Work Text:
"Just go"
And just like that the elevator she hadn't even noticed she was standing in rumbled back to life. Chell instinctively tensed and moved to grip her portal gun only to realize she no longer had a portal gun. She must've taken it while she was knocked out. It wasn't like she could jump out of the elevator now, even with her boots the elevator had quickly ascended to the point where there were walls on all sides.
What was happening? Was she headed to some weird new test that didn't use portals? Was this a trap leading her to her death now that she was vulnerable? Or.. or was She actually telling the truth? Was this it? Freedom at last?
Mechanical chirps and a hum of machinery soon sounded through the air, leading Chell to believe her second theory. It was a trap! She ducked down, hiding as best as she could behind the small bars of the elevators. Only the turrets didn't shoot, they were.. singing? The tune reminded her of one she could distantly hear in one of the test chambers. If it weren't for that she wouldn't believe turrets could sing at all.
The elevator soon resumed it's ascent, leaving Chell to wonder what was happening for only a few seconds more until a new opening was revealed. A whole opera and choir of turrets continuing the song from the first turrets. The music swelled, filling the air, not a single bullet being shot. Chell found herself rising to her feet cautiously and slowly to get a better view. They were really singing. Warm tears began rolling down her cheeks. She was scared, tired, confused, and suddenly Chell couldn't remember the last time she had really heard music like this.
It was so beautiful.
The elevator continued on up, but she could still hear the music as concrete walls continued rushing by. It faded out as the elevator stopped with a hiss, and Chell could see a wavy aluminum door in front of her. Warm bits of light shone through the cracks. Was this it? Was this actually it? She could feel her heart beating faster, and for once not from a brush with death or more adrenal vapor entering her lungs, but with hope.
Chell pushed the door open with a loud creaking noise to reveal the outside surface world. Golden wheat stretched on for what had to be miles, and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. How long had it been since she saw real sunlight? Or heard something other than the hum of all that machinery? The sound still wasn't familiar though, what was that? She stepped out of the rusty shed and looked around, it looked like it was just the field until she turned around. There was a chain link fence, and beyond that a road with cars driving along. Only they weren't driving, they were hovering, like in those back to the future movies her dad would make her watch.
This wasn't the Michigan she knew, nor was it the Michigan she was expecting to see. With Her cryptic warnings Chell was expecting the world to be a bit more.. baren? Or some kind of post apocalyptic waste land at least. But no, instead there were towering skyscrapers with flashy advertisements and hovering cars and people all around.
Wanting to get as far from the shed as possible, Chell limped over to the chain link fence and climbed it as well as she could with her injured leg. It had to have sprained or something during that whole fight with Wheatley. Her arm wasn't exactly in the best condition either from being pulled into the vacuum of space and then dragged back by a metal claw. She made it over the fence, letting out a quiet hiss of pain from jumping down and landing on her injured leg.
It wasn't likely it would still be there, but before anything else Chell wanted to try and find her old home. Slowly, she limped down the sidewalk, not entirely sure where she was going. The plan was to keep going till she found a street sign that looked familiar. But right now nothing was familiar, the look of the city alone, but also all the smells, the sounds, even all the other plants looked foreign. There was no smell of gasoline when cars drove by, there were no hums of a motor engine, but there were still so many other sounds. Chell had to fight the urge to cover her ears, even if there was always noise in Aperture at least it was quieter than this.
She stopped walking, a knot tangled heavy in her gut. There was no at least with Aperture, it was hell there. She needed to stop thinking about things and just find somewhere to go. Keep moving, keep surviving, keep going.
Continuing her new journey, Chell resumed her limping forward until a couple stopped her. "Miss, are you alright?" they both wore a concerned expression, one of them looking at her up and down.
Chell only stared at them for a moment, not sure how to respond. Who were these people? Could she trust them? What were their motives? The test subject furrowed her brow, and resolved to not respond and continue limping away.
"Hey! At least let us take you to the hospital!"
There was no way in hell she was going to any hospital.
