By Amanda Pizzolatto

Word Count: 1907

Rating: G

Summary: Jack Frost is willing to do anything to free Rapunzel… but how high will the cost be? Based on the fairy tale “Princess Finola and the Dwarf”.

Jack hated it. He hated not being able to talk to her, he hated seeing her so lonely, with no one else for company than that old witch who used Rapunzel’s powers to keep herself young as she came and went freely. He hated everything, and the fact that he knew he loved her only made it worse. He had seen her for a few years now, but he couldn’t find a way to make her believe in him, and he couldn’t find a way in which to free her from her imprisonment. He was never able to get too close to the tower, but just close enough so he could watch her work and listen to her songs. He would leave a few gifts for her where he figured she would see them. He would pace in front of the tower, trying to figure out some way for her to see him, to believe in him, to talk to him. But perhaps the hardest thing was that he couldn’t find a way to end her imprisonment. He had been through both Mother Goose’s and Father Time’s libraries, trying to find anything that could free her, but he always came up empty.

One day, Jack flew to the tower and saw Rapunzel in tears for the first time. The witch wasn’t anywhere in sight, but whatever spell the tower was under repelled Jack’s approach. He tried several times before becoming frustrated.

“No!” Jack shouted at the tower as he hit it. He pressed his head against the invisible wall. “Why can’t I comfort you? Why can’t I let you know that everything will be alright? I will find a way to free you, Rapunzel, I swear, no matter what the cost, I will find a way.”

With that, he took off, determined to search the world twice over, if need be, to find some way, something that would break the spell. He hadn’t gone very far when the moonlight began acting weird. The next thing Jack knew, a little man was standing in front of him.

“Manny!”

“Hello, Jack. Do you wish to free the princess Rapunzel from her spell?”

‘Yes! I’ll do anything to get her out of there!”

“Anything?”

Jack nodded with determination. “Yes.”

“Well then, I have found the way to do so, but the cost may be high.”

“I’ll do it.”

The man in the moon nodded. “Very well, but you must do exactly as I say.” Jack nodded. “The only way to break this spell is to hit the tower three times with a crystal spear, but that spear is guarded heavily by Pitch Black.”

“I’ll take on him and his whole army to get it, if it means Rapunzel can be free.”

Manny gave him a sad smile. “You might have to. Now, listen closely, for the Nightmares are not the only challenge you will have to face. You will have to face the Lermantoff Serpent, as well.”

Jack’s eyes widened. “What?”

Manny nodded. “Listen; to defeat the Lermantoff Serpent, you’re going to need a branch of rowanberries, some dreamsand, and a goose’s egg. You’re going to have to get it all into his mouth.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard; that serpent has a mouth the size of a lake!”

Manny’s face was grim. “You’d be surprised. Now hurry, tonight’s the last night of the full moon, so I won’t be able to help you much until next month.”

“Oh, right.”

Jack took off, getting a branch of rowanberries and a goose’s egg easily enough, but had to look for something to carry the dreamsand in. With some help from a moonbeam, he found a glass jar that he quickly filled up with dreamsand, and was soon on his way to Pitch’s lair. He dove right in, and found the lair to be eerily quiet. His senses on high alert, Jack flew through the lair, searching for the spot where the spear was kept. He saw it, just as a large wave of Nightmares rose to greet him. Jack let out a yelp as the wave began to descend on him, but he sent a wave of ice, disintegrating more than half of the Nightmares. He took a step back to catch his breath, but it wasn’t long before the Nightmares were attacking him again. Jack flew around the lair, sending streams of ice through wave after wave of Nightmares. He kept trying to get around the horde, but they would swarm him before he could pass through.

“Okay, I’ve had enough of this,” Jack said.

With a shout, he sent another wave of ice, finally getting him the break he needed. He rushed through the parted Nightmares and turned to face them again, but noticed that once he had gotten over the hill, they made no attempt to stop him. He took a breath and looked forward. Now he knew why, for they figured that the Lermantoff serpent would take care of him easily enough. But he had to sit down and take a breather; he had never faced so many Nightmares at once, and was rather worn out after it. He waited a few minutes for his heart to slow down, his breathing to fall back into a steady rhythm, and some kind of strength to return to his limbs. When he thought he had waited long enough, he allowed an image of Rapunzel crying to flood his mind, and he rose, determined to get to that spear. He walked down the hill to a deep, dark river that encircled the spot where the spear was encased. He gritted his teeth; the serpent had to be in the water. He thrust his staff into the water, creating a thin layer of ice on the surface.

