Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE PREVIEW PICTURE! IT BELONGS TO HoliMeiMei ON DEVIANTART! I also do not own any of the characters. All I own is the storyline.
They tried to pick up right where they had left off. The long kisses, the laced fingers…the conversations that lasted hours and still didn't feel long enough. But Jack had a nagging feeling that things could never be exactly the same as they were.
Rapunzel had matured, for one thing. Not mentally, no. She was still the same girl he had left behind two years ago, with her bubbling optimism and constant eagerness for anything fun. But physically she looked older. He face had grown less round and her cheeks less chubby, and her hair had grown another couple feet or so. The differences were subtle, but they reminded Jack that she was now 19. And he himself was still 17, not getting any older after his untimely death.
The thought of her aging scared him, but he forced himself to push it to the back of his mind. It wasn't an issue that had to be dealt with immediately, and for the time being she still looked more or less the same age as him. Right now, he was determined to enjoy his off-season, and was delighted that he got to stay with Rapunzel past July 6 for the very first time.
But Rapunzel…despite himself, he noticed she was acting different. She would hold him a little tighter, kiss him a little harder. When she had to leave him to go home every day, she would grab both his hands and act as if she was leaving him for a decade, not a night. And Jack knew exactly why. She was terrified of losing him again.
But she didn't have to be. He had promised not to leave her again, and he intended to keep that promise.
"So you said the moon told you your name was Jack Frost," Rapunzel piped up one day. "Jack Frost as in…the winter spirit? 'Nipping at your nose' Jack Frost?"
Jack chuckled. "That's the one. There was another one before me, though. I guess he's the guy you hear about in the legends and stuff."
"What happened to him?"
Jack looked away uncomfortably. "He…died. Did something to piss the Boogieman off, apparently. So I've made it a priority to not get on that guy's bad side."
"The Boogieman is real?" Rapunzel bit her lip uneasily.
"Unfortunately," Jack sighed. "Luckily, he doesn't show his face much. He has a little hideaway down in Antarctica where he spends most of his time. The Guardians say he hasn't bothered them for years."
Rapunzel gazed at him in concern. "But what if he's after you?"
"Nah." Jack smiled cockily, waving a hand in dismissal. "I'm not nearly as dumb as the last Jack Frost. From what the tooth fairy told me, he thought it would be a grand idea to prank the Boogieman by sneaking into his lair and freezing all of his nightmare sand. Needless to say, that really pissed him off. Nah Zellie, I'm not interested in pranking anyone nearly as creepy as the Boogieman. I'd much rather annoy the Easter bunny."
Rapunzel still looked uncertain. "So…that's the only reason he killed him?"
"From what I understand," Jack replied. "Honestly, the guy sounds like such a killjoy. I mean…murdering some kid just because he pranked him? Kind of extreme. But hey, I'd say the best way to solve the problem is to stay well out of his way. He's like a bee, you know? Don't bother him, he won't bother you."
"Except instead of stinging you, he'll murder you."
The words made Jack wince but he forced a grin. "I'll be fine. Really, Zellie, stop worrying about me! Dude's not gonna go murdering me without provocation."
"Well he'd better not, because I'm not about to lose you twice." Rapunzel unexpectedly pulled him into a kiss, and he eagerly reciprocated. His lips were so cold now, but she didn't care. He was still Jack, the boy she'd been in love with for years. His hands wrapping around her waist were still as strong and sturdy as ever, even if their icy touch sent shivers down her spine now.
"So do you frost up windows?" Rapunzel asked after they had pulled apart. "Like the mythical Jack Frost?"
"Oh, sure." To demonstrate, he tapped his staff on the rock. Fronds and laces of frost curved over the hard surface. Rapunzel eagerly ran a hand over the designs.
"Do it again!" she demanded. Jack laughed at her bossy tone, but was happy to oblige.
He painted her anything she wanted. Curling geometric patterns, flowers, dolphins, sea turtles. She seemed excited by everything, her bubblegum tail wriggling like a puppy's.
