Hello everyone! I wonder if any of you remember me…. Hmmmm. Lol I hope you do! It has been a while since if posted anything. I am still writing and I felt inspired to write for SRMTHFG once more, and here is a story for New Years.

I DO NOT own the monkey team in any way shape or form, I love'em but I do not own'em.

The last sunset of the year had long since disappeared below the horizon, and the eve of the New Year darkened the skies of Shuggazoom city. The sky seemed like it was dressed up for the occasion, having adorned itself with thousands of glistening stars. It was nippy outside, and snow flurries had kept it so. But for the moment the storm had passed. People were bustling about around the city, heading for parties and gearing up for the festivities sure to come. Chiro had seen it all from his high perch of the super robot's shoulder. He was leaning against the neck of the robot with his legs dangling off the edge, shivering from the cold. He looked at his hands through blurry watery eyes to make sure they were still there; feeling had long since drained from the tips of his fingers to his wrist. He pulled his sweater over them and wrapped his arms over his torso, hugging himself to conserve what little heat he still had in his body. He knew the monkeys noticed his missing presence from the party, but he didn't care, he needed space and this was the only place he could get some. A tortured empty feeling plagued his thoughts and soul with unnerving magnitude as he sat and watched the last night of the year pass slowly around him. Lately all he could feel was this lonely pain that could not be fixed or helped by anything. It was nothing Gibson could remedy with science, Otto with mechanics, Nova with workouts, Sprx with theatrics, or even Antauri with deep theological mentoring. Chiro new this and it just upset him more. Not even Jinmay who was away on duty could make him feel well enough to be normal with her charm.

A faint sound of music woke Chiro out of his rueful stupor. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and looked down towards the park, which was more than one hundred stories down. It stuck him odd to be able to hear something like that from so far away but he listened intently anyway. The music was blaring out of several large speakers situated around the park. The song made Chiro's heart stop and his muscles tense. It was played by a lone musician on a saxophone. The sultry tune was Auld Lang Synge. Chiro cried out in frustration as his mental anguish onslaught intensified. He rushed to his feet, but did not realize his legs had been numbed by winter's cruel consequence and he fell to his knees then on his face. The Robot's bitter cold metallic armor stung his face, the pain fuzzy then prominent; his sense of feeling deadened around his face as well as everywhere else. The tears poured out of his eyes, that song just reinforced the realization of years passed for him. It meant another year has gone by, and more are to come. All the years spent by himself he remembered clearly, not one did he forget. All the pain from his past tore out of his memories. All the bullying and mockery he endured for all those years clung to his consience and made him weep harder. In all that time he never knew the love of others, the orphanage too overcrowded for such attention. The only friendship and love he had ever received had been solely from the monkey team, but those old wounds were too great to be cured so easily. Would he be alone in the future? Would the Skeleton King get to them? Every dastardly plot he came up with just seemed to keep getting more crafty and cunning. There was so much, too much to forget.

Chrio lifted himself up to his hands and knees; the shivering had become uncontrollable and verging on unstoppable. He could feel Antauri's worry pouring into his clouded mind, as well as the rest of the monkey team's anxious thoughts. Chiro struggled to move his legs but the pain it caused him made him fall flat on his face again. He was sure frostbite was getting to him, and a strange urge to sleep came over him. He was so far out of it now, he did not know if he heard a hatch door open or if it was just his imagination and with that drifted off into the dark abyss that surrounded his consciousness.

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First he heard inaudible voices humming in the distance, and all he saw was nothing. Then voices stopped but the darkness continued. He slowly regained awareness, and his senses began to function. It was warm were ever it was and from the tips of his toes to his nose all he felt was the stinging pain of his skin coming back to life from the cold. Once his hearing was normal he could tell he was not far from the main room, in the med lab most likely. He could also hear all his teammates counting backwards. He realized that midnight must not be far away, and everything hit him again and made his stomach knot up. He laid there and waited from the countdown to cease, and at last they came to the final ten seconds.

"….10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" The team cheered.

Chiro felt himself smile.

We love you Chiro.

Chiro heard all their voices in his mind.

We will always be there for you.

I'm sorry. He told them

Your past is not your fault, Chiro, you did not choose for your life to start that way, and you worries of the future we all share. You're not alone in that mindset of the possible outcomes of our war.Antauri told him trying to comfort him.

I shouldn't let it get me down.

But you should not keep it in either. We can sympathize with your plight in a way; you do not need to hold it in until it destroys you as you have done. Enough right now, sleep you need it, Chiro. Antauri said and left him alone.

Next time don't stand outside until you're practically a Popsicle! Sprx offered his two cents of advice.

Shut up sprx! Nova yelled at him still through thought. But Chiro heard a crash in the other room.

Chrio chuckled to himself not surprised at their antics, and then he shifted into a more comfortable sleeping position. He could sense the others relief of his now seemingly calm demeanor but he also knew it would take a lot more than Antauri's words to heal him. He sighed, and before he settled in to sleep for the night he tried to reassure his troubled spirit one last time.

It's just another Auld Lang Syne….

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It's just another Auld Lang Syne is supposed to mean , just another year passed, or the end has come and the beginning has started. Also a fresh start.

Its a very nice tune if you've ever heard it on a saxophone.

Happy News Years, please review. I want to know if my writing has gotten any better, whatever you want to SAY IT ( well write it ) . I embrace criticism and work to perfect my writing.

-SuperNova077