Jack and Zelchen

A/N: I'm sorry for the delay, guys. I think this story is winding to its end. But in the meantime, enjoy a fairly long chapter that's a more straightforward crossover. I own nothing, whatsoever, thank ye.

In the mountains of Corona, there was a tower.

And in the topmost story of this tower, a girl threw open a window to greet the sunrise. Here in this valley the sun shone, even though it was predicted to be cloudy and overcast everywhere else in the kingdom. And the sunshine was not very warming – indeed, the golden-haired girl was bundled up in a heavy woolen blanket, even as she closed her eyes to soak up the rays.

But warmth was not what she was really after, not even light. After a moment to admire the sun creeping over the white-bordered crest of the valley, she twisted her head up to the roof, and said, "I see you."

From the rooftop a boy looked at her. He had a blue capelet over his arms, and a shock of white hair, and no shoes, despite the chill. "Good morning, Zelchen," he said, waving his tall, curved staff.

"Good morning, Jack! What are you doing up there?"

"Directing the weather. What else?"

"Well, come on down." When he didn't move, continuing to conduct the winds with an air of great importance, she added, "Please?"

He grinned down at her. "As –" he slid down to the roof's edge, "You—" he leapt down and snitched a lock of hair from her temple. The girl gasped as he fell almost thirty feet, until the wind caught him up. The golden hair streamed behind him like a comet's tail, and then with a loop he was back at the window –"wish," he finished, presenting her own hair to her.

She laughed and stuck her tongue out at him, and began the long, long process of pulling that lock back into the window. He stuck his tongue out right back.

"I missed you," she said a bit tentatively. "Haven't seen you in—"

"Come on, I was just here!"

"—ten. That's the better part of two weeks, Jack Frost!"

"Oh. Well… I've been busy. All this snowfall to oversee."

"I watch it every day," she told him earnestly. She gestured to the canyon floor, where snow had obliterated almost every feature, reaching even to the tree branches.

"It won't fall all by itself!" he informed her, folding his arms stiffly.

"But it does, even when you're not here."

"Hey, I've got a lot of winter to put together – not that anyone thanks me for it."

Her tone suddenly became much more earnest. "Did I say something, Jack? Did I hurt your feelings? Because if I did, I didn't mean to. I like having you here – really I do!"

Jack's ears went bright pink, an interesting contrast against his white hair. "It wasn't anything you said, Rapunzel. You just know me… I'm a free spirit. Nothing you say can keep me here – but you couldn't say anything to drive me away, either." He smiled, but Rapunzel didn't look convinced. Her large green eyes were wide and doleful and she seemed to shrink into her blanket.

"It's just – I'm always saying things to Mother that make her upset. I didn't want to…"

"You didn't. You're still my best pal. My number one girl. C'mon, show me those pearly whites."

She managed to grin, and asked, "Will you come inside?"

"Be my pleasure! I came to tell you about the funniest gaggle of travelers I ever saw…" He swung, nimble as a monkey, into the room, and she closed the window.

Some time later, when Mother Gothel mounted the stairs to the sitting room, she saw Rapunzel, her blanket fallen away, sketching something on the wall in chalk. She also saw Jack Frost, crouching atop the nearby mirror and talking at a mile a minute. (Being a witch brought its advantages.)

"Why, Jack," she said, "How pleasant of you to drop by. Unannounced. Again. Rapunzel, wash your hands and fetch a bite and a sup for our guest."

"Just a minute, Mother!" the girl answered.

"Rapunzel…"

"One more detail…"

"Now."

"Alright! There! It's good enough for now. I'll be right back!" she quickly wiped her hands off on her dress, and darted to the sink, making a great deal of clatter. Jack, bored suddenly, alit from the mirror and cautiously approached the mantelpiece, playing chicken with himself to both avoid and approach the fire.

Gothel checked her reflection to be sure that ill-advised furrow she'd indulged in that morning hadn't caused any permanent damage. It hadn't (yet). Then she regarded Rapunzel's chalk drawing with interest. It was a comedic sketch: a toothpick of a boy in a furred vest and horned helmet waved his arms wildly. Behind him sat a girl whose head appeared to be engulfed by a fireball. And they were both clinging for dear life to a winged black cat.

Jack Frost must have noticed her noticing, because he said, "I was telling Zellie about a funny band of travelers I spotted two days ago in Scotland. Flying on dragonback, no less."

Gothel started. "A boy and a dragon?"

"That's what I said."

"Did you happen to catch where they were from?"

Jack scratched his head. "Nope, but I spotted them before… some island way up north. Viking land."

"And a girl?"

