hadriel_logs | Reunion [backdated][closed]

Who: Hannibal and Abigail
What: Hannibal meets up with Abigail and brings her home.
Where: Sorrow's orchard to Hannibal and Will's apartment
When: Waaaaaay backdated (beginning of August)
Warnings: Memories/possible discussions of violence and murder

Ever since the night in Baltimore when everything shattered, when the life that he had planned for Will, Abigail and himself fell apart due to Will's betrayal, when he had cut Abigail down in merciful vengeance, Hannibal had often thought of the girl with a wistfulness that was just shy of sadness. There had been so few people who Hannibal truly loved, and Abigail was one. She should have been with Hannibal and Will, a happy and loving family of predators, the only family that Hannibal could ever have. And her death was the one piece forever lost in the teacup that he and Will had rebuilt together. It was the one thing Will would never completely forgive Hannibal for, and still blamed himself for. That had been made clear when, while the whole of Hadriel was dealing with parasitic spirits, Abigail began to haunt Will.

But now she was here, and as Hannibal made his way to Sorrow's Orchard, he wondered what she remembered, how she would feel about him, about Will. When Hannibal had first come to this place, he found that Will was from a different time period, with four years between them. Four hard years of betrayal and death and imprisonment and revelation. Abigail would not have those years regardless, but Hannibal wondered if she remembered that night in Baltimore. Remembered when Hannibal called her to him, and finished what her biological father had started.

Coming to the orchard, Hannibal began to look for the young woman.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Abigail waited in the orchard, eyeing the unusual plants and breathing in their scents. She could imagine Hannibal selecting the highest quality items to take home and telling her the best uses for each one as he began to cook. He'd ask her to serve as his sous chef and she'd happily agree. While they made a fine meal, he'd talk with her and calm her fears about this strange place. He'd tell her that the could have the new lives they wanted and be each other's family, along with Will. Everything she had been through would have meaning; she'd be able to live with guilt of pushing Alana and everything else she'd done.

She smiled the instant that she saw Hannibal and ran over, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. She needed the contact to reassure herself that it wasn't simply a daydream. He was there to keep her safe and provide her with a real future. "Hi. I missed you." She whispered softly and looked up to his face, wondering if he had missed her too. Even with all the time she'd spent with him, he was hard to read. She knew she could never completely understand him.

Hannibal likewise smiled when he saw her, and when she embraced him he folded her into his arms, stroking her hair. His smile widened when he looked down at her, and he kissed her forehead, closing his eyes and inhaling her scent. It had been years since he had last seen her, last felt her warmth and smelled her scent, and yet he remembered every single detail in searing clarity. The impostor Will's guilt had summoned did not feel right, sound right, smell right. But this was Abigail.

Hannibal was not one for sentimentality, but his eyes threatened to tear as he opened his eyes to look into her face again.

"I've missed you as well."

Abigail's smile grew even wider. "You did? I was a little worried." She admitted. Things had been so well planned out that when she ended up there instead of on a plane with him and Will, she had felt like it must have been her fault. It wasn't logical at all. Even the most intricate F.B.I. ruse wouldn't have been this elaborate. But that same small voice in her head that told her she must have driven her father to be the shrike, told her that she must have caused them to be trapped in this place somehow. Self-doubt came so easily to her. "I thought I'd done something wrong."

Hannibal tilted his head with a sigh, his eyes shining, his smile fond, as he cupped Abigail's cheek.

"You've done nothing wrong," he reassured her. He knew well her insecurities. Had, in fact, taken thorough advantage of them, used them to manipulate her into remaining hidden for a long time, even when it was he who had sliced off her ear. Right now, he needed to reassure her, to make her comfortable with him.

He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "What do you remember? Before you came here?"

With anyone else, Abigail would have refused to answer or lied. Hannibal was the one person that he had come to trust, a constant steady influence that guided her through the trauma of her past and protected her from being arrested. The kind gesture of tucking her hair back from her face and looking at her with such fondness added to her belief in him as a loving, fatherly figure. She could be honest with him.

"I remember Dr. Bloom." She whispered softly, shaking at the thought of it. The memory made her feel like a monster and yet she'd do it again to protect her new life. "She was shooting at you and then she saw me. I did what I had to do, so we could leave."

It was good that she did not remember Will's betrayal and what followed. Not because Hannibal felt in any way ashamed or guilty about what he had done, but because it would have destroyed the girl's fragile spirit. Who else would she have to trust? Hannibal had ensured that he was her entire world.

He nodded somberly and pulled her closer into his embrace, stroking her hair. "You did the right thing, Abigail. Circumstances might not be quite as I anticipated, but we're together now. All three of us."

Abigail clung tightly to him as he stroked her hair, letting it soothe her. This is what she had dreamed of when she was hiding in his home, a life where she could be free with them as her family. Alana and the rest of it would stay in the past and in her nightmares. "And we'll protect each other, right?" She'd been through too much to be a victim again. "This place is so strange. Did Will tell you about the wasps?"

"We will. Always."

Hannibal had wanted nothing more than to be a family with Will and Abigail, the first family he would have had since the death of his sister. It had been years since that dream had shattered, yet being there with Abigail in his arms brought up that desire afresh.

"He didn't go into detail." There had been other things to address when Will returned. "Can you tell me about them?"

Abigail hugged him even tighter. Always. She was finally safe. She pulled away from the hug slowly and looked up at Hannibal. "The wasps were bad. When they stung me, I saw antlers like the ones my dad had in his cabin and I heard voices. I was so confused and scared. I thought Will was dangerous." He had picked her and kept her safe instead. He'd been her hero. "I think I might have hurt him with the things I said."

Reunion [backdated][closed]

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