“Come on, I know you’re down there,” he muttered when nothing came to the surface. Taking a breath, he rose slowly and began to fly over the water, dashing back to the ground when he heard the ice cracking. The serpent’s head broke the surface and eyed him malevolently. A cruel smile seemed to spread over its serpentine face, as if to say it had been waiting for Jack to show up.

“Let’s get on with it, then.” Jack said.

The serpent opened its mouth wide, and Jack jumped into it, wedging his staff between its teeth. The serpent seemed to scream at the unpleasant feeling in its mouth and began to close its mouth, cracking the staff. But it gave Jack enough time to toss in the branch, the egg, and the jar and get out before it snapped its mouth shut. Jack saw the items were taking effect immediately on the serpent.

“Well that was easy,” he smiled before dashing across the ice.

It became increasingly darker, causing him to glance up. He yelped as the serpent’s head came crashing down on him, sending him below the water. Jack struggled to get out from under the giant head, but the serpent refused to give him any room to maneuver out. Thinking quickly, Jack sent tendrils of ice around the serpent’s head, trying to adhere it to one side of the river so he could get out the other side.

It was working! Jack dove quickly and swam around to the other side, shooting up as fast as he could before the serpent could muster enough strength to go after him. But the serpent had also thought quickly, and slammed Jack into the rock wall with its body, rendering him unconscious for a few minutes.

When Jack opened his eyes, it was dark, so dark that he couldn’t see which way to go. He began to panic. Was he going up, down? He paused and noticed a light just to his left. He turned and began swimming towards it. In a few moments, he had broken the water’s surface on the side near where the spear was. He glanced up at it, and saw that it was glowing. He got up and took it out of the casing. Doing so seemed to make it glow all the brighter. He flew off, and no serpent or even any Nightmares came to stop him.

He burst out of Pitch’s lair with a whoop; he had done it! He had gotten the spear! Now, on to the tower. He put on a burst of speed, getting to the tower in record time. He hit the tower with the staff three times as Manny said to do, and a burst of light nearly blinded him. When he opened his eyes, there stood Rapunzel holding a pan, with her chameleon peeking out from her shoulder. The tower and everything else in it was gone—even, Jack assumed, the witch.

“What, what just happened? Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Jack Frost, and I just set you free.”

“What?”

“Yeah, there was this spell that prevented me from getting in, and you from getting out, so I found the way to free you.” He showed her the spear. “I had to knock this against the tower three times to break it.”

“Oh, yeah, thank you, but what am I going to do now? Where can I go?”

“Well, you want to see the world?”

Rapunzel glanced at him. “Really?”

“Yes, unless you want to meet your real parents first.”

“My, my real parents?”

“Yeah, you’re princess Rapunzel of Corona! That witch apparently kidnapped you as a baby and had Pitch Black help her put up this spell to keep you here, and to keep everyone out.”

“Yes, well, it didn’t keep you from getting presents to me. Thank you.”

Jack’s mouth dropped. “You could see me?”

Rapunzel nodded. “If I told Mother, she would have moved me to a different location. She said so herself, and she wanted me to tell her whenever I saw someone. And since you couldn’t get in, I figured it best not to tell her. Then you began to give me little gifts, and I began to wonder if you were really as bad as Mother said everyone was.”

“Well, it was actually that witch you should have stayed away from; she was only using your hair to keep herself young.”

Rapunzel glanced at the mound behind her. “Oh, speaking of . . .”

Jack chuckled. “I got this. How short do you want it?”

“What? But if someone cuts my hair . . .”

“Hey, magic hair, magic spear, but if you want, we can test it on a small section.”

“Um, okay, how about this much?” She held out a few strands.

Jack cut them so that the strands only reached to her knees. He let out a whoop when only the hair that was no longer attached to her head turned brown.

“See? Told you it would work!” He grinned and quickly cut through the rest of her hair.

She let out a squeal. “That’s a perfect length! Thank you, Jack!” She hugged him, but pulled back quickly. “Oh, sorry.”

“It’s alright, I don’t get very many hugs. Besides, you’re going to have to hold on tight if you want to get out of here. I fly, remember?” he winked.

She wrapped her arms around him. “This will be fun.”

“Oh, you can bet it will be.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before taking off, eager to show Rapunzel everything she had been missing out on.