"Wait-" Wheatley blurted, holding his hand out in a sort of, 'halt' gesture. Chell looked around uncertainly at her feet, trying to see what was there. "Don't move- just stay right there..." He said, lifting his Handheld Portal Device and aiming it at Chell's feet. Placing her hands on her hip, she sighed and looked upwards. Up on the test chamber ceiling, as she had expected, was Wheatley's other portal, just waiting for her above a large pool of dangerous, toxic waste. Chell sighed again and side-stepped just in time before Wheatley shot the opposite portal directly where her feet had previously been.
He groaned, and threw his hands up. "Don't move! If you could just, ah, take about a step backwards, that would be great thanks, luv!" Chell looked at him, raising her eyebrows in an 'are you serious?' way. Wheatley nodded in the direction of the portal, as if urging her to say, 'Oh, alright then!' and jump willingly to her death. "Come on! Just a step backwards, nothing's gonna happen. Just jump into that portal there, 'kay?"
She would have said something, but she had decided to not speak to Wheatley, ever, so he would continue thinking she was a mute until she could get out of this place. Before, she had been perfectly happy to pass the time testing with GLaDOS, her 'best friend' who didn't in fact want to kill her. But now, she was being forced to test just to restrain her from blowing the place up! Not only that, testing with someone who's far more likely to be blowing things up than she would ever be, who also has a desire to kill her. So she didn't say anything.
Looking from Wheatley's hopeful face to the death portal next to her feet, Chell rolled her eyes and shot a portal next to Wheatley's on the ceiling and one beneath Wheatley's feet, leaving him no time to even shoot her a confused look before she was watching him fall from the ceiling feet-first with a terrified look on his face as he landed in the horrible liquid with a satisfying plop! "Oh. Great. That's the fifth time you've killed him. I guess you can now head back to the single Test Chambers while I rebuild your partner, from scratch," GLaDOS said dryly.
Chell didn't seem to mind as a lift came down from the ceiling that would transport her away from the Cooperative Test Chambers and into the single. "You've killed him so many times it's almost as if you enjoy giving me an extra work-load. I've rebuilt that android so many times, I could do it with my eyes closed."
Chell looked around from her place in the slowly ascending lift, enjoying seeing the Chamber from such a height. "That is, if I had any eyes," GLaDOS continued. "In fact, I can almost complete rebuilding the body within a week."
Then GLaDOS's voice was cut off as Chell was now out of view from the Test Chamber, the world outside the lift gone black. Chell shut her eyes as she slumped down onto the floor of the lift, a singular peaceful moment in the wait, outlined against all the experiences she had had since Wheatley came back. Here, by herself, she could shut out the world and concentrate on her thoughts.
She could no longer wait for herself to fully recover. Now that Wheatley was going to be staying in Aperture permanently, as in no going back to space, she would do anything to get out of this place. Every time she looked into those bright, blue eyes her mind was transported to when he was the slightly annoying at times, yet excitable, friendly robot who had escorted her throughout the facility when everything else was dangerous. He had been like a single flame in an endless night.
But then he had betrayed her, and every time she looked at him his voice, his once so welcoming voice, would ring through her ears. Who's the boss? Who's the boss? It's me.
It was almost too much to bear. She knew that Wheatley was no longer in control of the facility, and the damage he could inflict on her was very minor compared to the ability he had when in the DOS system. But although he was so polite every time he happily asked her to oblige while he sent her to her death, she knew that that was just him and on the inside, he was as angry as she was, did not want to say sorry, and would quite happily watch her die. Even better if he was the cause of her death.
So, he was no longer evil in the way he acted, but his actions and intentions still were. He wanted to destroy her like he did when in complete control of the facility, no matter how sorry he had seemed when she let him go. And to anybody else, the way he acted would just seem like he was a nice, friendly guy. Chell knew better than they did. She knew that Wheatley could be just as evil when acting evil as he could be when he appeared to be acting nice.
