I know I know, I'm supposed to be working on my crossover, but I got a little burnt out. I'm back from vacation, but I decided to give myself a break. But I was tossing around ideas in my silly little head and thought it would be interesting if at first, Mrs. Lovett did not love Benjamin? And what if she didn't want to fall in love with Sweeney? Or if she didn't know the reason she was doing it all? So I then thought to myself, "Self, what a great idea for a little Sweeney Todd fanfic. You can take a break from your break and write a little Sweeney Todd fanfiction." So I hope all you guys enjoy this piece.
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She had known this man for entire life. They had played pirates and sailors as children together. They had read scores of books on every subject as teens together. And as adults, they lived in the same building.
Nellie Lovett knew almost everything there was to know about Benjamin Barker. And Benjamin Barker knew almost everything about Nellie Lovett.
She knew that his middle name was Nathaniel. He knew her full name was Eleanor Grace Manson Lovett. She knew he couldn't resist chocolates. He knew she would do anything for truffles. She knew he hated having his hair ruffled as a child and he knew she loved it when you toyed with her curls.
The parents were sure they would get married eventually, but Nellie could not see that happening. Benjamin, however nice he might be, was too naive for her taste. He knew little of the horrors this world could hold, and could only see good in it. Nellie did not want to marry someone like that. So they remained best friends just like Nellie had wanted it to stay.
When Benjamin married Lucy Ashton, Nellie could not help but be overjoyed in the fact that her friend had found true love. She had not ended up so well off, married to a fat, abusive oaf of a man, but there was no need to be jealous. If things got too bad down in her house, she'd just slip upstairs to the Barkers and wait things out. Nellie was grateful enough for that.
When Albert Lovett died, Benjamin was there to comfort her, even though she needed little comforting. But she appreciated the thought. Benjamin was also there to keep her safe, keeping an eye on her from his barber shop while she worked in her pie shop.
And Lucy, well, she tried her best to be a shoulder to lean on. She was always caring, though, not very experienced in the sorrows of this world. She was willing to help, even though she screwed up most of the time. She would attempt to assist Mrs. Lovett in the cleaning of her shop, and would end up making a bigger mess most of the time. But she was always sincerely sorry and would apologize profusely.
The Barker couple was adorable. And Mrs. Lovett loved them. The tenants and the landlady were quite close. All like a family, they were. And Mrs. Lovett was content for it to stay that way. Mr. B as her best friend, and she as his.
But Sweeney Todd was a whole other matter.
She didn't want to fall in love with Benjamin, or Sweeney. Sweeney was Benjamin, in Mrs. Lovett's mind, and the very thought of her and Ben together made her collapse in a fit of giggles. But after a while, she began to realize that Sweeney was not Benjamin. In fact, Mr. T was the exact opposite of Mr. B.
Benjamin was always full of laughter and could talk almost as much as Mrs. Lovett herself could. Mr. Todd was silent as the grave and hardly ever smiled. Mr. Todd was focused on one thing and was driven by it, determined to push till the end, letting nothing get in his way, letting nothing sway him. Benjamin had little purpose but to be there when help was needed, and care for his little family. It was not hard to change his mind and he was easily led.
Mrs. Lovett did not think she could ever fall in love. Until she fell fast and hard for the least likely person. Mr. Todd was nothing Benjamin was and everything Mrs. Lovett wanted. She found herself drawn to him against her will. She never would have thought she could, but she had indeed fallen in love.
She didn't exactly want it to happen. But then again, doesn't everyone want love, deep down inside? She did not know exactly why she had left out that little detail that Lucy was still alive. She didn't want Mr. Todd all to herself... did she? And what was that funny feeling down in her tummy?
Mrs. Lovett first attributed her actions to loneliness. After all, she was the last of the family they once had living in the beloved old shop. But after Toby came and filled up her emptiness, she realized that what she was feeling was more than that.
When she came up with the idea to cook people into pies, she thought it was just because she needed meat. She tried to tell herself that it was not because she wanted to see the admiration on his beauti- er, familiar face.
Every night as she slaved away, butchering up corpses, she kept telling herself it was not because he would eventually realize how much she meant to him. She did not want to go off and live with him in a house by the sea....
...Oh the sea, with Mr. Todd by her side, waves crashing on the shore, as he lifted his hand to caress her face....
No, of course not. She was only doing it so that she could have money coming in all regular like. Not because she wanted him to notice her.
When he finally got the judge, she was at first overjoyed. Sure he scared the bloody hell out of her when he grabbed her skirts, but at least the son of a bitch was finally out of the picture. But her joy soon turned to horror when she saw who else Sweeney had killed.
Lucy Barker in all her blonde haired glory was also out of the picture. Mrs. Lovett was mortified as Mr. Todd's steps were heard. She had tried her best to get the body to the oven before he came, but it was to no avail. He came down, coated in blood, and asked what had happened. She told him the truth and continued to drag the heavy body across the floor. That is, until he forcefully ordered her to open the oven door.
She knew he had found out and she knew she was doomed. She began to ramble on about how Lucy had lost her mind, how she had been carted off to Bedlam. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to her, but she kept at it.
Then the lights shone through in Mrs. Lovett's mind. She finally realized why she had done it all.
"Yes I lied cause I love you!" she blurted out. It was all so clear to her now. She didn't know why it had taken so long, but she knew now. She loved him. It was so simple. Why hadn't she seen it before? Why hadn't she known? She'd read enough and seen enough of love to know what it looked like.
"I'd be twice the wife she was, I love you!" So that was why she had come up with the idea for baking people-pies. That was why she worked her rear end off all hours of the night. She was trying to prove she was better.
"Could that thing love you like me?" Nellie was sure that no other person in the world would have done as much as she did all in the name of love. She had taken drastic, desperate measures, that no other person would have dared even think of.
Sweeney Todd turned and she saw a flash of hate. But it quickly melted into something else. Could it be love?
As Mr. Todd swept her around the bakehouse, Nellie was sure that all was going to be well. They would live in a house by the sea. He would love her and she would love him. They would live happily ever after in their-
With one swift movement, all her dreams were burned to ash. Along with Nellie herself. The look on his face, the last thing she ever saw, was enough to tell her. No dreams were ever going to come true for her.
And with a final cry of despair, of regret that she hadn't loved him so many years ago, Mrs. Eleanor Grace Manson Lovett was no more. Gone with all of her fantasies and hopes.
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A/N: Well, I hadn't expected this to be so depressing. But I'm too tired to make it happy so this is what you get. In exchange for my labor, how about leaving a review, to tell me what you think of my unhappy, uncreative story?