Don't You Ever Forget About Me

Chapter 3

Ordinary Day

Jack groaned as his eyelids slowly lifted open, his head throbbing. He felt like he had been hit with a ton of bricks, not a just cookie sheet (man, did that girl have an arm). Feeling sluggish, he crept up onto his knees, his hand reaching for the tender spot on his head.

"Good, you're awake."

At the sound of the voice, Jack looked up to see the girl who owned a mile of blonde hair staring down at him, green eyes narrowed and lips curled into a smug smirk.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack groaned, still rubbing at the spot on his head where she had hit him, "I'm awake. Now..." he searched the floor for his staff with his free hand, and his eyes widened. It was gone. Holy shit, it was gone. Jack frantically jumped to his feet, forgetting about the minor concussion he'd probably suffered, and began to search for the precious branch of wood with his eyes. It couldn't have gotten far, and he was determined to find it.

"Looking for this?" the girl said haughtily, pulling his staff out from behind her back and pointing it at him.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his one material possession, "thank goodness," he sighed, reaching for his metaphorical comfort blanket, only to have it pulled it away from him before he could grab it.

"Ah, ah, ah," the girl chided. She placed the end of the staff back down on the floor and went to lean against it, but stumbled over her own hair, nearly falling over. Somehow she managed to catch herself and regain her balance before hitting the floor. Jack suppressed a laugh. Was she being serious?

"Uh-if..." she cleared her voice and tried her hardest to puff back up, hardening her tone, "if you want your stick-"

"Staff. It's a staff," he corrected her, tone flat.

"Staff. Whatever," the girl rolled her eyes, trying to maintain her faked tough-guy persona, "if you want your staff back, you have to answer a few questions."

Yeah, she was being serious. Well, trying. It was kind of cute how such a softie of a girl was trying act like a force to be reckoned with (and totally failing at it). Even though Jack knew that he could easily get his staff back without being interrogated, he decided to play along with the questioning.

He was just happy to have someone to talk to besides himself.

"Alright, Blondie," she wrinkled her nose at the term. Jack chuckled softly and leaned himself up against the counter behind him, "what do you want to know?"

With just the slightest bit of hesitation, the girl looked him right in the eyes, "who are you?" she questioned, tone intense.

"Jack Frost," he answered simply with an easy shrug. He smirked at her, "and who are you?"

"That's none of your business," she retorted, crossing her arms.

"Fine," Jack's shoulders fell. He was slightly disappointed that the girl refused to properly introduce herself, but he wasn't going to give up that easily, "anymore questions, Blondie?" he smiled lop-sidedly, "Just so you know, I'm not gonna stop calling you that until you tell me your name."

The girl didn't look too amused. It was pretty obvious that she didn't like the nickname. She uncrossed her arms and pointed the staff at his face. He didn't even flinch, "how did you find me, Jack Frost?" she asked, twisting his name with her tongue.

Jack's stomach did that weird flipping thing again. That was the first time he'd heard someone say his name since the night that he had come up out of the ice, and it rang sweetly in his ears.

"Well?" she lightly jabbed him in the center of the chest with his staff.

"I flew here," Jack replied simply, snapping out of his stupor.

The girl's eyes noticeably widened and she pulled the staff back from his chest, "you… flew?" she was astonished, "you mean that you can fly?"

"Well, technically the wind did it. I can fly because of the wind."

"You can fly?" she repeated. It was obvious to Jack that she was trying to hide the wonder in her voice, but it still shone through her mock tough demeanor, "but how?"

"Well…" Jack pinched his chin with his thumb and index finger, trying to figure out how exactly to explain it to her, "I guess you could say that I'm kind of the spirit of winter. I can control the wind, and that's how I can fly," he paused, "well, I can sort of control the wind. Like it listens to me and takes me where I want, but it still has a mind of its own."

Her guard fell just slightly, and her eyes lit up, the emerald in them sparkling, "the winter spirit?" it was as if she was connecting puzzle pieces together, "so… you're the one who brought the snow!" she exclaimed, hopping with excitement.

