This took me a long time, and while it isn't the best, I did try my best. I've recently got into the Jackunzel shipping and I'm already hooked. I've had a few fanfic ideas buzzing around my head, lately, and they won't leave unless I write them down.
So, yeah, I do not, nor will I ever, own Jack Frost or Rapunzel. If I did, I would be one rich person.
Jack couldn't believe what was happening.
Everything was going so wrong so fast.
Everything had been fine earlier. He had gone to visit Rapunzel after he had heard that her mother had died, and taken her out of the tower, like he used to do in secret, so that she could have some fun. She had enjoyed the festival, in fact, she had loved the entire day. Jack was hoping that he could make this the best day every, if she would only return his feelings.
His plan was crumbling before his eyes.
Jack stared helplessly as he watched Rapunzel turn around and begin to walk away. This couldn't happen. Not now. Not ever. She couldn't leave him.
"No! Wait! Rapunzel, don't go!" He cried, racing after her. Rapunzel stopped and turned, staring at Jack. "There's nothing you can do to change my mind, Jack. I have to go. I – I'm sorry." She whispered, turning around again.
"No!" Jack yelled, agonized. He grabbed her by the wrist. "Rapunzel, please, don't go. You can't leave me."
Rapunzel looked into his eyes. She could tell his heart was breaking, they were full of despair, fear and something else. She wanted to fling her arms around him, to tackle him to the ground, to tell him she would never ever leave his side, but she couldn't.
"Jack, please, you're not making this any easier." She said, trying not to meet his eyes. Why couldn't he understand? This was crushing her from the inside, too! "Don't you understand? I need to leave. Just... let me go."
With that, Rapunzel began to walk away again. Jack stood, frozen, his icy eyes watching her every movement. The sudden reality gripped his throat and bolted forward, running after her.
"NO!"
Rapunzel gasped as Jack hugged her from behind, clinging to her tightly.
"Please don't leave." He choked, his voice catching. "I need you, Rapunzel. Please, I'll do anything you say. Just – don't go." Jack's grip on her tightened. Rapunzel breathed in, his scent filling her nose as she felt his heartbeat drum against her chest. "Please Rapunzel..."
"NO!" Jack's eyes widened as Rapunzel pushed him away, barely able to register the fact that she had yelled at him. He knew it was childish, but it hurt. A lot.
"If you have to leave, the least you could do is tell me why." He whispered. Rapunzel refused to look at him. She knew he was shaking, and she knew what that meant.
"Jack I – I'm so sorry, Jack, goodbye!" She blurted out, then turned and ran, her braid swinging wildly behind her. She listened out for Jack, wanting to know if he would call her again, or if she could hear his footsteps racing after her. But there was nothing – just the sound of the heavy rain as it fell steadily. After about five minutes, the blond collapsed, letting her tears fall freely.
The winter spirit, however, was much, much worse.
Jack had stood there for a few minutes, staring into nothing, feeling his eyes water and fighting them back. After a minute or so, he turned and ran. Where he was running to didn't matter. He just wanted to get away.
Soon he had found himself at his home in Burgess, by the lake he had awoken in. Exhausted, Jack had collapsed by a tree and passed out, as the dam in his head broke.
Exactly twelve months had passed since Rapunzel had left, and she was beginning to feel guilty, for not telling him why she left at the very least. She was also uncomfortable, since she had a small voice in the back of her head telling her to return a lot. It wasn't around much at first, just showing up now and then. It was only when it began to get regular that she had grown concerned. It was only because of Tooth that she was here, looking for Jack. Tooth had said that the teen hadn't shown up to any meetings, and wasn't acting normal. Curious, Rapunzel had agreed to look for him. She knew, of course, where to look for him.
Rapunzel arrived at the edge of the lake and peered around, anxious, looking for Jack. Her sharp eyes soon saw him, and they widened. She stood there, paralized in fear as a small gasp escaped her lips.
Cutting. Crying. Blood.
Welcome to Jack's new life.
Misery was all he had known for a whole year, and it had slowly began to take over him.
For the first six months, Jack had flown around and brought winter to the places that needed it. Then he would collapse next to the same tree and break down, crying until he couldn't any more, then he would pass out. He didn't eat, and only slept when he passed out. His body, of course, didn't require either of these things anyway, but it did make him extremely weak.
