26 ~ Sunshine Of Your Love

I'm with you my love
The light's shining through on you
Yes, I'm with you my love
It's the morning and just we two
I'll stay with you darling now
I'll stay with you till my seas are dried up
I've been waiting so long
To be where I'm going
In the sunshine of your love

Donna sat next to Eric off to the side of the cavern. They'd put their bags down in a pile, far from the entrance. Hyde was lying on his back, his arms folded behind his head, staring up at Jackie. Fez and Kelso were sitting on the other side of the cavern.

Eric was slowly falling asleep, so Donna stood up quietly and walked over to the center of the cavern. She laid down next to Hyde, folding her hands over her stomach.

"It's weird being able to see her but not being able to talk to her," Donna whispered.

"Yeah. I hate not being able to do anything. But I've waited this long," Hyde whispered back. He stared up at Jackie for a moment longer. "Then again, I fucking hate being helpless."

"I know what you mean." Donna was elated to finally know where Jackie was and be with her, but it was awful not being able to help her. All they could do was wait for something that may never happen.

As if Hyde could sense Donna's doubt, he said, "She'll make it out. I know it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"'Cause the last thing I said to her in person was 'None of it matters anymore, does it?' That can't be the last thing I said to her. So I know I'm gonna see her again."

"I like that logic." Donna turned her head to look at Hyde. "You're a lot more open now, you know that?"

Hyde turned to face her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, for one thing you've stopped denying your feelings. And you're a little more open about your feelings for Jackie. It's nice, but I don't understand what changed."

"Jackie went missing. I realized I need to tell her things before I don't have the chance anymore. Big Yellow Taxi kinda thing."

"What?" Donna said, laughing a little.

"Big Yellow Taxi. The Joni Mitchell song. You don't know what you got 'til it's gone," Hyde explained.

"Since when do you listen to Joni Mitchell?"

Hyde nodded up at Jackie. "It's her fault. If you ask her about it, she'll start bragging about how she 'broadened my music taste' or something. Which is bullshit 'cause I got her to like Zeppelin and the Doors."

Donna laughed. She may have imagined it, but she could have sworn she saw Jackie smile for a moment. When Donna looked at Jackie again, her face was back to being expressionless.

"It's so weird having her right there and talking about her like she's not even here," Donna said.

"Yeah. But she'll be back soon enough. I know she will."

Donna envied Hyde's certainty. Despite what Hyde said, Donna still had the feeling that she might not get her best friend back.

Hyde paced under where Jackie was floating. Night had fallen about two hours ago, according to his watch. Donna and Forman were asleep, using their backpacks as pillows. Fez was watching over Kelso, who was splayed out on the ground and fast asleep.

Hyde wouldn't let himself sleep. He didn't want to take his attention off Jackie. He had to protect her while she figured out how to free herself.

At some point, Hyde stopped pacing. He sat with his back against the cave wall, staring up at Jackie.

She looked so peaceful, floating up there. Her fingers were relaxed and splayed out slightly, inches away from her denim-clad legs. Her boots had some dirt caked on them.

When this journey had started, Hyde had been worried about her not forgiving him for leaving her. But after all the ways he'd connected with her while they were apart… Hyde knew that she had already forgiven him. He couldn't explain it, he just knew.

He knew that when she got back to him, whatever they were mad about before didn't matter. All that mattered was getting back to each other.

Jackie's kidnapping had put so much into perspective. Hyde really didn't know what he had until she was gone.

As Hyde gazed up at Jackie, his eyes slowly started falling shut. He tried to stop it, but sleep took him easily.

Jackie paced in circles around her mind. Steven was here, she could feel it, but they weren't reunited.

They wouldn't be reunited until Jackie found her way out of her mind. What had the voice said about getting out? Oh, right…

"Only way out is if you really, really want to get out. Or if I got fatally wounded. But that won't happen, so it's all on you."

She didn't understand why she wasn't already out of her mind. She wanted to get out so badly, so logically she should be with Steven now. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her desire to get back to Steven.

