Welcome to the third chapter!

Chapter 3: Pascal

"Princess!" Jack Frost called as he flipped through the window of Rapunzel's tower. "I have a present for you!"

"Jack!" She shrieked, and ran over to hug him. Then she paused, and pulled away. "Why did you call me princess?" Jack gulped.

"Well, why not? You're just like the princesses in storybooks!" She laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters, your amazing hair!" He ruffled her hair, and Rapunzel laughed. Then she became quiet.

"Want to see something special?" She asked quietly. Jack was surprised.

"Sure!" Rapunzel looked around suspiciously, so Jack crouched down and copied her.

"Who are we looking for?" He whispered.

"No one, silly!" Rapunzel laughed. "Just remember to keep this a secret!" Jack nodded, and to his surprise, she started to sing. She held up a piece of her hair, and Jack realized it had started to glow.

"Wow," He said, acting surprised. He had seen her magic/glowing/making people young again hair when he had seen her for the first time. "But why is it a secret?"

"Well," said Rapunzel, lowering her voice, "Mother said that when I was a baby, someone tried to cut my hair because they wanted it's magic for themself. But when it gets cut… This happens." She picked up a piece of hair near her ear. It was short and brown, instead of floor length, gold, and glowing like the rest of her hair. Jack noticed that the glow had started to recede.

"That's why I'm in the tower," she stated matter-of-factly. Startled, Jack looked up. "So that no one can take advantage of my hair."

All of a sudden, Jack realized how angry he truly was at this girl's 'adopted' mother. She had tried to take magic from Rapunzel's hair, and when that didn't work she kidnapped her. If that wasn't terrible enough, she now had this little girl thinking that there were other people out there wanting to take advantage of her, when the real villain was the woman Rapunzel called her mother! But Jack knew that there was nothing he could do about it, without revealing to the girl that she was actually the Lost Princess of Corona.

Then, Jack remembered something. He had a gift!

"I almost forgot!" He exclaimed. "Like I said earlier, I have a present!" He gently pulled the small green chameleon out of his hoodie pocket and held it out to the young princess. Her eyes widened.

"What is it?" she asked in awe.

"It's a chameleon," Jack answered. "And he's all yours." Rapunzel squealed.

"Really? Thank you so so so so so so so so soooooooo much! What's his name? Can I hold him?" Jack laughed.

"He doesn't have a name yet. I thought you should name him. And yes, you can hold him." Jack gently placed the chameleon into Rapunzel's cupped hands, and it immediately ran up her arm and turned purple, to match her dress. She laughed in delight.

"I think I'm going to name him…" She thought for a second "Pascal!" Jack smiled.

"Where did that come from?" He asked.

"I don't really know, I think I read that name in a book somewhere. I feel like it just fits." Pascal seemed to like his new name. He jumped up onto Rapunzel's head and stuck his tongue out as he turned gold, to match her hair. "Why did you get him for me?"

"Well," Jack started. He had to be careful. "I thought you could use a friend for when I'm not here. I have stuff I have to do, and I didn't want you to be lonely." Rapunzel seemed to accept his answer, and Jack sighed in relief. Crisis averted. But then she asked about what other stuff he had to do, other than having fun with children, and he spent the rest of the day telling her stories about his duties as a guardian. And about his friends, the other guardians.

Jack had been surprised to discover that she had never heard of the Tooth Fairy before, and spent over an hour explaining everything to her.

"When you lose your first tooth, you put it under your pillow, and the tooth fairy will come to take your tooth and leave a gift behind," He explained.

"But why does she want to take my teeth?" Rapunzel had been very confused. She couldn't imagine what someone would want with her teeth.

"Well," Jack started. "Technically, normal people aren't supposed to know this, so you have to keep it a secret," Rapunzel nodded, and Jack continued.

"She collects the teeth because they hold memories."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your baby teeth hold all your memories of childhood, and that's what Tooth protects as a guardian. Childhood memories." Rapunzel's eyes were wide.

"Wow. So each of the guardians protects something?" Jack smiled. Rapunzel had caught on fast.

"Yeah. I protect fun, Tooth protects memories, North protects wonder, Bunny protects hope, and Sandy protects dreams."

"That's so cool! Who's Sandy?"

"Sandy is the sandman. He gives children dreams." Her eyes widened.

"What kinds of dreams?"

"Good dreams!" Jack hurried to say. "Only good dreams. Never bad dreams." He knew she didn't mean to bring it up, she didn't know anything about Pitch. But even mentioning bad dreams reminded him of things he would rather forget. The events that still haunted him, that still plagued him in his sleep. It's not like he slept much, as a guardian, but when he did…

Every single night he had tried to sleep in the last seven years, his dreams had been haunted by pitch, his nightmare horses, and the threat he had posed to the world. But Jack had also been in his own nightmares, scared of what he himself might be capable of doing. The first and only time he had ever used his magic to hurt someone was against Pitch, and Jack never wanted to use his magic to hurt someone again, even if the person he had hurt would have hurt more people if he had not been stopped.

"Jack? Are you okay?" Rapunzel's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jack sighed.

"Do you not like the sandman?" She asked quietly. Jack gaped at her.

"Of course not! Sandy's my best friend!" It was true. After becoming a guardian, Jack had found himself spending more and more time with Sandy. At first, it was to see if he could help Jack with his nightmares, but it soon became normal for them to just fly around, not saying anything, but knowing that they could count on each other.

Of course, that didn't mean they never talked. If Jack was ever upset, or even just really happy, Sandy was the one he would go to. And it went both ways, although the little sandman was almost never flustered.

"Sandy is really great. He actually can't talk, so he communicates by making pictures in sand, but we have conversations all the time," He explained. "I probably talk to him more than any of the other guardians, although I haven't had much time recently. He's a really good listener."

"Why can't he talk?" Rapunzel asked him, and Jack started. He had never asked what had happened to Sandy to make it so he couldn't talk. What kind of a friend was he? Wait a second, He thought. He didn't even know how the other guardians had become guardians!

"I never asked," Jack answered quietly.

Please review! I would love feedback!