Author's Note: I don't think that I can apologize enough for this story but now, I'm back. And I hope that everyone's staying safe and healthy during the pandemic.

Drowned Out

Chapter Seven

Patamon looked up from underneath the table in the office and saw a glowing object slowly emerging from the computer screen in the darkness.

Once it completely separated, the object fell to floor, but it didn't break.

Curious, the bat-winged Digimon left his hiding place to investigate, but as he hovered closer to it, he heard Hiroaki's heavy footsteps coming closer to the office. Thinking quickly, Patamon rolled the item back to his hideout just as the older man opened the door.

Noticing that the desktop computer was still on, Hiroaki sighed heavily and shut it off and left, oblivious to Patamon's presence.

As the night continued to roll on, the Ishida apartment fell silent.

Though fast asleep, Nancy was still at her eldest son's bedside. Her ex-husband had offered to watch over Matt for her, but she declined, telling him that she wanted to make up for not being there for her son.

Gripping the bedsheets, Matt's face took on a pained expression as his fever continued to course through his body and mind.

"Matt! I need you!"

"Gabumon!"

He gasped and put a hand to his mouth in surprise.

Hearing Gabumon calling out to him again, Matt ran in the direction of his voice and quickly found his Digimon partner, but he was in a critical state due to his injuries.

"I'm here, Gabumon, I made it. You're gonna be fine!" Matt assured but as he reached down to help, Gabumon slapped his hand away.

"You're too late."

Matt looked down and saw a hole in the horned Digimon's midsection, slowly expanding as fragments of blue data broke away from the wound.

"Why couldn't you save me, Matt?!" Gabumon shouted angrily as he exploded into data. "WHYYY?"

"Gabumon, I'm sorry!" Matt cried as his Digimon's data floated off into the sky, "Please come back!"

"Some Digidestined you are."

The blonde turned around and saw both Tai and Davis' groups standing over him on top of high pillars along with their Digimon, all were leering down at him.

"You couldn't even help your own Digimon." Tai stated condemningly at Matt, "How pathetic. I was able to rescue Agumon from being enslaved by the Digimon Emperor."

"You couldn't have done it without my help, Tai!" retorted Matt, clenching his fists, "You'd still be moping about it if I hadn't snapped you out of it!"

"Hmph." Davis scoffed, crossing his arms, "You're the one to talk, hitting Tai and then nagging me about friendship."

Matt felt his anger rising.

"Davis, you wouldn't accept the Digi-egg of Friendship because you didn't want to hurt Metalgreymon, putting the others at risk!"

"At risk?!" repeated the younger boy, "Look at all the times you put your team at risk! You don't even deserve the Crest of Friendship!" he added with a sneer.

Enraged, Matt was about to respond but Sora cut him off.

"Davis is right! We could've beaten the Dark Masters a lot sooner if you hadn't picked a fight with Tai!" the auburn-haired girl said, her gentle eyes twisted into a cold glare.

"Thanks to your selfish decision, we nearly lost Tai twice!" Mimi added.

"It's all your fault, Matt!" Kari stated, pointing down at the blonde-haired teen, "Your fault!"

Soon, the rest of the Digidestined joined in along with the Bearer of Light, chanting "Your fault!" over and over as their voices increased in volume.

The more they continued, the more Matt's anger and confidence that he had whittled away.

"I was manipulated!" he protested, trying to shout over the deafening mantra, "I didn't-"

"Enough."

The chanting stopped.

The Bearer of Friendship turned and saw his younger brother hop off from his ledge and began walking towards Matt, his gaze oddly neutral in contrast to the others.

"T.K., tell them," he pleaded, feeling hopeful, "Tell them that I am worthy! My digivice is proof of that!"

He then frantically dug his hands into his pockets to retrieve his device but turned up nothing.

The Bearer of Hope smirked, "You mean, this digivice?"

Matt's head shot up, his eyes widening with shock as he watched his younger brother carelessly drop the small machine onto the ground as he positioned his foot just above it.

"No…" Matt whispered, "no…T.K., please…"

"You're not worthy to be called a Digidestined, Brother!"

With those words, the younger blonde crushed his brother's digivice underneath his foot.

"Consider yourself obsolete." T.K. added coldly, stepping harder onto the broken remains.

"Obsolete!" the other Digidestined began to repeat, "Obsolete! Obsolete! Obsolete!"

"No! No!" the older blonde cried, "You're all wrong! NOOO!"

Unable to take it anymore, Matt turned and ran.

