Tied Together With A Smile
Her straight black hair was plastered around her face as the wind whipped through her. She was walking down the street despite the pouring rain when she heard her name being called. The little girl turned and found Tobias Ragg approaching her.
"Alice! Come quick!!"
"What is it?" she asked, bewildered.
"Mrs. Lovett! Mr. T—"
Before he could finish, Alice had taken off, sprinting toward Mrs. Lovett's pie shop, praying that the woman she and Toby considered a mother wasn't hurt in any way. When Toby finally caught up with her, he found her standing in the doorway screaming as if she was in great pain, and he saw why: Mr. Todd was standing over Mrs. Lovett's body, a bloody razor in his hand.
Suddenly without warning, Alice flew at him, screaming and hitting every inch of him she could reach. Toby caught her around the waist and attempted to pull her back, but she fought him as well.
"Alice! Stop it!" he pleaded.
"NO! He killed her! He killed her! I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU! You BASTARD!!" she screamed.
"Alice..."
She didn't stop hitting him until she felt a soft hand on her shoulder.
"Alice..."
She turned and found herself facing the one person she least expected to see.
"Mrs. Lovett?" she whispered.
"I'm not dead, love. I was asleep."
"But—but..the blood on the—"
"Alice."
She faced him. He held up his hand. The blood that had once been flowing from the cut was already crusting over.
"I cut my hand, not Mrs. Lovett. Now, will you all kindly leave my shop?"
Toby rushed out, not needing to be told twice. Alice, however, simply stared at him, anger flashing in her eyes. How dare he make her think Mrs. Lovett, the woman she cared so dearly for, was dead? How dare he?
She stalked out of his shop behind Toby, leaving Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett alone. As soon as she was gone, Mrs. Lovett turned to glare at him.
"How could you scare the poor child like that?" she snapped.
"Me? I wasn't the one who looked like I was dead."
"Mr. T? Can I say something?"
"What?" he asked, uninterested.
"Your eyes are cold, like an empty soul. There's nothing wrong with letting go, and you're still diggin' in. There's a wall standing here between us, and that's all that's keeping you from freedom, and I keep pushing harder..and you keep getting stronger."
She paused, waiting for his reaction. Much to her surprise, he was looking at her, apparently listening.
"Continue."
She nodded.
"You're tryin' hard to hide those scars that I've already seen. Your beat-up heart's not the only thing that's keepin' you from me."
"Is that so, Mrs. Lovett?"
She nodded again, her thick auburn curls falling in her face. She hastily brushed them away and awaited further response. He approached the window of his shop and stared down into the street below.
"Leave me." he whispered.
She did as he asked, heading down to her shop. She could hear Toby and Alice, so she stood where she was outside the shop and listened.
"Toby, whether he killed her or not, he's still a bastard." Alice was saying heatedly.
"Alice, he didn't kill her. She's okay."
Mrs. Lovett stayed silent and prayed he wouldn't come out and reveal her hiding place.
"He could kill her any moment. He could have killed her as soon as we left. We would never know. I would kill him myself if he hurt her."
Mrs. Lovett felt her heart well up with happiness at the girl's loving words. Somehow, she found herself dreaming again, this time of herself, Toby, and Alice living in a little house by the sea, and for once, Sweeney Todd was nowhere in her mind..
A/N: Sorry it was so short, but I just wanted to get something up. I may add more to this later, but I'm not sure. The song Mrs. Lovett was quoting to Sweeney was "There's A Wall" by Miranda Lambert. Reviewers get a Sweeney-in-a-pocket, and a pretzel..