A/N: This is my favorite chapter so far, and I really hope that you guys like reading it as much as I liked to write it. It sets up things to come. Please continue to review, and thanks for everything!

Disclaimer: That 70's Show is owned by a bunch of money hungry soulless bastards. I might be money hungry, and perhaps a bit of a bastard, but I'm definitely not soulless. I also don't own the fairy tales referenced in this work of fiction. and I don't own the songs mentioned in this chapter. You can find them on you tube if you want to listen.

Warning: Language and gushiness.

Wishes.

"Death alone from death can save.

Love is death, and so is brave.

Love can fill the deepest grave.

Love loves on beneath the wave." -The Light Princess- George Macdonald.

Hyde had been grateful when the nurse on duty had come in to Jackie's room to inform them that visiting hours were over. He had just been forced to listen to two of his closest friends as they told the story of his fall from grace. It wasn't even like they had tried to make him into the scapegoat. Hyde had thought for sure that Donna would have made damn sure everyone knew who she held responsible, but she didn't. In fact, she barely mentioned him in her version of that night. It wasn't until they had been kicked out of the room for the night and Eric had placed his hand on Hyde's shoulder while suggesting that they all go sit in a circle somewhere that Hyde realized that Donna had done it on purpose. He was being locked up and forced to confess against his will.

He just wasn't ready to face the music yet, not when he hadn't fully come to grips with it himself. He needed to work it out in his own head first, and then as far as he was truly concerned, there was only one person who deserved to hear what he had to say. Only one person deserved an apology.

How does one apologize to someone who can't hear you, anyway? It was something that Hyde had been pondering for the last few hours.

Alas though, Hyde knew that he wouldn't get out of his impending trial. His friends were going to drag his side of the story out of him if it was the last thing they did. He took a small glance at Donna, who was trying desperately not to look in the direction of her ex and his new fiancé and realized that she had nothing to lose.

Maybe it would be good to have the practice anyway, so that when he was able, he'd be able to apologize to Jackie and not make a total ass out of himself.

Hyde laughed. "Sure, you can tell us how two met." He Indicated Eric and Jasmine.

Jackie stared up at the giant beanstalk in front of her and shook her head in dismay. There was no way she was going to climb up that thing. Jackie had enough giants in her life, thank you very much. She'd probably be locked in a cage or worse, stomped on by hairy, stinky giant feet. So, she waked around the beanstalk carefully. The ground rumbled beneath her like an earthquake. Jackie looked up nervously. She couldn't see anything, but she bet the giant was near. She moved to stand as far away from the beanstalk as possible and was walking down the path when she heard screaming behind her. She turned around to see a young boy rushing down the stalk as fast as his skinny legs could take him.

"Move out of the way!" He yelled as he ran towards her. She stepped off the path just as he flew by her.

"But wait, I need directions!" She yelled.

The boy didn't even bother to turn around. "No time!" He yelled. "Just follow the path!"

Follow the path. That was easy enough for him to say.

The group was almost together again, apart from the one person who was missing and the other who was new. It almost felt complete.

But it was that almost that made all the difference. Almost wasn't good enough and it never would be. In the past year, Donna had come to realize that they were a set. If you took one of them out, the rest would collapse, and collapse they did, just like a house of cards.

The new DJ came onto the radio. "This is Lovely Lucy and up next is The Beach Boys with Sloop John B." As the song played Donna sang along "Well I feel so broke up I wanna go home.

Jackie had taken the young boys advice and had followed the path all the way back in the glen, where the cottage sat invitingly. Jackie ran to it excited. The cottage was back, and that meant maybe the prince was to!

Jackie ran to the door of the small house and knocked twice on the door, when there was no answer, she slowly opened the door. Maybe the prince was still asleep. She crept into the dark house, leaving the door open just an inch for light.

"Hello?" She called. "Is anyone here?"

But no answer came to her. "Great." Jackie said to herself. She started to look around the cottage. Jackie took a quick look around. A bed was in the corner, a pot of what smelled like week old soup sat on the stove, melted candlesticks and other signs made it obvious that someone still lived there.

