Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/13862421.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Hannibal_(TV)
  Relationship:
      Will_Graham/Hannibal_Lecter
  Character:
      Hannibal_Lecter, Will_Graham, Bedelia_Du_Maurier
  Additional Tags:
      Alpha/Beta/Omega_Dynamics, Alpha_Hannibal_Lecter, Omega_Will_Graham,
      Hurt/Comfort, Medical_Procedures, Explicit_Sexual_Content, Blow_Jobs,
      First_Time, Past_Rape/Non-con
  Stats:
      Published: 2018-03-04 Updated: 2018-03-31 Chapters: 5/? Words: 19927
****** Dancing in the Dark ******
by RudexAndxNotxGinger
Summary
     In a dystopian world set in the not-too-far future, Alpha and Doctor
     Hannibal Lecter is struggling to survive his entrapment in the
     increasingly toxic New York City. He realizes just how much he's
     taken for granted, however, when he comes across a dying Omega. A new
     purpose in life is found and Hannibal tries even harder than ever to
     fight the system and escape. If not for himself, for Will, his true
     love.
Notes
     This is my first ever A/B/O dynamic themed fiction, so please be
     kind. I bend a lot of "rules" I'm sure, but... Hope you enjoy!
***** Toxic *****
 
Dark, foreboding silence filled the old, unused subway tunnels; an utter
silence broken only by the echo of my footsteps snicking along the concrete
platform. I took this route as a sort of private shortcut from one end of Fifth
Avenue to the other. Most nights I enjoyed the silence; a break from the bustle
of the city. And tonight was no exception.
Occasionally the smells and sounds of the overpopulated city overwhelmed me. As
an unmated Alpha, I was especially sensitive to everyone’s scent; Alphas,
Betas, and Omegas alike. There were times that I felt I could taste the stench
wafting off of the crowds of people. But after forty years of near solitude I
grew callous to it at times; the conglomeration of smells became something I
had to grow used to, as with the ever-growing smog and toxins of the city.
I rarely ever went outside for more than a few minutes without carrying an
emergency mask; something that could protect me from the common toxins if I
were to find myself in a patch of smog. We called them poison patches; little
clouds of heavy chemicals amassing in random locations throughout the city and
eventually dispersed by the breeze, if there was any.
We had our own little atmosphere now, thousands of feet lower than the ozone
layer, and were now surrounded by a greenhouse of chemical particles and smoke.
The sun was almost an urban legend at this point and poisonous rain a near
constant at night.
Despite the dismal surroundings, I still managed to lead a decent life. I lived
in my own apartment, which was a rare commodity in itself. I was very fortunate
to have the education and profession I did, before everything went to hell. The
psychiatry field had a dire need, what with the oppressive living conditions in
the city. I lived in a middle class building; one that I earned by working
sixty hours a week, providing psychiatric help under the supervision and
direction of law enforcement; an adaptation of the long-gone FBI, now entitled
“Bureau of Criminal Affairs.” It was a living, though not much of one; but I
muddled through.
 
And speaking of muddling, I felt a sudden sharp sting to my olfactory senses
and I instinctively reached for my emergency mask. The masks only had so many
hours of use in them before they were rendered useless, so I only used them
when I absolutely had to; I was only given six masks a year by the BCA; a
generous amount, all things considered.
I snapped the elastic band around my head, securing the cotton-poly mask
quickly. I squinted, making as little room as I could for any toxins to affect
my eyes. I scrabbled around in my other coat pocket for my goggles. But when my
hand withdrew from my coat pocket, I realized that the goggles slipped out of
my grip and were making a speedy trajectory through the air. The moment
unfolded in slow motion as I made a clumsy attempt to catch them. But they hit
the pavement, skittering far past my limited field of vision.
There were only a few dim lights illuminating the leaky, old subway tunnel, and
I stooped down towards the ground, hoping to find the goggles quickly before
the chemicals overwhelmed me.
But my eyes began to sting and water profusely, and I stumbled. Before I
realized what happened, I was airborne. I’d fallen to my left, where the steep
platform ledge dropped off into pitch blackness.
My body thudded against the duty ground abruptly, knocking the wind out of me
for a moment. I realized I’d landed right next to a pair of railway tracks. It
was doubtful that they were still live after all these years, but I was not
about to test it.
I carefully got up, catching my breath but at the same time trying not to
breathe too deeply, keeping the toxins in mind. My mask seemed to do a decent
job of protecting me, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Anhydrous ammonia,
one of the many toxins floating around the city, was lethal when breathed in;
it made your lungs secret fluid and you would drown internally within two
minutes.
I didn’t care to find out which specific poison was currently surrounding me,
but I always operated under the assumption that it could kill me.
 
“Hhhhhhhnnnn…Hnnnnn…”
My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was not alone. I heard a high pitch
whine; a keen, like an animal in distress. The sound was close; extremely
close. I knelt down again, and felt around in the dirt blindly. My eyes had to
remain closed, lest the insurgent chemical blind me. Almost instantly my right
hand met with wet, sticky, cold flesh. Reflexes made my hand jolt away, but I
returned my hand cautiously, bringing it a little further upwards. I was met
with hair; long, wet locks that felt human.
I heard another whimper, and what sounded like a sob.
“Are you alright?” I asked through my mask, muffled, but hopefully
intelligible.
I got no response, except I felt the head of hair move in my hand, almost as if
it was seeking comfort from my touch.
As if some sort of divine intervention occurred, I felt a gust of air hit my
face from down the tunnel; the chemicals would disperse very shortly. I got
closer to the small form, still keeping my eyes screwed shut tightly. I felt
around with both hands, using touch to decipher what I was dealing with here.
The wet, sticky flesh was unmoving, and it seemed to be either sitting on, or a
part of the small human with the wet, long hair.
Another keen and a pitiful whine pierced the air and a realization suddenly
struck me: this was an Omega.
I opened my eyes carefully, letting my eyeballs get a full dose of the gusting
breeze before looking down to the dark lump on the ground.
I rifled into my pants pocket for a small flashlight. I used it even more
rarely than my mask, since it was nearly impossible to get replacement
batteries.
The small yellow light illuminated very little, but it was enough. I gasped
upon taking in just what lay before me: a young male omega was laying nearly
naked in the dirt. And, perhaps even more sickeningly heartbreaking, in his
arms lay two pups; baby humans. They were not moving; nearly stiff, and felt
stone cold. They were still covered in sticky viscera; bloody, and umbilical
cords still attached. My stomach turned at the fact that this poor boy gave
birth in an abandoned subway tunnel, either to stillborn pups, or pups that
didn’t survive the sudden bombardment of toxins.
 
The male omega was breathing, but just barely. As a man immersed daily in the
medical field, I knew to look for the placenta, to see if it had birthed yet. I
used the tiny light beam to follow the pulseless, blue cords back towards the
Omega’s exposed birthing canal.
I realized with a sick lurch in my gut that the cords were still connected
inside the poor boy; the placenta had not yet delivered. It was a grave sign,
and I knew he needed emergency medical attention straight away. I had very
little tools on me at the moment, so I knew I had to make do with what I had.
A regretful knot tied in my stomach as I took my pocket knife out and cut the
cords close to the deceased pups’ bodies and tied the ends tightly, preventing
blood from escaping the placenta; the last thing I needed was for my patient to
bleed out before getting him to safety.
I respectfully placed the dead pups on the ground, covering them in the Omega’s
bloody, ripped trousers.
I then wrapped my arms under the boy’s neck and knees, lifting him with ease as
I stood to my feet. He couldn’t have weighed any more than fifty kilos. The
poor child was naked from the waist down, but I didn’t have any time to worry
about his modesty; if I didn’t get him to a doctor soon, he was going to die.
 
“Hold on, little Omega. I will take care of you. Just stay with me.” I
instinctively placed a kiss on his cold, clammy forehead as a protective Alpha
bond was already forming with this poor, distressed little boy.
I carefully got up onto the platform and felt my knees creak while getting up
from the cold concrete.
I rushed to the exit stairs that led to the street level. As soon as I emerged
from the stairwell I immediately was met with the wall of noise the city
brought.
 
No one looked our way; most were bustling quickly; trying their best to get
from one place to another safely; hoping and praying not to fall victim to a
toxic cloud.
I rushed to the nearest phone booth, a nearly unused commodity due to the
expense. I swiped my government issued pay-card and speedily dialed the number
of a good friend of mine; a nurse who could find me a bed in a hospital,
ideally. I shoved the mask up to my forehead using my shoulder so I could
continue cradling the young boy in my arms while I held the receiver against my
face with my other shoulder.
 
“Bedelia; I am in urgent need of your assistance. I’ve found a young Omega who
had a stillbirth and the placenta is stuck inside. He is in shock and his
vitals are very bad. He is just barely breathing. I need you to get me a spot
in the emergency room.”
“There is no way I can pull strings like that, Hannibal. You know the rules. I
will lose my job if I play favorites and put your Omega ahead of all the other
high class patients. I have Alphas and Betas with actual money sitting in line
waiting to see the doctors here.”
My mind rushed to think of a compromise. “This is of absolute importance
Bedelia… Can you… make some excuse to leave and bring me some equipment? IV
Saline, surgical tools and sterile gauze.  Please, Bedelia, I will owe you
one.”
“Yes you will…. I’ll… Meet you at your apartment in ten minutes.”
I simply dropped the phone, not caring to hang it up and hurried back out into
the noisy street, carrying my dying patient.
“Almost there, my sweet. Please stay with me. Keep breathing; whatever you do,
please keep breathing.”
I thought I maybe heard a little whimper, but it was hard to tell from the rest
of the city noises. Industrial chimneys hissed with steam, and armored
government vehicles rumbled down the streets, parting the crowds like the Red
Sea. In other words, it was just another day in paradise.
 
My apartment building was only a few blocks away, and I managed to make it
there unhindered by any more toxic clouds or any mindless Alphas who might like
to challenge me for the naked Omega in my arms. It made sense that none did,
however, because at this point even a brainless Alpha could tell that this poor
boy was about to expire; he would not exactly make a desirable mate.
 
The moment I entered my apartment, I rushed my patient to the bedroom. I
amazingly remembered to keep my door cracked open to let Bedelia enter once she
arrived.
The little male Omega looked pale as a ghost, even after I turned all my lights
on so I could get a good look at him.
“Oh my poor child… what happened to you?” I whispered without even realizing I
said it aloud.
The Omega was all skin and bones, save for the little pouch of extra skin
hanging off his abdomen, the place where his pups had grown inside his womb. He
had light stretch marks along his stomach and mysterious scars all over his
body. I removed his tattered shirt, using my pocket knife, mostly so I could
inspect him for any wounds, but also so I could watch his chest rise and fall
to ensure he was still breathing for me.
“Little one, please stay with me. I need you to keep breathing.” I rubbed his
sternum roughly with my knuckles, stimulating him enough to get him breathing.
“There you go. Just keep breathing… That’s it…” I petted his wet, matted, long
locks as I watched his chest rise and fall. I tilted his chin upwards, making
it easier for him to breathe and listened to the uneven gasps he made every few
seconds.
 
