[Not short at all!  No need to drag on if it's not necessary!]<br/><br/><div align="center">------The Unkillable Boy------</div><br/>Jack's words seemed to have a very profound effect on Jason, though perhaps not quite in the way he wanted or expected them to.  At the very mention of making a deal with Scratch he looked at the other boy as though he was some sort of raving lunatic, mixed with an ample dosage of fear that only made him seem even younger and more pitiable than before.<br/><br/>"N-No!  Master S-S-Scratch is...y-you don't want to m-meet him!" he spat out, stumbling over his words in near-panic.  "He's...He's s-something else.  Think a-about it.<em>Think</em>!"<br/><br/>He took Jack's hand with both of his own, but not in a show of trust.  His grip was painful and desperate, as though Jason expected him to vanish in a cloud of smoke if he dared to let go.  "Look at m-me.<em>Look!</em>Y-You wonder how a-anyone could be like me?  L-Living and l-l-living, but never dying?  You think<em>that's</em>the strange part?  No.  You m-must understand.  M-Master Scratch is the one who did all th-this to me.  K-Kept me in cages.  Killing me a-again, and a-again, a-and again.  Decades.  No<em>man</em>c-could do that.  He's something else.  Something lesser, but something<em>more</em>."<br/><br/>Jason held the captive hand to his chest, looking at the other boy pleadingly.  The closeness seemed to calm him somewhat, and his breathing slowed to a less feverish pace.  "Do what you want.  Try to save me if that is what will help you rest easily.  But don't think that you can bargain with Master Scratch.  He twists your words, makes them perverse.  He'll give you want you want most, then show you the dark side of it.  Make you live with that darkness.  Forever."