A/N: We've finally made it to Volume II! I'm going to warn you all ahead of time that there is going to be a third story, but it's not going to be considered another volume and it will be after the main story has concluded. All Things End will finish with this volume so don't worry. The third story is going to be a more 'where are they now' kind of thing. There's a few smaller plotlines I want to write that take place after the story is finished and that is where this is coming from. I'm not sure what I'm going to call it yet but it's not going to be as big as the two volumes. Lastly, I consider the Mat Kearney song, 'Sooner Or Later' the main theme for Volume I. For Volume II it's a fairly unknown song called, 'It Goes On' from the artist Dep. I feel that it fits the more upbeat, sillier attitude of Volume II perfectly.

All Things End: Volume II

By: Couragefan09

Chapter 1: Visions Of Things To Come

Courage awoke with a stretch and a yawn. The first thing his eyes met was the dusty, wooden ceiling of the attic. The warm glow of Computer's screen bathed over his body, mixed in with the early morning sunlight.

He was home. He was safe. Muriel could be heard humming her happy little tune downstairs and even the smell of breakfast was wafting its way up into the attic. Life had finally gone back to normal after returning from the mountain. Well, maybe not completely normal...

"Good morning, Courage." Computer greeted him. The words he spoke trailed across his screen like they always did. Even now Courage could sense the smile in his friend's voice. It was so hard to believe that he really had given up living with Nina and his life in that dog body just for him.

"Morning." He answered with yet another yawn.

Everything in their life was perfect, all aside from one thing.

"Two days left." Computer reminded him in a sullen voice.

His ears drooped. "You still haven't found anything?" He asked.

"We've already accomplished one miracle, I think we're just pressing our luck now. The end has come whether we like it or not, so let's just enjoy what little time left we have together."

Courage glanced away. It still hurt so much and yet he couldn't even will himself to cry anymore. It'd been less than a month ago when Computer gave him the final date. He'd spent a lot of time crying then, but now? Now he just felt...numb.

"H-how are you holding up?" He dared to asked. He couldn't stop his voice from trembling as he did so.

"I'm maintaining only the most crucial parts of my system right now, but even that is getting very difficult to do. I'm trying to ensure that my memory banks remain uncorrupted for as long as possible, but I don't know how much longer it's going to last. I may forget you and everything else very soon, so we should probably-"

Courage squeezed his eyes shut. "P-please don't do that." He begged. "I-I don't want you to f-forget everything."

"Courage, with the way thing are going, memory will soon be the least of my concerns. We've already talked about this before. You knew that my final days weren't going to be...pleasant."

Silence fell between them. The attic suddenly felt very dreary again despite the light flooding in through the window.

"There is one thing that you could do for me." Computer added in a voice just barely above a whisper. "Why don't we make today the last day? I know that you don't want our time to end, but, I-I don't want to lose myself b-before-" Those last words were spoken with a tremble to them, as though he were desperately trying to keep himself composed and failing at it.

Courage closed his eyes. While Computer may be incapable of weeping, he could already feel the trickle of his own tears rolling down his cheeks. He had enough tears for the both of them. It appeared that they hadn't all dried up after all.

Taking in a breath, he answered with,

"Okay."

"Thank you, Courage."

"H-how do you want me to do this?" He whimpered.

"Remember back when you replaced some of my code? I told you that a few deleted lines in the wrong place would, well, I think you get what I'm implying."

A small sob escaped Courage's lips. "Will it hurt you?" He asked.

"Of course not." His dear friend assured him.

To be perfectly honest, he was glad that Computer hadn't asked him to take a hammer to his monitor or to do something just as destructive. He would have never been able to go through with it.

"W-when should w-we-" He stammered out, unable to stop himself from breaking down any longer. He had wished so badly that this day would never come and yet here it was. Two days too soon, and even if they had waited, he still would never have been prepared for it. There was no means to escape or ignore the horrible loss that was about to be inflicted upon him.

"Let's do it now," Computer wistfully spoke. "before I can become any less of myself."

His screen went dark for a moment and then began to scroll through a seemingly endless list of white colored code. Courage looked on, suddenly feeling very numb again.

"I won't give you any commands." Computer gently informed him. "Just delete whatever you like, it'll eventually get the job done."

He closed his eyes again. "I'm so sorry." He whimpered.

"Don't be. I'm glad that this is the way things turned out. I'd rather die here, at the hands of a loving friend who doesn't want me to suffer in my final moments, than alone, forgotten by an owner who never even cared about me, and half senile without any dignity left. Just promise me that you'll keep going even after Muriel is gone. Don't ever give up. Find a way to be happy without us. You deserve to be."

Courage wanted to say that he didn't think he would ever be happy again, but he couldn't bear to say such a thing to his dying friend. He didn't want to upset him in his final moments.

"Please don't hesitate, Courage." He urged him. "Let's end this while I can still say that I'm me."