It was scary how much he had changed. She still remembered him as a Core, a round white sphere with a bright, blue optic that would still be alive and lit up no matter how broken, battered and grubby he would be. Now, he was a tall, scraggly android with wiry, strawberry-blonde hair and eyes too bright to belong to a normal human. Despite GLaDOS's inability to create something imperfect, give it to Wheatley and it would soon lose all signs of perfection. Personality-wise, he still acted like he did when they first knew each other, but never around her, yet his intentions were as wicked as when he was evil.
She would do anything to be back on the surface now, Combine or not, just to be out of the facility. She desperately wished she would hurry up and get better, because she wasn't even allowed freedom here anymore. When not testing, she was confined to the Relaxation Chamber to stay out of the way from Wheatley, and they were never allowed to see each other unless it was testing. Chell scoffed at the thought. Like they'd want to see each other anyway.
But what Chell couldn't understand, was why GLaDOS kept repairing him. She had told Chell that ATLAS and P-Body had been sent to collect him when she had no-one to talk to, but had regretted it when Chell had miraculously turned up. So Chell had first thought that she was doing GLaDOS a favour when she killed Wheatley the first time, but it turns out GLaDOS wanted to keep him, by rebuilding him every time Chell 'murdered' him. Chell wasn't surprised to find that GLaDOS didn't seem to mind Chell being a murderer, as long as it wasn't her being murdered.
Chell just wanted it to be over. She had enjoyed her return to Aperture, but after he returned, Chell frantically wanted to go back to normal life on the surface and forget everything to do with Aperture. She wanted to be able to forget it and live like every other average person. But after coming back, the memories would be fresh for another couple of years and it would take a while for Chell to move on. Maybe she should join the Combine Resistance group after all. It would take her mind off things, and they could do with an experienced fighter like her. Plus, Black Mesa would probably be a great deal better when it comes to company, as the tests that went on it their place seemed a lot more diplomatic than it did in Aperture. Honestly, at least Black Mesa did actual science! Aperture were the ones who stole the idea for a Gravity Gun and stuck it on the end of their own Handheld Portal Device, the ones who invented homicidal AI to do their work for them and make bucket loads of money in the process, the ones who stole people off park benches and forced them to do tests! What was scientific about seeing what a homeless person would do when presented with an incredibly valuable device, a big red button and a cube? Nothing! That's what!
And then they did things like injecting innocent people with highly dangerous mantis DNA just to see what would happen, without any research or thought about the risks and consequences, and Chell almost thought they deserved to be killed with neurotoxin. At least Black Mesa didn't do ridiculous tests on real people. It served Aperture right that they had a bunch of mantis men running aground the facility.
Chell snapped her eyes shut tighter and buried her face in her knees, glad that there were no cameras in the lift for anyone to see her with. She didn't like it here anymore. She wanted to go home. She wanted to go back to City 17 and see real people with organic insides, and to see the wind moving without anything being controlled. She wanted, no, needed something natural. She hugged her knees tightly to her chest and tried to focus on the happy thought of Wheatley falling through the ceiling and landing in the waste, slowly disintegrating. Even though she would probably see him in a week or so, at least it's a week or so without him. She had thought about killing him every time he was rebuilt so that she could heal without him being there, and maybe even get to leave before he gets complete.
But she knew that killing him straight after he was fixed every time wouldn't please GLaDOS greatly, and Chell might find herself falling into that toxic waste next time. GLaDOS needed Wheatley for company after Chell had gone, because Chell didn't want to think about how hard it must be to teach ATLAS and P-Body to speak. Besides, after Chell had gone GLaDOS would probably work Wheatley loopy by the end of a month. And Chell took pleasure in the fact that Wheatley would not be leading a life of luxury after she had gone, or maybe even a life at all if GLaDOS grew sick of him, because there was a lot of work to be done on the facility and GLaDOS couldn't do it all. Chell wouldn't be able to do it, because she was recovering and only had enough energy daily to test. Manual labour was not going to heal her in a hurry.
The lift had risen now, and Chell was pulled out of her thoughts and to the Test Chamber she was currently standing in, a complicated one GLaDOS had spent a lot of time thinking about while Chell was in the left. Pulling on a determined expression, Chell stepped forwards and started completing the test.
