Prince Lír: "I wish to serve her, as you do. Will you tell her so?"
Molly Grue: "I think if you told her yourself-"
Prince Lír: "But she never speaks to me, Molly! Not a word; not a word in all this time!"
It seemed appropriate that Chell was finally able to solve the very chamber she'd left half-finished when Wheatley had helped her escape, not that it gave her any satisfaction or closure. If anything, it made her feel bitter. It reminded her of what had come after, and of how different their situation was now. And now, she was worried, for Wheatley's sake; his memory was slipping away much faster than she'd expected, and she was beginning to wonder if they really would be able to help him before it was too late. Still, she pressed on.
To absolutely nobody's surprise, the chamber that GLaDOS had once claimed was the last wasn't even in the track at all. The tests seemed to continue endlessly onward, though Chell was moving through them faster than ever, now that she had the ability to essentially cheat. She watched and directed as Wheatley darted through a series of emancipation grills, activating switches and pushing buttons that Chell would not have otherwise been able to access without closing her portals.
He seemed happy enough, didn't he? For the first time in her life, Chell truly considered the idea of giving up. Was it possible that things had reached a point where Wheatley might actually be happier as a human? Or was it merely the distraction that kept him cheerful, drew his mind away from his humanity? Chell felt torn; deep inside, a part of her wanted to just abandon this journey and let Wheatley stay as he was, and hope that the rest of his short, mortal life would be happy, and that his amnesia wouldn't get much worse. That he wouldn't forget himself – or her. But the rest of her knew better.
As the two moved on through the chambers, she didn't give the idea a second thought. They would finish what they'd started. They had to, for his sake, if nothing else. Nor did she let the notion distract her from the tests. As soon as she had to focus again, she forgot all about having ever considered any other outcome, and began plotting a solution to this new chamber.
It was a tall chamber, and one of the more elaborate ones, which made it incredibly complex to navigate, especially with a second person in tow. Even so, they did progress, ever so slowly, across light bridges, over faith plates, and through portals, moving ever upward around the central tower, until they found themselves stuck. Chell bit her lip in frustration. They were so close. She slowly scanned the entire room, taking note of each testing apparatus.
"Oh! Oh I think- I've got it! Just put- put a portal up there, and another one over there, and we can just use that funnel to- oh wait. No. No, that's- that's going the wrong way, innit? Um, yeah. That's… Hm. Nevermind." Wheatley frowned. For a moment, he had felt so very clever. Well, it wasn't the first time that feeling had been dashed. He felt a bit better, at least, when Chell nodded in acknowledgement, which he interpreted as 'Thanks anyway.' Then, without warning, she turned and went back the way they'd come.
Wheatley blinked in surprise. "Wh-? Where are you going, luv? Oh, do- have you got an idea? Alright then; lead on."
Chell redirected some propulsion gel, and placed a portal at the top of a high ledge. She placed the other next to Wheatley, and pointed at it. He looked at one portal, then the other, and then back at her.
"Um, are you- are you sure this is a good idea? I don't- wait, what am I saying? Of- Of course it's a good idea." He laughed nervously. "I should know better, really. Than to not trust you, I mean. Your ideas. Well I trust you too, of course, but um, in- in this case I was referring to your ideas. After all, it's always- it's always your ideas that work. Not mine. Yours. Uh, right, then. Sorry. I, uh… I'll… just go through the portal now," he said as he slinked through the iridescent blue ring in embarrassment. Chell just waited patiently; once he was through, she moved the portals and stood at the end of the orange gel slick, just before a corner. She knew what she was about to do was risky, but she really had no choice but to send Wheatley through the portal first and hope he could help her. As far as she could see, the only way up there involved placing a portal, mid-leap, where the person intended to travel through it could not possibly shoot to. When she was ready, she gestured for him to jump into the portal from his high perch. He made many false starts, backing away without actually going through with it. It was making her as jumpy as him.
From where Wheatley stood, it looked like an even longer fall than it really was, and his heart was pounding. Every instinct he had, both human and robot, told him not to fling himself off that ledge. He could hardly stand, his knees were shaking so hard. He looked over at Chell, staring up at him expectantly. I have to do this. She needs me to. I can't let her down again. He closed his eyes, steeled himself, and jumped. He fell and fell, until he emerged from a portal; his direction of travel suddenly changed, and he felt like he was flying. He opened his eyes just in time to see a new portal open up on the rapidly-approaching panel in front of him, and Chell disappeared around the corner, racing along the gel slick. The view in the portal changed just before he reached it, and before he could process what was going on, he had landed on a platform. Amazingly, he didn't collapse, but instinctively caught his balance. And much to his own confusion, he smiled. It had been almost enjoyable – fun, even!
