EVE hovered through the Axiom, holding WALL-E in both arms. She was doing a bit of target practice that morning and one of the pieces of flying debris hit WALL-E in the eye. It wasn't so bad at first, since WALL-E's eyes are replaceable, but the problem came when they realized that none of the replacement parts were working, despite them being in perfect functioning order, so EVE hypothesized that some of WALL-E's hardware was damaged. She concluded that they should visit the repair ward to see if they could get him fixed. Meanwhile, he would have to deal with being blind in one eye for awhile.

EVE shifted him to one arm so she could knock on the door of the repair ward, letting herself in when the door opened. She set WALL-E down by the console and typed a few buttons. It beeped.

"Huh?" she tried again, but it wasn't working. She took both hands off WALL-E to fiddle with the computer. Still, it was refusing.

UNIDENTIFIED it flashed at her.

"Ugh..." EVE huffed in annoyance.

"Evah?"

She grabbed him again and steered him away, a new destination in mind. A few corridors later, and she was at the doors of the diagnostics lab.

WALL-E shivered fearfully. He had bad memories of this place.

EVE headed inside, setting him down on the scanning table.

"No!" he tried to jump down.

"Wall-E!" EVE grabbed him firmly, "Safe!"

He was still reluctant.

"Hey..." she took his eyes in her hands, looking into his one functioning optic, "Safe..."

He considered this, "Sssaaafffe?"

"Yes..." EVE clinked her screen against his, "Safe..." she then hurried to the computer console and typed a few commands.

Confirm diagnosis. EVE beeped to it. WALL-E curiously watched the beam as it swept over him, meanwhile the computer was spitting out diagnostics. It showed a diagram of WALL-E with his broken optic highlighted in red. Most definitely, part of WALL-E's brain that processed sight was damaged, but it was repairable. EVE then uploaded the diagnosis to the repair ward.

"Evah?"

"Almost." she pressed a finger to her screen before picking him up and carrying him back to the repair ward.

WALL-E was very uncomfortable with the robotic arms inside his inner optic, but he tried to be brave, seeing as EVE was there the whole time.

Finally, once the machine was finished, EVE replaced WALL-E's eye, "There..." WALL-E buzzed, making her giggle.

She was going to head home with him, but she was curious about something, so she sent him home with the rogues. They would have fun without her for awhile. She went back to the diagnostics lab and looked again at the scan of WALL-E. What she was curious about was how much the scan picked up about him.

One thing in particular caught her eye; a scan of his software. On the surface, it was just a directive, (the foundation of any robot) cube garbage. Although, that had been overridden by her, which made her smile. It had a bunch of memories too, a lot of which were just filled with herself. One of them though was buried beneath a barrage of memories of her. It was dark, and recent.

Maybe she should've left well enough alone, but her curiosity was overpowering, so she opened the file, allowing the computer to unzip it and put it in a viewable state. She clicked on it and let it play...

EVE's communication link had cut out. The last thing he knew was EVE had found M-O in the caves, she cried out, and then, static.

"Evah!?" panic shot up his throat, "EVAH!"

"WALL-E! Calm down!" McCrea replied, "I'm sure she's fine. Just wait awhile! She's found the lost robot, so she should be back soon!"

WALL-E let his head droop, slowly turning to leave.

"Hey! Where are you going?" McCrea said, "Wall-E!"

He ignored him. He just didn't care anymore. He went home slow enough that the sun had moved across the sky by the time he got home.

EVE wanted to look away, but she found her eyes glued to the screen. Of course, this wasn't the full memory, she was only seeing through his eyes and ears. She wasn't feeling his emotions, she wasn't feeling any temperature or pressure...and yet, it didn't stop her from empathizing, almost perfectly, with her lover. She fast forward a bit...

WALL-E felt EVE's fingers slip from his, and he stopped, panicking, "Evah!?"

He was swept away by something, hearing whispers and distant shouts. He shook violently, fearfully. What was happening!?

He heard a voice right in his ear-chip, sounding chillingly familiar, Find me, or I will find her."

These words burned into his mind. He knew that voice. The voice of the one who tried to kill him. He saw EVE in the distance as the whispers faded and so he hurried to her.

"Wall-E!" EVE wrapped her arms around him, leading him away from the darkness. She then held his arm with both hands, afraid she'd accidentally let go again.

What!? EVE fast-forward once more...all the way to another familiar memory...

"Evah!" he tugged her hand again, pointing in another direction.

EVE let one of her eyes press downward.

"Evah!" he kept trying to pull her away, so she did as she was told, following him a short ways away until they were alone.

WALL-E smiled, somewhat sadly, "Help?"

"Hm?"

He gently pulled her closer, letting her screen clank against his. He was afraid of the voice. He didn't want to find him, he didn't want to go anywhere near him. But...

"Wall-E?"

He didn't say anything else. He just stayed like that. His eyes were closed, he was still, and he looked peaceful. It somewhat worried EVE, just because he wasn't normally so quiet and still. It was almost...unnerving...

"Wall-E...?" EVE pulled back a little bit, trying to read her sweetheart's expression. He stayed like this a moment longer, and then he turned around and left.

Hang on! EVE wrapped her arms around him, "Wall-E..."

He just held still, and stayed quiet. Again, no sudden moves.

He was terrified. He wanted to tell her what that voice had said, but he didn't want to put her in danger either. EVE shook her head in disbelief, hovering in front of WALL-E and holding his eyes to her face. She felt her eyes curve downward sadly. He was sad.

"Evah..." he clinked his head against hers.

"Sh..." EVE ran her thumb over the side of his eye. WALL-E sighed at the gentle touch.

"Wrong?" EVE asked, adding in Binary, What's wrong?

He gave a subtle shake of the head.

"Here..." EVE took WALL-E's hand, stroking it softly, "Eve...here..."

WALL-E nodded, carefully wheeling past her down the corridor. He knew what he had to do. He would head for the captain's cabin, where AUTO was. He was afraid for himself, but he was even more afraid for EVE.

He loved her.

In the meantime, EVE had a new directive.

"No no no!" EVE exclaimed, horror-struck. If she had known that AUTO was blackmailing WALL-E there's no way she could've left him alone! So wait, what happened after that!? Unfortunately, that was the end of the memory, so that's when EVE had to fast forward to a more recent one. But the only memories after that were ones she already knew about.

EVE sat in intense silence just then. Her hand slowly lowered from the keyboard to the edge of the desk, resting there and relaxing. She suddenly tensed, beginning to shake with uncontrolled sobs.

Why wasn't I there... EVE asked herself, "WHY COULDN'T I SAVE YOU!?"

She unsheathed her weapon and began to take her rage out on the room around her.

WALL-E was always there for her. He never left her for anything. If she was in danger, he would drop everything to save her. He would slit his own throat for her. He would give his life, just so that she'd be safe and happy. He did so much for her, no matter what it caused him.

And what had she ever done for him?

EVE stopped when her cannon locked up, having used up too much energy too fast. The lab was now a smoking ruin, never to be used again until repairs could be made. She hid her face with her left hand.

What have I ever done for him...

TO BE CONTINUED (someday)