Chell's second playthrough

I see you

Chell softly let a sigh escape from her lips as she stepped into the second last chamber. Exhausted and covert in sweat and dust, she wiped away the black hair strains that stuck to her forehead. She didn't know what to expect to happen after she finished this chamber, as she wasn't sure what GLaDOS was planning to do with her. But she was sure it wasn't something good.

"I've got a surprise for you after this next test. Not a fake, tragic surprise like last time. A real surprise, with tragic consequences. And real confetti this time. The good stuff. Our last bag. Part of me's going to miss it, I guess-but at the end of the day it was just taking up space."

Chell bit her lower lip, not trying to think about that last surprise GLaDOS had given her. It all started when she referred to two people in cryogenic storage who had the same last name as she did. Chell didn't even know she had a last name, but she had known what that meant.

Those people were her parents.

She tried to push away the false feeling of hope that bubbled deep inside her chest. No, it was a lie. GLaDOS always lies. But no matter how hard she tried to remind to herself that it wasn't true, it had found a way to break through the barrier that kept her emotions locked away from the outside world, and it started to eat at her from the inside out. The pathetic attempts she had made to try and remember her parents had hurt so much. All she had gotten out of it were vague memories of voices she couldn't hear and familiar faces she couldn't see and it left her alone and hopeless.

Chell could hit herself when her heart beat had started to raise when she was supposed to get her present from the supercomputer, stupidly hoping for something that would never happen. And it hadn't. All she got was some confetti that fell out of the ceiling and some fake call GLaDOS made to her parents, only to get a answering machine with a discarding message.

She had, once again, played along in her little game like a fool.

Wheatley had informed her she only had a few more tests to go. But Chell wasn't sure how much longer she could keep doing this. Ignoring the still hurting feeling inside of her, she began to put the portals in place. With one press on the button a cube got dropped from the ceiling onto the hard light bridge. Chell started to walk towards it when suddenly all the lights turned off, dropping her on the floor. She watched as the cube fell in the toxic water and she shot a look at the chubby white camera next to her.

Apparently, GLaDOS was as confused as Chell. ''What's going on? Who turned off the lights?''

''Hey buddy!'' Chell quickly turned around at the sound of a somewhat familiar voice. A few panels had moved aside revealing the sphere the voice belonged to. She rushed towards him, never more relieved to see him. ''I'm speaking in an accent that's beyond her range of hearing.'' Wheatley explained in a weird, fake accent. ''We have to go right now!''

''Look... Metal Ball. I can hear you.''

''Okay, no need to do the voice. Run!'' He didn't have to tell her twice. Chell bolted out of the room, leaping over a dangerous gap and onto the catwalk. She made her way through the backs of the test chambers as fast as she could. She could hear the facility groaning and coming to life around her, the furious gaze of the supercomputer burying into her as her test subject slipped out of her grasp.

Chell ran around the corner, bumping into the railing before pushing her energy back into her legs for another sprint. She rushed along the metal catwalks with Wheatley's voice guiding her. ''Come on, come on! Alright, quick word about the future plans, we're going shut down her turret production line, shut off her neurotoxin and then confront her.''

Only listening to him with semi-attention, Chell glanced to the left where a new chamber came into view with a cube and a heart made out of white panels on the wall.

''The irony is that you were almost at the last test. Here it is. Why don't you just do it? Trust me, it's an easier way out than whatever asinine plan your little friend came up with.'' The AI tried.

But instead of following GLaDOS' advice Chell crossed the hard light bridge in the opposite direction.

''Oh, what? How stupid does she think we are?'' Wheatley said in disbelief as they left the obvious trap behind them. Suddenly the bridge disappeared from under the girl's feet. Luck seemed to be on her side for once and Chell safely landed on a walkway below. She quickly tuned on the ball of her foot and started to follow a different path. The adrenaline that rushed through her body gave her enough strength for another few sprints, dodging bullets and deactivating turrets that blocked her path.

The big room they entered next groaned and shook as the walls started to close in on them. Chell just managed to avoid a flying piece a metal that had jumped up by the pressure that got put onto the catwalks that started to fold like paper.

''Get in the lift! Get in the lift!'' Wheatley called above the noise. The test subject rushed inside, leaning against the back wall with an exhausted exhale of relief. They made. They watched as the room in front of them got crushed. ''She's bloody livid with us, isn't she?'' The core said with a little nervous laugh. ''Anyways, we should get to work as soon as possible. My rail is going this way, so you can take a little break right here and I'll meet you on the other side.''

-0-

As soon as the two of them had meet up again, they started to get to work. First off they had to find a way to the turret production line through a facility that was bathed in darkness. Luckily Wheatley had a flashlight, that he for some vague reason about ''being told not to turn it on or he would die'', he had a lot of trouble with turning it on, but eventually he ended up being the test subject's little guiding light. He also started to ramble about weird stories that sounded more like horror stories people would tell around a campfire. But aside from all that, he was nice company and Chell was happy to have him around.

They had to split up again eventually and she needed to make her way through on her own. Chell carefully climbed onto the conveyor belts despite the protests from the announcer. "Turret redemption lines are not rides, please exit the turret redemption line."

She jumped onto the second one, accidently crushing some broken turret parts on her way through. Suddenly a blinking red light appeared. Chell started down at the still active turret that lay before her feet. ''I'm different.''

Suddenly her head began to hurt again. Not wanting to deal with anymore of that, she walked past it.

''The only way to win their game is not to play.''

Chell froze. It's that same message she'd found in one of those little hiding spots. She slowly turned around and looked at the turret that came closer and closer towards the incinerator. That turret seemed to know more than it let on and she had so many questions left unanswered... Maybe it could help her. So she went back to get the little guy, before safely jumping of the redemption lines.

"Don't make lemonade.'' She had heard that sentence before during one of those weird memories that plagued her mind. She put the turret down on a box and sat across of it with her legs crossed.

''Her name is Caroline.''

Caroline. Caroline. Caroline. Where had she heard that name before? She somehow knew it and it felt important. Chell waited patiently for the turret to explain more to her. ''It's all I can say.''

She sighed. Seriously? It must know more. ''You'll have to break the wall.''

Chell bit her lower lip, trying to make sense of it. Break the wall... What wall? It almost looked like the turret had read her mind when it talked again. ''The fourth wall.''

The fourth? Were there 3 other walls she had to go through first or...? No that didn't make sense. Nothing it told her made sense. She somehow knew what it said, she just didn't understand it. Giving up after sitting there for a couple minutes, Chell stood up to go find Wheatley when the turret suddenly pointed it's laser at her.

''I see you.'' She almost jumped in shock, afraid to suddenly get sprayed with bullets. But they never came.

''I see you. I foresee you. I see you. I foresee you. Iseeyouiforeseeyou.'' It kept repeating that one line over and over again. That thing was probably just broken, Chell thought with a shake of her head before walking away. She got more important things to do than listen to a broken turret.