He took another deep breath and nodded. "Thank you for always being there for me, Compute. I'm glad too. I'm glad that I got to know the real you and that I got a chance to change your life for the better. I-I'm just-" He broke down sobbing once more, letting his tears drop down onto the keyboard. "I'm just sorry that I couldn't change this! I promised that I would!"

"Don't feel bad for me. Neither of us could stop this from coming to pass and I never expected you to find a way, so let's not dwell on it. You aren't to blame for what others did to me. You're letting them win by blaming yourself for their own actions. "

Courage wiped away his tears and placed his paws down onto the keyboard. "Ready?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be."

He moved to press the delete key, but then,

'NO!'

A hand broke through the wooden wall, a whirling, mechanical hand to be precise. It wrapped its fingers around his neck.

'HE WILL LIVE! WE DEMAND IT TO BE SO!'

Courage managed to rip the hand away and toppled out of the chair. The house began to shake as the metal pipes and wiring quivered within their walls. He looked up to find Computer's body collapsing in upon itself with a metallic screech.

Muriel screamed downstairs.

A scream loosed from his mouth as well when wires began to burst through the ceiling with giant meat hooks attached to them. It looked like something right out of a horror movie. Outside, the sky went red just like in that horrific dream. He could already feel the machinery under his skin beginning to writhe all over again. He'd been right to believe that they had truly never gone away.

He tore out of the attic on all fours, but even in the hallway the meat hooks were breaking through the ceiling. Only one thing registered in his mind, he needed to get to Muriel. He refused to lose her too.

"Muriel!" He called out, racing down the staircase, dodging hooks the whole way.

Downstairs, the lights flickered and the TV jumped up and down with such force that it almost seemed to be alive. He could already hear awful sounds coming from the kitchen. Terrified, he forced himself to go inside. The sounds were almost defining without the door to shield him. It appeared that every appliance in the kitchen was trying to rip itself out of the wall. The refrigerator banged its door open and shut over and over again, the toaster was buzzing across the countertop, and the microwave hummed with so much heat that it very well might explode.

"Courage, help!" Muriel cried out. He found her with several thick, black cables wrapped around her waist and they were dragging her towards the basement door. She was holding onto the counter with all her might.

Courage went to go look for a knife, hoping to cut her down, but when he opened the shelf that contained the silverware, the oven came to life with such a deafening roar that he stumbled backwards just to escape it. It too was trying to rip itself out of the wall and come after him.

"Couraaaagggeee!" Muriel screamed as her grip gave out and she was dragged into the darkness of the basement. He tried to jump in after her but the door swung shut right in his face. Try as he might, he could not pull it open again. His beloved owner's screams could be heard just beneath the floorboards.

'Run!' Those awful voices commanded inside his head.

There was a snap as one of the floorboards bent in two. Then another followed it. Soon the entire kitchen floor was threatening to collapse into the basement. Courage had no choice but to do as the voices said. Their mocking laughter seemed to fill every last centimeter of his brain.

The whole house began to bend and twist just as he escaped through the front door. He could only look on in horror as it collapsed into a pile wood before it slowly being to reform into something else.

'You have nothing left, little Courage.' The voices laughed.

What was once a farm house reformed into a strange, monstrous, wolf-like head. It opened it's great maw and those horrible meat hoots shot out of it, aimed directly at Courage.

He tried to run, but it was no use. The hooks dug into him. He grabbed onto the dry earth of Nowhere in vain as they dragged him closer and closer to the sharp teeth of the creature that had once been his home.

'Come join us, Courage." The voices spoke in a soothing tone. He could hear Computer's and Muriel's voices mixed in with the rest. 'We're all here waiting for you. Now we can be together forever, just like you've always wanted.'

"No." He whimpered, trying to pull himself away. The hooks only dug in deeper. "No!"

'You don't want to be with us anymore?' The voices mocked. 'We thought that you wanted your life to go on forever, completely unchanged. Is that no longer the case? Or do you finally wish to die? If that's so, we would love nothing more than to give you death. You shall die along with everyone else. We will raze every last living creature off the face of this planet.'

"Noooooo!" He begged, slipping into the artificial monster's jaw. "No, no, n-"

The teeth were closing shut, plunging him into darkness.

"NOOOO!"

And then a voice called out to him. One that was thankfully not anything like the voices that were plaguing his mind.

"Hey! Hey! Enough screaming! You're making everyone look at us!"

Courage was given such a hard shake that it snapped him right out of his dream. The horrific mouth of that monstrous beast vanished in an instant and the writhing under his skin fell still once more.

Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he was greeted by Computer's worried face. He glanced around in confusion, having almost forgotten that they were still on the bus. The sun was hanging low outside the window, signaling that it would be getting dark within the next couple of hours. Their first day on the bus would soon be coming to an end.

"Nightmares, huh?" Computer asked. "I figured that those rings wouldn't leave you unscathed. It looks like you're going to be having the same problems as me from now on." He ended his sentence on a note that made it clear he wasn't particularly happy with this new development.

