labeled 'ungrateful'.
---
The camera turned on, the man adjusting the lens and propping it on the tripod
in front center of the room.
He turned to the right corner and reached his hand out to what looked like a 13
year old Will now, huddled in the corner staring up at him with fearful eyes.
("You look beautiful William, stand up so I can make a movie of you.")

Neal took Will's hand and stood him up, revealing his outfit to be a pair of
lace hip hugging panties and a flat matching bra of thinner cream lace.
When the image became clearer as they stepped closer, Neal sitting Will on the
front edge of the bed,
he stepped away to retrive something from the bedside drawer, giving focused
view of Will's tear streaked face.
A harsh red splatter of blood stood out on his pale neck, the pattern splashed
up and across the flushed cheek and over
the bridge of his nose as he shivered and stared at the mirror behind the
camera with wide eyes full of shock.
Neal returned and blocked the view of him, using a rag to gently wipe the blood
from the boy's skin.
("I'm sorry you walked in on that sweetheart, you're mommy and I got in a
little fight after she got nosey and found our
little dollhouse...but it's okay now. I know you're upset but I'll make you
feel alot better in a little bit, hm?")
("Y-you hurt her, she needs help, pl-please let me go help my mommy Uncle
Neal...")
("She's okay dear, she's in the next room sleeping it off- remember when you
hurt your ankle jumping down the
stairs and you had to stay in bed for a few days? It was all better then,
wasn't it? That's what mommy is doing.")
("No, you hurt her real bad! My ankle wasn't cut or bleeding Uncle Neal,
please! I don't want to play pretend
anymore, I want to go be with my mommy! I want to be with Mom!") Will tried to
stand, gasping when
the man grabbed his shoulders and threw him back onto the bed.
("You're being ungrateful, William-") Neal snarled furiously as he twisted the
writhing boy sideways across the
bed with one hand gripping his still blood spattered throat, the red smudged on
his cheeks as he clawed at
the man's strong arms.
Will inhaled sharply when the hand left his neck and forced him over to his
stomach on the wrinkling comforter,
shouting for him to let him go as the lace underwear was yanked down to his
knees.
---
"Jesus fucking Christ-" Matthew started, his eyes wide in horror as he stared
at the recorded assault.
"-he is, not, gentle..." Mason added quietly, the speakers of the tv crackling
when Will's screams grew louder
and harsher as the man began to rape him without an ounce of sympathy or
compassion.
"HANNIBAL-"
Hannibal reacted in no-time, stopping the tape with a heavy sigh as he rested
his knuckles on the table
to contain his building anger.
"I'm fucking glad the kid killed him himself, otherwise I'd be huntin' the
bastard down myself right fucking
now." Matt growled, sitting on the ground to bury his face in his hands.
Hannibal frowned down at him and cleared his throat.
"...we should watch one more...the latest time-date stamp...when the tapes end.
See what it is."
Hannibal suggested, turning to the box.
Matt nodded in his hands with a shaky shudder, huffing as he joined him to
start pulling all the tapes out.
They spent almost 20 minutes organizing the VHS's, spreading them across the
floor in rows as Mason
kept an eye on the security monitor screen.
Hannibal insisted on separating the one's with Will's handwriting from Neal's
cursive label's.
Matthew didn't question it, sure he felt the same way about it as well.
They couldn't help but want the innocent home movies to be away from the
sinister films.
---
"Okay, so the last one by the piece of shit is labeled 'knife play'. The last
one by Will is labeled...
picnic with mom...?" Matthew raised a brow and looked at Hannibal with the
tapes in his hands.
"What's the date on that, actually? The picnic one, that is." Mason asked with
a raised finger.
"...uh, 11-22-01. Why?"
"You left out the one you pulled out with the boy cutting his hair- 'cutting',
over here. It's after the
picnic." Mason waved the tape at them, both of them looking to each other
before taking it and
checking the date.
"Okay...that makes much more sense...let's see knife play since it's
dated-...the same day?"
Matthew gawked at the realization, shifting his eyes to Hannibal with worried
eyes.
"I do believe we should watch Mr. Neal's knife play first then." Hannibal took
the tape and put
it in the VCR with a soft huff.
---
The screen fizzled and played-
The man leaving the camera to show the nude tied up early teenage boy
whimpering in the binds on the bed.
His arms and legs all stretched out wide as the ropes wrapped around each bed
post around him.
---
"I'm sorry but we're going to have to watch this through if what I think
happens is here..." Hannibal said
quietly to Matthew, who scrunched his brows together with a hard frown and
nodded shakily biting his lip.
---
Neal pulled a rag from out of Will's mouth as he climbed onto the bed with a
blade in hand.
("You're only allowed to scream- if you say a single word I'll have to push
this little knife in your shoulder
again, hmkay? I don't like messing your perfect skin but if I have to I will,
sweetheart.")
Will simply stifled a sob and nodded as he stared up at the larger stronger man
wearing just boxers over him.
Neal praised him and began kissing him with the knife held to his throat,
Will's leg's bending only the small bit
they could manage against the tight rope's pull- his toes curled in fearful
nerves as he endured the uncomfortable embrace.
A flurry of sobs and painful whimpers escaped his lips as he was held down and
taken advantage of, the pace building
