The Tree of Life
Rating: K
Author: XZeePoisonousOneX
Pairing: EVE/WALL-E
Disclaimer: I do not own Wall-E or EVE, as much as I would like to; I am not affiliated with Pixar or, indeed their parent Universal. This is all in the name of fun- so don't bum me out by saying this isn't disclaiming enough! *have a good day dance*
Earth, terra firma; or as it had been a desolate place for so long, terra incognita, stretched out beneath the bare feet of the humans. A shock seemed to ripple through humanity itself: it was home. The earth gave a perpetual sigh, the healing process had begun, the human race would nourish it back to health once more, the miles of ruins of ancient civilization would be stabilised, in some cases taken down in favour of fields and parks. Side by side, robot and human worked to piece the puzzle of unity back together, to create a world beneficial to the until recently hermit-like race.
The thick grey of the clouds rippled away to reveal the azure sky, clear of plane-tracks and smog; beneath the heat of the sun, outside of the crumbling remains of the ancient civilization were hilltops of greenery, just visible under the loose earth of desertification.
******
Eve and Wall-E continued their work on the hilltop, collecting different plant specimens and taking them closer to the city where they could be planted, observed and used as a bandage across the earth, holding it back together. Wall-E and the Eve models had all been assigned with this important task, Wall-E in particular was asked to attempt calculating how far the greenery stretched, what types of plants were there- were there different plants?- and, if possible, find a water source and animals. Though they had been given this task the humans hadn't expected more than a few metres of greenery, maybe a couple of puddles and probably no animals whatsoever. But it was still an important task.
Wall-E looked at the greenery, mechanical eye roaming the horizon; there were several hilltops covered in greenery and white cases hovered above them, gentle breezing past the layer of green softness. He turned to Eve, who seemed distracted by a strange little flower, the only one around, which appeared to be fluffy. She reached her hand out and prodded it, the fluff dispersed suddenly, she twittered in surprise and busied about trying to catch the little bits of fluff as the sudden burst of wind buffeted it away.
She opened her hand, her white fingers still arched around her artificial palm in a bid to protect the bits of fluff. Wall-E rolled over, gadgets and gizmos ticking and whirring as he briefly got stuck on a rock, his glass eyes twitching up and down in turn as he gazed at the fluff. Eve twittered guiltily and leant forwards, trying to push the fluff back on the stalk. Wall-E touched her hand tenderly, Eve paused, he twitted kindly, a slight purring of a sigh was heard as the wind quickly whipped it away from them and the fluff along with it.
Wall-E held her hand for a moment and the watched the tiny fluffy seeds dance away on the breeze, over the hilltops and beyond. Wall-E wondered what was beyond the hilltops, none of the other robots seemed to want to explore, he tugged Eve's hand lightly. He whistled the suggesting, Eve's blue eyes narrowed in scepticism and then she nodded.
Eve grazed across the grasses, Wall-E stumbling in his rolling motion in comparison, he felt clumsy around her, but lucky to have her. Eve just felt this happiness about him, she found his clumsiness amusing, his character sweet and kind and she knew that her circuits would never feel the same way about anyone ever again.
They ambled down the other side of the hilltop, where the greenery had stopped almost too suddenly and they continued down the steep slope, towards what appeared to be a really wide hill. Wall-E's eyes adjusted in suspicious and curiosity, he was always going to be the adventurous sort.
They got to the top of the hill and they stopped in silent awe.
Beneath them in some odd, but very large, basin in the earth were several things: A large lake, lots of grass, what appeared to be fish flapping about in the water and…
"Directive," Eve twittered in admiration. Wall-E's eye goggles expanded at the over-over sized plant beside the lake, and around it's base what appeared to be saplings. Wall-E and Eve wended there way down the sides of the basin, Wall-E's wheels got stuck in the marshiest parts of the grass, little muddy puddles were hidden beneath the lush grass. Eve gazed around, certain they had stumbled upon the old civilization's last remaining tree. For that was what it was.
On a world without trees, this appeared to be the last one, and it was beautiful. It's leaves rippled in the breeze that just brushed the top of its canopy- sheltered within it's little gully- the green was so dazzling and prominent against the greys and blues of the skies, the trunk, though rugged, was incredibly wide. Its roots must have been the width of one of the modern humans alone.
Eve and Wall-E's goggles were trained on this vestige of the past; as they got closer, there goggles and heads turned up to look directly through the canopy. Wall-E turned to look across the lake, ripples visible were fish flopped about, insects grazed the water surface daringly and flitted about the boughs of the oak.
Wall-E turned back to look up at the oak, one of the tremendous leaves fluttered down and fell over his face, his stiff fingers gripped it and he stared at it from arms length, slowly peering at it closer and closer. He noted the tiny little green veins wending their way through these leaves, he wandered what it felt like- his mechanical body had not been made to feel- in his fingers. He turned to Eve offering the leaf.
"Directive." Eve took it from his hand and looked from the leaf to the tree, her blue expression softening at seeing how tough life really was. Wall-E watched her interestedly, his features turning up into a smile as hers softened further and she floated over to the wide trunk. He followed her, gears whirring against the squishiness of the mud; Eve laid her hand on the trunk, sighing musically and Wall-E placed his hand over hers. Eve turned to look at him.
She sung a series of melodious notes and Wall-E knew what she meant. The tree, this little crater of life, was so beautiful.
Wall-E and Eve collected a small sapling and gently transported it back to the main hub, the captain gazed at it in wonder; Eve showed him footage of their excursion, the captain's features lit up with happiness at seeing the tree and then softened at seeing their hands upon the trunk. After planting it a little way from the other sapling, he asked for them to take him to see this tree. A crowd of humans followed, noticing the determined gait of the Captain, their leader.
A small crowd collected in the large and they gaped at the tree before them, it towered over them, professing its pride at having out-stayed the human race, even through all its muddlings.
The sun filtered through the leaves, leaving a gold and green glow upon their faces. And they continued to stare up in wonderment at the tree of life.
A/N: I just felt like getting all hippie-ish about nature. Wall-E is such an amazing film, but showing Eve and Wall-E's characters in writing is SO hard- they do communicate in beeps and tweets after all. Oh, well, what do you think? Read and review if you wish. Hopefully you'll be hearing from me again- three fan fictions in one week! I'm so amazed!
