The Five Times Jack Visited Rapunzel
And the one time she wasn't there.
1
Jack came across a huge tower in the middle of a hidden valley while he was on his way to deliver winter to a foreign country. He hadn't seen it before, so –being as curious as he was –he decided to check it out.
He flew through the huge open window, bringing a cold breeze with him. Jack noticed a small girl playing with an even smaller doll by the open fireplace. Where were her parents? And how on earth did she get up here?
"Hello?" Jack tried, even though he knew it was pointless. She wouldn't believe in him, therefore she wouldn't be able to see him. But all of his preconceptions were thrown out the window as she glanced up at him and smiled.
"Hi," she greeted. "Do you wanna play?"
Jack's face lit up like a thousand fireworks going off at once. Someone could see him! But instead of freaking out on this little girl –she probably had no idea what was going on –he nodded.
"Sure. Let's play."
2
Jack came back through the valley that year, fully expecting his new (and only) friend to be inside her tower. As he soared through the window, he saw that she was there, just like he assumed. But what he hadn't been expecting was the older woman in there with Rapunzel.
"Rapunzel, have you completed all of your chores?" the woman asked.
"Yes Mother," Rapunzel said shyly. The ten year old girl's hair was already ten feet past her ankles, but Jack had never asked why she didn't cut it. It was her choice, he had decided.
"Good. I'll be back in two days time. I have some traveling to do," the woman said before hugging the child. "I love you."
"I love you too Mother," Rapunzel replied. She glanced over at Jack and grinned. "Mother, have you met Jack?"
The woman was visibly stunned at the girl's question. "Who is Jack?"
Rapunzel giggled. "He's my friend. Look, he's standing over there."
Rapunzel's mother looked directly at Jack, but he knew from her confusion that she couldn't see him. Then a small smile forced itself onto her face.
"It's lovely to meet you, Jack," she said. Jack knew she couldn't see him, but he decided to play along for Rapunzel.
"It's nice to meet you too," he said with a sweeping, over dramatic bow.
Rapunzel wouldn't figure out for years that her mother had never really been able to see Jack.
3
Rapunzel and Jack had become good friends over the last six years, even though they had only seen each other two days out of each year. She had told Jack about her little friend, Pascal –who really didn't like the winter spirit –and Jack had told her about the Easter Bunny –who really didn't like him either.
Rapunzel knew what Jack was by this point –and the fact that her mother hadn't really been able to see him –but she didn't care. And today was the day that Jack wanted to show her his favorite ability: flight.
"Where are we going?" Rapunzel giggled as Jack pulled her toward the open window.
"Have you ever wanted to fly?" Jack asked instead of answering the now-fourteen year old.
"I guess so," she mused. "But I can climb really high up if I wrap my hair around a beam or something, which is kind of the same. Why?"
"I just thought you might like to," he grinned, waiting for her to understand what he meant.
Rapunzel's eyes widened in surprise. "You can fly? That is so cool! How?"
"The wind carries me," Jack answered. "And she's agreed to carry you too."
Without warning, Jack wrapped an arm around Rapunzel's waist and dove out the window. Her joyful laughter could be heard all throughout the valley.
4
Jack was flying through on his way to bring winter to yet another country when he spotted Rapunzel's tower. It was almost time for their bi-yearly visit, anyway, so she wouldn't get all that upset if he was about a week early, right?
He flew in through the window just in time to hear Rapunzel singing to her mother. Her voice was pretty, Jack would give her that, but what he saw once the song started was . . . surprising to say the least.
Rapunzel's hair was glowing.
As it faded back to normal, Jack noticed her mother appeared younger than she had a few seconds ago. What was going on?! Rapunzel saw him standing there with his eyes open in shock, his mouth gaping like a fish. She told her mother she was going to her room and grabbed Jack's hand, pulling him along with her.
Once they were sure her mother wasn't coming inside, Rapunzel turned to Jack. He was still reeling from the fact that she wasn't an overprotected teen, but instead some sort of magical being.
"Okay," she said shyly "so this isn't any weirder than you being a winter spirit."
Silence descended until Jack finally managed to say "You're right."