"And he was all 'get it off, get it off!" Jasmine waved her hands in the air and did her best Eric impersonation. Everyone except Eric and Donna laughed.

"It was huge!" Eric said defensively.

"It was a cricket!" Jasmine teased. "Anyway, I rescued him from the big bad cricket." The two of them looked at each other lovingly.

"So, you're a teacher?" Fez asked.

Jasmine shook her head. "No, I'm not allowed near children, I have a tendency of letting them misbehave." She grinned wickedly. "I run the supplies to all the different camps."

"Supplies?" Fez queried.

"Food, bandages, books, bottled water, pornography, all the necessities." Jasmine answered with a devilish grin.

"How did he propose?" Donna asked.

"Donna." Eric stated warningly.

"No, I want to know." Donna told him. "Tell us all about it."

Jasmine and Eric looked at each other as though they were having a silent conversation. It just served to make Donna more frustrated with the situation. He had an actual connection with this woman, who, and this is what made it even worse, was actually good for Eric.

"He proposed to me on the plane ride here." Jasmine answered after a minute.

"On the plane?" Hyde finally spoke for the first time since they had left the hospital. "Harsh man."

"I was going to do it next week, on Jasmine's birthday." Eric replied. "But we got the call about Jackie and Jasmine offered to come with me and it just felt right." He grinned widely, "And, I got a sign on the plane."

"A sign?" Fez asked.

"Oh yes, tell them what the sign was." Jasmine laughed.

"The in flight movie was Star Wars."

Everyone except Eric and Jasmine groaned.

"Damn Forman." Kelso said.

Jasmine was smiling widely at Eric. Hyde shook his head at both of them.

"You encourage this?" Hyde asked her. Jasmine nodded in response.

"It's only the best movie ever made." Jasmine replied matter of fact.

So damn perfect.

It was Fez who announced he had to go home first, stating that he needed to have some alone time in Jackie's closet. Kelso had thought it was a good thing that Hyde was distracted and didn't actually hear what Fez said, or otherwise it would have been Fez who needed an ice pack for his eye. After Fez left, Kelso wondered if Donna felt as out of place as he did.

He made a mental note to talk to her later.

"Have you ever listened to what this song is about?" Donna asked after a moment. "It's about a friend who betrays another friend."

Kelso listened to the song for a minute. "You're talking about Jackie, aren't you?"

He didn't notice the arm coming his way until he was already hit. "Damn, Hyde!"

"I have to get my aggressions out some how." Hyde told him cheekily. Kelso knew better to push it so he just nodded.

"But without your love, I won't make it through, and you don't understand my point of view, I guess there's only one thing I can do." Donna continued to sing to herself. Kelso had noticed that she had been doing that a lot lately, as though she was using music to express her thoughts and feelings. It was either that or yelling at Hyde. He wasn't sure which one he preferred.

"I'm hungry." Kelso said after a moment. "I'm going to go upstairs and make myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich." He stood up from the couch and walked up the stairs where Kitty and Red were talking. He stood hidden in the doorway.

"I just can't believe he would do something like this." Kitty was saying. "He barely even knows the girl and he's already engaged to her?"

"Of all the dumbass things that kid has done…" Kelso knew that the vein on Red's head was probably throbbing. He half thought about going back downstairs, but the call of a sandwich was too powerful to resist, so he came out into the open.

"Don't mind me," He said. "I just came up to make myself a sandwich."

Kitty stood up from the table. "I'll make it for you, Michael; you just go and sit down over there." She pointed to the table. Michael smiled widely and walked over and sat next to Red.

"What's the girl like?"

"I don't understand half the things she says." Kelso answered honestly. Her accent was even thicker than Fez's.

"Well, she seems alright." Red stated.

"Oh, I'm sure she's a lovely person." Kitty replied, "But they barely know each other."

"That seems to be happening a lot lately." Donna said as she came into the kitchen. She smiled at Kitty and sat down at the table with Kelso and Red.

"What is, sweetie?" Kitty asked.

"Your sons marrying women they barely know." Donna answered.

Kitty sighed. "Oh, you poor thing." Kitty shook her head and put down the mayonnaise coated butter knife. "Forget sandwiches," She said. "I'm going to make you two something good to eat." She tossed away the half made sandwiches and started getting out pots and pans.

