As the crowd filed out of the theatre, Fry slumped back into the rickety chair, downcast. The only sound was the rustle of bodies as frowning audience members shuffled out of the seats and made their ways for the exits. Mutters of discontent could still be heard as the last spectators abandoned the performance and the auditorium doors thudded shut. The Planet Express crew stood up and made their ways to the aisle. Leela stopped for a moment to look up at the young man on the stage who had done his best to perform the opera for her as he buried his face in his hands, the holophoner clattering to the floor beside him. Bender, Zoidberg, Hermes, and the Professor all headed for the door, but Amy hung back a bit, watching the cyclops sympathetically.
"Hey, Leela? You comin'?" she asked delicately. Leela glanced at her with a friendly smile.
"You go ahead," she urged, "I'll be out in a bit." Amy nodded understandingly and headed out after the others. Leela returned her concentration to the stage as the spotlight shut off with a noisy clank, dipping her into the darkness and silence of the music hall. The only thing visible in the theatre was Fry's shaking silhouette on the otherwise empty stage. As though she had surrendered control of her movements to a being with a better idea of what to do with them, she found herself striding down the aisle towards the stage stairs. Fry needed someone with him at the time, and she wanted to be the one to be there for him. As much as she'd denied feeling anything for him for the past couple years, she couldn't help but admit that the opera had seemingly changed that. She could try her hardest to convince herself that she wasn't falling in love with Fry, but instead with the talent he'd received from some harebrained scheme to make her feel the same way about him that he did about her. Somehow, though, she didn't feel it would work. Somehow, she didn't think she even wanted it to anymore. Just because he couldn't express his feelings about her in the world's grandest opera didn't mean that he didn't have them. Maybe those stupid Hallmark cards are right, she mused to herself, Maybe it is the thought that counts. Sure, the end of his performance had definitely left a lot to the imagination for an operagoer, but that wasn't what she had been listening to. She couldn't hear anything past the sincerity of it all. He'd been given the chance of a lifetime and he'd wasted it on her. The weight of this thought threatened to drag her down as she tread gingerly up the stairs and onto the stage. Her heels clicked lightly on the worn wood as she strode towards Fry. He had stopped shaking, but he was still hunched over in shame, hiding his face from the world. Leela kneeled down next to him, laying a gloved hand on his shoulder. She could feel his frame rise and fall with heavy breaths as he rubbed his eyes with his sleeve.
"Fry?" He glanced up at her out of the corner of his eye, hesitant to face her.
"Yeah?" She picked up his holophoner from the floor and handed it to him gently.
"Don't stop playing." His bleary expression turned to one of uncertainty as he glanced from the girl kneeling next to him to the holophoner in his lap. "I want to hear how it ends," she said as he looked at her again. Smiling meekly, he wiped his nose on his sleeve and nodded. Leela reclined to a sitting position next to his chair, leaning against him as he straightened up and raised the instrument to his lips. Blowing into it, a sincere, yet slightly muddled tune issued out, forming into a swirl of colors before their eyes. Two simple, but meaningful figures formed in the air, coming together in a loving embrace before they were lightly swept off into the distance, loping on a calm breeze to go and form their very own happy ending.