Author's Note - Here is a longer chapter to thank you for being patient with me :)

I would be very interested to hear about how you think their characterisation is going btw. I'm trying to keep them in character but I am also keeping in mind that the four of them, whilst adventurous in their own ways, are probably not likely to turn to pirating without the right set of circumstances, and these would have an effect on their personalities in their own ways. So each of them is a little harder, a little tougher and perhaps a little less naive with the world than they might have been as their canonical selves. Do they still come across ok? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Jack and Rapunzel both stood frozen in place. They watched each other warily, waiting to see what the other would do.

Jack shifted his feet subconsciously; was she going to run? He eyed the distance between them. She was faster than she looked – but he was quicker. He should be able to grab her without too much trouble if she decided to leg it, but it would be much easier if she didn't.

It had surprised him when he had finally put two and two together, but after thinking about it he was even more surprised he hadn't guessed sooner. All the clues were there – even if it would have been a stretch to figure out she was a princess who was never supposed to have existed, he should at least have realised she was royalty of some kind. Her royal purple cloak, expensive dress and the way the guards spoke of her as if she was someone very important to them... they were all the signs of someone who had been raised in privilege and he was kicking himself for ignoring his previous gut instinct that she was no ordinary run away. His mind flashed back to the abandoned nursery in the castle with the dusty crib. Had that been hers?

He studied her carefully to see what she would do now that her secret was out. At the moment she looked a little like a skittish deer caught in torchlight...no wait. Not a deer, more like a cat. Tense, nervous but with a look on her face that suggested she wasn't willing to surrender her new found freedom. She was obviously debating whether to run or bring out her claws.

Before he could try and convince her not to do anything hasty, she spoke.

"This doesn't change anything you know. I still have information you want and you are still my best hope of getting out of here. But if this is a problem I can always make my own way from here." She eyed him cautiously. She still trusted him to an extent, but she hadn't forgotten the cold look in his eye from earlier.

"Problem? Nope, no problem. Just curious is all." Jack forced himself to adopt a casual posture, shrugging his shoulders before sticking one hand in his pocket and leaning slightly on his staff. "I just don't see why a Princess would need to hide her identity – surely with all those guards you have enough protection already?"

"Well it's not exactly like you're all you seem either." She said defensively. When he opened his mouth to protest she held up her hand to stop him "Don't try and tell me you are – Merida practically admitted it to me that she was wearing a disguise earlier. No one who is completely open and honest has to do that, but I'm here, trusting you anyway."

Jack closed his mouth, nodding as he conceded her point. "Touche."

Rapunzel lowered her hands, fingers twitching with the urge to play with her hair as she felt an emotion rise suddenly within her – frustration. Who was he to be questioning her?! She was keeping her promise and that's all that should be important – what did it matter who she was?! She had been free for less than a day but already her identity had been discovered and she was sure he was judging her for it. "Poor little rich girl, she has no idea how hard the real word is." She imagined his mocking words in her head.

"I'm sure you wouldn't understand" she continued, her voice strained. "You have been free your whole life! Do you have any idea what it's like to be imprisoned; to have your whole life planned out for you with no way out? To live your whole life practically alone and invisible to the world?!"

As she spoke her voice had risen slowly to a shout; her hands balled into fists at her side. Realising that shouting was perhaps not the best thing to do in a wood possibly crawling with soldiers on the lookout for her, she cut herself off and glared at her feet. All Rapunzel could hear was her own heavy breathing and her heartbeat in her ears as she tried to gain control over herself. She felt more than just frustrated; she was angry. Not at Jack necessarily - at her whole situation. It was the first time she had allowed herself to rage at what she had been put through and she could feel herself shaking with pent up anger and hurt.

Her attention was caught by a soft murmur from Jack, reaching her across the silence that stretched between them. "Actually, I think you'd be surprised at how much of that we can relate to."

She looked up at him in surprise. His gaze was steady, empathetic and oddly calming. She unknowingly released some of the tension she held in her body.

"I can't speak for the others but being invisible...I can understand why you'd want to escape." He continued gently. "You won't find anyone in our crew who will judge you for trying to leave your old life behind, that's for sure. We'd all be hypocrites if we did." He offered her a grin.

