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Title: The Wheels Are Turning
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Sequel to "Solving the Riddle."
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Hannibal Lecter or Will Graham, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

He had been afraid that Will would back out of their tacit agreement.

Hannibal sighed, shaking his head as he leaned back in his chair. He should have known better than to push Will. This particular situation called for more finesse.

He should have been more careful with bringing up his suggestion, he told himself, steepling his fingers under his chin and settling back for some serious thought.

Will wasn't the kind of person who was going to jump at the idea of having a master. He was an independent man; he obviously balked at the thought of someone else taking the reins of his life and assuming control over him. That wasn't the way to put this idea forward.

No, he had to convince Will that he was doing this for his own good, that it wasn't an issue of control and dominance. He had to ease Will into this situation far more carefully.

Of course, he did want to take control of Will's life. He wanted to break Will down, and then build him back up again in the way that he wished to view the young man.

He wanted to make Will not just his submissive, but his disciple.

He wanted to recreate Will Graham in his own image, to make him someone that Hannibal could be proud of, a man who he could lovingly call his protégé.

His first attempt at doing that hadn't worked very well, but he wasn't going to give up. He was going to have what he wanted from Will, one way or another.

He could be very persuasive when he put his mind to it, and he had no doubt that he would manage to persuade Will to give him what he wanted. He would have Will completely under his control at some point -- and what's more, he would make the young man enjoy being controlled.

Eventually, he would break Will down to the point where he had nowhere to go but up -- and he would rebuild the young man into what he thought Will should be.

No, what he knew Will should be -- a reflection of himself. That was what he had always wanted -- but he had never been able to find anyone who was worthy of becoming what he was.

Not until Will. There was something special about this young man, a darkness in him that reached out to that matching darkness that Hannibal knew had long ago consumed what was left of his own soul. He craved that darkness that was within Will; he needed to bring it out.

He wanted that darkness to take center stage, to obliterate the light that shone from Will. No, not obliterate. He wanted both of those sides to be displayed.

But he wanted the darkness to take precedence over the light. It had to be that way, if he wanted Will to truly become all that he was capable of being.

Though that was going to be more difficult than he'd originally thought.

He had been afraid that he was pushing too hard, and he'd been right about that. But he could remedy that, by holding back and not bringing up the subject again for a while.

He would wait until Will was more receptive -- and at some point, Hannibal was sure that he would be. He did, after all, need to find out the answer to his question.

Who had attacked him when he was sleepwalking and bruised him so badly? Hannibal had an idea as to who -- or, as he thought, what -- it could have been, but he didn't want to voice that opinion aloud yet. It sounded more than a little unbalanced, and he needed to think it through first.

He was quite sure that he was on the right track, and if he was, it would be an interesting phenomenon. He hoped that he would, at some point, be able to observe it taking place.

If he could, then it would be a sight to see. He just had to maneuver circumstances to where it could happen again -- all the while making sure that Will wasn't badly hurt, of course.

He was confident that the time would come, and he would achieve his goal.

He'd been afraid that Will would run this time, that he would turn from what Hannibal thought of as inevitable, and he had been right. But the next time the question came up, Will wouldn't run.

He would make sure of that. And at that thought, he smiled, the wheels already turning rapidly in his mind, planning just how he would convince Will to do exactly what he desired.

***