Author's Note: Like I said, these will be fairly short. I want to divide them somewhat, but they may end up varying in length. Sooo…forgive me for the randomness. =3 Just read, review and don't kill me for killing the characters. ^^

This chapter kinda speaks for itself. I'm not sure why, but I seem to have mastered writing scenes that involve pain. My english teacher says I'm an inner masochist. x3 Anyway, on with the story!

He faded in and out of consciousness a few times, only aware of the fact that he seemed to be sprawled out on a cold floor. Each time, he tried opening his eyes, but they didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"Wait, I think he moved…"

"What happened to the suit?"

"Should we get his parents…?"

The voices were barely distinguishable and information seemed to be traveling slower than usual. Though he heard the words, there was no connection to what they actually meant. There was a cold, wet feeling on his forehead for a moment and one sentence that actually made sense;

"We're here, Danny. You'll be fine, just wake up…"

The first thing he noticed was the fact that everything hurt; no exaggeration. The boy groaned, attempting to discover if anything vital seemed ruptured. He carefully flexed each appendage, slightly comforted by the fact that they didn't seem to be snapped in half, despite what his brain was telling him. With a shuddering breath, Danny managed to pry his eyes open, blinking for a moment before letting them fall shut again. The light above him was intensely bright, though not nearly as bright as that explosion had been…

The explosion…

"Danny?" There was suddenly a hand on his shoulder, though it seemed rather hesitant, and the boy winced slightly. Tucker's hand was unusually warm, so much so it was almost uncomfortable. Perhaps he had been touching the portal after it was charged.

"Danny-Sam, he's awake!" Hurried footsteps echoed in his ears as someone ran across the laminated floor. He felt them crouch beside him, a slighter form that could only be Sam.

"Danny?" she whispered softly, and he could imagine the worried look on her face. "Are you, um…are you okay?" Granted, he had been in the center of some explosion, but he could tell there wasn't anything extremely wrong with him. There weren't any burns or broken bones. He groaned, slowly managing to sit up with one hand on his head.

"I'm fine," he told them, opening his eyes again and keeping them carefully on the floor. The overhead lights in the lab were always bright, and with this headache they seemed to be like spotlights. He felt rather than saw his friends flinch back slightly and glanced at each of them in turn. Their faces held identical looks of alarm. It seemed to be only slightly less fearful than before he had passed out. "Look guys, I know it looked bad…alright, yeah, that probably hurt more than Dash's pummeling, quite a bit more. I'm fine though. Just really sore." He looked between them again, eyebrow rising. "You guys look like you saw a ghost." Danny attempted a bit of humor with little effect; it was often a running joke to say someone saw a ghost, considering his parent's obsessions. To his left, Tucker swallowed.

"Well, um…Dude, I think you need to look in the mirror." Blinking once, Danny managed to get to his feet, eyes closed as he did so to keep the room from spinning again. Oddly enough, his head wasn't throbbing as he had been expecting, but that wasn't anything to complain about. Taking a moment to allow his legs time to remember how to work, he glanced around the lab. No mirrors, of course. It's not like his dad would be fretting over how his lab-coat looked. A blank computer screen could serve the same purpose, though. The boy made his way over to the counter with Tucker and Sam following a few feet behind him. He paused again, hands resting on the surface as his body reminded itself once again the beating it had been through. Staring down at his hands, it took a moment to register that he was wearing white gloves. Why would he have gloves on? He blinked once before remembering; right, the hazmat suit Sam had given him. Were the gloves white? They must have been…Danny exhaled purposefully, dimly wondering why he wasn't out of breath. He then looked up, the reflective surface of the monitor about two feet from his face. There was a dead silence as he stared into the bright green eyes that were staring back at him. He could see his friends in the background; Sam was biting her lip and looked on the verge of tears. Tucker looked as devastated as he had when they had canceled his favorite kind of fries at Nasty Burger. Danny swallowed, hesitantly raising one hand to touch the screen. His reflection copied him, which ruled out any ideas of a picture being pasted onto the computer. He closed his eyes momentarily before turning to Tucker.

"Please tell me I'm imagining this," he said in a near whisper. "My…my hair—"

"It's white, man," his friend told him.

"And…my eyes?" Tucker shook his head. His expression now looked as if he were delivering the news that Danny had some terminal disease.

"Green," he said bluntly. "Bright green." Danny took another breath, barely noticing that it took conscious effort to perform that simple task.

