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: All right! This is the next chapter!

Lucy: This is a long one, and this is kinda the taking off point, in which Johan kinda goes "loco in the head". So, if you want to see a some-what insane Johan, then this is your chapter!

Me: So please enjoy, and please review for us on the other chapters!

Chapter Eight: Wait

Humming a tune to himself, Cecil looked out his window. He was scribbling down letters that he could never send to his "mother", the mother who had supposedly committed suicide after the Lord who had taken Cecil into his care did unspeakable things to him.

Cecil would always hate Lord Viper for what he did to his family. Cecil wasn't stupid, he remembered the day his father was torn away from him, the day his "mother" started crying and almost losing his mind. Cecil remembered when his "mother" drank poison, but survived. That was at least thirteen years ago, when Cecil had been three years old.

The brunette with teal streaks folded his letter and stuffed it into his bottom drawer. He kept all of his letters to his "mother" there. He did it just in case his "mother" had truly died.

If that be the case, then maybe he would come and take the letters as Cecil slept.

On the other side of the room, Cecil knew that there was a peephole in the wallpaper, where his guardian was always watching, unless he was out or away.

The brunette glanced over and noticed that his guardian was not there anymore. He must have been away.

Cecil looked out the window and spotted the same black-haired girl from before standing below his tall window. Cecil smiled and fished out the key to his room from his pocket.

Taking one look back at the peep-hole, he opened the window and dropped the key below to the girl.

As soon as he knew she had caught it, he slammed the window closed and returned to his letter-writing, while the girl dashed off, in case the boy's guardian, the Lord Viper, came back.

--

"Where is he?" Johan was pacing back and forth like a caged animal. Asuka urged him to sit in the chair that she had brought up to him. Johan refused and just paced back and forth over and over again.

Asuka sighed and brushed her fingers across the chair.

"Not much of a chair, I realize, but Judai picked it out a long time ago, when you two were married, and gave it to me as a birthday gift," she murmured lovingly at the memory.

The blond looked over and saw Johan tense at the mention of his husband's name.

Asuka looked around the room.

It was a dusty room with dusty old shelves, and the windows looked like they were almost cracked. Very old. It needed to be cleaned and spruced up badly.

"Kinda bare, isn't it? I never did like a bare room. Oh, well, we'll find some nice little knickknacks," the blond young woman said with a smile. Johan slammed his hand against the wall and leaned his head against it.

"Why doesn't the Noble come? "'Before the week is out,' that's what he said," the barber snarled.

Asuka stood up and came up behind him, peering out the window. She could see the people walking. "And who says the week's out yet? It's only Tuesday," she said.

Asuka smiled and wrapped her arms around Johan's waist, holding in a backwards hug.

Easy now.
Hush, love, hush.
Don't distress yourself,
What's your rush?
Keep your thoughts
Nice and lush.
Wait.

Hush, love, hush.
Think it through.
Once it bubbles,
Then what's to do?
Watch it close.
Let it brew.
Wait.

Asuka slightly pulled away from the bluenette and smiled at him.

Her eyes darted to the shelves around the room, filled with dust and old memories that she knew must have been both nice and painful for Johan to remember.

I've been thinking, flowers--
Maybe daisies--
To brighten up the room.
Don't you think some flowers,
Pretty daisies,
Might relieve the gloom?
Ah, wait, love, wait.

Johan snapped one of his razors out and stared at it. He couldn't feel Asuka's arms around his waist, nor did he really care. He just kept looking at his reflection in the razors.

"And the lord? When will I get to him?" he murmured.

Asuka sighed and stepped back, hands on her hips. "Can't you think of nothing else? Always broodin' away on yer wrongs what happened heaven knows how many years ago!"

She saw Johan tense and frown. She walked forward and wrapped her arms back around his waist, drawing him close. She placed her head on his shoulder.

Slow, love, slow.
Time's so fast.
Now goes quickly--
See, now it's past!
Soon will come.
Soon will last.
Wait.

Don't you know,
Silly man,
Half the fun is to
Plan the plan?
All good things come to
Those who can
Wait.

