Chapter 10

Cara never seemed to get the concept that Aperture was dangerous.

In the back of her mind, she always knew that it was, but she always thought that they wouldn't actually hurt her. She always thought that she would be saved. She remembered The first time she had encountered something dangerous. Cara had been fourteen, and she had started to really get the hang of the portal gun and how to use physics to her advantage.

The teen had stepped into the harshly lit chamber, a bit puzzled at the radio silence of her captors. She had heard practically nothing from them in the past few tests. A cube dropped near her as she continued to walk through the white room in an incautious manner. One step after another, she didn't seem to notice, or maybe she just didn't care, that she was getting close to a pit. The teen had known her fair share of pits, having to use them for momentum and all that, and since there was usually nothing but portal surfaces at the bottom, she didn't quite care if she fell in. As long as she landed on her feet, that is.

Her footsteps echoed through the virtually empty room, getting dangerously close to this pit. She would've fallen in if she took another step. However, The speakers finally clicked on, and a voice interrupted her.

"-op!" Wheatley cried, his voice rising in urgency, "Stop, stop, stop, stop!"

Cara jumped back, his sudden return, along with his interjection, scaring her half to death. She looked for the nearest camera with a panic-stricken glare, "What the hell, Wheatley?!" She asked, her voice nearly raising an octave in distress.

"For God's sake, woman!" He said, sighing with relief, yet seeming angry, "Look at your surroundings, would you?"

The fourteen-year-old looked around, "What? It's just a pit-!" Her eyes trailed to the bottom, seeing the greenish liquid on the bottom, "oh."

"Yeah, 'Oh' is right!" The man chided, panic still in his voice.

"What is that stuff?" She asked kicking a bit of rubble into the pit.

"Pure sulfuric acid." He said. The rubble seemed to bubble at the surface before sinking to the bottom, "You land in that, you're done for."

Cara shuddered, stepping back from it, "You mean...it'll kill me...? What the hell kind of lab is this?!"

Wheatley shrugged, though he knew she couldn't see him, "I don't make the tests, but She said that adding an element of danger has a positive relationship with solved tests. "

The girl huffed, "'an element of danger.' fun, fun." She said, sarcasm dripping from her lips, "So, I'm stuck in a lab in God knows where, forced to solve tests after test, and now if I don't do this test's correctly, I can die?!"

"...That does seem about right, yes."

The teen sighed, her gaze not leaving the acid as she sat down. Tears burned in her eyes as she clasped her hands behind her neck. The room seemed to grow around her, and she shrunk with it. Her indignance burned a hole in her chest, leaving a crushing dispair in its wake. The teen already thought it was hard enough to make even a dent in GLaDOS's deluge of chambers. However, now she not only something that slows her down substantially, but it could also cost her life.

The room felt suffocatingly big, like a house-sized coffin. She couldn't help but curl up more to hide her face from the camera focusing on her. A tear escaped, rolling down her cheek.

"God.." She whimpered, her voice filling the empty air, "I'm gonna die down here...I'm gonna die, and no one's going to find me..!" She sobbed.

He felt a jolt in his system. Though, the man couldn't really say that anymore-he was always reminding himself that he was human now. He felt panic rise up in him. There, better. He never knew what to do when she got like this, and he didn't like how it made him feel. It was like his ribs were being crushed by some unknown force. It was odd, unpleasant. All he knew was that she had to keep testing, and he had to get her to stop bloody crying.

"Hey, hey, hey!" He cried, his voice hurried a bit in desperation, "There's no need for tears- I mean, you're not going to die! Sure, there's a pit of acid, but all you gotta do is ...not fall into it! yeah! Easily solvable! Don't fall in, and solve the test! You solve it, and you're one test closer to getting out of here!"

He kept his finger on the microphone button, awaiting a response. However, she continued to sit there, her sobs echoing off the walls. He bit his lip, feeling his heart ache in response to her tears. He took a breath in alarm, searching himself for anything that could get her to stop crying and get her to test.

'Get her to stop crying, and to continue testing.' He remembered She said, 'Whatever it takes. We need results.'

"Don't you want to see the sun again, Cara?" he asked, feeling his heart shatter a bit when he did, "Wouldn't it be great to see the beautiful light-real light- of day again? I mean, I've never seen it, got my fill of the moon though, but I believe that the sight of a truly blue sky would be a beauty to behold! Just think: midday, azure blue sky, no clouds or anything! Unless you like clouds, umm- then it's just covered in clouds. I mean just a blanket of cotton-y goodness! Oh, c'mon, wouldn't that be great?"

This time, she did look up. She smiled through her tears, wiping them away as she spoke, "Yeah, yeah that would be great... I want to see the sky again." She said in nearly a whimper.

"Then you'll see this through! You gotta get back in there and finish those tests!" He said, watching her stand up and brandish her portal gun, "Brilliant! You can do this, love!"

Cara, now eighteen, had seen her fair share of acid pits.

Ever since that day- or night, she was never quite sure- she had passed and overcome each H2SO4-based obstacle with the resilience and resolve a soldier. In fact, they weren't much of a problem anymore. She had never gotten close to falling in since that chamber.

In fact, she was starting to over-look them.

Don't get her wrong, she knew they were dangerous, but only if she fell in. And if you have a handy-dandy portal gun to get past them, they weren't a problem at all. Portal here, portal there, and bam! Hazard gone!

