Wade squints around at the bright colors and obnoxious shapes surrounding them. "What is this place?" he mumbles, although he knows, on some level. Can just sense it.
"It's the Digital nursery," Wendy confirms his suspicions. "We're going to find Lunamon here."
Wade exhales gustily. "I'm not sure about that," he mutters, trudging forward anyway, following her to an Elecmon patiently waiting for them.
"Hello, Digidestined," he greets them cheerfully. "You are keeping me quite busy this week. I assume one of your partners were deleted and sent here to me?"
"Yes," Wendy says when Wade doesn't volunteer anything. "His Lunamon. Have you seen her?"
"Perhaps," he says. "There are new digieggs scattered around. You may go explore, see if you can sense which one is hers. Feel free to play with any of the babies, they enjoy having new faces to play with." He smiles at them before rushing off to take care of one of the weeping babies across the way.
Wade grimaces, looking into one of the little crib-like mounds nearby. "I'm no good with babies," he says. "She's going to hate me all over again."
Wendy scoffs. "She's your partner, I can tell you pretty easily that she never hated you. Not really." Brushing past him, she kneels down next to a couple of wide eyed babies, stroking them gently. "Hi, little ones. How are you?"
Wade leaves her to that, walking through the rows of cribs, looking dispassionately from one side to the other. He sighs, grimaces, and buries his hands in his pockets, feeling his heart beating loudly in his ears as anxiety thrums through him. I'm never going to find her, he thinks. She probably doesn't want to be found. I was a horrible partner to her, never valued her. Led her into danger and didn't do enough to protect her. If I could just...
He stops, something capturing his eye. A digiegg with a soft, silver sweeping swirl through it. It calls to him and he staggers over to it, dropping to his knees next to the crib that it's nestled within. He breathes heavily and presses a hand to the smooth side of the egg, feeling something warm and alive pressing back inside. "Oh, that is..." He gasps at the sensation against his palm and breathes. "Lunamon?"
Energy blasts from his digivice, circles the egg, and the next thing he knows, it disappears and reveals the digimon within. He stares down at the soft eyes peering back at him and breathes out, "Lunamon?"
"Kimi," she chirps back at him. "Yuki... Bota-"
"Yukimi Botamon," he breathes out, scooping her up and cradling her close. "I have missed you." He presses his face into her and breathes in deeply. "You... you have no idea. I am so sorry."
She squirms and hums and chirps, making him laugh through barely restrained tears. "Kimi."
"I'll try my hardest to protect you better this time," he promises her. "I will." He looks up to find Wendy watching him with a gentle smile on her face. He swallows and looks down at his partner for a moment before catching Wendy's eye again. "Thank you," he mouths.
She beams at him, winking quickly before turning her attention back to the various baby digimon hanging off of her arms. "What do you all say? Cuddle up for nap time?"
Wade shakes his head with a laugh as cheers sound around them.