Courage swallowed and turned away, taking a moment to wipe his eyes. Just as he had feared, his nightmares were starting to become as real as they possibly could be. The same thing had happened to Computer after the rings had delved into his mind too. It seems that their destruction had not dulled the side effects.

Computer let him be for a little while longer and then said, "We'll be hitting another rest stop soon and we can get dinner while we're there. You look like you could use it."

Courage couldn't will himself to answer. He kept his eyes focused on the scuffed up floor of the bus. Even though he couldn't see it, Computer's intense gaze could be felt upon his back. It was like his friend was seeing right through him. He couldn't help but worry that he had figured out what he'd been dreaming about.

"Do you want to talk about what you saw?" The glowing dog asked rather hesitantly.

He shook his head, still refusing to turn back around. He couldn't, ironically, find the courage to look him in the eyes after what the nightmare had shown him. No matter what might happen, he would never be able to find the strength to do what he almost did in that dream to the real Computer. If such a thing came to pass, even if it would be the best option for the both of them, he still wouldn't be able to push the button that would end his friend's life.

"Well, it's alright if you don't want to say anything. I certainly know how it feels, but-" Computer trailed off as tried to figure out the right thing to say. He did not make a very good 'substitute' Courage.

Courage finally dared to turn back around, but he kept his sights elsewhere. He felt Computer place a paw onto his shoulder and then, much to his surprise, drew him into a hug. He almost broke down sobbing all over again.

Desperately trying to keep himself composed, he said, "I-It still feels like they're inside of me. They only start to move when I'm asleep."

"I could check for you." Computer answered, surprising him yet again. He'd almost forgotten that he was capable of such things. Before he could even say 'yes', the glowing dog spoke up again.

"There's nothing there. Your nightmares must be causing it. It's making you think that you're feeling them in real life too when they aren't really there."

The confirmation that there weren't any machines crawling around inside of his body was a comforting one, but it didn't change the fact that it still felt like they were there, waiting for a chance to move again the moment he closed his eyes. He couldn't help but shiver, unable to quell his fear. There was no escaping his nightmares. Now he knew the same helplessness that Computer had no doubt felt.

"I wish that I could do more to help you, but there just isn't a cure for any of this nonsense." His friend sighed. "Perhaps we should share the dream catcher. Maybe it really does work."

He nodded. "I-I hope I can stop having nightmares."

Computer shrugged and sat back. "I'm just glad that I wasn't asleep at the same time as you. Goodness knows, I've had enough of your nightmares for one lifetime."

Courage managed to smile. "I could say the same about yours."

The machine closed his eyes. "For your information, I haven't had a single nightmare lately. I've just never had a good one though. Come to think of it, I haven't been dreaming at all, aside from when we went into your head. You don't think that there's something wrong, do you?" He opened his eyes again, looking worried. "What if it's not an issue caused by the rings and that there's something wrong with me instead? I don't normally dream, but-"

"Don't worry." Courage assured him. "Give it some time and I bet even you will have a good dream."

Computer placed his paws behind his head. "I can only imagine what they're like. Judging by that description you've given me, they just sound weird."

He couldn't stop himself from chuckling. "You'll have to find out for yourself."

"Well, given the way you look, if you need to sleep then sleep. You must be careful when it comes to your health, regardless of those nightmares. If your body is telling you to rest, then listen to it."

Courage's stomach lurched. "I-I can't, not when-"

Computer gave him a hard stare. He seemed like he was about to give him a lecture but then thought better of it. "I have no intentions of going to sleep right now. I'll stay up and watch over you while you rest. If you so much as twitch in your sleep, I'll wake you right back up again. I should have acted sooner before, or at the very least, I should have acted before you started screaming loud enough to be heard halfway across the world. It won't happen again under my watch."

That was a somewhat comforting prospect and Courage did feel like he still needed some rest. It was like that nightmare had made him even more tired than before he had taken a nap.

"Come on, dog." Computer spoke. "You look like you're ready to pass out. You need to rest."

He relented and laid his head down onto his friend's shoulder. While he did feel a little more at ease, he was still worried about having another nightmare. He felt Computer place a paw onto one of his own and he found himself feeling a little more assured. He had a protector watching over him, someone who'd wake him up if he himself could not escape the frightening downward spiral of his deepest fears.

Try as he might, he couldn't stop himself from drifting off. That nightmare really had sapped him of his energy. Hopefully the outcome of this rest would be a little better than last time. Besides, they'd be hitting the next rest stop soon. He wouldn't be asleep for long.

"Goodnight, Courage." He heard Computer say. It brought back the painful reality of that nightmare. How he hoped that he would not one day hear his friend say 'good morning' for the last time.

End Of Chapter

A/N: See this? See this angsty depressingness right here? Take a good, long look at it 'cause it's the last dramatic, depressing bullshit this story is going to have for a long time. Brace yourself, humor is coming.