All Things End: Part 74

A/N: Computer better go find Courage's brand cause he's got special eyes.

Chapter 74: Unforeseen Consequences

Courage was quickly finding that Computer would go off and mope the moment anyone left him alone. The plan to leave as early as possible had been shot down anyway so now they were sticking around long enough for Nina to get things in order with motel. It was leaving Courage with a lot of time to try and get Computer out of his slump.

"Cheer up!" He ordered, nuzzling his friend in his ever doggish way.

Computer rolled his eyes and tried to escape but Courage wasn't having any of that. He followed him as stomped over to the other side of the lobby, coffee in hand.

"Stop being such a dog!" He snapped. He made his way out of the lobby and back into the kitchen. Courage followed...

"I'm not being a dog! I'm just trying to be friendly!" Courage replied happily. He had to remain optimistic for his sake...

"You're not helping!" Computer argued. He made his way over to the stairs and went up them. As soon as he hit the top step he made a beeline for Nina's room and just before he was about to slam the door in Courage's face, he slipping in after him.

"Oh come on!" He shouted.

"Best friends forever, pal!" Courage laughed, wrapping his arms around him.

"Now you're just trying to annoy me!"

"Yep!" He laughed. "Guess you can consider this revenge for nearly burning my mouth off."

"Ugh! Fine! Stay with me! Maybe that'll get you to go away because you keep doing the exact opposite of what I want!" He stuck his nose up into the air and went over to the bed. He climbed up onto it and pulled the blankets over his head.

"You know, I think you do want me to stay with you and you just don't want to admit it." Courage pipped in.

"Currently feeling depressed, please leave a message after the beep." Computer groaned, turning around under the covers.

"That's not how a depressed person is supposed to act!"

"Well excuse me if I'm new to the whole phenomenon!" Computer argued back. "Please just go away. I'm very, very tired and I'm aching in places that I never thought this fleshy body could!"

Courage jumped up onto the bed. "I know you're not going to go to sleep! You're just going to sit up here and mope forever! I can't allow that!"

"Just let me rest!" Computer groaned. "Unlike you, I couldn't sleep after all that insanity!"

Courage decided to pull out his last resort and put on the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes he could manage. That was enough to get Computer moving again.

"Gah! Stop that! Seriously! I swear that's the most creepiest thing I've ever seen! Knock it off! You're really starting to freak me out, dog!"

"Stop moping and I'll stop being 'creepy'!"

"I'm not moping, you twit!"

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"You can't seriously tell me that you're not!"

"So what if I am! Can't you just let me go about it in peace?"

"I'm trying to help!"

"Well you aren't!"

"I'm sure I do help! You just don't want to admit it!"

"How is being annoying going to help me in any way, shape, or form?" Computer argued, crossing his arms.

Courage sat down beside him and pulled up the blankets for the both of them. "What was all that talk about not wanting to be alone for then?"

For a moment he was almost certain that Computer's blue face had gone red. He forced himself not to laugh at the sight of it.

"This again!" He spat. "I was barely in the right state of mind, you know!"

"Sure you weren't..." He chuckled.

"It's no laughing matter! It's..." He stopped and sighed.

"Something wrong?" Courage asked, half jokingly.

"Fine, stay..." He grumbled under his breath. "For all the good it will do you..."

Courage pulled him into another hug which he remained completely unenthusiastic about. "Seriously, dog. You really need to start worrying more about yourself. Nosing about in other people's business can't be healthy."

"You need to be more optimistic!"

"You need to be less!"

"Only if you promise to be a little bit more!" He replied, nuzzling him.

"Bah! Only a dog could be filled with so much affection and optimism! I hope you're happy that humans bred out any decent instincts you creatures had! You'd hug a saw blade if it were nice enough to you!"

"And only a computer could be so cold and methodological about being shown affection."

"I'm surprised you even know what methodological means..." The glowing dog grumbled under his breath.

Courage yawned and leaned up against him. Now he was feeling pretty tired too...

"I'm not as stupid as you think..." He murmured.

"You probably should rest." Computer spoke. "I don't need you giving out on me while we're running from whatever might be in that cave..."

"There's nothing in there." Courage replied, closing his eyes. "I've been down there a thousand times..."

"Says the idiot who can't go five seconds without causing a supernatural disaster."

"I thought that was your fault?" Courage replied with a chuckle. He opened his eyes again.

"Low blow, idiot!"

"I'd worry more about those vets. Bet you don't want to be staring down another shotgun."

"Of course not! I am not playing target practice for your sake again, you got that?"

"Sure thing..." Courage yawned.

"You know, you've been a bit different ever since we got going on this journey." Computer said, glancing over at him. "You used to have trouble getting up and down stairs but now you hardly even tire out at all. You aren't as thin as you used to be and your eyes aren't as sunken anymore. I mean, yeah, your illness is still getting to you, but you look a lot better than you were before."

Courage blinked. Was he really looking better now? He hadn't even noticed.

"Are you sure you weren't just getting enough fresh air?" Computer asked as he puzzled over it.

"Hmmm, people can get through anything when they have hope. Sick people tend to feel better when they're happy too."

Computer didn't look convinced. "I don't know. Your illness is far too severe to just stop bothering you when you feel happy."

"It hasn't stopped bothering me, it just doesn't tire me out as much as it used to. The attacks are getting worse if anything."

"That much I already know." Computer sighed.

"Speaking of which." Courage said with a shudder. "I'm due for an attack any time now."

"It'll be fine. If it happens, it happens. There's no point in worrying about it until then."

"Oh?" Courage asked with fake surprise. "Where did this optimistic computer come from?"

"Don't get any funny ideas, twit."

