A/N: Hello again, my darling reviewers. The last chapter went pretty well, I'm very proud of the response it got. Five reviews, not bad at all! Well, here's chapter two, I hope you all have a lovely time reading it. I know I loved writing it. ^^

My Regrets

By DM-sama

~*Extra-Terrestrial*~

Wheatley had read a bit about the concept of Hell. Granted he hadn't fully understood it, though he got the gist of bad people burning away forever in the earth's core. It had been such a silly idea to him and figured that it was absolutely ridiculous to assume that any mere human would be able to survive two seconds in the center of the earth. He had tossed aside that rubbish and moved on to Machiavelli.

Only now did he realize the implications of eternal punishment.

"Space, space, I like space, ba, ba, ba, ba, hey, space, space, space, let's go to space, hey, hey guy, we're in SPAAAACE!"

"Oh my god, just shut up!"

It was then Wheatley was convinced he had gone mad, shouting at a corrupted core who probably didn't even know he was there. He hadn't a clue what happened to the others, and didn't care. All that mattered was that he was stuck with this one.

For his first few weeks in space he had somehow cruelly managed to convince himself that Chell would come back for him, she would portal them both back to safety with complete forgiveness waiting for him at home. Time meant nothing here, and when he felt the batteries in his head start beeping loudly, wailing about its low power, he realized that there was no going back.

This was his Hell.

And Hell is for the bad people.

It wasn't just the floating forever in space part either; it was the memories. Chell's hurt and fearful expression when he betrayed her, the stark bitterness as he forced her through the tests. At that point he hadn't given a damn. Now the mental images were ripping him apart. And the worst part was he didn't even know if he had merely been altered by the system, corrupted, or if he had done all of that on his own conscience.

Oh, Chell…please forgive me…it's all I want…

Just to say sorry.

He'd do anything for that chance.

And now here I rot, with batteries about to go out any second and a core that just might be dumber than I am. And that's saying something.

Life sucked.

"SPACE, SPACE, SP-SP-SPAAAACE! SPAAAAAAAA—"

"WE GET IT! YOU LIKE SPACE! WE'RE IN SPACE! WE KNOW! JUST! PLEASE! SHUT! UP!"

And so he drifted, staring out at the black, empty void. Nothing ever changes up here, nothing. He never thought he'd miss the sounds of the Aperture labs, the subtle movement of the robotic fingers as they put together a turret. He even missed the sound of Chell's footsteps as she moved through the test chambers!

There's no point torturing yourself like this, mate… he resigned, refocusing his attention back to space.

Drifting a few yards away from him was a small chunk of space rock. It wasn't anything special, really, just like all of the other debris floating about. Hmm, looks kind of like Christopher Walken. The way it was moving bugged him though. Somewhere deep in his memory he remembered reading a rather hefty book about meteorites and their mobile patterns. 'Course he hadn't understood one lick of it, but he did remember the pictures.

This rock was headed to earth.

And it was moving fast.

He then got the craziest idea possibly ever conceived by robotic kind. Spinning around madly, trying to find out how to flippin' move, he struggled and wobbled his way over, painfully aware of how fast the rock was moving away. No, nonono, wait up! Waaait! He wasn't even sure what it was he planned to do, but he kept on moving anyway. Why didn't anyone give me some propulsion jets? Too far away!

He oofed! when something suddenly rammed into his body and shot him forward. "Space, space? Hey, look, we're in SPAACE!"

Hmm, never would've thought he'd be a help. Latching onto the rock with his labels he hung on as tight as he could. He swiveled around to see Spacey spinning, singing loudly. "Thanks, mate! Enjoy space—ermm, I—I hear it's very nice this time of year!" He barely had enough time to say that clumsy goodbye before the meteorite was shooting forward, heading directly for earth. Boy, was that planet big…

No worries, mate, you'll find your way, one way or the other…

The crashing to earth was, needless to say, very…rocky. His blasted rock burned out in the atmosphere almost instantly, leaving him completely alone as he plummeted down to his most certain death. Okay, okay, no worries, you're still alive, alive, that's always a good sign and—oh, uh, I'm on fire. Yup that is definitely fire right there.

Telling himself not to panic, not really succeeding, he switched on an inner fire extinguisher that he had programmed in during his early years of life after one particularly embarrassing incident in the breaker room. It did the trick. Ha! Knew that'd come in handy one day. Okay, that's been taken care of. Now, about the whole, er, umm…plummeting thing…

It was then he realized that he was going really, really fast.

He was nowhere near prepared when he bounced off the grassy plateau and soared for a good hundred miles into the night sky. And it hurt. He must've blacked out for a second because when he opened his eye he was ensconced within a healthy sized crater, feeling even worse than when GLaDOS had crushed him.

