A/N Man, you guys are so fantastic; I want to make you all cookies. Inspiration for this chapter came from the song When Dolphins Cry by Live. You can find the song on youtube.

Warning: Language.

Mirrors.


"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"- Snow White.

As Hyde climbed the stairs up to the kitchen, he could smell the scent of bacon being fried. It was usually a comforting smell, but today it felt heavy and overwhelming. He entered the kitchen to see Red sitting at the table and Kitty standing over the stove.

"Good morning, Steven." Kitty's usually chipper demeanor was replaced with something much more subdued.

"Morning." He said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.

"Visiting hours start in an hour." Red told him.

Kitty dropped a plate of eggs and bacon in front of Hyde. Hyde just stared at it.

"I'm not really hungry, Mrs. Forman." Hyde told her politely.

"Eat it." Red ordered.

Hyde took a hesitant bite of his eggs and smiled at Kitty. "Thanks." He told her as she sat Red's food down.

"Eric called this morning." Kitty said as she sat down with her own plate. "He's taking the first flight home tomorrow morning."

News that should have been spoken with enthusiasm was instead said in Kitty's subdued tone. The three people sitting at the kitchen table knew that the reason for Eric's return was not cause for celebration. Hyde suspected that Eric's return had nothing to do with him wanting to come back, and everything to with him being Hyde's conscience.


Donna hadn't realized she had fallen asleep on the couch in Jackie and Fez's apartment until she woke up the following morning with a blanket on top of her. Fez must have put it on her after she had fallen asleep. Slowly, Donna sat up and stretched her arms out, trying to get the kinks out of her back from sleeping on the hard surface.

"Morning." Donna turned her head to see Fez was standing in the kitchen. "I'd offer you cereal, but all we have is that shredded wheat that Jackie insists on eating. She was supposed to pick up some fruity pebbles from the store today but…" Fez trailed off as tears formed in his eyes.

"It's okay, Fez." Donna said, walking into the kitchen. "I'm not that hungry anyway."

Fez nodded. "Neither am I."

"I should call dad, he's probably really worried." Donna said.

"Don't worry about it." Fez responded. "I called him after you fell asleep."

Donna smiled. "I'm going to go take a shower then." She walked into Jackie's bathroom, taking note of all the beauty products that filled the bathtubs edge. Donna turned the water on, letting it get as hot as it would go without scalding her before stepping in. The dirtiness she felt had very little to do with the mud caked on her skin. She watched as the water washed away the mud, the grime and her own tears. She felt like she was burning inside and out and she welcomed the pain.


Jackie hummed to herself as she walked through the dead thicket. She could feel her confusion, loneliness and fear grow inside her, twisting together to form another emotion that she couldn't describe. She could feel the hope she had several hours ago start to fade away. She had been walking too far and too long now, and she felt like she was getting nowhere.

"It might help if you tell me where to go." It was quite discomforting that her only companion was a disembodied voice.

"What do you expect from me?" the voice asked. "For me to tell you where to go?"

"Yes!" Jackie shouted. "Look, I've been walking through this part of the forest for two hours now, and let me tell you, it's not the best scenery."

The voice groaned. "You princesses, you never want to do any of the work. You just expect things to be handed to you."

Jackie stared down at her feet. "I don't feel like a princess."

"What do you feel like?"

Jackie thought about it. Princess, in Jackie's mind, were beautiful, charming, nice. They had friends on their sides, and even though things sometimes got scary, there was always a handsome prince to rescue them. Jackie didn't feel like any of those things anymore.

"Just tell me which way to go." She begged.

There was a moment of silence before the voice answered. "Go left."


"Turn right at the doors to the cardiology wing, go down the hallway until you see a set of double doors, go through them and ask the nurse to see Jackie."

Hyde stared at Kitty and Red. "You're not coming?"

Kitty shook her head sadly. "We need to go do something, but we'll be back later."

Red gave Hyde a little push. "I called the ICU earlier to let them know you were coming, so no running away this time."

Hyde nodded as Red tried to read his thoughts. Slowly, Red turned to Kitty. "Actually, I'm going to take you there." Red said, turning back to Hyde.

"Don't you trust me to make it there on my own?" Hyde asked.

"No." Red stated simply, grabbing Hyde's arm to lead him towards the ICU while Kitty waited for Red to return.


Donna stared at herself in the mirror. The heat of the water had turned her skin red, but underneath the flushed skin, all she saw was someone who looked much older than she should have been. It wasn't maturity that was giving her lines, or even heartbreak over losing her first love, it was every callous word she said, ever selfish action she had taken the past year. Things were going to change, starting with her.

