Disclaimer: That '70s Show copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. The 10th Kingdom copyright Babelsberg International Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. Beitriebs KG and Hallmark Entertainment Distribution, LLC.

CHAPTER 46
NO PERFECT SOLUTION

"Come on," Hyde whispered. "Come on, Grasshopper."

Jackie was naked in his lap and pushing the ring slowly—agonizingly slow—toward her second knuckle. He wanted to clutch her finger and make her yank off the ring, but he'd do nothing but watch. Better that than take the risk of changing her mind.

He remained still as a statue, hands frozen on her back, breath frozen in his chest as the ring passed her second knuckle. He was finally getting her back. He didn't care what the curse did to him. He just wanted, needed Jackie to be safe.

The ring was at the edge of her last and smallest knuckle. Her hands were shaking, and fresh tears spilled down her face. Sunlight from the window made them glow.

Keep going, he wanted to tell her, but pain was snaking up his spine. It collected in his shoulders and coiled around his arms. The bite of it, though, seemed blunt in comparison to his sharp focus on the ring.

The blue diamond sparkled as it reached Jackie's fingernail, and her breath left in staccato puffs. He didn't rub her back, fearing any sudden movement would make her stop. She let out a long shuddering sigh and glanced up at him with blind, wet eyes. "I'm sorry," she mouthed.

"It's okay," he said. "Just do it."

She nodded sadly, as if she'd heard him. He braced himself for whatever was about to hit him, clenched his stomach and tensed his jaw, but how could one really prepare for a curse?

"I'm so sorry," she mouthed again, and the ring moved backward. She'd shoved the ring back up to the base of her finger.

"Damn it!" Hyde dropped his forehead to her bare shoulder. "Damn it..." She combed her fingers through his curls, trying to comfort him, but only one thing could comfort him now. "Jackie..." her name was a sigh on his lips, "you're so fucking..." not stubborn, "determined."

He turned his face and rested his cheek on the ball of her shoulder. The knife holster stared at him from the room's fluffy blue carpet.

Plan C.


Jackie had fallen asleep naked in Hyde's arms, but he remained awake. Too much sunlight still poured in through the window, and too much adrenaline coursed through his body. He kept imagining ways to chop off her finger, but every idea involved pain. His thoughts imprisoned him as afternoon faded into evening—until a knock at the door paid for his bail. Had to be dinner time.

"Hyde," Kelso's muffled voice came through the door, "time to quit doin' it and eat!"

Hyde roused Jackie with a few kisses and brought her to their bathroom. Afterward, he helped her get dressed. Miss Muffet's attendants had provided a scarlet gown. Jackie looked freakin' beautiful in it, and he wished he could tell her.

She would've enjoyed him in the gray-and-black suit he wore, too. Another gift from Miss Muffet. He looked "respectable," as Jackie liked to say, even though his 'fro was becoming unruly, and he needed a shave—not to mention the red thread stitched into him and the large, browning scabs all over his body.

He moved Jackie's hand to his longer curls—just to tease her—but she didn't react. She should've have made a face and admonished him to get a haircut. That was what he wanted her to do, to be herself, but carrying the brunt of the curse had taken its toll. She had no energy left for annoyances to register. Her mental strength must've been devoted to staying sane.

A frown bent Hyde's lips, but he ran his thumb over the ridge of her ear. Her eyes fell shut, and she leaned her cheek into his palm. He had no anger at her for keeping on the ring. None at all, just a roiling pit where his stomach used to be.

He transferred his matches and pouches of Wolfsbane to his slacks. Then he brought Jackie to the ugly-as-hell hallway. It was too candy-colorful and reminded him of Leo's apartment—that one time Hyde had dropped acid there. Only no psychotic tomatoes were waiting for them in the castle's hallway, just Kelso.

"I heard things," Kelso said with a grin, and he led them toward the grand staircase.

"You got no idea what you heard," Hyde said. "She was so close, man. Almost took the damn thing off!"

