Author Note:….if it seems like I'm picking Hyde….I am….but he's such an intricate character how can one not? (Don't yell, I know it's a shortie too)

Chapter 17 – Let the Show Begin

T7S

The film projector creaked from lack of use as the reels sputtered. The sound of the film began before the picture was up on the screen. The commenter sounded strangely familiar.

"Hey….yeah, welcome to the movie of the day, what's it called again? Oh yeah, things that pissed me off that I never took care of when I had the chance. What? That's not it?"

The projector platform screeched in a hellish cacophony and lurched to the right as the front wheel collapsed and rolled off into the dark. Four heads tilted to the side to see the picture more clearly as Leo's face came on the screen.

"It's me! I guess I'm a movie dude too!" He waved from the screen but held up a hand. "Let me fix the machine, I'll be back in a minute."

Eric turned and looked on in utter disbelief as the metal shelf righted itself and the projector was now perfectly balanced. It was almost like an invisible Leo stepped out of the screen and fixed it. This was some great peyote paste!

Leo's smiling face greeted them again from the projector screen. "I'm supposed to tell you that you aren't going to like this movie very much but hey, at least you didn't have to buy tickets right? It's free. Wait, you got weed tea and crackers….it's a twofer! Okay, sit back and enjoy. Toots says I have to go."

Hyde reached out to the screen, "Leo! What's this crap about? I don't want to be in prison again."

"When were you in prison?" Eric smirked.

Hyde glared at him. "None of your damn business. What did YOU fear in that last hallucination?"

Eric mimed zipping his lip and crossed his arms over his chest. That was NOT something he was going to share. A Red-headed Forman spider man? In fact, why weren't any of the other guys talking about their visions?

-o-

The screen was in black and white like an old 1950's movie. There were tow-headed kids on Schwinn bicycles and little girls with Mary Jane shoes playing hopscotch on the sidewalk. There were little brown haired boys with braces and kids with coke bottle bottom thick eyeglasses.

And they were having fun.

Little green army men were positioned on dirt hills and exploded by rock "bombs" and the boys laughed as the enemy "commies" were blown to smithereens. The girls giggled behind their hands and flirted outrageously and then ran off for fear of catching cooties.

Still there was one little boy who sat on a boulder near a bush watching the other kids having fun. This one was smoking a stolen Camel cigarette.

Adult Hyde was about to stand up. "Okay, this is so NOT going to be a movie about me. I'm not going to sit and watch little me take another kick in the nads."

Disco suit Leo came out of the shadows and put a hand on Hyde's shoulder. He stepped closer and whispered in Steven's ear, "Dude, it's just a show….save the drama for the end 'kay?"

Reluctantly, Hyde sat down as he watched a younger version of himself pick up a rock and throw it at the young boy wearing mouth gear. There was an off screen cry of "OW, my EYE!"

Kelso laughed, "Hey! I remember that day….I didn't know it was Hyde that gave me the black eye!"

Eric laughed, "Yeah and my mom took you to the hospital for 13 stitches. That was a great anonymous burn."

Flash-forward - "Steven J Hyde, if you don't get your ass out of that bed I'm gonna….." The rest of Edna's words were muffled by the pillow an older Hyde pulled over his head. His blankets smelled like a bad combination of cigarette butts, spilled whiskey and old chili. On screen Steven Hyde muttered, "I hate this place."

Fez frowned at the screen and asked, "Hyde, if you hated it why did you stay?"

Hyde glared at him and then glued his eyes to the screen. Why did he stay? Because he was eleven and too young to be out on his own and too old to know better.

The on-screen Hyde swung his legs over the side of his bed and he kicked his way through empty beer cans and upturned ashtrays. Apparently Edna used his room for a party while he was sleeping. Damn her. He pushed open his bedroom door, surprised to find Bud sitting on the couch handing Edna some money from an envelope.

"Hey little man." Bud smiled. "How ya doing? I'm giving your mom some money so you can get some new shoes."

Edna put a hand on her thin bony hip, "Yeah, only because your school called." She replied bitterly as she flicked her cigarette ash onto the coffee table. "You just couldn't suck up a little bitty blister could ya? Had to go whining to the school nurse didn't ya!" She raised her hand and Steven went into an automatic duck mode. Of course he went to the nurse! For Gods sake, his Keds were two sizes too small and the teacher didn't want him bleeding all over the classroom floor!

Young Hyde drew himself up to his full height ….and the projector screen froze on that scene..

Disco Leo was now standing in front of the classroom with a pointer stick. He slapped the baton at the screen, "This is Bud and Edna Hyde."

Tatiana appeared from the shadows and she smiled sadly at the frozen little image of young Steven Hyde. She walked over to the desk chairs, her boot heels clicking lightly on the tile floors until she touched Hyde's scruffy cheek. "If you could say anything to that little boy up there….what would you say?"

Steven found his throat was oddly tight with emotion and he was wildly aware that everything and everyone around him was suddenly gone. He was alone with the gypsy, Leo and the projector. His heart thudded at seeing that horrible memory on the screen and he replied. "I'd tell him to run. I'd tell him that a foster home or running away was better than living the life of that Steven J Hyde."

Tatiana's smooth fingertips touched the nape of Hyde's neck and the sharp burning disappeared. "Is there anything you regret?"

Hyde looked at her and could see her eyes mirrored his emotions. He nodded and got up from the desk chair and walked to the screen. "You were horrible parents." He slapped the image of Edna. "You never cared for me and treated me like yesterdays trash."

He touched the image of Bud. "You were shits for parents." The words coming from his lips were explosive and liberating at the same time.

Hyde turned towards Leo and Tatiana. It appeared he was thinking heavily about something and then declared, "They may have been shits, but they were my shits and as much as I hate them as parents, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here. Well, not counting W.B. but you know what I mean."

The fortune teller kindly touched his hand, "All this hatred that you carry with you can be gone. Your Bud and Edna are just bad memories – it is your burden to only make good memories from this day forward."

Hyde nodded and felt a relief that he hadn't experienced before. Neither Bud nor Edna could ever hurt a grown up Steven J. Hyde. He was virtually invincible.

He held out his hand to Leo. "Thanks man, I think I needed that."

T7S

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A/N:…next up is Kelso….I wonder what he regrets…..hmmm…..until next chapter my lovelies!