Chell was now in a hospital.
Despite her silence, every doctor and nurse still kept trying to talk to her and ask questions. The stubborn silence wasn't entirely a choice. Of course she didn't feel like talking to these people, but also her throat was incredibly dry, she wasn't sure if she could even hum if she wanted to. Luckily for her they never checked, they were all more focused on her leg. Turns out it was broken and they had to put it in a cast. Hopefully they weren't expecting her to pay for any of this, despite being stuck at work for what could've been decades she wasn't paid a single cent for it. Probably because all the other test subjects and staff were dead, but still.
The doctors cleaned her up, wrapped her leg up in a cast, then gave her a pair of crutches and a set of clean clothes. Along with a lot of stern talking, more questions. and a ton of paperwork. There was absolutely no way she was giving anyone even a hint of information about herself again, nuh uh, not happening.
Chell waited till she was finally left alone in the room before making her move. First reaching for her long fall boots, she couldn't wear both with the cast but surely one was good enough. She changed out of her jumpsuit in favor of the pair of shorts she was given, but kept her tank top on underneath the t-shirt with some orange cartoon cat on it she was given, and shoved her jumpsuit into the small plastic bag from the trash bin. She'd have to act quickly, there might be cameras in here. One look to her left revealed a window, the sky was now a light purple with the sun almost completely over the horizon. Clutching her boot and the bag with one arm, Chell used the other arm to grab her crutch and hobbled as fast as she could to the window. There was no time to struggle with opening it, she knew a thing or two about smashing things anyway, using the crutch to break the glass in the window.
Alarmed voices could be heard outside her room, the nurses must've heard her breaking the window. Chell looked over the edge, she couldn't have been more than a story high, that was nothing, she had jumped from higher than this before. Sucking in a deep breath for courage, Chell jumped, doing her best to land on her uninjured foot.
Falling was practically her profession at this point.
Even so, she barely managed landing with her one long fall boot, but not without falling to her side immediately afterwards. Shouts sounded from the broken window and Chell wasted no time lifting herself back up and moving as quickly as she could with a crutch and injured leg.
Where to go where to go..
She was actively running from something now, and there were no catwalks to guide her to a safe space. There was only so far she could go in this state. Chell looked around for something, anything she could use to her advantage here. Lucky for her it didn't take her long.
There's an alleyway! The dumpster!
A quick check to make sure no one saw and Chell was climbing into the dumpster. The smell was.. certainly something. It was like all those rotting old potato batteries times ten, but at least she was hidden. She stayed there in-between bags of rotting trash with the lid lifted slightly open until she saw the hospital staff return back towards the hospital, and then some. By the time she finally climbed back out it was almost light out again. But the moon was still visible in the sky, and she found her gaze lingering on it a little longer than necessary.
Just a rock in space, nothing special about it
Chell finally tore her eyes away to look at her clothes instead, they weren't looking anywhere near as pristine as before. So much for clean clothes then. Back to the mission, finding her old home and moving back in. Even if the streets had changed, it was still her home town, she knew her way around. Right?
The streets had a lot less people than during the day, which worked to her advantage. Nobody here would be of any significance to her, not after so many years. The likelihood of seeing anybody she knew was-
"Mel?"
Her voice came out broken and quiet, and it hurt her throat like hell, but Chell had finally spoken for the first time in decades. A surprise to her, and from the looks of it to Mel too. Because she was right there! A fellow test subject she once knew, dressed in dark jeans and a light blue shirt, with her blond hair cut short in a pixie style. They had been one of the first duos to participate in the cooperative testing incitive before it was scrapped.
Mel looked at her in shock, "How do you know my name..?" she questioned, taking a step away from the disheveled test subject and looking ready to bolt across the street.
A stab of hurt hit Chell's gut at those words, how could she not recognize her? She rubbed her throat for a second before attempting to speak again. "I-" she interrupted herself with a violent coughing fit, which was very much not helping with the pain in her throat.