"Yeah, that was me!" Jack grinned. It felt amazing to finally get some recognition for the thankless gift he'd been giving for years.

Smiling bashfully, the girl held Jack's staff out to him. She tucked a strand of gold behind her ear with her other hand, "here. You can have this back."

Jack nodded at her and took his staff back, twirling it in his hand. He instantly felt more at ease, "thanks."

"My name is Rapunzel, by the way" the girl finally introduced herself, staring at her feet.

"Rapunzel," Jack repeated, liking the way the syllables rolled off his tongue. He held his free hand out to her, "and you already know this, but my name is Jack. Jack Frost."

Rather than follow up the gesture, Rapunzel just stared at his hand, a mystified look on her face. Jack raised an eyebrow at her, "uh...it's called a handshake," he clarified, extending his hand out a little further, expecting her to take it.

Rapunzel wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes at his hand, still not understanding what he meant. Jack felt a bit awkward just standing there with his hand out like that. Had the humans changed their standard method of greeting each other without him even noticing?

"Here," Jack chuckled, reaching for her hand, "you put your hand around mine," he had her do so as he spoke, "and we shake," her hand felt incredibly warm between his icy fingers. He'd gone years without any sort of touch from anyone besides the wind, and the warmth that spread up his arm and into him took the edge off of a craving he'd had for a long time.

"Oh...oh!" it was like a light-bulb went off above the blonde's head. She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand, "sorry...about that. I've never shook hands with someone before."

Smirking, Jack replied, "You don't get out much, do you?"

"You have no idea..." Rapunzel giggled, still sounding embarrassed.

Reluctantly, Jack released her hand from his, and he suddenly felt cold again. But that wasn't anything new. He shifted his weight off of the counter he'd been leaning against and started towards the living area, looking over the walls and weathered furniture, noticing that nearly every square inch of everything had been painted over with drawings of everything from colorful flowers to renditions of Rapunzel herself. He had a feeling that the blonde girl had created all of them herself, and he couldn't help but wonder where she had found the time to do so.

"You know, I still have some more questions for you," said Rapunzel as she padded behind the winter spirit, following him.

Jack glanced at her over his shoulder, half-smile gracing his pale face, "sure. I have some questions for you, too."

"Well, first off... How did you find my tower?" she asked, genuinely confused, "My mother says that nobody besides her knows where it is."

Jack wasn't quite sure what to think of that last part, but none the less he replied, "I dunno. I just sort of stumbled across it," he paused to sit down in a chair not too far from the window, "I was passing through the forest, and all of a sudden I saw this crazy looking tower jutting up out in the distance, so I decided to check it out. Then I saw you at the window and, well..." he paused to laugh, "here I am. With a major headache, by the way," he gave her a sideways glance.

Rapunzel sat down across from him, "Oh, I'm sorry about that...you just scared me," her tone was remorseful. She ran her fingers through her hair as she spoke, "I've never...well," she paused, "you're the only person whose ever been up here besides my mother."

Again, Jack was thrown off, and he leaned forward in his chair. He'd never heard a thing like that before. He just couldn't get his mind wrapped around the idea of a young girl like her staying up in a tower alone all the time.

"Can I ask you a question now?"

"Okay."

Jack paused for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly to say, "Why do you live all the way out here? In the middle of nowhere?" he pointed his thumb at the window, "the kingdom of Corona is way over there, and you're way over here."

Rapunzel chewed at her bottom lip, and didn't make eye contact with him.

"Mother says it's to protect me," Rapunzel finally met Jack's icy gaze with her own, "it's dangerous outside. There's ruffians, and thieves, and thugs!" her words sounded rehearsed, like they'd been imprinted on the insides of her eye lids, "and poison ivy, wolves, bears. And quick sand and lions," she shuddered and paused to take a breath, "why would I want to go out into a dangerous place like that, when I have my tower?" it sounded almost as if she were trying to convince herself of that.

"Um, you're a few continents off there, Rapunzel," Jack corrected her, wondering why her mother would tell her something like that, "you don't get quicksand here. Or lions. Lions are kind of exclusive to Africa. Believe me, I know."