"Your dick?"

"No, you moron!" Hyde raised his fist to frog him, but his punch would have no power. He was still weak and lowered his arm. "The ring."

"Oh."

They reached the staircase, and Hyde climbed down without needing any help. The dull ache in his body had become searing pain again, but the pain was a few dozen degrees cooler. He no longer wanted to tear out his nerves, but the anguish in his mind was heating up.

Their friends and Miss Muffet met them inside the dining room. Lamb and potatoes were on the menu tonight, and Hyde forced himself to eat. Forman, Donna, and Big Rhonda, meanwhile, filled his ears with excited descriptions of the castle and its grounds. The original Gingerbread House sounded far out. Hansel and Gretel had been lured there by an Ogre, whose ashes were still in the oven.

"There are always solutions," Miss Muffet said.

Hyde stared at her. "What're you talking about?"

"That Ogre was Hansel and Gretel's mother. They used her kind of treachery to save their own lives."

"They had to kill her," Forman said into his glass of wine. "Great solution." He and Donna were both drinking tonight, and Hyde wasn't unhappy about it. They deserved the break.

"Sometimes there is no perfect solution," Miss Muffet said. Her tone was casual, as if she'd had this discussion hundreds of times. "She left them no choice."

Hyde looked at Jackie. She'd dropped a chunk of lamb onto her gown, but she picked the chunk up with her fingers and stuffed it into her mouth. He should've been laughing, but the sight made his pulse tighten. No way in hell would fashion-obsessed, custom-conscious Jackie ever have crammed that meat down her throat, not without a rant about her ruined dress. But she couldn't see the brown stain on the scarlet fabric—or if anyone was watching how she ate.

Their friends had all dressed up for this dinner except for Kelso, who still wore his wolf-village cotton threads. He'd had no time to change since he'd guarded Hyde and Jackie's door all afternoon. Hyde appreciated it—far more than he'd ever let Kelso know—but a sighted Jackie would've busted Kelso's balls for dressing "like a peasant". She would've done a lot of things...

"Fuck this," Hyde muttered. He reached across Jackie and grabbed Kelso's wrist.

"What are you—" Kelso said.

Hyde planted Kelso's hand on Jackie's knee. "Keep it there." Then he stood up with his own hand on Jackie's shoulder and moved to Kelso's other side. "You roll up that Elf's blossom?"

Kelso nodded.

"Hyde," Donna said from across the table.

She was warning him, but Hyde took the pouch of Elf blossom from Kelso. "I'll be in my room, man. Bring Jackie once she's done eating."

He removed his hand from Jackie and didn't look back.


Donna glared at Hyde as he left the dining room, but a moment later, Jackie completely lost it. She patted the spot where Hyde had been sitting and jumped to her feet. His chair shook in her hands while she shouted silently. Then she grabbed his dish off the table and tossed it blindly at Kelso's head. He ducked down, but the dish hit Rhonda in the shoulder.

"Jackie!" Donna gestured toward her. "Eric, go. Go!"

Eric dashed to the other side of the table and took Jackie's hands. She wriggled free and grabbed the collar of his suit jacket. She was yelling something at him.

"He's just in his—" Eric shook his head. "Deaf... Right. Come on..." He held Jackie's hand again, but she collapsed to the floor. She covered her face, and her body shuddered as if she were sobbing.

"What's wrong with her?" Rhonda said.

"Hyde said she almost took off the ring," Kelso said.

Fez frowned. "Ai, no..."

Donna raced to Eric's side and helped him pick Jackie up. She went limp in their arms, still crying. Donna had seen her break down before but never quite like this.

They dragged her into the hallway, and Donna whispered, "What the hell was Hyde thinking?"

"Don't know if he was," Eric said.

The grand staircase loomed ahead of them, and Jackie seemed to regain some of her fight. She pinched Donna's arm hard enough to make Donna yelp.

