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Danny felt himself being dragged, people talking frantically and worriedly above him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying over the incessant static and ringing in his ears. He could feel his body convulse every few seconds; rigid then relaxed, rigid then relaxed.
After a few minutes, Danny twitched, his eyes opening. He squinted, the lights above him way too bright for his aching head. His whole body felt like lead.. No, that wasn't right, or at least not anymore. His body felt light actually, or more like he was floating in a pool? Odd.
His senses came back in a rush, forcing him back to consciousness, body going rigid again with one last short bout of incredible pain. The voices above became very loud, making him cringe back into the floor. They quieted.
"Danny..?" A hushed voice, female. He opened his eyes again, squinted, and looked between the two figures crouched on either side of him. Recognition was slow to come, but eventually names were put to faces. Danny sat up, wincing at the last bit of pain coursing through him.
-Hot.. No, cold, he felt cold-
Danny looked between his friends. What had they been doing again? They were in the lab.. Sam and Tucker looked very concerned, scared even. And something else.. A sharp pain bloomed behind his eyes and along his temples making him curl over to cup his head, a pathetic groan slipping past his lips. He could still hear a faint ringing in his ears.
"Tucker, go find Jack and Maddie!" Sam again. Before Tucker could move though, Danny reached out to grab his lower arm and looked up.
-That wasn't his hand. It should have been a black glove, not white-
"I'm fine.. I don't want you guys getting in trouble for being down here." His voice sounded weak and rough, like someone took sandpaper to his throat. No, it sounded more like tv static. "Just help me up."
Tucker gave him an incredulous look and a "Dude, you are not fine!" but eventually caved and stood up, Sam doing the same. They each grabbed a hand and with some effort on everyone's part, Danny was on his feet.
-His whole body tingled, like ants marching across his skin-
After a moment, Danny straightened up, ignored his headache, and took a step. A resounding thunk reverberated around the room and he looked down. Something wasn't right.
-White boots, not black-
He scrunched his face in confusion and started moving towards the nearest reflective object, Sam and Tucker exchanging worried glances behind him.
Danny took a look at the blacked out screen of the computer monitor and immediately recoiled.
-White hair, glowing green eyes, black and white suit instead of white and black-
He yelped and then quickly crouched down to grab at his head again, aggravating his ever growing headache. Sam quickly came around and placed a hand on his back, rubbing between his shoulder blades.
"We need to tell your paren-" Tucker started but was cut off by a loud, panicked, "No!
"This isn't- What happened? Why do I look like this!?" Danny was spiraling now, his breathing becoming uneven, gripping at his hair. Was this permanent? What happened? Why does he look like that? Is that really him? Where was the real him!?
"Danny, you need to bre-" Sam didn't finish, quickly bringing her arms up to sheild her eyes. She was cut off by a blinding white light that filled the whole room, and as quickly as it came, it was gone, leaving a pale, raven haired boy in its place. Danny fell back on his rump and started to actively calm his breathing, looking at his now black boots and white Hazmat suit. He was so confused..
"Dude, what was that!?" Tucker finally broke the silence, his expression pure awe. Danny looked up at him wide-eyed and gave a weak shrug, letting his arms drop between his legs. "I don't.." He wasn't really sure how to respond, equally amazed.
Another brief moment of shocked silence. Sam was the first to come to her senses. She stood up and offered a hand to Danny, who gladly took it, and helped him up. Once he was out of his suit, all three kids made their way up the stairs to Danny's room, avoiding his parents.
"I need a nap." Danny said as he walked through his door and beelined for his bed, falling face first onto his pillow.
"We'll stop by tomorrow to check on you." Sam responded.
"Yeah, man, if you need anything, just call." Tucker piped in, waving his phone a little in the air.
...
Danny tried to sleep, but everytime he slipped he would dream of the white light, the smell of burning skin and hair, excrutiating pain. He would wake up, his left hand and arm aching terribly to the point he could hardly move. He wanted to cry. When he looked down, he noticed for the first time the winding and jagged marks running along his skin, deep red and angry. Like lighting. It went from his left palm all the way up to his shoulder, and when he lifted his shirt, it raced along the left side of his ribs and just past his stomach, stretching further to his leg.
Danny didn't sleep that night.