This started out with me listening to my iPod and the song "Out there" from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre dame came on and I thought hey maybe I could do a story similar with Nico and Minos and instead of being deformed he can see ghosts! But then it somehow became this and it resembles more the story of Rapunzel, but hey I'm good with that too! Also this is a human AU.

I own none of the characters recognised in this story, or the titles listed above!

Warning: death, kidnapping, forced drug use (pharmaceutical), and various illegal happenings.

RATED T (pg. 14 maybe?)

Chapter 1 Missing memory

"Fatal car crash kills a Los Angeles family of three." Reads the headline on the front page of the newspaper. "During a family outing a woman and her two children were struck by an oncoming vehicle and rolled off the side of the highway making recovery difficult. First responders report that the driver of the other vehicle made it out with minor injuries but the woman and daughter were pronounced dead on the scene, the son was taken to hospital but later succumbed to his injuries and died. When told of the tragic loss, the husband and father of the deceased, Hades di Angelo refused to speak with reporters, wishing to be alone with his grieving."

Minos smiled to himself as he read the morning paper. Of course he already knew about the fatal crash, he had been one of the first responders on the scene. The paper said that none of the family of three had survived but that wasn't necessarily true, yes the mother and daughter had died on scene and the son was rushed to the hospital, but he did not die.

Minos had connections in that hospital and had them take care of the boy and make it look like he had died, knowing that the medical examiner would have to fill out a report, he had paid him off to make the report similar to the other two in order for it to be more believable, the father in his grieving would wait before claiming the bodies of his family.

In the meantime Minos had brought the boy to a secluded motel on the outskirts of town. Despite what was in the medical report, the boy had actually sustained little injury during the crash, he had hit his head and was unconscious and unresponsive when help had arrived and remained so until shortly after arriving at the hospital, after that he had been put into a medical induced coma and made to appear to have slipped away in his sleep (that doctor had been paid off too.)

Years ago Minos had worked for a large company owned and run by Hades di Angelo, one of the most powerful business owners in the country, Minos had been fired when it was discovered that he had been cutting corners and falsifying reports in order to steal money among other things. He had also been paying people off if any got wind of what he was doing, but somehow still word of what he was doing had reached Hades and in order to not cause a huge incident he had been fired and banned from employment under Hades or his brothers who were also big business owners, which unfortunately meant many of the large scale companies around the country.

He had thought of many ways to strike back at Hades but had never dreamed that something like this would present itself to him! To think he now held the life of Hades' son in his hands, it wouldn't take long for them to figure out that the death was faked and that the boy was missing, but it would take longer still for them to trace it all back to him; not that it would do them much good, he had changed his name and address long ago.

After making sure that the boy would not wake up for some time yet, Minos went to turn in his letter of resignation saying that the stress of the job and the emotional turmoil after responding to the crash had been too much for him, no one would question it because seeing something like that could be hard for anyone to handle. Then he headed home and packed up what he needed, luckily this was just a temporary home and didn't hold much of his belongings so packing was quick and easy.

Once he was finished he loaded everything up into his vehicle and stopped to pick up child sized clothes before he returned to the motel. He had made sure to pay in cash leaving no substantial evidence that he had been there and had made sure that the desk clerk didn't know he wasn't alone. After he had gotten his room key upon first arriving at the motel earlier that day he had returned to his car to grab his belongings and that was when he moved the child inside when no one was around to see.

With his medical training he could safely keep the boy comatose for a while yet but he wanted to see what effects everything had had on him. So he roused the boy from his sleep. "Hey, wake up." Minos said gently and the boy's eyelids began to flutter open as he slowly came to.

"Huh?" he said, blinking his eye's groggily as he tried to sit up but Minos made him remain lying down.

"Don't try to sit up just yet, you've been in a nasty accident and hurt your head pretty badly, how do you feel?"

The boy reached up and grasped his head. "My head really hurts."

Minos nodded, he knew that when dealing with children you would have to take your time and really listen to find out what you wanted to know. "Do you remember what happened?"

He began to shake his head but found it to be too painful so he spoke instead. "No."

"Do you remember your name?"

He was about to nod his head but thought better of it. "Nico."

Minos nodded, he had already known the boy's name he just needed to know how much he remembered about himself. "How about anything else from before you got hurt?"

"No."

"That's okay Nico, you don't have to worry about it because I'm right here with you and everything is going to be alright now. You just get some more rest." As he had suspected Nico appeared to have amnesia as a result of suffering a blow to the head, it could take a long time for his memory to return or it may never return at all, either way this worked well for Minos, so long as Nico couldn't remember anything he was like clay in his hands, he could be molded and shaped into what Minos wanted.

The next day early in the morning Minos checked out of the room and took Nico out to the car and gave him something to help with his pain and make him sleep as he drove. The fuel tank was nearly full so they wouldn't have to stop to refuel anytime soon and would be well on their way before anyone caught onto what was happening.

…

A couple of days later as they were staying in another motel along the highway, Minos read the morning paper while Nico slept soundly on the bed. The main article on the front page spoke of the crash that had happened just outside of Los Angeles a few days ago and how it was discovered that members of the medical team had falsified the death of Nico di Angelo, son of the well-known business CEO Hades di Angelo, and now it had become a kidnapping case.

