All Things End: Part 58

Chapter 58: Nightmares

A sharp cry from Computer left both Nina and Courage shooting up out of their beds. He was writhing around in his blankets, mutter out soft pleads.

"What's...eh...?" Nina slurred out still half asleep.

Courage raced across the room and pulled the blankets off his friend.

"Compute?" He asked.

The machine let out another cry at being exposed. He attempted grab the blankets away from Courage but he was so disoriented he could hardly do anything except fumble around blindly.

"Stay away!" He yelled, panic stricken. "Just stay away!"

"Computer, calm down!" Courage yelled.

His friend jumped to his feet and gave him such a powerful shove that he was sent careening into Nina's leg.

"Keep away from me!" He yelled. Nina took a step forward and he almost crashed through the wall behind him. "Just stay away! How on earth did you break through? My defenses were perfect! You're just a bunch of viruses for all I care! You won't take this system without a fight!"   

He almost didn't seem to recognize them. This had to be more than just a simple night terror...

"What's wrong with him?" Nina asked desperately.

"I-I don't know!" He gasped.

Nina moved forward with one small step at a time. Courage followed closely behind her, uncertain of what to do.

"Do you think he's sleepwalking?" Nina asked. He didn't know what to say in response.

Computer continued to shout half baked threats. The fear and near panic in his voice continued to rise with every step they took. This had to have something to do something with Him and the time his programs broke through Computer's defenses, it couldn't be anything else. Maybe Nina was right about this, maybe he really was sleepwalking. He seemed awfully awake to be sleepwalking though...

"Stay back!" He yelped, his eye flicking around. He was trying to find something to defend himself with. "Where are my..." His eyes flicked back onto them. "This is His doing isn't it? You're not even going to give me a chance to protect myself, are you? I haven't lost yet! You're not going to overcome me! You only got through because I was tired! You haven't even..."

His voice fell quiet. He suddenly cried out and gripped his left arm. He collapsed to the floor, still clutching his arm weakly. He muttered out a few words too quiet to hear and Nina made a hesitant step forward. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he looked so deep in pain that Courage almost wanted to believe that it really was true.

Nina moved forward until she was finally standing beside him. His eyes snapped open again.

"C-claws?" He gasped as she reached down to him.  "Don't touch me! You won't take anymore! This is my system and none of it belongs to Him! You won't...."

She picked him up and held him out at arms length. He struggled like a trapped animal, his nails digging deep into her hands.

"No! Let go! Let go!" He shrieked. "This is my system! No program written by that idiot is going to rip me apart! I don't know what you took but I expect it back! Let go of me! Dammit, how did you managed to get your filthy claws dug into everything? How did you bypassing so many of my defenses? Do you know how much damage you'll do if you..."

He cried out again startling Nina and almost causing her to drop him. She shook him gently out of sheer desperation. "Hey, wake up! You're sleepwalking!"

He seemed to fall limp. For a moment he didn't respond making Courage think that he'd either fallen back into normal sleep or something much worse had happened. The glowing dog cringed and opened his eyes again.  

"Fine..." He growled out at Nina. "I'll do whatever He wants. Let me talk to him. Just....don't do that again. I'll assist him in anyway I can just so long as it eventually gets you out of my system. Oh, and if you don't leave..." His eyes narrowed angrily. "The minute I regain control I'll be sure to delete you one line of code at a time...."

"Computer, what are you talking about?" Nina asked. "What's wrong with you?

He grit his teeth "What am I talking about? I'm talking about....about..." His eyes widened.

"Computer?" She asked.

"I..." He glanced between her and Courage, seemingly confused. He quickly began to grasp the situation and gazed downward. "Great...just great. Please put me down, Nina."

Nina wasn't having any of that. She turned him over to inspect him. "You're not hurt are you? What the heck just happened? Why were you acting like that?" She grabbed his arm, expecting to find it injured.

"I'm fine..." He muttered. "Please just put me down." He refused to make eye contact with either of them.

"Computer, are you alright?" Courage asked softly. He got no response.

Nina did indeed finally placed him back down on the ground. He flexed his left arm weakly as though he were surprised that it was even there anymore.

"Hey, are you..." Courage began but the machine raised a finger to silence him.

"I need coffee." He muttered. He booked it out of there as fast as he could move leaving the both of them stunned.

"What was up with that?" Nina asked, turning to Courage. "I thought he'd gone insane."

Courage sighed weakly. "Look...he probably doesn't want me telling you this but, well...he's had it rough."

"Rough?" She asked.

"Yeah, most of his owners were pretty cruel to him. That's why I find it strange that he's taken such a shine to you, he pretty much hates everyone by default."

She laughed gently. "He didn't like me much at first either. I practically had to drag him kicking and screaming out of the rain."

"A scientist got ahold of him and pretty much turned him into some weird experiment. From what he told me it sounded like it was unimaginably painful. The scientist would do so much damage to him that it would literally kill him but because he's a machine he could just be restored again only to have to go through it all over again. He barely came out of it sane and he's been having a hard time keeping his system from falling apart ever since. I'm not sure if I'm the best dog to tell you this but I'm not sure he'd give you the whole story even if you asked. I pretty much had to force it out of him myself."

"So that's what happened when he said he was broken..." Nina muttered under her breath.

"He told you that?" Courage asked her.

"He just told me..." She stopped herself.

"What?"

"He doesn't want me to tell you, sorry." She shrugged.

Courage sighed and ran a paw down his face. "This again? Oh well..."

"Still, none of this explains what just happened."

"There's a reason why he doesn't give you details about what happened in the forest. We encountered this creature that takes advantage of your worst fears and you can probably tell how bad it was for him. I don't think he's been taking it very well and I think he's been trying to hide it the best he can. He's been having nightmares and his way of fixing it is to not go to sleep at all."

"Hmmm, no kidding. He didn't want to go to sleep yesterday either but the medicine I gave him knocked him out cold."

"You were probably right when you said he was sleepwalking. It's strange though, he seemed awfully awake to be sleepwalking..."

"We should probably go check on him." She added quietly.

"Yeah, I'll go talk to him. I'm sure I'll never hear the end of his complaining but I can't leave him alone like that."

"Maybe I should go talk to him? I'm sure he wouldn't give me as much trouble."

"It'd be better if I do it. I'm the one who knows the most about what happened to him."

"Alright...but I'll be here if either of you need me."

"Right." Courage replied with a nod.

End Of Chapter