A/N: My first entry for the Jackunzel week! I hope you enjoy it!
Prompt: Once in a Blue Moon
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
Beautiful
By TheMaskedGirl
Once every year in Corona, lanterns would fill the night sky. It was such a beautiful sight. The lanterns would illuminate the dark night. Sometimes, with the help of the moon and the stars, but sometimes, they were the only things that could be seen. It was wonderful either way.
But something, rather, someone, was more beautiful than those lanterns. Her name? Rapunzel. She had long, long, long golden hair and emerald eyes. She was so beautiful.
I saw her for the first time when I was wandering in Corona. Well, in the outskirts of Corona. There was a forest and deep inside it was a secret passage. Nobody knew about that passage except for a woman. When she went inside the passage, she had graying hair and some wrinkles. But when she left it, her hair was as black as the sky at night. And the wrinkles? All gone.
After two weeks of observing her, I decided to enter it too. I wasn't wasting time when I was observing her. I had all the time in the world. I had been living for two hundred years, give or take. It was boring though.
I followed her in and saw the tower. I was about to fly up to it when the woman called out, "Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"
And long golden hair fell down the tower. The owner's head popped out and said in a sweet voice, "Mother, welcome back! Do you know what day it is today?"
The woman she called mother replied, "Yes. I know. Happy birthday, dear. Now pull me up!"
Rapunzel obeyed and pulled the woman up with super human strength. If she were a normal person, she couldn't have pulled the woman so easily. Or maybe it was the hair.
I was, to say the least, awestruck. She was the most beautiful being I had seen. And I had seen a lot. I flew up to the tower and sat on the sill. The woman was sitting on a chair and she was sitting on a stool. The woman was brushing her hair.
She started singing. I let out a gasp, partly because her hair was glowing, but mostly because her voice was angelic and beautiful. Another surprising thing was the woman became younger. It was Rapunzel's work, after all.
Night came very fast. The woman was already sleeping, but Rapunzel was still awake.
"Pascal, come on. The floating lights will appear any minute now," she said excitedly to her pet chameleon.
"Rapunzel, lower down your voice. I'm trying to get some sleep here," the woman's drowsy voice said.
"Sorry, mother," she answered. "Good night!"
"Good night."
"At least she greeted me this time," she told Pascal softly.
She walked to the window and surprised me. If I couldn't fly, I would have fallen down the tower. I occupied the left side of the window because she was sitting on the right. It always made me awkward when someone slipped right through me.
She gasped and pointed at the sky. "Look! There's the first lantern!"
I looked at the direction she was pointing at and pretended that she was talking to me. "It's beautiful," I said.
A minute later, she answered, "Just wait. It will get even more beautiful later."
I looked at her, astonished. "You heard me?"
But of course, she didn't reply.
"Now look!"
I looked again and saw thousands of lanterns in the sky. "They're beautiful," I said sincerely. "I've never seen anything like that."
"I know. It's the most wonderful sight on Earth," she whispered. "I'm glad you can see it."
I diverted my eyes from the lanterns and looked at her. The way she talked… it was as if she was having a conversation with me. I peered down at her shoulder and saw her chameleon looking right at me.
"Is this the first time you watched this?" I asked, my eyes still trailed on the chameleon.
It turned its back on me and made weird sounds.
"Of course not. You do know that, don't you? I've been watching these lights ever since I can remember," she answered.
Pascal looked back at me with a weird smile. I understood what it was doing. The chameleon could see me and it was relaying what I was saying to her. "Thanks, little guy," I told it. It crossed its-arms?- and nodded its head.
Talking to a chameleon was weird, but it was the closest thing I could do to talk to Rapunzel. But I wished I could talk to her directly.
Soon, the show was over. The lanterns had floated elsewhere.
"The floating lights were beautiful," I told her. "But you're much more beautiful. Happy birthday."
Rapunzel smiled. "Thank you, Pascal," she said.
"I'm Jack Frost, by the way," I said, pretending not to hear her address her pet.
"Jack Frost?" she asked the chameleon. She let out a sweet laugh. "I don't understand, but thank you, Jack Frost."
I grinned. "You're welcome. And thanks again, Pascal. Good night."
"Good night," Rapunzel said.
I flew out of the tower in happy spirits.
It became a ritual. Once every year, I flew to Corona. Wherever I was, whatever I was doing, I flew to her tower. I watched the lanterns with her and had a conversation with her through Pascal. The chameleon became Jack Frost during her birthday. I didn't mind, as long as I got to see her and talk to her.
After three years of doing our annual thing, she disappeared. I waited in her tower the whole day. She never came. When the lanterns appeared, I left the tower. I was angry and hurt. I came back the next year. I believed she would be there. I was wrong.
She was gone.
I kept going back to the tower for five years, hoping that maybe she would come back, but she never did. She was never coming back.
I went to Corona in the sixth year. I went to the castle to watch the first lantern being released. To my surprise, there were two lanterns.
Four people came out. Two couples. One of them was carrying a baby. When the moonlight shone on them, I realized who was carrying the baby.
Rapunzel.
"She's such a beautiful girl," the older woman, the Queen, said.
"Just like you," the King told Rapunzel. "And to think you and your daughter have the same birthday!"
They laughed jovially. The man beside Rapunzel put his arms around her. I wanted to punch him and tell him she was mine first, but I knew it was useless. Nobody could see me.
"Happy birthday," I whispered tearfully.
Pascal was on the man's shoulder. It looked at me and nodded its head.
Rapunzel looked stunned for a moment before smiling. "Thank you, Jack Frost. You were gone for a while."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" her husband, obviously, asked her.
She shook her head. "Nothing."
At the count of three, they released the lanterns in the night sky.
I flew back to the tower, tears streaming down my face. I sat on my usual spot and watched the floating lights. Alone.
Once every year in Corona, lanterns would fill the night sky. It was such a beautiful sight. The lanterns would illuminate the dark night. Sometimes, with the help of the moon and the stars, but sometimes, they were the only things that could be seen. It was wonderful either way.
But something, rather, someone, was more beautiful than those lanterns. And she would forever be more beautiful than those. Her name? Rapunzel.
A/N: So how was it? I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review if you can. Thank you!
Love lots,
TheMaskedGirl