Chapter Text
Time was difficult to comprehend.
After so many years cooped up in the laboratory– as well as the chemicals specifically designed to distort time still in her blood stream– the cycle of day and night meant nothing to her. However, she didn’t care how long or how brief she had been trying. The shack wouldn’t open, no matter how hard she tried.
Chell had sat in the dirt facing the door to her supposed freedom for what felt like days upon her release. “SHOCK WARNING; ELECTRIC SHED” was practically engraved on the back of her eyelids. Staring wouldn’t do a thing. Chell had gotten so used to having advanced technology around, she didn’t know what to do with the limited resources around her. Sure, she had the beat-up companion cube, but she couldn’t bear to damage it more in any way. It was the only thing besides the clothes on her back and the scars littering her body that served as a reminder that the tests were all real. That SHE was real. Chell missed her. Sure, she had damaged Chell beyond repair and threatened her aplenty. Maybe it was a bad case of stockholm syndrome, but Chell couldn’t help but miss her only friend.
GLaDOS had been the only constant in Aperture besides the long-fall boots. Even then, the boots had evolved throughout her stay. Though, like GLaDOS, the boots were taken from her as she was given her supposed “freedom”. Maybe the two were more similar than she had been giving them credit for. During her first trial in Aperture, the long-fall “boots”-- officially called “Advanced Knee Replacements” unbeknownst to Chell– were bolted into the tibia of both her legs on either side of her shin. The second, most recent instance, those boots had been upgraded to be removable. Chell couldn’t remember when the change had happened. Somewhere between her isolation and when she had destroyed GLaDOS. Or, as GLaDOS would have referred to it; when Chell murdered her.
In the first trial, she was completely unable to separate herself from GLaDOS. Her voice was everywhere she went, following her along with the cameras mounted on every wall. The second time was different. GLaDOS was dead for a good while, for starters. Additionally, Wheatley was in charge for a majority of Chell’s journey through the dead portions of Aperture. GLaDOS joined her only halfway through- as a potato. Not removable like the boots, no, but still less attached. Certainly not bolted into her, metaphorically or not. Chell looked down at her legs and traced the rough circular scars on the outside of her shin. The edges looked like stars, similar to those now glowing above her.
When had the sun set?
She must’ve completely missed it. Clearly the stars had been out for a while with how dark the sky was. Chell sighed and moved her gaze to the door firmly shut beside her. The skin on her knuckles was split and bloody from the hours she spent the previous day desperately banging on the worn metal door. There were crimson marks of her blood dabbled across the surface of the steel, taunting her attempts at getting the door to open. Despite her lack of fatigue, she slumped against the cool wall and leaned against the companion cube next to her. ‘I’ll shut my eyes for a bit, maybe try and get into a regular sleeping routine’ was the last thought in her mind as she drifted off into some semblance of sleep.