Meeting somebody new and explaining the activation of his powers was never easy, but Jack didn't feel as much a need to hold back telling Rapunzel. After all, she had her own traumas, and her own powers. They were opposite to his own, though, because while she had been trapped for use of her powers and only met her parents once they were mostly lost, Jack only gained his with the loss of his family.
The moments before the accident were unclear to him, as well as the moment they had lost control. It was colder than it should have been. Early patches of ice on the road were likely what sent them spinning. He could recall the aftermath, the car having turned over on the edge of the road, falling into the slope that led to the river.
His consciousness flashed away; possibly just a few seconds, or a few minutes. He drew in shaky breaths, shocked by the crash and the freezing air blowing through the broken windows. Glancing around himself, his eyes landed on his sister, strapped next to him. She was awake too, and looking at least as terrified as he was.
"Are you alright?" He strained to ask.
Olivia shook her head. "Jack, I'm scared."
She hung sideways from her seat, clinging to the belt wrapped tightly around her. Below her, Jack tried his best to hide the unbearable pain in the arm that had come between his body and the car's side.
"Don't be, we're okay." Even if the situation wasn't good, they were both conscious and without obvious injury. His mother, however, didn't seem to be. Though the car was dark, a beam of moonlight fell on her shoulder. It at first appeared motionless, but he was sure he saw it rise and fall with some time. They needed help to come, and fast. With a groan he forced himself to sit up straight, out of the belt.
Each movement sent shots of pain through his neck, putting spots in his vision. He reached sideways -upward, now- to Olivia to release her from the seat and down to his spot, then stood against his door to open the other side.
"See, we're okay, we're fine."
Only a second later, the terrible sound became clear to him: cracking. The ice beneath them shifted. Panic surged through Jack as he fumbled against the car door, struggling to get them both out in time.
"Jack?" His sister knew something was wrong, but it had to wait until they were back to safety. He couldn't think of her fear now, or his own. He couldn't think of mom. He couldn't think of getting home without her. The only thing he was allowed to think of was the door, and getting on the other side of it. He struggled against its weight until he could hold it open with one arm and pick up Olivia with the other. The ice moaned. "Out outout," he ordered himself in silence.
"Jack, what do we do?"
He remembered how to speak. "We're climbing out. Come on." He began pulling her up. His whole spine complained.
"What's going to happen?" she cried, staring at the front seats.
"We'll... go home."
"All of us?"
"Yes! But you have to climb!" Jack heaved her up through the door quickly enough to forget the pain. When it returned, he yelled through it and tried pulling himself up, the door pressing against his head. Everything was aching with the pulse of worried blood, and the cold had started to settle into his skin. It was so cold , he couldn't believe it.
The next moment, half of the strain went away as the door lifted. Silhouetted by the moonlight, Olivia had come to help and flung it wide open. From that point, the door could hold on its own, and he began to crawl out. She stayed on the upturned side of the car and reached for him with relief and hope. Only he heard the last awful noise.
Her smile flew away with the sight of the sky, and her voice blurred into the paralyzing chill of the water. " Ja-!"
For a long time, he couldn't feel anything. It felt like months swirling in the deep, cold, darkness. Who could tell what was real or wasn't? Anything he had seen could have been a dream. " Why would there be ice in the lake?" he wondered. "It's too early in the winter…" The feeling of trillions of tickling specks kept at least some part of his mind conscious. They were everywhere, not just around and on him, but inside , turning him numb to the freezing world. He wished he could wake up and shake it all away, or at least find which way was up.
With time, it gently grew lighter, warmer, brighter, and it seemed that the world had turned to face him again. Up he floated like a sheet of ice - now it was certain. That's when he finally opened his eyes. The moon was there again, but without Olivia. Where was she, and how long had it been since he had seen her? Yet, someone was there. He wanted to call out to her, to let her know he was fine, but he was still only half awake, and completely unable to move. Through the shrouded light, he could hear them, then see them, then feel their grasp.
"... found another… here... kid's alive!"
More than one of them. "Can't be, it's ice cold... a pulse! Christ!" Their radios buzzed and blared.
Behind their shadows, the white light loomed, watching him.