A:N/ Don't worry everyone; I'm still alive.
"Chell! Chell, luv, the exit is that way!" Wheatley commanded excitedly as Chell held him closer to her as she fired another portal. Once her feet touched solid ground, she began to run, hopping over discarded turrets and broken Aerial Faith Plates.
The light from the door was across the room, protected behind crushers, Thermal Discouragement Beams, an Edgeless Safety Cube Receptacle, and more turrets.
"Oh you have to be bloody joking-!" Wheatley groaned loudly, until Chell's hand came up to cover his optic, prompting him to be quiet. Wheatley looked up at her,astounded, as her grey eyes searched the room expertly.
"Don't say anything." She whispered to him.
Wheatley tried not to scream as they dodged bullets and jumped over the red beams that would burn them to a crisp.
Chell barely crossed the paths of the crushers before they swiftly slammed shut, the wind blowing her hair over her face.
Twice Wheatley's smooth shell nearly slipped from her grasp, before she caught him out of the air as she flew through a portal.
At long last, the open door was just below them. Wheatley sighed, hopeful of their freedom beyond this bloody massive building.
Once Chell stepped out into the light, she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. The warmth that invaded her skin was like nothing else she could ever imagine; A light breeze ruffled her torn and dirty tank top.
Wheatley cowered into Chell, closing his optic in an effort to shield the brilliant sun he had heard so much about. Wind swept throughout his circuits, causing him to shiver.
"Ahh...this light. Why is it so blinding? And warm? Am I on fire?" Wheatley murmured into the cloth of Chell's tank top. She smiled, walking forward towards the tall dry grass.
Her boots crunched the rocks and twigs as she walked blindly through the field, not knowing were she was going. But none of the mattered; She just had to get away.
Wheatley shivered against her as the wind picked up, and she held him tighter.
"Do you know what this stuff is, luv? It looks awfully itchy," He said, starting to babble. "Of course, I have seen this before, through my database, but it looked...more cheery. Green, I think, which is the color that chloroplast gives plants; That's what makes some plants green, which is weird - "
"This is actually called 'Wheat', not grass." Chell replied, looking around for anyone. Finally noticing a tree in the distance near a stream of water, she quickened her pace. The wind was starting to blow harder, the sun disappearing behind the clouds.
"Really? They named it after me? How bloody amazing, luv! Oh, forget what I said about humans; They aren't smelly, they're brilliant!" Wheatley said eagerly, shifting away from Chell and looking out into the dry wheat.
As they neared closer to the stream, Wheatley shivered again. Chell looked down at him in surprise.
"D-Don't like water, luv. In case you didn't know...we aren't waterproof."
Chell rolled her eyes, setting him down beside the tree. She bent down and dipped her hands into the stream. Gathering a handful, she drank it thirstily. She sat back on her heels and sighed gratefully.
Holding her breath, she shoved her head under the freezing water, scrubbing her hair fiercely. Blood, dirt, and sweat made the water turn dark and the current quickly carried it away.
She peeled off her tank top and jumpsuit, scrubbing them in the stream until the sticky goo and blood stains were all but faded. She wrung them out and laid them on the grass to dry.
Sighing, she crawled back to Wheatley who was nesting against a tree. She sat back with a loud thud, starting to shiver as the wind picked up. Her teal bustier and black thin short weren't exactly the warmest articles of clothing.
The branches of the tree swayed with the wind, and an apple fell into her lap. Looking up, she noticed she had taken refuge underneath an apple tree.
Suddenly ravenous, she took a big bite from the apple, the sweet unfamiliar taste lingering on her tongue. Wheatley watched her, intrigued. Then, his handles lifted in a form that made you think he was laughing.
"Luv...do you remember when I asked you to say apple and you jumped?"
Chell smiled, taking another bite of her apple, but didn't actually laugh, much to Wheatley's disappointment; He had never heard her laugh before.
Suddenly, he could hear a voice. A vaguely familiar voice, and it sounded distant and far away. He looked around, searching for the sound he couldn't pinpoint.
"Do you hear that?" He asked Chell, and she shook her head, confused. The voices stopped for a moment, then they came again, louder and more desperate. "It's a voice! Please tell me I'm not going crazy," He cried, and Chell merely shrugged at him.
Wheatley! You need to wake up! Come back to me!
