Chapter 1
Corona was a kingdom that was warm, like the sun and it rarely got cold enough for snow there. Or that's at lest what normal people think of it, I however know that it doesn't usually snow there because its not a place that I particularly like to visit. My name is Jack Frost, the moon told me that. I bring snow storms, and blizzards, and icy winds to, well everywhere.
The symbol on Corona's flag is the sun, because it's almost always sunny there and people seem to love that. I would usually see that sun on the flag as a great opportunity to create contradiction and have some fun but that would risk taking the joy away from the people there and that I just can't bring myself to do. But once in a while everybody enjoys a little bit of snow.
I met Rapunzel on a winter day that just happened to be cold enough to sustain a light shimmery snow fall. I came across her tower as I flew above the forest on my way out of town. It stood there all alone in the middle of the woods, grand yet mysterious kind of like a mirage. I lowered myself down to get a closer look at the strange building. As I got closer to it I noticed that it was made of stone and looked generally sturdy. As I studied its structure a child's laughter found its way to me and drummed through my ears sounding more like a memory than anything. I looked down at the cold dead looking earth trying to locate the kid, and then I heard it again or at least I imagined it again. Is the child inside the tower? I thought to myself.
I levitated down to what seemed to be a balcony with large French doors leading inside. Somebody had left them open so I let myself in, it's not like anybody would be able to see me anyway. I heard the laugh again and this time it sounded very real. My eyes fluttered around as I walked inside the odd tower, trying to locate the joyful source of the noise.
My eyes darted from place to place until they finally settled on the abnormality that was the source of the giggles.
A little girl no more than five years old propelling herself into the air using her unrealistically long golden blonde hair. She was painting on the walls, using her hair to lift herself to higher places to corrupt with her paints.
She couldn't have painted this, not this little girl. This art that covered a small portion of the blank canvas white wall looked as though it had been painted by somebody far older, and more experienced. How could this little munchkin have so much raw talent? But it was hers, I could tell because I was seeing her in action right now painting the most perfectly brilliant snowflakes to cover her empty wall, the snowflakes no doubt inspired by my little snow storm.
I walked closer, admiring the art. "Woah." I breathed out as I took in its glory and place one hand on the wall.
The little girl turned her head as the word escaped my lips looking directly at me almost as though she could see me. She just stared at me, or through me most likely at something behind me. Her eyes were a bright emerald green, her nose small and tinted red from the cold. She looked in my direction for a moment, tilting her head to the right a little bit. I just watched her, knowing she wasn't looking at me and wondering what she was staring at.
I turned around in an attempt to see what she was looking at with such an expression. "What are you looking at?" I asked thinking she couldn't hear me. Then the girl screamed, high pitched and terrified as I turned back to face her. Her hands slipped from her hair and she fell a few feet to the ground.
"Woah! Carefull." I said and walked closer. The girl sat up and screamed again.
"How did you get in here? Who are you?" She exclaimed.
Was she talking to me? There is no way that she sees me. Nobody can see me. Why on earth would this little blonde girl be an exception. "Can- can you see me?" I questioned not expecting her to respond. The girls screamed again and nodded her head.
"You can?" I asked again and she her hight pitched cries continued. I reached a hand out to touch the girl expecting it to go right through her like it usually did, but when my fingers reached her arm a shiver went down my spine as I realized I could feel this girl. And she screamed even louder and backed away. She can see me! Then I begun to scream as well. Nobody had seen me all my life, ever since I rose from the pond that cold winter night when the moon spoke to me.
"You can see me!" I yelled feeling a huge smile spread across my face.
"Who are you?" She screamed back. "Mom!" She begun calling for her mother. "Mom! He's going to cut my hair!"
Why did this little girl think that I wanted to cut her hair? I mean yes she was in desperate need of a hair cut but if she liked it that long then who was I to take that away from her.
"Hey! Hey. Listen I'm not gonna hurt you. I don't want your hair either." She stopped screaming but continue to back away from me into the corner. "Listen I didn't think that you'd be able to see me so I let myself in. I'm really sorry I scared you. Okay?" She didn't say anything, she just looked at me with her huge fear filled eyes. "I'm Jack." I said.
"How did you get into my tower Jack?" She asked me, still looking guarded.
I laughed and nodded toward the door, "you left the door open." I told her.
"It's far off the ground though." She whined.
"Well-" I debated telling her about my powers.
"So how did you get up here? Did you climb? How?" She sound fearfully demanding.
