Little Red Cinderella and the Three Beanstalks

Previously...

"Goodbye, and thank you!" I said to the man, before following Ezu out of the hot, smokey room and into the gradually darkening streets outside.
"My pleasure. And whatever it is you plan on going with that hook, be careful! If you're caught, the king will have your heads!" The Blacksmith called, just as the door swung shut.
I froze, and exchanged a look with Jack and Ezu.
"Do you think..." I asked, tentatively.
"Naw." Ezu said, shaking his head. I glanced up at the distant tower, knowing that by this time next chapter, we'd be scaling that imposing looking sheer, vertical stone wall.

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Strangely enough, while we skulked suspiciously around the imposing castle for a few hours, waiting until the sun had set and the streets had cleared, nothing of interest happened.
Nothing at all.
Not one bad thing. No accident, so mistake, no strange coincidences. We weren't approached by any one, suspicious or otherwise. We didn't run into any problems. Even I didn't so much as trip on a pebble the entire time.

And because of this, I was wound tighter than the cork screw in my mom's evening bottle of wine.
Every few seconds, I'd glanced over my shoulder, wondering if this was the time I'd see the guards marching down the street or the big bad wolf going on a murderous rampage, or anything sinister, really. I jumped at every little movement, at every shadow and sound. When Ezu finally, exasperatedly tapped me on the shoulder, I almost had a heart attack, and he had to clamp his hand over my mouth to stifle my scream.
"Please, Rikki. Try not to screw this up." He whispered, wearily. I pulled his hand away.
"Sorry. I'm just nervous."
"Obviously." Ezu scoffed.
"We can't usually go more than twenty minutes without being set upon my someone murderous, vengeful, or just plain scary." I tried to explain, still a little twitchy. "We're over do. Something is waiting, watching. Messing with our heads."
Ezu was staring at me as if I was insane. Which I probably was, come to think of it.
"You're paranoid. Nothing is watching us."
Just then, a swarm of crows took off from their perch in tree over our heads and filled the sky in a flurry of feathers, whirling and diving in the air, their hoarse caws unnaturally loud- and almost human.
"See!" I pointed accusingly at the murder of crows. "See, that's a sign! Something awful is going to happen!"
"They're birds, Rikki," Ezu frowned.
"Nothing is what it seems in this place." I glowered, trying to stare down on of the crows. Its bright, beady eye remained unblinking, and his bitter squawk almost sounded like a bark of laughter. I made a rude sign at it. "Give that to whatever witch you're working for, you bird brain." I shot. Ezu rolled his eyes skyward.
"You're over reacting." He said.
"You're under reacting." I countered unimaginatively. "Haven't you learned anything since you've met me?"
"Yeah. Don't." Ezu shrugged.
"Don't what?" I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at him.
"Don't meet you."
"I hope you're eaten my giants." I glowered. Ezu just sighed heavily in response.
"Giants. I wonder where Urgle is now. And if he's looking for me."
"Probably. You make a lot of enemies." I peered past him down the nearly deserted dirt road. We would be able to make our move any minute now.
"I do not!" Ezu argued indignantly.
"Oh yes you do. The Giants, Mary, The Black Thief, Jack..." I listed.
"Jack and I aren't enemies!" Ezu insisted. I gave him an incredulous look.
"You're right. You guys are totally bestest friends EVER." I scoffed. "You hate the guy. You two are always at each other's throats. unless you're ganging up on me." I pointed out.
"We don't hate each other. He isn't my enemy." Ezu scowled. "He just pisses me off is all."
"So what, there's no reason behind it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He's obnoxious. Isn't that reason enough?" Said Ezu.
"Sometimes I wonder why I didn't ditch you when I had the chance." I frowned.
"Because you love me." Ezu said matter of factly. He meant it in jest, but it didn't stop the flush from exploding over my cheeks- or my indignant spluttering.
