Space was cold, colder than the cryogenic storage wing. It should have been lonely. Wheatley actually wanted it to be lonely. Well, not lonely in the sense of painful, but more in the sense of... quiet. Hadn't someone told him that there is no noise in space? Damn Aperture technology... He would be content... ELATED. He would have been elated if he never had to hear anyones voice again. Coming from someone who can't shut up... Well, there was one person's voice he wouldn't have minded hearing again. Well, not again really, he'd never heard her speak before. Wished he had. Could've had it on eternal replay, one word. Really, one word would have been perfect. Any word really, even space, if it came from her lips. Even if she'd said, I hate you... Could've worked with that. But nothing? Only her face. Her perfect face... He wished he had something more. Her laugh... he tried to imagine it. It would be amazing, just like the rest of her. Only now that he was out of the haze of euphoria and testing compulsions, corruption, could he see the true amount of damage his actions had caused. They'd been so close, so close to freedom. He'd betrayed her, gone and messed everything up, just like he always did. Designed to make bad decisions. She was right. He could have left with her, could've stolen an android body- or! Or, better, a body from cryogenic storage. Could've held her in his arms, kissed those lips that he knew would speak so perfectly... Better than testing euphoria, so he'd heard. Organic euphoria. He wasn't quite sure what it was, not enough files on it, but he knew that seeing her made him feel... good. Better than good. And he wasn't even organic. He could be laying in bed with her, their bodies touching, skin on skin. Instead he hadgone and made a bloody mess of it all, broke her trust, broke her heart. And instead of in bed with her, he was in space with... Kevin. Who never stopped talking about space, literally, never. On and on, yes, so much space. Uh huh, got it. Yes. Stars. He had tried to tune him out, turn off his receivers or something. That would have been nice, silence. But no, Aperture had decided to go and put a password on that. And if he'd learned anything in the past few months, it was that that password was unhackable. He'd tried everything, even going off the norm, trying GLaDOS, or APERTURE, even LEMONS. Nothing. So he'd been forced to become painfully accustomed to the never ending rambling about space. So he was surprised when the sudden silence made him a little queasy.
"Kevin, you there mate?"
"Yes." Relief flooded Wheatley's body, seeing how the thought of being alone in space... was much better than the reality of being alone in space.
"Thinking. About space. And about stars. And about home. Home. Earth. Earth. Wanna go home. To earth, wanna go home. Don't like space no more. Space to big. Space to cold."
"Yeah, I want to go home to. But we're both stranded up here, in space."
"Yep. In space. Both of us. In space. Alone in space." Wheatley wondered what he meant by that, alone. They weren't alone. And what had sparked this sudden change in him? Months of going on and on about space, then out of the blue, bam, nope. Doesn't like space anymore. It was more than suspicious really, and he should have seen it coming. He did see it coming. Still, he winced at the sight of it. Kevin's optic flickered, and a gauge on his side blinked an alarming red. He was dying. Not dying in the sense she could die, he could be fixed. But not up here, not in space. Nobody would fix him up here. Wheatley gave him a few hours. That wasn't a lot of time to get used to the idea that your only companion was dying in front of you, and after he was gone, you were alone in space. Forever. Forever is a long time to be stranded in space. The reality that he too had limited power, well... dying seemed pretty inviting at this point. He was almost jealous of the little orange core, getting to just slowly fade out of consciousness. But the pain of watching the only other sentient thing within seemingly infinite space die, was more than disturbing. He heard Kevin's voice falter,
"Alone in space. Space so... cold. Space so... lonely... alone... in... space. Can't... So... Cold... Keep me warm? Keep me warm... space... Don't... Let me... Alone... So alone so cold so, so tired. Let... me... close... my... eyes... space... space blanket... so cold... let... me... go...-" Wheatly could feel his processor running as it tried to keep the simulated emotions from... These emotions didn't feel simulated. Not at all. This was pain. This was real, true pain, real empathy, real sadness. And it hurt. It hurt like someone had just ripped his mechanics to shreds, leaving him raw and empty. He felt like crying. But he couldn't cry, couldn't ease the discomfort of watching... that. Crying was a human ability, and right now he wished so bad he could be human, so he could let these brimming feelings flow out his eyes onto his cheeks. Which he did not have. He simply tried his best to keep from dying right there from the pure PAIN. He longed to hear her voice. He imagined her telling him it would be... all right. That the pain would fade away... just like his life- He snapped, his internal machinations working overtime to keep him from going into shock. He felt the cold cover him... the space blanket. He felt himself losing control, and let it happen. What was the point, anyways? Nobody cared, nobody loved him, nobody would know... He let the ice fill his system, freezing his emotions, yet he still hurt. Still felt... remembered. It still stung. He closed his optic, letting the darkness fill his senses, letting himself fade into the blackness. He felt sobs rack his body as he heard the most beautiful voice singing... it was perfect. He knew it was her voice. It had to be. He let the words fill his mind, let the soft gentle singing carry him out of consciousness...
Sweet forgiveness,
Let it fill your soul,
Ebbing gentle bliss,
Let it take control.
You are forgiven,
My lover, my friend,
My love it is driven,
To you till the end,
Forgiveness my lover,
Forgiveness my friend,
There is no other,
This is not the end.
Forgiven for all that has happened,
I send you my heart,
Though time has you saddened,
I bring you a fresh start.
Forgiven my lover, forgiven my friend.
The words brought a sense of happiness and peace to him, and as he took one last... breath... he felt a tear trail down his cheek and reached his hand to his face, the melody carrying him into the bittersweet darkness.