harder and faster as Neal became more ruthless with his rutting into the boy.
Will suddenly craned his head up, begging through his pained little moans,
surprising everyone including Neal when instead
of pleading for the man to stop it was to kiss him.
Neal, clearly sent reeling in awe at the new words leaving the boy's lips,
kissed him hard, marveling at the young exploring
tongue that he shared for the first time.
---
"He's got fucking Stockholm or something, what the fuck..." Matthew cursed with
a furious expression.
Hannibal simply raised a brow and crossed his arms.
"Give him a moment, Matthew."
---
The makeout lasted a minute or two before Will grunted and dropped his head
back down to the pillow, panting
as Neal continued thrusting into him with a huffing crooked grin.
("C-cut, my right hand loose? I want to touch you...I want to feel it...i-in,
my hand when you finish...please?")
Neal slowed down with wide eyes, biting his lip as he nodded and pulled out-
Will cringing as he was emptied
of the painful stretch.
The man cut the rope in half from Will's right hand, shuddering an excited moan
as the boy took his member in his
hand and began jerking him off without much skill- but the act alone was enough
to drive the abuser to wild
satisfaction.
Will's eyes stared up at the man, the blade still held close to his throat as
the tip poked against his jaw. He glanced
at the camera set up a few feet from the side of the bed and frowned, his
little adams apple bobbing once as he
swallowed hard and blinked his tearing up blue eyes.
Suddenly, Will scrunched his brows together and gritted his teeth, twisting his
hand at a harsh angle- a horrific
shriek from the man as his private was broken by the boy's grip.
Will yelped when the blade sliced a short cut along his jaw, quickly snatching
the knife from Neal as he hunched over in
screaming pain.
The boy shoved him over off of him and swiped the blade across the other rope
to free his other wrist,
shouting when Neal cursed loud vulgarities and names, thowing the back of his
hand across Will's face with
a harsh blow.
Will coughed and spat blood for half a second before he launched the knife into
Neal's shoulder, the man crying out
as it was pulled back out. Will whined as he hurried forward to cut his feet
free from the other two ropes. He
was pushed off the bed by a strong elbow, yelling out when he hit the ground
hard, Neal grunting as he painfully
climbed off the bed and was visible from the head down to his shoulders.
Will, out of the frame of the camera, struggled with choking whimpers and sobs,
one hand coming into view
as it trembled and reached up to claw at the man's straining red tensed neck.
Neal, clearly using both hands to strangle the boy, snarled furiously as his
shoulders shook in a rage of
adrenaline.
Will's hand weakened and stayed planted, struggling to scratch at Neal's thick
shoulder.
With a final surge of strength as the air was suffocated from his body,
somehow, Will's other hand snapped
into the frame- the blade slicing clear across Neal's throat as he choked on a
shocked gurgled
gasp.
Will's sharp inhaled gasp was heard from off screen below the man when the
large hands finally left his
throat and lifted to his own bleeding out jugular.
The man fell sideways off the boy, Will straining as he sat up with panting
wheezes and coughs, his face
and shoulders coated with fresh wet blood. He shakily breathed in the
desperately needed oxygen,
staring at the man that slowly died on the floor beneath him.
The corner of Will's mouth twitched into a grin, a shuddered chuckle as he
licked the blood in from his lips.
He looked to the camera now and huffed as he reached over to pick it up off the
tripod.
The video ended after he filmed the last violent breaths of Uncle Neal.
---
The room was silent as the static hissed on the screen.
Matthew's jaw slacked open in shock, Mason's brows raised in bafflement,
and Hannibal's grin wide as he thought about how to propose marriage to the
young man sleeping upstairs.
"Um....holy...shit?" Matthew finally managed to mutter.
Hannibal chuckled, "Obviously Mr. Neal must have labeled his tapes a little
ahead of himself, hm?"
"Wayyyy ahead of himself." Mason added with a scoff as Hannibal quickly put in
'cutting'.
---
Will sighed and turned his frown to the side in a huff as he stared into the
camera lens propping it at a lowered
angle. His face and torso still wet and stained with blood that dripped from
his young but growing chisled sharp chin.
("Uh...so this- is um...this is Uncle Neal....Uncle...Uncle neal...put my...my
mommy and daddy in..this fridge...")
Will tapped the back of his knuckles to the bloodied bottom of the fridge that
was in the lowered frame and scooted
over to tilt the camera down a bit more.
A cluster of Neal's dismembered body parts and organs spilled all over, the
floor covered in blood.
Will wore the man's boxers as he sat knelt in the pool of violence, his knees
slipping a bit as he tried
to adjust the camera to keep him and the limbs in view.
("Uncle Neal can't play anymore.")
---
Hannibal's heart fluttered in his chest as his veins ran cold with admiring
chills.
Maybe he'd get the boy a well trained puppy that didn't need to be accompanied
outside.
Go the cheesy route and tie the ring to the dog's collar.
---
Will lifted the camera slightly as he opened the fridge and started tossing the
body parts into the fridge.
("He's going to stay with...with where he put my mommy and daddy...so he has to
stay stuck with the bad things
he did to them...")
Will paused and stared into the opened lid, blinking a few bloody tears away as
he remained silent for a moment.

