Disclaimer: I do not own Sweeney Todd or Edward Scissorhands. Which makes me sad but what are ya gonna do? P.S. This is my first story ever!
Enjoy! :)
Chapter 1: Edward's New Beginning
It was a bleak day in London (but then again, when wasn't it?) as Mrs. Lovett busied herself with her Sunday chores; sweeping and scrubbing the floors, washing dishes, hiding the gin from Toby, and disposing the results of Mr. Todd's shiny "friends".
After completing her weekly duties, she changed into her favorite Sunday dress, a deep blood red with black lace trim at the low-cut neckline and bottom of the skirt.
Hopefully she thought as she looked at her reflection in her bedroom mirror he'll like this dress, seeing as 'e 'as a fondness for the colour. Nellie left her room and called Toby as she descended the stairs and entered the pie shop below. He bounced out of his room with a cheery "yes mum?"
Toby always wanted to make her happy, especially since he made her so sad all the time.
"Would y'like to go to the market with me today love?" she asked with a bright smile.
"Of course mum!" he said with a smile as bright as the sun. Mrs. Lovett knew what he really wanted was some gin, but she was not going to let him out of her sight for one second. Primarily because you don't know what to expect in the dangerous streets of London; but the gin was definitely another instinctive not to let him leave her side.
"Alright, well I'm going to pop up to Mr. T's room and tell 'im we're 'eading to the market."
"Ok." The boy's face darkened as he heard the happiness in her voice when referring to that…monster that resided above his beloved pie maker. Nell bounced up the stairs to his shop, wondering if she should invite him. She had seen the boys face fall into an emotion that definitely wasn't happiness with the mention of him and decided against the idea. She reached the top of the steps and knocked on his door.
"Mr. T?" she called as she opened the door and saw him standing by the window staring at it (but never through it) in a trance.
"Me and Toby are going out for a bit so please don't do anything while we're out, eh love?" she really would not want to come home and find anybody to cook; today was, after all, her day off.
"Mmm." he grunted, not even taking the time to acknowledge her properly.
"Well, see ya Mr. T" she said, and walking out of his dark hidey-hole and closing the door behind her. Toby was waiting at the foot of the stairs with a slightly anxious look on his face; he did not like how Mr. Todd would upset his new mum so often. Mrs. Lovett walked down the stairs toward her "son" who started to smile again, seeing his mum descending the stairs unaccompanied by the monstrous creature he had come to fear and resent.
"Alright love, lets go!" Nellie said with a wide smile, she was glad to be spending the day with her favorite person (who acknowledges her when she speaks) even if she spends every Sunday with him, the effect it has on her happiness doesn't lessen with time.
As Mrs. Lovett and Toby walked through the market looking for fruit and other items for the shop (she wanted to expand her pies to include fruit) when Toby tugged on her arm, trying to lead her away from the wooden crates of cherries and strawberries she was eyeing (fruit tarts always look so pretty when baked correctly she thought).
"Goodness Toby! What is it?" she asked curiously and slightly annoyed, seeing as she was about to bargain with the fruit vendor about the price of a basket of cherries.
"Look at that man! He's so cool!" Toby says, jumping up and pointing at a large crowd circling what she thought was a magician or other street entertainer.
"Yes that's nice dear but I'm in the middle of something right now," she said, sounding like the mother she thinks herself to be.
"Oh come on mum! You didn't even look!" Toby semi-whined. He was tugging on her arm, trying to lead her away from the fruit and towards the man encircled by spectators.
"Fine love, I'll take a quick peek then we'll go home." Mrs. Lovett said, giving in and letting Toby drag her to a gap in the crowd.
"See mum? The man on the right, isn't he cool?" Toby said excitedly. Nellie gasped as she directed her attention from the man in the top hat who was rather good looking in her opinion, to the man next to him. He was tall, pale and lanky, dressed in a peculiar tight leather suit with multiple belts as if without them, he would simply fall apart. But what were so remarkable about the man were his hands; or razors would be more accurate. He was holding his "hands" in front of him like a puppy on its hind legs would, moving his bladed fingers nervously, making a snip snip snip sound like scissors. His hands did however, have two humanlike characteristics about them. One: each shining, elongated, silver blade was proportionate to regular fingers, meaning the middle one was the longest and the pinkie was the shortest; not to mention he had opposable thumbs too. The second characteristic was the number of appendages he had, which was the usual five.
She followed the razors up towards his wrists, which were also covered in black leather. Just before his wrists were metal plates that covered the backs of his hands and had a bent metal rod connecting those plates to a leather strap on his forearm. She continued to move her astonished gaze upward until she reached his face.
The look his face held as he looked at the crowd of people he did not know made Mrs. Lovett's heart break. She read his face like a book; the poor man was nervous, overwhelmed and most of all, afraid. Afraid of the man next to him shouting
"Yes sir! He is a genuine, 100 % freak of nature! These aren't gloves folks, they're his hands! Cant find another one like 'im anywhere!" and this made Nellie's blood boil; the hurtful and destructive things people will do for money. It was ridiculous.
And she had no plan to let it continue.
