A New Beginning
Hannibal woke to the feeling of the sun on his face as the morning light seeped through the old motel curtains and gradually illuminated the room. He slowly stirred and stretched his arms, yawning deeply as he rubbed his eyes.
He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the brightness of the new day.
Hannibal took a few moments to scan the room, his gaze falling on the various bags scattered around the floor, as if to convince himself that it all hadn’t been some crazy dream. It was only then that everything finally sank in. He had time traveled.
Hannibal sat up, no longer feeling tired and wanted to immediately start exploring this new world, and quickly swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
The feeling of his body not aching with every movement was the weirdest sensation he had ever felt and it almost seemed harder to accept than time traveling.
And that’s when it hit him, He didn’t even know what he looked like. His body had changed, he knew that, but what happened to his face?
Filled with curiosity, Hannibal jumped up from his bed and ran to the bathroom, freezing as he looked at himself in the mirror.
He stared in disbelief as he examined his reflection, except his face was not the face he had become accustomed to over the years. Instead, it was the face of his 18-year-old self, unlined, and free of the wrinkles that came with age.
Hannibal rubbed his hands over his cheek, feeling the smooth skin of his youth and turning his head from side to side to make sure what he was seeing was real.
The man in the mirror copied his every move. It was real.
A sickening feeling rose up in Hannibal; If he was around eighteen years old, then he had gone back around thirty or forty years. Not one year and three months.
Hannibal began to panic as thoughts moved through his head at a million miles per hour.
When he was eighteen he was still in Europe, rooming the earth with nothing but his lust for blood. No one would know him here. Not even Will would know him.
Everything he had done in his past life was completely worthless.
Hannibal had put a great deal of work into perfecting himself; as a child, he had created an image of who he had wanted to be and how he wanted people to see him, and he had made it reality.
He had taken pride in his humanity the way a farmer might be proud of his prize winning pig.
He had raised his reputation from nothing, letting it grow to the powerful and well respected man he had been. His person suit was his crowning achievement, a symbol of his mastery over the common man.
A symbol of power. And now it was all gone. No one here would care about what he had accomplished, not even his Will.
Hannibal looked almost mourningful at his new body, thinking about how difficult it would be to recreate his image, and that’s when it hit him.
No one knew him… He could create a whole new image for himself.
Hannibal felt as if a new fire had been ignited inside him. He had already lived the life of the FBI’s most wanted, why couldn’t he now live the life of someone who finds love and grows old with his family? With his Will?
Ideas began popping into his mind faster than he could keep up with, but one in particular caught his attention. He was going to find Will, and live a half normal life with him.
All he needed to do was figure out where Will was, make him fall in love with him and then live happily ever after. How hard could it be?
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Hannibal quickly walked back to his main room before stopping himself when he saw the bags he had stolen from the gas station. He had almost forgotten about the current state he was in.
No chance anyone in their right mind was going to fall in love with him dressed in the worlds worst smelling outfit and covered in grime.
Hannibal quickly stripped off his clothes, feeling sick just wearing something so disgusting. Even in his lowest moments after Will’s death, he never wore an outfit this bad.
But, to be fair, he no longer had the resources he had once loved. He didn’t have any money besides the small amount in his backpack and he had no clothes besides the ones that now lay in a pile on his floor.
He groaned angrily as he bent down to pick up his clothes and brought them into the bathroom. If he was forced to wear these for a little while longer, there was no way he was going to allow it to smell so awful.
Hannibal filled up the sink with warm water and some soap from the shower as he scrubbed the living daylights out of his nasty shirt and pants.
Once he felt satisfied by their smell, Hannibal rang out the clothes and threw them in a small washing machine hidden in the closet space.
Now for the next challenge; Cleaning himself.
Hannibal walked back into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
As the water warmed up, he decided to examine his new body a little closer; He had never been fat, but his new body was much skinnier and much more toned, very lean even. He even looked taller than before, no longer standing in a hunched position to ease his pain that no longer existed.
As he stood looking at himself, he couldn’t help but wonder what Will would look like. He had always looked younger than he was, and especially so without his beard.
Hannibal happily wondered about Will as he stepped into the shower and began scrubbing the grime and sweat off himself.
Dripping with water, Hannibal stepped out of the shower, still in awe of his new body. His skin had no scars besides those he had in his youth and he was particularly fond of his incredible figure.
He quickly dried off, trying to ignore how unclean the towels the motel provided probably were and put on his now better smelling gas station clothes.
Hannibal looked over at the dimly lit clock beside his bed which read “10:30” in the morning, just as an audible growl came from his stomach. He hadn’t eaten in over two days and he was beginning to feel it.
Normally, he would have cooked himself something with protein and some healthy aspects to it. But this was not a ‘normal’ time for him, and those bags of processed chips looked incredible.
After a while and a few chip bags, Hannibal’s stomach was finally full enough to stop growling angrily and he was satisfied with his current state and he was ready to start exploring this new world.