She gave a small smile in return and there was another moment of silence as she fidgeted awkwardly. "So...we're good?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sure Princ- Rapunzel." He paused. "Sheesh that name's a mouthful. How about Blondie instead?"

"No." She said a touch too sharply. Seeing his eyebrow arch questioningly she replied more softly "Someone else used to call me that. I'd rather forget it." Her eyes flickered to Flynn's still form on the floor before snapping back to meet Jack's questioning gaze "How about...Punz?"

He looked thoughtful, as if considering it. "Hmmm Punz. Punzzzzzz. Yep, Punz could work. Punz it is!"

"Now it's starting to sound weird" she groaned, pulling a face.

"Too late!" he grinned cheerfully.

She stuck her tongue out before smiling back. Jack obviously had a knack for defusing tension in a situation – here she was smiling and feeling close to laughter only moments after shouting at him. His eyes twinkled merrily at her as he bent down to begin lifting the unconscious guards into the tree. Rolling her eyes with a sigh she went over to help him, making sure to hide the slight smile in the corner of her lips.

Jack might be frustrating, childish and even a little bit scary at times – but he was ok. And she would be ok with him.

...

Rapunzel skipped alongside Jack, breathing in deeply. With every step away from the city and her tower they got, the freer she felt. The air felt fresh in her lungs and smelled of flowers. She bent down to pluck a daisy and tucked it behind her ear.

Jack gave her a sidewise glance, happy to see she was in better spirits.

"You're cheery." He commented.

"Just appreciating the moment" she hummed.

They reached a small stream and she followed Jack as they made their way carefully across it, using well placed stones to avoid completely soaking their bare feet.

Jack paused as he reached the other side, turning to offer his hand and help Rapunzel up the bank. Surprisingly touched at his gentlemanly gesture she placed her hand in his to allow him to pull her up.

For a moment his thumb sensuously brushed the back of her hand causing her to stiffen and look up at him. His gaze was steady, almost serious for a moment – then in a blink of an eye it changed to a mischievous smirk and her eyes widened in alarm. He tugged her forwards, causing her to stumble slightly before landing against his chest, one hand still in his, the other clutching his shirt for support. He chuckled.

"And here I thought you'd finally realised you have a handsome devil like me all to yourself. Are you sure you weren't planning to jump me this whole time?"

He smiled down at her and winked. Rapunzel refused to react to his teasing flirtations but she could feel the heat starting to rise on her cheeks, so she gently pulled her hand out of his grasp and took a step back to put some space between them.

"I'll try to restrain myself Jack."

"Shame." He grinned wickedly. "Come on; tell me you don't find me attractive. If you tell me that, then I'll leave you alone." He looked at her smugly, feeling confident that she wouldn't.

She opened her mouth then closed it again. Ok, so technically she didn't find him un-attractive... her artist's eye drifted over his lithe yet muscled frame, tousled white hair and cheeky smile. Her wide green eyes met his mischievous blue ones.

Dang it, who was she trying to kid? He was good looking and he knew it. It shouldn't mean anything to say it – she could truthfully admit that her own father was an attractive man without it meaning anything after all – but there was no way she could say this particular truth without it going to Jack's head and making him 10 times worse. Her power would not allow her to lie, but a creative avoidance of the question with a few helpfully placed implications should do the trick. She smiled inwardly.

Crossing her arms she looked him up and down. "I have not met a great deal of men in my life to compare you with Jack. Tell me, are skinny white haired people often considered attractive amongst the general public?"

His face dropped slightly before turning into a humorous pout, and she could not stop a wicked giggle from escaping her lips. Shaking her head half in despair, half in amusement at his relentless flirting, she opened her mouth to tell him they better keep moving when the bush next to her rustled loudly.

Shrieking, she jumped backwards and promptly fell, backside first, into the stream. Visions of guards armed with ropes ready to drag her back to the tower shot through her mind, but all that emerged was...a rabbit.

Jack's pout disappeared in a flash as he doubled over, clutching his sides as he cried with laughter.

"Jack!" she chided, standing up and looking down at her sodden cloak and trousers in dismay. Luckily the edge of the stream had been extremely shallow so only the back of her trousers and cloak were wet but it didn't make it any more pleasant. She trudged back up the bank with a sigh.