"W-what? Me? Love you? Please!" I scoffed, a little too forcefully. Ezu glanced at my curiously, then, as he caught my flustered expression, he grinned wickedly. I could see the other Ezu shining through now, the mischievous, childish Ezu.
"Oh? What's this? Yo really do love me?" He teased viciously, grinning like a maniac.
"You're an asshole." I muttered.
"So you've fancied me this whole time? Not that I blame you, I am dashingly charming," Ezu crowed, batting his long eyelashes.
"I'll punch you," I threatened.
"You should have spoken up sooner! I would have whisked you off your feet, fair maiden, and we would have ridden off into the sunset on a white steed to our happily ever after, and-"
I held up to my promise. Ezu clutched his bad arm, hissing through his teeth.
"Okay, okay! God, you're so angry!"
"At least I'm not bipolar." I snapped back. "I'm consistent. God, get pills or something."
"Okay guys, I hate to break this up," Came Jack's voice from behind us. We turned to see him approaching quickly. "But it's time. We won't get a better opportunity than this."
I glanced around. The street was completely empty now, and the sun had long since sunk behind the far off hills. It was dark enough that we were likely to be spotted, but not so dark that visibility was non-existent.
"You're right." I sulked, desperately trying to ignore Ezu's superior expression. I shifted my back pack to a more comfortable position and took a deep breath.
"Well then. Here we go, I guess. We have a princess to save." We started off through the gloom, keeping the ominous hulking castle in sight, our eyes trained on the tallest tower.
Even as we watched, a sudden flickering light, firelight, started to glow through the pane-less window. It wavered, and almost appeared to go out a few times. Then it grew, and steadied, and everyone in a while, a dark shadow passed over the source, casting the room back into darkness.
It almost seemed to us to be a bright bright beacon, beckoning us towards it, like moths to a lightbulb.
The castle wasn't that far away, and we managed to creep through the darkness undetected. In no more than a few silent, stumbling minutes, were had come to the looming castle wall.
Which happened to be thirty feet high and two feet thick.
I was worried we would have to scale this wall first before we even got to the tower itself, but, on account of either fate, plain old good luck, or the hands of a poor novelist, the iron wrought gates had been conveniently left open.
Ezu, in one of his characteristic sudden violent changes of mood, had managed to go from obnoxiously, irritatingly bubbly to moodily suspicious in a world record time of about three minutes.
"This is too easy." He muttered, pausing outside the gate, stopping Jack and I, who had already proceeded inside.
"What? You mean the gates being left open?" Jack whispered back.
"No, I mean the Tea Party the Queen invited us to. Yes, the gates!" Ezu snapped back.
"Don't question it." I warned. "You'll jinx us. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow."
"What if it is a trap?" Ezu pointed out.
"Then odds are all sides of the wall will be being watched, right? They'll expect us to climb over instead of walking in the front gates. Either way, we're screwed. We can either forget the princess and go back, or we can take a chance." I explained. No way was I going back now, not after everything we'd been through. Not after wolves and giants and thieves and Rumpelstiltskin and Little Red and Mary and God's knows what else.
Ezu caught my eye and seemed to notice my determined expression. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.
"Alright, alright. This has been a suicide mission from the start, it's not like anything we do will make the outcome any worse. Let's go."
Gratefully, for me anyways, we plowed ahead. We crept close to the wall of the castle itself, pressing ourselves up against the uneven brickwork. There wasn't another living soul out to be seen- in fact, the total devoid of life was almost more nerve wracking than if we had been surrounded by guards.
We could finally breath easily as we tiptoed around the last parapet, and came out into a small courtyard directly under the tallest tower. The little garden was flooded with moonlight, and we'd be easily spotted if anyone looked out the window high above us. I was thankful that, as far as I knew, the only person in the room was the miller's daughter, and she was too busy sobbing for her life to be spying out windows.
"Okay, I need the hook, and a rope." Jack whispered, looking to Ezu expectantly. Ezu pursed his lips, hesitating.
