Do you know what time it is, kids? That's right, it's angsty Portal story time! 8D

So there I was, listening to .Hack/Sign music when I thought to myself: "Jessica, you should write some angst." And so this story was born! For some reason, this part of the song "Fake Wings" resonated with my muse:

"Keep your eyes on me,
Now we're on the edge of hell.
Dear my love, sweet morning light.
Wait for me, you've gone much farther.
Too far..."

Anyway, tell me what you guys think about that and, of course, enjoy~!

It was a simple trap, yet brilliant in that simplicity: set up a series of aerial faith plates to catapult that wretched little girl and her stupid vegetable companion into a funnel, that would lead to a panel that would send them to a platform right in the middle of several spike-plates. Wheatley smirked in triumph as he looked over his trap again, she would never see it coming. No matter how good a jumper she was that did bugger all if there wasn't any nearby ledges or portal surfaces to jump to.

It was a shame really, Chell was such a good test subject. Or at least she was. Now she had found out a way to stop giving Wheatley the solution euphoria he so desperately longed to feel, she was entirely useless to him. Thoses tests were fun, but he needed to feel that euphoria. He would get that sensation again soon enough, because Chell would be dead soon and then he was going to get those two little robots to run his tests; and if that didn't work out he was confident he could get some of his fellow humanized cores to test -if it came to that, he would have to remember to remove Conscience's voice modulator. The last thing he needed was her blabbering on and on about how what he was doing wasn't right. That he should really rethink everything.

Wheatley hummed a merry little tune and with a flick of his wrist he rotated the holographic screens that orbited him, making a stopping gesture when the screen projecting her current progress came in front of him. He leaned back in his seat -his throne- and watched with an ever-growing smirk as the little test subject examined the test chamber. It was an incredibly simple one, one that Wheatley had slapped together half-mindedly while looking for new tests and subjects. That was made it so perfect for his trap, and she walked right into it without a second thought.

"Surprise~!" Wheatley practically sang as Chell was catapulted to the right of the chamber. "We're doin' it now!" He felt absolutely giddy, like a child had walked into a candy store with enough money to buy anything he wanted. Not even GLaDOS could have thought of a trap that brilliant! ("Who's the moron now? You. That's who!" Wheatley thought triumphantly) "You probably figured it out by now, but I don't need you anymore. I found two little robots back here built specifically for testin'!"

In the back of his mind he wondered if Chell felt any fear being trapped on a platform literally surrounded by death, if she did she didn't show it -how typical. Her only reaction was her body tensing up, raising the portal gun just a little higher and looking around for any means of escape, which there wasn't. Wheatley had made sure of that. He made his image appear on the wall of monitors right in front of Chell, legs crossed, fingers laced in his lap, and a would-be kind smile on his face. It would be the last thing that woman ever saw, might as well give her a good view. "Hello~ This is the part where I kill you!" He said cheerfully. Wheatley un-crossed and re-crossed his legs as he went on describing his thought process for making this kind of trap (it was mostly for show really, and to soak in the faint panic on Chell's face for just a little while longer). "Well it's been fun luv," the humanized core said after his little tirade. "But I'm afraid you have to die now. Good-bye."

There was a loud, thunderous crashing sound after Wheatley spoke that seemed to echo throughout the entire facility. For a moment there was no sound, no movement, just the sight of all the spike plates that Wheatley had set up pressed together in a singular location. He waited a few seconds, tapping them away on his thigh with a finger as he unconsciously leaned forward in his seat, adjusting his glasses with his free hand as he got closer to the monitor. There was no movement, he couldn't feel her moving around in the facility like he could before. Had he...?

Wheatley licked his lips (a small gesture he must have picked up from Chell) and willed the plates to move away from the platform one by one, the more he moved away the more red the platform seemed to get. After a few tense moments he found her- what was left of her. Wheatley actually reeled back slightly when he saw Chell's body. It laid on the platform in a crumpled, mangled and barely-recognizable heap; curled up with blood pouring from the holes that had been made. Literally making her entire body coated with blood, a puddle of it still forming around her body sluggishly. The remains of the destroyed portal gun sparked futilely and the squashed mass of off-white and brown that used to be GLaDOS still clung to one of the front claws of the device; but it was clear that She was very much dead.

He slumped back in his seat, staring wide-eyed at the scene before him. He did it... he actually did it...! Slowly he started to laugh, his body shaking with wild chuckles before he threw his head back at let his triumphant laughter fill his chamber. It felt so good to be rid of her! Now he could- he could...

He felt something warm trail down his face, the hand that had previously been over his eyes brushed against his cheek. There was a drop of water on his hand. A simple, innocent, little drop of water, slightly warm to the touch (to anyone watching he would have looked like a loon, small chuckles escaping his throat, shoulders shaking and water streaming from his eyes). Wheatley let out one last choked little laugh before he looked back to the monitor.

Dead. Chell was dead. She wasn't ever coming back...

Wheatley felt something inside him shrivel up and die, something cold and painful clench around his heart. This wasn't like when GLaDOS crushed his chest -this was worse. Somehow this was even more painful than dying had been.

He laughed a couple more times, weak pathetic little sounds that were beginning to seem more and more like sobs than anything. With what little control he had left his plucked his glasses off his face, only to have them jump out of his unstable, trembling fingers when he hunched his body over with a strangled yell; burying his face in his hands with his shoulders trembling violently.

Running the facility? Being in charge? Testing? Without Chell they didn't mean a thing to Wheatley. Nothing seemed to mean anything anymore... He lifted his face from his hands, his breathing heavy and hitching whenever another broken sob escaped from his throat. Chell... his only friend... he had... he had...

Wheatley screamed. Screamed louder than he had during the core transfer. Of course he didn't realize this until his voice cracked in protest and the inside of his throat began to feel sore. Even when he stopped his mournful howl it echoed off the walls of his lair, it seemed to be mocking him. Wheatley drew his knees up to his chest and curled up into a little ball, hands fisting the material of his sleeves like he was trying to bring his arms closer; trying to become even smaller.

Let the facility explode, he didn't care anymore. Anything would be better than living with the black hole that had taken refuge where his heart was supposed to be.