"Yeah, Princess Merriweather or some name like that."

And with that, Jack ceased to give the travelers another thought. Instead, he twitched aside the curtain over the mantelpiece with a little breeze. The painting there had been done over the summer, so Jack had never seen it, nor the event it represented: the night a thousand floating lanterns were released into the sky at Midsummer, Rapunzel's birthday.

The painting showed Rapunzel as little more than a triangle of pink and a vast stream of yellow, looking up towards the yellow circles which filled the blue. Jack felt strangely envious of these floating lights, which had such a pull on Zelchen, Punchen, Punzie, Zellie – his Rapunzel.

"Tea-time!" the girl declared, turning around with a tray of cookies, a jug of hot cider, and three mugs. Rapunzel set it down, her hair falling into her face. "Jack, will you have some cider?"

"Thank ye kindly." Jack didn't need to eat, but he liked to, so he perched on a chair and sipped at the cider, and nibbled at a spice cookie.

"Now, Jack, I'm dying to know about those funny little travelers you were talking about," Gothel said to him.

"Oh, they're a Viking and a—" Rapunzel started.

"Was Mummy talking to you?"

The girl shrank in on herself. "No. Sorry, Mother."

"No problem," Jack said, eager to reassure her. "Like she was saying…" and he launched into the tale he'd been spinning for Rapunzel – an undersized Viking off of the sea, and a half-wild princess, bickering on the back of an increasingly exasperated dragon, the offspring of lightning, death, and sarcasm. His impressions of them kept Rapunzel in stitches, and even Gothel permitted herself some chuckles.

"Jack, darling," Gothel said when their laughter faded, "Tomorrow morning I'm going to go to Hammersmith and sell candles. You'll keep an eye on my dear little flower here, won't you?"

"Oh, I'll see what eyes I can spare," He answered. He shared a glance with Rapunzel, that look of 'Oooh, look at the scary authority figure, I'm so scared, aren't I.'

"I mean it. This talk of travelers and hunters... It makes me fear for my sweet, delicate little one." She pinched Rapunzel's cheek, and the girl smiled weakly.

"Hey, I'm no babysitter, lady. But I'll drop in. Someone's got to keep Zellie company."

"Good," The woman gave a relieved sigh. "Rapunzel, a very good spread, as always—"

"Oh, thank you, Mother!"

"—but I saw how many cookies you tucked away. You might want to cut back, in the future? Just a suggestion?" She tapped the bottom of Rapunzel's chin. "We don't want to lose that girlish figure now, do we? Oh, I'm only teasing. I'm going to go lie down for a bit, you don't mind cleaning up, do you?" Gothel was already up and heading towards the door.

"No, Mother," Rapunzel said in a small voice.

"Ta-ta, Jack!"

When she left, Rapunzel was fiddling with her hair and frowning at the crumbs on her plate. "I had too many cookies," she mumbled.

"What?" Jack asked. "There's no such thing! Don't listen to that ol' crow, anyway, Zellie. I'll help you clean up."

She brightened up at once. "Great! But no freezing the water in the sink this time – remember?"

It wasn't long before Jack grew restless. He alighted at the windowsill, gazing at the world outside.

"This was a fun visit, Jack," Rapunzel said, walking towards the window. She began to open the latch as slowly as possible. "Come back soon, next time, okay?"

"I promised your mom…" he said, in that petulant obeying-authority-ugh voice.

"I mean, I go all summer without seeing you – the least you could do is show up in wintertime."

"I have been truant and tardy and I vow to sin no more," Jack declared, his hand on his heart. He watched her as she fumbled with the heavy latch, and his face was gentle and wistful. "I tell you what, I'll let you know all about those funny travelers and what they get up to. I'll be back before you can say 'Nutcracker.'"

She grinned. "It's a deal, then!"

"See ya, Punzie!" He leapt out the window and a wind took him away. Rapunzel waved until he was out of sight. Then she glanced to the empty, silent tower room, and back to the vast, white world she had never set foot in.

"Nutcracker," she murmured.

Nighttime, and shutters and curtains barricaded the firelight of the tower room. Rapunzel climbed up to the mantelpiece, taking care to keep her hair away from the flames. After giving the painting of herself and the lanterns a long look, she covered it up; Mother didn't like it, and Rapunzel couldn't bring herself to paint over it. As she climbed down, she sang to herself,

"Inside I have my hobbies, and my golden hair,

"Outside Jack sees the world, and rides the open air,

"Everyone's happy here, except –"

She kicked a ball of yarn –"It isn't fair!

"Some nights I feel that I just can't win,

"I wonder when will my life begin?"