"Well." I figured telling her that I could fly might put her worries of people climbing her fortress at rest. "I am, um, I can kind of fly."
Her face softened a little and she looks at me in wonder.
"You- you can?" She asked and then realization hit. "The snow! You're Jack Frost!"
She knew my name? "You know my name?" I asked and she nodded. "How?"
"You're the personification of winter." She told me.
"Yeah." I stuttered. "But how do you know that?" I interrogated.
"Everybody knows that!" She explained happily. "I just can't believe you actually came here! To my tower!"
"Most people just think I'm a myth." I said gleaming at the child.
"No! You're not a myth. My book says so." The girl ran over to the little bookshelf against the wall and grabbed a blue book. "I'm Rapunzel." The girl said as she teetered back towards me.
"Oh." I grunted as the shoved the book into me so I could take hold of it. I flipped through the pages expecting pictures but not finding any. It was a full on chapter book at least two hundred pages full of words. "You read this all by yourself?" I asked Rapunzel.
She nodded. "Yes!" She said proudly. "I have a lot of time so I taught myself how to read."
I closed the book and smoothed my hand over the front cover. "Mythes and Legends." I read the title aloud.
"Yeah but it only says that because adults wrote it." The child protested.
I laughed at that because it was so true.
"And I'm in this book?" I asked her.
"Of course! You helped save Christmas when there was a big drought. You brought snow and made everybody happy." She told me. "People don't realize how lucky they are to have you."
She was right, about me bringing snow on Christmas. I remember it was 1755 a long time ago, but it did happen.
"You're a really smart little girl." I told her surprised by her knowledge and talent.
"I have a lot of time to myself." She told me with a tiny grin.
I handed her book back so she could go put it back on the shelf. That's when I hear the footsteps storming up the stairs. "Rapunzel!" A woman's voice called from the corridor.
"Mom!" Rapunzel exclaimed running towards the corridor, book still in hand.
"Hello my flower!" A woman with dark curly hair bursted through the door.
"Mom! Guess what!" Rapunzel exclaimed hopping up and down. "Guess what I met Jack Frost!" She rang out with joy.
"What are you talking about dear?" Her mother asked walking over to a mirror an examining her face.
"Jack Frost Mom! He's here! He brought the snow with him see!" Rapunzel pointed at me full of light. "Mom he's right there!"
Her mother turned to face me, glaring in my direction. "Sweety Mommy's not so sure what she's looking at." She sounded a bit annoyed.
"What? Mom what are you talking about he's right there!" Rapunzel was so obviously confused. I smiled awkwardly and waved at the little girl.
Her mother looked down at her, seeing the book Rapunzel still held in her hand. Her mom snatched the book away from her and read the title.
"Oh honey. All of the characters in this book are just made up. Santa Clause isn't real, there's no such thing as the Localness Monster, and Jack Frost certainly does not exist." Rapunzel's mother was a dream crusher to put it lightly.
"Mom no! He is real because he's right there!" Rapunzel stomped her feet in frustration.
"This book is obviously putting ridiculous ideas in your head flower. It's okay though." Her mother said making her way to the balcony. "There we go! No more silly fantasies." Rapunzel's mother soothed as she tossed the book from the tower.
"No!" I exclaimed flying after it. I wasn't fast enough though, I couldn't save Rapunzel's beloved book and it was torn apart as it hit the snow covered ground, pages flying away in the wind that I'd brought. Fragments of a story being scattered and lost among the trees in the forest.
"Mom! Why did you do that!" I heard Rapunzel cry out.
"Darling I'll buy you a new less ridiculous book, okay."
Rapunzel sniffed, obviously holding back tears. "Okay." She responded.
"Now, darling. Mommy hasn't been feeling too good lately. Would you mind singing for me." It wasn't a question.
"Oh. Yes of course mother." Rapunzel still seemed disappointed but she did a her mother asked and grabbed two chairs for her and he mom.
I watched, confused as they both took a seat, her mother with a hair brush in hand.
"Flower gleam and glow." Rapunzel begun to sing.
"What is going-" I was cut off by my own shock when I notice her hair beginning to glow.
"Let your power shine," Rapunzel continued. "Make the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt. Change the fates design." At this point I was awestruck to the point that I couldn't even speak. It appeared as though as Rapunzel sang her mother got younger. Wrinkles disappearing, bags under her eyes gone. " Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine. What once was mine." Rapunzel's beautiful voice trailed off as it echoed through the tower.