"Kitty, don't." Red tried to stop his wife from going into full feed an army mode.

"Oh, hush Red." Kitty answered. "Donna, I'm sure your father is still awake, why don't you go see if he would like some lasagna?"

"Sure, Mrs. Forman." Donna went to find her dad.

An hour later, the five of them were eating the most delicious, cheesy, lasagna that Kelso had ever had.

"This is awesome, Mrs. F." Kelso said with his mouth full.

Kitty simply took the compliment for what it was. "You're welcome, Michael."

"Yeah Kitty, this is real good." Red reached over to kiss his wife on the cheek.

"Someone should tell Eric and Steven." Kitty said. Donna shook her head in disagreement.

"They don't deserve this." Donna responded. "If they get hungry, they should have to eat those sandwiches you tossed."

Kelso and Red laughed at Donna's suggestion. Kitty just shook her head sadly.

It didn't matter what Donna wanted though, because five minutes later, everyone in the house was eating the lasagna.

"This is weird." Kelso said after a moment of silence.

"What is?" Eric asked.

"I keep expecting Jackie to walk in." He said nervously.

Donna laughed. "Me too."

"I think the real question is who would she insult first, me or you?" Eric said to Donna.

"Oh, me, I look especially lumberjackish today."

"You're both wrong." Hyde said. "She'd find a way to do both."

The cottage contained two rooms. In the first room was a hearth, a small bed, a table and a pantry. In the other room was nothing except a wooden desk and chair. The desk was simple, with no drawers or cabinets, but a wooden jar with pencils sat on top, as well as a small locked book.

It took her a grand total of two minutes to unlock it. Thinking she had found a secret diary of either her prince or perhaps another princess, Jackie was overcome with glee at her find.

What she found though dismayed her for the contents were written in German.

"How am I supposed to read this?" Jackie asked. She skimmed the book, trying to find clues as to who might have written the book, or what it was about. Half way through, something peculiar happened and she was able to read the page. She kissed the book excitedly and turned it back to the beginning, only to find that it and the few pages after that were still in German. It seemed as though only one page was actually written in English. Jackie quickly found it again and, ignoring all sense of propriety, she ripped the page out and placed it in her knapsack. She would read it later.

Eric knew he was going to have to talk to Donna alone soon. This wasn't how he had wanted this to go. He had wanted to propose to Jasmine in Africa and then, a year from now, come home with her on his arm, safe in the knowledge that both he and Donna had moved on with their lives and there wouldn't be any hard feelings. He hadn't wanted to come back so soon, under such dire circumstances and just add onto the misery that she was already feeling over Jackie. It was a shitty thing for him to do, as both an ex boyfriend and a friend, because even though he no longer had romantic feelings for Donna, she was still one of his best friends. She was the person who knew him best of all, his first love. She deserved an explanation.

So, after Kelso had left for the night and Jasmine whispered in his ear that she was going to go upstairs to talk with his parents, Hyde, Donna and himself were alone until Donna announced that she was going to go home for the night and that she would see everyone at the hospital in the morning, Eric knew this was probably his only opportunity to talk to Donna.

"I'll walk you home." Eric told her as both of them stood up.

"I think I can manage walking six feet." Donna glared at him.

"They say that most accidents occur six feet away from the home." Eric quipped.

Donna sighed. "Fine," She turned to Hyde with her hand on the doorknob. "Hyde?"

Hyde looked up at her. "Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry for what I said before."

Hyde stared at Donna for a moment. "We'll talk in the morning."

Donna nodded her agreement. The three of them knew that Hyde was accepting her gesture of peace.

Eric and Donna walked out of the basement and up the stairs and towards her house.

"It's a nice night." Donna stated. It was true, it was a nice night. The sky was a deep blue with a million stars twinkling overhead. On any other night, the sky would have brought a sense of peace and hope, but on this night, it brought Donna very little comfort.

