The world is silent; the silence is loud; The woman behind you lacks a face and I'm new at this, so don't judge me for not having awesome preambles like Cecil! Welcome to Night Vale!
The Rumbling. It was impossibly loud, impossibly snarling, but all the same, happening. Carlos gripped the phone, keeping his composure. The light had stopped blinking, and was now continuously on.
His devices were somewhere near him, trying to pick up any sort of activity they could. How could Cecil not hear this? It was so loud, the rumbling almost hurt. But it didn't.
Not until the ground began to shake.
"I miss you- Oh! The building is shaking!" His lover might have been reporting to Night Vale, or maybe he was informing him. He was using his "radio voice" but still on the phone with him. Either way, Carlos now knew.
Being a scientist, Carlos began to gush over the exciting new news. He was only getting to how fascinating it all was, leaning over the edge for a better look when something hit him at his leg.
"-Ow!'
Of course, Cecil began worrying. "Carlos! What happened!?"
"I got hit...Is that a rock? Ow!" Yes, it was, and more were coming. The rocks were quickly gaining speed, and reaching higher. This one had hit his stomach.
"Carlos!"
Carlos ducked another rock, turning around, ready to run. "Cecil, the rocks are coming down. Their coming down this hill - I need to take cover; I need to find a be-ow! Hey, no!"
A single rock jumped at his hand, taking his phone. Panicking, Carlos made his way to the phone, throwing the rock away in disgust. Before he could check on his dear phone - dear dear phone that held so much more importance than one would have thought - the rumbling brought more rocks on him. Of course, he had to run. Those rocks were very painful, and no doubt, fatal if they landed on the right spot.
"Doug!" The masked man remained silent, before picking up a large flat slate of...not-earthly rock. The makeshift shield was a safe haven which Carlos took no time to get under immediately. "Thanks!"
The rumbling ended anticlimactically, as always. The rocks stopped in an instant, hitting the slate a few more times before being completely silent.
Doug let the rock go, and the heavy (so very heavy, how could this guy lift this wait, why is this surprising) slate hit the ground, crushing rocks to dust underneath it.
Carlos stared at the heavy rock for a second before realizing he lived in Night Vale for a while, this should not be surprising, and turning around to thank Doug and his two companions. They were gone, however.
Oh, well. Carlos had no time for friends in such a fascinating place like this desert. They'd come back later anyway.
Besides, other than Cecil, who else could he need? That thought shouldn't have been so comforting, especially considering Cecil was back in Night Vale and Carlos was...here...but he had his phone. Calling Cecil was-
His phone!
Carlos reached in his pocket to feel for the flat phone, but found nothing. Panic flared again, and he turned around, searching fervently. He'd put it in his pocket before running to Doug!
He found it next to the fallen shield, absolutely broken.
"No!" Carlos almost ran the short distance, falling to his knees and grabbing the tattered cellphone. "No, nononononono..."
He was a scientist, not a technician or whatever it took to fix a god damned phone! This couldn't be happening. The only way to reach Cecil had been-
Carlos would never admit it, but a sob escaped his lips. Luckily, he was alone. No masked warriors, no Dana, no-
No Cecil...
Carlos hadn't exactly been too anxious to get home since discovering the wonders of this desert, but the science had kept him entertained, as well as Dana's company. Mostly, he'd spoken of science, science, Cecil, a little more science and escaping.
Carlos sat in the desert sand, sinking in just a bit. Looking around, he found no living thing (Unless whatever was atop the mountain with the light counted). He was completely alone.
Another anguished cry escaped him, and he took another moment to look at the ruined phone that used to be his only communication with the one person he cared about.
Cecil.
He stared at the bane of his existence for so long, it seemed to have started to move. Carlos blinked to stop the hallucination.
The phone continued to shift.
Jumping slightly, he scrambled to analyze the phone. Scientific phenomenon was the word he would use three seconds after thinking, Cecil?
No, of course not. Cecil held a certain power over the people of Night Vale - a certainly terrifying power - but he couldn't interact with this other dimension in any way. Unfortunately, that included him, but Carlos would rather focus on the phone.
It had been crushed. Chips and pieces had been turned to more than dust, but less than functioning technology, and the screen had shattered. Had.
Now, the screen had a single healing scratch, and reforming chips. The battery, was no longer visible, now covered by a back that had broken before the phone started healing.
The phone was healing!
"Carlos?" Cecil's beautiful, uncertain, voice spoke out of the device. It looked almost new, as if it had never been smothered by a rock the size of his foot.
The moment - terrifying, horrifying, heart-churning - had passed and Cecil was, again, with him. Carlos smiled and wiped his eyes with his dirty sleeve. Huh, no tears. That was good, Cecil was probably still on air and he didn't want to cry with all of Night Vale there to listen.
He still ended up confessing, but everybody already knew he loved Cecil. And Cecil loved him.
As a scientist, Carlos planned to figure out how this desert valley worked.
As a - hopefully not star-crossed - lover, he planned to find a way out of this place.
He was just lucky Cecil was a patient boyfriend.
Seriously, very very very lucky. You start annoying me sometimes, Carlos, but that may be because I miss your presence in Night Vale. Why can't you have a doppelganger to replace you? I miss your hair, my dear. Don't worry, I wouldn't take you from Cecil. I may wish I could take Cecil from you, but that's not happening anytime soon.