In spite of the growing distance, Matt could still hear them getting louder. Shutting his eyes tight and covering his ears in an attempt to blot them out, the Bearer of Friendship failed to notice where he was going until he tripped over a rock and into a large puddle of mud.

"They're right, you know."

Matt looked up and saw his parents looming over him, their eyes filled with discontent.

"It's your fault that our family's broken." Nancy said icily.

Hiroaki nodded in agreement.

Just as Matt started to get up, the mud began to pull him down at an alarming rate. He struggled to get free, only to sink faster into the sod.

"Dad! Mom! Help!" he cried but the pair ignored him. Flailing to keep his head above the surface, he then saw his younger brother standing alongside their parents.

"T-T.K.! Help me!"

But his pleas were only met with silence.

"You're so worthless." Hiroaki stated as he, T.K., and Nancy began to walk away.

"No, no, n-"

And the ground swallowed him up.

Matt gasped as he bolted awake, startling his mother.

"Matt, what's wrong?"

He turned and looked at her with frightened eyes, his heart thudding hard in his chest as he started to shake.

Instinctively, Nancy gently pulled her eldest son into an embrace, running her fingers through his blonde hair and to her surprise, Matt didn't resist.

"It's alright," she soothed, "it's alright, it was just a bad dream. You're safe."

Despite her words, Matt continued to tremble, whether it was from chills or the nightmare, Nancy wasn't sure.

T.K. entered the bedroom, carrying a medicine bottle and a glass of water.

"How is Matt feeling this morning, Mom?"

"He just woke up from a nightmare," she replied, putting a hand to his forehead, "but I think his fever's gone."

"I'm glad."

Matt pulled away from his mother as his younger brother handed him the glass.

"Here." T.K. said, opening the bottle and handing out two pills, "Take these. It'll help take care of your cold and that bad headache you had yesterday."

Matt nodded and took the medication, quickly washing them down with the water.

"I was lucky that I was able to find some medicine that wasn't expired."

"Expired?" Nancy repeated, a little stunned.

The younger blonde scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Anyway," T.K. said, "Dad's making scrambled eggs. Do you or Matt want any?"

Matt blanched at the mention of food, feeling nauseous again.

He shot up from the bed and made a mad dash towards the bathroom with T.K. and their mother following close behind him.

They found Matt clutching a wastebasket for dear life as he started gagging.

T.K. winced with sympathy as he knelt down next to his brother.

"I thought for sure that he could keep the water down."

"I think he's only dry-heaving, dear," Nancy stated, "Matt hasn't eaten anything when he got sick, had he?"

"No, he hasn't."

The two turned around and saw Hiroaki standing by the doorway.

"He didn't eat any of his breakfast yesterday," the older man explained, "all he had was an aspirin."

"I see."

Nancy thought for a moment.

"Hiroaki," she started, "do you think that this is may be a side effect from the head injury Matt sustained when he was kidnapped?"

"I'm not sure," he replied, "He stayed in the hospital for a week recovering after he was rescued."

"Uh, Dad, is something burning?"

Hiroaki gasped. "The eggs!"

While Hiroaki raced back into the kitchen, T.K. and Nancy stayed behind with Matt, taking turns rubbing his back.

I should have never mentioned food to Matt. How could I be so stupid?! T.K. thought bitterly, I'm just causing problem after problem for Matt!

Soon, the nausea subsided as the color returned to Matt's face.

"Matt," Nancy asked, "are you okay now?"

The older blonde nodded.

"You sure?"

He nodded again and stood up. Nancy and T.K. exchanged concerned looks when they noticed that his gait was a little unsteady as he walked back into his room, closing the door behind him.

After finding Matt sleeping in his room, T.K. and his mother decided to let him rest and went into the kitchen where they found Hiroaki looking disappointed.

"I'm afraid we won't be having scrambled eggs after all." Hiroaki said as he dumped the charred eggs into the trash can. "So much for breakfast."

"I'll see if I can make us something."

Nancy peered into the refrigerator, only to find most of the food inside was way past its expiration date.

And I thought T.K. was exaggerating. she thought.

"Hiroaki, when was the last time you went grocery shopping?"

"I've been so busy at work that I hardly have time." Hiroaki answered rather embarrassed. "And Matt stays late practicing with his band."

She grabbed a trash bag and proceeded to empty the fridge of its rotten contents.

It's a miracle that Hiroaki and Matt haven't had a severe attack of food poisoning yet.

She soon felt a growing twinge of guilt as she continued to clean, thinking about what her ex-husband just said.

