*I don't know why, but I love the thought of Jackunzel. However, I can only imagine this ship ending in tragedy. Oh if only it would work... Go Eupunzel!
Jack stood at the very edge of his hometown Burgess. Night had struck and he watched as people walked to and fro finding their way home. Little kids ran through the streets and Jack marveled at how it was possible that he could stand there and they run right through him. He sighed as he kicked a rock. One of the little boys turned to look at what had made the noise. Bewildered, the kid ran to catch up with his friends that called after him.
Jack knew what it felt like to be believed in, he just wished that more believed than just one kid that he hadn't seen in seven years. By now he was a teenager and Jack wasn't sure if he still believed. Jamie may have been worried then that he would stop believing, but there was no guarantee that he still did.
Jack sat perched on a tree top as he watched dream sand trail its way into all of the houses. Sand man appeared next to Jack on his little cloud of dust. He winked at Jack as he continued his work.
"Never gets old sandy," Jack chuckled. Sand man smiled at Jack as he scurried off to finish delivering dreams. Jack looked at the moon and decided it was time to take off.
"Wind, let's ride!" Jack called. He hopped off the tree and rode the wind. Jack had absolutely no idea where he was going, but he was going to let the wind carry him anywhere it was sunny.
He seemed to have been traveling for hours, but finally the wind dropped him in a forest. Jack took in the sunshine, his hand in a pocket and the other hand wrapped around his staff. Birds chirped in the area. Somewhere he heard laughter. It sounded like a man and a woman.
Jack turned a corner to see a girl in a purple dress with short brown hair trying to snatch a crown from the other man's hands. The man had brown hair as well.
"Eugene give it back!" The girl laughed.
"Would you expect anything different, Princess Rapunzel?" Eugene mocked, holding the crown high above her head. Jack laughed and sat down at the base of the tree next to them.
"Oh hello," Rapunzel said gesturing toward Jack.
"You," Jack said eyeballing her with blue eyes, "You can see me?"
"Who are you talking too, Blondie?" Eugene asked staring at the base of the tree.
"You can't see him?" Rapunzel asked still staring into Jack's blue eyes, "Wait, Jack Frost?"
"Yes!" Jack said hopping up. "Yes! I'm Jack Frost!"
"Jack Frost?" Eugene asked, "Blondie, what is going on?"
"Jack Frost is someone my parents told me about while we were catching up after, well, you know." Rapunzel beamed.
"Isn't he just a fairytale?" Eugene asked crossing his arms.
"Yes, but I.. I don't know I guess I just always believed he was real." Rapunzel said staring at Jack again.
"You are staring at a tree," Eugene smiled, "Well, I'm going to go back to the castle and do something other than be productive."
Eugene tossed Rapunzel her crown and walked off back through the woods. Rapunzel beamed when he walked off and poked Jack's nose just to be sure he was real.
"Aha! You are real! I knew it!" Rapunzel said jumping with joy.
"I gotta say, I'm pretty surprised. Most people your age don't believe in little ol' me."
"Of course I do," Rapunzel said looking at the floor, "Actually I think we have met before. I used to live in a tower not too far from here. At night—cold nights—I thought I sensed someone lurking, but never in a bad way. Was that by any chance, you? When my parents told me about you, er, Jack Frost, I started to believe that perhaps it was you when I was little."
Jack pondered for a second trying to recall a tower. Then he realized where he was relative to the location of the tower, "Are you the little girl with the long blond hair that used to look out the window?"
"Oh, wow. It is you! Yes that was me!" Rapunzel said gleefully. Instinctively, she hugged him, "I have always dreamed about meeting you in person! Now it has finally happened."
Jack's heart pounded at the embrace. No girl had ever hugged him except for tooth and those were few and far between. Even more so, it was extremely rare for a young adult to believe in him.
"Oh, and don't worry about Eugene. He doesn't get some of the more childish ways of life." Rapunzel said letting go.
"Ah. He's a little stickler is he? Well I know how to fix any old stickler." Jack smiled a devilish smile as he held a snowball behind his back.
