Author's Beginning Note: I'd like to thank all of my readers for being so incredibly patient with this story. I know it's taken me a long time to write up this chapter (I intended this chapter to be up much sooner, actually) and I really do apologies for the long wait but to make it up to you guys I've tried to make this chapter a bit longer than my others. Hope you all like it!

Chapter 6: Meeting Caroline

It all seemed so ironic...

All this time Chell had been extremely good at avoiding death. She'd made it through hundreds of life threatening situations at Aperture science before, but now of all times had to be the time that it would be all over for her—the time when she needed to be alive more than anything; the time when she needed to get answers...

She was almost certain that she was so close to finding out the truth about her life, but of course that possibility of her ever finding anything out about it was completely gone now. It had been ripped from her selfishly for no known reason by GLaDOS. Chell wished that she knew what she had to hide; Chell had a right to know about her own parents if anybody! If only the scenario played out differently, then maybe she could have got some answers after all, even if that didn't change her fate of death...

If only Chell had chosen a different direction to run in- if only she'd acted when those walls began moving towards her—If only she'd done something to prevent herself from dying before knowing who her parents actually were. Did Chell really think because she'd survived all this time, she was indestructible? Everything would have been so much easier if she'd had her portal gun too, but no, she hadn't even seen a Portal gun for God knows how long, all because GLaDOS didn't have testing in mind for her this time. Instead, she wanted to kill her once and for all, and that's exactly what she did...

Chell had never really thought about dying: what it would be like, where she would go, if it would be scary or even painful. It was something she'd never really pondered on, not just because of her whole "brain damage affecting her thoughts" excuse, or that she'd rather day dream about cake and companion cubes, or even because her mind was too set into solving tests. She never thought of it because it had simply never crossed her mind. She knew that Aperture Science was a very dangerous place to be even before GLaDOS became self aware, as there would always be some high risk of death. Besides, she'd always be too focused on trying to keep herself alive during the whole process of her being at Aperture, so she'd never have time to think about her own mortality. This of course, could be considered as a good thing due to the fact she'd never find herself worrying or being depressed about it, but really it was probably a bad thing all in all, as she found herself very ill prepared for all that would happen.

It was a very strange feeling at first; everything gradually fading darker and darker, similar to when Chell would go down one of the elevator tubes to the next testing chamber below her back in Aperture. Finally, all that was left was a small pin point of light miles out ahead of her surrounded by a vast and endless area of darkness and the unknown. This was very different to falling asleep; it seemed much quicker and easier, a lot like flicking a light switch. Chell couldn't even recall the feeling of pain rushing through her when she was crushed, so much so that it felt like she hadn't even been crushed at all...

Soon, the tiny pin point of white light began to grow and spread; filling the darkness around her as if someone was covering white paint with large brush strokes over a black canvas. The brightness of the new white surroundings reminded her of being back in Aperture once again, although it was blatantly clear that this wasn't Aperture at all. Soon the surroundings transformed and skilfully shifted into a 3D environment which seemed endless, vast and eerily empty, as thick and outstretched off into the distance was a sea of heavy white fog. It rolled slowly and freely on a nonexistent breeze, and seemed somewhat strangely and somehow welcoming despite its eerie and ominous appearance. Chell took a few deep calming breathes as she tried to take in this new and strange environment which was growing more real with each second. The fog seemed to be moving more rapidly now; almost like something was moving within it, and she soon found herself curious to what this fog may be hiding, but at the same time she couldn't help wondering if it would something she'd rather not see at all. She decided that she'd watch it for just a few moments just in case anything would finally emerge, but sure enough nothing ever did. Now confident enough to take her eyes off the swirling fog, Chell focused her attention on herself:

She checked her feet, her legs, her waist, her arms and then finally her hands for any sorts of wounds, bruises, or signs of broken bones from being crushed , but to Chell's somewhat surprise she couldn't find any; not even a single scratch. She then checked the condition of her clothes; before she was flattened they were dusty and ripped from her attempt of trying to survive outside of Aperture, but now they were clean, warm, and looked as if they were brand new.

