Don't You Ever Forget About Me

Chapter 5

Believed In

"I-I don't understand," Rapunzel breathed, watching Jack as he walked back towards the chair he had been lounging on earlier. Instead of sitting down like she had expected him to, he pointed his staff up towards the rafters and the wind carried him upwards, strands of gold dancing in the gentle breeze.

The winter spirit sat atop the highest of the rafters, crouched down like a gargoyle. He watched Rapunzel closely from above, cocking his head to the side. Her once kissed-peached complexion had been drained of most of its color, and she stared up at him as if she were looking at a ghost. He could tell from the expression in her moss-green eyes that she must have thought that she had completely lost it.

"To be honest with you," Jack started, repositioning himself so that he was leaning up against one the beam behind him, leg dangling freely in the open air, "I don't really understand it, either."

Rapunzel had stayed silent for a few minutes, chewing at her bottom lip. Jack was kind of taken aback blurted, "how come my mother can't see you? Or-or touch you?" she was speaking so fast and so excitedly that he could barely understand what she was saying, "I mean, I can see you! And hear you, and, and..." she paused and let out an frustrated sigh, her arms falling to her sides, "I just don't get it," she stopped, and her already paled face went a few shades lighter, "are...are you a ghost?"

Cringing at the term, Jack spat, "What? No way!" even if he himself didn't know for sure what he was, he refused to be referred to as something as pitiful as a ghost, "look," he sighed, "I don't understand what's up with this, either. I already told you that."

Rapunzel seemed to become more at ease after being reassured that her new friend was not, in fact, an apparition. Her shoulders relaxed and she glanced back up at him, her gaze meeting with his. They stayed like that for a few moments, their eyes locked on one another in what felt like a silent trance.

Rapunzel was beautiful, Jack finally admitted to himself, admiring her from his perch. From her delicate facial features to her feminine curves down to the river of blonde that trailed behind her. She was stunning. Jack shook his head, chuckling to himself when he realized that his eyes were wandering.

"You know," Jack spoke, his voice piercing the still in the air, "I really wonder how exactly you can see me. Or hear me. Or," he paused, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, "or touch me. I mean, I know that this doesn't make much sense, but..." his lips curled into a smile. An honest one; not the kind of smile that he got from playing tricks or throwing snowballs at unsuspecting victims. It was just a smile. Content.

"I'm happy that you can," he finally finished.

The expression on Rapunzel's face was unreadable, and for a moment Jack had thought he had said the wrong thing. But just when he was about to take back his words and apologize, the girl standing below him did something unexpected.

Using her hair as sort of a lasso, Rapunzel swung a length of it up to the rafter Jack was perched on, wrapping it around the wooden beam. He watched in bewilderment as she began to scurry up towards him, using her own hair as a rope.

"Wow," Jack breathed, laughing softly. Rapunzel made it up to the rafter, pulling herself up so that she was sitting next to him, legs too dangling in the air.

"Neat trick," he mused, watching as the blonde unwrapped her hair from around the wooden beam. She smiled bashfully at him, "thanks. But it's really nothing special."

Jack begged to differ, but he kept his mouth shut, taking a moment to look over the paintings that covered nearly every square inch of the ceiling, "so that's how you got up here to make these," he gestured at her artwork.

"Yeah...I have a lot of time on my hands."

Laughing, Jack replied, "So I've noticed."

The smile on Rapunzel's face remained, but it fell just slightly, her tone turning serious again, "how come my mother can't see you?"

"How come you can see me?" Jack retorted, smirking. Rapunzel stared at him blankly, and he sighed, "look, I'm just as confused as you are. But your mother not being able to see me isn't really anything weird, as far as I'm concerned. At least not for me."

"Wha- of course it's weird!" Rapunzel sputtered with a strained laugh.

"No," Jack stopped her, "what's weird is that you can see me. You're the weird one, Blondie."

It took Jack a lot of self-control not to laugh at the look on her face. She glared at him, "do not call me Blondie. And I'm not weird. At least I don't think I am."

"Okay, you're not weird," Jack agreed, holding up an index finger, "but, what is weird is that you can see me. No one else has ever been able to see me."

A look of utter confusion over took Rapunzel's face for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening, "what do you mean by that?"