"not so much a stickler, trust me he sure knows how to joke around! Oof!" Rapunzel grunted as Jack hit her in the face with a snowball, "Not fair! I don't have anything to defend myself! I left my frying pan back home!"
"Your frying pan?" Jack laughed, "No, no, no. We don't use frying pans in this game."
Jack conjured up two piles of about a dozen snowballs each. He struck his staff on the ground and Rapunzel watched as the area around her grew cold. Frost spread up the trees and littered the grass. Rapunzel shrieked gleefully as Jack sent a spiral of ice into the sky and it began to snow.
Rapunzel was the first to throw the first snowball, hitting Jack square in the chest. She laughed and hid behind one of the frosted trees. Jack laughed, glad to be having fun with someone who would be at least be around his own age—if he weren't immortal that is.
Jack and Rapunzel threw snowballs and giggled until the sun began to go down. Deep down, Jack thought that maybe Rapunzel was just hanging around to see if Eugene would come back for her, but it was obvious that she wanted to catch upon the years as a kid. Eventually they sat down after about three hours of snowballs and skating.
"Why did you come here Jack?" Rapunzel asked as they leaned against one of the frosted trees.
"Sometimes I let the wind carry me where it thinks I should go." Jack said gazing as the moon began to come into view.
"The wind takes you? You trust the wind to take you wherever you want to go?" Rapunzel said gazing at him in wonder.
"Yeah. Same with Man in Moon. He doesn't speak very often, but as long as I know I'm doing the right thing, I know he is happy." Jack said catching Rapunzel's gaze.
"Man in Moon? You mean the actual moon? It speaks to you?"
"Yes. Every time he needs me, he will call." Jack said turning his attention back to the moon. Again came the familiar gold dust that made its way to the kingdom. "Ah Sandman. Always sending dream sand."
"Dream sand?" Rapunzel said in wonder as she got up to investigate the trail of sand that floated before her.
"Yeah, it's what helps you fall asleep." Jack smiled as she twirled the sand, "be careful, you might get tired."
"As if!" Rapunzel said as she poked her finger in the sand. The kingdom's sun symbol flashed before her. Rapunzel smiled as the hanging toy that used to be above her baby bed danced around in the air. She giggled for about two minutes before she began to get tired. She sat back down next to Jack, knowing better than to play with the sand any longer.
"So does that mean Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy exist as well?" Rapunzel said after yawning.
"Yup. Except they go by North, Bunnymund, and Tooth. Then you have Sand Man. Together we make up the Guardians." Jack explained.
"Guardians of what?" Rapunzel asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"The Earth. We protect the children with everything in us. That's why he made us who we are—that is the Man in Moon."
"Have you ever had to protect anyone?" Rapunzel asked as she began to doze.
"Yes," Jack smiled, "Yes I have."
Before he knew it, Rapunzel had fallen asleep on Jack. He sighed as he recalled his warning not to play with the sand. He stood up and picked Rapunzel up. He could make out the castle from here so he headed in that direction. When he reached the castle, he knew it was going to take a second for him to find Rapunzel's room.
He had seen the ring on Rapunzel's hand earlier and it disturbed him, but he figured that wherever that Eugene kid was sleeping, it must be where she is bunking as well. When he entered the castle, he marveled at all of the amazing stone work. The castle was covered in the symbol that the dream sand had shown him.
Finally after walking up many stairs and searching through corridors, he saw Eugene walking out of his bedroom and headed toward what Jack recognized as the kitchen. He snuck into Eugene's bedroom to find a huge room. It was most definitely Rapunzel's. There was a vanity in the corner with a hairbrush on it. One strand was blond. He set Rapunzel down on the bed and marveled at her beauty while she slept.
"Goodnight Punzie," Jack said as he dimmed the light. Jack heard Eugene enter the room and Jack stepped back. Eugene looked around when he saw Rapunzel on the bed. He shrugged and plopped down next to her and shut off the light.
Jack took one last glance before he slipped out through the open window.
"Wind, take me home." He said, even though he wished he could stay.