The Aftermath

Chapter 1: Reunion

"C-Chell! Forgive me! Please! I-I never meant to hurt you!" He saw her, portal gun in hand, glaring daggers at him. The room they were in was engulfed in flames. He tried to move closer to her.
"P-Please Chell… It was just a horrible mistake." She started to walk away.
"No. Nonono! Please, Chell. Give me a chance to make it up. I promise I won't try to kill you again." Chell stopped and looked at him.
"Hey. Moron. Can you hear me?" She spoke, but the voice…

GLaDoS shook him a bit, "Wake up, you moron." Wheatley opened his eyes and blinked. GLaDoS eyed him carefully, "Say something." He groaned and blinked.
"Wait… wasn't I in space?" he asked. The AI moved back, "You crash landed into my facility. Consider yourself lucky I didn't drop your damaged body into an incinerator." Wheatley trembled, almost regretting the words leaving his mouth.
"What kept you from killing me?"
"Oh, I was wondering when you'd ask me that." A pincer came down and picked up a damaged core and held it in front of him. "Do you honestly think I would get any joy out of punishing you when the Earth did it for me?" Wheatley stared at the core before it finally hit him.
"I-If that's my body then, what am I-?" He looked down at himself. He saw arms, legs, feet and hands… all things Chell had.
"I tossed your personality and memories into an old android body I had lying around. It's not perfect, but it'll do until I repair your core body." Wheatley swung his legs over the table and slowly stood up. It felt odd to stand up on his own two feet, but he managed to do it without falling.
"Good. You can move on your own." Wheatley took a few uneasy steps and nodded, "Now I can go find her and-" GLaDoS started to laugh dryly, "Are you seriously considering looking for her? What makes you think you will find her?"
"I have to apologize to her… I need to let her know I'm sorry."
"I know she wouldn't want to see you after you almost murdered, but I'm going to let you find her and see for yourself. And after she crushes your hopes, I'll be more than happy to put you out of your misery." Wheatley gulped, "Y-You know where she is?" The AI turned a bit, as if looking for something, "Yes. She's been using the internet lately so it was very easy to track her down." Wheatley looked up at her, "Wait. Why are you keeping tabs on her anyway?"
"I don't have to explain my actions to you. Now, do you want to know where she is or not?" Wheatley quickly nodded, "Y-Yes." She turned to him, looming over him. He took a step back, backing into the table.
"This won't hurt a bit…" A pincher pinned him down, facing the table, "It's going to hurt a lot."

Elsewhere, Chell opened the door to a small one bedroom apartment, holding a brown paper bag in one arm. She walked in and closed the door with her foot. It was lightly decorated with mute green walls and matching carpet; there was a bookshelf filled with books that she'd already finished and started to re-read. She turned on the lights and set the bag on the table. Instead of her orange jumpsuit and white tank top, she wore a pale yellow blouse and white skirt that fell to her ankles. In place of the long-fall boots, she wore white flats. Her dark hair, no longer tied up, stopped short of her shoulders. It had been several months since GLaDoS had released her and she had found a small town at the end of the wheat field. To her surprise (and relief), they took her in and helped her out. They didn't even question where she was from, how she got there or even why she had a giant cube with her. After a while, she even got a part-time job working at a bookstore. It took her a while to get used to constant human contact and to get over her paranoia that this was just a dream, but she grew accustomed to life here as if she'd been here all her life.
She started putting up her groceries as someone knocked on the door. She stopped and looked. She wasn't expecting company.
"Hello? Anyone in there?" That voice… She moved to the door and looked through the peephole. There was a tall man standing in front of the door. His hair was a dark sandy blonde and went in every direction. He had cerulean eyes that seem to glow behind his frameless glasses. He was wearing a white tank top. Chell thought about who it could be and mentally debated about letting him in.
"Hellooo? Are you going to open the door? At any time?" he knocked again. Despite better judgment, she opened the door.
"Ah! Oh my… y-you really are alive," he said. Chell took a step back.
"No no! Wait. Chell, it's me." She glared at the man, trying to piece together where she heard his voice before.
"You don't remember me? I understand… I did look different the last time we met, love. Still don't know who I am? I'm Wheatley," he said with a smile, "I-I came back to apolo-" The door slammed in his face, causing him to yelp in pain.