Nothing happened. There must be some part of her that didn't want to get out. Some tiny part of her that wanted to stay in the safety of her mind.

She would have to truly want to get out to get back to Steven.

When Hyde woke up, Jackie was still in the air. Damn it. He'd fallen asleep, leaving her unprotected. It didn't seem like anything had happened, though. He glanced around. Forman and Donna were tangled together, sleeping. Kelso was asleep as well, his head lying on sleeping Fez's stomach.

Hyde walked over to where Jackie was floating. He sat down and looked up at her. She looked so peaceful.

"Hey, Jackie," he said quietly, nearly whispering. "I, uh… I don't know if you can hear me, but I've got a few things I wanna say."

He glanced around the cavern. It was really beautiful with the moonlight shining through the cracks near the tip. And Jackie looked nearly angelic, floating so close to the moon and shining softly.

"I love you," he continued. "I don't ever want you to forget that. And when you come back to me, I'll tell you again. As long as you're around, I'll keep saying it. 'Cause you deserve to hear it, more often than I said it."

Hyde paused there. He licked his lips and took a deep breath.

"And when we get back to Wisconsin, I'll propose to you. I'll get you a nice ring. You can annoy the hell outta me with wedding stuff." Hyde let out a single, breathy laugh. Jackie's face remained expressionless and her breaths were shallow and slow. "I miss you, Starlight. Even when you're right in front of me."

Hyde scratched his neck, just above his necklace. He never knew he could miss someone as much as he missed Jackie. And to think he had let her go to Chicago without fighting to stay with her, without giving her some kind of answer.

"I should've just said yes," Hyde said with a sigh.

The part of his heart that was Jackie's warmed at that. She was hearing what he was saying. That was good. She must not be able to respond for some reason.

Hyde laid down on the ground as he had with Donna earlier. "When you get out of your head, we gotta go stargazing. The stars are all different here. Or maybe they're not. You know I'm shit at finding constellations." He laughed breathily.

He looked up at the sky through one of the larger cracks in the top of the cavern. A shadow was creeping across the moon. Hyde had never seen a lunar eclipse before, but Jackie had told him about them. She'd watched one with her dad.

He sat up, keeping his eyes on the moon. Hadn't Tarot the oracle said something about the eclipsed moon?

Yeah, they had said,

"The eclipsed moon will rise
You shall see your lover's eyes
The one who took it all away
She will make you pay."

The eclipsed moon was rising, all right. His lover's eyes… that was Jackie, of course. So she must be coming back to him soon. He couldn't see her eyes from here. She was too far away.

The one who took it all away… That must mean the person that kidnapped Jackie. And if the 'she will make you pay' was any indication, the person was a woman. Hyde was still gonna kick her ass when he found out who she was.

But what chick knew him, Jackie and Fez well enough to do all this? Maybe it was crazy Caroline. Hyde wouldn't put it past her. But she had no motivation against Hyde or Jackie.

Or maybe Laurie. Fez could have told her about his homeland while they were married. And Laurie didn't like Hyde or Jackie. But she wouldn't put this much effort into screwing them over. If she had wanted to mess with them, she would have just flirted with Hyde in front of Jackie or something.

Big Rhonda? Nah, she was a nice chick. She wouldn't screw Hyde and Jackie over like this. Hyde had always felt bad for Rhonda. She and Fez had something pretty good until Fez ruined it with Casey freaking Kelso's advice. Maybe he should get Fez to apologize to Rhonda sometime…

Hyde shook his head to clear it. He was getting off topic. The moon was completely covered in shadow by now, turning it an ominous red color.

Hyde laid down again. He probably wasn't getting any more sleep tonight. Thoughts of who Jackie's kidnapper was would keep him awake for sure.

"I'm gonna figure out who did this to you, Starlight," Hyde whispered.

He could have sworn that Jackie's lips quirked upward for a moment, but she was too far away for him to be certain.

Fez woke up with Kelso's head on his stomach. He didn't remember how they got there, but he was comfortable with it. He turned his head to the side, giving him a decent view of most of the cavern.

Hyde was sitting in the middle on the large, flat rock and looking up at Jackie. Eric and Donna were talking quietly off to the side.

