Day 6, the home stretch! Of which it could be said that I am having WAY too much fun mixing up the different elements of these movies.
Today and tomorrow are two parts of the same story.
Thank you so much to everyone who has made this week absolutely AMAZING!
All elements of Rise of the Guardians belong to William Joyce and DreamWorks, all elements of Tangled belong to Disney. Without further ado...
Day 6: Safe Haven
Not for the first time, Jack wondered if maybe he shouldn't have made the choices he had in his twenty-three years.
But now that he realized just how stupid he had been, when he wished he could change, he didn't have a chance. Even when he wasn't looking out the window of his cell, the image of the gallows in the prison courtyard was burned into his mind eye.
For a cell, his surroundings were fairly nice. No dripping water, mold or rats. The water was clean, and the bread was a day or two old, but it wasn't moldy.
The royal family of Corona prided themselves on their human treatment of all people – even criminals.
The cot Jack lay on was bare wood, but it was a prison cell, not a royal suit.
Part of his mind argued that he didn't deserve death. He was a thief, not a murderer. He never hurt anyone – not physically. (A few fist fights in taverns didn't count.)
His conscience, however, with his mother's voice, told him this was what he deserved. He chose to break the law, now he would pay the price.
It was hard to push away his conscience when the consequences were so heavy on his mind.
Absently, he wondered if they really expected him to sleep when he was faced with death in the morning. Maybe this last night was just to torture him.
"Jack Frost?"
Jack jolted, the soft voice yanking him out of his thoughts.
Sitting up on the cot, he looked at the figure who stood outside the steel bars of his cell. The torch in the hall was too far to reveal anything, though the voice was female.
He hadn't heard her approach.
Slowly he lay back down, willing his heart beat to return to normal. "Yeah?"
She took a deep breath, and Jack could feel her hesitation.
"Is that really your name?" she asked after a moment.
Jack looked up at the ceiling. "What does it matter?"
"I knew a thief once, who claimed to be someone he wasn't," she said. "So I wondered."
Jack hesitated. Another name came back to him – a name he hadn't allowed himself to think about for years. He had been too ashamed.
"I was someone else," he admitted, rolling onto his side. "But he died a long time ago."
"And now you'll die." Her voice was genuinely sad at the thought.
Jack felt a drop of warmth in his heart. Whoever this girl was, she was actually sad at the thought of his death. That was more than he had expected from anyone.
"It's what I get," he said, voice tight, eyes fixed on the far wall.
"Jack, if you could live, if you had a second chance, would you choose differently?"
At first, Jack didn't believe he could have heard her right. But as it sank in, he sat up and looked at the silhouette that stood outside his cell.
"You would have to promise me, Jack Frost," she said. "And if you broke that promise, I wouldn't hesitate to hand you to the guards."
Jack stared at her. "And if I promise, where would I go?"
"I have a place you can hide," she said. "Do exactly as I say, and you'll have a second chance. Break your promise, I'll personally make sure you wind up right back here."
Jack stood from the cot and walked toward her.
He licked his lips, still not fully believing her proposition.
"I promise," he said, voice dry.
"Promise what?"
This girl was good, whoever she was.
"I promise to live differently from now on," he said. "If you'll help me."
She held a hand through the bars, and Jack shook it. Her hand was small, but her grip was firm.
"Come on," she said. "There isn't much time."
A moment later he heard the sound of the tumblers in the lock falling into place. The door swung open soundlessly, and she gestured for him to follow her as she headed down the hall.
The thought this might be a trick caused Jack to hesitate... but he decided to trust her. What did he have to lose, after all?
He followed her down the strangely empty halls. As she passed by a torch, he saw her hair was brown, cut in a choppy bob, and she wore a purple silk gown, the hem a few inches above her ankles. Her feet were bare – which explained why he hadn't heard her coming up to the cell. But he didn't get a look at her face.
She led him outside, off the palace ground, where a white horse waited, pawing the earth nervously.
"There's food in the saddle bags," she said, before going to stand in front of the horse. "Max, take him to the tower, then come back, all right? And don't give him a hard time."
The horse shook his head.
