Cover up everything you know, come save me from the awful sound of nothing [W4, Monday Night]

[hydrokinetics]

[The horse being out of his room helps, but even so Percy finds it hard to sleep. The day's events have been exhausting, strange and mildly unsatisfying. He had received the answers he needed from Sheriff Hal and yet he felt...empty.

Knowing there really was nothing he could have done to save the one person he loves more than the worlds themselves was heartbreaking, but how is it possible for a heart to break when it's already snapped? And maybe that's what happened. Maybe Sara was right. Maybe Percy already snapped. He can't recall feeling anything beyond the horribly strange blankness settling on his chest like a weight, threatening to crush him if he dared try to feel anything.

Guilt and anger and grief had stricken him multiple ways over the weekend, but now he's just...hollow.

And it's for that reason the air is static and quiet when Will enters the lounge. Percy sees him from his place on the couch near the fire, Mrs. O'Leary asleep next to him and his eyes staring straight ahead to seemingly bore straight into Will's head.

Will. How did Will know? It had bothered Percy since Saturday, but he didn't trust himself to speak to the man before now. So with the opportunity in his hands, he takes it.]

Hello, Will. [Even the tone is void of any kind of emotion, measured and careful.] What are you doing up?

Comments

[hydrokinetics]

[He's very quiet after that. It's clear that whatever he thought Will was going to say, it certainly wasn't that. His expression has gone back to being blank but his eyes are wide, concerned and upset and confused all at once. How. How does something like this happen? Why was someone like Will brought to a place like this? Hal managed to get all of Percy's powers turned off, so why did Will have to suffer with something else?

...suffering. Right. He answered his own question.

Regardless, he's curling his hands in his lap and nodding just as slowly, trying to think of the best way to explain it.]

It was weird enough having one link. I don't know if I can imagine links with every single person in the world. [It's murmured, but there. Will can ask if he likes but Percy's focus is on Will himself.]

I imagine that Dr. Lecter was right, you know. I don't know how a person could handle something like that, being separated from reality for so long. [He frowns.] He never said he met you because of the FBI, but I guess some other things make more sense to me now. [He won't go into what he and Hannibal discussed. Rather, he's blinking a bit to keep his own emotions at bay, forcing himself to be logical rather than emotional.]

So...you know everything every week, but to save yourself you don't try to replay the events. With the way some people have died, I...[And here he struggles. He has so many questions and he knows he promised, but it's hard. It's hard when you're a child and you just want justice, you want answers and there they are right in front of you. There's someone who knows what Annabeth was thinking, knows who her killer was, why they chose her and he can't do anything about it.

At the same time...he's not selfish enough to force someone to inflict pain on themselves. He's unaware of the scattered tears lining his lashes but he tilts his chin up again anyway.] I'm sorry.

[What else can he say? It's an awful, awful curse to bear and he's not even sure how to grapple with it.] Being with Dr. Lecter helps...?

[sweats]

[ Percy's comment does bring curiosity to the forefront for Will but he's not sure how to ask and he wants to be absolutely positive that Percy won't try anything, with knowing this. It's a risk. He knows Xion won't ask, she has her own things to consider with this but Percy... If Annabeth was still alive, he's sure Percy would ask when her time came. That's the only thing that makes this safe to share with him. ]

... Heh, yeah. Hannibal was supposed to help ground me and he did, but not in the way the Bureau expected, I think. He was only there to consult, and I was in the field more but we met for work. Then he kept feeding me and let me burst into his house at all hours of the day, when I couldn't be sure where my sanity was.

[ And at the explanation, he frowns slightly and his nod of agreement is jerky, but there. ]

I don't know everything. I can't without seeing, but I can... sense. There are tells people give, impossible to see for anyone else but like screaming for me. But I don't want to know. If I look, I can't stop and I have stay alive, for Hannibal. If I die -- [ He frowns, brow furrowing. ] If I die, Hannibal will get reckless. Won't care what happens after that and right now, he needs to be at his best since that's the only way he'll help the rest of you.

[ It sounds sensible to his ears but Will knows what he means by that. The only way Hannibal will keep up the good doctor facade, and actually actively help is he if finds it amusing enough to do so. Right now, he delights in their ignorance, revels in their reliance on him. People may get hurt but Hannibal will always help and do a good job at it -- unless he no longer finds the interaction to his pleasure. That would only happen if Will is dead. So, Will knows he has to stay alive for now.

