Author's Note: So here it is, the final part to All Hallow's Eve. I know this was supposed to be a two-shot, but the Fates intervened and said, "Nope, it's got to be three parts." Don't you just hate it when they're right? I do…sometimes. And I apologize that it wasn't posted on Halloween like I originally planned. Ask the Fates, because they won't tell me why they decided to let me have writer's block on this particular story for the past few months. Grrrrrr!
Anywho…enjoy the final part of All Hallow's Eve. *looks up to the heavens* You hear that? FINAL part!
*Ahem*
Thank you to those who have read and reviewed this three-part story. And a huge Thank You to linalove for assisting me in writing a particular scene. Don't know what I would do without you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sweeney Todd. Nope. Not at all. *sigh* -_-
Warning: This chapter includes a rather…grotesque scene. I mean…it's not too bad, but that's the main reason why this story is rated M. I'm a bit paranoid, what can I say.
All Hallow's Eve, Part Three
~Halloween~
Elizabeth's azure eyes slowly opened, peering into the dim light of the parlor. She slowly sat up and looked around. She spotted Stacy sitting in the armchair across from her, her knees to her chest and biting her thumb nail, looking towards the fireplace. There was a fire going, and it lit the room up even more than she thought. She got up from the couch and touched her friend's shoulder.
"Stacy? Are you okay?" she asked.
Stacy jumped a little, and looked to Elizabeth. "Yeah," she said nervously. "I-I think so…"
"What happened? Where's Mrs. Lovett?"
The red-head looked back towards the windows. "Gone. Disappeared…into thin air. Right before my eyes."
Elizabeth furrowed her brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Stacy looked at her friend with concern. "She just disappeared, Liz!" she snapped. "She just effing disappeared! She didn't walk out of a door or anything. She just…poof! Like a freakin' magician walked in and said 'Abracadabra!'"
"What are you saying?"
The red-head sighed, looking towards the fireplace. "Why don't you go ask your boyfriend?"
Elizabeth gave her friend an incredulous look. "Excuse me?" Boyfriend?
"Sweeney. He's upstairs in your studio."
Elizabeth looked from her friend, towards the ceiling, and then back again. "He's here?"
Stacy nodded. "Yep. And hey, maybe he'll have a story to tell you while you're up there," she said sarcastically.
The blonde looked at her friend, confused by her hostility, and walked to the side door. She carefully walked up the stairs and then opened the door to the studio. Sure enough, there was Sweeney, sleeping in the chair in the middle of the room. In his hand was the razor he had dropped in the street not but yesterday. It was open.
"Sweeney?" she asked, quietly.
He didn't respond. Elizabeth walked slowly and carefully towards the sleeping barber, not wanting to really wake him up in a rush. When she reached him, she knelt next to the chair and put a hand on his knee, and then gently shook him.
"Sweeney?"
He stirred, but still did not wake. She looked at the open razor and, not wanting an accident to occur as she woke him up, gently pried it out of the barber's hand and closed it. She placed it on the floor next to her, and then looked back up at the sleeping man in front of her.
Elizabeth took the time to get a good look at him, something she didn't really get to do yesterday. He looked like someone who had been through a lot, someone who had been through things that no one should have to go through. His black hair, in combination with the dark circles under and around his eyes, was a stark contrast to his pale skin. But none of those took away from the fact that he was, in fact, very handsome. In fact, it was then that she realized that he looked very familiar.
Where have I seen him before? she wondered.
At that moment, Elizabeth noticed that he was dressed differently from the time she met him. He was dressed up in clothes that would have fit anyone in the Victorian era. But then it hit her what day it was.
Ah, it's Halloween, she thought. But then she remembered seeing him last night. Wasn't he dressed like this last night as well?
She was about to contemplate it even more until she felt cold, soft fingers close around her wrist. She looked up and Sweeney's dark eyes, which, from that close proximity, were actually a dark, chocolate brown color.
"Good morning," she said.
The barber gave her a soft smile. Well, a soft smirk, anyway. "Good morning to you as well," he said.
