AN: Merry Christmas! (yes I know it's late, please don't hate me.)
Once upon a time, in a snow covered village called Aperture, there lived a man, this man's name was Wheatley, he worked at a local store with a woman, her name was Chell, this is their story...
"Merry Christmas sir." said a boy as he walked out, Chell flipped the store sign to 'Closed'.
"Whatever." Wheatley muttered as he closed the register.
"What's the matter?" Chell asked.
"I don't like Christmas, Chell, I never have, and I never will." he snapped.
She looked down, this was going to be a problem, for you see, she had been in love with Wheatley for a very long time and planned to ask him to a couples Christmas party her friend was holding tomorrow.
He looked up at her, "Now, about that question you were going to ask earlier." he said.
Chell sighed in defeat, "Nothing, it wasn't important..."
"Well then," He said, "Goodnight."
"Merry Christmas..." Chell whispered as she walked out.
Wheatley sighed, "Bah humbug."
That night...
Wheatley turned in his sleep, in his dream he could hear a voice whisper,
"Tonight you shall be visited by the 3 ghosts."
Wheatley's eyes shot open, he put on his glasses and looked around, and he would never forget what he saw, a young woman was sitting on his windowsill, she had a gleaming white dress, pale skin, dark hair and a little orange scarf around her neck. (AN: Guess who the ghosts are.)
"Who are you?!" he yelped.
"I am the ghost of Christmas past." She stated calmly.
"Why are...how did you..." He was too shocked to finish.
She reached her hand out, "I want to show you something."
Wheatley held onto her hand and they walked off out of his window, into the chilly night air, they seemed to be floating, she started to walk through fog; and if he had not been holding on to her like a scared little kid he would have lost her.
Suddenly, everything grew clear, he was now standing in the middle of the living room he had as a child, it was Christmas day and he saw himself and his brother, Rick, opening gifts as five year children.
Wheatley laughed nervously, but the woman beside him said nothing as they watched; what had appeared to be a happy scene was revealing itself, while his mother and father had stepped out for a few minutes, Rick began to pick on his younger brother.
"Hey, stop it!" Little Wheatley said.
"Make me." Rick hissed.
When little Wheatley decided he'd had enough, he sat in the corner and whimpered, "I don't like Christmas."
Finally the woman spoke up, "Wow, you started early."
Wheatley huffed "I don't know why you're showing me this."
"Oh nothing," She said "just to get a feel of what were dealing with."
Wheatley sat up in bed and looked around, he laughed to himself, how stupid he'd been! It was all just a dream.
"What's so funny?" he heard a voice.
Wheatley looked to his doorway to see a man, around the same age as his first 'visitor', he had sand-colored hair, a suit on, and an amused expression.
"If you're wondering, I am the ghost of Christmas present." The man said.
"Let me guess, you're here to show me something, aren't you?" Said Wheatley.
"Right you are my friend, now come on, we haven't got all day!" The man snapped.
There was a bright flash and all of a sudden they were standing in a huge room with dressed up people all around, it was the Christmas party.
"Very fancy, kind of nice actually, um, I kind of understood the last one but why are we here?" Wheatley asked.
The man spoke in a deep voice, "To show you the short-term consequences of your behavior." he pointed to a table and Wheatley walked slowly up to it.
He saw who was sitting at the table, it was Chell, she was wearing a stunning orange and white dress, she had her arms crossed on the table with her head resting on them, Wheatley could see a tear run down her cheek before she wiped it away.
"Chell what's the matter?" He tried to ask and reach out to her, but the man held him back.
"She can't hear or see you." He told him.
"Oh."
A woman walked up to her, "What's wrong, where's Wheatley?" she asked.
"Well, I was going to ask him, but..." She started, "it wouldn't have ended well."
Wheatley finally understood everything, Chell had wanted to ask him to go with her to the party and all he'd done was make her afraid to ask. 'I am definitely going to apologize, I can't believe she likes me like that, this is amazing!' He thought.
