Well here we are, we have finally come to the last chapter. I cannot believe what was meant to be only a one or two chapter prologue to what is now the sequel has turned out to be an over 70,000 word fic in it's own right! The sequel will be called Crimson To Avenge Rubies so keep an eye out for it.

Anyway, thanks as always to AppropriateAsAlways, EleKat, RubyRosette5, Noodlemantra, dionne dance, Lily, Redejeka and Nutter101 for your reviews, I hope you're not dissappointed with this chapter. And of course thanks as always to Bellatrix Nellie Le-Lovett for beta-ing for me.

Hope you enjoy and please review :)

Chapter 13 – Two Beautiful Daughters

Sweeney stared at the trap behind the chair, a demonic smile on his face. He had done it. The judge was dead and he'd done it before Joanna and Anthony arrived. A morbid laugh escaped his lips as he threw his head back. Finally his wife could lay in peace.

The sound of the door opening caught him off guard. Spinning round, he smiled dangerously when he saw the Beadle in the doorway. "Can I help you Sir?" he asked, striding over to Beadle, clasping his shoulder and guiding him towards the chair.

"Where is Judge Turpin?" he asked as Sweeney pushed him down into the chair.

"He's been finished Sir. He's gone already." Sweeney said wrapping the sheet around the Beadle's neck.

"But I didn't see him come down the stairs." The Beadle replied, his voice beginning to sound a little panicked.

"I have a rear door Sir." Sweeney said, gesturing towards the door to his parlour, "I told him to pay a visit to Mrs. Lovett for a complimentary pie while he waited for you." Sweeney said, gaining a satisfied grunt from the Beadle as he leaned back in the chair.

The barber glanced out the window, his eyes widening in panic when he realised it was almost completely dark. How would he see when Anthony and Joanna were arriving now? Deciding there was no time to waste, Sweeney whipped out his razor from the holster, strode round to the front of the chair and whipped it clean across the Beadle's throat, eliciting a gasp of horror and surprise from the dying man's throat.

Without waiting for him to draw his last breath, Sweeney trod on the leaver, and with a creak from the cogs, the Beadle was gone.

-x-

"Don't be silly love." Nellie reassured the boy, trying to hide the panic she was feeling underneath.

"But I 'eard it mum. I know I did. A thud. Downstairs. I've suspected things I 'ave. Fer a while now. It ain't right mum. I can go and get the law. I don't worry about 'im upstairs." Toby rambled, making a dash for the door.

"There's no need fer that love. Now come on, sit 'ere wi' me. That's it." She said, grasping his wrist and pulling him down onto the couch with her, "Mr. Todd 'as been so good ter us. What would 'e think o' yer if yer went around reporting 'im ter the law hmm?" she asked, pushing a stray lock of hair out of his eyes. Toby simply shrugged and began examining his hands. "I thought so. Now, enough of this ridiculousness, why don't yer go an' fetch us some toffees ey love?" She asked, pulling a red leather purse from her bodice.

Toby's eyes widened as he watched her, "That's signor Pirelli's purse!" he exclaimed, jumping up off the couch.

Nellie froze. Shit, now what? "No it's not." She said with a frown, "Course it's not, 'ow could it be? T'was birthday present."

"Who from?" Toby said dubiously.

"Mr. T." Nellie replied before she could stop herself.

Toby shot across the room at the door, "That proves it! I gotta go get the law mum. Hide yerself an' Caroline." He yelled out. Nellie leapt off the couch and lunged at him, grabbing his arm firmly.

"Yer not goin' anywhere." She said calmly, pulling him over to the couch where she sat him down again, "Yer jus' tired love. Dreamin' up things tis all." She added, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, "Now. D'yer remember what I said, that one time about yer comin' an' 'elpin' me down in the bake 'ouse?" Toby nodded as she continued, "Well, what der yer say we do it now?" she asked, removing her arm from around him so she could see him.

A smile spread across his lips as he nodded enthusiastically, "Yes please." He said, jumping up off the couch.

Nellie smiled sadly and pulled herself up before brushing past the boy and walking towards the bake house, "Foller me then." She said, trying to keep her voice as steady as she could.

The walk to the bake house seemed to take forever, giving her time to realise she was about to sentence a young boy to death. But then, she supposed, if she wanted to live, and she wanted her Mr. Todd to live, it was what she had to do.

Descending the stairs, she opened the door and stepped aside, letting Toby walk in first. As soon as he was over the threshold, Nellie stepped away from the door slightly, "I jus' need ter go an' check on Mr. T love. I'll be back down in a minute alrigh'. Yer wait 'ere fer me." She said, ruffling his hair affectionately.