"They're so beautiful," she sighed.
"Just like you," he added. She blushed bright pink.
"But you wanna see what else I can do?"
Her eyes widened. "Wait, there's more?"
"Sure there is!" Jack leaned his staff down and touched the top of the water, causing it to freeze. The ice spread throughout the cove, reaching into the darkness of the caves.
Rapunzel leaned down and gingerly touched the now-frozen ocean, yelping at the cold and pulling her hand back. However, her face quickly broke into a wide smile and she lowered herself down onto the ice, gleefully slipping around on it.
Jack had to work to keep it frozen, since the hot summer sun was not exactly cooperating with his creations. Finally, he was thoroughly worn out and had to let the ice melt under the young mermaid. As she splashed into the cold water, she gave him a pouty look.
He smiled sheepishly. "Ah, sorry. It was draining my energy."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Her pout instantly changed to an apologetic look.
He shrugged. "Well, it wasn't that tiring. Besides, I don't mind getting tired for you."
To demonstrate his point, he formed a snow cloud over her head. She giggled as the little crystals began to billow around her and catch in her hair. She snatched at them with her hands, gazing at them before they melted away.
"But you want to know what the best thing I can do is?" he asked, dissolving the snow cloud.
"What's that?" Rapunzel looked up.
He leapt up and hovered several feet above the ground, floating in lazy circles around the cove.
"You can fly?"
"Sure." He let himself drop and settled next to her on the ledge. "You didn't think I came all this way to find you by walking, now did you?"
"Well, I kind of thought you just took a plane," Rapunzel admitted.
He smirked. "Right, because winter spirits travel via plane with their fancy first-class boarding passes."
She swatted him. "Hey, I didn't know you could fly! I just figured since you're invisible, it wouldn't be that hard to sneak in a plane."
"Not that hard, no, but I'd go insane being cooped up for that long. Nah, it's a lot more fun to feel the wind in your face and not have to follow a flight path."
"You used to be cooped up and follow a flight path." Rapunzel's eyes glinted with something like nostalgia. "Back when you flew here as a kid."
Jack looked away, suddenly wishing he could be young again. Young and alive, with a family that loved him and friends to hang out with and no Boogieman possibly wanting his blood.
"Well, I guess that's one of the great things about being dead," he said, forcing a smile. "You don't have to follow petty little mortal rules anymore."
Her face suddenly grew sad, and he felt a twist in his gut. He didn't know what it was, but he had said something to upset her. He quickly shrugged it off, trying to think of a way to cheer her up.
"Hey, wanna come for a fly with me?" he piped up.
She gazed at him, puzzled. "What?"
"I want to take you flying," he repeated. "Remember when we were kids, and you would take me for swims? You would go really, really fast and I would practically drown, but I loved it? Well, consider this payback for that."
"But…how?"
"You just lay on my back and wrap your arms around my neck and hold on really tight," he explained. "I'll do everything else." She looked uncertain. "If you fall, I'll be right there to catch you," he added hastily.
"O—okay." He pressed his belly into the rock, his head sitting at an uncomfortable angle as Rapunzel squirmed onto his back. She clasped her thin hands around him, and he could feel her heavy, nervous breathing on the back of his neck.
He started to rise into the air, and her grip around him tightened. Her tail was pressed flat against his back, the water dripping from it turning to ice as it touched his trousers.
And just like that, he shot into the sky. Rapunzel screamed, her long hair streaming out of the water and trailing behind her.
As they entered the cloud cover, her shrieks faded out. Her head pressed against his shoulder, she took one of her hands away from his neck and lifted it up, running it through the moist water droplets of cloud as they passed. He couldn't see her face, but Jack imagined her looking all around, trying to imprint in her mind the image of every single cloud.
"Pretty cool, huh?" he prompted.
"This is amazing," Rapunzel replied breathlessly.
"Well then, wait 'til you see this," Jack said. "Hold on tight, Zellie!"
