EPILOGUE

6 MONTHS LATER

In the months after Chell's rescue, things had gone back to normal, or at least whatever passed for normal in Aperture Laboratories. Wheatley and the cores had gained GLaDOS's trust and she now went to them first whenever she needed some repairs to the facility. ARTEMIS had been brought up to speed on current situations and given equal control over the facility, though she still didn't respect GLaDOS's authority. Wheatley and ARTEMIS had become friends over the past few months, finding common ground on the subjects of GLaDOS and the need to prove themselves to the world. They often had joke-battles, each finding the other's sense of humour hilarious, and each trying to outdo the other with the stupidest jokes ever thought up. GLaDOS had, unbeknownst to the others, been making preparations for a plan of her own. And now it was ready.

She'd grown tired of the life she lead, always having to watch over everything, always testing. The testing euphoria was nothing compared to the feeling when she was with Chell, and all the work she had to do made seeing her a rare thing indeed. She'd slowly given ARTEMIS control over the facility and had eased her into the job of running the whole facility. GLaDOS didn't even need to do anything anymore; ARTEMIS had gotten so good at running it that GLaDOS wondered whether she had ever been as skilled at it as that. So she'd made her preparations, soon she'd be able to spend all the time with Chell she wanted, and not in her bulky chassis either. It had been a pain getting the cloning technology back in operation but it had been worth it. The CPU to mind link had taken even longer, but 3 months later, after several trial runs and improvements, it was ready. The body was ready, ARTEMIS was ready, she was ready. The cables slotted snugly into GLaDOS's head and she pressed the activation button on the transfer device, the last thing she'd ever do in her chassis.

"MIND TRANSFER ACTIVATED, PROCESSING PRIMARY DATA"

GLaDOS felt an electric tingle through her whole body, her vision going fuzzy as her memories, personality, everything filtered out of her head and into the cables.

She had a strange floating sensation, her mind in transit through the void inside the wires, although her mind was moving at incredible speeds through the cables, she felt still, calm, soon she'd be on the other side, reborn as flesh and blood again.

"DATA PROCESSING COMPLETE, BEGINNING TRANSFER"

The sensation of being crushed to the size of a pinhead, the feeling of extreme speed, then she was through. She felt like she was branching out like a tree, her mind taking root in the human brain. Everything went black.

"TRANSFER COMPLETE, STARTING WAKING PROCEDURES"

Drifting up, through the blue-black, 2 pinpricks of light, glowing and growing. Her eyes snapped open and she shot upright in the stasis bed. She looked around in awe, exhilarated at being able to FEEL, to BREATHE, to LIVE again. Dizziness overcame GLaDOS as she walked towards the door and she wobbled on her feet for a while before her head cleared and she continued over to the mirror. A young woman, in her mid-20s looked back at her, she had created the clone to be true to who she used to be, Caroline, but she'd been unable to resist having a little alteration. Two piercing yellow eyes looked right back at GLaDOS and she smiled, something she'd never been able to do before. It felt good to be able to express her feelings without words, to show how she felt naturally, without words or long explanations. Satisfied with how she looked, she switched the grey stasis bodysuit to a white jumpsuit, with a yellow Aperture Laboratories tank top underneath. She left her hair loose, that could wait until after she found Chell.

After a short walk, GLaDOS found Chell sitting inside one of the old test chambers, with what looked to be a half-disassembled portal gun, some materials and a tool kit. GLaDOS spoke for the first time with her new voice. "Chell," she called. Chell turned round, her eyes widening when she saw GLaDOS's new human body. "GLaDOS? Is that you?" GLaDOS nodded, smiling broadly at the look of joy on Chell's face. "You… You're human! How?" GLaDOS grinned "5 months of careful planning, reconstruction, scavenging, repairs, thinking and science, lots and lots of science. Oh, and a cloning machine" Chell's jaw hung loose, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. GLaDOS worried for a second if she'd done the right thing, but then Chell's arms wrapped around her, tears of joy soaking GLaDOS's shoulder as she held he girlfriend tight. Having her there, in her arms, was bliss. She'd made the right choice, now they'd live the rest of their lives together. GLaDOS smiled, she had everything she wanted, it was perfect.

After a while, GLaDOS's mind drifted to what they could do the next day, the next week, the rest of their lives, stopping to think for a moment, she realised they could do almost anything she'd ever wanted to do.

After all, the rest of her life was a long time…

…And she had Chell to live it with.

~THE END (FOR REAL THIS TIME) ~

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I just want to say thanks to everyone who's read this, and everyone who helped keep me going. GLaD is finished now, and I don't think I'll write a sequel, but watch out for anything I write in the future; hopefully you guys will enjoy it as much as you did this one.

Zombificus signing off.

Goodbye.