Prologue| Illusions of Grandeur
'If you keep knocking on the Devil's door, sooner or later, he's going to invite you in.'
It all started with the searing flames in his near-scarlet eyes. They were burning with fervour, every flicker fuelled by adamant loathing.
She'd seen him mask such roaring rage, even when the two of them had been spinning, twirling, spiralling in the dilapidated descent of the bake-house.
She'd felt such blissful contentment, despite knowing his sudden gleeful grin was a simple trick of his snide persona. His acting was irrelevant, because it had been all she'd needed...
To know that he'd finally stared back at her in that moment, acknowledging her presence with his maddening eyes...
It had truly sent a warm shiver through her.
His hands supported her firmly as they danced, and she adored how he guided them both around the place at an enthusiastic pace. His close proximity was something that she'd waited for, for far, far too long. He seemed so determined, driving her over the blood-soaked cobbles with enough brute force to push her over.
In truth, she'd seen her own demise long before they'd whirled further and further towards that dreadful oven door.
As soon as he'd laid eyes on the corpse of his late wife...
She'd known that her time was up then and there.
But her acceptance of her fate was long forgotten when she'd been thrown to the gnashing flames, and she unleashed a screech of imminent despair, one that was from the deepest trenches of her charred lungs. It was such an unholy scream that not even her murderer could stand it - so he slammed the door on her, those callous burning coals giving her once last accusing stare. He couldn't bear the sight of her.
Once he snapped the oven's latch shut, he made no delay in leaving her to burn to cinders. His eyes disappeared from view and she yelled even louder, like she still thought he could hear her cries. As the fire ate away at her, she could feel her love for him twisting and turning, and it stabbed right through the middle of her heart... she was suddenly infuriated with him.
Thick, swirling smoke was all she breathed in and flashes of simmering fire invaded her vision, both mental and physical pain engulfing her completely. She could feel herself slipping away, and she squeezed her eyes shut, pushing out one last pitiful cry as her life played out beneath her eyelids...
As the eager flames lapped at the structure of her body, she felt restlessly remorseful. Her last regret, was of course, that she'd confessed her love for him too late.
Dry tears sliced down her singed cheeks and she wept sorrowfully...
It was then, that the unfathomable occurred.
Her pain quickly subsided, and she frowned with confusion. She still felt the heat from the flames, but it was no longer hurting her...
Not a second had passed, when she screamed out in terror as what felt like a clawed hand clutched around the remnants of her neck. It pulled her backwards into the seemingly endless oven, and she squeezed her eyes shut firmer, shouting out in fear. It was like an invisible force had its clutches around her, fierce and unrelenting... dragging her further and further into the fiery depths of the place that she was adamant she was destined for...
Dizziness suddenly shadowed over her and she felt herself jolting to a stop... another yelp frantically escaped her as she felt herself falling backwards. Her high-pitched shriek cut out when she felt her spine colliding with something impossibly soft. She forcibly let out an exhausted "uff!" as a consequence of the contact.
She laid for a moment, frowning in confusion. The remainder of the singing pain which had been administered by her eager oven, was still briefly present. Her body felt frail and ever so brittle, but she mustered some energy to move her right arm.
To her surprise, she managed to swipe her hand further to the right, sending minuscule damp particles scattering away from her. She let out a little whimper of bewilderment and winced, not wishing to move from the spot she had collapsed in.
But she was desperate to know where she was. And more importantly, desperate to know what the hell had happened.
She carefully pushed out her left arm too, and more particles of sand dispersed around her. She inhaled sharply, and she instantly noticed how fresh the air was... the scents around her were near fantastical. The recognisable smell of salt from serene waves was the first thing that struck her, and from that alone, it was clear where she was...
She reluctantly cracked open her tired eyes, and immediately, light flooded her vision as she gazed up into a sky of crisp blue. There was hardly a cloud up there to ruin the moment, and she let out a gasp of shock.
She laid there like an enthusiastic lunatic, beaming an enormous grin as she stared up at the picturesque sky. The sight of it was exactly as she'd dreamed - wide, bright, full of vibrant life...
It seemed that all her experience of the dreaded bake-house in Fleet Street had left her mind. The sight of her dreams becoming a reality seemed to shift her thought-patterns to the point where she started to overwrite all of the pain she'd just felt.
Still sky-gazing, she soon became hypnotised by the brilliant blue plastered above her. After that, it was as if her ears had finally turned the volume on because she started to hear the sounds of waves washing up against a shoreline. Her eyebrows knitted as she inhaled sharply with excitement, a film of tears forming over her brown eyes.
The sound of giggles and scuffles of feet against sand told her that there was likely children playing somewhere nearby. Her heart quenched with happiness - she was finally somewhere that she'd always wanted to be.
As happy tears trickled down her cheeks, a dark figure invaded her perfect view of the azure sky. At first she frowned with annoyance, but then she let out an astonished gasp.
"Nell?"
It was Mr Todd, wearing a look of confusion as he gazed down at her.
"What are you doin' down there?"
Her eyes widened at his appearance - his pallid skin seemed to gleam beneath the light of the sun, and his black eyes were strangely softer than normal. His black hair had been combed back neatly... she wasn't sure that she even liked his locks tamed now that she looked up at him. As she trailed her eyes further down his body... even his clothes seemed different.
He was wearing his usual shirt, waistcoat and neck-ties, but he looked somewhat formal with the suit-jacket clinging to his person. He looked ridiculously smart, and so undeniably handsome.
