"So, tell me again, why do you stay cooped up in this dusty old tower?"
Rapunzel rolled her eyes playfully, resisting the urge to pull her hair away from the winter spirit's grasp. He always asked that question whenever he visited, not that she really minded. It was quite nice to have someone to talk other than Pascal, who couldn't exactly talk back.
"Jackson, I've told you dozens of times. You know why." she teased, avoiding eye contact.
He chuckled, and she could just imagine the smirk on his face. "Doesn't mean I don't like to hear it every time."
"Oh fine," Rapunzel shifted, laying back in her hair with him. "It's because my mother tells me the outside world is dangerous, full of selfish, horrible people who'd only use me for my power. There, happy?"
He remained quiet, something not like him. The only sound that surrounded the two odd teens was the sound of the girl's heartbeat, which seemed to rattle in the boy's ears.
"You know that's not true, don't you?"
The question startled Rapunzel; she was not expecting it at all, especially from someone like Jack. She sat up and turned to him, trying to find his eyes, only to find him staring absent mindedly at the ceiling. Her hair was still in his hands, slowly becoming covered in a light coating of frost, traveling up the strands. It sent a shiver down the blonde's spine; it was such an odd feeling to have ice in one's hair in the beginnings of spring.
"Jackson, I don't truly know. I've...never been out of this tower. You know that, so, I can't really say." she finally replied, letting her eyes fall to the floor. How desperately she wanted to explore the outside world, to run on the grass outside her window and climb the rocks surrounding the gorge that housed the tall tower. How she longed to feel the current of the stream running just below the tower and out into the forest she'd never seen, and how she wanted to find out exactly what those floating lights were that lit up the night sky each year on her birthday.
But she doubted she'd ever get to experience any of those things.
And the boy seemed to sense this.
He sat up, letting go of the blonde hair he held and turned towards the girl, a type of sadness in his eyes. He laid a hand gently on her shoulder, and offered a small smile.
"Hey, I'm just saying, the least you can do is ask her. Maybe, maybe she'd say yes."
She only sighed and started to turn away. "Jackson, you know that she wouldn't-"
"You don't know that she wouldn't, Rapunzel." he interrupted, not letting up his grip on her shoulder, causing it to frost over lightly. His eyes flashed with determination, towards what the girl didn't fully understand.
Instead of dwelling on why, she turned farther away, pulling away from the cold of his hand and pressure of his gaze. "Yes, I do Jackson!"
"No, you don't." Jackson countered calmly, the determination still lingering in his deep, blue eyes. But then he stood up, gazing around the room, away from the girl. "You don't know what she'd say unless you ask her."
The girl stood up, following his gaze around the room curiously. "But-"
"But nothing, Rapunzel. You...You can't be afraid of talking to her about it, or you'll never know," he shrugged, turning to face her. "I know it's scary, that she'll say no, or maybe she'll yell, or maybe she'll even...ignore the question," he paused, casting his eyes downward as his voice cracked ever so slightly. Rapunzel reached out to him, wishing to understand what troubled him, but pulled back when his eyes jumped back up.
"But you need to try. Trying will at least give you an answer, something to try and change. A chance, at least. An answer if better than nothing. Better than...silence."
There it was again, the crack in his voice. He'd turned away now, the staff he always carried in his hand once again with him. He only held it when he first entered the tower, or when he left.
The sun had gone down, it was nearing the time her mother'd be back.
Nearing the time he'd always have to go, and leave her to her thoughts again.
"Jackson..." she started again, rubbing her hands together, "I...I don't think I can. I am afraid, I don't want her to say no..."
"We all have to face our fears eventually, Rapunzel."
"I know, but-"
"Maybe not now," he interrupted with a sigh, turning back to face her. "But soon. Waiting and waiting is only going to cause that fear to grow. And trust me, the longer you go without knowing, the harder it's going to be when you ask, and have to accept the answer."
And with that, the white-haired teen once more turned away, and was swept outside by the cold, winter wind.
A gasp escaped her lips and I sat up abruptly. Her heart was beating rapidly, and my eyes tried to focus in the darkness that surrounded the girl. The dream had come again, just as it had been every winter she could remember. Always the white-haired boy with blue eyes, the boy who could freeze anything and everything he touched, and who was just as alone as she was.
But it was now spring. He never visited her dreams in the spring.
And she couldn't shake...that feeling that always accompanied the dream, that feeling that always faded as soon as she woke up.
But not this time.
She sighed, falling back against her pillow. There was no way she was getting back to sleep now, not that she wanted to. She didn't want to forget that dream, the words they shared. How real he felt.
What perfect timing that dream had.
She knew what she wanted for her birthday now. And she was finally going to pursue her wish.