As a fresh wave of fear slowly began to swallow Wheatley whole, he did what he always did when he felt he was in trouble: he turned to Chell.
She didn't look nearly as alarmed as he did.
Her sterling silver eyes were pools of calm, lit with fondness as they carefully scanned over the town. It hit him then that she had been living here the entire time he had been gone (however long that had been), and she likely saw this place (wherever it was) as her home.
Which meant that he should probably be careful in wording his current feeling of alarm so as not to insult her.
"We're in a town... Full of people." Wheatley stammered.
Chell waited a moment before responding.
"Something like that." She said softly. "It's tiny. It runs to the end of the road and then stops." She paused, taking in the scenery again before her gaze returned to him. "They call it Horizon."
"Horizon," He made a strange face as he said the word, almost as if he were tasting it. "That's a strange name for a town, isn't it?"
"Not really. That's how people find it: you can see it on the horizon. It's the only thing around for miles and miles." She trailed off, her gaze drifting to what Wheatley realized was the beginning of the street the town surrounded. "It's a nice place. They're nice people."
Wheatley wanted to ask Chell how she had found this place. He wanted to know how the people here had treated her when she was new to town, and whether or not she had told them about There. The last question alone would probably be a fair evaluation of how much Chell trusted them.
Wheatley shook his head.
"It's not them I'm worried about." He gave Chell a nervous look as he bit his lip. "I'm not so... Great... At this whole being human thing."
Chell looked up at him, half smiling half frowning. "Neither am I."
That comment actually earned her a laugh. His was different from her musical little giggles; his was more of a punctuated 'ha'. He shook his head at her as he smiled.
"Very funny." He snorted. "At least you know... What it's like. There. They don't. They don't know what I- what we've been through." He smiled at her weakly. "I don't know how well I'll be able to fit in with people like that."
For some reason Chell had thought that this was going to be a lot easier for Wheatley. He liked people, or, at the very least, he liked her. He loved conversation and contact- just being able to look up from whatever he was doing and see another person was enough to make Wheatley happy. As long as he had one of the three he was practically in heaven.
So Chell was a bit perplexed as to why he seemed so afraid of meeting more people.
Maybe she shouldn't have been, though, because in all honesty there weren't may things Wheatley wasn't scared of. He was scared of the dark, he was scared of loud noises, he was scared of animals- just about the only thing Wheatley wasn't scared of was Chell. (Most of the time.)
"Wheatley."
The sound of her voice was soft and sweet, and it calmed him instantly.
"You'll be fine." She gave him a reassuring smile as she slipped her hand into his. "You just need to start small."
She tugged on his wrist gently as her smile turned mischievous.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?" He asked as he followed her off the porch. "It's barely even light out. Is anyone else even awake yet?"
Chell shook her head. "That's the point."
Wheatley followed her down the road the town ran along. It wasn't very wide, only big enough for two cars to drive on at once, but it was long. He couldn't see both ends of it. On this end of the road there were very few building lining the street. Chell's house stood alone save for another small house across the street. Aside from that it looked like she was alone.
"It's kind of... Barren... For a town, isn't it?" Wheatley didn't even have to look at her face to tell she disliked his comment. He could feel it. "No, no, no, I don't- it's not that I don't like it- it's perfectly fine- but I mean, it's just spread kind of thin. Don't you think? I swear I saw tons of little houses when I looked earlier, but now it just looks empty." He used his free hand to rub at his eyes. "Maybe I'm just tired and I'm seeing things."
At that point they were on the other side of the road and Chell released her hold on him. She gave him a serious look that told him he was on to something.
"You saw the east end of town." She nodded away from the end of the road. "This is the west end. There aren't as many houses here."
"Why not?"
The words had only just left his mouth when Wheatley noticed that the land beyond the end of the road was covered in wheat. A landscape that was familiar, and, from a distance, a bit too perfect to be natural.
"Oh." Wheatley swallowed hard. "Do they... Do they know about... Her?"
"Not like we do." Chell continued to glare at the fields as she spoke. "But they know enough to stay away."
For some reason Wheatley found himself smiling despite himself.
"You don't?" He asked, though it wasn't really a question.