"Do you sleep there all night?"
Sweeney merely nodded.
"You could have slept in the bed. And how did you get in here anyway? I locked the door last night."
"Stacy gave me the keys," he said bluntly.
"Oh."
"Are you okay?"
Elizabeth looked at the barber. "Yes. Thank you."
"What for?"
"For showing up when you did. If you hadn't…well, I'd probably be a dead woman."
Sweeney regarded her statement. "I suppose so. Unlike the last time…"
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth asked in confusion.
"Where's my razor?"
Elizabeth picked it up from the ground and handed it to him. He glanced at it briefly and put it in a small holster on his hip. He then pulled her from her spot on the ground, and then took the liberty of standing up as well. "Has your friend told you?"
"Told me what?"
"Has she told you anything since you've awakened?"
"Just about Mrs. Lovett's disappearing act and that you supposedly have a story to tell me."
"So she hasn't told you," Sweeney said. "Good."
"Hasn't told me what?" Elizabeth was confused, more confused than she had ever been in her life. Since she was little. In some cases, it was like following old footsteps—footsteps that she really didn't understand, footsteps fate had seemed to place in front of her.
Sweeney looked over at Elizabeth and, noticing her confused expression, led her to the lone bed. "You may want to sit down for this."
The girl nodded, not really knowing what to expect from her acquaintance. She sat down and looked toward the barber expectantly. Said man paced around the room for a little before sitting in the chair. His chair.
"What do you know about the Sweeney Todd legend?" he asked.
Elizabeth shrugged. "Just what parents tell their child to scare them to behave. That he was a demon barber who cut people up and, with the assistance of a baker named Mrs. Lovett, put their flesh into meat pies."
Sweeney grimaced at her summary. "What if I told you that it was no legend? What if I told you that was what really happened?"
The girl's eyed widened. "What? That was real?"
"Yes, and that's only part of it."
Elizabeth's hand went straight for her throat. Sweeney noticed this movement and then eyed the area her fingers were touching—the area where her neck and shoulder meet. He licked his lips quickly, and then continued. "The barber had been wrongfully accused by a judge. He spent years in Australia and escaped fifteen years later, assuming the name Sweeney Todd. He had a wife and child, who he thought were waiting for him. But he became enraged when he found out from Mrs. Lovett that his wife had poisoned herself after being raped by none other than the judge himself and had taken his child as his ward."
Images of Turpin and herself from her dream came rushing back to her.
"Devastated by that knowledge, the barber decided he would get his revenge. That's where the meat pies come in. One night, after this had been occurring for months, he finally is able to fulfill his vow. He killed the judge, along with his lapdog, Beadle Bamford. And a beggar woman. But, when he and the baker tried to rid themselves of the bodies, he found that the beggar woman he had killed was, in fact, his wife. The woman whom he thought was dead. The woman whom he loved so much."
Another image flashed through Elizabeth's head. This time, it was of her and Sweeney. He had his razor opened and sliced at her.
"That's terrible!" was all she could bring herself to say.
"Yes, it was," Sweeney said. "He killed the baker as well, for leading him to believe that she was dead. He ended up being killed by the little orphan boy the baker hired to help her around the shop."
Elizabeth gulped. "So that's what happened…?"
The barber simply nodded, watching her, waiting to hear what she might ask him next. Could she dare say that he looked hopeful?
There was something that was bothering her. "What was the barber's real name, if Sweeney Todd was only a pseudo-name?"
Sweeney looked into her hazel eyes and said, "Benjamin Barker."
Elizabeth gasped, and stood up quickly from her seat on the bed.
"Oh my God," she whispered. "I…know you."
Suddenly, in a rush of emotion, she ran out of the studio and down the stairs. She ran through the side door, through the parlor, and into the bedroom that the two friends shared. She missed Stacy asking, "Liz? What happened?"
Elizabeth shut the door and locked it, pacing the room while images of a past life flashed before her eyes: Benjamin Barker being carried away by the police; her crying child; the unexpected ball; her death. That's when it clicked. Those weren't just dreams.
