The Impala, a striking black against the purpling sky, slowed to a stop by a large, dark grey sign. The change would have been instantaneous had the hunters been less preoccupied with getting to their next case, a chymera terrorizing some local suburbs in the dryer regions of the country. They would have seen the sky, now completely purple in color, and felt the air around them grow watchful. Most importantly, they would have, even if unwillingly, read the sign, "Welcome to Night Vale".
"Hey, Dean, take a look at this," Sam said, finally taking note of their surroundings.
The shorter of the two left the car, looking around before finally proclaiming, "What the hell kind of town has a purple sky?"
They left the car, choosing the added range of sight over the protection of the car, and continued into the town on foot. Sam took mental notes of each odd occurrence that unfolded before them:
1) A man holding two chickens ran by, frantically screaming "HAVE YOU SEEN BRIDGETTE? PLEASE? SHE OFFERED ME HER FIRSTBORN IN EXCHANGE FOR MY CHICKENS!"
2) A group of boy scouts sat down in the town square, practicing telekinesis (and actually succeeding at it!)
3) A dog park with tall, solid walls surrounding it and signs plastered on its every corner. "DO NOT ENTER THE DOG PARK."
"Dean… maybe we should just leave," Sam suggested, looking noticeably concerned.
"Are you kidding me?! This place is amazing!"
After walking around the town for a while, seeing the bizarrities of the place, the brothers decided it best to return to "Dean's baby" and discuss their course of action. Something had to be going on here, none of this could possibly be normal. Cas wasn't even responding here.
"Damn it, Cas, where are you?!" shouted Dean, finally deciding, after the fifteenth time, that enough was enough and the angel needed to appear.
"Calm down, dude. We'll work it out." Sam said in an attempt soothe his brother.
Dean absentmindedly turned on the radio to clear his mind,some good ol' classic rock would do perfectly right about now, however, no matter which channel he turned to, the same station played.
"The Arctic is lit by the midnight sun. The surface of the moon is lit by the face of the Earth. Our little town is lit too-" The silky voice of the radio host was abruptly cut off when Dean, aggravated at the absence of his precious ACDC, shut off the device completely.
"Come on, Dean. Be mature. This could be important information!" Sam tried to reason with his brother as he switched radio back on.
"...creeping fear will go next—hopefully, to Desert Bluffs…" Dean moodily switched the radio again, not even bothering to look in Sam's direction as he did so. The other gave him a dirty glance and turned it back on. The radio war ensued for another good four minutes.
"God, Dean! Grow up!"
"Growing up? You want to talk me about 'growing up'?! Who had to take care of you after mom died?! What about when dad left for weeks and I had to babysit you instead of being a kid?! Who fed you? Tucked you in at night? Cleaned your boo-boos? And how did you repay me? You left me alone with dad!"
"Dean- I told you, I'm sorry. You can't hold that against me forever."
Dean murmured something about how forever wasn't long enough and started back toward the town. Bad mood forgotten after some distance, they noticed a diner with an oversized poster advertising FREE PIE DAY*. As Dean contemplated all the possible pies, he felt his moose of a brother jab him in the arm and point towards a house.
Both brothers stared in shock, at a complete loss for words as they took in the sight before them. There, standing on the porch of a fairly ordinary seeming house doing various household tasks, were a number of angels. Not just your regular human-lookin' ones either, as Dean would later phrase it when he explained the story to Bobby. Standing on a ladder, an angel, tar-black, was screwing in a light bulb above the porch. Another angel, the exact opposite of the first in color with its radiant white appearance, covered in assorted eyes, was raking leaves in the front yard. The whole house seemed to have a golden halo surrounding it.
Even this sight couldn't have prepared Dean for what he would see next. Exiting the house, appeared an angel with a flowery, ruffled apron tied on top of his normally pristine trench coat. He was holding a tray of cookies and had a distraught look on his face.
"Castiel?!" Dean shouted.
"Dean?" the angel replied. "What are you doing here?"
"More like what are you doing here?!"
"Well, this nice lady asked me to bake some cookies. I tried so hard, but the oven was really hot and I perhaps might have spilled flour all over the floor."
Dean took a moment to reply, taking in the sight. Cas' normally coiffed hair was disheveled and flour was smeared over his face. I could get used to looking at him like this, Dean thought. Sam noticed the look his brother was giving the angel and smirked at him. Dean gave a quick, deep cough and began to speak.
"Anyways, Cas, we've been looking for you! You were here this whole time!?"
"Yes. I rode on the roof of your car. I cannot say that I enjoy this Nevada weather."
"Great. Just great. Okay, well, Sammy and I are going to do real work, so we'll catch up with you later."
"Dean! Wait! Please try a cookie before you go." Cas asked.
Dean looked down at the tray. It contained twelve burnt cookies. Sam gave Dean a stern look and pointedly stared at the tray. They picked up two of the lesser burnt cookies and slowly bit into them. Dean winced a little, but managed to give Cas a thumbs-up. As they left the front yard, Sam quickly spit out his own.
"Cooking is definitely not his talent." Sam acknowledged. Still wiping his tongue with the sleeve of his blue plaid shirt, Sam almost stepped on a can marked with a red flag. He was pulled back by a hand, and all that he heard was, "Follow me, and run." Sam and Dean had no other choice but to follow the man in the lab coat as the sprinted several blocks.
"I'm assuming you're new here. Everyone knows to stay away from the red flags."
"Excuse me?" Dean asked.