She dressed and dried her hair before coming out of the bathroom. Fez was in Jackie's room, putting things into a duffle bag.

"What are you doing?" Donna asked.

"I thought Jackie might like a few of her things." Fez answered as he placed a pair of Jackie's socks into the bag.

Donna nodded. "I'll get her makeup." She knew that even in a coma, Jackie would want to look good.

They packed Jackie's things, her pillow, Fluffycakes, everything that Jackie loved. Donna walked over to Jackie's book shelf. Nancy Drew dominated the shelves, but there were a couple surprises. A copy of On the Road that she guessed Hyde had given her in some vain attempt to make her less shallow, a copy of The Feminine Mystique that Donna gave her after a particularly bad breakup with Kelso, a worn out copy of The Brother's Grimm Fairy Tales. Donna took it off the shelf and opened it up. Inside the front cover it read:

Princess Jackie, age ten, written in tiny, yet neat sprawl. Donna traced ten year old Jackie's handwriting with her finger before closing the book and placing it into the bag and turning to Fez.

"Fez, there's something I need you to do."

Fez looked up, startled. Donna never asked him for any favors.


Each step they took brought Hyde closer to his fate. They had walked to through the hallways in complete silence, with Red's hand on Hyde's arm, not to bring Hyde any comfort, but to keep him from running. Hyde admitted to himself that the idea had crossed his mind, but he knew that it wouldn't do him any good. Eventually he was going to have to see her. It might as well be today. They walked into the ICU and were greeted by the nurse.

"Hello Mr. Forman, you here to see Jackie?"

Red shook his head. "I have to leave, but Steven is here to see her." He gave Hyde a little push forward. "We'll be back in two hours." Red told him before he walked out the door.

The nurse smiled at Hyde. "She's right in there. The nurse pointed to the door in front of him and then left Hyde to go make her rounds.

"Right, Hyde." He said to himself as he opened the door "This is no big deal, you can do this."

If it hadn't been for the various tubes and machines hooked up to Jackie's body, he would have thought she was simply sleeping. She wore a slight contented smile. He now understood why the hospital staff had given her the sleeping beauty nickname. It was fitting.

"Well, look who finally made it."


Kitty and Red sat in the visiting room as they waited for the prison guard to bring Jack Burkhart. Neither was looking forward to giving Jack the news. Pam, they knew, was in Mexico, completely ignorant to her daughter's condition. Jack walked into the room on the opposite side of the screen and smiled lightly when he saw Kitty and Red.

"Red, Kitty, what brings you here?"

Kitty instantly started to tear up. "I'll be outside." She said. She couldn't sit and listen as Red told Jackie's father the news. She left before Red could stop her.

"Is everything alright?" Worry was starting to seep into Jack's voice.

Red didn't want to do this. "Jackie is in the hospital, there was an accident."

"Accident, what kind of accident?" Jack asked frantically. "What happened to my daughter Red?"

Red could feel Jack's pain. He understood it because it was the same feeling he had when Fez had ran into the house two nights ago. Slowly, Red started to tell Jack everything he could.


Donna sat on the couch listening to the stereo as she waited for Fez to return. She absently sang along to the Eagles. "We are all just visitors here, of our own device." She stopped when Fez came in, holding a bag in his hand.

"I had to go to three stores, but I managed to find it." He told her. "Are you sure about this?"

Donna nodded. "Yes." She stood up and took the bag from Fez. She had never felt surer of anything in her entire life.


Jackie nearly jumped for joy when she saw something alive. An actual green, living plant. It was, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. As Jackie walked further, she noticed that everything around her was green and full of life. The trees were tall, with full broad leaves, birds were chirping to her. She could feel the anxious feeling she had been carrying leave her. Jackie could hear the rustling of leaves, but she figured it was just a squirrel or rabbit.

"Who goes there?"

Jackie stopped in her tracks at the large and authoritative voice. She started to turn around to go back and find another way, but the voice called to her again.

"Stop right there." A man carrying an axe walked out of the woods. Just like the prince, he had a familiar quality about him.

"What are you doing?" The man asked. "Coming into my woods?"

Jackie frowned. "I don't see your name on them!"

The man threw his axe into the tree next to him and walked up to her. "When are you kids going to realize this forest isn't yours to do with what you like?"

Jackie frowned. "But, I have to find my prince."

"Do you see any princes around here?" The woodsman asked irritated.

