A/N: So, yeah. If you're someone who's wondering where the new ATE Vol II chapter is and why I'm updating this instead when it's been almost two months since I last put a new chapter up. Long story short, I got sick the week I was planning on sitting down and writing the chapter out, then proceeded to have a bunch of terrible events happen all at once which killed my motivation to write for ages, and then when I decided to sit down again and actually write the chapter, I got hit with some obnoxiously bad writers block. Since I was finding this significantly easier to write, I just rolled with it in hopes that it will break me out of my writers block on the main story.

-Breakdown-

The next three weeks seem to fly by in an instant for Courage. Even though he now had spent an entire month in the hospital, he still was not feeling all that much better. Muriel's visit weighed heavily on his mind, and even though his doctor was trying to prevent it, he still found himself wandering off into the world that only existed inside his head. At least there he could still see Muriel as much as he wanted, as her ever faithful pet. Nowadays he spent just as much time laying around in his room as Computer did. Thankfully, Computer was still completely content to keep to himself and ignore Courage and his wanderings entirely. The only time he ever bothered to bring him back to reality was when they needed to go get their meals.

That morning he went down to the cafeteria like normal, although he felt so out of it that he was practically a machine on autopilot.

"So, it's been one whole month already, hmm?" Said the lunch lady, who had been making an effort to talk to him every day since he got there.

He nodded vacantly as she handed him his drink. She had to have noticed that he was looking a lot worse than the day he had first met her.

"Well," She drawled, stalling briefly for time. "You've been looking a bit under the weather, dear. So, I think I'm going to give you an extra carton of juice to make sure you're getting all of your vitamins. Just don't tell anyone that I'm breaking the rules." She gave him a warm smile and a wink.

Computer, who had been standing beside Courage waiting his turn, rolled his eyes. Unless he was in a big huff about something, he normally was so quiet that it was often easy to forget that he was even there.

Having been given the extra juice, Courage moved on before Computer could make an issue out of having been made to wait. Staring dully down at the extra carton, he knew that he didn't have the stomach to drink it, but he didn't want to waste the gift either. Nowadays he had a hard time eating pretty much anything, but he still made sure to eat at least a little bit so that his doctor would not be informed of his change in habits. He was struggling enough as is without them thinking that he was starving himself.

In the end, he ate his food and drank the extra juice, even though it did not sit well in his stomach. He returned to his room alone, Computer having apparently been sent off to see his own doctor. Glad to be back, Courage flopped down onto the bed, dully aware of how much his stomach was starting to hurt.

Curling up into a ball, he slowly drifted off to sleep, hoping that a nap would cure him of his stomach pain. However, something about the pain seemed to bring on a nightmare far worse than anything he was used to. Eustace was there, but Eustace was always in his nightmares. Instead, Muriel was there as well, and Muriel usually only showed up in his happier dreams.

In this nightmare, Eustace had found out about what she had done. His rage was unlike anything before upon finding out that Courage had been taken away from him forever. He ran at her with an ax, like something straight out of a horror movie that Courage had been unfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of when he was much, much younger.

He was completely paralyzed. Unable to talk, move, or scarcely breathe as he watched the scene unfold. Muriel seemed to run forever, down a twisting, spiraling hallway. Eustace was always close behind, ax raised high and gleaming in the dim light. His face was utterly frightening, contorted almost cartoonishly so with anger.

Courage wanted to scream or cry. He wanted to help Muriel so badly. He'd rather have Eustace take out his anger on him than her, but there was nothing he could do. In this state, he could not put himself between Muriel and Eustace. He could not draw Eustace's rage away from her.

Utterly horrified, all he could do was watch as Muriel began to grow tired and Eustace caught up with her. Mercifully, everything went dark as he swung the ax down on top of her, but that did not stop the scream that pierced the darkness.

Courage's own scream mingled with hers and he suddenly felt arms on his shoulders. Convinced that it was Eustace about to strangle him, he screamed even harder and began to flail around.

"Mr. Bagge! Mr. Bagge! Wake up!"

