Chell awoke early the next morning. She sat up and looked at her roommates, who were still sleeping and did her best to not wake them as she grabbed her long fall boots and walked out of the room.

Due to the number of people, Chell and Moira were rooming with Shephard and Roger. The latter was sprawled across his cot with limbs going in all different directions while Shephard slept like a corpse, body straight and arms at his side. She slept the same way…

In the corner sat Apollo, his eye closed in that meditative trance to recharge. As Chell neared the door, he lazily blinked his eyes open and shifted his gaze to look at her. She had never noticed before, but his eye seemed to glow in the dim light of the room.

"Where is the Traveler going?" Despite his rough tone, the vortigaunt could talk rather low.

Chell shook her head, "I can't sleep. I'm going for a run to clear my head."

"Shall this one join you?"

She looked at him for a moment before nodding her head, "If you'd like."

It took a few wrong turns, but Chell eventually found the exit out into the valley that Barney and Adrian had shown her before. There was a half-asleep rebel sitting in a chair near the door, and he shot up at her approach. He greeted her before opening up the door and letting Chell pass through.

"Be safe out there," he called as the door closed behind her and Apollo.

As she stretched her legs out, Chell met Apollo's large eye. "So, where did Crow disappear to?"

"My brethren has made their being in physical pursuits. They enjoyed easing the burdens of others and has elected to aide those who are injured, while this one prefers mental pursuits," Apollo answered as they did several squats in place, mimicking Chell's current motion.

Chell nodded, "Do you know what you'd like to do yet?"

"This one is not sure, but we are sure it will come in time," Apollo said.

Chell nodded and began to run across the valley, nearly sprinting. She followed a dirt road and saw the damage from the attack she had heard mentioned. A few buildings were in various states of repair or being torn down entirely for spare materials.

At the far end of the valley was a sawmill. It was being restored to the best of the rebels' ability, but Chell paused when her eyes caught sight of something familiar. Laying on its side and armor falling away was the body of a strider. Chell wiped the sweat from her brow as she moved to examine its body up close.

The battle from the previous day still fresh in her mind as she fixed her gaze upon the creature. She ran a hand over the hard chitin body and grit her teeth in anger before kicking it.

"It is good to release your frustrations, but I feel that we must be returning soon. The Calhoun and Shephard will be searching for you soon," Apollo said.

Chell didn't want to leave yet, but she knew the vortigaunt to be correct. With a nod, Apollo turned and started moving back towards the main base. Before she could follow, Chell's eyes caught another glimpse of something. Out of the corner of her eye, upon the cliff stood that Man again. She looked at him, and he looked right back. He then cast his gaze to the departing vortigaunt in displeasure before walking into the tree line and out of sight.

Not wasting any more time, Chell moved to catch up with Apollo. If He didn't like the vortigaunts, then she'd make a purpose to try and stay near them.

Back in the base, Apollo and Chell checked in with Rita. She was apparently confined to bed rest until fully recovered. Rita had been nearly restrained to her bed when the large medic, Sven, caught her attempting to sneak out of her room.

That was a funny thought. Chell momentarily pictured Rita being physically restrained but then breaking from her bonds with a mighty roar. After wishing her well, Chell wandered around the base and checking everything out, where she eventually found Dr. Magnusson in a small room off from his lab. He was fiddling with a hot plate and an old metal tin. She watched him for several seconds in amusement before knocking on the frame of the door.

"Just a moment," he said, not looking over his shoulder.

Chell, not one to listen well, strode forward, and began to assist the man.

"I said- oh! Chell…"

He said it in a way that made it difficult for Chell to understand what he was thinking.

She didn't stop, but grabbed two of the chipped mugs and began to prepare them with what she believed to be powdered creamer and some old sugar packets. One sugar packet for her and two for Arne. Cream for her, none for him. She then put the cups in front of him with a smile.

"You remember how I like my coffee?"

Chell shook her head. "It's… instinct? I know how to do things, but not why I know."

Magnusson didn't say a word but poured the coffee he had been making into the two cups.

"I thought if I knew who I was, then everything would be better. It's not. It may have made things worse because now I know what I'm missing, and yet I can't remember it all! I can't even recall my last name! Why did this happen-"

"Bishop…" Magnusson interrupted.

Chell looked at him, frustration still on her face. "What was that?"

"Your last name. It's Bishop. Chell Bishop," he said.

Chell went quiet at that and moved to sit in a nearby chair. "I'm frustrated. I hate not knowing who I am. Why can't I remember when Mel could…"

Arne pursed his lips into a tight line. He had been thinking it over for some time and had a theory. Sighing, Arne sipped what the combine constituted as coffee before continuing. "I believe it was the neurotoxin… Exposure to it can lead to memory loss and other issues with the brain."

Chell blinked at him before her expression shifted and hardened. Of course, it would be the neurotoxin. It couldn't just be a drug or some test that they did to her in the past. It had to be the damn neurotoxin! That little orb just had to be right once again! She just had to have brain damage!

Chell felt the mug in her hands being forcibly taken away by Arne. Upon looking up, she discovered the handle had broken off in her hands because she'd been gripping it so tightly.

