Rain
Disclaimer: I do not own Sweeney Todd or any associated characters. I just own this morbidly sort of cheesy plot, haha!
Mrs. Lovett had always loved the rain. It was not because she thought it was pretty, like so many other frivolous females. Yes, the rain did hold some appeal in the way it could glisten as it fell, in the lovely soothing sound it made as it hit the ground in a repetitive, constant rhythm.
No, Mrs. Lovett could never love it that way, not when she saw it so differently. To her, the droplets were not beautiful, but harsh and unforgiving. They pounded into the streets, soaking them until they were nearly flooded at times as though trying to drown the world. They slammed into a body, cold pellets that could at times feel like stones, falling from the sky with a barely audible sound like blood, following no set pattern as they fell from the eaves of the houses and stores, mad wayward streaks on the cold windows that attracted them.
The rain was really not a romantic thing, not at all, and to be made into one…It never failed to make Mrs. Lovett laugh and cry both at once. Under such dreary skies, could passion and love really be found? Mrs. Lovett did not think so, and never would…until that day.
Now, the true reason why Mrs. Lovett loved the rain was simple—it washed everything away. In the rain, everything became slick and, in a way, unidentifiable. All of the grim in the streets was washed away, all of the grittiness of this morbid town on London seeming to become less obvious under the rain's sometimes gentle, sometimes harsh, assault.
She loved the rain for that too. How it could be rough or tender, how it could pound into flesh of trail down it in the faintest of streaks, of touches. She adored it for its volatility, and venerated it for its way of smoothing everything over.
Oh yes, Mrs. Lovett could not resist the rain, so it really was a no wonder when a storm finally came she could not resist going out into it. Of course, like a proper lady should she brought an umbrella, but she hardly used it. Usually she dragged it, open and pointed down at the ground, at her side, hanging onto it limply as she allowed the falling liquid, during this storm bitterly cold, to wash over her body, let it cleanse her.
God she needed to be cleansed
After everything she did, it really was a no wonder. The blood of those men that she had mutilated, stripped the meat from to bake into her pies, slid off of her into, a puddle at her feet. To be purged…
She knew that it was all false, that this distillation by rainfall could not really cure her, but she still chose to believe that it would. In her life, she needed all the hope that she could get after all, especially considering the state of her heart, that darkened, bloody thing…
Was it even still beating? She only heard the hissing of the rain, and referred to it as the sound of her heart slowly, gradually, deflating in her chest. It really was a no wonder that she was so broken; when you loved a man like Sweeney Todd, your heart was bound to be broken. Mrs. Lovett had known that, but yet it had not been enough to stop her; nothing was, not even the hell that had become her life.
She knew she was a sinner; how could she not know? Seeing blood, cleaning it up and spilling it was not exactly normal and sometimes, on days when London was sunny and cheerful and malevolence seemed to forgotten, she hated herself. But yet, no matter how much she hated herself, she could not stop what she was doing. It was not because she was afraid of Sweeney Todd; granted she was, but that did not make her pick up that axe, compel her enough to hack those bodies to pieces. No, it was in fact her love for him, the demon barber, that made her do such evil, her heart blackened and stained by him in such a way that she would do anything to try to gain his love.
And sometimes, her devotion was so strong that it scared her, and that fear only grew as she realized that she could not escape him, her feelings…
And so the only thing she had to turn to was the rain, the cold harsh droplets that fell mercilessly down at her from heaven, little spears in their own right that opened her up and spilled her blood, made her feel as cold as though death had already seized her in it's merciless hands.
But then, she supposed that she was already in death's hand; what more could Sweeney Todd ever be if not a bringer of death? And he brought her death everyday, without even realizing it.
Sweeney Todd…She stopped for a moment, let the rain course over her body and try to drown out her heart. She wondered if he even cared that she had left, without a word to him, to go out into the rainy world. All alone…
Loneliness was something that Mrs. Lovett had grown so accustomed too that it was hard for her to notice anymore, but now, under the rain that cleansed the blood away to reveal her most painful, innermost thoughts, she was painfully aware of it again.
