Not much time passes before Jack sees Rapunzel again after her disappearance. In fact, it's not much time at all – less than a full day later, he spots her through the leaves of the trees as he's flying back to her tower to check if she's come back. Because, even though he won't admit it to a single person, he's kind of worried about her.

Only he doesn't actually see her. He just sees her hair. It's like a tiny gold thread interwoven into the shrubbery. It catches Jack's eye and he wonders what it is that could look so golden, so clear, from so far up.

Obviously, being Jack, he goes down to investigate, even though he kind of already knows who it is beforehand. He bounces along the tips of the treetops, until he gets as close to her as possible. She's sitting on a rock in the middle of a forest, hand held in her palm as she stares off at nothingness.

Jack feels a little like an ape as he swings down from the branches as silently as possible. She doesn't notice until Jack goes onto the closest branch to her, grips it tightly between his legs, and swings upside down in front of her with a smirk on his face, laughing as she screams because that's the exact reaction that he wanted from her.

Though, he does feel a bit bad as she topples off the rock.

"Hey, Princess," he says, easily flipping feet first onto the ground and extends a hand towards her. "What're you doing out here?"

There's still a state of shock on her face as she places her hand in his and pulls herself up. "I-I'm going to see the floating lights!" Then she squints at him. "What are you doing here?"

He ignores her question as she releases him, nodding once towards a large white horse that is staring at him and nudges him, sniffing fiercely. "What's with the donkey?"

This offends the horse greatly, and he lifts his hooves up as if to strike at Jack, but Rapunzel puts a hand on his mane to calm him down.

"This is Max," she explains, stroking the horse's neck comfortingly as Pascal peeks out from her hair and uses her arm as a bridge to climb onto Max's head. "I'm not alone, okay?"

"No shit?" Jack says. "You've got a travelling circus and a half."

"Watch your language and be nice," she reprimands him. "There's a guy with us too."

He's about to suggest that she might be seeing things, but then she shrugs. "He's using the bathroom."

"He?" his eyes nearly pop out of his skull. "It's a he?"

"His name is Flynn Rider," Rapunzel informs him with such an aura of haughtiness that Jack actually rolls his eyes at her and Max looks displeased, huffing. "And he's taking me to the lights in return for –"

"Oh," Jack interrupts her. "Because you hid that crown thing underneath your floorboards, right?"

"You found it?"

Jack raises his hands above his head in mock-defense. "Hey, I put it back." His hands drop back down to his sides. "It was a good hiding spot, though. If I didn't have such a keen eye, I probably wouldn't have spotted it."

There's a small smile on Rapunzel's lips, like she's amused by this whole thing but not allowing it to show completely. She opens her mouth to retort when there's a shout of, "Hey, Blondie! I'm done. Olly olly oxen free!"

"Blondie?" Jack scoffs, already finding a sour taste in his mouth. "He calls you Blondie?"

Rapunzel sends him a look, brushing past him. "You call me Princess."

"That's completely different!" Jack says, following her as she weaves her way through the trees towards where ever this Flynn Rider guy was taking a dump. When the other man comes into view, Jack blinks a few times, crossing his arms and surveying him.

Flynn Rider doesn't even notice, his eyes grazing over Jack as if he isn't even there (which he isn't), and landing on Rapunzel. Jack stiffens even more. He hates being reminded that he's invisible to most people.

He grunts, "I don't like him."

Max doesn't either, apparently, because he neighs in agreement.

Rapunzel seems to remember that he's standing right there, especially as he picks a twig out of her golden locks, and she elbows him in the gut, ignoring Jack's hiss of pain. "You don't even know him!"

Jack notices how Flynn Rider's eyebrow rises as it appears to him that she's talking to thin air. He can't help the smile that appears on his lips – until he realizes that Rapunzel doesn't understand that she's the only person to date that has the ability to see him. He shakes his head, tries to tell her to stop without saying anything, but that just confuses her further.

"What are you doing?" she snaps, an edge of annoyance and exasperation leaking into her voice. Flynn Rider looks alarmed now, and he coughs.

"Uh – who are you talking to?" he asks as Jack dips his head because he figured it out. Rapunzel looks at Flynn Rider as if he's the crazy one there. Which he might be. Jack hadn't gotten a clear judgment of character yet.

"Jack," she says slowly, then brightens. "Oh! I haven't introduced you two. Jack, this is Flynn. Flynn, this is Jack. Frost," she adds with an afterthought as if that will be more impressive.

Flynn, however, is the exact opposite. "This is great," he gripes. "I'm travelling with a lizard –"

"Chameleon," Jack corrects with a snap, and Pascal swings his head over to Jack and – Christ - smiles gratefully.

"- a girl with a thousand feet of hair –"

"Only seventy."

"- a horse that wants me dead. –"

Max glares and bares his teeth menacingly.

"- and, to top it all off, your imaginary friend that you based off of a kid's story."

Jack grips his staff tightly and a patch of ice forms on the ground around it. Hastily, he stomps it away, the feel of slush crunching underneath him calming him slightly.

"What?" Rapunzel says softly, fingers finding Jack's sleeve and tugging lightly. "No – no. He's right here, Flynn."

"There's no one there."

"But –" Rapunzel seems utterly scandalized, looking over at Jack, who's head is bowed towards his feet. "- I don't understand."

She's speaking more to Jack than anyone else. Jack clears his throat and mumbles, "Don't look at me and I'll explain."

"What?" she's whispering now so that Flynn won't think she's crazy – though he still does, because he rolls his eyes and says, "Gossiping with people only you can see is rude, you know."

"Just – pretend you can't see me."

Rapunzel doesn't say anything for a moment, but that's all the confirmation that Jack needs in order to know that she's listening to his orders. She forces a smile onto her face, laughing airily. "I thought that there was a ghost in the forest so I named him Jack," she explains without enthusiasm. She walks towards him. Jack walks with her. The animals remain behind.

They really are a circus and a half.

Flynn is silent as they walk along. Rapunzel pinches at Jack's bicep, playing it off as a simple stretch, and sends him a quick glare that just screams "explain. Now."

And so, he does - from the moment he broke through the ice to the moment their walking together.

Review, please.