Chell stood before him, the sleeves of her orange jumpsuit tied around her waist and arms across her chest. She cocked one hip, staring him down. Wheatley looked around quickly, nervous.
They were in an all white room, almost blinding. Wheatley was placed on a chair as high as Chell's waist. For a while, neither of them spoke, and the silence was maddening.
"L-Luv? Have you made up your mind? Because honestly, I would rather you kill me now than torture me with your icy glare- no wait, I'd actually like to ask you a question, or maybe two..." Wheatley babbled, and Chell uncrossed her arms and placed them on her hips.
"STOP talking." She ordered, and Wheatley shut up right away, the sound of her voice stunning him into silence. She walked around his chair, her bare feet padding against the tile, never taking eyes her off of him. "I know this must be a shock for you...Wheatley," She muttered, continuing."But it's a shock for me too. Finding out that someone I had never even met before was planning on killing me. Calling me names, destroying my self confidence. How dare you."
"W-well technically it wasn't actually you-"
"But it was supposed to be me, wasn't it? And if it was really was me, you wouldn't have cared any less, would you?" Chell replied, and Wheatley looked away, knowing it was the truth. Chell wrapped her arms around herself, and sat down in front of him, crossing her legs.
"But I don't want to kill you, even though you deserve it. I just want to get out of here."
Wheatley stared at her, guilt stricken. He had tortured, ridiculed, and betrayed who he had thought was her countless times, and all she wanted to do was leave the place. She was the most brave human he had ever met, and he hasn't met many, for that matter.
This was all his fault; If he hadn't lost control earlier...
"So what's your plan?"
"...what?"
"You're plan?" Chell asked, eyebrows raised. "To get out of here?"
"Oh! My plan? You mean, y-you want to escape with me?"
Chell grimaced, looking away. "Not really. But I can't get out of here by myself. Besides, you know where you're going, right?"
Wheatley shifted his optic nervously, and Chell raised an eyebrow. "O-oh, luv! Don't fret! I know the way, honestly I do! However, I'm glad you trust me enough to to put your life in my hands-"
"I don't trust you. And you don't have hands."
"A-A-alright then. Well first thing's first. We must find a way out of this blinding room!" Wheatley exclaimed, looking around the room quickly, not seeing a door or window. Chell stood up, and looked at the ceiling.
"There," she said, pointing. "There's an air vent up there."
She picked Wheatley up, and held him against her chest as she dragged the chair until it was right underneath the vent. Then she climbed up, and placed Wheatley inside first after shoving the casing away. Then she pulled herself up and into the dark and dusty vent. Clutching Wheatley to her chest, she began to crawl. Wheatley shined his flashlight to illuminate her way.
"You know, I don't know if you were listening before, but they told me if I ever turned this flashlight on, I would -" he began, and Chell rolled her eyes as she continued to crawl through, her nose itching from the dust.
"I know. I was listening before. GLaDOS was trying to prove what a traitor you were, and had me watch. Which wasn't very pleasant, actually,"she sniffed, and Wheatley looked up at her.
"Oh, luv, are you sick? Because years ago when I took charge of maintaining the Extended Relaxation Center, there was this smelly human who was sneezing and talking funny. And very often he would grab a piece of tissue paper and blow his nose into it, and you do you know what was in there? Sticky, slimy, green-"
"Okay, okay. I get it!" Chell interrupted, and Wheatley remained quiet. For a while they continued to crawl, neither of them saying anything, and Chell was grateful for the thirty seconds of silence.
"So...a clone, hm? How did you find out?" Wheatley asked, and Chell didn't respond. "Ah, well...I suppose you wouldn't want to tell me, you know, with me planning on killing you and all."
"Look, I just want to focus on finding a way out of here, alright-?" Chell snapped, and was going to say something else when the floor gave way. Wheatley yelled as they fell, finally crashing to the floor.
"Oof!" Wheatley puffed as he hit the floor and rolled away, finally stopping as bumped into something. He couldn't really see anything, as he was face down. But he did hear something that made him shiver with fear.
"Why hello again." Her voice purred, and Wheatley closed his optic, trying to tune her out. "I don't mean to be eavesdropping, but I couldn't help but hear of your little plan."
Hands grabbed Wheatley and picked him up. Chell held Wheatley against her, looking up at GLaDOS defiantly, and Wheatley shivered.
"After everything he did to you- after everything he was going to do to you- you didn't kill him? Are you planning on torturing on him, and watching him die? Because I cannot comprehend why you have the little idiot against you like you're protecting him." GLaDOS sneered.
"I can't kill him. Even though he deserves it, I just can't. If anything, I feel more pity for him than I do anger," she replied, and Wheatley winced. That was even worse.
GLaDOS laughed softly.
"You really are a monster." With that, a claw shot through the air and wrapped tightly across Chell's throat, jerking her backwards and pinning her against the wall. Wheatley slipped from Chell's grip and rolled away.
As Wheatley rolled, he saw flashes. The claw constricted around Chell's throat even tighter. Flash.
The claw electrocuted her entire body, her eyes widening and locking onto Wheatley's. Flash.
Wheatley closed his optic as he watched Chell slump to the ground, hurt, but not defeated as she rose onto her elbows. Her eyes were barely open, but she fought with all her strength to crawl away. Wheatley watched her sadly as she crawled towards him, pain and exhaustion on her face.
For all the pain Chell was facing, he felt responsible for all of it.
But what was going to happen now?
