Author's Note: So I have decided to write a short Sweeney Todd fanfic. I know you are all waiting on me to finish my Harry Potter fanfic, but I can't help that these other ideas keep poppin up in my head. :-P This particular idea first manifested as I watching an episode of the Simpsons tonight. I know, random, right?
Anyway this is set before the Sweeney Todd era…before he ever set eyes on Lucy and Benjamin…
~LilReporterGirl
Chapter 1
Dani fled down the streets of London, through the crowd of people, her heart pounding like mad. She was clutching a loaf of bread to her chest. She'd nicked it off a cart and now the owner of the cart was chasing her, yelling. She hadn't exactly picked the best spot to nick something- no alleyways she could hide down, no sewer to drop into. She hadn't been thinking clearly, obviously. She had been so hungry and it had been so tempting. If she could outrun the man, just long enough…
Up a ways, she spotted a door of a large house partially open. Maybe no one would notice if she ducked inside, just long enough to lose her pursuer. She increased her speed, getting just far enough ahead so that the baker didn't notice her slip inside the house.
She stood just inside the door, trying to catch her breath and wolfing down as much of the bread as she could so that when she left she would be empty-handed. She chuckled to herself as she ate, pleased with her steal. She looked around at the house she had entered. It was an old house, but beautiful. It didn't appear anyone was home. It couldn't hurt to take a look around… Most people wouldn't mess with her because she was girl, but the baker had been a different story. She'd stolen from him before and he knew her well.
Dani had grown up on the streets of London. She supposed she had had parents at some point, but the earliest memory she had was of an orphanage. She had been 12 years old when she ran away from there after the owner of the orphanage had forced himself upon her. After that, she decided she could take care of herself. She slept on rooftops and never for more than a few hours at a time. If it rained, she stayed under a lean-to. If it stormed, there were several abandoned houses where the roofs didn't leak too bad. She knew London, it's streets, it's always, it's sewer system like the back of her hand, but she had gotten turned around in her flight. If she'd had any idea whose house it was she was in, she certainly would not be there…
She moved silently through the house, trying to find the kitchen. If she was lucky, she could nick some more food and get the hell out of there without anyone catching her. However, she got distracted when she reached the study, distracted by the numerous books on shelves that lined the room. She loved to read…
The first few shelves contained books on languages and words. There were books from all over the world. She spent several minutes scanning the titles. She reached a shelf with hand-bound leather books. Curiosity getting the better of her, she pulled one off the shelf. She opened the book to a page that contained a detailed drawing of an Asian woman and a man, contorted in what she would have thought an impossible position. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the book and flipped through some more pages. When a voice spoke behind her she jumped and dropped the book on the floor.
"Well, well, what have we here?" said a sneering voice.