"Alrigh' mum." He said cheerily before tunring into the bake house.

Nellie quickly shut the door and locked it, dashing up the stairs before she could change her mind. Not pausing to even draw breath, Nellie ran as fast as her legs would take her up the stairs into the barber's shop. Bursting through the door, Sweeney span round to face her, an empty look on his face.

"I've done it." He said distantly, "They're dead, both of them."

"That's nice love." Nellie said breathlessly, "But now yer've got somethin' else ter do. Toby knows too much. I've locked 'im in the bake 'ouse." She said, her voice quivering as she tried to hold back her tears.

Immediately losing the lost look, Sweeney grasped his razor off the side before pausing, "Anthony and Joanna will be here any minute. I must wait for them. As soon as they're here and I've dealt with them I shall come down." He said, glancing out the window. Nellie hesitated, unsure. "Go, I will be as quick as I can. Go down and start disposing of the bodies." He added, flicking his razor open and shut, open and shut restlessly.

Nellie nodded and dashed off back down the stairs again, why couldn't things go as they had been planned to go? When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she almost ran into Caroline leaving the house with a tumbler in one hand. Nellie frowned.

"What are yer doin'?" she asked.

"Runnin' an errand." Caroline replied trying to push past her mother. Nellie put her arm out to stop the girl.

"What errand?" she asked, her frown deepening.

Caroline sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, "Master Ramsgate's father is dyin' and he asked if I could bring down a tumbler of ale. 'Appy now?" she said, sweeping past Nellie and down the street.

Nellie shrugged and continued into the shop, making her way straight through into the bake house. Slowly she opened the thick metal door, Toby would be in here somewhere and he would have discovered what was going on by now. Part of her was screaming to wait for the barber, go in together, but the other part of her was telling her to go in. It was this part that won and so slowly, she slipped in and closed the heavy door behind her.

"Toby?" she called softly, "Toby love? Where are yer?" She called again when she got no reply. Sighing, she made her way over to the bodies of the judge and the Beadle; he'd show up soon enough.

-x-

Sweeney paced, back and forth, back and forth in front of the window. Every tiny sound was being magnified in the uneasy silence. Nellie had left the shop moments ago yet he could still hear the echo of the door being closed and her footsteps down the stairs.

The sound of the door really being opened and closed made him jump and spin round quickly, expecting to see Anthony and Joanna. However, what he really saw was an old beggar woman. Sweeney frowned, disgusted at her dirty form wandering round his shop. What the hell did she thing she was doing up here?

"Can I help you?" he snarled, smiling evilly when she span round to face him, fright on her face.

"She'd the devil's wife Sir. Be wary of her." The woman said, slowly stepping towards him until they were stood right in front of each other, "Don't I know you Sir?"

Sweeney ignored her ramblings and looked into her haggard old face, repulsed by their closeness. Without a second thought he reaching for his razor, flicking it open as quietly as he could before reaching up and slashing it across her neck cleanly.

Quickly, he reached out as she fell, catching her in his arms. Touching her as little as possible, he dragged her over to the chair where he dumped her and stepped on the leaver, smiling as he watched her disappear down stairs. Just as the chair flung back up again, a scream from down bellow echoed up the shoot. Sweeney frowned, that was not the scream of the beggar woman, that was the scream of Nellie.

With an annoyed sigh, he turned on his heel and dashed out the shop, taking the step two at a time. As fast as he could, he ran through the shop and straight down the stairs, pushing the door open and slipping in.

"What is it, you screamed?" Sweeney asked slightly breathlessly as he closed the door behind him.

"The Beadle were still alive love, tis all. 'E's dead now though." She said, stepping away from the bodies. As she did so, her frame no longer shielded them from the light from the oven revealing the latest victim to her eyes. Lucy. He'd killed her. Did that mean he didn't recognise her? She hoped with every ounce of her being that he didn't.

"Where's Toby?" Sweeney asked, his eyes on the Beadle, watching, making sure he really was dead this time.

"Not sure love. Hidin' somewhere." She replied, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

Sweeney frowned and looked up at her before striding over to the pile of bodies, hooking his arms underneath the Beadle's shoulders. "Open the oven door." He said, beginning to drag the body towards it.

Nellie was almost frozen to the spot, did this mean he was going to carry Lucy in a similar way?

"Hurry up woman, we don't have much time!" he growled, hauling the Beadle closer to the oven.

Not wanting to get on his bad side, Nellie rushed to the oven door and unlatched it, swinging it as far open as she could so that Sweeney could throw the body in. Nellie watched fascinated as the flames licked at the Beadle's form, devouring him in seconds.

