Chapter 4: Misfortune
Rapunzel opened her eyes. Then she blinked, looked again, and closed her eyes once more. She shook her head and opened her eyes again, unable to believe that what she had seen was real. But nothing changed. The complete dome that stretched over her room was covered in flowers made of Ice. Her thoughts raced. This shouldn´t have happened. It was unnatural. Leading her to the next logical conclusion: Somebody had made this. Somebody had broken in here. Into a tower whose sole purpose was to keep intruders out. Her heartbeat began racing faster and faster. Her safe haven was being taken away from her and she was being shoved into strange lands with no orientation, no lead. It was terrifying. She needed to find whoever did this. And find him fast. She grabbed a few covers, wrapped them around herself and began running towards the main hall, her insufficient 'clothing' providing more danger for her to stumble over than actually keeping her from the cold. On the door, she noticed an ice pattern forming the words 'Jack Frost was here.' What the heck was that supposed to mean? Who was Jack Frost? As she entered the main hall, she spotted a pale boy wearing a hoodie waving a shepherd's crook around and seemingly using it to create the ice patterns. She was about to shout 'STOP IT!' when he turned around and sent a blast of ice flying toward her...
Jack gasped in surprise when he saw that Rapunzel had appeared in front of the door. But it was too late to react.
Everything was so cold. So unbelievably cold. Rapunzel´s whole body wanted to erupt in spasms, but it couldn´t. All her limbs were being held in place by a block of ice that was centered around her abdomen, but still covered enough of her body to keep her from moving. Only the tips of her fingers and her face were free. After looking around a bit, she deduced that she had to be hanging from the wall she stood in front of earlier, iced to it and her feet hanging a few inches above the ground. Her covers were also frozen into the ice block, but not close enough to warm her body. There was ice covering every inch of her body. It was humiliating. She was utterly powerless, completely at the mercy of this strange, cruel boy...
Jack couldn´t stand to look at what he had done. He kept his eyes averted, making sure to never catch a glimpse of it as he paced up and down the hall with large strides, angry and frustrated with himself. When he noticed that Rapunzel woke up from her initial unconsciounsness, his anger depleted. He carefully turned towards her and approached her with both his empty hand stretched out to show he meant no harm. 'I´m so terribly sorry. Please - Please forgive me!' he said. 'I really, really didn´t mean to hurt you. It was an accident!' Jack put his hands together in front of his face as he lowered himself to his knees. There was a long moment of silence. Then he couldn´t hold himself back anymore. Tears shot from his eyes. 'Say something!', he screeched when Rapunzel still didn´t answer. He crawled towards Rapunzel´s feet on all fours. His face was covered in tears and snot. 'This will never happen again. I was - I was!' Jack was interrupted by more sobs. 'I was just trying to do something good for once! I just wanted to make somebody happy. I´m so sick of always causing trouble. But it seems I´m such a failure I can´t even change that for once.'
Rapunzel was unsure what to make of the situation. The boy didn´t seem menacing at all in that moment. On the other hand, he could be acting for all she knew. She didn´t know him at all. Her books had taught her never to trust strangers. Even if they looked like they needed help. Villains were often back-stabbing and good actors. Though, after all, she needed to get down from that wall before she died from hypothermia. So she decided to take the risk. Trying to ignore the huge lump in her throat and letting her voice sound as neutral and un-scared as possible, she said: 'I believe you. Now get me down from here.'
Even though the words were spoken without the slightest hint of kindness, they seemed to light Jacks face up. He got up on his feet. His heart was racing and his emotions were completely inordinate. He removed a bit of snot from his nose with the back of his hand and attempted to say something a few times, but all that came out were faint wails and sobs. After a while, he took a step back, shook his head, coughed, and cleared his throat. This time, he managed to speak in an acceptable, if faint and shaky, voice, though he still kept his eyes fixed on the ground, afraid to look Rapunzel in the eye. 'O-Of course. Immediately. J-Just give me a minute. I need to wash my face; I d-don´t want to drip snot all over you. And I-I´ll figure out how to get you down from there. I can´t u-u-unfreeze things with my magic. I'm s-s-s-s-so sorry.' He had barely finished speaking when he raced towards the bathroom. After a little while, he came back with a candle in his hand. 'I-I-I´ll use this to t-t-t-thaw you. Okay?' Rapunzel just nodded.
[To be continued in Chapter 5: Temptation]