The Orb

Nova shuffled along the path home, yawning widely and rubbing at his eyes with the back of a paw. He couldn't wait to get back home and climb into bed. His legs ached from dancing all night, and he was glad he had the next day off.

He'd been walking home from Cosmos, the local arcade he worked at part-time, when he'd noticed a small glint of light coming from an alleyway. Crime on AREZ was almost unheard of, so Nova felt he might as well go check it out. Figuring someone had just dropped their device, he ambled deeper into the alley. Pulling his own device from his pouch and turning on the light so he could see better as he strayed further from the main path.

Instead of a device or a lost passport that he'd expected, laying on the ground was an orb. Nova didn't recognize it at first, I mean sure, he'd seen orbs before. He was raised in the ARC labs like all the other Xero his age and had been taught about his origins and the effort to revive his species. He never expected to see one outside of the lab, however, recalling how they needed constant care and attention to properly develop.

Nearly dropping his device in surprise, he rushed over to the orb and carefully picked it up. It was small, able to fit in the palm of Nova's hand. The weight and size of it were much like the skee balls he spent so much time rolling at the arcade, except this one held life fragile, precious life.

He could barely make out the form of a baby Xero in the orb, it was hard to believe that he had once been this small. Putting his device back into his pouch, he cradled the orb in both paws. Nova looked around him, even though logically he knew that whoever left the orb is long gone by now.

He knew he should do the right thing and immediately bring the orb to the nearest lab. Who knew what the time outside might have done to the orb.

But even as he thought this, Nova found himself walking back home, rather than to the lab. His eyes remained glued to the orb even as he told himself that he needed to return it to where it belonged. With the closing of the door to his apartment behind him, it seemed as if the spell had broken.

Slowly sitting on his bed and gently putting the orb down next to him, Nova took his head in his paws and groaned loudly. Why had he just done that?? He had no idea how to take care of an orb! Pulling his device back out of his pouch, Nova took to searching the internet.

As it turned out, the ARC holds its secrets about early Xero care very close to its chest. No matter what he searched or where he looked, Nova couldn't find more than just vague rumors about what goes on in ARC's labs before Xero are fostered. Xero themselves are of course too young to remember anything about the lab, and those that work with ARC are careful to never go into detail about their process.

Sighing and closing out the tabs he had gathered, Nova wondered what on AREZ he was going to do now. What he'd done was likely very illegal, and would probably get him into some serious trouble. He'd have to be very careful with his next move. Of course, he could just go to the lab now and explain what had happened. Surely they would understand that it'd been a mistake. But for some reason, Nova hesitated. He almost wanted to keep the orb.

Despite his energetic and outgoing personality, Nova was honestly pretty lonely. He'd always found it hard to keep friends, oftentimes getting occupied by one thing or another for days on end and completely forgetting other people existed. He'd also always wished for something akin to a younger sibling, someone who shared his hobbies and interests.

Picking up the orb once more, still holding his device in his other paw, Nova made his decision. He knew he'd likely never be able to officially foster another Xero, so this was his best chance. Scrolling through his contacts until he found the one he needed, he didn't hesitate this time.

"Hey, Frankie."