Those were memories, she realized. I was Lucy Barker. Which means that…
She remembered everyone she had met the day before: Turpin, Sweeney, and the beggar woman. The reason why Turpin disappeared without his painting, and why Mrs. Lovett had disappeared into thin air. The reason the beggar woman's tune sounded so familiar. Why Sweeney looked so familiar.
They're ghosts.
xxx
There was a knock on Elizabeth's door. It had been at least an hour since her conversation with Sweeney, and she knew that she would have to face him sooner or later. She unlocked the door, and met the dark eyes of the man who had been plaguing her dreams of late.
"Come in," she said quietly.
As soon as he walked past her, she closed the door. Elizabeth turned to face him. Sweeney looked as if he was about to say something, but stopped himself from doing so.
"I'm surprised that you didn't just walk through the door."
"I can't," he merely stated.
There was a moment of silence between them, with Elizabeth staring at the floor and Sweeney watching her intently. He opened his mouth to speak, not able to stand the silence any longer. But it was Elizabeth who broke it.
"This explains everything," she said.
"Does it?" the barber asked, just a little confused.
"Yes. The strange dreams I've been having lately…they're not just dreams, are they. They're memories of us. Memories of what happened.
"Yes."
"And you're a ghost. Only trying to cross over."
"Yes."
"Oh my God," Elizabeth said, tears forming as she looked up at the barber. Her barber. "I know you...Ben?" She placed her hand gently on his face, fearing that her hand would just pass through.
The barber's cold hand grabbed hold of her chin, just to get a better look at her. His smile, a rare sight to see in centuries, caused the girl to shudder. His cold eyes, once dripping with hatred for the man who took his wife, were dripping with happiness. "Yes, Lucy," he said. "I'm home."
Elizabeth couldn't help but smile, seeing that he was okay. She only let tears fall when she realized that he would be gone by tomorrow, the beggar woman's warning replaying in her head: Beware the barber shop. Beware the bake house. She's there. The Devil's wife. She's in the bake house. They can't rest unless you reunite wif 'im. All Hallow's Eve.
Seeing that she was crying, Sweeney…no, Benjamin brushed his thumbs across his wife's cheeks to wipe away her tears. Tears he knew that were meant for him. He looked into her eyes, bending down slightly to get closer to her face. Benjamin then looked to her lips, allowing his to ghost over hers. Then, in a matter of seconds, he captured her lips with his, bringing her into a soft kiss.
At first, Elizabeth was shocked. But as she felt his tongue lick her bottom lip, her eyes fluttered shut and she parted her lips to allow entrance. She kissed him back, and when he became more demanding, she reciprocated with just as much passion. She could feel his fingers getting tangled in her hair, she could feel his free hand pulling her closer to him. Elizabeth had to put her hands on his shoulders to keep her balance, eventually wrapping her arms around his neck. She didn't have to worry about that for long, because he had quickly walked her backwards until her back hit the wall. He continued to kiss her hungrily, running his hands down her sides to her hips. His lips left hers, trailing down to her neck and placing kisses on her pulse spot. His hands left her hips and then slid down to her thighs so that he could pull them around his waist.
Elizabeth put her hands on his shoulders as he did this, keeping a tight grip on his waist as he hoisted her up. She didn't have to worry about that for long, because Benjamin ceased kissing her neck, quickly turning them around and walked them towards the bed. He laid her gently on the mattress, his lips returning to hers, continuing their passionate kiss. Slowly, he trailed his kisses to the side of her mouth and her jaw, and down her neck to her pulse spot once again. Elizabeth slipped her hands to his hair, gently massaging his scalp as he slowly applied suction. She gasped when he bit down on her soft skin and applied more suction. He caused her to whimper when he became firmer.
"Lucy…" he whispered on her skin. This caused Elizabeth to shudder and sigh. She opened her eyes and looked into his and saw that his dark eyes looked almost lighter, like warm, melted chocolate.
