Author's Note: Big thank you again to melia2 for reviewing and also to AllYouEverNeed. P.S. melia2, I'm glad that you're enjoying my story and Matt and T.K. are my favorite sibling pair, too.
Drowned Out
Chapter Eleven
"T.K.! What happened to you, Sweetheart?!"
"I uhhh…a stray ball hit me in the face while I was at basketball practice." T.K. lied. "I wasn't paying attention."
Nancy quickly ushered her son into the bathroom.
"You stay right here while I get you an icepack."
As he waited, T.K. gazed at his battered appearance staring back at him from the mirror.
His left eye was splotched in a purplish blue throbbing painfully, while his cheek was a swollen, angry red. Looking down at his hands, the blonde saw the same dark color spread across his knuckles, he winced as he flexed his fingers, though he was relieved that they weren't broken.
Nancy returned, giving her son an icepack to hold up to his face, while she wiped the blood from T.K.'s lip and checked to make sure his injuries weren't serious.
Brushing his fingers lightly against his midsection, T.K. felt the bruise on his stomach from where Donzo had punched him hard.
Ugh, if Ken was built like Donzo back when he was the Digimon Emperor, T.K. thought to himself, I would've been beaten to a pulp, with or without a weapon…
…
"I'm home."
Matt looked up from the kitchen, surprised to see that his father had come home early.
"Though the concert last night didn't turn out liked you hoped," Hiroaki said, setting his suitcase down, "how was school today?"
The blonde teen tensed, recalling the day's events.
{o}
Following Donzo's cruel prank, the other students at school had started to harass Matt for 'ditching' the concert, demanding a refund. Some of them even began to mock him for his disappearing act. Though Tai and the others had rushed to his defense, it did little to help Matt's plummeting self-esteem.
As promised, his friends stood guard and kept their eyes open going down the hallways, in case Donzo or members of his gang decided to pick on Matt, which thankfully didn't occur. After meeting up together in one of the rooms following school, Tai once again tried to get through to Matt emotionally from the aftermath of the concert disaster, but the blonde still refused to open up about it.
"Matt, you can't act like nothing happened last night!" Tai said annoyed.
The Bearer of Friendship turned away and attempted to leave, but Tai blocked the doorway.
"No! I'm not letting you leave, Matt."
Matt shot an icy glare but Tai returned it with a glare of his own.
Feeling that a fight was about to erupt, Izzy and Sora got in between the two in an attempt to calm them down.
"Tai," Sora scolded, "you're not helping Matt if you keep hounding him like this!"
"She's right, you need to give Matt time. Once he's okay-"
"NO, HE'S NOT!" the Bearer of Courage interrupted with a roar, "Matt's not okay!"
Both Izzy and Sora were taken aback by Tai's outburst.
"His kidnapping left him mute from trauma! Gabumon died right in front of him! And he was nearly humiliated onstage in front an entire audience!"
The brunette teen didn't notice that Matt was flinching with each sentence. But then his frustration fizzled out when he saw the hurt look in his friend's eyes. Sora and Izzy slowly but cautiously stepped out of the way as Tai closed the gap between him and Matt, placing his hands on the blonde's shoulders.
"Matt," Tai began, his tone a lot calmer than before, "remember how you helped me and Davis's group save Agumon from the Digimon Emperor?"
Matt nodded.
"Granted, I'm not going to hit you this time, but you can't handle what you're going through alone. And that's what me, Sora, Izzy, and the others are here for."
The room was silent. As Tai peered into his friend's face, Matt didn't look back and hung his head, his golden bangs falling out of place and into his eyes.
Releasing Matt's shoulders, the Bearer of Courage gave an exasperated sigh. "Have you at least talked to your bandmates about it?"
Matt shook his head.
Before Tai could say another word, Matt wrote and handed the three a note which they passed to each other asking if any of them told his younger brother.
"No," Sora replied quietly, "we didn't tell T.K. about Donzo when he asked."
Izzy nodded. "All we said to him was that your concert didn't do as well."
The blonde gave a weak smile as thanks and Tai reluctantly let him leave the room.
{o}
"Matt? Matt?"
The sound of his name snapped the blonde-haired teen back to reality.
"You zoned out on me for a moment," said Hiroaki and he repeated his question, "how was your day?"
He paused briefly and made a so-so motion.
