Illusions That Confine Us

Chapter Seventeen

Tears rolled down Mrs. Lovett's blotchy cheeks as she lay on her stomach, her hands resting beneath her head as his hurtful words repeated over and over again in her head-

"You're nothing to me."

He could tell her that he didn't love her. He could tell her that he was going to be leaving her forever. But he couldn't tell her that she meant nothing to him. It just wasn't true, it couldn't be.

It was too bad that the rain had died away. The constant sound of the raindrops hitting the roof had muffled her crying.

When she sat down beside Alfred and buried her head into her hands about an hour ago she kept repeating to herself, "I'm not going to cry… I'm not going to cry… No, he's not worth it - He's blind, Nellie." But to no avail, she just cried more from the thought that he actually was worth her tears.

Though she couldn't help but speculate that perhaps he really wasn't worth it, that perhaps he and her were not meant to be… But who was she meant for? Albert was a nice and caring husband but she was never in love with him. She loved Albert for Albert, the kind of love that you have for a good friend, but she never loved him as much as she loved Sweeney Todd.

Maybe this was fates way of telling her that she was to die alone and miserable, the same way that fate had made it perfectly clear that that was Sweeney Todd's fate as well.

Why couldn't they just be miserable together? She could show him a happier way of life, he didn't have to tell her that he loved her, he didn't have to make love to her, all he had to do was stay. Stay and let her love him.

Why couldn't he see that that was all she wanted? Have the demons floating in his soul placed an invisible shield over his eyes to make him blind and completely oblivious to everything around him?

He probably would not even notice a pink and blue polka-dotted elephant sitting outside his window.

Sighing, she got up from lying flat on her bed and went to the kitchen for a drink.

Mrs. Lovett was relieved to find that Mr. Todd was nowhere to be seen, at this point she didn't give a damn if he had run off in the dark, he was leaving her tomorrow anyway.

Besides, when Mr. Todd is gone she would no longer have to worry about crying and making a fool of herself. Then again, when he was gone it would give her another thing to cry about. The fact that he married her and told her that he didn't love her practically everyday. And the fact that he left her to die alone and miserable. Sure Alfred was nice but he wasn't going to be around forever…

Not to mention, nothing could ever replace the love of her life. Not even a baby, something that she had wanted ever since she was a little girl playing dolls at her Aunt Nettie's cottage.

"If you only knew, Mr. Todd…" She whispered to herself sadly, opening up the kitchen liquor cabinet and reaching past the rum to pull out a bottle of gin.

Mrs. Lovett hadn't bothered to change out of her sopping wet clothes. She didn't even find the need. Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered to get out of bed other than to feed Alfred. It was sad to know that she really did have nothing to live for.

Her fulfilled dream of living by the sea just wasn't the same without Sweeney by her side.

She got herself out a glass and sat down at the table, propping her booted feet up on the chair beside her on the table.

Just when Mrs. Lovett was feeling content with her moment of solemn drinking, he showed up in the doorway.

It appeared that he hadn't bothered to change either.

"What?" She asked after a second or two of him staring at her, drink in hand.

He said nothing and got himself a glass, sitting down in the chair at the end of the table, grabbing the bottle of gin and pouring himself a tumbler.

She watched him from the rim of her cup, eyebrow raised and irritated that he still hadn't bothered to say anything.

Mrs. Lovett decided to ignore him, if he could pretend that she didn't exist than why couldn't she do the same to him?

"I didn't mean to hurt you… I don't know what came over me." He said quietly, stirring the gin around in his glass as he looked anywhere but at her.

Mrs. Lovett couldn't help but chuckle sarcastically, "Why should you worry if you hurt me or not? I mean nothing to you. Remember?"

Mr. Todd said nothing after that, neither of them did. But after a whole bottle and a half of gin Mr. Todd and Mrs. Lovett found themselves stumbling arm-in-arm down the beach.

