|
"Nibbler!" Leela yells in disgust as she sees the stain Nibbler left
on her sofa. "I thought I had you litter trained!"
Disgusted by the awful smell, she grabs a wet rag from the bathroom and scrubs
the sofa cushions. Luckily, the stain is fresh and comes out fairly easy, but
the smell is unbearable and is quickly filling the entire room. She opens the
window in an attempt to air out the place, then walks out on the balcony and gasps
for some fresh air. Nibbler mumbles like he always does, rests next to her feet
and begins to make a kind of purring sound as he rubs the side of his head against
her leg, like a cat.
"Oh no you don't. Don't think you can get out of this by being cute."
He begins rolling on his back making a sad puppy dog face. Her anger subsiding
by his adorableness, she kneels down.
"Awww, how can I stay mad at you? You're so cute!"
She picks him up and cradles him in her arms, tickles his belly with her finger
then gently lowers him back on the floor and he hops inside. She smiles and looks
up into the morning sky. It's a beautiful deep blue, littered with clouds. She
sighs and begins to search for shapes in the clouds. The first few don't really
resemble anything, but she comes upon one that looks like a heart. Watching intently,
it begins to form into something else. The left curve on the top begins to grow
two spikes, the bottom widens, the center stretches to the side causing a split
going from the left side toward the center, curving up like a smile. The cloud
finishes forming and now it looks like Fry's smiling face.
Leela rests her head in her hands and stares longingly at his image. After
a while, it breaks up and vanishes. She snaps back to reality, blushing.
"I - um - I'd better get to work."
She slips on her green jacket and takes the elevator. It's late December and
quite chilly outside. On the walk to work she sees stores decorated for X-Mas.
A couple of guys are hanging a large banner between two streetlights that reads
"Merry X-Mas 3002!" She walks under the banner and suddenly finds herself
thinking back to her cloud gazing.
Ever since they went to that alternate universe and saw that the alternate
versions of her and Fry were happily married, she's been thinking a lot about
him lately. She noticed that even though their alternate versions were different
physically, their personalities were identical. She remembers how happy her alternate
was and thought of what she, herself, might be missing out on. She spots a couple
kissing under some mistletoe and feels a strange sense of deja vu as she sees
the building that the couple is in front of.
"Wait, that's the same place Fry and I almost kissed under the mistletoe!"
she thinks to herself. She remembers that day; Fry risked his life just to get
her an X-Mas gift. He was always doing things like that. He had gone out of his,
way more times than she can count, because he wanted to make her happy.
"Maybe I should give him another chance. I mean, sure he's not the best
looking guy in the world, but that little bump on his nose is cute. And he may
not be the most intelligent guy I've ever known, but he always has his heart in
the right place, and I guess that's what really matters."
As she continues thinking about him, she's practically in a trance and doesn't
even notice that she's walked off the sidewalk and is now in the middle of the
street. The horn of an oncoming hover-car makes her leap back to the sidewalk.
"Whew! I gotta be more careful."
She continues her walk, now more blissfully and with a slight skip.
Fry is standing in a white room. He hears footsteps coming from behind him.
He turns and sees his past self carrying a pizza into the cryogenics lab. Fry
continues to watch as his past self sits in the chair and leans it back. The chair
begins to lose its balance and tumbles over, sending him into the cryo-tube. Images
of his family and friends flash.
Fry wakes up screaming. He sits up, sweaty and out of breath. He drops his
head and wipes the sweat of his brow.
"Just a dream, just a terrible dream," he sighs "If only it
was."
He begins to cry.
"My family, my friends, I never got to say good bye."
He looks on the nightstand and sees a photo of him and the rest of the gang
at Monument Beach gathered around the sandcastle he made. He smiles and wipes
the tears from his eyes.
"I guess I should be thankful. If I hadn't gotten frozen, I never would
have met any of them. I never would have fallen in love with Leela."
He caresses the end of his fingers down the photo, following Leela's body.
His smile fades.
"And I never would have had my heart broken so many times."
