Let's Take This Step Together

Let's Grieve Over Our Robot Boyfriend

They were floating through space now, and Fry was sobbing while hunched over Benders lifeless chassis. 

"Oh, Bender..." Fry cried, his voice and body shaking involuntarily. "Why did they have to go and kill you?! Why?! We could have just peacefully left but they wanted to cost us a soul! They cost us your soul!"

After Fry was done voicing his breakdown, there was an air of silence around the ship, aside from the sounds of Fry sniffling and the ocassional choke.

Leela gave an empathetic tone. "I'm sorry, Fry. If it's any consolation, the professor might be able to fix him. He has a degree in engineering and robotics, you know." Leela informed.

"Yeah, I j-" Fry choked back tears, trying to at least finish his sentence. "-I just hope he's okay."

...

The crea had finally gotten back to earth and landed the ship. They carried Benders heavy, metal body to the professor.

"Professor! B-Bender just got shot with this laser gun and we need you to fixhimbecauseheismybestfriendandIlovehimsomuchandIcannoitlivewithouthimand-"

"Point is, we need you to fix him." Leela abbreviated.

"Okay, slow down and let me take a look..."

There was silence as the professor examined Benders casing and circuits.

"He's badly hurt." The professor stated the obvious. "His gyroscope is fried. He won't be able to walk or cooridinate anything correctly until we replace it. Same story for his arm and his leg."

Fry was trying to keep his cool. He pointed at Benders head. "What about here? He got shot here too. Is that why he won't wake up?"

"Oh, Fry, I'm sorry, but.." The professor held a pitiful look on his face. "It seems his memory has been corrupted. It seems he was trying to save something as he got shot. And his main boot file is attatched to his memories, which is why he won't wake up." The professor shook his head. "At the very least, he won't be haunting you like last time. Since his memories are simply corrupted, and not destroyed, he can't go up into the robot ghost cloud again. He's trapped in his own mind right now."

"Is there any way you can fix him?" Fry asked, panic eminent in his voice.

"Yes." The professor answered, which prompted a sigh of relief from Fry. "There's replacement limbs down in the basement, but Scruffy's cleaning down there right now, so you can't go down there just yet. Right now, though, we'll focus on his memories. It'll take about a month to recover it, since we'll have to decrypt his thoughts into many computer languages."

The professor turned Bender head so the back was facing him, and ejected a small disc from it. "All of Benders memories are on here. If you want, you can take his body for now. Whatever you wanna do with it."

Fry didn't really know what the professor was implying, and, frankly, he wasn't sure if he did wanna know.

Regardless, he thanked the professor and carefully picked up his boyfriends body. Obviously, he took the rest of the day off, and started heading towards he and his currently-deceased roommates'  apartment.

...

Fry got to the apartment and set Bender down on their bed. 

"Oh, Bender..." Fry murmured sombrely. "I love you. I hope even a smidge of you is somewhere in there."

... 

After awhile, things got way too depressing and lonely. Fry had to hear his voice again. 

He reached to the back of Benders 'neck' and flipped a small, near impossible-to-see switch labeled ON/OFF. He switched it to ON.

Benders visor opened to reveal a blank expression. All he said was a simple "I am Bender. Please insert girder."

Bender wasn't in there. Not now. Right now, all his body was was a bending unit. But still, hearing his voice was still comforting, even if it was way more robotic than Fry was used to.

"Hey Bender, you know what we're gonna do when you get back?"

"I am Bender. Please insert girder."

"We're gonna go to Elzars, and we're gonna cuddle on the couch and watch 'All my Circuits'. It's gonna be great."

"I am Bender. Please insert girder."

"You are Bender, buddy. You're Bender."

Fry then flipped the ON/OFF switch to OFF.