Chapter Text
Rapunzel trudged on, head bowed and eyes slitted against the snow swirling about them. One foot in front of another. She kept her gaze on the hem of Jack’s jacket in front of her. One foot in front of another. She wore her hair like a scarf, thickly plaited and wound about her neck, down the inside of the coat she wore, the coat that was too big without her hair, but with it only just fitted. It was itchy and heavy and maybe she would be better cutting it all off, but she - she couldn’t quite bring herself to do that. Better to take it out of reach, in case cutting it left the magic with them, with Gothel and Pitch and those who chased, who wanted-
“It isn’t much further.” Jack’s hands were inexplicably warm against her face as he turned back to her, jolting her from her thoughts.
Rapunzel blinked at him. “How can you tell?”
They’d lost any semblance of a path a long time back, but Jack hadn’t hesitated, even when the blizzard descended on them.
“I know these woods.” Jack smiled reassuringly, and his hand slipped down to hold hers, and she imagined that she could feel his furnace-like heat even through her gloves. In his other hand - on his shoulder - was the rucksack that held everything they could throw together in the hurry that they’d been in. Rapunzel had offered to carry it more than once, but he’d insisted he take it. Said her hair was heavy enough for her to carry.
He hadn’t been wrong, but she’d still rather have helped carry the bag. Or been ready with one of her own, rather than panicking and blinking in disbelief that he’d even attempted the rescue, let alone actually managed it. (Yes, but his sister- Rapunzel’s traitorous thoughts bit back, dampening whatever spirit she had left, because that was her fault and if he found out - she should have told him-)
She glanced back, as if to see their trail; there was nothing there, their footprints filled up almost as soon as they’d lifted their feet. Impossible to track, hard to follow. Maybe they would be safe out here.
“Hey, ‘Punz.” His breath was warm on her cheek, and Rapunzel started. “There it is, see?” He pointed out ahead of them.
The silhouette of a cabin could be seen through the driving snow, a square dark shadow at odds with the shadows of trees about it.
She chattered a smile at him, the cold biting deep into her bones.
Jack smiled at her in return, and she couldn’t help the involuntary gasp that had her choking on snow because that smile-
Jack pulled her on towards the cabin, apparently unaware of the effect his smile still had on Rapunzel, even after the past year (and before, but the past year was when it had really - when they had really become a thing once more). “Come on, we can get out of this snow and get you warm.”
Rapunzel stumbled after him, fighting back her coughs until she could breathe normally, until they were at the door and falling in under their weight, and-
And Jack spun, light on his feet as ever, catching her and pulling her in and swirling to a neat halt, kicking the door shut after them. The snow battered at the windows, the window howled around the corners, and... the cabin wasn’t warm - disused and cobwebbed and dark - but it was dry and inside and it was - for the moment - safe.
“Come on.” Jack peeled off his coat, hung it up on the hooks with his scarf and hat, running a hand through his flattened brown hair to coax it back into its usual wild tangle. He kicked off his boots and the socks that went with them, and shouldered open the near door.
It caught on thick carpet and stayed open, showing Rapunzel a cozy looking room with a fire set and waiting to be lit in the grate, with chairs and a sofa and books against the walls. It was dark, the curtains pulled tight against the windows to keep in the heat.
She pulled off her own soaked outerwear and hung it up beside Jack’s.
He knelt to light the fire as Rapunzel followed him more slowly into the room, untangling her hair from where it lay wrapped about her body.
“And no one else knows about this place? How to find it?”
“Just us-”
“Just you,” Rapunzel corrected. “I couldn’t make that trip on my own.” She’d be utterly lost in the woods within seconds.
Jack laughed at her, rocking back on his heels from the lit fire. “Just me, then, and Mary. We used to come every summer, before our parents - well, it got a whole lot harder.”
He talked on, about all the things that they used to do in the cabin and the surrounding woods.
Rapunzel stared at him, unable to hear any of it over the roaring in her ears. His sister. Oh, well- “Even in the snow?” she managed, faintly. “It must be so different from the summer.”
“Oh - nah, we can do it blindfolded. Did, once, actually.” Jack laughed, lost in the memories. “We got so many scratches 'n' bruises from that, but it was worth it.”
“Jack-” Rapunzel started. She had to tell him, it wasn’t safe, but - but where else could they go? Maybe he was overstating, maybe-
“Jack!” A faint voice from outside. Her voice, his sister’s voice, and Jack’s head shot up like a rabbit, focusing intently on the covered windows.
“It can’t be,” he murmured, getting to his feet. “She wouldn’t-”
“It’s not,” Rapunzel said. “Jack, before, back in the city, when they-” her words died, but he wasn’t listening.
Wasn’t listening, because his sister was outside and calling for him, and he always went when she called, was always there to look out for her. Apart from the one time he trusted Rapunzel with her, and she’d failed.
“Jack!” Her voice was terrified, and Rapunzel could almost believe it was her out there.
It probably wasn’t, it was probably just a trap, but-
But Jack believed it, and he stepped past Rapunzel to the door.
Rapunzel caught at his wrist. “I don’t think it’s her.”
“But if it is, and she’s in trouble?” He flashed a pained glance at her, and she let go. They’d got this far.
“Jack!” His sister’s voice was insistent, and Jack didn’t hesitate any longer.
He wrenched the front door open and ran out into the snow, without boots, without jacket, without hat.
Rapunzel followed, pausing only to shove her feet into her boots and wrap her hair back around her in a pale imitation of a coat. “Jack!”
