A:N/ ._. I am such a horrible person.

Wheatley knew something wasn't right as Chell finally collapsed from exhaustion into a cave that had appeared. In the darkness illuminated by Wheatley's blue orb, the twister raged on and ravaged everything in its path. Chell was breathing heavily, setting Wheatley against the cave wall. She pulled off her boots, messaging her sore feet. Her heart beat furiously against her ribs, her throat parched and dry.

Wheatley discreetly turned up his hearing, to see of the voice had followed them. Nothing. With a depressed sigh, he closed his optic. He could hear Chell rummaging around the cave, to find anything useful. When she returned, she carried a pile of sticks in her arms.

Setting them down on the cave floor, she took two sticks and began to rub them against each other vigorously, until they began to emit smoke. Eventually, fire ignited, and Chell blew against the pile of sticks until the fire spread into a giant flame. Wheatley immediately cowered into the wall, the familiar the heat against his shell.

Chell wrapped her arms around her knees, every once in a while bringing her hands up over the flame to warm them. Wheatley stared as the fire licked the wood, sending tiny sparks of flame into the dry air surrounding him. Chell yawned tiredly, her eyelids starting to droop.

"Did you know that staring into fire can actually slow down brain activity, luv? It makes humans sleepy, and then their minds start to wander. I've always wondered why humans spent so much time around a fire anyway – sure it keeps you from freezing to death but –"Wheatley's voice lowered to a whisper when he noticed Chell's eyes slide closed. Her chest rose and fell steadily as she fell into a deep slumber.

Wheatley wished in this point in time that he could sleep. Humans were so lucky – vivid dreams they could conjure up in those small brains of theirs are very spontaneous. He was grateful when he got to see into the mind of a co-worker who had fallen asleep. However, the vivid dream that hadn't at all made any sense had rapidly become a nightmare, and it still haunts Wheatley whenever he is in complete darkness. Darkness was very frightening to him.

Suddenly, the flame began to fade slowly, much to his horror, until it went out completely. He began to panic as he frantically tried to power on his flashlight. Wheatley almost screamed in fear when he found out his flashlight was dead. He couldn't hear Chell's soft breathing, or her heart beating slowly, but at a steady pace.

Millions of tiny whispers began to emit from the darkness, some high voices, some deep, with scratchy throats, and they sounded painfully familiar.

"You. You're the tumor."

"Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving the gift of knowledge to man. He was cast into the bowels of the Earth and pecked by birds."

"I hate you so much."

"Her name is Caroline."

"Wheatley! Can you hear me?"

Wheatley opened his optic when he heard the soft voice inside his mind. He glanced around quickly, still in darkness.

"Chell?! Chell, luv! Help me! Where are you?!"

"You're dreaming, Wheatley! None of what you see is real!"

Wheatley tried to turn on his flashlight again, but it was still dead. He felt himself start to shake uncontrollably. "Chell! Where are you? Please don't leave me to die! I'm sorry I tried to kill you!"

"It's not real, it's not real! Try to remember!"

Wheatley did as the voice instructed, and used all his power to remember. Suddenly, flashes began to fill his vision.

Chell lay sprawled out on her stomach, covered in sticky goo and bullet wounds. Her face was gaunt and pale, her eyes closed. A huge shadow loomed over him, and he didn't have to turn around to see who it was.

Another flash, and Chell is crawling towards him painfully slow, GLaDOS behind her, watching .

Another flash – The vault opening to reveal a lanky, pale human body with messy blonde hair and a developing paunch.

Then, heat. Heat so hot that he wondered why he wasn't burning to a crisp right then and there. Is this what the Sun feels like?

With a bloodcurdling scream, Wheatley screwed shut his optic, hoping the darkness would have mercy on him and just kill him already. He tried to squirm away when he felt hands on his outer shell, coaxing him into an even warmer place. He screamed again, and would have kept on screaming, until he heard it.

The vibrations - they almost felt like someone was humming.

Chell continued to shout at the core, ignoring her companion cube's pleas to stop making so much noise. Suddenly, Wheatley screamed loudly, scaring Chell right out of her boots. Dazed by his sudden outburst, she unplugged him and picked him up gingerly. He was warm, a little too warm. He continued to scream, squirming in her grip.

She didn't know how to calm him down as he continued to whimper and shake. Finally, she hugged him close to her chest, wrapping her arms around him. She began to hum a tune, an effort to calm herself down as well. As quickly as he started, he stopped screaming.

"Hey! You never hugged me like that!" Dougg complained, and Chell would've laughed if she hadn't been so relieved. She pulled the cube in for a hug, and rested her cheek against the top of Wheatley's shell.

"W-Where am I? Am I dead?" Wheatley murmured to himself quietly. Chell turned him around to face her, setting him down on the ground. He looked up at her, half dazed from his episode of screaming and from nearly burning to death.

"What happened? Where are we?" Wheatley asked, and then looked over Chell's shoulder to the glowing companion cube. "Who's that?"

"I'm Dougg, Chell's companion cube." Dougg replied smugly. Wheatley merely stared at the cube, until he felt Chell rolling him over this way and that.

"You don't remember?" She asked as she set him down.

"Not really. I saw my human body - man alive! Did you know I was human, luv? It seems I was just as much a moron when I was human," He laughed weakly. "Then I remember being thrown into an incinerator, and I woke up just now."

Chell pondered this; First of all, Wheatley was surprisingly calm at what just happened, but that might be because he was uploaded into an entirely different core. Chell worried that something was wrong with his mental aura.

"Luv, did something happen? You seem...different. Why can't I hear your heart beat at all anymore?"

Chell swallowed roughly. She could feel her chest expand as she took a deep breath.

"I'm not human, Wheatley. GLaDOS made me an artificial intelligence...to keep testing forever." Chell shivered at the thought.

Wheatley's response was a bit delayed, but it was obvious he wasn't amused. "She WHAT? No! No, you're lying!"

"I'm not lying."

"And you just let Her?!"

"Of course not-!"

"I cannot believe this! She is going to pay, I tell you! I'm going to burn this place to the ground! Burn it with destructible lemons, that's what I'll do!"

Chell would've laughed had it not been for deja vu settling in. She had heard that somewhere before, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly. Dougg glowed angrily beside her.

"Do not talk to Chell that way!"

Wheatley turned to the cube, outraged. "Excuse me, Dougg, but has this anything to do with you?"

"You're yelling at my best friend, so it does!"

"She's not your best friend, I am! She's been through more with me than you!"

"You mean when you tried to kill her?"

Wheatley immediately stopped talking; An angry sneer Chell hadn't imagined could appear on the core was aimed straight at the companion cube. Rather than retaliate, he turned away.

"Cave Johnson, we're done here."

Chell furrowed her eyebrows. That wasn't Wheatley's usual, chatty self. The Wheatley she knew would never yelled at her or at Dougg like that. Something was definitely wrong.

"Wheatley...why did you quote Cave Johnson?" Chell asked timidly. Wheatley turned to stare at her.

"Because I am Cave Johnson!"