“How about… Xavier?”

“Hm… I don’t know, seems a bit foreign.”

“Well, I don’t see you coming up with any ideas!”

Seungmin and Taekwoon were seated at a flimsy table and sipping on their coffee, rubbing out the remnants of sleep from their eyes, debating the hot topic for that (early) morning: XV’s name.

It has been two months since XV began his residency at the sanctuary, and yet he still lacked a name. Ever since the first moment he opened his eyes he had been addressed by his model- XV, or its full version- a_XV, android of the fifteenth edition. It’s all he knew. And yet his fellow specialists spent the entirety of the morning discussing (bickering, was more accurate) what his new official name should be, since soon enough he won’t be the only XV type in Heiligtum Sanctuary.

“And besides,” Seungmin argued her stance when the topic first came up. “Everyone needs a name.” She concluded by fixing her glasses over her nose.

“I have a name.” XV then said, somewhat warily as the two doctors stared at each defiantly, half-irked, half-sleepy. He was just as present at the table as they were and yet the argument was seemingly held over his head, as if Taekwoon and Seungmin forgot he was even there.

“Of course you do, XV,” Taekwoon replied kindly, looking apologetic all of a sudden. “You don’t have to change anything if you don’t want to.”

Taekwoon was the one originally opposed to XV changing his name. “Would you change your name two months into your coherent existence?” He raised a disapproving brow, to which Seungmin rolled her eyes and huffed out an exasperated breath through her nose, then ignored his fairly valid question by raising one of her own.

Why Xavier of all names? XV pondered. He understood that the name held some resemblance to his current initials, bearing both the letters X and V, but that wasn’t enough. He then went on to search for its etymology, looking for further logic to support Seungmin’s suggestion.

“I suppose Xavier could be appropriate,” He offered, raising two curious glances from the specialists as they slurped on their morning beverages in turn. “As it means ‘Owns a new house’, and… I guess I do own a new house, in a way.”

Seungmin laid her mug down with a victorious smile directed at no one in particular, whereas Taekwoon frowned into another sip.

“But I don’t know,” XV continued. “I like being called XV.”

What he didn’t say was that he didn’t want to change the name his original companion gave to him. It was the only thing he had left from him, and he wanted, no—needed, to hold on to it. He could have been named Hongbin because he did have his face, but that name already belonged to someone else. His name was XV, and he may have started a new life but that didn’t mean he had to cut all previous ties to his past. Taekwoon seemed to understand that.

“Don’t worry about it,” He replied, curling his into a soft smile again. “Seungmin was just giving out a friendly suggestion, wasn’t she?” Taekwoon looked almost scornful, but most of his expressions were so subtle that even XV’s internal social manuals were overdriven in attempt to decipher them.

“Yeah yeah,” Seungmin waved a noncommittal hand and blew on the thinning streak of smoke rising from the dark drink. “Sorry, XV”, She added more genuinely. 

It was silent for a while as the atmosphere loosened from its tension and eased back into the quiet groggy serenity that roamed over Heiligtum during the early morning hours. It was too early for coffee, as far as XV understood, since the artificial lighting of the sanctuary was still dimmed, indicating that the sun had yet to rise, but a night shift usually did consist of tired yawns and hourly caffeine refills… for the humans, at least.

XV himself still had enough energy to last at least twelve more hours, though his recharging sessions were somewhat sporadic. His energy levels were dependant on the amount of work he had that day so he’d simply operate until his system warned him of upcoming fatigue, and only then he’d clock out and head to the recharging chamber. These few days, he recalled, didn’t require more than a session every thirty hours or so, but he did remember times when he’d stumble into his recharger only twelve hours into his shift, exhausted beyond compare.

The two doctors and their new android intern were nearing the end of their shift, celebrating  the beginning of the last hour before they get to head home for a well deserved sleep (or carry on with their day, in XV’s case) with a peaceful silence.

“What do you usually do with the unnamed arrivals?” XV went on to ask.

“Well,” Seungmin started. “Pastor Hwang is usually the one to name the anon droids, so he goes for whichever saint is honored on that particular day.”

“Your name would have been… Blase, if I’m not mistaken. Or Ansgar.” Taekwoon added with an amused smile playing on his lips, and Seungmin shot him an impressed glance.

“I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about catholic saints!” She exclaimed with a smirk.

Taekwoon muffled a chuckle. “Enough time around Pastor Hwang does that to you.”

“Isn’t there an Ansgar in ward three?” XV asked. “I think I gave him a cognition checkup last week.”

“Yeah,” Seungmin said. “He checked in about a year before you came and he’s been… quite damaged,” She added hesitantly. “That’s why he’s still here a year later. We still don’t know what happened to him.”

“He’s a good droid.” Taekwoon’s pursed his lips into a firm line, and Seungmin nodded solemnly.

