AN: This was my first fanfiction, written for a prompt on the Portal kinkmeme on LiveJournal. Not that I ever submitted it. LJ noob here. The prompt was essentially 'Wheatley sees a double rainbow'. Anyway, some ambiguous ChellXWheatley, if you want to read that much into it.
As they stumbled out of the shed, both of them had to pause at the sudden flood of light. Chell narrowed her eyes, while the Sphere perched atop her shoulder whirred and clicked as he lowered his optic's brightness setting. They had emerged into a field that stretched as far as the eye could see. A soft rustling sound bathed their ears and auditory processors as a spring breeze washed through the crops. There was so much new information for the both of them to process. The outside world was huge, even bigger than the Aperture Science facility. It was full of colours that weren't monochrome, sounds that weren't mechanised, smells that weren't disinfectant.
"Hah… I see why you wanted to be out of there, love… For a bunch of smelly humans, you've made a, a pretty nice world for yourself," Wheatley said, his optic flicking endlessly back and forth, trying to process all the new stimuli that he could. Then his gaze turned skyward. "Whoa!" His previous tone of mild awe was replaced with a yell. Excitement, fear, confusion. Something in the sky had grabbed his attention. "What the… oh, man alive, what is that thing?"
Chell looked up, blowing a little hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. The thing that had captivated her companion was a band of pure vibrancy, a band of colours that arced gracefully from one end of the horizon to the other. A long-faded memory flickered in her mind: a sheet of paper, new crayons - a banner of colours reigning over a green line -
"Fact."
That one word snapped Chell from her reverie and she gazed down at her left hand. She was gripping a handlebar of another Core, whose pink optic had swivelled up to regard her coolly.
"Fact: That is a rainbow. It is formed by light refracting through tiny prism-like animals called tarquins. Tarquins are airborne parasites whose preferred host is-"
"Space cats!" the other Core in that hand called out joyously. "Space cats, running through space, left a space trail, oh boy, wanna, wanna go to space, ride space cats…"
"You know what that makes me think of, sugar?" The fourth Core paused dramatically, then breathed, "Death slides." His voice became louder and more animated. "I could ride a motorbike over one of those things! And - and then there'd be explosions at the end, and I'd make a death-defying leap over them! Oh man, I'd have pretty ladies swoonin' everywhere."
"Fact: The Adventure Core is a dullard -"
"Wha-?"
"-because he does not understand that rainbows do not work like that."
Chell paid no attention the Adventure Core's indignant reply; her mind had long since wandered. She was content to simply gaze into the sky with Wheatley on her shoulder. The peaceful feeling in her body as her adrenaline levels returned to normal was surreal. Just minutes ago, she had been fighting for her life. And now… now she was free, free of everything that had defined her life thus far. The gentle whirr as Wheatley's optic scoped along the rainbow sounded to Chell like a contented purr. Not only had she freed herself, she'd managed to save the Cores. All Aperture failures, all oddities like her. Even if she couldn't save another human, knowing that she had taken others out of there, others who knew her past without judging her, and given them a shot at a free life… well, that was something. The edge of her mouth quirked upward into a smile.
"MAN ALIVE, there's two of them!" Wheatley's laughter was loud and triumphant, as if he'd somehow summoned that second rainbow himself and wanted to tell the world how proud he was. The whirring in Chell's ear became more frenzied as the Intelligence Dampening Sphere looked over the two rainbows in childlike wonder. "It's a double rainbow!"
After a few moments he quietened. "Haaah… This… this is beautiful… so intense… colours, all the way across the sky…" He shuffled just a little closer to the woman's ear. "If I'd known there were things like this, love, I might just have broken out earlier. No offense, no offense!" he added hurriedly. "I'd still rather have met you, love…"
The tender moment was broken when Fact and Adventure tried to swing themselves at each other, tugging at Chell's hands in the process. Even without hands, it seemed they were trying to engage in fisticuffs. This was why she had kept hold of the Adventure Core separately, she remembered with a wry smile, because he and the Fact Core were bound to fight. Wheatley remained oblivious, his optic lazily scanning the sky with an almost dreamy quality. When he turned back to Chell, his voice was soft, but still laced with excitement.
"What does it mean, love?" he questioned.
The Fact Core stopped writhing. "The rainbow is a symbol of promises."
"Promises?"
"Specifically, with the promise of a new and safe life."
The beauty of it struck Chell. Sure, the defective Fact Core had said it, so who knew whether it was true or not? But the woman adopted the meaning anyway. It was so apt for them, for the first thing to see in their new world to be a beautiful symbol of safety and protection. Even Wheatley, dopey little Wheatley, seemed to have picked up on its significance. The Sphere pressed itself against the side of her head, nuzzling it happily. She wasn't going to complain that he had folded over her ear. "A new and safe life, eh? Makes a nice change from Her trying to kill us every other step…"
The door of the shed flew open behind them, spewing something out before clanging shut. The large cube landed on the concrete and stared, if a cube could stare. Chell stared back. Its grey and white surfaces were charred and scratched, but there was no mistaking the stylised pink heart in the centre of each side. The widest smile the woman had made in a long time broke across her face as she carefully sat on it. She placed the Adventure Core in her lap, something that he didn't mind if his wriggling and mutters of endearment were anything to go by. With her right hand now free, she petted the Companion Cube. It was a big, bold new world that they had escaped into. And they were going to face it together. She promised.