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His motel room had been hot, but as soon as he stepped outside it felt like the sun had slapped him in the face. The blaring heat pounded down on him and he could feel himself already starting to sweat from the heat.
His eyes were still adjusting to the light as he looked around, but it was very obvious that he was the only resident staying at the motel. Not a single car was around besides the owner of the place's car. Wherever he was, it was not large.
Hannibal tried to ignore the heat as he walked into the lobby of the motel, which seemed almost hotter than outside.
“Can I help you?” A voice asked from behind the front desk. It came from a much younger girl than the lady from last night, most likely the older woman’s daughter.
“Yes actually, can you tell me where I am?” Hannibal asked nicely, trying to ignore the way the girl batted her eyelashes at him.
“Sure thing, you’re in Chesapeake City, Maryland.” The girl almost laughed. “Little strange not knowing where you are, lol.”
“I got… lost.” Hannibal said, faking a laugh. “Could you also point me to where the town is?”
“Just down the road and to your left. Are you staying long?”
“I haven’t decided yet if I’m being honest.” Hannibal shrugged. It was simple, he would stay if Will was here.
“Well in case you do, I’m Daisy.” The girl grinned at him and reached out to shake his hand. “What’s your name?”
“Lovely to meet you, I’m Hannibal.” Hannibal smiled and shook her hand. It couldn’t hurt to make a possible friend with Daisy. Afterall she could be a useful asset in the future.
“It’s lovely to meet you as well, Hannibal. Cool name.” Daisy smirked, looking him up and down like he was a piece of meat. “Your accent is incredible, where are you from?”
“I’m from Lithuania, and thank you.” Hannibal answered. He was very aware of the way his voice sounded when he had first crashed. His accent was much thicker than normal, no longer tailored to sound American.
“I have no idea where that is, but that’s cool.” Daisy laughed.
“Hey, weird question but how old do you think I am?” Hannibal smiled at her, hoping she wouldn’t be put off by his question and apparently she wasn’t.
“Ooo, I’m gonna say eighteen. Am I right?”
“Spot on.” Hannibal grinned at her, mentally noting her answer.
“No way, actually?! Wait, that means if you stay you’d be going to my high school.” She said excitedly, not noticing the way Hannibal’s face dropped for a second. “We’d be in the same grade, that would be so much fun!”
“Yeah… Exciting.” Hannibal copied her excited tone, but he felt anything but excited. He did not want to go back to high school, and he sure as hell didn’t want to have to deal with high school students. “Well, I’ve got to be going. It was nice talking to you.”
“It was lovely talking to you too. I hope you decide to stay, this town could use some new people.” Daisy waved at him as he walked toward the door. “Be careful out there, supposedly some killer is running around right now.”
Hannibal paused halfway out the door.
“Really? What happened?”
“Some rando killed Larry, he owned the old gas station a ways away from here. But, if you're asking me they did the town a favor, Larry was a racist bitch and no one liked him.” Daisy said and then slapped her hand over her mouth, realizing that she just dumped on a dead man. “Oh my word, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it like that! Please don’t tell anyone I said that.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” Hannibal grinned at her. “Sounds like he had it coming.”
“Damn straight.” Daisy laughed, returning his grin. “Have a good day!”
Hannibal smiled at her and walked outside, looking at the small town in the distance.
“You better be down there, Will.” Hannibal sighed and started walking down the road.
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The sun blared down on him and by the time he reached the center of town, he felt disgusting, like a permanent cloud of humidity and sweat clung to him.
The sound of people going about their days hummed around him and he stood watching them curiously. He knew they were real people but somehow they all seemed fake, dressed in outfits he remembered from his childhood.
He looked around for a while, admiring everything as if it was his first time seeing people when he stumbled across a thrift shop. He was in desperate need of a change of clothes, especially if he was to live a normal life and stop wearing the clothes of a dead man.
Hannibal slipped inside and walked over to the men's section. He hummed happily to himself as he sifted through the clothes picking out a few not so horrible looking shirts and pants. Nothing even compared to his old outfits and suits, but for a second hand t-shirt, he could stand wearing them.
He walked to the front counter to check out, setting down his items to pay.
The checkout person was a pimply-faced red head who seemed to be completely ignoring him.
Rude.
Hannibal stood in front of him, waiting for a moment as the kid sat picking food out of his teeth, seemingly in his own world.
“Excuse me.” Hannibal grumbled, trying to keep his temper in check.
“Oh, ha I didn’t see you there.” The boy gave a sort of chuckle as Hannibal stared at him unamused, he had obviously seen him standing there and he cleared his throat. “Sure.”
“Thank you.”
“So… you new in town? Or something?” The boy asked as he scanned some of Hannibal’s stuff.
“Something like that.”
“Oh… Well I’m Joey. If you need anything I know all the stuff about this shit hole of a town. All you gotta do is ask me bro.”
Hannibal did reply at first, not quite sure if he was joking.
“Hannibal. It’s nice to meet you, Joey.” Hannibal gave him a fake smile, watching the kid scan his clothes at a pace slower than molasses. He paused for a moment and looked up at Joey. “Is there… a Will Graham that lives here?”