A grunt brought her back to the present, her eyes flicking over to where Sweeney was now dragging over the judge. "Yer did it love." Nellie said, trying to keep his mind elsewhere so that when he lifted Lucy he wouldn't be concentrating.

Sweeney nodded, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips, "Yes, and now my darling wife can lay in peace, knowing that the bastards that did this to her and burning in eternal hell." He spat, throwing the judge into the flames.

Turning back to Lucy's body again, he strode over and hooked his arms under her shoulders like he had with the last. Nellie held her breath, all he had to do was walk a few steps, a few steps and then she would be in the fire, burnt, forgotten, and they could get on with their lives together, the thought of Lucy never having to trouble the baker ever again.

Sweeney paused in front of the oven to readjust his grip, glancing down in the process. Looking down at her briefly, he froze. The full light from the oven was shining on her face, giving it an unearthly glow. Slowly, he lowered the body to the floor and knelt down beside it, reaching out one tentative hand to brush a greasy greying lock of hear away from her face.

"Don't I know, she said." he whispered, stroking a hand down her cheek, "Lucy? Lucy." He repeated, his eyes suddenly flicking up to meet Nellie's horrified ones. Hatred flooded across his face, "You lied to me." He spat, laying his wife's head carefully down on the floor before standing up and stepping over her body.

Nellie shook her head frantically, her breathing coming out quick and shallow, "Not lied, not lied, said she took the poison, she did, I never said she died, yer assumed that. But she were all but dead Mr. T. Damaged 'er head it did. She weren't the same. No reasonin' wi' 'er. Couldn't get 'er ter do anythin' I asked, she wouldn't stay in the shop, oh no. Kept goin' out, leavin' Joanna. Got violent she did. I couldn't do anythin' fer her." Nellie babbled, panicking, trying to say anything that might excuse her.

"You're a bloody wonder Mrs. Lovett." Sweeney said, his voice low as he slowly stalked towards her.

"I'm sorry Mr. T, I truly am, I only did it fer you though. I didn't want ter hurt yer anymore by showin' her ter you. She were ill love. I did it fer you, 'cause, I love yer. I did it 'cause I love yer Mr. T." She said quickly, feeling her breath leave her body as she realised she had backed herself into a wall.

Sweeney smirked and strode towards her, sweeping her up in his arms as they began to spin round and round the room like they had all those years ago at the Highwayman's Arms. Nellie was lost in his arms, an overwhelming sense of joy rushing through her as she settled herself back into his embrace. She must be forgiven; he wouldn't be doing this if she wasn't.

"Do yer forgive me love?" she asked breathily, needing to hear it from his own lips.

"O' course I do." He said, looking down into her eyes.

"Life is fer the livin' my dear. An' we could 'ave a life. By the sea, you, me, Caddie an' Joanna." She said, thrilled at the feeling of his arm tightening round her waist.

"Life is for the living." He repeated, pulling her body closer to his.

Nellie smiled and leaned her head back, the speed at which they were spinning cooling the sweat forming on her brow from their dancing and the closeness of the oven. Opening her eyes in shock, she watched, her vision upside down and blurred as the orange flames of the oven shot past again and again, growing in size as they neared it.

Nellie raised her head again, her eyes immediately coming to rest on Sweeney's wide, maddened ones. And that was when it hit her. She was going to die. Nellie Lovett was going to be thrown into an oven, her own oven, and killed. She opened her mouth the protest, to scream, whatever came out first, but all the came was a throaty whimper.

She felt sweat begin to trickle down her back as they neared the oven and blind panic overtook her. She tried to fight him off, release herself from his grasp but he was too strong, and realising what she was doing he only held onto her tighter.

Suddenly an idea came to her. Her one last hope, Caroline. She had to tell him, now was her time.

"Mr. T I need ter tell yer." She yelled at him, her voice shaky and frightened. Sweeney hardly seemed to hear her as Nellie felt her skin begin to burn from the closeness of the oven, she needed to get this out quickly she realised.

"She's yours Mr. T! Caroline's yours...!" She exclaimed, the end of her sentence coming out as a terrified scream as she felt herself being lifted easily off the ground and flying into the unbearable heat of the oven.

Sweeney froze, eye wide. What had she just said? He needed to ask her what she'd just said. Her tortured screams brought him back to the present. Looking into the oven he realised he was too late. Flames surrounded her body, the crackling of the fire drowning her voice. Stepping away from the heat, he closed the door, blocking the sight of his landlady from his eyes.