"M-Mr T?!" she managed to push out, nearly fainting when he leaned down closer to her and slid his arms around her waist without a single hesitation. She whimpered when he lifted her up with ease, her eyes widening as a sudden dizziness came over her. Her legs shook as the bare soles of her feet came to rest on the warm cushion of golden sand, which caused her to let out a small sigh of relief. His hands didn't move from the sides of her abdomen, and her whole body trembled due to his firm hold on her.
"You look pale, are you alright?" he asked, bringing one of his hands up to stroke her cheek. She immediately flinched at his contact like he'd struck her, shaking her head.
"W-Wot's goin' on?!" she yelled, attempting to pull herself away from him. He winced like what she'd said hurt him, and he used both hands around her waist to pull her into him, forcing her into a hug.
"You tripped and fell, is all. Must've 'it your 'ead."
She squeezed her eyes shut and clung onto him for dear life, her mind attempting to come up with a plausible solution to what was happening.
'Tripped? On sand? Summin's not right 'ere.' she thought to herself, luckily her true discomfort and distrust of the man embracing her didn't reach her features. He moved one of his hands to stroke her back, hushing her, and she swore she heard him whisper reassurances beneath his breath.
"Where am I?" she asked in a small voice, not daring to yell out again - she was afraid that she'd lose her sanity if she did. She needed to keep a firm grip on the situation by going along with everything until she worked out what was actually going on.
"Where you've always been." Sweeney replied quietly, backing away from her slightly so that he could give her a look of concern. "Here, with me."
She desperately searched his face for any cracks of amusement - but there wasn't a smirk in sight. It appeared that he was deadly serious. She gulped as he brought a hand up her face, cradling her chin in his palm.
His frown deepened when he noticed her expression of confused fear.
"This is what you want, isn't it?" he asked, his voice straining from some kind of hope. Her eyes grew even wider - why on Earth was he showing emotion?! And why was he content about holding her? Why had he embraced her in an attempt to comfort her? Why didn't she know how she'd gotten there? Why had she been brought here?
The questions endlessly whirled around poor Eleanor Lovett's head until her watery eyes glazed over. She was literally dumbstruck due to all of the information she was sifting through.
"I don't know..." she eventually murmured, closing her eyes as her head hung lazily - her body was beginning to give up. Given the fact she'd only just been through an back-less oven, that was no surprise. Not that she could recall such a thing, of course.
Perhaps she never would.
Her muscles reluctantly reacted to her wishes and she lifted her head up, tilting her face to the side so she could view her surroundings a bit more.
The cream sand glowed beneath the glorious rays of sunshine, it was almost bright enough to be disorientating. Flicking her eyes away because of how blinding it was, she now settled her eyes on the rolling waves. The waves were an unbelievable shade of turquoise, the sun causing the tide to glimmer invitingly. A few small figures twirled across to invade her view of the sea - it was the couple of young children, they must have been the ones that she'd previously heard - they were now lining the shore, splashing about joyously as the rippled waves sunk into the sand.
"So beautiful 'ere." she whispered, her features taking on that dreamy expression she would often wear without even realising.
"It is, isn't it?" Sweeney replied in an almost teasing tone, crossing his hands over his stomach as he stood stiffly in front of her, his black eyes boring into her. "You can do anythin' you want here, you know. You're free to do as you wish."
She turned to face him and winced at his words, her brain unable to comprehend what he was insinuating. There was so much to take in all at once.
"Just try to understand, Nell. I know it's hard but... please, do it for me."
Her eyes faltered and she swallowed nervously as he gently took hold of her wrists to pull her closer again. His breaths puffed out over her lips and she suddenly felt extremely intoxicated, pleasantly obsessed with how he was caressing her with his entire being.
"You wish to return, don't you?" he breathed, the bridge of his nose brushing against hers. His hands slid up her arms and then down the sides of her torso, only pausing once they reached her waist.
She frowned at him in confusion, her brown eyes searching his vacant ones - he seemed to be brimming with confidence due to his rhetoric tone, and she swallowed back her annoyance. What was he on about? Return where?
The way he was brushing up against her clouded her judgement and she lost all curious irritation, too drunk by the sight and feel of him.
She noticed that he was motionless, staring back at her with those hypnotising obsidian eyes, very much awaiting an answer.
She reluctantly nodded in response, still adorning a furrowed brow of bewilderment, but it soon fell as his hands began to tighten their hold on her. He leaned forwards, his eyelids drooping down to hood his impossibly black eyes. Her breath shortened as his mouth grew closer to hers, her eyes wide with amazement.
The moment his lips pressed upon hers, she relaxed against him, her eyes falling shut as she blindly kissed him back.
Eleanor Lovett had unknowingly and willingly, accepted an offer. Because it was heavily disguised and alluring coming out of Mr Todd's mouth, she hadn't even realised what she'd committed herself to.
Their kiss grew deeper and she started to feel dizzy with giddiness, her heart pounding frantically. She brought her hands up and tugged on the lapels of his waistcoat - she didn't want the kiss to end. She only wanted him to kiss her harder and harder, so long as he never left her.
As their lips eventually parted ways, she searched his eyes for an explanation for his actions...
... and was horrified when his eyes glowed a tainted crimson, a smirk dancing upon his lips as he pushed out a breathless whisper...
"Be careful what you wish for."
A/N So I've just posted this first chapter so far, I've actually got loads more chapters in the works so I'll post them once they're all finished. Anyone interested so far? This fic is definitely going to be a lot weirder than usual, but it's just going to be something I can write as a break from Esteemed. I'm having so much fun writing for an AU at the moment so there may be a few more uploads for this coming your way. Would love to know your thoughts! Thanks for reading :)