"What…what happened?" Sam stepped forward slightly, her hand half raised as if she was considering putting it on his shoulder. It lowered quickly and she contented herself with staring at a point above the boy's head.

"It was the portal," she told him, her voice shaky. To hear Sam, of all people, having trouble staying composed worried Danny more than anything else so far. "It…well, it was like some sort of explosion. I think you got the full blast of it and it…seemed to do that." She gestured vaguely at his hair, eyes still averted as if she were afraid to see the bright green. "You fainted, I think, and you-" The girl cut off suddenly, eyes fixing on Tucker over Danny's shoulder. Turning quickly, he managed to catch a glimpse of his friend shaking his head before it was quickly stilled. Eyebrow raised, Danny turned back as Sam continued, trying very hard to pretend like nothing had happened. "I was just about to get your dad when you woke up…" She finally looked him in the eye, though he could see how unsettled it made her. "Danny, I really think you need to go to a doctor or something. I'm…well, I'm amazed you survived that." He frowned looking away to glance down at the hazmat suit. There were no marks on it to say he had been through an explosion and the pain was fading away; now he was just sore, as if there had been a week's worth of basketball practices in a day. The only thing that seemed different was his hair and eyes, and really, he was already at the bottom of the food-chain at school. Might as well add this to top it off. With a sigh, the boy shook his head.

"I'm fine, guys," he told them, glancing at the portal once more. "Look, if anything's wrong, I'll talk to my dad or something but…right now, I don't need them worrying over me about this. I can move around fine, and I'll find some way to explain the hair later. With any luck, people will just think I'm trying to be cool or something. It's not like anyone pays attention to me at school anyway." He ran one gloved hand over his face. "Why don't you guys head home? It's not like you have to carry me upstairs or something." His friends glanced at each other and he could sense some silent communication passing between them before Tucker shrugged hesitantly.

"If you're sure, man…if we don't see you tomorrow, I'll tell Lancer you got sick or something. We'll come over right after school either way, alright?" Danny nodded, absently rubbing his arms in an attempt to get some warmth back into them.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm just going to go to bed. When you go out, tell my parents I'm doing homework or something, alright? I don't want them - or Jazz - deciding to give me any teenage therapy tonight." He looked between the other two with an attempt at a smile. "I'll be alright guys, I swear. You two keep looking like I'm about to keel over dead or something." They looked at each other again warily, though he could tell they made an attempt to look calmer. Sam finally sighed, arms crossing.

"Sure," she muttered. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Fenton." The girl strode across the basement, pausing at the door to glance back at him uncertainly. As she started up the stairs, Tucker looked his friend over quickly and managed a grin.

"I think it's a fashion statement, really," he told him. "Just do something about that suit. Hazmat's way out of style." He clapped one hand on Danny's shoulder and Danny was once again surprised by how warm it seemed. The thought wasn't long-lived, however, as Tucker followed Sam upstairs. With a frown, Danny trailed after them, pausing to switch off the lights in the lab before going through the door. He paused at the top step, managing to catch the trail of a conversation from the kitchen.

"-big test tomorrow, Mr. Fenton," Tucker was explaining. "Danny's just gone up to study before he crashes. We'll be over tomorrow to work on a project, if that's alright with you." They were good. A little too good. Jack responded, though the actual words were difficult to pick out through the walls. Danny smirked, shaking his head as he heard them go out the front door. He carefully slipped out into the living room, sneaking past the kitchen where his parents sat pouring over some blueprint. Though he wasn't actually in pain anymore, it took most of the boy's energy to get upstairs into his room. He closed the door softly and fell onto his bed. The hazmat suit wasn't comfortable, but it was far easier to deal with that than try and take it off. Pulling one lock of his hair in front of his eyes, he frowned again at the snow-white color that it had taken on. White hair and green eyes…that would be interesting to explain. With a groan, Danny managed to pull the covers over his head before finally falling asleep.

Stupid portal…

So yeah, not exactly the most expected response from him. Right now, the guy is exhausted. If you think about it, nothing really seems to have changed yet. His eyes and hair are the only things that stand out, because he wouldn't really notice the suit. (Who pays attention to a hazmat suit?) So yeah, he just things it somehow changed his hair and eyes. I assume he's gonna freak out more later. =3 Don't worry, the guy isn't totally stoic. He's tired, I'm tired and all that fun stuff.

Read and review, please! I really love getting reviews to let me know you actually read it, rather than just skimmed through random stories and alerted them. I do enjoy alerts and favorites and stuff, but let me know what you think. =3 Thank you, my wonderful readers!