 XV remembered caring for him that day, recalling how pleasant Ansgar was; all smiles and good manners, but his long term memory was severely impaired, so much that he couldn’t tell XV his name, not to mention the time or where he was. Every morning the staff would explain his whereabouts to him, and he would accept it willingly knowing that where he came from was much worse, though he didn’t remember why. XV knew that Ansgar’s yearly evaluation was coming up and that he would be “recycled” if he fails the tests. Lost Cause androids were sent to a board that decided their fate, most of which were eventually deactivated and used for spare parts. It was sad but inevitable.

The three suddenly became glum, as if all their thoughts had shifted towards the morbid sentiment that hung in the air.

XV tried to distract himself by thinking back to this particular shift. It was a quiet one, no emergencies this time. Every once in a while there would be a new discrete arrival in the middle of the night, just like his had been, but there wasn’t many of those since that large batch Taekwoon took him to receive on his first day at the sanctuary. If android’s had passions, XV concluded, this was his. For the longest time he didn’t know what he was made to do, what his default setting required of him other than being a social being, but all it took for him was one look at a patient to realize that he was a healer, and suddenly he had a purpose; a good one.

“How are your energy levels, XV?” Taekwoon asked, pulling XV out of his thoughts.

“At about seventy percent,” He responded. “I could go for another shift.”

Seungmin’s mousy features spread into a wide smile. “The perfect laborer!” She chuckled.

“The dream of every employer!” Taekwoon added with a playful nudge at XV’s side.

XV smiled in response. It took him a while to get used to the human humor, specifically the one of his friends’, but he soon realized how enjoyable frequent laughter was, whether he was the one initiating it, or merely listening to it coming from his peers. Happiness seemed to be the best, most contagious bug.

All of a sudden Taekwoon’s and Seungmin’s beepers went off at the same time, immediately diminishing the uplifted mood in the room. They both cast their eyes down to their devices with a frown that seemed to say “now out of all times?” before getting up somewhat reluctantly.

XV didn’t have a beeper of his own since he was still just an intern, so he went on to look at the doctors with a question in his eyes.

“New arrival”, was all Taekwoon said as they all began to head out and upstairs to the ground level doubling as a church.

The three specialists on call weren’t even close to the entrance when the heavy doors opened up as two caretakers made their way inside, each holding a different end of a stretcher that held the “new arrival”.

“Found this one hiding behind a car in a parking lot,” One of them said once they approached. “He didn’t say a word the entire time but he did put up a fight.” He added and rubbed his jaw with a grimace.

“His energy levels are stable, but we had to initiate an emergency shutdown. He wouldn’t cooperate any other way.”

Taekwoon and Seungmin nodded as the caretakers explained the case, but XV was more focused on the figure lying motionless on the stretcher.

The church was only illuminated by the green exit sign glowing on top of the entrance and the dim misty streetlight flooding into the empty vicinity. An initial inspection was needed before they take him downstairs for the full evaluation, just to see what exactly they were dealing with to determine the exact route of action. Taekwoon then went on to kneel down and fish a flashlight from his pocket, flicking it on and shining it over the android.

“Oh,” He mused as the light hit the android’s face, and turned to look at XV with bewilderment creasing his brows. “Isn’t that a…?”

XV was speechless. He has never seen another XV before. Only then as he looked down at the serene, smooth features of the android he understood how he himself could have been mistaken as human. Because the unconscious XV on the stretcher could very well had been just a slumbering twenty something year old male, and he couldn’t stop staring.

His features were fairly customized too- he had a high, straight edged nose and an interesting curve to the seam of his lips. His hairline was lower than usually seen on androids and his eyebrows were surprisingly unkempt… and there was the wound. The flesh from his cheek down to his collarbone had been completely peeled off, exposing the upper layer of metal that made up his bone structure. His shirt was torn just below the gash, indicating that something managed to scrape straight through his clothes, his artificial muscles and tissue. But even then, XV thought, he was… extremely beautiful.

Suddenly all eyes were on XV, awaiting his response, but he didn’t know what to say. It was as if he was meeting a long lost relative he knew nothing about. It was beyond strange.

“Well then,” Seungmin cleared . “Let’s get him downstairs and patch him up.”

Seungmin’s words seemed to have lifted some sort of spell because the motionless specialists suddenly shook themselves out of their shock and resumed assessing the situation. The all began heading towards the stairwell with XV following closely behind, eyes still locked on the strange sight of the new arrival swaying slightly on the stretcher, almost expecting him to open his eyes and stare right back, mimicking XV’s curiosity and wariness. He then went on to wonder what color his eyes were.

“You okay there, XV?” Taekwoon interrupted his discussion with the caretaker to look back at XV with concern. XV only nodded, not trusting himself enough to try and form a sentence.

The sleep deprived doctors did not seem the slightest bit tired anymore, their focus having had shifted completely to the strange new case as they conversed in hushed voices. XV was more than intrigued. Who is he? Where did he come from?

“Looks like this wasn’t such a boring shift after all,” One of the caretakers muttered as he adjusted his grip on the stretcher. And XV couldn’t have agreed more.