He clutches the photo tightly in his hands as he turns and sits on the side
of the bed.
"Maybe I should just give up on winning her heart. It's obvious that I
never will."
His grip loosens, the photo falls to the floor and the frame shatters. He stands,
steps carefully over the broken glass and treads drudgingly into the bathroom.
He looks at himself in the mirror and begins talking to his reflection.
"Yeah, why do I keep on anyway? If she doesn't want me then I don't want
her," he says, trying to sound confident, but failing.
His reflection grins. "But you do want her," it replies.
Fry jumps and almost screams. "Whoa! I knew I shouldn't have eaten that
month old mayonnaise for dinner last night."
"That's true too."
"Hey! Wait a second! You can't talk, you're just a reflection!"
"I may just be a reflection, but I know a thing or two."
"Okay then, tell me something you know."
"You love her, that's why you never gave up. And you shouldn't give up,
not now, not ever."
"Why not?"
"Because she's almost yours."
"How do you know?"
"You just gotta trust me."
"Why should I believe you?"
"I'm not saying you have to. But you don't have a choice"
"Of course I have a choice! I'm a human! I have a little thing called
free will!"
"And what was your choice?"
Fry leans down on the sink and a smile graces his face. "I let my heart
choose for me a long time ago. It chose to give itself to Turanga Leela."
"And you did the right thing."
"Yeah, I guess so. But I don't know if I can take any more rejection."
"You don't have to deal with anymore, because there won't be anymore.
Just keep following your heart. She'll come around soon enough."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I just know, okay."
"Well, when? When will every - WAIT! Why am I talking to a mirror?"
He begins to slap himself in the face. "Come on! Snap out of it!"
He turns back to the mirror and sees his reflection waving at him.
"AAAHH! What do you want?"
"I'm here to give you a message."
"Message? What message? From who?"
"I just gave it to you."
"Already gave me the message? What was it?"
The reflection gives a reassuring smile. "Oh, you know."
Fry shakes his head. "No, I don't."
"Look! Just don't freakin' give up on her! Alright!" the reflection
yells, agitated.
"Okay okay. Easy there. No need to get all angry about it."
"Sorry. Guess I'm just not much of a morning person. Plus, you're breathe
is funk-ay! Smells like rancid mayo. Ewww!"
Fry puffs into his palm and sniffs. His face turns a slight shade of green
and he sticks his tongue out making a gag sound.
Lightyears away . . . in a dark room . . . Several small hooded figures are
gathered around a large glass orb showing Fry leaving the bathroom and heading
to the kitchen.
"Even his subconscious won't let him quit. That is one determined human
being," remarks one of the creatures.
A second, female creature responds, "It's remarkable. And all with such
little interference from us."
"You remember our vow not to interfere with this."
"But, correct me if I'm wrong, we have interfered much in this matter,
have we not?" a third asks. "I mean, we did freeze him for a thousand
years to defeat the Brain Spawn and now for the task foreseen by our sages."
The image on the orb fades to that of Leela as she enters the Planet Express
building.
"And we've tried to interfere with her, but to no such luck," the
same continues.
The first replies, "We must continue to be patient with her. She has had
a rough life and is afraid to show her true feelings."
"And it is our own fault, we caused it, but it had to be done," the
female states.
"True, and our patience will pay off. But we must act fast."
The image fades again to that of a strange nebula somewhere out in space. The
center of the nebula is a small white star encompassed by a swirling ball of blue,
yellow, and orange streaks that resemble lighting bolts. A soft blue ring encircles
the center ball and gives off an eerie glow.
"If it reaches full power; it will be too late for them."
"Perhaps we should check with our officer stationed on Earth. He spends
more time with the one called Leela. If anything has happened, he will know."
A bright light fills the room. The Nibblonian elders all turn to see who enters.
A shadow of Nibbler, is outlined in the backlight.
"Don't bother, I am already here."
To be continued
Well, there's part one. I know this isn't making alot of sense right now and
it seems kinda odd, but trust me, it gets better. Lots better. Stay tuned for
part two. |