"I..." Jack halted, trying to find the right words to explain to her what he meant and what he had gone through, "okay. Look. I'm a winter spirit, right?" he watched as the girl nodded, following along, "well, the thing is, no one can see me. Or hear me," it hurt just to say it, and his voice faltered, "usually... people just walk right through me. Like... Like I don't even exist. But you," his ice crystal eyes met her earth green orbs, "you can see me. You know I exist."

The girl still looked like she didn't fully understand what was going on, but none the less, she said after a bit of thought, "I...I think I'm starting to get it."

Jack let out a relieved sigh.

"But I'm still confused."

A laugh bubbled out of Jack's lips at that statement, "so am I, Rapunzel," he gave her a wary smile, "but...I kind of don't want to question it, you know? I... I'm just so happy that you can see me... " he swallowed, "I've gone a long, long time by myself," Jack drew his knees in towards his chest. He felt more and more vulnerable with every word that he spoke, and out of defense he was closing in on himself, using his legs as if they were a shield, "for almost one hundred years now, I've been all alone. I know we just met...but..." he trailed off.

Rapunzel stared at him intently, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm just really happy," he finished with a weak laugh. The winter spirit couldn't even begin to find the words to describe the euphoria brewing within him.

"You don't look like you're one hundred years old," Rapunzel pointed out. The tense that had settled over them suddenly dissipated.

Jack smirked at her, feeling like himself again, "yeah, I don't look have bad for a centenarian, do I?"

The remark pretty much blew over Rapunzel's head, "but how can you be one hundred? I mean, you look like you're my age, and I'm only seventeen!"

Jack let his legs slip away from his chest so that both of them were dangling in the air again, dropping his guard, "I guess you could say that I'm kind of a...whatchamacallit," he trailed of, trying to find the right term. He snapped his fingers in realization, "immortal! I don't age. When I woke up I was seventeen, and I've stayed that way ever since."

Blinking, Rapunzel replied, "when you...woke up? What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Jack leaned up against the wooden support behind him, relaxing his head against his arms, "I woke up," he wasn't quite sure how to explain his peculiar rising to her, as he didn't quite understand what had happened that day himself, even after having a century to ponder it, "I remember it being dark, and cold...and I was scared. I was floating in pitch black, " just thinking about being suspended in that suffocating darkness again made it hard for the winter spirit to breathe, "and then I saw the moon. I kind of, well, came up out of a frozen-over lake, and...floated up into the air towards the moon. And I wasn't scared anymore," his tone was serene as he spoke, and he took a moment to glance over at Rapunzel who was listening, fascinated.

"The moon seemed to chase all of the darkness away," Jack waved his staff, as if he were wiping away the sludge of dank emotions that had been dripping off of him when he woke up, "the moon chased away all of the fear, and that horrible blackness. And then I came back down on to the lake, and found this," he held his staff out. To that day he still didn't understand why he had been drawn to the branch of wood and why he was so attached to it. He tightened his grip, "and after that, I discovered my powers. I could make it snow, and freeze stuff, and fly, and-" he stopped his enthusiastic rambling to breathe. Rapunzel giggled.

"Anyway, I flew over to a nearby village," his once excited tone deflated, and he sighed a quiet, sad sigh, "man, I was so thrilled. I tried to tell them about my powers, but… they couldn't hear me. At first I thought that maybe I just wasn't speaking loud enough, but then..." he let out a shaky breath of air, "then they walked right through me. Like I was invisible. Again, and again, and again…" Jack was being hit with a tidal wave of emotions as he spoke, and it took all of the strength in his frozen heart not to just break down and cry. Everything that had happened over those lonely one hundred years was running through his memory all at once, and he was terribly overwhelmed.

"…That's when the moon finally said something: Jack Frost," his tone was completely void of emotion,, "my name. He told me my name, and that was it. He hasn't said anything to me since."

Rapunzel didn't speak a word, but Jack could tell from the look on her face that his story had definitely had an impact her. She looked concerned. Concerned about him.

"I'm sorry, Jack," she whispered.

The winter spirit shrugged and put on a smile. Even if it was weak, it was there, "hey, you don't need to be sorry. You didn't do anything."

"I just feel...really, really awful about what you had to go through. Being alone for so long," her voice was quiet, but Jack could tell that there was more in her tone than just sympathy for the loneliness that he had lived through, "I wish I could have been there for you," her eyes met with his.