"Ben…" she whispered. She was about to say something else, but he quickly silenced her with another assault of kisses. Her hands fisted around his vest and shirt, which he began to unbutton. He nearly pulled the vest off when they heard a knock on the door.
"Liz?" Stacy called through the door.
Both occupants froze, breathing heavily from the event that just occurred.
"Liz? You okay? We've got to get dressed. We open at 10:00 today."
Elizabeth looked to the alarm clock that was on the nightstand. It read 9:15 AM.
"Shit!" she exclaimed, pushing Benjamin off of her.
"Lucy!" he reprimanded her. He was shocked to hear that kind of language escape her now red lips.
Elizabeth blushed at her use of the word. "Sorry, it's just…we open shop in forty-five minutes and I still haven't gotten dressed or gotten our Halloween decorations out yet," she explained as she pulled on a plain long sleeve shirt and blue jeans. She quickly put on some socks and her tennis shoes, grabbed her coat and purse and headed out of the door.
A confused Benjamin looked after her, following her out of the bedroom. "Wait, where are you going?"
"Yes, Lucy," Stacy said. "Where are you going?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the red-head, and said, "Going and getting candy for tonight."
Stacy's mouth formed an "o" in understanding and then said, "Make sure you're back in time to help set up. First appointment is at 10:30."
"'Kay."
"Would you like me to accompany you?" Benjamin asked her.
Elizabeth smiled walked over to him. "Sure, but…"
"But, what?"
She put her fingers on the buttons of his vest. "We should probably button up your vest first."
"Ah."
The two smiled at each other before heading out of the door, with Stacy rolling her eyes from behind them, smiling.
xxx
All the preparations for the day had been taken care of. Elizabeth and Benjamin brought the candy and some more Halloween decorations for the studio. Benjamin helped both friends put the decorations up and put out the pumpkins they had carved on the sidewalk. Stacy and Elizabeth had a blast doing so before their first customers arrived, mainly because they got a kick out of the fact that they had to explain Halloween to the centuries-old barber. Neither seemed to mind.
By the time everything was ready, it was 10:30, and Stacy was taking pictures of a family of four in their costumes.
Elizabeth had checked the schedule to see if she would need to paint any portraits. Seeing that she had one for the afternoon, she led Benjamin up to her studio—his old barbershop—so that she could set up for the portrait.
A couple of minutes later, Stacy had finished editing the photos for the Robinson family, and rung them up. As soon as they left, she straightened the studio to get ready for the next family. She heard the door to the shop open and shut, and turned to welcome the customer.
"Hello! Welcome to…" Stacy trailed off, paling at the site of the woman who had nearly killed her best friend.
Mrs. Lovett smiled, and said, "'Ello, Stacy. Remember me?"
xxx
~Halloween Night~
"Trick or Treat!"
Elizabeth smiled, handing out candy to a Princess Aurora, a skeleton, and a Captain Jack Sparrow. "There you go, guys. Happy Halloween!"
"Thank you!" they exclaimed, running off to join their parents further down the sidewalk.
She walked back inside, closing the door behind her and putting the candy bowl back on the table. She walked back into the parlor and sat on the couch next to Benjamin. He was starting off into the fireplace.
"Ben?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"You know what day it is?" he asked.
Elizabeth sighed. "Yes, I do. But it's Halloween! Let's enjoy what time we do have together and enjoy the holiday."
He looked over at her and gave her a small smile. "I still don't understand what's special about it."
"What's there to understand? It's the one day of the year you get away with getting free candy and dressing up as someone you're not. Plus, you get to scare people to death."
"I'm not sure I could celebrate it," Benjamin said.
"So says the man who called himself Sweeney Todd and killed people for a living," Stacy muttered.
A shadow passed over the barber's features, and Elizabeth shot her friend a glare.
"What's done is done," she said. "What's wrong with you today, Stacy? You look pale, and you usually love handing out the candy."
"I'm fine," the red-head muttered monotonously.
Elizabeth gave Stacy a worried look. "If you say so."