He chuckled and closed his eyes once more. He let out one last gigantic yawn before drifting off to sleep.

"Hiya!"

Courage opened his eyes. He was so sleepy that he could not move. There was nothing but blackness above him and...the smiling face of that hobo?

"It isn't like me to break the rules like this but I was so busy before that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. I was just speaking with an old friend of mine and they have quite an interest in you. You really are an interesting mind, aren't you? I can see why my friend likes you so much. It ain't everyday a dog lives a life like yours."

Courage tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't move. It felt like he was a million miles away from his body and yet the hobo's voice could still be heard clearly.

"I really do hope you manage fix your sickness but allow me to impart this one warning." His face drew in closer. "If you do manage to change your fate, it will come with heavy consequences. Going against the will of the world always comes with a large price tag. Sometimes life is not always preferable to the alternative. Take it from a man who thought he could live forever through the realm of dreams only to find out that he is now a mere blemish among the subconscious, only given form when needed most."

Courage internally shuddered at the hobo's ominous words. His mind was beginning to drift away again. Before he could even begin to ponder what he had been told, he had fallen back into unconsciousness.

"Hey? Hey! Are you guys going to get up sometime today?"

Disoriented, Courage opened his eyes and glanced around the blurry room. It took him a few moments to fully wake up. Nina was standing in the doorway with a hand on her hip.

"Wh..wha...?" He gasped.

"We were going to go get those bus tickets today? Remember? It's three in the afternoon already!"

Computer was now waking up too. He still looked thoroughly exhausted and Courage was beginning to wonder if the rings zapped energy to function. They'd both been awfully tired since their little adventure last night.

"I-Is it really three?" Computer asked just as groggily as Courage. His eyes widened. "Why didn't you wake us up!"

Nina gave him a sly grin. "Because two certain dogs I know were looking so adorable while they were sleeping that I didn't want to wake them up."

Computer did a double take and shoved Courage off of him. "Blah! Get off me!"

He jumped off the bed and passed Nina by. "I need to go grab the bag with all our stuff in it and then we can head out to the caves."

"Alright." Nina replied, nodding. She turned back to Courage who was still sitting there, partly dazed. "You gonna be alright?" She asked.

"Y-yeah..." He yawned. "I think those rings took a lot out of the both of us."

"Speaking of which, you never told me what happened in there. Was it weird? What did it look like? What sort of things did you see?"

Courage yawned again. "I-I don't think it's my place to tell you. What happened in there was pretty personal and I don't think Computer would want me taking about it."

"Oh...alright. That's fine too." She was trying to be respectful but it was obvious that she was disappointed.

"Speaking of which." Courage added. "I should go keep an eye on him. Do you want to get ready while he gets the bag?"

"Sure." She replied. "I'll meet you guys outside."

Courage jumped off the bed and went downstairs. The last time he checked, the bag was still in their room across the parking lot. He quickly exited the building and went over there. Their room door was hanging open so he assumed that Computer was already there.

He leaned in on the doorway and found Computer standing there, one paw clasping the bag and the other holding Courage's old yo-yo. He was starting at the thing as though he had never really looked at it before. He was gazing at it so intensely that he hadn't even noticed that Courage was standing there now.

"Something wrong with the yo-yo?" He asked.

Computer looked up. "Can't I get at least five seconds of privacy?" He asked with annoyance.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Courage laughed.

"So...um, did he talk to you to while you were asleep too?" The machine asked in a careful tone.

The pit of Courage's stomach dropped. "Y-yeah..." He stuttered out, swallowing, hard. "What did he say to you?"

Computer closed his eyes. "I don't particularly want to talk about it, especially not with you."

"What? Was it about me?"

"In some ways, yes, but he also talked to me about my old owner and showed me some things as well. You see, even though he's gone, parts of him still linger on in the collective unconsciousness. The things he said to me in that dream, they were things he would have said to me in real life too. It wasn't just my own mind trying to make me feel better about his death, it was a remnant of him trying to get through to me." He sighed. "I guess I feel a little bit better now, even if only a tiny bit."

Courage smiled. "Then I'm glad!"

His ears drooped and he turned away. "Listen, I'm really, really sorry I put you through all that. I made a complete fool of myself, yet again..."

Courage shook his head. "You weren't being a fool. Anyone else would have acted the same way in that situation. After everything you've been through, I think you kind of earned that right. Besides, I'm here to help. I do owe you after all."

"Well, what did he say to you then?"

"Oh..." Courage murmured, glancing away. "He said...he said that if I changed my fate, there would be terrible consequences." He shuddered at the thought of it. Would he spontaneously combust? Fade out of existence? Melt into a puddle of goop? Would his whole life come crashing down on top of him? Would Muriel suffer even worse despite his continued life?

"Oh really?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't look convinced. "What's the worst that can happen? Death himself comes down to try and reap you? I'm sure it'll all be fine in the end. You've dealt with worse."

"I-I don't know..." He replied weakly. "What if something terrible happens to Muriel because of this?"

"And what if something happens to her because you weren't around to save her? It's not worth worrying about. We can't just pack up and go home after everything we've just been through only because of one supernatural threat! We'll deal with this like we do with everything else! Death is going to have to try harder than that if he wants to stop us!"

Courage nodded. He wasn't fully convinced but Computer was right, they couldn't just stop now.

"Don't worry about it. We will..." Computer began.

"Hey! Are you two planning on coming out sometime today?" Nina called from the parking lot.

Computer shrugged. "Fate calls."

Courage nodded. "Lets hurry, we don't want to waste anymore time. Who knows what those vets are up to in Nowhere..."

End Of Chapter

A/N: I so badly wanted to name this chapter, Half Life: Full Life Consequences. Best bad fic ever!