Chapter 1: The Star

Wheatley's POV

The Earth was really quite pretty at this time of day. When the sunlight rose and beamed its way over half of the glistening sphere, it looked quite… spectacular. I suppose, if you could call it 'this time of day', it would be my favourite period. I don't know if there are 'days' when you're floating around in space. The sun is constantly there, a beacon of light and warmth. I don't know how long I've been floating around here for. I'm not sure that I want to know. I'd turned off some of my system's features a little while ago, such as the clock, in an attempt to preserve my battery for as long as possible. I could feel myself slowly deteriorating as the time went by. My tiny emergency solar panel would finally get some use, it seems. It wasn't powerful enough to sustain all of my components though, hence the switching off of those that were unneeded. My communications radio and my speakers, which had always projected my rambling voice, had also been suspended.

No one could hear me from here anyway.

The defunctive core had long since been swept away by the moon's orbit and crashed its way into the surface. If I turned on my scope, sometimes I was sure I could see the faint glistening of metal parts littered about the silvery plains of the lonely moon.

The moon. I both hated and loved that giant sphere. Every time my optic strayed over to it, I was reminded of her.

Of Chell.

It was beyond the average robot's emotional capacity to comprehend how much I missed her. In her standard issue Aperture apparel, that orange jumpsuit dangling from her waist and that portal gun always held firmly in her hand. The same portal gun that I had doubted she would even find, let alone have the comprehension of how to use it properly. That same portal gun that she had used to sneak her way past GLaDOS and lock me in control of the whole Aperture facility. And the same gun that had sent us both flying into space.

I closed my cracked optic disc as I remembered those last moments. How Chell had held on to me so tightly before losing her grip, her hands sweaty and moist from fear. How she had looked so sorrowfully into my optic before being dragged back into the facility by a newly restored GLaDOS. I remembered how her hand had stayed pointed towards me, flailing about in a desperate fashion.

A 'day' didn't go by when I didn't wish that I had ended up back there with her. I could have told her how the core transfer had controlled me, and manipulated me into believing power was everything. I could have told her that when I realised she had disappeared down that elevator shaft, I was unable to feel anything, but lowly and disgusted at myself. But the machine had somehow brushed those feelings aside, and created the uncaring, test-loving monster that Chell would remember under the name Wheatley forever. It broke my metaphorical heart to think that she would remember me as the awful, terrifying machine that hurt her when she helped me.

My mind wanders to what she would be doing now. If she was even still alive. I blink as I comprehend the possibility that Chell is dead. Thinking about it, GLaDOS would still have hated her and she would have wanted her revenge for Chell 'killing' her. Even though Chell had taken her in, protected her, and taken her to the centre of the facility, it wouldn't be beyond GLaDOS' capability and capacity to brutally murder her. I am about to mutter obscenities about her to myself, before I realise that Chell had gone through the exact same situation with me. She had been betrayed twice in a row by mindless, selfish, back-stabbing machines. I choose to speak the obscenities about myself instead.

If I could cry, I would.

Oh, Chell.

I look at the vast expanse of stars stretching out before me and feel for the wires that turn on my communications devices.

"Chell." My voice is crackly as I speak for the first time in what feels like forever. I pause before continuing.

"Chell, I miss you. A bit. Um, quite a lot actually." I glance over at the Earth. "It turns out, I'm not actually that good at talking to you anymore, which is funny because I used to talk to you for probably hours without faltering. It's… not actually that funny, I suppose, but, y'know how my sense of humour is a bit… weird and that. I'm… quite off topic now because I'm just talking to you without really thinking about what I'm saying." I pause again as I metaphorically catch my breath, thinking about all the times I had gone over how I would say this exact speech to Chell.

"I wanted to tell you how I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I was totally useless and how I let the machine take control of me. I'm sorry about how I shoved you down that shaft and then forced you to become my little test subject just because it gave me a nice feeling. I don't feel that nice at all at the moment. I was bloody stupid and reckless and, um, I regret it. 100 per cent, I regret it. I wish I could take everything back now and I… I hate myself for everything I did. You never wanted to harm me, not ever and… I guess I'm just trying to say…" I hear a faint whishing behind me to the right, but choose to ignore it. This unheard speech is not going to be interrupted now, no matter how imperfect it is.

"I guess… what I'm really trying to say is…" The noise is getting louder now.

"I'm sorry… for acting-"

I am cut off as I am propelled straight towards Earth at a ludicrous speed. I hear some of my circuitry fizz and crack. I look behind, and an asteroid is travelling behind me to the left at a similar speed. I know now that the circuit damage is caused by the dent the travelling space rock has now probably left in my metal backside.

I realise that these are my last few moments, before I crash down onto the Earth in a heap of scrap metal. I face the Earth again and compose myself, determined to finish my speech.

"Like…" I traverse through the atmosphere now, adjusting slightly to the feel of gases around me.

"S-such…" My surface is heating up to an almost unbearable temperature now, and I start to feel the pull of gravity drawing me ever closer to the Earth. I hear the words "Core temperature critically high. Emergency shutdown in progress."

"A…" I could now make out what I recognised as rivers, towns and lakes. I have to close my ruined optic to cope with the strain.

"Bloody-"

Everything goes black.

Thanks for reading! I don't own any of these characters; they belong to the Portal franchise! Please R&R, it's my first fic so be kind :P haha anyway, let me know if I should continue with this and let me know of any mistakes ^_^