Little Red Cinderella and the Three Beanstalks

Previously...

"I'm going home." I said, my voice so quite the words were almost inaudible. I wanted to throw up. "We did what we set out to do. Now I'm going back home. I'll find a way."
"No!" Ezu half shouted the word, clinging to it like a drowning man to a raft. "You can't leave! Not like them, you're not like them! They always leave! My mother-" He faltered, his voice cut off by his sudden, sharp, intake of breath.
I couldn't keep back the tears any longer. Without another word, I spun around and shoved past Jack, and ran back through the door we came through, into the dark, echoing hallway. Tears clouded my vision, but it wasn't until I had run so far that I was utterly lost that I let myself sink down to the floor, my back against the wall, and let the tears flow freely.

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I don't know how long I had been sitting there when I finally heard footsteps approach me. It felt like forever.
I had my head buried in my arms, though my tears had long since dried, and I didn't look up as the hurried steps came closer.
Someone stopped, in front of me. I still didn't move.
"Rikki?"
It was Jack's voice. I wanted to let out a sob of relief, but I forced myself to remain silent. I heard Jack slide to the ground next to me, along the stone wall. Gently, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest.
"God, I'm so stupid!" I sobbed, crying into Jack's shirt.
"No, you're not," He said firmly, holding me tighter.
"Yes, I am!" I maintained tearfully. "I don't even know why I'm so upset! It's just... we're supposed to be... to be friends, you know?" I pulled away, and looked up into Jack's face. His brow was knit into a frown, and a bruise was forming under his right eye. "I shouldn't be upset. What do I care if Ezu has one girlfriend, or a hundred?" I sniffed, trying to convince myself as much as Jack. He smiled tightly at me.
"You don't need to explain," He reassured me gently.
"Yes I do!" I insisted. "I don't know, I've just been so freaked out the last couple of days, and Ezu... and I thought..." I broke out in a fresh wave of tears again. Jack rubbed my shoulder consolingly.
"It's been crazy for everyone." He said quietly. "Especially for Ezu. Look, Rikki, just calm down, okay?"
I had given myself the hiccups, and I knew I must look a mess. But at that moment, I couldn't have cared less.
"Especially for him?" I hiccuped, looking up at Jack incredulously.
"Now look, I'm not defending Ezu, or how he acts or anything, but I think there is some stuff about him you should know." He said, his mouth a hard line. "I don't think it's really my place to tell you, but he sure isn't going to do it, and I think it would be a lot easier for you if you had some idea of why Ezu is the way he is."
I went quiet then, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. Fine. I'd hear Jack out. I'd see if there was any excuse for what had just happened.
Jack pulled me close again. For a second, I remembered back when I was 11, and I fell out of a tree and sprained my ankle, and my older brother held me as I cried. Then the memory was gone.
"Ezu and I didn't always hate each other, you know." He began, thoughtfully. "I don't even really think we hate each other now. Not really. We used to be, if not best friends, pretty close. That's why my aunt and uncle adore him so much. He always used to be over, and they never got it into their heads that he and I sort of fell out over the years." Jack looked down at me. "How much do you know about Ezu's past?" He asked.
'They always leave! My mother-'
"Only that his family is dead." I answered, dully. Jack grimaced.
"Well, you've hit the root of the problem." He sighed. "Yeah, they're dead. His mother and father, and his sister. He went sort of funny after that. He drew into himself. He wasn't so... aggressive before, and he definitely wasn't the same about women the way he is now. He was a momma's boy, through and through," Jack smiled grimly, "And his little sister, Rebbecca, meant the world to him. They were inseparable. She followed him everywhere, like a puppy, and he thought it was the cutest thing ever, even though they were more than ten years apart. When the wolves-" Jack broke off, but took a deep breath and continued, "When the wolves got her and his mom, it was like the entire world had come crashing down for him. He cut himself off from everyone, became distant and angry. I didn't handle it very well- they way he was acting made me angry, and we fought. Then the rumors started flying around that he had something to do with it all, and he went berserk. He left, and didn't show up for about a year, and when he did, he acted like nothing had happened. Nothing at all. But he never got over it. I heard that he had spent the last year killing every wolf he could get his hands on, for any king or peasant who asked him to. And then he got funny about girls."
"Like how?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly. Jack shrugged.
"Before that, the only women in his life were his mom and sister. He didn't need anyone else, you know? After they died, it was like he was trying to fill the void, but he was too afraid to let anyone else get close, in case they left him too. It was stupid, really stupid." Jack shook his head. "Ezu started seeing multiple girls at a time- I think he felt that if he treated them more like objects than people, he wouldn't get attached, so if anything happened, he wouldn't be hurt. But that isn't the type of guy Ezu is. He did get attached, every single time. He can't help it. I don't think he was in love with them, but he did love them, in his own weird way. Of course, he never acted the way he felt, and every girl he strung along ended up getting fed up with him and sent him packing. And every time, he'd mope for days. He'd pretend he didn't care, but you could tell that it stung, every time. I don't know what he was trying to do, what he was trying to prove. I don't even think he knew. It was just his way of coping, you know?"
I nodded, without speaking. I remembered the time my brother got his first girlfriend, how he spent more time with her than me. I started bringing home boys like there was no tomorrow, to make him jealous. It wasn't the same, but I thought I understood, if only a little.
"He told me..." I began in a small voice, "That if he had had any feelings for me, he would have crushed them, right then." I don't know what I wanted Jack to say. Just anything, to take away the sting I didn't want to admit was there.
"He doesn't want to hurt you, Rikki." Jack said. "He likes you, I can see that. What his feelings for you are beyond that, only he knows. But he genuinely likes you, and you're the first person that he's liked in three years. And he doesn't want to hurt you, the way he's been hurt, and the way he's hurt others. That would kill him."
"How do you know all this?" I asked, not sure whether I wanted to believe him or not, but unable to ignore the sudden beat my heart skipped.
Jack smiled wryly at me.
"I had a talk with him before I came here," He smiled, touching the bruise on his cheek.
"Did he-" I gasped.
"He apologized," Jack said, hastily. "Sort of, anyways." He shrugged, then gave me a sad smile. "He doesn't want you to leave, Rikki."
You can't leave! Not like them, you're not like them!
"You gave him something to do, other than relentlessly mourn them. You're helping him forget, in his own way."
"Do you think he'll ever be able to love someone like he loved his mom and sister again?" I asked, quietly. Jack looked away over my head, his eyebrows lowered and his mouth turned down at the corners.
"I honestly don't know." He said, slowly. "But he's got this locket, this little gold locket his dad gave him or something. That thing is his life- as far as I know, he always has it on him. Doesn't let it out of his sight. I told him once he should give it to this girl he fancied, and he looked at me as if I told him he should chuck it in a fire and then he punched me. If he ever lets another soul even touch touch that thing, then you can be sure that that person means more to Ezu than anything in the world."
I looked down at my hands, chaffed and calloused after weeks of hard work and living outside, my nails, short and dirty.
"What happened to his dad?" I asked, my voice so low I wasn't sure if Jack heard me. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to have heard me.
At first I thought he hadn't- he didn't say anything, and he didn't move. But then he sighed, as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.
"A fire. That's all I know. That's all anybody knows- except Ezu, of course. I think it has something to do with why he hates soldiers so much. But I couldn't say for certain." There was a moment of silence, then Jack abruptly rose to his feet, and held out a hand towards me, smiling a little smile.
"Come on. If we sit here all day, sooner or later someone will come looking for us, and that might end in trouble."
I returned a watery smile, wiped my eyes again, and took his hand.