Five

Summary: A little titbit from Will and Hannibal's joint murder trial.

Warnings: Some mild descriptions of graphic violence

Author's Note: I don't know what this is! I have a terrible cold so I've been binge-watching Hannibal and... and... well, have it!

Dreamer

'Why did you do it?'

Will snapped out of his daze. He hadn't been in his river; not even within his and Hannibal's shared mind palace. He no longer lost time, he'd simply zoned out because he was so bored.

He and Hannibal were guilty. Will had helped a convicted murderer escape an insane asylum, helped said murderer kill another human being (and no, it wasn't self-defence), and had then gone on the run with that very same murderer. Had killed again with him. A couple of times.

They'd been caught red handed, after all. It wasn't like the FBI didn't have enough to send both he and Hannibal away.

Will blinked slowly and glanced up at the prosecutor from beneath his far too long curls. He'd wanted to cut them a while ago, soon after his injuries had healed. But Hannibal had insisted that they'd help mask just who he was. And Will had claimed that shaving his head would be sure to throw any casual news-watcher off. They'd argued on and off for three days before Hannibal had tossed Will onto their hotel bed...

And Will was only just remembering the argument, and his own desires, right now. On the witness stand of his second murder trial.

He glared at Hannibal. 'You bastard,' he muttered.

Hannibal simply raised his brow, looking completely unruffled. Because of course he was. It wasn't like this was his first murder trial, either.

The lawyer- Danton? Dalton?- narrowed her eyes. 'Excuse me?'

Will shook his head and looked back at her. 'Sorry,' he muttered. He added a shy smile and fidgeted in his seat. 'I didn't hear you.'

He glanced at the court room from beneath his bangs. More than a few people had eased at his body language; Will was by now a master at faking his way through being fragile and trustworthy.

And then the lawyer had to go and ruin his fun.

'If you didn't hear me the first time, Mr Graham, then allow me to repeat the question.' The woman scowled and Will tilted his head to the other side. 'Why did you do it?'

Will blinked. 'Do what?'

He heard Hannibal snort and spotted their lawyer gently elbowing the cannibal in the ribs. Will had to hand it to the guy; he was tough.

Or maybe he just had a death wish.

Dalton- Denton?- clenched her fingers together before releasing them slowly. 'Why did you help a convicted killer escape custody and then go on a murder spree with him?' she demanded. 'We know that you're guilty, Mr Graham; that isn't what this court is trying to decide. We're trying to decide if, like Hannibal Lecter, you can't be held completely responsible for your actions because you're certifiably insane.'

'Oh.' Will blinked again. 'Oh.' Yes, that's right. They were here to determine his mentality. If Will had a dollar for every time that question had been brought up...

He cleared his throat and smiled widely at the lawyer. 'I'm sorry; what was your name again?'

She pursed her lips but Will watched her visibly get a hold of herself. 'Rebecca Dayton.'

'Dayton,' Will sighed in relief. 'Thank you.' He heard Hannibal tsk; saw the older man tilt his head just slightly.

'Miss Dayton- I know that much- Miss Dayton, I think it should be very clear that I am one-hundred percent, bona fide insane.'

There was a pause. Dayton stared at him. The Judge and everyone else in the room did, too. Hannibal picked at his nails.

'And why is that, Mr Graham?' Dayton finally demanded. 'You haven't cooperated with any of the doctors who have tried to interview you.'

'I don't like it when people try to psychoanalyse me,' Will answered easily.

'And your refusal to be psychoanalysed means that we're unsure of your sanity, Mr Graham,' Dayton shot back. 'Do you understand the severity of your situation? If you're found sane you will be sentenced to death.'

'I already died,' Will said. She stopped at that, mouth partially hanging open. 'After we killed the Dragon- Francis Dolarhyde- I grabbed Hannibal and tossed us both off of that cliff.' He shrugged lightly. 'Yet here we are. I already tried to execute myself and Hannibal, Miss Dayton. Because I knew that there was no going back.'

Dayton pulled herself together quickly. 'No going back from what, exactly, Mr Graham?'

'From the path I'd chosen,' Will told her. His eyes drifted past the lawyer to rest on Hannibal. He had the man's full attention now, bloody eyes fixated on Will's face, gaze burning into his soul.

Did Will have a soul any more? Maybe. Maybe it was black. Maybe the Angel Maker really would have turned Will into an angel, if given the chance.

Maybe nobody had a soul.

'As soon as I decided to see Hannibal Lecter again, I knew that it could only end two ways; with his death, or with mine,' Will said. He picked at the cuff of his pricey suit jacket; something that Hannibal's lawyer had provided him with. 'I fully planned to watch the Dragon kill Hannibal. But...'