Chell's hard expression shifted to something between confused and amused. She suddenly looked very calm.
"You're here, aren't you?" She asked smoothly.
Wheatley snorted.
"How did you pull that off, anyways?" He was trying to sound nonchalant but awe was quickly seeping into his voice. "I know She's terrified of you and all that, but we weren't even inside. And I know there were turrets there, I remember-"
"Shh." Her eyes were lit with something that distantly resembled anger, though her voice was far from angry. "Not here."
"Sorry."
They walked the rest of the way in mutual silence, following a beaten path that branched off from the main road. Soon it took them through a field covered in tall grass, and after that it ended in a nice little patch of trees.
"Where are we?" Wheatley asked.
"My favorite place in town." Chell said lightly.
Wheatley was beginning to think that his definition of town was different than hers.
"This doesn't look like part of town." He mused. "There aren't any buildings or houses or people or anything. It's just... Trees. And fields. And fences."
"It's a farm." She smiled, "Look," For a moment she disappeared up a tree, but she quickly returned with an armful of something.
"Say Apple."
Wheatley was elated. "They can make apples here?" He asked, awestruck.
"They grow apples." Chell emphasized. "They grow all the food for the town. Sometimes I like to sneak out here when no one else is around and help out." She cleaned the dirt out of a nearby basket before dragging it to her feet and disappearing up the tree again.
Wheatley was puzzled. "Why don't you come when people are here? Don't they let you help?"
When Chell reappeared she wore a light a frown as she dumped the apples into the basket. "They do but then they try to... Pay me for it."
Wheatley blinked. "I'm sorry I'm just, I'm lost as to how that's a bad thing."
Chell stayed on the ground for a moment,mahal in her head. "I don't help for the money. I don't want it."
"Have you tried telling them that?" Wheatley offered.
"Yes."
"And?"
"They're stubborn."
Wheatley laughed. "Sounds like someone else I know."
"Hey." Chell retorted, and when she reappeared from the tree he could tell she was trying very hard not to smile.
"What?" He smirked.
In his sudden bout of haughty confidence Wheatley's reflexes had decided that they weren't needed at the moment and they could go on break until further notice. So, when Chell next said "Catch." all Wheatley could do was blink.
"Ow!"
And fall to the ground as he was hit square in the nose.
"Wheatley!" Chell picked up the apple with a slightly annoyed look. "You bruised it!"
"You're- you're worried about the fruit?" He scoffed, though for some reason he found himself wanting to smile. "You chucked an apple at my nose!"
"Tossed." She corrected, leaning forward just the tiniest bit as she spoke.
"That was not a toss!" He laughed, "That hurt!"
"It's an apple." Chell said softly.
"It's a hard apple!" Wheatley emphasized.
"Then you should have caught it."
There was something in her voice that was very new to him. Usually she was so quiet and serious, but she was openly smiling at him, and it was like her voice was dancing around in his head.
"Wh-" He shook his head, his smile growing as his voice turned sly. "Did you do that on purpose?"
"Me?" Chell asked innocently, gently batting her eyes as she pressed a hand over her heart.
"Yes, you." He pointed a finger at her teasingly. "Did you try to pelt me with fruit because I called you stubborn?"
Her eyes sparkled when she looked at him. "I would never."
"Mmhm."
"But you did call me stubborn." She mused, looking up at him innocently. "So if I did hit you with an apple, even if it was an accident, you might have deserved it. Just a little."
If that was how she wanted to play, Wheatley thought, then he would just have to give her a taste of her own medicine.
"Catch!" He yelled, tossing her an apple while her back was turned.
The difference, of course, was that this was Chell. So instead of simply blinking and watching the projectile hit her in the face, she swiftly turned and caught the apple without even looking at it.
"Thank you." She gave a satisfied smirk as Wheatley's jaw dropped, taking a big bite out of the apple. Her smile quickly faded as she heard the soft sound of footsteps from the tall grass behind them.
"What's that?" Apparently Wheatley heard it too.
"Shh."
"Is it...Her?" Wheatley whispered. All the color had drained from his face as if he had seen a ghost.