Asuka was content when she saw her old friend smile softly, calming down.

She finally let him go and returned to her thoughts about the room, about making it brighter. She wanted to do that so she could eliminate the bad memories Johan gained from this room.

Gillyflowers, maybe,
'stead of daisies.
I don't know, though.
What do you think?

"Yes," Johan whispered softly.

"Gillyflowers, I'd say. Nothing like a nice bowl of gillies..." Asuka trailed off and looked out the window. "Look. There's a little girl out there," she pointed to her.

Johan glanced down, but he couldn't see the girl.

The door burst open a moment later, and in rushed Diana. "Mr. Ralleigh! Thank God I found you" she called. Her grey eyes darted over to Asuka, and she curtsied politely to the older woman. "Oh, please pardon me for the intrusion, Miss... uh..."

"Miss Asuka Tenjoin, dear," the blond curtsied as well with a smile. "An old friend of Mr. Ralleigh's."

"A pleasure it is, Miss Tenjoin," Diana said with a polite nod. She turned her attention to Johan. "Mr. Ralleigh, please, there's a boy, you see, who needs my help-" she seemed to get lost in her own thoughts. "-such a lovely and sad boy he is. He's such a sweet young man. He does not deserve such a cruel fate."

"Slow down, Diana," Johan spoke softly. "What's happened?"

Diana took a few deep breaths.

"H-he's kept in such a horrible place, Mr. Ralleigh! Trapped by his guardian- a tyrant, he is! But this morning, he tossed me this," Diana showed the small key. "It's a sign that Cecil wants me to help him! Oh, that's his name. Cecil. Isn't it lovely? And her guardian, Viper, he's a lord, apparently. When he leaves today to go to the courts, I shall sneak in a steal away Cecil."

Asuka clapped her hands together.

"Oh how terribly romantic, my dear," she gushed with a tinkling laugh.

"Thank you, Ma'am," Diana whispered. "I-I was just wondering if I could hide him here, just for a short while, long enough to get a boat to take us out of here, away from Viper."

Asuka glanced over and saw Johan tense. A smile seemed to creep across his face. Asuka gulped and turned to Diana with a polite and charming smile.

"Bring him here, dear," she said.

Diana nodded her thanks and turned to Johan. "...Mr. Ralleigh?"

"Bring the boy," the bluenette whispered, giving Diana an approving nod.

"Thank you, my old friend! Thank you!" Diana said. She turned and rushed from the room as quickly as she could, to wait to save Cecil. Johan sunk into the chair with a heavy sigh. Asuka was instantly by his side, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She laid her head on his shoulder, right against his neck.

"The fates are being kind to you, Mr. R," she whispered. Johan grunted softly as a reply. "What's wrong?" Asuka drew back and frowned at the man's depressed face. "You'll get to hold your little boy again."

"Yes," Johan whispered. "But I won't ever hold Judai in my arms again."

A sympathetic look crossed the blond's face. She wrapped her arms around him tighter and just held him. She whispered "poor thing" a few times to him over and over. She truly felt sorry for him. Would holding his son bring back pained memories of his late husband? Asuka wanted him to forget those painful times.

Johan rose to his feet and moved towards the window.

"Perhaps we shall go with them. Then I can be with my little boy once again. I just wish Judai was here with me. Then maybe there wouldn't be this huge hole in my heart," the bluenette breathed.

Asuka saw his reach up and place his hand over his heart. She frowned and took her place beside him, looking out the window. She was about to speak again, when Johan looked down to the streets, face a mask of confusion.

"What the Hell..." he trailed off softly. Asuka looked down and saw Cronos walking towards their shop from the fog, his ragged little assistant in tow behind him.

"Look at that face," Asuka tisked, shaking her head. "He's up to no good."

"Keep the boy downstairs with you," Johan ordered softly. Asuka nodded and turned downstairs, preparing for her 'guests'.

--

When Asuka reached the bottom of the stairs, at the door to her pie shop, the two unwanted guests had already arrived. Cronos was smiling charmingly, and Asuka forced a tiny smile.

"Greetings, Signora. Is Mr. Ralleigh at home?" Cronos asked.