The last question has Will's eyes flicking up to Percy's and he gives a short nod. He understands Percy's sympathy and he appreciates it, but it is what it is. Will has long accepted how it has to be. ]

Nothing bothers Hannibal. He's generally quite happy. Calm, too. And I love him so much, I end up defaulting to his headspace when I'm overwhelmed. The more of my senses that are just -- well, Hannibal, the less I focus on the excess. It's either that or booze.

[ He shrugs then, holding up his drink. ]

But I'll kill my liver this way. So, Hannibal it is.

[hydrokinetics]

[Makes sense. Percy's well aware that he would be reckless as well without any sort of guidance. Without Annabeth he nearly lost himself, but today's a little better. Today's a little more logical, Percy willing to listen to reason.]

So Hannibal it is. [He understands a little more than enough and he gives Will another contemplative little glance.] I already told Dr. Lecter I'd do what I could to help you both in this game. It's only fair. It's the only thing I can do now.

[He rolls his eyes to the ceiling, knowing that what he plans to say next isn't the same, necessarily, but it's something.]

But I get it, sort of. Annabeth and I function best as a team, always have, always will. There's nobody better for me than her...even when we first started dating, I knew how to fight with her better than how to be a good boyfriend. We work together like that. I don't have an Empathy Link with her because we can't form them with each other, but...she's my tie to my mortality. If I didn't have her as a tie, I would have been destroyed instead of becoming invincible. She keeps me on track, she watches my back and I know if our roles were reversed she'd do anything to find out who killed me and also finish this game.

[A shrug.] Not the same as having an Empathy Link with the world and having Dr. Lecter act as a pair of earmuffs, but I think I understand. [He still wishes to know.] ...I guess I was just afraid to face the truth that you were right.

[sweats]

[ There's a conflicting kind of reaction in Will at that, even if it doesn't show on his face. He keeps his gaze locked to the floor now and sighs, knowing that this is just a reflection of once again Hannibal's machinations. Hannibal doesn't care, he's doing this to watch the splintering up close and personal. He's not truly invested, never is. Not unless it had to do with Will.

So, he feels pity for Percy then. He would help them, wouldn't he? Because Percy is a good kid who believes in what Will and Hannibal present. The sad thing is -- they are happy and they are in love, a deep potent blood red love that Will would never let go of at this point. But they aren't good and that's why Percy can't protect them like this.

Still, it's not Will's place to say. Not yet. He promised participation when he slayed the Dragon. He wouldn't take back that blood oath. ]

I can't say I don't appreciate the thought, Percy.

[ But that's all he says as he listens to Percy continue, giving a slow nod in response. Some of this doesn't make quite sense -- some of it makes sense only because of what Hannibal has shared with him, he's unsure of how to react appropriately then. He looks up towards Percy, eyebrow raised. He's torn on where to go with his reply so he speaks, careful and calm. ]

What do you mean by Empathy Link?

[ And -- ]

I know it's hard to hear about someone's last moments. [ He speaks then, with experience of dealing with victims and his own jagged knowledge. ] I'm sorry I put you in that place, it wasn't my intent.

[ Another pause here and he lifts his hand to drag it over his face, scratching at his beard. ]

I don't think this will be the last you see of her, if it helps? This place... it's so liminal in nature, death seems impermanent. Like they're all just right there, waiting for a real finish.

[hydrokinetics]

[There's a nod because what can he say? He will do what he can for this game and for the people in it so long as they choose to accept his help. Maybe he can still be something of a hero. It's hard to say.

At Will's question though, there's a slightly sheepish smile.]

An Empathy Link. It's...kind of what you described? Sort of. It's a link I have with one of my best friends. He opened it with me a few years ago so I could see him in my dreams and see what he was doing. [Please know that I want to die, Squee, I hate my canon so much. Please also know Percy's probably saying all of this with a straight face.] Because of the Link, it's easier to sense where he's at and he can tap into my thoughts and I can communicate with him. We can pick up on basic emotions and feel them from each other, too. With the Link we're sort of bound together so if he dies, I'll probably bite it, too. But they can only work between us and satyrs.

[So that's pleasant. And might as well throw that out there. With regards to Annabeth though...] ...I'd say it's not your fault, but it pretty much is. [There's a soft breath.] I should have realized that's what happened in the first place. Maybe I was just hoping to be wrong.

You really think they're still kind of hanging around, Will?