"Your temper hasn't changed. You still have a stubborn streak the size of New Mexico," Arne said. He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. "And you have a roundabout way of asking for help."

Chell couldn't take her eyes off of Magnusson. He was right. He was the only one who knew her, and she had been trying to find out what happened to make her forget in the first place.

The entire time, it had been just Chell. Escaping Aperture had been her. Fighting GLaDOS and Wheatley had been her. Finding out the horrors of the surface had been just her. Yet… she had made allies.

Mel, Apollo, Crow, Rita, Roger, Moira, Barney, Adrian…

Magnusson…

Chell sighed and slowly put the broken piece of the mug into one of her pockets. "Can you help me?"

"Of course," Magnusson said, "But for now, I think you need to rest and a shower. You are getting that manic look in your eyes. You only get that when you are lacking sleep and stressed. And to be frank, you smell like ash and sweat."

Chell couldn't help but laugh.

Apollo watched the entire exchange, their eye closing, and a smile pulling at the corners of their mouth. Laughter… Such a pleasing sound, they thought. Twas the sound of healing.

An hour later, after a shower where she was surprised to find it had hot water, Chell and Apollo met up with Adrian and Barney in what looked to be a recreation room.

The room had a couple beat-up couches with mismatched cushions and repair patches from several different types of cloth, a shelf with old and tattered books, a few board games that she was sure wouldn't have all the pieces, and a game of chess set against a wall that already had a rebel and another vortigaunt playing together.

The two men saw Chell enter and waved her over to join them. Barney was reclining on the couch while Adrian was fiddling with the black box strapped to his strange vest.

Chell sat down next to Barney and let out a groan. The conversation she had with Arne relieved some stress, but the toll of always being on the move and fighting was catching up to her.

Being on the ship had been nice, but there had always been work to do. Chell had never had a real moment to just sit back and relax. She had expected White Forest to be all work again, but she'd been wrong. To an extent, at least. She would still be assigned a job soon, but Magnusson said he would ensure that she would work alongside Kleiner and his self.

For the time being, she had been instructed to rest, so that's what she was doing.

"So…" Adrian started, "You don't actually remember your past?"

"No," Chell said flatly, her eyes closed and face directed towards the ceiling.

There was a beat. "Shit, that blows."

"Yep," she replied in the same tone of voice. "It's fuzzy, but I think the talks I've had with Arne are making things clearer."

"I just can't believe someone can stand being around him for more than five minutes," Barney laughed.

"I'm sure some people say the same thing about you, Calhoun," Adrien said.

Barney made an annoyed noise but didn't fight back.

The silence stretched out for a few more beats, and Chell thought she was about to doze off when Barney spoke up.

"Alright, I've got to ask… Why are you wearing high heels? That can't be practical," he said. He moved to lean forward, elbows resting on his knees and eyes fixed on her long fall boots.

Since arriving on the surface, they had received scuffs, and the pristine white color was covered in dirt and yellow blood, but they had helped her through everything.

"First off, they are called long fall boots. Second, I'd rather have these than what you are wearing any day," Chell said, shifting to look at her boots.

Adrian turned his attention to Chell's boots. "They don't look like much. Are you sure?"

"Want me to prove it?" She snapped, although a smile threatened to pull at the corners of her mouth.

The men shared a look between them before nodding. "Yeah. We do," Barney said.

"Fine. Give me five minutes," Chell replied and disappeared back to her room.

A few minutes later, she walked back into the rec-room with the portal gun in her hands and a determined look in her eyes.

She found a clear spot in the middle of the room before turning back to look at the men. "Alright, stand clear," she said and readied her stance.

Looking up, she first the orange portal right above her head and paused to watch it stick. Barney and Adrian were already transfixed on the swirling vortex of orange energy. They didn't have time to fully comprehend what they were seeing before Chell fired the secondary portal into the ground directly beneath her feet.

The two men watched as a blue ring of swirling energy hit the ground, and the next thing they knew was that Chell was falling through the floor and out the ceiling in a continuous loop. Faster and faster, she was falling. Chell's hair was whipping wildly around her face and made it difficult to see as she soon entered terminal velocity.

Adrian and Barney watched in amazement as she kept going. It was incredible to see how the portals worked and allowed for such ease of movement between two places.

Then the mounting horror started in Barney's stomach. He realized just how fast Chell was going, and if she left the loop, then she may not survive. He began to look around the room for anything that could potentially slow her descent, but he never got the chance to help as he heard the sound of her strange gun go off again, and there was the sound of metal hitting concrete.

Scared of what he might see, Barney slowly turned around to see Chell standing in place, gun hanging loose at her side and left hand on her hip. Her damp hair was coming loose from its tie, and she had a smirk on her lips, but she was unharmed. "So… any questions?"

Adrian and Barney were speechless.

Seeing their expressions made Chell cock her head to the side, awaiting some kind of reaction. She finally got it when Barney shook his head as if shaking water out of his hair and moving towards her with that stunned expression.

"That thing is incredible!" Barney's face shifted into one of adoration as his eyes flickered between the portal gun and her boots. He was busy imagining what the world would have been like had they obtained the technology she possed to fight back against the combine over the years. "Man, Eli would love these!"

