A Sharp Kiss of Cold Steel
Summary : Tangled Universe. Jack Overland and his sister Aja found a palace horse having a panic attack in the deeper part of the forest and found Eugene hanging himself with a thick golden rope on a giant hidden tower... "Uhh, are we supposed to help him?"
When People wanna make a Jackunzel most of the time they just pretend Eugene never existed. I decided to try it with Eugene still being alive but on the process of writing the piece, I ended up on a more... practical type. This kinda popped out all of the sudden.
.
Sun was dying
Moon came about
.
Jackson Overland Frost had spent most of the daylight shepherding his sheep, cleaning the chicken's coop, spinning the spindle wheel with his little sister, selling the wool and filling the week's food stock and then exploring Corona Forest. Actually cleaning the house should be the first in his list but he kinda ditched the duty to his little sister in favor of collecting more valuables, either to keep or to sell. The sky was a disgusting shade today, and he thought some kind of tragedy must have happened to upset Sky. Of course, he didn't expect to see some bloke hanging himself.
His home was outside the kingdom but he was still in the center of Corona's land. He only had free time after finishing his agenda (Jack found the word way cooler than to-do-list) so he could only explore the forest surrounding his home for a couple hours before Sun sets and Light's out. He had traveled farther than usual this time (still in his sister's range of sight, who was gathering some new mushrooms to see which might be edible and which might be poisonous) and found a majestic white horse coming out of the cliff stones. Further inspection revealed that the foot of the cliff had a small tunnel hidden by wild moss vines. He had calmed the horse—a palace horse which made it easy—down and told him to stay his ground and let him have a little lookout from what had frightened him. He was a smart adult horse, and he must have sensed his sincerity and complied with his order. Palace horses are always smarter than your run-of-the-mill ones but this one is more clever. Jack held his staff's sharper end in front of him in case if it was one of the thugs running around the forest—hopefully it's one of the drunkards from Snuggly Pub.
He was still a kid at the time, and seeing a real person going to Death by hanging themselves was a novel concept he had only known from the books he acquired (stole, actually, but he likes to bury words to mess with his sister's mind) so you can imagine how much he enjoyed it.
"Don't just stand there, help him!"
Jack didn't turn to greet her, partly still entranced and partly fearing her angry mother look (he was not amused that the eleven year old can pull off that look). "He owes much; he has nothing; the rest he leaves to the poor."
"Stop quoting, you just want to filch that tower. Jack, go help him get down."
"It's a hidden tower, Aja! A real bloody hidden tower! This is my treasure hunting dream coming true!" Despite his whining, his feet moved towards the tower for the man.
"At least bury that guy with his dignity, don't just admire the view."
"I'm going!" They arrived at the foot of the tower. Unlike the steep cliff sides surrounding—almost barricading it—the tower was crawling up with strong vines and the stones were uneven, Wind was just right and he could easily climb up. "Aja, I'm gonna that guy down from here, can you find a door to go up from the inside? But don't go in!" Jack immediately lowered his voice to a whisper. "Check if someone is in there, maybe the guy's living with someone else here and who knows what they might be."
"Okay, if no one's down there I'll see if I can get some useful stuff, but I won't go up the tower," Aja reassured her big brother and slid down the patch of grass and tries to see how she can get past the small river stream. She didn't want to get her only pair of shoes wet. Luckily she found some stepping stones.
Jack, knowing she'll find her way easily and seeing that there was no one around—outside—carefully began climbing up the tower. It was a good thing he was light on his feet, so leaping up was easy for him, as long as he made sure his toes got a solid footing. As he got closer to the tower's windows he grows uneasy, something twisting in his stomach. He easily recognized the sound from his experience in tying up his hunts; struggles bound by ropes. Either it was an animal or it was a person.
If it wasn't his imagination then this is a murder attempt.
Jack looked down but didn't see a hair of his sister, so he guessed she must be on the other side. He hoped no one was at the ground floor. Better get this guy down quickly.
When he finally 'stood' on the same level as the guy and tried to pull him out of the thick rope, he noticed several things: the guy has a stab wound, on his back, meaning he didn't do it himself; the rope wasn't a twisted or braided yarn, and it looked like hair—a really long bloody one; and the guy's not dead.
Jack sent an indignant glare at the hand covering his mouth. Now that he had a good look on the face, he recognized him through the many posters stamped on the poor trees in the forest and today's recent gossip of his escapede. But the nose looked different somehow…
"Please don't freak out!"