By the end of the day, Chell had successfully completed 21 tests. It hadn't quite beaten her record, 23, but it was close enough and Chell was tired. She had sat down on her double bed and collapsed, kicking off her long-fall boots and pulling herself under her covers, not touching the food that GLaDOS had left on her desk. Chell was a human, and needed food, so GLaDOS supplied her with the regular three meals a day. Although Chell never dared to ask her where the food came from, from fear of being put off it and dying slowly of starvation down there.
Slowly, while Wheatley was being repaired again, Chell began to heal faster and faster until she nearing the time when she would have to leave. Well, it says 'have to,' but Chell would do it entirely willingly now.
It was only when Wheatley came back, good as new, that her routine was broken and, coincidentally, the recovering slowed down a great deal.
"You ready, luv?" he called from the other side of the chamber, her eyes just making out the hand cupped around his mouth to project his voice. Not wanting to respond, Chell went ahead anyway and stepped onto the catapult, soaring gracefully through the air until her escapade was ruined when she crashed into Wheatley halfway. "Aaargghhh!" he cried, flailing his limbs as he fell down into the incinerator below them, glaring at Chell before he landed as she fell through a portal on a moving platform that led back onto the safety of the side. Everything had been timed perfectly, and her plan had succeeded.
She smiled slightly to herself when there was a scream, followed by a crunch and the sickening sound of metal scraping against metal. "I know he tried and nearly succeeded in killing you five times in the past week he's been back, but that was completely unnecessary," GLaDOS said after a tiny blip announced her about to speak. "Now you have to wait another week before you can test cooperatively again, and the reparation of the whole facility will be slowed down. Again. I hope you're happy."
There was a hiss and a bang, before a smouldering piece if debris that looked suspiciously like a knee flew out of the incinerator, landing with a clang at Chell's feet. There were even the remnants of what used to be a white material stuck to it, smoking and tattered. Chell glanced at it distastefully; she was never usually one to speak unless it was necessary, but this situation called for something.
"Oops."
{O}
Now, it was just getting repetitive. Every single time, it was the same thing, and GLaDOS found herself wishing Chell would hurry up and heal as well. It was quite amusing at first – by that, she means the first time, but after that it got out of hand and GLaDOS was getting tired of it. She couldn't blame them though; she would probably try to repeatedly kill someone if they did that to her. But no-one had done that to her, not recently, anyway, and when it was someone else, she wasn't interested. It just generated more work for her, and the same task every other week was tedious.
They'd attempt to kill each other all day long when testing, and she was beginning to think she'd never see the end of it. Chell would kill him sometimes. Wheatley would almost kill her others. But to be honest, GLaDOS was glad Chell found it easier to not get killed than Wheatley. Because unlike the android, Chell could not be repaired in a week, or any amount of time really, and if she fell into that toxic-waste or the incinerator, or got shot by a turret, she would not be coming back. And despite belief, GLaDOS did not want Chell to die. Not anymore, anyway.
But now she had nothing to do, GLaDOS spent her days watching them test, and although it was what she was programmed to do and she should never grow bored of it, (unless she started going corrupt...) it got a little repetitive when the amount of tests they completed began to decrease slightly every day due to their growing determination to kill each other. So then she switched to her other cooperative testing pair, ATLAS and P-Body, who were now back in the android bodies to test if they worked okay or not. Even they didn't try to kill each other as much as Chell and Wheatley did.
Eventually, she got so bored she decided to watch some of the videos the tracker she had placed on ATLAS and P-Body had caught, just to see what they had gotten up to while collecting Wheatley. She probably wouldn't like it, but hey, anything to keep her mind off the endless testing.