The first week, whenever Jack slept, he would be plagued by nightmares, nightmares of Rapunzel leaving him, telling him how strong her hate for him was, that she never wanted to see him again. He would wake up, tears streaming down his face, panting and sweating, and yet he would look up to find black sand, and in anger, Jack crushed it with his fist, before collapsing back. On the seventh day, when Jack woke up, he heard a chuckle. Jack growled in anger and rose to his feet.
"Pitch, I'm not in the mood for games, get out here!" He roared, holding his staff up. Pitch had emerged from the shadows.
"Oh Jack, you're so foolish, hoping that Rapunzel will return to you. Your biggest fear is losing her. If you will just join me..." Pitch broke off, choking, as he found himself pinned against a tree, Jack's staff against his neck, and staring into those icy blue eyes of his. They were practically aflame.
"Don't you ever tell me what my fears are." He spat, glaring at the boogeyman. "I know what they are. I don't need you to tell me. And if you wish to see the light of another day, you had better stop sending me damn nightmares, because I will crush you like I do with your precious black sand. Do you understand me?"
Pitch gulped in fear. Just the sight of Jack made him tremble, even he could see that Jack was in no mood to be annoyed. "Crystal clear." He coughed, and was dropped to the floor. Pitch immediately scrambled away as Jack dropped to the floor, resting his head on the tree and began crying again.
Jack had spent all day and night, pleading to both sun and moon, begging for them to bring Rapunzel back to him. But they never answered his requests, and he sunk into a deeper depression every day.
After six months, Jack stumbled upon something. It accidentally cut his arm, and, to his surprise, Jack felt next to no pain. The pain he did feel was soothing, like it was beginning to get rid of his problems. Curious, Jack picked up the sharp object that brought him this relief, only to find out it was a strange knife, now with a little of his blood on it. Mesmerised, he ran his thumb along the blade, watching fascinated as his blood ran down it.
His eyes suddenly grew wide as he threw his head back and groaned in pain. His arm felt like it was on fire, right on the part where he had accidentally been cut. Soon the pain in his thumb followed, and Jack felt the next few moments in agony. After it had passed, he began to think, once again, about Rapunzel. He didn't understand. Why had she left him? What had he done to make her leave him? How -
That's it! Jack thought, his eyes widening. He must have done something awful to her to make her leave. Jack racked his brains but couldn't think of anything. Whatever it was, it must have been terrible. After all, Rapunzel must have had a reason, and what else could it be?
Jack's thoughts returned to the knife as he stared at his reflection in it. He would keep this, in case he ever needed it. The burning pain after was worth it.
At first, Jack didn't touch the knife for a week, yet he kept thinking about it, beginning to long for the blade to sink into his skin, and eventually, he gave in. He pressed the knife to the top of his arm, and gently dragged it down, stopping at the first line on his wrist, before slitting open the third, then switched hands and doing the same to the other arm. He let himself drown in relief, drinking in how good it felt. After a while, the burning pain flared up again, and Jack moaned in pain, tossing and turning. Then it was three days before he picked up the knife. Soon it was happening every day, usually after he woke up. His mind registered that the gentle pain before was releasing some of his worries and the burning pain was punishment for hurting Rapunzel – whatever it was he did to hurt her.
Now, a year later, Jack was at his limit.
He had collapsed on the floor next to the usual tree, and had cried until he had no tears left, then passed out from exhaustion. When he woke up, he felt a twist in his stomach. Jack removed the knife from his pocket and looked at it, every inch of it familiar to him. Jack sighed in relief, today was the day. He was forced to be a bit more careful with his cutting before, because he knew he would die otherwise, and he hadn't wanted that. It wasn't time yet.
It was time now.
Jack pressed the blood-stained blade to his arm, a little higher than usual, and slid it down, this time stopping at the third line on his wrist, the one closest to his hand. He then slit open all three lines. Peace singing through his arm, he switched the knife to his other hand and repeated his actions. Jack sat still as blood dripped down his fingers and onto the snow. Normally he would have gone crazy at the sight of his beautiful white creation turn scarlet, but he didn't care. His eyes flickered to the sky. They were dull and lifeless, with no sign of fun or mischief in them. They had looked like that ever since Rapunzel had left.
