drlecterpsychiatrist:

“I truly wish you’d have done it,” he states, and it comes from within, not just some make up phrase to please his companion, nor something that he’s prepared for this occasion with the end of recruiting him to his escape. He discarded the possibility of being with him long ago. The only matter here is that he, unconsciously, imagined that would never happen. 

He smiles and casts his eyes downwards. “Sooner or later I’ll be caught and will be left with only pleasing memories between  you and I, and what I’ve seen in the world.” Hannibal wants to reach out to rest his palm on Will’s hand but restrains from doing so. It’s the lowest kind of weakness, defeat. And he won’t go without a bang. “You should escape now, before it turns ugly. I don’t plan to lay a finger on you when it happens. Many will be killed, and I don’t want you to be collateral damage.”

‘I should have,’ lingers in the back of his throat and he very nearly chokes with the effort of keeping the words as they are: reluctantly acknowledged, but resolutely unvoiced. Should is not the right word, cannot be the right word, not when escaping with the doctor would have plainly been the wrong decision. After a long sigh, Will nods again, muttering, “I know,” and finally relinquishing the stranglehold he has on his glass.

“Those can’t be the only pleasant memories you’ll be left with,” he counters, almost defensive in his haste. Strange, though not unexpected, as it is, a twist of guilt gnaws at him. It lasts a second, then he registers the rest of what was said. “Wouldn’t later be better? Why not leave right now? We can both leave, even if I don’t go with you. There doesn’t have to be- You don’t have to kill anyone, not right now.” The irony of his near-pleading isn’t lost on him, not when he knows just who he’s talking to.

Pushing his chair back from the table, Will perches himself on the edge of the seat, as if the few inches of space will actually make a difference. Jack is at the the top of the list of potential victims and the simple knowledge of it weighs him down. “I’m not the one with his freedom at stake if I stay. This time. Take your own advice. Leave.”