A/N: School has started up, so updates will be very slow. I've literally had to force myself to write, since by the time I get my homework done, I just want to sit around and no nothing. This fanfic will be over soon, so then I'll be able to take a break without the handful of people reading this being disappointed.
Elli had told GLaDOS to keep an eye on Chell, but the fever that had been slowly building since the incident left her in no fit state to be observant.
She instead lay in the fetal position; the covers kicked far away, feeling like a volcano about to explode and slipping in and out of unconsciousness. She felt weak and yet wanted to thrash at the same time, the burning inside of her making her restless and oblivious to Chell's quiet whimpering.
It wasn't until the angel was thrashing violently and shrieking to the point of Elli hearing it himself and coming downstairs to investigate that GLaDOS was able to force herself awake and notice what was going on.
He quickly put Chell back to sleep with another spell before turning to GLaDOS.
"It looks like you're worse off than I thought," he muttered, casting a spell on her as well.
She felt the fever die down a bit, but rather than dousing the flames, it was more like he threw a blanket over them. They were still there, smoldering, but for now she was protected from their heat.
Elli walked back to Chell, who was now lying still, and cut off the bandage. The wound had reopened and was bleeding again, and it was still blackish-red ooze rather than normal blood.
GLaDOS forced herself to stand, despite the dizziness that merely sitting up caused.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asked groggily.
Elli waited a moment before responding. "It's the demon blood," he finally answered.
"What?"
"She was injected with demon blood," he explained, "It makes you slightly demonic: it makes you stronger, angrier, almost completely oblivious to pain… It also, however, keeps you from properly healing. She should have sealed the wound and flushed out most of the poison by now." He held his hand over the wound, and she thought he was going to do another healing spell, but instead of blue light emanating from his hand, it was red light. "Go downstairs and find an empty jar, preferably the one with a red lid on the second shelf up from the floor to the right as soon as you enter the shop from the kitchen."
Still too groggy to questionh is specificity, she followed his instructions and came back to find him suddenly struggling to hold Chell down. She thrashed against him, wings beating wildly and black feathers flying everywhere, making a considerable mess.
"Just open it, set it down and come help me!" Elli grunted when he saw her walk in.
The jar was surprisingly difficult to open, but either way, GLaDOS didn't want to go near that lunatic. Her eyes were glowing red again, and the waves of magic emanating from her were powerful, dark, and erratic – nothing like the steady pulse that normally came from her. There was something distinctly terrifying about her. Noticing that GLaDOS was backing away, Elli looked up and locked eyes with her. His dark brown eyes, she noticed, had a slightly red tint to them, making them more of a mahogany.
"She won't hurt you," he said, sounding oddly sincere. That was hard to believe, considering how murderous Chell looked right now.
GLaDOS set the jar down on the floor and cautiously approached the struggling angel. After steeling herself, she lunged forward, attempting to pin Chell's shoulders down. Once she came into contact with her, the angel's thrashing seemed to lessen. The waves coming off of her soul bombarded GLaDOS much more strongly now, and she found that they were not just full of raw power but also emotion – Chell wasn't just angry, but terrified and confused. GLaDOS could tell that she was also mostly unconscious, despite her eyes being open. Perhaps it was the demon blood that was in control now.
GLaDOS wasn't familiar with spells that influenced emotion, but nonetheless attempted to force Chell to calm down. Using magic made the heat inside of her stir and her head spin, but it seemed to work. Chell lay back down again, the red light in her eyes fading as they closed.
A noticeable sigh of relief came from Elli. "See? I knew she wouldn't hurt you," he said with his usual cheerful attitude.
GLaDOS released Chell's shoulders and leaned exhaustedly against the head board of the bed. She assumed she felt tired because of the fever – the angel didn't actually fight back as hard against her as she did against Elli, and she didn't have to use too much magic to make her calm down.
Elli once again positioned his hand over Chell's wound and red light once again began to emit from it. Her body tensed and her back arched in response, but she did not resume thrashing despite the pain that contorted her face.
"What are you doing?" GLaDOS demanded, almost concerned.
"I'm going to have to remove the demon blood," he said, concentrating on the wound.
"How?"
"Dark magic, of course. Be ready in case something happens."
She could only watch as a pure black substance began to emerge from her friend's wound, like a black snake slithering out of a hole, the blood turning a brighter red as the black separated from it. Chell's face paled as her body relaxed. Elli soon had a black blob the size of a tennis ball floating above her in the red light and asked GLaDOS to grab the jar.
He carefully lowered the blob into the jar, sealing it as fast as possible after he released it.
"There. Hopefully our little fledgling will at least be able to sleep through the night now, as should the rest of us," Elli said, looking exhausted. The black blob inside the jar writhed like it had a mind of its own.
"And what about me?" GLaDOS asked, "Why do I have this… fever?"
He stood up and, gesturing for her to follow, walked out of the room with the jar in hand.
"You know that you were created from Caroline, right?" he asked as they left the room.
"Of course," she replied.
"And that she was an angel, like Chell?"
"Yes, I know all that."
