He Changed My Life

Chapter 42

~Dan's POV~

At first, they didn't tell me what was going on. I had heard Matt scream, and I knew that since Zakaroth was involved I had to stay away, which is always painful. But then, Ignatius brought me home since Matt had asked him to... and that was it. Ignatius didn't really tell me what happened. He said even he didn't really know. I was worried, and had an idea of what happened based on my notes, but it was never this early on. However, the next morning, my suspicions were confirmed. They were able to stop it... but by then...

"Just remember," Ignatius patted my shoulder as he lead me to Matt's room, "Even if he looks a bit different, he's all still there. It's still Matt."

"I-I know. Just, is he hurt or... I-Is he okay?"

Ignatius sighed, standing by the door to Matt's room and gesturing to it, "Well... ask him yourself."

Slowly walking into Matt's room, I saw him standing by and looking out the window. His body was... out of proportion, to put it lightly. Zakaroth must be forcing the most drastic changes he can to mess with Matt. Matt's left arm and right leg were now longer and thicker, forcing him to lean to his left side, most likely limp, and put him off balance. His left ear was longer too, and the right half of his chest was larger, it looked super uncomfortable for him to even breathe like that. He heard me come in and turned his head, but the right side of his face was... well it didn't look like Matt's face at all. His canine tooth was even sticking out past his lips, a slight snarl to the expression, but I could tell his face was neutral or sad based on the way he was looking at me. His eyes say it all, purple iris or not.

"H-Hey," I tried to smile, "...Um... How are you feeling?"

He slowly turned to face me fully, limping a bit and looking like he was grimacing in pain. There was a slight heave in his chest as he took a loud deep breath, regarding me with sad eyes. When he spoke, his voice was different as well, it was harsher and more gravelly.

"Not the best, but I'm sure you can see that..."

"Yeah..."

He took another heavy breath, looking down, "I... I had something planned for us yesterday... I'm sorry-"

"I-It's okay, you don't need to apologize..." I looked him up and down, noticing his clothes barely fit him on one side now with the way he was... misshapen. "God... He really..."

"Did a lot?" Matt spread his arms out slightly, "Yeah... I know I look terrible... but I'm trying to keep it together."

"That's good... but..." I paused, wondering how to even ask anything about this.

Before I said any more, he snorted and closed his eyes, "Well, I technically got more muscle now... so you love it, right?"

"Matt..." I frowned.

"I know, bad joke... At least you know it's me instead of - Ngh," Matt grunted slightly, gripping his chest in pain for a second.

"W-What's-"

He held out his other hand, his face squinched in pain for a second before relaxing. He took slow, deep, loud breaths. I could hear the low tone of the air being sucked into and blow out of his nostril.

"...I'm fine," Matt said quietly, "It just... still hurts from time to time... Stay over there, just in case."

Hell no!

Immediately, I dashed over and hugged him, "I-It'll be okay, Matt. We're gonna fix this."

He carefully hugged me back, saying after a few seconds, "...I hope so."

    

~ Matt's POV ~

I had closed my eyes, swaying Dan gently back and forth as I focused on our hug. I was a little put off by how he just runs at me when I tell him to stay away, but... then I'd be missing out on a hug, which I kind of needed... Though, even with my body being messed the hell up, deformed, uncomfortable, painful to be in and to even look at... even when I thought Daniel really wouldn't want to come near me... here he is... in my arms... telling me it'll be okay... He never fails to surprise me with how supportive and loving he is...