The whole world was silent. The quietness consumed everything around her and the world seemed to close down into peaceful solitude as the sun had drifted from the sky and plunged the wheat field into darkness. The silence was only faintly disturbed as the gentle breeze slipped across the wheat field, making the stocks gently sway and brush one another. A light chill mixed within a warm night teased her skin.

With her arms rested comfortably under her head, Chell lounged on the ground with the stocks of wheat crushed underneath her, creating a perfect cushion. Although it felt a rough to her fine and sheltered skin, it was a pleasant change from the slick and cold touch of tile and concrete. Her hair was loose and free from her ponytail, resting softly on her shoulders. Her feet showed bare, with her long-fall-boots discarded carelessly beside her, and her legs sat propped up on the charred and dirtied companion cube.

Her eyes shut for a moment and she inhaled deeply, taking in the cool night's air. It tasted sweet and light to her, so gloriously better than the heavy and stale taste of Aperture Science's recycled air. Everything around her; the wheat, the air, the open skies and the endless horizon... All of it... It filled her with such a delightful feeling.

What did it feel like? Freedom.

And maybe something else…

-0-

It was silent. Not just quiet, but silent. A deathly hush, an emptiness that he knew would never end. That's what space was... empty. Void of all things solid, or sane for that matter. So Wheatley just flowed; weightlessly, aimlessly. It was an odd feeling. Having no center, having nothing to hold you down or keep you firm. Wheatley never thought he'd say it, but he missed his ManagementRail. The line of metal that held him in place and restricted him from going anywhere Aperture didn't want him to.

He'd stay on that rail forever if it meant he could just have something solid. Something firm to hold onto. Just some weight; he didn't even need as much weight as when he was in his massive body - GLaDOS' body.

But maybe not. He deserved this; this pointlessness. This endless void and bloody insanity!

Oh, the insanity.

The Space Core drifted happily in the anti-gravity vacuum of space, clueless and careless of anything around him. Still calling out with the complete satisfaction and happiness of a small child, "Space." His voice hummed the word and Wheatley had to tune out his rantings before the last of his patience shattered. The Space Core was mindless and, truthfully, mind-numbing to all within earshot.

But Wheatley felt dull and distant to everything. Sunk deep in self loathing as he floated without direction or purpose.

Space was so different. It was utter freedom… but it felt like a prison. A dark, endless prison with a companion that was half crazy.

Bloody fantastic.

-0-

There was something. She wasn't sure what; just something. A feeling she couldn't peg; it felt faint, vague. Like a near forgotten dream, it was always out of her reach, dashing away into the recesses of her mind just as it was nearly in her grasp.

What was it?

Could it be… emptiness?

Could it be that… with all of the space, and freedom, and peace… that she felt alone? Finally, it dawned on Chell. Maybe it was because the novelty of her newfound freedom was finally beginning to dim, and she had time to reflect, to finally think what she was to do with her life.

Where was the puzzle? Where was the problem or the goal? What would she do now? She realized it for the first time. She had no purpose now.

Her eyelashes rose like a veil as her eyes, hued a fiery gold, drifted open, and her thoughtful and intent gaze stared up into the vast and starless sky. Her features still held the confidence and determination that had become her character, yet a dim spark of indecision flickered in her eyes and her eyebrows furrowed with a soft confusion.

The puzzle solver in her grasped for a solution, mechanically searching through every option and discarding those that didn't match up; just like the robots… the machines she knew better than her own race. But another part of her - the humanity that couldn't be extinguished by the hardships of Aperture - faintly brewed a thought. A thought that just wouldn't leave her.

Chell stared up to the moon; a perfect white orb placed against the blackness of an empty sky, gleaming brightly and casting down its dim glow across the endless expansion of field. In the vastness, the thought entered her mind without shame or hesitance.

Wheatley. She wondered if he was alright. What he was thinking. And… maybe… if he forgave her.

The thought of his name made her mind glanced back, as though trying to ease her heart with a pleasant memory.

"Oh… yes. Oh, well done... Oh, that's tremendous. Yes, good, brilliant. That felt really good." Wheatley moaned.

A light blush crept over Chell's cheeks as she stared up at the screen oddly; her eyebrow cocked and her eyes filled with suspicious hesitance. Wheatley seemed to have blanked out for a second, and if she had a voice, she'd ask him, 'Just what in the hell was that?'

"Get on with the test." GLaDOS urged her. Chell pulled her eyes away and forced herself to get back on track.

She glanced over the room, taking in every detail. A small smirk formed on Chell's lips as the solution became obvious to her and she heard a quiet moan in the air, a gentle purr. The smirk slowly shifted to a confused frown as her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes traveled to the screen of Wheatley, whose blue orb eye watched her intently. His eye darted away from her fleetingly before locking back on her, as if impatient and anxious for her to continue.

She turned away hesitantly and moved onto the test. Firing the gun and watching a portal emerge on the wall before walking through and emerging closer to the target. The gentle purr met her ears again and she followed it to the speaker of the screen that showed Wheatley watching her with a half lidded eye. She fought down an incredulous smirk.

A ghost of a grin caressed Chell's lips as she remembered. It tugged gently until her mouth formed a half smile.

But, still, Chell felt heavy. Heavy with something deep in her heart.

What was it?

Guilt?

-0-

"So much space. Need to see it all." The Space Core gasped excitedly, spinning with bliss as his eye darted around frantically. Never seeming more content in his entire existence.

