Author's Note: Ugh…this summer has not been working out for me as I had hoped. My family has been busy and I apologize for the lag in updating but I hope that this chapter makes up for it. Also, I thank crestoflight3 and Aveza for their reviews.

Circuits

Atone

"We can start searching at the factory where we first bought Matt!" Tai stated, "It's worth a shot."

After nodding in agreement with Tai's plan, the family immediately ran out of the apartment to begin their search. But once they reached their destination and spoke with the secretary, she revealed that Matt had not been seen since his shipment to the Kamiya home.

This confirmation did not give them any comfort.

But, they weren't planning on giving up.

…

While Susumu searched the city by car, Tai and Kari called up their friends and covered the rest of the Odaiba district on foot by splitting into groups. Joe and his father searched the hospitals, Yolei and Cody checked the schools along with the land area surrounding them, Izzy, Sora, and their parents drove throughout the Tokyo district while Davis, T.K. and Ken scoured through Ken's hometown as well as Highton View Terrace.

Meanwhile, Tai and Kari searched through the crowds, calling for Matt not caring whether or not people were giving them strange stares. None of it mattered, and now, there was a much deeper motive for Matt's safe return.

As the search for the missing robot continued, precious minutes had quickly ticked away into desperate hours.

But nothing turned up.

Nothing at all.

Even with Tai and Kari's encouraging phone messages to keep looking were quickly becoming nothing but false hope.

After reluctantly agreeing to the other Digidestined to try looking again tomorrow, the Kamiya siblings suddenly spotted someone with shoulder-length blonde hair, heading towards a crossing zone.

"Matt?"

Without warning, both brother and sister made their way through the crowd, their eyes fixated on him, getting closer and closer until they were right behind him.

"Oh, Matt, we've finally found you," Tai exclaimed, half-heartedly putting his hand on the blonde's shoulder, "We-"

His sentence was severed as Tai felt his face fall.

The stranger's eyes were a deep green and his face had a harder appearance in contrast to Matt.

"Who's Matt?!" the teen asked very rudely. He then jerked his shoulder away from Tai's hand and shoved past Kari as he started walking away.

"Go bug someone else!" he said over his shoulder.

Then, a sudden drop of rain fell from the sky and within minutes, a cascade of rain poured down onto the city.

Tai and Kari stood transfixed, watching as people began to seek shelter from the rain and taking cover with whatever they could shield themselves with.

Just then, their father's car drove up next to the siblings and the two entered the vehicle.

…

The silence weighed heavily as the drive home continued.

Stopping at a red light, Susumu turned and took a brief glimpse at his children. They were soaked through their clothing, and their exhausted eyes seemed to be focused on the rain splattering against the glass windows. Neither one had spoken about any possible leads of Matt's whereabouts, nor their friends' efforts to finding the android but the silence alone was enough to tell the man that they had found nothing.

Susumu sighed as he resumed driving.

The guilt had been bearing down hard on his heart. His selfishness had caused grief to his two children, just as they were beginning to recover from the loss of their mother.

And now, Tai and Kari were back to the broken states they were in when she passed away.

If only I had been more appreciative towards Matt when he cared for Yuuko, Susumu thought regretfully, but I was angry at Tai and Kari for buying him and took it out on Matt.

A crash of thunder boomed across the sky, jolting Susumu out of his remorse. The deafening noise was soon followed by a flash of lightning with the wind sending the rain down in blinding sheets.

Susumu struggled to keep the rain from obscuring windshield, but he could hardly make out the headlights of the car, as well as the others traveling down the road. In addition, the bad weather was increasing the possibility of hydroplaning.

Just then, a large pickup truck that was in front of them began to swerve in and out of the lane. The other drivers were struggling to give the truck enough space to reenter the highway but were at the risk of ramming into someone else's car in the process.

Once it seemed that the truck driver had regained control of the wheel, Susumu pulled up.

Kari screamed in horror, clutching her brother as they watched the back end of the truck slide towards the empty passenger seat of the car.

Susumu gave the wheel a sharp turn into another lane, narrowly escaping a straight-on collision with the truck but the person behind him wasn't so lucky.

The car rammed straight into the back of the truck. The sounds of crunching metal and shattering glass filled the air as both vehicles skidded across the road.

As other drivers hit their brakes to avoid creating another collision, the rain had calmed down enough for Susumu to find another safe path to drive down to avoid traffic.

