Rapunzel was busy. Jack would be wrapping up winter soon, and everything had been sleeping. Now it was time to wake up! Everything had to be perfect!
"Sia? Aro? Eliennie?"
The little spring helpers ran forward to their surrogate mother. They were some of the little children who had gotten lost on their way to the after life, stuck in the void for so many years (And really, you had to cut Christopher some slack– when you spend all your time rounding up dead children, you're bound to miss a few). But recently, Rapunzel and her friends had released them and the transfer had given them immortality. They all had been offered the position of helper for the season of their choice, and Rapunzel had made a good number. They were delightful children. Merida and Hiccup had also gotten some helpers, but Jack was had none yet. Well, more children were coming, and he was bound to get some.
"Miss Punzie?" Asked Elliennie, her colonial dress fluttering in the spring breeze. The children were from all different times. She even had a few who didn't know English!
She realized she had been dozing and commanded. "Yes, Elliennie, take Ayan, Distro, and Faye and work on the snow in Moscow. Uncle Jack left us a lot of work to do!" The four children giggled and set off excitedly.
Suddenly, she heard a cry. "Miss Punzie! Miss Punzie! It's Uncle Jack!" Young Aria ran up to her and began to tug her towards the rose fields.
"What?" Rapunzel was confused. "What happened?"
"He crashed!"
"In the rose field?" Oh, now that trickster would get it. Those roses were her the fruits of her labors, the reward of her work. He had promised not to touch them! Oh, she was going to–
She saw him, and her heart stopped.
Her surrogate brother was sprawled, face-down, in the field, his body littered with injuries. His left arm was splayed out at on odd angle and his neck was tilted to the side, his closed eyes seeming to bore up at her as blood trickled out of his mouth.
Rapunzel was frozen.
Her little helpers were inching towards him as Rapunzel's feet were stuck, inspecting this foreign creature. Ratchet, one of her oldest helpers, grabbed a stick and tentatively poked him in his left shoulder. At the jostle, Jack groaned in pain, the helpers scattered, and Rapunzel found she could move again.
She darted forward and carefully picked him up, wincing as she tugged him free of the thorns. He shuddered and twitched, as if trying to escape.
"Shh, Jack, I got you." She murmured.
He relaxed slightly, and was that a smile?
As she carried him towards his room at her home, she whispered, "Jack...who did this to you?" She could tell that he crashed because he was already injured, and the thin cuts that littered his body and the skin beneath his torn sweatshirt, seemed to be caused by some sort of whip.
Jack sagged in her arms and his would-be could-be smile vanished. He buried his head in her shoulder like a child and whimpered.
"The Guardians."