A/N - Hey, no I haven't died yet!

Just had to get ready for Uni, and now, here I am! Having a good time, but still going to try and finish these stories!

Anyway, thanks for reading the last one, especially the reviewers: onej6 and JakeRoss2 (Thanks for the compliment, but I'm afraid I may disppoint you...I chickened out...) :(

ENJOY AND REVIEW!

CHAPTER 7.

Jake didn't know that talking to his grandfather and Fu would be so tiring.

He had been hard pressed, the whole time, to keep the irritating cloth on his head on. It must have looked very strange for his visitors, as he lifted and dropped his arm for no apparent reason.

Not much had been said during the visit. Lao Shi was uncharacteristically subdued, and Fu only made a couple of jokes about his appearance before and awkward silence crept in. It was soon after that that they left, leaving only the promise that his Dragon duties were taken care of.

However, it was over now, not to Jake's small relief, and Jake hoped he didn't have to do that again any time soon. He really, really didn't want the rest of his family to know what was happening to him. But Spud and Trixie, he wasn't so sure about. They'd always been there for him, and excepted him as a boy and a dragon. What difference did it make to them if he was just a little bit more dragon-y than they thought?

It wasn't like the situation with his Mom and sister; because a rejection or adverse reaction from them would be...the worst thing possible really. And he didn't really want things to change in relation to them. He was happy being the Jake they knew so well. He didn't want to upset the way they got-on from something as ridiculous as species.

'Something simple as species...?'

Jake let a bubble of laughter spill from his lips.

It was almost unbelievable how quickly he'd adjusted to this.

Jake supposed it was because Crow had promised that nothing would change after the sickness; that everything would go back to being as it was.

And, at this moment, that's all Jake really wanted.


Jake's thoughts were later broken by the soft tapping on the door, which quickly opened to reveal Crow, just as he shifted from his 'Jonathan' look to his real appearance.

The orange glow of the street-lights through the window heralded the night, and told Jake that he'd been spacing for a lot longer than he'd originally thought.

"Alright, Jake?"

"Yeah, fine,"

And he was. His every need had been catered to by his Mom, whether it was a drink the needed or new blankets. She had apparently taken the day off to tend to him with the help of his 'Dad': Crow. Haley had also popped by quickly to tell him how horrible he looked.

Not surprising really, considering he had the cloth on his head and the paste still on from the morning visit.

Crow shuffled over to his desk chair and sat straddling it, facing towards Jake.

"...I suppose, you'd like to know what's going to happen to you physically, now that you know the bigger picture of things,"

Jake felt a little flash of anger, he couldn't help it really, Crow seemed to love being irritating; always dragging every detail out for 'dramatic effect' and Jake was sick of it. If Crow had been straightforward from the start, none of this would be happening now.

"Yes," He ground out, "You supposed right. I want to know what's happing to me and what's going to happen next," He paused, thinking about his wording, "Before it actually happens this time,"

Crow leant back against the desk as he rubbed his chin, his long legs still on either side of the chair.

"You know what, I think it might be best if I show you and then you can ask your questions,"

At this, he jumped up and ran to the bathroom, where the mirror hung. Gently, he pulled it off the wall, making sure that paint and plaster and tile didn't go everywhere. Jake had a feeling that Crow had used some sort of magic to seamlessly remove it.

"Here you go,"

The mirror exchanged hands.

At first, Jake was too scared to look.

He held it, his fingers and palms trembling and sweating, before gathering his courage and looking.

He was...mostly the same.

A flannel appeared in the corner of his eye and he grabbed it wipe the paste off his face, as he did so removing the folded towel on his brow.

It was then he decided to properly catalogue the differences.

He started with his eyes. The shape was still the same, but they also seemed to, very subtly, be slit, like a reptile's. His dark irises hid that, but as his shock and emotions ran wild, they flashed gold and glowed, and his hands tightened around the mirror, accidentally cracking the glass.

His hair was, thankfully, still the same. Nothing had changed there; it was still black with a green sheen and spiking in all directions.

Another difference, was in his face that he didn't notice at first. Around his eyes were the scales Crow had talked about seeing, small and a pale blue, they were actually quite beautiful, especially as they darkened as the scales grew bigger. All in all, it looked a bit girly, reminding Jake of some of the make-up his favourite pop-stars wore around their eyes, but it was...what was the word. It made him look...ethereal. Not human.

Jake paused at that. It was a shock that he learned he had to live with. No matter how hard he tried to cover it up – even if he managed to live his life as he had before. He wasn't. He wasn't human any more. And it made him a bit sad. Jake didn't think he'd ever really appreciated being human, he supposed he'd just have to make do, now. He was still himself after all, and that was all that mattered.

That wasn't the only thing that had changed. Both his forehead and his ears sported new additions. Thankfully, his hair naturally covered up the pointed tips of his ears, but now he could clearly see why Crow had placed that towel over his head.

Shiny and red, the raised lumps at the top of his brow stood out in stark contrast to his pale skin. They were obviously the beginning of horns. Jake didn't really feel much for them, except the headache they caused. But that was to be expected when bone was trying to push its way through your flesh.

Getting back to his perusal, Jake noticed that they weren't the only scales on him. Every inch of where his skin used to be, flushed and pink as it had been most recently, was now covered in tiny, tiny scales, that only someone with very good vision would see. Each one the colour of perfectly unblemished pale skin. No wonder his skin had burned and itched, if it'd been growing these in its spare time.

Jake suddenly realised that he was focusing too much on his face, and remembered the changes he'd noticed earlier. He raised his hands to his face and saw that his nails were much longer, and sharper, than they used to be. A quick check of his toes told him the same thing.

Claws. Not nails, he had real claws.

An odd thought came when he wondered how strong they were; imagining himself slicing through titanium with a swipe of his hand. He snorted, well, at least his humour hadn't changed.

He quickly ran a hand over his body to check all his other limbs and body parts for change. Luckily, apart from his skin, he found none, although he wondered still if he'd changed where he couldn't see. He'd have to ask Crow for that.

"Finally finished checking yourself out? You, know, I never took you for being the vain type,"

Jake shot Crow an irritated look.

A/N2 - Reviews always make me happy and willing to write quicker...just so you know!