They should have been there by now. If not for Wall-E's fragile condition and EVE's need to recharge, what could have been a two day journey had become a three day adventure.

Wall-E's weight caused EVE to exert more power on her propulsion system, thereby draining her power a lot faster than normal. It didn't help that she had to fly slower than usual as Wall-E looked like a slinky dog. Since his cubic frame could not fully close and lock in place, the bumpiness and the wind from the flight, aided by gravity's power, would force him to open.

However, his internal systems (or whatever left that was working) were positioned and geared in the frame's closed position. In effect, the external forces are fighting against the forces of Wall-E's internal system. As they travelled, Wall-E's frame fought between slightly opening and closing, as if there were springs installed.

Despite the awkwardness and uncomfortability in his position, Wall-E actually found his dilemma slightly amusing. A rational mind would not laugh at that situation, but then again, Wall-E possessed human characteristics. If he couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of his situation, then he'd chuckle for his partner.

Because EVE did not find it funny at all. Aside from Wall-E's life-and-'that-word-she-would-not-learn' situation, she also possessed human characteristics. And let's face it: Flying around with a disabled being is not fun at all and it is very, very, draining.

It also did not help that the squeaking noise and the noise of metal banging against metal caused by Wall-E's slinky-dogging were getting to EVE's electrical nerves.

So she wrapped her fins as far as she could on Wall-E to help stop his slinky action.

Wall-E was grateful for her help with that. He was also grateful that she managed to be as gentle as she could.

Eventually though, he could feel her fins slowly change from "gentle", to "a little too gentle", to "okay, that wasn't that gentle", to "wait, that's not right", to "tight", to finally, "too tight".

While they travelled, EVE scanned the wasteland for any broken down wall-e units or any transport that could house some parts that could keep Wall-E up for the duration of their adventure.

Adventure. Now that was a positive sounding word. Humans enjoyed adventures, EVE recalled. They were exciting, unusual, and just plain fun, although the purpose of this adventure was anything but.

She wondered why that word came to her mind. Maybe it was because she was flying to places she had never been to before. Maybe she's enjoying the freedom of her flight. Humans said that the essence of adventures were amplified if they undertook it with people they wanted to be with. Maybe that was it. Or maybe because she had 'hope'.

Her companion's condition was no better than hers. EVE? She was broken internally. He however, was broken both internally and externally and to top it off: everyday, he had to live with the realization that he had a problem.

Logically, he should be the one who was hopeless while she had to be the beacon that would give him hope.

Logically.

As she had learned recently, logic was a term more suited towards robots.

"Eevah!"

Wall-E's sudden yelp snapped her out of her processing and looked towards the direction he was pointing at...

With Wall-E's condition and her low energy level, she really did not need a sandstorm right now.

Immediately, she turned to the opposite direction the sandstorm was moving. There was no shelter around so they both had to rely on her speed.

With a force of nature that moved nearly twice as fast as the burdened probe, it was only a matter of time.

Seconds, to be more precise.

Suddenly, EVE's world turned dark. It was as if she was watching nightfall at a drastically increased pace. She could also feel the grains of sand and various other objects she did not want to know hit her and Wall-E's frames. With the unbelievable strength of the storm, EVE could not maintain control of her flight.

"Eevah!"

"Wall-E!"

EVE figured that the best thing they could do was to move against the storm. With both the storm's speed in conjunction with her speed and direction, she hoped that they will be able to escape the storm quickly by exiting behind it. The action however, demanded an extra boost to her propulsion system for the storm was strong enough to easily drag her along with it.

"Hold.. On!"

"Dooon't. Leeet. Gooo!"

Immediately, her display registered that her power level dropped by two bars. She was now running low but she still had enough. What worried her was that the dust was entering Wall-E's internal systems. It didn't help that his frame wasn't locked in the closed position.

EVE fought as hard as she could against the storm when suddenly, she felt something hard bang against her fin- must be a piece of debris. It threw her off a bit but finally, her systems told her that her propulsion systems were not as burdened anymore.