Taking control of the hardware stored in the DOS system, she delved into it and searched the database which held the filming of their 'adventures'. The camera was embedded in P-Body's right optic, so as to not arouse suspicion. GLaDOS suspected that having a massive camera strapped to your forehead isn't considered normal among humans, though from what Chell told her about the current status of the world thanks to the Combine, GLaDOS expected to be surprised. The world sounded so different than from what GLaDOS remembered the scientists had talked about. It was severe, and everyone had to wear a strict uniform. Apparently people went from living in houses to living in small, clammy apartments, and even the apartments were bare, worn down and cheap, with boarded up windows and scruffy decorating. The world sounded utterly uninteresting, and GLaDOS didn't understand why Chell wanted to go back so much. Although, GLaDOS had to give it to Black Mesa that she had to respect them now they're trying so hard to save the world. It's more than Aperture ever would have done. Aperture would have cowered away and locked themselves down in the facility, spinelessly hiding while someone else does the work. All Aperture members were cowards. Except Chell, of course.
Pressing 'Play' on the video, GLaDOS watched as the camera feed started when ATLAS and P-Body were making their way over to the lift. She could see herself, staring back at them as they marched bravely to the outside world. The camera bounced up and down from P-Body's proud strides, and every so often it went black for a split-second when she blinked, (the optics need cleaning from the air and dust, just like humans.) The rest of that bit was boring, as it was just them walking through the wheat fields and stopping every time they saw something interesting, which was every other second. Every time the wind blew the wheat they'd stop and point, giggling. At one point, ATLAS pounced into P-Body's arms, trembling, as he pointed to something GLaDOS couldn't see on a wheat stalk. When P-Body had zoomed in closer to inspect it, GLaDOS almost died of annoyance when she saw that it was a ladybird. The next ten minutes of video was them recovering from the shock of finding out that the ladybird was not, in fact, hostile. Then they found it cute, cooing it and stroking it gently with fingers, until ATLAS squashed it and they moved on, disappointed.
GLaDOS was feeling sick at this point, as sick as robots were able to feel, anyway, and quickly fast-forwarded it to find something interesting. Nothing, nothing, nothing- ah! This looks good. GLaDOS re-winded it a bit before playing it, the video starting as they were walking through the streets. They generally looked how Chell had described them; bare, grotty and miserable. A few Combine soldiers shot ATLAS and P-Body suspicious looks, but to GLaDOS's relief they did nothing. ATLAS and P-Body didn't notice, however, and continued dancing merrily along as if they had years to complete the task. Every time they saw a notice-board they'd stare at it closely, trying to make it out, but never succeeded. GLaDOS was just about to move on, bored, when through the Sound System she heard distant singing in the background of the video.
Turns out ATLAS and P-Body heard the singing as well, and the camera feed GLaDOS was watching suddenly started moving a lot quicker as P-Body broke off into a run, ATLAS ahead. GLaDOS watched interestedly, the sound of the singing getting louder.
Then, they turned a corner around a large, rundown hotel and found the source of the singing. In a small, barren clearing that had obviously just been emptied thanks to the large pile of junk stuffed away in a corner, were a bunch of people, singing a slow, boring hymn. At the front of the people were two other humans; a man, and a woman who was dressed in white, staring at each other with ridiculous, goofy smiles on their faces as the rest of the well-dressed people sang. GLaDOS found it utterly revolting.
ATLAS and P-Body didn't though, and stopped to watch the make-shift ceremony which was as close to a wedding as people could get with the Combine hanging about. After listening to the singing for a while, the camera turned to see ATLAS with a goofy grin plastered on his face. GLaDOS wanted to scream, 'GET ON WITH IT!' but knew that it would be pointless and didn't want to confuse Chell and Wheatley. She sat, watching the screen and silently pleading ATLAS and P-Body to get a move on.
Oh, how she really wished they had done now. Towards the end of the song, the bride and groom took each other's hands and leaned forwards, eyes closed. The camera started jigging up and down. The weather also took this convenient moment to rain, and GLaDOS started having a panic-attack. Get under some shelter! Thankfully, ATLAS and P-Body seemed to have the same idea and started frantically looking about for some shelter as the first few raindrops started to fall. Unfortunately, there was none, and the only thing they could find available was the wedding shelter the bride and groom were smooching under. Clutching his hair as if it would shelter him from the falling water, ATLAS darted ahead through the clapping crowd, P-Body at his heels. A few of the wedding guests stepped back, affronted.