"I don't like the idea of you climbing up this wall with just your bare hands." Ezu remarked quietly. Though the moonlight drained the color from his face, I could tell Jack flushed angrily.
"And you think you can do better?" He hissed back.
"I don't know, Jack," I cut in. "I don't really like this idea either. Too much could go wrong." I glanced up at the impossibly high window, the only sign of life in the entire castle, our only means of entry.
"Well, do either of you have a better plan?" Jack demanded. Neither Ezu nor I spoke. "That's what I thought. We haven't much of a choice."
"This isn't your battle to fight Jack," I tried again. "I killed the guy, I put her life in danger. You aren't obligated to do a single thing." Jack fixed me with a steady, determined stare.
"This became my battle too the moment I set foot out of the Inn. We're in this together, whether we like it or not."
And as I met Jack's eyes, I knew he was right. It was too late now, were were all in this for good. Ezu, Jack and I were a team now- a dysfunctional, bumbling team, but a team nonetheless. And I knew there was no dissuading Jack now.
"Fine." I finally huffed. "Go ahead, Ezu give it to him."
Ezu shook his head as he pulled off his backpack.
"You're going to die." He grunted, pulling out the heavy hook with his good arm and passing it to Jack. He dig around in the pack until he pulled out a long, coiled piece of rope. "Be careful with this- this is good stuff. Enchanted." He muttered, tossing it to Jack. Jack caught it and tied it firmly around the hook, then slung it over his shoulder.
"Alright then. Here we go." He said, taking a deep breath. He turned, placing a hand tentatively on the uneven stone of the tower wall.
"Wait!" I suddenly hissed, making Jack turn to me. I bit my lip, then quickly stood on my tiptoes and gave Jack a quick peck on the cheek. "That's for luck. Don't kill yourself."
Jack blinked, then a small, smug smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"I'll do my best." He whispered. He turned back to the wall with renewed gusto. Carefully, he felt out a sturdy handhold above his head, and pulled himself up against the stone wall.
And the treacherous climb began.

The wall was roughly built, every stone that had been laid in place had been set crooked, so there were plenty of handholds and footholds.
I held my breath, watching Jack slowly climb inch by nervous inch, waiting anxiously for him to fall. But he seemed to know what he was doing, and by the time he was ten feet over our heads, had started picking up the pace, climbing smoothly. Hand over hand, foot over foot. He was a natural.
"I don't even know why I'm worried," I squeaked to Ezu. "He was born for this."
"What?" Ezu asked, absently, watching Jack climb over our heads.
"Jack and the Beanstalk." I explained, under my breath. I hope Jack could hear us from up there... "The book, he's in it. He's gonna climb a beanstalk and kill a giant."
Ezu looked at me sharply.
"Him? Kill a giant? Are you sure that book is reliable?" He asked, incredulously.
"Of course I'm sure!" I hissed back- but even as I said it, I could hear the hint of doubt in my voice. Who knew what could be trusted anymore.
"Remind me to check out that book later." Ezu muttered. "I want to see if I marry a beautiful princess and live to a hundred."
"You're not in it." I said, without thinking. Ezu jolted.
"What?" He turned to me, his eyes flashing.
"Ah... well, at least, i don't think you are..." I said quickly, regretting opening my fat mouth. "I haven't read your name anywhere- but that doesn't mean anything!" I added quickly, as Ezu narrowed his eyes. "A lot of characters in the stories don't have names at all! Some of them are just Prince or Man or Farmer. Don't look at me like that, I didn't write the damn things!"
Ezu heaved an angry sigh and turned back to stare moodily at Jack's shrinking form.
"That asshole gets a story, but I don't. Figures." He grunted.
I was ready to kick myself. What was I thinking? Mr. Moodswings was bound to be upset when he learned I couldn't find his story, no matter how thoroughly I scoured the book. Especially when everyone else I had met so far HAD been famous fairy tale characters themselves.