After setting the table and getting dinner ready, he joined his father.
"I had quite a day at the T.V. station, Son," Hiroaki said, "during my lunch break, Charlie was telling me that there have been reports of a bird man roaming the city the other night."
Matt nearly choked on his food. He quickly downed his glass of milk, trying to appear as normal as possible.
"The things you and your brother deal with are one thing," the older man continued, "but bird men…"
Hiroaki shook his head, breaking into a grin as he tried to suppress his laughter but failed.
The sudden clatter of a plate and eating utensils hitting the table startled Hiroaki. He stopped laughing and looked at his son, whose head was low yet the older man could tell that he was angry.
"Matt?"
The blonde abruptly stood up and walked out of the kitchen and into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him with a bang.
"Was it something I said?"
Shrugging his shoulders, the older man finished his meal and put both his and Matt's dirty dishes in the sink. He was about head into the office when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Matt's shoes were not in their usual spot but instead were sitting close to the trash can.
As Hiroaki bent down and picked up his son's shoes, he felt an adhesive coating on them which stuck to his fingers.
…
The next day, Cody and Yolei were shocked by their friend's injuries when they met up at T.K.'s apartment.
Again, T.K. told the same lie and luckily, they believed him as they left to join the others at school.
Davis cringed when he saw his friend's black eye.
"Dude, what happened to your face?"
T.K. gave an embarrassed grin. "The same thing that happened to you in gym class."
"Sheesh, are you sure you were playing basketball and not dodgeball?" asked the goggle boy with a grimace, "I mean, looking at it hurts."
While the boys continued to talk, Kari remained silent.
She knew that T.K. was lying.
…
The Bearer of Love sighed and focused her attention to the scenery out the window.
The teacher continued to ramble on about the importance of mathematical formulas, but most of the students weren't paying attention.
Matt put down his book and turned his gaze at the auburn-haired girl as a shy smile spread across his face.
When he first met her, Matt didn't think that Sora would pay him any mind, and initially, it seemed as if she had Tai wrapped around her finger. He knew that they were close, but Matt didn't know how close.
Sora blinked and looked over towards Matt. The blonde quickly buried his head back into his textbook, feeling his face grow hotter and hotter as he blushed harder and harder.
I can't keep going like this…I've got to tell her!
Once he was able to calm himself down and he no longer looked like a bright red tomato, Matt took out a piece of paper and began writing.
…
T.K. was thankful that he hadn't run into his brother all day. But as he made his way down the hall after school, his luck ran out when he saw the older blonde coming down the hallway alongside Tai, Sora, and Izzy.
Just as Matt was about to greet him with a wave, the Bearer of Hope covered his bad eye and darted out the door.
He didn't even stop to look back, fearing that it would entice Matt into chasing after him.
How can I face my own brother after what I did yesterday?! And then there's my injuries…He'll figure out what really happened! T.K. thought as he continued running. Urgh, no matter what I do, I keep hurting Matt somehow!
Matt stood stunned by his younger brother's aloof behavior.
He took out his notepad and asked Izzy in writing why T.K. was covering his face as he was leaving.
"Yolei told me during Computer club that he got hurt at basketball practice the other day. He's got a pretty nasty black eye." Izzy explained, "She also mentioned that Kari had offered to take him to the school nurse, but he declined."
Tai sighed. "It's a real bummer that your little brother won't be able to play in the big game coming up."
Sora nodded, recalling the knee injury she sustained back when she was still a soccer player.
As they were approaching the door, Matt stopped Izzy, handing him a note asking if he found out anything from Gennai regarding the state of Matt's digivice.
Izzy hesitated.
Should I tell him?
The Bearer of Knowledge trembled, recalling the ominous message that had appeared on his laptop.
"DON'T INTERFERE"
"Umm…well," Izzy began, "I tried sending what I wrote to Gennai…but there was…a problem getting through…and…Gennai hasn't replied back yet…"
The blonde's face fell.
"I-I'll try resending it to him again later today!" the redhead genius quickly added as Tai opened the doors to let them out.
"Sora, aren't you coming?" Tai asked.
"No," answered the auburn-haired girl with a smile, "I'm waiting for someone."
Someone? Matt thought surprised.
Looking around, there was no one still hanging around the school as far as he knew.
Could she mean me?
"We'll catch you guys later then!" Izzy said.
