Hello everyone! I recently played and completed both Portal games (when I should have been studying for my exams) and felt I just had to write something for it. I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'm hoping a few chapters. I'll update when I can, but I am notorious for losing my motivation. I'll try not to.

- Hannah

Chapter 1 - The Time Inbetween

"Wait, stop the elevator!"

Nothing. As the last of the turrets finally left her sight, Chell could feel her stomach dropping, despite the fact the elevator was ascending. She wasn't ready to leave. Not yet. Not ever. She yelled out once again, her voice strong.

"GLaDOS, stop the elevator!"

She couldn't believe she was acting like this after the events that had just occurred. But the thought of resurfacing again, of facing a normal life in a normal society, terrified her. And Chell wasn't one to be easily terrified.

"I don't want to leave!"

This time, her voice broke as she cried out; she felt like a child pleading to their mother to let them stay with their friend longer. But the elevator continued to move upwards. In fact, it seemed to be speeding up. She started to bang on the walls, begging that they would somehow break, but before she could do any damage, a bright light flooded the elevator. Her left arm instinctively covered her eyes, whilst her right remained clutching her sides. Feeling a breeze on her face, Chell slowly lowered her arm. She winced as the harsh light hit her eyes. It was much brighter than anything she had seen in the Enrichment Center. It was the sun. Chell took a few steps out of the elevator, still squinting to let her eyes adjust to the new light, and felt the soft dirt beneath her feet. It didn't feel right having such a soft surface underneath her. Taking in her surroundings, she inhaled deeply. Partly to take in the fresh air, but also to help her regain her normal breathing pattern which she had lost in all her fear. The sound of a loud bang caused her to turn swiftly on her feet, and instinctively take on a defensive stance. The door had closed, only a second later to swing open again. And for a split second, Chell thought that she was going back in. But then a familiar looking Cube came flying out, and once again the door slammed shut. GLaDOS' last words echoed in Chell's mind.

"Don't come back."

She really did mean it.

Chell's concept of time had been greatly altered whilst in the Enrichment Center. As Chell sat outside the small metal hut, huddled up in a ball with only the companionship of her accurately named Cube, she counted seventeen moons passing. Seventeen nights with no food, no water, and nobody. One normally might have died within a week of these circumstances, but Chell was different. She thought back to the neurotoxin, the falls, the lasers - all of which, Chell had survived. It seemed that she was immune to any damage. At least physically.

On the nineteenth night, Chell once again examined the door, a daily ritual of hers. All the cracks, all the minuscule openings. She examined every wall of the hut, running her hands along it. She kicked at a dent on the left side on the until her legs could take no more. She climbed onto the roof and jumped until she couldn't breathe any longer. Finally collapsing, she rolled off the roof onto the ground. The ground no longer felt soft as it had the day she stepped out onto it, it was now the only thing separating her and the Enrichment Center, and it felt hundreds of thousands of inches thick. Which it most likely was. And as she lay there in the dirt, Chell figured that at least she wasn't completely losing her mind. Yet.

On the twenty-third night, Chell finally cracked. She banged on the door. She screamed. She threw the Companion Cube at the door, not feeling any remorse despite knowing it was sentient, as it bounced straight off and into the dirt. And finally, after hours of this mayhem, Chell fell to her knees. She looked up hopelessly at the closed door, praying to it as if it were a God.

"Please, I want to come back."

On the twenty-eighth night, Chell left. She left the cube and she left the hut. She left everything she had grown to know and rely on. She left running as fast as she can, in fear of her conscience catching her. Though her lungs burned, and her legs could barely move, Chell kept on moving. She didn't know where she was heading, or if she was even heading anywhere. For all she knew, she could have been running in circles the whole time. More moons passed, and Chell lost track after counting twelve. Each night after this, her legs began to move slower and slower, as did her mind. She thought she saw a person one night, but as she got closer the figure turned out to be nothing but a shrub. On what she believed could have been the twenty-somethingth night, Chell collapsed. It seemed her mind or luck, whatever it was keeping her alive, had finally deteriorated. As she let her eyes succumb to their pleas to close, and her body slowly shut down, Chell heard a noise. Not an animal. Metal. It sounded like... a door opening. And as she began to lose consciousness, Chell heard a voice, which she concluded was her own imagination.

"Oh. You're still alive. That's interesting. I guess I should have factored in your weight."