"'Scuse me! 'scuse me!" she repeated as she made her way through the throng of people towards the platform the man with the scissors was standing on, leaving Toby behind to continue stare awestruck at this display of cruelty he found interesting. When she reached the man with the top hat, she straight up told him what she thought.
"You sir, are a cruel, 'eartless individual who 'as no concern for anyone's feelings other than your own." Nellie pointed out to the gentleman, loud enough for the crowd around her to hear "And I am taking your friend with me." With that said, she turned on her heels to face the pale man on her right.
"You're coming with me alright, sweet'eart?" she gave him her biggest, most encouraging smile and grab his wrist, pulling him through the crowd.
"C'mon Toby! We're leaving!" she called as she approached her adopted son. She grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the group of confused people and an extremely angry street entertainer who could not get through the mass of his admirers to get to his source of income before the woman and child disappeared. It was a ten minute walk from the market to their home on Fleet Street and nobody said a word. Toby was probably in shock from her rash actions (she is surprised he isn't used to them by now) and the man she was dragging beside her seemed like the quiet type in general. When they walked through the door to the shop, she broke the long silence.
"Just have a seat there dearie and I'll get you a nice 'ot meat pie." Nell said pointing to the empty chair Sweeney had been pushed into the first day he walked into her shop. She sent Toby to fetch the pie while the man sat down, looking around the room with an air of nervousness surrounding him.
"What's your name love?" Mrs. Lovett asked him, noticing his uncomfortableness heightening as she spoke; raising his bowed head slightly and glancing up at her, eyes glistening with fear.
"Edward" he mumbled simply. He had an American accent so wherever he was originally from; he was definitely far from it now.
"That's a lovely name Edward," Mrs. Lovett told him, running her pointer finger around the rim of an empty glass on the kitchen counter.
"Thank you" Edward spoke again softly
"You're very welcome! So where you from?" she asked, letting her curiosity get the best of her.
"A castle" he answered a little louder this time; he seemed to be snipping his razors a lot less and Nellie took this as a sign he was warming up to her.
"Oh I love castles! But I've always dreamt of a home by the sea…" She said, putting her chin in her hand as she started to daydream of a life beyond baking people into pies. About five more minutes had passed before Toby walked back into the room with the meat pie; which Toby placed in front of Edward, and a half empty bottle of gin under his shirt.
"What is that you've got under your shirt dear?" Nell asked Toby when she awoke from her daydream and spotted the poorly concealed bottle beneath his tunic.
"Um, nothing mum." Toby replied, blushing as he tried to hide the bottle behind him with no luck; she reached out and snatched it right as he turned to leave.
"Ah ha!" she exclaimed; not hiding the pride she had ruining his attempt to get more gin past her, despite how weak it was compared to his usual standards of stealth "Nothing eh? Then what's this?" Mrs. Lovett asked. She was holding the bottle by the very top of its neck between her thumb and index finger, swaying it side to side, causing the potent liquid to slosh around inside.
"I just wanted a glass or two…." Toby answered while rocking back and forth on his heels without looking at Mrs. Lovett.
"Well I suppose a glass or two wouldn't hurt…" Nellie said as she walked over to the cabinet and took out three glass tumblers. "Would ya like some gin Edward?" uncorking the bottle and pouring its clear contents into the glasses.
"Ok…." he replied hesitantly; clearly, he did not know what gin was and had obviously never had any. She placed the glass on the table and glanced at his pie; untouched and still steaming slightly. Before Nellie could even complete her thought on how to ask Edward about the uneaten pie, Mr. Todd angrily opened the door to the shop.
"What the bloody hell-" Sweeney cut himself off; feeling a foreign, unfamiliar presence in the pie shop. He moved his dark eyes from his Landlady to the man sitting at the table. His large mop of untidy black hair looked like it had been neat once but now looked as if the man had run his hand through it too many times contrasted with his very pale face.
"Mr. T this is Edward, Edward that's Sweeney Todd." Mr. Lovett said, grabbing Sweeney's wrist and pulling him closer to where Edward was sitting.
He was only 3 feet away when he saw them.
They were beautiful, shiny blades that could probably spill the rubies of any man just as well as his own razors. He was staring at them, mesmerized by all of it; a man with razors, no. Not razors. scissors for hands. Oh, all of the glorious, precious rubies those hands could spill.
He shuttered with pleasure at the disturbing thought.
"Say 'ello to 'im Mr. T." Mrs. Lovett told him when she saw him staring at his hands; she should have thought about bringing Edward home through.
"Hi…" Sweeney exhaled quietly, still occupied with the poor mans hands.
"Well now that we are all acquainted with one another, lets get you settled in Edward dear" Nellie said, again grabbing Edwards wrist and leading him to the spare bedroom, leaving Toby and Mr. Todd alone.
"I guess he's going to be living with us now, huh Mr. Todd?" Toby said, breaking the silence that had walked in as Mrs. Lovett walked out.
"Yes, it seems so…" Sweeney replied, lost in thought.
That's when he saw it.
His new and interesting...opportunity.
A/N: OMG! What is this opportunity Sweeney is talking about? I knowww! And you will too if you fav and follow! I will have the next chapter up as soon as I..well, write it. I'll write faster if you review so please do! :) Especially about the description of Edwards hands...it was really bloody difficult! XD Thanks for reading!