"Oh you should have seen your face! Moons no! Not a rabbit! Anything but that!" Jack shrieked in mock terror.

"You're mean, you know that?" she said half heartedly, trying to ring out as much water as she could onto the grass.

He continued to chuckle, but in a more restrained manner as he leaned over to pick up her bag. "Yeah...but at least my biggest fear isn't a fluffy cottontail." He nudged her playfully.

She rolled her eyes but still found a smile working its way to her lips.

"Ok ok, it was pretty funny. I guess I'm still more jumpy than I thought."

Jack consulted his compass before replying "Well we should be nearly there by now. Once we find the cove we can set up a fire and get you dried off." He squinted at the sky, taking in the dying light. "At least it's only the back of your cloak and trousers so you shouldn't get too cold before then now the sun's going down."

Nodding, Rapunzel finished wringing out what she could of her cloak and accepted her bag back from Jack as he handed it to her. She tried not to wince at the feel of her sodden hair slapping against the back of her legs; since it was so long she had ended up sitting on it underneath the cloak and she could feel the extra water weight pulling at her head.

As Jack had predicted, they soon emerged from the trees to find themselves in a small open space at the top of a cliff. Moving forward to peer over the edge, they could make out a small sandy cove in the fading light.

"Can you see a way down?" Rapunzel asked, wondering if they would need to climb down the rock face without the aid of rope since they had used it all on Max and Flynn. It's a good thing she wasn't afraid of heights.

"Err...gimme a sec."

Jack began to wander along the border of the cliff, searching amongst the hardy shrubbery that lined the edge. Rapunzel watched him nervously. All it would take is a single slip of the foot, or for one of those bushes to decide that this was the moment to come loose and Jack would find himself tumbling over the edge. Her fingers twitched nervously and she fidgeted with her cloak.

Jack ignored the prickly shrubs as he pushed their branches to the side. He was trying to get closer to the edge so he could see if there was a better way down. Somewhere that was less steep, or had suitable cracks or holes for climbing. Or even...

Pushing aside one particularly stubborn bush, a roughly cut pathway emerged before him.

That'll work.

"Punz, this way!" he called over his shoulder. Without waiting to see if she would follow, he continued to shove the stubborn bush out of the way and squeezed past, wincing as the thorns scratched his skin and tugged at his clothing.

Once free of the bush's grip he appraised the path with a sharp eye. It was steep, uneven and incredibly narrow but would get them down to the sand much easier than climbing down the cliff face would have.

Hearing Rapunzel pushing through the bushes behind him he turned to make sure she was ok before moving onwards. The bushes may be inconvenient but they also provided brilliant cover. Anyone who might come this way looking for them shouldn't be able to spot the pathway since it was cut into the cliff and the bushes hid the top.

The path could have been treacherous in the fast approaching darkness, so Jack was thankful that he had excellent night vision. A small body bumping gently into his back reminded him that Rapunzel however, did not.

"Ooof. Sorry." She apologised softly. "I was trying to look at my feet to make sure I didn't go over the edge..."

"It's alright. Put your hand on my shoulder and follow me."

"Can you see where you're going ok?" her voice had a slight nervous quiver, but she placed her hand on his shoulder all the same.

"Sure! I'm a good boy and always eat my carrots." He paused to look over his shoulder and smile reassuringly. "Don't worry Punz. My eye sight's real good in the dark, and besides – the moon is coming up."

Sure enough a crescent moon was starting to rise into the sky, its silver light helping to illuminate the way. They managed to make it to the beach without too much trouble, the worst injury being a stubbed toe.

The first thing they did upon finally reaching the meeting point was to start up a fire. As Jack pointed out, they needed some sort of signal for the ship to let them know to send out the row boat, but it would also help to warm them up and dry off Rapunzel's damp clothes. Luckily the weather had been very dry recently so the drift wood they found was usable, and the sky was now dark enough that no one should be able to see the rising smoke from the forest.

Settling down next to the fire, Rapunzel couldn't help but sigh in relief at the warmth that washed over her and the feel of the soft sand against her feet. She may have craved the feel of nature beneath her feet after years of stone, but today had certainly been a trial by fire – burning roof tiles, cobblestones, grass and rocks and plenty of climbing and walking. The sand now felt like silk against her poor feet and she wriggled her toes into it in delight.