Courage's eyes shot open as he continued to flail around. He didn't mean to do it, but he accidentally kicked the nurse who had woken him up square in the face.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He cried out repeatedly, still in a state of complete panic.

Tears streamed down his face. The nightmare had been bad enough, but now he had hurt a nurse too and could be punished for it.

The nurse held her nose. There was a decent chance that it was bleeding.

"It's...alright, Mr. Bagge." She uttered out, wincing. "You were clearly suffering from...a night terror. We could hear you screaming from out in the hallway."

Courage caught a glimpse of two other nurses poking their heads in through the doorway.

A little more calm now, he quickly realized that the sun had set outside. He had to have been asleep all morning and afternoon, even though it only felt like a few minutes to him.

"I...I was screaming that loudly?" He asked.

The nurse nodded, still holding her nose.

"I-I'm so sorry." He apologized again. "I-I didn't mean to...t-to-" He couldn't stop himself from stammering uselessly.

"You don't have to worry, Mr. Bagge. I've dealt with worse." She replied, her tone almost business-like. "What we need to know now is if you need any assistance. You seem to have calmed down, but if you need someone to talk to-"

"No, no, I'm okay!" He lied, putting on what had to be a pathetic smile.

"...We're here to help if you need it, Mr. Bagge."

"Really, I'm okay." He repeated. "It was just a nightmare."

The nurse's eyes wandered over to Computer's empty bed. "We all know what nightmares can do. You shouldn't downplay what you just went through. We are here to help you get better, Mr. Bagge. Don't forget that."

Courage swallowed fearfully. "I-I really don't want to talk about it right now."

He would have given anything to get the image of Eustace's face and the sound of Muriel's scream out of his head at that moment. The last thing he wanted to do was describe it out loud.

"That's perfectly understandable. Just know that I will have to make a note of this for your doctor and he may want to talk to you about it."

Courage gave a weak, little nod. Maybe he'd be willing to talk about it with his doctor tomorrow, but it was just too fresh right now. If he could, he'd rather just forget about it, but he knew that it would linger in his mind no matter what he did.

Trying to push past the images, sounds, and the anxiety that came with it, he instead focused on how strange it was that Computer wasn't back yet. He probably would have been the one to wake him up if he had been around to do so, and Courage did not want to think about the hellfire that would have rained down upon him if Computer had been the one to get kicked in the face.

"Where's Computer at?" He asked the nurse before she could leave.

She glanced in the direction of her companions before looking back at him. Very hesitantly she said, "His therapy session went...poorly. They're holding him back a bit so that he has some time to, let's just say, calm down. He'll be back soon though. So don't worry about him. Just focus on yourself for now. If you need any help at all, just let any of us know. We're going to be here all night."

Courage nodded and thanked them. He still felt horrible for what he'd done and apologized for what had to be the millionth time as the nurse left the room.

Too afraid to go back to sleep, and with it being too dark in the room to do much else, he went over to the window and stared out it for the longest time. His mind slowly began to wander back to that place, but now even that was tainted with Muriel's scream. Forced back to reality, he suddenly became aware of the giant, full moon that had come out from behind the clouds. The beams of light coming in through the two windows were so great that the whole room was tinged light blue.

He did not get much of a chance to admire it though because mere moments later, the door swung open and in shuffled Computer, looking half dead. He shut the door behind him and leaned up against it, pressing his gloved hand to his face, as though he were suffering from a terrible headache. He left it there for one long moment before finally running it down his face and turning his dull, sunken eyes onto Courage.

"You're still up?" He asked. There was undeniable anger in his voice. "I heard you had a big freak out. Hit one of the nurses and everything. I'm surprised they didn't stick you with enough needles to knock you out for the next century."

Courage stared, fully aware of the seething hatred just barely concealed behind Computer's every word. Whatever had happened with him today, it was obvious that he was going to take it all out on him.

"You're so stupid." He continued, shuffling forward with obvious exhaustion.

Courage had hoped that Computer would just head over to his bed, but no, he was coming toward him. Wanting no part of this, he very nearly dove under the bed to escape Computer's dull, tired, yet incredibly hateful gaze.

