Chapter Text
“Cecil... Ceeeeecil...”
They’re calling out to him. What did they want?
“Oh Cecil…”
They said again. Are… Are they “angels”? No, couldn’t be. It was illegal to acknowledge the existence of angels, everyone knew that. But… When he scrapped at the edges of the law, when he tested the waters of the world, when he was slipping into himself, did it matter if they were angels or not? If they did, in fact, exist?
He could feel his bed sag next to him, like someone was there lying next to him. He couldn’t see anything, his mind in an empty haze. Were his eyes closed? They had to be, as when he tried to shut them, it only made him squint more. But when he tried to open them, he was still greeted with the black void. He could… Faintly make out spinning and swirling shapes in the darkness.
“Cecil… Come with us… Into the light of our world…”
The voice was closer. Like it was right in his ear. He couldn’t see or think. He couldn’t even breathe. He couldn’t tell who the voice belonged to. For all he knew, it could be his perfect Carlos, Mayor Dana, that wretched Steve Carlsberg, or even his double, Kevin. It wasn’t hard to differentiate the four, so why was he having such a hard time? He had just seen Carlos, and he was fine! This voice, this thing wasn’t normal. Was it just his mind again? He had been having such troubles since… Since…
He shot awake.
Cecil stared at his hands with a quickened breath, then at the space next to him. Nothing. No one. What was that weight then? He patted the spot next to him as he looked around his bedroom. First, his drawers, then to his closet. Nothing, still. As his breath slowly calmed, he put a hand to his head and sighed, leaning back slowly. What time was it, even? Just from glancing at his window, it had to be the middle of the night still. There was a breeze moving his curtain, and moonlight pooled like water into his darkened room. He would’ve glanced at a clock, but time never worked in Night Vale.
The radio host straightened up to slouch over himself, bringing his legs closer. He took deep breaths in an attempt to see what in the world was happening, trying to think. After a moment of consideration, he decided to get up. Maybe Carlos had simply overworked himself and ended up on the couch, sleeping soundly.
As the man sleepily hobbled out of their shared bedroom and into their living room, the room was dark and without a single sign of life. Cecil tilted his head and flipped the light on, only to find the room to be the same as when he fell asleep, with Carlos. Yet, his scent lingered in the air, the only hint that he was ever in the house, to begin with.
“Carlos? Honey, are you there?” He called out, his voice sounding groggy and warming, filling the air with a rumbling yet sweet noise. After getting no response, he soon started to check the entire apartment in search of the scientist. Nothing. He was nowhere to be found. Nor did he give a reply back when he called again and again. Cecil checked the counter in the kitchen to see if Carlos left a note, which he normally did in case he was pulled out in the middle of the night, but… There was nothing. Not a single note, not a single “I love you, my star.” , nothing. He could feel his heart stop for a moment. He had to go find him, go find anyone. Something clearly wasn’t right.
After hastily switching out of his pajamas into a better outfit, he began to search for Carlos. He checked his lab first, the only place Carlos would have been other than in Cecil’s arms. When he entered the lab, he was hit with the smell of chemicals and… Oddly, the hospital. He shivered at the thought of ever being in the hospital. They always put the man on edge, with their blaring lights and too-white walls. But another smell that put him even more off guard was the smell of metal. Iron, to be exact. He was into science, sure, but he didn’t think that metal was normal to smell in a laboratory. But soon he snapped out of his train of thought, realizing that the lights were also out.
He reached for a light switch, only to not find one. Cecil wanted to call out again, but as he opened his mouth to speak, nothing would come out of his throat. Not a single noise. Not a word, or a hum, nothing. He could feel his skin crawl, like something was bound to go terribly, terribly wrong. Like the darkness was hiding something he wasn’t supposed to see. Not yet.
The man could feel something watching him. It was different from the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lived in His Home. It felt… Off-putting. It wasn’t normal. Not at all. It felt like something was lurking, like a predator hunting for prey. If he listened closely, he could hear the soft pitter-patter of some liquid hitting something solid. He could also hear a faint panting. Like it was a dog… After running… Panting… Heavily...
He needed to get out. Now.
Cecil’s breath hitched as he glanced behind him and to the exit, then to darkness again. He slowly backed himself to the windowed door, his hand grabbing the handle as he fumbled with it. His hand was slipping off the handle like it was covered in an invisible oil. For all he knew, it could’ve just been the sweat on his hands. Yet, he managed to get it open, soon bolting from the lab and away from the complex, in search of familiarity. Some sort of thing he could recall. He soon found that there was no one to be seen. No hooded figures, no city council, and not even a faceless old woman.
