Disclaimer: ReBoot is owned by Mainframe Entertainment. The song lyrics from "Bokutachi wa Tenshi Datta" ("We Used to Be Angels"), is the Japanese second ending theme for "Dragon Ball Z", making it owned by Akira Toriyama (da man), Bird Studios (love you guys), and Toei (you rule).
Time Frame: After "End Prog", but before the Mainframers went to Strolling Players.
Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I'm doing it again. Incorporating an anime song into a ReBoot song fic. But, hey, a song is a song, and if ReBoot was an anime, this song would be perfect for it! So, this isn't the English version of "Bokutachi wa Tenshi Datta", it's the Japanese version, because it's better in lyrics, I think. So, like with "Last Impression", the translation is in italic/bold, and the Japanese is in italic. This is from Bob's point of view, and I'm using User time. Enjoy!
After one year in the Web, Enzo, AndrAIa, Frisket and I found each other again. After one year of wondering about what happened to my friends, I found out their fate.
Fate.
Fate is a bitch. Look at our fate . . . I was lost in the Web; Matrix, AndrAIa and Frisket were lost in the games; Dot, Mouse and Phong were trapped in Mainframe with two insane virals. Yet, in the end, our fate was the same . . . We were all lost, then trapped, with no way out! I was lost in the Web with no way out. Matrix, AndrAIa, and Frisket were lost in the Games with no way out. Dot, Mouse and Phong were trapped in Mainframe with no way out!
Yeah, fate's a bitch. Fate took everything from us . . . Even each other. Fate took Enzo's childhood; fate took the innocence that made Dot who she was; fate took its toll on me, because I know I will never be the same. Fate took the one thing that can never be replaced: innocence.
We used to be angels . . . But without innocence, what are angels?
Angel...Angel...Angel...
Where time buried our memories,
We were really angels,
But even without innocence we managed to save Mainframe. We managed to defeat Megabyte, save Hexadecimal, and then save Mainframe from the brink of destruction! Maybe we aren't lost yet? We managed to restore happiness . . . We managed to salvage some of our previous life . . . We managed to triumph over evil . . . We erased sadness . . . Sadness . . . But did we manage to erase our own sadness?
From above the sky, the seeds of love are scattered,
From this world, sadness was erased,
I keep looking at the sky . . . The sky that used to be dark and dreary, but, because of us, it's now that pleasant, bright color that I remember it to be. But I know that there are many battles that lay ahead of us -- many battles that I don't want to fight.
One battle is the battle with Daemon. No one knows about Daemon except for myself, AndrAIa, Matrix, the Saucy Mare crew, Ray, and Frisket. Mouse, Dot, Enzo . . . no one who wasn't in the Web knows about Daemon. We're going to have to tell them sooner or later, and that's going to be a problem. Dot is trying hard to regain who she was . . . A simple business girl, not a military commander who had to deal with the loss of her system, as well as her family and friends. I don't think I can tell her that her commandeering days aren't over just yet.
Another battle is the battle to find who we once were. So far, Matrix is a lost cause. He pushed himself over the edge to survive, and he's having one helluva time finding his way back. With Enzo around, though, he seems to not want to come even close to being anything like that "weak little boy" he once was. He doesn't realize that he wasn't weak. If he was weak, Mainframe would have been gone a long, long time ago.
Dot is trying, just like she has always tried her best at everything. She hides it well, but I know it's there. I know she doesn't want to lose what she has become. Why? Because if she does, I think that she thinks she'll let everyone down, just like she let me down when Megabyte double crossed us. What she doesn't know is that she didn't let me down. If she let me down, I would hate her right now. Every fiber of my body would be crying out for me to rip her apart for everything her "let down" put me through. Thing is, I don't hate her, and I don't want to rip her apart. Those feelings I reserved for Megabyte.
Mouse . . . . Now Mouse I envy. The only change I see in Mouse, is that she's more comfortable around us Mainframers; she and Dot are closer; and she's toned down a bit. She's been through tough times, she's seen things, and she didn't change that much. I wish I was Mouse.
