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 Lazer fire exploded around Fry, Leela, Amy, and Bender as they ran for their lives from yet another delivery. As one shot nearly singed her hair, she cursed to herself, vowing this would be the last time Bender would come on a delivery.....shop-lifting a holy gold statue just wasn't good.....
 "Come on, you guys! The ship's just ahead" Leela yelled.
 Just as they were about to reach the ship, Leela had the perfect view of the worst possible thing she could see. A shot soared through the air.....
 ....and tore into Fry's back. He gave a horrible scream, staggered, and fell into the sand.
 "FRY!!!!!!" Leela screamed, diving for her friend's body. Amy grabbed her by the arm, shouting for her to get back to the ship. "No!! I have to get to Fry!!" Leela yelled back, turning tail right into the line of fire.Leela's hair was singed by a stray shot as she ran for Fry, but Bender and Amy grabed an arm each, and dragged Leela towards the ship. Leela was going into near hysterics, trying to break loose. And as she was dragged into the ship, the last thing she saw was the aliens surrounding Fry......and vaporizing him.

 The trip back to Earth had to be flown by Amy, since Leela was within a hair of hysteria. She had just seen her one true friend slaughtered right in front of her eye, when it was that god-dmaned ROBOT they should have been shooting at. She just sat in her room, yelling and crying about everything from Bender and his shop-lifting to the actual death.
 There was a small knock on her cabin door. Leela roared for the person to go away, but Amy came in anyway.
 "Hey, Leela.....are you gonna be all right?"
 "Am I all right?!? Am I all ri- WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK!?!?!?! MY BEST FRIEND IS DEAD!!!!! He was the only one who cared about me......"she sobbed, burying her face into a pillow.
 "So I'm deep fat fried liver....?"
 "No, Amy.....you're my friend too.....but Fry......there was something special about him...."
 "I know. He was that cute little naive guy. But he'll live on, in all of us, right here", she indicated, pointing at Leela's heart in her heaving chest.
 Leela nodded, and just said "Now, please leave me alone........"
 "Leela, you need someo-"
 "LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
 Amy swallowed, and shuffled out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

 For the next few days, Leela was teetering on the edge of breakdown. Her co-workers just saw her sitting there, staring of into space on several occasions. She was eating little, and she wasn't going anywhere, not even home. She had stayed at Planet Express since she got there.
 Leela was already going through the first stage of accepting Fry's death, and one of the hardset: denial.
 She was thinking, that Fry must be just out for a drink, or that this was all a horrible dream. "That's right, Toronga. Any minute now, Fry will walk through that door, and sit down to watch TV like he always does. And I'll never be as happy  again to see that.", Leela thought. But the days had dragged into a week, and Leela was still just sitting there, watching the door, waiting for a visit that would never happen. It pained her co-workers to see Leela sit up suddenly as they walked in, and then slunk back down on the couch, crying.
 Sometimes, during meetings, Hermes had to pause at least once because Leela was yelling "Fry isn't dead! He's just lost or something! He can't be dead, this has to be a dream......it has to........" which eventually faded into sobs. On one occasion,  Amy, who was urging Leela to eat something, found her pinching herself repeatedly, mumbling about waking up from this nightmare.
 Now that she finally had been drained of all hope of Fry's return by the seventh day after the fatal day, Leela started screaming at Bender whenever she saw him. The second stage, Anger, had swept over her.
 Of course, Bender had no problem with it. He was never really concerned on how these skin tubes felt or worked. The only time he had ever felt bad was when he was channeling that silly woman's feeling about that stupid little Nibbler.....but it's not like he really cared about that incident now, looking back at it.
 It had gotten to the point of such constant screaming that Hermes and Amy had to move the company fridge to the conference room, so that Bender could re-charge his batteries without poor Leela going into hysterics for the umpteenth time.
 "I'm worried about Leela, Hermes" Amy remaked as they moved the appliance into the room.
 "I know...so am I....."

 Despite the anger Leela was channeling at Bender, she didn't pyschially lash out at him. Until one day that he came into the lounge with a wad of cash. "Where did you get that, you robber!?!"  Leela screamed. "Did you steal that too? How many DIED this time so you get that!?"
 Bender rolled his eyes, saying "Listen, sweetheart, I've been getting this money fair and square. Fry's stuff has just been collecting dust, so I'm starting to sell it...."
 "You're doing what!?!?!" Leela yelled. Before Bender could re-state his sentence she had him pinned against the wall. When Amy ran into investigate the clunks she was hearing, she found Leela trying to hit Bender, screaming every profanity she could, her hands bloody from punching metal. But she didn't care......she was trying to hurt the one she blamed for Fry's death.
 Amy tackled the sobbing woman, pleading for her to get help, that everyone was worried about her, but she knocked Amy away, running out of the building towards Central Park.

