Chapter 9

"Dang it."

"What?"

"I lost track again..."

"You do know that Prancer can still lead the way, right?"

"I don't trust him that much- Ow! What was that for?"

"Jack. Just let him lead the way."

"Fine. Whatever. I just wanted to make sure we were heading in the right direction. No need to hurt me, Prancer."

That was what it was like throughout the journey so far. I had an excessive amount of witty suggestions which would eventually be turned down by everyone else. I was hungry, tired and basically feeling everything a young mortal would feel at moments like these. Rapunzel and Pascal got a ride on Prancer, and that was his limit. I wasn't allowed on his back. 1 1/4 of living beings was already enough of a load to be carried for an entire journey.

"You sure you don't want to check again, Prancer?"

"Jack!" Rapunzel exclaimed as Prancer snorted loudly.

I raised my hands in front of me as a sign of defeat. "Alright, alright, I was only making sure."

I was bored to death. All of the trees looked exactly the same. I couldn't fly. It was warm. I couldn't do cool ice tricks to amuse myself or impress Rapunzel. I didn't have my staff. I was stuck in this mortal body of mine, unable to do anything other than breathe, walk, talk-

All of a sudden, my feet gave way and I slipped. Before I knew it, I felt myself rolling down a steep slope. In the distance I could hear Rapunzel calling out my name, but I kept on yelling at the sudden rush of adrenaline. I was rolling and rolling down the hill, hitting into trees and boulders on the way, and eventually halted to a stop at the bottom. I lifted my head from the ground and spat out dirt, mud and bits of grass from my mouth.

I looked around. The trees still looked exactly the same, but the canopy above blocked out most of the sunlight so that the forest looked thicker with trees more than ever. "Rapunzel?" I called out. I coughed and tried sitting up. I hissed at the sudden pain that shot up my right arm, a pain that I didn't notice until now.

The fair lukewarm temperature of the forest was suddenly unusually cold, like summer weather with winds that carried an oncoming winter. It felt strange. Maybe it was because of the lack of sunlight.

"Rapunzel!" I tried calling out again. I stared at my limp arm. I think it was broken. I hated pain. The last time I felt pain was when-

I realized that it had gone starkly cold, even colder than a few moments before. Something was wrong.

I didn't know what to do. I was lost and I could hardly sit up with my broken arm. I noticed that the forest had grown completely silent. The sound of twittering birds and other creatures that dwell the forest was absent and I felt a hard lump growing at the bottom of my throat.

I swear the place was brighter a few seconds ago. It can't be sundown. I wasn't unconscious before this.

I watched in horror as dark wisps of smoke drifted in between the coiling roots of the trees a few meters from where I laid. The smoke slowly took into a form of a humanoid figure and slowly turned into something I wouldn't have thought of bumping into here.

"Well, well, well..."

Pitch Black.

I bit my lip as I felt the sudden terror rise inside me and turned into hard lump in my throat. I had nothing to defend myself against him. I was human and I felt terribly helpless.

"Look what we have here... A puny little human boy, all alone and lost in the middle of a forest. Whatever shall I do to help him?"

I quickly decided that it was best not to answer him or to even open my mouth to say anything. I simply glared at him, trying my best not to look terrified. I wasn't going to lose to him that easily, just because of my facial expression.

Pitch slowly circled around me, eyes glinting with malicious curiosity, as if he was thinking of ways he could get me into trouble. I watched him.

"Why aren't you running away from me? Don't you feel afraid? I can smell the fear in you, you reek of it," he observed, narrowing his eyes as he walked another round. I stubbornly kept my mouth shut and my body still.

Realizing that I was not going to say anything, he chuckled, his voice low. "Giving the silent treatment, are you? Well, let's see what we can do about that..."

Before I sensed what he was about to do, he reached out, grabbed my broken arm and twisted it. I screamed out in agony at the surprise of sudden pain. I could almost see stars flitting across my vision. My head spun, suddenly dizzy.

"Hmm, quite human after all..."

Tears streamed down my face as I bit down my tongue to keep myself from wailing. Pitch grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. All I could see was a blur silhouette because of the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Who are you?" he snarled.

It was then I realized that he didn't know who I was. I was looking at Pitch Black from the past, long before I was even born. Everything made sense now. Rapunzel's dressing, the interior of the house... I had traveled back in time, with one of the North's globes. Was that even possible?

"You do not want me to repeat my question again, young man," he said.

If he didn't know who I was, why was he so interested in knowing? Could he have felt something about me?