I heard the front door creak open and a muffled, “Hannibal?” come from the
other room.
“In here.” I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized Bedelia had arrived.
“Hannibal I-” Bedelia’s voice cut off abruptly when she saw the patient laying
on the bed.
“Oh fuck.” She said before snapping into action. She tossed a duffle bag onto
the bed and all but ripped it open. She retrieved a prepared bag of saline and
put it together lightning fast. She handed a rubber tourniquet to me while she
put together the rest of the tubing and prepared a needle. I did my best to tie
the tourniquet around the Omega’s scrawny arm, hoping I was doing it right.
Bedelia unsheathed the needle and immediately slipped it under the pale flesh,
searching for the flash of blood in the catheter; a sign that she’d found a
vein. She struggled for some time, digging around under the flesh until finally
she made a victorious hum and secured the plastic catheter to the arm with some
tape.
“Alright, Hannibal, I need you to squeeze this bag as hard as you can without
popping it. He needs fluids fast.”
She placed the saline bag into my hand and I obeyed immediately, squeezing
hard, applying even pressure as to not pop the bag.
Bedelia’s fingers were feeling for a carotid pulse, and the expression on her
face did not look promising.
“Hannibal… Where the hell did you find him?” She whispered morosely.
“In a subway tunnel. He’d given birth to two pups; both were dead. I’d run into
a poison patch down there, so I’m not sure if the pups were stillborn or not.”
“Alright well… He can go septic if I don’t get the placenta out, so while I
hate to do a surgical procedure on a patient so unstable, I feel I have to.”
“What else can I do to help?”
“Nothing. Just… stimulate him if he stops breathing and keep squeezing that
bag. I’ve got more where that came from, so when it empties, hook up another
one right away.”
I nodded in confirmation, and Bedelia set to work again. She applied elbow-
length rubber gloves and took out a speculum from her duffle bag.
A whine came from the little sliver of a boy as the nurse opened him up with
the speculum and inspected his insides with a flashlight.
“Damn, the placenta is still behind the cervix; it must not have detached from
his uterus in time and it might have clotted in there. If he thrashes,
Hannibal, I need you to keep him still. I don’t think he has the strength to
fight, but what I’m about to do will be extremely painful for him.”
“Don’t’ you… have something you can give him? Fentanyl? Morphine?”
“No, I can steal as much gauze as I want, but if so much as a drop of narcotics
leaves the hospital I could be put in jail; or worse.”
 And with that, she inserted a pair of long forceps into the Omega’s passage,
carefully watching her movements with a flashlight.
A sharp hiss escaped the boy’s mouth and he clenched his jaw tightly. I almost
didn’t notice the empty saline bag, but once I did, I immediately grabbed
another one from the duffle bag and hooked it up to the tubing.
Bedelia was intensely concentrated on her procedure; I watched as she bit her
lip while she worked.
 
Another whine escaped the omega, and I noticed that a bit of color was starting
to fill his cheeks; a very good sign. I felt his neck for a pulse, and was
reassured when I felt a fast rhythm bounding away; it was much faster than
normal, but it was strong, and at the moment that was the most important.
“His pulse is getting stronger. The fluids are doing him good.” I said, feeling
hopeful.
“Good. Now… Hannibal, I need you to put that saline bag somewhere so I can have
you hold him down. I’ll be pulling the placenta out soon and it’s going to
force his cervix to open wider, which will be extremely painful for him seeing
as he just gave birth. So I need you to not be shy about putting some of your
weight on him to hold him still, got it? Messing up this procedure would be
worse than any damage you would do by putting weight on him. Okay?”
I nodded in understanding, realizing just what she was asking me to do. The
tiny, frail Omega looked like he might get crushed under my weight, but I did
as I was told. I held on his bent legs with my hands, gripping him firmly.
“Alright in three, two, one…”
I watched Bedelia pull the forceps out in a smooth, sure motion, and I felt the
patient tense and try to struggle under my strong grip. He was utterly
trembling; he was in so much pain. The placenta finally delivered and was set
onto a white papery sheet Bedelia must have brought.
The placenta was covered in massive globs of coagulated blood, and the look on
Bedelia’s face indicated that it was not a good sign.
“God… Hannibal… That thing’s been inside him to long, his uterus needs to be
scraped to get all the clots; otherwise, he could die.”
“Can we… do that here?”
Bedelia bobbled her head from side to side while she contemplated my bold
question.
“Yes…? I suppose we could try it without sedation. It will be difficult and
very painful, but it will be safe enough to do outside a hospital.”
“Good.”
“I have a portable suction unit back at the hospital. I can go get it; I’ll
also see if I can find the right scraping tool as well.”
She leaned forward and checked his pulses, in his neck and wrist, and watched
him breathe for a few seconds.
“He will be stable enough until I get back. Just watch him closely.”
“Thank you, Bedelia. I will.”
 
I didn’t let my eyes leave the Omega’s scrawny, unconscious form as I awaited
the nurse’s return. The boy couldn’t have been any older than seventeen, and
that was being optimistic. He was likely much, much younger. My heart hurt at
the idea of a poor young, unclaimed Omega being left to give birth all on his
own; and in such deplorable conditions as well.
And yes, I’d checked him over for a claiming bite already. I found none. Call
me possessive if you like, but I felt a little relieved to find out that this
boy was not claimed. Not that I was necessarily interested in pursuing this
boy. The main reason for my elation was that I wouldn’t have to worry about an
angry Alpha knocking down my door. Alphas could be such brutes.
“Nnnnghhhh…” I saw the little boy writhe on the bed and it looked like he might
open his eyes.
“Shhhh… Sweet one, stay calm. You are alright. You’re safe.”
“Noooo…. Nggghhhh...” His eyes were scrunched tight, like he was afraid of the
light. I quickly dimmed the lamps next to the bed, hoping it would help.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I saw the little boy open his
eyes. His cerulean blue eyes were bloodshot and tired looking, but also pained
and worried.
“Can you tell me your name, sweet one?” I asked reverently, quietly as to not
startle or intimidate him.
“W-w-w Where are my pups? W-where did you take them?” He stuttered, seemingly
out of fear and pain.
“Shhhh… Do not strain yourself, my child. You are being taken care of. You are
in my home. You’re safe.”
 
I ran a strong, sure hand through his wet, oily hair and then gripped the back
of his neck in attempt to soothe him. It was a dirty Alpha trick; to grip or
bite one of an Omega’s many pressure points to get them to relax; to submit.
But I wasn’t looking for submission. I just wanted the poor boy to stay calm.
The last thing I wanted was for him to find out what had happened to his
deceased offspring; not now, anyway. That could wait.
“Mmmmh….” He hummed softly as I massaged the pressure point insistently,
causing him to melt into the mattress, almost as though he was falling asleep.
“Just rest, little Omega. We can talk in the morning. Right now you need to
rest.”
 
 
Bedelia returned in short order with a small, battery operated suction unit and
a long plastic wand that had an odd looking loop at the end of it.
“Alright, now, I was able to just barely smuggle this stuff out. I need to
return it in an hour or I’m in deep shit.”
“Okay. What can I do?”
“Well for starters you need to grab his legs again.”
I obeyed, trying to keep in mind that even though the boy seemed to have lost
tension in his body significantly, that may change very quickly, depending on
just how painful this procedure was.
“Alright, now this wand is going in through the small opening in the cervix,
and this loop here is going to scrape the sides of the uterus to try and slough
off all the coagulated blood. The suction will then be used to retrieve the
coagulated blood so he doesn’t throw a clot. Now I’ve got to be really careful,
or else I’ll just end up damaging his uterus and then we’ll have a whole other
world of shit to deal with, okay? So make sure he holds perfectly still.”
I nodded and managed to keep my usual calm composure as I repositioned myself
perpendicularly overtop the Omega’s torso, gripping his bent legs firmly.
Bedelia began without warning this time, just going right in with the wand and
carefully working it around. I focused mainly on the struggling, whimpering
Omega, and was not really sure what the nurse was doing, but I knew she was
taking the utmost care to not hurt him.
“Shhh…. Calm down, little one.” I tried to sound soothing, but it came out as
more of a grunt as the surprisingly strong boy bucked against my diaphragm.
“Almost done. Using suction now.” Bedelia switched on the suction unit and it
sprung to life with a startlingly loud thrum. The sick sounds of coagulated
blood being suctioned through a straw-like tube filled my ears and I almost
felt sick to my stomach. The smell of the placenta on the towel was also
getting to me; I could already smell it rotting; dying, and incubating
trillions of microbes.
I felt a wave of nausea hit me and I had to resist my gag reflex by clenching
my jaw tightly.
“There… That should be enough.” Bedelia switched off the suction and the sudden
silence felt almost wrong; empty.
I looked at the clear canister on the suction equipment and I felt a sick
fascination, looking at all the gelatinous blood that had nearly filled the
large container.
“God, Hannibal, he’s lost about four pints just from the suction procedure
alone. It’s a wonder he’s still alive, considering his size, and the fact he’d
just gone through childbirth.”
I felt a little happiness and perhaps some pride swell in my chest at the
thought of this feisty little Omega surviving the most awful of circumstances.
“He’s a fighter. I know he will pull through.”
“I have no doubt.” Bedelia said as she began to clean up the massive mess we’d
made in all our hurry.
“He’s going to need lots of care; a warm bath tomorrow, some antibiotics, and
probably an anti-flea treatment and delousing, judging by the scabs on his
skin.”
I looked at the scabbing rash in the boy’s sensitive regions; under his arms,
behind his ears, and between his thighs. They were a sign of fleas, but luckily
it wasn’t mange.
“I can get those things tomorrow at the pharmacy.”
“If you need some money I-”
“No it’s quite alright, Bedelia. You’ve already helped me - him - more than I
possibly could have asked for. You’ve saved his life…. Besides, I’ve saved up
some money, I can handle it.”
“But Hannibal, you need that money to-”
“It’s fine. Leave it be, alright? It is my money, I can spend it how I wish.” I
knew I was being a little short with her, but at the time I felt it was
excusable; we’d both been through quite the ordeal in the past two hours.
“Okay… Just… call me again if you need help, or if he gets worse. Keep an eye
out for a high fever. A little one will be normal, but if he’s burning up he’ll
need more antibiotics.”
“Understood. Thank you, I think I can handle it from here.”
 
We said our goodbyes, and when she left, I felt relieved. Bedelia may have been
a Beta, but her presence was making me feel more and more defensive for my
little Omega with every passing moment. If she had stayed much longer I was
afraid of what may have transpired; I would have surely said something royally
rude and harsh, at the least, and perhaps laid a finger on her at worst.
 
 
The IV bag was empty again, and I replaced it with the last of the saline the
nurse left behind. I covered up the naked, filthy Omega with my clean sheets
and blankets, and I tucked him in tightly, hoping to help him retain some body
heat. He had experienced a great deal of shock, and his body needed warmth.
I got all the spare blankets from my closet and piled them on top of him,
creating a perfectly insulated cocoon for him to sleep under.
Once I’d undressed, I slid under the blankets with him, bringing my warm body
to rest against his ice cold one.
“Hnnnn… Hhhnn…” He whimpered softly, obviously feeling comforted by my Alpha
scent and touch. I knew that he was filthy; likely riddled with lice and
perhaps worms; but I didn’t care.
I finally had someone to look after other than myself, and it was the most
perfect feeling in the world.
 
 
***** Clean *****
Chapter Summary
     Hannibal helps his traumatized Omega.
In the early hours of the morning, I reluctantly got up from the bed and used
the communal landline in the hallway to call my superiors at work. I told them
that I was violently ill and had to take a couple of days off of work. I had a
few excusable days saved up over the years. Most people could get fired for
calling in sick, seeing as the illnesses running rampant through the
overpopulated city often resulted in permanent disability, and were extremely
contagious long after the symptoms were gone.   But I felt confident that my
superiors needed me enough that they would allow me some time off.
My suspicions were correct. I told them a good story about getting possible
food poisoning, and that I was just about bed ridden, and was potentially
contagious for influenza. The bigger the lie, the more believable it was,
apparently.
As soon as I’d finished lying through my teeth to my boss, I went back into my
apartment to check on my patient; my Omega.
He was still fast asleep; looking peaceful and angelic. His skin was still
pale, but that was just about everyone by that point in time; UV rays were hard
to come by even if you spent a lot of time outdoors. Dehydration and antibiotic
resistance was an assumed state of being for nearly everyone but the high class
individuals.
 