 As Leela sat there on a bench, trying to collect herself, she began to think of all those times Fry had been there for there for her. If it wasn't for him, she might be stuck with that horrible Alkazzar, still in cryogenic animantion, hounded more then ever by Zapp, or pumping Slurm on Wormulon. But maybe if he never arrived, like if he merely wanged his head against the chamber instead falling in a thousand years ago, ignorance would be bliss and she wouldn't be the wreck she was now.And besides, if he never arrived, she wouldn't have joined Planet Express, and there for not be threatened with any of that.
 She thought back to the first time she saw him, after he was muttering something about that ancient B-show.....Star-something-or-other. She actually thought he was kinda cute from minute one, but she couldn't just ask a kid who had just seen his first cyclops out. Besides, as a fate assignment officer, she really couldn't have time for that stuff.
 Leela never forgot how Fry saved her from that horrible job. She had always hated condemning those poor people to a job they were best at. She remembered all to well people who found they had lost everything and everyone, only to find that they would be garbagemen, delivery boys, or whatever else they were. She felt bad about everyone.
 But Fry....he cared about her, ever after she had chased him all over the city like that.  And although Fry and said it was no big deal when she told him about it later, she felt horrible that she chased him underground. She overheard Fry talking about Michelle as she tip-toed around the side of the stump of Rockefeller Center's showpiece skyscraper, barely able to look professional enough to do her job.

 What was she doing to these people!?

 Over the two years she had gotten to known Fry, she was ever thankful for him to show her that there was finally someone she could relate to. Everytime she got angry at him, or he got hurt, her mind was screaming at her. She still remembered the feeling of having a heart attack while Fry was in the fight for life with Zoidberg, and she still hadn't forgiven the lobster for lopping of his arm.
 The worst part was that Leela always thought that Fry would always be there for her. She had been meaning to tell him how she felt about him....ironically, she was practicing that the  very morning before he was killed. She taken his being there for granted. Not HIM, but his being there....his existance.
 Leela moaned softly to herself, and dragged herself back to Planet Express. She knew all to well that she was now at stage three: Depression.

 Leela had constantly thought to herself lately that her life could not get any worse. She was about to find out how wrong she was.
 As she walked in, her face damp with more tears, Amy called her over. "Hey, Leela. We're hoisting a new support beam to brace up the ceiling since the Prof's latest experiment weakened it. Can you help me and check to see if the hook holding it is secure?"
 "Uh, s-sure" she stuttered. She took a look at it. It looked a little blurred through her tears, but seemed OK. "I think it's good", Leela replied. Amy thanked her and started hoisting the beam.
 As Leela walked away, she heard the clamp open itself, Amy screaming, and a loud metal 'CLUNK!!' Leela rushed to the railing, and saw Amy, knocked out, with her arm pinned under the beam. She ran down,  and heaved the beam up with her weakened strength so she could get Amy out from under it. As she ran with Amy in her arms to get help, she didn't notice who else was under the beam...

 The next day, Amy had come by to see Leela. As Amy walked towars her, Leela began begging for her forgiveness, practically on her knees.
 "Leela, it's all right!! It's not you're fault, or mine. The hook was examined, and was it was defective. Besides, my arm's sorta fine. It's broken, but it'll heal in a few days...."
 Leela heaved a sigh of relief, and was going to thank Amy when.........
 "Leela.....I need to see you in my office, please."
 Leela had no idea why Hermes would want to see her, but she eventually figured it was about the accident. When she came in and sat down, it was obvious he was pained about something.
 "Leela, since I know what you've been through recently......I don't know how to tell you this....."
 "What?"
 "Well, although Amy and I both know the yesterday's accident wasn't your fault, Amy's parents are feeling other wise. They are going to sue Planet Express for every cent we have unless I do as they ask."
 "Well? What is it? Do I have to pay them for Amy's hospital bill"
 Hermes looked sadly at her, shook his head and sighed. "Leela", he said slowly, "I'm afraid I have to let you go."
 :"I'm-I'm- FIRED!?!?!"
 Hermes nodded sadly, and continued. "Worse yet, I'm afraid that, since the Wongs are one of the richest and most powerful families in the area of Earth, they've prohibited you from going to work anywhere else...."
 "WHAT!?!? They can't do this!!!
 "That's what I said.....but they proved it to me......some law made in 2456 when one of the workers of Bill Gates' head broke open the jar. It's made to prohibit any other accidents."
 "Do think I'm sort of murderer or something!?? I've met them! They know me!!!!"
 "Um, actually, it was their lawyers' idea.....I'm sorry.....it's out of my hands, even as a governmet worker...."
 Leela nodded, and said "All right.....just let me get my personal things and Nibbler, and I'll go....."
 Hermes hestitated, and finally said. "Um, that's the other thing........Somebody else got hit with that beam.....and he didn't pull through"
 "No! You can't mean tha-"
 "I found Nibbler a minute after the accident. I rushed him to the nearest pet hospital.....but he was injured too badly, I'm sorry......."
 Leela just lost it. She had lost everything. She ran out office, and out of the building, pleading to God that this wasn't happening........

 Bender awoke from his nap to a frantic pounding on his door. He opened it, and found a devestated Leela begging to see Fry's half of the apartment. Bender slid open the door, with a confused look on face....now HE was starting to get concerned...

