This chapter marks an important turn in this story. I'm sorry it took so long to get out but I wanted to make sure it was exactly right.
I tried to make this chapter as Grimmy as possible. I hope I succeeded. Either way, please review and let me know what you thought of it!
The lyrics in this chapter are from I'll Cover You Reprise from Rent. It's an absolutely beautiful song and if you can, find it on you tube and listen.
Warning: Tissues and cliffhanger.
Poison.
"But no sooner had she taken a bite of (the poisoned apple) than she fell down dead."- Snow White.
Hyde was still asleep next to Jackie when the door to her room opened. Hyde opened his eyes and looked up to see who was coming in.
"Don't mind me." The man said as he walked to Jackie's other side. He opened her eye lids and shined a light into them.
"Uh, who are you?" Hyde asked, figuring that he was a doctor.
"I'm Dr. Reiner, I'm a neurologist."
Hyde got off the bed and moved to a chair. He knew what a neurologist was, so he nodded.
"Uh, is something wrong?" He had to ask.
Dr. Reiner shrugged. "It's difficult to say really, because without her being awake we can't know for sure… but judging by the place her head hit, I think it's safe to say there won't be any motor or speech impairment.
This was good. "What about memory loss?"
Dr. Reiner shook his head. "There's a risk yes, but we'll deal with that when she wakes up."
Hyde said nothing but continued to watch as the specialist checked Jackie.
"I will say this though," Dr. Reiner spoke, interrupting the silence between them, "This is probably one of the most unusual cases I've had."
This made Hyde's ears perk up. What did he mean by unusual?
"What do you mean?" Hyde asked.
"Come over here." The doctor instructed. Hyde did, and the doctor pointed to one of Jackie's monitors.
"You see the bottom line?"
Hyde nodded. "Uh yeah."
"Well, since Jackie's been here, there's been a steady increase in her brainwaves, which is atypical of coma patients. Usually we see a decrease in brain activity, but Jackie seems to be experiencing the reverse."
"So what does that mean?" Hyde asked.
"Well, in my professional opinion, I don't know." Dr. Reiner admitted. "But in my personal opinion, I think she's dreaming."
He looked at Hyde and must have seen the confusion on his face because he continued, "It's almost as though she's in a permanent R.E.M state."
This information was almost too much for Hyde to handle. "So uh, what…"
"We wait." Dr. Reiner said to him, "For her to finish her dream."
If Not! Eric said one more word about Jackie going home; she was going to have to strangle him. It was easy for him to say, he hadn't gotten his heart broken. It wasn't even enough that he had married someone else, but he had to throw it in her face every chance he got. She was beginning to wonder if he had even loved her at all or if she was just something to bide his time until something better came along.
"She's going to kill you." Not! Eric pleaded for the hundredth time for her to go back as they made their way to the castle's gate.
Jackie knew this. She knew the chances of her making it out where a million to one, but whatever the once beautiful princess had in store for her couldn't be half as bad as what they did.
"You don't think death is half as bad?" Not! Eric asked.
Jackie's response was to knock on the iron gates.
Donna walked into the hospital chapel knowing her father would already be there. She sat next to him in the pew and looked up at the cross.
"Any word?" Bob asked.
Donna shook her head. "I haven't been up there yet."
Bob nodded. "I don't know what else to do but pray." He admitted.
Donna put her arm around her dad. "Don't worry, you're doing enough."
She kissed his cheek and the two began to silently pray together.
The Ogre tired Jackie's hands behind her back and forced her onto her knees, placing a gag in her mouth. Jackie kept her gaze on the wicked princess, trying to burn her with her retinas.
Cinderella pulled out the vile of blood from between her breasts. "I warned you what would happen if you didn't come back when my shoes." She waved the vile in front of Jackie.
Jackie stared at the princess. She had memorized her story when she was younger, had worshiped the figure in front of her, and she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her. If there was any proof that happily ever afters didn't exist, it was her.
