This sucks. Breanna was alone in her room, trying to get used to the new perspective. Shouldn't she have been happy? After all, one way or another, she was going to live. But if that meant having to stay in this form for the rest of eternity, she would much rather die.

Her chances were low. She knew that. Perhaps she shouldn't have said anything, let the illness take her, as it was meant to do thirty five years ago. Wouldn't it be better that way? There were times now when she constantly forgot prominent details regarding her life. Just like the first day, when she could not for the life of her think of the name of the man in front of her. For a moment, she didn't remember her father.

It was just like the last time.

She sighed and looked around, spotting the old desktop computer on the other side of the room. I wonder... She messed around with some of her internal technology, and sure enough, the computer began to power up. She tried to smile in triumph, but quickly remembered she couldn't. Once she got the internet up, she went straight to Twitter and logged in. After a quick backreading of her time line, she decided to post.

B_Rattmann: This can't be over soon enough...

Exactly thirty two seconds later, a new message showed up. It was not directly in response to anyone, but the meaning was clear enough.

AndersonCommaW: It will be over soon. Just hang in there. You're strong willed and the bravest person I know. That's why I love you. We'll get through this.

He... He used full words. She wasn't going to respond. What would she say if she did? That she loved him, too, but could never be with him? Or that the odds were not in her favour, and she would probably never regain that sense of humanity she was just recalling?

Or would she tell him that she was scared? Terrified for herself, for her family. For everything she'd come to know. That she had always just put on a brave face in order to put others' minds at ease. That was what her life had been. Ever since the beginning. Ever since she was five, and asked the very innocent question of "Daddy, why do other kids at school have mommies and I don't?".

This was her fault. In one way or another, it was her fault. Her mother had died in childbirth, leading to only more disaster in her father's life. Would he not have been better off if she'd never been born? If she didn't exist? After all the pain she'd put him though...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her door being thrown open as two men in black suits entered. Did she know them? No. As hard as she tried, she couldn't remember having ever seen the before. "There it is." The taller one stated, looking at her.

The other picked her up. "What are you doing? L- let go of me!" Her calls for help were muffled when she was placed in some sort of box, and she felt herself being carried away.

"Let's get it out of here."

Doug came home from work to find a frightening sight. Leena sat on the couch, her face buried in her hands. Something was very, very wrong. He sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders. "What is it? What's going on?"

"They took her." She sobbed. "There was nothing I could do. They had badges, I couldn't just tell them they couldn't come in." Her head leaned on his chest as the tears fell freely from her eyes.

No... He thought. No, not again... Those words, they brought back so many painful memories. Three years prior, getting a phone call that would forever affect so many people. As he sat there now, he could hear them as clearly as if they were being whispered in his ear.

Dr. Rattmann, I'm calling on behalf of the high school. I'm just verifying that you're aware Breanna isn't in school today...

"Who was it?" His voice was kind, worried, and demanding all at the same time. "Where did they take her? I'll kill them, I swear!" Inside, he couldn't believe the words had come out of his mouth. Was he really going to turn into that? A murderer? Someone like the very one who had made his life a living Hell for thirty two years? If it meant getting his daughter back, maybe he would.

Leena shook her head. "Federal agents. They said we were in possession of government property. I didn't know what they meant, and I couldn't just turn them away. I never thought... I'm sorry..."

Doug held her close, yet stared straight ahead. "It's not your fault." He whispered. "We'll get her back." Before he could continue, he heard the quiet ringing of his cell phone come from his pocket. "H- hello?"

"Hey, Doug, it's Cave. Listen, I have good news. The medical treatment was a success. Breanna's ready to be put back into her body." Cave was smiling from the other end. "But you've got to bring her soon. Otherwise it'll backfire and the body will die."

"B- but Uncle Johnson-"

"No buts. You have to be here in two and a half hours at the very latest."

"Uncle Johnson, we don't know where Breanna is." He relayed the information he'd been told, doing the best he could to keep himself from falling apart. "We have to find her. Both of us. The government knows you, they'll trust you more."

Cave paced the floor of his office as he spoke. "Maybe so, but I'm supposed to be dead, remember? If they saw me, that'd just lead to more questions. I'm sorry, Doug, but you're on your own on this one. Now get going. We have two hours until it's too late."

This is it... Doug looked up at the abandoned manufacturing company in front of him from across the street. Was he really going to do this? Was he really going to sneak into a government facility? Yes, he was. He would either get his Breanna back, or die trying.

"Is this where she is?" Doug's head shot around to see the teenage boy standing by his side.

He looked at West, his eyes frightened and hurting. "How did you know...?"

"She posted on Twitter." He replied, pulling out his cellphone. "She said she needed help, but she never finished, so she never said where she was."

Sure enough, he pulled up her profile.

B_Rattmann: I'm alive for now. But I don't have long. Daddy, or West, or anyone, if you're reading this, you need to help me. I'm at

Doug's heart nearly stopped. "Go home, West. This is too dangerous."

The boy simply looked at him, a determined expression on his face. It was obvious he wouldn't take no for an answer. He wouldn't abandon the girl he loved.

Doug snuck over to the power box, hacking it so a portion of the electric fence would shut down without signaling any alarms. They managed to climb over, Doug unscathed, West with some deep scratches from the barbed wire. They clung to the side of the building, sweat on their brows, blood rushing in their ears.