The sky became black, blacker than he would have thought possible; The wind picked up fiercely, knocking him onto his side and causing him to almost roll into the stream if Chell hadn't caught him. She plucked her clothes from the grass and yanked them on quickly. Tying the arms of her jumpsuit around her waist, she stood up and took off deeper into a forest full of trees.
Wheatley could hear the voice becoming softer, and he was afraid that he would lose it. How did it know his name?
Wheatley, don't give up! You're dreaming!
Chell ran faster, desperate to get away from the tornado that had miraculously appeared. Wheatley was beyond terrified as they attempted to outrun the twister, as he could hear Chell panting as she became tired from running.
What the hell was going on?!
WHEATLEY!
"Well done, android. The Enrichment Center once again reminds you that android hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance." GLaDOS' chilled voice resonated throughout the test chamber as Chell completed yet another test.
She should have felt absolutely exhausted after so many tests, but her new body was prone to weakness. With her new found strength, she could fall from distance even higher than she could with her Long-Fall Boots, and the bullets and laser beams seemed to slip off her skin. In a way, Chell was grateful that she was still alive, but on the other hand, she wanted to be dead.
She hated the way she could effortlessly fly through test after test; Before it gave her the satisfaction that she was human and could do what apparently no other human test subject could do. Now it only made her angry.
"This is your fault. It didn't have to be like this," GLaDOS informed her as she stepped behind the glass of the elevator and began to rise to the next test chamber. "You don't even care, do you?"
Chell said nothing.
"Despite your violent behavior so far, the only thing you've managed to break so far is my heart. Maybe you could settle for that and just call it a day."
Chell's mind raced; How was she going to distract GLaDOS long enough to escape and retrieve Wheatley before he completely incinerated? He can't be at 4000 Kelvin yet.
Chell completed more tests, keeping interaction with GLaDOS to a minimum; Once in a while she would answer or ask question, which were usually replied with sarcasm or an 'I hate you'.
GLaDOS. Genetic Life and Disk Operating System. Created by Cave Johnson to oversee the Aperture Science Computer - Aided Enrichment Center.
His last dying wish when he realized he wasn't going to live to see his artificial intelligence project completed; For Caroline, his secretary, to be extracted into a core that would become GLaDOS.
Chell felt sympathy for her, being extracted from her body to be put into a dangerous and evil Artificial Intelligence that would kill everyone in the entire facility. Except...
What about those warnings of GLaDOS so many years ago?
Though Earth and man are gone, I thought the cube would last forever.
I WAS WRONG.
Despite the almost illegible warnings scrawled across the walls of the chambers where the cameras were not focused, Chell finally felt calm and at peace when she would take refuge there for a while. The unknown alliance inevitably saved her life more than once, giving her warnings of GLaDOS' pure nature. She only guessed that he was dead by now, because apparently she had been in cry stasis for quite a while.
Chell knew deep down inside that Caroline was still with GLaDOS, and was pure at heart. It shouldn't take long for GLaDOS to retrieve her conscious again.
I still have some memories from Caroline; Although I deleted her, she is leaving very slowly, piece by piece.
If she could manipulate GLaDOS enough to regain her conscious, maybe she could finally leave this horrid place. But GLaDOS wasn't stupid; She knew when someone was trying to outwit her, She being the queen of manipulation. But what else could Chell do?
She walked into a vaguely familiar room, only to find out that her companion cube, slightly burned, sat not far from her. She could hear the faint sound of music drifting from the cube. Astounded, she could only stare at it.
GLaDOS' faintly laughed, which shocked Chell right out of her trance.
"Do not disappoint me, Android. Or I'll make you wish you could die."
Unfazed, Chell strode forward and snatched up her companion cube. As soon the metal touched her hands, it began to become warm, and the heart began to glow pink. Confused, Chell tried not to let GLaDOS see her expression and continued on.
Suddenly, a voice.
"I have missed you, Chell."
Chell stopped in her tracks. What in the hell was that.
"Have you missed me? I was awfully lonely in the incinerator. It was a very long time."
Chell could only stared at it in shock.
"Lots of turrets came to visit me, but none of them would speak to me. No one would. Not even that personality core with the blue optic."
Chell opened her mouth but quickly shut it, remembering GLaDOS. She started walking again, using the cube with her throughout the test. Finally, she began to walk towards the glass elevator, holding her companion cube close.
Once the doors shut, Chell flipped the cube around. "What personality core are you talking about?"
The cube hummed quietly, then replied," Oh, I couldn't catch his name. He was too busy screaming from the flames to answer me."
