WALL-E's eyes were still glazed over. Even as the noise stopped, he kept moving. Nothing fazed him anymore it seemed, or maybe he had already been too deep in his panic beforehand that he fell off the deep end long before the noise even began.

All he knew, was that everyone was hurting. He was hurting.

Everyone was in danger.

They were all important of course, but only one of them was in his eyes right now.

Had he been thinking rationally, he would have tried to make sure everyone was okay, but there was no room for rationality now.

EVE was the only one he cared about at that moment.

He could have died right then, if only she could continue living.

Quinn watched WALL-E stumble his way to her, tripping over scraps of metal that had fallen off other robots. He wasn't as delirious as everyone else, but he still couldn't move, and when he did manage to slide across the ground it was with great difficulty.

He could tell that only he still had thinking capacity, so he tried to think of a way to help everyone.

WALL-E carefully pushed other robots away from EVE, shaking fearfully the more of her he could see. There was a long series of cracks trailing up her face from her right cheek, likely where she'd hit the ground, and she had a giant dent all the way up the left side of her body. Since her arm had been cut off from its anti-gravity, it lay limp on the floor, still absent of any kind of ring.

WALL-E didn't notice the whole extent of the damage right away. All he knew was that she was hurt.

He had to save her.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he dragged her through one of the doorways, very slowly, and made his way to a different room.

It must have taken hours to find the right one, or maybe it didn't take long at all, in WALL-E's half-consciousness, it was very hard to tell.

When he'd made it to the Atlanta's Repair Ward, he was so tired.

He had to save her.

Shaking the dizziness away, he pushed her into one of the booths, where it scanned her and lay her down. All of those metal tools made him nervous.

He had to save her.

Everything hurt, but the disorientation was finally wearing off, and he began to think more clearly.

He had to save her.

There was screeching in his head, He had to save her. He wanted to go to sleep, He had to save her. Nothing was functioning right, what about everyone he'd left behind? He had to save her. Willow might need his help, He had to save her. What if he'd hurt someone else? He had to save her. What if-! He had to save her. But-! He had to save her. He had to save her. He had to save her.

It was his only thought.

It filled in all the cracks of his confusion. Every place in his head that was usually blank was overflowing with that one thought.

He had to save her.

He just had to.

After an agonizingly long time, EVE was repaired. WALL-E's chest swelled up with hope, praying that it had worked and he wasn't too late. It was just before she woke up that he began to feel bad for everyone else, but it was too late to go back now.

Please.

EVE's blue eyes flickered on, "Ugh..."

WALL-E jumped, "Eve!"

"What? Ack!" she pushed him away, "Ow!" she grabbed her left side, "What happened!? Who are you!?"

WALL-E winced.

"Why...how do you...?" EVE touched her cheek, which hadn't been repaired yet, "Ow. What happened? Why do you keep following me?"

Words stumbled over themselves in WALL-E's head, "Uh...you, you're...I'm..."

What could he say?

She shook her head, "Nevermind, I just..." as she stayed online, she began to remember.

The screeching...she hit the ground...all she could hear was a jumble of screaming and the vibrating of the ship around her...

"You..." she looked like she had just discovered the secrets of the universe. She looked up at WALL-E, "...you saved my life..."

He felt small under her gaze.

"...b-but...why?" EVE leaned back into the divider between the slots, "All I've done is hurt you. Out of all the robots that needed help, why choose me?"

He wanted to scream at her, Because I love you! You're my wife! You're my family! I'd kill myself for you! but he bit his tongue (metaphorically speaking). That's not what she'd want to hear.

She watched his internal struggle for awhile, still wanting an answer.

"B-because..." he picked his words carefully, "...life is precious..."

That didn't make sense to her, but she didn't push it, "Alright, but don't your friends need help?"

"Um..." he shook his head, "I wasn't...thinking..." Willow! He had to find her! "I have to go!"

He forced the tears down. Of course she still didn't recognize him, she'd already been reset. If anything was going to bring her back, it wasn't this. He needed to find something else, no amount of idle chit-chat would make her remember.

It still hurt to leave her like that.

"Wait!"

He stopped, trying not to look hopeful.

"C-can I at least have your name?"

He faced her, letting himself smile a little, "It's Wall-E."

"Wall-E?" EVE nodded, "Alright. Maybe I'll see you again."

She said it as a simple inquiry, but it spoke volumes to him.

"O-okay..." he nodded before hurrying away.

EVE shook her head. Somehow, she was glad he was gone.


"Willow?"

"Ow!" a loud ringing sound bounced around in her head before it quieted again. She noticed she was in Quinn's shuttle as she tried to sit up, "Dad?"

"No! Don't!" he pushed her back down, "Quinn said you should stay down."

"Ugh..." she moaned in pain, "What was that?"

"I have already identified the noise." Quinn replied, "It was a regular radio signal, except it was so low in frequency that it cannot be heard by any of our auditory processors." the ship sank a little, "However, we can feel it, and the amplitude was far too high. I'm afraid the humans went as crazy as we did..."

"Oh no!" Willow wanted to look out the window, but remembered she had to keep lying down, "Are they okay?"

"They will be fine, as long as nothing else happens to drive them further to insanity."

The memories came flooding back, "Oh my God! Where's Mom!? Is Fletcher okay!? How's Nos!? What about-!"

"I have already looked at them." Quinn reassured, "I'm afraid Master Fletcher has fallen unconscious. When he wakes up, he won't remember us."

Willow's heart sank, "Oh no...Fletcher..."

"Other than that, at the very least, everyone is still alive." Quinn seemed to have sadness in his voice, but it was hard to distinguish, "That is a miracle."

Willow lay her head back, picking a spot on the ceiling to stare at.

The vents hushed, like Quinn was sighing, "I am so sorry..."

"No no, he's your family too." Willow rolled onto her side, "Tell me how Mom is."

WALL-E averted his gaze, "She's alive..."

Willow didn't want to push what she knew was a sensitive subject, but curiosity got the better of her, "What happened?"

He narrowed his eyes at the floor.

"Please?"

"I don't mean to pry, but I wish to know as well." Quinn said, "It's alright. I will find the cure to this sickness as soon as possible."

That's right. There had to be a way.

His gaze at nothing softened, "She...she was going to die, I'm sure of it...but I dragged her to the repair ward, and..." the sudden rush of heat through his head surprised him.

"And? And what!?" Willow reached out to squeeze his hand, "What did she do!? What did she say!?"

"Sh-she..." WALL-E swooned, "...she asked for my name..."

"Oh my gosh!" Willow giggled excitedly, "That means she cares about you now!"

"That's wondrous news!" Quinn replied, "And it confirms my suspicion."

"What suspicion?" Willow asked, still feeling a bit drowsy.

"That EVE has not been reprogrammed." Quinn let a holoscreen fill the windshield, "This may not be a virus at all, it may simply be a warping of the conscious mind. If this is the case, a cure may be much more simple than I first thought."

Willow stared with interest, "So she'll remember us?"

"Most likely." Quinn let the screen disappear, "But we have no more allies...they were all taken..."

WALL-E winced, "Everyone...?"

"I am sorry." Quinn shifted the shuttle a bit, "But everyone we found here is now gone."

Willow squeezed her eyes shut, letting her hand fall from WALL-E's, "Quinn...wake me up when you have a plan..."

He felt terrible. Something was telling Quinn that he could have done something different, but no matter how he looked at the situation there was nothing he could have done. Anything he tried would have fallen flat.

Still. He couldn't help but blame himself just a little bit.