Tangled in Frost

A Jackunzel Fanfiction

Frosty Encounters

AN: First of all I ship both Jackunzel and Jelsa but this is a Jackunzel story. After the success of my Mericcup story I decided to give my Jackunzel muscles a chance to flex.

Another thing is that this story takes place during Tangled so Jack has had around one hundred years to adjust to being a spirit. He already knows about the guardians and is now adjusting to life as a spirit. But enough of my rambling. Please enjoy this story and check out my other stories too. Now on with the chapter.

If he was to name the best thing about being a spirit it wouldn't be the ice powers, or the staff, or the immortality. It would be the flying. The feeling of air rushing by as the ground beneath him is dwarfed by the heights he ascended to. He usually flies in order to clear his head, he just fly above the clouds, find a spot to look at the moon and wait. He doesn't know why he waits, or what he's waiting for. Maybe an answer, advice...anything.

His name is Jack Frost and he's been eighteen and dead for a hundred years. Wasn't his choice, it was Manny's. Manny is the moon, or more specifically the man in the moon. He decided he should stay immortal. He decided that he should get my powers. He decided that anyone who didn't believe in him shouldn't see him. He even decided that he was Jack Frost. He created Jack and Jack has been waiting ever since.

Of course sometimes Jack wants nothing to do with Manny. Sometimes he just wants a place to hide from everything. So he found one. There was once a tower in a hidden valley near the city of Corona that was completely deserted and had been long before Jack was created. It was dark, quiet, basically uninhabitable. Perfect for brooding. What Jack did in that tower he can barely remember, he only remembered the emotions. The rage, the despair, never fear though.

Today was meant to be a special day. The one hundredth anniversary of Jack's mortal death and immortal birth. A death-birthday if you will. It was nice for a while, he got a new blue jumper with a hood and pockets and a party but it was just too much after a while. Jack just wanted to be alone to vent his feelings. So he went to his tower, the tower he hadn't been to in twenty years. It felt almost bad to break that streak but none of the guardians knew about it and he needed somewhere to be alone. So imagine Jack's surprise when he arrives at the tower to find that its windows are open and a beautiful young woman is painting inside.

Jack was intrigued, this girl looked no older that he was, because he still considered himself eighteen, and yet she was so innocent and care-free. Her eyes were a brilliant green and her golden hair was strewn around everywhere inside of the tower. Her hair was unbelievably long, as if it hadn't been cut since she was born. Jack felt a strange warmth that was surrounding her as she sat and worked. And she was painting. He had to investigate. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to see him, Jack flew right into the open window and hovered over her and she painted the corner of the wall. The mural was of a starry night filled with a trail of golden lights that lead over the cliffs and into the unknown.

"Pretty impressive," Jack said to himself.

Then he was really surprised. For some reason she jumped and looked up towards the ceiling. Straight through him. As always, people never see him. Jack got used to it after a while.

"Wh-Who are you?" she asked fear laced in her voice. Jack turned around in midair to see what she was looking at. No-one was there. He turn back around to see her still looking in the same direction as before.

"That's strange," Jack thought aloud, he has a habit of doing that, no one else to talk to except himself. It's not healthy-

"Wh-What's strange?"

Jack's heart stops. He looked at her in absolute awe. 'She can't...she's too old. How can she believe in me?' he thought once he got over the shock. He decided to move slightly and his pulse doubled as her eyes follow him.

"Wait," he said as she visibly trembled, "Can you...hear me?"

She slowly nodded. His eyes widened. This didn't usually happen.

"C-Can you...see me?" Jack asked. She nodded again as curiosity flitted across her face. Jack struggled to breath as he reached out to touch her. She flinched away and grabbed the closest thing to her, which happened to be a frying pan.

"Don't touch me!" she threatened.

"Hey, hey," he said softly, trying to get her to relax, "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Who are you?" she asked, still frightened, "Where do you come from? Why are you here?"

"OK," Jack said, still trying to calm her down, "Let's make a deal. You ask a question, I answer it, then I ask a question and you answer it. OK?"

She hesitated then nodded slowly.

"Good. Now your question first."

"OK," she started, trying to summon some confidence, "Who are you?"

"I'm Jack Frost," he explained, ignoring the disbelief on her face, "Now my question, who are you?"

"I am Rapunzel," she says, "Now can you prove that you are Jack Frost?"

"I think so," Jack replied as he tapped his staff on the floor and it immediately froze over. Her eyes widen in surprise and awe.

"Now, big obvious question," Jack started, "Why is your hair so long?"

Rapunzel looked around and gave an empty laugh.

"Yeah, obvious question," she repeated awkwardly. In that moment Jack had never seen something so adorably beautiful, "Well, I didn't cut it."

"That doesn't exactly answer my question," Jack chuckled. Rapunzel laughed awkwardly she looked to the floor, "Why didn't you cut it?"

Rapunzel sighed and frowned.

"I didn't cut it because...because I..." Rapunzel couldn't seem to get the words out of her mouth.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," Jack said as he tried to catch her eye. She looked up at him with a grateful look on her face.

"Thanks," she said

"I'll give you a different question, then. Rapunzel, why are you in this tower?"

"I live here," Rapunzel explained, "Why are you in this tower, Jack Frost?"

"This used to be my private place. I haven't been here in over twenty years. I came here to be alone. Why do you live here, of all places?"

Rapunzel hesitated.

"Well, mother says it's for my protection. I've never been-"

"RAPUNZEL!" a voice cried from outside, "LET DOWN YOU HAIR!" Rapunzel's eyes widened.