Then, as if it was completely normal to figure out his best friend wasn't totally human, Jack grinned and suggested ice skating once Rapunzel's mother was gone. She agreed, obviously happy that Jack wasn't mad at her.
5
Jack flew through the open window, a huge smile on his face. He was really looking forward to seeing Rapunzel again, wanting to tell her about all the snowball fights he had started and all the sled rides he helped along. But when he got inside her tower, he didn't see her.
Just as Jack started frantically searching for the seventeen year old girl, a long tendril of golden hair whipped itself around his waist and pulled him up into the air.
"Whoa!" Jack yelped as he was flipped and tumbled through the air, his staff falling out of his grasp. Now he was stuck. Something landed a few feet away from his staff, and that something laughed.
"So, this is your magic stick?" Rapunzel asked, gently picking up the shepherd's crook. Jack watched in amusement as the frost dissolved at her touch.
"What happened?" she asked, twirling the staff in her grasp. "Where did the frost go?"
"It's complicated," Jack admitted. Seconds later, he was tumbling to the ground. "Ow."
"Sorry," Rapunzel shrugged. "Now how complicated is it?"
"Well, when someone besides me holds it, the staff is just a useless piece of wood," Jack explained. "But in my hands, it can control snow, ice, frost, and the wind –to an extent, anyway."
"Huh," Rapunzel said. "So I can't snatch your staff and freeze you in a block of ice?"
Jack laughed. "No, you can't. Now can I have my staff back?"
Rapunzel handed it back and Jack grinned at the amazed look on her face as frost recoated the wooden surface.
1
Jack was more than ready to see Rapunzel again. His year had not been going good. First there was a blizzard that got out of control, then the verbal thrashing from that stupid pooka because of it, and then the huge three-day battle with the boogeyman. All in all, Jack was not having a good year. He was really looking forward to having fun with his friend.
But when he got to her tower, something was seriously wrong.
Rapunzel was nowhere to be seen, which in and of itself was alarming. She never left her tower. Jack knew she might have been hiding in the rafters or something, but the entire inside of the tower was trashed. It looked like there had been a huge fight. And was that blood on the ground?!
Jack's panic was escalating quickly until he saw a sheet of paper fluttering in the breeze. A closer examination revealed it to be a note made out to him. It had to be from Rapunzel. Jack read over it, his confusion growing with each word.
Dear Jack,
I know that you're probably panicking right now, but don't worry about me. I'm fine. In fact, I'm more than fine. I've been through so much since you last saw me that I don't even know where to begin. Maybe I should start with the fact that I left my tower!
Yes, you read right; I left my tower! I went to go see the floating lights with a guy named Flynn Rider. He broke into the tower while on the run from some palace guards, but that's not important. He took me to see the lights –which turned out to be lanterns –and, well, we're kind of dating now. But Mother ended up following us.
I know what you're probably thinking: what did she do? Well, she tried to take me back home and pretend like the whole thing never happened. But then I had some sort of flashback-thingy and I remembered something from when I was little: I'm the lost princess! Well, Mother wasn't too happy about me remembering, so she tried to make me go with her and leave the tower, going to some sort of special hiding place.
Flynn showed up and Mother stabbed him. He almost died, but instead of letting me heal him, he cut my hair! Now I've got a brown pixie cut instead of seventy feet of blonde hair. Mother died of extreme old age after a tumble out the window –curtsey of Pascal –and I somehow still managed to heal Flynn. He led me back to the castle where I finally got to meet my real parents.
I came back a few weeks later and left this letter for you. If you want to keep meeting up every twice a year, you'll have to come to the palace.
Please visit soon,
Rapunzel
Jack reread the letter several more times before smiling softly to himself. Rapunzel was a princess, huh? Well, there was a lot of mischief Jack Frost could cause in a castle. Maybe a change of scenery was just what he needed.
And besides, he had to have a talk with this 'Flynn Rider' guy about dating his best friend.
With a smirk taking the place of the smile, Jack leapt out of the window in search of the palace. This was going to be fun.
This was my first 5-1 shot. (I think that's what it's called; if not, oops.) What did you think? Ooh, and I'm doing a sequel called 'The Five Times Jack Visited Rapunzel and Flynn (and the one time Flynn was scared of him).' What do you think? Thanks for reading!
~C
