This chapter is going to have kind of a different writing format, since it's mostly just a series of chambers. Let me know if there's anything I need to fix or clear up. When I said I wasn't going to do the whole thing, I lied – this is too fun. I will stop enhancing the truth in 3… 2…
Chapter Two
The Cold Boot
01
"I'm so glad I finally get to introduce you to the lasers," REGiNA said, Her voice reaching Belle through unseen speakers. "They're such basic Science. The fundamentals. I love them. This one is fairly simple, just to get you used to them. I'm sure after such a long time in stasis, you're a little rusty. Don't worry. We'll soon work through that."
Belle glowered and solved the test in five seconds flat. She flashed the camera a smug smile before stepping through the door.
02
Belle had to grudgingly admit to herself that she liked the lasers. They were a drastic improvement on the energy pellets, which she had despised. The lasers were much easier to direct, none of that bouncing about nonsense.
She portaled to the opposite side of a barrier to get a Redirection Cube, when one of the panels in the wall moved. She glanced up sharply to see Rumpelstiltskin on the opposite side. Relief washed through her like a tidal wave, and she moved towards him, but he hurriedly pressed a finger to his lips. He pointed upwards with his other hand.
Understanding dawned. REGiNA didn't know he was still running around. She nodded, and he gave her a thumbs-up before vanishing.
03
She hoped that there wouldn't be too many more chambers of solely lasers, because that would get very old, very fast.
For a moment, she thought she saw Rumpelstiltskin through a gap in the floor, but couldn't be sure. It was reassuring to know that not only was he okay, but that he was following along. Maybe he was even working on a way to bust her out. The thought made her smile. For all he seemed (and seemed to think himself) gutless, he was brave in his own way.
A new sound caught her ear, over the faint hum of the Thermal Discouragement Beams. She made her way to a gap in the wall. There was a small chamber beyond, and she hopped down into it. What she'd heard was music, emanating from a little radio in the corner. It was a sad, lilting tune. She sat with her back against the wall and looked around at the paintings that covered the walls. It was another of her unseen friend's hideouts.
She tuned out REGiNA's jibes and stayed there until the song ended.
04
"I'd forgotten how quickly you solved tests," She said. "I would say you were one of my favorite test subjects, but you're a murderous lunatic, and, quite frankly, an unpleasant person in general. Certainly not ideal favorite test subject material."
Belle used a portal to detach the security camera from the wall, just to spite Her.
05
Belle had a new favorite testing element. The Aerial Faith Plates were even better than dropping yourself off a ledge and into a portal – there was something exhilarating about her feet connecting with the plate and then being sprung away.
She felt like a superstar when she caught the cube midair.
06
She learned that she especially loved using the Faith Plates consecutively, flying one way, landing on the plate and then flying again in another direction, crossing the room in giant leaps.
It made her feel free.
07
REGiNA was just being childish, dissolving the cube before she could use it. Belle caught sight of Rumpelstiltskin behind some loose wall panels, and rolled her eyes at him when She dissolved a second cube. He stifled a laugh and withdrew as the panels fixed themselves.
Well, two could play at the childish game. When REGiNA told her not to take anything out of the test chamber because the Emancipation Grid was broken, Belle made sure to go back and retrieve the Companion Cube.
REGiNA dissolved that one too.
08
Sometimes it worried Belle that she actually enjoyed testing. She loved the thrill of solving puzzles, of looking at a room and the riddle it posed and then unraveling it. If Aperture wasn't patently insane and if she weren't being held here at the whim of a psychotic AI, then escaping probably wouldn't be such a priority. She could imagine a facility that actually cared about the safety of its volunteers, one that had a welcoming environment, and then testing wouldn't be so bad. She'd happily make a living being a test subject if only this facility and the long-gone people who had built it weren't completely bugnuts.
It worried her because she didn't know what her purpose was otherwise.