It sounded like a recording, Jack slapped the hand away, "What gives?"
The infamous thief winced as he slowly turned around to face him, still having a hand between the… hair… and his neck to avoid strangulation. Flynn Rider began whispering quietly and quickly, and Jack could only thank his good hearing else he would ask for a repeat. "There's this really crazy woman trying to lock a girl she had kidnapped away from the world and she thought it would be ironic to hang me with the girl's hair—yes, this is her hair, she has long hair, okay? No questions for now just don't cut it!—even though she stabbed me already and I'm pretending to be dead to catch her off guard somehow but I'm getting weaker each minute so please, as a human being, will you help me rescue her?"
His eyes were wide and desperate, and Jack wasn't able to accept the reasons to refuse coming to mind. It would be the right thing, Aja would say. Doesn't mean I can't be practical.
Jack held his gaze and nodded, to Flynn Rider's relief. "But you owe me a boon, Rider."
Rider's mouth was going to groan but he bit his tongue when the rope, er, hair moved. He went limp and Jack immediately pressed himself flat on the wall, hoping the garden windowsill above would obscure him. The hair stopped moving and Jack felt it was safe as he saw no shadow of a person, the supposed crazy lady. Rider thinks so too but stayed still.
"So what are we going to do? Does she have weapons?"
"Ah, a dagger. But I don't know if she has anything else. I saw a girl coming here with you, where did she go?"
"Looking for an entrance but she knows better than to blindly going in."
"Okay, I think it's safe to say that woman would pull me up—"
"Or let you break your neck down here."
"—unlikely, she's gonna gloat like before and I'm gonna play dead—"
"And you want me to attack her from behind," Jack picked up. "There's only her, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, you just gotta knock her out, will you please be quick on it? I'm really worried."
Jack didn't bother answering and quickly climbed down, thanking Wind for not letting his hands sweat and slipping on him. When he rounded the tower he found an entrance on several rocks—it must have been a secret door—and he found Aja, surrounded by baskets and stacks, looking worried upwards a spiralling staircase.
"Jack!" Aja shushed. "I think there's trouble up there!"
"Yeah, I know. That guy wasn't committing suicide, he's still alive. There's a woman up there trying to hide some girl she kidnapped." Should I tell her it was the conman Flynn Rider? It'd be troublesome so I won't mention it.
"You're gonna help her? Please be careful."
"I will. I need you to stay here and scream if someone suspicious coming or if there's trouble. If you see a woman and not me coming down from that trap door, get out," at his sister's angry look he guessed what was on her mind, "I promise to come back safely. She has a small dagger I can avoid while I have a long staff good for throwing her off her feet."
Aja briskly nodded and gripped the knife Jack had given for these situations, and forced herself not to go up the staircase with Jack.
. o . 0 . o .
He was slowly bleeding out and only had Rapunzel's strong hair to hold his body weight from pitching downwards flat. To top his execution day and subsequent escape attempt, he was relying both his and Rapunzel's survival and safety to a shepherd boy who was infamous around town for being prankster and other reputations Eugene refused to acknowledge, else he'll have a rival with the ladies.
He felt the hair move, Rapunzel struggling against her twisted adoptive mother (Boy was she raised in the wrong kind of family). All he had to do was hold on to her hair loop and her mother will pull him up. From what little he can gather he knew that she wouldn't risk ruining Rapunzel's hair, the obsessive witch she is. He hoped he didn't send that shepherd boy (he never noted the name) to his early death, kid's still a kid.
A painful tug later almost sent Eugene falling, it made his hip limp and his stomach bent awkwardly, aggravating the stab wound on his back. As the minutes pass by he could hear his heart beating loud. His back was facing the tower so he wouldn't be able to tell when he'll stop at the loop, and Gothel standing behind him, readying herself to push him off. She wouldn't damage Rapunzel's hair, so he could count his lucky stars she won't be holding her dagger this time. He just had to wait and believe.
"I know you're still holding on, you little thief." Oh no.
"Eugene!" Oh, God, Rapunzel. He never wanted her to see this sort of thing. "No! Mother don't push him!"
"Be quiet, Rapunzel! Remember your promise, Flower, I'll let you heal him and you will stay with me!"
"Wait… no.." Eugene's plea was soft and was ignored.
