"But . . . but . . . what do you mean there's no Philip J. Fry? I'm standing right here,"

"You stand there as a stranger with no identity. You're not the man you were moments ago, because that man is gone. Wiped from existence,"

Fry stood up then, looking over the balcony in disbelief. Well, perhaps not disbelief. He believed that Nibbler had done it, but how could he have? He didn't feel any different, he didn't look any different. But the thought that he truly had been 'wiped from existence' lifted a big weight off of his shoulders. No more running from the mafia or the police, no more being unable to provide for his family. All the stress and pain he'd felt just minutes ago was gone.

"Well, good," was all he said in response.

Nibbler thinned his lips together, solemnly. "Don't you want to get out of here then, stranger? You don't work here, you aren't supposed to be here,"

Fry looked at the Planet Express building behind him. It also looked no different. Still, though, Nibbler was probably right. It'd be better to get out of here. He turned and made his way back into the building, Nibbler waddling closely behind him. They climbed down the stairs and entered the hangar, but instead of being greeted to the usual sight of the large Planet Express ship, there was nothing but wide-open space in front of him. Fry did a double take, but when he looked again, there was still nothing there.

"Nibbler, are you not seeing this?"

"Huh?"

Fry rubbed his eyes. "The ship, it's gone! I thought I saw it when I came up here, but I guess maybe I was just imagining things. Huh. That's weird, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is," said Nibbler.

Scruffy rolled his cart into the room, whistling an unfamiliar tune. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Fry, but didn't say anything, just kept on walking. If it had been anyone else, Fry might've thought it was weird, but this was Scruffy. He barely knew who he was anyway. "Bye, Scruffy!" Fry waved to him, cheerfully.

He and Nibbler left through the backdoor, walking down the back alley until they reached one of New New York's busiest streets. Fry was smiling brightly, admiring all the happy looking families exploring the streets on Xmas eve. He wished some of them a Merry Xmas, getting only a few muffled replies in response.

"Fry, don't you notice anything strange?" asked Nibbler after a few minutes.

"Strange, how?"

Nibbler said nothing, hoping that the dim man would pick up on it by himself. It took less time than Nibbler would've expected – when they approached Times Square, Fry finally said "Hey, where are all the hovercrafts? There's just cars here! Just like the twentieth century,"

"You were never born Fry," Nibbler repeated.

"Yeah, I know, but what does that have to do with anything?"

He stopped Fry from walking and climbed on top of his shoulder to explain things further. "You were never born, Fry, and because you were never born, you never slept with your grandmother and conceived your father. Since your father was never born, your brother was never born and he didn't have the son who would lead the journey to Mars. That expedition to Mars was the reason space travel and hover travel interest increased,"

Fry's expression was still blank.

Nibbler rolled his eyes, "There are no hover cars because you chose not to exist,"

That couldn't be right, Fry thought to himself. He was useless – useless, stupid Fry who would never amount to anything and he hadn't. Hover travel not being a thing couldn't have anything to do with him. It had to just be a coincidence – he needed to convince himself of that.

He shrugged and kept walking. Nibbler eyed him, wondering why this wasn't a big deal to the boyish man. Then again, most things weren't all that big to him. He didn't have the attention span or the intelligence to think big picture.

"Where are we going?" asked the small alien.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed, oddly cheerfully. "Wherever! I can do whatever! I don't have any commitments,"

"Don't you want to see your friends?" Nibbler questioned. He wanted this whole business to be over with now – he could usually get the naïve Fry to go along with things. It seemed like tonight wasn't going to be that night.

"What friends? I thought I didn't exist!"

"Touché,"

Fry lifted his face up, enjoying the feeling of the wind against his face. He felt so free.

"I can rob a Slurm machine! I can throw snowballs at the mayor! I can jump off the Vampire State Building!" he yelled, spinning in circles as passersby gave odd looks.

"You're not indestructible, Fry. You just have no identity,"

He stopped spinning. "So I can still get arrested and die?"

"Yes,"

"Damn it,"

"You see? Things aren't that fun,"

Fry huffed. "Why are you trying to ruin my fun, Nibbler? You're the one that suggested this,"

He didn't answer him. This was a good point, but he didn't want to reveal his master plan to Fry. He needed to figure this out by himself.

They walked down the street in silence, Nibbler watching Fry carefully.

And then, after a bit, they noticed someone sitting on the edge of the curb. There were always homeless people in New New York, so it wasn't all that out of the ordinary. It wasn't until they heard the man's voice that Fry stopped in his tracks.

Hermes Conrad sat there, looking very different than he had just this morning when Fry had seen him last. The usually clean-cut accountant had grown a beard, and a woolen cap covered with holes covered his head. He was bundled in a ski jacket and shivering. In his lap, he held a sign that read 'Will limbo for work.'

Fry gasped at the sight and hurried right over to him, dropping to his knees. "Hermes?!"

Hermes stood and jumped away from him, pulling a stick out from his pocket and shoving it in Fry's face. "Get away from me, street urchin!"

"Hermes, it's me! It's Fry! I work with you at Planet Express!"

The mention of the company seemed to snap him back into somewhat of a normal state. He sighed and put the stick back into his pocket. "Oh, Planet Express. What a lovely company that was. I sure do miss it,"

"What do you mean, you miss it? I was just there!"

Hermes grabbed his sign up from the ground. "I wish they'd tear that damned place down already. I don't need a reminder of what used to be,"

"But what does that mean?! What happened to it? Why are you alone? Where's Dwight? Where's Labarbara?"

Hermes turned back to him swiftly. "You know them? You've seen them?"

"Well, yeah. They picked you up from work yesterday,"

It took a few seconds to register and then Hermes grabbed Fry by the lapel of his jacket and pulled them together, nose to nose. "Why are you doing this? Huh?! Why are you lying? This isn't a joke! This is my life!"

It was such an un-Hermes like thing to say that it took Fry out of it. He'd forgotten that he didn't exist, that this Hermes had never met him before despite the decades they'd spent together. Fry took a deep breath and let it all out in one sentence, "I'm sorry . . . I guess I just thought you were someone else,"

Hermes shoved him off. "Damn right you did,"

Fry watched him stop his sign from flying off with the wind. Once he'd composed himself, he looked Fry up and down with disgust. "Get out of here! This is my corner! Go find your own!"

"Just – just where's Planet Express gone? What's happened to it?"

"Read a damn book," was Hermes's only response. He took the stick out of his pocket and began prodding at Fry.

Fry shooed him off and backed away slowly, staring at his former friend with shock. Upon running into a stranger, he turned around and started walking straight again. It was near impossible not to look back.

Turning the corner, Fry fell to the ground in confusion and hurt. Nibbler, who'd been silent for all of this, jumped up onto his leg.

"What's going on, Nibbler? Hermes is the best man I know and he's begging for a job on the side of the street? This can't be real life,"

"Oh, but is real life, Fry. Maybe no for you and me, but for everyone else, this is the only reality they've ever known,"

Fry's thoughts brought him first to Leela, the image of her smiling next to him in bed crossing his mind. He quickly pushed it away – he didn't even want to think about Leela right now.

"So then what happened? Why has Hermes's life fallen apart?"

"It all goes back to you. Everything always does."