Title: Setting the Scene
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: NC-17
Length: 278
Summary: Francis Dolarhyde is setting the stage
Warning: This is canon compliant horror, based on a scene in the book/programme.
Also written for the human monsters post on ushobwri

Francis Dolarhyde surveyed the scene with satisfaction.  It was perfect.  The bodies of the children were propped up against the wall, a little blood dripping down, the majority left where it was originally spilt, or along the corridor as he carried them to his stage.  He had angled their limbs so they were facing the head of the bed, ready to watch the performance.

The husband was sitting up in bed.  On another day he could have been reading a book, today he was waiting patiently for the next act.  His blood marked the wallpaper and seeped into the pillow and bed sheets, a suitable crimson offering for what was to come.

Francis had smashed all the mirrors, not wishing to see his reflection as he was.  Not wanting to be Francis Dolarhyde with the cleft lip and stammer, laughed at behind his back.  Nowadays people would deny they did so, but he had heard enough throughout his youth to know what they were saying.  At the time he had shed bitter tears, but now he could see his future, he knew what their mistake had been.  He knew too they had yet to appreciate what he had become.

Reverently he placed the shards of the mirrors into his victims’ eyes, to reflect the glories of the next few minutes.  So they too, even though dead, could be privileged to be a part of his becoming.

Lastly, he arranged the woman on the bed.  He shed his clothing and there, in the moonlight which was streaming through the window, stood the Red Dragon in his full glory.  He set the camera running and prepared to take the woman.