And, hey, look at this, it's the same with AndrAIa. She's stronger, smarter, and all of the above, but as far as I can tell, she's just about the same. A little taller, full-blown hottie, but still the same. Then again, I didn't know her that well when she was a kid, and I haven't known her that long as an adult, so I guess the jury is still out on her.
Phong . . . Phong is more . . . withdrawn. Withdrawn, but still the same sprite I remember. Thank the User.
Me? I'm not trying. And that's the thing, I don't want to try. I've come to like what I've become. I'm stronger, smarter, and I've learned from my stupid mistakes in the past. All of them. I still have some of my old personality, but for now, I like being serious over goofy. This way, I know that I can protect Mainframe, and my friends, better than I could a year ago.
That's it. Some of us changed, some of us didn't. Some of us like it, some of us don't. That's how it is.
Hey, keep looking up at the blue sky,
Won't courage come boiling up?...but now,
And maybe that's the good thing about it all? If we remain who we are now, and leave be who we were then, we can move on! Right? That's what we're all trying to do: move on. Get on with it. It's over, done with, goodbye, farewell, see ya later, go to hell! That's what we're all trying to say to our past . . . But none of us are actually doing it. We may have been angels then, but we've lost our wings . . . But we can still embrace the light of the future . . . I hope.
Hope.
That's a hard one. I hoped for a long time that I'd find a way out . . . I hoped that Mainframe would survive . . . I hoped that Enzo would be all right. I did find a way out; Mainframe did survive, if only by a thread; and Enzo was all right . . . He was alive. That's all that matters to me: he's alive. They're alive. I don't care what they've become, I just care that I still have them in my life.
Yes, that's all that really matters to me. We're all together again, and we're all alive.
To my friends -- you've lost the wings from your back, but
A strange power still remains,
To my friends -- embrace the light -- you'll see the dream!
Look! In your eyes, there'll be rainbows,
The hardships of our fates may have made us dirty . . . Marred our perfect records of doing right, instead of wrong . . . But everyone knows that each and every one of us did something to survive that we're ashamed of . . . Yeah, we all did something like that. To survive, we'd do anything. To make it back to each other, anything will go. And it's still the same. No matter what, we'll always find our way back. We'll always be together no matter what. Nothing will, or can, ever change that.
After all, so many have tried, so many have failed. So many will try, so many will fail. We'll make sure of that -- always. We've been through too much, for too long, to ever be ripped apart . . . And that is how it will always be.
You say the streets made you dirty, but
Now, your tears are clear
And it will always be that way because we all love each other. I love Mouse, Enzo, Matrix, Ray, AndrAIa, Phong, Hex, Hack and Slash, everyone . . . But especially Dot. Dot . . . Dot kept me going, I think. I mean, thinking of Mainframe gave me strength while in the Web, too, but knowing that Dot was out there . . . suffering . . . I couldn't stand it. And I couldn't stand it because I loved her then, and I love her now.
I love everything about her . . . Her hidden strengths, her humor, her smile, her eyes, and oh my User, I'm getting all mushy. I really gotta stop thinking like this . . . But I know it's the truth. Dot is Dot, and Dot is who I love. Nothing will ever change that.
Kicking a can around the cloudy plaza, the moon sinks, With your heart's arrow, someone fell in love,
Sou egaku bijon,
Genjitsu ni suru mahou ga attanda...honto sa,
Yes, the vision I describe,
Can become reality--you've got the magic...really!
As long as we keep on believing in tomorrow, in ourselves, in our abilities, in our hope, in our dreams, there will always be light . . . There will always be hope. That's what we can believe in. Hope for tomorrow . . . Hope for ourselves . . . Hope for our system . . . The Net . . . The Web . . . Everything. The journey may be painful, but we've already journeyed through that path, and we made it. We'll make it again, and again, and again if we have to.
We may not be angels anymore, we may have lost our wings, but no one ever said that we can't get them back . . .
To my friends--as long as you keep believing in tomorrow,
This desert will become a paradise,
To my friends--It may be painful, but if you work through it,
Now the blossom of love will open in your heart.
Angel...Angel...Angel...
The End