"Thank you so much dear. Mommy loves you!" He mother said and kissed Rapunzel on the cheek.
"You're welcome" Rapinzel said blushing as if she had something more to say."Mother" She sounded nervous. "Now that you're feeling better can you see him?" She asked timidly.
"Who?" Her mother was once again admiring herself in the mirror.
"Jack Frost." Rapunzel said turning to look at me.
"Honey I told you. Jack Frost is nothing more that a myth." Her mother said and even thought I did not care much for this lady my heart still sank a bit when I hear her say that.
"But he's not. He's real." Rapunzel muttered barely audible.
"Oh Rapunzel you know how I hate the mumbling. Now. I have a few errands to run so I will be back in a bit my flower." The woman said and opened the door to the stair well.
"But moth-" Rapunzel was cut off my the door slamming as her mom left the room and for a moment there was only silence.
"Well, your mother seems," I tried to think of an appropriate word but none came to mind.
"Yeah. I know." Rapunzel said staring at the floor.
I made my way over to the golden girl shrouded in disappointment. "Hey." I bent down to her. "Rapunzel. Punzie, can I call you that? Punzie?" She nodded. "It's ok. You know that I'm real so why even bother what other people think." I tried to comfort her. "Can I tell you a secret?" I said.
Rapunzel looked up at me. "What?"
"I've been alive for a really long time." I started but was interrupted by a curious Rapunzel.
"But you're only a teenager." She was smart.
"Yes but I'm immortal. So I've kind of always been a teenager." I told her. She seemed confuse but nodded along.
"And so in all of my years you have been the only person who could actually see me." I explained to her and it was true.
"What! How can that be?" She asked.
"I guess It's because your the only one who has ever actually believed in me." I told her.
"That's so sad." She said and I watched her eyes fill up with tears for me. I caught one on my finger as it escaped one of her emerald eyes.
"No. No it's okay. I'm really kind of used to it by now." I lied. Being invisible might be something some people can get used to, but not me. I love people so i knew I would never really adapt to not being seen.
"But I can see you." Punzie said looking into my eyes.
"Yes." I responded. "And that makes me very happy Rapunzel." She reached up and pulled me into a hug. She was so warm, like the sun itself, so comforting against my cool body.
"Can I tell you a secret too." Rapunzel said to me as she pulled out of the hug to look at me.
"Go for it, kid." I smiled at her.
"You're the only person that's ever seen me too. I mean besides my mom." She told me a smug grin on her face.
"Wait. What?" I shook my head at this in disbelief.
"I stay in the tower all the time." She told me.
"Like. Like you mean-" I didn't know what to say to this.
"Like I've never left." My eyes opened wide upon hearing this.
"You've never left this tower?" Punzie shook her head. "Like never?"
"Nope! Never ever." She smiled.
I didn't understand. How could she never ever leave? Why hadn't she left?
I barely managed to get the word out, "why?" I breathed.
She twirled her hair around her finger and and looked at the ground. "Well, um, my hair kind of glows when I sing to it." She said sounding a little bit embarrassed.
"Yeah I uh noticed," I started. "How long has it been doing that?" I asked her.
"Um, forever?" She looked up at me shyly.
"Oh. Um. Okay."
"And it makes sick people better and old people young too." She told me. I couldn't believe my ears. I knew that the moon and the sun were the keys to immortality but it seemed this little girl in the tower in the woods was a cheat sheet to living forever. I wondered if the man on the moon would approve of this.
"Mother says that when I was a baby people tried to cut it, but that turned it brown, and it lost its magic." She explained pulling her blonde hair aside to show me a shorter brown piece hidden underneath. "So mom his me here so that nobody would ever find me ever." She said loudly. "But you found me Jack Frost, and you said you won't hurt my hair." She was adorable.
"Of course I won't hurt it" I smiled at Rapunzel.
"But don't you kind of want to see the world? You know beyond the tower?" I asked her.
"Yes!" She said right away. "I mean I would leave if it weren't dangerous for me out there." Sadly I knew that she was right. A gift like hers really did need to be protected and I knew this because I had seen all of the world and I had seen my share of bad people.
"Yeah." I responded. "It just seems kind of lonely." Loneliness is something I understood. I relate to this girl in the tower. She was alone, besides her mother, and I was alone besides the moon. Except the moon hadn't talked to me for too many years.
