Vincent's Dare

Sweeney's walking around one night after a very stressful day, when suddenly he runs into an acquaintance of his. In a mischievous mood he dares Sweeney to play a cruel joke on Mrs. Lovett. Will Sweeney agree to go through with it? Even bigger question, will he really start to feel something for Mrs. Lovett? As you all know, I don't own him. If I did I wouldn't have to make myself type down these words. P.S. This story will be taking place after By the Sea, and I will be pretending that Lucy did die from the Arsenic. So that she doesn't interfere with any plans I'm forming. P.S.S. I'd like to thank InDeppth for giving me the idea of the setting of when Sweeney would start his dare. I was very lost in that department.

Sweeney walked through the quiet streets on a cold London night. One beggar (luckily he hadn't recognized her) had already asked him for alms, and when he didn't offer her any she had tried to 'attack' him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a man walking out of a small bar. To Benjamin, Vincent Walker had always been a close friend, but he was merely an acquaintance to Sweeney. Vincent ran up to Sweeney and put his arm around him sluggishly. "Hey Sweeney, what are you doing here? I just needed to get away from my family for a while." Sweeney nodded and walked on, Vincent followed closely behind. "Hey, you know that lady you're always complaining about? The one who's always taking and flirting with you, despite the fact that you ignore her." Sweeney turned around to look at him. "Well, this may jus' be my slightly drunken blabber talking here, but I think you should play around with her, pretend you love her back.

He frowned in disapproval. "No Vincent, Mrs. Lovett may be annoying, but not even she deserves that." Vincent rolled his eyes and shook his head disappointed. "What, what is it Vincent?"

Vincent looked up at the sound of his name. "Man, I didn't even think you'd remember that. I just thought you would want to show her how annoying she is. Kinda, give her a taste of her own medicine." Sweeney scowled and kept walking. Vincent shook his head annoyed; this guy sure could be stubborn. "Aww come on Sweeney. How's about if you do this I'll leave you alone. I'm not stupid and I can tell you're annoyed by me, not like Benjamin. So I'll stop bothering you if you just go along with my dare. I dare you to pretend to love her."

Sweeney took a long breath of the bitter London air and sighed. "Fine, if you'll stop harassing me, I'll do it. I'll take your dare and pretend to be in love with Mrs. Lovett."

Vincent laughed crazily and patted him on the back. "Well, I should be off then. Good luck with your mission Sweeney." Sweeney grunted and turned around to head back to his shop. If this was going to work out right, he'd have to do some very good acting. The barber was starting to feel annoyed. Annoyed at Vincent's pestering, annoyed at himself for giving in to his pestering so easily and most of all, annoyed by the sudden guilt he was feeling by choosing to do what he was about to do.

The next morning Sweeney stood looking out his window, staring down at all of the vermin walking along the London streets. He frowned at their simplistic lives, and smiling faces. They had it so easy; they didn't have to kill people all day everyday (besides Sunday). If they did, they'd be better off fearing or pitying him then getting any police after him. Sweeney remembered when his life was that simple, taking walks with his family, actually enjoying a nice sunny day instead of trying to hide from it. He remembered the day he had been taken away from his perfect life, as if it had happened yesterday. Then he began to think about it, did he really remember it? All he could clearly remember was walking along the street with his beautiful wife Lucy, and their angel of a daughter, Johanna. Then all of a sudden these 2 policemen came and one of them knocked him over the head with a nightstick. The only thing he remembered after that was his wife's face turning from one of pure happiness, to one of horror. The last thing he had seen was the horrible Judge Turpin put his hand on Lucy's shoulder. Sweeney was brought out of his tormenting memories by the sound of the bell of his barber shop door jingling. He really wished he could take that bell and smash it until it broke into small pieces; a bell ringing was a sound of joy. And nowhere in him was there joy, except for that deep down feeling of his joy for revenge. Mrs. Lovett walked through the door, her cheery voice following her. "Brought you some breakfast dear." Sweeney continued to stare out the window, annoyed by her cheeriness, he simply grunted. She set down his tray and put her hands on her hips. "Mr. T, can I ask you a question?"

Sweeney scowled and closed his eye for a brief moment. This woman was really starting to get on his nerves with her joyful attitude. How could she be so happy when he was always so miserable? He didn't say much, just a simple "What?"

