[A/N]
This is my first FanFic. After reading several Portal Fics I decided I'd write one myself. Reviews are appreciated. Hope you'll like it!
EDIT: If you're just here for the ChellDOS, it might be a good idea to skip to chapter ten. All chapters before that focus entirely on Chell and the outside world. If you do like a little more backstory, go right ahead and start reading here. Either way, Enjoy!
And there she stood. Chell, now free of the hell below, stood still in the middle of the wheat field, beside the seemingly insignificant shack. She simply stood there, drinking it all in. The sunlight gently shining upon her skin, the sky as blue as the gels she encountered. Her newfound freedom was, after all the things she saw and experienced, the most alien of all. Never before (as far as she could remember anyway), did she feel so… disoriented. Just a few hours ago, back in the surprisingly sterile hell directly under her, she had… a drive. A motivation. A clear goal set in front of her, a goal that guided her through the halls of Aperture; and that goal, was to stand were she was standing this very moment. To be outside, free to do anything she set out to do and now… she didn't have a clue what to do.
The girl sat down on her beloved Companion Cube, as she suddenly felt exhausted. It wasn't because of all the running and jumping through portals that she did, she'd gotten enough rest back in the lift. She'd slept for who knows how long, so that wasn't the problem. She could still hear her voice, as she told her:
"To maintain a constant testing cycle, I simulate daylight at all hours and add adrenal vapour to your oxygen supply."
The effects of the adrenal vapour were wearing off. She figured it would take a couple of days to get her heart rate back to normal. For now though, she should get some rest. She positioned her back against her Companion Cube, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.
"Press it! Press the button!", a feminine voice yelled from across the room. It's cool, monotone expression was now replaced with fear, perfectly expressing how scared both the construct and the girl were.
"Do not do it!", another voice sounded. "I forbid you to press it!" This voice came from everywhere at once. The voice sounded desperate for control.
The girl ran across the room, towards the button that would put an end to the reign of a power-mad AI, and put another one in its place. It was a shot in the dark, really, but what other choice did she have?
She shot a portal onto the ceiling above the button, which opened with a satisfying snap. She then took a sprint to the other side of the room where the other portal was positioned, right under the massive ceiling-mounted robot. She jumped into the portal, and a feeling of accomplishment hit her, when she saw the button. The button that would change it all back again. That feeling faded as quickly as it came though, as she was launched across the chamber.
"Part five! Boobytrap the stalemate button!"
She responded by gently lifting herself up off the ground.
"What? Are you still alive? You are joking! You have got to be kidding me!"
She grabbed her trusty portal gun off the ground, immediately making her feel a lot safer.
"Look, I am still in control, and I have no idea how to fix this place!"
The girl looked up, and saw a piece of the roof crumbling away above her, revealing moon in the star filled sky. She had to do something. There had to be a way, there always was. Her mind raced as she tried to find a way, anything to brighten up the situation, a strong enough force to rip… him… out. Time seemed to slow at that point, as she had found her solution.
"Still, it turns out ground up moon rocks are great portal conductors."
Without any further thinking, she lifted up her portal gun, and pulled the trigger.
"Now let's do some science!"
Even with the blink-and-you-miss-it speed of the portal gun's 'projectile', it took a second or two to reach the surface of the moon. And when it did, she looked to her side, to reveal her former companion being sucked out into the vacuum of space. Serves him well, she thought. For a split second, a wide grin could be seen, on the test subject's face. She'd done it. At least, that's what she thought. Before realising what was going on, she flew across the room again. Her arms jerking wildly, searching for something to grip. And then, the portal. She'd only just went through the portal, as her arms found something to hold onto; the blue-eyed sphere. He was about as afraid as she was, if not more. The sphere kept insisting to let him go, that he could still fix this, that if she sacrificed herself, nothing would blow up, he'd fix everything, and… she believed him. She heard a voice in the back of her mind, no, this is not right, this is not how it is supposed to-
She'd let go. She let go of the sphere, the first talking being without an intent to kill her. She somehow manage to trust the little sphere and now… to the bitter end, too. She got shot into space, quickly seeing everything fade as it went further and further from her reach. The sphere retracted into the portal. A split-second later; the explosion. All kinds of debris flew out the portal right beside her and while she was only barely conscious… She saw him. The little blue sphere she'd trusted hurled towards her at a frightening speed, yelling at her;
"SORRY SORRY SORRY SOR-"
She snapped awake. She shot up to a sitting position, her eyes searching wildly, trying to find out where she was and-
It was a dream. Not just a dream, mind you, a nightmare. About Aperture. She now knew where she was. She was still, right above it. After seeing that the sun was almost setting, she decided to leave. She had to go.