She looked back towards the barber, who was staring into the fireplace. "Ben? Are you okay?"
"I didn't mean it," he said.
"What are you talking about?"
"Killing them. At the time, I probably did. I just…"
Elizabeth got up from her spot and squatted in front of him. She put both hands on his face, getting him to look at her. When he was she said, "I know. I understand. You were upset because you thought I was gone. Like I said, what's done is done. That was then, this is now. Please don't dwell on it, especially tonight." She gave him a small smile, which he returned.
Elizabeth sat back on the couch with him and leaned her head on his shoulder. Benjamin looked down at her, and then put his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer. He leaned down and kissed her hair, and looked back towards the fire. These were the moments he missed. The only person missing was their daughter. But he knew she had already passed on and crossed over.
Elizabeth looked at him and then towards the fire herself. She thought about the situation she was in. She had the ghost of Mrs. Lovett trying to kill her, and she was snuggled up next to the ghost of Benjamin Barker. Elizabeth knew that she wasn't Lucy. She just had Lucy's feelings and memories. This was something she knew in her mind, but not her heart. She wanted to be with Ben, even if it killed her. But she knew she couldn't. Not only was she, in a sense, a reincarnation of Lucy Barker, but they had until midnight before she knew he would disappear for good. She would be just as lonely as she had ever been, even if she did have Stacy.
She hoped she wasn't the only one, besides her friend, who knew that she wasn't the Lucy Barker.
Her thoughts were broken when she felt cold fingers caress her cheek, trying to get her attention. Elizabeth looked up and saw Benjamin looking down at her, smiling. She couldn't help but smile back, and succumbed to the kiss he had pulled her in. When they had broken the kiss, he said, "You look beautiful." She was dressed in a long sleeved, soft pink gown for Halloween. It was the same dress he remembered her wearing many years ago.
Elizabeth blushed. "Thank you."
"Just like you used to, Lucy. Just like I remember."
Stacy growled at this statement. She got up from her spot in the armchair next to the fireplace and turned to face the couple. "Would you just cut the crap?"
"Stacy?" Elizabeth asked with an incredulous look. "What's the matter with you?"
"You want to know what is wrong with me? I'll tell ya. This," the red-head said, waving her hands in front of her friend and the barber, indicating that she was talking about them. "This is what's wrong! You two only met, what, yesterday? And now you're all 'I love you'. He's a freaking ghost. And news flash: You're not Lucy Barker. You only look like her. Your name is Elizabeth Thompson, and you were raised in Florida for Christ's sake!"
"Then how do you explain the dreams I keep having?" Elizabeth asked her. "The feelings I—?"
"You and I both know that they're not yours, so you can't use those as part of your argument."
"Then how do you explain…?"
Stacy never listened to her question, because she had just walked out of the room and stormed downstairs.
Elizabeth got up from the couch and followed her friend. Something wasn't right and she wanted to know what going on. Her friend hadn't said those words out of jealousy or anger; she knew her better than that. No, she had said those words out of fear. Did Stacy know something that she didn't?
She completely missed Benjamin get up from the couch and try to stop her. "Lucy, no!" he had shouted.
Elizabeth turned the corner and met the stairs leading down to the bake house, where she was sure Stacy had gone into. The door was left slightly ajar, and she felt the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand up.
There was a light on in the bake house.
Elizabeth walked down the stairs slowly, taking each step one by one. When she made it to the door, she peaked through the crack and saw her friend standing in front of the bake oven, a fire burning in it. She carefully opened the door and walked in, leaving the door open in case she needed an escape. One she felt she would need.
"Stacy?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
Her friend turned around slowly to face her. When she facing forward, Elizabeth realized what was wrong. She could tell by how black her eyes had become, and sunken in her features appeared.
The woman standing in front of her was not Stacy.
"Mrs. Lovett?"
It was Stacy smirking, but it wasn't her voice that was she was hearing. "'Bout time you noticed."
"What do you mean? What have you done to Stacy?"