"It's mother!" she whispered. She ran to the open window and looked out, "COMING, MOTHER!" She then tuned to Jack as she prepared her hair, "You should go! No one's supposed to be here!"

"Don't worry," Jack said as he floated into the air and onto a nearby wall, "She won't be able to see me. I promise."

"RAPUNZEL!" the voice cried again, "I'm getting old down here!"

Rapunzel pulled her hair into a coil and fed it through a pulley so that it reached the ground. She then pulled on her hair to lift her mother up to the window. That only intrigued Jack more. Why would someone live in a tower so isolated that only entry way was Rapunzel's hair-lift? Unless...

Jack's thoughts were interrupted as a middle aged woman with black curly hair entered through the window. Immediately Jack felt uncomfortable. As a spirit, Jack could tell when magic was near and something ancient was resonating off of the woman in front of him. He hadn't noticed it before but it was similar to what was going through Rapunzel. Something was definitely up.

"Rapunzel," the woman greeted as she hugged the young woman. Alarm bells immediately sounded in Jack's head as he saw the slightest hint of annoyance passed through the woman's face as Rapunzel hugged her.

"Mother, guess what day it is," Rapunzel giggled.

"Oh I haven't the slightest idea," the woman replied, an air of arrogance surrounded her.

"Well, it's my birthday!" Rapunzel said with a big excited grin that made her look even more adaptable than usual.

"No, I remember that your birthday was last year."

"Well that's kind of the point," Rapunzel said, "It's kind of an annual thing."

"Is it now," the woman said with disinterest, "Rapunzel dear, mother's tired. Sing to me."

"But...OK," Rapunzel sighed in defeat. She then walked to the fireplace, pulled up a stool for her mother and sat in front of the fireplace.

Rapunzel took a deep breath and started singing as her mother started brushing her golden hair.

"Flower gleam and glow,

make your power shine,

Make the clock reverse,

Bring back what once was mine.."

Jack was entranced by her voice. It was smooth and silky, just like her luscious, glowing hair. She truly had a beautiful voice, a beautiful face, perhaps even a beautiful mind. She was a mystery to Jack and he intended to find out everything about her. Jack's eyes widened as he noticed Rapunzel's hair start to glint with light and shine. His jaw dropped as her hair then started to glow with golden light that flooded the room. Jack felt the same warmth that he had found when he first found Rapunzel except this time it was magnified ten fold. It only grew as she continued to sing.

"Heal was has been hurt,

Change the fates design..."

Jack gasped as he noticed the wrinkles on the woman's face fade and disappear and the grey hairs on her head fade to a dark ebony. The woman smiled maliciously as the skin on her hands lost their years and regained their colour. And yet Rapunzel still kept on singing.

"Save what has been lost,

Bring back what once was mine,

What once was-"

"NO! RAPUNZEL, DON'T!" Jack screamed. Rapunzel turned to his place on wall, fear in her eyes.

"What?" she asked.

The woman's face fell and Jack let out a sigh of relief as her years returned to her. She then turned to Rapunzel, a murderous glint in her eyes.

"Why did you stop, flower?" she asked, restraint in her voice. She turned to where Rapunzel was looking to see the outline of a boy in ice gleaming on the wall. "Rapunzel, what is that?"

"That is - umm - my painting!" Rapunzel replied, "I've been painting it today and I've...run out of paint, and I was going to ask you if you could pick up some more paints for my birthday."

"But Rapunzel," the woman sighed with annoyance, "That trip would take days-"

"Please?" she begged. The old woman sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but only because you've been such a good girl."

The much older looking woman got up from her seat, grabbed a basket from the table and stood by the window as Rapunzel readied her hair.

"Are you sure you'll be alright, my flower?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Rapunzel replied. The woman proceeded to kiss her hair before turning around and waited as Rapunzel lowered her to the ground. As soon as she was out of earshot, Rapunzel shut the window. She then looked up to where Jack was floating.

"What is it?" she asked as she noticed the concern on Jack's face.

Jack knew he wanted to ask about her hair but knew it wasn't the right time. He could tell it was a touchy subject.

"Oh, umm..." he said awkwardly.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," she repeated with a mischievously twinkle in her eyes.

Jack smiled and then turned to face her mural.

"That's cool," he said as he pointed his staff to the painting, quickly trying to change the subject, "How long did it take you?"

"Oh, most of this morning," Rapunzel replied. Jack looked at her with disbelief.

"That quick? I probably couldn't do that in a week!"

"Well, it's pretty easy, you know. Not much else to do around here."

"I especially like this one," Jack said as he pointed to a small painting of a chameleon, "It's so life-like. It's like I could just touch- OW OW OW OW!" Jack exclaimed as the painting bit his finger.

"Pascal!" Rapunzel scolded as she picked up the writhing lizard, "Sorry, he doesn't like strangers."

"Huh, I can tell. He's got a pretty strong bite for someone who doesn't have teeth!"

"Sorry," she repeated.

"It's fine," Jack replied, "Just tell him not to do it again."

"Now, Pascal," Rapunzel ordered, "You are not to bite Jack again, understand?"

Pascal just glared at Jack, but nodded when he noticed Rapunzel's glare.

"Good," she said.

"So what else can you do, Rapunzel?"

Rapunzel smiled as her eyes scanned the room.

"You got a while?" she asked.

Jack chuckled.

"Oh, I've definitely got a while."