nineteen ♢ video

[versusnurture]

[When the feed comes on, the first thing there is is a wall and half of a desk. Those people on board who've been inside will know it as Abigail's room. There's a small blood smear on the edge of the desk, another dark spot on the corner of the lens.]

[She doesn't turn it towards herself, but the camera does move towards the desk, is set down at the edge of it. Two hands appear in the frame, blood-caked, palm-up. There's blood under her nails, too, drier blood that's oxidized to a deep, almost black color.]

[She doesn't say anything. But after a moment, there's a strangled noise, and she knocks the camera off the desk. The briefest flash of dark hair and a pale face; then it hits the floor and shuts off.]

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[youwill]

[An escape. A family. It drifts in front of him, less cool and factual than it might have been had it come before all the nonsense the Joker brought to the ship. It's still controllable, though. That is what matters. That is what weighs more.

He folds his hands together, eyes traveling her face. She is new. She is someone else. She is a gift.

He can use this.]

Have you told Will any of this?

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[versusnurture]

[A sigh. She has done wrong, she thinks; she knows what's coming.]

Some. Not all.

I didn't know--I didn't think you were here. [This is her apology. This is all she'll give, but for obedience.]

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[youwill]

I'm here.

[He says it calmly, watches to see if she will take it as comfort or threat. He cut her throat, mimicked her father's last act, and Hannibal wants to know everything about why. But he doubts those are answers she can give him.]

Have you told Ben?

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[versusnurture]

Yes.

It's -

[She told him all of it. Everything. Even things he wouldn't have been able to find out from the file.]

It's really hard to lie to him. [Because she trusts him. Because she loves him.]

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[youwill]

He is your warden.

[He has power over her life, and she has gravitated toward those who do even as she tries to draw away from them. Hannibal does not find Ben difficult to lie to. He finds him polite and straightforward and more bothersome than not. But he is her warden, and that necessitates consideration.]

Do you still want to go away, Abigail? The three of us?

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[versusnurture]

[There is an intake of breath. A shiver.]

Yes. More than anything.

[Because Will can keep her safe in one way, Hannibal in another. This is vital. The three of them, their constellation, is vital. They must be together.]

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[youwill]

[He realizes that he wants this too, this sensation of near equality; of family. Of cooperative protection, something, he imagines, that feels a lot like love.

Will is going to take this away from him. Will is going to destroy something that he considers--

Precious.

He breathes in silence for long moments. Breathes in future betrayal, his and Will's and Abigail's role as a pawn. Only a pawn. That is a shame.]

Then we will find a way.

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[versusnurture]

You promise?

[There is a please in there. A please, please, please don't leave me. It sits alongside the fear in a cage in her heart, and she isn't ready to let either of them go.]

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[youwill]

[He imagines her face, when he says no. He imagines how it might crush her, and what strength she might find in the dregs of her own desires. He imagines her following his shadow, waiting for a promise she knows will not come.

It's a sad story. He doesn't much care for it.]

I promise.