As soon as Tai and Izzy left, leaving the two alone together, the Bearer of Friendship saw his chance.
This is it. he thought, Come on, Matt, you can do this!
Matt gulped, his heart ramming wildly in his chest with each step as he reached a shaky hand into his coat pocket to give her the note. He was just about to tap her on the shoulder when Sora suddenly gasped and pulled out her ringing cell phone.
"Hello? Yes, this is Sora, who's this?"
Though Matt couldn't hear the voice on the line, he could see that Sora was becoming more excited as she continued talking on her phone.
"Really? You're here? Okay, I'll be right there!"
She hung up her phone and turned to face Matt. "I'm sorry, Matt but I just remembered there's someone I'm meeting up with! Don't wait on me!"
After standing there for a few minutes, the blonde quietly followed her down the hallway to one of the empty classrooms. He stopped short when he caught sight of her through the partially open door. Carefully staying out of sight, Matt saw that she was not alone.
To his surprise, he saw Sora smiling up at a boy whom Matt had never seen before. The teen was tall but athletically built like Tai. He had light brown hair with the fringe parted on one side and his eyes were soft shade of gray.
"I can't believe it's really you!" Sora exclaimed, her eyes beaming with delight.
The young man chuckled sheepishly. "It's me."
"It's been so long," the auburn-haired girl said, her smile growing bigger, "How are you?"
"I've been doing great!" answered the boy. "Oh, I've got something just for you. I saw this and I immediately thought of you, Sora."
As Matt watched, the teen handed a small present to Sora, who in turn eagerly opened it.
It was a necklace.
"I love it!" Sora said, trying it on and wrapping him into a hug. "Thank you so much!"
The teen grinned as he returned the hug.
"Anything for my best girl."
Sora chuckled. "Oh, you're just saying that, though I can't wait to introduce you to my friends soon!"
Matt's heart shattered.
He was too late.
Though Sora and the other boy continued on happily engaged in their conversation, Matt no longer heard them. Feelings of hurt and anger bubbled inside of him as he stepped back from the door before finally tearing his eyes from the pair.
But as the heartbroken blonde left, he didn't hear what Sora had to say next.
"Let me tell you about this guy…"
…
Tai would've been a better pick for Sora than her new boyfriend, if she didn't want me!
The blonde took and crumpled up the note in his hand and threw it into the nearest trash can as he stormed out of the school building.
Besides, what made you think that she'd ever love you?! Matt thought angrily at himself, She probably thinks I'm some kind of Casanova with all the fangirls around!
He kicked off his shoes once he made back to his apartment home, throwing his school belongings carelessly on the kitchen table before slamming the door of his room behind him.
Slowly, his anger started to diminish as he slid down to the floor.
Then again, Sora's the better judge. She has the Crest of Love after all…
If she's happy then I should be happy for her…I'm being completely selfish…
Matt hugged his knees and buried his head in his arms, trying very hard not to cry.
But that was what he wanted to do more than anything.
…
For the rest of the week, Matt was in autopilot.
His therapy session with Dr. Otoya was showing vast improvement. He was now starting to pronounce the first letter of words, although they came out in the form of a stutter when he tried to speak.
"You're making wonderful progress, Matt!" praised the speech pathologist, "I am so impressed!"
The blonde only nodded glumly in response.
Dr. Otoya looked concerned. "Is something wrong?"
Matt shook his head and left the room as soon as the session was over.
The next day at school, he found himself unable to face Sora without feeling a pang in heart.
"Tai, Matt, Izzy, guess what?" Sora said excitedly, as the four sat together during lunch, "There's someone I would like you guys to meet!"
Tai was surprised. "Really, who is it?"
"I'll introduce him to you tomorrow." She said, "You'll like him, he's a great guy."
Matt subconsciously rubbed his chest.
A great boyfriend is more like it. The blonde thought sarcastically.
"Are you feeling alright, Matt?" asked Izzy, "I've noticed you've been grimacing a lot lately."
The blonde replied with a note saying it was just indigestion.
"Well, I'd rather eat school food then the homemade lunches my mom makes me." Tai said, "I can still taste the mystery in her special mystery meat."
Sora giggled. "My friend knows a lot about cooking. And he-"
Abruptly, Matt pushed his chair back, grabbed his tray, and left the table, not leaving a note. The remaining three watched him dump his food, but instead of coming back, Matt left the cafeteria. Growing worried, Tai and Sora decided to look for him. They soon found Matt sitting in his desk, going through his assignments while waiting for the next class.
