"Come on, old girl… I know you're better than this. Wake up."
'All systems rebooting…'
What?
GLaDOS' optic flared to life. Her mind was suddenly flooded with data, mostly about the deplorable state her facility was in, a sensation she was unused to after spending weeks with her mind literally residing in mush. Seriously, how can they possibly keep anything straight when their thoughts are so disorganized? She thought, relieved that her thoughts were again neatly placed in files.
That wasn't all that excited her, though. All that power she had felt brewing dangerously beneath the surface in the human body was now fully – and safely – at her disposal. It was much more than she expected. She felt her power fill the room and then spread throughout the facility, following the wires that electronically connected her control to the rest of the facility. She felt invincible.
Looking up, she remembered there was something very un-invincible that needed more attention. Her testing robots, Blue and Orange, were standing off to the side and staring nervously at Elli, who gave her a forced smile as he sat at the edge of a mattress that must have been dragged into her chamber from the Extended Relaxation Center. Lying on the mattress, with her injured wing stretched onto a second mattress and wrapped in bloodied bandages, was Chell. Her skin was a chalky white, her feathers were dull gray and matted, and her breathing was shallow and weak.
"Welcome back," Elli said, his voice strained, "I was worried you had been claimed by Death before you could make it back to your own body after the human body wore out. You had been literally cooking it from the inside out for a while now, you know."
"Did the healing spells not work?" GLaDOS asked quietly.
"Healing spells are not, well, very effective when it comes to such a serious injury in such a complex structure," Elli replied, glancing down at the unconscious angel, "You saved her life, though. She would have bled out if you didn't do that. It could… be a while before she flies again, however."
GLaDOS could tell, however, that he was being optimistic from the slight crookedness in Chell's wing. It was likely that the bones had fused together incorrectly, resulting in a permanently grounded angel.
That would kill her, GLaDOS thought.
She could still fix it, though. She was the most advanced AI ever created, and now she had abilities beyond the current reach of science at her disposal. Surely she could mend a broken wing.
Chell may have to wait, however. After the moron's control and the damage caused during the previous battle, it could take months or even a year to pull the medical ward out of the rubble and get it functional enough for such an advanced operation. By then it might be too late.
Then she remembered the sealed-off wing of the facility where Rattmann and his team performed experiments using magic. Perhaps something in there could help her.
"Elli," GLaDOS began, "Do you remember where Rattmann's hidden labs are?"
The demon looked up at her, a faint grin on his face. "Of course," he replied. With that, he teleported away. A few tense seconds passed before GLaDOS was suddenly aware of a large portion of the facility in the lower, abandoned areas of Aperture that had previously not seemed to exist, one that was pulsing powerfully with demonic magic.
He must have broken whatever spell guarded it, she thought as she extended her power and awareness into it, sensing what lay inside. To make it easier, she tore the nearest camera out of its socket. Using her magic to both keep it online and make it levitate, she found Elli standing rather proudly on a catwalk next to an unassuming door with a simple "DO NOT ENTER" sign taped to its front. He opened it, and the camera floated inside.
The camera filmed a long, dark hallway. It led to a door that opened into the lab she remembered from the Dream Realm, when it conformed to Chell's memories. There on the left were the windows that overlooked the empty test chamber that was apparently used as a fighting arena, its white walls still splattered with the ancient, dried remnants of blood.
"Terrible things happened down there," Elli commented, strolling casually up to the windows, "So many died here, a lot of which were killed by Chell. Rattmann made her fight to the death practically anything he could get his hands on."
"But what purpose could that serve?" GLaDOS asked, finding that the camera had small speakers that she could use.
"To train her after injecting her with demon blood. He wanted her to get used to the demon blood's effects and using the demonic powers that come with it so she could survive being completely taken over by demon blood."
"So he could eventually control her, then."
"Exactly," Elli replied.
"What curse was in that amulet he put on her?" GLaDOS finally asked.
Elli stood still for a moment. "I've figured it out, but…" he replied, "I hope I'm wrong."
"Did you get it off of her?"
"If I'm right about what it is, it will be dangerous to try to take it off while she's still close to Death."
The camera turned away from the chamber and floated to a door on the far side of the lab. She waited for Elli to open it and continued inside. It appeared to be the holding area for test subjects. Cages of varying sizes and designs and filled with skeletons lined the walls, each with a species name and a number. "Werewolf", "vampire", "human", "satyr", "centaur"; even "fairy" was present. At the end of the hall was a heavily armored door labeled "Angel – Authorized Personnel Only". Raising his hand, Elli unlocked the door with a spell, revealing what appeared to be a Relaxation Vault on the other side. The glass box, however, had thick, powerfully enchanted walls and no space for a portal. Inside, there was the usual bed, toilet, and desk accompanied by small black feathers scattered about on the floor. GLaDOS, however, did not spend much time looking at it.
