Warning! The following part of Tales of the Returned contains suicide and blood.

I don't own digimon.

Story 23

Lantern in the light

Anton wasn't completely sure what to make of the flashing light coming from the far corner in his bedroom. Surely it understood that it was late and needed his beauty sleep. But no, that was asking too much of whoever was behind this cruel prank.

"Voisitko lopettaa sen? (Could you please stop that?)" he called out, only for the light to grow brighter. Letting out a sigh, he put a pillow over his head. Maybe that would be enough to block out the light and provide him a chance to slumber. But all that accomplished was making him feel hot and not much else. "Yritän nukkua täällä. (I'm trying to sleep here.)"

The light continued to bare down upon the analyst's hotel room, not even trying to fake him out just for the sake of tension. Bad enough that it was the time of year when the sun refused to set and shined down every moment without stopping. But with a major presentation tomorrow, any advantage Anton could get was better than nothing. But that stupid light threatened to undo all of that. Though, they probably had to sleep as well. A matter of time before the light would fade and he could catch some Z's.

"Mene nukkumaan, valo. (Go to sleep, light.)" he announced and watched the light shift slightly. Sadly, that change in direction wasn't meant to last. If anything, the light looked to have gotten closer. That was just silly. The hotel room he was staying in was relatively furnished for long-term stays. Nothing in the way of a lamp had been placed in that particular corner. Instead, that was where a wardrobe had been put for people to hang stuff up. Not that Anton had really gotten the chance to do so. Between the long drive and having to go over his presentation, he was absolutely exhausted. Just one more reason to get this light to fade away. Or find a way to sleep with all of this light in the background. Tempted as he was to try the former, the latter was a far more likely option here. Maybe try pulling a blanket up to block it all out. Yeah. That was probably the best option that he had here.

Pulling the blanket up, Anton did his best to slumber. While a challenge, the analyst thought he did quite well on this front. Even as the light refused to let up. Hopefully the morning would bring a stop to that. Right?

Sadly, not even that worked. Somehow, the light managed to pierce through the blanket and deny him a chance at sleep. The absolute nerve of this beam. Surely there were better ways it could kill time. Ways that most definitely didn't involve him. Anton hoped at least. Would be very weird if that was somehow not the case and he was dealing with a situation that required him to save the world or something.

Nonetheless, Anton reached for a switch and flicked it on. More light flushed into the area, illuminating the hotel room from all angles. Tan paraquet served as the floor, whereas the walls had been left all white. Made the whitish gray sheets covering his bed an interesting choice. Personally, Anton would've probably gone for a darker color here. Maybe a tan or dark brown. Would go nicely with the generic photos hanging on the walls. At least the blackout curtains were doing their job. The same couldn't be said about the desk opposite of the bed. Currently missing a leg, Anton didn't even dare to try and set his laptop there. Between the sensitive data and his presentation, the last thing the analyst wanted was a ruined piece of technology. That wasn't even getting into the reprimand his boss would give if that did happen.

"Voisitko tulla luokseni? (Could you please come over to me?)" Anton announced, waiting a moment to see if this mysterious beam of light would respond. When it didn't, he got up from the bed and headed over. Tempting as it was to grab a trash can and/or a towel, he decided to forgo those things. His hands should be more than enough to deal with the beam of light. If not, he was in for a world of hurt. Or something along those lines. "Lupaan teille, että olen ystävä. (I promise you that I'm a friend.)"

The light dimmed slightly, providing Anton the perfect opportunity to look down. There, a strange cross between a moth and one of those old-timey oil lanterns stood scrunched up in the corner. Even in its dimmed state, light came forth from their body.

"Odota. Olet yksi niistä digitaalisista hirviöistä. (Wait. You're one of those digital monsters.)" Anton continued, taking care in lifting the lantern moth digimon into his arms. Cradling it close, he watched their body turn pink for a moment. "Olen iloinen siitä, että pidät minusta. Minun täytyy nukkua hieman huomenna pidettävää esitystä varten. (Glad as I am that you like me, I need to get some sleep for my big presentation tomorrow.)"

His remark made the lantern moth digimon glow blue, but not for very long. Especially when the analyst brought them over to his bed. Setting them down, he made his way back over to the corner. There had to be some kind of explanation for how this digital monster had managed to get into his hotel room.

"(Let's see here…)" he thought and did a quick search of the corner. He hadn't been expecting to find anything of note. Maybe a crumpled up note or something that could lead him in the direction of who might have been the chosen for this particular digimon. Instead, a picture was what stared back at him. Slowly picking it up, he took it all in.