We both remained silent for a while, just watching Jack progress higher and higher up the wall. He had to be at least a fourth of the way there by now, but he seemed to be slowing down. He fumbled for a second, and I thought for an instant he was loosing his footing- but then he righted himself and continued, silently trekking onwards.
I glanced at Ezu out of the corner of my eye.
His gaze was fixed on Jack, studying the taller boy's every movement. Ezu stood motionless, like a statue. As a faint breeze ruffled his blonde hair, a name came to mind. Eros, a blonde himself, represented in statues everywhere, the god of love.
Love. Ezu had teased me, told me I was in love with him.
But I wasn't. Of course not! I could barely stand him most of the time.
We were friends by circumstance, at best.
So why did I feel so awkward when I thought of Ezu and... the 'L' word together in the same sentence?
I was now staring at him unabashedly, trying to work out the conundrum that was the obnoxious boy before me.
The moody, unpredictable, fierce, brave, awkward boy; man, really, who, for some reason, was still here, by my side, trying to help fix my mistake.
In the moon light, he seemed washed out, like a black and white photograph. His hair was silver instead of blonde, and his smooth skin almost milky white. The only color on his at all were his eyes, shining in the semi darkness. His blue eye was sapphire bright, bluer than the depths of the sea. As if sensing my gaze he turned his head slightly, and I caught the golden flash of his other eye, as yellow as a cats'.
"What?" He asked, meeting my stare. I shook myself, tearing my eyes away from his, trying to recollect my thoughts.
"I don't love you, you know." I said, out of the blue. I don't know where that came from- it just slipped out. I was thankful the color of my blush was drained by the pale light.
Ezu didn't seem surprised by the sudden outburst. As he looked at me, I saw something flicker in his eyes that made me think he had also been thinking about the very same thing.
"I know. Trust me, if I thought for a moment you had any feelings for me, or I for you for that matter, I would have crushed it right then and there." He said, quietly. I stared back, slightly shocked. Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn't that.
"What?" I asked, unsure how to react.
"All that love business causes is problems. Love screws up your judgment, clouds your path." Ezu remarked coolly, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking away.
"...What about Mary?" I asked, tentatively. He had sure seemed eager to save that relationship at the time, I remembered bitterly.
"Mary?" He thought. "Mary wasn't anything special. Just a girl. She was more of an obligation, really." He shrugged like it was no big deal, and I was shocked by his callousness. "I mean, sure I fancied her, but I wasn't serious. I can't waste my time with that sort of nonsense. It's not like I'd be allowed to, anyways." Ezu scuffed at the dirt with a toe of his boot. I tried to find my voice.
"What do you mean?" I whispered finally. "Why wouldn't you be allowed to?"
"Love might work out fine for princes and white knights, or worthy youngest sons. But for nobodies like me? That's not my story. It would just end in tragedy." Ezu's voice was suddenly bitter, and he kicked a small stone viciously, sending it flying into the wall with a clatter. I jumped at the noise, but nobody, not even Jack, seemed to notice.
I wanted to say something, anything. But what could you say to a comment like that? Ezu knew how this place worked far better than I. And even with my rudimentary knowledge of fairy tale workings, I knew that some characters just weren't meant to come out on top.
And yet, I just couldn't see Ezu winding up as one of those characters. He was too... real, too determined, too alive to just fade away into a background like that.
"You know what I think?" I finally whispered, gently touching Ezu's arm with my fingertips. "I think we should forget the book. Nothing has gone according to plan so far, has it? Screw the stories, the rules. We'll get you a story of your own, even if we have to write one ourselves." I promised.
Ezu's gaze met mine, and we looked at each other for a long moment.
Ezu's lips parted, he was about to speak-
And then the grappling hook hit the ground with a heavy thud! right in front of us, sinking a good two inches into the soft ground and making us jump backwards, startled.
We looked up, and saw Jack Sitting in the window, waving furiously and grinning so widely we could see his smile from all the way down here.
He'd made it.