The weak smile on Jack's face grew stronger at her words. For once he felt like he mattered, and he didn't want the feeling to go away. Tentatively, he reached for her hand, pulling it into a gentle embrace. The warmth of her skin nearly melted him, and he sighed, "like I said, I'm so glad that you can see me."

"I'm glad too," to Jack's relief, she didn't pull away, instead giving his icy hand the gift of a gentle squeeze. She didn't even mention the chill of his skin, or flinch away because of it. He found it kind of strange, but he didn't dare to bring it to her attention.

"I'm usually all by myself, so it's nice to have someone to talk to," Rapunzel offered him a small smile, "even if I was a little scared of you at first."

"Scared of me?" Jack raised an eyebrow at her playfully, "now what would make you scared of me?"

Rapunzel crossed her arms, and Jack couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she had let go of his hand, "you just randomly showed up in my tower and snuck up on me. No one else has ever been up here besides my mother and I."

Jack cocked his head to the side. He still wasn't quite sure what exactly she meant by that. The concept seemed really odd to him.

"But I'm still glad that you're here," Rapunzel said in a rush, thinking that she had somehow offended the boy across from her, "it's nice to have someone to talk to besides myself when my mother isn't here... And the snow is beautiful."

Laughing softly, Jack replied, "I'm glad you think so," he pulled his hand out from his pocket, the temperature of his already icy fingers dropping as he conjured a single intricately laced snowflake. Rapunzel watched with enlarged eyes, mesmerized at his craft, "think fast," he blew the ice crystal masterpiece at her, the flake landing on her nose and exploding into little blue sparkles. A giggle bubbled out from between her lips, and a grin took over her face.

"That's amazing!" she exclaimed, rubbing at the spot of her nose where the flake had melted, "that's the first time I've ever seen a snow flake up close before. A real one, I mean. I've seen plenty of pictures in my books, but the real thing is so much more special."

Jack matched her smile with one of his own lop-sides ones, "oh, I can change that," he reached for her hand again, and before Rapunzel even knew what was happening, a breeze picked up and they were sailing towards the floor like feathers. He hurriedly led her towards the window, "come on, let's go and play in the snow together! We can have a snowball fight, and make snow angels-"

"Jack, I really can't," Rapunzel cut him off. The winter spirit shook his head.

"Aw, come on!" his tone resembled that of a little boy, "let's have some fun," in one swift motion he hopped on to the window sill, but Rapunzel's feet stayed firmly planted on the floor of her tower.

"I mean it," she wouldn't let her gaze meet Jack's, and her voice was low and shaky, almost scared, "I really can't go with you."

Jack blinked in disbelief, and let out a small, half-hearted laugh, "aw...why not, Rapunzel? It'll be fun, I promise!"

"It's not that I don't want to-"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Jack tugged at her hand like an impatient child, "let's go-"

Suddenly Rapunzel pulled her hand out of his grip, blurting, "I'm not allowed to go outside!"

All Jack could do was stare at her. He was prepared for nearly every excuse, accept for that one. She nervously ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes glued to the floor.

Jack lifted his feet out from under him and plopped down onto the sill so that he was sitting, the wind keeping him from hurting himself. He was completely thrown off by what his friend had said to him, and he tried his best to make sense of it, "Um, so you can't go outside?" the question was directed more at his own thoughts than Rapunzel, "it's because it's already dark out, huh?" his friend opened her mouth to explain, but he continued, smiling, "okay. I can deal with that. How about tomorrow when it's light outside, then?"

With a feather-light sigh, Rapunzel repeated, "Jack...I-I can't."

Now the winter spirit was getting a bit irritated. He rolled his eyes. Maybe she was just making excuses because she didn't want to be with him. Fine. That wasn't a big deal to him. What did he care?

"If you don't want to hang around with me, all you have to do is say so", he grumbled bitterly, looking away from the girl with the golden hair. He tried his best not to sound as hurt as he actually felt.

"Jack, it's not that," Rapunzel said quickly, trying her best to undo the unintentional damage she had caused, "I want to go outside with you. I really, really do. But I can't."

Jack raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, still not entirely convinced, "and why not?" his tone ended up sounding more bratty than he had intended.

Rapunzel let out another sigh, but this one was obviously exasperated. She was getting tired of having to repeat herself, "because I'm not allowed to go outside," she emphasized the six words.

