Forgiveness Doesn't Come Easy (After Portal 2)

Part 2

"Ow!" Wheatley yelled as the bird kept pecking at him.

It found where the casing was open on his side and reached in.

"No don't! That's a vital wire!" he shook as much as he could as it began to pull the wire.

A rock flew through the leaves, sailing above them.

A bird let go of Wheatley and looked down, flying to another branch as it cawed out warnings below.

Another rock flew, hitting Wheatley and knocking him out of the nest. "Ow!" Dust flew up around him as he hit the ground. He looked down at the dirt he laid in before closing his eye. As footsteps neared him he opened it again and looked up.

Chell came into view in front of the sun.

His eye widened. "You found me!"

She kneeled down and tilted him so he wouldn't be lying on his side.

"But... why?" He stared at her as she looked down, looking hurt. "I thought..."

She pulled a paper out of her pocket, unfolded it and held it up. "I'm sorry and I forgive you."

He made a smile as best he could.

His happiness made Chell even sadder, she wasn't even sure if what she'd told him was true and that made her feel guilty.

"What changed your mind?"

She looked to him surprised. She hunted her pockets for a pen and wrote on the back of the paper. "Because I'm your companion cube."

The lower plate that made the smile sunk as he stared at the paper for too long. "Oh... um I didn't realize," he sounded really nervous. "Look I'm really flattered but I don't think it would work."

She looked completely lost.

"Oh what have I done?" he asked worriedly. "It was the accent wasn't it? Everyone falls for it."

Her eyes slowly widened as she realized what he was talking about. Without warning she burst out laughing.

He looked around before laughing nervously as well.

She stopped and gaped, clasping her hand over her mouth. She laughed, after all this time unable to speak or scream she finally found out she could laugh. She looked back down at Wheatley and just stared for a moment. Her eyes watered, her lips curled up and she found herself giving him a forgiving smile.

He looked a little scared.

She looked amused and wrote on the paper "That's not what I meant."

"Oh... Right, can we just pretend then that what you said made perfect sense to me? Let's go again. A companion cube, wow! That explains everything!"

She laughed again.

He glanced around. "Could you pick me up?"

She grabbed his handles and hefted him up as she rose. She held him against her side as she walked away through the small hills of dirt and dried grass.

"I never told you how I got out of space did I? Well there was this satellite just floating there so I decided to hack it." He rambled on as they disappeared behind the hills.

Her own mind started to ramble though she tried to focus on what he was saying. Despite the heavy core in her arm something inside felt lighter. Forgiveness doesn't come easy but she was so glad she'd given it a try.