Noticing that Courage was pressing himself up against the window in fear, Computer slowed to a stop. "Could you be any more of a coward?" He huffed. "I think that's what I hate about you the most. You don't know what real fear is and yet you start wetting your pants the second someone even looks at you the wrong way. You live a life of luxury and you don't even know it. So what if you have nightmares? Welcome to the club, twit. You don't see me screaming like I'm being murdered, loud enough that the whole hospital can hear me."

Something ugly started to ignite inside Courage's chest. His fear of Computer was slowly being replaced with anger.

"W-what do you know!" He stammered, trying and failing to raise his voice. "I-I'm not the one w-who had to spent t-the entire day in therapy! I-I bet you're a bigger coward than I am a-and y-you just act t-tough to h-hide it! Deep down, y-you're afraid of the d-doctors, aren't you? A-and I'm the o-one who's a c-coward?"

He immediately knew that he had said the wrong thing. The rage in Computer's eyes told him everything he needed to know. It was the first time that dull, uncaring look that never truly left him had fully disappeared, and it was rather frightening to behold.

The tiny amount of bravery that Courage had mustered up to say what he did left him entirely under Computer's fiery glare, but even though Computer looked like he wanted to tear him limb from limb, he did not advance any closer. Instead, just like that, all of the anger left Computer. He straightened up, smiled, and smoothed out his shirt with a rather terrible gleam in his eyes.

"One whole month, huh?" He asked, grinning up at Courage like he were nothing more than a disgusting piece of filth. In fact, his grin was more like a thinly veiled sneer. "You broke my record, did you know that? Well, I guess it's time that I put your resolve to the test."

Courage gulped, suddenly questioning why he had dared to provoke Computer's anger.

"Besides," His roommate added with a hint of a laugh entering his voice. "I think I've grown tired of you and your constant cowardice anyway."

More than ever, Courage wanted to dive under the bed and hide.

Computer crossed his arms and something cruel edged its way into his voice. "Imagine my shock when I found out that my new roommate was thrown into this prison for something so unimaginably stupid as them thinking they're a dog. I could hardly believe it. They'll lock up anybody for any reason these days, huh?"

Computer's cruel, mocking grin left Courage practically sinking inside himself. His face went red with shame and he wished he could run away. Of course, there was nowhere to go. The bathroom didn't even have a lock. Wherever he might go, Computer could follow.

"I really cannot believe how stupid you are." He chuckled, pressing his gloved hand to his forehead. "So, what is it then? Do you really think you're a dog? Do you-" He practically snorted with laughter. "-really want to chase after trucks on all fours and bark at intruders?"

"S-shut up!" Courage cried out, hating himself for being unable to stop his voice from quivering.

"Well, it's the truth, isn't it?" Computer sneered. "That's why you're in here, because you think you're a stupid, flea-bitten dog. It really is the most idiotic reason I've ever seen for someone to end up here. They should just let you out so that you can be the delusional idiot that you want to be. At the very least, it would make for a great laugh!"

Courage clenched his fists together, anger rising up inside of him. He could not remember a time where he had felt so angry with someone. He would have given anything for Computer to shut up.

"S-stop talking about me like that!" He demanded. "I-it's not like how y-you think! I-it's all in my he-"

"I don't get it." Computer interrupted him. "If you know that it's all in your head, then why-"

"It's because of what Eustace did!" He yelled, clutching his hands to his head. "It's the only place where I'm safe...where I'm happy...where w-we're happy. But..but it will never be real no matter how much I want it to be! We'll never be safe! We'll never be happy! And now he's going to hurt Muriel! And there's nothing I can do about it! I-I didn't want to consider it, but he...he might kill her! She says she's going to try and get back to her family, but...but he'll get to her first! I know he will! Because he'll be so angry that I'm gone!"

"What are you even going on about?" Computer drawled. "I guess I was wrong after all. Maybe you 'do' belong here with us. Good job proving to me that you do have a few screws loose after all. Well, you are right about one thing. You will never be safe and you will never be happy. That's just how the world works. I learned that the hard way and so will you."

"But...but Muriel!" Courage whimpered, tears falling freely. Her scream echoed through his racing thoughts.

