Title: The Demon on Academy Street
Genre: romance, tragedy, horror
Rating: M for language, violence, and suggested themes
Pairings: JohanXJudai (spiritshipping); hinted others
Summary: Based on "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". After fifteen hard years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Johan Andersen, now adopting the name Jehu Ralleigh, returns to London to find his beloved husband supposedly dead and his son in the hands of the evil Lord Viper. In his anger, Johan goes on a murderous rampage on all London. With the help of Ms. Asuka Tenjoin, an old friend of his, he opens a barber shop in which he lures his victims with a charming smile before casually ending their lives with a flick of his razor across their necks. But not one man nor ten thousand men killed can satisfy Johan's lust for vengeance on those who've caused his years of pain and the loneliness of losing his family. But to get his revenge, all he needs to do now is try to convince the wicked lord who accused him of the crime, raped his husband and drove him to supposedly committing suicide, and stole his son, to sit in his chair of death.
Me: This is the next chapter!
Lucy: Johan will realize where Judai is and what happened to him! I know I have said this over and over, but please review the other chapters if you have not already done it! I really want reviews on this story, but only nice ones!
Me: So please read on and enjoy, but do not flame or be mean!
Chapter Three: Poor Thing
Asuka Tenjoin, the blond woman, hummed slightly, hesitating to start her tale. The fire roared beside her, making her hair glow like the sun. Johan arched an eyebrow, his soft breaths encouraging her to tell the tale.
[Asuka]
There was a barber and his husband,
And he was happy,
A proper artist with a knife,
But they transported him for life.
And he was innocent...
"Andersen his name was--" the blond woman whispered. "Johan Andersen."
Johan flinched slightly at the name, the name he use to go by. It felt strange hearing it after all these years. He never spoke it, nor did he allow anyone to call him it.
Hell, no one even knew it was him.
"Transported?" he questioned. Asuka gave him a small nod. "What was his crime?"
Asuka scoffed and rolled her eyes. They seemed to glow in the orange and yellow flames."Tch. He had no crime. But if I had to choose..." she ran her tongue over her lips in thought. Finally, something came to her.
"Foolishness."
He had this husband, you see,
Pretty little thing.
Silly little nit
Had his chance for the moon on a string--
Poor thing, poor thing.
Her words painted an image for Johan as he remembered.
He remembered his Judai, his husband, his love. He remembered the small smile that Judai would always give him, the beauty of the boy that Johan had come to fall in love with.
Johan tried not to blush at the mere thought of the boy he had married and loved. It hurt his heart to know that Judai wasn't by his side at the moment, after he had been away from him for more than fifteen years.
There was this lord, you see,
Wanted him like mad, you see
Every day he'd send him a flower.
But, did he come down from his tower?
Sat up there and sobbed by the hour
Too bad. Pure thing.
Johan snarled silently at the memory. He knew exactly who Asuka was referring to. It was the Lord Viper and his Beadle, Napoleon Bonaparte. The men who had caused Johan so much pain.
Johan recalled when he and Judai had been in the market, walking around. Johan had bought Judai a single red rose, which Judai was holding his hands, along with their year old son.
Johan remembered when Viper had come to him, had the authorities wrap him in chains, accuse him of a false crime, and then ship him away to the south, to America.
Johan remembered Judai's screams of protest, his cries of Johan's name. He remembered their son screaming for his daddy, reaching his little hands to the bluenette. Johan had screamed Judai's name over and over again, tears streaming down his cheeks. He remembered Viper putting his hand on Judai's shoulder as Johan was dragged to the boat that would take him to the prison in America, where he would spend the next fifteen years of his life.
So they merely shipped the poor blighter off south, they did,
Leaving him with nothing but grief and a year-old kid.
Did he use his head even then? Oh no, God forbid!
Poor fool.
Ah, but there was worse yet to come--
Poor thing.
"Cecil, that was the baby's name. Pretty little Cecil..." Asuka breathed, lost in her thoughts.
Johan frowned at the mention of his son.
His son was beautiful, as he could remember. He remembered seeing Cecil the moment he was born. He reminded Johan so much of Judai. His hair was brown with teal streaks, his eyes green and brown mixed. He looked almost exactly like Judai, like his 'mother'. That's what Cecil had called Judai. He always called Judai "Mama", and Johan was always "Dada" or "Daddy".
"Go on," Johan said once he noticed that Asuka had stopped speaking.
Asuka gave him a tiny smile. "My, but you do like a good story, don't you?" she asked with a tittering chuckle. She looked to the fire, her grim side returning.
Well, the Noble calls on him, all polite,
Poor thing, poor thing.