"Wait a minute, I'm alive!" he cried out in amazement. "Can't believe it, I actually lived through that! WHOO! Must've had some enhanced endurance skill points right there, that's definitely alright…"

The euphoria was quick to wear off as reality sunk in. Here he was, stuck in the middle of nowhere with his batteries still wailing along with many other parts damaged by the fall. Don't panic, j—just think a bit…got to think of a way out…

He froze up when he heard some pawing sound nearby. It sounded somewhere a few yards from the crater. Footsteps? Oh no, oh no, what is that? You know, I bet you it's those werewolves the others always told me about. 'Don't ever go outside Wheatley, or else those werewolves will come and kill you'. Oh no, oh no, ohnonono…

Whatever it was it wasn't nearly as furry as he'd expected it to be. Or feral. No, it was a human.

I'm saved!

"Oh, thank God that you're here!" he cried out, trying to sit himself back up. Still couldn't move. "Okay, look I know this probably looks a little odd, to you, but I need you to answer a question for me. A—alright? Can…can you do that? Do you know anyone named Chell? Chell? Ring any bell? Any bells at all? I—I kind of need to see her, kind of urgent."

The human, whom looked like a male, didn't respond, staring down at the little robot with a stupefied expression. Was that drool? "H—hello? Do you…do you speak any English then? Any at all? No? Amigo?" Finally the human reached down and roughly yanked him out of his crater. "Ouch! Watch it, that's sensitive!"

"Hey, Maybell!" the human screeched. "Got me an alien out here!"

"A what?" a shrill voice cried out from a wooden house in the distance. Wheatley didn't like where this was going.

"An alien, Maybell!" he shouted, even louder. Wheatley flinched as the harsh sounds grated his ears. "We're gonna be rich!"

Ooooh no…

~*O*~

Chell would be happy if she never saw grass again.

Sure, the sight was lovely at first, anything would have been a relief to the testing tracks, but it was grating upon her nerves. For the past few weeks she had been visualizing nothing but the city awaiting her, the images she had seen on the television. It was merely a reminder of the fact that she wasn't there yet!

"So what's a country-folk like you heading towards the city anyway?" asked Chuck, her current hitchhiker pickup.

"Oh, you know," she mumbled. "Just looking for a change of scenery." He laughed and she smiled at the sound. She was becoming a much better conversationalist.

"Heh, I know what that feels like."

Chell stared listlessly down at the red hat clamped in her hands, sick of looking at the grass. Chuck's air-conditioning wasn't working so she was sweating like a pig. Her hair stuck to her forehead and the front of her shirt was dripping wet. She remembered Chuck had told her New York was only two hours away, so she merely worked through the discomfort. So close, Chell…

In the distance she could see a farm coming into view, so she looked up. It had everything a farm could want; a corn field, a barn, a cute little house, and a massive, rather random tree in the front yard. It was an apple tree. A group of redneck men were gathered just at the foot of it, looking at something that was dangling from a chain tied to a branch. They appeared to be hitting it with baseball bats.

Curious she leaned out the window to try and get a better look. The thing was big and round and white. Is it a piñata party? Taped to the mailbox was a cardboard sign with scrawling words written in sharpie. She could just barely make it out. Beat Up The Alien $1.50. Alien was spelled wrong,

Hmmm, where do they think they've founded an alien?

Suddenly, realization struck her hard and she felt her face slack in shock.

Wait a sec…oh no…

"Stop the car!" she barked.

Chuck was startled, but slammed his foot on the brake. They came to a screeching halt and Chell nearly smacked her head onto the dashboard, but was too alarmed to care. "Is everything all right?"

"Oh, it fine," she murmured dazedly, practically jumping out of the car, taking the time to throw on her hat. She paused; staring as the white thing tied to the tree went swinging violently into the air and was smacked again. Chell winced as if the bat had hit her. There's no way it could be… "J—just go on ahead, I'll take it from here."

He protested, but she had already shut the door and was walking out of earshot. She heard the car start up and drive off, but was still too dazzled to even notice. The rednecks had quickly taken sight of her and were caterwauling as she drew closer. She pulled the red hat further down her eyes.

"Hey lil lady, what'chu doin way out 'ere?" one of them cried out. He was the biggest and most arrogant looking of them all, so she assumed he had organized this whole thing. The leader. Perfect, he gets to die first.

She paused.

Wow, where did that thought come from? Clearly GLaDOS had rubbed off on her.

