Portal 3

Epilogue: A New Life

Chell & Wheatley
The two were driving down the roads, away from Aperture. It was over. Their gruelling ordeal in the depths below the skin of the Earth had ended. Whatever fate or destiny had in store for them next was something they didn't know. What they did know, is that they would be together.

Halfway back to the human settlement, Chell took a side road onto a lesser trail and slowed the truck to a halt. Wheatley gazed to her, as she rubbed her eyes. He could tell she was tired, and needed some time to rest. After his long silence, he wanted to speak to her, but he didn't know what to say. Whilst he was silent, there was a sort of synergy between them: something instinctive and understanding. Something that went beyond the standard rules of the world. Also, there was that strange portal - the one glowing magenta. He didn't know it existed, and he figured GLaDOS wouldn't know either. Not that he could ask her at this point, nor did he want to. Chell gazed to him, her own expression thoughtful. Finally, he decided to say, "That, uh, last portal was... weird." It felt strange for him; like a vow of silence had been lifted, but not broken. She nodded in agreement. "I... I don't really know how I made it happen," He added, "I just fired them both a few seconds between each other. Then it just got me back, um, got me back to you." Embarrassed by saying that, he panned his gaze away from her.
Another voice spoke, a female voice, "Maybe that portal is special type which travels through time and space." Hearing this voice surprised Wheatley, and it came from Chell's direction.
His stare snapped to her in disbelief, as he questioned, "You can speak?!" Wheatley was gobsmacked, and went into rant mode, "So for all the time we've spent together, with you hardly saying anything, you could just speak anyways?!" Chell shook her head, and took a phone back out of her pocket.
She started typing into it, and a voice began to speak, "No, it's just text-to-speech. I can't actually speak."
"Oh," He felt more embarrassment, "Because, uh, I just heard the voice, and um, thought you were speaking..."
"Really?" Chell looked at him in bewilderment, and continued, "It sounds like a regular voice to you?"
"Well... yes," Feeling slightly relaxed, he told her, "I just hear this beautiful voice." That made her smile. Upon seeing that grin, he realised it was ok to care about her; ok to love her. Still a little embarrassed, he returned to the original subject, "So, er, what do you think that portal means? Well, um - how it was made?"
"I don't know," She tapped into her phone, as she speculated, "Maybe combining the portals created the effect."
"But how? And why?" Wheatley questioned, confused about the elusive portal, "Why did it bring me back to you?" He felt awkward mentioning that. There was no doubt in his copper wires that the magenta portal had specifically returned him to Chell. He was thinking of her in the split second he fired the portal gun.
"Maybe it can place itself wherever the user desires," Chell shrugged, "But I don't think we'll be seeing it again."
"Probably not... but I don't want to go back there ever again," Wheatley sighed deeply.

There was something else on his CPU. Another thing he didn't fully understand.

"I... I don't exactly know how to explain," He looked into her eyes, "But there's these... four other Personality Cores inside me." She met his gaze, her expression a sort of concerned but not worried. "And, uh, one of them... one of them is actually my mother." Chell tilted her head to this, now a little more confused. "Apparently Virgil is my godfather. He was the one who got these four Cores' hardware from whatever battle they'd been in and put them in me."
Chell simply asked, "Virgil?"
"The uh, you know... old Core we met down in the depths," An ache strained his entire metal body as he remembered, "Looked after me for as long as my ROM can recall." He realised he had spoken with computer jargon, and wasn't sure she'd understand. "Uh..."
"I was wondering," Chell pursed her lips in thought, pausing for a moment before continuing, "And I always wondered: how were the Personality Cores made? How were you made?"
"Well," Wheatley recalled something he'd been told long ago, "The Cores - well, the other ones - are neurological patterns etched into code and motherboards. Basically a brain inside a machine."
She looked to him, somewhere between confused and curious, "But you're different?"
"I... I kind of always have been," Giving a thought to his treatment in the past, he replied, "I mean... I was apparently somehow born - or maybe built by - the Forgiveness Core." He himself wondered, "But I don't know if she was a human turned machine. I know she was."
"What Core even is she?" Chell asked.
"She was going to mention it, but then she went into manic mode," Wheatley recalled, "But she and Ian did make reference to a Core that we all thought had died."
"A Core that died?"
"Yes," He could remember the Aperture myths quite clearly, "The Loyalty Core." His CPU had processed all the data of his new experiences in Aperture and came to the conclusion, "And... I think- I think I am that Core." Chell stared to him, and her expression was now unreadable.
A few moment passed before she tapped in her phone again, "What was said about that Core?"
"Well, we were told he had died but we weren't told how," He recalled the rumours, almost as if he was hearing them again, "And he was supposed to be the greatest companion you could have. A best friend for life. Someone who would stand by those he loved no matter what."
Chell drummed her fingertips on the dashboard and replied, "I think you do fit that description."
Despite agreeing, he felt a rising despair, "Uh, I don't know... Maybe. I didn't really treat you well when... you know."
"That was a long time ago," She reassured him, giving him a soft smile, "And you saved me more times than you've tried to hurt me. You even risked your own survival just so I'd be safe." Her smile waned slightly, "Although I feel like I shouldn't have gone back on your sacrifice."
"No, I... I appreciate it," Wheatley felt a gentle warmth inside his circuits, "You... you saved me. To be honest, you did saved me - in a sense - the first time we met." He felt comfortable, even calmed now in her presence. They were both safe, and that's all he wanted.

That comfort meant he felt that he could talk to her about anything. Especially anything that worried or concerned him. In fact, a new idea popped into his RAM, a strange idea that seemed impossible at first. The more he mentally turned it over, the more it seemed possible. "Um, Chell? I was thinking whilst in space, and uh... I realised something," He began.
Chell asked, "What is it?"
"Er, well, whilst I was floating around aimlessly in space," Knowing he needed to tell her, he explained, "I was thinking. A lot. About you." He started to feel awkward, "And, um, I realised that actually... I love you." Chell merely gazed to him. He hoped for some response, but there was none - only her near expressionless face. A silence descended, but not like before; one that was unsettling. His gaze slid away, ashamed of what he'd said.
After a few moments, Chell used her text-to-speech, "Honestly, I felt like kissing you when you woke up again. I guess... Now, I know that I love you too."

Eventually Wheatley turned to Chell and nervously asked her, "So, uh... Would you, um, like to become my girlfriend?"
Her smile became a bright beam, and Chell answered, "Yes!"

They then returned to the main road, and drove back to the settlement.

The End

For real, this time.