"Tai, Kari, are you both alright?" he asked.

"We're fine, Dad," Tai answered shakily, holding his younger sister protectively in his arms, "I thought for sure that we were…but…those people…"

"I know, Son," Susumu replied grimly. "But now, I'm afraid that it'll take a little bit longer to get home."

With a sigh, Kari turned and looked out her window. There were no cars traveling in their direction and in the bleak darkness, she saw a beach nearby. She felt a chill run through her, recalling her dreams of the Dark Ocean that had once threatened to swallow her up into its waves if it wasn't for the loyalty of her friends.

Then, something caught her eye.

There, despite the darkness, the Bearer of Light managed to make out an outline of a figure, watching the tides gaining power from the blowing gale.

"S-stop…"

Tai blinked. "Huh? What did you say, Kari?"

"Stop the car."

"Kari, I don't-"

"DADDY! STOP THE CAR!"

Hearing his daughter's desperation, Susumu slammed on his brakes. Once the car stopped, he turned around and gave her an exasperated look.

"Why did you-"

"T-that's Matt! He's out there!" Kari cried, frantically unfastening her seatbelt, "We need to let him know we want him back!"

"Wait a minute, kids," Susumu said firmly, "Let me talk to him."

"B-but…you…"

"I know, and I need to atone for it."

Slowly, Susumu put on his raincoat, stepped out of the car and began making his way towards Matt.

Matt turned around and saw the man who had cruelly dismissed his services, standing over him. He took a step back, remembering Susumu's earlier threat, but then the android looked up at his former owner and gazed into his eyes.

Only this time, his dark eyes were not filled with malice but with concern.

"Mr. Kamiya," the artificial servant said, his voice barely audible against the wind, "Why? You said that I was no longer considered necessary to your family."

"Matt…I…I was wrong," Susumu began, "After Yuuko died, I was looking for someone else to blame and in my grief-stricken rage, I blamed you for her death."

"And after I sent you away, both my son and daughter had revealed the truth of my wife's cancer."

The older man smiled sadly, "They were always rather fond of you, Matt, and they worked hard to clear your name. Even Yuuko treated you kindly in her final days but I never gave you a chance."

He took in a choked sigh and gently put his arms around Matt, resting his chin on the robot's shoulder.

"I'm…so sorry that I accused you!" Susumu apologized, as tears squeezed their way out from under his shut eyelids, "You didn't deserve any of the treatment that I gave you! And now, I realize that I need to move on, to live on, because that's what Yuuko wanted…So, please…please forgive me!"

He clutched the android tighter in his hold as he began to cry.

As he sobbed, he felt a pair of hands steadily wrapping around his back.

"I forgive you, sir."

Susumu's eyes opened in absolute surprise. He peered into Matt's face, at first completely baffled by the robot's answer.

Then, he smiled.

After he released Matt from his embrace, Susumu took off his jacket and gently draped it on Matt's shoulders, pulling the hood over the android's wet golden locks.

"Thank you."

From the car, Tai and Kari waited in silence for their father, hoping that it really was Matt out there. Still, the doubts were seeping through them and the anticipation made waiting seem even longer. The sounds of footsteps came to their ears and as they grew louder, the siblings saw their father, with Matt by his side.

They leapt from the car and ran towards the pair, their arms instantly clasping around the blonde servant as they cried tears of joy.

"Oh, Matt," Kari cried, "We were so afraid that we had lost you!"

"But we didn't quit!" added Tai, "Not even for a second!"

Kari suddenly opened her tear rimmed eyes once she felt the dampness of Matt's vest against her skin.

"Matt, you're completely drenched!"

"It's alright," Matt explained, "My body is covered with a special coating that prevents water from seeping through."

"Well, it looks like the rain's not going to stop soon," Tai pointed out, "We better head on back to the car!"

…

After finally arriving back at the apartment, the Kamiyas quickly dressed into dry clothes while Tai found a pair of navy blue pajamas for Matt to wear in the place of his uniform.

Later during the night, as Matt sat quietly in the living room, the artificial servant was greeted by Kari.

"Is something wrong, Miss Kari?"

"No, nothing's wrong," she said, "I'm just relieved, that's all."

"Relieved?" Matt repeated, "In what way?"

"That you're here," the young girl replied, "With us."

Then, Kari smiled as she turned to leave, "Goodnight Matt, and welcome home."

Alone in the dark room, he gave a brief sigh.

"Home."

-To be continued…