Just before the bride and groom's lips met, ATLAS barged through them, surprising them as he and P-Body struggled to squeeze under the shelter. GLaDOS mentally slapped her non-existent forehead at their stupidity. It was almost embarrassing. On screen, the bride squealed and ran away, picking up her skirts. The groom called after her, but it was too late; the bride had stepped on a rake which hit her forehead, knocking her out in the process. There was a sharp intake of breath from every member of the crowd, and a panicked 'Chantelle!' cried from the groom. While ATLAS and P-Body stood sheltered from the rain, confused, the wedding guests started crowding round the fallen bride.
The groom, seeing that his partner was being taken care of, turned to ATLAS, anger burning brightly all over his face. Oh no... GLaDOS thought. Then, as she expected, the groom raised his hand, curled into a fist, and swung it at ATLAS's face. There was a crunch as his fist collided with ATLAS and the groom recoiled, gasping in pain as he clutched his hand. GLaDOS was getting close to the forehead slapping stage at this point. She could only watch as the events before her unfolded onscreen.
After ATLAS collapsed to the floor, dazzled, P-Body marched forwards and punched the already-in-pain groom, right across his cheek. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, eyes shut. The wedding crowd gasped again. The rain stopped pouring. After P-Body had helped ATLAS up and the crowd were gathered together in a massive clump, murmuring between themselves, a large black vehicle with a gun on the front drove into sight. A bunch of men in black carrying dangerous-looking weapons appeared, jumping off and menacingly spreading out amongst the crowds. All the wedding guests trembled and their murmurings were silent. When seeing the injured bride and groom, the Combine gathered them up and carelessly chucked them onto the van, not caring about the unconscious humans as they tossed them away as if they were ragdolls. ATLAS stood up and came to P-Body's side, quivering in fear. The Combine soldiers moved around a bit, searching for anything out of the ordinary, before one's gaze fell on ATLAS and P-Body and he muttered something into a walkie-talkie. Then he raised his weapon which crackled with blue electricity and came over to ATLAS and P-Body who were huddled together, nervous and frightened.
When they didn't move, the Combine soldier raised his fist and aimed a swing at P-Body, but she held up her arm in defence, not thinking it would work and was surprised to see that she had accidently knocked him out. GLaDOS was beginning to wonder how they even got this far at all, at this rate. ATLAS shakily bent down and picked up the gun from the soldiers belt, staring at it strangely as if it was completely foreign to him, which it was. Then he held it by the barrel, trying to look intimidating as he held it up the wrong way, pointing it at everybody. Then he accidently pulled the trigger and shot a hole in the floor, causing ten Combine heads to look up and see what the noise was for. ATLAS froze in shock, clutching the gun in a hand, before he lost his grip and the gun slipped out of his hands, flying though the air.
He made an attempt to grab it, as did everybody else, but P-Body reached it first and seized it. Unfortunately, when she caught it, her finger wrapped around the trigger and she tripped on the stairs, pulling off a shot as her face collided with the muddy ground. All GLaDOS could see on the camera was soil, but she could hear the distant sound of something burning and desperately urged P-Body to pull herself to her feet. When she did, she was greeted with the sight of something burning, and GLaDOS realised with a shock that P-Body had accidently shot one of the flammable barrels that were lying about these days.
The camera froze momentarily as the flames that had swallowed the barrel caught on another, before P-Body scrambled up to where ATLAS was standing and dragged him out of way by the wrist. They managed to scamper round the corner and curl into a ball just as the deafening boom was heard and the camera went blank as P-Body shut her eyes.
GLaDOS stared in anticipation as the sound went dead and the camera feed didn't move for a long time. When it finally did, she found herself disappointed that P-Body was, in fact, alive, even though GLaDOS already knew that she was. The camera shifted as the sound of fire crackling was in the air and P-Body's optic scrambled back into focus. Once the smoke that lingered had drifted away slightly, GLaDOS had almost died of exasperation by the time she saw what P-Body had been looking at.