"Where is he?" Jackie screamed silently. "Where? Where?" She pulled away and ran blindly toward the balustrade. A straight plunge over the railing led to the great hall below—and a messy death. But Eric grabbed her around the waist before she reached it.

"Donna—Donna, help me!" he said. Jackie was squirming in his grip, and Donna grasped her beneath the arms.

Together, she and Eric hauled Jackie back to the staircase. Jackie continued to kick and pinch them, and she even bit Donna's wrist, but Donna kept a solid hold on her. Eric, though, groaned and crumpled onto the first stair.

"Nuts," he hissed. He was clutching his groin protectively. Jackie's foot must have connected.

"Sit this one out," Donna said and hefted Jackie over her shoulder. She climbed the stairs while Jackie's fists pounded her back, but Donna didn't mind. Fighting-Jackie was better than the weepy heap she'd been in the dining room.

They arrived at the royal wing several dozen bruises later. In the morning, Donna's back would be black-and-blue. Friendship sometimes meant getting hurt, but she cared little about her minor injuries. A fragrant, floral smell had drifted into her nostrils. Hyde's door was partially open, and she peeked inside. He was sitting on the floor with his back against the bed frame. He held a leaf-wrapped joint in one hand and his knife in the other.

"Hyde, what the hell?" Donna said and carried Jackie into the room.

"Huh?" Hyde peered up at her and stuck the joint in his mouth. Then he sheathed the knife in its holster. "Dinner's over already?"

"Dinner was over the second you left." Donna's shoulder had begun to ache. Jackie was heavy thanks to the curse, and Donna put her down but held onto her arms. "Look at this." She showed Hyde the teeth marks Jackie had left on her wrist.

"Shit..." Hyde stood up and touched Jackie's cheek. Jackie sniffed his fingers then calmed down enough for Donna to release her. "No, you don't," he said, and the joint bounced against his lips. Jackie must have mouthed something Donna couldn't see.

Donna plucked the joint from his mouth and pinched it out. "Why are you doing this?" She scrutinized whatever skin he had showing. His wounds seemed better than they had this morning. The scabs were browning. "Are you still in that much pain?"

"No..." Hyde wrapped his arms around Jackie, and she sobbed into his chest. "Didn't take one damn puff either."

Donna stared at him, "Then why...?" but he didn't look away. His face was full of shame—cheeks a little red, eyes a little wet—exactly as Jackie described him after his nurse confession.

"Guess I fucked up, man," he said. "Promised I wouldn't let go of her, and I..." He swallowed, something Donna had rarely seen him do without eating involved. "She was freakin' out, huh?"

"Like she'd gone to a half-price sale at the mall." Donna picked up a small, leather pouch from the floor. Inside it were almost a dozen of those leaf-rolled joints. "Looks like you're freaking out, too."

Hyde shrugged. "Nah. I'm cool. Tomorrow, everything's gonna be fine."

"What?" She glanced at the knife holster by the bed. "You're not going to—to kill—?"

"No." He ushered Donna from the room. "Trust me, I got it all figured out. Well, most of it."

She was outside the door now. "This isn't an idea Kelso gave you, is it?"

Hyde smirked, and it made her feel a little better. "Not that desperate yet," he said. "Speakin' of... go get his ass and tell him to stand guard. He can eat dessert up here."

"Sure," she said but hesitated. "I don't want to lose her, Hyde... or you."

"I know..." He looked down at Jackie; she was clutching him like a pillow. "Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe her voice'll go down a few notches when she gets it back."

Donna chuckled. "Maybe..." She suppressed every urge to blurt the three words he seemed to hate the most, but he and Jackie were family, and she loved them. "I'm gonna make Eric really happy tonight," she said instead, "so... sorry in advance for anything you might hear through the walls."

"Yeah, just try to be louder than him," Hyde said. "That I can use."

"I'll do my best."


Steven had helped Jackie change into a soft sleeping gown. She was lying on top of him beneath the bed sheets. Her fingertips scratched through his sideburns drowsily, but she kept saying, "I hate you," into his neck. It was all she'd said since Donna—it had to be Donna—brought her back to him.