Looking over at Jack as he flopped down on the sand next to her, she wondered if his feet felt the same. It didn't look like they were bothering him, but perhaps he was just good at hiding it.

Shivering slightly as a gentle breeze blew across her, she suddenly realised she was still wearing her damp cloak; and then a second realisation arrived almost immediately on the heels of the first – there was no reason for her to wear it any more.

Its main purpose had always been to hide her hair, but now she didn't need to blend into any crowds, Jack already knew she was a princess and any guards who found them now wouldn't need to see her hair to guess she was the person they were after. The suspicious lurking around in a hidden cove would do that for them.

It was likely she would be on the ship with Merida, Jack and the rest of the crew for at least a week in order to get somewhere that was far enough from home for her to wander freely. The likelihood that she would be able to avoid revealing her hair in all that time was about zero. Besides, she had promised Merida she would tell her the truth and she could never break a promise.

Watching Jack slyly out of the corner of her eye she smiled to herself. Since he was going to find out anyway, she might as well have a bit of fun with it.

She stood and unclasped the cloak casually, laying it in front of her so that it could be easily warmed by the fire. Sitting back down, she leaned back on her hands and waited.

Jack meanwhile had been watching the flames flicker before his eyes, allowing himself to get hypnotised by them. It had been a frantic day – but that was what he liked best. Being continually on the go, on to the next adventure, the next challenge, the next...something. Anything to avoid looking backwards.

He wasn't sure why he was like this. It was like there was a hole inside him that constantly ached to be filled, but nothing ever seemed to satisfy it.

He closed his eyes and a few flashing images skitted across his eyelids – shivering in doorways with no where to go, unfriendly faces staring at his strange hair and skin with distrust, or even worse, sliding right past him as if he wasn't there. His own blue eyes staring back at him in the mirror and just feeling that something wasn't right…

He absentmindedly twirled the earring in his ear. The jewelled hummingbird, his staff and his necklace. They were his only clues to a past long forgotten, but he knew only madness and despair lay in the seeking of it. Far better to keep running, keep filling the hole with fun and gold and adventure.

Merida and Hiccup had been the ones to find him – to give him new purpose and a home. He laughed to himself as he remembered Merida catching him cheating at cards when they first met. He thought she was going to take his hand off but instead she had offered him a place on her ship. The fire kind of reminded him of Merida actually. It held a remarkable resemblance to the way her curls moved in the wind, when she stood at the helm and shouted orders at them all until her face turned as red as her hair. He smiled fondly.

He wondered what Merida had seen in this strange royal runaway in order to make her trust her. Then again, he supposed the same could be said of him. He glanced over at his blonde companion and was about to enquire if she was warm enough yet when his eyes landed on something rather odd.

"Your hair!" he gaped.

"Hmm? What about it?" she replied in an unconcerned manner, trying to hide the smirk in her voice.

"It's...long!"

"Well observed Jack. You're brighter than you look."

"Don't give me that. It's not just long it's...wow, how long is it exactly?!"

"Um, I'm not sure, I haven't measured it for a while. About seventy feet maybe?"

"Seventy..." his voice faded off in amazement as he gawked at it open mouthed. Suddenly a thoughtful look crossed his face. "You carry all that around? All the time?!"

"Well it's not likely to be only every other Wednesday is it? Of course all the time Jack!" she rolled her eyes.

He whistled, impressed. "Your neck must be stronger than it looks Punz." He moved to crouch behind her and inspected her hair more closely, lifting her braid into his hands.

"Your hair's so thick we could probably hide Shorty in here! Wow it's like spun gold... Oh!" he dropped her hair, dancing around to face her as his eyes lit up with excitement. "Tell me you smuggled out some of the crown jewels with you in there! How about a tiara? Or sapphires?!"

Staying seated she looked up at him and couldn't help but giggle at how excited he got at the thought of treasure. She held up a finger "Ok one: I don't think parading my tiara around would have been the best way to stay hidden and two: if I had jewels on me don't you think I wouldn't have just bought myself a horse or passage on the first ship out of here rather than go through all this trouble?" she raised an eyebrow.