He went to the edge of this new platform and looked down. Chell was standing below him, looking up. When she saw that Wheatley was unharmed and even cheerful, she grinned broadly, which of course made him feel better still, even if that wonderful smile surfaced for only a fraction of a second. She then tilted her head and pointed in a direction that suggested she wanted him to look behind him.
"Oh, wow. There's- there's actually quite a lot up here! We've got uh, a faith plate, and there's a cube up there, and- uh, hm. Is- Do you think there's any way you could- you could come up here and have a look around? Maybe use that funnel over there- oh wait, yeah, that's the one that's goin' the wrong way, right. And you can't put it the other way around, can you? No, no you can't. Uh…" He looked down when Chell snapped her fingers. She pointed at a gel dispensing tube sticking out of the ceiling and looked at him questioningly. He followed the glowing blue ant line, and it did indeed lead up to his platform. "Oh, yeah, there's a switch up here for that. Do you want me to turn it on, then?" Chell nodded. "Alright, just- just a moment, luv."
Sure enough, the tube began to drip repulsion gel. The woman redirected a glob of it to the base of the ledge, and jumped onto the blue splatter. It launched her high into the air, but just barely not high enough, she found. She moved to try to take hold of the edge of the platform, but to her surprise, Wheatley was faster. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto the ledge, where she fell on her knees for a moment, before he helped her to her feet. She blinked, rather stunned, and then nodded at him with a little smile, as he beamed back at her. Suddenly Wheatley realized he'd forgotten to let go of her hand, and immediately did so.
"Oh! Sorry! I, um- Got distracted, I did. Uh, my fault. Sorry," he apologized sheepishly, his gaze flitting about like a sparrow but never once resting on Chell, who simply looked amused as she went about working on the test. She worked as swiftly as ever, bouncing off a faith plate, retrieving a cube, dropping it on a button, opening portals and stepping through the fiery orange circle in a matter of seconds. It closed behind her moments later, so Wheatley just sat down on the cube as she disappeared from view. Soon she reappeared, up near the exit, but did not open a portal for him to join her. Instead she held up a hand – he interpreted it as 'Hold on. I'm working on it.'
So he simply sat there and waited as she leaned against the wall and looked around. He didn't realize he was staring at her; it was really all too easy for him to lose track of himself when Chell was involved.
Indeed, Wheatley was so very absorbed in his thoughts that it was quite natural for him to jump when a voice sounded next to him: "She doesn't love you, you know."
He looked to the side in shock. One of the red-eyed cameras stared back like a snake preparing to strike. "Wh-what?"
"You heard me," GLaDOS replied, from a single speaker for once; this conversation was just between the two of them. "Let's be honest: your feelings are obvious, and quite frankly, they're disgusting. But my opinions aside, they're also hopeless and stupid."
Wheatley sputtered wordlessly. Where had all of this come from?! Love? What was GLaDOS talking about?
The AI continued. "Chell does not, and will not love you. Ever. No one could love a backstabbing little moron like you. Especially not after you tried to murder them. You don't think she forgives you for that, do you?"
"I- I- What?!" Words failed Wheatley, and he could not articulate a better response.
"Don't pretend you've forgotten that. You tried to kill her. You're a traitorous, bloodthirsty moron. And just because she's helping you doesn't mean she doesn't hate you for it."
He gulped. He hadn't remembered that at all until just now, and a wave of guilt crashed over him like an incoming tide. He had tried to kill Chell. He did not remember why, or how, or when. But he did remember the look on her face – in the elevator. Yes, when he'd lost his temper and lashed out at her. Or was it someone else, and Chell was simply in the way? Oh, but it didn't matter; he had gone out of his way to attack Chell in particular after that. He could not remember why, but he knew he had.
"Anyway," GLaDOS crooned with spitefully false compassion, "I just thought I should let you know. The truth hurts sometimes, but you're strong enough to handle it, aren't you? No? Oh. Well… Oops. My mistake." He could almost hear the venom in her words, but he didn't reply to her. He just put his face in his hands and stewed in his own guilt and misery.