("...and I'm going to stay in the same house with them for the rest of my
life....I'll never leave you mommy....daddy...")
He reached in and touched what could very well have been his parent's faces
with a sad sniffle, returning after a few
strokes to putting Neal's cut apart body in the fridge.
---
Chapter End Notes
     ps. Neal is who Bedelia killed with her fist ..er...forearm.
     Elbow. Most of her fucking arm.
     *clears throat*
     -just in case ya'll forgot Zachary Quinto's short lived role.
     (also ps. holy shit this chapter could be like 5 chapters I'm sorry?)
***** Welcome Back *****
Chapter Summary
     "- to Will's World!"
Chapter Notes
     *smiles*
[will] [hanni] [matt]
 
 
Hannibal and Matthew left through the storm shed and rounded the house to come
through the front door,
Mason left down in the bedroom with bitter protest- not because of the history
of the room but to being
abandoned with his injury.
Matthew had simply told him he shouldn't have come to the house in the first
place, especially with intentions of
killing anyone.
---
Hannibal found the fridge plentiful with enough food to begin cooking a
breakfast for them, meanwhile Matthew
sat in the chair in front of the couch Will slept on.
He blinked and leaned forward, touching the back of his knuckle to push Will's
chin up a bit, for the first
time actually noticing the jagged healed cut perfectly aligned on his jawline
under the thin bit of stubble he grew over it.
Matthew sighed at it and gently pulled the blanket down to reveal his bare
shoulders, seeing the faint line of a small
knife wound less than an inch away from being hidden by his armpit. When Neal
would punish him for speaking.
He looked up when he realized Hannibal came in with a glass of orange juice in
hand.
"...very well hidden, aren't they? There's four more...on the tops of his feet,
and the center of his palms. Dead center. If
he wakes before breakfast is done would you be so kind as to give him this to
drink with his medication?"
"Uh...yeah, sure...wh-what, what're they there for?"
"Punishment I'm guessing...either running away, not obeying a command, or
almost telling his parents what they do.
They're put in spots no one would notice right away. His abuser was the one
caring for him most of the time
anyway with his mother's depression and father's work hours. There wasn't
anyone to see the signs and help him."
Hannibal frowned and walked away, Matthew watching him before looking back to
the sleeping young man.
---
Will stirred when he smelled the food on the air, Matthew glanced up from his
phone and sat it down when he
saw him start to wake.
"Hey, you feeling any better kiddo?"
Will opened his eyes and blinked a few times, rubbing his eye as he sat up and
looked at Matthew.
"...you're back....s-sorry...for dropping you like that." Will croaked with a
hoarse tired voice, quirking
his head as he accepted the glass of juice the man held out.
Matthew raised his brows in surprise, not expecting the more adult tone and
demeanor from Will now.
"I...uh- nah it's okay. You remember everything from last night?"
"Kinda...blacks in and out...felt like a bad dream. I remember some asshole
knocking me out. I remember
the same asshole dragging me outside...not much after that. Then panicking when
I saw you guys in the
kitchen but, I wasn't afraid of you, just the crazy one with the glasses...I
tried to trap him-"
Will paused as he accepted the handful of pills Hannibal had already sat out
for Matthew to give him,
swallowing them quickly and drinking the juice before setting the glass down.
"-under the um...the kitchen." Will studied Matthew for a second before
remembering more.
"Matthew, right?"
Matthew smirked and nodded, leaning back in the chair with a huff.
"So...you're not freaked out that me and Hannibal are basically robbers who
broke into your house?"
Will chuckled and rubbed his face, a surprising warm blush heating his cheeks
as he did.
"The robbers who broke into my house last night put me down for a nap, got me
my medication
on time, and now apparently are making me breakfast. I'm pretty sure you're the
worst bad guys
I've ever seen."
Matt laughed loud at that, covering his face as he leaned forward with his
elbows on his knees,
Will joining the laughter with a wide grin.
"That's what I fuckin' thought, ha. Shit, come on, it's gotta be ready by now."
Matthew stood and helped Will off the couch after shoving the blanket aside.