Suddenly, high pitched squeak of what appeared to be rusty metal hit Chell's ear drums. Whatever made the noise didn't sound like it was very far away, but even with that being the case this thing, whatever it was, was hidden by the huge mass of swirling white fog so it was impossible to see anything. Chell clenched her fists tightly and took a few steps back as the sound rapidly grew from a high pitched squeak to a long metallic groan; echoing for miles in all directions. As the sound continued, the fog began to part directly in front of her, to which soon revealed rows upon rows of tall silver bars, packed tightly and securely in together. Perched high on top of each bar was a tangled mess of barbed wire; each twisted thick strand held hundreds of cruelly sharpened spikes, which looked like they would easily take your leg off if you were to be stupid or unfortunate enough to try and climb over it. The bars and the barbed wire glided away from one another which made them look almost alive amongst the constant moving fog and the dark moving shadows which were cast from a blurry looking sun above. As more fog cleared, even more of this strange scene was revealed...

"A...Gate?" Chell said in a hushed voice as she finally realized what she was looking at. The gate stopped abruptly when it was fully open, and the groaning of its hinges finally stopped with it. What was supposed to happen now? Was Chell supposed to walk through the gate? Was something going to come through it and greet her? Maybe her parents or even Doug? Or maybe they were all on the other side waiting for her...

Chell stood still for a few moments staring at the gate wondering if anything would happen but it seemed like nothing was actually going to happen at all. What was the purpose of this? Chell was puzzled, but most of all nervous and couldn't help thinking this had been deliberately set up to put her in danger or analyze her actions—almost like an examination, or even a test...

She couldn't stand it anymore; the suspense was somewhat getting painfully annoying as she stood back hesitantly wondering what was through this gate and whether she should find out or not. She figured that it wouldn't really matter if she was to run into something dangerous as she's already dead, but the possibility of it being something disturbing frightened her slightly. Finally, with another deep breath, she took a step forward and edged closer to the gate—her footsteps from her long fall boots echoing loudly in the never ending space around her.

Then suddenly she stopped.

It was a...a cake? A chocolate cake... Just lying on the ground beyond the gate. The Candle was light and everything!

Chell recognized it instantly; it was the cake GLaDOS had tempted her with before she tried to kill her the first time, and now for some reason it was here, lying amongst the fog all alone.

Chell drooled a little but then shook her head frantically to stop herself. This all seemed a little too suspicious: a cake, randomly out in the middle of nowhere? Who baked this anyway? Where exactly did it come from? Chell quickly darted her eyes around her; looking for something that would help this situation make sense, but again she found nothing. Not a chef, nor an oven, or even a bakery shop was in sight. But what made the situation really strange was that there were no potential death hazards like there would be in Aperture science whenever she'd be promised cake as a reward from GLaDOS. No deadly lasers, no neurotoxin, no acidic pools and not a single turret in sight. It was just her, the gate, the fog, and a very delicious looking cake.

Oh thank you heavens above! Joy to the world! Chell could finally have the thing that she's wanted for so long! A reward for all her completed testing! All those moments of fear and pain in Aperture had finally been recognized after all this time.

Chell sprinted forward with open arms as if to receive a loving hug and dashed towards the prize which lay amongst the open gate. The closer she got, the more excited she became and the more wonderful this all seemed. It was too good to be true—perhaps dying wasn't so bad after all? Especially if you get cake!

The metal gates closed with a harsh slam behind her, but Chell didn't flinch or even look around, as she was inches away from diving face first into the chocolaty heaven which was the cake in front of her. It was made to perfection; every inch of icing, every dollop of cream, and even every carefully placed cherry was so perfectly made that the whole cake almost looked fake- like it had been manufactured for decoration rather than to be eaten.

Chell blew out the candle with a quick and short breath and leaned down beside it and watched the smoke slowly rise from the freshly extinguished flame...

That smell of smoke, from a birthday candle, was definitely Chell's favorite smell of all time. It seemed to remind her of something from her past, but she couldn't for the life of her remember what...Her long forgotten childhood, maybe?

Chell reached out towards the cake, ready to pick it up in her arms and devourer as much as physically possible, but then something rather unexpected happened...

The cake moved away from her! It jumped away from her reach and slid a few feet away! Was this cake running away from her? Trying to escape being eaten?

Chell frowned and jumped forward trying to catch it by surprise before it moved away again—But no! The cake was too quick for her and slid forward a bit further! Chell stood up and walked over to it before leaning down to try and skilfully grab it but that failed again! The cake slid even further away and stopped again, almost like it was waiting for her to do it again...