'She's yours Mr. T. Caroline's yours...!' Could she be? It would certainly explain a lot. And the dates would add up. He hadn't forgotten his secret affair with the girl's mother. Benjamin's eyes, he thought, Sweeney's eyes. She had them. And the facial expressions. But why hadn't Nellie told him? Could she be lying again? A last-ditch attempt to save her life? It would make sense, but something deep in him told him she was telling the truth, and that same thing inside him told him he'd suspected if not known for a long time now that Caroline was more to him than his landlady's daughter.

Striding back over to Lucy's body, he knelt down and lifted her head, resting it in his lap. "I'll look after them both my darling. My two girls. I'll make you proud. I know you didn't know about Caroline, I know I betrayed you, but she needs me now my love. I'm all she has left now." He whispered, placing his razor down beside him so he could fiddle with a lock of his wife's hair, unwilling to let her go now he'd only just got her back, "I'll look after Joanna like you would want me to, and Caroline as well. I'll tell Joanna all about you and about how much you loved her my dear." He said, stroking her forehead softly.

Sighing, he closed his eyes. This was not how he had wanted things to end. Even after Nellie had told him Lucy was dead this was not how he wanted things to end, killing his landlady had never crossed his mind.

A quiet clink from behind him made him frown and open his eyes. Before he had a chance to turn around to see what was happening, he felt a sharp prick under his ear before a searing pain tore across his neck.

Sweeney Todd's last thought was off his two beautiful daughters.

-x-

Caroline pushed the door open slowly before slipping inside quietly. Leaning back against the door she sighed heavily. No matter how much she disliked Harry Ramsgate, she wouldn't have ever wished him to have to suffer his father dying when he was so young. And now the boy was on his own. Nineteen and parentless. Yes she didn't have a father but she had a mother and a man that was happy to be a father to her, so in that respect she considered herself lucky.

Deciding she needed to go and properly make up with her mother after the row about who her father was all those days ago, Caroline shrugged off her jacket and wandered through the shop.

It was quiet. Too quiet. "Hello?" she shouted. No answer. "Hello?" She repeated, a feeling of discomfort welling up in the pit of her stomach. The shop was never this quiet.

Slowly she pushed the parlour door open and peered inside. Nothing. Closing it again, she turned to wander back into the shop, only to bump into a frantic looking Toby sprinting up from the bake house.

Caroline screamed in shock and jumped back, her hand covering her heart when she realised who it was. However, her relief at finding someone was short lived when she saw his face, an odd expression that she'd never seen anyone wear before plastered over it.

"Toby, what's wrong?" She asked slowly, warily.

Toby shook his head and laughed demonically, "I warned 'er, an' now she'd only got 'erself ter blame." He hissed before dashing down the corridor and into the shop.

Caroline frowned and listened as the front door was wrenched open and then slammed shut. Running her nails up and down her wrist like her mother had told her not too so many times, Caroline turned for the stairs down to the bake house and slowly began to descend them. When she reached the bottom, she paused, she wasn't usually allowed down here.

Deciding now was an exception as Toby had obviously been down here, she reached out and pushed the door open slowly. Stepping down into the room, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the gloomy light from the oven throwing odd shadows round the room.

Stepping further in, her nails drawing blood from her wrists now, the first thing she saw was the barber. A shiver ran down her spine as she realised he was soaked in blood. Wide eyed she crept forward until she was stood in front of him. Drawing her eyes away from the closest thing she'd ever known to a father, she glanced down at the body in his arms. It was the beggar woman, the very one that had scratched her face.

Shivering from shock and suppressed tears now, Caroline looked round the rest of the room. Crates and boxes lined the walls, and in the middle of the room was the oven, still throwing out an orangey light.

Just as she was about to turn back to the barber on the floor, something trapped in the oven door caught her eye. Frowning, she stepped closer until there was no denying it. There, in the oven door, was a scrap of her mother's skirt. Bending down, her mind in a total daze now, she pulled the material out from under the door, holding it up to face so she could look at it properly. Turning it over and over in her palm, she examined the long side, blackened by the fire and crumbling in her fingers. A lone tear dropped silently onto the expensive material as Caroline realised what this meant. Now she was just like Harry Ramsgate. All alone in the world.

Gulping in a large mouthful of air, she screamed as loud as she could. She screamed for her mother, she screamed for Mr. Todd, she screamed for the unfairness of it all, but most important of all, most selfishly of all, she screamed for herself.

