GLaDOS awoke to a ringing in her ears and a pounding in her head. It was like a harsh pulse was coming from somewhere nearby. Instinctively, she covered her ears and curled into a fetal position, trying to block the sensation out. She turned toward the pulse and opened her eyes, but there was nothing unusual in the room, just Chell still asleep in the other bed.
Wait, she thought. Indeed, the pulse was coming from Chell. It felt steady and dark, full of power.
"Chell," she called, her voice weaker than she'd like.
"Hm?" the angel stirred and faced her, her icy eyes blinking sleepily, "What's wrong?" When GLaDOS didn't answer, she rolled out of bed and came closer. GLaDOS cringed slightly as the pulse increased a bit. Chell smiled. "Oh, I know what's happening," she said, sitting on the edge of GLaDOS's bed, much to the AI's dismay, "You're sensing my magic for the first time, aren't you?"
GLaDOS had felt magic before in the Dream Realm, and it had felt like a pulse, but it was never this painful. When she told Chell, the angel only shrugged.
"That was the Dream Realm. Now you just need to get used to it. Anyway, if you think I give you a headache, wait until Elli walks in the room.
GLaDOS didn't need Elli to walk into the room to be able to feel his power. She wasn't just feeling a pulse from Chell, but also a much, much stronger one from somewhere downstairs as well as an intense buzzing, probably from all of the magical artifacts in storage.
Chell headed downstairs while GLaDOS stayed in bed, enduring the constant pounding in her head. She spent the next few days like this, every shift in magic inside the house making her wince. Elli came in to check on her at some point, and his immense power literally made her faint. Eventually, though, the pain eased until the pounding became bearable.
"Feeling better?" Chell asked when she came in to see GLaDOS finally sitting up.
"Yes," she answered. She could still feel the angel's power as strongly as before, but it seemed to roll over her rather than crash into her.
Chell leaned against the wall. "Well, now that you're better, why don't we go explore the city a bit? We haven't even gotten the chance to do that."
"Why don't you do that by yourself?" GLaDOS retorted, "You're the one who can fly."
Chell was visibly disappointed. "Do you really want to just stay in the house all the time? I don't think you've ever left except for the episode with the Night Mare."
GLaDOS gave her a long look.
"Oh. Right. You've spent you're entire life in one room," Chell remembered. Even so, she was still refusing to meet GLaDOS's gaze, and her wings drooped.
GLaDOS sighed. "Alright," she relented. Chell grinned mischievously, and in response GLaDOS rolled her eyes. Chell being up to no good was still better than seeing her mope.
They headed downstairs to find Elli in the kitchen.
"Ah, you've finally recovered," Elli said, stepping closer to GLaDOS. She, however, took a cautious step back. "Still a bit sensitive?" he asked. She nodded, although that wasn't exactly true. Even though the thrum of magic no longer hurt, standing next to Elli was like standing next to a nuclear bomb that could go off.
"Have you recovered mentally from your time in the Dream Realm, at least?" Elli asked, sitting down at the kitchen table, "Consciously entering the Dream Realm can be traumatic, especially via Night Mare." When she again just nodded, he continued with a shake of his head, "That was a bad stroke of luck, running into a Night Mare."
"You're going to just call that bad luck?" Chell retorted.
Elli shrugged. "They're extremely rare. Even some of the most well-versed in magic don't believe they exist, at least not in the physical world. What are the odds that you two would be outside on the one night that a Night Mare shows up here?"
"You were the one who told me to go outside," GLaDOS pointed out darkly.
"I was worried about Chell. She is rather reckless," he replied, giving the angel a meaningful look. She met his gaze for a second before he added, "Of course, that's a commonality among young dark angels." Chell, narrowing her eyes at him, bluntly suggested that they head out.
"Exploring" in Chell's mind appeared to be akin to "wandering around aimlessly". They spent hours wandering around the city, and GLaDOS was certain they were hopelessly lost. Since neither of them had gotten to sleep until around dawn, they had gotten up very late, and it wasn't long before the sun began to set.
Chell seemed to be waiting for the night to fall, but GLaDOS was dreading it. She already had two bad experiences with being out at night, first with the werewolves and second with the Night Mare, but Chell was confident everything would be okay. They were in the habited part of the city, and the streets had been clogged with people all day. Luckily, Chell kept them to the much emptier back alleys. GLaDOS doubted she could take being surrounded by so many humans.
Despite the noise of the crowd, the lack of magic made it seem much quieter than Elli's house. There were, of course, a few instances when GLaDOS sensed other supernaturals nearby. Before the sun set, the magic she felt was different from Chell's and Elli's; it seemed cool, crisp, and much more controlled; probably light magic.
When night fell, however, she began to sense the darkness she was much more familiar with. She had no doubt that they would run into something dangerous.
"Don't worry," Chell reassured her, putting her arm around her shoulder, "No one will touch you while I'm here." GLaDOS didn't even bother to shake her off.
The number of regular humans dwindled and the number of dark supernatural creatures increased. There were at least four instances in which they saw vampires lead humans out of sight. The full moon was gone, but the werewolves, though they appeared mostly human, were bearing their fangs whenever they were annoyed. Occasionally, spells were cast.
"The humans must be very oblivious," GLaDOS commented.
"If something happens, they see what they expect to see," Chell replied, shrugging.
"How, exactly?"
"I don't know. No one does. It's like if someone doesn't believe in magic, their brain can't wrap itself around it, so it makes something up that's more reasonable."
"Then how were you able to make me see it? I didn't believe in it, but I could still see your wings," GLaDOS said.
"It's a very simple spell that can force someone to see it for a while. If you really didn't believe me, then eventually it would have worn off and you would be as oblivious to it as these humans," Chell replied.
