Re-Entry

I do not own Portal or any of it's characters, the rights to Portal and all of it's characters are owned by Valve.

Far above the earth's atmosphere slowly drifted two Aperture Science personality cores. Both had been stranded in space for several hours after they were shot through a portal to the moon.

"-and that one looks like a pot." Wheatley had many regrets about what he had done for his first few moments in space, how he betrayed his best friend, tried to crush her into the ground, trapped her and forced her through dangerous tests, and on top of that, had the nerve to tell her to let go of him when they were being sucked through the portal on the moon. He was sorry for what he had done, he had been bossy... And monstrous. But, feeling bad about it wasn't going to change anything, and he knew that. He was now simply trying to get past it, make the best of being in space, pointing out planets, stars, meteorites, and the sort with the space core.

"Big dipper." The space core said in a less than excited voice. His first few moments in space were his best he ever had in his life. Then he realized that space just wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and he just wanted to go back to earth.

"Right, right. Oh look! Another meteorite!" Wheatley exclaimed seeing a space rock soaring in their general direction. The space core glanced over, kind of stunned, the core that had become frustrated with his excitement in space was now getting excited about every other thing that passed. Wheatley looked on as it came closer and closer, growing bigger in his optic until he realized that this meteorite was a lot bigger than the ones he'd seen before.

"Uh oh..." Wheatley mumbled to himself. His optic whirred around his case trying to get himself moving, finding himself unable to. In the chaos of it all Wheatley suddenly heard a small computerized voice that he found all to familiar. The one that kept nagging to him about how the facility was about to explode.

"Projectile approaching, activate emergency thrusters?" It asked.

"Yes, yes! Hurry up!" Wheatley never knew he had those. Would have been nice to know before he got disengaged for 'Her' body. As a small pair of thrusters extended from the sided of his casing. He flipped his optic back seeing space core not even looking at the oncoming meteorite.

"Watch out!" The space core flipped his optic around as Wheatley had, with his 'brow' slanted, before the meteorite plowed into the side of him, carrying him toward earth at an incredibly high rate of speed. Wheatley put his thrusters in reverse and started chasing the meteorite. Soon finding himself next to it, Wheatley began to call out to his only friend left in the universe.

"Hey! Are you alright mate?" He called out. For a moment, silence, then a scream. Not of pain, but excitement.

"EARTH? EARTH!" The space core exclaimed. Wheatley averted his optic toward the blue and green planet that he was now barreling toward. Wheatley thought for a moment. He wanted the chance to get to her, apologize... This may be his only chance. He quickly searched through his utilities to find a grappling hook or something to latch on to the meteor with, finding nothing of the sort, Wheatley had an idea. A very dangerous and stupid idea. He got into a firm position behind the hurdling space rock and reversed his optic, leaving his plug-in port facing it. He kicked the thrusters into overdrive and rammed into the meteorite. A few of the ports broke off and others bent, except one, one stuck into the rock and hooked in.

"I'm on my way... I'll find you." He whispered to himself hoping that the test subject... No... She was more than a test subject. She was a friend. His best friend... Hoping that his best friend would be would find it in her heart to forgive him. Regardless if she did or not, he WOULD find her and he WOULD apologize. The space rock began to rumble and heat up as it entered the earth's atmosphere. Wheatley extended the thrusters that he now knew how to use and used them to attempt to slow the meteorite's decent. Not only did it not work, but both the thrusters ripped off, quite painfully as well. He attempted to look around but with the port attached directly to the back of his optic, he was unable to see a lot of anything, other than a dark blue sky and a few other meteorsites. Then Wheatley felt it, the meteor was beginning to burn up in the atmosphere. Despite the ability to survive in temperatures of up to 4000 degrees kelvin, the pain was no less different. It was already enough that he was designed with emotion, but what kind of sadist builds a robot that can feel pain? Wheatley didn't have time to dwell on this thought at the Space core flew around the meteorite and flew in front of him, apparently free from the meteor.

"Hey! Wait! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me!" Wheatley screamed as loud as he could, but the Space Core simply disappeared into the sky with his thrusters. Wheatley had no idea what to do the computerized voice chimed something in about his altitude but before it finished Wheatley could feel a sudden jolt of pain and hear the sound of an impact before going offline.

It had only been a few hours since Chell had escaped from Aperture, she was no longer a test subject, no longer 'subject name here'. She was Chell, and with her freedom, ended her mute habits. While she had been in that facility, she chose not to speak so she wouldn't dignify her surroundings with a response, but now that she could actually enjoy her surroundings (regardless how endless and repetitive a massive field of tall grass was), she found the will to speak again. However, she still had no one to talk to. Her Companion Cube no longer spoke to her either, although that could just be her mind leaving it's somewhat insane and paranoid state, or it could be mad at her for throwing it into that incinerator. Chell tried not to think about it beyond that point, it just brought back more bad memories of that horrid place. A rain had picked up for a short while, much to Chell's enjoyment, she had a chance to wash off the gels and other unsorted filth from her clothes, washing away the science. Not surprisingly , she planned to get a new one should she find civilization. A few more hours later night fell. She sat on the Cube looking up at the stars. She was unsure why, but as she stared at the specs of light that decorated the night sky, all she could think about was the little blue eyed personality sphere that she'd launched into space only a few hours prior. Part of her missed him, just a little bit. Another part wanted to see him come crashing into the ground in a flaming ball of scrap. Why? Why had he tried to kill her? They'd been through so much together, before he was plugged into the body of that homicidal AI the time she spent with him was the most enjoyable in all the time she'd been in Aperture. As she thought about this she noticed a meteor shower was heading right over her. She'd never seen one before, although she'd heard of them from that computerized voice when she went though those first few test chambers for the second time.

"Hey! Wait! Grab me! Grab me! Grab me!" Chell couldn't believe what she had just heard. Did she just have some sort of hallucination? She watched the meteors crash into the ground behind her. She slowly and cautiously approached the area they had landed, a few of the space rocks still hot from their entry. In the middle one that seemed to have crumbled apart on impact was a familiar shape. A small, metal orb with handles on it. It was Wheatley. How on earth did he make it to the ground in one piece? Chell grabbed his handles and picked him up. The two metal panels that simulated his eyelids were shut, but she could still hear a steady hum of the many little bits of tech that kept him running. This little ball of emotion... No, she could not let the old times get to her. He had betrayed her and he didn't deserve to look her in the eyes again. She put him down right back where she'd found him and began walking away, picking the Cube back up on her way.

"You shouldn't leave him back there." A light, sympathetic voice spoke up. Chell had heard the voice a long time ago. It was the voice of the Companion Cube she now held under her arm. She looked down at it, as if not surprised by the Cube's little outburst.

"And why is that?" She asked it, not with her mouth, but with her mind. She'd never vocally spoke to the Cube in test chamber 17, but when it talked, it was like it could hear what she was mentally saying.

"He's your friend, he deserves a second chance." Companion Cube pleaded. Once again memories flooded back to her from test chamber 17. When she reached the end of the chamber, the Cube spoke in the same tone, she never really heard what it said when she stood holding it above the incinerator, but the tone was a quiet yet demanding one. Chell stopped walking, releasing a long drawn out sigh. Chell didn't want to give him a second chance. An eternity of loneliness was the best Wheatley deserved, but her faithful Companion Cube was never wrong about anything before. She turned back, put the Cube on the ground, and walked back to Wheatley. He would get ONE chance to redeem himself, so when he woke up he had better choose his words carefully.

Hey everyone, I'm sort of new to writing and this is my first story. So uh... Yeah, reviews would be nice, tips on how to improve my writing skill (For lack there of) and whatnot.