Wheatley, in the moments when his motors whirred so fast that they were hot; when his body tried to repair itself fast enough to outrun the shutdown sequences, realized that he didn't actually want to die. He thought he did and he convinced himself that it was just what had to happen; but as he laid there, the world turning fuzzy and unfocused, a creeping fear twisted up his spine and pushed its fangs into the backs of his eyes. The fear of death. He felt small, as though he was sinking into the thirsty ground like rainwater. And he felt alone. Logan was there, gripping his hand so hard that he thought it would break; yet he felt seemed to be miles away and speaking in a language that Wheatley couldn't understand. It felt utterly dreadful. He just kept his eyes fixed on Logan's, no matter how far away they felt, to distract himself from the fear the continued to boil in his stomach.

()()()()()()

They didn't know each other when they got out. They didn't know anything when they got out. When everything had ended and the smoke cleared, She purged everything that she had no use for. Anything that didn't benefit her or her goals was discarded in a thousand different ways. One of those ways was throwing things onto the surface just to see what would happen to them. She put the cores out on purpose. Partly because she didn't need them anymore- in her opinion she never needed them in the first place- and partly because she pitied them. She thought they were like birds in a cage, wanting to fly free. When they reached the surface they highly disagreed, but it was hard to change her mind. Ten total. The only ten that weren't destroyed after He blew up an incredible portion of the only place they had ever known.

Five of them died within the first two weeks. Some of them shut themselves down, others were mauled by wild animals or kidnapped by scavengers looking for parts to sell. The other five only survived because they could run fast enough and could hide well enough to avoid the same fate. It never got any easier, but they stayed as close to each other as they could. They gave each other names, besides Rick who had rested on that name years ago because he thought it gave him an edge. Tiger- because he had yellow eyes (it was Rick's idea to call him that). Connie- because she knew an employee named Connie 200 years ago- but nobody can really be sure how long they've been alive. Dave- it was simple; not David, just Dave. And Ryan- for no other reason other than he liked how it sounded.

They were all victims of what happened in some way or another. Whether they were directly involved or not, they all had a story to tell. At first, nobody believed Rick's part in it all. They thought he was lying when he told them that he was pinned with the human woman against the villain. Against his will, but still, he was there. He saw what happened with his own two eyes, he felt the fires, the adrenaline. Nobody was convinced. Except for Tiger.

Rick spoke of those moments with vigor. It excited him so much to go back and see those moments replay in his head. But Rick is not the smartest. He'll say he is but it's not really the truth. The other five always wondered why he would speak so highly of such an insidious event that tore their homes and their lives apart. It was in his coding to love the thrill of danger and none of them could wrap their heads around it. And he believed that it was the highest point of his life, until about two months later.

"Rick," Connie started one night. Their situation was complicated. They moved from town to town, hotel to hotel with whatever money they could steal. "what you're saying doesn't make any sense." They had gotten into a fight. Rick was going on one of his tirades again. He did this now and again, saying things like how much he missed of the action and that the rest of them didn't understand because they weren't there. Dave and Ryan, thankfully for them, had to rent out another room because the manager only allowed three people per room.

"No, it definitely does make sense." Rick barked, glaring at Connie from across the room. "It was incredible. And I felt great."

Connie glared back just as intensely. "You're in denial."

"About what, exactly? About how it was the best time of my life? Because I am not denying that."

"You're in denial about how She and the human used you and the others for their own gain." Connie didn't want to say it, but enough was enough. She couldn't let him go on like this anymore.

But Tiger, who sat on the floor next to Rick, met Connie's eyes. "Don't, Connie. Don't say stuff like that."

"I'm not just saying stuff. It's the truth. And then they left you behind to die." She could feel herself growing bitter.

"Take that back." Rick stiffened. Tiger could hear the other man's motors whirr faster.

"No. I'm not taking it back. You're delusional and obviously can't see what really happened."

Rick seemed preoccupied. "You don't understand. You weren't there."

"Jesus, Rick! I didn't have to see the surface of the damned moon to know what happened!" She took a breath and composed herself a moment. "All of us were affected. Wheatley destroyed almost everything. GLaDOS doesn't give a shit about us."

"They didn't leave me to die." Rick 's voice wavered. "And She does give a shit about us because she got rid of him to save us."

"Maybe she did, but it didn't matter because she just threw us out here to suffer for her own enjoyment anyway." Connie couldn't help but think about it. Talking about it made her feel even worse. And she could tell by the way his eyes were latched onto the carpet like a lifeline, that it was finally getting to Rick too.

Tiger leaned closer to Rick, looking back to see Connie deflate. It seemed like every single thought he could ever think was going through his head. It was hard to watch him begin to call into question a story he knew so well. Perhaps he held onto it for comfort, to distract himself from the horror of it. Perhaps he really was in denial.

Rick stood, and without a word, walked out of the hotel into the rainy street.

"She has no idea what she's talking about," He said to himself, tucking his hands in pockets and watching his breath in the cold air. But something in his head kept buzzing. He shook himself but it didn't stop. She's right, he could hear behind the drone. She's absolutely correct.

"She's-" He choked. Behind his eyes, he could see it all play out. GLaDOS tells Rick to copy his coding into the mainframe of the facility. She tells the idiot who thinks he's smart and the one who doesn't shut up about space to do the exact same. She never speaks to them again after that. The human doesn't say a word either. And while his back was turned, the air was sucked out of the room and he was being thrown in a different direction. Nothing. They didn't do a thing to help the three cores, now suddenly only two. Not a hand to lift them from the ground, not a question if they were okay. Rick remembers being in pain.

"She's lying." he finally got the words out but they felt wrong. He hears the door open.

"Rick?" Tiger's voice is low, careful. "Do you want to talk?" Rick doesn't respond. Tiger was always the one to check in on people. He checked on Rick a lot.

Rick can feel his internal workings running ten times as fast as they should be. His hands shake as he runs them through his hair to try to calm himself. He knows Tiger can see it.

Before Rick can put his hand back into his pocket, Tiger grabs it. He holds it for a moment, eyes cast to the sidewalk. "I'm sorry," is all he says.

A.N.: This chapter is a little short. I actually went back and replayed Portal 2 (because I hadn't played it since like… 2015) and I forgot how much I loved uuhh everything about it. Anyway, the next chapters will be longer! Thank you for reading!