"To quote the radio that you haven't been listening to, apparently, 'No flag? Goes in the bag. Red flag? Run.' This town has rules. I've only been here for three days, but I have gathered that."
"And who are you?" Sam questioned.
"Carlos," the bespectacled man replied, "I am a scientist. I have taken up residence here in order to research the strange occurrences in this town."
Dean and Sam introduced himself and several puns were made about Sam and Carlos' long, thick hair. They each shared the information they knew about the town and Carlos showed the brothers around his lab. Gears from clocks, acidic liquids, and glowing specimens were lying around the room. "Recently, there has been, what Night Vale refers to as, "The Glow Cloud".
"All that I can tell you is that it changes colors due to a currently unknown variable and that it has been raining animals. Literal animal corpses. I'm afraid I'm not much of a help, but you can always talk to Cecil." Carlos explained.
"Is Cecil the one who's name you doodled in hearts all over your notepad?" Sam asked. Carlos flipped to the next page of the notebook nonchalantly and continued speaking. He wrote down the address of the radio station on a fresh sheet of paper and handed it to Dean, who he slightly preferred just because he hadn't pointed out the notebook.
"Please, do come back if you discover anything interesting. Scientifically, I mean." Carlos added.
They nodded and began their trek to the station headquarters. It took four days to reach the station by foot. The sun had risen and set four whole times.
"We should have taken the Impala," Sam panted, gasping for air.
"THANKS, SHERLOCK." Dean's phone rang twice before he picked it up.
"Are you there yet?" it was the voice of Carlos.
"Dude! Why didn't you tell me it was four days away?!" Dean demanded.
"'Dude', it is a 30 minute walk, the sun just sets rapidly on the path there."
"...Oh." As Dean hung up, he noticed the station entrance was right in front of him.
Ohh, he thought, that wasn't there before. They marched in, opening doors and ignoring protesting workers and loud officials. He shoved open the door labeled CECIL BALDWIN with large purple block letters. "Okay- listen up! I've got some questions!" Dean began. "Eye….three eyes…. Ahem… I want to know everything about this glow cloud.." he stammered.
The man sitting behind the desk was very well-groomed. His white-blond hair was gelled back and he wore a purple vest with a dark purple bowtie. He had tattoos in a tribal pattern that constantly shifted up and down his forearms. He just chuckled in reply.
"Sam and Dean, I presume. Welcome."
"How did you know our names?" Sam asked calmly.
"Yeah- How did you know our names?!" Dean repeated, feeling that he was the leader of the two and he had the questioning rights. Sam sighed at Dean while Cecil responded,
"Oh, Carlos called me in advance. And may I say, Sam, your hair is magnificent."
"Umm, can you just tell us about the glow cloud?" Sam responded uncomfortably.
"Of course, of course. Carlos filled me in on what you already know, so I will just inform you that it has doubled in size and citizens have begun to worship it. ALL HAIL THE GLOW CLOUD."
"Good to know. May I ask what… species you are?" Sam asked gently, not trying to pry into this seemingly nice man's life.
"It's a long story involving a pterodactyl, some radiation, and a small city in Ukraine. Also, by the way, did Carlos, by any chance, mention me?" Cecil has a hopeful voice.
"Yeah, he doodled-" Dean began, but never had a chance to finish, since Sam had once again elbowed his tactless brother.
"We'll be leaving now," Sam stated as he pulled Dean out of the room.
They began their long walk back to the Impala. Dean had already begun brainstorming on how to rid the town of their most recent dilemma.
"So, what are you thinking? A spell? Potion? Incantation?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, I'm hoping for the usual." Sam replied, grabbing his supplies from the trunk. He pulled out a his normal supplies: a knife, a bible, and some holy water.
"Do you think this will do the trick?"
"It better."
After spending several hours tracking down the glow cloud, they realized that the cloud was slowly moving away from the town on it own. Several worshippers were holding up signs, begging the cloud to return, but to no avail. The cloud just kept heading west. They watched the cloud disappear from their sight and then decided to tie up loose ends.
First thing on their list: Visit Carlos. Nightfall had begun and stars were visible above the town's Arby's. However, upon closer inspection, they weren't stars at all, just…. unknown lights. . A feeling of exhaustion had settled upon the two men as they approached Carlos' red door. Carlos opened the door before the had a chance to knock.
"So, what did you find out anything about the glow cloud?!" Carlos demanded.
"It's a mist- thingy that changes colors." Dean explained to the scientist.
"Yes, thank you I knew that." he replied in an exasperated tone. "What about Cecil? Is he alright?"
"That dude has three eyes….. THREE." Dean exclaimed, while holding up three fingers.
"Yes, I am aware, Dean." sighed Carlos.
"He's fine. He seems nice. I kept Dean's mouth shut about the doodles. You're secret is safe." Sam said.
"I like you slightly more now," Carlos said.
After exchanging mutual cool-guy nods, The Winchesters left the house to go attend to their child, Castiel. They walked right up to the old woman's house and pulled Cas out of the kitchen, causing him to drop his tray of newly made cookies. Cas refused to move from his spot, staring at the cookies blankly and murmuring, "that was my best batch". It took a very long time and many apologies to get him moving again.
"Oh wait, I forgot to return my apron-" Cas said.
"Just keep it." Dean responded roughly.
After several intense minutes of walking, they finally reached the Impala.
"Time to get the hell out of this messed up town" Dean said as they drove away.
*along with the purchase of a recent cadaver. Seriously. Buy one, the Secret Police has way too many. Prices range from $5-$210.