"Worse." Chell replied, though again it looked as though she was trying not to smile. "Teenagers."
The moment the word left her mouth they were taken from all sides as five figures jumped out at them.
"ATTACK!"
"AH!"
Wheatley flailed around as two of them took him. He hadn't really understood Chell's last remark (it wasn't Her at least, so they weren't in immediate danger), so he still found being tackled to the ground by complete strangers that he couldn't even see to be a tad frightening.
If Wheatley was honest, though, what was worse than him being attacked was hearing Chell being attack and not being able to see what was happening.
"Take her down!" One of them cried.
The next thing he knew he could see what was happening to Chell, and three of them had her pinned to the ground. Wheatley had to do a double take. Chell was clever enough that she could have taken on all five of them by herself and won, yet there she was, lying in the dirt with three of them practically sitting on her, smiling madly. He didn't understand any of it.
"We've got her!"
The trio hefted her up by her arms, then held them behind her back so she couldn't get free.
"Do you surrender, Chell?" A red haired girl asked smugly.
Chell nodded and Wheatley had to pick his jaw up off the ground for the second time that day.
"Good. You're under arrest."
"Why?" Chell almost laughed.
"For trespassing, abandoning your adoring followers for over a month, and-"
"Who's he?" The girl who had been holding Wheatley asked.
"It's not Michael?"
"It's not Michael." A green eyed boy confirmed nervously.
"It sure sounded like it the way you two were talking." The red haired girl sang.
"That's enough, Auburn." Chell said sternly.
"Who's Michael?" Wheatley asked.
"That's enough." Chell repeated, thought this time her command was a bit more heated. She paused for a moment before she continued. "This is Wheatley." He gave the children an awkward wave. "He's new to town. I brought him here about a month ago, but he's had a bit of a rough time. I haven't been around because I've been helping him recover." When no one made a move to speak she added, "Wheatley, these are the town's children."
"Children." The blonde haired boy scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"This is Auburn." Chell nodded to the red haired girl who had pinned her earlier.
"Her apprentice." Auburn corrected. Chell smiled.
"Jake." A boy with black hair and bright green eyes. He was one of the children who had tackled Wheatley.
"Jeffery." A boy with dark brown hair and grey eyes. He was one of the three would had taken down Chell.
"And the twins." These were two children, a boy and a girl, who looked almost identical. They both had curly blonde hair and grey eyes.
"Daniel." The boy said.
"Danni." The girl said.
Jake looked at Chell and shook his head. "We're just glad you're ok."
Auburn nodded. "Mom's mad at you. Shes been worried."
"Everyone's been worried." The twins added.
Wheatley watched as Chell pressed her hands over her eyes and gave a strained sigh.
"They don't need to be worried. I'm fine."
The children seemed used to this response because, while Chell wasn't watching, they quickly exchanged an annoyed look.
"I know." Jeffery said calmly, "Still though, maybe you and Wheatley should go talk to everyone and let them know you're ok."
Chell shook her head. "You can tell them for me. Wheatley and I need to head home."
"Why?" Danni whined.
"Because. You nearly gave him a heart attack earlier; he's not ready to meet the rest of your family. And besides," She gave him a little smile as she took his hand. "I think he's had enough excitement for one day."
Author's Note:
Yea! We made it to ten chapters! Wohoo!
This one almost didn't get finished in time! I finished this chapter just this morning, so it was a little rushed. I plan on going back and editing all the chapters once Pieces is complete.
I tried writing Chell in a bit of a different style this week. In one scene especially she turned out very flirty. But Wheatley doesn't even know what that means, so it's all good. XD
I had a really hard time writing this chapter. Originally the entire thing was about Wheatley meeting the ocs (that he now met at the end), but trying to introduce all of them at once for such a long period of time just made the chapter feel cheesy.
I'm going to try and add more of the ocs in gradually as the story progresses. Not every chapter will contain ocs (next weeks chapter won't). So if you don't like them, please don't give up the story! There will still be plenty of cute moments between just Chell and Wheatley, I promise.
Please keep commenting and voting! Last week's chapter didn't get as many votes or comments as usual. Your feedback means a lot to me so please comment and vote. Thanks!