She realized that the only one who would ever really care about her was Toby, and although she loved the boy dearly, he was still a child. No adults, no man, had ever really loved her; her marriage to Alfred had not been one based on love, but rather obligation. Besides, they had both been ruthless businessmen; it seemed like the best option for them to marry. And now that he was dead…
Who now did she have? Benjamin Barker should have been there to catch her fall, but he wasn't. Instead the man he had become, Sweeney Todd, had only assisted in helping her fall faster, fall with a force to the ground like the rain splattering around her, all those little droplets meeting an unfortunate end on the pavements, pressed and flattened to windows and doors and people…
But she never hit anyone. She fell uselessly through the air, a sad little droplet, before just shattering on the ground repeatedly, never coming in contact with a thing before her death; such was her life. And as long as Sweeney Todd was around she could not change that.
And she hoped that she never would. As long as Mr. Todd was around…
She was too absorbed in the thoughts of increasing despair that ran through her mind to notice that she was no longer alone on the rainy street, a figure dressed in black beginning to trail her slowly, like a predator stalking its prey. Poor Mrs. Lovett…
The figure began to speed up as she turned the corner, beginning to walk down a side road that was nothing but brick walls and more darkness. Her umbrella scraping on the ground and the hissing of the rain provided the perfect cover up for the stranger's footsteps, which now grew louder and more rapid, in time with Mrs. Lovett's heartbeat, as they grew even closer to her…
Mrs. Lovett was sighing, wiping the water from her eyes when her arm was grabbed with brutal force by a leather clad hand. Her eyes widened, her heart picking up with the tempo of the rain as she struggled to get loose, trying to ram her elbow back into the stranger's gut. Her struggling proved to be futile; the stranger was far stronger than she was, and with a flick of the wrist had her slamming up against the nearby brick wall, the breath whooshing out of her at the harsh impact. The stranger pressed a hand to her shoulder, keeping her back against the wall and holding her now trembling form up as her legs gave out weakly, her umbrella falling with a small clatter the ground from her weak hand.
The rain blurred her vision, and she blinked several times, trying to see the man that was accosting her. He was dark, with unnatural pale skin, and his hair…
Her gasp was cut short when a blade was quickly pressed to her throat, digging into the flesh rather roughly as she gaped up at her captor.
Sweeney Todd did nothing more than glare down at her, his face darker than the skies swirling above, his black eyes practically blazing down into her. Her heart fluttered and fell in unison in her chest, like a trapped bird that saw food but could not get to it. He looked so darkly handsome in the rain, his black clothes as socked through as hers were, his wild hair slightly more tame. The silver streak that shot through the dark tresses glowed in the gloomy atmosphere, the only spot of white, of light, on him. He left her breathless, and for a moment, just a moment, she forgot about the blade pressed to her throat.
"Mr. T…" she murmured, her voice getting lost in a crack of thunder that rattled the air. His glare only intensified at that, and she could now no longer believe in the idle fantasy that he didn't have a blade pressed to her throat, that he wasn't pinning her to the alley wall, any longer. She was in danger she knew, and the part of her that he had ingrained felt rather thrilled. To be so close to death was exhilarating in a morbid way…
"Mrs. Lovett…" Her name was a growl falling from his lips, and she shuddered in both fright and ecstasy. "Why did you leave?"
"W-What?" she gasped breathlessly, and realized that that was the wrong reaction when he growled and slid the blade along her neck. She winced as she felt a thin trail of warm blood slide down it to mix with the rain. With Sweeney Todd, it always had to be the right answer, or else…
"Where did you go, woman?! Why the hell would you go all the way out here?!" he snapped, pressing her farther into her jugular.
"I…I went for a walk Mr. T, to just…relax…" she weakly replied, and watched in fascination as he snarled at her, his handsome face contorting in such a way to make him even more attractive.