Mrs. Lovett looked at him curiously, and though he wasn't looking at her, Sweeney could feel her eyes staring at him. "What did your Lucy look like?" This caught Sweeney's attention, he hadn't really thought about Lucy in some time. He'd thought about her of course, but never in extreme detail. In his dreams, he'd seen her, but he never took the time to really look at her and stare at her features that he'd fallen in love with. He hadn't answered so she spoke again. "Cawn't really remember can you." Sweeney kept the stern look on his face, but felt broken on the inside. He couldn't deny it, no matter how horrible it was, Nellie Lovett was right. He had pretty much completely forgotten her. He'd forgotten how her smile looked; he'd forgotten how she looked in the sunlight, and how the moonlight shone on her skin. He'd forgotten how her voice sounded; he'd forgotten how she laughed. Was it a girlish giggle, a sweet and soft chuckle? He'd even forgotten her eyes, were they blue, green, grey?

There was only one thing he could really remember about her, something he always saw in his dreams. "She had yellow hair." That was truly all that he could remember well, her long and beautiful yellow hair.

Nellie slowly made her way up to him. "You've got to leave this all behind you now, she's gone." She came up from behind him and whispered "Life is for the alive my dear." Sweeney frowned and turned around to face her.

This was it; this was the perfect time for Vincent's dare to begin. He swallowed the breath he was holding from thinking about his long gone wife. 'Forgive me Lucy' he thought to himself as he took Mrs. Lovett's hands. She looked down at her hands, then back up at him. Tears of joy started to form in her eyes, was this it? Was he going to tell her he loved her now, was he going to tell her he'd given up on his revenge? Was he going to tell her that all he needed was her, and that he was ready to go by the sea with her?

He forced himself to show a small grin and she gave him a wide smile. "The thing is, I think I already have put it behind me. I will still be getting my revenge, that's simply because he deserves it, but I'm ready to go on." Mrs. Lovett blushed and she could feel her heart beating faster and faster. He pushed her hair behind her ear with his hand. He felt uncomfortable doing this, he felt like he was betraying Lucy. He had to admit to being a man of his word, and his word to Vincent was that he was going to take on his dare. He thought of Lucy when he started to stroke her cheek in a loving manner. She sighed lovingly and leaned against his hand looking at him starry eyed. He thought of Lucy and tried to imagine her instead of the baker as he kissed her lightly on the lips. Sweeney knew that the dare was working, but he still couldn't fight the nagging feeling that he knew what he was doing was wrong. He had begun to realize that Nellie truly loved him, and even though he knew he'd become less emotional lately, he still could feel guilt. And he knew he was feeling guilty by doing this to the baker, no matter how little he felt it. She felt a surge of electricity rush through her and she kissed him harder, so in his pretending he had to kiss her harder as well. The harder they pushed, the more Sweeney realized that, he enjoyed it. He hadn't been kissed in many years, and it was something he was experiencing all over again. He opened his eyes, hoping his imagination wasn't tricking him and Lucy would be standing there. At the sight of Mrs. Lovett there instead of his beautiful wife he shut them again instantly, imagining his Lucy's face and form instead of Nellie's. This was when he realized, this dare was either going to be very easy or very hard. Very easy because he knew how much Mrs. Lovett cared for him, so he could try anything to get her to love him even more and she'd probably react positively. Or it could be very hard, with his knowledge that he was kissing and enjoying the love being given by someone other than Lucy; he'd certainly have to be doing a lot of apologizing to Lucy.

So there you have it, I finally put up chapter 1 of my newest story. I really hope you're enjoying yourselves so far. So what do you think? You think Sweeney will continue playing this all like a game? Or will he really start to feel the same way about Mrs. Lovett? Stay tuned for chapter 2, for more thrilling happenings in The Dare! P.S. I have two obsession add-ons, lol. You know you're obsessed with Danny Elfman (yeah I added Danny) when: (If you've ever seen this show) You watch that new comedy with Jenna (his niece) Accidentally On Purpose and you wish she'd find a piano and play some Danny-like song, I was watching it last night and I wished that, I asked her (person-to-television) to find a piano and plan 'The Ice Dance.' From Edward Scissorhands, I'm weird I know. FUUUUUN! Now how about another one about Sweeney? You know you're obsessed with Sweeney Todd when… Even when you're watching something like A Series of Unfortunate Events, Cast Away or Catch Me If You Can, you still can only think of Sweeney Todd when you see the DreamWorks logo with the DreamWorks's music. And instantly after seeing that you think you're going to move speeding quick through some London streets before arriving at the Sweeney Todd main screen, where you'll hear a blood-curtailing scream and see fake blood. P.S. Sorry if Sweeney was really OOC with Mrs. Lovett, he kind of hand to be in order for the dare to work, ya know?