baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Please review!/span/strong/p Chell was surrounded by a darkness of a different kind. This was not the dark of a frigid winter night, pierced with falling snow or studded with stars. This was a weighted darkness, all encompassing, crushing, suffocating.
She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't cry for help- not that it really mattered, because Chell knew she was all alone: no one was there to help her.
Her panic heightened as the darkness became heavier and heavier, weighing down on her until she no longer had the energy to fight- until she was forced to succumb.
And then there was light.
Yellow light.
Blood roared hot in Chell's ears as she woke, splayed on the floor of Her chamber, unable to move. The room was drenched in blinding yellow light, and Chell was too weak to shield her eyes.
The light gently lulled from the side as She watched Chell squirm, then stilled as She spoke.
Her voice was filled with accusation and awe as She leaned closer.
"Look at what He did to you."
Chell grimaced, turning away from both Her words and the blinding light in her face.
She sighed as if disappointed, the light bobbing back and forth as She did the equivalent of shaking Her head. "It's such a shame." She lamented. "You were perfect before He came along and ruined you. You were strong and tenacious: you didn't feel anything. You were the perfect test subject. Now look." Chell flinched as She came closer once again. "He did this. He broke you." Chell tried to sit up and failed, falling back hard against the tiles, every part of her aching with shame and fear. "He made you weak, and emotional, and vulnerable. He poisoned you in every sense of the word, and then he left you to die." Grey eyes flew open wide. She turned away, disinterested. "But then, it's not the first time that's happened."
A claw swung down from the ceiling and suddenly Chell was eye to optic with Her.
The last time this had happened Chell had been livid, squirming and kicking and prying at the iron band around her ribs, all while giving the AI that held her captive a glare that could've burned a hole in Her CPU. Now Chell was petrified, stiff as a board, her fire long replaced by ash and dust.
"What do you think is going to happen when you can't move? When you can't speak?"
'No, no, no-'
"When you can't protect them anymore?"
Suddenly the room was filled with a cacophony of noise: cries of pain, and wails of grief, and pleas for help, all of them for Chell. She looked down in horror to find that the floor was moving, covered with the former population of Horizon.
"If you like I can wait until you're Gone to take them. But it would be a lot more fun to make you watch."
They were all there: Elizabeth, unable to stand, the kids, clinging desperately to each other and their parents- they were all there, all clad in prison orange, all grasping helplessly up at Chell, screaming her name. And as hard as Chell tried she couldn't reach, she couldn't get free- she couldn't save them.
"I can always use more test subjects. Though, if I'm honest, I doubt they'll last very long." She purred as the band around Chell's rib cage tightened, pulling her farther away from her friends down below. "You're not even lasting as long as I expected. That's the beauty part, though. From here on out I can do whatever I want, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. I'm finally free." At that Chell did glare up at Her, and the light in her face shone all the brighter. "Don't even try. You may be stubborn but you're also human, and believe me when I say that is not an advantage, it is a weakness." She hissed. "You're in no condition to fight, and you never will be again. All thanks to Him." She paused, Her voice turning coy. "And speaking of Him..." Chell froze. "I won't even have to take Him. Do you know why?"
Chell panicked, searching frantically below. She had said that Wheatley was gone, and he wasn't down there with the others. Where was he? What had She done with him?
"He's going to leave you. He's going to abandon you, just like He did before. You know He is."
He was.
Chell finally found Wheatley, away from everyone else. While the people of Horizon were coming towards her, in an attempt to save her or themselves, Wheatley was walking in the opposite direction.
"He's going to leave you before you can leave Him, and He'll spend the rest of his miserable little life hiding, convincing Himself that you're still alive, because He is weak, and stupid, and selfish, and no matter how much you trust Him He cannot handle This." Chell tried to reach for him, but he was too far away, and her voice didn't work. She couldn't call to him, couldn't ask him why he was doing this, why he was leaving her Here.
"He's going to betray you all over again."
He was leaving all of them Here all alone, completely defenseless, and he didn't even care.
'Wheatley!'
"Look around," She purred. "He already has."
Chell shot up in bed, gasping for air as her heart beat hard behind her ribs.
She was alone in the dark, much like in her nightmare, but, she reminded herself as she tried to breathe, there was a reasonable explanation for this. Chell had returned to sleeping in her room (now with the door open); Wheatley still slept on the couch. That was why he wasn't there with her- not because he'd left her.
He's going to leave you. He's going to abandon you, just like He did before. You know He is.
...Though it couldn't hurt to double check.
Chell took a deep breath, steadying herself before calling out into the darkness.
"Wheatley?"
Nothing.
He's going to leave you before you can leave Him-
Again. Louder.
"Wheatley?"
Nothing.
-and He'll spend the rest of his miserable little life hiding, convincing Himself that you're still alive, because He is weak, and stupid, and selfish, and no matter how much you trust Him-
Something in the house creaked. Chell's throat began to burn.
"Wheatley!"
He cannot handle This.
Chell's cry echoed across the house, unanswered. A bout of nausea hit as she began to cough, and the room was spinning, and her eyes burned, and he was gone. He really was gone, and Chell didn't know if it was because he had left, or because She had-
"Chell?"
A Wheatley sized blur breezed past the doorway before Chell heard a crash at the end of the hall. Indistinct Wheatley grumbling could be heard before he reemerged in the doorway, panicked and disheveled but still in one piece.
"I'm right here, right here!" He was at her side in two seconds flat. "What's the matter, love? Are you alright? Are you- Oof!" Wheatley choked as Chell trapped him in a (very tight) hug, burying her face in the fabric of his shirt. He was about to remind her that he was still human and therefore still required oxygen to breathe, when he realized that Chell was trembling and his shirt was quickly becoming wet. "Oh, you're-" Wheatley returned her embrace, nuzzling her gently as he traced patterns onto her back. "Shhh, I'm right here, love. You're okay, everything's okay."
"Wheatley."
"Yes." Her voice shattered his heart into a million pieces. "Right here, love. Always will be. What's the matter? What do you need?"
Chell pulled back and looked up at him through tear stained eyes, too exhausted to be ashamed.
"You." She said. "Here."
Chell waited until Wheatley was asleep before reaching for the emergency phone.
She dialed the number in the dark, completely apathetic to the time of night. Chell spoke softly so as not to wake Wheatley, and she skipped the pleasantries.
"I need you to check on Jake."
"Check on Jake?" Michael asked groggily.
"Jake, Auburn, Elizabeth, Wayne, Sam, Claire- everyone. Make sure they're all okay."
"Alright. I can do that." Michael said. "Hold on a minute."
Chell waited, focusing on the sound of Wheatley's gentle snoring and trying not to think. A few minutes later Michael returned.
"Everyone's accounted for."
Chell leaned back, feeling much lighter.
"Good."
But not everyone lived at the hospital.
Michael practically read her mind.
"Do you… want me to call the others?"
"Not now." Chell said. "In the morning. There's no sense in waking everyone up."
"Just me?"
"Just you."
She grimaced as she fought back another bout of coughing.
"Michael," She took a deep breath. "There are some things… I need to talk to you about. Not now, but soon."
"Anything you need." He sounded concerned. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Chell looked from Wheatley to the road outside her window, and the rest of the town beyond.
"It's not me I'm worried about."
AN:
It's literally everyone else.
Please review!