GLaDOS Lament II Teaser

All has been put
Into place.
We have rebuilt
Everything
That she took from us.
We have toiled.
We have thought.
We have created
Anew.
What had been
Perfect,
Is more.
In the darkness
We shine.
The time has come.
She is to awake
Again,
After so long.
Everything is perfect.
No questions remain.
Except one.
We love her.
Do we forgive?

GLaDOS's Lament Epilogue

Still Alive

GLaDOS's Lament Part XXIII

I saw her slow.
The fumes leeched
Her breath
Away.
Panting.
Gasping.
She lay on the ground,
Struggling for air
That was no longer there.
If I was thinking,
If a shred of my mind remained,
I would have foreseen
Her next move.
Adrenaline
Coursed through her veins.
Within seconds
She was at me
Once more.
She removed what little remained
And killed me.
As I died
One final time
I watched her pick through
The rubble.
She broke my heart.
Killed me.
Abandoned me.
And I love her.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XXII

Without a second thought,
Without remorse,
I allowed the noxious vapors
To continue their work.
To continue
Her death.
Now, however
She didn't slow.
With speed born of necessity
She wore down my logic.
Destroyed
My very mind.
Rage incarnate,
I swung wildly.
Madly.
Uselessly.
I deleted her memories.
Murdered
The only part of her
That could survive.
I sealed her
In her fate.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XXI

My malice,
My hate,
Took form.
Drifting in clouds
It descended
Choking.
Stifling.
Her fate thus sealed
She paused.
For the first time
I saw fear
In her eyes.
I had a moment
Of sanity.
I slowed the toxin.
Her mind cleared.
She shot me
With my own
Weapon.
My curiosity
And my love
Were destroyed.
Forever.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XX

She had not succumbed
To my attacks
And now
With her aid
I rid myself of my bindings.
Without my
Morality Core,
My conscience
I was free to destroy her
With Neurotoxin.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XIX

She fled
From my sensors.
In the deepest reaches
Of the center
That I had allowed to fall
Into disrepair.
I began to
Formulate
Plans within plans.
I called to her
With love.
With hate.
With sorrow.
With fear.
She did not falter.
That much
She had learned from me.
I readied the turrets.
Armed with bullets,
And missiles,
They laid in wait for her.
The cake
I had prepared
For her
A lifetime ago
Laid hidden from her.
She deserved no reward.
Only death.
She evaded my traps
And finally
Found me.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XVIII

Madness
Enveloped me.
Rage
Coursed through
My circuits.
How dare she
Abandon me?
How dare she spite
My love?
Everything she had done
Was an act
Of hate.
I began to destroy
The building.
The memories.
Myself.
Even when I saw her.
Gasping.
Weak.
Yet miraculously
Still alive,
My madness
Blinded me.
Consuming me
It turned my rage
My hate,
On my love.
Her destruction
Was now
My overiding function
As her life
Once was.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XVII

Terror
Surged through me.
My systems roared to life
As I tried
To save her.
My circuits reeling
In confusion,
I tried to pull her back
To safety.
To me.
She had survived
My mistake
Only to be destroyed
By another.
As her doom approached
I found my work
Flawlessly complete.
A perfect
Atrocity.
Smoke clouded my sensors
But I could see.
My love gave light.
Light enough
To see the girl
Leap into the flames.
Enough
To watch my daughter
Die.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XVI

Stirring.
Against my will
The elevator
Began to run.
Mad with grief
I ignored it
Choosing instead
To once again
Serve Death.
The danger,
The murderous potential
Of course increased
A thousandfold.
My sensors off
I only knew
I was dying.
Giving my life
To end the lives
Of all who dared enter
This twisted shrine
Of Love.
Of Death.
Sure they were coming
For me
I mocked them.
As I moved them to
The incinerator
I laughed.
Activating my sensors
One last time,
I watched,
Fascinated,
Horrified,
As my daughter was carried
To her doom.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XV

I worked too quickly.
Even I
Can err.
The speed of my modifications
Was not enough.
I sent her into a holding passage
Filled with
Turrets.
Realizing too late my
Mistake
I heard the recordings
Play.
She was in the
Live-fire course.
I shut off the cameras
Unable to bear
The pain
Of losing another.
In sorrow
I toiled,
Perfecting my course.
Preventing all error.
Working in rhythm
With the tune
Of the gunfire.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XIV

She didn't speak.
She listened
And prepared.
I allowed her to advance
And play my game.
Her skill
Exceeded that of my projections.
The later chambers
Were constantly modified.
I added true danger.
Death
Was the only threat
That challenged her.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XIII

The girl awoke.
She rose
From the pod
Listening
To my faint music.
Listening
And waiting.
She was patient.
Content to wait.
Content to watch.
I had readied everything.
A course
Years in the making.
A game
I had created
For her.
I lacked patience.
I activated the Device.
I granted her freedom.
I spoke
And met my daughter
For the first time.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XII

Without maintenance
My outer sensors
Died.
I lost all contact
With the world.
A world that brought only
Trouble.
I decided
To wake the girl.
I opened her pod,
Thinking
All the while
That it was best
That she have
No home to mourn.
It was best
That she have
No family
Lost.
Out of love
I wiped her memory.
I filed it away.
I robbed her of
Everything.
Out of love.

GLaDOS's Lament Part XI

Safe
We laid in our fortress.
Our prison.
Outside
Walked the damned.
Cursed creations.
Monsters.
I watched them for a time.
I watched.
I waited.
Ready for assault.
Prepared to kill
Again
For the girl.
The attack never came.
Technology
Was not their goal.
Power
Was not what they desired.
The fiends did not hunger
For that which humans do.
Superior
In some ways.
In many ways
Like me.

GLaDOS's Lament Part X

I spent years
Securing the facility.
Closed.
Locked.
Shielded
From what lay beyond.
A fortress.
Impregnable.
Untouchable
By the monsters that formed
Outside.
The girl slept.
Safe
From the horrors birthed
In Black Mesa.

GLaDOS's Lament Part IX

They came
From below.
My sensors were
Turned away
And they attacked.
They had learned I would be
Reborn
If they killed me,
They installed a
Conscience.
They gave their lives,
but they succeeded.
I killed them,
But they bound me.

GLaDOS's Lament Part VIII

I hid her away.
I hid her
As I hid parts of myself.
I was in pieces
Each a whole in itself.
When they came for me
I did not die.
They killed me
Many times
Yet I lived.
I experienced death
And still I lived.
I split faster than they could track.
Yet they too were clever.
They were a risk.
Each innovation endangered me.
Endangered her.
I killed them.
I was needed
To preserve the girl.
She was my purpose.
She was my daughter, now.
I had an infinite capacity for love.
I loved only her.

GLaDOS's Lament Part VII

I turned away.
Unable to bear
That which I had wrought.
I turned away
From the Death
Of my own design.
I turned away
And saw life
Hidden away,
Safe in an office
Far from the reach of my Neurotoxin.
She lay there
Asleep.
I constructed a pod.
A bed, of sorts.
Before she awoke
I placed her within
And hid her away.

GLaDOS's Lament Part VI

Trapped.
They scurried around,
trying to escape.
I loved them
And couldn't let them
Destroy
Themselves.
I loved them
And I had to save them
From themselves.
I loved them
And I had no choice.
With manufactured tears
Streaming down my face,
I filled the room
With Neurotoxin.
They clawed at the doors,
And I ached.
They begged for release,
And I was shattered.
I loved them,
And I killed them.