Fever Dream

"There's a lovely inn up ahead that you could stay at." The doctor tells Sweeney. "It'll be awhile before she's recovered. She's in no condition to travel right now."

Still stroking Nellie's hand, Sweeney nods solemnly. Leaving her behind didn't feel right, but it must be done. Poor thing needs rest, desperately. He stood up, with one last glance at his baker, and left the doctor's.

It was still dark out. Around midnight. A few people still lingered on the dirt streets. He saw his new friend, Charles up ahead by the stables. Sweeney thought about going to say hello. Perhaps he knows a good place to get food and supplies. Charles was looking around nervously. Sweeney froze and ducked into an alleyway has Charles waved over a couple police officers.

Sweeney strained his ears, listening to what they were saying.

"….I didn't notice him at first, but I'm sure its him." Charles was saying pointing to something posted on a brick wall. Sweeney peered around the corner to look at the wall. His eyes widened in horror at the wanted poster with Sweeney Todd on it. "He said he's name was Benjamin." Charles went on. "He seemed so nice."

"Benjamin Barker?" one of the officers said. "Wasn't that the name in the report?"

"Are you certain it was him, lad?" the other officer spoke.

Charles stared at the wanted poster's description. "Black hair with a white streak." He read. "That was him."

Sweeney had heard enough. He fled the scene, finding an old hat left out on a table of one of the shops, he placed it on his head and headed back towards the doctor's. They had to flee this town already.

He was always good at paying attention to his surroundings. Being in prison and being on the run as taught him that. He remembered that the room Nellie is in is on the back right side of the building. A window, wide enough for a body to fit through on the wall. It was a bit high up however. He got lucky and found a crate to step onto from behind the clinic. He looked inside the window and his heart melted. Nellie was lying on her back, her head turned to the right, hand resting over her chest. She looked so at peace and comfortable. He hated having to do this. She needed the rest. Again, what choice did he have here? Even if he could manage to hide in this town from the law. They'd drop by the clinic to question Nellie. What is they too her? No, as much as it pained him to move her, they needed to get out.

He found a heavy, blunt object on the ground and smashed the window.

Nellie eye shot open and she jolted into a sitting position from the sound of shattering glass.

"Shhhhh, its just me." Sweeney said walking over to her. He grabbed the chair in the corner, sticking it under the door handle.

"What's going on?" Nellie asked, clutching her side, wincing.

"I'm sorry pet, but we need to leave. Now." he urged. He helped her onto her feet. She was weak but managed to limp to the window. He pulled the other chair over and helped her climb up. Gritting her teeth through the pain and dizziness, she landed on the ground with a yelp and remained sitting in the dirt. Sweeney stepped onto the chair when something caught his eye. Bottles of medicine on the table by Nellie's bed. He grabbed them, pain medicine and something for sleep, perfect.

The door lurched and the doctor and nurses could be heard on the other side. "What's going on in there? Open this door!" By the time they forced it open, not a soul was in the room.

"Mrs. Lovett?" Sweeney shakes her gently to get her onto her feet. Her head was slouched over her shoulder, its no use. She's too exhausted. He placed their bag across her chest and lifted her onto his back, running off through the dark streets.

He stopped at the stables and grabbed the wanted poster off the wall. The two officers and Charles were no longer there. Shouting behind him made Sweeney turn around. The doctor was yelling and pointing in their direction. He then spotted the officers and Charles up ahead looking their way. Sweeney panicked and grabbed Charles horse from the stables. He pushed Nellie onto it and climbed up himself.
"Oi! Stop!"

They were too late. Nellie and Sweeney were riding off into the night.

"My horse!" Charles moaned.

Sweeney continued riding for the next hours. He was exhausted, Nellie unconscious, and the horse was tired from running, but Sweeney kept pushing forward, wanting to put as much distance from them and the town as possible. Eventually it started raining and the horse was neighing and bucking, it had enough of its new owners and Sweeney slowed their gallop down to a trot as Nellie and him became soaked with the rain. They were back in an empty field, thick pine trees scattered here and there. A rundown looking cabin was up ahead, hidden by the trees. He wasn't fond of stopping at another abandoned cottage but it'll have to do. At least it was most certainly abandoned. There was a gaping hole in the ceiling and a huge chunk of the left wall was missing.

He hopped off the horse, helping Nellie down and setting her under their new found shelter. He tied the horse a pillar outside, the horse's head protected from the rain. The horse neighed at them for finally stopping and began eat grass around him. Sweeney opened their bag and dropped an apple in front of him, which he happily munched on. Sweeney turned his attention to his asleep, injured baker. There was no telling how long they would have to stay here in the tattered cabin, but it'd have to do for now. As long as they remained undetected.

