Chapter Text
It was cold. Stupidly cold. So cold, in fact, that it was snowing at a steady, pitter-patter fall and sticking to the dark asphalt with no hope of melting any time soon, especially since it was a little after midnight. Any sane person with common sense would usually avoid being out in these conditions, unless they were face with the ultimatum that they had no better resort, otherwise. That is exactly what has happened the two figures that are walking along the snowy ditch, bundled up in thick coats, lost and stranded from a broken down vehicle. The two were huddled into themselves against the wind, one clutching a map, both having large bags slung over a shoulder each. The stretch of road cut through the woods of a forest for miles and miles, nothing but steep banks and inclines to either side, leading into pitch black woods.
Both of these figures were close in age at twenty-three, separated by a few months apart, both college students for different fields, and out for winter break. The figure with her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her trench was named Alyssa. Although shorter, she’s older than the second figure, Sarah, by almost five months.
The two were age-old friends; both having dark brown hair and similar countenance, they have been confused as twins or siblings since they were young. Fitting, as one would call the other her sister in introductions or civil conversation.
This close bond is what had led up to their predicament so far away from their home state, Alabama. Alyssa, half stir-crazy from classes, papers, tests and assignments, wanted some time away. In Virginia, she has family; her older brother and his wife who owned a small ranch with a few horses on a lake. It’s rather isolated and out of the way, and for an introverted person such as Alyssa and Sarah both, the ideal place to decompress from college life.
Alyssa, knowing that the trip was well over twelve hours, not counting all the gas- and rest-stops needed, had no desire to travel on her own. So about as subtle as a brick to the face, she dropped the hints and questions to her best friend who readily agreed to take the long road trip with her. Belongings packed and farewells given to both of their respective parents –-Alyssa given well wishes to be pass to her brother from their mother— the two got into Alyssa’s ‘67 Impala, and drove.
It only took Sarah about two hours into the trip, however, for her to decide that perhaps this wasn’t one of the best ideas her sister had. When a light snow began to dust by mid-afternoon as they reached Atlanta, Georgia, she became positive that this was stupid. Alyssa, in her attempt-to-placate way assured Sarah that she had a lock box of essentials and two bags of kitty litter in the trunk should the need arise.
By the time they had gotten into the heart of North Carolina, they were already down one full bag of kitty litter and half way into the second bag from having gotten stuck in slush at gas stations or rest stops.
All of that had felt like a foreboding promise as to what awaited them once they reached the heartlands of Virginia. The GPS began to sputter on its tracking before it began its irritating loop of ‘rerouting’ by which time the two had decided to turn it off, pull over and fish out a map that Alyssa insisted they pick up from the welcome station. This same welcome station is where, again, they had to resort to kitty litter in order to give the tires enough traction through the slick slush. They used what was left of the second bag and Alyssa made an off-handed joke about how she was sure they would be able to get to her brother’s safely without getting stuck again.
Once deciding the route, Alyssa went to put the car into gear only for the gears to make an unholy grinding noise. “Oh shit. No, nononono no, C’mon, baby, don’t do this. Ya got us this far.” Alyssa mutters to the car as she tried to shift gears again, only to get the same sound as before. With another expletive, Alyssa slaps the steering wheel before sighing heavily with defeat and turning the car off.
“What was that?” Sarah asks with trepidation, the map momentarily forgotten between her hands.
Alyssa sighs again, “Gears are probably frozen. Anymore trying and the transmission is doomed. If it isn’t all ready.” Unbuckling from her seat belt, she turns and reaches, leaning into the back seat, rummaging through her duffel bag for her cell phone.
It’s Sarah’s turn to sigh as she covers her face with the map, but before she can say anything, Alyssa glares at her from over her shoulder, “Say ‘I told you so’ one more time, Sair, and I’m leaving you in a snow bank."
Sarah just scowls and sticks her tongue out at her sister. Alyssa returns the gesture before going back to her task of finding her phone, her exclaim of success turning into an exasperated groan. “Let me guess, battery dead?” Sarah intones dryly, eyes scanning over the map again.
