Forever Mangled - NatePat

{Chapter 19: How to Forgive a Monster?}

"If you're about to kill Matt for your own selfish desires... then you're no better than William Afton."

Nate's POV

I let my words sink in as I saw Mason freeze. He remained completely still as he processed what I'd said and what that meant. I felt him begin to shake as he started stuttering out.

"O-O-Oh G-God....w-what am I d-doing!?" He instantly dropped the knife to the floor, staggering back from Matt's bloody body, finally taking in all the damage that he had caused. "Oh G-God, what d-did I do!? I-I'm a m-monster!"

He began hysterically crying as he had fully begun to take in the events of not just the last few minutes, but also the last few weeks since this ordeal began.

As angry as I was at Mason for what he'd put Matt and I through, I still couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He went through something that no one should EVER have to go through! He was clearly suffering from PTSD or some form of bipolar disorder.

I felt Mason's heart rate pick up and heard his breathing getting shallow. He was having a panic attack!

"W-W-W-What is h-h-happening t-to m-m-me!?" He gasped out as he clutched his chest.

"Easy Mason," I said, trying to calm him as best I could. "You're having a panic attack. Remember when Matt was having one and I told him those breathing exercises? I need you to try to do that too, ok? Can you try that for me?"

Mason furiously nodded his head as he attempted to control his breathing. While Mason was calming down, I saw that Matt was having trouble breathing again as well.

"Mason, go take Matt's gag off and tell him to breath with you." I said, worried that they both may pass out. "He needs to relax his heart quickly. Then we can work on bandaging his wounds."

"O-Ok." Mason said, taking in a deep breath and crawling over to Matt. "M-Matthew? N-Nathan said to focus on your breathing too. I-In for 4, h-hold for 5 a-a-and out f-for 6. Remember? I-I'm gonna take your gag off so you c-can breath better, ok?"

Matthew nodded, too concentrated about his breathing to fear Mason coming close to him. As soon as Mason removed the cloth gag, Matt instantly began doing his exercises, knowing that these instructions were coming from me and that I was there with the both of them. After about 10 minutes of getting everyone calm, I figured it was time to sort things out.

"Mason," I said quietly, making sure to keep my voice gentle. "Let's unlock Matt from those chains ok? We don't want him getting torn muscles."

Mason nodded as he grabbed the key from his pocket and spoke to Matt again.

"Matthew?" Mason asked, making sure Matt knew what was going on. "I-I'm gonna unchain you n-now, ok? I -promise I won't hurt you....never again...."

Matt looked up at Mason with pity in his eyes as he nodded his head, allowing Mason to continue. Mason unlocked each of the 4 cuffs and then moved away from Matt, waiting on more instructions from me.

"Now we need to patch up Matt's wounds." I said, trying to keep the worry out of my voice. "I don't think you made any cuts too deep that he will need stitches but-"

"I-I know a spell that can heal him." Mason said, rushing over to grab his spellbook and frantically flipping through the pages. "I was p-planning on using it to repair M-Matt's body after I kil-... a-after I... oh God..."