"I will! I will, I will, I promise, just please Mother, let him live!" He heard her breath hitched and his skin jumped when he felt Gothel trying to get him inside the tower. He had to stall! He gripped her hair harder and forced his legs to remain stiff.
"Let go of the hair, Rider!" Gothel gripped his shoulder hard. "I said LET IT GO!" She jabbed his wound hard and he let out a painful cry along with a shout "EUGENE!"
TWACK!
Gothel fell face forward and Jack was standing behind her with the blunt staff. The teenager ignored the downed enemy as he hurriedly grabbed Rider from falling off 35 feet.
"Oh my God!" Rapunzel exclaimed in surprise. She had quieted down when she saw the brown haired boy sneaking in through the trap door but was still taken by surprise when he just up and slammed his staff on her mother's head.
The boy was smaller than Eugene, and it was evident he was struggling to bring Eugene inside.
When the boy's hands trembled Eugene freaked out. "Kid, don't you dare drop me!"
"If I fall, I fall~"
"Please don't!" He whimpered.
Jack laughed in good fun, though he did winced a little as he successfully got Rider inside.
"Eugene! Thank you! Thank you!" Rapunzel thanked Jack as he used the sharp end of his staff to cut her rope binds.
"We still have to make sure she, uh, your mother doesn't do anything," Jack said as the girl scurried over to Rider. He grabbed the ropes to tie the woman up when something glowed behind him. When he turned around his breath hitched at the sight of the girl's long hair glowing gold. He heard her humming a song teary-eyed and after the glow dimmed she untangled her hair from Rider's body and found the wound gone.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! How did you—What did you—?"
She gave a tired smile, "I'll explain later. Thank you so much! Um, who are you, though?"
"Just call me Jack. I don't understand but, Rider's healed right? Are we safe now?" He gestured at the unconscious lady tightly bound.
The girl looked around the place with a sad gaze. "We're safe now. I think it's best if we let Eugene rest. Um, you're welcome to stay, Jack! It's the least I can do for you saving our lives! Oh, and my name is Rapunzel!"
Jack's eyes flickered at the wanted fugitive, mulling over her concept of 'safe' but decided to trust his instinct to trust them. "Cool. My sister's downstairs, she can come up too, yea?"
"Sure!" She hesitated but let go of Eugene, who was limping to a green chair to sit himself. "I should take care of Mother anyway."
Jack lets her and went back to the trap door, poking his head out. "Hey, Aja! Come on, up! It's all cool now!"
A few minutes later they were all huddled up together in the middle of the room, the witch Gothel tied and locked up in (Jack snickered) the wardrobe. Night had fallen and the clearing outside was dark and moon-dappled.
"So," Jack began, finishing up the red apple Rapunzel had given them for dinner. "Eugene, huh?"
Rider groaned and Rapunzel giggled. She had filled them in on everything and things were just dandy.
. o . 0 . o .
Small omake
Rider groaned and Rapunzel giggled. She had filled them in on everything and things were just dandy. "His real name; Eugene Fitzherbert."
"Eugene's your real name? Good call adopting Flynn Rider. Eugene doesn't sound appropriate for a thief."
"There's an appropriate name for thieves?" Rapunzel wondered.
"Of course there is! Like in stories, some of them are Kit, or Pan, or Felix, but most of them are Jack."
"It fits you, Jack," Aja said. "Believe it or not, he was actually intending to loot your tower. Like a treasure hunt."
"Oh, I can believe that. My first thought too when I stumbled here. I'm afraid you came late, Frost."
"Liar. You said you desperately needed a hiding place."
"Stop making me look bad!"
. o . 0 . o .
They found Max outside and made him carry Gothel. They ate along the way. Aja had gotten all the useful things in the tower with Rapunzel's permission. While the younger Overland marvels over Rapunzel's hair, the older one was thinking about something else.
"Do we get a reward?"
"Jack!"
"What? I'm just asking!"
"Dude, at least be subtle about it."
.
Sun was born
Moon twirled around
.
"I owe much; I have nothing; the rest I leave to the poor." — François Rabelais (1483—1553), French satirist.
Canon fact is Rapunzel's hair 70 feet/21 meter long. But when she escapes the tower her hair was double, and she didn't fall flat when she stops her glide which means the tower's shorter than it looks. So I had it pegged 35 feet/10 meter high.