Mel looked at Chell up and down, hesitating a moment before digging around her bag and handing her a water bottle. If she wasn't so dehydrated she could've cried right then and there. The cap was tossed into the gutter, easily forgotten and Chell began to chug the water.
"Woah woah! Calm down oh my god, you're gonna choke." Mel near shouted, panicked. Chell only waved her off before finishing the rest of the water. It brought some cold relief to her throat, and she felt a bit more confident with trying to speak again.
"It's me, Chell, from.." She couldn't finish, both from the pain of her throat and the pain of even thinking the name of that place. But no flash of recognition ever shone in Mel's eyes.
"Uh, no. No I don't, I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong person." Mel began walking again, quicker now than she was before in an attempt to get away from whatever was happening right now.
"Yes you do! We were test subjects together in Aperture!" Chell yelled as best she could, though it just sounded like her normal voice but scratchier. Still, it was enough to stop Mel once more. Chell stood there and watched as her former friend slowly turned around to face her once more.
"I was never in Aperture,"
Oh
"but an ancestor of mine was."
Oh
Against her better judgement, Mel had taken Chell back to her apartment.
"Alright first thing's first, the bathroom is right down there, I'll grab something you can change into. You really should go shower, you smell awful." Mel pointed to a door before typing into a small screen now projecting out of a band on her wrist
Chell didn't need to be asked twice, the years of being underground on top of hiding out in a dumpster overnight didn't exactly make her feel the cleanest. So she went into the bathroom, it was fairly average, nothing too unfamiliar. Though the mirror had weird lights inside that detailed things like the room temperature and the weather outside, and the toilet had a bunch of lights and buttons on it. Even so, the shower was probably the same, how could something so simple really change that much over the years?
She pulled back the curtain to reveal yet another panel with various buttons. Of course.
After her shower, which was only a little difficult with the cast, she was left alone in Mel's apartment. The blond needing to rush off as soon as possible to get to work, but not before telling Chell to rest her voice and quickly showing her a few things. They both decided it would be best if Chell didn't speak anymore until she had a few warm drinks. Turns out your voice isn't supposed to sound like gravel in a blender.
Chell took careful sips of her tea in-between writing down everything she knew. Mel had told her she could stay there but only if she knew the entire situation. So here she was, writing out the story of her journey, while omitting a few.. minor details, Mel didn't need to know about everything that went down.
She didn't trust her quite yet, even if she was related to her old coworker. The strange thing was that Mel seemed to trust having her completely alone in the apartment while she went to work, that or she was just in a rush. Not that Chell cared, it wasn't like she was going to blow up the place or anything. She had decidedly retired from destroying facilities, buildings, and the like.
But she did eventually finish her writing, and she was really curious about what a living space looked like these days. So she began exploring the apartment, it was fairly small, but still larger than her long term relaxation room. The kitchen and living room were connected, separated only by an island counter with a couple mismatched barstools. There was a brown couch facing what she assumed to be a modern tv and a small, dark brown coffee table. Past that there was a short hall connecting to the bathroom and another door she was told not to go through, likely Mel's bedroom.
Chell stared at the door for a moment before turning her focus back to the tv. It wasn't too different from the typical flat screens she knew from her own time, but there was less of a frame. It was like a thin sheet of translucent glass on a stand. Weird. There weren't even any dvd cases around, was Mel that dedicated to cable? But there wasn't even any noticeable wires connected to the glass tv. Maybe it was just a weird modern decoration after all.
She looked back to the door down the hall. It was one of the few rules she had been given before Mel rushed off to work. But like a cat to a box, she got up and opened the door anyway.
Beds have not changed in the time she had been stuck underground. Mel's bed was a twin sized mattress on a simple wooden frame painted white. Light gray and sky blue made up the colors of her sheets and blankets. On the other side of the small room there was a dresser with a big mirror attached similar but more advanced than the one in the bathroom. Photo's illuminated the corners of it, like the mirror served a dual purpose of being a screen. Chell tensed at the realization and decided she had enough of this room. She hurried back out as well as she could with her crutch and flopped back onto the couch.
