24

The flame seemed to slow as it neared its intended fuel, and Toby could see the yellow flames lean towards the gin coated curtain as if impatient to taste it. Toby thought time had stopped before he noticed it was just Mr. Todd. A little smile appeared on the man's face as he stared at the tiny fire in his hand.

"Only partly singed when the chapel burned down."

The boy registered the sudden appearance of greedy flames before he understood what Mr. Todd had said.


Mayhew needed a plan, some type of stall or a tiny ruse to throw of Judge Turpin. Within the makeshift lab at the judge's home, no plan along those lines seemed forthcoming.

He had come to Turpin with an arrogant confidence in his work. Would he notice if it suddenly vanished and problems arose? It was an unknown he didn't want to risk her life on.

He couldn't risk anything that put her in possible danger, which immediately crushed the plan of going back to his shop (under the impression he 'needed supplies' so he could buy some more time ). Though even traveling around London with an escort of infected had risks. The compound had spread quickly. Incredibly quickly.

His mind wandered briefly to ponder that unknown before snapping its focus back to his problem.

James needed to find a way to get Eleanor out of the judge's clutches. It would probably be better if she didn't know he was part of it, though he had intended to tell her. In a safe, preferably far away, obedient-man-eating-slave free environment.

Why were they eating people?

He shook his head. Focus. You can't leave, Turpin might get annoyed and send the Beadle to stand over your shoulder if you take too long..

"Ger her out of that room!" He muttered to himself. Maybe he could send an invitation and discuss their predicament over tea… She probably wouldn't believe it was him, and the judge seemed to want her dead the moment she was away from Johanna. After all, once the compound was in your system, you didn't have much time left until the effects were irreversible.

If they even were, he had never had the chance to use the antidote..

"Focus!" He snapped to himself.

Was she going to look the same, after all those years? James couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about that.


"Mrs. Lovett, I can't believe- I can't-"

"Can't what?"

"Please?"

Maybe if she threw-up again the girl would take it upon herself to shut-up. Mrs. Lovett gave the blonde the stink-eye before relaxing her features. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Can ya please stop pesterin' me love?"

Johanna frowned thoughtfully. No one had ever acted around her the same way Mrs. Lovett was. She rather liked the change in attitude, though in regards to the remarks being made about her character… well she didn't like it that much. Which she supposed was actually part of the reason she liked the woman. She didn't dislike her in the way she did Turpin or Bamford. They were just disgusting, and seemed to be made for being disliked. Mrs. Lovett, by no means, seemed the type made for rude thoughts. Johanna supposed it was the woman's insanity. She could irritate you, but you could never dislike her for it.

As most of her time had been spent staring at people out of a rather large window, she had developed a strange knowledge of how people reacted around one another. Well, how they responded physically. She could never actually hear that well from her room…

She had seen women scold their children for doing something wrong, but cuff men about the heads for much the same offenses.

Mrs. Lovett was simply a different form of irritation; like children compared to adults.

"Love, are you alright?"

The girl jumped at the voice. "Oh, I must have.."

"Gone off?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Lovett quickly decided that endless chatter was better than that oddly glazed look her eyes had possessed when she had been thinking. At least, it had been odd when her eyes were still directed at her, but not looking.

It was down right creepy. She fidgeted in her chair when the blonde started to un-focus again. Perhaps she and her father had more in common than the baker originally thought.

Mrs. Lovett gave a light cough to bring back the child's attention. "Your father.."


Sweeney kept himself pressed to the ground, grinning like the mad-man most people would think he was. Well, every person who knew they were going to die by him probably thought he was mad. That counted, right?

"Sir?" Toby coughed; the room was filling with smoke.

They had raided the cabinet and taken the remaining bottles of gin (one was split between them, though it disappeared after a few swigs) and left flammable trails to various rooms from the starting fire. Sweeney insisted on waiting for the flames to spread and to wait until the creatures noticed the smoke.

He supposed Toby was afraid he was going to wait until the building collapsed around them. Truth be told Sweeney rather liked the sound and smells the collapsing home and shop were making.

"Sir!" The boy coughed again.

"Head for the door." He snapped, Toby was rather eagerly complied.

