DISCLAIMER: Sweeney Todd belongs to Stephen Sondheim.
Final Scene, take four.
-- Fair Trade: Alternate End --
"You," she gasped, and backed fearfully away from the body pile. Once Sweeney saw, he would know... and that would be the end of things.
She hadn't had time to do much more than panic at the thought before Sweeney was there asking her, "Why did you scream?"
But she didn't answer. She just shook her head and backed away from him.
Sweeney frowned and took another step toward her. Mrs. Lovett, speechless? Something must really be wrong...
She kept backing away as he moved toward her, until she hit the wall. She sucked in a ragged breath and slid down into a sitting position. There was nowhere left to run.
It took Sweeney a moment to realize that she was afraid... of him. He hadn't really thought about what he looked like before, but here he was covered in blood with the razor open his hand, advancing on her in an almost predatory fashion...
He flipped the razor shut and put it away.
"Come here, my love," he said softly, holding out his hands to her. "Not a thing to fear, my love."
He saw her cast a fearful glance at the body pile. He noticed the bloody handprints on her skirt, and put two and two together. He knelt in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"What's dead is dead."
She resisted at first, but soon relented and allowed him to pull her against him.
"Come on, now..."
He lifted her to her feet and, keeping one arm around her shoulders, guided her to the bake house stairs.
"Don't look at them," he said as they passed the corpses. He hadn't looked particularly closely at them himself. All of his attention was focused on her. Once they reached the top of the staircase, he gave her a light push and told her, "Go outside and wait for me."
She turned back to look at him and asked apprehensively, "What are you going to do?"
"Start a fire."
And while the building burned down, Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett escaped London.
She'd lost the boy, but Sweeney would never know that his wife had been alive, that he'd killed her. And she thought that, perhaps, this was a fair trade.
-end-