No one in the kingdom knew exactly what had caused Cinderella to turn wicked. Some said it was when the Prince vanished; others said her heart had turned cold even before his tragic disappearance. Whatever the reason for her wickedness, she had become the most feared person in the kingdom. Her animal companions were replaced by ogres, goblins and other ungodly creatures. She was the personification of evil.
"Poor little girl." Cinderella mocked. "Look at you, trying to be brave. How quaint."
Bravery had nothing to do with it. At this point, it was all about survival. She looked up, letting the enchantress see the defiance in her eyes. Cinderella grabbed Jackie's chin and forced her head upwards before she let go off Jackie's chin, forcing her head to go backwards. Jackie winced in pain.
"Take her to the dungeons." Cinderella ordered her guards. Instead of untying Jackie from the chair however, they simply picked it up and carried her off.
Not! Eric stood watching as the ogres took Jackie. He was grateful that was once again invisible, and that Cinderella or her henchman couldn't see him. He knew he couldn't rescue Jackie on his own though. He would need help.
He ran as fast as he could to the only person he knew would be able to help him. The fairy godmother was, without a doubt, the most powerful being he knew. With one flip of her wand, she could turn even the heartless beast into a kind and generous man. However, since the disappearance of Cinderella's prince and her subsequent turn to the forces of evil, she chose to stay in her cottage alone. Not! Eric just prayed that she would be willing to help him.
Hyde found himself sitting in yet another circle. This one was different however from his usual circles. For one thing, no one he knew was in this particular circle, and secondly, no one was doing anything illegal.
"We have a new member." The leader of the circle said to the group. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
Hyde stood up. "Uh… I'm Hyde."
"Hello, Hyde." The group said unanimously.
Hyde sat back down in his chair and scowled at the man grinning next to him. The leader smiled at everyone.
Hyde barely listened as the man spoke, instead he chose to go over what he was going to say to Jackie when she woke up, but something the man said made him look up.
"Alcohol, is like unmarked poison. It looks good in the bottle, but instead of helping you, it only serves to destroy." Remember," The group leader continued, "There's no sense in getting worked up on the 'what ifs'. The mountain is still a ways away; you don't need to panic about how you're getting to the top just yet."
This was, without a doubt, the dumbest thing Hyde had ever heard. It was complete bullshit and if Hyde wanted bullshit he'd talk to someone from the government. Shaking his head in disgust, he stood up to leave.
"Was there something you wanted to say, Hyde?" The leader asked.
"No." Hyde said, waving his hand in a dismissive motion as he left.
As Donna prayed, she thought about how much each one of her friends meant to her. It was almost as though they were a clock, every piece was important, and when one piece stopped working, the clock itself wouldn't work. Their clock had been broken for awhile now, and somehow it was as though the only one who could fix it was God. She barely noticed when someone sat beside her. There are plenty of other seats she thought as she looked over at the intruder. She took back her negative thoughts however when she saw that it was Leo.
"Leo?" She asked, "What are you doing here?"
Leo smiled at her. "I come here to pray, man."
"Are you praying for Jackie?" Donna asked.
"Sure." Leo grinned, "Wait, who's Jackie?"
Donna rolled her eyes a little bit. "Jackie… loud girl?"
"Oh… Loud girl!" Leo exclaimed as he looked around, "Wait, where is loud girl?"
Donna looked over at her dad who shrugged. She then turned back to Leo.
"Jackie's… hurt." Donna didn't know how else to explain it to him.
"Oh." Leo said sadly, "Did she twist her ankle or something?"
"No, Leo… Jackie… she fell into a creek and now she won't wake up."
Leo nodded, "Hyde loves loud girl."
Five days ago, Donna would have argued that accession, but the past couple days had proved to Donna how deeply Hyde's feelings for Jackie went. She actually wondered if he even knew how much he felt for her. She hoped for both their sakes that he did, and that he wouldn't run away from it this time.