Jackie looked out the window at the most gorgeous night sky she had ever seen. This was the sky that poets wrote about, that artists like Van Gogh painted, that couples made love under. Jackie opened the cottage door to go stand outside and let the indigo sky cradle her like a comfortable blanket. But as soon as she left the house it disappeared behind her in a flash. Jackie stared disbelievingly at first and then kicked the ground.

"Stupid cottages!" She yelled. At least the prince wasn't in there and Jackie had been taken the page out of the diary.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you were brought back to this spot for a reason?"

Jackie rolled her eyes at the voice. "You know, it's getting kind of annoying not being able to see you."

"Well, that's hardly my fault." The voice answered. "I can be seen, you just don't have the right kind of eyes."

Jackie pursed her lips. "And just what kind of eyes do I need?"

"It's a metaphor." The voice sighed.

"Yes, I got that." Jackie replied sarcastically.

After a few moments, the voice spoke up again. "You know, you're not like the other princesses I've had to deal with before."

Jackie sat down on the soft ground. "I'm one of a kind."

"Yes." The voice answered. "Which is why I don't understand why you're so hell bent on rescuing this prince of yours?"

"Someone has to." Jackie replied as she plucked a piece of grass from the ground.

"But he doesn't really deserve it."

Jackie looked up at the twinkling lights. "Yes, he does."

"What if he did something really bad?" The voice answered.

Jackie tied a knot in the blade of grass. "I'm sure whatever he did it wasn't as bad as you're making it out to be."

The invisible man sitting next to his new charge sighed. She had no idea.

Donna felt as though she had no idea what she was doing anymore. It was ten o' clock at night and she was sitting in her kitchen drinking a beer with her ex. It was all too overwhelming for her. She needed someone to talk to.

"What are you thinking?" Eric asked.

Donna blinked back her tears. "That I wish Jackie were here."

Eric nodded. "I bet."

Donna looked over at Eric. "You're going to talk to him right?"

Eric sighed. "To Hyde, yeah, he's next on the list."

Donna laughed to keep herself from crying out. Everything was going to hell and she had no power to stop it.

"Donna, I'm so sorry." Eric said. "For Jackie, for Hyde, for making you find out about Jasmine this way, I just want you know that when I broke up with you it wasn't because of her, I didn't even know her when that happened, I just, we were drifting apart, even before I left, you said it yourself remember?"

"I remember." Donna replied curtly. "It doesn't make it hurt less though."

Eric nodded. "I know."

Donna stood up from the table after she finished her beer. "Go talk to Hyde."

Eric stood up and walked to the door and opened it before turning around to Donna who was standing in the doorway from the kitchen to the living room.

"She's going to be okay." Eric said, sounding positive. "She's the toughest of all of us, if anyone can make it, it's her."

Donna didn't reply, nor did she need to.

As soon as Eric and Donna left, Hyde turned the station to something more appropriate for his mood and then sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands.

"I've got the records, that we used to share, and they sound the same, as when you were here, the only thing different, the only thing new, I've got the records, she's got you. I've got your memory, or has it gotten me, I really don't know, but I know, it won't let me be." Patsy was singing his life story.

As irony would have it, he was starting to miss the sound of her voice. Of course, this wasn't anything new. He had missed the sound of her voice for awhile now. Having her talk to him had been one of his favorite ways to fall asleep. He had asked Sam once to talk, but she had started to talk dirty, misunderstanding Hyde's request. He didn't even bother trying to explain it to her, instead he just said never mind and then rolled over onto his side and eventually fell asleep.

He had felt so bad the next day that he went out of his way to burn Jackie. No one could see how much he missed her. They could never know. Eventually, he had gotten so good at pretending to hate her that the mask actually became real and the love he truly felt for her was buried deep down into his psyche.

It was almost as though his heart had shrunk three sizes.

"I see you're listening to country music again." Hyde looked up to see Eric had returned.

"Hey, Forman." Hyde said. "How did it go with Donna?"

Eric sat down next to Hyde. "It went."

"What's your secret man? How do you get all the hot chicks?"

Eric laughed. "Not all of them."

"True enough." Hyde responded. "There's definitely one that you could never get."

"Speaking of Jackie, you wanna talk about it?"

Hyde looked at Eric. "Is this one of those times when you ask me if I want to talk about something like I have a choice but you drag it out of me anyway?"