Rapunzel's green eyes practically doubled in size at Jack's words, "you've been to Africa before?" she grinned excitedly, "wow! What's it like?"

"Um, it's hot. Really hot," Jack shuddered at the thought, "I've only ever been there once. But yeah, I saw lions. They're really big up close. And their teeth? Super sharp," he used his fingers to pantomime a pair of fangs at his mouth.

"Wow," Rapunzel laughed, sounding completely enchanted. She sighed, and the tone of her voice lost the light of it, "that's incredible. I wish I could go to Africa someday," she paused, suddenly looking down, "I don't think that will ever happen, though."

"And how do you know that?" Jack scoffed, "you've got your whole life ahead of you. Hey, maybe I could take you sometime. I can fly, after all."

The smile on Rapunzel's face was sad, "thanks...but I don't think my mother would let me."

Even though Jack had yet to meet the woman, he came to the conclusion that he didn't like Rapunzel's mother. From what little he had heard, he could tell that she was a liar, and that she was filling Rapunzel's head with false information. From what he could tell, the woman was trying to scare her. Why, he didn't know.

He opened his mouth to ask, but stopped himself. Even if he hadn't had any social interaction in years, Jack knew better than to question her about something like that when they'd barely known each other for an hour.

"So..." he sighed, deciding that it was a good idea to change the subject, "what do you think of the snow?"

Rapunzel instantly perked up at the mention of the winter gift, "it's beautiful!" she exclaimed, her smile wide, "until now, I'd never seen snow before. I'd only read about it in my books," she giggled, "it's amazing to actually see it in person."

"I'm glad you think so," Jack replied. He loved it when people were actually happy about the winter flurries he'd worked so hard to create. He looked at himself as an artist. Instead of paints and brushes, he used the ice and frost to create beautiful filigrees of frozen vines and ice-crystal flowers. The world was his canvas. Even if he wouldn't admit it out loud, it always hurt just the slightest bit when he overheard the humans complain about the masterpieces he'd created.

Jack exhaled loudly, suddenly feeling downhearted. Until now, he had been alone. Unnoticed. Forgotten. The moon told him one thing, and one thing only that fateful evening he'd risen from the ice; his name. And that was it.

Until he'd stumbled upon the tower, and the peculiar girl who lived in it, Jack was practically a ghost. Wandering the world without any real purpose, begging for the answer to one question; why was he here? People had walked right through him without even knowing his presence for years, and he felt it each time. He could feel the warmth pass right through him, teasing him. Reminding him of the massive fear he had deep down inside of his stomach that no one would ever know that he existed.

"Jack?" Rapunzel's voice was soft but filled with concern, "Jack, are you okay?"

He slowly looked up from his bare feet to meet a pair of sparkling moss green eyes. He smiled warily at her, "I'm sorry. I was just thinking."

Rapunzel nodded, "Oh. That's fine…you just went silent all of a sudden. I was worried."

Jack opened his mouth to say something, but paused, not sure what exactly he wanted to say in the first place. He swallowed, "Rapunzel, I have one more question for you."

"Yes?"

"How…can you see me?" the words slipped through his mouth easier than he had been expecting, "It's a long story, but…when I woke up as Jack Frost, no one could see me…or, or hear me…or," he paused and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, "people walked right through me."

Rapunzel cocked her head to the side, eyebrows raised as if what he was saying didn't make any sense, "I don't understand."

"No one can see me, besides you," he said, not fully understanding things himself, "I'm glad you can see me, but…" he chuckled nervously, "I wish I knew why."

Rapunzel opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by a sing-song voice coming from just outside the tower.

"Rapunzel! Let down your hair-air!"

((And… cliffhanger! Sort of. This chapter was getting kind of long so I decided to stop it here. I just want to thank all of the lovely people who have reviewed, favorite, and followed this story. We're only on chapter 3 and I'm sooo thankful for all of the support!

The song that this chapter is named after is Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton.

I love you all, and I'll see you again next week!

~Brandy))