The lord, he tells him, is all contrite,
He blames himself for his dreadful plight,
He must come straight to his house tonight!
Poor thing, poor thing.
Johan could almost see Judai wandering towards Lord Viper's house with Napoleon leading the way. Johan could imagine Judai dressed in his best clothes, looking nervous and unsure.
Johan imagined Napoleon grabbing the young man's wrist and leading him towards the house whenever it seemed that Judai was going to back out and return to his house. It made Johan's blood boil, even though the images were all in his mind. Knowing the way that he thought, that was probably exactly what had happened.
Napoleon, the bastard...
Of course, when he goes there,
Poor thing, poor thing,
They're havin' this ball, all in masks.
There's no one he knows there,
Poor dear, poor thing,
He wanders tormented, and drinks,
Poor thing.
The lord has repented, he thinks,
Poor thing.
"Oh, where is Lord Viper?" he asks.
Johan's eyes widened.
He imagined Judai wandering around a crowd of masked people, unsure of where the Lord was. He grew angry while thinking that Judai must have been tormented. What else would lead Judai to drink even a little alcohol?
Asuka scoffed disgustedly at her next words.
He was there, all right--
Only not so contrite!
He wasn't no match for such craft, you see,
And everyone thought it so droll.
Johan felt his heart racing.
He imagined Judai walking into the crowd, being grabbed by the Lord Viper, who was masked and hidden well in the crowd. He imagined Judai being thrown to a couch or some small place, where the lord descended upon him.
Johan imagined the vile lord ravaging his husband, violating him and forcing him into giving up his body to the lord's vile wishes for pleasure and forced intercourse.
Judai's screams of agony, sorrow, and pain filled Johan's imagination.
They figured he had to be daft, you see,
So all of 'em stood there and laughed, you see!
Johan could hear the nobles laughing at Judai's agonized screams, Viper's cape hiding the fact that he was violently raping the brunette. They all thought Judai's screams were because he was drunk, when he wasn't, and they were laughing at him.
They had laughed as that bastard took the young man by force. Johan's man, no less.
Poor soul!
Poor thing!
"NOOOO!!" Johan hollered, ripping himself from his imagination. He leaped to his feet and clutched the mantel to the fireplace to keep from collapsing over. His knees were weak, his stomach flopping around like a fish. "Would no one have mercy on him?!"
Asuka did not seem shocked.
"So it is you--" she murmured softly. "Johan Andersen."
"Where is Judai?" Johan whispered violently. His voice filled with rage at the mere thought of Viper touching his husband. Let alone rape him in front of countless nobles, who laughed at him the whole time! "Where is my husband?!"
Asuka sighed, looked away, and clapped her hands against the arms of the chair.
"He poisoned himself. Got some chemical from around the corner, but he did not die," she explained. "He jumped off a cliff into the ocean shortly after his failed attempt. I couldn't ever find his body. Too deep. Too rocky." Asuka looked into Johan's hurt eyes. "And... he's got your son," she whispered.
Johan looked over, his eyes widened.
"He?" he asked in a weak voice. "You mean... Viper?"
"Adopted him like his own," Asuka said. She clapped her hands a few times against the arms of the old chair, scattering their dust.
Johan's knees almost gave way, the mantel the only thing keeping him standing. "Fifteen years I have lived in that hell on that false accusation... fifteen long years, praying that I would return home to my beloved husband and son..."
"I can't say the years were kind to ya, Mr. Andersen," Asuka rose to her feet and reached towards him. "But-"
"Not Andersen!" Johan snapped violently. He glared at her. "Not Andersen! That man is dead. It's Ralleigh now! Jehu Ralleigh! And I will have my revenge, I will," he whispered.
Asuka's golden-grey eyes softened.
"Oh, you poor thing. You poor thing," she whispered lovingly. Her eyes widened. "Wait! See! When they come for the little boy, I hid 'em. I thought, who knows? Maybe the poor silly blighter'll be back again someday and need 'em. Cracked in the head, wasn't I? Times as bad as they are, I could have got five, maybe ten quid for 'em, any day. See?" she whispered.
Johan's eyes widened at her final words.
"You can be a barber again."
Johan looked to the dusty stairs. "Indeed I can," he murmured. "But first..." he reached forward and ran his fingers across the dust. He looked at the dust on the tip of his finger. "I will need my shop back."
---
Me: Okay! Poor Johan! Having to find out that Judai is dead and that his son is now in the hands of the man who accused him of a false crime, and to make matters worse, he raped Judai!
Lucy: What will Johan do now? Will he end up getting his revenge on Viper or not? If you wish to find out, then review, and we shall update as soon as we can!
Me: Please review nicely on this and the other chapters, please! Thank you all!