Come to think of it, her fins were not as burdened either... Her eyes grew large as a painful realization hit her...

"Waalleee!" but it was too late. Her scream had drowned out Wall-E's own scream for her name as he fell.

Then, EVE's navigation system flashed red, the warning beeps that appeared simultaneously drowned out her screams.

In an instant, EVE felt a sudden resistance on her flight. It was as if she smashed into something large and sturdy yet surprisingly soft. It only took her a few seconds to realize that she had crashed before her systems shut down.

REBOOT

Slowly, EVE's vision came into focus as her cameras started to process her vision data and transmit it to her. The first thing that greeted her on her display as she regained control of her systems were, "ENERGY LEVEL DANGEROUSLY LOW". Beside it, her energy level had only one bar left and it was blinking. She needed to recharge.

She was almost completely covered with dust but she managed to get out. Immediately she called out to her beloved, "Wall-E!" hoping that he would hear her. "Wall-E!"

EVE lifted higher off the ground to get a better view of her surroundings. Wall-E could not have gotten far. "Walleee!" Again, her low energy warning began pestering her. She didn't care.

Anyway, her back-up power would kick in, giving her an extra twenty minutes to look for him. Hopefully, that would be enough time; she should be able to find him by then. She hoped that nothing else happened to him, that he didn't "forget to breathe".

"Waalleee!"

ENERGY LEVEL CRITICAL. SWITCHING TO BACK-UP POWER.

"Waalleee!" since she could not find his body on the ground, EVE was now on the look out for unusually bulky mounds of dirt. When she found them, she'd frantically dig each one of them, hoping to find him buried under.

It was of no avail.

She had already gone as far as two miles but she still could find no sign of him. Not even some of his parts. EVE started to lose hope, but her commitment held strong. She continued searching and failing.

Maybe now, in this situation, losing hope was logical for her.

However, if ever something bad happened, if he "forgot to breathe", then she should've seen his motionless body by now, right?

Or maybe he... He... You know, from that fall... and then the storm took whats left of him away... "No! Waalleeee!"

But then she knew that Wall-E will not forget. She was still breathing, so he didn't forget, right? She had fifteen minutes left. She had to find him fast.

Fifteen minutes was not enough.

REBOOT

Once again, EVE woke. This time, she did not wake to a dust-filled sky; instead, she woke to a ceiling with a broken fluorescent light hanging from it. The sudden change of environment alerted her as she did not remember entering any form of structure or shelter. All she remembered was that she ran out of back-up power in the middle of the wasteland as she looked for Wall-E...

EVE gasped.

"Wall-E!" she hasn't found him yet. She had to continue her search. EVE did a quick check on her systems before activating the systems that oversaw her locomotion. Fortunately for her, despite the crash, everything was in perfect working order. Her energy level was almost half-way full which should last her a couple hours more.

Fortunately for her...

How about Wall-E? Is he as fortunate? EVE scanned for the nearest exit. She had to find him and she will not stop until she did.

But she didn't have to, because he found her.

"Eevah?"

There, beside the spot where she had just lay, was a yellow metallic cube. The cube wasn't perfect for it was slightly opened up. From the top of the cube, a pair of binocular-like eyes were looking back at her, awakened by the sound of the white probe's calls.

"Wall-E?" EVE hovered closer to her companion, disbelief, worry and relief in her tone.

The cube slowly extended its arms and legs, emitting a grinding sound as it did so. The yellow robot became more lively once his vision registered an active white probe approaching him, "Eevah!"

"Wall-E!" EVE wrapped her fins around his cubic frame and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she cupped his binocular eyes with her hands, "Wall-E...". EVE noticed that the lens cover on his left eye was shattered.

He probably did not know about that damage since his microchip could no longer transmit signals on his left eye.

EVE pulled back to get a good look at him, hoping that that was the only damage he suffered.

"Eevah?" Suddenly, her scanner activated and Wall-E shielded his eyes from the bright blue light that swept his frame, "Whoa!" After she was done, he noticed her eyes were now expressing sadness but still, she managed to give him a weak smile.

