How To Be Yourself When You're Not Yourself

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By: plus2-minus1-brilliance

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Chapter Three - Hair!

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Donatello's first groggy thought upon waking up was that he felt very unlike himself. Firstly, everything hurt, most especially his head, and his stomach felt rather queasy. His limbs felt weak. There was also the oddest sensation of feeling somehow softer. Plus, something was tickling his chest, and last time he'd checked, his plastron wasn't ticklish. With a very good deal of effort, Donatello managed to push himself into a sitting position, his eyes still shut firmly.

Something fell from his chest into his lap, and that something gave a frightened sounding squeak. Donatello's eyes flew open at the feeling of the something scurrying off his lap and down his leg, it's claws digging into his skin.

His skin…it was…pale pink!

His hands flew to his legs, wiping at them as if he thought the color would come off if he did. It was then that he realized that his arms and hands were the same color and that they each had -

"Five fingers…" Donatello muttered, turning his hands over and over again in front of his face, staring at them with wide eyes. A thought then occurred to him and he looked at his feet. Sure enough, each one had five toes. He wiggled them experimentally, then folded his legs up so that he could reach his feet with his hands.

What is going on? he thought as he wrapped his thin, pink fingers around his pink feet. Bending over as he did, something fell into his face, so he brought one hand back up to brush whatever it was away. It was soft to the touch, black in color, and quite attached to his scalp.

"Hair!" Donatello exclaimed, the word echoing in the complete silence of the room. "I have hair! Hair?"

Now one hundred percent panicked, Donatello just continued to sit there, one hand on his foot, the other grasping at his hair, repeating the word over and over. Somewhere in his mind, a voice was telling him to remain calm and think about this situation rationally. Donatello ignored this voice and started shaking.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Donatello saw something cautiously crawling towards him. He recognized it as the same something that had been on his chest - a large brown rat. Donatello blinked and let go of his hair. The small animal had an odd calming effect on him. There was something familiar about it…

An ear-piercing scream suddenly filled the air. Donatello turned towards the direction he thought it was coming from as the rat scurried back into hiding. The scream was quickly followed by two others, followed by a yell of "Who the hell are you?" Donatello recognized the voice as being Raphael's.

He hurried to his feet, thinking that whatever had happened to him must have happened to his brothers, as well, and immediately fell to his knees. Trying again, this time more slowly, Donatello managed to get two steps before falling again. The shouts from his brothers were getting more and more frantic sounding. With a loud groan, Donatello did the only other thing he could think of - he crawled.

The queasiness he'd felt upon waking intensified as he made his way as quickly as he could towards his distressed brothers. He also felt that he was going to topple over - his center of gravity seemed to be very off.

Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo had stopped shouting at each other by the time Donatello had reached the living room. He looked up at the three of them; or, at least, what he assumed was them. What he actually saw were three humans.

One of them was seated on the couch, a pillow held firmly to his chest as if it were a shield. Dark blond, chin-length hair bordered a slim, pale face. The boy's blue eyes were wide with fright as he stared at the other two.

Michelangelo… thought Donatello, looking to the next boy.

This one was standing in a defensive position. Brown curls fell into his face, ending at his cheekbones, which were very defined. The look in his brown eyes was one of confusion as he stared at the third boy.

Said third boy was also standing, although his position was definitely one of attack. This one's hair was very dark brown, and was cut short, although it looked as though the boy had just gone out for a walk in hurricane force winds. Black eyes glared back at the curly haired boy.

Leonardo and Raphael, Donatello reasoned.

"Guys!" he called out, finally coming up beside the couch.

The three boys, already on edge, jumped at his voice. The two standing wobbled horribly, then both fell backwards, luckily each having a chair behind them.

"It's okay, it's me! I mean, it's Donatello," Donnie amended, knowing that, obviously, he didn't look like himself.

"Donnie?" the one on the couch asked hopefully; Donatello was now sure it was Michelangelo.

"Yeah, Mikey, it's me." Donatello pulled himself into a standing position, using the arm of the couch to balance himself.