As the burning pain began to kick in, Jack realised the wounds he had received were not enough to kill him. Growling in frustration, he raised the knife to his throat and looked up at the moon, wishing he could see Rapunzel one last time before he died. As usual, he got no response, and slowly dragged the blade across his neck. Jack let the pleasure of it soak in as his mind repeated what he had learnt in the year he had been alone – pain is my friend.
Soon Jack got up, still clutching the knife, and raised it into the air, aiming it at himself. Jack's eyes closed as he pictured Rapunzel smiling at him. Yes – that was the face he wanted in his mind before he left this world.
Rapunzel, who was watching from the other side of the lake, was still to shocked to move as she saw what Jack was preparing to do to himself. She noticed his eyes – and flinched, seeing how empty they were. Her voice rose in a scream as Jack swung the knife down.
Rapunzel's feet moved on their own, slipping and sliding on the ice, racing across the lake to reach her bleeding ice prince, now lying on the floor in a heap, bleeding heavily. After what seemed like an eternity, she collapsed to her knees next to him, tears in her eyes. She saw his light up when they fell on her – his eyes were suddenly full of love and affection, making her feel guilty, like she didn't deserve to be looked at that way. Jack opened his mouth to talk, and she put a finger on his lips.
"No, Jack. Don't talk. You need to save your energy." She whispered, almost choking on her words. As usual, he ignored her.
"Rapunzel." He gasped, his eyes wide and a smile creeping onto his face. Weakly, he tried to lift his arms up to hang them on Rapunzel's neck. "You came back." He breathed. "You've returned to me."
The blond smiled slightly. She couldn't help it – Jack's smile was contagious, it always had been. Then the smile disappeared as she realised she may never see it again.
"Of course I came back, idiot." She whispered, her hand running through his hair. "But what the hell do you think you were doing with that knife?"
"Rapunzel." Jack shifted slightly, his gaze never once leaving the golden-haired beauty kneeling in front of him. "Look, I don't know what it was I did to hurt you but I want you to know – I'm sorry, Rapunzel."
"What?" Rapunzel asked, then her eyes widened. Of course. Jack always blamed himself whenever anything bad happened. Like when she had gotten kidnapped by Pitch, Jack blamed himself for dropping his guard, or when she got attacked, he blamed himself for not arriving sooner. "Oh Jack, you didn't do anything to hurt me. It was my fault, this time."
Jack simply stared at her lovingly. He had missed her – her eyes, her smile, her face, her hair, her skin – oh how he had missed everything about her. He wanted to touch her, hold her in his arms, spin her around, to simply be with her and tell her how he felt.
"Rapunzel, listen." Jack shifted again, his eyes connecting with hers. "I – when you left, I felt like I had been ripped in half. I didn't know what to do. No matter how much I begged and pleaded to the moon and the sun, they never brought you back. That's why I'm happy that your face will be the last face I see before I go."
Rapunzel's eyes widened and she instantly felt guilty. I begged and pleaded to the moon and the sun. That's what he had said. That's why she had received voices in the back of her head. It was the sun and moon telling her to return to him, before anything bad happened. And she had ignored the warnings. Now it might be too late. And it was all her fault.
"N-no!" She choked, her grip on him tightening. "You aren't going anywhere, you hear me, Jack Frost? You're going to stay here. With me, where you belong."
Jack smiled slightly, even though it was obviously painful. "Rapunzel, you have no idea how happy I am right now. Just to have you here, in front of me, is enough. Just seeing you makes me happy. You don't have to be sad when I'm gone. I want you to be happy – happy like I am now."
These words stung Rapunzel. This was so unlike Jack – he was never this open about his feelings. Where was the boy she had known a year ago, with his gentle laugh, carefree nature, and eyes so full of life? And why did the only sign of life spark in his eyes when they fell upon her?
Jack ran his fingers through her hair, and she suddenly grabbed it, wrapping her hair around his waist. Jack seemed curious at what she was about to do. Rapunzel began to sing. She used the same song that had kept her mother from ageing. Her hair began to glow, starting from the roots and spreading down to the ends, yet when she removed her hair, the stab wound remained.
"No, NO!" Rapunzel screamed, pressing her hair against his chest, turning gold an odd shade of crimson. "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine." She sang frantically, each time getting more and more desperate, yet her healing powers did nothing to stop the bleeding.
"Rapunzel, it's no use." Jack whispered, finally saying what he had been trying to tell Rapunzel for the past five minutes. "I'm a spirit, immortal, your healing powers won't work on me."
