Liesa's pained yell would have been enough to send Rapunzel running to her aid, hadn't it been for Jack pressing her shoulders into the caravan floor. His ice blue eyes were wide, just as panicked as she felt, and yet they stilled her long enough for the clopping sound of hooves to fade away.

Rapunzel threw the fabric off of them as soon as his hands left her. She banged against the caravan's sealed doors, stumbling out onto her feet when they suddenly came loose. But when she reached the front seat where the couple were, Jack in tow, Rapunzel was surprised to find that it hasn't been Liesa who lay injured, but Zacharia.

"Do you know what it was?" Liesa pleaded, arms wrapped around her husband's shoulders.

"No," Zacharia answered weakly, back pressed into her lap.

"One..." Liesa mumbled. "We can't make it to Corona in one hour! Oh, Zach..."

"What's going on?" Rapunzel's voice pulled the Rettersonne's attention over to her. But there was something different in the way they were looking at her now. It was more of a studying stare now, like she was a complex piece of art newly displayed in a museum, in which they were trying hard to decipher the meaning of. "Is he hurt?" Rapunzel continued, already clutching thoughtfully at her hair. I could heal him if he is. She hadn't mentioned her powers to them as she'd recounted her last few days—she wasn't nearly as naïve as Jack Frost believed her to be—but she didn't mind helping the two if Mother had done them any harm. It was the least they deserved for the help they'd so selflessly given her.

Liesa finally broke Rapunzel's gaze when Zacharia groaned loudly in his struggle to sit back up onto his seat. "Poison," she finally said. "The witch poisoned him with... Well I'm not exactly certain what." She brushed a hand over Zacharia's wild, brown curls.

Poison. Rapunzel thought through the situation quickly. How could she heal poison? It was something she'd only ever read of in books. Desperate, she hurried up onto the seat to sit beside the couple. "I can help," she assured them, a bit more positive than she'd intended to sound. She knew sickness had never followed her—her body did its healing on its own—but there was no way for her to verify whether she could heal another person's inner wounds as well. There would be no loss in trying, she supposed.

The couple shared a brief look of uncertain, hopeful relief before Liesa nodded her approval to Rapunzel. Without another word, she shifted away from her husband's side and took the reins in her delicate hands. "Do what you can," she told Rapunzel as she cracked the reins.

Rapunzel slid closer to Zacharia's side as the caravan rolled fast beneath them and began to wrap her dirtied, and much too-tangled hair around his bulky body. She began her song after a quick prayer of luck to whomever dared listen, ignoring the sounds of alarm both strangers emitted when her hair obediently begun to shine. When she was finished, Rapunzel gazed down at Zacharia, hope filling her heart, only to receive no evident signs as to whether her powers had truly worked or not. She sung one last time for good measure, and released him from his hairy cage.

She and Jack carefully observed the man for the next hour while Liesa and the horse rode fiercely forward. She watched everything from the corner of her eyes. But as Rapunzel's heart began to soothe its anxious pace to closer they got to Corona, Liesa's eyes only grew more and more alert.

It wasn't until the half hour mark that Zacharia's ill state became alarmingly apparent. He drooped in his seat, rivers of sweat trickling over his temples from a heat Rapunzel could not feel with the wind whistling past her ears.

Panic raked Rapunzel as the realization set in, her gaze shooting up to meet Jack's. "It didn't work," she whispered to herself, turning back to Zach. "I don't understand. Why didn't it work? How do I make it work?"

As Rapunzel fiddled with her hair, Liesa's focus on the road ahead became more of a secondary bother. "It was black," she said. "Evil-looking and... Alive. With a ticking timer of five hours. Zach?"

Rapunzel turned to see his pupils had widened greatly. "You ingested it?" She asked him.

Liesa shook her head, recoiling from the fresh memory. "It spread over his skin possessively, and... and... I thought—" The caravan veered dangerously to the side thanks to an unintentional tug Liesa had issued to the reins. She was quick to realign, but her focus remained set on her dying husband. She didn't bother with questions when Rapunzel gently took the reins out from her hands. This couldn't be so hard, could it? But when another stiff turn had her howling in regretful fear, Jack appeared beside her to take control.

"What do I do?" Rapunzel asked him as he steered the horse, her hands loosely following the motions."They're not working. My powers aren't working!"

Jack was quiet as he focused on the task ahead. Finally, he pursed thin lips in thought. "Have you considering making him a very hairy soup?" He yelled over the noise.

Rapunzel shook her head, disgust filling her at the very thought. "No!" She said. "And besides, I'm not even sure whether my hair retains its power if it's not attached to my head!"

"Then we keep it on your head while we do the boiling!"

"That's..." Rapunzel struggled to hold back her gag. But when she thought more of the idea, it didn't exactly seem like such a horrible one after all. Horrible tasting, perhaps, but viable to work. If she could get her powers flowing inside of the man, then it might very well heal the poison from his system. "That's disgusting," Rapunzel finally decided. "But it just might work!"

