THE BIG FOUR STORY

THE BIG FOUR STORY:Chapter 67 - To Finally See the Light

Rapunzel’s P.O.V

Today was the day! I could hardly wait as we walked out of the forest. “Are we almost there Jack?” I asked. He shook his head and chuckled softly as he leaned on his staff and stopped walking. “Punzie you’ve asked me that at least six times now.” He laughed. “Sorry.” I apologized. “Don’t be! I know how excited you are.” Jack stated as he walked up to me and put his arm over my shoulders. We continued to walk until we reached the end of the forest. The opening of the forest was bright and breathtaking. The first thing that came into view was a vast castle with a village that winded around it up and down a hill. The kingdom was surrounded by a beautiful lake, which the kingdom reflected off of just like a mirror. “We’re finally here!”  I squealed. I ran off ahead towards the bridge in excitement. “Wait up Punzie!” Jack shouted as he flew towards me to catch up. “This is amazing!” I exclaimed. Jack smirked at me as I pointed out all of the different things, when we hadn’t even entered the front gates of the kingdom yet.    I was so distracted by the village that I didn’t even realize that people were stepping on my hair until I felt a sharp tug. “Ow!” I exclaimed. Jack flew by and picked up my hair. “Thanks.” I stated as I grabbed the rest of my hair. “No problem.” Jack chuckled as he blew some of my hair out of his face. “This could be a problem.” I stated sadly. “Don’t worry I have an idea.” He assured. “Hey!” Jack called over at a group of girls who were braiding each other’s hair. They all turned their heads over at us in unison. Jack lifted the armfuls of my hair and shrugged. “Wanna help?” He asked the girls. I was half expecting the girls not to believe in him thus not being able to see him but once they opened their mouths in excitement I realized that they surely could. The girls quickly ran over and immediately began braiding my hair. Once they finished I thanked them. My hair was braided into multiple tiny braids and then braided into one thick braid. The little girls even added flowers to the hairdo. “C’mon give us a twirl.” Jack demanded as he grabbed my hand and twirled me around. I couldn’t help but blush as I saw how Jack stared at me. Once we reached the gates I was amazed. Music filled the air, people were scattered about dancing and singing. Purple posters and decorations with golden suns adorned all of the buildings and houses. Jack leisurely walked beside me as I took in all of the sights. “What’s that?” I asked. Jack turned to see what I was suggesting to. “Oh that’s a library, it has books.” He answered. “Books!” I exclaimed. Before Jack could say anything in protest I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into the library. When we entered the small library I began grabbing different books and laid them out on the floor. Jack sat beside me as I opened up one of the books I had chosen. We spent at least an hour in there reading together. Once we finished reading about the world and looking at maps, Jack suggested that we move on. So we left the library and went back to the streets. The day was still young and most of the people seemed to be celebrating for some reason. As we walked on we passed a group of people who were placing flowers and offerings in front of a mural. “This is for the Lost Princess of Corana.” A little girl said to her sibling as she placed a flower in front of the mural. I stared at the mural intently. There was a man and woman who held a small child in their arms. The man and the woman had crowns that adorned their heads, so I made the assumption that they were the King and the Queen of Corona, but for the small child that they held, she seemed to be this Lost Princess that so many people were talking about here. I walked closer to the group of people near the mural for they were speaking about this ‘Lost Princess’. “When the princess was young she was taken in the night and was never seen again. So every year on the Princess’ birthday the kingdom lights theses lanterns in hopes the Lost Princess will find her way home.” The little girl explained.  As I was about to take another step towards the group Jack grabbed my arm rather sharply. “Let’s go.” He stated firmly. I was a little taken back at his tone, but I shook it off. I didn’t want to ruin this day with something as small as that but I couldn’t help but think about what my mother had said the other night. “No! Don’t think about it!” I told myself as Jack and I walked onward. We eventually reached a square where various people drew with chalk on the stone pathways. I observed their drawings but there wasn’t anything fairly impressive. Jack could tell that I wasn’t impressed. ”Why don’t you show them all how it’s done?” He suggested. I watched as Jack quickly went over to one of the artisan’s boxes of chalk and swiped a few pieces. He returned to me and placed them gently in my hands. “Well go on.” He chuckled. I opened my hand to see what colors he had picked up. In the palm of my hand there were three chalk pieces, one large piece of purple chalk, a smaller piece of white chalk, and a midsized piece of white. “Thanks Jack!”  I exclaimed. Jack smiled brightly as he watched me designate an area for my drawing. It took a fair amount of time for me to draw out what I wanted but in the end I was extremely proud of it. People gathered around me as I colored the shapes and filled in the patterns. My hands were colored with the different colors of chalk that I had used. Once I was finished I wiped my brow for sweat was beginning to drip down my face. I stood up to admire my work. I had decided to draw a design that was inspired by the decorations and insignias that covered the town. In the center of the drawing there was a large yellow sun, and surrounding it I drew purple and white flowers that spiraled around the design. The people surrounding me complimented my work and I in turn thanked them for their kind words. As I looked amongst the surrounding crowd I couldn’t see Jack. I started to panic. “Jack!” I called out. I still couldn’t make him out anywhere in the crowd. “What if he left me?” I asked myself. “What if Mother was right?” I added.  