SO. CLOSE. TO. A. 100. REVIEWS.

C'mon guys, let's do this! XD So, to:-

ShadowXMoonlight: Thanks!

ImagineDragonz7: Omg really? N'aww, that movie and their quotes will be the death of me.

ShizaAssassian316: Thank you :) That would be great for me too cause otp babies! XD

Ode to a Fangirl: Thank you! :D

FloraIrmaTylee: Haha, as a fangirl, I want them to have a baby too! :3

girlofmanyhandshakes: Oh, if you're confused, the end of the last chapter was just basically Jack realizing that Rapunzel would have to leave him to bring spring.

Ethir: Thank you XD I actually wanted to cast her as Ares but I decided that Hans fit that part better :)

I'm sorry if any of you finds this chapter slightly repeatable because I wanted to write the realization from Rapunzel's perspective. Again, thanks to my wonderful beta for her help and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :) Oh, and two important characters finally meet so we'll see how that plays out.

He's been waiting to bring you down, snake eye with a slight smile, who can hold you and shake you dry...

-Glass Animals; Black Mambo

Rapunzel hummed as she surveyed her handiwork, a small smile of contentment etched on her lips. She flicked a patch of drying paint from her skin with a fingernail, rubbing the spot absentmindedly.

Her smile lifted when she glanced at the other easel beside hers, this one covered with too much streaks and globs. Jack had told her once, after a tender morning together, that he loved art, loved collecting pieces and of course, making them. She didn't quite believe her ears, since she loved art too, but would often do it in secret since Gothel deigned it a waste of time.

Jack then brought her to a closed room, where stacks and stacks of bolted chests were located. He opened one, dusty with age, and withdrew a palate. She remembered that she had squealed in delight, taking the paint from him that was still miraculously wet even after all these years.

They had painted together, Jack getting a streak of blue paint on his cheek when he tried to recreate the scenery of Athens purely from memory. Rapunzel's skill was slightly rusty due to the months that had gone by without her painting, but she managed a simple vase of flowers. Jack gave up after a few hours of getting the color of the sea wrong.

She had smirked at him, delighted to find something that she was better at, and Jack had rolled his eyes at her, playfully commenting that she could never beat him at snow-surfing, whatever that was.

The goddess sighed and glanced back at her painting, smiling in amusement at the memories she shared with him.

The picture on the canvas was that of a rising sun, something she had seen years ago with her nymph friends in the field. To this day, the sight of all those masses of clouds painted lilac, pink and orange were still imprinted on her mind. She frowned at the painting then, deciding that the sunrise had been too beautiful to recreate all over again on paper.

"Don't worry, dearie, it's beautiful."

The young goddess whipped her head around, nearly gasping at the fright of an unknown voice cutting through her thoughts. Her eyes fell on a tall, dark form that materialized out of the shadows, revealing an ashen, pale face and bloodless lips smiling at her. The man – or death deity, whatever he was – bowed before her, the hem of his plain gray chamylys brushing the floor.

"Why did you do that?" she questioned, unnerved by his appearance and reaction.

"Just giving the queen a proper greeting," he replied, smile turned mocking.

"I am no queen."

"Ah, but I am duty bound to serve you," he said. When she didn't reply, he heaved a sigh, sharp teeth glinting under the lighting. The goddess forced herself to not recoil in fright, instead holding her head up high with determination.

"Who are you?"

"My master didn't tell you?" he asked, genuinely surprised. "Why, I am Pitch, or Thanatos if you are more familiar with that name. I guard the mortal doors. Some call me... Death."

A spark of recognition flared at the mention of his name and she relaxed slightly. "You're Jack's general, aren't you?"

He grinned. "The one and only."

"Nice to finally put a name to the face," she said, smiling warmly. "I am-"

"Rapunzel, daughter of Gothel and Goddess of Spring," Pitch interjected, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. "Yes, I'm quite familiar with you. Jack talks about you often."

Death made a face, staring at his fingernails in disinterest. "Well, he talks about you all the time, actually."

"He does?" she asked and despite the strange situation, her heart started beating faster, the smile widening.

Pitch caught sight of her expression and smirked. "All the time, if I recall."

She chuckled. "Somehow I can't believe that." Her expression grew sad, as if the mention of Jack made her heart heavy.

"Pitch, since you are so close to Jack, will you tell me something?"

Death rose from the chair with a kind smile on his pale lips. "Yes, anything."

"Who is Leuce?"

Pitch's amber eyes – amber, since when were they ever amber? Was that even normal? - widened at her question, jagged teeth biting down on his lower lip as he drafted the answer to her question.

"Leuce...she was Master Jack's first love, a nymph," he said. Rapunzel willed her expression to remain impassive but at the mention of another woman before her, her surprise showed.

"Where is she?" the goddess asked dubiously.

"I think you mean, 'what happened to her'?"

"Happened? Is she...is she dead?"

Pitch nodded, his long fingers conjuring up some black sand, forming it into a figure of a woman.

"Leuce was your father's closest... friend and he loved her, but he gave her and a couple of her fellow nymphs to Jack after he drew the shortest lot."

The sand transfigured, showing a group of girls walking through the mortal doors of Erebus.

"She was lovely enough, Jack was smitten, but she died because of her own stubbornness," Pitch said. Rapunzel watched as the girl transformed into a tree, the image dissipating in a hiss of sand and smoke. She recoiled, afraid for that nymph, for what happened to her.

"How did she...?"

"Die?" Pitch prompted, shaking his head. "Horribly."

"H-how?"

Pitch smirked. "If I told you now, you wouldn't be having peaceful dreams for a few months."

Rapunzel let it drop, turning her gaze to the fields outside, swaying under a bloody sun. She shivered, imagining the scene, playing the sight of a lovely nymph being turned into a tree.

"Is that why Jack isn't allowed on Olympus?" she asked softly, already knowing the answer.

Pitch nodded in confirmation, his silence all she needed to know that it was a painful time for Jack.

"That is why he wouldn't mind if you left the Underworld," he added, gazing at her out of the corner of his eyes under the guise of admiring her painting. "He wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Is that why he's keeping an eye out for me?"

Death turned with compassion in his eyes. "Why, of course, dearie, he wouldn't want the same thing to happen to you. Besides, you are a life goddess and everyone knows..."

He turned around to look at her and Rapunzel tried to hide the hurt on her face, to school her features, but it was too late. He had caught her frown; caught on to her melancholic vibe.

"And everyone knows that a life goddess cannot survive in a place that is filled with death."