genuinely cannot fucking believe hannibal looked like this when will rejected him. when he realized with a sounding finality, that he cared more for will that his own desires, the agenda he lived by his whole life. his freedom, his life, something that he once punished will so cruelly for when he posed a threat to it. a time when he insisted, more to himself than anyone, that not even will was enough to change him. he could not, would not be changed. and he accepts now, that he was changed the moment he saw him. his unraveling, a constant winding thing in his stomach; he started to end the day they began. he ran from will, ran from the ways he betrayed himself, let himself be undone, only to end up by his bedside once more. ticking clocks, broken teacup, endless equations, could he ever undo time like he did once? can he control the fate of the one he loves?
and he is wholly and completely rejected. in that awful moment, there is peace in accepting that there is nowhere left to run. for there is no corner of the world that would be worth anything without will. so he does what will lost everything to try and do, he denies himself freedom. no world left to return to, he waits for the world to return to him. he bares his open wound, as he was changed more than he changed will. he was seen, and he was torn apart. his weakness, his betrayer, his imprisoner. his keeper, the knife he twists into himself, his god.