What now? There's still a few more hours left until Mel comes back.
Chell stared at the ceiling as unease set into her gut. What was happening right now? She still had yet to figure out what year it was. Was this place still called Michigan? A familiar sense of panic sparked around her mind, would she even be allowed to leave this apartment when Mel came back? Or was she going to be subjected to some other weird kind of tests to figure out how humanity has changed in the past however many years. Was she going to be put in a museum as a living artifact? Or some lab to be tested on?
I have to get out of here
She struggled to stand back up, the world around her was spinning now. Everything was blurry and her head and chest hurt so bad. Before she could even make it a couple steps the front door opened and Mel came inside. "Hey I'm ba- woah, uh.." her tone shifted once she saw Chell's expression. "Is everything-"
Mel didn't get the chance to finish her sentence before Chell threw herself forward, knocking her aside as she made a mad dash towards the door. Unfortunately for Chell, she passed out right in front of it and everything went dark .
Mel stared at the former test subject, who was now currently passed out by her front door, and did her best not to panic. This is what she got for bringing some lunatic off the street into her home. She reached down to lift her back up and dragged her to the couch.
"Okay, first things first, lets figure out your past, Lady." she muttered, shuffling through the papers on her coffee table.
Something something, lived in Aperture for years, something something, friends with her relative and some girl named Bridgett, something something, neurotoxin, something something, everyone gone.
"hmm"
I killed Her once and escaped into the parking lot, but when I woke up I was back inside. I don't know how long I slept for.
There was two whole other pages after that, with little sketches in the margin. Turrets, portal guns, giant buttons, and moving panels, all things she had mostly only seen in history books. Something else caught her eye as well, a date, or just the year. Mel looked back to the unconscious woman on her couch. How old was she?? How could it even be possible for someone to be alive for that long? Nothing in any textbooks mentioned Aperture Science having cryogenic freezing technology. Mel read further.
I killed Her for the second and final time, hacked into an elevator and escaped back up to the surface. Now I'm here.
Somehow, the story didn't sound entirely right, but lined up enough with what she knew. Mel looked back to the girl, Chell, one more time before letting out a sigh. This was too much, she'd deal with it tomorrow. She flipped one of the papers so she could write her own message,
Chell,
I think you had a panic attack, you passed out so I just put you back on the couch. I'm going to bed now but I'm off tomorrow. We'll have all day to talk, or write I guess since you really should not be speaking right now. Seriously your voice sounds so broken, I can teach you how to make tea tomorrow if you don't already know. Okay, talk to you in the morning, please don't freak out or break anything.
-Mel
With that, she stood up with a stretch and made her way to the kitchen. She grabbed a cube from a box in one of her cabinets and put it in a bowl before running hot water from her sink over it. After a couple minutes the cube had rehydrated into a soup with various little vegetables floating around. Not wanting to make anymore dishes, Mel just drank the whole thing straight from the bowl before placing it back in her sink and walking to her room.
After changing into her pajamas, she looked to her dresser mirror. Pictures of her family and friends glowed on it's surface. There was one specific picture she wanted to look at real quick before she went to bed though. She double tapped through the different pictures until the specific one she wanted came into view, her great great great grandmother. Chell was right, they really did look the same. It was strange how she'd never realized before, they even had the same haircut.
Maybe Chell was being honest. Maybe she really was trapped down there for all those years. Mel shuffled over to her bed and flopped down. "2010, woah" she whispered to herself before finally dozing off.
There was no light when Chell finally woke up. No buzz or flicker of fluorescent lights, no automatized voice narrating her wakeup. She couldn't even remember falling asleep, but that was pretty normal for her at this point. Only this time, the room wasn't familiar. She wasn't on a bed or a relaxation chamber, and there were no logos or bulky cameras bolted to the walls. Where was..
Oh.
She had escaped.
This was Mel's apartment.
Chell was on her couch.
