Alive: to Live is to Love

Chapter 1

Everything was in shambles.

The world seemed to have turned upside down and for what?

Nothing.

The following day had been dreadful for Y/n.

After her father's passing everything seemed to just turn black, there was no more color in her life and she made sure people could see it too.

For the entire day, she wore nothing but black and although she tried to keep the usual sweet and cheerful smile on her face it was replaced by a stoic frown whenever no one was looking.

Since word quickly got out that the great painter Carl Manfred had died many people had reached out to give her their condolences, though if Y/n was being honest she couldn't feel any of it.

She now understood why her father hated half-hearted people.

They were only there at her father's wake for the sake of making connections and the possibility of being able to snatch a famous art piece but she was having none of it.

Y/n tried to be optimistic when people talked to her and she found it relatively easy to pretend and fake her smile.

One minute she would be smiling but the moment they turn away from her then that's when she crumbles.

People knew Y/n Manfred as the sparkling sunshine that made Carl's life better, the light in his darkness.

The sweet and positive girl whose art showed how colorful and beautiful the world could be.

But who's going to be the light in her darkness?

Her thoughts shifted to another person that had been a part of her life only to be taken away on the same day her father left.

Markus.

She knew that her father's time was coming to an end but she didn't expect it to be like this.

She thought she'd had a little more time.

She thought she'd have Markus by her side when he passes.

But she had thought wrong.

-

After hearing his passing and the so-called "deviant incident" that was Markus, Elijah Kamski had gifted her a new household android. An android she named Michel.

She named her Michel coming from the famous painter Michelangelo after seeing an art piece made by him that her father loved.

It was kind of a way to keep his memories alive.

Michel came a few hours after news of Carl's passing had been publicly announced and although she was thankful for having a new companion by her side it still wasn't the same.

He wasn't Markus.

She could still see his green eyes and his playful smile whenever she would wake up late.

She could still hear the soft melodies of the piano when she would request him to play or when he just felt like it.

She could still hear him beg for her father to not go and calling him "Dad".

She could still hear the gun shot that took his life away.

She could still see him when she closes her eyes.

People would call her crazy for developing such an attachment to an android but she wouldn't care.

Markus had been a part of her life, and now that he was gone she realizes he'd been a special part of her life. Android or not she knew she cared for him and after seeing him cry and beg for her father to come back she knew he could feel too.