The Night of Blades and Fire

A young man with brown stubble on his face, and wavy brown hair, had his arrow notched and aimed at the small baker as she stepped out into the clearing. She had her hands raised above her head, hoping this would be enough for the man to not shoot. She looked around and saw others with him. Two other men much older looking.

"And the other one?" the archer said.

Nellie swallowed, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The archer tightened his grip on the bow, inching forward.

Nellie's breath caught in her throat.

Sweeney came out next to her. He pointed his razor at the men, glaring menacingly at them.

What felt like an eternity went by. No one moved.

Then the men broke out in laughter, the archer dropping his bow. He approached the two of them, casually, as if they were old friends. "Apologies for the scare. Where are you from strangers?"

"South." Sweeney said.

"South?" the man said doubtingly.

"London," said Nellie.

"Ah, lovely London." He mused, "Come along, you must be hungry"

"We're in a hurry," Sweeney said, grabbing Nellie's elbow.

"Are you running from someone? Need protection?" he said.

"No, we must be going."

Sweeney tugged on her elbow, they started walking away from the three men. They only managed to make it a few paces when another arrow was shot into the nearby tree. Inches from their heads. They turned around carefully. The archer has his weapon pointed at them again. Nellie was struggling to keep herself from shaking. Of course, the men seemed untrustworthy, but free food wouldn't be so bad, especially since all the rations they had left was a loaf of bread.

"These are our woods," the man said, "And you'll be joining us for dinner."

Over the next few hours, the unfortunate pair had joined forces with the band of imbeciles. They ate stew with some kind of meat in it that Nellie couldn't place. She had the sinking feeling that it was rabbit. At least it wasn't human meat she thought to herself. Sweeney brooded the entire time; she could almost feel the hate coming off of him in waves. They found out that the three men were brothers, they've been traveling for months. They said they came all the way from Scotland. An impressive journey to make on foot. They were friendly enough, very odd. The archer seemed the kindest of the bunch.

"Where are you two headed?" the tall gruffly man asked. Nellie looked at Sweeney, at a lost for how they should answer. She was half tempted to say France. Hell, they didn't even know where they were located currently.

"The coast." Was all Sweeney said.

"Which coast?" one of the men laughed and they others joined in.

"Pardon me," Nellie asked the archer, "Where exactly are we?"

"North of Suffolk." He said. "You plan on going to Ipswich then?"

"Sure," Sweeney grumbled.

"We'll escort you there, no trouble at all."

"Thank you." Nellie nodded to all of them.

That night they slept under they're own blankets near the fire. It wasn't any easier for Nellie to sleep in the forest the second night as it was the first. The sound of the three men snoring was enough to assure her any animals or predators would stay away. She rolled over to Sweeney who was a couple inches away from her. She desperately needed to speak with him out of earshot of the others.

His eyes were squeezed shut, but she was sure he was still awake. "Mr. Todd?" she whispered as quietly as she could hoping it'd be enough to alert him.

His eyes opened, looking into hers. "Mrs. Lovett,"

She shuffled closer to him, "So, what's the plan?"

He closed his eyes, "We're going to Ipswich."

"Oh, please love, I don't want to go to Ipswich. And I know you don't."

"Indeed. It's far too close to London."

"So what do you suppose we do about this lot?"

He opened his eyes, inching closer to her, their noses almost touching. "We'll let them take us to Ipswich, gather supplies, then we'll head out again."

"Agreed," Nellie said pulling the blanket up to her shoulders drifting off to sleep.

They were both nudged awake and blinded by the morning sun. The tall gruff man, named Ron was smiling down at both of them. "Sorry to wake you. You two looked so comfy and romantic like, cuddling up together." He walked away laughing to himself.

Cuddling? Nellie then noticed Sweeney Todd's arm that he just removed from around her waist. He had also moved a couple inches closer to her during the night. And now that she thinks about it, maybe the feeling of someone smelling her hair in the dark wasn't just in her dreams. Sweeney looked like he didn't understand what the fuss was about and looked at Nellie quizzically as she abruptly turned away from him blushing.

Around noon, the group settled down for a quick break to rest their legs. They dined on more rabbit stew, this time adding some potatoes. Nellie and Sweeney both weren't fond of the stuff, but thankful for the energy boost. The Archer, who's name they learned was Kai, set up a straw dummy that he was shooting arrows at. Nellie couldn't help but admire him. After awhile, he noticed her staring.

"Like to try?" he handed her the bow.

"Oh no, I couldn't,"

"A pretty woman like you, got need to learn to protect yourself."

"I know how to protect myself." She mused.

He gestured for her to take the bow. She smirked and obliged.

Sweeney was off taking a piss, upon his return he was in shock at the scene laid out in front of him. She was faced away from him, shooting arrows at the straw dummy, that man hanging on to her like a shadow.

"A little higher," he spoke softly, moving her elbow.

Nellie released the arrow much quicker than any of them anticipated and hit the dummy right through the heart. The men all froze, admiring her handiwork. Kai laughed, "Well I'll be damned. Who taught you archery?"

Nellie handed the bow back to him, "My brother." She said. She turned around noticing Sweeney, the look on his face was priceless. He was surprised in her, and a tad bit impressed. She smiled at him, promising herself to explain later. Oh there must be several things they don't yet know about one another. She hasn't launched an arrow in so long, she was amazed she still remembered how. Her older brother, George would always go hunting and take her with him. She learned many things out in the woods that her mother wouldn't dare teach her.