 Leela looked around the room. It was barren, except for a bed and a box of various knick knacks. Fry's really personal stuff, she figured, as she looked through it.
 There wasn't much here......a rolled up poster of Stupid-ages Manhattan, some clothes, a few books, a leftover case of Slurm and LoBrau.....and his wallet.
 She opened it up and paged through it...One of Michelle.....his family?.....himself.....him with his bike......the Planet Express workers from the X-mas party......
 .......And one of her.

 Leela looked at it in shock. She didn't know how he could have gotten this. And then she saw another rolled up poster..and nearly dropped it when she looked at it.
 It was a drawing of her and Fry, posing in front of what seemed to be a fade between old and present day New New York behind the corresponding person. There was note attached to it, dated for the day after Fry had died......
 

To Leela,

I was going to give you this on your
birthday, but it wasn't finished on time.
I wanted to thank you for all you done
for me...It's YOU that's my best friend, not
Bender....(But don't tell him that!!)

                                    Sincerely,
                                            Fry

 Leela felt what little was left of her heart shatter. She had lost it all........the pet she loved so dear......her job, and soon with it her home......and Fry.
 She found only one other thing in the box......a Statue of Liberty switch-blade knife......

 Leela knew that suicide was not a new notion in her life. She had thought of it a couple times in her young life: during her fate assignment job, the fact she was ALWAYS battling depression, and Zapp hounding her.....she had even slit her wrist once, when she was a teenager in high school, but she was able to get to a doctor just in time. Since the scars had been healed, no one knew about it.

 She now picked up the knife, it was closed at the moment. She was thinking, like she had during her first and only attempt, was this really the way out? Couldn't she hang on?
 Leela thought for a minute about her future. She could see herself, out in the cold, her clothing torn and dirty, shivering. She was rummaging in the garbage for ANYTHING that could keep her alive, having already hocked all the meager possesions she had managed to save from her lost home, including parts of her wrist communicator, for anything she could afford for food....
 The only things she refused to give up in her vision were her money-less wallet, still full of memories......and a tattered drawing of her and a friend she kept in it.

 No, that was no way to live. She would die a slow death on the streets of New New York, lost and forgotten by all.
 Even in her darkest hours this past year she had Nibbler to give a warm loving hug, and Fry to talk to........but now they were gone forever.
 Leela opened the knife. She had made up her mind.......she couldn't go on alone. She brought the knife as far out as her arms would allow, and plunged it deep into her chest. She was suprised, it didn't seem to hurt that much as she withdrew it, feeling her life spill onto her hands and shirt.....
 Leela reached for the drawing Fry never had the chance to give to her, and looked at it long and hard. She wanted it to be the last thing she saw.....she could feel her breathing becoming ir-rrgular and shallow. This is it, Toronga, she thought to herself,  you're a goner....
 She tried to brace herself against the wall, but she  began to slide down it, losing her strength rapidly. She thought she could hear poundng on the door, it opening, followed by a terrified Amy and Hermes rushing to her, but she wasn't sure. Leela could feel herself going blank, losing feeling in her body, darkness swirling in around her and overtaking her.....she gasped a few last breaths, sounding more like whimpers to her, and closed her eye......

 "LEELA!? LEELA!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME???"
 Leela whipped open her eye. That was FRY!!
 "That's Fry!! But where is he? All I can see is darkness...."
 "Am I dead?"
 "Is this the after-life? Am I limbo because I killed myself?"
 "Fry......please!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!?"

 "LEELA!!!!!!!!!"
 Leela snapped her eye open again. This time, she couldn't believe what she was seeing: Fry, caring her away from what seemed to be a lazer battle.
 "Fry!?! You're alive!??!"
 "Yes....but I might not be for long if we don't reach the ship!"
 Fortunatly, Fry reached the ship just in time. Amy gunned the engine, and set a course for Earth.
 "Fry, what happened" Leela asked. It felt like she had been knocked out.
 "Bender, that lovable idiot, stole something from the planet. We gave it back, but they chased us out of the city with lazer fire. You got hit with a stun lazer, and were out cold. Bender and Amy wanted to leave you, but I ran back and grabbed you. We managed to get a space car from one of the citizens, and were chased for about an hour. Then the gas ran out, and you woke up just as we got to the ship."
 Leela broke into thankful tears......"A dream........it was all a dream!!" she cried with joy, jumping up, grabbing Fry, and twirling him in a circle with her.
 Fry, confused, asked "What was a dream?"
 Leela explained her nightmare to him. Fry went through a wide variety of emotions through the tale, and was shocked at the end.
 "Leela, you'd tell me if you were thinking of hurting yourself, right......?"
 "Yes, I would......you're my best friend.....and I'm thankful I can say that to someone..."
 "Well, I can say the same to you....now get some rest. I want you to take it easy for a while after that lazer blast, OK?"
 "All right, Fry."
 Leela laid back on her bed, and fell asleep. This time, her dream was about her and Fry having the time of their lives.
 

END.