"In the rain, you asinine woman? This is no day for a casual stroll!"
"I…I know that, but you see Mr. Todd, I just… well… I love the rain is all!" It was the only excuse she had, and it was the true one. She could at least die by his hands with the thought that she had not lied. But then, that was not nearly enough to save her from internal damnation…
"And why do you bloody love the rain? It's wet and cold and dirty…You do know you can get sick, don't you?" he groused, shaking her slightly.
"Y-yes, but…I don't c-care…" Her teeth were beginning to chatter from standing still for so long; or maybe it was just because of the effect he had on her? She could never be certain.
She heard curse her when he noticed her teeth chattering, and she closed her eyes to his rain-blurred image, thinking that perhaps now he'd just slit her throat and let her blood fall with the rain, run across and bath the pavement in it.
But he did not. The pressure of the blade left her slender throat, and startled she blinked her eyes open to stare at his stoic expression, into his dark eyes that made her forget how could she was and burn up inside.
"I came after you," he quietly murmured, and the hand on her arm that pressed her into the wall softened, the grip gentling in such a startling way that she bit her lip to contain her gasp.
She was not sure what was happening, and didn't really want to know. All she felt was the rain coursing down her body, all she was aware of was him leaning towards her, that pale face and silver streak glowing in an almost heavenly way to her distorted mind. A dark angel…
His lips were a breath away from hers, his form towering over her and pressing into her in such a way that she both feared and loved him. So intimidating, with the power to end her life with the flick of his wrist…She leaned into him, her lips parted, her eyes glazed and entranced. The dark spell he had over her had long been in place, and she had lost all common sense weeks, years, decades ago, flung them away to fall in a rain puddle, in a pool of blood…
The tip of his razor he brought to her parted lips, and carefully he outlined them, the lethal point tracing over the pink skin, as cold and wet as the rain… The blade pierced her bottom lip lightly, and like a raindrop a bead of blood, so light and vibrant in this dull, gray world, slithered down her chin, followed by more droplets, which were soon stopped by his lips.
She was dead on her feet when he pressed those rough lips to hers, a senseless woman who could only part her lips and let him take, the taste of the pure rainwater on his tongue as he assaulted her, filled her mind with images of blood and roses, of blades as silver as the rain. She kissed him back without quite knowing it, clutched him desperately to her as she tried to take everything she could.
The rain crashed around them, the sound sounding to her like pieces of her heart shattering when he pulled back, his dark eyes burning even brighter now, lips red from her lipstick, from her passionate response. For a moment he just stared at her before, with an oath of rage he released her, her limp body, deprived of blood and strength, falling back against the wall, now her only hollow support as he turned, and without another look turned and walked away, leaving her as translucent as the rain in that filthy alley, the place for creatures like her.
She watched him walk away until she could no longer see him, the rain and her own tears obscuring her vision. So alike…
She knew what it would be like; when she returned it would be like nothing had happened, be like she had never left and he had never followed her. And she would never know quite why he had even followed her; she would never know.
Everything that had happened would be washed away on the rain, like usual, like she loved, and for once she could not be grateful for that. In fact, Mrs. Lovett, as she raised her tear and rain streaked face to the ferocious sky, listened to it thunder with her heart, cursed the rain, cursed the day, and cursed her life.
To just wash away…It was all she wanted now.
She had never believed that a rainstorm could ever cause a romantic encounter, and she was right. Sweeney's taste was already washing away from her mouth, the rain she had once adored taking away the one thing that she wanted to keep with her always, that one moment she had wanted to preserve.
Just washing away…
And Mrs. Lovett walked home, alone, her tears hidden by the rain, and left her umbrella lying in that alley to become covered in raindrops, the only evidence now of the encounter that could never be swept away by the rain…
I hope you guys liked it! Um, sorry if the ending was weird, I again didn't know where to end it! I have a tendency to run on so…I still hope you liked it! If you did, you can always let me know by reviewing -hinthint- Till next time!