Author´s notes: This story will be published one chapter a day. This is only to create a bit of extra tension, as the story is already completed. It contains some rather angsty moments, so please regard the rating and read at you own risk. I do not own Rise of the Guardians.

~ Dedicated to the absolutely amazing writer and person poofable ~

Chapter 1: Courage

Jack paused. He had spotted a peculiar valley. Peculiar because it contained a large tower that seemed to not have any entrance except a closed window high above the ground. But that wasn´t the only strange thing: The forest simply... ended in the area around the tower. It was like the bare area had been there since the forest grew; there was not a single tree stump to hint that any trees had been cut down. Who was able to cause a forest to simply 'stop' like that? And why would he or she do that?

Jack decided to investigate.

He had some time to spare anyways. The forest´s trees still bore quite a few vividly red and yellow leaves. Besides that, he had covered a large distance today and would have to rest soon anyway. And so he picked a branch to land on, lay down on it and began his rest, his gaze fixed on the clear night sky as comforting waves of cold rippled through his body, giving him Goosebumps and slowly beginning to numb his body bit by bit; his arms, his legs, and finally, finally, his mind, letting him forget all his desperation and his worry, enabling him to simply enjoy the moment.

He was awakened by an enthusiastic shout, followed by a slam. A young, blonde-haired girl had forcefully opened the tower´s window. Jack guessed her to be 15, maybe 16. She leaned out and looked around excitedly, taking in all the colors the new day had brought - just like she´d never seen them before. It was strange, weird. Interesting. Jack´s curiosity had been awakened. Who was this girl? She clearly wasn´t normal. Her hair was just too long and too perfect for that. So she had to be something spirit-like. And that meant she might be able to see and interact with him. He couldn´t help but smile in anticipation.

But Jack didn´t dare to approach her and talk to her. Centuries without human contact had made him anxious and awkward. He didn´t want to ruin this unique chance of finding someone to talk to by saying something wrong. He needed to observe her first, find out what she might be interested in, what might be the right way to begin a conversation. After all, he literally had all the time in the world, so he might as well take things slow.

And so he observed. Day after day.

The girl continued to surprise and abash him with her various talents and interests. For example, she was an amazing artist and a great singer. Besides that, she was incredibly educated. A tiny part of Jack envied her, but mostly he just marveled at her sight.

On some days, he feared rejection. Thought she might not like him, cold, uneducated and awkward as he was. When he secretly peeked over her shoulder while she was reading at the window, he hardly understood anything.

That scared him.

There were plenty of reasons for him to admire her, but none for her to admire him. She was living in a completely different, higher world. A world of philosophy, of science, of art. A world of beauty. A world he didn´t belong to. All he could do was stand in awe while she diligently swirled through the tower´s rooms, taking care of everything that needed to be done. Could he possibly be a fitting match for her? But whenever these kinds of thoughts emerged from a corner of his mind, he quickly shoved them back and told himself that everything would be okay.

But still, he couldn´t build up enough self-esteem to leave his isolation and speak to her. He kept hiding himself from her gaze, craving a conversation but fearing it at the same time. One day, an old lady walked up to the tower and shouted "Rapunzel!". So that was the girl's name. Rapunzel. Very interesting. Unique. Rapunzel then opened the window and threw down an incredible amount of perfectly golden hair. Jack couldn´t believe his eyes when he saw the elderly woman grab it and begin to climb upwards on it. When she reached the top of the tower, she entered the tower through the window. Jack, at this point highly alienated, began cautiously floating towards the window´s side, carefully staying out of sight. When he arrived, he placed his back on the tower´s wall and began to eavesdrop.

Rapunzel and the elderly woman - who appeared to be her mother - were arguing. Jack couldn´t decipher everything he heard, but the topic seemed to be that Rapunzel wanted to leave the tower and her mother didn´t let her. Jack felt rage welling up inside him. That wasn´t fair at all! What kind of mother would do that to her daughter?! It was just... awful! Inhuman! He wanted to step into that tower and teach that crazy woman some manners. - But then he stopped himself. That would have been stupid. It was way better to wait until the old lady was gone and then offer Rapunzel to help her get out of the tower and show her around the world. It would be an incredibly tempting offer - and a chance for Jack to get to know her. Yes, it was better to wait.

And so Jack left the tower and flew back into the trees, where he waited patiently for the old woman to leave. When she finally did, her pure sight let anger well up inside him again. He just wanted to turn her hooded figure into a huge block of never-melting ice. However, he suspected that Rapunzel might not be very happy about that. Who knew how she would react? He had seen enough girls throw random tantrums in his life to know to not take unnecessary risks when dealing with them. That didn´t quell his anger, though. And since he guessed this kind of emotion wasn't a good starting point for any kind of conversation, he decided to sleep over all of this one more night. It wouldn´t make that much of a difference, or would it?

But one night became two.

And two nights became three.

With every day and every night that passed, Jack grew angrier at himself. It was always like this: Life presented him with a chance and he was too scared to take it. His life would forever stay as lonely and miserable as it was that way!

Just as Jack was about to give up and move on, Winter began and covered the landscape in white, glistening powder. The cold gave him power and built up his self-esteem.

And so, before Rapunzel closed the window the next evening, he hung his crook on a branch he thought to be hidden from sight well enough to not by noticed by passerbys, but visible enough to make him sure he´d find it again and snuck into the tower, carefully staying out of Rapunzel´s sight. He crept into a closet to hide over the night. It was quite cramped in there, but the anticipation of talking to Rapunzel tomorrow didn´t let him feel any of that. He waited until Rapunzel opened the window at sunrise the next morning, jumped out enthusiastically, let the closet doors bang on the wall, sprinted towards a surprised-looking Rapunzel, opened his arms in the expectation of an embrace, jumped into the air -

... and flew right through Rapunzel. The momentum carried him out of the window, causing him to begin an uncontrollable descent, especially since he didn´t have his staff.

But Jack saw no point in slowing his fall anyway.

[To be continued in Chapter 2: 'Recovery'...]