"She's under me control at the moment," Mrs. Lovett said. "You're not much of a friend if ya didn't notice her strange behavior earlier."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. She did notice that Stacy was more irritable towards her, especially when she was around Benjamin. She had even taken notice of the fact that it was only whenever she left the room that she actually talked to him. The Stacy she knows would never be like that, even when she was mad at her.
"I did notice," she argued. "Stacy never acts like that. I knew there was something wrong with her, but…"
"But ya never bothered to ask, did ya? Just kept to your own business."
Elizabeth shook her head, tears threatening to fall. "Why?" she asked. "Why Stacy?"
"Why? I need ya out of the way. I've done it once, I can do it again."
That's when it dawned on Elizabeth. "You loved him. That's why you lied to him. That's why you led him to believe that Lucy was dead."
"And that's why I need ya out of the picture," Mrs. Lovett said with a smile. "I hope you'll understand."
Elizabeth shook her head, knowing exactly what she meant. And that's when she also noticed the butcher knife in her friend's possessed hand.
"No," she whispered, and ran for the door.
Just as soon as she got to the door, it shut on her. She pulled on the handle, trying to open it, but the door wouldn't budge.
"Damn it!" she shouted. "Let me out!"
She began banging on the door, hoping that maybe Benjamin would hear it. She turned around and noticed that the baker had left her friend's body, who had fallen to the floor.
"Stacy!"
Mrs. Lovett drew closer to her, raising the knife ever so slightly as she did.
"BEN!" she screamed hysterically.
xxx
"BEN!"
"Lucy?"
Benjamin heard her frantic scream and ran down the bake house stairs. He pulled on the door, trying to open it, but it wouldn't budge.
"Lucy, open the door!" he shouted.
"I'm trying!" she cried from the other side. "It won't open. Mrs. Lovett's done something to the door!"
Mrs. Lovett, he thought. That devil woman wants to keep us trapped here. I won't let that happen. I can't let that happen.
Ben tried to open the door again, but to no avail.
"There has to be another way in."
"How?" Elizabeth asked. "The only other way into the bake house was through the sewers."
No, they're not. There's another way, an inner voice said. You've just forgotten about it for the last two centuries.
Of course.
"I'll be back. I promise."
"Okay," came her quiet response.
With that, Benjamin headed out of the small shop and up the stairs to Elizabeth's studio. His old barber shop.
As he headed inside, he cleared her art supplies away, and sat in his old barber's chair.
xxx
Please hurry, Ben, was all Elizabeth was thinking. She tried to yank on the door again, but it still didn't open.
"I don't know why you're wastin' energy tryin' to open that door," Mrs. Lovett commented. "Ain't doin' ya no good."
Elizabeth became frantic. She noticed the sewers, remembering that she had just told Benjamin that they were the only other way out. She made a break for it, only to be stopped by a sudden rush of flame blocking her way. She turned to face the way she came, facing Mrs. Lovett, who was smirking. Elizabeth ran towards the door again, but was blocked by another rush of flame. She groaned in frustration and turned in circles, noticing the ring of fire surrounding her, Stacy's unconscious form, the baker, and the bake oven.
She had nowhere to go.
"Poor thing," she heard Mrs. Lovett say. "Nowhere to run now, eh? Well, there is one way." At that she smiled evilly.
Elizabeth knew what she meant, and frantically began shaking her head. "No," she whispered, which grew louder. "No, no, no, no, no…"
Mrs. Lovett began advancing toward her once again, backing the defenseless girl towards the flames. Elizabeth knew she was growing too close to them when she felt it getting even warm than it had become. She stopped herself from being thrown into the flames, but that also meant she stopped walking away from the baker, who continued her advances. The girl looked around her, desperate for an escape. But there was no escape.
The baker smiled, which disappeared as quickly as it came when the two of them heard the clicking of wheels and turning of cogs. Both women turned to see where the noise was coming from, and from out of nowhere, Benjamin fell from the ceiling and landed on his feet.
"Ben!" Elizabeth shouted with relief.