"What are you doing in here, Matt?" The Bearer of Courage asked, "We still have twenty minutes of our lunch break left."
The blonde didn't look at them and just handed them a note saying he wasn't hungry and that he wanted to get ahead with his schoolwork for the class.
Despite his explanation, Tai and Sora could not shake off this strange feeling of uneasiness.
…
T.K. took in a deep breath as he stood facing the door of the Ishida apartment. After school, instead of going home, the Bearer of Hope took a detour to his brother's apartment. Feelings of guilt had been gnawing at him since he had lied and ran away from Matt earlier in the week and now, he decided to come clean.
I'm going to tell Matt what happened, no more lies.
He knocked on the door.
There came no answer.
He tried again.
No answer.
T.K. used the doorbell but still, no one came to the door. He turned the doorknob that was unlocked and went inside.
"Hello?" the younger blonde called, "Matt? Are you here?"
Looking around the kitchen and living room, T.K. didn't see his brother.
The door's unlocked, so that must mean he's home. He thought. Maybe he's asleep, it would explain why he's not answering the door.
Approaching his older brother's room, he again knocked on the door, but got no response. Opening the door to a crack, T.K. expected to see his brother fast asleep in bed but instead, he found Matt's school uniform lying across the bed and Gabumon's still gray digi-egg resting on the pillow. His cell phone was sitting undisturbed on his desk.
Alarmed and fearing that Matt may have been abducted again, T.K. quickly called both Digidestined groups. Meeting up with him in the apartment's office, they decided to split into pairs and try to find Matt through the signal on his digivice but were shocked to find that they were unable to get a response at all from neither the digivice or D-3. While Davis's group decided to go and search in the Digital World, the older four continued on looking for Matt in the Real World.
Where did you go, Matt!? Tai thought, feeling himself growing more frustrated. Why can't we find you?!
Surveying a nearby park, Tai looked and saw a figure with blonde hair walking aimlessly and he recognized the figure's walking pattern.
Matt!
Running as fast as he could, he stopped and found Matt sitting alone on the park bench, dressed in his usual black shirt and dark pants with his head hanging down.
"There you are, Matt!"
"Do you have any idea how worried everyone is for you?" The brunette teen scowled. "Just how stubborn do you plan on being?"
The blonde kept his head down, his hands resting in his lap.
"I texted T.K.," Tai sighed, sitting beside his friend on the bench, "he said to wait for him here."
"How come we couldn't find you on your digivice? Did you turn it off or something?"
Matt shook his head no.
"Has Gabumon's egg hatched yet?"
Same response.
"Why not?" asked the bushy-haired teen.
Giving a weary sigh, the Bearer of Friendship pulled the digivice out from his pocket. Tai leaned in to get a better look and gasped.
While the screen was still black, the digivice itself was in poor condition. There were deep cracks all over it and it looked like it was barely holding itself together.
All of the anger that Tai harbored evaporated in an instant.
"Matt…" Tai said, his voice fallen to a hushed tone, "H-how long has your digivice been like that?"
Matt's eyes remained glued on his digivice and as he continued to stare blankly at it, a dark memory that he thought he had locked away began to play in his mind.
"I'm no good. I can never go back to being their friend."
The first sentence began to repeat over and over in his head and was then accompanied by the cruel voices from his nightmare.
"Look at all the times you put your team at risk! You don't even deserve the Crest of Friendship!"
"I'm no good."
"You're not worthy to be called a Digidestined, Brother! Consider yourself obsolete."
His shoulders started to quiver as his breathing became more uneven.
"It's your fault that our family's broken."
"I'm no good."
"You're so worthless."
At last, with a shuddering breath, his emotions won out and the tears began to spill freely from his blue eyes.
They're right. I am worthless.
One of Matt's tears landed on his broken digivice.
In an instant, the tiny machine glowed blood red and before Tai could register what was happening, he was knocked over backwards by sudden strong blast of air.
Getting up from where he landed, Tai tried in vain to move forward but the wind was too strong. Shielding his eyes against the gale, he could only watch helplessly as a red light grew brighter and brighter, surrounding his friend until it had engulfed Matt completely.
"MAAATTTT!"
-To be continued…