They were safe now. They had to be, so he had no reason to leave her. She pressed her ear against his chest. The sound of his heartbeat was lost to her, but the vibration pulsed strong and steady. Other vibrations joined it, along with the syncopated rhythm of his breathing. He was talking. His lips sometimes rubbed against the top of her head or left a warm kiss there.

She could only imagine what he was saying. Maybe he was telling her a story or describing the kingdom they'd come to. But the heavy sighs that occasionally left him told her something else. He had to be upset she didn't take off the ring. That could've been why he'd left her. He was angry.

"Steven," she said, "if you ever abandon me again, I'll give you something you'll really be angry about," but he couldn't hear her, and she couldn't hear him. They were deaf to each other, just as they'd been during their breakups. But now, their deafness would lead to their deaths. "You have to figure this out, baby. Please... please!" Her fingers curled in the silk of his pajama shirt. "Fix this! Or find someone who can because I'm not ready to leave you."


Hyde's voice was raw from talking. He'd never spoken so much in his life, and Jackie was still awake, even after hours of it. He confessed everything to her, the dark and scary things still creeping inside his head, the soft and vulnerable things she begged to have. It all came spilling out like blood. His body was spent, exhausted, but his spirit remained heavy despite the release. Only one thing would solve that.

He glanced to the right of him. His supplies all sat on top of the bed—leather gloves, pouches of Wolfsbane, jar of curdling moss, and the knife holster. His right hand was busy rubbing Jackie's back beneath her gown, so he used his teeth to tug a glove onto his left hand. Then he took two blue pebbles from one of the Wolfsbane pouches.

Jackie was falling asleep, but he needed her awake. No way to tell if his plan was working otherwise. He tickled her side. She squirmed a little and brushed her face against his silk pajama shirt. His right hand glided over her wrist and grasped it. Then he pressed the Wolfsbane pebbles into her palm.

She sprang up, but his grip tightened on her wrist and closed her fingers around the Wolfsbane. Her eyes were wide with a mixture of surprise and what had to be overwhelming sensation—and maybe even betrayal. Mute giggles poured out of her as she tried to pull away, but he sat up and kept her hand firmly around the Wolfsbane.

"Ste—" she mouthed. "Ste—"

She couldn't say anything coherent because she was laughing too hard, but he was sure of what she was thinking.

"Jackie, you really are gonna hate me," he said, "for the next twenty minutes. But then you're gonna thank me, doll. It's gotta be done."

Candles lit the room dimly, and her ring glinted at him. He imagined smashing it to pieces.

"I'm sorry," he said. Both his hands cupped Jackie's fist, forcing it to remain closed. Her giggling had turned into something entirely different. She was wriggling her left arm and sobbing. "It's gotta be done," he repeated. She had to be going numb, which was probably scaring the hell out of her. She relied on touch for almost everything now, but a passing moment of terror was worth her life.

She struggled against him for fifteen minutes. His heart pounded all the while with leftover pain and his own terror. What he was doing sickened him—as much as the fight in her gave him hope. But the Wolfsbane finally did its job. Her breathing slowed. Her desperate writhing stopped.

He removed one of his hands from her fist and raised her chin. Her eyes were glassy and unblinking. He closed her lids and laid her down on the bed. She was paralyzed and had to be completely numb, but she wasn't unconscious. Wolfsbane didn't have the decency to knock a person out, so Hyde needed to move quickly.

He uncurled her fingers and brushed the blue dust from her hand. Then he threw off his glove and grabbed the knife from its holster. "I gotta do this, Jackie."

He positioned her hand on the bed and re-curled her fingers beneath her palm—all fingers but one. The ring finger was straight, and the knife blade hovered over base of it. One swift chop wouldn't be possible. He'd have to slice carefully, to protect the rest of her hand.