The snapshot was that of a girl. Sitting on a bench in what he could only assume to be Greece, she looked relatively happy. Floating right beside her was the lantern moth digimon from earlier. Brunette locks of hair were frozen in place, the result of winds not quite clearly displayed by the photograph. But that wasn't what Anton found himself focusing on. No, that would be the faint figure out in the background. A brunette much like the girl, they were cradling a ball of light. Did they have something to do with this whole mess? He actually wasn't sure. Looking to the bottom, there was text written there.

Mia eftychisméni méra me Loúmomon

Heading over to the nightstand, Anton grabbed his phone. Unlocking the device, he got to bringing up a translation app and switched to the photo mode. Scanning the photo's text, he waited a moment for the text to come up

Hyvää päivää Lumosmonin kanssa (A happy day with Lumosmon)

Turning back to the lantern moth digimon, Anton took a seat beside Lumosmon. Turning to face the lantern moth digimon, he placed a hand on the lantern part of their body. While this was definitely progress, this only left him with more questions. When was this photo taken? Why was there a figure in the background? Did they have something to do with Lumosmon showing up in his hotel room? Speaking of which, how exactly did Lumosmon get here in the first place? Beyond his phone, there was little in the way of technology that could be used to cross over. Unless Lumosmon had sneaked in from elsewhere. Like when a person was cleaning. Entirely possible, but Anton doubted that to be the case.

"Lumosmon, voitko kertoa minulle, mitä tapahtui? (Lumosmon, can you tell me what happened?)" Anton inquired, Lumosmon flashing a variety of colors. Trying his best to follow the sequence, it went by far too quickly for the analyst to decipher the meaning of. Letting out a sigh, Anton set his phone and the photo back on the nightstand. Afterwards, he turned back to Lumosmon. Carefully wrapping his arms around them, he could feel the warmth of Lumosmon's light. It felt oddly sad. What could've occurred to bring about those feelings within the lantern moth digimon? Anton wasn't sure. For now, he could at least try and sleep. "Voinko nukkua nyt? (Can I slumber now?)"

Lumosmon nodded, watching Anton reach for the switch. Flicking it off, the analyst slid back under the covers. For now, it got up from the bed and fluttered in place. Glad as they were to find another person, Lumosmon wasn't completely sure if they could trust them. What if the same thing that happened to his previous partner happened to this unnamed man as well? By no means a brunette, that hadn't stopped 'her' from working her trickery in the hopes of goals well beyond that of their little mind. They pushed that thought out of their mind. Instead, Lumosmon focused on this man. No matter what, they would protect him. Even if it was likely this man made sure that nothing bad happened to him rather than the other way around.

.

Morning came far quicker for Anton than he expected it too. Ruling out Lumosmon's sudden appearance, that didn't change the fact that he really wanted another hour of sleep. Not that he really had that luxury. No, work came first.

"Kuinka voit, Lumosmon? (How are you, Lumosmon?)" he announced and Lumosmon shined a shade of green. Giving the lantern moth digimon a nod, Anton headed for the bathroom. Once he got dressed, maybe time could be taken to ask around about that girl in the photo. Maybe someone knew her? Entirely possible, but also extremely unlikely. With no clear way of knowing when this photo was taken, he was looking at a dead end. Pushing that mystery back for the moment, Anton got dressed. For today, he had gone for a dress shirt and vest with pants. While not the most comfortable thing in this season, the outfit screamed business casual. A good thing to bring into his presentation today. Or at least try too. That kind of thing depended more on the attire of the other participants than anything else.

Nonetheless, Anton exited the bathroom and headed back to the bed. There, Lumosmon floated in place. Shining green, they did what the analyst suspected was their equivalent of a wave. Motioning for the lantern moth digimon to come over, Anton picked his laptop case up.

"Oletko valmis lähtemään? (Ready to go?)" he announced and watched Lumosmon float over. Heading for the door, Anton found his thoughts turning to the possibilities of the meeting and everything involved with Lumosmon. Surely things were loo-

Opening the door up, he hadn't expected to find a dead woman right across from his hotel room. A brunette, she looked very similar to the girl in the photo. But that couldn't be possible.

"Lumosmon?" Anton called out, watching the lantern moth digimon float over to the woman. Doing a half circle around them, their attention eventually turned to a particular part of the wall. Scrawled onto the wall was a message.

Menoa, fére me píso sto Neverland