The remaining hour to the village seemed to last an eternity. Night had already fallen by the time they crossed the long, cobblestone bridge. Rapunzel barely had the time to acknowledge the utter beauty of it all in their rushed panic.

"Hand me the reins," Liesa urged as soon as the wheels rolled off of the bridge. As she led them toward their home, Rapunzel couldn't help but stare at Zacharia. He'd gotten so pale compared to how he'd been upon their meeting; it was obvious even in this light. And they'd barely made it to Corona in less than five hours. Their poor horse must have been exhausted by now.

Rapunzel helped Liesa rush her husband inside of their home and onto their living room couch when the horse finally came to a stop. She'd already explained Jack's idea to them during their trek here, therefore, as soon as Zacharia had been lain, Liesa rushed outside to fetch water to set on her stove. Meanwhile, Rapunzel rushed for the kitchen sink, thoroughly running a bar of soap over the clumped ends of her hair. She dropped them into the pot as soon as the soap had been washed out. Not knowing what else to do, Rapunzel sung her song over and over as she and Jack stood by the pot waiting uselessly.

Liesa only let the concoction boil for a dozen minutes before she pulled Rapunzel's soaked ends out and tipped the bright yellow contents into a large bowl with a wobbly hand. They were running out of time; it had to be now, or they would risk losing Zach completely.

The house turned eerily quiet after Liesa made her way back to the kitchen, empty bowl in hand. She dropped it onto the table with a clang! sighing loudly from today's event.

"I'm sorry," Rapunzel tried, but Liesa would not take her apology. Even though she very well knew her mother would have never crossed their path had it not been for Rapunzel's sudden escape.

Liesa took at moment to steady her breath, laying her forehead into her palms to think. Moments passed before her gaze trailed free again, and focused on Rapunzel's ever tangled hair. Unease began to fill her until Liesa said:

"Have you ever thought of cutting it?" Her voice was heavy, quiet. Tired. "It must get in your way quite a lot, and..." she motioned to the knots and dirt still plaguing it.

Rapunzel played with her locks, somewhat self-consciously. The thought of cutting it had not crossed her mind for something over a decade. When Mother insisted she needed it for entering and leaving the tower, Rapunzel had forced herself to get the hang of its ever-growing length quite quickly. She could handle it—in fact, the length now felt like some sort of third arm to her.

But Liesa was right. It had been becoming a hassle ever since she'd left the safety of her tower and, seeing as she was the only person she'd seen with so much hair thus far, she knew it would make her incredibly easy to spot in the future.

Rapunzel nodded in response to Liesa's next proposal, standing momentarily so Liesa could pull her chair away from the table, closer toward the centre of the small kitchen. Jack took a seat on top of the chair directly across from her, intrigued by this huge step Rapunzel was letting herself take. She couldn't help but wonder whether the back of the wooden chair gave him even a hint of pain. Surely it did, the way he was sitting. But did immortal spirits feel any sort of pain? Did he feel anything at all? After all, he seemed so real. So solid, and there.

"How long?" Rapunzel turned her head to see Liesa approaching, a gleaming pair of scissors in hand.

Rapunzel nearly changed her mind at the sight, but instead forced herself to consider it a moment. She didn't want it to be too short, but just long enough to not be in the way of anything. Taking a deep breath, she silently gestured her decision. Rapunzel couldn't help but flinch when the first snip finally came. Worry was beginning to bloom inside of her chest again. What was she letting happen? It was exciting, the change, but would it be one she would eventually come to regret, once today was finally over? Rapunzel opened the eyes she'd so quickly shut, locking eyes with Pascal, who sat anxiously on her lap. He nodded once, a reassurance, and flashed two small thumbs up. When she lifted her head to look at Jack, he had his chin set in his palm, watching everything with great interest.

"It's already looking great, Goldy," he assured her.

Rapunzel took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. When she felt her heart flutter back to its normal rhythm, she said to Liesa: "How long have you lived here, in Corona? It seems beautiful, from what I've seen so far. In the dark."

Liesa hummed a soft laugh, as if something Rapunzel had said had been funny. "We've all been here our entire lives. Where else is there to go? Other than the other side of the bridge, that is."

Jack sat up at that, snow white brows shooting up in surprise. "What?" He asked. "Corona's like... a speck of hot, boiling, scalding sand in an entire hourglass. There's no way."

"No way for what?" Rapunzel asked.

"No way these people haven't been anywhere else—"

"I'm sorry, what?" Liesa asked, concern painting her face as she briefly shifted to look at Rapunzel's face. She could tell the woman still didn't believe her about Jack's presence with them. She must think her crazed.

"Oh," Rapunzel cleared her throat, glaring at the smirk playing on Jack's lips. "Just—there's nothing else outside of Corona?"

Liesa smiled soothingly, shifting back to continue her work. "Nothing but sky and sea, that we know of."

Rapunzel frowned, reminded of Jack's words. A speck of sand in an hourglass. "Doesn't that seem strange?" She asked Liesa. "That there's nothing else out there but us?"