Mr. Todd and Mrs. Lovett moved drunkenly in the damp sand as Mrs. Lovett laughed uncontrollably, leaning against Mr. Todd's shoulder, her free arm outstretched and carrying a half-empty bottle of gin.

"Jus' one snog…" Mrs. Lovett purred in a silly manner.

"No!"

"Oh come now, Mista T!" She scoffed before pecking him playfully on the lips.

"Stop it." He scowled, pushing her clumsily away.

"You know you lovettttt." She slurred mischievously, drinking another slug of gin and placing a sloppy kiss upon his lips.

"Oh shut up." He growled, kissing her back fiercely, and falling back into the sand - Mrs. Lovett landing on top of him, causing her to giggle nonstop for a few moments until Mr. Todd shut her up by kissing her roughly.

Her giggles were muffled soon after as their kiss deepened, her hands resting on top of his chest, her lips parting to allow his tongue to slip sensually into her mouth.

His hands ran up and down her sides as they kissed fervently. His fingers soon found themselves in her hair as his thumbs stroked her cheeks affectionately before his hands moved back down her body to rest comfortably at her hips.

It was morning now, and the sun was just rising from behind the ever-present blue sea.

A husband lie fully-clothed in the sand with his wife sleeping soundly on his chest, completely unaware and heedless, not knowing how they had gotten here. He knew that they had been drinking, and from what he could remember, it had been a lot.

He had a blurry image of her giggling on top of him, though he couldn't remember anything besides that and coming to the kitchen for a drink. From the looks of things it appeared that that was all that happened, luckily they were too drunk to do anything other than that. All of their clothes were on and right, much to his relief.

But if he was so relieved, why was he feeling a slight sense of disappointment? And why wasn't he waking her up?

Sweeney had missed his ship, he was supposed to be at the docks before the sun rose, and he was sure that the ship was probably sailing out into sea without him at this very moment. Luckily, he could catch another ship at the same time tomorrow.

But if he was so relieved, why was he feeling a slight sense of disappointment? And why wasn't he waking her up?

It just occurred to him that he was… holding her.

His thoughts were brought to abrupt halt when he felt her stir on top of him. Her head, that was resting on his chest, turning left to right before her eyes fluttered open.

Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, she wouldn't know that he had been holding her-

Too late.

Her groggy gaze met his as she shifted in his embrace, clearly confused as to how she got to be here.

"S'wat are we doin' out 'ere?" Mrs. Lovett asked confusedly.

"I think we drank a bit too much, pet." Mr. Todd replied.

Mrs. Lovett's eyes squinted and her lips formed into a small frown, she had suddenly remembered what he did to her last night. She then grumbled and moved to get off of him.

"Wait-" He said quickly, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to him.

She rubbed her eye with her free hand and mumbled, "What do you want now?"

He could sense the irritation in her voice, she was still angry at him, he didn't blame her, especially when he saw the cuts all over her neck and chest.

She sighed, not even caring about what he had to say and wrenched her arm free from his tight grasp.

"I really meant what I said last night." He admitted as he watched her make her way back up to the cottage.

She turned and looked at him coolly. "I don't remember hardly anythin' about last night… 'Sides the fact that ya tried to kill me an' afterwards ya gave me some crackpot excuse that ya didn't mean to 'urt me."

With those words said, she turned and continued on towards the cottage.

A thought then occurred to Mr. Todd. A thought so horrifying and disgusting that it sent shivers down his spine. It was sickening, as if all of his nightmares just rushed in and out of his mind like a breeze of cold air…

Sweeney Todd wasn't looking forward to leaving her tomorrow.

Fanfiction was really beginning to make me mad the last few days xD

Oh well, it's all good now… Hmmm… I am not really sure what I should say.

If I were to write as sequel for this, would you read it?

Even if you wouldn't read it… I am still going to write it because I am so excited for it!

I have it all planned out and everything… There is also a hint to what it is going to be about in this chapter… hee hee…