I gathered a few things, including my spare goggles and my emergency mask, and
set out for the street, hoping to find the pharmacy open this time.
The local pharmacies charged at least a week’s worth of pay for anything in
their store. The good news was that if you could afford it, you didn’t need a
doctor to approve the purchase. Prescriptions were a thing of the past. Anyone
could buy any substance as long as you could afford it.
But with theft being as rampant as it was, the local solution was to place the
pharmacy on complete lockdown, bars and steel plates and all, for an entire
week after an attempted robbery. It was a way of punishing the entire community
for a theft. It worked, to a point; the theft rate dropped by fifty percent
almost overnight when the law was enacted. It was a rather clever solution, but
extremely inconvenient and cruel to the innocent people who genuinely needed
medication or supplies.
The pharmacy on the closest corner was closed; locked down like I feared. So I
walked down the street a bit further and eventually found an open one. It was
basically a kiosk, run by a law officer and a little girl who looked to be
about six years old. I overheard the child speaking to the officer, and I
noticed that she was speaking Beirush, a bastardized language that combined
Spanish, Russian, French, Chinese, and some English. It was becoming
increasingly popular amongst the street dwellers, and over time I grew to
understand some of it.
I approached the kiosk with caution, and handed over a list of the items I
would need.
The armed officer looked over the list carefully, and I saw the cute little
girl peeping over the countertop to try to read the note as well.
“Five thousand for the meds. Two hundred for the lice and flea stuff.”
“Alright. I… I think I have enough.” My hand quaked as I reached into my pocket
for my pay-card. It had a rather large balance saved up on it, but I’d hardly
expected that I’d be spending it on antibiotics and delousing medication. It
was a little emotionally difficult to spend money sometimes.
The officer scanned my pay-card and looked at his little computer screen, his
beady eyes scrutinizing the little numbers and words displayed on it.
“You’ve got the balance for it, but the majority is in your Travel Account. Are
you sure you want to-”
“Yes.” I interrupted, in a hurry to get back to my patient.
“Alright then.” The officer took a dirty, greasy, overly-reused grocery bag and
put the items inside it.
He handed my pay-card back to me and looked at me a little warily; like he was
regretting taking my money in the first place. It was as if he knew what I was
doing; sacrificing my escape from this hell hole of a city to save the life of
a street rat; a homeless Omega who might not live another year in these toxic
conditions.
“Here’s your stuff…. Take care... and, good luck.” He said kindly. I nodded to
him and the little girl before leaving, walking at a fast pace; almost a jog,
in a hurry to get back home.
 
I found my little omega just as I’d left him; sleeping and breathing well. I
was relieved, and I set about preparing some food. The supplies in the city
were obviously limited, but I got by. I went to the grocery every week just as
everyone else did; stood in line to get my labeled box and bag full of canned
and bagged goods. The box had my name, birth date and ID number on it, and all
I needed to do was pick it up. It was a deplorable way to get anything decent,
but at least it was efficient.
 
I made some toast on my small stovetop and cooked up some liquid egg. Cheese
was a rare commodity, but on occasion I would find a three or four ounce square
of it in the bottom of my grocery bag. I think the Omega woman at the grocery
was sweet on me.
The meat made available was mostly made out of cat or dog, and occasionally I
ate it, but most of the time I used it as currency to barter for things like
batteries or other rarities. It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life,
going nearly vegetarian, diet-wise, so I could live more comfortably; and at
times just so I could survive.
I had a pet cat for a short time; he vanished shortly after his arrival, likely
scavenged for food, poor thing. But ever since I formed a bond with the cat I
could hardly bring myself to eat the meat of one.
 
The small but healthy breakfast was brought into the bedroom and I set it down
on the bedside table next to the slumbering Omega. He was all skin and bones,
deathly skinny and no doubt extremely malnourished. I had to try to get him to
eat.
“Sweet one, wake up. It’s time to eat.”
A little sigh escaped the little Omega’s lips and he slowly opened his tired,
crusty eyes.
“Hmmm?”
“You need to eat something. You must be very hungry. I brought you some food.”
“But… I don’t have any money I… can’t pay you.”
“Oh don’t you worry. I don’t expect any payment. I just want to see you get
well. You were very sick last night; I was worried. Please, eat some eggs at
least.”
The little boy propped himself up on his arm, slowly, and cautiously, wary of
my potentially threatening presence.
I handed him the plastic plate of food, and watched in amusement as his eyes
widened in shock.
“Th-that’s all for m-me?”
“Yes, my darling. It’s for you. Now eat up, I don’t want it to get cold.”
He obeyed immediately, scarfing down the food like he hadn’t eaten in weeks;
and by the looks of his skeletal body it was entirely possible that he hadn’t.
He took a pill from me once I explained to him what it was: a strong antibiotic
that would help him fight infection. The very fact that he trusted me enough to
take a mysterious pill, was a hopeful sign.
Once he’d finished his food, he regarded me with just a little more caution
than before, as if he was expecting me to punish him or ask him for something
in return. The look nearly broke my heart, and I hurt for this poor boy who had
obviously been abused his entire life.
“Alright, little one. Do you feel as though you could stand? We need to get you
a bath.”
“A - a bath? Do you... have clean water?”
I chuckled a little, though I tried not to gain amusement from his awe, since
it meant he hadn’t been bathed in clean water in a very long time; possibly
ever.
“Yes, my sweet. I have clean water. And, it’s even warm.”
He looked nearly ecstatic at the prospect of getting cleaned, and he all but
flung himself off the bed, looking for the bathroom.
 
I started a warm bath and added plenty of the anti-flea solution in it. I put a
little bit of soap in too, but was careful not to use too much. If the boy
hadn’t been cleaned in a long time he may have an allergic reaction to the
soap.
I took a clean rag from the cupboard and motioned to the Omega to get in.
His eyes were as round as saucers as he cautiously got into the warm, bubbly
water and sat down carefully, hissing when it touched his sensitive and sore
private area.
“Gently, now, I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
The boy relaxed, leaning back against the side of the tub and letting his head
fall back, his breath even and calm. I washed his skin delicately, not wanting
to startle him but also attempting to scrape year’s worth of residue off his
skin.
“Mmmm… hurts….” He whined as I picked at a particularly stubborn piece of dirt
that was stuck to his underarm.
“I’m sorry, my darling. But I must wash you. Here, you take this cloth and I’ll
get another. We can get you cleaned up together.”
He obeyed, taking to washing his muddy and bloody shins while I continued to
wash his sides. It was quite the undertaking to wash everything off this boy,
and I had to drain and refill the tub three or four times before finally being
able to scrub him in clear water.
“Now, I need you to get on your hands and knees, and let your backside face me.
I need to check you over.”
The Omega gulped and nodded, obeying but this time a little hesitant.
In seconds I was faced with a very open and damaged hole. There wasn’t any
prolapse, so that was the good thing. The rest would heal over time. I took a
fresh cloth and some soap and washed him gingerly, removing all the crusted
blood and stool that had collected there. The poor thing would probably
experience some incontinence over the next few weeks, but that was nothing I
couldn’t handle.
“You’re doing so well. You’re so brave and so very strong.”
I received a surprised whimper in response.
When I motioned for the boy to sit back up, he did, looking a little
embarrassed that I’d just been poking around his sensitive private area.
“My name is Hannibal. What is your name?”
“I- I don’t really have one. I… usually just go by Omega. That is what my
mother called me.”
“What would you like to be called?” I tried not to sound aghast that this poor
little boy was not even given the dignity of a name.
“I had a friend once, named Alana. She… called me Will.”
“Will it is then. That is a fine name for a fine young boy like you. How old
are you?”
“I don’t really know. I think I might be fifteen, but I’m not sure. I… I’ve
lived on the streets for so long, and it’s hard to tell day from night anymore.
I just haven’t needed to keep track, you know?”
“Yes, I understand, Will. Fifteen sounds about right.”
“How old are you?” He asked, clearly gaining some confidence, relaxing a little
in my presence.
“I am forty years old.”
“And… you’re an Alpha.”
“Yes.” I wondered where he was going with this line of conversation.
“So you’re… mated? You have a Beta or an… Omega mate?”
“No, Will. I’m alone. Well I was, until I met you.”
Will gasped suddenly, his breath cutting short as if I’d just stabbed him.
“I…. I don’t want an Alpha...”
“Will I wasn’t-”
“No, no, no, no, no!” He suddenly got very upset and stood up from the bath,
flinging water droplets in every direction.
He grabbed a towel from the wall, covered himself and fled to the bedroom
before I could stop him.
“Will, I did not intend to scare you. I didn’t mean that we were-”
“I want to see my babies; my pups.” Will said through a sheet of tears pouring
down his face.
“Take me to them, now!”
“Will, we can talk about that-”
“NO! You will take me to see them NOW. I want my babies. And I want… to leave…
here…”
Suddenly his breath caught tight in his throat and I realized that he was
having an anxiety attack.
Sharp, sudden pulls for air accompanied high pitch cries, and I walked over
there quickly so I could hopefully provide some level of comfort.
“Will…” My hand instinctively wrapped around the back of his neck and pinched
firmly, making him go lax in my arms. I felt a little bad for using this trick
again, but the last thing I needed was for a naked Omega to go bolting down the
hallways of my apartment, shrieking about needing to find his pups. Clearly,
the post partum hormones were coursing through the Omega’s brain and he was
hardly even lucid right now.
“Shh… it’s okay Will. I’ll help you. You’re safe here. I promise you.”
And as I held him in my arms, the sobbing, hyperventilating Omega, I knew that
nothing in the world was going to ever be able to keep me from fulfilling that
promise.
 