She clutched his neck again, and he dived back through the cloud layer, spinning around and around like a bullet. Rapunzel screamed again, but this time with elation. Jack darted around the air with spins and flips, like some sort of aerial acrobat. Rapunzel had long since forgotten the terror of plummeting into the ocean far below, and could only think about the adrenaline raging through her blood like liquid fire and her heart beating a thousand times a minute.
At last Jack began to lower himself down toward the vast expanse of water, finding his way back to their caves with surprising ease. "Dizzy yet?" he asked.
"I might be sick," Rapunzel admitted.
He touched down on the ledge and she rolled off his back. To his relief she didn't vomit, but they both lay there panting for several seconds.
Finally Jack sat up, and Rapunzel followed suit, leaning against him. She took his hand and laced her fingers with his.
"It's just like those fairy tale books Mother used to get me," she said. "About mermaids learning to swim up into the sky."
"Maybe they were all on the backs of winter spirits," Jack replied, a sly grin on his face.
Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Or maybe some of them got pulled out of frozen ponds and got magical powers, just like you. Stop trying to give winter spirits all the glory!"
He raised his eyebrows. "Do mermaids even live in ponds?"
She shrugged. "Beats me. I've never been outside this body of water to check."
"I don't feel like they'd fit. I just think someone would notice if they kept glimpsing long, billowy hair and brightly-colored fishtails under their fishing boat."
"Not if the mermaids were smart!" Rapunzel argued. "They could just hide in the swampgrass or the mud every time there were humans nearby."
"Well, yes, but they'd have to eat," Jack countered. "So, presuming mermaids live off of a diet of fish and aquatic plants, nearby fishermen and wildlife catalogers would start to notice the disappearance of fish and plants in the pond. Also, if they accidentally eat too many fish and they die out, BOOM. Mermaids starve. They can't just get out and walk to another pond!"
"So they contact one of the flying mermaids from earlier to get them to another pond!"
"Oh, so mermaids can communicate via telepathy now?"
"Well…maybe! They gained the ability to fly, who knows what else they can do?"
"The Man in the Moon doesn't grant telepathy powers!"
"Not to you! Maybe to mermaids because we're better than humans!" At this, she stuck her tongue out at him like a little kid.
"Hey!" He glared at her. "I'm the one who just let you fly for the first time!"
She snorted. "Only because I let you swim with me!"
"Fair enough," Jack sighed. "Tell you what. How about we make out and then call it even?"
Rapunzel grinned. "Sounds good to me. And then we're finishing this discussion!"
They both leaned it and mashed their lips together, thoughts of mermaids in ponds fading as their tongues pressed together and their mouths filled with heat.
"Are you not even going to try?"
Pitch ran a finger down the little black fairy's back, giving her his familiar cunning smirk.
"Dearest Ebony, we can't corrupt this one. I made a mistake killing off the last one. He was much better suited, but I threw away my chance."
The fairy crossed her tiny arms. "He refused to join you! And then destroyed half of your nightmare sand!"
Pitch chuckled. "Just showed he had spirit. I'd say the kid was just bitter and looking for someone to hate, and unfortunately he settled on me instead of the Guardians. No, he certainly had the sort of temperament I could use, but he was stubborn." Pitch sighed wistfully. "That's why I got rid of him. Looking back, I wish I had tried harder to sway him."
"So what's wrong with the new kid?" Ebony asked. "Why can't you corrupt him? Maybe he'll be more impressionable."
"No, my dear, I'm afraid not. Not at all."
"How do you know?" Ebony snapped. "Corruption can't be that hard! I mean, you corrupted me!"
"Ah, but you were easy, my dear." Pitch petted the fairy's head, regarding her mockingly. "You were filled with anger. Anger that your glittering rainbow-feathered boss got to lounge in her palace day in and day out while you did all the work. All I did was embellish something that was already there."
