offryingpansandlanterns:
It was true, of course, that Jack had encouraged Rapunzel to leave the tower before. He didn’t push - he never pushed - even on the occasions when Rapunzel actually seemed to want to leave. She could remember, so clearly, a frigid winter morning on one of his visits when she was a child, where she’d been admiring the snow outside. Jack had floated right up to her from outside the window and offered her a hand. No words, just a smile. And when Rapunzel had instinctively backed away, he knew to come in instead. That was the thing with Jack. He encouraged and offered support, but never pushed. “I don’t know about always,” she teased, but a slight coloring of rose dusted across her cheeks. She felt embarrassed for having waited so long. And now that she was out, though she wondered if it was the right choice, she was so thrilled to be experiencing it all. And even more thrilled that Jack was here to guide her through it. “Gone?” she’d interrupted before he had the chance to continue, and once he explained himself, Rapunzel felt her head reeling so much she got a bit dizzy with it all. Reaching up a hand, she placed it on her golden locks, as if trying to steady things from the outside. He hadn’t seen her in years? She’d disappeared? But- “But that doesn’t make sense! I just left! Like- just left!!! How can I have been gone for years?? How could you have experienced all that stuff in the span of a few seconds?? How could this have happened? How could-”
Her words started to blur together until they effectively turned into gibberish and she gave an exasperated cry. She allowed herself to fall backwards to the ground, exhausted from trying to solve this puzzle, and earned a cry of confusion from Pascal as he made his way to her forehead to stare down at her quizzically. “If I’ve been gone all this time…” Again, her thoughts turned home. To Mother. “What have I done?”
“Oh, no, it’s definitely always.” Jack smiled smugly, draping his staff idly across his shoulders, arms hooked over it lightly as he floated back somewhat, reclining on the air, knowing it would hold him up with ease.
Still, he watched her carefully, especially after explaining that she had been gone for so long, and, he’d had a feeling that she’d react this way. He had initially thought of just.. not telling her, but there was a part of him that wanted to know the truth, too. He’d had to go a hundred years without an answer, and he’d never really stopped wondering. He’d feel the same way if Jamie vanished out of nowhere, Jamie and Rapunzel were probably the most important humans to him still alive.
“Beats me,” He shrugged slightly, considering it thoughtfully. “Maybe this castle is magic and can pull people in from different parts of time. Hey, I mean, time travel isn’t impossible, I’ve learned some stuff about it before.”
He watched as she fell back onto the grass, and let out a long sigh as she began to blame herself. It didn’t surprise him, again, that she was reacting this way, because he knew what her mother was like. She was abusive. It made him sick to see, but Rapunzel would never heard a word against her.
Now though, she was free from her oppressive influence, she might actually have a chance to let loose a little.
“I’ll tell you what you’ve done, you’ve done something for yourself for once, Come on, you’re what? Eighteen? Almost eighteen? Your mom would’ve kept you in that tower forever if she could. Yo’re being independent, taking charge of your own life!”
He had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Manny knew, Gothel had a hold of her bad. He took a little bit of vindictive pleasure from pranking the older woman when Rapunzel wasn’t looking, and he smirked slightly at some golden memories which began to reappear. Classic.
“Look, the fact is, sitting here moping over it isn’t gonna do any good, right? You’re here now, make the most of it! Who knows what’s gonna happen? Maybe you do go back to your time but you decide to travel, or maybe you and your mom just moved somewhere new? I don’t know, but the fact is, you’re here NOW, so, no time like the present, right?”
