AN: IT IS CURRENTLY 5:30 AM, I HAVEN'T SLEPT AND AM CURRENTLY CONTEMPLATING MY LIFE DECISIONS. I FIGURED WHAT BETTER TIME THAN TO POST A CHAPTER. ITS NOT LIKE I HAVE AN ESSAY DUE IN THE MORNING THAT I'VE BARELY STARTED OR ANYTHING. HA HA HA. NO, SERIOUSLY. SEND HELP.

Coming out of his sleep-induced daze, Danny Fenton slowly made his way downstairs. He was also making a damn good point not to look at his arm, where he knew the scales resided. He had even gone as far as to go looking for a long sleeve shirt to put on. It may be hot, but anything to not have to be reminded of his situation. As soon as he made it to the kitchen, all conversation stopped. Feeling incredibly awkward, the young teen slowly made his way to the table, then sat down at his usual spot. It was only moments later when Maddie broke the silence.

"Hey, sweetie. I'm making pancakes. How many would you like?"

"As many as you can, please. I'm starving." Was his reply. Normally, his mother's cooking could be considered a literal weapon. However, there were a few things she could cook, and cook well. Pancakes being one of them. This is why Maddie decided that today was a pancake kind of day. Especially after everything that recently happened.

"How about you, Jazz?"

"Just two is fine, thanks." She didn't even look up from the book she was reading. Danny didn't know what to think of this. He didn't know if she was just pretending yesterday didn't happen or what, but she would usually at least ATTEMPT to make some kind of small talk. Seeing his family in such a bad mood somehow made him feel guilty. Though what for, he couldn't begin to understand. Looking down at his hands as he continued to think, he couldn't help but be a bit startled. Creeping out from under his sleeve was a single black scale. He couldn't help but fell a bit panicked. 'It's spreading this quickly?!' Having noticed her brother's distress, Jazz looked closely at what he was seemingly trying to hide with his sleeve. Her eyes widened and a look of horror overcame her face as she finally understood.

His moment of contemplation, however, was broken when Jack Fenton, in all his orange jump-suited glory, came barreling through the basement door and into the kitchen. Not bothering to lower his voice in the slightest, he all but shouted,

"MADDIE! WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST?!"

Giving an affectionate eye roll, the petite woman answered her husband. "Pancakes"

"OH! YOU KNOW I JUST LOVE YOUR PANCAKES!"

This, however, seemed to be the breaking point for poor ol' Jazz.

"What is wrong with you?!"

Immediately, all conversation stopped, and everyone's attention was on the psychologist-in-training. "How can you act like nothing has happened?!"

"Jazz, what are you talkin-" Maddie's question, however, was cut short when Jazz continued her rant.

"Danny just went through a very traumatic experience, and is going through something even worse now! Yet you remain oblivious, and fail to even notice!" Upon hearing his name called, Danny looked up and noticed all eyes are on him. Gulping nervously, he asks,

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Danny," His mother starts, but can't seem to form the right words, so his father takes over.

"IS SOMETHING WRONG, DANNY-BOY?"

"No, no-nothing." Feeling embarrassed by the sudden attention, he ducked his head and resumed his staring contest with his lap. The sad part was that he was pretty sure he was losing. Somehow.

Rolling her eyes, and feeling a bit annoyed by her brother's stubbornness to admit when something is wrong, Jazz grabbed his arm, held it up, and pulled the sleeve back. His parents stood gobb-smacked for a second, when Maddie timidly broke the silence.

"It's spreading that quickly?" She seemed to be asking herself this more than anybody else. Danny, himself, couldn't help but stare, as he had yet to see the full extent of it. Covering almost the entire top half of his forearm, were scales as dark as night, seemingly glittering in the artificial light of the kitchen. If he looked closely enough, he could have sword they had a green tint to them. Suddenly aware of all the attention now on his mutated arm, he yanked it back down, and fixed his gaze to his lap. Suddenly a shrill beeping broke the silence. Coming out of her stupor, Maddie declared, "Who wants pancakes?" She didn't get much of a response.

_

Only after he had stomached as many pancakes as he could, he hurriedly left the kitchen, eager to escape the silence that now enveloped the closed-off room. He immediately ran to his room and closed the door. As soon as he was alone, he boot up his computer and logged into his favorite game, DOOMED. Nothing quite like mind-numbing violence to get one's brain off of real life problems. That is, until said one's mother comes knocking on the door. Upon being granted permission, Maddie enters the room of her son with trepidation.

"Hey, Danny." She greets. She almost seems nervous, Danny can't help but notice. Maddie Fenton being nervous can most definitely NOT be good.

"Is there something you need?" At this point, he's almost afraid to ask.

"No, but we need to talk about how things are going to go from here." Oh. Now he understood. Feeling the depression already setting in, he turned off his computer, then sat on his bed right next to his mother.

"Sweetie, you know how we have to keep this a secret, right?" A nod was her reply. "And what could happen should anyone find out?" Another nod. "Well, me and your father have decided it best if we keep you in for a while." Dread settled into the young boy's stomach as he understood what she was getting at. What better way to keep a secret than to keep it hidden, out of sight? Even more dread came as he understood the full gravity of that statement. No more going outside, if he understood correctly. No more school (He never thought he'd see the day when he'd complain about not having to go to school). This officially marked the last day of his human life. Before he realized, or had time to stop it, tears were rolling down his face in a steady stream of disappointment and sadness. Upon seeing her son's heartbroken expression, Maddie couldn't help but feel a bit heartbroken herself. Without saying a word, she tenderly wrapped her arms around he only son, and rocked him as he silently cried into her teal jumpsuit. The only sound breaking the silence being that of soft sniffles.