Pulling herself together, she glanced round the room, lost, tears streaming freely down her face now. A sharp pain in her arm drew her attention away from the bake house. Looking down, she noticed the long tracks up her arm that her nails had dug. Slowly, she turned her hand over and over, watching as the blood down her fingers dried in the smothering heat of the oven. Letting her arms fall to her sides again, she turned and made her way over to the barber and the beggar woman. Standing in front of the pair, she crouched down so she was at eye level with Mr. Todd and reached out her blood stained hand to cup his cold cheek.

"Bye dad." She whispered, her voice quivering from tears, "Thank you." She added before slowly standing up and leaving the bake house.

-x-

Nothing, that was what she felt, that was what she saw. Staring straight ahead at the shop front door, Caroline saw nothing and thought nothing. She had no idea how long she'd been sat like that, only that she'd come here as soon as she'd left the bake house and hadn't moved since.

Darkness had engulfed her, hiding her from the world but she hadn't realised, nor would she care if she had. If it was dark, she couldn't see the shop, the things that reminded her that her mother was dead and she was not.

How hadn't even crossed her mind. The only person that could reveal that to her was Toby and he appeared to have vanished. It would be so easy to blame him, pin it all on him, hind someone to hate, but even though she'd considered it, she couldn't do it. Not while she didn't know the truth. And so all she was left with was acceptance. She would just have to accept it and move on. Although that was easier said than done.

The sound of the shop door opening and closing and the rushed footsteps of two people barely registered in Caroline's mind. It was only when a hand gently shook her that she looked up into the face of a scrawny young lad holding a lamp over her. He smiled at her although his eyes looked worried.

"I'm looking for Mr. Todd. Do you know where I would find him?" he asked.

Caroline started at him, his words spinning round and round her empty mind, "He's not here anymore." She finally whispered.

"Oh." The boy said, frowning, "And the woman, Mrs. Lovett was it?"

Caroline could only shake her head, a single tear escaping her eye. The lad's frown deepened as he pulled the girl he was with closer to him. Caroline hadn't even noticed her until now. When her eyes flicked to hers she froze briefly. 'Benjamin Barker'. She shook her head and tore her gaze away, was she going to see them everywhere from now on? Because if she was she didn't think she could live with it.

The lad's voice brought her back to the present, "Mr. Todd said I could leave her here while I go and fetch a coach. Would you mind? I'll be as quick as I can." He asked, pushing the young blonde girl forward slightly.

Caroline shrugged and shook her head, her eyes fixed on the front door again.

"Thank you." The boy said, leaning over and kissing the young girl on the cheek while he thrust the lamp into her hand, "I shall be as quick as I can my love, and then we shall be free." He whispered before dashing from the shop.

Silence hung over the pair, Caroline barely noticing the other girl and she not knowing what to say.

"I'm Joanna." Joanna finally said, sitting cautiously on the bench opposite Caroline and placing the lamp on the table between them.

Caroline looked over at the girl, their eyes locking onto each other's again, "I'm Caroline." She whispered, her tired eyes stinging from the tears and now the lack of blinking as she continued to hold the girl's gaze.

If it wasn't for the fact that Caroline had just realised she was on her own now, she would have noticed the similarities between the girl sat in front of her and the young Lucy Barker. She also would have realised that this Joanna was almost certainly Mr. Todd's Joanna. However, the girl sat across from her blinked and looked away, breaking the connection and all Caroline's niggling feelings about Benjamin Barker.

"Are you feeling alright?" Joanna asked after a long stretch of silence. Caroline looked up at the girl again, her sheet white skin looking almost translucent in the dim light of the lamp, "It's just, you look very pale." She added.

Caroline shook her head and looked away again, worried that she would break down once more. She could not break down again, she would not cry again. She couldn't. That would show weakness and she couldn't be weak anymore. She couldn't afford to be.

"Perhaps I'm comin' down wi' somethin'." She suggested, her voice barely louder than a whisper, "Maybe I'll 'ave a rest termorrer."

Joanna nodded although Caroline didn't see it; she was too busy watching the approaching coach. A few moments later, the door was flung open and the lad re-entered, dashing across the room towards Joanna.

"I have the coach. We've done it." He said, pulling her up by her hand and taking up the lamp. He glanced over at Caroline, "Thank you for letting her stay here. Give my best to Mr. Todd and Mrs. Lovett won't you." He said and without waiting for a reply, turned and pulled Joanna to the door.

The girl paused in the doorway and looked back at Caroline, still staring vacantly ahead of her, "Look after yourself now won't you. Goodbye Caroline. I hope we meet again."

Caroline looked across at the door, intending on saying her farewell too, however, by the time her eyes reached the place where the girl had been, they had gone. Caroline blinked in the dark and listened as the sound of the hoof beats and wheels of the coach grew fainter and fainter until she was once again in silence.

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