I swallowed, finding my voice.

"Jack. Frost."

Immediately after the words had escaped my lips, a bright yellow light blinded me and I heard Pitch's screams. Automatically, I covered my eyes with my good arm. Then, the light vanished. I looked around. Pitch was gone and the forest was just as it had been before his arrival. Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned around.

A few meters away, I could make out a shadow of a woman sitting on the back of a deer. I squinted. "Rapunzel?"

"Are you alright?"

I jumped at the sound of the voice. I turned around, and saw a lady, all dressed in white with white flowers in her hair, crouching down beside me.

"I..."

"Jack!" I turned back around and saw Prancer galloping towards me with Rapunzel and Pascal on his back. I turned back to the lady and said, "I'm fine. Thanks."

"Jack! I was so worried-" Rapunzel exclaimed, jumping off Prancer and rushed towards me. "I'm fine, it's just- No! Don't touch me! Don't touch that arm..." I managed to move my broken arm away from her worried grasps. She slowly lifted her hands away.

"You're hurt, Jack. Is that a broken arm, or do my ears deceive me?" the lady asked.

I wasn't too sure about the last part of that sentence, but I grunted anyway, indicating that she was right.

"I can heal you, Jack. Just... lay still," Rapunzel said.

"What do you mean, 'heal'? My arm is broken, I don't think-" I started to argue, but she brought a finger to my lips to hush me.

"Sshh. Stay put."

Slowly lifting up my broken arm, she started to wrap her long, golden tresses around it. "Wha-"

She closed her eyes and started to sing;

"Flower gleam and glow,

Let your power shine,

Make the clock reverse,

Bring back what once was mine.

Heal what has been hurt,

Change the fate's design,

Save what had been lost,

Bring back what once was mine,

What once was mine."

As she sang, her hair glowed, and I stared at her in awe. He hair was already shining and golden, but every inch of her looked magical when her hair glowed. When the song ended, her hair went back to its original state. "Feel better?" she asked.

The lady in white clasped her hands with pleasure. "That was absolutely wonderful, Magda!" she exclaimed.

It took me a moment to figure out Rapunzel's question, then I realized that I wasn't in pain anymore. I moved my arm. It surely did not feel like it had been broken. "What did you do?" I asked stupidly, even though I clearly knew the answer was that she had healed me. "How did you do that?" I added.

"It's my hair... It's kinda... magical?"

"What? Magda, tell him properly!" the lady in white said.

"Alright. My hair has the magical ability to heal, it has been a gift from birth. Well, as my mother claims it to be. I'll be honest with both of you now. My hair is the reason why I never left the tower. Mother always told me that there were people out there who wanted me for my hair, so she hid me."

I didn't know what to say. Sensing my speechlessness, she added, "I know that's a lot to take it, but yeah... I'm sorry you had to find out about it this way."

I nodded. "It's okay."

I tried standing up, with the help of the ladies. "I believe we have not met before," I said, turning to the lady in white. Still holding on to my arm, she smiled at me. "I am Cadhia, I live in the forest."

"You a friend of Rapunzel's?"

She threw back her head and laughed. I blinked rapidly, surprised by the bell-like sound that escaped her lips. "No, I'm afraid I'm not. We have only been acquainted after you fell down the slope. I came to see what happened."

"Cadhia was the one who saved you by conjuring that light," Rapunzel piped up.

"Oh, uh, thanks, but-"

"Never mess with the Nightmare King. You were lucky that I found you in time." Cadhia told me.

"That's what he's called? The Nightmare King?" Rapunzel asked.

"He goes by several other names, but I prefer to refer to him as that."

"He's also known as Pitch Black," I said as I dusted off the dirt and bits of dried-up mud from my clothing.

They both turned to me. "That was him?" Rapunzel quietly asked. I nodded.

Cadhia stared at me for a long time before saying, "Ah. That explains it."

"Explains what?"

"You said you were Jack Frost. I know who you are. Or who you will be. Technically."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, I am sure you know that I cannot possibly be human after seeing that I've rescued you from the Nightmare King."

"I guess not..."

"I'm a fairy. And I like helping people. The end."

"No... not the end... Tell him more," Rapunzel said, scowling at Cadhia.

"Oh. Right. Magda here tells me that all of you are heading towards the kingdom. I would like to request to join in."

"You don't have to request! You are most certainly welcome to join us in our journey. Aren't I right, Jack?"

"Yeah, sure."