 
“Wake up Will, it’s time for lunch.” My little Omega fell asleep after his
panic spell, and I tucked him in again since he was still naked and still
feeling a little cool to the touch.
Will stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
“Mmmm?”
“You need to eat. Sit up, please.”
Will complied, still cautious.
“I made you a sandwich. It has some peanut butter in it. I hope you like it.”
“Thank you…” Will again scarfed down the food, keeping watch over me in the
corner of his eye.
“How have you been feeling, precious one?”
“I… feel guilty… Letting you take care of me like this when I can’t repay you.”
“Will, I’ve been alone for thirty years; I’ve had no family and few friends.
I’ve had no one to care for but myself and… this feeling I get inside me when I
look after you… It fills a void that’s been eating away at me for decades. So
please, do not feel guilty. Just let me take care of you; it helps me just as
much as it does you.”
The little boy still looked very confused, but he nodded anyway.
“Do you have any questions for me? You can ask me anything.”
“Are… my pups gone? Did… did they die?”
My heart ached but I realized I brought it on myself; I did say he could ask
anything…
“Yes. I’m very sorry, but by the time I found you, it was too late. I doubt
they suffered long; if that is any comfort to you.”
Will had already burst into tears, covering his face with his hands.
“Th-they… They were my only comfort! Th-the only thing that I felt was worth
living for; the only good thing to come of the horrible things those Alphas did
to me…”
“Will I…”
“I don’t want your pity! I know what Alphas are like! You are all the same!
Just… leave me alone, don’t pretend to know what I’m feeling!”
“I could never, ever comprehend what you’re feeling, Will.”
Upon hearing that, he visibly calmed, marginally lowering his defenses.
“Just know that I am here for you. I… can offer you comfort; if you want it.”
 Surprisingly, he cuddled close to my chest, whimpering a little upon smelling
the pheromones wafting off my body.
I had yet to smell anything distinct from Will; his hormones were too off-
balance. Considering the death of his pups and the postpartum healing, it
wasn’t all that surprising.
 “I’m sorry to change the subject, but I need to trim your hair and put some
powder in it. It won’t hurt, I promise, I just… want to make sure you get
healthy, from head to toe.”
I made sure not to bring up the subject of lice, as I did not wish to alarm the
poor boy any more than I already had.
Will consented to the non-invasive procedure, and in no time we were situated
in the bathroom, Will sitting on the toilet while I snipped away at his hair
with long-blade scissors. Since I’d washed it with the harsh soap in the bath,
his hair dried all feathery, and it comically frizzed every which way.
I cut the hair much shorter than I wanted to, but I knew it was necessary to
get rid of all the nits in his hair. And there were so many. At first I mistook
them for thousands of flakes of dry skin, but upon close inspection I realized
that they were lice eggs, stuck fast to the fibers of his hair.
Will’s hair was almost military-short by the time I finished, but I knew that
as long as I could keep the lice away, his hair could grow to be beautiful and
long and curly again.
I used the special de-lousing powder, making sure to use only the amount
absolutely necessary, knowing that he might need more than one treatment in a
few days and I had to use my limited supplies wisely.
“What do you think? I’m sorry, I’m not exactly a professional.” I asked once I
rinsed the powder from his hair.
Will looked in my small vanity mirror with an expression of shock and awe.
“I… I guess it will grow back, right?”
“Of course. And I look forward to seeing it long again.”
Will went quiet while still staring at himself in the mirror. He looked in
disbelief, not truly taking in the fact that it was his own reflection; he
didn’t recognize the gaunt, pale face in the mirror.
“I look so different… I practically look like a skeleton, without all my hair.”
“I think you are beautiful.” The words escaped my mouth unbidden, and only
after they came out did I fully realize what I’d done.
Will seemed to go cold, suddenly; his mind went somewhere distant; away from
the present and to somewhere traumatic in the past.
“I’m sorry Will I… didn’t mean to upset you. I can be so forward at times; I
apologize.”
Will shrugged, refusing to look at me.
 “It’s okay.”
"Tell me, Will, have you lived in the city all your life?”
Will nodded.
“Yes… My mother… she tried to escape before they closed off the city, but she
couldn’t run fast enough, because she was eight months pregnant with me.”
I could tell Will somehow blamed himself for his mother’s ill fate.
“How did you end up here?” Will asked in turn. “Didn’t you try to escape?”
“I was sent here after they close off the city I… was working off a debt to the
authorities. I got into a spot of legal trouble. For six years I was more-or-
less serving out my sentence here. But now I can leave, the same way anyone
can.”
Will scoffed bitterly.
“It’s all fake, though. It has to be. No one actually gets to leave here, not
with all the diseases we’re carrying and the radiation. Did you know… Alphas,
Betas, and Omegas have almost gone extinct outside the city? The mutation isn’t
continuing anymore; the next generation of humans are reverting back to the way
they were a hundred years ago.”
“Oh? And how do you know this?” I asked, truly interested.
“I had a friend named Margot; she was sent here recently because she was a
criminal too.  She said that babies outside the city are being born without the
animal traits now; they’re… normal.”
The idea intrigued me. It made some sense; the alien radiation from the nuclear
war caused the traits to appear in the new generations, including myself, when
I was in-utero four decades ago. But when the radiation began to clear, perhaps
the mutation was starting to go away, reverting back to the previous DNA
pattern. The idea almost seemed preposterous, scientifically, but there was
still hope.
“That is most interesting, Will. But as for your other comment, I would like to
think that I may soon make my escape. I have a good job and it makes enough
money that I should be able to purchase my freedom in the near future.”
Will grew noticeably jaded upon hearing that comment.
“Yeah, well… Good luck with that.”
“I… I wasn’t trying to imply that I would leave you here-”
“I wouldn’t go with you, anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
 
I left it at that; as much as I wanted to profess my rapidly growing affection
and loyalty, I had to be selfless, for Will. He must have gone through so much;
abandonment, homelessness… and from what I gathered… rape. I had to give Will
time; and he could have it. I promised myself I would give him as much time as
he needed.
 
 
***** Guilty *****
Chapter Summary
     Will finds out that Hannibal has skeletons in his closet.
The next few days Will did little else but sleep, bathe, and eat. His body was
so tired; recovering from childbirth and all of the other things he’d survived.
I let him sleep as long he wanted. I’d given him fresh blankets and
pillowcases, and the old soiled linens were thrown into the building’s
incinerator. I gave myself a light delousing treatment as a preventative
measure and after that was taken care of, my paranoia settled some.
Will slept in my bed with me, platonically. And after several more baths had
finally washed away all the chemicals he’d been exposed to, I noticed his sweet
Omega scent; something very unique to him. I began to fall in love with it.
There was surely no way I could fall asleep without that scent now. I was
addicted to it. It smelled similar to what I remembered vanilla was like;
realvanilla; and perhaps a hint of sugar; like caramel. God, it had been
forever since I ate anything sweet; sugar was the rarest delicacy of all in the
city; even rarer than coffee.
Although Will never divulged any details of how he came to be pregnant at the
age of fifteen, the traumatic effect on his psyche was obvious. He woke me in
the middle of the night with high pitch whimpering and cries; he was obviously
experiencing night terrors.
But our bond grew, even in his sleep. My comforting Alpha scent settled him.
Each and every time the nightmares became too much, he turned over, seeking my
warmth and scent. Once he’d found it, his nose would nestle in the thin layer
of my grey chest hair and I heard him sigh with contentment.
“Sleep well, sweet one.” I cooed into the darkness of the room; Will was
already fast asleep, knocked out by my strong pheromones lulling him to rest.
 
After four days of watching him sleep and feeding him three meals a day, I
absolutely had to go to work. As much as I hated the idea of leaving him for a
second, I had no more sick days left. And if I lost my job I could just say
goodbye to the hope of ever getting out of the city.
 
“Jakov, open up! I know you’re in there.” I rapped on my neighbor’s door with
my fist. It was early, and I knew there was no way my acquaintance would be
awake enough to have gone anywhere. I just had to make enough noise to get his
attention.
I heard a muffled complaint coming from the other side of the thick wooden
door, and in a few moments I heard the little click-clacks of deadbolts and
chains being undone.
Finally the door opened, just a little, and Jakov’s greasy, porous nose stuck
out of the cracked opening.
“What could you possibly want at this ungodly hour?”
“I need to speak with you on a personal matter. Will you let me in?” I cringed
as I said the words, since I knew very well the condition in which my neighbor
kept his apartment: cluttered and filled with what I called junk.
“Sure, just watch your step, I lost track of Barbara; she’s slithering around
here somewhere…”
The door finally opened some more and I stepped in, cautiously, watching my
step as instructed. The last thing I needed was an angry nine-foot boa
constrictor on my case.
Jakov miraculously maneuvered his rickety, rusty wheelchair around the narrow,
cluttered hallway, acting as though it was second nature to him; that
wheelchair had become a part of him years ago.
“What can I do for you? Need me to hack something? Business has been slow
lately, I could use the challenge.”
“No, I’m sorry. It’s not anything like that. A few days ago I came upon a
little boy in the tunnels; an Omega. He was very sick and-”
“Oh fuck. Don’t tell me, you’ve brought the little pup home and kept him as a
pet. Did you feed him? ‘Cuz you know if you feed them they never go away.”
“Jakov, he is not a dog. He is a human. Like you, and me. And yes, I’ve been
taking care of him. Problem is… he is extremely traumatized. I can’t… leave him
alone, surely. But as you know I must go to work.”
“Ah, ah, ah…. No, no, no…” Jakov waggled a bony finger at me.
“I’m a hacker, not a babysitter.”
“I can’t pay you, at least not what you’re worth. But I can… offer a trade.”
Jakov adjusted his coke-bottle glasses, sliding them up his nose with his oily
fingers, leaving smudge marks on the lenses. The action irked my compulsive
need for cleanliness and order, but I simply grit my teeth and bore it.
“Look around you, Hannibal, I have more stuff than all of the people in this
God-forsaken building combined. What the hell could you possibly have that I
would want?”
I knew this was a rhetorical question. Really, he was just asking me to spell
it out; to say aloud what he already knew I was offering.
“You know very well what I mean. I could… you know…”
“Hmmm?”
“I could… get you a meeting with Gragon.”
“Ohhhhhh… I see. And you’ll make good on the deal this time? ‘Cuz the last
time, I ended up spending a week in jail for trespassing because of you and
your sissy attempts.”
“I know. I have a better way. I can just about guarantee you access this time.”
Jakov contemplated my words carefully, knowing that if I was lying or mistaken
that his life would be at risk; and possibly my own life as well.
“Alright… Throw in some help finding my snake and you’ve got a deal.”
 
After finding “Barbara” trying to make an escape down an old toilet pipe, I
made arrangements for Jakov to stay in my apartment while I was away at work.
My apartment was almost completely wheelchair accessible, save for a small step
on either side of the inset living room, which served no purpose at all, save
to look fashionable when it was designed, no doubt.
I found Will stirring in the bed when I entered the room. He looked absolutely
immaculate; innocent and a little disoriented, still getting his bearings and
just waking up.
“How are you feeling, Will? Did you sleep well?”
He nodded, yawning and stretching his lanky arms out wide.
He paused suddenly when he noticed my poncho; the jacket I wore outside to
protect my clothes from the harsh elements.
“Are you… leaving?” He sounded worried, his eyes instantly glistening with
potential tears.
“I wanted to talk to you first, Will. I have to go to work today. If I don’t I
could lose my job, which would be detrimental.”
“But… But…”
“I have a friend I’d like you to meet. I trust him. He’s going to stay with you
until I get back tonight. Come out with me? We can talk to him together. And…
if you’re not comfortable staying with him, I will make other arrangements.
Does that sound agreeable?”
 
 
Jakov was situated in my kitchen, heating up some God-awful canned stew,
whistling away as he cooked at the awkward angle caused by his short
wheelchair.
“Hey, kiddo.” Jakov said in his nasally, friendly tone.
I’d put Will in an oversized shirt and let him use a pair of my undergarments,
secured around his tiny waist using a bootlace as a belt.
“You’re… you’re in a wheelchair.”
“And you have eyes.” My friend retorted sardonically.
“You must be Will. I’m Jakov. I’m a Beta, so, don’t worry. Don’t have to be
scared of me or anything. And if you like, you can also forget I exist. I’m
just here to eat Hannibal’s food.”
Will smiled at the joke, and I could tell that he was warming up to the idea of
staying with Jakov for the day.
I prepared my outdoor gear, expecting the acidic rain I knew was inevitable
considering the temperature and humidity the day before.
Just as I was getting ready to leave, Will scampered over to me, a small smile
on his smooth, angelic face.
“I’m going to miss you, my sweet. You have a good time with Jakov, yes?”
Will nodded, his eyes wide with mixed emotions.
“…Please be safe.” He hesitated before saying it, but I could tell he meant it.
And it made my heart swell with happiness.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
 
The streets were filled with murky floodwater that morning. The water level was
so high it almost leaked into my shin-high rubber boots. The rain had mostly
stopped, but I knew that the water would stick around for at least a day while
it made its way through the faults worn into the concrete barrier around the
city.
People sloshed through the water as fast as they could. Most didn’t have
protective footwear and they cringed as the acidic water irritated their feet.
Everyone there, sloughing through the flood, risking severe skin infection, was
either on their way to work, or on their way home from third shift. No one
stood in the water any longer than absolutely necessary, for obvious reasons.
The acidity came from the toxins in the atmosphere; those in the middle class
and above, such as me, were lucky to have water filters provided by the city
government. The lower class however, those who were often found to be
irreparably damaged by the radiation and of no use to the government, had to
fend for themselves, stealing equipment and filters; an offense which would
lead to death, if they were lucky.
The alternative penalty to death was lab rat; the mutated bipedal forms that
barely looked human were often corralled into laboratories and sliced apart;
dissected and experimented on in the most inhumane fashion imaginable.
However, criminals who were not mutated beyond recognition were punished by
being placed in jail, put to work, or put to death; depending on just how
cooperative they were. If the government could use them, that would save their
life. I was fortunate enough to have been an asset a decade ago; all told it
was my Master’s Degree in Psychiatry that saved me from a life in prison. 
And that, unfortunately, is where a good friend of mine lay wasting away:
Gragon, the infamous hacker extraordinaire. Computers and technology were never
my area of expertise, but it didn’t stop me from appreciating just what that
man could accomplish with a few simple key strokes.
Even as a criminal-psychoanalyst for the BCA, I didn't have access to my
friend. I was restricted solely on the basis that he and I were 'affiliated' in
the past. After all, Gragon was one of the most influential men who ever lived.
He led the most potent rebellion ever known to man; one that almost won the
war. And I would know... He and I lived together for almost fifteen years.
 
