Chell knew she got over-attached. She could vaguely remember hearing that it was a part of the human psyche: they were social animals and, when isolated, would actually die of loneliness if something friendly wasn't added to the environment. And then they'd cling to that thing with every scrap of underused affection.

She'd cried when she'd had to toss her Companion Cube down that shaft. Since then, she'd seen a few that had been broken open, and discovered the secret: no AI, just a tiny mechanism that produced heat and vibration, allowing the cube to give somewhat the same effect as a sleeping kitten. In her desperate need for companionship, she'd projected an entire personality onto hers.

Needless to say, it'd been a shock to find out just how badly she'd been duped. And now she wondered if it was happening again.

He seemed to be an upgraded version of Her personality cores. It would have been repulsive, except he a) didn't seem to be attached to Her in any way, and b) actually had a personality, not just a fragment of one. His chatter made the entire place seem just a little less dark and lonely, almost made her forget the pain of her own involuntary silence. Every so often, he'd say something that stabbed straight to her heart, horribly painful, but then he'd realize, and stumble over himself to apologize, to make it up to her.

She'd wondered, the first time through, what idiot invented the process that gave the robots emotions. From Her cold hatred to the turrets strange glee in killing, it'd seemed the only things in there were the worst of emotions.

He'd taught her the other side of Aperture. He displayed the entire spectrum of human feeling, mainly worry and fear, admittedly, but also pride, joy, remorse, hope… By the time they'd reached Her chamber, Chell knew she was a lost cause; she'd follow the silly little bot to hell and back.

Turned out, they'd done the first part of the journey by accident. And Her giant claw had smashed him. Chell had felt her heart burst in that moment, but kept going.

Revenge was a powerful motive.

And now he was back. He'd broken her out.

The girl prayed it wasn't one of Her tricks. Because if she lost Wheatley again, she was fairly sure she would suffer from that horrible fate someone had told her about, so long ago.

The slow, quiet pain of a lonely death.


I imagine this is on their way to the turret room. Sadness.

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