Her skin was warm in his grip, and her pulse beat against him like machine-gun fire. She couldn't have wanted him to do this. His palm grew sweaty over the knife's handle, and his own speeding heart riddled him with doubt. Maybe she had to be the one to take the ring off, willingly. He could chop off her finger only to screw them both worse.

He withdrew the blade safely away from her hand. He was shaking too badly now to make a clean slice. He needed to talk to someone, like Fez or Forman, before he made this kind of choice.

The knife returned to its holster. The Wolfsbane pouches and jar of curdling moss moved onto the floor. "One more night," Hyde whispered into Jackie's deaf ear. "That's all I'm giving this 'cause I'm done, man. I'm fucking finished."

He fell into a deep sleep afterward with Jackie in his arms. Nightmares of chasing her over rocky hills gave him no peace. The clear blue sky loomed overhead like a dome, but reaching her would free them both.

He scrambled over a dirt ledge and got close enough to touch her ankles, but wolves ambushed him. Their teeth sunk into his flesh and ripped chunks off his body, and the taste of his own blood overwhelmed him. He was a red-soaked mess, crawling in the dirt like a maggot when they were done. Every movement shot burning pain into his nerves, but Jackie was so close. The sky had wrapped her in blue.

His hand reached out and smeared her calf with blood, but a wolf slammed her into the dirt. Jaws, as powerful as they were brutal, broke into her chest. They cracked her bones, tore out her heart...

Hyde awoke with a gasp. His pajamas clung damply to his skin, but he felt surprisingly serene. The dream had retreated to a hazy corner of his memory. He lay in the bed and stretched, allowing a yawn to escape noisily from his throat. His body felt better than it had in a long damn time, but something tugged on his brain like a fishhook.

Sunbeams shone through the window and landed on the overweight redhead lying next to him. The sight jarred him. Her face was kinda cute, but unlike Fez, he had a strict policy of not sleeping with meaty chicks. He threw off the covers and sat upand tried to remember how he'd ended up with her. Man,had he gotten so completely trashed last night that he'd tossed his standards?

The chick stirred but didn't wake, and he found he couldn't pull his gaze away. Her skin glowed in the sunlight, and her pink lips were slightly parted. He touched her warm cheek, and the fishhook yanked his brain into his heart. Holy hell, he loved this girl. He loved her.

A name seeped from his mouth, "Jackie?" Her left hand was hidden beneath the pillow. He pulled it out, and her ring's blue diamond sparkle at him.

Fear iced up his blood. He remembered everything now. He'd forgotten her before, more than once, and each time she'd lost another sense.

He dropped soft kisses on her lips, her neck—until she woke. She stiffened then kissed him back. Her tongue dipped into his mouth but withdrew before giving him a real taste.

"What is it? What'd you lose?" he said and searched her face for a clue. His fingertips ran over her jawline, and she smiled into his thumb when it reached her lips. Then she tried to bite him.

"Hey—" He withdrew his hand and moved it to safer spot on her body. "You're pissed about last night. Well, you can yell the shit outta me once you get back your voice. I'll enjoy it."

He made her sit up, and he pulled off her nightgown. Her sense of touch was clearly intact, but she must have lost something. He intended to find out what.


Jackie had no idea where Steven was taking her. They'd gone down those stairs, were turning familiar corners, but she couldn't be sure. The smells that gave her cues were gone. She dug her fingernails into Steven's hand as he pulled her along. What he'd done to her last night with the Wolfsbane was cruel and frightening, but it had also given her a taste of what was to come.

No... he hadn't been cruel but desperate. He was so desperate for her to remove the ring, trying everything he could to make that happen.

She loosened her grip on his hand and brought it to her lips. "I'm sorry, Puddin',"she said and kissed his cool skin. Their choices were impossible. If she took off the ring, she'd have her senses back, but she'd lose Steven. If she kept the ring on, she'd lose him anyway—but at least he'd be alive.

