Want You Gone

[Chapter Six: The Return]

"Did you know that people with guilty consciences are more easily startled by loud nois--" All throughout the chamber, a train horn blared, nearly scaring out of my jumpsuit. GLaDOS was really just trying to mess with me now, and I realized that my only purpose now was to just go back and forth with her until one of us won. I rubbed my head and tried to stop the ringing in my ears. "I'm sorry, I don't know why that went off... Anyway, just an interesting science fact." I could once again hear the smirk in her voice. 

This taunting continued through the next few chambers. I walked into the room and noticed something new, but something familiar. A friend. A cube, with a pink ring around a little heart symbol in the middle. My old friend, the companion cube. I remember having to incinerate it before, so I was happy to see it back in the chambers. Of course, before I could touch it, it fizzled away into nothingness. "Oh. Did I accidentally fizzle that before you could complete the test? I'm sorry." I gave her a look through the camera. I kind of needed that. Before I could tell her anything, another one dropped from the cube deposit. "Go ahead and grab another one." She said in a soft tone. 

I shook my head, not wanting to be fooled by her again. I saw a quick flash, and another panel snapped shut behind me. There it is again. Is that just her messing with me, too? I brushed it aside, convinced it was more of her trickery, and picked up the cube. I was able to get it to where I needed it to be, but it was fizzled away once again. I made a loud grunting noise, and stomped my foot. "Oh. No. I fizzled that one too." She chuckled. She seemed a tad more amused about it than I was. "Oh well. We have warehouses FULL of the things. Absolutely worthless. I'm happy to get rid of them." I made a motion at the camera. Just let me finish this test, please.

 I was able to get through the whole test by using just the companion cube, but I knew I would have to say goodbye to it. However, I got my hopes up when GLaDOS mentioned that there was no Emancipation Grill at the end of that particular test. It seemed like a trap to me, but I took the opportunity to take the cube with me. I'd almost made it to the elevator when it was fizzled once again. I tried to grasp onto my cube friend in desperation, but to no avail. "I think that one was about to say 'I love you.' They ARE sentient, of course. We just have a LOT of them." Her statement made me rethink her comment about them being useless. But I was sure that the cubes couldn't actually be sentient. Then again, it wasn't too farfetched, all things considering...

The facility rumbled when I stepped out of the next elevator, catching my attention. I looked to the camera, expecting an explanation. "Ohhh, no. The turbines again. I have to go. Wait. This next test DOES require some explanation. Let me give you the fast version." I nodded, but instead of an explanation, all she gave me was unintelligible gibberish. "There. If you have any questions, just remember what I said in slow motion. Test on your own recognizance, I'll be right back." I just stared up in disbelief. But her actions left me unsurprised once again, so I carried on.  

Through the next test, I actually kind of missed her comments. She had actually seemed to go away. I don't think she was even watching over me. I stepped into the elevator in complete silence, and onto the next test without any instruction. It was odd, and I kind of hoped she would come back. When I stepped into the next chamber, the floor panels seemed to be acting up, and nothing was operating as intended. This further solidified my assumption that GLaDOS had stopped watching over my progress. It left me a little lonely, in all honesty. 

At least there was a Faith Plate in the room to keep me entertained. I watched the room start to assemble itself, slowly but surely, before I took a step down onto the plate, closing my eyes. I let it fling me up with a long sigh, basking in the wind that it produced. When I reached the peak, I snapped my eyes open upon hearing an all-too-familiar voice. "Hey, Hey- It's me! I'm okay-!" I fell back down before I could get a look. As if she knew that I had caught a glimpse of hope, GLaDOS returned. "Well, I'm back. The Aerial Faith Plate in here is sending a distress signal. You broke it, didn't you?" I stared up pleadingly. Please, I need to know if I saw that right.

"There. Try it now." I stepped back on and sprung back up to get a better look. "You'll never believe what happened! There I was, just lying there, and you thought I was done for, but--" The voice faded and I didn't get to hear the rest of the sentence, but there was no denying it: Wheatley was alive. How, I wasn't sure, but he was. And there he was, on his rail, hiding behind the panels of the chamber. I touched back down, and the plate seemed to still be out of order. "Hmm. This Plate must not be calibrated to someone of your... generous... ness. I'll add a few zeros to the maximum weight." I smiled, partly because of the weight joke, but mostly because I was thrilled beyond belief to see my friend okay. "You look great, by the way. Very healthy." She felt the need to add. "Try it now." 

I did as she told me and jumped back up. When I saw Wheatley again and could hear him once more, he seemed to be still rambling about what had happened to him since the encounter with GLaDOS. "A bloody bird! Right? I couldn't believe it either! And then the bird--" I fell back down, and once more, the plate had stopped working. I prepared for another snarky comment and for GLaDOS to fix it again so that I could hear the rest of the story. "You seem to have defeated its load-bearing capacity. Well done. I'll just lower the ceiling." She mumbled. As she said this, the ceiling began lowering, cutting off connection with the blue-eyed, British core. "No-!" I managed to yell weakly, though this new voice of mine was incredibly raspy, and far from recognizable, even for me. Still, we both seemed surprised that I was able to muster up my voice. 

Despite the setback, I had hope now. I knew that Wheatley was alive and my new goal was not to entertain myself, but to find him again. I suspected that he could possibly have been the one behind the wall panels all those chambers back, but I wasn't sure why he would have hidden. Fear was the most likely answer. He had already been crushed by her once. So I proceeded onward through the tests with a new motive in mind. Nothing she said to me mattered anymore. 

I was going to get out...

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This is probably the last one Im gonna do tonight because I'm sleepy and its midnight and I wAAnna sleep!

I'll try to update this later, tomorrow maybe, idk

Goodnight, all. Wheatley is bACK BAYBEy