Fez gently moved out from under Kelso, resting his head on the rock softly. Perhaps they could try to get him up and try walking again today.

Fez walked over and sat next to Hyde. "Insomnia again?"

"Nah. Just… Can't leave Jackie unprotected. The chick who kidnapped her could come back any time," Hyde said.

Fez's eyebrows drew together. "The chick?"

"Last night, I saw a lunar eclipse. That means my prophecy is probably right. The prophecy said Jackie's kidnapper was a chick."

Fez thought about the women he had told about his homeland. "That doesn't narrow it down much. It's either Rhonda, Laurie, Miss Kitty, Midge, any of my female teachers, Nina, Caroline, Patty, Suzy, Eric's dead grandma, Eric's alive grandma-"

"Did you tell everyone about your homeland except us?" Hyde asked.

"Well… Yeah, pretty much. Sorry."

"Got nothing to be sorry for." Hyde finally stopped looking at Jackie and turned to face Fez. "How you holding up? Y'know, after… everything."

"Kelso is alive, so that's one thing I'm pretty happy about. As for my possible bisexuality… I'm still figuring myself out." Fez looked up at Jackie's floating body. "Our main concern right now should be her, though. It will probably help if you talk to her. Like when people are in comas and they wake up because their loved ones talked to them."

"What else can I do?"

"Be patient. She will come back in her own time."

Hyde nodded and his gaze returned to Jackie.

Kelso sat against one of the taller rocks near the side of the cavern. They had just finished breakfast, some high-protein granola bars. Kelso couldn't wait until they were able to have a real meal again.

"Kelso, do you think you could try walking again?" Fez asked. "We should keep trying while you heal."

"Sure. My throat's been feeling better. I don't have to whisper everything anymore."

"Glad you're feeling better, man," Hyde said.

"Me too," Kelso said. He looked at Fez. "You'll catch me if I fall, right?"

"Of course," Fez said. "Ready?"

Kelso nodded. He took a deep breath and began to lift himself off the ground. It still hurt to move, but not as much. He didn't feel like he would vomit from the pain again.

Fez stayed close by. Kelso steadied himself on the rocks as he stood up straighter. He leaned most of his weight on the rock, but eventually he stood up completely. He smiled despite his heavy breathing and the pressure on his wounds.

"Hey, you did it!" Eric exclaimed.

"I did it," Kelso breathed out. "Probably won't be able to for much longer, but I did it."

"Good job. We'll keep trying. You'll be back to normal before you know it," Fez said.

Kelso grinned and began to lower himself back down. He hoped that was true.

Hyde was sitting on the rock beneath Jackie once again. But this time, he was with Forman and Donna. Forman had packed a deck of cards in his bag for reasons only known to him, so they were playing Crazy Eights. Fez was helping Kelso attempt to walk again.

Hyde looked up at Jackie after every turn. Donna eventually caught on to that and said, "You can't be watching her every minute. You have to let yourself take a break."

"I don't want anything to happen to her," Hyde said.

Forman looked over his cards and put down a three of hearts. "Yeah, but keeping an eye on her every second isn't gonna help. You can't let anything happen to you, either."

Donna put down her final card, a three of spades. "And I win again. You guys suck."

"Damn. Someone else deal, I think I'm subconsciously giving Donna all the good cards," Forman said.

"Or you're a sore loser," Hyde said, scooping up the cards and starting to shuffle. "But I wasn't focused before. This time you're going down, Pinciotti."

"We'll see about that," Donna said, taking her cards as Hyde dealt them out.

Hyde won the round. Fez and Kelso joined them for the next one. Kelso sat close to Fez and rested his head on his shoulder. They shared a deck of cards.

Donna crushed them all. They continued playing, switching up the games until it was time for lunch. After they ate, they sat in a circle under Jackie. They didn't have a circle, though, because Hyde wanted to be clear-minded in case Jackie came back.

Donna looked up at Jackie. It didn't seem like she was getting out anytime soon, so she said, "Hey, Fez, I keep meaning to ask you but, y'know, we've been busy. What's the story of the Red Lady?"