That smile was mainly out of relief. For Wall-E, that was a good thing.

EVE closed the gap between them and gently cupped his head between her fins. Then she brought her own head to touch his, whispering, "How?"

Wall-E pulled back and brushed EVE's fins away from his head and then trapped them with his hands. He closed his eyes (or eye) and with a sigh and a slight bowm he tried his best to tell her his experience...

When he fell during the sandstorm, Wall-E's instincts told him to retract his appendages and hope his malfunctioning cubic frame would hold out from the impact. Lucky for him, the ground was somewhat soft, cushioning his fall.

From the speed and angle of his crash, he bounced a couple of times until he came to a stop outside the storm. Good for him, he was still intact. The dust that had accumulated inside his body had served as cushions to minimize the rattling of his broken parts. All that bouncing he underwent afterwards had managed to shake most of that dust out of his body.

Then he remembered shutting down.

After he came to, he extended back to his original form. With a "Grrrrrrrrr", he shook his body like a dog to remove the final traces of dust from his system. He did not know how long he was out but he had to find EVE. Night was approaching and he did not want to leave her behind. A quick check of his appendages, and he was off to find her.

"Eevah!"

It did not help that his energy level was also low. Finding her on this expanse of land without aerial support and speed will take hours. Still, he was determined not to leave her. Wall-E unfolded his solar panels to prepare his power for a long and arduous search.

But his solar converter, the machine that grabbed the sun's energy and converted it to power, was badly damaged during the fall. It barely functioned, if ever it functioned at all, converting energy at a drastically reduced rate. The rise of Wall-E's energy meter slowed to a crawl. With a dejected sigh, Wall-E abandoned this time-consuming activity and put away his solar panels.

If EVE found out about it... She wouldn't find out. Not until he found her first. The yellow robot hoped that he would find her with what little power he had left.

"Eeevaaah!" He was hopeful that he would find her. Somehow, he knew he would.

That's when Wall-E found out just how powerful hope was.

He found her lying deactivated on the ground a couple hundred feet away from his initial landing spot.

Wall-E tried to wake her up but to no avail. He tapped on her blank screen and poked her, hoping that she would hear his voice. "Eevaah!" fearing the worst, Wall-E shook her lifeless body. Maybe she just ran out of power. He hoped that was it.

"Eevaah!" There was faintly more static on his voice, due perhaps from the damages acrued from the fall. He dared not call out her name anymore as he theorized that maybe his horrible-sounding voice actually condoned EVE's continual shutdown.

He knocked on her frame and shook her before sighing from receiving no response.

Night was beginning to fall and coupled by his low energy meter, they had to find shelter fast. As much as his weakened body could, Wall-E picked her up and gently carried her.

The stress of carrying her was prompting Wall-E to just drag her along the ground but he couldn't... He just couldn't... If EVE found out...

He'd wish that he had broken down a long time ago.

The trip was arduous and draining for him but he didn't complain. Besides, he now knew what EVE must've felt carrying him the way she did. Aside from that, EVE was very light while he was made of extremely durable materials and very dense metals.

In short, he was very heavy.

Wall-E received a lucky break when he found an old ranch house in the middle of a dusty wasteland that once was covered with grass and cattle. That humble abode would do.

After he was done, EVE hugged and kissed him, softening up Wall-E's serious reminiscing.

But then, his binocular eyes suddenly expressed deep remorse, "Sssoooorreeee..." then he tapped his finger on his head- the part where his binocular eyes were connected to and at the same time, housed his sensor system...

His sensor system. "Sssaaand-tooorm."

EVE understood what he was trying to say. His sensor system... Had also broken down. He was unable to detect the incoming sandstorm until it was too late and he was blaming himself for the separation and worry.

But EVE did not accept that apology. She shook her head.

That was because it wasn't his fault! He was already breaking down anyway, and sooner or later that was bound to happen! And, and- No! She was not going to think of that! No!

"No! No!" as EVE continued shaking her head, "Me! EVE!" she placed all the blame upon herself.