"I hear you've got an alien?" she asked, trying to sound as twangy and obnoxious as the rest of them. "I wanna see it." They all laughed mockingly, a sound that grated her ears.

"You gots tuh pay the fine there, missy," said another one of them. Half of his teeth had rotted away.

"I ain't payin' nuthin till I see it meself," she snapped, fearlessly approaching the circle of men. They parted, and Chell silently sucked in a gasp through her teeth.

It confirmed her fears. Her dearest little robot friend, her enemy, tied crudely to the chain that dug into his circuit board. Sparks of electricity were zapping out of him. He was falling apart, his parts scattered pitifully around the area. Chell was convinced that he didn't even register she was there.

How long have you been there, Wheatley?

"She'll be commin' round the mountain when she comes," he sung languorously, trembling. "She'll be commin' round the mountain when she comes…" He paused and glitched up, twitching.

"Oi!" the leader snapped, taking his bat and smacking the trapped robot. "I already told you tuh sing somethin' else!" Chell instinctively snatched the bat out of the man's hand, trying to swallow the urge to beat him within an inch of his life. He straightened and glared down at her, doing well to intimidate. Don't make the big man mad, Chell, she thought, licking her lips.

"How do you know this is an alien?" she mumbled, forgetting the fake accent.

"Found him in a crater," he replied. "Rantin' on bout some chick name Chell. Annoyin' as hell; he stopped talkin' hours ago."

Wheatley was still swinging around, now singing the bear climbed over the mountain. "Oi, don't waste our time here," the man snapped, crossing his arms. "You hit and pay, or get outta here."

All at once Chell could suddenly feel the weight of the baseball bat cradled in her hands.

She almost did it too. Her grip loosened, and she took one invisible step backwards. "The bear climbed over the mountain…and whaddu think he saw?" he continued singing dazedly. Chell bit her lip, feeling her eyes start to burn with tears.

Suddenly all the foul memories arose and crashed over her like a foul wave. The betrayal, the hurtful insults, the part where he tried to kill her. There was no dark corner in her mind that was left alone. Apparently, being civil isn't motivating you, so let's try it her way, all right, fatty? She felt the rising bitterness as she remembered all the misery that he had placed her through, the humiliation, the tests. The anger latched onto her heart.

Before she realized what was happening, Chell dug her feet into the ground and raised the bat, the damaged part of her brain remembering just how much fun it was to smash things. A certain rage was swiftly taking over her system, and it felt great. With a grunt she swung the bat and thrashed the robot high into the air. A grin twisted her lips. Oh yeah, there's definitely a bit of GLaDOS in there. So she hit him again (SMACK!), and again (SMACK!), the bitterness poisoning her soul, ignoring his wails of pain.

As he came swinging back to her once more, the other men cheering in the background, she swung the bat around for one last time. This time he cried out. "OW! That was my DEPTH PERCEPTION!"

His voice did well to snap her out of her rage induced haze. She froze, paralyzed, and watched listlessly as he came swinging back and punched her right in the face.

Oh, to only hear the adorable accent again. A time when he was her friend.

Her vision went blurry and she was suddenly looking up at the sky. She was regaining her sense of clarity back, the animalistic rage instantly gone. Okay, I guess I deserved that. She could hear the others laughing. Wheatley's blue eye was staring down at her, frizzing in and out of focus. It widened suddenly, looking directly at her.

"C—Chell, is that you?" he cried out. The other men have stopped laughing. "It is! IT IS! Thank, God you've—wait, were you hitting me a second ago? No, wait it doesn't even matter, I needed to wake up anyway I'm just so glad to see yo—AAAAH!"

As he was rambling the chain holding him up suddenly snapped and before Chell could react, fifty pounds worth of robotic weight came crashing down onto her stomach. Her breathe whooshed out of her and stars danced under her eyelids. She was sure blacked out for a second. Okay…I guess I deserved that too, she thought, feeling her eye and stomach start swelling up. Wheatley was still babbling mindlessly.

Her vision blurry, she slumped pathetically as she felt hands lift her off the ground and indistinct bellowing in her ear. Wheatley was pulled out of her hands; she could hear him yelling. Chell sensed the blow to her head before she saw it, and jumped out of the way of the enraged rednecks.

The leader guy, stupid as he may seem, was quick to react as he lunged at her. Nice reflexes, she thought, dealing a direct kick to his face, knocking him out cold.

Swaying dangerously from side to side Chell mindlessly snatched up her Wheatley and charged towards the main house, aiming for the garage. The robot was shouting insane nothings, telling her to run out to the road, to go hide in the cornfield, hide in the house and many other inane suggestions.

