Chapter Text
Will looked at the darkening skies with dread. It was only five in the evening, how could it be so dark already? So cold? In truth he knew, but he could hardly believe it. There was no way winter could have snuck up on him like this, but as he watched the first snowflake fall, he knew it was true.
Winter had arrived, and with that, the winter sacrifice.
-
Now, Will didn’t know how long it had been going on, how long various people, varying levels of innocence, had been fed to sate the beast, but he knew the tradition well. It was, after all, what had taken his mother, and then his father.
At the start of every season, one adult from their little town was randomly selected for the honor of keeping destruction at bay. The specificity of the age came from a terrible incident generations ago, when a desperate man made his son take his place as sacrifice. He wasn’t more than a boy, eleven at best. The Beast had ravaged the town for weeks after the offense. The monster at least had some standards. So now only adults were allowed to take the place of the randomly drawn, but that never truly happened. Aside from the aging parents who would trade places with their adult children in a heartbeat, no one traded places with the dead, no matter how you liked them.
Will pulled his jacket tighter and shivered, though not fully from the cold.
Abigail was nineteen now, he remembered the nervous breakdown she had putting her name into the box for the first time. He had held her, but he couldn’t look her in the eye, he knew her fear was more than just of chance.
It wasn’t likely she would be drawn, so young and with so many others to be picked instead, but his heart raced. He prayed to the gods that they would be kind and leave Abigail alone.
“Thank you all for being here,” Sheriff Crawford wearily spoke. Twenty long years of this, Will had seen it slowly grind him down. “It’s not the most joyous of occasions, but we’ll be thankful for whoever takes on the duty of keeping Hannibal’s favor for another season, and we’ll celebrate their sacrifice when it is all over. It is an honor so much as it is duty to be chosen for this,”
“Do you think the gods will bless us with getting Francis picked this winter?” Abigail joked dryly, not truly meaning it, no matter how she hated Dolarhyde.
“I’ll give my summer catch of fish to them if they do,” Will smiled, tense.
“Pray they listen and are kind,” Abigail said, leaving no space for further conversation. Will didn’t blame her, what was there to talk about in this tense moment? Nothing truly dashed the fear away except for the announcement of the sacrifice. And even that was temporary.
Sheriff Crawford took his hat off and dropped a bag full of tiny papers into it. Names were written on the little strips of paper, a fingernail sized death sentence. “May the gods be with you all,” He announced, mixing the names, and then blindly grabbing one from the hat.
Will’s breathing stopped, and for a moment all of time seemed to slow.
“This year’s sacrifice is…” Sheriff Crawford took a deep breath. “Abigail Hobbs,”
Will’s heart stopped dead in his chest. No, it couldn’t be. Not a chance it could be, it had to be wrong, it just couldn’t be this way.
When he looked to Abigail and knew it was, her face was marred with horror, and acceptance. He wanted to scream, damn the gods for it, impart his wrath upon them for once. She had never done anything to deserve the fate, not a goddamn thing.
Before Will was fully aware of himself he was turning heel, running to Sheriff Crawford with a speed he didn’t realize he was capable of.
“Sheriff Crawford!” Will shouted, panting. “Sheriff Crawford, it can’t- you can’t- Abigail can’t. She’s too young Sheriff, she’s hardly grown Sheriff, she can’t go, she’s just nineteen Sheriff,”
Sheriff Crawford shook his head. “Sorry Will, she’s grown enough for this, according to our laws. Unless you know of someone willing to take her place, there’s nothing I can-”
“I am,” Will said, without the slightest hesitation. A gasp left the crowd. “I am willing, I don’t have much to live for, don’t make her go, take me, I don’t have a reason not to go,”
Sheriff Crawford solemnly nodded. “You don’t have to beg Will, it’s not necessary. If you wish, you’ll take Abigail’s place,” He took Will’s hands and gripped them tight. “May the gods guide you safely and be kind to you, may your winds be fair and your currents swift,”
He let go of Will’s hands, leaving a small knife in Will’s palms. He gave Will a small nod, and turned back to the crowd. “We have our sacrifice, we thank Will for his service, and wish him fair winds and swift currents,”
There was noise from the crowd but Will wasn’t listening. He stumbled off, clutching the knife Sheriff Crawford gave him, wondering its purpose.
“Will fucking Graham!” Abigail shouted from behind him. He turned and nearly winced at her face, she was crying, and he knew that he had been the one to make her cry. “How dare you?”
“Abigail please, I couldn’t have let you-” Will was cut off by a sharp slap to his cheek. That was new, Abigail had never been violent with him before. But he understood it, it wasn’t meant to harm, she was just full to bursting with emotion. He knew the feeling well.
“When my dad was given up you were all I had left, you were all I had for years and years, and now you’re leaving me too?” Abigail cried, falling into Will’s arms. He held her close to his chest. “How dare you leave me, how dare you take my place?”
Will pet Abigail’s hair, soothing her gently. “I couldn’t have let you do it. You’ve got a whole life in front of you, you’ve got the dogs and Marissa, and Beverly will take care of you. You have so much potential Abigail,” Tears welled in his eyes. “I always knew it, even when you wouldn’t talk to me because I had taken your dad away, even then I knew I loved you and would do anything to see what you grew up to be,”
“Stop it,” Abigail wept. “Stop it Will,”
“And when you let me comfort you while you cried, I knew I would try to protect you from pain and harm,”
“You bastard, stop it,”
“And I know I can’t do that anymore,” Will gently rocked back and forth, trying to soothe a pain that could never be soothed. “God knows I’ll regret never seeing what you do, or being there to help you, but I’d rather you be here without me than the other way around. I’ve never had much of a reason to exist, I was just a lonely fisherman, who lived with too many dogs and never talked to anyone. But, if all my life amounts to is saving you, then I can’t have asked for anything better, ”
“Take it back Will, let me go,” Abigail begged. “Don’t do this,”
“I love you, Abigail Hobbs. I hope, in some other time, we’ll cross paths again and I can stay with you as long as I psychically can. I love you,”
Abigail sobbed, breaking Will’s heart with the sounds of her sorrow. “I hate you, I fucking hate you, you’re the most awful man I’ve had to know, I hate-”
“It’s okay, Abigail, it’s okay,” Will lowered them to the ground, pulling her closer as she spilled her grief.
“It’s not okay,” She wept. “It’s never going to be okay,”
And it wasn’t okay, Will knew that, but she’d get over him, hopefully. She would live a long, happy life, never getting sent to Hannibal, never facing much hardship, if only the gods would grant Will’s prayers. To be merciful and kind. He would give, and had given, his life for hers.
“It will be okay,”