He took a deep breath of the dark and cold air, slicing his throat like he had swallowed knives . He ran to the only place he could think to have some sort of safety, some sort of familiarity.
The Night Vale Community Radio Station.
Once he reached the station he barged into the building, quickly slamming the door behind him. He immediately fell to his knees, his glasses barely on his face. He stared at the dark floor beneath him, his vision blurred and warped. Were those eyes looking at him in the corner? What was that there? His mind sloshed in his skull as he soon got off of his knees and onto his feet, stumbling his way to the unisex bathroom in hopes to find his cat. And surprisingly, Khoshekh was there! He was peacefully sleeping, his chest rising and falling in a comfortable slumber. Cecil made his way closer to the cat, scratching his head. The cat murrped and looked at him with his eyes, to which Cecil smiled.
“Oh Khoshekh… Buddy… I’m so glad to see you again.” The man murmured to the animal, leaning down to sprinkle his face with feather-light kisses. Khoshekh began to purr once more as Cecil began to pet him, making sure to give his cat all the attention he could muster up at that point in time. Yet, before Cecil could move to check the rest of the station, there was a shuffle, followed by a thud. His head whipped around to face the door to the bathroom, the cat’s spikes raising. He had been in this situation before, yet this time, he didn’t know what that was.
He had been trapped in the bathroom with Khoshekh with some sort of animal- No, it was a thing , that thing had not only harmed himself but his own cat . That thing was a pet given to him that he never asked for. He felt the beads of sweat roll down his temple and the hairs of his neck raise, his voice practically leaving his throat as he tried to figure out if what he heard was real. After minutes of silence that felt like years, he took a step. Then another. Yet as he did, he collapsed under himself, falling to his knees once again as he felt tears roll down his cheeks. He started to sob. He didn’t know why he was crying then. He never knew why he felt anything , if he could feel real things. His shoulders heaved as his breath got shallow, his breaths coming in short bursts. His cheeks felt cold, other than the warmth of the tears that flowed down his cheeks. He could feel like the walls were closing in as he stared at the floor, not daring to look up at what could be around him. As much as he tried, he couldn’t keep the air inside his lungs still, the air cutting his throat like knives once again.
His hands shook as he rang them through his hair, feeling the stands of the snow-white hair he had. He soon held his breath and looked up. Were those mirrors? He tried to back away from the mirror in front of him, only to find he was surrounded by the glass. He stared at himself in all directions, his eyes wide with fear and his reflection only smiling back. No, not him. That wasn’t him. Not the Cecil Palmer, but it looked at him with a wicked grin, its face similar to Cecil’s, but it was off. It was him. It wasn’t him. Cecil’s ears were ringing, the silence deafening in his ears. He could feel his head get even more buzzed and his body get more shaky as he soon balled up on himself on the cold, hard floor of the bathroom. He shut his eyes as he made sobs and hiccups as a voice rang in his ears. It was too quiet to tell what the voice was saying, but all Cecil could do was shake and weep as the voice progressively got louder, till it was right in his ear. As he held himself, the voice start to unmuffle itself as it said:
“Cecil! Cecil! Are you okay?”
The voice was clear as day, shaking Cecil from his panic. As he was shaken, Cecil practically leapt from the sudden touch of another person, backing himself against the wall as he stared at the stranger like a deer in headlights. The touch felt soft and gentle on his skin, yet it was far too much at that time. As his head tried to clear itself and his breath tried to calm, he was able to see who it was. He wiped his tears for a moment thinking it was his Carlos, the one he needed more than anything in that moment. His heart leapt to his throat, a smile cracking on his face as his vision unblurred, being greeted with the sight of a person he never need to see.
His heart sank slowly. “... Kevin? ” Cecil asked as Kevin kneeled in front of him, grabbing his arm.
“Oh Cecil! I just cannot believe that you’re here too! I don’t know how I ended up here in Night Vale or where everyone went, so I came to the station thinking that you’d be here or or-” Kevin stammered as he flashed Cecil a toothy grin, cupping Cecil’s face in his hands. Cecil found himself leaning closer to it. His hands were calloused as his own, but the warmth of another person made him smile. It was like Carlos, but not. Near close to
perfect,
to
Carlos.
Kevin began to speak again, glancing from his eyes to the floor. “Or at least send a message for someone to find me! Cecil, I am so glad to see you!”