Still feeling slightly groggy, Chell sat up straight and noticed that the reason it was dark was because it was nighttime. She struggled to get to her feet with the cast and crutch. The window had a glowing decal on it displaying the time, 1:10 AM. Was everything glass also a screen in this year? Outside the window was a small balcony with a potted plant, so naturally she began to attempt to get the window open.
It must've made a lot of noise because Mel soon emerged from her room. "What the- dude it's 1 in the morning what the fuck are you doing?" she muttered, still clearly half asleep.
Chell motioned to the window.
"The balcony? You wanna go outside?"
She nodded.
"Alright, but it's gonna be cold, hang on."
Mel disappeared back into her room and came back with a couple blankets and a small box. She handed the blankets to Chell before opening the window and leading her outside. The balcony was small, but it was still enough for the two of them to sit comfortably. Chell stuck her legs through the large gaps between the railing bars and let them hang. Looking out to the city skyline, so full of glimmering lights that blocked out nearly every single star in the sky. Replacing them instead with different advertisements, most of the sky had been covered.
Most, except the moon.
"Did you read my note?" Mel questioned, snapping the test subject out of her thoughts as she reached to grab one of her blankets from Chell to wrap around herself. She shook her head, wrapping one of the blankets around herself as well. "Oh, well, it just said that I though you might've had a panic attack or something last night er- earlier today? Whatever, yeah, you like, passed out on my floor." she yawned, "I was gonna try and talk to you about it later, but we're both up now so," Mel shrugged, not bothering finishing her sentence. Choosing instead to open up the little box, pulling out a small white stick with a brown tip.
Cigarettes? Those were still a thing these days? Chell watched as her new companion lit the cigarette while keeping it balanced between her lips with one hand protecting the flame from the cool breeze.
It took a moment for Mel to notice her staring. "Hm..? Oh, want one?" the blonde offered another one of the sticks to Chell, "I don't smoke often, but it's nice to relieve a bit of stress."
The brunette hesitated a moment before accepting, taking the lighter and carefully recreating the action. She had never smoked before, she had been too young to ever try before going underground, and cigarettes weren't allowed in Aperture. The smoke they made would poison the air supply in there apparently, and the soot would muck up the equipment. Which was rich of them looking back, considering the whole 'All Aperture Science equipment can withstand temperatures of up to 4000 degrees kelvin' or whatever. Everything probably would've gotten covered in the ash of disposed test subjects anyway. Unless that was just a Her thing?
The first inhale burned her already hurt throat, Chell did her best to ignore it, but that only lead to her entering yet another painful coughing fit. To which Mel reacted thankfully very quickly. "Oh shit- wait hang on let me show you."
The two had gone to bed once more after their little balcony bonding time, with Chell feeling a bit more secure in her place. The idea of sleeping still made her uneasy, so instead the brunette laid on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. It was colder on the surface than it was in Aperture, it was probably Autumn, since there was no snow yet. She tugged on the new clothes she was wearing, it had been so long since she wore something this bulky.
When was the last time? It was hard to remember anything before her time in Aperture, even more so to remember anything before the last time she woke up and met Him. Wheatley, the real reason she escaped. As much as she wanted to deny it, she likely never would've woken up without him. Even if he did betray her in the end.
It didn't matter anymore, she achieved her goal, she escaped unscathed. Chell glanced at her leg that was currently in a cast. Mostly unscathed that is. She rolled over onto her side at stared at the weird glass tv. What was she even supposed to do now? What was left? Was this life now?
Chell continued her own worrisome spiral until she eventually finally fell asleep.
Sun shone through the windows, rectangles of light illuminating the room. Chell sat herself up, rubbing sleep from her eyes before getting up off the couch, keeping the blanket she was given wrapped around herself. Sleeping on the couch wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but anything was better than a relaxation chamber. It didn't take long for Mel herself to step out of her own room with a wave to Chell before entering the kitchen.
The floor tiles were as cold as ever, not that she had experienced a new summer yet. So it wasn't like the brunette had learned anything different just yet. Ever grateful for her own idea to sleep with socks on, keeping herself protected from the cold floor, Chell joined her friend in the kitchen, sitting on one of the barstools.