This cake was smart; it knew what Chell wanted and it wasn't going to make it easy, even after all this time. But the cake didn't know that Chell wasn't going to give up that easy.

Chell turned away slowly before pretending to walk away from the cake; hopefully tricking it into thinking that she'd given up. The cake sat there motionless, like it was observing her every move.

Then, she charged at full speed. She ran as fast as she could, faster than she'd possibly ever ran before! The cake quickly panicked, jolting back and forwards before sliding forwards again only this time not stopping. The chase began as the cake slid at top speed along the fog-covered ground, barely visible, as Chell ran panting behind it. The oddness of the situation didn't even matter to Chell anymore really, all what she wanted was the cake and she was going to make sure she got it this time.

Chell kept running, even though she was getting very close to being borderline exhausted. The fog that was floating above the ground seemed to have cleared a little by now, and what was revealed under it seemed to be a large amount of broken tarmac, or rather remains of a large road, which had a few weeds and patches of grass growing through it here and there.

Alongside the veil of cleared fog revealing what Chell was standing on, this sudden and random clarity reveled something else too:

A shiny silver line coming off from the cake and leading out into the fog beyond. It would catch Chell's eye a couple of times; shimmering for a few seconds before turning almost invisible again. Chell thought that her mind was playing tricks on her at first, as it was extremely hard to notice and appeared to be almost as thin as a strand of hair, but at the same time it also had a strange, sturdy appearance to it, like it was unbreakable.

String? This cake was being pulled by a piece of string (well, something a little more expensive looking than a piece of string) and had been all along?

Chell stopped, and like she expected, the cake stopped too—waiting for her to chase it again.

A strange feeling washed over her all of a sudden; a feeling mixed with curiosity but also fear...Someone, or something was pulling this string, but who? Who could possibly be out here, in the middle of nowhere pulling it? Where were they? She'd been chasing this cake for what must have been at least 30 minutes, how far away were they and how long was this string?

But most importantly, Chell had realized by now that this had been done deliberately. Chell was being led to somewhere with this cake...

A trap, perhaps? But why? Why go to all the effort of doing this? And what did this person (or thing) want with her anyway? Was it worth the risk finding out?

Chell took a step back, and the cake slid forward slightly; trying to tempt her to continue following it.

She really wished that she could have a better look at the string that was pulling the cake along; she'd pull it herself and hopefully reveal who was on the other side of it, but she knew that if she got even remotely close to the cake it would just slide away from her again.

Chell was out of options. So she tried a plan B.

"Hello?" She shouted as loud as she could. "I know someone's out there. I know what you're trying to do!"

No reply...But that didn't mean that no one was there.

"I give up" Chell yelled finally, and sat on the uncomfortable ground with the cake sitting opposite. She picked at a few randomly sprouted wild flowers to pass the time, which were growing tall through the tiny cracks in the tarmac. Strange, they only seemed to come in two colors...

Orange and blue. Like portals...

It was then that Chell remembered the Aperture Science portal gun; she hadn't seen one in what must have been ages. Her mind trailed off for a moment as she thought about all the testing she'd done, and how many portals she must have created and been through...

"Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out" Chell suddenly and randomly mumbled to herself, then she became silent when she remembered that was something GLaDOS had said...

"Momentum, a function of mass and velocity!" A cheerful female voice suddenly said, making Chell jump out of her skin.

"It's conserved between portals, you know." Said the voice again, a little more serious but cheerful all the same.

Chell jumped to her feet and span around, only to find that the voice belonged to a rather slim, happy looking brunette. She wore a white simple dress which suited her almost too well, and she wore a red and white thin material scarf which was tied around her neck. It was hard to pin down her age due to the fact her cheeks were constantly smooth and plump from smiling, although she did also have a definite maturity to her complexion.

This woman—Chell knew this woman! She was in the portrait back in old Aperture, standing next to Cave Johnson. This was the woman that GLaDOS seemed to have some strange connection with; this was Caroline...What was she doing here? What did she want with Chell?

Chell stood and gawping and wide-eyed for a couple of moments, unsure of what to say. Although that didn't matter, because Caroline seemed to speak for her.

"Hello!" She smiled and nodded with wide eyes at Chell as if to deliberately fill in the gap of silent's.

"H-Hi" Chell stuttered back.

"How are you?" Caroline replied instantly and almost robotically.

"I-I'm...Fine?"