"Donatello," said the one assumed to be Leonardo, "what's going on? Why are we suddenly human?"

"I honestly have absolutely no idea," Donatello replied, shaking his head, then frowning deeply as his new, shoulder-length hair whacked him in the face.

"Well get an idea!" the one who was now definitely identified to be Raphael demanded angrily.

Donatello rolled his eyes. "Gee, Raph, that's a great idea - I'll get right on that," he said with all the sarcasm he could muster.

"How do you know who we are?" Michelangelo asked, causing all of them to look at him a little incredulously.

"You may not look like you used to, but you still act the same," Donatello replied, giving his little brother a comforting smile.

"Oh…" Michelangelo said, nodding slowly. "Well, whatever happened, it was freakin' painful! Got any more of that cream?"

Donatello nearly fell over again as realization hit him. The pain reliever! They'd used it, and now they were all suddenly human. But how…there was nothing in the cream that could have caused this reaction…the only thing he had that could do this was…

"Oh, no…" Donatello groaned.

"What? Did you figure out what caused this?" Leonardo asked, attempting to stand again.

"It…it can't be possible, though! I never worked on them at the same time…I always put it safely out of the way before I work on anything else!"

"Put what out of the way?" Raph asked, looking back up at Donnie from where he'd been checking out his new body.

Donatello cringed a little. He hadn't wanted to tell them about it, at least not until it had been completed. He didn't appear to have any other choice now, though.

"I was working on something special…" he began, a little unsure of how to explain it. "It…well, when it was finished…I mean, the desired effect would have been…it was supposed to revert Master Splinter back to his human form."

The three other turtles-turned-human stared blankly at him for a moment, trying to work through the mumbled explanation.

"You mean, it would have un-mutated him?" Leonardo finally asked.

"Exactly."

"But how did we get it?" Raphael asked, staring at his fingers as he wiggled them experimentally.

"The pain reliever. My anti-mutagen must have somehow gotten mixed in…But I just don't see how!"

"Um…" Michelangelo began, biting his lip nervously, then stopping to wonder at the weird new sensation.

"What, Mikey?" Donatello asked patiently. Michelangelo was freaked out enough without having Donnie yelling at him.

"Well…remember the other day, when I woke you up? I remember you were working on the cream, cos of the marshmallow fluff thing…and then stuff got knocked over…Maybe the anti-mutate-y thing got knocked over, too?"

Donatello frowned. "Actually, you're right, it did get knocked over, but nothing appeared to have leaked out…"

"Maybe you should check it again," Leonardo suggested.

Donatello nodded in agreement, but was reluctant to move. He did feel a bit steadier, but his muscled were screaming in protest, even more so than they had after their last training session. Still, this was important - quite possibly the singly most important thing that had ever come up. With a tired sigh, Donatello moved one foot in front of the other, still balancing himself on the couch.

Now that he was moving, he noticed that he had gotten a bit taller, as well. That explained why his center of gravity was so messed up. Well, he imagined it also had something to do with his lack of shell.

He managed to get to his lab without falling over by using the walls to hold up most of his weight, and went straight for the cabinet he'd locked the anti-mutagen in. Looking at it very closely, it still appeared to have no cracks. Sitting down in his desk chair, Donatello unscrewed the lid. And there it was…

A tiny crack, right where the lid screwed over the container. Right where he wouldn't have noticed it with the lid screwed on.

"Oh, come on!" Donatello yelled at it, not quite able to grasp the audacity of the situation.

"Donnie!" came Michelangelo's urgent call from the living room. "Donnie come back!"

Now what thought an irritated Donatello as he wheeled himself back to the others. As he approached, he noticed that they all looked supremely worried, more than they had when he'd left.

"Well, there is a crack. It was under the lid, so I didn't see it," Donatello said, another sigh escaping his lips.

"Yeah, whatever, we've got a new issue," Raphael commented.

"Maybe not," Leonardo corrected, though he seemed sure that Raphael had it right. "It's just…where's Master Splinter?"