Jackie lay on the floor of the dark dungeon, her hands and feet still tied together, her mouth still gagged. The concrete floor was cool and hard on Jackie's soft skin, her mouth filled with the taste of dried blood and spit. She felt bruised all over, especially around her face and neck. Her friend's words echoed in her head. What was worse than death? Did she want to die? She had to admit that she didn't know what she wanted.
It was at this moment that Jackie finally allowed herself to cry.
"Fairy Godmother!" He called. "Fairy Godmother, I need you!"
There was no answer, so he went to the window to look in.
"Please!" He yelled, "Jackie's in trouble."
The Fairy Godmother finally appeared next to Not! Eric and pointed her wand at him.
"You're trespassing."
Not! Eric swallowed his nervousness. "I'm sorry but you have to help me. Cinderella has her."
Fairy Godmother blinked but let down her wand. "I feel like tea, would you like some tea dear?"
She opened the door of her cottage and gestured for him to walk in.
"We don't have time for tea!" He yelled exasperated.
The Fairy Godmother laughed. "Oh don't be crazy. There's always time for tea." She said as she walked into her cottage. Not! Eric followed her in.
"But you don't understand, Cinderella has Ivy and the Prince still needs to be rescued and we must help them!"
"Oh, that's nonsense. Princess Jackie has always been a strong girl, she'll manage." The Fairy Godmother dismissed Not! Eric's claims.
"No she's not!" He argued. "Everything is messed up around here, including you!"
Hyde walked into the ICU to be greeted by everyone except Kelso and Donna.
"Where are Donna and Kelso?" He asked, looking around for them.
"Donna's on her way and Kelso is driving back from Chicago." Fez answered. "I thought you had an A.A meeting."
Hyde shrugged dismissively. "I left."
Kitty shook her head, "But why?"
Hyde shrugged again, "It's just not my scene."
Red raised his eyebrow. "Not your scene? You let your girlfriend drown. Your very definition of 'scene' is in that room, so get your ass back down there."
"No." Hyde said simply.
"No?" Red repeated.
Hyde looked Red in the eye. "Look man, I tried but those people, they have no idea what they're talking about."
Red simply stared blankly in disbelief at Hyde.
"The leader of the group kept spouting off all this crap about how the mountain is still far away and it's no use getting obsessed over it now, but what this dillhole doesn't know is that the mountain isn't far away, it's right in front of my fucking face and I'm,"
"Steven, language." Kitty admonished.
"Only holding on with one hand because my mountain? It's her, man! She's my mountain."
Hyde looked into Jackie's room and no one said anything for a moment. They were waiting for him to go off again, and all they could do was wait for the explosion. It never happened though; instead he turned back to the group and sighed.
"I don't know what else I can do." He admitted.
"I'll tell you what you're going to do." Red said to him, "You're going to do what every man has done since the beginning of time when they've let down the woman they love, you're going to wait."
"Wait?" Hyde asked, hoping that he was misunderstanding.
"Wait." Red confirmed.
Eric walked up to Hyde. "Hey man, why don't we go get something to eat in the Cafeteria?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Hyde replied letting himself be lead away.
The evil princess walked down the dungeon stairs holding a candle in one hand and a rolled up piece of paper in the other. She walked up to the bars that housed Jackie.
"This quite some reading material you've got here." She said holding up the paper. "I especially like the part where it talks about forgiveness being the key to unlocking the portal." She laughed as she took in Jackie's expression. "Oh dear me, you did read this didn't you? You do know what it says don't you?" "Tis."
She put the paper over the flame and laughed as Jackie's eyes went wider in surprise as the tip of the paper caught fire.
"Oh sweetie," She said mockingly, "Don't be so down. You don't need this. The information on this paper is useless to you now."
Cinderella let the rest of the paper burn into ash.
"Guards!" She yelled, "Bring her." She commanded as the ogres made their way to the cell. She laughed before walking back up the stairs.