"Well, no." Jackie admitted.

The woodsman crossed his arms. "Then what are you doing here?"


Hyde turned to Kelso's voice. His arms were crossed, but his eyes were misty. Hyde instantly felt bad for him.

"You can hit me if you want." Hyde squared his jaw for the punch.

Kelso shook his head. "Believe me; as much as I really want to clean your clock right now, I know it won't do any good."

Hyde watched as his oldest friend paced around the room like a caged beast. He knew the explosion was coming soon, and didn't even bother to brace himself for it.

"We made a deal man!" Kelso yelled spastically. He pointed to Hyde. "We made a deal that you would take care of Jackie! That you would protect her! We had a pact!"

August 16, 1978

Hyde sat up on the water tower, throwing his empty beer cans off the side. He was so stupid. Why did he go on that date? Jackie had chosen him. Had kissed him, had begged him to stay. All summer long he had been waiting for her to make up her mind about them, but when she did, he had to ruin it.

He was getting really good at that. Hyde threw another beer can off the tower, not noticing Kelso climb up the ladder.

"I'm lucky I didn't get hit." Kelso said as he took one of the beers and cracked it open. Hyde made a non committal grunt in response.

"So, Jackie chose you." Kelso finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah."

"I heard you went on a date with an uggo."

"She wasn't an uggo." Hyde bit back before pausing. "Yeah, she was an uggo."

Kelso threw his empty beer off the tower and didn't respond.

"Jackie's too complicated man."

"She wasn't when I was with her." Kelso smirked.

Hyde turned to him. "What does that mean?"

Kelso shrugged. "Just that maybe the reason she's complicated is because you made her that way."

"All I did was hurt her."

Kelso waved his hand dismissively. "Who hasn't? hell, I've hurt her way more than you have, which is why I think you should forget all this crap about her being complicated and just get back together with her."

"I don't think it's that simple." Hyde responded as he took the last beer.

"Sure it is!" Kelso said excitedly. "Just tell her that you love her, that's all that she wants anyway."

Hyde closed his eyes. "Whatever."

"But there is one thing though." Kelso said.

Hyde opened one eye and looked at Kelso. "What?"

"You have to promise not to hurt her anymore."

Hyde stood still as Kelso raved at him. "You said that no matter what happened, you would be there for her, and you lied man."

"I didn't lie!" Hyde couldn't stop himself from yelling back.

Kelso stared at him, dumbfounded. "It wasn't enough that you broke her heart, but you had to nearly kill her as well!"

"It wasn't my fault she fell." Hyde had no idea why he was trying do defend himself.

"Maybe not." Kelso stated. "But you could have helped her. You could have yelled for help, jumped in after her, something! But you didn't care did you? Donna said that you were laughing."

"I didn't know what was going on!" Hyde shouted.

Kelso crossed his arms and his expression went from one of rage to sadness. "No, you knew. Somehow, you knew."

Kelso was right. This wasn't like breaking the pact to invent a formula for invisibility. This wasn't even like the time he stole Jackie from him, or when he had brought home Sam. This was the ultimate betrayal, of which there would be no absolution. As the memory of the night came fading back into Hyde's conscious, he realized that part of him did know what was going on. He had been hearing her voice all night in the midst of everyone else's screams. Flashes of her face as she fell…

"I thought I was dreaming." Hyde spoke softly. Kelso glanced up at him from the lawn chair. He nodded for Hyde to continue.

"I kept seeing her as she fell in my mind, every time I closed my eyes. I'd hear myself tell her to take my hand. I thought it was all just a bad trip."

"And now?" Kelso asked, uncharacteristically quiet. "Look at her, Hyde. You haven't even glanced at her since you came in here. Look!" Kelso had never demanded a single thing from Hyde before, but he was demanding this.


Jackie sat on a fallen tree as she contemplated the woodsman's question. He had since left her, just like everyone else in her life. She was completely alone.

"You're still here?" The woodsman didn't hide his disappointment. "I thought I told you to leave!"

"You came back!" Jackie wanted to hug him, but stopped herself.

"I live here." The woodsman sounded exasperated. "I had to come back."

Jackie stood up and walked towards the Woodsman. "So, can you help me?"

The Woodsman shook his head. "No."

"Can't you just give me a knife or something?"

"No." The woodsman stated. "But, there is one thing I'll give you." He reached down and pulled something out of his satchel. "This is what a princess like you needs." He handed her a small hand mirror.

"Now go away." The Woodsman walked back into the trees as Jackie stared down at the mirror.