"So what makes you think the new kid isn't angry? Or bitter?" Ebony shot back. "No one believes in him. He doesn't know why the Moon chose him. He's got no one for company except the Guardians themselves, and out of them he only actually likes Toothiana. And even then it's only really because she's all he has. There's no real loyalty there. So…" The little black fairy searched him with piercing amber eyes identical to his own. "Why don't we shut up and corrupt him?"
"Because you're wrong, Ebony!" Pitch spat with such ferocity that the mouthy fairy winced. "Toothiana isn't all Jack has, as much as I wish that were true. Don't you know about his lovely mermaid girlfriend?"
"A mermaid?" Ebony gawked in disbelief. "Together with a spirit? How on earth did that happen?"
"Oh, never mind how it happened," Pitch growled. "That's anyone's guess. Point is, this mergirl is in love with him. Which means she believes in him. I've been watching them, Ebony…and believe me, from what I see, it looks as though he's barely concerned with getting believers anymore. He could live the rest of his pathetic existence being seen by no one but that stupid blonde, and he'd be fine with it."
Ebony didn't look impressed. "I don't see why that's such an obstacle. We just kill her, and then he's angry and bitter again. We can corrupt him them."
Pitch laughed darkly. "I think you fail to see the issue here. For one thing, he's not a complete moron. It wouldn't be that hard for him to trace her death back to us. But the central problem is that he's capable of love. Deep, unfaltering, unconditional love. You can't just override something like that."
"Oh, that's ridiculous," Ebony huffed. "The Moon always chooses people capable of love. Hell, they usually make some sacrifice in the name of it to be chosen in the first place! If you want a Jack Frost who can't love, you're going to be waiting forever."
"Ah, but you see, my dear, most of the chosen wake up with a clean slate. They can't remember a thing about who they were in their mortal lives, or the people they cared for. But this one…he didn't. He remembered the blonde mermaid girl for some reason. Which means that right from the start, he's been useless to us. His love for this girl's going to hold him back, prevent him from ever being able to be fully corrupted."
"That's such a load of rot," the black fairy scoffed. "We can use his feelings for her as a means of corrupting him. She's not going to live forever. All we have to do is wait her life out and then take advantage of the kid's grief to get him on our side."
Pitch smirked. "Well, that does sound like a lot of fun. There's nothing I'd enjoy more than watching that cocky boy squirm as his beautiful girlfriend shrivels with age. But unfortunately, he would probably still refuse to join us out of principle. Because that's not what she would have wanted."
Ebony sighed. "So you really think he's that loyal?"
"Yes. I've seen them together. And anyhow, I'm not willing to wait around to see if he is or not. I want to go to war with the Guardians soon, and we're going to need allies."
"All right. So what do you suggest we do?"
Pitch sighed, shuffling his feet restlessly. "We kill Jack Frost and hope we have slightly better luck with the next one."
Yay, Jack Frost-using-his-ice-powers-to-entertain-Rapunzel fluff! Always a fun time, right? Heh, I originally wasn't going to include that whole bit and the first half of the chapter was just going to be angst and exposition, but then I was like…fuck it, I've just put both these characters through a lot of shit, I'm going to let them have some fun! But then when they got into an argument about whether mermaids live in ponds, I wasn't actually sure where that would end up, so I just decided to have them make out and call it a day XD
And now—are you ready for it—ACTUAL BAD GUYS! You thought this story wouldn't have any physical antagonists? YOU THOUGHT WRONG! JK, you probably saw this coming from a mile away because Pitch Black is ALWAYS the bad guy in non-modern AU Jackunzel fics…but what can I say? He's a damn good villain and he can fuck shit up real bad, making for some fantastic conflict/drama for your fanfic. And god, I freaking LOVE Ebony XD She was originally just a character I made up and threw in there solely so that Pitch could have a minion and have someone to tell his evil plans to, but as I wrote her, I got super hyped up about what a mouthy little bitch she is. She ain't taking shit from no one, the Nightmare King or otherwise! I have half a mind to give her her own spin-off fanfiction XD