Hi guys! First of, thanks for your reviews and I hope this update wasn't too late as I just started my first week of college. It was really hectic and I didn't really have time to write but it's okay, here's another chapter! Review, if you would!

Son when you grow up, would you be the saviour of the broken, the beaten and the damned?

-Welcome to The Black Parade; My Chemical Romance

Rapunzel let her hands drop to her sides with a dull thud, exhaling in frustration. What did he mean? She never intended to have revenge on anybody! Unless…

The young Goddess racked her memory for anything concerning Jack, trying to remember bits and pieces said about him. Yes, he was a loner, somewhat invisible to the other Gods on Olympus; he resented his brothers after the fall of the Titans…

Her breath hitched. That's it. It was because his own family disowned him to the darkness.

He wanted her as a leverage to bargain with the other Olympians, since Zeus was the one who decreed that Hades could only visit Olympus once every winter solstice.

The realization made her heart thud unevenly and once again, she tried the door. It was bolted shut and even if she could unlock it, she probably couldn't escape unnoticed.

Think, think, she pleaded to herself. What would your mother do?

An idea dawned upon her.

She waited, eyeing the fruit warily as she sat it on a wooden table, careful not to let the any of its juices smear her fingers. She knew that even one taste of Hell's orchards, Rapunzel might never see the sun ever again.

She sat on the edge of the bed, waiting. If she could earn his trust, Jack might even let her go, drop down his guard and let her wander around freely so she could put her plan into motion.

Only if she could earn his trust. Something told her that Death didn't let anyone in often.

She sighed and laid her head down on the soft mattress, ideas flashing and replaying in her mind as she worked on the benefits and consequences of it.

The door opened and she half expected it to be Jack. What she got was much worse.

A mutilated…person thudded in, carrying a jug of water. One of his eyes were pierced, leaving a bright blue orb and gory gashes on his face, the blood crusting and oozing in some places.

He spotted and lumbered towards her, a rattling breath sounding in the deep recesses of his chest. Rapunzel took a horrified step backwards but he followed, a tortured whine escaping his throat.

Her terrified scream reverberated across the whole room, shaking the walls with her fear.

"Rapunzel!"

She had never been so relieved then to hear his voice as Jack came through the door, a worried look etched on his features. Without thinking, she ran towards him and gripped his arm, cowering behind his long black cloak, her eyes screwed shut with fear.

"G-get it a-away, I'm sorry if I made you mad j-just g-get it a-a-away from me."

He looked from the corpse to her and waved his hand dismissively. She watched as right before her eyes, meat and flesh appeared on the bony frame and one by one, the gashes on his face healed until she was staring right into the bewildered eyes of a young boy.

He placed the jug on the table next to the pomegranates and bowed his head hesitantly.

"Master, I'm sorry, I was just trying to tell her that I brought w-water for her to bathe and… I didn't mean to scare her I just thought-"

"It's okay Pirro ," Jack replied reassuringly. "I should have warned you that she wouldn't be used to your real form."

Pirro considered her with a bright gleam in his eyes. In his much kinder form, Rapunzel could now see that he was about ten years old, with the bluest eyes she had ever seen, dirty straw blond hair falling limply on his face which he brushed away carelessly and with the inattentiveness of youth. His stature was thin and almost sickly but even here he radiated live and vitality, something he didn't when in his Hell shape.

"She's glowing," he said in childlike wonder. Rapunzel laughed, still shaky from her scare as she slowly walked up to him.

"Hi, I'm Rapunzel," she said and the young boy grinned.

"I'm Pirro but you can call me Pir," he said and as if on impulse, he reached out and grabbed the ends of her hair, observing it in fascination.

"Pretty," Pir said with a toothy grin.

Rapunzel grinned at the boy's enthusiasm and curiosity. Maybe she could warm up to this boy child. On the other hand, she was still pretty mad at someone else…

She turned back to Jack with a glare on her face. "Why didn't you warn me that I was expecting someone?"

To her surprise and chagrin he actually looked embarrassed, running his hand through his hair nervously. "I-I didn't know if you would take me seriously if I actually told you."

Rapunzel looked back from Pirro to Jack, despair on her face. "Next time, don't spring something up on me like that," she scolded. "I might be immortal but I could still be stunned from shock."

"Alright, sorry."

Pir grinned. "Master never says sorry."

Rapunzel raised her brows. "Never?"

"Ever," Pir confirmed. "Sometimes when he yells at me cuz' I get his orders wrong, he doesn't see that I'm right and he just starts scolding-"

"Okay, champ, that's enough storytelling for one day," Jack said in the sternest voice he could muster. Even though his voice was strict, his eyes shone with tenderness for the young boy in front of him, something that threw Rapunzel off more than having to meet a pseudo form changing skeleton and getting kidnapped in one day.

She honestly didn't know that this side of Death existed.

Pirro quickly got the hint and left the room without another word, leaving both immortals to their silence.

"That kid got it real rough when he was alive," Jack said softly, breaking the unnaturally loud quiet.

"Excuse me?" Rapunzel asked, wondering if she heard right.

His gaze pierced hers with an intensity that knocked her breathless.

"When he was a child he…he made his step-father mad for some small reason and the sick bastard took a razor knife to his face," the God of Death said in a sad voice. "He would have suffered hours in pain but I took pity on him and cut his life short."

Rapunzel's eyes shot wide. "H-He…He did what?" she asked in disbelief. "But he's just a child!"

Jack's mouth set in a grim line. "Pirro's step-dad was a struggling carpenter and had a drinking problem," Jack continued in that same hypnotic soft voice. "His mum died when he was five so his step-dad thought he was a liability to the family and would always abuse the kid.

"One day he just went too far."

She could feel the disbelief melting into anger and for a moment, she forgot who she was and wished that Pirro's step-father suffered a death more painful than what he put his own step-son in. That thought made her uneasy and she cast her eyes to the ground in mourning.

"Poor boy," she whispered. "He must hate that…that ruthless monster."

"Pir didn't really," Jack said, shrugging. "He forgave his step-dad but nonetheless, I sheltered Pir here away from his spirit and sent that bastard to the deepest belly in the Fields of Punishment."

Jack's blue eyes glowed dangerously and unconsciously, she took a step back. He noticed and smiled in an amusing way but it didn't exude warmth. They were still bright with murderous intent.

"O-okay, it seems fair," she stuttered.

Jack tilted his head, his eyes searching hers. She conspicuously wondered if she had anything on her face and mentally chastised herself. He wouldn't care. He was just assessing her, wondering how she could hold up in his domain before breaking. Before falling apart to his sick game.

"I will have Pir bring you up for dinner tonight and then I'll show you the grounds," he said and without further words, walked out from the room, leaving her alone once again.

"Crap," Rapunzel muttered.

Dinner meant food and food meant eating. And eating meant never leaving this place ever again.

She was going to have to escape sooner than she thought.

You sure you wanna do that Punz?