Just as he was letting his hand go he saw the cut on his palm Hannibal spoke
of, twitching a short
frown before putting it out of his mind and walked with him to the kitchen.
---
"William, how did you sleep?"
"Good, thanks...what's this you're making, it smells really good. Hell, I don't
even touch most this stuff
I get so lazy I just stick with grilled cheese or ramen. Damn lawyer keeps
making the delivery guy bring
me all this fancy shit..." Will stepped over to the stove of warm food sizzling
in pots and pans as Hannibal
stood a few feet away cutting vegetables.
Hannibal raised a brow at the bed-headed pajama bottomed boy and looked to
Matthew, who shrugged
with a smirk, understanding the surprise of Will's age-regression disappearing.
"I'm happy to put it to some use then, I'll make you a plate, where would you
like to eat- the couch?"
Hannibal plated the eggs and sausages with vegetables and sausage, doing the
same to a second
and third. Then paused when he realized Will hadn't answered.
"William?"
"...oh, uh...no, dinning table is fine, shit, let me go move the newspapers off
it real quick."
Will snapped back into it, hurrying over to the table as Matthew offered to
help and followed.
---
Matthew dug into the meal without grace, claiming his starvation after having
not eaten the previous
day or night.
Hannibal rolled his eyes at the messy man and cut his sausage up on his own
plate. "You could do for
some table manners, Matthew."
"Yeah- mmf," He swallowed hard and spoke with a chunk of food still in his
cheek, "-teach me."
Matthew smirked and flipped Hannibal off with the handle of the fork between
his knuckles,
the man chuckling at the tolerated rude gesture.
Matthew stopped laughing and smiled over at Will, chewing his food as he
watched the younger
man staring at them.
"You okay kiddo? Want something to drink with it? I can go refill your juice-
" Matthew cleared his throat,
setting down his fork and brushing crumbs from his hoodie to stand.
"No-no no...I'm fine, thank you..." Will smiled as Matt froze in the half
stance, the man shrugging and
sitting back down to scoop another bite up.
Hannibal smiled when Will looked at him now, "Are you sure you're okay
William?"
Will chewed his lip and smiled wider, a small scoff as he nodded, wiggling his
nose as he finally
picked up the fork to begin eating.
"Mm, what is it- you look like you wanted to say something, if you want our
asses outta here we can dip, I don't
want to stay where I ain't wanted." Matthew asked, scrunching his brows
together as he chewed and watched
Will laugh and shake his head.
"No, I uh, it's just something stupid. I used to have this camera growing up,
I'd record the dumbest things. I kinda
wish I had it with me right now. Ya'll are a strange pair but...interesting."
Will's smile stayed gentle as he stared down at his plate, pushing the food
around as he thought.
Matthew and Hannibal looked at each other and back to Will.
"Hey, you know what- you don't remember it but, you told us about some show you
made when you were a kid.
I'd be fuckin' HONOURED to get a special introduction to Will's World by THE,
WILL of Will's World. How's about it?"
Matthew scooted his chair back and pulled his phone out, switching to the
camera app and stepped over to pull
Will out of his chair.
"I did?" Will gawked as he was lead over to the side Hannibal sat at, blinking
down at the phone Matthew handed him.
"Yeah! Come on, it sounded awesome, we're the guests of honour here aren't we?!
Give us a good look!"
Hannibal wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up now next to Matthew, "I
certainly would feel better
considered as a guest rather than a stranger in your home." He said with a
crooked smile.
Will laughed and stammered, "I-ah-uh, oh, okay, um, alright, but no laughing,
promise?"
"Cross our guilty little hearts." Hannibal winked, Will flushing red as he
licked his lips and nodded.
He ran his hand through his bed-headed short curls and cleared his throat as he
held the front facing
camera up to get all three of them in the shot and pressed record.
"Welcome back to Will's World! Today we've got Mr. Matthew and Mr. Hannibal on
the show, and they
are the worst burglars in the history of all time! That's right- we're having
breakfast together. There's a bad rabbit man, but he's trapped."
Will smiled as Matt wrapped an arm around him, Hannibal winking with a smirk as
Will paused to let him speak.
 