Cecil’s hands found themselves around Kevin’s throat. He squeezed as his fear bubbled into anger, his vision blurred from his tears and anger as he tried to control his own breathing. Kevin felt the air escape his throat as Cecil continued to squeeze, anger bubbling in him like a pot bubbling over. His vision turned red as he overpowered his double, pushing him onto the cold ground beneath him, knocking any air left out of Kevin.
“You did this, didn’t you?” Cecil hissed between his teeth, pushing Kevin harder into the ground. It took everything in him not to punch the poor man under him right then and there. He needed answers, not a body. Not yet, he considered. Maybe, just maybe, Kevin could be helpful now. Kevin wheezed as Cecil pressed his knee into his chest, his hands rushing to grab the other’s wrist. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as his eyes dashed from the door to Cecil.
“Cecil- What is going on! I don’t know anything!” Cecil pressed harder and Kevin coughed, trying to push Cecil off. Cecil moved one hand to his chin and forcibly pushed it to make him look him in the eye, glaring daggers at him. He tried to breathe, but it was hard when the man above him was nearly stepping on his chest.
“Speak. Now.” He said in a low and growly voice, moving closer. He let out a frustrated huff as Kevin took a shaky inhale. “If you don’t start talking, there’s going to be one voice in Night Vale, and it’s going to be me.” He cursed, anger glinting in his eyes. Kevin struggled to sputter out a response from the lack of oxygen and the feeling of someone on his chest. The blonde reporter tried to push the other off of him to no avail, Cecil’s hand still holding his chin while the other gripped his neck.
After a few moments of glaring silence that felt like forever for the both of them, Cecil finally let go and stood up, leaving Kevin turning over and coughing heavily. Kevin sat on his side as he clutched his chest, soon sighing as he finally caught his stolen breath, sitting up. Cecil chewed his lip, feeling a little bad for suddenly choking Kevin. The surprisingly shorter of the two finally stood up, glancing at Cecil for a moment as he swallowed.
“Sorry. For choking you like that, I mean.” Cecil apologized after a few minutes, rubbing his eyes and clearing his throat. He sniffled a little, glancing at Kevin and then to the ground. “That was a little,” He paused, trying to find his words. “Well. It was a little unnecessary. On my part. I’m not sure what got into me.” He stumbled to speak, not expecting Kevin to say much. Yet, Kevin shrugged and gave a genuine smile, waving the other’s worry away.
Kevin offered him a handkerchief to wipe his eyes on, pulling it from his back pocket. “Don’t worry Cecil. I can understand why you did that.” As he spoke, Cecil tilted his head at the handkerchief, shaking his head. Kevan let out a confused hum and stuffed it back to where it belonged, not caring for its tidiness. Cecil began to push out of the bathroom, its mirrors and dim lights giving him more of a scare than he would like, nor did he need. His reflection looked warped. It spun into a spiral that wasn’t him. One stared at the two as Cecil made his way out of the bathroom. Kevin bit the inside of his cheek as Cecil begrudgingly took him to the recording booth.
Once the two were inside, the room seemed more packed than it usually was. Cecil stared at the soundbox in front of him, humming as he flipped it on and grabbed the microphone. Kevin paced behind him as they were met with nothing. No success, no way to see if there was anyone left in Night Vale. His journey had become futile. Cecil breathed out a heavy sigh, feeling his hope draining. As they both realized their situation, Kevin found himself frowning and feeling unhappy. Which, was out of character for him. He was usually cheerful. Some would say too cheerful. Yet, after a moment the blonde cleared his throat and clasped his hands together, trying to be the light they both needed at that moment.
“Oh! It seems that the line is cut. But no need to worry, I’m sure there’s a fix to it. At least we still have power! Without it, we would be pretty outta luck.” As if some higher being heard Kevin speak, the lights flickered for a moment before cutting to complete black. Cecil put his head into his hand, letting out a gruff sigh. Kevin blinked as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, shifting his weight to one leg as he puckered his lips a little. “Oh. The power was never like this in Desert Bluffs. But there has to be a way to fix it. Or a way out! What if, this were a dream?” Kevin suggested, which made Cecil smile. At least his double was funny as well.
“A dream? What makes you think that, huh?” He asked, to which Kevin opened the door before replying. Moonlight illuminated the way to the door that led outside.
“Well, I mean, there’s a chance. Have you seen a clock?” Kevin asked with a curiosity that was out of place, and even more so, with a calmness that was out of the ordinary. Cecil thought back to what had happened. He hummed as they walked, shaking his head. Now that he thought about it deeply, he hadn’t seen any clocks. But, ever since his beloved Carlos found out that time didn’t work in Night Vale, he threw out any clocks he had. When he made an announcement on air about it, everyone seemed to follow suit. Or so he thought, at least.