"Well if that doesn't tug your heartstrings, I don't know what does," Said the man. "but I think our time here is up."
"Wait, wait!" Wheatley tried to yell but it was too late, everything was fading around them.
He felt a sharp jab in his side, when he looked up, he saw a woman, but she was nothing like the first, she had wavy black hair, a long black gown and yellow eyes that seemed to glow, she was an eerie sight. "Get up." She hissed.
"Who are you?" Wheatley said in a totally manly voice. (AN: Sarcasm self-test complete.)
"As if you couldn't tell already, I'm the ghost of Christmas future, moron."
Wheatley decided to shrug the rude comment off, "So where are you going to take me?" he asked.
The two started to walk down and out of his house, though she said nothing, Wheatley could feel that she hated him.
"Uh, Miss?" He asked "What happened to Chell?"
"Oh, I know, but I'll do something better, I'll show you." she replied as they walked through darkness, Wheatley could see something in the distance and was frightened, because what he was seeing was a graveyard.
"Did I die?!" He squeaked.
She shook her head and lifted a lantern, though Wheatley still had to squint to see, on the stone it didn't show his name, it was hers, he fell to his knees, "What happened?" he asked.
"You were the one she was in love with for so long, after she saw how bitter you could be she gave up, even tried to marry someone else, but she never really got over it, and when he saw that, he left, after that, she lost all hope and...well, I'll let you finish the rest."
"You mean, she did this to herself?!" Wheatley asked.
The woman's voice was full of false sweetness that masked hostility "Well, technically you did this, to which I would say congratulations, you successfully murdered someone, you monster."
His world seemed to spin, with the recent discovery of Chell's feelings and the fact that spirits were going out their way to try to get him to like a holiday that now he actually started to wonder why he hated it so much, it didn't really do anything, it was his brother that picked on him (and on occasion duct-tapped him to a pole).
Wheatley tried to look up at her, but the woman was gone, he could barely see as there was only a half-moon out, she left him in the dark.
"Please, I-I'm so sorry, I don't hate Christmas!, I'll apologize to Chell for being rude! Please!, All I want is to see her again, I would tell her I'm sorry... and that I feel the same way..." He muttered.
There was a light laugh, "Took you long enough." and the whole area lit up.
There were small, puffy snowflakes falling outside, kids running around showing their friends the stuff they got, for most people though, someone had their Christmas party going on and almost all couples, either married or not were there, except one.
She was wearing a beautiful orange and white dress, leaning on a pole eating a small red cupcake, she was definitely not going to get her hopes up about her friend coming.
Meanwhile, a certain blue-eyed man just woke up.
"Oi, how long have I been out?" Wheatley asked himself, when he looked at his clock his eyes widened, "10:30, I'm late!"
He rushed himself to get dressed in his fanciest tuxedo, got a rose out of his vase and rushed out into the snowy streets.
5 Minutes later
Wheatley rushed through the door, to a big room, not as many people were there as there were in his dream but he really didn't care, he knew Chell was here though, none of her lights were on at her house, sure enough he heard her voice behind him.
"Wheatley?, What are you doing here?" She was obviously confused.
"I had to see you, Chell, oh and uh, this is for you." He handed her the rose.
She smiled. "Thanks."
Meanwhile, a young girl had sneaked in, she had been following Wheatley for one simple reason, she knew. Some called her an oracle, but that didn't matter, she was different, and she wanted to see Chell and Wheatley get together. Without them knowing, she nudged them a little closer, grabbed a piece of mistletoe, hung it above them, and rustled it to get their attention.
They looked up and saw it, Chell gasped and smiled, Wheatley was trying to remember what it meant.
"Uh... don't tell me... OK, I give up, what does it do again?" He asked, and certainly didn't expect the answer to be Chell grabbing and pulling him to kiss her, his eyes were wide for a few seconds before they closed, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he saw someone gesture for him to hug her waist; so he did just that. When they broke apart, they stared into each-others eyes.
"Merry Christmas Chell."
"Merry Christmas to you too, Wheatley."
The End