Rapunzel looked like her heart was breaking, and it pained Jack. He knew he didn't have long left, and there was something he was aching to get off of his chest. "Rapunzel..."
"Jack." She cut him off, choking. Gently, the blond pulled him into a hug, fighting back tears. She could feel him breathing heavily, and his shoulders were shaking. That fact made her flinch. Jack was crying. Jack never cried. Sure, he got angry and upset, sometimes even coming close to tears, but he never cried. The last time he had cried was the night he had awoken as a spirit, after finding out he was invisible to the world. Everyone knew this simple fact. Hell, even Jamie knew. If you didn't know that Jack never cried, then you didn't know anything about him.
"Rapunzel, please, why did you leave me?" Jack sobbed. He didn't bother to fight the tears back, he was too tired, too hurt yet happy, feeling too many mixed emotions to bother to try. "That year when I was left alone, it almost killed me. Please, Rapunzel, I – I just want to know." He looked up at her, his eyes pleading, yet still somehow held the love and affection that was in there earlier. That look on his face... it made Rapunzel reflect back to the night she left him, now knowing the third thing in his eyes. Despair, fear and desperation. He was desperate to keep her, fighting in a war that he lost. And now, seeing him in this state, only reminded Rapunzel that all of this was because of her. She realised, he deserved to know the truth. After a year of waiting, one long, lonely year of slowly being driven into the deep sea of depression, he deserved to know the pitiful excuse she called a reason.
"Jack, I – I left because I was afraid. I was afraid that if I stayed, then when I grew old and died, you would be left alone forever, feeling pain and misery, and I was afraid that if I told you the reason, you would convince me otherwise, and I would leave you alone when I passed away. But... I shouldn't have left you. I'm sorry."
Jack's hand finally found the back of her neck and rested on it. "Rapunzel, I wouldn't have cared. To spend a lifetime with you, would be all I could ask for. To simply make you happy for the rest of your life would have been enough to keep me going until the day I was defeated protecting the children of the world, knowing that when you died, you were happy with your life. You are my one and only concern, and you will always be the most important thing in my life."
Jack suddenly gasped and arched up into her. Rapunzel clutched him harder, gazing worriedly into his eyes. When Jack's eyes met her own she could tell, just by looking at him, that he was nearly gone. His body was slowly shutting down and would soon stop altogether.
"Rapunzel, I want you to know that I want you to go on living your life. Find someone to love, someone that will shine a light into your life, as you did with mine. I want you to be happy."
Jack gazed into her gorgeous green eyes. It was true – she had brought in a light to his life, she was the only light in his darkness. He didn't mind at all that he would soon die. In fact, just to be close to her when he left, just to have his final minutes in her arms, was enough for him. More than enough.
"Rapunzel, I..." Jack leaned closer to her, finally getting to say what he had wanted to say to her the night she left him. "I love you."
Rapunzel's eyes swelled with tears. No wonder he had broken down so much when she left. Jack had opened up to her, even trusted her enough to love her, and she had betrayed him. Letting her own tears roll down her cheeks, Rapunzel answered him at once. "I love you, too."
Jack smiled and reached up, his cold lips pressing against her soft ones. Rapunzel welcomed it and the two shared their first – and last – kiss together.
Jack sighed and his head left hers, as he went limp in her arms, a small smile on his face to show that he was content with dying in her hold. Rapunzel's eyes filled with more tears as she bent her head and sobbed violently, his last request burning into her mind for her to be happy and move on with her life, and his last words ringing in her ears. If only she'd have told him sooner. Knowing his heart had stopped, she didn't bother to hope that he would somehow come back to her, yet part of her didn't care. She deserved this. Although she had to go her whole life without him, and had also spent a year separated from him, she hadn't suffered as much in that time as he had, plus it was her decision. Now it was time for her to be in pain, feel the pain of losing a loved one and losing hope that they would ever return.
I will, Jack. Rapunzel thought, her eyes burning in determination. I will go on with my life like you asked, yet I will never have anyone else be the light in my life, because you were the light in my life. I will never fall in love with another, because I love you and you alone. Don't you ever forget that.
Yet even as she thought these words, her deserved misery partly drowned them out, refusing to cheer up, blocking out the small voice that told her that this was what Jack had wanted, to die in her arms.
Because her ice prince was dead.
And it was all her fault.