The woman was quiet for a few seconds. "I suppose the thought's never crossed my mind before now, if I'm being honest." There was another pause as she snipped, considering the idea. "I believe there might be something more out there. The idea isn't impossible, nor improbable."

In the span of a breath, Rapunzel felt as if an entire weight had suddenly dropped right off of her shoulders—which, she supposed, was quite literally what had just happened. She moaned at the unexpected sense of relief. Her head felt so alarmingly light, the pull her hair had delivered to her scalp for years on end nearly completely gone.

This was most definitely something she'd need to get used to.

As Liesa walked out into the living room, Rapunzel dragged her fingers over the choppy ends of her locks, which now fell midway down her back. Odd, she decided the word for it was. So, incredibly odd. She felt almost as though she was floating in her chair.

Liesa returned shortly with a small pail of water in one hand, and a towel and brush in the other. "Zach seems to be doing well, considering," she commented, a relief to Rapunzel's ears. "Thank you."

"I'm glad I could help."

Liesa hummed and gently began dragging the brush through Rapunzel's hair, working to untangle the dreadful knots. "I... Do you mind my asking? I've never seen such a thing before..." She couldn't seem to formulate the question Rapunzel knew she was trying to ask. So, without needing to hear more, Rapunzel simply told her the truth of her birth, the plague, and the healing powers she'd been blessed with, surprised when even Jack no longer bothered to protest. Liesa had washed and towelled her hair by the time she finished speaking, shortening her hair a touch further with a few final snips.

Rapunzel brushed the locks forward when she was done, surprised to feel the ends now falling just past her shoulders.

"There's a mirror in the bathroom if you'd like to see," Liesa told her.

The walk around the corner felt almost as if she was moving in slow motion, floating from the lack of weight balancing upon her head. Though Rapunzel wanted to run full speed inside of the bathroom, curiosity like an itch she wasn't able to reach, she somehow managed to keep both her anxiety and excitement in check.

Her limbs turned to stone, however, when she walked inside and locked eyes with her unrecognizable reflection. It was so short. It made her look like a whole different person. But her face was still the same, everything about her was.

The door creaked to a near close behind her. Rapunzel spun to catch Jack standing inside of the doorway. His eyes skimmed over her, burning everywhere it touched. She felt bare, almost naked without the curtain of blonde shielding her.

"What does it do?" He finally asked, lifting a chunk of chopped, golden hair in his hand as they stood before Rapunzel's reflection. The rest of it fell down to their feet and trailed long outside the room—Liesa had taken to cleaning it up, despite Rapunzel's protests. "Does it still have power now that it's cut?"

Rapunzel brushed her hair behind her ear. "I don't know. I never really cut it before to see... But it should. I think."

Without warning, Jack took a step forward to reach past her. Rapunzel's whole body tingled strangely at the proximity until he finally pulled away. In his other hand now sat what she recognized to be a straight razor. Before she could register what he was doing, Jack brought the blade to his palm and sliced it open. "Let's test it out, then."

Rapunzel cried out. The sight of blood now gushing from Jack's hand threw her into action. She scrambled for a lock of fallen hair Liesa hadn't picked up and wrapped it around the spirit's hand. As she began to sing, she horrifyingly watched as red tinted gold. A soft, yellow glow began to emit from the corners of her eyes, but the strand she held to Jack's wound gave no reaction to her voice.

Without even finishing the song, she threw the powerless clump back to the floor and yanked his hand up to lay flat against her head. But before she could start her song anew, Jack stopped her.

"It's okay." Gently, he pulled his hand back down and out of Rapunzel's grip, flipping his wounded palm up toward her. "It just healed... Immortality does have a few perks." And surely, the only evidence of what he'd just done to himself was a messy line of drying blood.

Rapunzel smacked his shoulder, hard. "It would've glowed whether you were wounded or not!" She scolded.

But before Jack could utter a reply, the air in the house shifted into something heavy. The fire in the lantern perched on the wall sputtered out. Something was wrong, and by the newfound look on Jack's face, she knew he felt it too.

Rapunzel moved to twirl her hair around her wrists before she remembered it was no longer there.

A scream propelled them both out into the living room where Liesa and a now-woken Zacharia sat huddled on the sofa.

"Well," a harsh voice suddenly hissed. It sounded as if it was coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "Won't you look at that? The great hero, Jack Frost—" the name was spat out like a curse, "—spending time with a stolen girl? I can't say that I'm completely surprised.''

A familiar, tall shadow suddenly rose before them, looming over the entire room. The same shadow that had haunted her through countless sunsets. The same shadow that had attacked Jack in her own home. Rapunzel couldn't stop the yelp that escaped her lips.

Beside her, Jack tensed. "Pitch." Was all he could say before the world dissolved into chaos.

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Things are getting inteeeense! How do you feel about Rapunzel's decision to cut her hair? Do you approve? 

*Edited, (June 24th, 2020).