They continued to wander about for a minute or so. GLaDOS was about to inquire about the lack of other angels, or anything other than vampires, werewolves, and magicians, when Chell froze in her tracks. She glanced around nervously.
"What is it?" GLaDOS asked quietly. The streets were beginning to clear.
"I…" Chell began, starting to tremble.
"Chell?" GLaDOS was much more alarmed now. If Chell was this shaken up, something must be terribly wrong. She was usually so strong, facing danger with a manic grin, ready to kill somebody.
Then she noticed the man walking briskly toward them. His face was gaunt but determined, and his brown hair was neatly cut at eye level. He was dressed in a tight black shirt, long camouflage pants, and black combat boots. In his right hand he casually held a crossbow. The magic coming off of him wasn't dark, but was definitely cold and unfriendly.
He raised his crossbow and pointed it at them. GLaDOS glanced over at Chell only to find that she had vanished.
"Where's the angel?" he demanded, stopping in front of her. The arrow loaded into the crossbow was mere inches from GLaDOS's neck.
"Gone, obviously," she answered smoothly. She was rewarded with the arrow being shoved under her chin, the point probably drawing blood, but she kept her gaze locked with his. He frowned, looking uncertain.
"What are you?" he asked, sounding almost tentative. She raised an eyebrow at him. "I said identify yourself!" he yelled with much more assertiveness.
"I don't know why you're making such a fuss," came a small male voice. A small person with green-tinted skin and dragonfly wings crawled out from under his shirt collar and perched on his shoulder. "She's just a human."
"No…" the man said, his voice softer, "There's something off about her soul. It's… It feels a little angelic, but the trace is too faint to be sure. But, she's definitely not human." GLaDOS noticed that his eyes were somewhat milky, even his pupils were clouded.
"I honestly have no idea what you are talking about," GLaDOS replied.
"She's way too calm, that's another thing odd about her," he went on as if she never spoke.
"Give it a rest, she's just a human, and we should be looking for that angel!" the little winged guy urged, "You remember how dangerous he said it was, right? We can't let that thing stay loose because you got a little confused about some girl." The man started to pull the crossbow away from GLaDOS's throat. "Besides, that trace of angelic-ness or whatever was probably just some mind-control spell the angel put on her," the little guy added.
"R-right," the man said, but he still didn't lower the crossbow completely, "Alright, fine, but where's the angel?" he demanded again.
"How should I know?" GLaDOS replied, "One moment she was here, the next she was gone."
"You should know where she lives, though," he insisted, "Where has she been keeping you?"
"She hasn't been keeping me anywhere," she growled, growing angry. She wasn't one to defend Chell, but GLaDOS was certain this man wanted to kill her and she couldn't let that happen, not when she needed the dark angel to return home.
She suddenly heard a puff, the man's eyes widened, and she felt a hand lay on her shoulder. A split second later, a blast of energy sent the man sprawling backward. The world went black and GLaDOS felt a rush of cold air.
The blackness disappeared and she found herself in front of Elli's house. Beside her, Chell was doubled over, gasping for breath and shivering.
"Are you alright?" GLaDOS asked.
"I've never managed to… to teleport before," Chell replied between gasps. All of the color had drained from her face and she was starting to shake terribly.
"Who was he?" GLaDOS asked, taking hold of Chell when she noticed the angel was about to fall over. In reply, she shook her head. "Let's just get inside," the AI said, her voice much softer than usual.
When they walked inside, Elli immediately came over to meet them. "What happened?" he demanded.
"There was a man," GLaDOS began, "She teleported away when we saw him and he kept asking me where she was…" She trailed off, wondering whether to mention the part about him not being sure what she was.
"He wanted to kill me," Chell added bluntly.
Elli let out a long sigh. "Dear, oh dear," he muttered.
"Who was he?" GLaDOS asked.
"A dark angel hunter," he replied, gazing at Chell with pity, "That's why she's so shaken – when you meet a hunter for the first time, it's a bit shocking to find something whose very being is wired toward wiping out your entire race for the simple reason that you exist."
Chell, though she was still unsteady, pulled away from GLaDOS. "I need to go," she mumbled, stumbling up the stairs to their room.
Elli watched her go sadly. "I remember the first time I ran into a hunter for my own kind," he said quietly, "I don't know what was scarier: her nearly cutting my head off or the fact that she was about seventeen."
"There are hunters for wizards?" GLaDOS asked.
"There are hunters for anything that uses dark magic; that's how they justify themselves. Although, I think there are hunters that use dark magic and track light magic users," he replied, still looking at the entrance to the stairs with a concerned expression, "Go talk to her."
"What?"
"Go talk to her. She would never let me get through to her, but she trusts you. Go try to calm her down," he said. It was more of an order than a suggestion.
Though she was still skeptical, GLaDOS followed Chell up to their room and found her lying on her bed, curled on her side with her wing tucked over her head.
"Hey," the AI called casually. The angel merely peeked at her over the black feathers of her wing. "So, why has this taken such a toll on you? I've tried to kill you many more times than he has."
With a sigh, Chell completely lowered her wing away from her face. "We tried to kill each other by choice, not by design. You wanted me dead because I killed you, not just because I exist."
"Alright," GLaDOS said, "I'll admit that it would feel a bit cruel if someone dedicated their life to hunting down my entire species just because they don't like us."
"It's not dislike. It's pure hatred… I felt it."
GLaDOS sighed. "Look, I still don't get why you're still upset though. He didn't hurt you. I'm pretty sure you're safe here. We've both felt how powerful Elli is, after all, not to mention that you're quite formidable yourself."
"Wow. I never thought it would be in a situation like this that you would finally complement me," Chell said, finally cracking a smile that resembled her old self.
"Don't get used to it," GLaDOS warned, though she was relieved.