During the remaining hours of the day, the group continued their travels. The archer, Kai remained next to Nellie's side has they walked, the other brothers in front of them, and a very grimacing Sweeney Todd in the back. He watched as Nellie and the archer talked to one other, whispering, giggling. It disgusted him.

By night fall they could see Ipswich on the horizon, they'd be there by the next afternoon. They remained in the edge of the woods to set up camp. They dined on more rabbit stew, the three men talking cheerfully among each other, leaving Sweeney and Nellie to themselves.

"What were you two talking about?" Sweeney grumbled to her.

"Oh, just archery, not much more."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to."

"'When?"

His tone shook her to her core. He was being even more of an arse than usual. She was about to ask what was wrong when he tossed his bowl on the ground, standing up. He walked away from the group, feeling an intense anger rising in him and not fully understanding why. He had a feeling it had something to do with Nellie getting so friendly with the bloody archer. It disgusted him so much, he wanted to vomit.

"Oi, Mr. Todd?" she called, chasing after him.

"Leave me alone, Mrs. Lovett. Go back to your friend over there."

"My friend…?" she struggled to keep up with him, he was walking so fast.

"Now Mr. T, don't tell me you're jealous." That made him stop dead in his tracks.

He spun around on her, "Jealous? Do you want to stay with those men? I'll be more than happy to leave you with them."

She wore a sad expression that caused him to knit his brows in confusion. He felt a bit guilty for snapping at her, he was getting sick and tired of these woods. Wishing they never had to flee the train. He opened his mouth to apologize.

"Its alright love," he closed his mouth looking confused, how did she know what he was going to say? "I haven't spoken to anyone in about 13 years. Then you show up and you're not exactly the friendliest of people. Sometimes, I'm half convinced that you despise me." He turned to look at her, wearing that sad puppy dog face of his. "It was nice, getting to talk with someone new for once."

He looked away from her. Her speech left him feeling like shit. The three men were calling them back over. "Something we need you to do." They heard one of them say.

"We're members of the brotherhood, it's a cult where we serve the great fire demon. We'd like you to join." Kai said as casually as if he said, it's a beautiful night out. There was a long moment of just silence. Then Nellie started laughing, she kept going, doubling over, hand on her ribs.

"I'm sorry," she laughed. "You're barking mad, there's no such thing."

"You're insulting us?" The third man said. Sweeney and Nellie looked over at him. He hasn't spoken a word the whole time they've met this group of weirdos. He had a thick, Scottish accent.

"If you won't join, then you'll be sacrifices." Kai said.

They were all standing around a fire. Nellie looked in the flames hesitatingly, her mind flashing back to the bake house. Why flames? Why is it always the flames that haunt her? Sweeney pulled out his razor. As bleeding ridiculous as these men were, they did just threaten them.

"We thank you for leading us here," Sweeney stated calmly, "But we'll be going now."

The two other men moved behind them, trapping them between the flames and Kai. One of them had a knife, the other pulled out a pistol. "You won't be going anywhere." Kai said.

"This is bleeding mad, Kai. I mean honestly, a cult? Just let us go." Nellie said.

"I can't do that Lass,"

"What would you want us for?" she asked.

"You are monsters, just like us." He said. "The Fire God told us, whispered your identities to us."

"Alright, that's enough of this." Sweeney stepped around the flames, facing Kai. The others raised their weapons, tense, at the ready to attack. Nellie's heart beat hammered in her body, this was not going to end well and she knew it. She looked around for a solution. "Tell your fucking fire demon, that he's dealing with the demon barber now."

Kai smirked. "I'll be sure to."

It all happened so fast, Nellie could barely comprehend the scene in front of her. All she knew was she heard a sound echo into the night. The same sound she heard in the bake house. When Mr. Todd found out that Lucy was dead by his hand. A loud, heart breaking, agonizing scream of pain.

The two brothers from behind grabbed both his arms, making him drop his razor on the leaves. They spun him around, Kai grabbed him by his wrists and plunged his hands into the fire pit.

That scream. He fell on his side, holding his singed, bloody, smoking hands up in front of him.

"A barber's treasure is his hands. What tricks do you have now?" Kai said. The other men smirked and laughed along with him, not noticing that the barber did have another trick up his sleeves. By time it took him to glance her way, it was too late for the brotherhood. Nellie grabbed the bow and arrows, piercing the two men both in the chest. Kai spun around alarmed, "Lass, please, let's be reasonable." She glared at him. He fell to the ground, an arrow sticking out of his right eye.

She dropped the bow, feeling as if she'd be sick. "Mr. Todd!" she rushed to his side. He was shaking and seething from the pain. The slight twitch of his fingers hurt so bad, more than anything he's ever felt. He's received lashings in the prison, they didn't hurt as bad as this.

Nellie looked around, she could hear a river off to the distance. "Come on love, we need to move. Come on, up you get." She managed to help him to his feet. They staggered to the river. Sweeney fell to his knees in front of it, staring at the water, hesitating. Nellie grabbed his arms, forcing his hands into the river. He yelped in alarm, as soon as the water touched his hands, they felt better.

"Stay here love, I'll go grab our things, be right back."

He watched her disappear, half of him not wanting her to leave his side. The other half of him feeling utterly embarrassed. How could he have let himself be defeated? And Mrs. Lovett… Mrs. Lovett saved his damn life. The searing pain was returning, he looked at his hands in horror. He was sure they were third degree, what if he could never use them again? Mrs. Lovett is protecting him now. Protecting HIM!

She returned with their belongings, she also brought the bow and remaining arrows with her. Bloody wonder. "Damn beautiful bloody wonder" he muttered, passing out.

I don't know where this came from haha, its strange but I had fun with it!