"Basically everything you did to that dragon," Fez said.

"But, like, what's the whole legend? I wanna know the stories people are telling about me," Donna said.

"I suppose I can tell you one version…" Fez smiled. "Get comfortable."

Eric draped his legs over Donna's outstretched ones and cuddled into her side. Hyde laid on his back and Kelso laid his head on Hyde's legs.

"Angor is a powerful dragon," Fez started. "He rules the skies, leader of the dragons. No one dares to cross him, else they will be burned by his crimson fire. Rumour has it his fire comes directly from hell. He has burned many villages with his fire, setting them ablaze until no man or woman remains.

"Only one can defeat Angor for good. The Red Lady. She is a woman forged from holy fire. She has red hair that lights up when caught in the sun. She will carry the ruby sword and one day she will kill Angor.

"It will happen on a September day. The Red Lady will approach the mountain, accompanied by four people. These people are as follows: the Hanged Man, the Fool, the World and one half of the Lovers."

"Aren't those tarot cards?" Hyde asked.

"Yes. When the oracles foretold this story, they used tarot cards to predict the identities of the four companions," Fez said.

"Which ones are we?" Kelso asked.

"You're the Fool," Hyde said, lifting his head to look at Kelso.

Kelso grinned. "Yeah, I figured. Well… Eric's the Hanged Man, obviously. Fez isn't with anyone right now, so that makes Hyde one half of the Lovers."

"Which makes Jackie the other half," Hyde said. "Leaving Fez to be the World. And he's the one who lives here, so I guess that makes sense?"

"Sure. Anyway, back to the story…" Fez continued, "As the sun sets and casts a golden haze over the mountains, the Red Lady will take up her sword. Angor will soar to her, only to be met by her blade. She will pierce the dragon's thick hide until only the ruby-encrusted hilt of her sword is visible. And Angor will die.

"Once he is dead, the Red Lady will flee. The Hanged Man will follow her. The Lover will go off on his own, leaving the World and the Fool to deal with Angor. The Hanged Man will sacrifice himself to save the Red Lady. The end," Fez said.

"I'm engaged to the most badass lady in the world," Eric said.

Donna laughed. "Not in the world. But, yeah, I am pretty badass."

"And humble, too," Hyde said, smirking. She shoved his shoulder and he laughed.

Their eyes all traveled up to Jackie, so far out of reach. A heavy silence settled over them.

"Do you think she'll make it out soon?" Fez asked.

"I know she will," Hyde said. "She's a hell of a lot stronger than she lets on. I know she can do it."

"Yeah, I believe that. I have faith in her," Eric said. He cupped his hands around his mouth and said loudly, "You got this Jackie!"

Donna laughed and leaned into Eric. "What, are you becoming the new cheerleader of the group?"

"Someone's gotta when our cheerleader is floating." Eric stood up and pumped his fists in the air. "Goooooo Jackie!"

They all laughed as Eric continued to cheer and attempt to do cheerleading moves. Donna was glad for the distraction. She didn't want to spend her time in the cavern worried about Jackie coming back.

She really hoped that Hyde was right.

Many hours later, Hyde sat beneath Jackie on the cavern floor. The sun was rising, shining in through the small cracks throughout the cavern. It illuminated Jackie even more, making her look absolutely beautiful.

Forman, Donna, Kelso and Fez were all still asleep, all close together on the cavern floor.

Hyde took a deep breath. Jackie's hair was floating around her, and the combined sun and magic glow gave her a halo.

"Jackie, I can't wait for you to come back. I miss you so fucking much. I want to be able to touch you again, to hold you again, to kiss you again… I just want you back. That's all I want. And I know you're gonna come back soon, 'cause you're so freaking smart and strong. Those are just two of the many reasons I fell for you. I love you, Jackie, and I hope you come back soon."

Hyde got no form of reply, but deep in his heart, Jackie felt close. In the part of his heart that belonged to Jackie, in the part of his heart that was Jackie's, she felt close.

Closer than she had in a very long time.