“Yeah, real piece of work.” Joey said practically rolling his eyes. “Why? You know him or something?”
“Something like that. What can you tell me about him?”
“Not big on sharing are you? …Whatever bro, I don’t know too much about him, except he’s in my grade and totally weirdo.” Joey shrugged as Hannibal stared at him. He suddenly looked very young and unsettling thoughts started to pop up in Hannibal’s mind. “I heard some rumor that he can read minds-”
“Sorry, how old are you?” Hannibal interrupted.
“I’m 18, man. Full on senior this year. Why?”
“No reason.” Hannibal smiled at Joey, relief flooding over him.
“Whatever. Anyway, here’s your stuff. You owe 13.02.”
“Thank you.” Hannibal said, grabbing his clothes and leaving before he had to talk to Joey any longer. He obviously didn’t know anything else about Will if he was talking about ‘mind reading’.
He quickly walked back to the motel to drop off his new stash of clothes and quickly change out of his own filthy outfit.
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Hannibal stood in front of his mirror admiring his new change of clothes. It was nothing fancy, just a t-shirt and jeans but he felt excited to try out something different for a change.
Now that he had enough clothes to keep him happy, he could focus on a more pressing matter; Will.
He knew Will was a senior in high school, based on what the strange kid at the thrift shop had said, and that would mean he would be easiest to find and befriend in said high school.
Unfortunately, that meant he would have to go back to highschool himself, something he wished to never relive.
Gears started turning in Hannibal’s head as he laid out the items he had stolen from the gas station.
In order to even enroll in high school he would need some form of ID and papers, both of which he didn’t have.
But he did, however, have the ID of the man he killed.
Hannibal grabbed the wallet from out of the backpack and flipped it over in his hand. He had created fake IDs in the past, but this technology was much worse than what he had available to him then.
Whatever, he would make the world finest kickass fake ID and no one would ever question it.
_____________________________
Hannibal quickly grabbed some cash, stuffing it in his pocket before walking back down to the town and buying a few items at the local hardware store and getting his photo taken for his ID photo.
As he walked out of the store, he looked around to see if anyone was paying attention and slipped into the alleyway beside the building.
He quickly laid out his items on the ground and began erasing the gas station workers' information off his ID and replacing it with his own.
The little workspace he had created in the alleyway was crude, but there was no way he was walking all the way back to that motel just to have to come back right after.
Hannibal hummed happily as he worked away, creating his new identity and after a few hours he was finally satisfied with the result.
Hannibal stood up, dusting off his pants and stashed his leftover materials behind a dumpster and walked back out to the street where everyone was still going about their day.
As he continued down the sidewalk people stopped to stare at him, pointing occasionally. Apparently it was big news in this small town when new people moved in.
_____________________
The high school looked empty as Hannibal made his way up the steps, he didn’t even know if anyone was there but when he pulled the door it promptly swung open. He peeked inside and it was completely empty besides a lady sleeping behind a front desk.
“Hello?” Hannibal asked, slowly walking towards the woman who looked almost dead lying on her keyboard.
She didn’t respond at first so he poked her arm causing her to flinch awake and scream, scaring Hannibal and he almost fell over.
“OH- I am so sorry!” The lady almost laughed. “You scared me.”
“No, I’m sorry.” Hannibal smiled at her, trying to regain his composure.
“No honey, you’re completely fine. How can I help you?” The older looking lady smiled and sat up in her chair.
“I am looking to enroll here, can you help me with that?” Hannibal tapped his fingers on her desk to stop himself from showing how nervous he was. He had no idea what he was doing and that was not something he liked.
“Of course I can sweety, do you have your papers with you?” The lady asked nicely and lit up when Hannibal handed it to her. “Wow, aren’t you prepared? How great.”
Hannibal watched her nervously as she slowly looked over his information, he knew it could have even fooled himself so she wouldn’t find anything wrong with it, but he still couldn’t help feeling anxious.
“Well, it all looks great. I’ll get all this into the system and you will be ready to start tomorrow.” She said happily as she typed his info into her computer. “Just come straight here at 7:45, and I will have a student waiting for you who will show you around and help you find your classes. If you need anything, just ask for Ms. Finley and I will be more than happy to help you with anything.”
“Thank you, Ms. Finley. I will see you tomorrow at 7:45, and I am so sorry for scaring you.” Hannibal nodded and started to walk away from the desk.
“Don’t worry about it. See you tomorrow, and welcome to Chesapeake City!” Ms. Finley waved as Hannibal exited the building, waving back.
A heavy sigh escaped Hannibal as he stood at the entrance to the high school. He hadn’t realized how tense he had been, but now that he was officially enrolled he felt much more relaxed.
He had successfully started his new life, and he couldn’t wait to see where it would lead.
Hannibal began his walk back to the motel, watching as the sun slowly drifted away and couldn’t help but smile.
He walked into the lobby of the motel and smiled at the older looking woman who had been there the night before.
“I think I will be staying here a little longer.”