Troubled Minds
Chapter 12: Welcome Home
Darkness. That was all she could see. Chell's eyes had been so used to sunlight now that the stark contrast of Aperture's pitch black hung around her in thick clouds. After a few moments of squinting and feeling around in the dark, her eyes adjusted and she found the elevator she had stood in so long ago...
Rattmann smiled nervously and ushered her into the elevator, his eyes gleaming in the dark. She watched him squeeze in next to her and felt his breath against her neck. Her fingers twitched involuntarily, stretching to grasp at his hands. Chell was shaking, not because she was cold but because she was frightened. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so scared.
The sharp noise that indicated the lift's door was now sealed shut made her jump. Chell clung to Rattmann's sleeve as the lift began it's slow descent down the shaft. She could almost hear their heartbeats becoming louder as they went further and further into the depths of the facility.
"Oh look, the Rat is back. What's this? He's brought a friend along with him! Oh good, it's you. Welcome home, Chell."
Chell knew that voice; the cold, sultry automated voice of the massive AI filled the room as the lift entered the central AI chamber. It was the first time Chell had heard GLaDOS use her name and it frightened her even more.
"[Subject:Doug Rattmann]. Well done. You've fulfilled your side of the deal and brought my favorite test subject home."
Chell's face drained of all colour as she turned to look at Rattmann. He had his head hung low, hair falling in his face. Searing hatred ran through Chell's veins; this had all been a set up to bring her back. He had tricked her, just like so many before him.
"As for your reward, I've decided you haven't done quite enough yet."
Chell watched as Rattmann's head shot up to look at the AI's large, yellow optic. His face had a mixture of uncertainty and fear. Chell's anger was beginning to rise, she could feel her nails digging deeper into the flesh of her palms as she tried desperately to stay calm.
"You see, testing just hasn't been the same without the mute lunatic, and now that she's back, I wanted to try out a new set of tests that require the cooperation of two humans..."
Chell knew where this was going and she did not like it. She began frantically scratching and clawing her way out of the glass, like a cat trapped in a box. Rattmann on the other hand, seemed to have accepted their fate, curling into a ball and mumbling a string of barely audible apologies, the cube attached to his back sat silent, as if mocking them.
Giving up, Chell spun around and was met face to face with the large, glowing, yellow light eminating from GLaDOS' optic. Chell was breathless as the AI watched them, a sense of amusement and curiousity in her movements, like a child watching mice run around in their cages...
"The Rat seems to have reverted back to his... defective nature. This will definitely make for some interesting test results."
Chell watched as the glass doors opened and GLaDOS summoned two claw-like mechanisms to drag them out. Rattmann let out a blood curdling scream and Chell tried her hardest to struggle and wiggle free from the claw's grasp.
"Oh. You actually have decent clothing! I thought you'd be homeless by now, but the Rat tells me you actually have been living pretty well, considering the apocalypse and all."
Chell glared viciously at GLaDOS before grimacing at Doug. How could he have spoken with her when... Chell's eyes widened as she remembered the two days he had gone missing. He was working for her all along.
Doug didn't dare look at Chell, instead he stared gloomily at the ground below them, shame washing over him as GLaDOS dangled them like ragdolls above her.
Her cold, monotonous voice filled the air again, "Well, let's begin the testing shall we? I'm sure you're positively anxious to get back to what you do best."
With that said, Chell and Doug were dropped down a large chute, and began flying off in opposite directions. Chell tried to clamber over to Doug, but the speed she gained in the tube was alarming and before she knew it, she was bouncing off the sides. Chell's head started to hurt, and it wasn't until she started to black out that she realized she had hit her head and was now spiraling through the tube faster than ever before.
~x~
Chell awoke in one of those cheesy motel inspired Relaxation vaults. The pounding in her head made her feel sick and she reached up to feel a large gauzed bandage covering what she assumed was a rather large wound. All she could remember was that Doug had betrayed her.
Doug had betrayed her. Her heart dropped and she hugged her knees, which she noticed were now covered by the same neon orange jumpsuit all test subjects wore. Her feet still wore her long fall boots and Chell bit her lip as she realized what had just happened.
There was a knocking on her door, and Chell felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu as she got up to answer it. Instead of a moronic, british accented Personality core on the other side of the door, stood Doug, hunched over slightly with his cube attached to his back. Chell felt an overwhelming sense of rage fill her.
"Ch-Chell! Yo-you're alive! G-good. She wo-would not be happy i-if you w-were dead," His voice was broken and hoarse, as if he'd been screaming for a long time. He looked down at her with a sheepish smile; Chell was livid.
"How dare you? I TRUSTED YOU!" Chell screamed. It scared both Doug and herself; she hadn't screamed since she was a child.
"I... I was selfish, I..."
"Shut up! You think you can make it all better by just apologizing? You think I'm THAT gullible? First GLaDOS, then Wheatley, now you? WHAT DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE BEING HAUNTED BY THIS HELLHOLE?"
Doug stared down at his feet, ashamed to have let her get trapped again. He was supposed to protect her, he was supposed to be her key to freedom, but instead he had become desperate, mad even, for his own freedom and had made a deal with the AI herself to bring Chell back.
Suddenly Doug felt a petite, hard fist slam into the side of his face. Chell's shoulders heaved with heavy breaths as she slammed fist after fist into him, her anger being lashed out through the violence of her hands. It felt good to hurt; having bottled up her anger for so long, Chell felt almost relieved to be causing pain.
