Jack and Rapunzel lay panting on the grass, utterly exhausted. "That was…" Rapunzel began.
"Really fun." Jack said. He hadn't felt this tired since… Since before I became a Guardian, I guess. If he wasn't immortal, was he even a Guardian anymore? "So, what now?" he asked aloud.
"I dunno." Rapunzel said, climbing to her feet. "Maybe we can find someone who'll give us directions to the lights."
"Maybe they can also tell us what those lights really are." Jack said. "It'd be nice to know what we're looking for." He frowned as he stood, noticing an unfamiliar pressure in his lower abdomen.
Rapunzel set off, humming to herself, with Baby Tooth zipping around behind her. Jack shook off his puzzlement and followed.
The trees fell away ahead of them, revealing a dusty dirt path. They started down it, then rounded a corner.
"Why don't we ask there?" Rapunzel suggested, pointing down the road.
Jack frowned, following gaze to a beaten up building. The place was in disrepair, with shattered windows and several walls on the verge of collapse. Nearer to them, a painted sign swung gently in the breeze.
"The Snuggly Duckling" Jack read. He would have assumed it to be abandoned, had there not been multiple horses tied up in front of the building. "We may want to look elsewhere." he said. "The people probably aren't the friendliest."
"We're just asking for directions." Rapunzel said, pulling him forwards. "What's the worst that can happen?"
Pascal hid himself in Rapunzel's hair, and Baby Tooth ducked into Jack's hoodie pocket as they approached the building. Jack frowned, again noticing the strange sense of pressure.
Rapunzel knocked on the door. There was a long pause, then the door was abruptly yanked inwards. Rapunzel let out a squeak and stumbled backwards as a helmeted figure stepped into the doorway. "What'ya want?" he growled.
Rapunzel collected herself, then smiled upwards. "We just wanted to know if you could point us towards-"
"Who is it?" a voice called from inside.
"Couple'a kids." the man replied. "I was just about to tell'em to get lost."
"Wait!" Rapunzel said. "You can't just send us away like that! We need to know how to get to-"
"Don't care." the man grunted. He swung the door closed, but Rapunzel shoved her frying pan into the crack. "Please!" she called. "It's really important!"
"Well then, you'd better let'em in." the second voice chuckled. "We wouldn't want to get in the way of something important."
The brute stepped aside, and gestured them in. They walked in, then pulled back as they saw the room's inhabitants. Scarred and deformed, every body bulged with muscles, and every face turned sinister as it turned towards the teens. Every figure had multiple blades, and Jack saw several hands reaching for their weapons.
Rapunzel and Jack started to step backwards, but a pair of heavy hands shoved them forwards, towards the center of the room. "Go on!" the helmeted man encouraged. "We won't bite… much."
"We just need some directions, then we'll get out of your hair." Jack said.
"Don't be like that!" a man called. His muscles bulged, and his left hand had been replaced with a hook. "Everyone's always rushing around these days. Why don't you sit down and have a drink!" he seized a man by the throat, tossed him away, then gestured at the open spot on the bench. "There's plenty of room over here!"
Jack looked back, but several figures had stepped in front of the door, cutting off their retreat. he groaned inwardly, but cautiously set off towards the table.
"...Hi" Rapunzel said, as they walked across the room. "It's… nice to meet you all."
"What'll you have?" the bartender asked as they sat down, cleaning his fingernails with a knife.
"Do you have apple juice?" Rapunzel asked
"One apple juice coming right up." The bartender smirked. "So, what'll your friend have?"
Jack looked at the moldy wooden mugs scattered around the room. "Thanks, but I'm not thirsty." he said.
The man sneered at that. "You think you're too good for what we serve?" he asked.
"Of course he doesn't!" Rapunzel said, looking shocked at the accusation. "Are you sure you don't want anything?" she asked Jack, looking concerned. "You aren't thirsty after all that running?"
Jack sighed, but gave in under her concerned gaze. "On second thought, I'll have some water." he said.
A moment later, the bartender tossed two mugs onto the table. Rapunzel took a careful swallow, then looked up, surprised. "This is really good!" she said, already drinking more.
The bartender gave a satisfied smirk. "Best juice you'll find anywhere in Corona."
Jack sipped his water, trying not to think about the germs and filth that it probably contained.
"So, whereya headed?" The hook handed man asked.
Rapunzel gulped, but forced herself to smile at the bruiser. "We're going to see the floating lights." she said.