"Was he...completely incinerated when you left?"
"I don't think so...all Aperture Science artificial intelligence remain operational up to 4000 Kelvin."
Chell pursed her lips, thinking. She needed to get to him fast; It was now or never.
"Is that core your friend? He was screaming your name." The cube said, glowing as it spoke. Chell's eyes widened as she thought of an idea.
"Yes, he is my friend, and I miss him. Can you take me to him?"
The cube glowed a bright pink, humming slightly louder."Why? Why do you miss him and not me? Why did you incinerate me?"
Chell paused, shocked by the cube's sudden outburst. She hugged the cube close to her chest. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to, but GLaDOS made me. Will you please take me to that core?"
The cube didn't answer for a while, and Chell hoped it was contemplating. It wasn't until she completed another test that it answered.
"Okay, Chell. I will take you there; But you have to get away from GLaDOS."
Chell nodded quickly, venturing off course in the test chamber towards a broken panel. GLaDOS sighed loudly.
"Where are you going? You cannot be tired; Artificial Intelligence do not get tired."
Chell ignored her and continued on, tucking the companion cube underneath her arm. Once she was inside, the companion cube glowed.
"The closest Emergency Intelligence Incinerator is approximately 125 feet away. Please use your handheld Portal Device to place a portal in the room behind the crack of this panel."
Chell did as she was told, and soon enough they were sprinting down a hallway.
"Please turn left here. The incinerator is now approximately 80 feet away."
Chell grew very suspicious as her cube continued to guide her throughout the base of the facility. GLaDOS had not intervened even once, and it made her very afraid. Just when she thought she was home free, it was over. She had a feeling that it was going to happen again.
Finally, she arrived in the room that held the Emergency Intelligence Incinerator. Overjoyed, she ran towards it, but the rims were shut tight. Determined, she pried it apart with her newly found strength, and the flames began to ignite as she peered down into it.
"I can detect your core below; If you want to save him, you must do it now. He is nearly 4000 Kelvin."
Chell jumped into the incinerator without a second thought; The fall was very long and tedious. She had to keep a good grip on her cube and the gun.
At long last, she struck the hard tile surrounded by the bright orange flames. It didn't burn, but she could feel the heat against her porcelain skin. She searched the huge room, looking for Wheatley past the piles of burned turrets, cubes, and weighted storage cubes.
She must have walked for at least fifteen minutes before she noticed a small, burned sphere smashed into the corner of the room, it's lens' rusted open, the casing nearly black. Chell ran towards him, landing on her knees as she picked him up.
He didn't respond, and Chell panicked as she strapped her companion cube against her back and hulled Wheatley up into her arms. The companion cube guided her out of the room using a secret trap door built inside the pile of broken down turrets.
Once outside that horrible room, Chell set down her portal gun and unstrapped the cube from her back. Setting Wheatley in front of her, she searched him for an on switch, a plug port, anything to wake him up back to his charming chatty self.
Chell ran her hands through her hair, frustrated. She grabbed him and shook him angrily.
"Wheatley! You need to wake up! Come back to me!"
With no response, she set him down and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her companion cube glowed once again.
"Chell, once Aperture Science Artificial Intelligence are in the post - death stage, they can be woken up once again. But you need to emit his personality into either another core, or human body."
Chell stared at it, mortified. Change Wheatley back into a human? That was a terrible idea! Wheatley as a human...he would be a walking disaster. He could barely even function as a core.
"I'm sorry...companion cube. I don't think that is the best idea."
"Please...refer to me as Dougg. Okay, Chell. Would you like to emit him into another core?"
Chell nodded after a while of confusion, and Dougg led her to an empty personality core that lay alone in a dusty closet. Once she found the transmitter cord, she plugged one into Wheatley and the other into the empty core.
After a while, Chell was starting to become worried. It was taking an awful long time, and Chell wrung her hands together nervously.
Eventually, the empty core began to whirr and murmur, emitting a low, buzzing sound. The optic faintly glowed a low, blinking golden light. Then, the optic turned a bright gold, then almost as quickly as it came, it disappeared. Chell stared at it, waiting anxiously.
"It seems he has been out for too long, Chell. I'm sorry."
Chell tried to ignore Dougg's words, and picked Wheatley up again.
"Wheatley, don't give up! You're dreaming!"
The core gave off stuttering buzzes and murmurs.
"WHEATLEY!"
A:N/ Oh snap, plot twist.
...
Until next time.