"Now what?" West whispered.

Doug placed a hand on the wall. Wait. Could it really...? He pulled, and sure enough, the panel opened, revealing the space between the outside and internal walls. "Come on." They scurried inside, shutting the panel behind them.

It wasn't long before they knew they had to go out into the open. West attempted to open the wall, but needed Doug's experience to do so properly. After checking to be sure no one was around, he waved him on, and they entered the halls.

There was a long time that they seemed the only people in the building. "Do you know where we're going?" West asked.

"I have no idea."

"Hey!" They both froze as a new voice called out behind them. They turned to see a man in a dark suit rushing toward them. As if mentally linked, they began running.

Running. Running just like before. West kept up surprisingly well with Doug, only a few steps behind. Doug ignored the searing pain in his leg, the feeling of the bullet wound fresh.

The sound of a gunshot rang out, and Doug knew he was hit.

However, he did not feel any pain. By pure luck, the bullet had hit his wrist, dead in the centre of his watch. But though the guards shot, they never moved out of place. Just like turrets.

They could do this. If he could just apply everything he'd done to survive in Aperture, he could get all of them out. They could get Breanna back.

Five men behind, two in front, three to the right. Their only option was to duck into the room to their left, which, luckily, was empty. "Quick! Get that ladder!" Doug said as he locked the door. West did as he was told, and Doug set it up below a ceiling vent. He opened it and climbed inside, West following. "Bring it up here. We can't have them coming after us." After some painstaking efforts, they managed, and were on their way again.

Every so often, they would look through a vent to see where they were. After what seemed like hours, there was a room that was pitch black, the only light being a faint, flickering blue.

They dropped down, Doug more successfully than West, listening for any movement. "W- who's there?" The female voice, frightened and slightly automated, gave them both a rush of relief.

The approached the light. "It's us. It's us, min kärlek. It's okay. You're safe now."

"Hurry! We don't have long!" Cave led father and daughter through the familiar halls. Doug was used to running. Cave, however, was not. "Go..." He said between breaths about five minutes later. "Experimental Ward... Lab 486... You know what to do..." Doug stood watching his uncle for a moment. "I said go, dammit...!"

Bolting through the facility, just like old times. Times he would much rather forget. Doug clutched Breanna to his chest, opening a wall panel and scurrying behind it. It would be faster that way. Breanna's silence was uneasy. "Don't worry." He assured her. "It's going to be okay. I promise, min kärlek. Everything is going to be just fine." And like so many times before, his words were to convince himself as much as her.

A security guard was waiting at the doors of the Experimental Ward, and for a moment, Doug was sure all hope was lost. But the moment the guard saw what was in his arms, he scanned his access pass and the doors opened. Doug ran in the moment he was given the signal to.

He checked his watch, remembering it had been shot only upon seeing the shattered face. How much time did they have? Not much, that was for sure. But if only he had an actual figure...

Too many variables...

The lab looked exactly the same as when he'd last been in there. The same annex, the same metal table, and the same raven-haired girl lying lifeless in the middle of it. On her wrist was a sort of bracelet, a green light pulsating on it, presumably in correspondence to her heartbeat.

"I'm scared, Daddy." Breanna's voice was quiet, like a small child on her first day at a new school.

Doug spoke as he attached the wires to her, not wasting any time. "Everything is going to be alright. You-"

They both froze as a high pitched beeping filled the room. Doug looked over, the bracelet's light flashing yellow, the pattern slower and slower. And he knew it was too late.

And then, the light turned to a steady red.

Breanna wanted to cry, to let her tears fall on her father's shoulder. But that was the past. She would never be able to do so again. She looked down at herself. This was her. The girl she once knew was gone. There would be no more playing the piano, no more looking into college.

No more dreams of a future with West.

"No..." Doug whispered. "N- no... Not my baby..." He ran his shaking fingers over the girl's face. "Not my little girl..." He then turned to the little AI- to his daughter- and simply looked at her for a long moment. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Breanna. I'm so sorry..."

She could do nothing but watch as he fell to his knees, sobbing. Was this how he'd been the first time? Curled up on the ground, muttering hopeless nonsense, with that look of absolute devastation staining his face? Yes. She remembered now. When she first powered up, in this very room. Her father looking into the annex, falling against his uncle, lacking the will to live, crying "Where's my little girl?".

"It's annoying, really." GLaDOS' voice rang out. "You humans can never take a joke. Even you. I thought after being in that thing for so long you'd have lost some of your undesirable human qualities. But I guess you weren't so lucky." She snickered a bit as the bracelet's light turned green again. "Now hurry up. You only have three minutes before she actually dies."

Though it was only a few feet away, Doug sprinted over to the switch and pulled it, watching the blue optic go dim.

A thirty second transfer period. A minute of nothing. Another silent minute. Thirty. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Where is she? Nineteen. Eighteen. Why isn't she waking up? Eleven. Ten. Nine. Eight. Am I too late?

Her eyes fluttered open, looking dazed for a moment before looking to him. Then Breanna ripped off the wires and ran- or tried to, rather- over, throwing her arms around him. And they both knew that it would be okay. That day, and every day after.