The creatures had sluggishly made their way off the patio and cleared the area in front of the shop as well, though they didn't travel too far past that. A number were still on the stairs that lead to the barber shop, though that may have been because they didn't want to walk past the orange tinted windows.

Once out of the burning building Toby had hurried over to collect another chair for bashing, while Sweeney rested his aching body against the warm, smoky glass, or the pie shop door.

"And what would you say about me now, my pet?" He mumbled to himself.


"Mayhew!"

The apothecary seemed to jump out of his skin.

"Do you have something ready to serve to her?" Turpin growled.

"Well-"

"Well? You'd better hurry. I heard giggling!"

"Erh.." A confused expression spread across his face. "Giggling?"

"Yes!"

"They could have been talking about anything." He stated, not sure why laughter was such a problem. It rather relieved him, informing him she was just sitting their in stuffy silence.

"Exactly!" The man fumed.


"An' then, your father comes runnin' down the stairs, all frightened like! 'Mrs. Lovett!' 'E screams, barging into me shop. 'Mrs. Lovett!' An' I was just standin' there, rollin' some pasty when 'e came in. I felt genuinely scared! 'Wot is it?' I asked 'im. 'Lucy's seen a rat, an' she wont come off the wardrobe!'"

Johanna giggled at Mrs. Lovett's story, happy to be hearing something, even though it wasn't what she wanted. An odd nostalgic look appeared in the baker's eye as she told the story, and when she spoke it was almost as if she was proud to be telling it. Johanna supposed one had to hold onto something, even if it was silly stories.

"'Tha's it?' I asked 'im, feelin' a fool fer gettin' worked up. Oh but it wasn' the worst of it!" A genuine grin appeared on Mrs. Lovett's face. "'E gets all pale like and starts whisperin'. 'I don' think she can get down!' Ha! After she got up, she can't get down? 'Ow silly is that? An' she couldn' jump neither, 'fraid of hurtin' 'erself or Benjamin! So I went up there to 'elp 'im coax her down, not really believin' it ta begin with. But sure enough, tha's where she was. Never even quite sure on 'ow she got up!"

"How did you help her down?" Johanna asked, taking the opportunity as Mrs. Lovett had stopped to catch her breath.

"Well, first I went about lookin' fer the rat. I couldn't find even a trace of it, but she insisted it was there. O' course, Benjamin's runnin' about the room all frantic like, jus' askin' 'er to jump. I thought 'e might stir the thing up, if there was one."

"And?"

"It was a 'airbrush."

"No!"

Mrs. Lovett nodded her head, letting out a laugh. "It was! They were both so embarrassed! Couldn' look me strait in the eye fer days."

"But how did you get her down?" Johanna asked, trying not to laugh at her parents.

"Fetched a stool, Benjamin 'eld her 'and all the way down." Her laughter faded, but the smile still remained on her face.


"The next time you ask if I am alright, you wont be," Sweeney snarled, keeping his anger narrowed eyes off his companion.

Toby's knuckled turned white from how strongly he held his new chair. He wanted to throw it at the barber, even if it would do the both of them more harm then good. The man was pushing himself, had pushed himself, beyond the brink of what was normal. Even though it was dusk there was considerably more light outside then there had been in, and his filthy beraggled appearance was made all too clear. He was holding his bruised side and moving nearly as slow as the creatures they were attempting to get away from.

The boy had vocalized his concerns, but by his second attempt the low grunt responses turned into a splatter of blood as one of the barber's razors cut across a monster. He learned to quickly get over it, or be left behind in the blood soaked streets.

Even with what remained of the pie shop still just around the corner London was a sorry sight. Toby hoped they might find someone else who managed to survive, or perhaps a force helping to control things. The only signs of life he detected were hastily boarded doors, which appeared to have been torn open.

"Sir.." he felt the cold eyes on him and hurried to continue. "Ain't it odd they got into e'ery buildin' 'cept your shop?"

Mr. Todd appeared satisfied with the question, but still didn't answer.

The boy bit his lip, casting anxious glances everywhere. "'Ow much farther?"


A/N In general observation I believe every character in Sweeney Todd is slightly crazy. I'm doing my best to not exclude Mayhew.. y'know, just trying to make the OC fit in. I had a lot of fun coming up with Mrs. Lovett's story.. turned inward to a world full of embarrassment and giggles.. it was awesome.