Two months had passed since she first re-arrived back onto the surface, the cast on her leg was finally gone. Her throat had also fully healed, so speaking was a lot easier. Despite that Chell still chose to remain silent more often than not. She was still paranoid that any technology around them might be listening. Even so, an ever present question continued to plague her mind, one that Mel had been avoiding this whole time.
So she finally spoke one of her rare sentences, she had waited long enough. "Mel?"
The blonde, hair more grown out now, didn't turn away from the counter where she was currently monitoring the device that was warming a couple slices of toast for the two. Only letting out a hum of acknowledgement.
"What year it this?"
Mel froze, still not turning around. She had danced around the answer for so long, Chell never tried asking outright. But she couldn't wait anymore, she had to know. "Mel?" she tried again, "Did you-"
"Chell are you sure you're ready for that?"
Chell furrowed her brow and stood up, "How do you know if I'm ready? I deserve to know." She shot back.
Finally, Mel turned around, worry painted across her face. "It's been.. a very long time Chell. I just worry that-" This time it was Chell cutting her off.
"What year is it?" she asked one more time, voice stern.
Finally, Mel let out a sigh and gave in, she couldn't keep it a secret any longer. "It's 3050, it's been just over a thousand years." she did her best to keep her tone as gentle as possible, but it hardly lessened the impact.
A thousand years.
She had been trapped underground for a thousand years.
Chell nodded and began to walk away, ignoring Mel's current attempts to call her back. It all sounded like the static buzz of a lazer in a paneled room anyway. She had to get out, but where would she even go? She had only been out to a couple places these past two months, and she now knew it wasn't like she was gonna be able to go to any only landmarks she recognized anyway. By now most of it had probably either been demolished or in ruins. So the former test subject did the next best thing she could think of and went out to the balcony.
It had remained mostly unchanged since her first time out here, only difference now was there was a layer of snow. Ever stubborn and too upset to worry about it right this moment, she voted to ignore it. Instead choosing to just stand on top of it and look out to the city. If Mel knew her lineage, did that mean there might be others that had relatives in Aperture? Relatives of people she knew?
Was there anyone else she even cared about?
Chell had hated everyone inside that facility aside from her two friends and her dad, and they were all long gone. The closest she had right now was Mel, new Mel, a descendant from the old Mel, her Mel. Not to mention Bridgett. Her heart hurt just thinking about that sweet freckled face. There was no denying her dad was dead, most if not all the scientists had died when She took over. But maybe other test subjects survived like she did, maybe they got out too.
"You didn't think you were the first, did you? No. Fifth. No, I lie: Sixth. Perhaps it's best to leave it to your imagination what happened to the other five."
There was no way she was the only one to survive and escape, statistically.
"You know what? I think we're well past the point of tasteful restraint."
She couldn't be the only one.
"They died. Horrifically. They all died, horrifically."
For the second time she could remember, Chell began to cry. There was not a single living person on this planet that could possibly relate to what she had been through. Not a single one that had even been inside that cursed facility. She began to shake from both the cold and her own sobs, wrapping her arms around herself. What was the point? Of any of this?
A small box on the balcony caught her eye.
Mel's cigarettes
Mel had told her they were to help relieve stress on occasion. The two had only smoked together a couple of times since that first night. After a rough day at work for Mel or after a hard night for Chell. The brunette only hesitated for a heart beat before reaching for the pack and the lighter. The day had only just started, and it had started with a bomb. She had earned this one.
Even on her deathbed Chell would never admit how many tries it took her to light that cigarette. In her defense she had only done it a couple times by herself, and she was shaking. She did eventually get it right, and took a few drags. The streams flowing from her eyes finally slowed, and a warmth filled her chest. It really was smooth after a couple hits.
Chell took another look out on the glimmering city all covered in snow. She was alone out here, alone except for New Mel. In some ways this was no different than before. The puzzles were different, but the solution was the same. She just had to keep living.