Cara stepping into the next chamber, this being the third chamber she has been directed to since She was told that she was to solve these on her first two were challenging enough, beads of sweat on her forehead turning more into bullets with each passing hour. However, this one seemed the most challenging of the set. As soon as she stepped onto the grate, her nose crinkled at the smell of sulfur. The entire room was filled with it with only a few tall islands of portal surfaces, though they were all the way on the other side of the room.

Wheatley watched Cara's calculated gaze from the multitude of monitors in front of him. He watched her as she scanned the possible portal placement. He recognized the look, seeing it so many times in her mother. She was a lot like her mother, after all. Her resilience, her strength, her endurance, she was persistent too. However, there was something that had always set her off from Chell, one fatal flaw.

Cara was incredibly impatient.

She wanted out of there, and she wanted out of there as soon as possible. Because of this, she cut corners. She was careless, and she had never seen any real repercussions for it. She never had to face the consequences, not any dangerous ones at least.

The teen shot her portals one at her feet, and one at the ceiling. She fell through, feeling the wind cool her damp skin. She searched the room, quickly shooting her next portal. She thought she had made enough momentum to shoot through and land on the other side. She thought she had picked up enough speed.

She had miscalculated.

Instead, she saw herself shooting toward the ledge, hitting it so hard that it knocked the wind out of her. She quickly grabbed onto the edge, gasping for air. The teen immediately looked at the acid below her, trying to get a scream out. The only thing she could manage to get out was a pitiful cry for help as she held on for dear life. she tried to look for a camera, something to signal that she was in distress, but she found nothing.

"Help! Wheatley!" she screamed, her shrill voice reverberating harshly off the walls.

She threw her portal gun over the edge, using her other hand to hold on. She kicked and squirmed, trying to pull herself up, but the sweat of her palms only made her slowly lose grip. She grunted and screamed, attempting to muster the strength to heave herself over the edge. It was no use, she was slipping. Cara was going to fall. Cara was going to die, and no one would be able to find her.

She sobbed, her voice raw with desperation as she continued to struggle. Over her screams, she could have sworn she heard a panel open up, but she couldn't concentrate on that. Her palms felt colder as she tried to hang on. She had to get out, she had to-

Just then, she felt a hand reach down and grab her arm. Her gaze snapped up, her eyes widening as she saw Wheatley. The man pulled her up, grunting a bit as he did, "Don't worry!" He grunted as he pulled, "I got you, I've got you!" He said, panic in his own voice.

Soon, The man pulled her over the edge, falling on his back as he did. The air was still after that, only the sound of their panting in the room. After a while, He sat back up, wearing a still-panicked expression.

"Man alive, lady..." He said running his fingers through his already tousled hair, "You've been working with momentum for years! How did you not know that you weren't going to make that? I mean, I barely even saw you think about that jump!" He cried, his face burning with anger.

Cara, however, wasn't listening. Instead, his words only echoed in her head. Her gaze was still on the acid, her heart pounding in her ears. Tears continued to fall, curling herself into a ball as she slowly sat up. Her hands, shakey and apprehensive, went to her forehead. She pushed back any stray hairs that managed to fall out of her ponytail, the sweat of her forehead keeping them down against her head.

"I almost died..." Her words barely a whisper, "I was about to fall.."

Wheatley scoffed, standing up "Yeah! You could've died! You were being careless!"

Cara looked to him, becoming more aware of his yelling, "Wheatley..?"

"-If it wasn't for me, you would've been eaten away by now!" His voice rose in intensity as he paced in front of her, his gangly legs creating long strides, "Do you have a death wish?! I know you're itching to get out of here, but what good is it if you're just launching yourself into pits!? Answer: No good. It does no good at all! In fact, It'll just make your situation worse! Bloody hell, love!" He looked over to see Cara, her cheeks flushed with tears.

She hiccuped, her shoulders quaking as she sobbed into her knees, "I'm- I'm sorry, okay?" She whimpered, "I wasn't thinking, I was being stupid, and you had to save me because of it. I'm sorry.."

Wheatley felt his anger dissipate, his heart becoming heavy again at the sight of her crying. Shit. This wasn't what he wanted. His heart was shattering, knowing that he had made her feel worse.

"Bloody-" He sighed, "Wait, no, I didn't mean for you to apologize for anything..." He said, rushing to her side.

Wheatley's arms went immediately around her. He didn't know why that was his first reaction; it just felt right to him. He guessed it was from the pictures he had seen in Chell's house the night he took Cara, most of the pictures having at least someone hugging her. However, to his surprise, Cara didn't hug back. In fact, she shook her head with a whimper.

"No, no. I get it. I was being such an...an idiot and because of that you're mad because you had to save me.."

He drew back slightly, his brow furrowing in confusion, "Angry..? No, I didn't- Hey, look at me..." he said softly, gently cupping her damp cheek to turn her head. She complied, shifting her gaze to him with glassy eyes.

The man sighed, "I didn't mean to yell... I just- I was scared. You could have fallen. You could have died. I almost lost you."

She sniffled, tears still falling despite herself, "Lost me..?" She echoed, unintentionally leaning into his touch.

He nodded, and for the first time, the man seemed to choke on his words, "I... I'm not sure what I'd do if you had fallen in... You're what makes this...this hell interesting." He said softly, "You're what makes all of this worth it."

Cara's cheeks darkened, averting her eyes. He had never said anything like that to her before. It felt... odd.

"... I should finish this test.." She said, beginning to stand up.

She stood up slowly, though it still seemed too fast for her. Her vision went black, feeling as if the blood in her body rushed away from her brain. Cara's head felt funny, unable to process how she was losing control of her body. The teen stumbled, falling into Wheatley's arms beforecompletely losing conciousness.