His brow furrowed. "Floating lights?" he asked.
"Yeah…" Rapunzel said. "The ones that'll be showing up in the sky tomorrow?"
The man frowned. "Do you mean the Lantern Festival?"
"Lanterns?" Rapunzel asked. "That's what they are?"
"Yeah." he replied. "They launch 'em every year for the lost princess."
"I've watched the lights ever since I was little, but it was always too far away to see what they were." Rapunzel said. "For years, it's been my dream to visit them up close." she blushed a little. "Maybe it sounds silly, but I can't help but feel like those lanterns are a part of my destiny."
The man grunted. "I had a dream like that once." he said, staring into his drink.
"Really?" Rapunzel asked, curious. "What was it?"
"Nothing important." the man said. "It was impossible, anyway."
"No dream's impossible if you put your mind to it." Rapunzel said. "Why don't you tell us, and that way we can help make it true!"
The hook handed man kept looking downwards, saying nothing. "Well?" Rapunzel prompted
He stayed quiet for a moment longer, then sighed. "To become a pianist." he muttered.
The room broke out into snorts of laughter. "A pianist?" someone called. "That's your dream, Hooky?"
"Yeah." Hooky snarled, raising his axe and glaring around the room. "Any of you idiots got a problem with that?"
The chuckles died away in an instant, the other patrons shuffling their feet and looking to the ground.
"That's an amazing dream!" Rapunzel said. She turned, and looked towards an old piano sitting in the corner. "Do you know how to play?"
Hooky shrugged. "I know a bit, but-" Rapunzel was already dragging him across the room.
"Why don't you play something for us?" she suggested, sitting down on a bucket and looking up at him. "We can be your first concert!"
Hooky started to refuse, but his mouth closed as Rapunzel hopefully smiled up at him. He sighed, but plopped down on the bench. "Alright lads!" he bellowed. "This'll be to the tune of 'The Queen's Maid and the Wh-'" he cut off abruptly with a glance to the young figure seated beside him. "Oh, never mind what it's called, you all know the song!"
He played a quick intro, then broke into song. "I'm malicious, mean and scary. My sneer could curdle dairy, and violence wise, my hands are not the cleanest. But despite my evil looks, and my temper, and my hook! I've always yearned to be a concert pianist!"
Jack raised an eyebrow as the man started to play. Despite his reluctance, he was remarkably good. Baby Tooth zipped out of his pocket, then settled herself on top of a rafter to listen to the music.
Suddenly, the pressure returned, more uncomfortable and urgent than before. Jack frowned and looked at his stomach. It was almost like… Oh. Right.
He sighed, remembering another aspect of being mortal. "Do you have a privy?" he asked the bartender. The grizzled man gestured towards the back door. "Thanks." Jack said. Rapunzel seemed safe enough for the moment, so he slipped out as the room broke into chorus.
Jack stepped out of the outhouse, business finished.
"You!" a voice shouted. A black haired woman strode out from the trees, one hand holding a dagger.
Jack tensed, but smiled at the woman. "You must be Rapunzel's mother." he said cheerfully. "She's told me a lot about you."
"You stole my daughter!" she hissed.
Jack shrugged. "She's the one who asked to leave." he said. "Seems to me, at eighteen she ought to be old enough to make her own decisions."
Rapunzel's mother brandished her dagger, and Jack prepared for her to lunge at him. To his surprise, the woman instead drew the blade down the side of her own arm, drawing a line of blood. "Strike!" she hissed, and instantly the pooling blood turned black.
A bolt of energy hurtled towards his chest. "Whoa!" Jack said. He swung his staff and knocked it aside. The blast slammed into the grass, causing it to wilt and yellow.
The woman let out a sound of frustration, but repeated the action. "Strike!" she again called.
Ready this time, Jack easily batted the spell away, this time sending it back towards the witch. She was forced to dive aside, and Jack noticed strands of her hair turning from black to silver.
"I can keep doing this all day." Jack called, spinning his staff as the woman stood. He smiled at the deepening lines on the her face. "But you aren't looking too good, yourself."
His hunch paid off. The woman looked at her reflection in the knife and drew back in horror. "No!" she hissed, pulling her cloak around herself and stumbled towards the woods. As she reached the trees, she looked back towards him, her face filled with fury and loathing. "This isn't over." she snarled.
Jack grinned. "Glad to hear it." he called. "'Cause I've still got more to say about your parenting techniques."
