A/N: Oh, my! Still getting the good reviews in! I'm so touched by your support, guys! I worked frantically to get this in tonight (er, this morning...) just because I don't wanna let you down! You viewers may be asking "Will there be Cheltley (that's what I've nicknamed the ChellxWheatley pairing) in this fic?" My answer is a resounding "Maybe!" We'll see where this goes, but for the moment, I just plan on them being friends.
Chell panted for breath as she struggled to drag herself to her feet. Her ears were still ringing from the explosion.
"What! Are you still alive?" a voice called out in shock, a voice that had once belonged to her closest friend. Now it was used by a robot hell-bent on murdering her. It was hard to believe that the mad A.I. was, indeed, Wheatley, but a lot of unbelievable things had happened to Chell, lately. She scooped up the ASHPD yet again and managed to stand. It didn't last long, as she doubled over in pain. Rigging the stalemate button to explode had been Wheatley's smartest move yet. She was hurt, badly. Chell was blacking out slightly, Wheatley's panicked and hateful ranting falling on deaf ears.
Something began to crack above Chell's head. She looked up, vision swimming. The moon. Beautiful. Chell thought. She hadn't seen the moon in, well, centuries. Something clicked inside her mind. Chell's eyes flicked down to the portal situated beneath the still raving Wheatley, then back up to the moon. What had Cave Johnson said about moon rocks?
They made excellent portaling surfaces.
She knew what she had to do. Chell fired once, and for a brief, terrifying moment, nothing happened. Then there was a tiny little blip on the surface of the pale orb.
And then all hell broke loose. The very air was sucked out of the room, and with it Chell. She passed by Wheatley, who was hanging by a cord, and snatched onto his handles. The core, in a mixture of panic and fury, glared at her.
"Let go! I'm still attached! I can pull myself in! I can still fix this!" he wailed. Chell wasn't about to give up, though, no matter how weak her arms were. She clung to the core, clenching her eyes shut tightly. The Space Core knocked one hand loose as it flew by, and Chell swore she was going to slip. By some miracle she still held on, much to Wheatley's chagrin.
Until GLaDOS robotic claw of a hand reached up and knocked the core out of her reach.
Chell would never forget the look on his face as he spiraled away, out of sight. She'd never seen anyone look so utterly terrified as Wheatley had, pleading for her to grab him. He seemed like her Wheatley once again in that moment, as sad as it was. How did they make him so expressive? He was just a robotic eyeball…with the sweetest voice and warmest personality, that British levity and charm...
The engineer's who made him were twisted. Why would they ever want someone to feel so much for a robot? Chell thought bitterly as she slipped out of consciousness.
There were tears stinging her eyes as Chell awoke in her bed with Wheatley's name on her lips, pulling her arms around herself tightly. After a moment her heart rate slowed and she returned to reality, burying her face in her hands. With a tired groan she tried to stem the tears. Before losing Wheatley, Chell hadn't cried since she was a very small child. Even the time she broke her arm as a teenager, she had stemmed the tears, choosing instead to scream and bite her doctors. She had been a bit of a violent girl. Tenacious would be the nice way to say it.
Now she broke down into tears every time she had a dream about him. The truth was, Chell had never been closer to anyone than she had to Wheatley. Maybe it was because she was an orphan, but even as a child she was a loner. No one had noticed she was gone when she was imprisoned by Aperture, nobody had been close enough to her to notice. Chell glanced at the clock. It was four in the morning, but there was no way she was getting back to sleep when every time she closed her eyes…
Chell put on a pot of coffee and sat on the couch, flipping on the TV for no other reason than to distract herself. It wasn't that Chell blamed herself for what happened: it had been bad luck, that was all, neither she nor Wheatley had known what would happen if he were in control of Aperture. At least, Chell had convinced herself that Wheatley had never intended to betray her. Power corrupts, she thought bitterly.
No, Chell felt no regret for fighting and defeating Wheatley (or rather, the power-mad robot he had become). She'd had every intention of saving him as she entered his 'Lair,' no matter how badly GLaDOS wanted to kill him. In the end she'd tried everything she could to fix him. If he'd only just let her press that button! Maybe Wheatley would have returned to his normal, bumbling self, in which case the pair of them would have to book it out of there before GLaDOS got ahold of him, just like old times. Or, he could have loathed her even more for separating him from his omnipotent form. Chell just wished she could have known for sure, whether or not it was her Wheatley who had been knocked out of her hands that night, or if he was lost forever. Though, frankly, she wasn't sure which would be worse. All she knew was that she missed the little robot.
"I'll never find any answers out here." Chell murmured resignedly, wondering as always if she'd ever get used to the sound of her own voice again. The world she had returned to more than a year ago was so different from the one that she remembered. Humanity was rebuilding itself after a conflict with something called the Combine. Chell had no idea what exactly the Combine was (people didn't like to talk about it) but it had certainly drowned out any memory of the words 'Aperture Science.'
Chell recalled her first days back on the surface. She had made it through the wheat field in a few hours. The sun was wonderful to feel on her skin, but the mid afternoon heat made her walk less than pleasant. Weakened from her battle the night before, centuries in stasis and the emotional strain put on her, Chell couldn't bear to carry the Companion Cube with her. It was heavier than she'd imagined without the assistance of the portal gun's tractor beam. Besides, the cube's fickle friendship seemed so insignificant in comparison to what she'd had with Wheatley. Chell now suspected that the cube had never actually spoken to her...