Donna walked into the ICU after a long and somewhat tiring conversation with Leo in the chapel. He had made her realize one thing however, and that was that whatever karma had in store for her wasn't quite over yet. She knew that Jackie waking up wasn't going to magically solve their problems. Jackie wasn't just going to look at everyone and do some Dorothy impersonation and say there was no place like home and forgive everyone for their mistakes. She had a lot to make up for.
Passing by Eric's parents and Fez, Donna walked into Jackie's room and sat in her chair. The Grimm Fairy Tales book was sitting on the little night table beside Jackie's bed. She picked the book up and opened it up to where she had stuck a receipt in as a book mark. Donna had read all the familiar Grimm stories, and was now starting to read the more obscure ones. Most of them were actually fairly disturbing, especially The Robber Bride Groom about a girl who married a cannibal.
"No sooner had she spoken those words than the wicked crew returned home, dragging another girl behind them. The men were drunk, and they felt no pity when they heard her screams and sobs." Donna had to stop at this point as a wave of emotion hit her square in the chest. They were the wicked crew and Jackie was the girl whose screams were being ignored. It was all too real to her.
"They forced her to drink some wine, three glasses full, one white, one red, and one yellow, before long her heart burst in two. The robbers tore off her fine clothes, put her on the table, chopped her beautiful body into pieces, and sprinkled them with salt." Donna grimaced to herself. "Well, at least they know something about preservation."
Not! Eric was this close to giving up on The Fairy Godmother and helping Jackie himself. Instead of giving any indication that she would help him, she fluttered around her little kitchen making tea.
He was on his sixth cup.
Pushing the tea aside, he stood up and banged his fist on the table. "Look, I know Cinderella hurt you but there are still others out there who need your help! What kind of Fairy Godmother are you if you don't at least try?"
The Fairy Godmother stared at him. "The Prince is dead."
"Okay fine, maybe Cinderella's prince is dead, but Jackie's isn't! We can still rescue him and her before it's too late!"
"It's already too late. She made her choice." The Fairy Godmother replied.
Not! Eric was stunned. "Well, she made the wrong choice and so are you if you don't help me!"
"I've already helped you, my dear." She replied. "I made you tea!"
"Tea?" He had enough of this. He'd find the Prince on his own if he needed too. Saying not even a goodbye, he ran out the door.
Hyde and Eric sat in the hospital cafeteria drinking their cokes in silence. Eric was doing his best not to upset Hyde. He didn't want him going off like he had before.
Finally, Hyde spoke. "Have you ever had one of those moments where you don't feel like yourself?"
Eric nodded, "Once or twice, yeah."
"Well, that's the way I've felt all year. I just keep saying and doing these things that I'm pretty sure I'd never do."
"So you're like possessed?" Eric asked, slightly confused by Hyde's meaning.
Hyde gave Eric a glance, "No man, it's more of the opposite."
There was more silence as both contemplated Hyde's words.
"Do you love her?" Hyde asked, referring to Jasmine.
Eric looked taken aback. "Of course I do. I mean, it's different than what I had with Donna sure, which takes some getting used to."
"So, you're not sure." Hyde said.
"No, I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be sure?" He sounded anything but sure.
Hyde just shrugged and stood up. "I'm going back up stairs, you coming with?"
"Yeah, I just… I think I'm gonna go to the chapel for a minute." Eric said as he followed Hyde out of the cafeteria.
Hyde nodded and shrugged. "I think Bob's there, so you'll have someone to sit with."
The Ogres threw Jackie onto the floor of the tower where Cinderella waited.
"Untie her and remove her gag and then leave us." She demanded.
The ogres did as were instructed, bowed and then took their leave.
When Hyde returned to Jackie's room he found Kelso and Fez were playing cards, Donna was reading, Red and Kitty were talking softly to each other by her beside. Hyde stood in the door way and stared at Jackie. It was true what he had said earlier, she was his mountain. He had never seen it before because he had been too afraid to, but now he did. He loved her and it wasn't just some first love like Eric and Donna. This was the real thing. Hyde didn't give much credence to the idea of soul mates, but he knew that he would never feel half as deeply about anyone else the way he felt about Jackie. She wasn't just his first, she was his only. And now, he had to wait for her to wake up and then, he would most likely have to wait for her to forgive him.