She stumbled into him three paces from the cabin, hitting his back. She grabbed his shoulders to steady herself and looked around him, to where-
“Let her go!” Jack’s hands grabbed uselessly at nothing, and he raised himself onto the balls of his feet as if to throw himself at the-
It wasn’t Pitch. It looked like Pitch, but it probably wasn’t. Rapunzel could count on one hand the number of times she’d actually seen Pitch in person.
But it was tall and dark, and she almost imagined she could see the grains of sand that made up the bulk of the almost elegantly proportioned man. Almost, because he was - it was too perfect, and crossed the line again into eerie and inhuman and... and everything that Pitch was, every nightmare, every uneasy thought and fear, and when he bared his teeth to laugh derision at them, Rapunzel could see the smooth points to them, almost like shark’s teeth. They seemed to extend backwards forever, giving the impression of a mouth that went on and on, big enough to swallow the world.
“Who, this?” It raised a hand that was all hooked fingers and knife-like nails, and in its tight grasp was the collar of Mary’s coat.
Mary herself hung limp in the creature’s grasp, the fight gone from her. She was staring at Jack in hopeless hope, the thin belief that he might still save her slowly drowning in the cold.
Jack uttered something that was more of a growl than an answer, but the Pitch creature smiled all the same.
“You know my price, Jackson Overland.” It gave Mary a little shake, like a dog with a rabbit. “Return Rapunzel to us.”
Rapunzel closed her eyes, taking in a sharp, snow-spiked breath. She couldn’t say she hadn’t expected that, and she couldn’t blame Jack for-
“No!” Mary interrupted her thought, interrupted Jack before he could even speak. “You shouldn’t, you can’t!”
“Mary,” Jack said, halting, and Rapunzel felt her heart shatter at the break in his voice.
She slipped her hand into Jack’s as she stepped around him, boots too big and sliding on her feet. She hadn’t tied them up, wasn’t wearing socks to fill the gaps.
“Punz, what are you-”
“It’s ok, Jack.” She forced herself to smile at him, and maybe it was a little tired and sad and strained, but that was ok. She would do right by them. “It’s my fault - you swear she’ll be safe, Pitch?” She turned to the creature, trying not to let her shivering show. She should have pulled on her coat - it was cold, not fear.
How Jack stood so still beside her, in little more than trousers and jumper, she had no idea.
“Please, Punz,” he begged, tightening his hand around hers. “I’ve only just found you, I can’t-”
“She will be safe,” the creature said, blinking its eyes almost like a snake.
“We’ll find each other again,” Rapunzel said, cupping Jack’s face in her free hand. “I promise.” Maybe not in this lifetime of his, but - but he always came back. He always found her.
His eyes searched her face. “You never did say,” he whispered, “How many of us there had been.”
Rapunzel smiled and pressed her lips to his cheek, and didn’t reply. There had only ever been one of her. But he... oh, she hadn’t lost count. But there had been many. And this had been the closest yet, the one she had been so sure would work-
“We grow weary,” the creature hissed, and Mary yelped as it hoisted her higher, legs dangling in the air.
“Alright.” Rapunzel nodded and stepped forward.
Jack’s warmth slipped through her fingers, both unwilling to let go.
The creature threw Mary artlessly at Jack, and they went tumbling backwards into the snow.
Rapunzel twisted as if to help them, and the creature caught at her hair, pulling her back. She yelled, pulling back for a second. She felt hairs snap in its grasp, and then she slipped in her too-big boots and fell at its feet.
Jack and Mary were standing, Jack pushing Mary back towards the cabin. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Rapunzel since he’d stood back up and now, as Mary ran towards the warmth of the cabin, he leapt forward through the snow, fists clenched.
The Pitch-creature raised its hand to meet him, and it morphed, swirling black sand in the snow to become a scythe, a knife, a talon-
Rapunzel screamed.
Jack was brought short with a cough, and dropped into the snow with a thud.
“You promised!” Rapunzel yelled at the creature, pummelling its side. “You said you wouldn’t-”
“I said nothing of the boy,” it replied, dispassionate as its weapon became an arm again, scattering drops of berry-red blood in the snow.
Rapunzel wrenched herself free and flung herself to her knees by Jack. “Jack - no, no you can’t, you aren’t supposed to-” she pressed shaking hands to the damp patch on his chest, as if that could stop it.
“’Punz, I had to - I couldn’t let them just-” he coughed, and blood stained his lips.
Rapunzel pulled at her hair, bringing some of it over her shoulder, lifting Jack up to wrap it around him.
The snow was falling and he was cold, like he’d never been before, and she-
She sobbed, trying to focus. “Flower - flower g-g-gleam and-”
The Pitch-creature pulled her backwards, away.
“No!” She reached out for Jack, struggling and fighting. “Jack!”
“I - I’ll see you again,” he managed to gasp out. “Right? After all, death-” His head lolled back in the snow. Everything was falling, and he was covered in whiteness.
She was aware, distantly, of the Pitch-creature shifted its bulk around her, lifting her out of the snow. She kept her eyes on Jack, trembling out the words, all jumbled together in a flurry of tears and - and it wasn’t supposed to happen like this, like...
Mary was standing in the entrance to the cabin, clutching at the door frame. She watched with wide eyes, frozen to the spot.
The strength drained from Rapunzel and she lay limp against the creature’s back as it took her away from the last people she had ever loved.