"How would you like some rabbit stew for dinner, William?" Hannibal asked, Matt
raising a brow at the man. 
 
Will snapped his eyes to the foreign man and smiled curiously in silent
question before Matt answered for him. 
 
"I think rabbit's on the menu. I'm actually down for some."
 
Will grinned now and licked his lips, " I think I'll label this one as 'Best,
day, ever'."
 
 
***** Dinner *****
Chapter Summary
     "Some people deserve to be supper."
      
     "Dinner." Matthew corrected.
Chapter Notes
     *shrugs innocently*
 
[hanni] [matt] [will]
 

Hannibal was the first to sink a knife deep into Mason's gut as he 'helped him
up' out of the chair,
holding the surprised man in his arm tight for a minute as he lowered him to
the floor and left the
blade in him.
Matthew crouched down and stared into Mason's rolling back eyes, his hands
fumbling to his stomach
before Matt gently pushed them away and gripped the handle of the knife,
twitching a wince as he
snapped it harshly across to slice the floored man open- a surge of blood
splattering up across his
skin and face with a flinched blink.
Hannibal smirked and watched Mason twitch and tremble as he bled out in the
haunted bedroom.
"Not so funny anymore, is it, asshole...?" Matt muttered as he wiped the blood
from his lips and stood
to see Hannibal approach, the two dragging the body through to the observation
room and over to
the room with the refrigerator.
Will perked up, sitting Indian style on the ground with his back against the
white dusty box when he
saw the two men dragging Mason's bloody body in.
"Go at it, kiddo." Matt said with a tired huff, standing upright beside
Hannibal as the man handed Will
a fresh blade.
"Thanks guys!" Will beamed, appreciating the privacy they gave him by stepping
out as he cut up the
body into messy pieces.
---
Matt leaned against the wall with Hannibal and rested his hands in his pockets,
raising a brow when he
noticed Hannibal smiling at nothing.
"Why am I constantly surrounded by people with a psychotic passion for violence
and gore?"
"The same reason you gutted the vile Mr. Verger open. Because you know why some
people deserve to be
supper."
"Dinner." Matt corrected. 
"Whatever you prefer, Matthew dear."
"Just make sure the stew actually tastes like rabbit, please."
Matt snarled under his breath, wiping more blood from his chin with his wrist.
"I wouldn't serve anything to your distaste, as always."
Matt snapped his eyes to Hannibal and rolled them at the not-so-surprising hint
that he's been feeding
him the 'rude folk' he often talked about for quite some time now.
"Fuckin asshole, you're a hell of a cook."
"Thank you ~" Hannibal smiled wide and winked at the younger man.
---
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