"Possibly." Eric smiled.

Hyde sighed to himself and then shrugged his shoulders. "After you left for Africa, I decided to go see Jackie in Chicago."

An hour later, Hyde had given Eric the abridged version of events that had transpired after his departure from Point Place. Part of Hyde felt better, as though he had unleashed a terrible burden that he had been carrying for years, but the other part knew that the only way his burden would truly be uplifted was if he were granted a reprieve.

Which brought him back to the question, how do you gain forgiveness from someone unable to forgive?

"Hey, I got a question for you." Hyde said after a moment. "If you had been here when Sam had shown up, what would you have done?"

Eric thought about it for a minute. "I don't it matters what I would have done, the question is, do you think you did the right thing?"

"Staying with Sam?" Hyde clarified.

"Yeah."

Hyde shrugged. "I thought I did, but now, you know I've barely even thought about Sam since she left for Cincinnati? Hell, I haven't even thought about her at all since…"

"Since the love of your life drowned because of your drunken negligence." Eric finished for him.

Eric's words reverberated through Hyde's head. "Since the love of your life…" Leave it to him to cut right to the heart of the matter. This time, Hyde didn't even bother to argue with his assessment of his relationship with Jackie. She had been his world, and like a fool, he had given it up.

Eric smiled as they listened to the song in the background. "I think it's time you do what Johnny says and walk the line." With that he patted Hyde on the back and walked upstairs, leaving Hyde alone with Johnny, George and Hank. Unable to handle it any longer, he got up and turned the stereo off. Instead of going into his room to go to bed however, he left the basement, got into his car and drove to the top of mount hump. The sight of the sky above reminded him of another time he had been here.

"Steven, what are we doing here?"

"I thought you might like the view." Hyde answered as he and his girlfriend sat on the back of his car.

"Yeah, it's lovely… I can see The Hub from here!" Jackie replied sarcastically. "Seriously, Steven, if you wanted to make out, we could have just gone to my house."

"Yeah, because I'm sure your mother would love that." Hyde put his arm around his girlfriend possessively. She looked up and they smiled at each other before they both melted into a slow and sensuous kiss.

"You're really good at that." Jackie sighed.

"Yeah, I know." Hyde kissed Jackie again, because this kissing thing wasn't just a one way street. She knew what she was doing. After a few minutes, they unlocked their lips and Jackie turned her head to look out at the sky.

"I think Van Gogh painted this sky." Jackie said after awhile.

"How do you know who Van Gogh is?" Hyde asked, shocked at Jackie's hidden depths.

"My father once bought a replica of Starry Night thinking it was the real thing, he had been so mad when he found out he had been jipped."

"So what did he do with it?" Hyde asked.

"He gave it to my aunt who put it in her second floor bathroom." Jackie shook her head and Hyde laughed inwardly at Jackie's family.

After a few moments of content silence, a meteor flew by.

"Look, it's a falling star!" Jackie pointed excitedly. "Make a wish."

"Jackie, I don't make wishes."

Jackie pouted for a moment. "Fine, I'll make one for you." She closed her eyes for a moment and then reopened them and smiled.

"What did I wish for?" Hyde asked teasingly.

"I can't tell you that." Jackie pushed him playfully.

"Well, how will I know if I get it if I don't know what it is?"

Jackie grinned. "Oh, you'll know."

In the present, Hyde watched the falling star flash through the sky like it had a year ago. He didn't make a wish, simply because he hadn't believed in things like wishes since he had been a kid. What he did believe in though was lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by flowers and stuffed animals. He didn't know how he would do it, he didn't know how long it would take, but he was going to find a way to make it up to her, regardless of whether or not she ever woke up.

The prince rattled on his chains once more.

"Guard!" He yelled.

The fat troll waddled up to him. "Whaddyo want?" He asked, showing his obvious displeasure at being interrupted from his daily snooze.

"Let me out!" The prince commanded.

"No." The troll stated, running his club over the prison bars as he walked away.

He had to get out of there. His princess was in danger and needed him, he could feel it.

Let me know your thoughts, they mean so very much to me.