The guards stationed at the entrance to the BCA bunker eyed me with scrutiny as
I walked past, doing my best to look confident; like I belonged. Even after a
decade, I still felt like a traitor every day; working for the government; the
enemy, of sorts.
“Good morning,” I said curtly when the burly, bald man with tattoos covering
his face opened the door for me, allowing me access thanks to the name badge I
wore.
The guard huffed in reply, sounding positively identical to an unimpressed
warthog.
 
Surprisingly I felt a bit more at ease once inside the belly of the beast; my
office was located deep inside the bowels of the prison bunker, and once I’d
reached it, I felt like I could finally breathe.
Inside the BCA bunker, there were cameras in virtually every single hallway and
corridor, including in my office. I’d disabled my security camera years ago,
and I checked on it frequently to make sure no one had reactivated it. It was
kept in its place so that anyone who gave a quick glance would think it was
still on. But I didn’t care if I got in trouble for it; they needed me. I was
the only psychoanalyst around; the only person in the whole fucking city who
could evaluate risks of behavior relapse, or how much electroshock therapy a
mind could take.
I dredged through communism and other inhumane ideals every day. Most days I
hated myself for what I did. But some part of me knew that I was only doing
what I had to in order to survive.
The gigantic stack of files on my desk would only get bigger as the week went
on; three steps forward, four steps back. That was always the way. The only
method I had to not be driven mad by the futility was to just focus on one file
at a time; one patient at a time.
And as much as I had to look at my patients as criminals, I also sympathized
with them. Ten years ago I was in their shoes; shackled to the floor, mostly
naked, strapped tightly to chairs on the jailer’s every whim, and fed nothing
but a mysterious mush that smelled like corn, dead fish, and chemicals.
 
 
Late in the afternoon, I walked down the hallway of Cell Block C, perusing
through my latest file, reading up on the criminal that had arrived only a few
days ago. The criminal’s file had no name listed, like usual. Her file was
simply labeled “21ADC-21924”
The criminal in question had apparently been caught stealing from a pharmacy;
one of the highest crimes possible, against the Bureau of Criminal Affairs.
People didn’t get punished anymore for things like murder (at least not amongst
the lower and middle classes.) As long as you kept a peaceful calm about the
city, and didn’t cause trouble for any BCA officer, then you were free to do
just about anything. But there were many things that could piss off a BCA
officer, which would send you to jail without so much as proof, or a hearing,
or any legal proceedings of any sort. Generally, people behaved; most didn’t
rape or murder, and especially not within earshot of the BCA.
“21ADC-21924… Please stand up.”
A small, slight figure was sitting in the corner, her greasy, long hair
covering her face. The front cell walls were made of a bullet proof polymer,
completely transparent for obvious surveillance advantages. There were small
holes in the glass to allow fresh air and communication from one side to the
other.
“Come now, I don’t have all day. I need to speak with you. If I do not have
some form of communication with you I fear I will have no choice but to have
the warden place you on a medication that would make you more… compliant. Do
you want that?”
My honest threat instantly got a reaction. The bony girl stood up from the
corner and walked towards me.
When she approached me she sniffed the air; subtly, but my keen eye noticed it.
The girl’s file indicated that she was nineteen, but she was clearly delayed in
growth due to being an Omega, and there was no doubt malnutrition had a hand in
it as well. I first expected that she was smelling me to get a sense of my
species rank; an Alpha. But the look in her eyes betrayed that it was more than
that.
 Her scrutinizing green eyes looked at me with a strange fascination.
The fixated gaze made me uncomfortable, and I looked away briefly, pretending
to look at the open file.
“There now… that wasn’t too hard, was it? Now, tell me your na-”
“Will.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know Will...”
“Yes I…”
“What did you do to him?” She said in a most urgent voice.
“Young lady, I don’t think you quite understand-”
“No you don’t understand, you fucking bastard! If you harmed a single hair on
his head, I am going to rip your throat out, got it?”
The surprisingly loud Omega drew the attention of a guard, who peeked his head
around a corner to see what was going on. I quickly waved him off, and I felt
grateful when he acknowledged my gesture and went back about his business.
“Shhh!” I hushed her with equal urgency, trying to convey with my eyes just how
imperative her subtlety was.
“I swear to you, Will is just fine.” I hissed, hoping she could hear me through
that small opening.
My statement made her calm visibly.
“Where. Is he?”
“He’s safe. Now… you are a friend, I take it?”
“Yes, I’m his friend. I got arrested trying to steal some meds for him. Isn’t
that in your file…?”
“You must be… Alana?”
The girl nodded.
“He told me about you.”
“Good. Now get me out of here. I need to see him.”
My eyebrows furrowed.
“That is quite the tall order. I don’t think you fully realize how difficult
that would be; just about impossible, really.”
“Why? You work here, don’t you? You can just sneak me out with the laundry bin.
Please, I…”
“Look, Alana. I could not help you if I wanted to. There are cameras
everywhere. You would get caught, as would I.” I knew that I was somewhat
lying. There was a way out. I’d formulated an escape plan long ago.  But I was
saving it for Gragon; my best friend. I couldn’t waste it on some Omega I’d
just met.
I ended our conversation there, for the time being. I had other patients to
attend to and then I could finally return home to my sweet Omega.
 
 
“Will…? I’m back.” I snuck into my apartment, hoping not to make too much noise
as to startle him.
Relief and a bit of amusement washed over me when I saw Jacov and Will sitting
around the coffee table in my living room, poring over a large array of papers.
“But what about the firewall? How did you get past that?”
“Well it was a bit tricky, but if you use the- Oh, Hannibal’s back.” Jakov
waved over at me, and curious as to what they had strewn about the table I
walked over, my hand instinctively hovering towards Will’s back. Will flinched
a little when my hand touched his shoulder gently, but he settled when he
realized it was just me; the trust between us was certainly growing.
“I see you two got along just fine without me.”
“Will here is pretty damn smart.” Jakov said with a rare smile. “I should put
him to work in my dungeon. I might actually get somewhere; Gragon or no
Gragon.”
Will looked puzzled.
“Who’s Gragon?”
“Who’s Gragon?!?!” Jakov repeated. “Only the world’s best hacker. He was the
one who started the rebellion just before they closed off the city fifteen
years ago. He’s in maximum security prison now.”
“Oh… I think I’ve heard of him, now that you mention it.”
“He and Hannibal used to have kind of a thing…” Jakov added unnecessarily.
“Purely conjecture on your part, Jakov.” I scolded politely, as always.
“Yeah, whatever. You don’t live in a Winnebago for fifteen years together
without bumping dicks every once in a while. Just doesn’t happen.”
“You… you lived with Gragon?... Were you part of the rebellion?”
“I was, yes. That’s part of the reason I ended up here; being associated with a
cyber terrorist isn’t exactly considered model-citizen behavior.”
Jakov chuckled a little, and the glare he got from me gave him the hint he
needed to take his leave.
“I’ll see ya tomorrow, kid. I’ll leave the papers here. You get some rest,
yeah?”
 
Will said goodbye to his new friend, but afterwards things were noticeably more
awkward between us.
“Look… Will I meant to tell you…”
“You said you’ve been alone for thirty years. Y-you lied to me?”
“No, Will. I mean… I guess for the most part I’ve blocked out that part of my
life… I miss it too much; being free, instead of trapped here in the city. I’m
sorry I didn’t tell you about Gragon. I was going to tell you.”
He still looked a little unconvinced. I’d brought it on myself, deceiving him,
albeit unintentionally.
“Can we… just go to bed?” He said finally.
“Of course. Anything for you, my sweet."
That night Will gave me the cold shoulder, refusing to look at me or seek
comfort in my warmth for the entire night. Truly, I felt bad about keeping the
details about my companionship with Gragon from Will; I didn’t even know why I
excluded it to begin with.
More than anything in the world I wanted to gain Will’s trust back. And somehow
second to that, was the desire to help my friend escape prison. Even after all
the years of friendship with Gragon, the passionate genius who could bring
governments to its knees was suddenly second best to the little Omega sleeping
in my bed.
Interesting how life works out like that.
 
 
***** Virgin *****
Chapter Summary
     Will asks something unexpected of Hannibal.
     Hannibal and Will's relationship shifts.
In the morning I contemplated telling Will about his friend Alana. After all,
withholding information from him had not exactly gone very well as of late. I
should have learned my lesson.
But apparently I hadn’t.
Jakov showed up, miraculously on time, and I spoke with him regarding my plans
to help Gragon escape. Will was still fast asleep in bed, so I spoke freely
regarding my future plans to reunite with my old friend; to revive the
rebellion, ideally. A secondary plan would be to break Gragon out of the prison
and to just leave; to cash in all of my earnings and leave the city, somehow
smuggling Gragon and Will with me across the city barrier. The rebellion could
wait; the escape plans, however, could not.
“I’ve got enough money for two of us.” Jakov confessed to me in confidence.
“Problem is, no one’s gonna let Gragon across the barrier. He’s been micro-
chipped and flagged to never cross the border. How the hell are you even going
to get him out of the prison? I thought you haven’t even been able to talk to
him for a decade. You said you don’t have access to him.”
“I don’t… But don’t you worry. I’ve had a plan brewing for some time. But we
only get one attempt. If we fuck it up we won’t be getting another one.”
“Understood…. You sure you wanna fly solo on this one? I might be in a
wheelchair but I’m not useless, you know.”
“Oh, I am fully aware. And I’m not ‘flying solo’ as you put it. In fact, you
are vital to this plan. Tell me, how are you at hacking into CCTV networks?”
 
Once the beginning segment of the plan was settled, I prepared to leave for
work. I kissed my sleeping Omega on the head before taking my leave, and a
small smile spread across his face; he must have been having a good dream.
Jakov was rooting around in my nearly-barren cupboards when I left, and the
sight reminded me that I had yet to get my groceries. But it would have to wait
until after work.
 
In an effort to stall any action regarding Will’s imprisoned friend Alana, I
submitted a report to my superiors that prescribed an extremely low-dose
antipsychotic regimen, and labeled her status as ‘Potential Asset: In
Treatment.’ That would keep her right where she was for a while; giving me
plenty of time to decide what to do about the inconvenient position her
presence put me in.
A decent amount of adrenaline coursed through my veins as I thought through my
course of action for that afternoon.
I’d already eaten my plain, dry fish sandwich provided by the bunker’s
cafeteria, and it sat like a weighty brick inside my stomach as I quickly snuck
inside the cafeteria kitchen.
I walked to the locker room behind the kitchen, and I shucked off my clothes as
nonchalantly as I could and donned a roomy pair of unisex scrubs that the
orderlies and kitchen workers wore. I knew that the surveillance cameras were
picking up not only my every move, but the infra red sensors would pick up my
body temperature, and an invisible laser could even measure my heart rate; I
just had to remember to keep myself calm as to not draw attention or set off
any alarms.
It would only take the right pair of eyes on a monitor and they would know:
Doctor Hannibal Lecter had gone rogue.
 
I didn’t make eye contact with any of the kitchen workers as I shuffled a
little clumsily in the ill-fitting scrubs and sequestered a filled cafeteria
cart. The all-too familiar smell of the fish-corn gruel made me gag, but I
pressed on.
And it was just my luck that the cart I grabbed had a bum wheel. The cart
nearly tipped over a few times, and left scuff marks on the floor as I
struggled to get it down the hall, knowing for a fact that it was too late to
switch it out for another one.
I walked briskly, but not too briskly. I kept my head down and tried not to
appear too eager to get my job done; after all, looking like an efficient
employee would be most suspicious of all.
 