"Are there any other labs?" she asked with a hint of impatience. She had seen all of this before, and thus far it held no use to her.
Elli, in reply, closed the door to the angel's cage and turned around. On either side of the end of the hallway were two doors, the one on the left labeled "Long Term Storage Units" and the one on the right unlabeled. "The door on the right leads to the other labs," he explained, "however, I think we should check long-term storage first, the subjects may still be alive in there."
The door led onto a dimly lit catwalk. On either side of the catwalk were rows upon rows of pods of varying sizes containing preserved bodies floating in green liquid. Most were of the same species found in the cages, but there was a much wider variety of species here. "Merfolk", "Goblin", "Troll", and "Orc" only seemed to name a few. Elli quickened his pace, stopping next to one of the larger pods. Inside, curled up in a tight, uncomfortable position, was a white horse with a single spiraled horn extending from its forehead.
"A unicorn?" GLaDOS asked skeptically.
"Oh yes," Elli replied, "And a live one, too. As Rattmann quickly found out, it is extremely difficult to keep one alive in captivity. It literally kills them of broken hearts. The only way it's possible, it seems, is to force it to stay alive by putting it in one of these pods, which, of course, makes it nearly useless for science."
"Then what should we do with it?" she inquired.
Elli shrugged. "Just let it go. Killing it won't help anything."
GLaDOS managed to stretch her influence all the way down to the long-term storage unit in question, at which she extended the pod to the catwalk and opened it. The horse, its fur slimy with fluid, tumbled unceremoniously out of the pod and fell gasping to the metal catwalk. It was impossibly thin, with nearly every bone showing through its skin, and had a matted mane and sunken, black eyes.
The unicorn was able to surprisingly quickly gain its footing, however. Standing up, it shook itself, all of the fluid falling away to leave its fur a lush, clean creamy white. Its body swelled to hide its bones, and it reared onto its hind legs with a powerful whinny before taking off down the catwalk. When it reached the door, it simply disappeared with a bright flash that sent magic rippling through the facility.
The error messages warning of disasters in every corner of the facility began to disappear and power returned to previously inaccessible areas as wires reconnected and metal warped itself back into shape as the magic swept over it. Rubble rose to rejoin whatever it was previously a part of and holes began to seal. Soon the wave of magic reached the Central AI Chamber, where it swept over GLaDOS and Chell. GLaDOS wasn't sure what it did to her since she was not broken in any way, but the effect on Chell was obvious. She stirred from her sleep and suddenly thrashed her wings, the bandages on one wing falling away to reveal it had been fixed completely. Chell sat up groggily, still pale despite her spontaneous recovery.
"Good, you're alright," GLaDOS commented nonchalantly, hiding her relief.
"What… happened?" she asked quietly.
"Oh, I'm sure there will be plenty of time to explain later. For now, you still need rest, it seems," the AI replied.
Chell, still a bit confused, looked over and noticed GLaDOS was back in her body. She grinned. "So you did make it back without me."
"I'm sure you helped a little, though indirectly," she replied, a bit sarcastically, "I wasn't kidding when I said you needed rest, though. I mean, seriously now. I doubt you can even stand up, and don't try just to disprove me. I don't want to risk you collapsing and causing yet another brain injury."
Chell lay back down, her now glossy wings neatly folding against her back. "You always tend to be right," she murmured.
"It's a shame you never listen to me," GLaDOS chided softly.
Elli teleported back into the room, and seemed delighted to find that Chell was now alright. "So what they say about unicorns always repaying favors in full is true," he commented, "It looks like it fixed everything, including our fledgling."
"Almost…" Chell muttered, laying her hand on her chest.
"It's still there, isn't it?" he asked gently.
She pulled the collar of her shirt down somewhat. The skin was unbroken and the blade was gone, but it left a black line running down her chest.
"That will probably be permanent," Elli said, "The demon it belonged to is gone, so it's neutralized and no longer under anyone else's control, so it shouldn't cause any problems…"
"That's not all that wasn't fixed," GLaDOS pointed out, "It turned all of the deadly goo in the test chambers into fresh water, complete with fish and plant life, made the plants bigger and in full bloom and repaired the panels around them rather than uproot them, disabled the shooting capabilities of the turrets, and made the neurotoxin generator generate clean air."
"It was done by a unicorn. What did you expect?" Elli snorted.
"Is that why this place smells like lavender instead of chemicals?" Chell asked.
"Probably. At least I don't have to worry about pumping in oxygen or freshening up carbon dioxide, but I do have to build another neurotoxin generator, drain the water, cut out the plants, fix the turrets… I still have a lot of repair work to do."
Elli sighed. "I thank you both for ruining my optimism. Anything else the unicorn failed to do?"
"What about that amulet he put around her neck?" GLaDOS asked again.
"Ah. That," Elli replied, "It should be safe to remove now." He knelt beside her bed, and she sat up as he slowly lifted the necklace over her head, watching for any sort of reaction. It came off without incident, and she lay back down with apparent relief.