"After the tragic loss of both his wife and young daughter, Hades thought he would have to bury his son as well. When Hades went to the hospital to claim the bodies of his family, his son was missing. When pressed for an explanation the medical examiner admitted that the death had been a fake so there was no body to claim and that the boy was no longer there. It is still unclear as to who is behind this or what their motives are, but one thing is for certain, there is no describing the anguish that this man must be going through in these hard times."

It goes on to notify the public that there was an amber alert out for ten year old Nico di Angelo with a full description of what he looked like and listed contact information for anyone who might have seen Nico anywhere and saying that there was a reward for any useful information that would be paid by Hades himself.

Minos laughed quietly to himself, this was what he had been hoping for but it still wasn't enough. Hades had only just begun to suffer.

When Nico awoke Minos made sure he had something to eat and then got him to take some medicine 'because you still need plenty of rest.' He had told him.

Once again they were on the road again, going in seemingly random directions, stopping now and then only as they needed to, sometimes Nico would be awake and Minos would have him stay quietly in the room they would be staying in, saying that he was sick and needed rest and that if he was good he would get a present.

Minos would go shopping and buy a few changes of clothes here and there and decided to pick up something that would keep Nico occupied while he was left alone. So he bought a few books here, a couple of small toys or some card game there. He was always sure to stop at different places and to always pay with cash; even traveling sporadically as they were he still didn't want to leave any kind of trail behind.

He would then return to the motel and give Nico his new clothes and gift and late at night or early in the morning every day or two they would move on to the next place. They never left a clear path and most of the time Nico would be given something to help him sleep, sometimes Minos would give him something for pain and others he would slip it into Nico's food or drink and would tell him that he was just sickly and needed lots of sleep when he began to feel the effects.

They kept this up for a few months, always on the move so no one could get a good description of them if they ever saw them together. Eventually they made it up to New York where Minos lived most of the year; it was located in a rundown neighborhood with few neighbors around to take notice of them. And those that did live nearby didn't know him very well since when he was home he would keep to himself.

It was a little past midnight when they arrived at the house; Minos carried Nico from the car into the house and laid him down on the sofa as he went upstairs to the higher floor of the three story home to set up a room for him. After the room was arranged he went out to the car and brought in the toys and clothes to put in the room as well.

At last he finished and went down to the living room and shook Nico's shoulder to wake him, the effects of the drug would still be there but he would still be able to wake up for a short time. "Nico wake up, we're home now. Come on let's get you up to your room."

Nico sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes as he looked around trying to take in his surroundings "Home?" he mumbled, his eyes still drooping.

"Yes, this is home, although you may not remember it since you hurt your head and all."

Nico still feeling really sleepy nodded his head.

Minos had told him that he had lost all of his memories when he had hurt his head and wouldn't be able to recognize things like home or his life before the accident but the traveling they did might help him remember, of course it hadn't though seeing as how Nico had never been to those places he would have no prier memory of them and that included this house. "Do you remember the way to your room?"

Nico paused to think then shook his head. He was very honest even for a ten year old; he was so innocent and trusting. "No." he said simply to which Minos smiled.

"Well then I should show you the way, let's get going." he held out a hand for Nico to take and led him up the stairs to the top floor where his room was to be.

"Now remember, too much sunlight isn't good for you and neither is too much of the outside air, you may have gotten too much already on the trip which is why you would sleep so much, so keep the windows closed and the curtains too. I'll bring you some food when it is time to eat and there is a washroom just down the first flight of stairs but you must stay in your room otherwise for now. I will bring you toys and games to help pass the time but for now get some rest."

Nico nodded and walked over to the bed and settled down and Minos turned off the light and closed the door behind him after leaving the room.

Minos could feel a cruel smile tugging at his lips as he left the top floor, it was so easy to trick the child, a few kind words here, a few half-truths there, and convincing lies that would explain anything slightly off about anything and Nico would believe everything he told him.

After a while Minos would let Nico leave the upper floors and wander around the house but because of his condition he told him, he was never to leave the house. He was too sick to go outside and interact with people.

They had a television but no cable, he couldn't let Nico accidentally stumble upon a news story or anything connecting him to the outside world so they watched movies instead but of course this was no problem for Nico.

Minos kept up to date on news stories through the paper which he always got rid of after he was finished with it. He had taught Nico to do simple housekeeping and meal prep for when he would leave him alone in order to go to work but he never said what his work was.

Nico was to stay inside like always, keep the doors and windows locked and just to be safe to stay away from the windows too.

For the most part Nico is obedient and does as he's told, but every now and then when he's home alone he will sit up in his bedroom and peer out the window along the side of the house to catch glimpses of the world outside and wonder what it would be like to be able to go out there and experience it for himself.

Okay so that was chapter 1! I am purposely trying to make Minos as creepy as possible without turning him into a pervert or anything like that. He's just a psycho who isn't fazed by using a child as a means to reach his goals of revenge. I had an idea of where I was going with this when I started but it kind of just went its own way as I wrote on and now the plot is getting twisted around but I don't hate it so there's that.