Seventeen-year-old Rapunzel has been locked up in a tower ever since the Plague arose in time with her birth. When Gothel, the only mother she's ever known, takes her demand for freedom and usefulness much too far, Rapunzel sends a desperate plea to...
"Rapunzel!" I whiny voice called. "Get up, will you?"
The girl—Rapunzel, Jack assumed—lunged toward her bed to shove the book away. Something caused the flame to shadow over.
Jack realized what it was at the same time everyone else did.
Rapunzel screamed when a tiny flame suddenly sparked the edge of her long mass of hair—quite an impractical thing, Jack had to admit. Who let their hair grow so long it touched the floor? Rapunzel slapped at it frantically with the sleeves of her light blue dress to extinguish the growing flame. While the other woman practically tripped down the stairs to assist, Jack's fingers twitched to will back more snow—more water—but the girls had already gotten things under control before he could risk the Man on the Moon's wrath.
"Rapunzel!" The woman said again, breathing as hard as if she'd just run a marathon—or been on fire herself. She set her own candle safely on a dresser, igniting a candelabra on the way. "You clumsy child—I tell you over and over to be careful, and what do you hear? Nothing, apparently. You scared me half to death!"
"Nice way to comfort someone who could have just burned to death," Jack mumbled. Baby Tooth hummed in agreement.
The girl stayed sitting on the floor, hugging her knees tightly against her chest. Even through the candlelight, Jack could see how dark her dress had gotten from her desperately patting the fire out. Her hair, however, barely seemed burnt at all. Baby Tooth sighed dreamily as the both of them eyed the length of it. How completely impractical, Jack thought again.
"Are you alright?" The woman asked.
"Yes." Rapunzel answered, voice small. Her eyes were skimming the room, subtly. Jack noticed it just in time to duck when her gaze reached the window. He counted to twenty before daring to look back up. If she was the believer, which Jack was more than positive she was, she was perfectly capable of seeing him. And now didn't exactly seem like the time for surprise magical entities to appear out of thin air. He'd figure out how to help her later—and he didn't necessarily need to reveal himself to do so.
The woman was jabbering on with words Jack didn't particularly care to hear. Something about wrinkles, and turning grey again. "Sing to me, will you?" She finally finished. The woman sure liked the sound of her own voice. Without even waiting for an answer, she took a seat on the edge of the bed.
"But I sang to you a few days ago," Rapunzel said.
There was something dangerous in the woman's tone. "And?"
Without saying anything more, Rapunzel rushed forward to sit beside her. The woman lifted a brush Jack hadn't noticed before and, almost hungrily, started stroking it through Rapunzel's golden locks. As she did, Rapunzel bit her lip, closed her eyes, and started to sing.
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Jack was mesmerized by her voice. It must have been one of the most enchanting ones he'd heard. Almost like a soothing spell he—
From root to ends, a bright, yet soft glow started flowing over Rapunzel's hair.
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
It continued to spread, longer, and longer. Way past her ankles.
Save what had been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine
It took Jack a while to realize that the song was done. Slowly, the shine of Rapunzel's hair started fading again until it was no more—almost like the thread he'd followed to her. He knew Baby Tooth was just as stunned as he was. No wonder the moon had wanted him to come here. Magic, golden hair, Jack pondered. Why, exactly, did this girl plead for help again?
It was only when the woman stood up again with an approving hum that he saw it.
The few grey hairs peppered through black, the faint wrinkles that barely showed on her skin, even from where Jack floated—all of them vanished. As if Rapunzel's very voice had renewed her. Ripped away the woman's flaws.
No, no, no. It wasn't her voice, Jack suddenly realized.
It was her hair.
.
.
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