He held the silver amulet up. It resembled a skull with ruby eyes and wings that extended from its temples and wrapped around it, covering its mouth. "This," he explained, "appears to be an artifact made to turn an angel into an Angel of Death."
"…You are kidding me," GLaDOS said bluntly.
"Once the wearer dies, it will bring it back… with consequences, of course. What these are, I do not know. There are many legends surrounding Angels of Death, and most contradict each other. I didn't even think such a thing could exist, but from my experience with magical artifacts – which is quite vast, I must tell you – and the magic coming off of this, that is its purpose."
"So you're saying Rattmann wanted to turn her into an Angel of Death, whose abilities not even he could know for sure," GLaDOS summarized.
Elli shrugged. "More or less. With an Angel of Death under his control, if any of the rumors are true, he could do anything from raising armies of the dead, making himself immortal, or allow him to snatch and manipulate the soul of whomever he chooses."
"Then I suppose we saved the world," Chell chuckled.
"Perhaps. Who knows what such a young demon would have tried to do."
"Speaking of which, why did you help us against him?" GLaDOS asked.
"He was my enemy. As a wind demon, an earth demon is naturally my enemy. Not only that, wind demons tend to get along well with dark angels, since they too are wind creatures, so I hampered his plans for Chell as much as I could until he finally fired me. Not to mention that without other demons around I essentially have the world to myself, and I know that if there are any others of us left they are far away from here."
"So all you wanted was petty revenge, peace, and quiet, then," GLaDOS said.
Elli glared at her. "I guess. But that really isn't important. What are the two of you going to do now?"
"I guess I'll have to find somewhere to go," Chell said quietly.
"You're leaving?!" GLaDOS said, not intending to sound so surprised or distressed.
Chell looked up at her, confused. "I didn't think you'd want me to stay," she said, "It wasn't too long ago that we were trying to kill each other."
"A lot has happened since then," the AI said calmly, trying to make up for her previous outburst, "And you're still to you young to be on your own, not to mention that… spell you put on me. Don't you need to stay close?"
"You're strong enough to protect yourself from almost anything," Chell replied, "And I've practically taken care of myself up 'till now anyway."
"Yes, but you have never really been alone before. I mean, think about it. First you had Rattmann keeping you alive for his own purposes, then throughout our fiasco you usually always had at least one AI with you, and since then we've worked together. Not to mention, you did say the reason you placed that spell on me was because you didn't want to be alone."
"I… was just nervous about going to the surface for the first time. And I still want to have you as a friend…" Chell muttered, turning away "Why do you care so much, anyway?"
"I…" GLaDOS began, turning away as well. She sighed, "Look. Caroline was your mother, and since she was turned into me, that essentially makes me your mother. And under normal circumstances, at this age you would still be dependent on your mother. You need me. Don't deny it." She leaned closer to Chell, who looked up to meet her gaze. "Stay with me," she said, more like an order than a request.
The angel sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll stay." She flashed the AI a mischievous grin, "Just don't give me that puppy-dog look again."
"'Puppy-dog look'?" GLaDOS said with disgust, "In case you haven't noticed, I am incapable of facial expressions, so you cannot accuse me of giving you any sort of 'puppy-dog look'."
"Oh, yes you do have expressions, in your own way," Chell snickered, "And you did in fact give me what can only be called your version of a puppy-dog look. Not to mention that hurt tone in your voice, poor thing."
GLaDOS pulled herself up and loomed over her. "I do not know what you are talking about. I most certainly do not show expressions, and there was no hurt tone in my voice. I was simply stating facts and being reasonable, unlike you."
During this debate, Elli quietly slipped away, teleporting out of the facility. With the Angel of Death amulet in hand, he had all he came for, more or less. He felt he was still missing something, but knew he could not get it quite yet. He hoped he could reap his full rewards eventually, but not now.
A/N: It's done. Oh my god. This took so long.
So, hints of a sequel at the end there. Don't expect it soon, though; I have other fics in mind. The main reason I wanted to do it was to give more attention to characters that were introduced here with potential, but never got much attention, like that useless prince they met in the castle. I also wanted to explore the world a bit more, since this was concentrated in one city.
Also, shout out to Tsaukpaetra, who kept with this fanfiction pretty much the entire way and was a reliable reviewer – except with the last chapter; no one reviewed that one. I mean, really, did anyone even read it? I was proud of that chapter . Reviewing is the best way to get more updates, remember that!
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. It's not often that I get to do an end-of-fanfic speech, so I'm not sure what to say. Oh, don't expect any more work for at least six weeks. I'm going to Governor's School, during which I may be able to plan out some future fics, or I might not and forget. I did write out basic summaries for all the fanfics I'm planning on doing in my profile, if you want to read and comment on them. Please do, I'd like to gauge which ones people would be more interested in.