"Indeed he is," Asuka responded. Her eyes shifted to the small boy. "Oh, you little thing, you. Looks like you haven't had a compliment thrown at ya in ages," she cooed in a motherly voice.

The small boy merely bowed his head slowly, his grey eyes untrusting and doubtful. Asuka gave him the smallest wink she could manage, so that Cronos wouldn't see it.

"Do you mind if I give him a meat pie while you speak to Mr. Ralleigh?" Asuka asked.

"Do as you will," Cronos responded. Though he was trying to act charming, he seemed impatient. Asuka stepped aside calmly, allowing Cronos to push past her and head up the stairs. She turned and smiled to the small boy.

"I hope you have strong teeth."

Asuka sat him down and put a pie in front of him. He devoured it as though he hadn't eaten anything in his life before. Asuka giggled softly and got another few pies ready for him.

"That's my boy," she murmured, ruffling his white-blond hair. "Tuck in. Reminds me of an old friend of mine. He was like you, not picky at all."

--

"Mr. Ralleigh," Cronos sat on a large chest in the room upstairs. He flashed the bluenette a warm smile, but Johan didn't trust it. He just narrowed his eyes angrily.

"Signor Cronos," he muttered, watching his unwelcome guest coolly.

"Oh, don't throw that polite shit to me," Cronos snapped bitterly. He looked around the dusty room. "I'll be sharing half your earnings from now on, unless you want me to go running to Beadle Napoleon."

Cronos looked over to the bluenette, lips drawn into a sadistic smirk.

"Mr. Johan Andersen."

Johan's heart seemed to stop beating in his chest. He stood stone cold as Cronos rose to his feet and walked around the dusty old room, eyes wandering the walls with old memories hidden within them.

"Yes, this place will do nice," the blond man murmured. He looked back to Johan. "You don't remember me, do you? Well, why should you? You hired me when I first came here, and made me into a cleaner. I swept up hair around the chair, I swept the outside. I remember you all too well, Mr. Andersen. But, it doesn't bother me that you don't recall me."

Cronos picked up one of the razors and flicked it open. "Ah, I remember these, I do," he whispered. He closed the razor and set it down. "I heard about what happened to ya, Mr. Andersen. I also heard about what became of your beloved Judai."

Johan's heart beat faster, and his breath hitched. He gave a choked noise at the mention of Judai's name.

"Tch," Cronos snapped. "I remember him. Such an idiot he was. Always happy, always smiling, always so kind. God, he was so trusting of everyone and everything around him. That fool."

Johan felt his nails digging into his palms, drawing blood. His teeth were grit, pupils narrowing.

"Huh. He deserved to be raped. Serves that trusting whore right."

Johan's heart was thundering. Rage filled his vision. His breaths were ragged, his shoulders shaking, and yet Cronos didn't seem to notice how pissed off he was making the bluenette. He walked towards Johan and stood behind him. Johan looked up and saw a dusty tea kettle boiling water on the heater. How he had missed it, he'd never known.

"So, do we have a deal?" Cronos asked. He leaned down and stood behind Johan, whispering in his ear. "Or do I need to go and fetch the Beadle and tell him you have broken from jail?" A smile touched his lips.

"Mr. Johan Ander-"

Before Cronos could continue his sentence, Johan grabbed the burning tea kettle, turned, and smashed it hard across Cronos's face. The Italian man shrieked and thumped back. Johan smashed the kettle over his head, then under his chin, repeatedly, smashing the huge piece of iron against the man's head. Cronos was spitting up blood.

The blond man finally tumbled to the ground with a heavy thud, laying in a small puddle of blood that pooled around his lips.

--

Downstairs, Asuka glanced up at the sound of a thump, and then a heavy thud that sounded like iron hitting the ground. She looked over and saw that the boy didn't seem to notice, so she ignored it and went back to watching him eat.

--

Johan panted heavily and let the tea kettle slid to the ground with a heavy, iron thump. His chest heaved up and down, and he turned and slid into the chair Asuka had given him.

"My Judai-" he panted, glaring at Cronos's body. "-is not a whore!"

