Well no one told me about her, what could I do
Well no one told me about her, though they all knew
But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care
Please don't bother tryin' to find her
She's not there
Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she'd act and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there
But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care
Please don't bother tryin' to find her
She's not there
Obsolete.
One word that had always been in the back of my mind, nagging at my conscious. One word that threatened my future, and made me wish it'd never come. I wanted to tell myself that I could be repaired, and I'd never have to face that frightening word...
I was a technological wonder; and after awhile I was proud of my body, and proud of the way I could manage it. Though it could never be better than being human and being able to feel with my own skin, I was grateful for what I had. Without the technology, I'd be a pile of limbs.
But like all technology, after a long time it wears. It becomes old. Obsolete.
My breath rises in steam from the cold that I can't actually feel as I stand at the window, staring out over the city that I used to protect. The skyline is gray and clouded with hazy smog. The moon doesn't even cast a glow over the dreary snow that covers the streets and skyscrapers. This skyline used to be beautiful... this window used to be whole, instead of a huge spider web crack through its middle, with glass shattered on the floor. Her blorthog chimes are still lying where they were dropped twenty years ago, when this tower used to be home to five laughing teens...
Now, it only has me.
I'd leave. I'd get away from here, away from the memories, and from my past. But I can't. I wouldn't get far. Besides, I don't have a reason to anymore. After she disappeared, we fell apart.
We fought. All of us. No one really understood just how much she added to the team until she was gone. We were disoriented. Even Raven's usually expressionless face looked worried. And Robin... he was the worst of all. He paced back and forth, and no one could calm him down. After two years, the rest of us gave up. We couldn't track her. She was gone, and the rest of us accepted it. But he couldn't. He argued. Words we didn't really mean were said, he stormed out, and we never saw him again. Soon after, Beast Boy and Raven fought with each other too, and they both went their separate ways. And I? I stayed here. I didn't know what else to do.
With all of my friends gone, I let myself go. There didn't seem to be a reason for me to keep up with the replacements, or to polish my chrome. I hid away in the tower, and let time pass on, and that word crept ever closer.
I didn't realize how empty my life could be without my friends, or just how much life she herself gave to the team. Sure everyone, except for maybe Robin, found her cheerfulness annoying at one point or another-- especially Raven. But once she was gone, the happiness was sucked out of us all. We argued and then... we broke up.
Life came to a complete halt. But there was no honor in dying, so I lived on, working on my own bits of technology, maybe someday selling a few of the inventions I had created, and have a purpose once again.
I laugh ruefully and shake my head. Maybe this is all a dream... and tomorrow I'll wake up and my friends will be back, and she'll have never left.
I sadly turn away from the window and begin to head back to my old room. As I did so, I heard someone calling out in the tower.
I wanted to believe it...
I heard her voice. I ran back to the place where I had just come from, and there she was in the old living room, staring out into the murky polluted waters of the bay.
I called her name, hoping against hope that she wasn't just a vision.
She turned to me, and I gasped as she ran forward and threw her arms around my neck.
She hadn't aged a day since she disappeared twenty years ago.
It all makes sense now... where she's been all this time.
She wants me to come with her, to find the others. I want to, but I can't. She looks sad, and I tell her I can't.
I'm obsolete.