"Not ever?" Jack asked, genuinely confused, though it came out tinged with sarcasm. Now he was starting to get worried. Did she mean what he thought she meant?

Rapunzel's answer was just barely audible to Jack, "not ever," when the words hit the air is was as if they sucked the life out of the it. They hung in the still for a moment, ringing loudly in Jack's ears. Not Ever. The golden haired girl sighed heavily and turned away from her new friend, retreating towards the fireplace on the other end of the room, her hair trailing behind her like a shadow.

Jack was in disbelief. Not allowed to leave. Period. An entirely new slew of questions flooded Jack's mind, gnawing at him. When was the last time that Rapunzel had even been outside? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Or even worse, had she ever left her tower? Was the stone structure a prison?

Careful not to startle the girl, Jack quietly padded over to her and placed a friendly hand on her slumped shoulder. He was relieved when she didn't flinch away at his touch.

"Hey," he tried his best to sound reassuring, keeping his voice soft, "it's okay."

Rapunzel sniffed and turned her head so that she was facing him, "you're not mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad. I'm just a little confused is all," he paused, debating on whether or not he should ask her one of his mind-biting questions, "why aren't you allowed to go outside?"

Rapunzel turned her gaze back down to the floor, "my mother won't let me. She says it's too dangerous for someone like me."

Jack stiffened. The conversation that they had had earlier that day suddenly made a lot more sense, and his disdain for her mother grew even stronger. The woman was beating her own daughter down with words like fists with pointed knuckles.

"Too dangerous for someone like you," Jack repeated to himself. He chuckled, "where exactly does she think you'll be going? The jungle?" A small smile hinted on Rapunzel's lips at that. He continued, "the clearing down below the tower isn't dangerous. Unless you're afraid of rabbits and dragonflies."

"My mother says that there's quicksand down at the base of the tower," Rapunzel stated plainly.

With a roll of his eyes, Jack retorted, "well, your mother was lying. Sure, there's a pond, but no quicksand. That stuff doesn't exist around here, remember?"

"But," Rapunzel stammered, "mother would never lie to me!"

Again, Jack rolled his eyes. It amazed him just how gullible the girl was, "well, she lied about that. But one thing that is true is that there is snow down there. Don't you want to play in the snow?"

The green in Rapunzel's eyes sparkled at the mention of snow, "yes, of course I do!"

"well, than why don't you ask her if you can go outside tomorrow to play in it?"

Rapunzel stayed silent for a few moments, mulling things over, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask."

Her answer came across as being slightly labored, but none the less, it gave Jack a feeling of joy, "Great!" he grinned. The winter spirit glanced at the window, and let out a shaky breath of air. It was getting late.

"I have to go…" he reluctantly admitted more to himself more than the girl by his side. The last thing he wanted to do was leave the tower and his new friend alone, but the wind was calling to him. He had other business to attend to.

Rapunzel's face noticeably fell, "you're leaving?" she questioned, sounding as if she thought that he would never come back. Devastated.

"Only for tonight," Jack quickly reassured her, "I'll be back tomorrow. I promise. I'm taking you out to play in the snow, remember?" his lips pulled into another honest smile.

Instead of saying something right away, Rapunzel did something unexpected. She wrapped her arms around Jack's arm and waist, pulling him in towards her. Her head rested against his chest and he gasped at the sudden warmth and butterflies raging in his stomach.

"Goodbye," she whispered, pulling away just as quickly as she had grabbed him. Jack just stood there, stunned.

"Yeah…" he nodded in a daze at the sudden contact, "goodbye."

((It's late. I'm a bad person and I should feel bad.

Well… at least it's 1,000 words longer than usual, right? Right. My schedule the week before last was really strange so I ended up writing the bulk of this last week. I feel awful about skipping a week, but there really wasn't much I could do besides freak out about it.

Chapter title from the amazing fan song 'Believed In' by Lily Sevin. I'm going to compile a list of all of the chapter title songs on my profile ASAP. Also, my friend and I made a collab channel on YouTube specifically for our Jackunzel videos! :D Link on my profile. Please give it a look.

Thank you all so much for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites! It makes me feel so great that you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. I try to reply to all of the reviews, so don't be afraid to add one!

~Brandy))