First Sweeney Todd fanfic in, like, forever! Also my first rated M one… Didn't know whether to or not, finally decided that the suggestion was just a little too much, and rated it M.

Please don't read this if you're sensitive about rape. Wouldn't want an angry/upset reader on my hands.

When does that first touch of insanity occur? In the form of senility for the old? How about the first drop of mercury that reaches a man's brain?

For Lucy Barker, it was the days following the imprisonment of her husband, Benjamin.

She became unsure whether the whispers about the 'poor young thing' were from people's mouths or in her own head. She partook in conversations with new friends, only to find that they had disappeared a second later. This drew the woman so crazy that she gave up the outside world and locked herself in her room. She ignored Mrs. Lovett, the baker who lived downstairs, who pleaded her to come out. The baby, Johanna, cried mercilessly, and she tried to soothe her with no avail to stop the pounding the cry caused in her head. She fed Johanna all the food Mrs. Lovett had slipped under the door. Her frame thinned from curvaceous beauty to pretty twig as she starved herself.

The Beadle came.

Oh, had Lucy been excited. She ignored the voices whispered warnings as she entered the Judge's masquerade.

Nervousness.

Fear.

Agony.

The drunken stupor Lucy had put herself in didn't lesson these moods. If anything, they amplified them to the point of an explosion out of her chest. And it wasn't as if she had her virtue taken away. The point was, Benjamin had caressed her in a loving way. Judge Turpin brutalized her. He tore, bit, and pushed roughly. He slapped her as she cried out. He didn't bother to wipe the tears and snot that dribbled down her face. She left broken and dead inside. She had gotten as far as Mrs. Lovett's pie shop, crumpling in a heap in front of the door. Mrs. Lovett, truly concerned, had nursed Lucy back into health, although the woman was still insane, and managed Johanna. She tried to stop Lucy as she downed the arsenic the she had bought. It was no use. Her condition became worse.

Then Judge Turpin came back.

He sentenced Lucy to the asylum despite the protests from Mrs. Lovett. He also took Johanna, giving the baby to the Beadle while he did his work, who smiled at the young babe in his arms. He grimaced as Johanna cried shrilly.

"Don't do that! He'll be back! He'll want revenge." Mrs. Lovett warned. Judge Turpin smirked and slammed the door in the pie baker's face. The cry behind the door satisfied him.

"Let's go home." He commanded of the Beadle. They walked down Fleet St. toward the Judge's house.

Neither would have suspected that Lucy Barker slipped out of the asylum, unnoticed, and took up residence in front of Turpin's house. Not that he recognized her. Her beautiful face was caked with mud and dirt, and the harsh complications she had endured added at least 20 years to her features.

Soon, young, beautiful, proper Lucy Barker became that old, cackling, crazy beggar-woman on the streets of London. Now and then, Mrs. Lovett came to give her food and clothing, but then her husband died, and her business went bankrupt. She stopped coming. Why worry about the crazy woman when she could barely feed and clothe herself?

The beggar-woman was currently watching the young, blond bird locked up inside her cage. O, how pretty the bird sang, but how sorrowful the song. The woman felt sorry for the bird. After all, she did seem so familiar…

Well, there you have it. Like I said, I may be a little rusty, since I haven't done it in a while. Being 15 and in high school isn't easy. –shakes head knowingly- And my condition isn't something to behold either. I'm sick! –coughsneezecough-

Oh well, guess if it's not one thing…