"Lucy," he said, making his way towards her.
Elizabeth ran towards him, towards the safety of his arms. The baker noticed this, and didn't hesitate to take a swing at the running girl, the butcher knife cutting her upper arm.
"AH!" she screamed in pain, grabbing her arm.
"Lucy!" Benjamin shouted, running towards her.
Elizabeth looked at the baker and then down at her arm. She removed her hand from the wound and, upon seeing the blood, she became dizzy. She wasn't particularly fond of blood.
Luckily enough, Benjamin caught her before she hit the floor. He looked at her paling face and then at Mrs. Lovett.
"What do you think you're doin'?" he asked her angrily.
"Wot's best for us," she said.
"And you think you're the judge of that?"
Mrs. Lovett's expression grew softer. "Yes! I'd be twice the wife she was."
Benjamin carefully placed Elizabeth on the ground, and stood up. He started to advance towards the baker, saying, "She is ten times the woman you are. I would never have allowed you to be my wife."
At that, Mrs. Lovett's expression grew murderous. She raised the butcher knife and charged towards him. Elizabeth, who had recovered enough that she saw what was happening, screamed, "Ben! No!"
Before the baker even made it to the barber, Stacy jumped on her back, causing her to stop her advances.
"Stacy!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Get off me!" Mrs. Lovett screeched.
"No way," Stacy said. "First, you possessed me. Now you're trying to kill my best friend and her lover. Sorry, but you've messed with the wrong girl, bitch."
The two struggled against each other. Mrs. Lovett screamed in pain and dropped the knife when Stacy pulled on her hair. Elizabeth watched as the knife dropped, and slowly crawled towards it. Neither Elizabeth nor Mrs. Lovett noticed when Benjamin pulled the razor from the holster on his hip and open it. Only Stacy noticed the barber's action.
Which is most likely the reason why she yanked on the baker's hair once more, exposing her neck. In one swift movement, the barber brought the razor across Lovett's neck, blood spewing from it. The baker's body convulsed uncontrollably against Stacy until she was drained of all blood, and then grew still. Stacy let go of her, and the body fell to the floor with a thud. She quickly grabbed a hold of the butcher knife that Elizabeth had originally been crawling after, and saw fit to cut Mrs. Lovett's head clean off. She looked up towards Benjamin, who gave her an incredulous look.
"For good measure," she merely stated.
He didn't object. "Open the oven door."
Stacy nodded. She did as she was told while Benjamin dragged the body towards the oven and threw it into the fire. Stacy grabbed the head and threw it in as well, along with the knife. Together, the two shut the oven door and locked it. As soon as they locked it, the ring of fire surrounding them was distinguished.
"And that's what you get for messing with a New Yorker," Stacy said, wiping her hands on her ragged jeans.
Benjamin gave her a puzzled look, and she just shrugged. She turned away from him and saw something she didn't want to see. "Ben?"
He looked at her and then to where she was looking. Elizabeth was lying unconscious on the floor.
"Lucy!" He ran over to her and pulled her up in her arms. "Lucy," he said again.
Elizabeth managed to open her eyes. "Hi," she whispered.
Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. You're alright."
"I don't feel it."
"Don't say that."
Stacy came and kneeled down next to them. She looked at Elizabeth's arm where Mrs. Lovett cut her. It was a pretty deep cut, but not enough that she needed to be hospitalized. Stacy ripped a piece of her costume off and tied it just above the cut to stop the bleeding. "She'll be fine," she told Benjamin. "She tends to blackout at the sight of blood. We'll just need to clean it up and bandage it, and she'll be right as rain."
Benjamin looked to her and smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
The barber looked back towards Elizabeth, who had her eyes closed. He knew she must have been asleep, the toll the wound was taking on her probably draining her of her strength. But he noticed something that caused him to panic.
She stopped breathing.
"Lucy?" He shook her, but she wouldn't wake up.
"Lucy!"
Still, nothing.
No, he thought. Not again. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers, not believing that she had died in his arms.