Thirty meal deliveries later, I finally found myself at the steel barricade
entry to the maximum security ward.
The guard behind the barricade peeked through the viewing slit and gave me a
good once-over. I didn’t make eye contact. I tried my best to look like a
begrudging employee, forced to work against my will.
It worked.
The metal door swung open and I shuffled through the door with my bum cart,
faking a nasty cough to keep the guard from coming too close, as he would
surely recognize me.
There were only three cells in the maximum security ward; and it looked as
though two of them were empty.
I took a small piece of paper from inside the waistband of my scrubs and
secretly squished it inside the bowl of gruel. A tiny corner of the paper was
visible, but only from a close up view. I found myself praying to the universe
that Gragon would find it.
I opened the sliding door in the steel prison cell barricade and shoved the
small bowl of gruel inside. I resisted the temptation to peek inside the small
opening. After all these years I was finally within a mere meter of my best
friend. I wondered what he looked like now, after all this time in isolation.
But I couldn’t look; spending any more time with my delivery would get me
caught, surely, and I couldn’t risk it.
I left quicker than I arrived, hoping my plan had worked. The entire plan
hinged on Gragon finding the note. It read:
“G:  In two days, you’ll get three pills. Take them ten minutes before the
guard makes his evening rounds. See you on the other side. – H.”
 
 
 
Will and Jakov were busy with some computer programming lessons when I returned
home. I put in about thirteen hours of work that day, and amazingly I’d gone
over forty new prisoner files and re-examined twenty others that were already
patients of mine. My head hurt from all the reading in the poor bunker
lighting, but I felt it already starting to improve the moment I got home.
“Hey, Hannibal. We were just finishing up for the night. Will’s really got a
knack for this stuff.”
I felt proud that Will already managed to impress Jakov, a man who was most
certainly not easily impressed.
“I’m glad to hear it. How are you feeling, Will?”
“I’m good… Jakov said you’re out of food.” He said with a slight bit of
amusement, but at the same time I could sense some concern in his voice.
“Yes, I am planning on going to the grocery tonight to pick up my food box.
Would you like to join me? It might be good for you to get outside. You’ve been
cooped up in this apartment for almost a week. I have some different clothes
that might fit you a bit better.”
Will shook his head vigorously.
“No, no… I’m good. I’ll, wait for you here. Jakov doesn’t have to stay, I’m
fine.”
Jakov and I both raised our eyebrows upon hearing Will’s insistence on staying.
He seemed scared.
Having little options, I conceded to letting Will stay home alone for the hour
I would be gone.
Jakov followed me out of the apartment.
Once the door was closed, he whispered,
“What the fuck was that about? Most Omegas would have jumped at the chance to
be paraded around by their Alpha.”
“Well, for starters, Will is not myOmega. And God only knows what horrible
things other Alphas did to him before I found him… You should have seen him,
Jakov…”
A look of realization came over my friend’s face.
“Ohh… God… why didn’t I realize it? He was pregnant, wasn’t he? I knew I
smelled something off about him… You… Do you suppose he’s hiding? From his
Alpha?”
“He’s certainly hiding from someone or something, yes. Otherwise that boy is
far too independent to stick around to be cared for. He’s been alone for years
I doubt it’s easy for him to accept help. But with my help comes protection;
and that is one thing he will take right now.”
Jakov pivoted his wheelchair around to go to his own apartment, and he said
over his shoulder,
“Well whatever’s got that kid so scared has got to be bad; we’d better watch
our backs.”
 
And as much as I wanted to think that I could handle anything this city threw
at me, I knew he was right. Whoever hurt Will was someone that I, as an Alpha
trying to live under the radar and behave, did not want to cross paths with.
 
The grocery was packed full of people that night. I stood in line for half an
hour just to pick up my box and paper bag full of second rate bread, eggs, and
canned goods. I spent another twenty minutes trying to find some decent clothes
for Will. Clothes didn’t come cheap, but I was able to find some lightly used
outfits that looked good, and for a decent price, all things considered. I also
picked up a bundle of fresh linens, which were mystifyingly double the cost of
the clothes.
I took the safest route home: out in the open, where there were many BCA
officers patrolling on foot and on bikes. It was where I was the least likely
to get robbed or mugged.
As an Alpha I had a bit of an advantage; there were not many people with the
guts to steal from someone like myself; a middle class citizen who walked with
purpose and confidence; like I knew that no one was going to fuck with me;
daring someone to fuck with me, in fact.
 
I was just five blocks from home when my arms were tiring from the load I
carried. I had my paper grocery bag sitting atop the cardboard box, and plastic
bags hung on my wrists. It was getting increasingly difficult to walk as
briskly as I needed to, and I almost toppled over when a big, strong force
brushed my shoulder from the side: a six-foot-seven Alpha not paying enough
attention to where he was walking. Or so I thought….
“Excuse me…” I said bitterly while I regained my balance, grateful that nothing
fell to the street. I started to walk again, but I suddenly felt a hand this
time; it was grabbing my arm.
I froze, making sure to remain calm as I heard a gruff voice growl into my ear.
“Don’t think I don’t smell ‘im on you, mate.” The overbearing Cockney accent
threw me off my game a bit; it had been a long time since I heard one of those.
“What? Who?”
The Alpha didn’t buy into my playing dumb.
“You tell that cock suckin’ Omega we’re comin’ for ‘im. ‘e can’t hide in the
high-rises forevah. And you tell ‘im he owes me two pups... Yeah, I foun’ ‘em…
Worthless fucker let ‘em die, ‘e’ll get the same treatmen’ once I get what’s
mine.”
I made brief eye contact with a BCA officer, who was coincidentally crossing
the street towards me and the looming Alpha.
The Alpha must have spotted the officer as well, because the strong grip let go
very suddenly.
I didn’t even look back to see what the Alpha looked like. I just walked as
quickly as I could home, taking several tricky routes to make sure I wasn’t
followed.
 
 
“Will?” I called out the moment I opened the door to my apartment.
I was relieved when Will came padding over to see what my urgent tone was
about.
“Yes?”
“Oh… nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were still here.” I set the
groceries down on the small kitchen counter and began to put them away.
“Did something happen?” He fished, almost as if he knew that I might be
approached by someone; a very territorial and angry someone.
“Well, on my way home I… met someone. Someone who seemed to know you.”
“Oh.” Will went pale.
“What did they say?”
“I think you already know what he said; or at least you suspect it.”
“Look, Hannibal… I don’t want you to feel like I’ve used you… But…”
“But what?” I said with a slight bit of impatience, but mostly amusement. I
knew this very conversation was inevitable, considering Will’s current ‘in-
hiding’ status.
“I’ve… felt safe here. With you. I don’t want to go back. Please, don’t make me
go back… I’ll do anything…”
Will’s voice cut off in a trembling mess, and I observed the beginnings of
another panic attack coming on.
“Will, please, calm yourself. I would never do anything to harm you. You are
never going to back to that brute, I swear it. You may stay with me as long as
you wish.”
 
The Omega visibly calmed upon hearing my assurances, and he allowed me to pull
him into a comforting embrace. He breathed in my scent once more, solidifying
the foundation of the bond we had forming between us.
“Thank you… I… Wish there was something I could do in return. I’m not used to
being treated kindly.”
“I hope to change that. You deserve to be treated well.”
“Can I… ask you something?”
“Yes Will; anything.”
“Will you… be my Alpha? I… want you to claim me. Please.”
My heart skipped a beat and took off into a gallop upon hearing him ask that. I
wanted to accept. In fact I wanted to accept right away and claim him right
then and there. But I knew it would be a foolish decision.
“Will… you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to have a mate; an Omega to call
my own. But… this is a very big, nearly permanentdecision. I want to be mated
with someone who loves me, and wishes to be with me forever, because of that
love. I understand that you want the claiming bite for protection. But I will
protect you regardless, my sweet; as if you were my mate; at least until the
danger has passed, or until you desire to leave.”
“But… you’re not really getting anything in return. My body is useless to you
right now and… I won’t be in heat again for another few months, at least.”
“My reason for caring about you is not because of what you can do for me, Will.
I won’t lie, I do wish to cultivate a relationship with you; but that will take
time.”
“You…. Want tocourt me? Like… in the romance stories?”
“Yes, Will. But I am a patient man. I will wait until you are ready. And ready,
you are not. Just please, let me protect you the way I know how. Let’s not jump
into things hastily. How does that sound to you?”
Will contemplated my words carefully, thinking on each one and no doubt trying
to analyze my motives. Hell, I didn’t even know where all this chivalry was
coming from; I couldn’t expect Will to understand it as well.
“I guess I’ll sleep on it. Is that okay?”
“More than okay. It’s a wonderful idea. Now, let’s go to bed. I am very tired.
It was a very long day at work.”
Will pulled away from my embrace but surprisingly he grasped my hand as he
guided me to the bedroom. A curious expression came over his face.
“What do you do at work again, exactly?”
 
