Jove stared at the strange piece of machinery that had once ruled the planet. It laid plump, now, its lifelessness eerilie poignant for all who saw it. They had tried everything to revive Master. Every combination of mechanics and machinery could not bring back the old beast. He sighed. Without Master, soon the whole planet would run out of oxygen, and they would all die. He felt it everyday. Master had provided warmth to them all, but in each breath he felt less air for breathing.
He looked away, hopelessness filling his soul. Was there even a way to stop the inevitable? He thought back to his family, before the earthquake. They had been so happy. Jove could play music for hours. He was full and felt the warmth of his family as they spent their days in a cabin nestled between glorious sunsets and the tastes of a strawberry farm. Just thinking about them now made his heart go bitter. He never wanted to revisit those same old songs. He didn't have the strength to go play for hours like he used to.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4zSw5Faw8
He looked out into the distance of strangers paying their respects to Master, but one person stood out to him in particular. It was a lone, crying woman.
"Hello?" He called to the woman. She didn't look up. Jove carried his piano with him. He wanted an audience to play for. Maybe, in the last moments of humanity, he could provide a bit of comfort to her.
"Are you in need of anything?" He asked. She looked up at him, her ragged black hair falling to her shoulders. "There's nothing you can do to help." She responded. He frowned, taking out his piano. He started to play his favorite piece of classical. They weren't the ones that his family liked, but they were easy. Simple. They felt nice to play, and they didn't bring up painful memories. The woman stood up.
"Y-you're really good." Jove smiled, still playing, his fingers dancing over the piano. "Thank you. It's people like you who encourage me to stay a street performer." He calmly responded.
Suddenly, a scream reverberated throughout the terrace. Jove looked up, and stopped playing. Everything seemed the same, though. It was the woman who had screamed. "It was Master!"
Murmurs whisped throughout the crowd. "I saw Master! It was awake, for a moment." The woman laughed and smiled, as if they had all been given a million dollars. She turned to Jove. "Keep playing. Maybe that'll wake it up."
So Jove continued to play classical, but nothing happened. But something had awoken within him. He had started to remember why he played. It made other people happy to hear his music, and now that incredible feeling had been brought back inside him. He continued to play, the streams of music appearing from his fingertips. He thought about his cousin, who also loved to make music. He hadn't seen him in years, though. After a few moments, he heard another scream. Again, it was the woman.
"Just keep playing!" She shouted at him. So he played. Jove looked up for a moment, but Master was lifeless yet again. Jove sighed. Inevitably, his thoughts came back to his family. They never stayed in the real world. He hated himself for thinking about them. He desperately missed his family. They hadn't survived the earthquake. Why would he go on? He was the only remainder of their memories. They hadn't meant much to others, but they meant everything to him.
Jove started to play a different toon. It was a pop song that his brother used to like. He smiled, thinking about the joyful moments where they would dance to it. He closed his eyes. He didn't even have to see the music, he could just play it by memory. Soon, he was entrenched in scenes of Wednesday dances and picking blueberries out of trees. He felt apple pie in his mouth and his mother's warm hugs gripping his body tight. He heard whispers of wind rattle the great forests, and he saw visions of the dazzling sunsets by the lakeside. He heard a familiar call: keep playing, Jove. You bring life to everywhere you play. So he played and played, as he never had since the earthquake.
Soon, he felt life revisit his lungs. Each breathe seemed to have more life in it instead of less. He opened his eyes, feeling warmth and seeing a bright light coming from Master. It was alive again, the grand machine that ran the world. Jove continued to play, his hands moving on his own, and the sweet memories chugging through his head.
The woman was crying. Master was alive. There was a chance to rebuild and keep going, despite all they had endured. People were cheering Jove in delight, like his own family had. Perhaps there was a life worth living, even if only a few moments were like this. Even so, he would take every single one of them.
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