“I haven’t seen one, but we don’t use clocks in Night Vale. I thought you knew that Kevin.” He said with a bit of snark, but it was mostly playful. He raised an eyebrow as Kevin gave a surprised hum, the both of them now in the main lobby of the station.
“You don’t use clocks? That’s a new one. But that’s beside the point, what I was trying to say,” He waved his hand dismissively, chuckling softly. “Usually, in dreams, you don’t see clocks. Time can’t work in dreams, so no clocks. But, because of,” The shorter paused for a moment to refer to Cecil a little. “The situation Night Vale is in, I suppose that isn’t the best of plans to figure out what’s going on.” He concluded, leaning against the wall next to Cecil.
Cecil clicked his tongue in thought, his lavender eyes glancing out, finally landing on Kevin’s golden ones. “How do you know that?” He asked, which only got a giggle as a response. After a moment of silence, Kevin finally gave him an actual answer.
“I couldn’t sleep one night, so I ended up researching random things online in hopes they’d lull me to sleep. A lot of the stuff I found was dream or sleep-related, so that ended up being an interest of mine. I ended up staying up all night figuring out what dreams meant, how people interpret them, everything I could.” He admitted, a cheeky smile growing on his face. Cecil nodded as he spoke, genuinely finding his words interesting.
Yet, as a comfortable silence hung around him, Cecil was left with his thoughts, which, at this moment, wasn’t the best thing for the radio host. His mind was darkened with nightmares and horrors from both his childhood and his very own adulthood, but one quote from his childhood stuck out to him.
It was from his mother. She had told him “Someone is going to kill you one day, Cecil, and it will involve a mirror. Mark my words, child”. He remembered that first moment, and when he was little, he didn’t understand what his mother was saying, or if it was true, so he simply giggled and wandered off.
But now that he was looking back, and at that absentminded stare, he thought that this was connected. It had to be. Ever since he got that through his brain, that it wasn't simply his mother being herself, but a prophecy, he had been deathly terrified of mirrors.
His hands began to tremble as Kevin gently grabbed one, rubbing small circles into it to help with his nervousness. His heart was beating in his throat, Kevin's words barely getting through him.
"Cecil? Cecil, Stay with me now. Let's figure this out, yeah?" He said softly, Cecil’s trembling slowly going away. He nodded quickly and fearfully, their eyes locked for a moment before Kevin turned away and moved to the front door, dragging Cecil behind him. “Hey, didn’t you say your boyfriend is a scientist? Maybe we can check out his lab!” Kevin chimed, a smile evident in his voice. Cecil always wondered how he could be so cheerful about everything, even when they were stuck as the only people left in his town.
“Oh. Well, I did go over there, but I couldn’t find the lights and I just got,” He paused as he licked his lips, trying to find his words. “I got too spooked to continue. Something just felt wrong. ” He finished, Kevin nodding his head as he listened to the other’s story.
“Alright. We’ll check there first, then if we find nothing, the Town Hall. Don’t worry about being alone, I'm here with you!" Kevin looked at him with a smile. But this smile wasn't the same as the smile he always showed, the one he wore all the time. It was different. It was warm, like a summer day, and sweet, like a bar of chocolate.
It was becoming Cecil's favorite type of chocolate.
The two started their journey back to Carlos' lab, the air dense around them. But to them, it was just a night out walking, while holding hands. Kevin hadn't let go, and Cecil was too scared to upset the shorter by pointing it out, so he didn't. Plus, he enjoyed the warmth his hands gave off, compared to his unnaturally cold hands.
The usual supernatural events that made the town unique were completely absent. Buildings stood empty, devoid of any signs of life. The absence of the usual strange sounds and flashing lights added to the eerie atmosphere that put Cecil off.
As they walked through the abandoned streets, Cecil couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. The shadows seemed to whisper secrets into his ears, and an unshakable sense of dread hung in the air. Cecil's mind was filled with questions. What had caused the disappearance of the town? Where had everyone gone? Why were Cecil and Kevin seemingly the only ones left behind? How did Kevin even get here?
With each step they took towards the lab, Cecil and Kevin delved deeper into the mystery, determined to uncover the truth and bring back the familiar strangeness that made Night Vale, well, Night Vale. Little did they know, the challenges and revelations that awaited them in their search for answers hid an unknown monster as they ventured into the unknown. It would make grappling the blurred lines between reality and the inexplicable forces that shaped their world near impossible, and lead them to questions that were best left unanswered.