 
That night I dreamt of making love to Will. It was a strange dream; it was very
unspecific; like my body wasn’t really my body and Will was not really there…
It was just a serious of feelings; emotions, expressions of those emotions, and
passion; so much passion. I felt as though I was kissing someone, and that I
was kissed back; I felt a warmth deep in my gut; pleasure building to orgasm. I
felt excited, warm, hot, dizzy, and…
Loved.
 Overwhelmed by all these emotions, I forced myself to wake up. My heart was
racing in my chest and I suddenly realized that I was feeling something…
something very wet, and warm, in my private area.
My eyes finally adjusted to the dimly lit bedroom and I saw a lump in the
blankets, just below my waist: Will.
I flung back the top blanket, and my breath caught in my chest when I saw my
little Omega, kneeling between my legs, his mouth sucking on one of my
testicles.
“Ahhhh…” I gasped when he intentionally increased the suction on my sensitive
organ.
“Will…  please…” I managed to strangle out. It had been years since I’d been
touched by another human being, even longer since I’d been orally stimulated.
The Omega paid no mind to my half-assed objection, and he continued on, this
time he braved his way northwards, to my enormous, aching erection. I was not
one to brag, but I knew for a fact that my cock was far above average size,
even for an Alpha. It was entirely possible that Will had never seen a cock so
big.
“Will, my sweet, you don’t have to-”
My voice cut off when he took my girth into his mouth and used both of his
little hands to stroke the rest, just barely able to wrap his hands around it
fully. My head fell back and my breath fell ragged. Someone had obviously
taught this boy how to suck cock…
I tried not to let my mind go down that rabbit trail, to thinking about all the
things Will must have been forced to do in the past. But instead I set down my
proverbial sainthood pin for later, and just let myself feel this, for once. It
had been so, so long since I’d even had an orgasm, let alone had someone else
take me there. And Will didn’t appear to feel coerced. That was a possible
projection on my part, seeing as I was the one getting my cock sucked, but the
details could be dealt with later...
Will looked up at me with his beautiful blue eyes, obviously seeking praise and
affirmation for his efforts.
My hand automatically shot down towards his short hair. It was longer on the
top, but my fingers could just barely grip it. He moaned in response when I
massaged his scalp, encouraging his wonderful ministrations.
“Will… Feels so good.”
His tongue dove this way and that, massaging my frenulum and cock head, and his
hands never stopped their synchronized strokes; it was like he was just begging
for me to come in his mouth.
“Ahh… I’m going to come if you keep doing that...” I hissed, my toes curling in
on themselves when he did this magical thing with his tongue; something I
couldn’t even describe if I tried.
My warning only egged him on; his hands tightened their grip and he added a
delicious twisting motion on the upstroke. The tip of Omega’s tiny tongue
slipped inside my urethra opening and it was then I lost it.
“Ahhh! Will!”  I grunted ungracefully as the most amazing orgasm washed over
me. My pleasure was further intensified by the boy’s continuous suction while I
came. He swallowed every drop I gave him, and his hand milked me for more as
the spurts slowed.
“Oh fuck… Fuck, fuck fuck…” I cursed as little shockwaves rippled through me.
My cock was oversensitive now, but I let Will do as he wished, enjoying the
ride in the process.
I watched with hazy vision as Will finally pulled off. He swallowed the last
portion of semen, never breaking eye contact with me as he did it.
“Will… I… that was incredible.”
“Sure seemed like it.” Will said with a little bit of amusement in his voice. A
glance at his surprisingly naked form revealed that his tiny cock was erect as
well.
“Let me… Reciprocate, please.” I said while still a little breathless.
“You… want to touch me?” He sounded bewildered.
“Yes. Please lay back. Let me make you feel good.”
“O-okay…” Will looked very surprised indeed, and it made me wonder if anyone
had ever been considerate towards him, sexually or otherwise.
Once my Omega was laying back, propped up on his elbows, my mouth was already
making its way towards his tiny erection. His cock was about three inches in
length and slender. It fit inside my mouth easily, and I slathered it
luxuriously with plenty of saliva and moved it around with my tongue lovingly
and aggressively. Although the thought had not yet occurred to me, I was making
love to his cock. I was making out with his erection the way I wanted to kiss
him; passionately; as if it was the last thing I would ever get to do.
“Ah!!” Will all but shouted, positively writhing from the start.
Male Omegas didn’t usually develop testicles, but they still had a scrotum.
While his cock was still in my mouth I let my tongue slip down to his sac,
licking it sensually and loving the moans I was getting in return.
“Oh God… Oh God, Oh God…” Will breathed as a mantra, trying to stave off his
orgasm, so soon. It appeared as though both of us were having an issue with
stamina that morning…
“Please… Hannibal I’m so closssseeee….”
I smiled a little as I returned my efforts to sucking hard on his cock while my
fingers came up to play with his obviously very sensitive scrotum. I kept away
from his hole entirely, knowing that he ought to still be in a decent amount of
pain, given that he’d only given birth a week ago.
“Oh fuck… Hann… Hann…” Will couldn’t even finish his warning as I felt him
tense every muscle in his body as he was throttled off the ledge to orgasm. His
hips bucked wildly up and down, forcing his cock in and out of my mouth while
he rode his obviously extremely intense orgasm.
A little dose of semen shot into my mouth, but most of it flung every which
way, landing on his chest, on the bedspread, on the sheets, and even a little
bit got on the wall behind Will’s head.
I gave the softening member a little lick to finish up, and I delighted in the
knee-jerk reaction Will responded with. He too, was over stimulated and
extremely sensitive after orgasm.
“Th-thank you…” Will said, his eyes filled with gratitude.
“It was my pleasure, my sweet.” I rested next to my sated Omega, enjoying the
fresh pheromones wafting from him. They were affectionate, in nature.
In a sudden surge of boldness, I licked at his scent gland, located at the base
of his neck, just above where the neck joined the shoulder. Instantly my mouth
was filled with a delicious, sweet taste like I’d just licked a raw honeycomb.
I moaned a little, letting my hopefully future mate know that I loved his
scent. An Omega found it fulfilling to know that his Alpha approved of his
scent; it was a point of pride and bonding between mates, or mates-to-be.
“Hannibal…” Will pushed me way lightly, and I immediately obeyed his gesture.
“Yes Will?”
“I… I’ve never had anyone do that to me. What… what we just did.”
“You mean… you’ve never had anyone pleasure you like that?”
Will shook his head in reply.
“Oh my… Will I had no idea… I-”
“I’m glad it was you. I’m glad you were my first. It felt… Well let’s just say
that it was the most pleasure I think I’ve ever had in my life. And I… would
love to do it again sometime.”
My heart soared at the idea of doing that again, and again, and again, with my
sweet boy. If he wanted it, nothing was going to keep me from fulfilling that
desire.
“Of course Will. I would enjoy that immensely.”
Humming with satisfaction, Will closed his eyes again, falling back asleep. I
looked at my watch, and realized that I had to get up for work already. I was
reluctant to pry myself away from my sweet Omega’s embrace, it felt so good to
be close to him.
 
 
As I prepared for work, my mind was filled with thoughts of Will’s past. It was
so disheartening to think that whatever he had gone through with his previous
Alpha(s), they hadn’t provided him with sexual pleasure, and instead, evidenced
by his oral talents, made him service them selflessly, with no reciprocation.
It made my stomach sick to think of my perfect, angelic Will going through
that.
And it made me angry.
I just had to hope that however long it took for Will, myself, and the rest of
my friends to escape the city, that in that time I would not cross paths with
the perpetrators of those crimes against my Omega. I wouldn’t trust myself for
two seconds with those bastards. Because I knew that the next encounter would
most certainly be a blood bath.
An image surged through my mind like an erotic fantasy: a dead Alpha, split
open with a knife, chest cavity spread wide and its thumping, quivering heart
between my teeth.
Yes, that seemed a very fitting picture.
I just had to make sure I kept that image a fantasy, and nowhere near reality.
Because no matter how much I missed the delicious taste of blood and raw flesh
and Alpha pheromones coating my tongue, I could never go back to that. Not when
I had so much at stake.
 
Not when I had a future mate to lose.
 
 
***** Captive *****
Chapter Summary
     Hannibal makes the final preparations for Gragon's escape.
     Will has more doubts.
Bedelia answered the phone on the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
“Bedelia. I’m so glad I reached you.”
“Well good morning to you too, Hannibal.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm.
“You know, after I saved your friend’s life I figured I’d be hearing from you
on his progress. But I guess no news is good news, right?”
“Yes, he is doing well, thank you… Now I need-”
“How come the only reason you ever contact me is when you need something?”
“Well I could ask the same of you, my dear. Tell me, when was the last time you
made a social call, hmmm? As I recall the last time you called me, you needed a
certain Alpha of yours institutionalized…”
“Alright… fair enough. What do you want?”
Bedelia’s initial abrasiveness was part of her personality; she always had to
give me shit before actually becoming helpful.
“I need three hundred milligrams of Althriazapam, fifty micrograms of
Deriphradol, and an injectable reversing agent for both. Bonus points for some
low dose arsenic. Do you have any?”
“What the fuck, Hannibal? You trying to kill somebody?”
“Actually, yes. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”
 
 
The hospital was a couple mile walk, and it felt good to be out in the
sunshine; what little made it through the boggy atmosphere, that is.
I passed by several small greenhouses growing potatoes, peanuts, and corn. The
greenhouses were small, and the UV lights mounted on the sides were powered by
compost generators, making it the one of the most putrid neighborhoods to walk
through. Sewage was gathered from different collection points and poured
directly into the compost generators. The feces and other types of waste
decomposed in a chamber, and the resulting gases were used as a natural fuel.
The city also used wind turbines to produce energy, in concert with the
compost. They were both solutions to the expensive and carbon-heavy
alternative, which was coal, of course. But the city had no shortage of wind
and shit; that much was certain.
 
The hospital was inordinately busy when I arrived, and I had to wriggle my way
through throngs of Alphas, Betas and claimed Omegas waiting in line to speak
with the receptionist, who doubled as an ER triage nurse.
“Excuse me… pardon me… I work here, excuse me…” I lied my way into budging
through the line, and luckily no one called my bluff; if I worked there, why
didn’t I use the employee entrance out back?
God only knew that my lucky streak needed to continue for the next two days, if
all of this was going to work out; if I was going to find myself anywhere else
but a mass grave or prison by the end of it.
“Excuse me…” I said one last time before I finally found myself at the ER
receptionist station. But bulletproof glass was hardly the only thing that
stood between me and where I needed to be; I had Matilda, the sassy African-
American Beta to contend with.
“Matilda. Good morning.”
“Hannibal Lecter, if you think I’m letting you in, you’ve got another thing
comin’.” She said loudly enough for five or six people in line to hear her just
fine.
“Hey, I thought you said you work here?” A voice groused from the waiting line.
I ignored it, and so did Matilda, thankfully.
“I’ve got a meeting with Bedelia. Please. She said you’d let me in.”
“I’m sure she did. Thing is, I’m not supposed to let anyone back there who
don’t belong.”
“Alright… Well… I guess then you’ll have no problem with me telling your
supervisor about your little habit, hmm? Stealing coffee from the board room,
Matilda, really….”
I nodded pointedly at the cup of dark colored liquid sitting on her cluttered
desk. What could I say? Blackmail came second nature to me.
The nurse threw up her hands in a supplicant gesture and quickly slid a manila
folder overtop the mug to hide it.
“Fine… I’m not lookin’…” She turned her back to me, pressing the release button
on the underside edge of the desk to allow me access.
“I one you one, Matilda. Thank you.”
“Mmmmhhhhmmmm….” Came her disapproving reply.
 
If the entryway to the hospital’s ER was crowded, then the ER itself would be
considered a zoo. Nurses and doctors were scurrying left and right, up and
down. Patients were sitting on the floor along the walls, on countertops,
wheeling aimlessly across the bullpen, you name it. It was discord personified.
It reminded me, marginally, of the time when the war started; when the nuclear
bombings first took place. Tens of thousands of people had been killed and
injured back then, and countless others affected by the nuclear fallout. Then
came a short nuclear winter in the most heavily affected locations. And as soon
as that cleared up, the most toxic cities, such as New York, were closed off
for pollution, mutation and infection containment.
My brain filled with images of those fateful first days: trying to help people;
putting pressure on as many wounds as I could, performing necessary amputations
in the hospital hallway without access to anesthetics or meds… It was the
craziest time in human history, without a shadow of a doubt. And I was right
there, for all of it.
 
“Hannibal.” Bedelia found me standing in the middle of the hallway, looking
like a psych patient, no doubt.
“Yes. Sorry Bedelia, it’s good to see you.”
“You look like you just saw a ghost. Do you need to sit down?”
“No, I’m just… a little overwhelemed. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a
hospital, I guess and… It’s bringing back a lot of memories.”
“Oh. right… I’m sorry…”
“Thank you, Bedelia, but apology is not necessary, I was just... getting caught
up in my own head. Now… did you get the stuff I asked for?”
“Yes, I did.” She reached into her nurse scrub pockets and pulled out a small
foil package.
“It’s all in there. Some clean needles too. Now are you going to tell me what
the fuck this is all about?”
Bedelia said in a very low tone. We were standing in a dirty linen disposal
room, where no one would suspect a conspiracy conversation to be taking place,
surely. The sound of the industrial washers covered most of the noise anyway.
“I am in the process of getting Gragon out of prison. My friends and I are
making an escape; soon.”
Bedelia’s eyes went wide as the ocean.
“I hope you know what you’re doing. After all these years in isolation, I doubt
your friend is as he used to be. It’s been a decade, Hannibal.”
“I am fully aware of how long it’s been.” I said a little impatiently.
Just as Bedelia was about to bite back with something quite smart, I’m sure, a
young man in plain brown scrubs walked into the room.
“Oh, hey.” He said uncaringly as he walked towards the trash bin holding a
piece of electronic equipment.
“What’s that?” I asked nonchalantly, hoping that the young man was as
unsuspecting as he looked. I already knew what was in his hand, I was really
wondering what he was going to do with it.
“Oh, this? Oh it’s a broken EKG. Doesn’t pick up any electrical activity, doc
says. He told me to throw it away; no one around here knows how to fix ‘em.”
“I… actually have a knack for things like that.” I volunteered quickly. “I’ll
fix it for you.”
“Gee thanks.” The nurse said without a hint of genuine sentiment, and he all
but tossed the thing at me.
I had to hold back my grin for as long as I could until he was completely gone.
I simply could not believe my luck that morning… Things were really looking up
for my plans.
“Jesus, Hannibal. You look like the cat that got the cream. What the hell do
you need a broken EKG for?”
“Oh… Bedelia… just trust me. This little device has just saved me a whole world
of trouble.”
“Right… okay. And by the way, I didn’t get the chance to congratulate you yet.”
“Hmm? About what?”
A smirk came across her otherwise flat, uninteresting features.
“About your little mate. I can smell that Omega on you from a mile away. He’s
obviously smitten, Nurse Nightingale.”
My grin morphed into a smirk upon hearing her comment.
“He and I are not mates, Bedelia. But things are looking well, in that
direction. So thank you.”
 “You’re welcome. And… good luck, with your plan.”
I nodded my gratitude to my friend before beginning to take my leave.
And just as I was going to exit through the back door, I heard Bedelia call
out,
“And for God’s sake, be careful.”
 