“Worse; no signal.” The eldest makes a derisive scoff of annoyed disgust as she unceremoniously tosses her phone over her should into the seat.
“Great.” The sarcasm in Sarah’s tone is light, though still there. “What do we do now? You’re the one who’s usually prepared for shit like this.”
Arms folded, Alyssa sucks on her teeth, head tilted back against the head rest. She glances out the driver’s side window up at the full moon as it cast eerie shadows through the snow clouds. A wry expression twisted her lips as she thought aloud. “...The snow isn’t comin’ down that hard. But the car, while warm now, will become colder inside than it is out in no time.”
“...I don’t like what you’re implying.” Sarah cuts her friend a sharp glance. “Are you really suggesting--,”
“--that we hoof it? Yeah. I am. Unless you want to freeze to death and be found in the spring once the ice melts.” Alyssa again reaches into the back seat, but this time pulls the bag over and into her lap as she opens the main compartment. “Dressed warm, we have a better chance walking than we do sitting and waiting to freeze to death. This is farming country; our chances are good for us to come across a homestead with a working phone. Or better, a fireplace of central heating.”
Sarah is quiet for a long moment before she heaves a long breath through her nose, conceding to the other’s argument. In the small space, they manage to pull on the thicker snowsuit trousers that Alyssa’s mother had insisted they take with them, but not without plenty of cursing as the thicker material didn’t permit much movement.
Shrugging on their coats, wrapped with thick scarves and snow hats tugged tightly over their ears, the duo braced themselves and got out of the car, their duffel bags with their more precious belongings --laptops, cellphones, a day's change of clothes, wallets and for Sarah her old MP3 player-- slung over their shoulder. Alyssa insisted that they carry light and what they didn’t need or had little value could be stored in the trunk. Alyssa also took a few items from her lock box; a few protein bars, flares, small first-aid and quick-fire starter kits, tucking them into her duffel. Usually, Sarah would roll her eyes at Alyssa’s anal-retentive, anxious doomsday-prep nature like this, but as predicaments stood, she found it some level of comforting.
“You have the map?” Alyssa asks, closing and locking the trunk of the car. Sarah wordlessly held the map up in one hand, Alyssa then going around the car to each of the four doors, making sure the manual locks were down. Checking the passenger's door handle one more time to make sure it was locked, Alyssa turned to her sister, gesturing for the map. Sarah holding one side, and Alyssa the other, the elder traced her finger over the colorful page of crisscrossing lines and numbers.
“Okaaay, so... we took this road here.” She says tapping a red line then tracing along it, counting mile markers. Looking up once and around, she decided there was no way her surroundings would tell her where they were exactly. “We’re somewhere along here,” she runs her gloved finger back and forth where the red line marks a stretch of road where there are no off-roads. “If we head west, we have a chance of finding some place.”
“Or become popsicles on the way.” Sarah drolls, folding the map up and tucking it into her pocket.
That was all thirty minutes ago. Both women were hunched into themselves against the cold, the snow having ceased to fall, but so far was not getting heavier. Even though the ceaseless fall just meant the level continued to rise to above their knees, making the trek even more difficult.
Teeth chattering, Sarah mumbled, “It’s s-so cold I think... I think it’s gi-giving me a br-b-brain freeze.”
Alyssa would have snorted if it wasn’t so cold that her nose had gone numb. Instead, she gave an amused huffed, her breath coming out in a thick cloud before her face. “M-Mine started shortly af-after we left th’ c-car. I’d say it-it's dehydration but I know you w-wouldn't want t’ hear th-that.”
This does get a short, cut-off laugh from the other before she shudders and hugs herself, rubbing at her coat sleeves uselessly to try and massage heat into her bones.
They continued onward silently, not sure where they were going when their mild headaches melded into a more persistent throb. Sarah gave a hiss, rubbing her forehead, her eyes squinting more from the pain than the cold. Alyssa paused then, looking back at her friend in concern even as her own headache pulsed in her temples.
She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong or what she could do, when the throb suddenly exploded into a full blown, dizzying migraine. Alyssa gasped and held her head as the world tilted on its axis, a high pitching ringing in her ears drowning out Sarah’s own cry of anguish as she experienced the same phenomena.
