As much as she tried to put Aperture behind her, the full moon would always be there to remind her of everything. Though it never seemed as huge or hauntingly beautiful as she saw it that night, it would still remind her of everything that happened back in the test chambers. And it wasn't like she didn't have other reminders; the scars all over her sides were quite evident. She'd often wake up from a nightmare— no, a reliving of the fight— damp with sweat, her heart pounding, and scars throbbing.

It should've hurt less. She was just fighting for her life; if she wanted to live, she had to take him down. It wasn't really that different from fighting Her.

No, she can't lie to herself. The circumstances and how the fight played out may have been very similar, but... they remained completely different. From the moment she woke in the Relaxation Chamber, she didn't trust the voice coming from the speakers. Defeating Her didn't hurt in the emotional sense. In the brief moment of freedom, she even felt victorious.

But Wheatley... oh, it was so different. He seemed so friendly, and so... so honest! Despite her initial distrust of the core, she quickly came to like his quirkiness and tendency to ramble. She could tell he was trying his best to be helpful, even if he was a tad lacking. But almost immediately after they did the core transfer, he went loony from the power he now held, and then tried to kill her. Several times.

His betrayal couldn't have hurt more.

She sighed, turning away from the window. It was late and she needed her sleep, even if she had to battle Wheatley in her head for the umpteenth time.

She picked up the radio to turn it off before the music cut off and was replaced by an oh-so familiar voice.

"Aha! See, mate, I told you I could get in!"

She nearly dropped the radio, but after fumbling for a few moments, she safely put it back down.

"So, uh, hullo! It's Wheatley! Though if you were the lady, you'd probably... uh, you'd probably have already figured that out. But, if you aren't her, feel free to switch your radio off! Because I'm... broadcasting to every radio within a hundred mile radius. On every frequency a radio can pick up."

That's one question answered.

At least it didn't involve him "hacking" the radio station.

"And I've got a lot of things to say. Mulled it over all the time, actually. Didn't have many other options, being in space and all. Space. Brr. Bloody boring." A pause. "Now, lady, I don't mean anything by it. You did what you had to do. I was trying to kill you, even after all you did to help me, and... and I really was terrible, wasn't I? I was even worse than Her.

"I was monstrous. And- and bossy. You never bossed me around; I mean, how could you? You were a mute vegetable! ...wait, no, I take that back. You weren't a vegetable. Just silent. Very quiet. And really clever, completing all those puzzles by yourself. Could a vegetable do that? No. No, it couldn't.

"Me, though? I was a bloody idiot. So full of myself. I thought I could be better than Her, and we all saw how well that went. Nearly blew up the place on us.

"And you know what? I deserved every single thing you did to get rid of me. And I'm sorry. I am genuinely sorry."

She bit her lip.

"I said if I'd ever see you again, I'd say sorry to you. In person. Or core. Maybe in core. Because I'm not a person. But after crashing into Earth— thank God Spacey and I survived— I've seen nothing except a massive field of wheat. I've been picking up Aperture's signal, so can't be far off from the place. There's no other sign of it, though. Which... may not be a bad thing, actually. Pretty sure She wants to kill me.

"But I thought, maybe I'd never get to say sorry and you'd hate me forever— rightfully so, don't get me wrong. Then I came up with a brilliant idea! Humans can't move very far that quickly, right? And you also started off in Aperture, so I thought, 'Maybe she'd still be close enough to hear a broadcast!' Which is why you're hearing me on radio. Unless you're not her, in the case, hullo, nothing to listen here. Or maybe you're dead because She killed you and I'm just broadcasting this for no reason. Like an idiot." A pause. "But I'm hoping you're alive. You're a strong lady. You'd pull through anything.

"Anyway... to sum up... I'm sorry, I was a bloody moron, and I hope you'd find it in your heart to forgive me someday. If even if you never do, I've said everything I needed to."

Static. Then the music resumed, as if nothing happened.

She stood up and looked for a jacket.

"Do you reckon she heard me, mate?"

"Space. There's the moon. Space. Space. I love space."

"Thought so."

Wheatley went silent. Even if she did hear the broadcast, what did he expect? It wasn't like she'd come. He wasn't even sure she'd forgive him. She didn't seem the grudge-holding type, but what would he know?

He closed the shutter over his eye. "Going on sleep mode. Wake me if something happens."

"Space."

Robots can't dream. Sleep mode was like blinking and finding yourself at a different time. It was a tad confusing at times, but it kept the battery saved.

"Whoa. Lights. Not stars, but pretty. Saw you before."

Wheatley's shutter sprung open before force-hutting from all the light. His internal clock said it was still nighttime, so the amount of light was bizarre.

"Hullo?" he tried.

He heard a huff and the crunching of plants under boots.

"It's you." So Spacey recognized whoever it was. "Nice lady."

Lady?

He opened his shutters a sliver and saw a figure holding the other core. Definitely humanoid.

The figure knelt down and grabbed him by the handle, moving him so he would be blinded by the light. It took a moment for him to process who it was, seeing she was wearing a fairly heavy jacket or something.

"It's- it's you!"

The lady rolled her eyes. "Took you long enough." Her voice was a rasp, but whoa, she talked. "You have no idea how hard it is to drive in a wheat field at night while looking for two beach-ball-sized objects."

"You can talk? Actually, nevermind that. You went and looked for me? You... you don't hate me?"

"I can talk. And I have my issues with you." Her expression softened. "But I didn't think anyone who tried to contact the one they hurt so much, just to apologize, deserved to rot in the middle of nowhere."

"Ah... well, that's a start."

Originally posted (by me lol) on AO3 (/works/13326798)

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