Chapter Two
POV of Jack Frost
Approximately 7 hours earlier
Jack had been searching for the quiet sobbing noise for only a few moments when he found her. A girl no older than 17, with silvery blonde hair that trailed on behind her for several meters. Her head was in her hands so he couldn't see her face, but he could tell she was crying by not only the noise but the way her shoulders shook with each sob.
His center being fun, Jack despised seeing people cry. It made him feel immensely uncomfortable, like he was at the frozen lake again, but this time he was awake with an anchor bolted to his chest.
Jack instinctively got a bit closer and he saw her shiver and guilt flooded him. He couldn't even comfort someone without them shaking the whole time. She looked up at the water, straight through him, her eyes watering. He turned and saw she was watching a boat with a lone passenger sail off.
After another hour or so, the girl wiped her eyes and stood up. The boat was out of sight by now; she slowly trekked back into the forest. Jack leaped from branch to branch to follow her, gripping his staff and thinking guiltily of the Guardians. Tooth was expecting all of them at dinner tonight; but she could wait. For some reason he found the girl highly intriguing; her circumstances were so odd. And he felt like this was all new to her; like she'd never been alone before. And maybe she hadn't.
For the next few hours Jack attempted to keep her company. She started a fire, cried, and fell asleep. He tried to keep his distance so she wouldn't be cold, but Jack felt if he went farther she would disintegrate, like some wistful figment of his imagination.
When she fell asleep, her copious hair wrapped around her like a fur blanket, fumbling for a comfortable position on the cold hard ground, Jack simply sat nearby, alternating his gaze between her and the night sky.
Suddenly, to his left, a sparkly golden sand shot into the clearing. Sandy slowly came together from the sand, his face disapproving yet still light. In his hand a tiny sand version of Tooth appeared, pacing and disgruntled.
"Sandy. I know, I know, but I have to stay here. I don't know what's going on, but I found this girl crying, she's all alone, I can't just ditch her." Jack looked up at Sandy, who still looked just as disapproving. "Sandy. Tell Tooth I'll be there soon. I just have to make sure she's safe." Sandy disappeared into the sky and Jack felt a twinge of guilt; he was sure Tooth wasn't entirely happy with him at the moment. But he couldn't leave the girl alone, she just seemed so helpless.
At the moment he saw her body shudder and he instinctively went to her side as she woke up with a strangled scream. She was gripping the ground and he could almost hear her heartbeat. She started shivering again and he ran over to the tree again, jumping in it. He could tell she had seen the movement of the tree; her eyes widened and her body suddenly tensed up. The girl slowly walked towards the tree. "Who's there?" she said, her voice shaking.
Jack knew fully well he wasn't supposed to show humans he existed. The whole point of belief was belief without proof and he ruined the institution of it a bit too often. But he still couldn't help but want her to know he was there; he craved for her attention in an almost carnal way that was unfamiliar to him. He slowly brought his staff down to the tree and millions of tiny intricate ice patterns flooded over the bark. She fell backwards and guilt flooded him, but only for a moment. She didn't look scared as much as she looked intrigued; curious. He paused for a moment, considering what he was about to do, and then he scrawled with his fingertip into the ice, "My name is Jack Frost."
He could tell at that moment she believed because a tiny jolt went into his body the moment she did. Also, she screamed. Incredibly loudly; birds flew out of trees. "Oh my God who are you how did you get here what is going on," she shrieked, falling to the ground and reaching for a stick, pulling it up in front of her and pointing it at him.
He knelt down, slowly so as not to get hit, and reached out his hand in hopes of helping her up. "My name is Jack. And I'm not here to hurt you, the contrary actually." He flinched. Why did I just talk like Tooth? He knew instinctively he was trying to be impressive and Guardian-like, so he straightened up and said in a more normal tone, "I'm sorry, I'm Jack. I didn't mean to freak you out, I just saw you crying back there, and well, I'm one of the Guardians, we're sort of like-"
"Yes, I know what Guardians are," she said shakily. "My name is Rapunzel. I'm sorry I yelled at you, I've had a hard night-" she wiped her eyes "-and everything is kind of freaking me out at this point. Why have you been watching me?" she asked. Jack couldn't help but flinch again- 'watching her' was a bit of a creepy way to put it.
"I just, I saw how upset you were, I thought I had to, like, look after you. You know?" It even sounded lame to say it out loud. "It's kind of what I do, like, all the time." There, a little less weird.
"Oh." Rapunzel's eyes softened. "Well… thank you. That means a lot, especially coming from a complete stranger." Jack felt sort of warm and satisfied until he realized that Tooth, North, Sandy, and Bunny were all probably waiting for him, completely annoyed, hoping he would show up in time. "I hope you didn't waste too much time," she said softly, looking up at him with the biggest green eyes.
"Oh, noo; I mean there was this dinner thing I was supposed to go to, but the Guardians are all very understanding." No they aren't. "They won't mind." Yes they will.
"Well, I won't hold you back," she said shyly. "Thank you for all your help but I'll be fine on my own now I suppose." The last part was unsure and he instinctively knew she wouldn't be.
"You know, Rapunzel, if you want…" Jack Frost don't go there. "…you could always come to the dinner…" Jack stop. "…they wouldn't mind, they'd love to meet you! I can't just leave you out here on your own."
An excited look came onto her face. "Really?! You wouldn't mind? That would be so awesome actually, that would be super duper cool, I mean I wouldn't want to intrude, but oh my goodness!" The look of pure joy on her face made Jack realize in an instant he would stand the heat from the Guardians to keep her smiling instead of the crying from earlier. Of course, he had to remind himself that he hardly knew her; he couldn't conceivably care about her yet. But he did.
"Yeah, of course you can," Jack said, smiling. And he realized it wasn't just for her; he wanted her to come just as badly.