By the time they reached the garage the men were already after her, and when she opened the car door (thanking to King Turret that it was unlocked) she tossed Wheatley inside and didn't hesitate in hopping in. Punching out the wires, quite possibly breaking her hand in the process, she began to painstaking process of hotwiring the car.

"Cross the blue one! The green one! Wait, there is no green one!" Wheatley shouted, doing well to distract her. The men were almost on top of her and just as they tried to punch out the window, she shot out of the garage like a bat out of hell. "Okay, that works too!" As they turned the sharp corner and crashed right through a fence he rolled off the seat and hurtled onto the ground. "Ow…"

Chell hissed under her breath, running a frazzled hand through her hair. The last fifteen seconds became a complete blur to her, and as she stared at the wheel she began to wonder what the hell had just happened. Did I seriously just steal Wheatley from a group of rednecks? Am I insane? "I can't believe I just did that…"

"Ah, it's nothin'! You had those blokes; no problems at all! And we got this –ow–" (he rolled into the door) "stylish new car in the progress! A good day for all. Well, actually I think I might have misplaced my power core at some point…but we can worry about that later! But what matters now is that I'm here, and you're here, and no one is trying to kill us!"

Chell dearly wished she had brought along the baseball bat. Reaching down she snatched up the ridiculous sphere and looked directly at him and said, "I meant to say I can't believe I did that for you."

That shut him up.

Chell tossed him back on the seat where he continued to roll around, unable to pick himself up. Thick silence filled the car. She bit her lip, and focused on the road, trying to remember which direction she was supposed to be going. Where's the city? She tried to ignore the weight continuously bumping into her leg. Nothing was helping her mood.

Perhaps five minutes passed (a new personal best for the little twit) before Wheatley coughed conspicuously. "L—look…I know you must be mad at me…furious even…but during my days, weeks?…in space…" He paused. "I've been thinking that I…umm, Chell? Chell…I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

She chuckled chillingly, surprised by the venom in her voice. "Oh, that just made everything better," she hissed, a cruel grin twisting her face. "Don't even worry, Wheatley, I completely forgive you for trying to murder me."

"Tried! I tried to murder you! See, there's a difference!"

"Which shall be certainly different from what I'll do to you."

Even a direct threat to his life didn't quiet him down. Chell tuned him out, trying to sort through her feelings as he rambled on. He probably knew that she wasn't listening, yet he talked anyway. An easy habit to build during years of solitude, she knew. Just imagine, all that time with no one but you as company, only your voice. Even she had GLaDOS. Wheatley had nothing but corrupted personality cores.

But now wasn't the time to sympathize. Her earlier bitterness was quick to resurface, and she desperately wanted to smash something.

"—and that ridiculous space core said to me, "hey, Dad, we're in space, now, and I'm gonna see it all!" and so I said, 'for the bloody millionth time I am not your Dad—""

"Why are you back?" she snapped, cutting right through his incoherent monologue.

"Because I, urm, wanted to say sorry to you?"

"And then what?" That seemed to stump him. Never comes with a plan.

"Hmmm, ah, well, I didn't really think of much else, didn't think I'd make it this far."

Chell stared directly at him as she said, "So now that you did what you came here for, can I just toss you out the window?" She grabbed his label, ignoring his protests as she held up just before the open window. Instant panic.

"Y—you wouldn't! That isn't funny, Chell! Chell? I said that isn't funny!"

"Oh, really? Well, how about now?"

This time she stuck her whole arm out and he was whipped helplessly in the fierce wind. This time she couldn't pick up on anything, just panicked shouting.

"NO! NOOONONONO!"

The bitter memories were hitting her wave after wave, some playing right underneath her eyelids. Just do it, Chell! He will bring NOTHING but trouble to you! She remembered when Wheatley had resurrected GLaDOS, and directly set off a chain of events that would go on to destroy them both so utterly.

Let there be light. That's, uh...God. I was quoting God.

Her eyes began to sting again. Wheatley was still shouting.

Oh Chell, you know you aren't strong enough to do it. She frowned.

That voice...

...it had sounded like GLaDOS.

Heaving a mighty sigh, Chell pulled the little twit back inside and sat him down next to her. She could almost taste the silence. God, I'm so weak…

"Oh, so, uh…no death by car window?"

"Don't give me any ideas," she mumbled.

"Nope, you won't hear a squeak outta me, I've plummeted to my death plenty of times already today."

~*O*~

Ba…ba…aaba…dafuq? Did I just make Chell beat up Wheatley with a baseball bat and then threaten to throw him out the window? Well, I did tell ya'll I had no idea where this was going; it's practically writing itself at this point.

Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment, let Wheatley know that someone loves him!

~DM-sama