Johan laid his head back and just breathed heavily, trying to calm down as best he could. His chest was heavy, his heart racing, and he felt like he was going to go weak kneed at this rate.

--

"So," Asuka murmured.

"Yes, Ma'am?" the boy glanced up from his meat-pie and looked at her.

"Just Miss Asuka, okay?" the blond woman asked with a wink. The boy nodded with a smile. "What's your name?"

"Martin, Miss," the boy, Martin, told her. Asuka nodded and let him go back to eating his pie. Martin munched on the pie, and removed the wig he wore on his head, muttering about how itchy it got. Asuka chuckled to herself, knowing that she had been right about the wig. Martin looked down at his wrist, where a tiny clock was, and gasped.

"Ah!" he gasped, dropping the meat pie. "Signor is going to be late for his appointment!"

He dashed to his feet and rushed towards the stairs. Asuka gasped and reached for him, calling for him to wait and come back. The door slammed, the bell jingled, and Asuka sighed.

--

"Signor!" Martin pushed the door open, feeling uneasy about it. He glanced around and couldn't see his master anywhere. He looked around the empty room in shock. "Signor!?"

He looked over and saw Johan sitting in his chair, pouring himself something to drink.

"Signor Cronos has been called away," the bluenette murmured. He took a sip of his drink and set it down. "Better go run after him."

"Oh no, sir..." Martin looked around and sat on the giant chest near the back corner of the small room. "I better wait here, or there'll be a lashing. He's a big one for the lashings," he said, not noticing the pale white hand hanging from the mouth of the slammed closed chest. Johan thanked his good fortune for that.

Johan rose up and folded his arms across his chest with a smug smile.

"Miss Asuka give you a meat pie, did she?" he asked. Martin seemed to smile warmly at the memory of the food.

"Aye," he said. "She's a real lady, she is."

Johan chuckled warmly. "Aye," he murmured softly. "That she is." Johan looked to the chest, his eyes widening in horror as he saw one of Cronos's fingers twitching slightly.

He thought his eyes must be playing tricks, but then he saw another finger move slightly, then another. Johan realized that it was only a matter of time before the boy noticed the hand hanging from the chest. He couldn't risk keeping the boy there any longer. He had to get him out before the boy saw the body.

"Hey," Johan spoke up. "Why not go downstairs and have another pie while you wait? A growing boy probably has room for more pie, am I not correct?"

"Oh no, sir," Martin shook his head. "I better wait here."

Johan glanced down and saw the hand twitching a bit more. His heart was racing in terror. Fear was building. The boy was going to see. He was going to be exposed.

"Tell you what!" Johan said, touching the boy's shoulder. "Go downstairs and tell Miss Asuka that I said to give you a big tot of gin, eh?"

Martin's grey eyes lit up.

"Really!?" he squeaked. Johan nodded with a smile. "Thank you, sir! Thank you!" With that, Martin turned away and rushed down the stairs back to the pie shop for his gin.

Johan looked at the slightly twitching pale hand and took a step towards it.

"You still alive in there?" he called.

He got no response, as he imagined he wouldn't. He walked over to the chest, unlocked it, and popped it open, taking a big step backwards. A hand came up and pulled a weak body up, eyes disfocused, unaware of the danger that he was in. Johan's eyes were wild with anger and rage. This man needed to die!

Johan grabbed the man by the hair and tilted his head back.

He pressed the blade of a razor under the man's chin and ripped it slowly across his throat. Cronos's eyes widened as the blood sprayed from his throat, onto Johan's white sleeve and blade. He gagged a bit, his neck arching back, but it didn't last long before he collapsed forward, dead as a door nail.

Johan pulled the razor away, pushed the body fully into the chest, and snapped it closed. He turned and started wiping his razor on a rag, not even noticing the blood that was smeared on his face and sleeve.

---

Me: Oh my God! Johan killed someone! He actually just murdered Cronos! Though the man did kind of deserve it. He told Johan that Judai deserved to be raped and such...

Lucy: I feel no pity for him!

Me: Anyway, please review, and we shall update ASAP!