Doug quickly caught both her wrists and held them tightly as she tried to struggle against his strength. "I'm sorry I did this to you. I know how much you've been through; how so many betrayed you. But now is not the time for you to try bashing my head in. I think you forget who you are dealing with here," Doug's tone had changed, it was almost as if he had become someone completely different, "I know how to navigate this place better than anyone. I know it like the back of my hand, better than Her, even. I don't think you want to kill someone who saved your life and helped you to freedom."
Chell looked up into his strangely beautiful eyes and watched as her own eyes widened in the reflection. His voice was stern and serious, which scared her. She dropped her fists to her side and gritted her teeth. He was right. He was always right.
Doug sighed, "Look, I know you hate me now and you probably want me dead, but I want you to know that I never wanted this to happen. I got desperate, its so lonely down here by myself. Cici can only keep me company for so long. So I made the deal with GLaDOS that if I brought you back here, she'd..."
He paused, looking away for a second and sighing again before finishing, "She'd let me live freely on the surface. But the thing is... I can't see myself as a free man until I can see you beside me up there."
Chell hadn't made any sense of what he just said, but something about the way e spoke made her feel sad. He was so upset about what he'd done, he felt so much guilt...
Chell lifted herself up onto her tip-toes and wrapped her hands lovingly on his smooth chin. She said nothing; opting to look sadly into his eyes and give him a flicker of a smile before pressing her lips gently against his.
Doug felt a rush of passion flood over him as he wrapped his arms around her waist. They embraced for a few minutes, enjoying the distant hum of machinery that had cut through the silence. Doug buried his face into her neck and closed his eyes, content.
After a moment or two, Chell pulled away, staring him in the face blankly. "I'm still angry. I don't know if I can forgive you, but... I trust you. I don't know why, but I do. I know I shouldn't, but you've saved my life before, so..." Her voice trailed off as he planted another small, tender kiss on her cheek.
"We'll get through this. I promise, you can kill me after we get out of here," He whispered, then turned and began walking down the long, metal catwalk. "Come, we've got a long way to go."
~x~
They walked in complete silence for hours, the only sound was the distant, eerie hum of machinery that echoed through the facility and the loud, tinny sound of their footsteps along the metal catwalk. Doug hobbled along as Cici blathered on and on.
Well this was a smart idea. You know, you really should have just stayed on the surface. Chell would be safe and you would have been free, why didn't you just ditch the plan the moment you got up there?
"And risk GLaDOS having an actual meltdown?" Doug muttered, recieving a questioning glance from Chell, who was only a step or two ahead of him. He gestured to the cube situated on his back and Chell nodded, understanding right away.
Chell had noticed that Doug was also wearing Long Fall Boots now, and he wobbled and shook in them, obviously a little unused to balancing on the pads of his feet. She worried for him, but her sudden distrust in him caused her to stay stoic and emotionless around him. Chell pretended their earlier little outburst hadn't happened.
Chell still worried though. At the moment, they were defenceless; they weren't even in possesion of a portal gun and Chell knew that at some point GLaDOS would come looking for them and send them off to testing. The thought lingered in her mind as they made their way through the long and twisted catwalks of the facility.
"Wait," Rattmann's voice echoed through the large open space.
Chell stopped and turned to see the man crouching in front of a vent, staring into it with great interest. Sighing, she waltzed over to see what he was so intrigued by.
Doug pried open the vent and stuck his head in. It was large enough that a human could crawl through it. A mischievious smile crept upon his lips and he pulled his head out of the vent. "Come, safety this way."
She was reluctant at first, but after watching him scramble into the vent and disappear, Chell knelt down and watched him slowly crawl away from her. Not wanting to lose sight of him (for fear of distrust or of getting lost, she couldn't say), she crawled in after him and shuffled through the vent; staying only a foot or so behind him at all times.
It was an hour later when they finally emerged on the other end of the vent, Doug leaning and kicking in the vent cover with a surprising amount of strength for the frail, weak-looking body he had. Jumping down into the little den, Doug turned and reached out to catch Chell.
She hesitated, would he even be able to hold her weight? He looked so pale and thin, like he could snap in half at any minute.
"Chell? You can trust me. I'll catch you..."
Chell's eyes widened and her face flushed. Retreating back slightly to hide from him she let out a tiny defiant: "No."
Doug sighed, "Right. I forgot, you can't trust me... Then I'll just stay here and wait for you to come out."
Chell's face flushed with anger. Whywashedoingthistoher? He was making her feel guilty for distrusting HIM. After he betrayed her! She rolled her eyes and poked her head to look down at him. "Fine," She muttered, before sliding out of the vent and hopping down into his open arms.
He caught her, having to bend his knees slightly to adjust to the impact. He whirled around with Chell still in his arms to face the rest of the room. Chell gasped as she took in the sight...
It was one of his little dens; cleaner than the rest with the same scribbly murals sprawled across the walls. The murals were more complex than his other ones and told the story of Chell gaining her freedom from the facility. She had never seen this one before, and the sight was literally breathtaking.
He was still holding her - bridal style - as she turned to give him a wonderous look. He shrugged, the lopsided, goofy grin reappearing on his face.
"Welcome home, Chell."
Author's Note: I UPDATED! FINALLY! Took me long enough! D: Anyways, The action is beginning. And don't worry, Chell still isn't very forgiving of what Doug has done. It's gonna cause a lot of drama later on. Anyways, thanks again to my editor, and to valve, and to everyone who reads my fic. I love you all. I'm so glad I found a small niche in this fandom who loves Chellmann just as much as I do! 3