"Benjamin," Stacy said in a mildly panicky voice. "Look."
Benjamin barely lifted his head and opened his eyes when he saw what was causing Stacy a fright. Elizabeth's hair went from blonde to a dark brown color. He sat up straight when he felt her breath again.
"She breathing again," he said.
"Don't worry," a soft voice said from behind them. "Elizabeth will be fine. She's just asleep."
Both turned and saw a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a dress similar to Elizabeth. She seemed to be glowing in a supernatural manner, so Stacy could deduce, with everything that happened, that this woman was a ghost. A ghost who just happens to know who Elizabeth was.
"Lucy?" Benjamin asked.
The woman smiled. "Hello, Ben."
Benjamin couldn't believe it. "Is it really you?"
"It is."
Stacy looked from Elizabeth to Lucy. "You possessed my friend?"
Lucy shook her head. "No, not possessed. I hid. I was waiting."
"For what?"
"This night. I was waiting for Elizabeth to come back to London so that I could be reunited with Benjamin."
"On Halloween."
"Yes. I've been watching over your friend since she was born."
Stacy nodded, understanding. "Everything makes sense now. Why she was having those dreams, why she had those feelings towards Ben. It was because of you."
"I know it wasn't the best way to do it," Lucy said. "But please understand, I was not trying to use Elizabeth, and I'm sorry things turned out the way they did."
"It's okay," Elizabeth said. She was fully awake now and sitting up, looking at everyone around her. "I understand."
"You do?"
"Yes. You wanted to cross over. You were stuck in between and needed a way out. But, why me?"
Lucy looked puzzled. "You don't know?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "What do you mean?"
The woman gave her a warm smile. "You were born here. Your mother gave birth to you in the parlor."
"What?"
"Yes. They were the only ones to have lived in this building beside your friend and yourself. Elizabeth, you're home."
"Home." She thought about it. It did make sense. When they first arrived, everything in the building looked familiar to her, minus the barbershop. "What happens now?"
Lucy smiled, and looked over at Benjamin. "It's time to go home."
Benjamin smiled at the thought. "Home."
"Yes," Lucy said, taking his hand. "Time to join Johanna and be a family again. The way we should have been."
"I'd like that very much."
Mr. and Mrs. Barker looked at each other lovingly and then kissed. An ethereal light shone in the darkness of the bake house, coming from the now open bake house door. The two began walking towards it. Lucy looked back and waved at the two friends before walking into the light, who had waved back. Benjamin followed his wife, but not before turning to the two and saying, "Thank you." With that, he walked through, and the white light was gone. The only light on was coming from the fire burning in the oven.
Stacy looked over at Elizabeth and offered her a hand. Elizabeth took it and was helped up.
"Well," she said. "That was definitely the most interesting Halloween I've ever had."
"I agree," Elizabeth said, wincing at the pain in her arm.
Stacy noticed, and said jokingly, "Alright, Mrs. Barker, let's go get your arm fixed up."
Elizabeth couldn't help but giggle. "Very well. Up the stairs we go."
The two friends laughed as they shut the bake house door and climbed up the stairs.
The two never encountered anything supernatural for years. Their photography business took off after the first few months. Stacy ended up getting married and moved out of the building, leaving Elizabeth to herself. Since the shop was still set up there, they saw each other Monday through Friday during business hours when they were working together. Her friend ended up having two children, a boy and girl, before she finally met someone.
A writer who looked exactly like a barber she had met only a day before Halloween.
A/N: Whew! DONE! There you guys go, the last part of my three part story. I hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing it. Cute little drawings of Sweeney to anyone who can guess what writer I'm talking about :3 For those of you who don't know, I have a Facebook page now and there is a link for it on my profile page. I post updates and pictures (made by me and the awesome linalove) for my stories on there, so feel free to check it out! Even though this story is finished, I plan on making some pictures for it.
Thanks for reading guys! I still want to know what you think, so don't hesitate to press the Review button and leave me some feedback. I love reading them. They make me happy.
~Xanthe :3