'But?' Dayton prompted.

'I... I couldn't.' Will swallowed thickly and wished he had his glasses. They hadn't let him have them this time; something about him being a danger to himself and others. Which, point.

'I couldn't,' Will repeated when he'd found his voice. 'After all we've been through- after everything Hannibal's done to me- I decided that the only person who could kill him was me. Only I have the right to kill Hannibal Lecter.' He turned a scowl on her and let the Chesapeake Ripper, the Minnesota Shrike, let his true self bleed into his eyes. She took a hasty step back. 'If you decide to kill Hannibal Lecter instead of sending him back to the Baltimore State Hospital, I swear to you, Miss Dayton, that I will be very upset.'

The court room was silent. Dayton, the Judge, Will's own lawyers; all were staring at Will with slightly bewildered eyes.

Will knew that it was a combination of his seemingly lackluster words clustered with the murder he let loose. But Will didn't want there to be any doubt; he would absolutely kill anyone who even dared to try and take Hannibal away from him. That would be Will's pleasure and his alone.

Eventually. After a couple of decades. Or maybe if Hannibal ever tried to keep Will from cutting his hair again-

'Mr Graham,' Dayton tried, but Will sighed and tossed himself back in his seat. His cuffs rattled against the wooden bar before him.

'Miss Dayton,' he drawled, and that was definitely Hannibal freaking Lecter creeping into his voice. 'I'm bored. You're boring me. I ran away with Hannibal because he's mine. Because I was sick of fighting the fact that I want to kill people and that I very much enjoy it. Does that make me insane? Based on your logic, certainly.

'But Hannibal likes it,' Will said. 'Hannibal isn't scared of what I think and what I want to do. We were both scared, I think, in the beginning; he was so used to hiding that he tried to get rid of me when he knew that I was getting close to figuring out the truth. And I decided to follow him across a goddamn ocean because I needed one last goodbye.

'But of course he came back.' Will looked past her, at Hannibal, who's eyes were still fixed on Will. 'You said you'd never leave.'

'And I don't plan to,' Hannibal purred.

Barnett, one of the lawyer's Hannibal had paid an enormous amount of money to to defend them, grabbed Hannibal by the arm and hissed in his ear. Hannibal just smiled pleasantly.

Will let his eyes drift from Hannibal to Dayton. He slumped back again, body lax, eyes burning red. 'I killed the Dragon because he hurt Hannibal; not because he killed those families, but because he dared to try and take Hannibal away from me.

'And after that I killed another person because he called Hannibal and I a rather unsavoury name. The second woman shouted at me in public when she thought I was flirting with her. The third we tied up and dragged down a dirt road because she said we were dirt-'

'Mr Graham,' Dayton cut in, 'we know the details of your crimes.'

'And I did them because I wanted to,' Will growled at her. 'They were rude. They didn't deserve to live. They didn't deserve to die, either, but death is better than letting them poison the world with their deplorable attitudes.'

Oh, he was definitely channelling Hannibal now.

'I killed them because I wanted to,' Will stated, once again. 'I slit the first man's throat just so I could feel the blood splatter across my face. I sunk my entire fist into the first woman's chest so that I could rip out her heart and take a bite while she was still warm. I let Hannibal cook and plate the second woman because he's a really good cook and I was sick of-'

'Mr Graham!' Dayton snapped at him.

Will gave her a lop-sided smile. 'Just ask Agent Crawford; Hannibal's dinners are to die for.'

Hannibal actually rolled his eyes but Will ignored him.

'I don't know if I'm insane, Miss Dayton,' Will continued. 'An insane person would probably insist that they are sane. I know that Hannibal tried. I'm not sane; I won't pretend that I am. But I'm not insane, either. I'm just... me.' He paused, licked his lips. 'And I like eating people.'

Will's lawyer finally jumped to his feet and shouted that this was dragging; Will clearly wasn't going to say any more than he already had; Dayton was wasting hers, and everyone else's, time.

Will sat patiently and let his mind wander once more, eyes drifting around the room until they settled on his husband.

Hannibal had that stupid besotted look in his eyes again. Will still wasn't completely used to it. They'd been caught too soon, too many injuries and too many stops drawing the noose around their necks.

Will didn't mind, though. He doubted that Hannibal would be sentenced to anything other than life imprisonment within the same asylum he'd been broken out of. Will... Will would make sure that he went with him.

Because like he'd told Dayton; Hannibal was his.

And nobody, not even God, was going to take Hannibal away from him.