As the ringing got louder, a crescendo of noise, the earth began to shake and rumble, or just felt that way as both women were brought to their knees in the snowbank. Hands clasped over her ears, Sarah called out, “What the hell is going on!?” but wasn’t even sure if she was asking Alyssa or just trying to voice something over the noise.
The gently falling snow took a sudden turn, churning in thick sheets, swirling like a sudden blizzard around the two, the wind howling with a violent force. It was as if a pressure was trying to crush them down, the force with the wind stealing the breath from their lungs. Black spots clouded their vision, the two leaning into one another’s shoulder trying to stay upright even as it felt like the world went sideways.
Then, as soon as it started, everything stopped. The noise, the blizzard, the pressure; it all stops. Sarah and Alyssa both, heaving for breath into their aching lungs, heads still swimming from God only knew what, slumped against one another, using the other to stay upright in the deep snow. Around them, the snow fell at a soft, languid pace once more, their duffel bags becoming anchored weights dragging them down.
Alyssa pitched forward, catching herself on her hands against the icy ground, gasping for air. She barely registered Sarah leaning against her side, whispering, "What was that?" In a tone of voice, as though mentioning the anomaly would summon it back. Alyssa could only manage shaking her head as they unsteadily attempted to stand, using one another for support.
Clearing her throat, Alyssa wheezed a painful sound, pointing towards the tree line where a small glow of lights could be seen with the silhouette of a building. Anxious and sorely having zero desire to give whatever had just occurred an encore, both women stumbled off in the direction of the lights, hobbling slightly through the deeper snow, consequences be damned. Breaking through the trees that opened to a field, they stared at the small house that stood out, quite literally like a beacon out on the water.
Breath appearing in thick fog clouds, they looked to one another before Sarah spoke, "If whoever lives there is a nut-," She began. "-It was nice knowin' ya," Alyssa finished before stepping forward, heading towards the house.
Sarah followed her after two steps, "Not what I had in mind, but okay," she mutters a humor lilting the words. Alyssa chuckled, looking back at the other from over her shoulder as Sarah steps over snow-plowed shrubbery, "Would you have liked, 'I just gotta outrun you,' more?" Sarah rolled her eyes, chuckles this time, shaking her head slightly as both an answer and at Alyssa’s jest.
Making it to the house, Alyssa took a steadying breath and cautiously stepped onto the front porch, taking note from the number of growls that came from inside the house that whoever owned the property had a lot of dogs. She wasn't afraid of dogs, but she wasn't terribly fond of them, either.
Noting her hesitation, Sarah joined Alyssa on the porch, knocking on the door. A startled voice inside could be heard, talking to dogs, getting them to quiet down, some shuffling sounds, then the door was opened not too soon after.
On the other side of the threshold, was a man with shaggy dark brown hair, haunted blueish eyes, and a thin unshaven face, dressed down in a soaked grey tee-shirt and boxer shorts, sweaty as though he had run a mile. He was looking them over as they were him, though more like he was trying to decide if they were really there or not. "May I help you?" He asked, avoiding looking them in the eyes.
To Alyssa, there was something uncomfortably familiar about this man. An irritating inkling in the back of her mind that she just couldn't put a finger on. "Hi, I'm so sorry if we disturbed you," Sarah said lightly, breaking both the man and Alyssa from their thoughts. "We’ve been on the road for hours and our car broke down from all the ice and snow; do you have a phone we could use?"
The man regards the two of them warily, "If I had a phone, yeah, but the lines are down.” He says after a beat of silence. Alyssa and Sarah both make sounds of disappointment trading glances like either had an answer for what to do now.
As if picking up on their silent conversation, the man says, “A blizzard is supposed to come in later tonight. You look half frozen yourselves." He steps aside, gesturing to let them into his house. The two women exchange glances again before one steps forward into the house, the second following shortly after. Entering the house, Alyssa shut the door behind them, her free hand choking the strap of her bag on her shoulder.