It was nearing dusk that first day when Chell stumbled upon a dilapidated city. It was there that she first learned about the Combine, and discovered that wanderers weren't so uncommon in this day and age. She'd gotten a job working in a small shop (funny how life goes on) and started seeing a speech therapist to regain her ability to talk. It took about six months before she could speak well enough to carry on a conversation. Not that Chell did much in the way of talking, at any rate.
The aroma of fresh coffee filled her modest apartment and Chell shuffled over to the pot, pouring herself a generous cup and adding a couple of cubes of sugar to it. The warm beverage soothed her wracked nerves, wrapping around her tired soul like a warm blanket. Chell stared at the television screen disinterestedly, zoned out. Next thing she knew, the six o clock news was on. She groaned. Work was in two hours, but she did not feel like going in with her mind all scattered. She set down her now empty coffee mug and replaced it with her phone, dialing her boss slowly. He picked up on the second ring: Thomas had grown quite fond of Chell in the months she'd spent in his employment, so whenever the old man recognized her number on the caller ID, he was eager to answer.
"Chellie, my girl." his booming voice answered, and Chell smiled despite her sour mood. "Is something wrong?"
"Hi, Thomas." she responded softly. "Will you be all right if I don't come in today?"
"Of course, of course," he assured, not hiding the concern in his voice. "Is something wrong?" Thomas asked. Chell sighed. She'd grown to consider the old man as a bit of a father figure as of late, but what could she tell him? Chell had never mentioned her experience in Aperture's testing facility to anyone. It was more than likely they would lock her up in the funny farm. The only proof she even had that it ever happened were the tiny scars and burn marks that still pockmarked her body, the tattered clothes that she'd emerged with, and the long fall boots that GLaDOS had failed to retrieve from Chell while she was unconscious, unlike the portal gun.
"Just something I need to take care of." she said shortly. "Don't worry if I'm gone for a couple of days." Chell said. Thomas muttered a bewildered farewell as she hung up and tossed her phone aside. Chell grabbed her mug and refilled it. Sure, she felt like crap just sulking around the house, but she didn't want to be such a misery around her coworkers and customers. Bad moods spread like a virus.
Chell blinked in surprise as her phone rang. She checked the caller I.D. "PRIVATE NUMBER." Weird... she thought, considering for a moment not answering it. Curiosity won out and Chell picked up the reciever. "Hello?" she asked. For a moment it didn't sound like anyone was on the other line. There was a soft crackle of static, and Chell strained to make out any coherent sounds. She scowled, taking the phone away from her ear to hang it up, when she heard the faintest hint of a voice on the other line. In disbelief she listened to the faint speech pouring out of the speaker. The words were hard to make out, but by the time the message had ended and the line went dead, Chell knew for sure whose distorted voice it was on the other end.
Slamming the receiver down, Chell scrambled to her feet, crossing the modest apartment until she reached her bureau. She flung the doors open and pulled out the only souvenir that remained from Aperture. The long fall boots. She stared at them for a while, steeling herself before pulling out a simple gray tank top and sweats. She got dressed, pulled back her long, thick black hair, and practically dashed out of the house. I can't believe I'm doing this. Chell thought as she tossed the boots into the passenger seat of her navy-blue pickup truck before getting in herself.
Chells' mind raced as she drove to the last place she expected to go since her liberation. That was Wheatley's voice...I'd know it anywhere. It sounded like it was recorded, like a voicemail. But how did I end up with that message? There was no way he would know how to find my number, bless his robot soul. So who sent it to me? she wondered. There was no doubt in her mind that she would find answers back at Aperture. She did doubt that GLaDOS would haul out the welcome wagon, though.
After nearly running off the road, Chell decided to leave the thinking for when she arrived at her destination in one piece. She'd need all her brainpower, anyway, trying to stay alive.
Deep in the outer recesses of GLaDOS's computerized mind, Caroline surreptitiously activated the door mechanism for the shack that concealed the lift. Chell would be there soon, she had no doubt of that. Forwarding Wheatley's distress signal was sure to get the former test subjects attention, and while Caroline was concerned with Chell's safety, she figured the girl would be grateful in the long run for the opportunity to see her old friend again. And Caroline was the first to admit that she pitied Wheatley. GLaDOS was caught up in her revenge, and when she got vengeful, she got sloppy. Chell would still have to be careful...GLaDOS wasn't stupid. How could she be? Caroline thought wryly, She has my brain. Caroline would help as much as she could,but GLaDOS was bound to notice Chell's presence eventually.
Caroline just hoped that GLaDOS wouldn't have killed Wheatley by then.
A/N: Yeah! Go Caroline! I like writing Chell, it gave me a little wiggle room. Since all we really know about her is that she 'Never gives up. Ever,' I had some leeway with the rest of her personality. Next update coming soon! I promise! Next chappa we will be checking in on everyone's favorite personality core. Review, my lovelies, and I shall return to you soon~
Minor edit: Fixed the know/no slip that you guys have been pointing out. -_- I finish these things at like one a.m., whattaya expect! Just kidding, thanks for being my editors! This was updated Sunday morning, too, I'm working on Ch. Four, loves. Just taking a little break. Won't be more than two days before I update.