The wedding guests, who were now not so well-dressed, were blackened and sooty and their hair was singed and smoking, their clothes tattered and smouldering. All glared at ATLAS and P-Body as they walked on past sheepishly, the Combine no-where in sight. The horrible looks on everyone's faces made ATLAS and P-Body hurry on faster, scampering out of sight before the situation got any more chaotic.
At this point, GLaDOS had seen enough and switched the screen off, unable to bear seeing anymore of ATLAS and P-Body's idiocy. She sighed to herself and wondered how on earth they had managed to get back at all, let alone in one piece, two months before they needed to be, and with the task complete. All the odds were against them, and the video she had watched was proof that they had probably done many more stupid things, many probably even more stupid. But they had somehow managed it, despite their foolishness.
Then the door to the chamber zipped open, and in came none other than ATLAS and P-Body, back in their old bodies, chatting robotically too each other, their voices none other than electrical currents that only made sense to them. They stopped in front of GLaDOS, who was staring at them while trying to piece together what she had just witnessed. They looked at each other, shrugged, before high-fiving triumphantly with their free hands and turning to GLaDOS, expecting some sort of reward for completing their tests.
Drifting back to the present and trying to forget the video she had just seen of their 'mishap' in a human city, GLaDOS said, "I guess I should say well done. Now calm down and stop acting like idiots. Wait- you are idiots. Oh well. I need to have a word with you."
{O}
Wheatley was getting tired of dying. Well, not dying, being killed is probably a better way to put it. It was just so unfair! Every time he tried to kill her, he failed, but she succeeded every time she tried to kill him! He had lost count of the times he had woken in the Repair Chamber, a new body and a new Portal Device, GLaDOS's face on the screen telling him had been killed and instructing him to head back to the test chamber with Chell.
Oh, Chell. How much he despised her. He meant every word he had said to her, every single word. Because he had believed it. He believes it now, as well, after spending half a year in space thinking he didn't, but now he knew. He knew the feelings he had felt in the DOS system, because despite what Chell though, he had betrayed her for a reason. No, she had betrayed him. He had been so hurt.
So, unbelievably hurt.
When he had retrieved the lift for her, he had felt happier than he had for a long time. He had done something good for someone, him, little Wheatley, had done something helpful, and had done very well at it, he might add. He had been so content when he had seen the smile plastered on her face as she ascended upwards, knowing that he was the cause for that smile. He expected her to wave, or smile at him, or something, but she never did. After being looked down upon his entire 'life', no-one would be able to even imagine how brilliant it was to have someone listen to you.
And then to see her leave, so happily, without saying goodbye or thank you as much as he could without voice, to see her make her way upwards thanks to Wheatley without even a second glance, that made something snapped in him that day.
Something had snapped.
It was as if she had crawled inside and started ripping his wires apart and snapping his circuits, and he was the one who felt betrayed. She had wanted him to die, detested his insufferable annoyance all the way through and only putting up with him because he was her ticket to freedom, purposely letting him fall when he had asked her to catch him. She hadn't cared. He was just a robot who was like GLaDOS, no feelings or purpose or emotion, and he wouldn't feel pain when he abandoned her. He had made sure to teach her that he could feel pain, and that he had never felt as much emotional pain than when she had left him.
And then he had realised: wait, why am I just sitting here, letting her hurt me like this? Letting GLaDOS mock me like this? He had the power to do something, to prove that he wasn't a moron, and it would have been stupid to waste it. So, having a mental battle then and there, he had brought the lift down, the feeling of complete power and control suddenly dawning on him. Part of him was urging, begging, pleading him to send the lift back up and have the brilliant feeling of seeing her smile once again, but after GLaDOS called him a moron again, he had had enough. And then everything fell into place. It all felt so right, and as much as he hadn't planned to kill her, he couldn't stop.
But now he would never see that smile again, not for him, anyway. It was almost painful to think about that, but it was focus-clouding so he pushed it to the back of his mind and concentrated on killing Chell. He never succeeded, but to keep trying after what she did to him would help keep his spirits up in the short periods he was alive. He almost found himself looking forward to the day she would leave, but part of him would miss her company. Wheatley knew that once he no longer needed to test to keep the facility from blowing up, GLaDOS would work him hard. Very hard.