Sweeney dug the two blankets out of the bag and spread one on a dry spot of their temporary shelter. He rested Nellie on top and covered her with the other blanket and used their bag as a pillow for her. Sweeney stared at the wanted poster, while Nellie rested.

$500 Reward

Murder! Murder! Murder!

Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Wanted for the murder of Judge Edmund Turpin of London, Beadle Bamford of London

and countless others alongside with his accomplice and neighbor,

Eleanor Claudetta Lovett who is also believed to be dead.

Todd murdered countless men of London and forced his accomplice,

Lovett to bake them into her meat pies. According to witnesses, Todd killed his neighbor on

the 14th of April 1853 in her own home at 186 Fleet Street.

Her death was believed to be caused by a fire,

"There was an insufferable amount of smoke from the chimney and a horrid smell" says locals.

Todd is described as being a 5'10 male, with pale skin, and black hair with a white streak on the left.

This man is highly dangerous and armed!

Was last seen around Ipswich. Please notify the law of any

evidence or suspicions you have regarding this case.

After reading the wanted poster, he didn't know whether to angrily rip it to shreds or laugh. He voted against tearing it up, Nellie would enjoy reading this. The Bounty hunter and constable weren't lying to them then when they said Nellie was supposedly dead. This calmed Sweeney's mind a bit, knowing that the law wasn't searching for Mrs. Lovett.

A few hours later, Nellie opened her eyes and slowly rose into a sitting position.

"Where are we now?" she asked looking around at the cabin. "Is that a horse?" she placed a hand to her forehead; Sweeney opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted him again with a groan. "How long have I been out?"

"A few hours." Sweeney said. He handed her the wanted poster. "Thought you'd like to see this."

She read the poster with a chuckle. "Well how about that." She handed the poster back to him. "Apparently I'm dead." She smiled.

Remembering her illness, Sweeney felt her forehead. "You're still warm. You like anything to eat?"

Nellie shook her head "I don't have an appetite."

"Could you try to eat. You'll need your strength." Sweeney searched in the bag, he handed her some bread that she frowned at and barely took a bite of. "You need some soup, something easy on your stomach." He looked around desperately, as to what he could make a soup out of and how. Nellie smiled at him for being so sweet. "Do you remember anything?" he asked her after a bit, "After you collapsed?"

Nellie laid back down, staring at the worn wooden ceiling. "They put maggots on me."

Sweeney grimaced. "I figured they would. To get rid of the dead skin."

"Most of it is a blur honestly. I remember you smashing a window." She looked down to the ragged brown dress she's in, "And the nurse putting this bloody awful cloth on me."

Sweeney smiled. She looked over at him. "We need to wait for the infection to leave your body. Then we can keep moving."

During the remainder of the night, Sweeney tired to get Nellie to eat, but nothing would stay down. He wasn't happy with this, but her fever has died down a bit. She did manage to drink some water, a good sign. He gave her a bit of the pain medicine since her side started aching badly. However, this seem to just make her more nauseous, so he gave her the medicine that'd help her sleep. This worked best till Nellie started convulsing early in the morning.

"Nellie?" Sweeney gently shook her, trying to wake her up. She was dead asleep but her body was shaking violently. She was freezing even though the weather was warm out. Sweeney didn't have anymore blankets to wrap her in. He took his jacket out of the bag, wrapping that around her. No change to her condition. He sighed and crawled under the blankets with her. She still wouldn't stop shaking. Warming someone with body heat works the best if…. Sweeney was blushing and dreading everything. Telling himself that if he didn't do this, she may die. He swallowed his shame and stripped off his clothes. He then took the dress off of her and tried hard not to look at her breasts too closely. Again, he went under the blankets with her. It worked, her convulsing subsided and she could rest easy. However, now Sweeney was the one in discomfort. He was hugging a furnace. Her skin felt so hot as if her entire inner core was made of fire. By some sheer miracle, he was able to drift off to sleep.

The sunlight woke him up. Nellie was still scourching to the touch. He watched in horror as her eyelids fluttered open. Her brows knit in confusion.

"Mr. T."

"Mrs. Lovett?"

"Love, why am I naked?"

He blushed, quickly detangling himself from her. She held the blanket over her chest. "You were shaking violently last night. Body heat is mainly effective if the two people are naked." He looked at her blushing furiously expression and realized he hadn't yet clothed himself. Her eyes wandering down…. then away from him. She couldn't help it. Blushing as well, he put his pants back on. "Would you like to try to eat something? More water?"

She was still blushing, despite the fever. "I…." Had he broken her? "I… need to relive myself." She looked down at the floor.

He walked back over to her, where the bag was and pulled a dress out. It was the same blue and white one she wore on their picnic back in London. He handed it to her. "Do you need help with…" she shook her head.