"Great! Me too!" She grinned and gave Chell a strange look, almost like she was waiting for Chell to say something important.

"Um...Good. Were you the one pulling the string?" Chell finally asked curiously, pointing down to the cake which sat motionless in the fog a few feet away.

"Yes!" she sang happily. "Yes, that was me! Wasn't that fun?" Caroline clapped childishly in reply.

"I guess...So, why were you doing that?" Chell asked, scratching her head.

"Because I need to talk to you" Caroline replied, becoming all serious all of a sudden and stepping closer.

"Okay, what about?" Chell blinked absently.

There was a slight pause, which made the strangeness of all of this even more evident. Caroline turned away, like she was in the middle of arranging a lot words that she'd finally say in a large, serious sentence.

"I'm still here, Chell. I haven't gone away..." Caroline said finally, which mostly confused Chell, but she also seemed to understand on some deep, strange level of her mind.

"What do you mean?" Chell asked, ignoring the fact that Caroline somehow knew Chell's name.

"I can't be deleted, Chell. She'll never erase me." Caroline whispered quickly, still with her back turned. "She knows she can't, but yet she won't stop trying...You have to tell her, Chell. Tell her it's impossible."

Now Chell defiantly understood. "I wish I could Caroline, but...I'm dead. She killed me" Chell said hopelessly.

Caroline said nothing for a few moments again; it was almost like she was holding back on saying something either very serious or potentially heart breaking, or even both.

Caroline turned to face Chell again, this time wearing a false smile and repressing what seemed to be a mix of strong, negative emotions—mostly sadness.

"Please forgive me, Chell?" Caroline suddenly asked out of nowhere, with what seemed to be tears forming in her eyes. Strange, it was almost as though the happiness she'd had just a few minutes previous had now vanished.

"Forgive you? Forgive you for what?" Chell replied gently, seeing that Caroline was obviously very troubled by something that Chell was unaware of.

"Everything..."

And then, Caroline was gone- Vanished, like she was never there. Then, the environment vanished—quickly fading to black again like before, although the pin point of light was no longer visible; instead there was just darkness and silent's. Chell felt strange, like she was falling a great height and she became sick at the thought that her body would hit the ground at any moment. Shutting her eyes seemed like the best option, so she did.

Then finally there was a violent impact...

Chell was laying on a hard surface and everything around her was distorted and blurry. Her head was spinning and her limbs were tingling with sharp pains, like she was being stabbed over and over again. Finally, after a few moments she awoke fully and found herself lying in a familiar looking relaxation chamber staring up at the plain white ceiling. Everything kept falling in and out of focus, and just as Chell thought the pain in her body was fading away, she was suddenly hit with a vicious wall of intense agony which caused her to uncontrollably scream as loud as she possibly could. She screamed non-stop for what must have been longer than 10 minutes, and during that time she questioned whether she was actually alive or not—surly she wouldn't be in pain if she was already dead?

Another sharp pain throbbed through her head, and she automatically sprung up on the bed in a sort of desperate attempt to somehow make it stop.

"Warning: You, *test subject name here*, are advised by the Aperture Science enrichment center associates to not leave your relaxation chamber bed. Please return to your bed, and you will be woken once you have obtained a more stable condition." Called the familiar voice of the Aperture Science announcer from an invisible speaker.

Chell decided to do as she was told, only because the pain she was experiencing was unbearable; she figured that she'd most likely been crushed after all because it seemed as though all the bones in her body had been broken, and everything she'd experienced after that was just some crazy, vivid dream.

She slowly lay back on her bed again and closed her eyes in attempt to relax. She felt incredibly sick from her aching limbs, and to make matters worse she suddenly began to notice the faint taste of blood which was present on the roof of her mouth and at the back of her throat.

The only main thing that Chell could think about was how on earth she'd survived, and why hadn't GLaDOS killed her when she realized she was still alive?

Soon, Chell fell back into a deep sleep once again; her plan on finding out the answers she desperately longed for would begin as soon as she'd awaken next...

Ending Author's Note: I know that was a huge chapter, and with that being the case I hope you all liked it. If any of you think I could improve it in any way please by all means let me know as I'm always welcome to criticism (good or bad), and I've had such a long break from this that I need your feedback to refresh me. I know there's probably a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes too with this being such a long chapter, so please try to look past them if you can and I'll be correcting them later. Hope you enjoyed it guys!