Little Red Cinderella and the Three Beanstalks

Previously...

"Would you two stop flirting and shut up for a second?" Jack hissed, his ear still pressed to the door.
"Wha- flirting?" Ezu squeaked.
"Shh!" Jack waved a hand frantically at him to shut him up.

"Wh-what? Who's that? Who's there?"

A girl's voice. The crying had stopped.
We froze. I looked at Ezu. Ezu looked at Jack. Jack looked like he could kill us.
"Well, I guess there's nothing for it now." He muttered, and opened the door.

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The tower room was small. Probably because the broom closet took up so much space. Even so, I noticed with no small amount of surprise that quite a lot of straw had been stuffed into the room, leaving barely any room to move. In fact, as we barreled unceremoniously out of the broom closet, Jack pitched head first into a leaning pile of straw and was nearly engulfed by the suspiciously hungry looking grain stalks. He hurriedly picked himself up, shaking bits of clinging straw from his hair, and stood impassively next to me, his face a mask of cool indifference.
I would have snorted, but at that particular moment, my attention was directed at the very shocked looking young woman who half stood before us, rising tentatively from the hard backed wooden chair she sat on in the center of the room.
She was very beautiful, just like the story said. Her hair was the color of sun ripened wheat, which hung long and curled around her tear stained, heart shaped face. Her eyes were blue, and currently widened in alarm. Despite her beauty, however, it was plain she was in fact just the daughter of a poor miller- her dress was plain, brown, and heavily patched. It also happened to be rather wet along the hem, where she had evidently been wiping her eyes on as she cried.
There was a moment of stunned silence. I waited, but it didn't seem like anybody was about to say anything. I cleared my throat.
"Erm, good evening, miller's daughter. Why are you crying?" I asked. I was trying very hard not to fluff this. Who knew what a single word out of place could do?
The girl blinked in surprise, but tentatively answered me.
"Oh! I have got to spin gold out of straw, but I don't understand the business," She replied, her eyes welling up with tears again.
"Oh. Uh, well, if it's any consolation, it isn't really possible, unless you are Rumpelstiltskin, and he's dead anyways, so... it's of no fault of your own?" Ezu put in, evidently trying to help, but only making the matter worse. Fat, shining tears began to spill over the girl's face again.
"It's not! Oh, what will I do! I am do die then!" She collapsed into the chair, weeping into her hands.
"Ah shit," Ezu hissed, looking anywhere but at the girl's shaking form. "I hate it when girls cry. Jack, do something!" He snarled, wringing his hands nervously.
"Me?" Jack replied in surprise. "What do you want me to do about it? Believe me, if I could turn straw into gold, do you really think I'd the the poor son of a poor farmer?"
"You two are useless," I scolded under my breath, and hastened over to the girls side.
"Hey, don't worry, we're here to rescue you." I said, patting her on the head. "Everything will be fine." I sincerely hoped that wasn't a lie. She looked up at me, her eyes still shining with tears.
"Really? You're here to save me?" She asked, as if she didn't dare believe it.
"Of course. We didn't just come to use your broom closet." I tried to joke, and helped her to her feet. "What's your name?" I asked.
"Belle," She sniffed.
"That's a very nice name," I smiled reassuringly at her, masking my own nervousness. We were running out of time; at time now the sun would start to rise. "I'm Rikki. This is Ezu, and this is Jack," I waved my hand at the boys, who smiled and waved a little awkwardly. I don't think they got out very much.
"Okay now, through the broom closet, there is a little window. There is a rope hanging down- that's how we got up, and I'm afraid that is the only way to get out. We haven't much time, do you think you can do it?" I asked hurriedly. A look of fear flitted across the girl's face.
"I- I don't know. Aren't we awfully high up?" She asked, her voice a little higher than it had been before. I hesitated, not wanting to scare her, but not wanting to lie outright either.
"We are, but it isn't so bad as long as you don't look down. Jack can go down right under you, so if you fall, you can land on him." I finally said. Jack shot me a look, but said nothing.
"Well... I guess..." Belle said slowly, biting her lip.
"Of course you can," I assured her, and without waiting for her to change her mind, gave her a small shove in the small of her back towards the boys. Jack opened the door to the broom closet, and Ezu led her carefully but firmly into the little room. Jack followed after them, and I stepped inside as well, casting another look over my shoulder at the now empty room, filled only with piles and piles of straw, a crooked chair, and an ancient spinning wheel. I wondered what the King would think when he came to check on his captive, only to find her gone.
"All right," I said, hurrying over to the window and looking down into the courtyard below. It was as deserted at it had been just moments before, and the rope swung gently in the breeze. It was an awfully long way down, now that I looked at it from up here. I swallowed, and composed myself before turning back to Belle. "See? It's not so bad. Jack?" I turned to the taller boy hopefully.
"Yeah, I'm going," He said rather glumly.
"Don't be like that. This is easiest for you- the rest of us actually have to work at it." I scolded. Jack shot me a crooked smile, and carefully climbed out the tiny window, maneuvering his long limbs through the small space with some difficulty. With ease that made me turn green in envy he dropped out of sight, effortlessly clinging to the rope like as if it was his birthright. But then, I suppose it was.
