Disclaimer: If I owned Fry... heh heh heh heh....
A/N: And now, a fan fiction that needs no introduction... oh, wait, perhaps it does. The first part may seem a bit confusing, especially that last line. This is the introductory chapter, a flashback before Fry wakes up and –
~
Introduction
The Planet Express ship flew through the emptiness of space, past assortments of planets, stars, nebulas, and other spaceships. The delivery of uranium to the nuclear testing facility on Paris 6 had been a success, and the crew was headed home.
Fry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. In it was the best gift Fry could afford, after making several deals with Bender. A traditional diamond engagement ring, adorned with moon sapphires and mars rubies along the sides. It had cost him a lot, but he knew it would all be worth it. He just had to find the right moment.
Bender whistled, propping his legs up on one of the consoles. He'd been lucky the past few days. Fry had been such an idiot, he'd promised Bender his body after he died, when he could have simply begged him to steal the ring for him. Either way, Bender was a happy robot.
The ship cruised past Mars, where Amy had probably finished vacationing while they were gone. She'd be back at the Planet Express headquarters, waiting to do a routine check of the ship's hardware and parts.
The videophone rang, and Leela answered it. "Hello?"
"Leela, it's good to see you again!" the man on the screen said. He was a pasty man with a sax strapped around him.
"Sean, listen, I'm not interested any more."
"You have me all wrong. That whole thing was a misunderstanding; those were my couch's fibers. Hear me out, give me a second chance."
"No, get out of my life."
Sean sighed and put the saxophone to his lips. He played a slow blues song. Leela sighed, while Fry turned around in distress.
"Fine, Sean. One date."
"All right, I'll see you at Elzar's on Saturday at seven." The videophone screen went blank, and Bender started laughing.
"What's gotten into you?" she asked, incredulous.
"Oh – oh man – you've probably just crushed Fry," Bender spluttered, breaking
into more raucous laughter. "And after he promised me his corpse! Poor
meatbag."
Leela gave Bender an odd look, then swiveled her chair over to face Fry. She could see him slumped over his control panel, face hidden in his arms. Confused, she called to him.
"Fry?"
"I suppose you think this is a game," he muttered darkly. He lifted his head up. The reflection on the glass in front of him looked furious.
"I don't know what Bender meant, am I missing something?"
"Oh, nothing, Leela," Fry's tone reached a sarcastic level. "You don't miss a thing. You never noticed my feelings, you never acknowledged anything I did for you, you haven't missed a thing."
"Look, a date with Sean can't hurt. He's a nice guy, but I have –"
"That's what you think! You're so easily tricked that I can't believe what you're trying to tell me!"
"Calm down, buddy," Bender said worriedly. He and Leela were both giving Fry wary looks.
"I almost forgot to give you this. Take it and have a fucking great time at Elzar's tonight." Fry turned around and opened the box, the ring sparkling as the light danced off of it. Then he snatched it up and threw it at her.
There was a second of stunned silence as the ring flashed through the air, slashing Leela above the eye and sent flying elsewhere. The cut began to bleed, but Leela was still lost for words.
The ship had already entered the atmosphere. They were passing through the thin layer of smog above New New York when the ship began to lurch and drop out of the sky.
"Fry, what did you do?" Leela screamed, grabbing the controls. Noticing they were useless, she lifted her eye to the ground that was coming up to meet them through the glass front of the ship.
"I didn't do anything! Maybe the ship is malfunctioning!" Fry panicked. She could see him fumbling with the straps on his seat. Bender was hiding his eyes in preparation for the landing they were about to make.
Leela tore her eye away from Fry just as the ship hit the empty lot and burst into flaming explosions.
~
Far away, in both time and space, Fry opened his eyes.