The Rise 2

You followed the directions of Wheatley. To your knowledge, he knew what he was doing. You felt kinda bad though, you didn't even try your friend's idea, but you wanted out as soon as possible.

"Alright turn right-wait no left! Differently left"

You nodded and sauntered to his direction. You listen to the clanking of Oracle's legs and the thumping of your feet hitting the ground. You didn't know what will happen when you go up to GlaDOS empty-handed.

"So..." You started, trying to force your mind to change topics, "So, I never got the full story..."

"Story of what?" Wheatley asked.

"Of the test subject that escaped."

"Oh..." He went quiet "well...I was there"

"Oh?"

"Yeah," it sounded like he was trying to figure out what words he should choose to say, "She was a brilliant woman, like a fox her-a brain-damaged fox.-"

"She had brain damage?"

"It's not uncommon for someone to get brain damage when in suspension for as long as she was."

"Interesting"

"She also couldn't talk-so its nice to know one survivor talks."

"But how did she escape?"

"I...uh I don't know...I didn't even know she got out..."

"He was cast out before she was released..." Oracle uttered.

You glanced over at Oracle.

"To your left," Wheatley instructed. You listened and to your surprise, you saw another lift.

"Wow, I didn't think it'd be this easy to find the elevator. Thank you, Wheatley!"

He was silent for a second, "...no one has ever thanked me before"

"Really? That's kinda sad..."

"It is, isn't it?"

You nodded, "Don't worry, I'll return the favor soon enough..." You stopped for a moment, "Orb?"

Nothing. You assumed she could be sleeping or something but going through this maze with Wheatley did take a while. You just notice how quiet she's been, not even a peep, which was odd for her. You tugged on the straps that kept her on your back. She was differently still there.

"Spade? You okay?"

"..." A slight sigh was heard from her, "Yeah..."

"You've been quiet.."

"I'm fine, (y/n)."

That was the first time she called you by your name in a while. Something was definitely up. "No, you aren't. Common tell me what's wrong"

"Frustrated that's all. I care about you, you're my first friend in this facility and you're being so reckless-what if Wheatley were to bring you to your death-"

"Whoa, there, mate! Don't be going around making accusations like that!" Wheatley said defensively.

"I not saying you did! Anyways where was I-right! You jumped into a tube excepting it to not kill ya! I know you got to take risks but...but" Spade shuffled uncomfortably, "I don't want to lose the one friend I have...oh uh-and you Oracle! You're cool too! Still my friend...I just knew (y/n) longer..."

Oracle seemed to understand and didn't speak up to ruin the tender moment.

You took a deep breath and unstrap Spade so you could look at her in the eye. "I'm sorry..."

Spade's oval-shaped pupil gazed into your eyes. "It's...fine, friend, " she looked down, breaking eye contact, "Just please be more careful. You have 3 friends right here that care for you"

"Four! Actually!" Wheatley butted in.

"No, I counted you"

"Oh, right of course...ahem..."

You smiled and giggled slightly, "this is...so cheesy"

"Eh?"

"This whole thing is corny...but, " you pat Spade, "but thank you. It means a lot."

She gave you a happy look before you swung her back on your back.

"Let's get going then," Wheatley spoke, awkwardly signaling you guys to go into the elevator. You stood there as the lift took you to your destination.

You leaned against the wall and had meaningless conversations.

"Alright, if the suits not it, then say you couldn't find it! Brilliant!" Wheatley plotted as the lift near GlaDOS's room.

"We feel pain..." Oracle whined from next to you.

"Don't worry," you smile, "I'll make sure you aren't hurt."

":)"

Her room came into view. You held your breath like if you didn't it'd all disappear. You tried to leave your mind blank, you figured if you didn't think of anything then you could calm down sooner. It didn't work.

"Hey, you're back," she spoke calmly, "and you manage to find the Aperture Space Uniform."

You kept the air in your lungs and didn't let go of it.

"Good, I didn't think you'd pull it off."

You exhaled in relief. "Good job, friend!" Spade whispered over to you.

The whole room started to shake and shudder. Bits of the ceiling slowly started to reveal the moon. You had to emit, it was a beautiful night. It felt the first you saw the stars, and it felt magical. You didn't know why little dots on the sky could cause such an entrancement.

You finally realized what was going on. You remembered the space tests Spade had spoke about. GlaDOS must have gotten the space panels working. You were going to space.

"There should be a red button on the left sleeve-if there is no, return the suit and get a new one," GlaDOS advised.

You checked and thankfully it was there. You weren't about to do that search again.

"Please press the button."

You did so. Suddenly it became easier to breathe and a rush of warm air hit you. It felt like a nice summer day.

"Good. As you might have figured out, our next tests will be taking you up onto the moon."

"How did you get the funding for this?" You asked blankly.

"We didn't. Now, if you will, please place a portal directly onto said moon above you."