"Okay, Belle, your turn." I turned to the girl, who had backed up against Ezu and looked as if she would rather be anywhere else. "It really isn't that hard," I tried to assure her. "Just don't look down, keep your feet planted on the side of the tower, and hold tight." I sincerely hoped going down was easier than going up- the girl may have led the grueling life of a laboring peasant, but she looked rather delicate, and not sure of herself in the slightest. I took a deep breath and motioned to Ezu to bring her forward. Like a bodyguard, he placed a firm hand in the small of her back and propelled her towards me, following silently with his usual, unreadable expression plastered over his face. "Now just sit on the sill, and-"
But the girl wasn't listening to me. Upon her leaning out the window and seeing the couple hundred foot drop to the courtyard below, she had given a terrified little gasp and leaped backwards, only prevented from turning on her heel and running by Ezu's solid presence.
"I can't do it, I can't do it!" She sobbed, wringing her hands. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. I had hoped this wouldn't happen, but it looked at if there was nothing for it now. I leaned back out the window. Jack was waiting patiently about ten feet down, his face, bleached white by the moonlight, turned expectantly up at me.
"Get back up here. She won't come down." I said tersely. Quick as a flash, jack was climbing back into the broom closet, squeezing through the tiny window.
Ezu was patting the girl awkwardly on the shoulder as she cried into his shirt. He gave me a pleading look, obviously extremely uncomfortable.
"Okay Belle, you don't have to climb if you don't want to," I said quickly, hoping that she would stop crying. I didn't want anyone getting suspicious and coming to check on her- that would only bring about disaster. To my relief, my hasty words did seem to calm her down a little. She peeked at me through her fingers.
"But how will we escape then?" She asked, her voice shaky.
This time, I didn't have the answer.
"Uh..."
"I have an idea," Ezu said suddenly. With distaste, he pried the girl off of his shirt and spun her in Jack's direction. As if pulled by a magnetic force, she immediately clung to him instead. I wondered if she really was as distraught as she appeared, or if she was taking advantage of the situation.
"About time." I said, looking back at Ezu. "I appreciate the fact that you're the muscle in this operation, but Jack and I can't think of everything, you know."
"I'm going to temporarily ignore the implications of that sentence, and enact my revenge on you at a more appropriate time. But for now, listen up." He said, casting me a deadly glare. "The rope has got some extra slack," He began, jerking his thumb to the grappling hook that perched itself on the window ledge. "Enough, I think, so that we could tie something to the end of it." He waited, looking expectantly from Jack to me. We stared dumbly back. "Something like a chair?" He added, his eyebrows rising.
"Ooohh," Jack and I said at the same time, getting at where he was going.
"That way, we could lower her down first!" Jack said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"She won't have to do a thing but sit tight!" I added, clapping my hands together. "Ezu, you're a genius!"
Ezu smiled smugly. "I know."
Suddenly, I felt a little less appreciative of his insight.
"Really? I don't have to climb that awful rope?" Belle asked, her eyes wide with hope.
"Not at all. Come on, let's get the chair. And hurry," I said, glancing back out the window. Traces of pink were beginning to show on the horizon. We only had ten minutes at best before the sun was up completely, and I hadn't a clue when the King would show up.
We all stumbled back into the room with the straw, first Ezu, them me, with Jack and Belle clinging to him bringing up the rear. Ezu carefully maneuvered his through the veritable maze of straw piles to the center of the room, where the rickety chair sat dejectedly. He grabbed it, nearly knocking over the spinning wheel as he did so.
"Be careful!" I hissed. "And hurry!" I thought I heard a noise from below. I might had imagined it, but I wasn't about to take chances. Ezu rolled his eyes and pushed past me.
A sudden thought came to me. I grabbed Ezu's shoulder, stopping him. "Hey, where's Jinx?" I asked, glancing around but not spotting the golden bug. "I haven't seen him since we got here."
Ezu looked around as well, but didn't seem particularly perturbed.
"Dunno. He probably flew off. He does that sometimes- he'll show up eventually, don't worry." He reassured me.
"Do I ever?" I replied grimly. Ezu grinned at me, and I smiled back.
"Are they together?" Belle's voice piped up from behind us. Both Ezu and I jumped guiltily and hurried looked away from each other.
"Don't be stupid," Ezu said harshly to the girl.
"Seriously though. You and everybody else here just make stuff up. Me and Ezu. Psh." I scoffed, unable to ignore the hallow note in my voice, or the flushing of my cheeks.
"Oh." Belle said, looking at Ezu in a way I don't think I liked. "Good." She said decisively.
I've never really wanted to hurt anyone before, but I felt the sudden urge to wring her scrawny little neck, for a reason I couldn't quite place. I quelled the thought as best I could however. I was supposed to be rescuing her, not murdering her. I spoke with some difficulty.
"We don't have time for this. We're late as it is, and if we don't get going soon, someone will show up," I said, grinding me teeth.
"Too late," Jack said. I whirled around to face him, to see he was staring at the far door, the one that presumably led out of the tower. I spun on my heel, praying he was wrong.
As I did so, I heard the click of a lock turning, and saw the doorknob begin to turn.