"Yeah." Rapunzel said with a soft smile. "Hey Jack!" Excited, I got that from her tone of voice. "Maybe since I can see you, and you can see me you could just stay here so we could see each other together. Then neither of us would have to be lonely anymore." She told me admitting to her feeling of exile.
The idea was comforting actually, but I knew that it was impossible. I had a duty to bring winter to all of the places that had winter. I couldn't sacrifice the joy of all of those people, and I refused to take the fun of winter away from those children. I didn't say anything for a while buy I guess my eyes told the child what I couldn't.
"You can't stay." She didn't sound as disappointed as she was, her tone a mask hiding her true feelings.
"I'm sorry Rapunzel." I told her with a sad smile.
"It's okay. I get it." She said. "You have to bring winter where it needs to go." She laughed.
"Yes that's right."
"But promise me something okay?"
"Um ill try." I could hear how unsure my voice sounded.
"Sometime you'll come back and bring more snow to Corona?" She asked with a little laugh.
"Of course." I nodded at her as the light outside the tower was dimming and the sun left the winter sky.
I knew that I needed to get going soon. I couldn't stay the night with my little blonde friend. Arendelle had been warm that day and all of the snow had melted. It was rare, a January day in Arendelle that was free of snow, so I needed to spit some back on the ground.
"You probably have to go soon don't you? My book says its always snowing somewhere in the world." She told me a huge smile sitting on her face.
"Like I said before, you're a really smart little girl." I winked at her and she giggled the adorable laugh that drew me into the tower in the first place.
I looked around the room, sorry that I had to leave her here alone. "Maybe I can stay a little longer." I smiled. "Until you fall asleep. That okay with you Punzie?"
"Yes! Thank you! Thank you!" She laughed and danced around the large round room.
Her mother didn't come back that night. She told me that that was normal so I brushed it aside. For a while I danced around and played with Rapunzel, I even made it snow inside so that she could experience the joys of building a snow man. Eventually, though, she got tired and worn out so I carried her up to bed and stayed with her while she fell asleep.
"You promise you'll come back to Corona sometime?" She asked once again and then yawned.
"I swear it." I told her as stroked her gorgeously golden hair.
"Okay. Thank you." She said yawning once more.
"You know what Rapunzel I'm going to promise you something else too. Okay?" I started hoping she was awake enough to hear me. "I promise that you won't be alone in this tower anymore Punzie." I told her. " And someday I'm going to come back and get you out of here. I'll show you the world and even if you're scared I swear I'll keep you safe. And I won't leave your side, I promise. How does that sound?" She didn't respond to me. "Rapunzel?" I could hear her breathing getting heavier and I was suddenly glad that she was asleep, because that meant she couldn't hear my promise that I feared I may not be able to keep.
"Goodbye Rapunzel." I lifter her head off of my lap and put it on her pillow.
I grabbed my staff and flew down the small staircase that led to Punzie's bedroom and out the doors I had come through. I was uncertain weather I'd be able to keep my third promise about getting her out of the tower, but I wasn't going to break the second one. She wasn't going to be alone anymore.
I flew down into the forest to search for a friend for Rapunzel. I searched around for something, anything that would keep her company. A squirrel, perhaps a frog, or- then I saw it. The second I laid eyes on it I knew that it was for her. Sitting on the ground in the dirt near an almost frozen pond was one perfect tiny little egg. It was a pale purple color, a bit lighter than the shade of Rapunzel's dress. I had no idea what was inside, but I assumed it was either a bird or some type of reptile, either way it was going to be Rapunzel's new friend.
I bent down and picked up the egg holding it gently in one hand, my staff in the other.
"Okay wind take me to her window." I called out and a breeze carried my back to the tall tower that was Rapunzel's prison. I flew up to her room swift and quick and place the egg on the table beside her bed along with a note that read:
Dear Rapunzel,
I assume you can read this little note, I mean you were able to read that huge book and stuff. I'm sorry your Mom got rid of it by the way. Anyway I don't want you to be lonely in your tower so I brought you a friend. I'm not quite sure what it is, a bird, or a snake, or something. Either way I'm sure you'll take good care of it.
Your friend,
Jack Frost
I took one last look at the only person that had ever seen me. Leaving her with this gift felt a little better that leaving her alone.
"I'll come back for you." I whispered and bent down to kiss her on the head. "I promise" I told her in refusal to say goodbye. I would see Rapunzel again, I knew that much.
And with that I flew out of her room and out past the balcony leaving the tower and the city of the sun behind me as I chased the moon.