He pouts. "But...sapphires! You're telling me you didn't bring anyvaluables with you?"

"I didn't need money in the tower Jack – everything I needed was brought to me and even if it wasn't, I wasn't exactly free to just pop down to the market."

He pouted, falling to the sand with a thump. Rapunzel shivered slightly in the wind and moved closer to the fire. Out of the corner of her eye she could still see Jack staring at her, obviously bursting with a question. It was probably about her tower. There had been enough information dropped now for him to realise that was where she had lived and that she hadn't been free to leave despite her royal status. It was only natural to wonder exactly why that was.

She sighed in resignation "Go on. What do you want to ask?"

"How do you wash it?"

Of all the things she expected him to ask, that wasn't one of them.

"Wha- what?" she spluttered, half laughing.

"How do you wash it?" he grinned.

"With water in a bucket like anyone else!"

"That's a lot of hair."

"There are a lot of buckets."

"How much time does it take?"

"I can't believe we're sitting here, waiting to be smuggled away in the dead of night and we're talking about how I wash my hair!"

"Well we can talk about how I wash my hair if you like?"

He grinned at her and they both burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

Jack wasn't an idiot (despite how he may come across at times). He knew there was more of a story behind why she had such long hair – it was probably tied to why she hadn't been allowed to leave her tower for what sounds like her entire life. But now wasn't the time to ask. He had seen the tension around her eyes and the way her smiling mouth had straightened into thin lines as the conversation moved towards her previous home.

There would be plenty of time to find out the rest of her story – but now was not it.

Leaning back, he lay down on the sand with his hands behind his head and gazed up at the stars.

"It shouldn't be too much longer now" he murmured lazily.

"Do you think we should get some more driftwood for the fire?" Rapunzel asked, eyeing the dwindling flames with concern.

"You can get some if you like."

"You're not going to help?"

"Nah" he closed his eyes and smirked, knowing without looking that she would be giving him an irritated look.

"Hmm." He heard her voice drift over to him. "I suppose this could always do. It's certainly big enough. Looks a bit old but should burn well. Shame you'll have to find a new weapon..."

He sat bolt upright to find her holding his staff tauntingly above the flames and smirking down at him.

"Ha ha, very funny" he responded a little nervously. How had she taken that away from his side without him hearing? She was sneakier than he had expected.

"What do you think Jack? Think this will be enough firewood?" she teased.

"I dunno. I don't think it will burn for very long – I think your hair is a better option since you have so much of it to spare don't you think?" His voice was light and almost flippant when he replied, but there was a concern in his eyes that meant Rapunzel knew he was genuinely worried for his staff. She didn't have the heart to keep the joke going and tossed it back to him.

Deftly catching it, Jack couldn't help the relief that went through him once his staff was safely back in his hands and away from the flames. He gave Rapunzel a grateful smile, acknowledging defeat. Brushing the sand from his clothes as he stood to help her search, both of them froze, eyes locking on each other as voices drifted over the top of the cliff.

They weren't close enough to make out what the voices were saying yet, but they were definitely getting closer.

"The fire!" Jack hissed, flinging his pack onto his back.

Frantically they both started throwing as much sand as they could over the flames to smother it – thankfully it was already burning low. Once the fire was out, Jack grabbed Rapunzel's hand whilst she snatched up her cloak and bag and they sprinted towards the cliff to press themselves against the wall and into the shadows.

"Do you think they saw-"

Jack clasped his hand over Rapunzel's mouth to stop her speaking, just before a voice drifted down to them.

"Can you see anything down there?"

"No, can you?"

"Sir, we just had a report from Jenkins – Max and Flynn have been found unconscious and tied up in a tree!"

"A tree?! What were they doing up there?"

"Well, they were tied up there with rope sir, I don't think they actually meant to..."

"Yes, yes I get it. Dismissed. Rooke, have you found a way down into that cove yet? I want to be 100% sure no one could have gone that way before we move on."

"On it Sir."

Releasing Rapunzel's mouth, Jack held a finger up to his lips and gestured for Rapunzel to go ahead of him so they could begin moving silently along the wall. They could only pray that the pathway would remain hidden amongst the bushes, because short of swimming into the ocean they had run out of places to run.