But Wheatley instead, showed solemn. His eye downcast and his mind quiet for the first time as he sunk deeper into self loathing, drifted senselessly in the abyss. Faintly, his mind listened to his companion's hums, blending together into a memorizing rhythm, while Wheatley stared blankly down to the earth, an orb of blue and green, half lit by the radiant sun that levitated so far away.

His heart felt heavy as he gazed down to the planet; burdened with a weight he suddenly would give anything to be rid of, as his thoughts went to the only human -test subject- that had ever shown him kindness. That had trusted him. That had helped him.

His thoughts went to Chell as an image of her flashed from the recesses of his possessor.

Her confidant and thoughtful stance. The calculated, yet kind glimmer in her golden eyes. The way she bit her lip when she found herself puzzled. The faint smirk on her lips as she found a solution. The way her body moved and absorbed the shock when she fell a distance.

Her dark hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. The sleeves of her orange jumpsuit tied carelessly around her waist. The snug fit of her white tank top, with the words, Aperture Science, printed across the front in professional black letters. The sleek white material of her long-fall-boots.

All of the details came together to form the most brilliant tester he had ever seen.

He wondered where Chell was. What she was thinking. Was she alright? If - deep down; somewhere in her heart - if she could forgive him?

As though to ease the remorse of his heart, his processor flickered as the pleasant memory returned to him.

"Ah, brilliant! You made it through! Well done." Wheatley told Chell with a distracted urgency, "Okay, follow me. We've still got work to do. At least she can't touch us back here."

He moved down his Management Rail with Chell following closely behind him, when, suddenly, the sound of metal against metal sounded out through the room. Chell slowed her pace to a halt as, one by one, all of the lights shut off and plunged the room into darkness.

"What's happening?" Wheatley's glowing blue eye showed stark in the obscurity as it darted around, puzzled, "Um… Hmm. Okay. Okay, uh… don't' move."

Chell did as he instructed and froze in the darkness, not shifting an inch, faintly wondering how sturdy the metal catwalk under her was.

Just as she was beginning to wonder if he had left, Wheatley's voice returned, "Okay, alright, so I've got an idea. But it is bloody dangerous." His voice hesitated, "Here we go…"

Silence.

"GAAAH!" Wheatley screamed and Chell recoiled away as a burst of blinding brightness exploded into the room. The world seemed to stop a moment as they both cringed and waited for something horrible.

Seconds passed and they stole a hesitant glance at each other. Wheatley showed intact, with his blue eye glowing brightly and a flashlight illuminating the area from his side.

Chell's eyebrows furrowed as she gazed at him skeptically.

Wheatley looked around quizzically, "Oh, for God's s-." He rolled his eye, "They told me, if I ever turned this flashlight on, I would die! They told me that about everything. I mean, I don't' even know why they bother giving me this stuff if they didn't want me usin' it. It's pointless. Mad!"

Chell nodded cautiously, before standing again to her full height. Her eyes ran over his form as she carefully studied him. Wheatley gazed back expressionless.

Her eyes suddenly locked with his blue one and her lips silently mouthed the words, 'You okay?'

"What? Oh, yes. Tip-top. Shipshape. Not that I'm a shape of a ship of course; I'm really rather round. That'd just be ridiculous. Just a figure of speak, as they say."

With a faint grin, Chell nodded and tilting her head to the side, signaling him to lead the way.

Wheatley chuckled quietly at the memory. But… he still felt heavy. Not with gravity or with physical weight, but… with something deep in his core.

What was it?

Guilt?

-0-

Guilt that she couldn't really justify. Wheatley was going to kill her; he was going to end her without a second thought and she had no choice. She had to act quickly and she didn't have time. She had to defend herself. She couldn't die after everything she had gone through.

But still… the burden didn't ease.

Chell felt remorse. Regret. No matter how she tried to justify it, she still felt there had to have been another way. Some other way. She could have done something else. She could have disabled him somehow -anyhow- that didn't result in that.

If he would have just listened. God, she wanted her voice so badly. Even for just a moment, so she could talk to him. To reason with him.

She had banished him to an endless void…

And she'd do anything to get him back.

-0-

Wheatley had waken her up and promised her freedom. And all he did was use her. It didn't mean to… it's just… all that power.

He was massive. Powerful. Unstoppab- well, uh, nearly. But he wasn't just tiny little Wheatley anymore. They couldn't order him around anymore, threaten him with death, blame him for all of the malfunctions of a decaying Aperture.

He was in charge, and it felt so good. But… now…

It wasn't worth it.

His smooth and accented voice said the words remorsefully, "I wish I could take it all back." His eye darted around vacantly, "I honestly do. I honestly do wish I could take it all back. And not just because I'm stranded in space."

"I'm in space." The Space Core's high-pitched and robotic voice stated as he floated by.

"I know you are, mate." Wheatley humored the core, "Yup…" He nodded absentmindedly, "We're both in space."

"Space!" The Space Core yelled elatedly.

"Anyway," Wheatley continued, beginning to tune him out again, "you know, if I was ever to see her again, do you know what I'd say?"

"I'm in space."

"I'd say…" He thought carefully, "'I'm sorry.' Sincerely. I am sorry. I was bossy and monstrous… and I am genuinely sorry."

"I'm in space."

"The end."

-0-

Chell's sharp mind had always made up for her voice. She could always think of something when she was pushed into a corner. But it happened too fast; things didn't go according to plan. If she only had more time.

She wished more than anything that she could have solved the puzzle; found the solution to the one problem that meant more then anything.

Chell's lips mouthed the words silently into the darkness of the night. Wheatley's smooth voice spoke into the void of space.

Stretching across a vastness and echoing with each other,

"I'm sorry."

And…

Somehow…

They knew they were forgiven.