To say the Queen of Corona was ecstatic to hear of good news relating to her daughter was an understatement.
If it were not for her professionalism and regal status as ruler, she would be showing her over-the-moon happiness and relief over the new she had just been given by dancing all around the room. Selene hadn't felt anything like this in years, and hope itself was rising from a long slumber in the pit of her stomach. She had instantly stood up as her friend delivered the news, the book fell off her lap and left open on the polished floor, ignored. Beside her stood her husband, King Hilbert, sharing looks of hope and joy with his wife.
Their daughter WAS alive.
But even they knew not get too excited so soon; anticipation then reared its head next as both royals looked back at the bearer of hopeful news standing with folded arms, beaming at the positive atmosphere he was giving to them.
She had never doubted him, both haven't. They knew North would someday bring them something that will help them find their daughter. Selene was right in giving the guardian the petal; he would never have let her, down. North had entered the room a short moment ago by his magic portal device. Fortunately no maid or servant was around at the time to witness their surprise at nothing in particular. Hilbert had reacted in shock by the unexpected visit, by an average afternoon, Selene instead had smiled in welcome to her best friend.
Clearing his throat as politely as he could, the jolly spirit of wonder continued with his report. "Her hair glowed like the sunlight, according to one of my comrade's friends. Not only that, but this tower is hidden with a valley around the far off forests. The perfect place to hide someone who shouldn't be found, no?" North remarked in amusement.
"Indeed." Hilbert nodded, stepping forward with a stance of regal and confidence. "I will send guards there immediately. If this tower does contain our daughter, we should retrieve her immediately. Who knows what that witch has done to her all these years." There was a slight tremble to his deep sophisticated voice. Even though depression had draped like a curtain over the King's shoulders over the decade, that didn't mean anger wasn't going to show its ugly head here and there. His wife would be a hypocrite to disagree with his concealed rage.
"But how do we exactly know this is our Rapunzel in that tower?" Selene asked North, her green orbs misted by renewed hope and anxiety. What if they mistook her for their child? "Do we have any more evidence? We can't just assume right away this is our daughter in that structure; we will have to make sure."
The guardian nodded, smiling proudly. "Cautious as always, Selene." The Queen smiled a little at the compliment. "And luckily for us, I already have the answer. A fellow Guardian, Sandy, discovered a cloaked figure exiting the valley and identified the cloak the same design and colour as the one who took the girl as a baby."
Hilbert then approached his beloved and gently grasped her soft hand with his own, giving it a pump of reassurance, as his aged features brightening more at what he was hearing. "Then it must be her. But even so, Selene is right; we have to be completely certain first. I trust one of your allies is currently watching this tower as we speak?"
The Queen was looking at the marble floor without realizing it, the image nearly eighteen years ago playing in her mind. The figure in the cloak. Even after all these years, Selene will never forget the gray eyes of hatred that had stared back into her own blurry ones that night, as though they had taken something that belonged to her. Through her tired orbs and the shade of night the Queen made out the pale sharp features of the older woman who took Rapunzel away from her. North, years back, summarized to a grieving Selene her daughter must have been taken for a reason.
There had been rumours throughout centuries in the kingdom of an old woman who was said to know the location of the mysterious golden flower and guarded it with her life. How its existence was discovered was an elusive secret, but Corona as a whole claimed it came from the sun itself as a single drop. If all of this was true, then, she reluctantly thought to herself, the witch who stole Rapunzel may have a justified reason then, somehow finding out the circumstances.
But reason or not, the Queen had said to herself a decade before, she will never forgive this witch that took the one thing that meant the whole world to her.
Justice will be served. In the name of family.
"-trailing the woman responsible for the kidnapping. Tooth is keeping an eye on the current residents of the tower. And Bunny is busy with trying to take down the magical shield preventing us spirits from entering-"
Hearing the words, Selene snapped her head back up, ignoring the crick for doing so. Did she hear that correctly from her musings? "Residents?" She cut the spirit off worriedly. There were more than just the two; the witch and Rapunzel?
"Magical shield?" Hilbert asked beside Selene and frowned, already knowing that anything preventing a spirit, let alone a guardian, from entering.
But the King's query was seemingly ignored as North was nodding to Selene, whether positively or negatively they had no clue. "Yes. It appears the tower has a third occupant. A spirit, if you can believe it. We were taken a little aback by this revelation, but I doubt it will cause us too much trouble in getting back your daughter, my friends." An amused thought then apparently crossed his mind as North mused, "It seems interactions with my kind runs in the family, eh Selene?"
She ignored the question. "Who is this spirit?" Selene asked, desiring to get as much information about this tower and its occupants as possible. "Her captor besides the witch?"
North sighed. "That I do not know... but they seem close." Close? As in friendship-close? The spirit noticed the questioning look on the Queen's face and continued. "Yes, close. How close I do not know. His name is Jack Frost."
Jack Frost.