You hesitated, what if there is no way back down. Will she force you to work on the moon forever. As cool as space was you weren't going to live the rest of your life there.

Some strange off-white colored walls surrounded you so all that was in sight was the sky directly above you. You puffed out. There was no use of running now. You carefully aimed at the moon and waited, unsure if it hit at all.

"Just remember to hold on tight to Oracle and I...dont want us getting separated, don't you know?" Spade assured you.

You nodded before aiming the gun directly in front of you. You took one final breath of Earth's air. When the portal hit, you were sucked into the vast plane of space. You held on to your friends as tight as you could.

You expected immediate death. You were ready for your demise. The end of this story you called life. Your eyes opened up. The warm summer air was still against your face. You didn't even realize they were closed. Your eyes weren't the only thing that was closed though. The portal you took to get here disappeared.

"Shit." You uttered.

You took a peek around, and you were there. On the moon. Small black orbs laid across the surface of the moon and thick blankets of platforms faced all sorts of areas.

It reminded you of those old tests you took. Abandon, and almost unused. What gave the GlaDOS the idea of bringing you here anyways. Did she just want you out of her way? She would've just killed you if that were the case though.

You hated getting constant questions. Ever since you woke up your mind wouldn't just leave you alone.

"Here at Aperture, we are urged to ensure that our testers aren't dead."

Oh, so GlaDOS can speak to you from Earth.

"If you survived the trip, please speak-since you are able to."

"Uh..." You started, "I think I'm fine."

"Good. Now testing can begin shortly. Please activate the gravitational chambers."

You looked around and saw a button, around the size of your hand, sitting nearby. You were lucky you landed in this area of the moon-or maybe GlaDOS knew where you'd hit. You didn't care at the moment. You were fine as long as you were alive.

You pressed the button. Immediately you fell onto your face, and the ground shivered. All you heard was the noises of the rumbling ground. That is until you heard a couple of loud thuds.

After a bit of the moon-quake, you saw some podiums around you. They emitted this red glow, at first you thought it was because of blood on your face but the fall wasn't too bad.

"Thanks for taking the fall, friend...but uh you alright?" Spade asked in concern.

"Yeah...nothing I can't handle," you smiled.

"I heard some crashing-we should investigate...you think it might be some meteors-or aliens! With two heads! One is the evil twin-"

You chuckled and picked yourself up. "Yeah let's find these 'aliens'."

"They might be dangerous...be careful"

"I will."

You pushed yourself forwards on the unknown ground. The gravity around those podiums seemed to be like the gravity on earth, but your legs felt like you just came off of a trampoline. That feeling never left you.

"IM ON THE MOOOOON!" A semi-familiar voice called from the distances. You remember it faintly. It was robotic and hyper. Soon whoever had shrieked about the moon came into sight. He was also a core. He looked much like the fact core in terms of model and color, but his eye was different. There were little lines forming a yellow circle in the depts of his eye. This was assumingly his robot pupil.

Sadly he seemed pretty banged up from the crash, but that didn't damage his spirit. He gasped when he saw you, "Hey! Hey! Guess what! Guess what!"

"What?" You questioned softly to the orb.

"We're in space!"

You giggled at the little guy. You found his enthusiasm cute and the way he squirms around like a kid who downed a bunch of sugar being forced to sit down entertaining.

"You like being in space little guy?"

"Yes! yes! I like space!"

You giggled and picked him up. He kept moving around just as he did on the ground.

"Hello?" You heard another familiar voice echo from the vasts of the moon. "Is anyone there?-oh and if someone is there could you pick me up? I..heh...can't move."

It was Wheatley! You finally realized what happened. When you amplified the gravity you drew in some things that were floating around the moon. Oops.

You made your way over to his voice. Thankfully for him, he talked enough that it made it easy to find him.

He was another core. It was no surprise, he exposed that in the first sentence you heard from him. He looked more banged up than the poor little Space Core. In fact, you were impressed he was still surviving. He looked very similar to the Space Core as well, except he had one big blue light instead of any designs like the others you saw before him had.

"Oh! Oh! You-uh"

"(Y/n)."

"(Y/n)! Right! Would you pick me up,  please? it would be really great if you did."

Your hands were full. You held your portal gun with one hand and your space buddy with the other. "Uh...hold on." You looked at both of your hands, decided what to put down. Then you mentally slapped yourself in the face. The portal gun had a pickup function. You fumbled around and was able to hold all your friends at once.

This wasn't going to work. You looked around for anything to help you with your luggage and your eyes landed on Oracle.

"Can you do me a little favor?"

The turret nodded with its whole body.

You smiled at this and used the straps you had to make Space and Wheatley a little purse sashes each. Spade now hung from your side and Wheatley hung around Oracle with one of her guns holding him there.

"This might work out, " you smiled at your handiwork to the cores' dismay. "Alright," you faced the testing area. "Let's get to work."