By blaming herself, she thought it would take away the pain of the grim reality that's befalling her love. Wall-E blaming himself was, for EVE, his grim acceptance of his fate. Although deep down inside, she knew that he had already accepted it, she did not want him to. She did not want him to lose hope.

Even if she was the one who was losing it.

Maybe she was the one who could not accept fate. She did not want to learn. It was better that way, if only it could take away the pain and fabricate a different reality- one that she could face.

EVE brought her fins together, then quickly separated them. She brought them together again, then separated them again, as if letting go of something.

Wall-E's processor wasn't as fast as it used to be so it took a while for him to understand what she was trying to say. But when he did, "Eevah...",

Wall-E realized that she was blaming herself for letting go.

She let go of him during the sandstorm and now she was letting go of hope. EVE once again brought her fins together and quickly spread them apart. She had already relayed the message to Wall-E but now it seemed that she was locked in that trance of bringing her fins together and spreading them apart. Wall-E noticed that her eyes were trance-like emotionless, as if a horrible realization had struck her.

She was failing her 'commitment' and now she was tearing herself apart.

"Eevah..." When EVE once again brought her fins together, Wall-E quickly caught the ends, "No." and brought both her hands together before wrapping them with both of his.

This snapped EVE out of her trance and slowly, she gazed down at their hands then to Wall-E's hopeful binocular eyes.

For Wall-E, EVE had never let go. Not ever, and the only reason why he was full of hope was because EVE was full of hope herself. He wanted her to hold on to that.

Because Wall-E never wanted to forget. Not ever.

"Wall-E..." EVE closed her eyes, slowly calming down and letting the feel of his hands on hers replace her worry. They stood that way in silence until Wall-E's message to her was fully received and understood.

Then the warning beep from the yellow robot's energy meter told him that he had to deactivate and conserve his power already. With that, EVE too, realized that she had to do the same.

Wall-E let go of EVE's hands, rolled back a little and before EVE could deactivate, the trash compactor lifted a robotic finger as if telling her to wait a minute. Then he took EVE's hand and led her to a room where a peculiar-looking apparatus stood.

Judging by the way it was built, EVE assumed that Wall-E had just recently created this... thing. A quick scan taught her that it was an ancient human resting apparatus that was called a HAMMOCK.

Come to think of it, she recalled Ted using one a long time ago and Wall-E must have had it stuck on his mind. This one he made was different though- instead of a soft, cloth like material, Wall-E used some sort of a sturdy, leather canvass. Then it dawned on her... "Wall-E?"

Wall-E did not pay her any mind as he checked and made sure the metal posts would hold. The Hammock incident with Ted was also stuck in his mind. That time, he was about to show the human a pocket watch that he found. Apparently, Ted was not yet accustomed to getting out of the hammock after lying down inside.

He also was not accustomed to making one in the first place. So when Wall-E whistled for Ted to come over, Ted's furious attempt to get out met with failure. The hammock dropped to the ground with Ted still lying on it, the two metal posts exhumed themselves from the ground and folded on him. It took both EVE and Wall-E to carefully cut through the mess of cloth and metal to get him out, and then it took Ted a few days to recover from his injuries.

After Wall-E was done with the check-up, he moved to the canvass and gently rocked it with one hand. His other hand came up to pat it as he looked back at EVE, "Eevah?" then he pat the canvass again.

EVE was unsure as she slowly hovered over to the material. She could admit- the hammock incident with Ted was one amusing event. However, having that event happen to her is a totally different story.

"Wall-E?" her voice was unsure of both the hammock and Wall-E's decision to do this.

One look from her beloved asked for her trust.

He did not even have to ask.

EVE approached the side of the apparatus and took Wall-E's hand. The trash compactor did not say a word as he lovingly helped her in the canvass. Much to his relief, the canvass and the metal posts held.

It felt awkward for EVE but knowing that Wall-E was watching over her, she slowly gave in and relaxed, eventually finding it to be very comfortable. Her eyes contorted to a smile before she shut her systems down.

Wall-E knew all along that back at home, EVE had been rocking him to sleep every night. This time, it was his turn.

And he did so until he had no more power to spare.