"I see."

That had not gone the way Red had expected it to. Other than the initial concern, Jack had been unresponsive as Red reiterated the story to him. He had stayed calm through the whole thing, including when Red got the part about Jackie hitting her head on a rock. When Red said Jackie was in a coma, Jack had just sighed. Red waited for Jack to lose his temper and start raving, but it never happened.

"Guard!" Jack yelled. "Take me back to my cell please."

"Jack!" Red shouted.

Jack shrugged. "I can't do anything in here, Red." He smiled at Red. "Take care of my little girl."

"No." Red stated. "Your daughter is in coma, Jack, and you need to face it. I know you can't go see her, but damn it, you will accept the truth."

"And what truth is that, Red?" Jack asked, turning around. "That my princess is laying in a hospital bed with machines doing her breathing for her while that no good, degenerate scum gets off scot-free?" Red had left out the parts about Hyde, but it hadn't taken Jack long to put two and two together.

"It was an accident, Jack."

"That's what they always say."


Hyde crept towards Jackie's side. He had no idea what to say or do. No longer did she look like a beautiful princess from far away. Now, up close, he was able to see the swelling of her head, the bandages on the back of her crown and one on her cheek. He lifted the one on her cheek up and nearly gagged at the deep wound. Both eyes were black and blue, and once pink lips were colorless.

"See it now?" Kelso asked in the doorway. When Hyde glanced back at him, he saw that Kelso was gone. Hyde reached out to hold Jackie's hand, careful not to tear her IV out.

"I don't think sorry will cut it this time huh?" He spoke softly. "I know you hate me right now, and you're right. I never should have…" He trailed off, unable to say anything else.

He had been so mean to her that night, so downright cruel. He even laughed when she fell into the creek. Hyde dropped her hand and stood up quickly, backing up so that he was far away from her. Slowly, he sank against the wall and fell to his knees.

Hyde could feel his stomach twisting in knots as a wave of guilt and self hatred overwhelmed him. He ran into the bathroom to throw up. He stood up after all the bile in his throat was cleared and then punched the first thing he saw.


For the second time that day, Donna stood in front of the mirror in Jackie's bedroom. Fez had found the exact match of her old hair color, and even though it was a trivial gesture, it still served to make Donna feel slightly better. She knew it was going to take a lot more than dying her back its natural color to bring herself redemption.

Not that she thought she deserved it.


Jackie sat and studied the mirror. She knew that usually, the line went 'Mirror, Mirror on the wall..." but seeing as it was a hand mirror, Jackie guessed she was going to have to alter the words a bit. Part of Jackie worried that she was being stupid, but Jackie also knew that in fairy tales, mirrors were always magical.

"Mirror, Mirror, in my hand, tell me who is the fairest one is in all the land?"

The mirror swirled like water. Curious, Jackie reached out to touch it. The swirling glass grabbed Jackie's finger. Jackie tried to pull her finger away as the mirror melted itself to her hand. She was disappearing into the glass and there was nothing she could do to stop it.


Hyde stared at his reflection in the cracked mirror. He was no better than Jackie's parents who had abandoned her or Kelso when he had cheated on Jackie. He was worse. All he had ever wanted was to not end up like Bud and Edna Hyde, but in his quest to keep the pain out, he had done exactly what he had set out not to do. He stepped out of the bathroom and walked back to Jackie.

"Tell me what to do." He begged the sleeping girl. "I'll do anything you want, just tell me what to do." He repeated it to her as he cried into her chest. "Tell me what to do." Hyde didn't hear her monitor go off or notice the nurses and doctors run into her room until he was being pushed away and heard the doctors yell that Jackie was crashing and saw her being put onto a gurney.

"What's going on?" Bob asked as he came into the room as the orderlies took Jackie away.

"She needs emergency surgery. Stay here, someone will let you know what's going on soon." The doctor left the two of them alone.


Donna and Fez walked into the hospital the same time as Red and Kitty. Kitty smiled at Donna's new appearance.

"You're so cute!" Kitty told her. Donna smiled slightly in return.

Fez held up the bag with Jackie's things. "We brought some things for Jackie."

"You bring that damn unicorn of hers with you?"

Fez nodded at Red. "Yes."

Red nodded in approval. "Good."

They walked passed the nurse and walked right into Jackie's room to see Hyde, Kelso and Bob sitting in chairs and Jackie's bed empty talking quietly.

"What did you do?" Donna asked Hyde venomously.


I just want to say thanks for reviewing!