I could feel my eyes begin to water as all of these horrible thoughts and ideas popped in my head. The people eventually dispersed and Jack finally reappeared.  Though he was only gone for a moment it had felt like he was gone for hours to me. “Wow Punzie this looks great!” He complimented. “Where did you go?” I asked not even acknowledging his compliment. “I thought you would be hungry.” He stated as he reveal to cupcakes in his hands. Relief washed over me. “Cupcakes! I’m starved.” I chuckled. Jack handed me the cupcake and we enjoyed them in silence. After we finished our little snack Jack began to laugh for no apparent reason. “What’s so funny?” I demanded. “You got a little chalk on your face.” He laughed. I gasped and began to rub my face in hopes it would come off. “Is it gone?” I asked as I lifted my face to let him see. “Nope.” Jack chuckled. I rubbed my face again. “How about now?” I asked. “Here let me get it.” Jack laughed softly as he licked his thumb and began rubbing my cheek gently. “There, all gone.” He stated as he pulled his hand away from my face. “Thanks.” I stated obviously embarrassed as my cheeks reddened. “Uh no problem.” Jack stated. Suddenly a band close by began to play lively music. “Let’s dance!” I exclaimed. Jack backed away waving his hands back and forth. “No, no I don’t dance.” He chuckled. “Oh come on! Don’t be such a baby!” I teased.  “Nope, I’m alright with standing right here Punzie.” Jack stated firmly. “Fine! I’ll find someone else to dance with.” I scoffed. The square was filled with a large number people, so being the spontaneous person I was, I started to grab random people and began to dance with them. After a while I managed to get a large amount of people to dance with me. We all joined hands and twirled in a circle which then split so people could find partners for the next dance. I danced with an older fellow, and then a child who had joined the dance. Everyone seemed to be having so much fun. I glanced over the man’s shoulder that I was dancing with to see Jack was staring right at me. “Come one!” I mouthed to him as I waved him over. He shook his head no and assured me to keep dancing. Once the song was over with the music stopped and a voice shouted “To the boats!” The people in the square then dispersed and then it was just me and Jack again. “You looked like you had fun.” He chuckled as he interlocked his arm with mine. “It was! But it would have been even more fun if you joined me!” I exclaimed. “Sorry Princess, I don’t dance.” He stated. “I’ll get you to dance eventually! Mark my words Jack Frost.” I swore. Jack only laughed in response as he pulled me along the streets.  “Where are we going now?” I asked him as we approached a dock that over looked the water.  “Well best day of your life, I figured you should have a decent seat.” Jack explained as he gestured towards a boat beside the dock. He helped me get settled into the boat and then pushed us away from the dock using his magical staff. As we drifted away farther and farther from the dock that castle began to shrink away. “This seems far enough.” Jack stated. He then stood up and froze the water surrounding the boat to prevent it from drifting any further. We waited patiently for the lights as the sun slowly set in the distance. “Beautiful!” I exclaimed breathlessly. I was leaning dangerously over the edge of the boat to lengthen the amount of light and colors I could see of the sunset. “It never changes.” Jack commented subtly as he leaned back and pulled his hood up over his head. “What?” I asked. “For as long as I’ve been stuck on this earth, the sun has never changed. It’s always been the same, it never changes.” Jack said in awe. “That’s because it has no reason to. “ I retorted. “That’s true, but so do people yet they still change.” Jack quipped. I sighed impatiently at his response and sat back down. I stared out in the distance in deep thought, it wasn’t until Jack something did I snap out of it. “You ok?” He asked. I took a deep breath before answering him. “I’m terrified.” I answered. “Why?” Jack demanded. “I’ve been looking out a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights do rise in the sky. What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?” I wondered. I turned to Jack as he placed his hand on mine gently. “It will be.” Jack swore. I smiled in relief at his answer as his hand closed around mine. “And what if it is? What do I do then?” I asked.  Before Jack answered me he took a short moment to sort his thoughts through. “That’s the good part I guess, you get to go find a new dream.” Jack explained. His whole being gave off a sort of feeling of comfort. I couldn’t help but stare at him as he looked away in thought. “Rapunzel look.” Jack instructed as he pointed towards Corana. I looked that way to see one particularly large lantern floating upwards. It was soon joined by others, and before I knew it the whole sky was decorated with thousands of beautiful floating lanterns. I quickly jumped up and flew myself over to the tip of the small boat. I leaned against the point and watched the lanterns rise and light up the sky. Jack coughed awkwardly to catch my attention. I turned to face him only to see that he held two lanterns in his hands. ” I figured you’d want to.” He stated as he offered me the lantern. I returned to my seat on the boat and took the lantern from him. “Ready?” He asked. “Yep!” I exclaimed. “On three? One, two, three.” Jack instructed. As he counted down to three both Jack and I lifted the lanterns upwards. They then floated towards the sky and joined the other lanterns. They disappeared in the midst of the other lanterns as I tried to watch them. Once they disappeared I returned my attention to Jack. He stared longingly at the sky and then turned back to me. “Listen Jack, I know I’ve the weak link and all in the group because I’ve been scared…but the thing is I’m not scared anymore.” I explained.

None of theses characters are mine. No copyright infringement is intended. All of these characters are owned by either Disney or DreamWorks.