"Jack Frost." Selene rolled the name off her tongue, frowning a little at the unfamilar name of a spirit."I'm afraid that name is a stranger to me." She didn't recall a moment in her childhood of North ever mentioning a 'Jack Frost'. Regardless, if this man is involved with Rapunzel's imprisonment, the same justice as the witch will be handed to him.
"We know little about him, except for Bunny, who apparently always has his days ruined by him. But that could just be his exaggeration." North shrugged.
"Anything you do know will be greatly appreciated, North." Hilbert replied gratefully, releasing his wife's hand and clasping both his own behind like it was an everyday meeting in the throne room. "Surely you must know something."
"Jack is apparently sort of a loner; having been born a century ago, never having interacted with any of the spirits apart from our unfortunate rabbit." The spirit folded his arms in a similar business-like manner, "Also a mischief and troublemaker, always causing snow to fall at the most improper of times. Not exactly one to follow the rules, as you can imagine. But he hasn't hurt anyone, from what I have heard, so I'm not complaining. And he is one of the many never to have been sighted and interact with a human before; his name as a legend referring to some deity of the snow. Until now it appears."
Both royals nodded, listening intently with serious gazes.
Catching their look, North suddenly added hastily, "I know what you are both thinking. And no, to my knowledge, I don't believe he has any intention of hurting your daughter. Or is even aware of the situation at all. Bunny had remarked when we found out is that Jack may be many things; but a kidnapper or being an accomplice of a witch are not one of those things. My assumption: he may have found Rapunzel by complete accident."
"But what if he is? What if he is dangerous? Your description of this man doesn't place him in a good light, North." Hilbert inquired, not as willing as Selene to believe Rapunzel was in safe hands with anyone but their own.
"Which is why Tooth, while taking breaks now and then from her duties, will be keeping an eye on the tower and its resident and reporting back to the Guardians daily. If Jack is dangerous, then rest assured we will work twice as fast in getting back your daughter." North vowed earnestly to them, bowing shortly to reflect his intentions.
Despite what she was hearing, Selene cracked a smile at the unneeded action. "No need to prove as such to us, old friend. We have complete confidence in you." She glanced at Hilbert's uncertain gaze and placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, reassuring him everything will be alright. He, in return, brightened his face a little to show he was just as supportive over what the Guardians were doing.
"You do not need to worry," She heard North say happily, "Bunny is taking care of the force-field as we speak. I have full confidence in his abilities."
"Ya... bloody... witchcraft!"
The pooka yelled in frustration again and again as he did what the jolly spirit requested before said guardian departed to melt up his royal friends.
It must have been half an hour now, incredible! Thirty solid minutes firing away with his boomerangs at this damn magic shield! Why did he have to be the one to take care of the shield, anyway? As much as Bunny was reluctant to admit it, he had zero experience with witch magic. But North insisted him to do so. Now the pooka was regretting every second of agreeing to it.
"I don' get paid enough for this..." He muttered bitterly to himself as he continued hitting the barrier again and again. How did Frost get into this barrier anyway...?
"You mentioned they looked close." The Queen stated without looking at the spirit, searching through the packed shelves of books for any information pertaining to this new spirit.
"From what we were told, it appeared as much." North replied behind her, having taken a seat in the massive library they had just entered, still informing them everything he knew of the tower, the boy and Rapunzel. "Especially with how she willingly healed him."
"How do we even know she didn't just do it out of obedience?" Even behind her Selene could picture her doubtful husband shaking his head. "This boy could just be an accomplice of this witch, and tricked Rapunzel into aiding his wounds."
"The look of concern on her face said otherwise, my friend." Selene frowned at the honest reply, but a sense of pride and relief welled up in her knowing her daughter cared for others. "Jack didn't force her to tend to his injuries, I am certain of that. I trust the word of my sources. You must be positive about this, Rapunzel has a friend who is taking care of her until she returns to her true home."
Selene never, in her life, doubted her friend's words. Of course North can be exaggerate and childlike at times, if not all the time, but that hardly means he was wrong with everything. If this Jack Frost, whom Selene couldn't seem to find as she carefully read the covers of these countless rows of books, was her daughter's friend, then there may be a chance to find him and request he return Rapunzel to her rightful home, in the safe loving arms of her true parents. Yet one objection kept struck her mind, inciting a frown.
"Even so, North, that still does nothing to explain how this spirit can get through this barrier that prevents the entry of you and your guardians." Hilbert voiced the question that was in her mind. She felt eyes turn to her. "Have you found anything?"
Selene closed her eyes and shook her head, "Nothing yet. It might take a few days before we come across anything relating to this Jack Frost." The Queen turned to face them, green eyes reflecting disappointment.
"You tried, and that's all that matters my love." The King replied as he walked over with a reassuring smile, evidently determined not to give up on finding out more about this mischievous spirit. They had a well-needed embrace, both royals taking in the love for each other and praying with all their heart and soul their beloved Rapunzel returns to them soon.
North smiled at the display of affection from his spot. "You're right; how Jack manages to get through this shield remains a mystery." The spirit of wonder commented. "But we will find out soon. I imagine our friend won't be moving around for a while, if your daughter is as stubborn and concerning as yourself Selene."