Almost immediately, both are swarmed by curious dogs, sniffing at the them, the man making a tongue-to-teeth, “tss, tss,” sound to bring them to heel. Glancing around where they stand just before the door, Alyssa and Sarah take note of their surroundings, one perhaps more sharply than the other, rather than pay any attention to the dogs that encircled them.
The house is relatively small, not exactly remarkable or noteworthy, but still a comfortable space. An archway lead to some room in the middle of the house that is difficult to see from where the women currently stand, a bedroom --or at least where a bed is located-- is off to the immediate right of the front room. The other half finds many dog beds scattered over the floor before an unlit fireplace and piano.
Together, Sarah and Alyssa migrated awkwardly into the center room of the house, presumably an office, one after the other, as the man had gone to the opposite way to the bedroom. It wasn't long before he shortly joined his impromptu, late-night guests, wearing a new shirt and sweat pants. With what Alyssa would call a sloped shuffled gait, he went to the kitchen, clearly as uncomfortable about this as they were, but trying to be courteous, just as they were giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"Name's Will. Can I get you some coffee?" He asked, shaking hands pouring some coffee grounds into the brewer, "Oh! Yes please." Sarah said as lightly as she could without trying to sound as relieved as she felt. She and Alyssa both let their duffel bags slide off their shoulders to land on the floor, both women gritting their teeth as they felt the day’s events begin to make their aches present.
To keep herself from groaning as her stiff shoulder protested, Alyssa spoke up, "I'm Lyss; this is my little sister, Sarah. Thanks for not turnin’ us away, Will. I’m sorry it’s so damn late, though."
He chuckled some, a dry and humorless sound, as he turned the brewer on, "Don't mention it. Out of town?"
Both nodded as they walked into the kitchen, both leaning to either side of the arch’s frame, "Winter break," Alyssa provided, "Needed to get away for a while and thought a road trip-" "-from hell," Sarah interjected, giving her sister a side eye, "-to see family would help decompress." Alyssa gave Sarah a disgruntled glance, but didn’t disagree with her.
Will, however laughed dryly, "I thought so. You definitely sound like you're not from around here."
Steaming mugs warming almost-frostbitten fingers, the three talked for a bit, Sarah and Will discussing her desired Major of engineering, Alyssa standing nearby and observing. She was studying Will, perhaps not as subtly as she could have because he would fidget under her scrutiny. She was watching his mannerisms, the way he angled his head, how his eyes would dart, or how he would blink more as his glance would shift between Sarah and herself.
It was then she finally realized why he was familiar. It took him wiping a hand over his eyes for her to realize it. "Your name wouldn't be William Graham, would it?" She spoke up, incidentally interrupting Sarah. Will and Sarah both looked at her for a moment, brows drawn together some in confusion. "Yes, it is. Am I supposed to know who you are?"
Almost choking on her own breath, shoulders drawing up with tension, Alyssa shook her head quickly, thoughts raging through her head. "O-Oh no," Alyssa said, hurriedly, trying to force a wane smile, but probably looked as though she was in pain. "I've just heard stories about you and your perfect profiling and pure empathy abilities, is all."
He looked at her strangely, studying her, before getting up to refill their coffee cups. "I hope the stories you 'heard' were-," "-only the best," She said quickly, covering the top of her mug with her hand as a gesture that she did not want a refill.
Sarah looked at her sister in concern, using the excuse that she was brushing off melted snow from the elder's shoulder to whisper to her, "What's going on, girl? You okay?"
Alyssa forced another smile and whispered back, "Y-yeah, I’m fine. Tired, ya know?"
Sarah raised a brow, looking at Alyssa with an expression where she clearly did not believe her, but did not press the issue; if Alyssa was going to tell her what was wrong, she would in her own time. There was no pressuring the elder in order to get her to talk. Instead, Sarah sat back down at the kitchen table and thanking Will for the coffee before taking a sip and falling back into conversation with him.
Alyssa had excused herself to the bathroom then, pulling out her cell phone and could have cried when she saw she had service. It was one bar, a tiny little speck of a line on the screen, but service was service. With shaking hands, she made hasty calls to her parents' cell phones, her brother's, her sister-in-law's, her house number even Sarah's mother and brother. But all she got, was either a computer-generated saying the number was disconnected or getting someone else other than who she was looking for that was most certainly not any of the people she was attempting to reach.
