Wheatley struggled to wake. The harsh light of the sun above, and the coarse, cold dirt below mixed together to create an unpleasant feeling on his skin. Skin? Wait-

"GAH! WHAT- oh. Oh yeah."

The events of the previous night slowly returned to him. Well, more like the events of countless months. For the longest time since his return, he begged her for forgiveness. When that didn't work, he tried working out a deal. When that didn't work, he wanted a punishment. This seemed to intrigue her. One, because her form of punishment didn't seem to be working. Two, because he requested punishment. She no longer wanted to put up with him, and he wanted to be let go. So, she let him go, but not without fulfilling the punishment part. When she released him, she told him that he had two options: go out there and die alone, or locate the mute lunatic and inform her that she requested a visit. She figured if he ever did find the former test subject, he'd die at her hands anyway. For some reason, he seemed more than willing to take that chance. This confused her, but she quickly brushed that confusion off before it had time to settle in. She already made up her mind. She didn't want to see him, and this was the best way to ensure that.

She followed through with her plan by transferring him to a human host, and dumping him outside. He found it a bit rude that she didn't even attempt to say goodbye, but went with it anyway.

At first, he felt overstimulated. Last night he didn't have much time to get used to all these new senses. Now, he felt an overwhelming sense of danger, all around. He was alone, and had no way to defend himself from harm. And if something wanted to kill him, it easily could. He started panicking. He didn't want to die! Not when he'd finally gotten the chance to find her.

Okay Wheatley, calm down. he instructed himself. What use are you if you end up dead before you even leave the facility?

He took a deep breath and stopped halfway through when he began choking on air.

"ugh- ack! It's cold!"

The air was indeed still cold. It was morning, and even though the sun was warm, it hadn't had time to heat up the air just yet. He desperately tried to regain his breath once more, nagging himself for being an idiot.

Lady made it look so easy. Why can't I do it?

He knew the answer to that, but pushed the question aside anyway. Now that he thought about it, there were plenty of things that she seemed to master easily. But, could he copy them?

Okay, standing.There's something we can try here.

Wheatley paused a moment, then frowned at the dirt.

How did she do that again?

He recalled seeing her fall before, but she stood up so fast that it was hard to follow exactly what steps she took to make it happen. He slowly ran through everything, combing over each detail carefully.

Uh... arms, on the ground. Yeah. And er- legs too. That's important.

Okay, he was on his hands and knees, but now what?

Think! Oh- that's it!

He pushed himself upwards with his arms, but failed to control his momentum and fell backwards.

"Ow. Okay, that wasn't it."

He attempted to follow each step once more, and landed with another thud.

"Hmmm..."

Maybe don't push so hard this time? he thought.

Reluctantly, he tried again, and again, and again. Until finally, he got it right.

Slowly, he straightened his back and his legs, standing tall. He looked down and froze.

Why do I have to be so bloody high up?

He didn't understand how he could be so tall, yet feel so weak at the same time. He wondered how on earth that lady was able to cope with it.

Well if she can be human then so can I.

Next, he attempted walking, which kept leading him back to standing. Through trial and error for the next forty-five minutes, he finally nailed it.

This isn't too bad. Fancy that, I can go wherever I want!

But, he needed to find her first. Focus on the task at hand now, save venturing off for later. Wheatley glanced around at the waves of grain, which seemed to stretch for miles. She was out there somewhere, and he was gonna find her. He was gonna find her, and beg for forgiveness, if the outdoors didn't kill him first. He decided to go straight, and started walking.

It's been what, years since he saw her last? Would she still be upset? Would she even recognize him? What was he even going to say? He had all that time to think about that in space, and he used every minute of it. But now with this stupid human brain fogging up his memory, he couldn't quite recall his entire apology. There were still bits and pieces of it, but that wouldn't be enough. Hopefully once she sees he gave up an infinite lifespan, she'd lighten up. Surely she would understand, right? She had to. In all his time, Wheatley had always been unsure of why humans behaved certain ways or valued certain things. One thing that stuck with him though, was that humans viewed life as a precious thing. It was of utmost importance to them, and that was most definitely the case with the lady. Once she saw that he gave up a life of immortality, she was sure to forgive him. It had to work. It must.

As the sun dragged across the sky, the temperature slowly arose. Two things became apparent: one, he'd been walking for hours. Two, this was gonna take longer than originally expected. Wheatley started to feel hot and sticky. He hated it. The horizon was playing tricks on him, making it seem like there was water in the distance. His feet dragged along the ground, kicking up clouds of dirt in his wake. He felt that if he didn't cool off soon, he might die. Of course, he was just being dramatic, but to him it was genuinely scary. It was only a matter of time before he dropped to the ground and refused to get back up again. Maybe this was why she had let him go, because she knew he'd die out here. Wheatley began to question if she'd let the lady go for the same reason. No, they were friends now. Maybe not good friends, but they seemed to get along last time he saw them together. They weren't actively trying to kill each other, that's for sure. Maybe one he found the lady he could ask her. She probably couldn't answer in a very clear way, having brain damage and all, but he could at least try to interpret whatever she came up with. Now that he thought about it, how was she gonna be able to communicate anything with him? How would he know whether she's forgiven him or not? Oh well, he could always cross that bridge when he got to it. He's got plenty of time to figure it out. Again, hopefully he doesn't die before he gets there, wherever "there" even is.

Just stay alive. That's all you need to do. he told himself. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Boy, was he wrong.