As if realizing what he said, Barney's good mood soured and his expression shifted to be more blank.

"Who's Eli?" Adrian asked.

Barney pursed his lips before shaking his head with a sigh. "He is… was the resistance leader. He died not long ago."

"What happened?"

Barney was silent. His face a twisted mask of emotions that made it clear that what he wanted to say was making him angry and sad at the exact same time. "He was murdered by the Combine…"

Chell looked to Apollo, whose large eye was half closed and head drooping. He gave a slow nod to Chell in assurance as to what Barney was saying was true.

Looking back to the man, Chell watched as he stood to his feet and paced around the room. He would halfway across the room, randomly change directions, or stop altogether. Barney raked his hands through his hair hard enough to make Chell wince, then hooked his thumbs into the belts around his waist.

Calhoun looked down at the jacket he was wearing, and his expression grew even angrier. With his rage-fueled mind, it made his hands clumsy as he fumbled with the belts that kept the CP coat and vest tight to the body. When they were gone, Barney unfastened the vest and jacket and tossed them across the room.

The heavy clothes hit the wall and fell into a wadded lump, but it didn't make Barney feel any better. He was left standing in the middle of the rec-room with a tattered white shirt.

The rebel and vort that had been playing chess paused to watch the display, but a quick look from Chell and Adrian had them vacating the room, but not before the vortigaunt moved one of the rebel's pieces.

"I should have been here, dammit! I'd been helping Eli for the last twenty years and look what happened!" Barney ranted, but it was clear he wasn't talking to Chell and Adrian anymore.

"I wasn't here! I could have done something! Dammit, what are we even doing? I can't do shit for anyone! Look at us! I was a security guard before this, Gordon was a scientist. Now people look at me like I'm some kind of general, and he's the fucking messiah! We're just human and- and-"

Barney stopped himself as he slumped to his knees. His voice was cracking with the raw emotion spilling from him.

"-and we're human… We're all gonna die…"

Then the tears started to slip from his eyes. "I should have been here."

Chell and Adrian exchange looks before the latter gets up and goes to crouch next to Barney and put a reassuring hand on his back. Adrian knew he couldn't compare to twenty years lost, but he had seen his friends and squadmates die before his very eyes back in Black Mesa.

Chell may not know much about her past, but she was sure she wasn't equipped to comfort someone. It felt awkward to see someone have a mental break in front of her. She had lost her memory, but she knew the people she had lost. Her estranged adoptive father and the coworker from Aperture that enjoyed art. She couldn't remember their faces, but there was a pang of sadness that she wouldn't see them again.

Strange…

Either way, she felt like she needed to say something to the man.

While Adrian was crouched down next to Barney, she bit her lip and took a few tentative steps forward. When she was standing over him, she fidgeted in space for a second before letting out a sigh.

"Barney…" she began, "We are still alive, right? I… I didn't know Eli, but he was important to you, but- but he'd want everyone to keep fighting, right?"

Chell paused to kneel down next to the man but didn't dare touch him. She didn't even know if what she was saying made sense.

"So, I think he'd want you to fight. Stay alive and fight for everyone that is still alive," she finished.

Barney didn't make any motion of recognizing what she said, but the shaking of his shoulders was subsiding.

Adrian furrowed his brow as he absentmindedly scratched at the shoulder where his tattoo rested. He looked Barney over and sighed.

"One of the guys in my platoon," Adrian started, "he would always quote these Latin phrases and bible verses. We called him Plato. He'd drive people nuts half the time…

"Well, his favorite quotes would be ignis aurum probat and memento mori memento vivere. I swear, half the time I think he did it just to look like he was smarter than everyone else.

"One day, I got curious about what he was saying. That first one? ignis aurum probat? It meant that fire tests gold. I started to understand him a bit after that. I did some more searching, and it turns out it meant that difficult circumstances were designed to make us stronger. It helped motivate me to keep pushing myself and not give up…

"The other one, though? Memento mori memento vivere? The first half of it means remember we will die. How fucked up is that? I was about to get angry at Plato for that until I read the rest of the meaning.

"Memento mori memento vivere… Remember you will die, remember to live…" Adrian paused as he shifted to be in front of Barney. He then took the older man's head in his hands so they would look at each other in the eye. "You are right. We are all going to die, but that won't be today. Remember, Barney, you will die, but first… you have to remember to live."

The tears in Barney's eyes had ceased, but they were red and puffy. He couldn't say anything, or he'd risk crying again. Instead, he closed his eyes in understanding.

"Stay alive, Barney. For Eli's sake," Adrian mumbled.

When Adrian finally let go of Barney's head, he nodded at the soldier and slowly stood to his feet. He was going to die, but dammit! He refused to give up! Wiping at his face, Barney moved to pick his coat up once more. He would fight for as long as it took.

A few hours later, long after Chell, Adrian, Barney, and Apollo vacated the rec-room, a noise could be heard coming from the other side of the base. They had radioed ahead to not cause a panic, but a single helicopter was landing at White Forest. The two humans within ready to start the next step of their mission.