"What about her? I bet she's as stupid as you are and I'm sure she's the one who's been enabling all your idiotic delusions. Face the facts, twit. She was probably just looking for a reason to get you out of her hair. If you don't see her again, it'll simply be because she didn't want to see your ugly mug ever again."

It all happened in an instant. Courage felt something inside him snap and he flew forward. Computer didn't even have time to react. Courage grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up into the air. It was the one advantage he had being so much taller than him.

"Don't you ever talk about Muriel like that!" He yelled, trembling with fury.

"It's only the truth!" Computer grunted.

Courage felt the cold grip of Computer's metal hand on the arm that was holding him up in the air, along with the significantly weaker grip of his gnarled one as well.

"You can hate me all you want, you mutt! But I'm the only one in this godforsaken place who isn't delusional! I'm the one who has the clarity to see what is the truth! I see people for what they really are! They will all lie to you! Betray you! Abandon you the moment they no longer want or need you! Many will go out of their way to intentionally hurt you and they will take great joy in your suffering! If there are truly any good people left in this world, like you seem to think your Muriel is, their goodness will do nothing but get them killed. They will be chewed up and spat out like all the rest."

Courage was stunned silent by just how...how bleak and cynical Computer's rant had proved him to truly be. He nearly dropped him out of sheer shock.

"Y-you're wrong." Was the only thing he managed to pathetically utter out.

"Am I?" He asked with a knowing, spiteful grin. "I guarantee that you will never see Muriel again. She has abandoned you. I'm sure she saw you for the delusional, broken mess that you are. We aren't people any longer, you and I. We're just broken refuse waiting to be thrown into the trash compactor, or in your case, a rabid dog waiting to have a bullet put through his brain."

Courage's anger faded away. He was beginning to realize one simple thing. If he was pathetic, then Computer was just as pathetic, if not even more so than him. He didn't even need to say it. Didn't need to dangle it in front of his face.

The big picture was starting to come together in his head, and looking back up at Computer with his cynical yet somehow prideful grin, he said only one thing, "I think I understand now."

"Do you now?" Computer mocked. "And here I thought the truth would break your fragile, little heart."

"You were betrayed by someone you trusted, weren't you? And they hurt you really badly. That's where all of those scars come from, isn't it? They're the one who mangled your hands. They're the reason why you're here now."

In an instant, all of Computer's smug satisfaction turned into icy, cold horror. "Wh-what?" He uttered out in disbelief.

Courage lowered him to the ground, confident that he had taken the upper hand. "The one who did all of this to you, they were to you kinda like what Muriel is to me. Wait, no! I've got it wrong. Your Muriel, they got chewed up and spat out. Their goodness...got them killed. They went through the same thing you did, but unlike you, they didn't make it out, did they?"

Computer backed away so swiftly that he nearly tripped over Courage's bed.

"How did you-" He gasped, his eyes wild with fear. "How could you have possibly ever-"

A wave of self-consciousness seemed to wash over Computer. He tried, in vain, to hide his hands from Courage, but he had no means to hide the scars on his face.

Barely able to choke the words out, he asked, "Who...who told you?"

"You did, Computer. Nobody told me anything because they know you want to keep your circumstances private. They respected your wishes. Not everyone is as bad as you think they are."

Admittedly, he was starting to feel really bad about all of this. He had expected that he would wipe the snide, prideful grin off Computer's face once he had figured everything out, but watching him sink further and further into intense fear wasn't exactly fun.

Computer continued to back away, even though Courage wasn't following him. "I-I didn't mean for it to happen." He pathetically stammered out.

He banged a leg into his own bed very hard, but he didn't even flinch. In fact, he didn't seem to notice at all.

"It's...it's all my fault."

He sounded so sad. His eyes were no longer fixated on Courage either. Instead, it was as if he were staring at something a million miles away.

"Why do they keep doing this to me?" He was talking to nobody now. It was like Courage wasn't even there anymore. "They already know the truth. It should have been me, not him. So why do they keep forcing me to think about it? Why can't they just give me what I want?" He clutched his head as his back hit the wall, teeth grit and eyes squeezed shut. "I...don't...want to..." He slowly uttered out, as if each word were nearly impossible to speak. He seemed to be fighting with something internal that Courage could not even begin to comprehend.