He sat her down in an uncushioned chair. It felt like one from the dining room, but she couldn't smell anything. Something mushy touched her lips. She shook her head and pushed it away. A moment later, Steven returned the mush to her mouth and tapped her lips with it. Was it food? Why couldn't she tell? She let him place it on her tongue, but it felt disgusting and had no taste. She spat it out.

He rubbed something rougher in texture against her lips. She tried chewing it, but the sensation was too unpleasant. His finger brushed up and down her throat. He wanted her to swallow, to eat, but she couldn't. Even if it were food—what else could it be?—it was awful having that stuff in her mouth.

She sighed, and then Steven's lips were upon her. He deepened his kiss quickly, but something smooth and round entered her mouth with his tongue. A grape? He was pulling every trick he had, and it threatened to make her weep. She had to reward his effort, his love, no matter how gross eating felt.

She chewed the grape when his mouth withdrew from her. Its juice splashed on her tongue, and its broken skin felt like shreds of damp paper, but she swallowed it all down. He popped another grape into her mouth, and she ate that, too—and the rest he gave her. Then he handed her a glass full of liquid. Drinking she found to be easier, and she drained the glass completely.

He pulled her into an embrace afterward. She buried her face in his neck and inhaled a deeply through her nose. Nothing. Her sense of smell was gone, and taste had vanished along with it.


"Forman, Fez," Hyde said with Jackie in his arms, "we gotta confab, man. Now."

He hadn't eaten a thing, though breakfast included some of his favorite foods like thick waffles and sausage. Jackie's sense of taste was gone—or smell—didn't matter. Whatever she'd lost made her not want to eat, which meant she'd starve.

"But, um... " Forman said from across the table, "I gotta finish eating. The Council of the Nine's going to start soon—"

"Yeah?" Hyde said. "Jackie's gonna die soon."

Fez left his plate and walked over to him. "What is it, my friend?"

Fez was dressed as formally as Hyde had ever seen him—gold sash and brocade, the works. Forman, Donna, and Kelso were all dressed up fancy, too. Miss Muffet hadn't shown for breakfast, though, probably to deal with arriving royalty.

"Hyde, we are in a hurry," Fez said.

Hyde sat down on his chair and brought Jackie into his lap. This Council of the Nine seemed like a big deal, but it meant nothing to him. "Listen," he said and explained what he'd done last night. He would've preferred only Fez and Forman to hear this. But Donna, Kelso, and Big Rhonda weren't going anywhere—not unless he insisted, and he didn't have time for that.

"That was your plan?" Donna said. "Cutting off her finger?"

Kelso tutted. "Dude, you totally punked out."

"Paralyze her again," Rhonda said and stabbed a sausage with her knife. "I'll chop that sucker off, no problem."

"No." Fez put up his hand. "Hyde made the right choice. Curses can be very sneaky."

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" Hyde said. "I'm out of ideas."

"A curse this strong does not go unnoticed," Fez said, "as we've learned from the wolves. I will ask my fellow sovereigns if they've heard rumors—"

"Screw rumors!" Hyde slammed his fist on the table. Plates bounced, and his nerves throbbed from the impact. "I need a fucking answer!"

Fez placed his hands on his hips and gazed at the ceiling, as if it could tell him something. Rhonda bit into the sausage she'd stabbed. Donna looked away, and Kelso shifted his weight in his chair. They were out of ideas, too, but Forman said, "Do something that'll make her take the ring off."

Hyde began to speak, but Forman kept going. "No, Hyde, hear me out. If you can't take the ring off for her, make her take it off. There's gotta be something, right? She's still Jackie."

Kelso stood up excitedly and waved his arm. "I got it! Crack a few eggs on the ring. She hates eggs!"

Hyde scowled at him. "Would you shut up and let me think?"

Jackie had fallen asleep in his lap. All the easy answers required a kind of pain he could never inflict on her. What he'd done last night was bad enough. But he knew another kind of pain he'd subjected her to recently.

He pressed his forehead into Jackie's temple and shut his eyes. No perfect solutions, man. Never were, but what he had planned was their best—and maybe last—hope.