Still, part of him was still sorry, as now he was no longer in control of the facility his actions didn't seem as just as they did back then. And on a scale, his wrongs would be a lot heavier than hers. But that definitely wasn't the dominant part. No, in fact it hardly existed, and was such a tiny part it was barely there.
Wheatley had these thoughts while in the Repair Chamber one night, the rest of the facility silent around him and the only sound the quiet beeping and whirring of the machines around him. He was sat on one of those spinning-office chair things, his hands folded over his lap and his legs subconsciously twirling the chair in soothing circles. The dark room span round in front of his eyes, but he wasn't programmed to get dizzy and he wasn't concentrating on his surroundings anyway. He was trying and failing to gather his thoughts, because the previous days had been emotionally stressing and it was just starting to dawn on him that Chell was leaving tomorrow.
He wasn't quite sure what he felt about that. But he needed to decide on a conclusion soon, because the day was nearing every second and he was beginning to stress. Now, every time he looked at her his mind was whisked back to the look on her face as she clutched dearly onto his rails, not wanting to let him go, flying off into space. He remembered the total bliss he had felt, mixed in with the impending doom of living in space for the rest of his life. The total bliss he had felt when he realised she wanted to hold on, and didn't want to let go. She wanted him to stay.
But still, it was nothing compared to the pain she put him through. He would never be able to forgive her, and didn't plan to. She was leaving tomorrow and then he'd never have to see her again, never have to be reminded that she had wanted him to stay. He kept trying to persuade himself that she had let him go on purpose, that she tried to damn him to an endless eternity of nothingness.
Wheatley sighed, and picked himself up from the still-spinning chair. The night was thick and he needed his charge, so he needed to get some 'sleep.' Sitting back down on the floor that was his bed, he took the wire from the wall and plugged it into the back of his neck, leaving no room for more thought.
The next day, Wheatley was awoken by a beeping red button flashing in the corner of his vision, alerting him that his battery was full. The timed lights had switched on, letting him know that it was past 8:00am. He flexed his fingers, feeling the life seep back into him. It was his equivalent of stretching. After sitting still for a couple of minutes, he pulled himself to his feet and sat back down on the spinny-chair, waiting for GLaDOS to allow him out. Although he wouldn't be testing today; today was the day Chell left.
He didn't have time to think now. He didn't want to think. He wanted to sit here and think about nothing else for once, instead. He would have stayed there forever, but GLaDOS had other plans as the door opened and she was announced by a tiny bleep. "Good morning. Well, as close to morning as it gets underground," she greeted. "If you want to say goodbye, you can come up. If not, stay down here until I'm sure there's no chance of you blowing something up."
Then the blip announced her departure and Wheatley was left by himself again, the open door beckoning him. He pondered on the decision available to him, and tried to decide on an answer. Should he say goodbye? Well, he certainly didn't want her to have a 'good' bye. He still hated her as much as he did when in the DOS system. Still, he felt a tiny pang of guilt when the doors closed that Chell would have no-one seeing her off other than GLaDOS. Then again, it would be more of a fist-fight than a send off, but oh well. Wheatley could stay down here anyway.
Later on, when he heard GLaDOS's voice again, did it fully hit him she was gone. "Well, that was eventful. At least now there's the minimum damage you can inflict on the facility. Now get up and help. This facility isn't going to repair itself after you nearly destroyed it."
Wheatley sighed and pulled himself up to his feet, walking out the door with only a hint of regret. He would be able to think on things later. But Chell was gone, and whether he hated her or not, she would not be coming back.
A/N. Hello! I'm really glad about the time I completed this. Anyway, this is not the last chapter! Far from, actually. I've still got miles more to do, so keep in touch! Please tell me what you think. Chell will be back; do not worry. Anyway, tell me what you thought, and, well, yeah! Whatever. :)
Disclaimer: All copyrights belong to Valve, not me.
Review!
~Franki