She bit her tongue, trying to bring her panic in. What the hell was going on? Was this some joke? How on earth were they in Will Graham's house? Did they have a crash and this is just what happens after one dies; they’re thrown into some alternate universe? Was it just Sarah’s turn to drive and Alyssa just fell asleep in the passenger’s seat? She pinches herself sharply; ouch, no, not asleep. Maybe.
Hannibal was a tv show based off of a movie, based off of the books. So how? Just what, exactly, caused the fabric of reality to tear like this? Alyssa shook her head, composing herself before she began to go completely hysteric, even as her mind was still swimming with thoughts. When she felt that she was mostly pieced together enough to step from the bathroom, she went back to the kitchen to see the two laughing over something Sarah had said. Alyssa leaned back against the door frame, hands in her pockets, "Sarah wasn't kiddin' when she said we've been on the road all day;I'm pretty exhausted. Mind if I crash in the study or something?" Will finished off the last of his coffee before standing, "Are you sure? I have a guest bed, upstairs."
Alyssa shook her head, forcing herself to smile softly, "Yeah, I'm sure. Sarah can use the guest room. I'll be fine where ever." Will shrugged a single shoulder, passing her to fetch her a pillow and blanket from the linen closet across from the bathroom door. She smiles her thanks to him as she took the items and went into the office, making herself a bed on the floor. Once satisfied, she toed off her boots, and shrugged her coat off, draping the later over her duffel bag that she pulled closer to the makeshift pallet. Finally letting herself sit and lay down, she would have curled up if Winston, one of the many dogs, had not trotted over and made himself comfortable laying across her legs.
Will was about to tell the dog to go to his bed, but Alyssa smiles and patted the top of the dog's head, albeit awkwardly, assuring Will that it was fine; she didn’t mind the company. At that point, Sarah pours what little she had left in her mug down the kitchen sink, saying how she felt she could probably use some shut-eye too after their long day and night on the road. Will shows her to the guest room upstairs before he goes to his own room, finally leaving Alyssa alone to her thoughts.
Laying on the floor, a dog laying on her, Alyssa stares up at the ceiling, hands folded on her stomach. This wasn't a dream. They really were in the world of Hannibal, there was no mistaking it. For anybody else, she was sure it would be incredible. It would be for her as well, but the fact of the matter was the reality of it. The reality of actually being within the same realm of a cannibalistic serial killer, knowing who he is, what he does, and that in a metaphorical sense, a link to him is just a few paces away in the front room.
The reality of the situation is all too terrifying.
It was easy to be curled up in her dorm and swoon over the mental doctor from dusk till dawn, bingeing the series over soda and popcorn, dedicating a few days just for this. At least then, a tv screen and fictional events separated her from the dangers that could now more readily get to her, or worse Sarah, than how it felt in the real world.
Alyssa wasn't sure just how many times saying "you're in the show," would help or if it would only make things worse. But she knew at least one thing for certain: she had to at least keep Sarah out of danger. Her stomach tightens when she thinks about home; the phone numbers didn’t work. What does that mean? That they have no “home” here? As soon as she can get an internet connection, she’s going to do a quick Google Maps search and see if she can look up her a Sarah’s home addresses and see what they find.
And also makes a mental note that before she does that, puts a very difficult password onto her computer’s lock just to be safe if not just for a gold star for trying. After all, Hannibal did break into Will’s house more than once.
Yawning, she stretched out and got comfortable, patting Winston on the head. Another nagging question was “Why?” Why were they there? What for? This was something that happened in, well... fiction. How many stories had she read where someone is thrown through time or realities, how much of a butterfly effect their presence causes be it for better or worse?
With an irritated sigh, Alyssa rubs her temples, feeling another headache coming on. With a quiet huff, slinging one hand lazily over her head on the pillow, the other giving Winston another head pat before she rests it on the pillow as well. Disquieted, Alyssa closes her eyes and attempts to let herself fall asleep.
First thing's first: figure out what episode they've been chucked into and go from there.