There were often times when she had to work overtime at the T.V. station, leaving T.K. having to come home to an empty apartment whenever she was unable to pick him up after school. Yet, he always had a clean bed to sleep in and a meal to eat while Hiroaki and Matt lived off of takeout and whatever Matt could cook and taking notice of the clothes lying about the kitchen, there wasn't any time for them to do laundry either.

Her heart felt heavy as she recalled her ex-husband's words the night before.

"And starting now, he's going to need all of us."

Need. The word tore into her.

Although Matt made the choice to stay with his father, while T.K. stayed with her when the divorce was settled, Nancy couldn't help but feel as though she had failed her firstborn child. The reunion with him since the separation was awkward and both boys were quickly whisked away and Hiroaki reminding her of how selfish it was to split them up.

Even moving to Odaiba didn't seem to strengthen the bond between her and Matt, contrasting greatly to Hiroaki, whom he and T.K. turned to whenever their plans involved secrets. Secrets that she was not a part of.

"Mom, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Hearing T.K.'s voice snapped Nancy out of her thoughts. She put a hand to her face, surprised to feel the tears running down them.

"Nancy, what is it?" Hiroaki asked as he approached his ex-wife.

"I… I want…" she began but then paused, wiping her tears away, "Hiroaki, you're right…Matt is going to need all of us."

After dumping all the expired products into the trash, Nancy told T.K. that she and Hiroaki were going grocery shopping and that it might be awhile until they returned but there were some snacks to eat in case, he or his brother got hungry.

Shortly after they left, T.K. heard his brother's door open and Matt stepped out, handing a note to T.K. saying he was going to take a shower.

He soon heard the water running which was followed by a quick session of sneezes.

"Bless you, Matt!" T.K. called towards the bathroom.

"T.K.! T.K.!"

"Huh, what is it, Patamon?"

"Follow me into the office!" the little Digimon squeaked, "You've gotta see this!"

The Bearer of Hope quickly followed his Digimon partner into the office, where Patamon nudged a rounded object at his human's feet.

It was a digi-egg. It was light blue in color with small darker blue triangles stamped all over it.

At first, it didn't appear familiar to him but then T.K. remembered how years earlier, a strange entity took over Kari abruptly ending Tai and Matt's fight to explain to them why they were to chosen to be the Digidestined.

"Hey," T.K. said, picking it up, his eyes widening with surprise, "This is Gabumon's digi-egg!" but then a thought struck him.

"But what's it doing here? Shouldn't it be in the Primary Village?"

Patamon shrugged. "I don't know. It came out of the computer last night."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter," the younger blonde said as a smile spread across his face, "Matt will be so happy!"

At that moment, they heard Matt step out from the bathroom. Quickly hiding the egg behind his back, the Bearer of Hope along with his Digimon ran out of the office and nearly bumped into Matt himself.

Sniffling a bit, he had a towel draped over his shoulders and was wearing loose fitting clothes.

"Matt," T.K. said cheerfully, "Patamon and I've got something for you."

Matt raised an eyebrow, confused by his brother's change in demeanor.

Then, he happily displayed the egg.

"Ta-da!"

Matt's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his eyes.

With shaky hands, he reached out and took the digi-egg, looking it over as if unsure if it was real.

"It just popped out of the computer yesterday," The Bearer of Hope explained, "but now, at least we won't have to look for Gabumon's egg in Primary Village and oh-"

T.K. was caught off guard by a surprise hug from Matt. But then he smiled, returning the hug.

"Anytime, Bro," T.K. said, "Anytime."

Well, I did something right for him this time.

It was late in the afternoon when their parents returned from shopping.

After restocking the refrigerator, pantries, and cabinets with fresh food, medication, and other necessities, Hiroaki and Nancy decided to order out for dinner.

When the food arrived much to everyone's surprise, Matt actually felt well enough to eat supper with his family, although he settled on a bowl of soup instead.

T.K. felt his heart swell with joy.

This is just what I always wanted. He thought, happily, Our family together again!

It reminded him of the mind illusion MaloMyotismon had cruelly put him under, only this time, this was real.

Still, what did Mom mean by, 'I want'?

Later that night, Matt fell asleep with one arm wrapped around the digi-egg.

Hidden in the darkness, the same presence that was in the room earlier reappeared.

It hovered around the room, then paused, floating just above the sleeping teen for a few minutes as if it were watching him before it flew into the screen of Matt's digivice.

The tiny machine buzzed and crackled as it surged with energy but Matt did not stir.

But then just as quickly as it began it stopped.

The digivice's screen then glowed with a deep red light before fading out completely.

-To be continued…