"Aw c'mon Punzie, I'm feeling way better now."
Rapunzel shook her head, ignoring her sturbborn friend's protests. Two can play at that game. She kept one soft hand firmly on the spirit's clothed chest and pushed him down again on the mattress, herself sitting by the side, "Not until I'm completely sure it won't happen again."
Pascal observed from the side, inclined on Rapunzel's side about this. That small episode the persistent Jack had earlier gave them both a fright. The teenage girl almost panicked while rushing the boy to her room. Guess the injuries sustained were graver than they previously thought, regardless that the hair healed them.
"It won't; I guarantee that." Jack stated evenly, neither willing to back down. Pascal snorted in disagreement.
Rapunzel raised a doubtful brow at him, "Can you?"
The spirit of winter nodded enthusiastically, "Of course. You have my word it won't happen again."
"Then why don't I believe you?" She cut Jack off before he could answer, "Jack, you suddenly collapsed! That is not a good thing, and it can't just be for no reason either! You need to lie down until we can get to the root of the problem." Those green determined eyes almost had Jack completely given in to her demands.
In the middle if their game of hide-and-seek, another round was won by Rapunzel. The teenage boy was about to go fly off to another hiding spot until he suddenly stopped in midair and landed down in a sudden bang against the hard wooden floor. It almost gave Rapunzel a heart attack, truthfully. Jack had weakly pleaded that he was fine and the descent was from tiredness. And without thinking twice the teenager draped one arm over her shoulders, gently carrying her best friend upstairs and laid him down on her bed.
Her hair of course healed the small red bump that had been on Jack's head from the drop, but that didn't stop them from saying whether or not the cocky spirit needed to rest on the bed or not.
This argument has been going on for a few minutes since that happened.
Pascal watched the exchange with worry, exasperation and fascination, thinking to himself the whole time: Was this how couples argue?
The two were now having a silent staring contest, before Rapunzel looked away and shook her head, ashamed of herself. "I should have checked first, made sure there were no splinters from the arrow stuck in your skin. They could be inside you for all we know. Or worse... you could have been poisoned! Those ruffians might have afflicted you with something that's weakening you!" The teenager stressed out and pulled back her hair with both hands in anxiousness. Something could be happening to the love of her life and she doesn't have a clue what it even is!
Wait... what?!
Admist her own inner and vocal worries, she felt one particular cold hand covering her own, and she stared into Jack's reassuring blue fascinating eyes. Almost instantly she felt her concerns washing away.
"Don't worry about me," The quiet voice of the spirit began, smiling positively. "I'm feeling much better than I was before, honestly."
Despite the comfort, Rapunzel quirked a small smile in kind, "You can't lie to me, Jackie. I know when someone who means the world to me is in pain." Jack looked taken aback by this, and seizing the advantage the teenage girl quickly pecked her friend on his pale cheek and stood up, slipping her hand out of his. "Please, just lie down. You could be ill and I'll have to take care of you. You'll be up by the end of the day, I think."
It was cute seeing the spirit off-guard by something. It almost looked as though he was... blushing. But at least it finally made him relent. Jack sighed in resign, "Alright, you win Punzie. But only for a short while. I don't want you sleeping somewhere else because of me, deal? Unless you find the idea of sleeping in the same bed a good thing." He winked cheekily and waggled his finger playfully at her.
"Just lie down, Jack." Rapunzel ordered sternly and struggled to keep the embarrassment out of her tone, but her eyes betrayed the mirth. How can he say these things without flushing? As the spirit complied the teenager glanced at Pascal, "I'm going to prepare some soup downstairs, I'm entrusting you to keep an eye on him Pascal. Who knows what he might do when I'm not in the same room." The chameleon saluted with his tail and stared at the boy determinedly. At least one of them knows what to be serious.
"What, no cookies?" Jack joked before flinching a little at moving his previously injured shoulder a little.
"Nothing sweet until you get better Jackie."
The spirit groaned exasperatedly, staring up at the painted ceiling. "Bored already."
Rapunzel shook her head in amusement before departing to prepare the soup. Thankfully mother won't be back until sunset, at least.
Question: why has anyone yet to make a Jackpunzel titanic fic? I can't seem to find a single one.
Imagine it, a tragic love story between those two, mainly following through the story of the film, and at the end where Jack dies in the ocean Manny brings him back as the spirit we all know and love. How come no one has thought of this yet?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter like the last.
I'll be honest, the last one wasn't great, looking back at it it felt unfinished to me. I was planning to make the previous chapter longer and be a montage, but for some reason I don't recall I published it with a rush. Oh well, live and learn.
Now, let's have a look at the poll for naming the sequel to Snowman:
Black Snow - 3 votes.
What Goes Together Better Than Cold And Dark - 2 votes.
Beauty In The Dark - 2 votes.
The Queen And Her Knightmare - 1 vote.
Other - 1 vote.
The King And His Queen - 0 votes.
Darkness And Crystallization - 0 votes.