"Could you just…" she gestured for him to turn his back. He nodded letting her get dressed. When she was ready, he help her onto her feet and walked her outside. Her movements were very wobbly, he remained with her, looking up at the sky, trying his best not to pay attention as she relived herself. "Thank you love." She said as he helped her back onto the blanket.

He managed to get her to nibble a bit of food and drank plenty more water. They sat on the blanket and watched the horse graze and chatted lightly with one another.

"Did you kiss me?" Nellie said after a long silence. "Or was that a dream?"

Sweeney stared right into her. "It was dream." He looked away.

"Huh. Felt so real." Nellie said sipping on water. "Are you sure?"

"I would never kiss you." He immediately regretted it the second the words left his lips. She looked down at the floor, sad. "I didn't mean…." He was at a lost. He didn't even know why he said that, but he hated himself for it.

"I figured." She answered making him feel even worse. "Why are you blushing?" Now she was the one staring into him.

Blushing? He hadn't even noticed and cursed himself for it.

"I thought we made a promise to never lie to one another." Nellie said.

"I'm not..." she won. He was seething, "Get some rest." He stood up and headed outside like he was going for a walk.

"So its true then?"

He spun around. "Alright yes its true." He admitted.

"Why?"

"I don't know why, now please get some rest."

"Why did you lie?" Nellie continued.

"Because I'm a fool. Now rest."

"Kiss me now."

The crickets were loud outside. As they stared at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity before Sweeney turned around and left the cabin with a simple, cold, "No."

Somehow Nellie fell back asleep and Sweeney returned from outside the cabin to lie next to her. During that night, Nellie woke up again. Her fever was still strong, it was sapping a lot of strength out of her. Ignoring Sweeney next to her, she got up and went over to the bucket of rain water in the corner under the gaping hole in the ceiling. She dosed her face. A small, worn mirror was still hung onto the wall. She wondered what exactly happened to this little cabin and the people that lived here. She slashed cool water on her face again. When she looked into the mirror a second time she gasped and fell backwards as her hair was yellow. She blinked rapidly as her reflection turned back to normal.

She shook her head at her ridiculous fever and silently hoped that she wasn't dying. She placed a hand to her side, glaring at the bucket of water, thinking of the man that did this to her. There was a scream from outside. Nellie stood up and followed the sound. She stepped out into the night and heard the scream again. It sounded small and shrill. The source was coming from a little girl with red curls. She was standing alone, crying. Nellie approached her. "Mom?" she hollered. Nellie was face to face with her, she bent down to her knees. The girl kept calling for her mother.

"Shhhh, hush darling, its alright."

"Mom!" the girl yelled.

Nellie's eyes widened. The girl was looking right at her. "Mom?" she yelled.

A figure showed up behind the girl. It was a boy that Nellie knew. "Toby?"

Toby grinned and slit the girl's throat. Nellie screamed falling onto her backside. She continued screaming. Toby and the girl vanished, melted into a pool of blood that surrounded Nellie. She looked at her hands, they were drenched in blood. She kept screaming.

Strong arms wrapped around her. "Shhh, pet. Its alright." Sweeney was grasped onto her, calming her down. Her screams subsided and her breathing steadied. She looked at her hands, the blood had vanished. She picked a flower at her feet as Sweeney hauled her into a standing position. She felt so dizzy she almost fell over again.

"I'm sorry," she was stuttering. "I saw Toby and this girl." Nellie was looking around frantically as if Toby and the mysterious girl were still lurking somewhere.

"Curse this fever." Sweeney said. He brought Nellie back inside their cabin.

Nellie dramatically collapsed back onto the blanket, the back of her hand to her forehead. "I'm losing my mind, Mr. T."

"Partially my fault." He said.

She looked over at him smiling deviously. "I still want that kiss."

He snickered at her. "It's your fever talking my love."

She moaned loudly, "Oh come on Sweeney, I'm bloody dying."

He sat next to her. "You're not dying."

She moved onto her hands and knees leaning closer to him, butt in the air. "You don't want your lips to taste the kiss of death?"

He leaned close enough for their noses to touch. "You are delirious pet, get some rest."

She laid back down, "Please love." She whined. She looked at him pouting, "I could die at any moment. I need a kiss."

He sighed, "If it'll make you shut up."

She launched herself back up. He swallowed, hesitating, and leaned into to her, placing a peck to her lips. She froze, his eye brows arched, waiting for her response.

She sighed happily and fell back to the blankets; she held the flower she found outside to her chest. "I can die in peace now." She said with her eyes closed and a smile on her lips.

"You're not going to die." Sweeney demanded.

She laughed until the fever made her exhausted and she fell asleep, the flower still in her hand. Sweeney sighed rubbing his temples. Wishing she'd get better already.

I had fun with this one haha. Forgive any errors, I wrote this while tired and Microsoft Word kept trying to have a stroke because my computer needed to update or something... Reviews are most welcome haha