Cinderella held out an unmarked bottle of a peculiar looking red liquid to Jackie. Jackie tried to pull herself up but couldn't manage the task.
"You're weak." Cinderella spat. "You're a weak, silly little girl and that's all you'll ever be. No one loves you, no one wants you. But you already knew that didn't you? That's why you came to me instead of going to your precious prince. It's almost as though you want to die!" She laughed to herself before lifting Jackie up by her shirt. "Well, I still believe in wishes, and I'm about to grant yours."
The wicked woman had made a poison using Jackie's blood. It was specifically made to kill her in a manner of seconds. She cupped Jackie's face with one hand, while simultaneously pulling her head back by her hair with the other. She poured the concoction down Jackie's throat, making sure that she swallowed every last drop. Jackie fell to the ground instantly, dead.
Kitty shook Red. "Red?" "Red, something's wrong." She pointed to the lines on the monitor which were steadily decreasing.
"What just happened?" Kelso asked frantically when her monitor flat lined.
Kitty ran out the door to grab the doctors and the on call nurses. They ran into the room, pushing everyone out of the way. Donna dropped the book as she struggled to move out of the path of the nurses. The table Kelso and Fez were sitting at had been knocked over in the panic and the only person not moving was Hyde, whose gaze was directed straight at Jackie. One of the nurses scrambled to charge of the defibrillator in order to get her heart beating again and bring her back from death.
If You're Cold and You're Lonely
Donna didn't know what to do. She always knew what to do, but in this instance, she was helpless as she was pulled back. The doctor kept yelling for the nurse to charge, Jackie's tiny body jerking at the shocks, but it wasn't enough. Jackie was her sister, how would she manage without her? Who would she gossip with? Talk about boys with? Who would call her lumberjack and make fun of her clothes? She had been so stupid, so… selfish. Donna bit her lip as she watched in anguish as the hospital staff tried desperately to save her best friend's life.
"Charge!" The doctor yelled over the noise and panic of the room.
"Charging!" The nurse replied, placing the paddles onto Jackie's chest.
They all watched helplessly as the hospital staff tried their best to revive Jackie. One of the nurses then walked over to them.
"You need to leave." She demanded, ushering them outside. No one moved however. They stood defiant.
"Nurse Thompkins!" The doctor yelled, "Get over here!"
The nurse ran back to the doctor, leaving the gang as they were for the moment.
"Crap!" The doctor yelled, nearly knocking over the chair. "Charge again!" He ordered.
You've Got One Nickel Only.
Kelso could hardly bare to watch the scene in front of him. His heart was breaking as the person he, in a lot of ways considered his soul mate was shocked repeatedly. She was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. She had always been there for him, even when he had hurt her. She had always understood him the best out of everyone he knew. Without her, what would he do?
The nurse looked at her monitor and shook her head sadly.
"One more time." The doctor commanded.
When You're Worn out and Tired
She was his princess, his goddess. Fez hiccupped as his sobs progressed. He would give up all the candy in the world if only she came back to them.
Again, nothing.
"Call it."
When Your Heart Has Expired
This was worse than hearing her say get off my boyfriend, this was worse than when she broke up with him over the nurse, this was worse than Chicago, worse than when he first saw her body after he found out she drowned. He knew she was giving up. It just wasn't worth it any more. Never before had Hyde felt so useless, so absolutely crushed. Nothing he did mattered; nothing he said made any difference. She had chosen death.
"Time of death, 1:03 PM."
He almost couldn't blame her.
Yes, I know, cliffhanger. It had to be this way though. So, um, sorry? The next chapter should be up faster than it took be to get this one out though, so you won't have to wait as long. I'm betting though if you know anything about fairy tales what will happen.
Please review, even if it's just one line.