"You haven't exactly been learning magic," Elli said as they walked down the stairs, "Caroline knew all those basic spells I've been teaching you and more. She didn't know all of the light magic I've taught you, since she was dark, but the way you've learned magic for the most part is still more like remembering spells rather than learning. You've had the power this entire time, but it was dormant. Something about that hunter attacking Chell, however, triggered it, and now all the power of an old, experienced angel has now been unleashed inside of a normal human. Do you see the problem?"
"I have too much power for this pathetic little human I'm stuck in to handle," GLaDOS finished.
"Correct," he said gravely.
She sighed. It was like being a potato all over again and not being able to think too hard, except now she couldn't prevent frying herself just by calming down and not thinking. "Alright, then how do I avoid killing myself?"
They had reached the shop and Elli was searching intently for a spot on the crowded shelves.
"I'll be able to keep your powers at bay for the most part. Eventually you should be mostly back to normal. Until you get back into your own body, though, there's still a chance your magic will flare up again," he explained.
He found his desired spot and placed the jar behind a wooden statue of a cat in a sitting position that was large enough to block it from view. She didn't think it was a very good hiding place, though, since it was no hard to look past the statue or push it out of the way.
"How did Chell getting hurt trigger it, though?" she asked.
He paused, then turned toward her. "Well…" he said began.
"Yes?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "Caroline…" he began uncertainly, "Caroline was Chell's mother," he finally blurted.
GLaDOS only stared at him. "Are you kidding me?"
Elli nodded. "Doug needed an angel, and Caroline was one, but he needed one that was younger, more… malleable. When Caroline got pregnant around the same time that Mr. Johnson announced that she was to be put in his computer if he died before they could complete it, it was all too perfect. All he had to do was kill Mr. Johnson – making it look like it was the conversion gel poisoning, of course – wait for Caroline to give birth, then seize the child and force her into the computer. Into you. And that's exactly what he did."
GLaDOS was, for once, surprised. "He… he killed Mr. Johnson?"
Elli nodded again. "He began to slowly sap the poor human's life away. It was subtle enough that not even Caroline noticed until it was too late. Not that she cared too much about him at the time. Angel mothers are rather protective of their young, after all, so she was more concerned about her child…"
"Then why didn't she fight back against Rattmann?"
"She would have had to go up against Doug and his entire research team, and believe me, they were powerful, and the pregnancy was draining her strength anyway. So she ran, but he waited for the right time to find her. His timing was almost perfect. He got to her while she was still too weak from giving birth to fight back as he broke her wings."
She turned away from him, considering this new information as heat began to boil inside her again. A wave of anger hit her as well, though she couldn't quite figure out why and forced it down. The anger didn't even feel like her own. True, Caroline's mind and soul had been turned into hers, but she still considered Caroline to be a separate person. After all, she didn't have conscious access to Caroline's memories, if she really had them at all, and she certainly didn't have a maternal bond with Chell…
"It seems that maybe a part of you still remembers being Caroline," Elli said quietly behind her, "Even though your soul has evolved to the point of being unrecognizable as Caroline's; you don't even seem very angelic."
GLaDOS turned back toward him. "So, you think that because part of me still 'remembers' being Caroline, seeing Chell get seriously injured caused all of her hidden power to suddenly flare up, which could kill this human body I'm trapped in?"
Elli absentmindedly began to rearrange some of the objects on the shelves as he replied, "As the saying goes, 'Hell hath no fury like a mother's scorn'. You should have seen yourself after that poor fledgling hit the ground – you looked like you were about to destroy the entire world in one swoop just to kill that hunter. Even he looked scared."
She frowned. "I thought the phrase was 'Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn'."
Elli chuckled. "I've had enough close encounters with angry, protective mothers who were otherwise peaceful ladies that I believe my version is much more accurate. At any rate, you need rest just as much as our fallen angel."
GLaDOS still didn't have all of the answers she needed. She still had questions about the demon's blood, about Chell, about Caroline and herself… and about Elli. However, it was clear his lips were now sealed. Casting him one last glare, she turned and headed back up the stairs.
When she reached her room, she realized just how exhausted she really was. She still felt heat boiling inside of her, but at least it wasn't getting worse.
"GLaDOS…? Is that you…?" came a soft voice when she entered the room.
She walked over to Chell's bedside.
"You really shouldn't be awake, you know," GLaDOS said.
"Neither should you," the angel countered.
GLaDOS sat down next to her as a wave of dizziness hit. "I'm still much better off than you," she insisted despite that.
Chell examined her closely with dull, grey eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," GLaDOS immediately replied.
Chell tried to sit up, but GLaDOS laid her hand on the angel's uninjured shoulder.
"Don't worry about me. Unlike you, I can take care of myself," she said, her voice scolding, "And I can't let you die."
"And why's that?" the angel challenged, even though she obliged.
"I need you in order to get back to my facility safely," she replied matter-of-factly, "Just go back to sleep." She got up and went to her own bed. Right after I told myself that I didn't have a maternal bond toward her, I decide to go a bit too soft with her, she scolded herself as she lay down, I suppose we are friends, though… and I wasn't kidding about needing her.
The heat had started to cool, and she was able to fall into an uneasy sleep.
A/N: Maybe if I write "finish fanfiction" in my homework planner, I'll consider it an assignment and do it no matter what… hmm…