Just got reacquainted with “In A Week” by Hozier and Karen Cowley and that song makes me astral project.
It also makes me think about the “Hannibal” ending that exists in my mind that basically, instead of the fairytale fanfic ending where after Will and Hannibal fall off the cliff and run off on their Gay Little Adventures together, they both die.
Anyone who knows anything about cliffs, cold oceans, and knife/gun wounds knows that surviving a combination of all three is not really feasible. Death—as their finale—just fits them better.
That’s where “In A Week” comes in. Just imagine. Will and Hannibal holding each other when they hit the ocean, a fatal blow to the infamous Dr. Lecter and his monster. They wash up on a secluded shore holding each other, their wounds washed clean, like they could be sleeping.
And after the insects have made their claim and after the foxes have known their taste and after the raven has had its say, their bones lie together on that beach, impossible to know where one begins and the other one ends.
And Jack Crawford, on his hunt to find Will and Hannibal after they ran away, finds their entwined skeletons and even though it’s not inherently obvious, he knows it’s them. Jack is, of course, devastated; he blames himself for all that Will’s been through. But he’s not surprised.
Jack’s forced to confront the monstrous love he created. Like it or not, he pushed Will and Hannibal together. Those bones are clear evidence that over time, Will wasn’t corrupted by force, he embraced it.
Will’s absolute devotion to Hannibal and Hannibal’s to Will was literally carried to the grave. And Jack has to contend with such a love unsurpassable even in death for the rest of his life.