Jack stared. Not because the horse actually appeared to be having a conversation with her, but because now there was sufficient light to see who she was.
Princess Rapunzel had just saved his life.
"Got on," she said.
Jack obeyed, too stunned to do otherwise.
"Max will take you into the forest," she said. "Don't try to take him anywhere else, or he'll bring you back here. When you get to the tower, there's a door on the back side, behind the vines. You can sleep in the bedroom upstairs. There are candles and matches in the cupboard to the right of the oven. Go."
"Wait," he said, and was glad the horse didn't start running yet. He tried to put his confusion into words... but all he could come up with was: "Why?"
She smiled at him sadly. "I'll tell you later."
"I'll see you again?" He was a little too happy about that prospect.
"In a few days," she nodded. "Now hold on. Max, go!"
The horse took off at a gallop.
#
Rapunzel arrived at the tower three days later – just as his food supply was running out.
Jack had been sitting on the stone floor, staring at one of the hundreds of paintings that covered the walls and ceiling. Just when he thought he had seen all of them, he looked up and found another one.
"Hi," she said, pushing off her dark purple cloak. She carried a large basket, which he hoped held food.
Sure enough, she opened it and pulled out a small glazed cake. "Here."
"Thanks," he said, accepting the cake. He was about to take a bite when he saw a small green creature perched on Rapunzel's shoulder, glaring at him.
The reptile made a motion to indicate to Jack that it was watching him closely.
It took another moment for Jack to recover enough to take a bite of the cake – and take a couple steps further away from the princess and her pet. He decided to sit on the stairs, where he could still see everything that happened.
In the silence, though, he couldn't resist asking the question that had tormented him for three days.
"Why did you save me?"
Rapunzel had taken a seat on the floor, and she finished chewing a bite from her own cake before she spoke.
"I'll tell me. But first, tell me why you needed saving," she said. "Why did you become a thief?"
Jack looked at the cake in his hands, his appetite suddenly deciding it had better places to be.
"I had a sister," he said, without really thinking. The story came to his lips unbidden "Emma. She was six years younger than me. She was my best friend. I would have done anything for her, and I almost never went anywhere without her."
He shook his head, fighting not to be overwhelmed by the emotions the memory brought back. Pain he had thought he had finally moved past.
"We went ice skating one day," he went on. "My mom said to be careful – and I laughed. I always thought she worried too much. But the ice cracked under Emma. I tried to save her, but I wasn't fast enough.
"I would have given anything – anything – to take her place! I-" His voice broke, and he had to take a deep breath before he could go in. "I ran away from home because I couldn't handle my parents saying it wasn't my fault – because I knew it was. It was my idea to go skating that day, even though I knew the weather was getting warmer. I needed space to think, and to a seventeen year old kid, running away seemed like a good option. I thought maybe I could get away from the pain, and the guilt."
He shook his head at his own naiveté.
"I stole a loaf of bread," he said. "That was the first thing. I felt horrible, but I was starving. And I kept doing it." He snorted. "I got good enough. And the more I stole, the more I learned to shut my conscience up. Eventually I got used to it. I couldn't go home – I was too ashamed. And by the time I realized what I had done, I couldn't get work because the guards were looking for me."
He looked up to see Rapunzel was looking at the cake that was still in her hands.
"You don't know what it's like," he said, not sure if he defending himself to her – or to himself. Either way, his voice came out harsher than he'd intended. "You were locked up here for eighteen years – safe from the world! And when you get free, you were a princess! You never lacked anything – you've never lost anything. You don't know what it's like to have nothing."
He had stood up, his words growing louder.
And Rapunzel didn't look at him.
Jack looked down, ashamed of his own reaction. He tried to apologize, but all that came out was:
"You don't know what it's like to lose someone you love."
Rapunzel stood up.
Lifting his eyes, Jack thought for a moment that she was going to leave – and he wouldn't blame her.
But as he watched, she instead lifted up a corner of the carpet that covered part of the floor.
There, and the porous stone, Jack saw a dark stain he recognized as blood.
He stared at it for a moment, and then looked at Rapunzel, who met his eyes sadly.
"Yes I do, Jack."
To Be Continued