Progress seemed to escape me that day at work. My memory and attention seemed
non-existent, my eyes not really reading any of the files I put in front of my
face. All of my nervous energy made me feel completely useless, and I ended up
staying in my office for most of the day to avoid anyone seeing me in such a
state.
Paperwork that I’d ignored for weeks finally got filled out however; that much
I could do.
Once I’d thought through my plan a hundred times, I finally calmed myself
enough to leave my office. I made a beeline to Cell Block C, where I would find
an integral piece of my plan: Prisoner 21ADC-21924; also known as Alana.
“Alana. I have good news.”
The dark haired little girl hoisted herself off the springy cot in her cell and
walked toward me, a wary look in her eye.
“Yeah? Finally fit me into your schedule?”
“Now now, is that any way to talk to someone who’s about to give you what you
wish? A way out of here?”
Alana scoffed. “Yeah? How?”
“Just as you said; you’re going out in the laundry cart.”
 
 
That night I found Will in Jakov’s apartment, furiously typing away on one of
the many computers in my friend’s ‘dungeon.’ The least surprising was by far
the sight of Barbara wrapped loosely around Jakov’s shoulders as he watched
Will work.
“That’s it! How the hell did you figure that out? I’ve been working on that
hard drive for months!”
“You had the correct decrypting key all along, but you forgot to install it
from the repository. It’s an easy mistake to make.”
Jakov looked across the room at me, his head shaking with disbelief.
“Where’d you say you got this kid again?”
“Smart isn’t he?” I avoided answering the question. “Jakov, I’ve got some
things I’d like to discuss with you; over dinner, perhaps?”
“Awww shucks… ‘been a long while since I’ve been on a date; with an Alpha no
less. Can I bring the snake?” The Beta mocked in jest.
Will smiled upon hearing the joke and he got up to leave with me.
“I missed you.” He said quietly once he’d gotten close enough that only I would
hear it. I put my arm around him and he turned it into a short embrace before
turning back to Jakov.
“Supper’s in an hour. I’m making mashed potatoes and gravy.”
I was a bit surprised at Will’s increasing assertiveness. It was a pleasant
surprise, of course. It was good to see Will coming out his shell a little and
making his own decisions.
 
Once inside my apartment (which was quickly becoming our apartment) Will and I
set to work making the potatoes.
“How was work?” He asked while lighting the gas burner with a match.
“Fairly uneventful, all things considered. I fully plan on facilitating a jail
break tomorrow, however. So that ought to be interesting, in the very least.”
Will’s countenance changed a little, from confident to uneasy in a split
second.
“Are you… are you confident you can get away with it? I mean… what if something
happens to you?”
“Your concern means a lot to me, Will, but all will be fine. You and Jakov will
stay here and execute the remote-access portion of the plan, while I get Gragon
out of the prison. Then we’ll regroup at a hotel north of here, and plan our
escape from the city.”
“How are you going to get him out?” I could tell Will was becoming quite
stressed and worried at the thought of all the ramifications our plan entailed.
I took his hand in mine for a moment, and got him to look me in the eyes.
“Will, please do not burden yourself… I’ve been preparing for this moment for a
long time. I know how the system works and I’ve behaved myself long enough that
I am far off the radar of suspicion. My superiors will be running around like
birds without heads, completely clueless, and in that time we will be leaving
the city to a place far, far away where they cannot get to us.”
Will nodded, obviously trying to believe my words of assurance, but not fully
capable of doing so due to his trust issues.
“I still don’t like it. It’s not that I don’t want to trust you, I just… I
can’t lose you.”
My heart skipped a beat upon hearing my sweet Omega say that.
“You won’t, my dearest. We’ll get through this just fine, and when we are rid
of this filthy city I have every intention of courting you.”
“I would like that.” Summoning a bit of boldness Will scooted up to his tip-
toes and planted a kiss on my cheek. It was much longer than a simple kiss, and
the close proximity to Will’s warm body and sweet scent caused arousal to spike
within me.
“Will, I… I think I should focus on cutting these potatoes now… Jakov will be
here soon.”
I attempted to shift my attention to the task at hand, but Will was having none
of it.
His small frame squeezed in between me and the counter, his back facing me. He
began to grind the small of his back against my crotch, intentionally stirring
my arousal further.
The scent of aroused Omega filled my kitchen and it mingled with my own. I was
so tempted to sweep this Omega off his feet and to just take him; right there
on my countertop. My mind was already envisioning the potatoes rolling every
which way as I had my way with the Omega bent in half, being split open on my
enormous cock. But I couldn’t. I had to be delicate with Will. I had to treat
him with the love and respect he deserved.
But it seemed like his hormones were telling me another story.
“Will…” I backed up a little, trying indicate that he should stop grinding his
clothed ass against my fully hard, aching cock.
“I think you greatly underestimate what your scent… what you do to me, sweet
one.” I took a shaky breath to ground myself.
“I… I need you. Please… fuck me.”
A shudder of lust rang through me, shaking me to my very core.
“W-We need to be careful, if I am to behave myself around you.”
My Omega turned and smirked up at me.
“What if I don’t want you to behave?”
I gulped, realizing that Will was most likely experiencing a drastic hormone
shift; it often happened after an unsuccessful Omega birth; the body produced
sex pheromones and desires to satiate the mate, so the Alpha would not be as
upset about losing pups. Although Will would not be fertile for a few months
yet, it was a way for mates to strengthen their bond after a loss, and to
prepare for the next fertility cycle. I had to look at it from a scientific
standpoint, I knew. Or else this was going to go downhill very, very quickly.
“As much as I would love to be inside you; make love to you, and even claim
you, I cannot. The biggest reason is that you are still healing.” I referred as
delicately as I could to the condition Will’s body was in after giving birth
such a short time ago. I knew better than to bring up the information about the
sex drive hormones compensating for loss. Omegas rarely liked Alphas saying
anything about an Omega’s bodily functions; it was a well-known point of
contention between typical mates.  
Will looked down, almost ashamedly, and I took his chin in my hand, carefully
tilting his head upwards so that he would look at me.
“I do not wish for you to be embarrassed, nor ashamed. But I want our first
time to be perfect, and painless. I don’t want to hurt you, my angel. I would
never forgive myself. And… before you came along, I have not been with anyone,
sexually or romantically, for a very, very long time. And as an Alpha I am
afraid of what I may do to you if I get too excited. Do you understand?”
Will nodded, though a little sadly.
“I am sorry. But it has to be that way.”
He turned away from me, and it was with a dose of both relief and sadness that
I noticed his aroused scent fading away.
 
Later, at the dinner table, Jakov and Will got lost in conversation about
hacking, and technology, while I struggled to even appear as though I was
keeping up with it. The things that boy knew… It really made me wonder the same
thing Jakov verbalized earlier: where did Will come from?
 
After dinner, Jakov and I discussed our plans briefly, focusing mostly on his
end of the plan. I made sure not to mention the name ‘Alana’ in any point of
our conversation, lest the wide-eyed Omega sitting next to me become worried
about one more thing that he needn’t burden himself over.
Jakov left late, and I was very tired. But I could tell from Will’s scent that
he was still feeling sexually frustrated. He’d excused himself to shower
earlier, and I could still hear the water running in the bathroom. My cock
twitched a little at the idea of joining Will in the shower for a quick round
of frottage; something quick and pleasurable to take the edge off for the both
of us.
I tapped on the bathroom door, hoping Will would allow me to join him in the
shower.
“Come in…” came the muffled reply and I didn’t miss a beat before opening the
door and shucking off my clothing.
Will had seen me naked before, of course, so I didn’t think he would mind
seeing it again.
Just as I was about to peel back the shower curtain, however, my sensitive nose
caught whiff of the sharp tang of distress mixed in Will’s scent.
“Will? Are you alright?” I asked before moving an inch.
A heard a light sob; it was almost drowned out by the sound of the cascading
water.
“Will, darling? Can I… Can I come in?”
 I first listened for any objections and hearing none, I ventured inside the
cast iron bathtub, closing the shower curtain behind me.
“Will, what is the matter?” I asked upon finding a curled up Omega on the floor
of the tub. He looked cold, his lips blue and quivering.
“I… I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m not good enough for you… I… should have never have
tried to run away from those Alphas.  They told me I could stay with them as
long as I kept bearing pups. I.. I ran away because they wouldn’t stop hurting
me! If I hadn’t been so stupid… If I’d just been braver - tougher - I wouldn’t
be in this mess. I would be with my Alphas and… They would use me like real
Alphas are supposed to!! They would keep me full of pups, and happy.”
“Oh… Will…” Despite the fact that this was the last thing I expected to see
Will doing in the shower, I instantly felt sympathy for him. I knelt down and
scooped him up from the cold tub’s floor and let the warm water and my body
heat bring up his temperature some. Then I turned off the water and stepped
out, carrying my beautiful boy with me. I wrapped him in towels and set him on
my bed, tucking him in with plenty of blankets as I’d done many a time when we
first met.
“My sweet Will… You are the most perfect Omega an Alpha could ask for… You are
smart; brilliant in fact, and you are worth so much more to me than just a
vessel to carry pups. If that is what you would like, later, I respect that
decision, of course. But that is hardly all you are good for, my sweet. Please,
I need you to know that.”
Will sniffed and nodded. Tears were still pouring down his face and I did my
best to wipe them away with a gentle swipe of a finger across his velvety
cheek.
“Why… why are you so good to me? I’ve never had anyone… an Alphano less… treat
me like you do. The other Alphas treated me like a toy; like their bitch. They
would… use my hole whenever they wanted, even when I was sleeping. They would
keep me knotted almost constantly, taking turns on me and they would… hit me,
break my bones just for fun. Why… why are you so nice to me? I… must be so ugly
to you… I don’t deserve it.”
My heart broke upon hearing my precious Omega say those things. Hearing details
about what only my imagination had barely dared to fathom made my stomach
churn.
“Will… My sweet, perfect, beautiful Will… I care very deeply for you, and I
have since the moment I found you. You mean so much to me, and I'm very sorry
that what those monsters did made you think that you are unworthy of love or
praise, or kindness. Those thoughts couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Will smiled a little, but the tears just kept falling.
“Please, Will… please do not let the monsters define you. You are an angel,
ripped from the sky and tormented by demons. But they didn’t break your wings,
darling. You can still fly.”
Another sniff came from Will, and an even bigger smile this time.
“That was… most definitely cheesy, Hannibal...But… but thank you. You mean a
lot to me too…and I… I think I might be falling in love with you.”
“That is good to hear, because I think I may be falling in love with you as
well.”
I placed a small, chaste kiss on Will’s unsuspecting lips. He froze, initially,
but he soon tried to reciprocate and I had to end it before it became heated.
Fuck, the things that boy did to me….
 
“Let’s get some sleep, Will. Tomorrow is a new day, and it promises to be full
of excitement. It will all be fine. And you’ll stay here and look after Jakov,
yes? Make sure he sticks to the plan.”
I gave Will another little kiss, this time on the cheek, but he was already
falling asleep.
That night I had a very difficult time falling asleep. My mind was full of not
only the next day’s plans, but also images of the awful, unspeakable abuse my
Omega went through. My stomach felt uneasy most of the night as my subconscious
fretted over the horrible things done to Will in the past. He’d been beaten and
raped countless times, and yet he was still so innocent; so good natured and
even trusting, taking into consideration all the ill-will shown towards him by
other Alphas.
All I knew for sure was that no further harm was ever to come to my sweet Will.
Not even if there were risk for my own life; not even over my own dead body.
 
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