Donatello blinked. He'd been with Master Splinter when he'd blacked out…it had been right after the old rat had used his pain reliever…

"Oh, no! No, no, no!" Donatello cried, wheeling himself as quickly as possible back to Master Splinter's room.

"What? Do you know where he is?" Leonardo called after him. "Donnie!"

But Donatello didn't listen, he just kept going. The cream was supposed to be an anti-mutagen, which meant it would have turned Splinter back into a human when it was finished. That meant, that if Donnie and his brothers used it, it would have turned them back into ordinary turtles. Since what it actually did was turn them fully human, Donatello had a good guess as to where his father now was, and there was no time to waste.

"Master Splinter!" he called when he'd reached the room. "Sensei? Here, Sensei!"

Donatello moved onto his hands and knees and crawled around the room, scanning for the little rat that had been on his chest when he'd awoken. He was furious at himself for not realizing it sooner.

"Ah ha!" Donnie cried, spying the rat hiding under the wardrobe. Slowly, Donatello reached a hand towards the rat, trying not to frighten him. Master Splinter sniffed at Donatello's hand and slowly edged towards the now-human. Once he was close enough, Donatello grabbed his father, feeling even more furious at himself as he felt the little creature squirm nervously in his hand.

"Donatello, what are you doing?"

Donatello turned to see Leonardo leaning against the doorframe, watching him. With yet another sigh, Donatello held out Master Splinter for Leonardo to see.

"Tell me that's not…" Leonardo began, his eyes going wide with shock as he stared at the squirming rat.

"I'm afraid it is…the anti-mutagen wasn't finished yet - it seems to have had the opposite effect than intended. It's completed our mutations, instead of reversing them," Donatello explained, his anger at himself leaking into his tone.

Leonardo frowned, taking the rat from his brother, and holding it up to his face. The rat looked back somberly.

"I don't believe this…what the hell are we supposed to do now?" Leonardo asked, sounding quite angry himself. He cradled Master Splinter against his stomach, then twitched as the rat brushed against the now-sensitive skin there.

"I guess I'm going to have to create a re-mutagen. It's not going to be easy…I'd been working on this one for over a year, and, obviously, it still wasn't ready. Probably wouldn't have been for another year, to tell the truth…"

"Years? We might be stuck like this for years?" Leonardo practically yelled.

Donatello cringed. "Well, I had a lot of interruptions, and I was less sure of what I was doing for the first few months, whereas now I have a much firmer grasp on the subject. And since we all want this to be over quickly, I assume there'll be less interruptions."

"Right…" Leonardo sighed. "I am exhausted and in a great deal of pain, and I assume you're no better off."

Donatello nodded.

"I say we go tell Mikey and Raph what's up, and then rest. When we're feeling better, we'll get started on fixing this. All right?"

"Yes, that sounds good," Donatello agreed. "Want to use the chair going back?"

"No, you can take it - you seem to be having more trouble walking than I do," Leonardo observed.

"I think it's because I'm taller," Donatello explained, letting himself fall onto the chair.

The two fell into silence and made their way back to the living room to fill their brothers in on the plan.

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Author's Note: Fwee, a new chapter! Less cliffhanger-y this time, too. I do hope it's as good as you were hoping it'd be. Let me know either way! I promise I am going to describe the turtles' human forms more. I just didn't want to stick you with long, drawn out explanations of their appearances right off.

Also, as you can see, I'm doing the Author's Notes at the end now, with the titles at the beginning instead. I find I like it better this way. (shameless plug commencing…now) That's how my sister and I are doing it in our collaborative work, Chaos Theory, a Power Rangers fanfiction (chockfull of chaos and slash!). It's posted under our joint penname, Plus2Brilliance.

And if you're a Harry Potter fan (shameless plug 2 commencing…now), go check out my other fic, The Difference Between Dreams and Reality! It craves your reviews!

All right, that's enough crap from me. Again, I hope you enjoyed, and thank you so much for reading!