Unable to bear it any longer, Courage moved toward him, desperate to apologize. Computer, in turn, slid down the wall, and once sitting on the floor, drew his knees up to his chest. Courage understood exactly what it felt like when taking such a position. All of those times he had curled up just like that as he waited for Eustace's wrath to come down upon him...

He reached his roommate, leaned down and placed a hand onto his arm only for him to gasp and jump so intensely that Courage pulled his hand back in shock.

"Oh...it's you again." He muttered out, looking so tired, sad, and lost all at the same time. It appeared that he had lost track of how little time had actually passed. "You know, if you're going to make me think about it again, you could at least do me a favor and give me what I want." He lowered his head back down again, and muffed, he very softly said, "They certainly won't."

"Computer, listen. I-I'm sorry for...for causing all of this. I wasn't trying to make you to remember s-something bad, I just-"

Guilt struck him like an icy, cold dagger. This had been exactly what he was aiming for. He had wanted to take everything he had put together and use it against him. He had simply not realized just how much it was going to hurt him.

Computer was lost once more, and this time he appeared to completely lose the fight with whatever was pulling him away.

"No, no, no! Not again!" He cried out with such an air of hopelessness, looking far beyond Courage. "It's always the same! I can't change anything! I can't change what I am! Just kill me and be done with it! Just kill me!"

Courage watched, horrified, as his roommate begged someone who was not even there to end his life. Courage wanted to lean down and shake him out of it, but he was so scared that he would only make things worse if he did.

"You didn't have to hurt him! He was never like me! He didn't deserve it! Please! Just kill me! End this, please! I just want this to end!"

Courage watched with his hands over his mouth as Computer ripped the white glove off his metal hand. He knew immediately what he was planning on doing, and desperate to stop him before it could get any worse, he turned to the door and began banging on it with all of his might.

"Get in here!" He screamed. "Stop him! He's...he's going to-" His voice faltered, overcome with guilt.

What had he done?

...Now he knew exactly why Computer was in this hospital and why he was still here seven long years later.

The sound Courage heard behind him made him wish he could rip his own ears out. He winced with every blow, refusing to look back.

"Please, please. End this! Just end it!" Computer's cries were becoming more pathetic with every word, punctuated only by desperate, choking sobs.

Of course, there was still someone in that room who was more pathetic than him.

"Somebody get in here!" Courage screamed, pounding even harder on the door.

Finally his cries were heard and the nurses rushed in. The sound of them restraining Computer was almost as bad as his continued sobbing and pleads for death.

"Oh, no." Courage heard a nurse say. She was looking in through the door. "...He was doing so much better lately too."

Courage could not stop the tears that had been welling up in his eyes for several minutes now. They fell freely as he choked back a sob of his own.

"Come on, dear." The nurse urged, so much like Muriel. "We'll take you somewhere a little more quiet. You don't have to worry. He'll be okay."

Courage left the chaos of that room behind without looking back. He never wanted to see Computer like that ever again. Regardless of what he wanted though, Computer's cries continued to echo down the hall, even as Courage escaped whatever hell was tormenting his roommate's mind.

"No! NO! OWEN!"

End Of Chapter

A/N: Hoo boy was the last part of this chapter hard to write. Nothing I ever wrote for ATE Vol 1 or 2 was as uncomfortable to put down into writing as this was. Something about it being a human makes it so much worse. The last half of this chapter was the second thing I ever wrote for this AU but it's gone through some heavy tweaking since then. The first half was pretty much entirely scrapped and re-written to better fit the newer context the older chapters have given it. To put it into perspective, the original version of this chapter was barely two pages long while the finished version is a little over nine pages long. The original version also had events play out much more similarly to what happened in the forest storyline in Volume 1, with Courage getting angry and hurting Computer, which acts as the catalyst for his mental breakdown. Here I thought it would be more ironic for Courage to use Computer's own words against him, only to have it backfire on him as much as it backfired for Computer.