There were in fact dogs inside of the dog park, Carlos was quickly regretting the decision to enter the forbidden area. If it hadn't been for Dana's disappearance into possibly another dimension they never would have entered this dreaded place. Originally he had planned to go in with a team of other scientists, but the moment that Cecil found out about what he was planning on doing he insisted on coming along. Of course no other scientists wanted to go along with him and no matter what he said Cecil could only insist on joining him, insisting he was sick of being useless and watching his friends dying and disappearing all around him. Carlos really wanted to argue him, but he hadn't felt in the mood to do so and he could tell just by looking into the older man's bright violet eyes that there was no way he could tell him not to go.
Carlos had hoped that Cecil would stick by him when they entered the dog park, but somehow they had gotten separated. He had really wanted them to stick together, he spent nearly an hour (or at least an hour as far as he could tell, in Night Vale it was hard to tell if it was an actual hour or maybe less) looking for the radio host, but he had no success in finding him.
He thought about when they had first entered, Cecil had had a tight grasp on his hand determined to not leave the scientist side. Carlos had told him to take a weapon, the place was dangerous. In response his boyfriend had only given him a sharp toothed grin and shook his head, insisting that he didn't have any use for one.
That was an hour ago, supposedly over an hour ago. Now Carlos was cornered somewhere far away from gates, metal trees, and doors that appeared with no structure around them. He was backed against an endlessly tall gray stone wall with a pack of 'dogs' surrounding him; these dogs weren't even what he wanted to consider dogs. He knew in Night Vale the animals weren't actually normal breeds like in the outside world, but these dogs were something else; something very malicious. There were about nine of them coming towards him, their bodies large like wolves, nothing but smoky blackness and glowing red eyes; their mouths were wide open exposing rows of long sharp teeth. He had swung at them with the sword he brought along with him, the blade had gone right through them, almost like they were air. For some reason everything from the dogs, humans, and hooded figures everything in the dog park weren't completely there.
Yet these dogs were there enough that they were just a single second away from ripping Carlos to shreds. He tried not to think too hard about Cecil, he didn't want to think that the dogs had gotten to him; damn it he wished the purple eyed man had taken a weapon with him, maybe he would have had a better chance.
The dogs moved closer, Carlos's eyes darted around for a route out, but there was none. He held his breath and closed his eyes.
He wondered how long it would hurt to be killed, it had hurt like a bitch when the city of tiny people under the bowling alley had stabbed and shot at him. This would be worse, he knew that.
Nothing happened.
Suddenly there was this intensive silence followed by a loud growl, he kept his eyes tightly closed until he heard the sound of a body being thrown against the ground.
He looked to see a familiar looking Native American male who looked to be in his early thirties, he wasn't tall or short, fat or thin, his familiar violet eyes avoided Carlos completely. If it weren't for those eyes he never would have known it was the man he'd been dating for nearly a year now.
He watched as another dog was thrown to the ground its spine breaking; this was the part that shocked him more than the fact he'd nearly been ripped to shreds by Hell hounds. Cecil looked like Cecil except for the four long black tendrils sprouting from his back, the ones that were wrapping painfully tightly around the shadow dogs breaking their bones and tossing them to the side. On his forehead right in the center was a third eye, completely white and slightly glowing. His long black hair fell over his face as he threw the final dog against the wall just a few feet away from where Carlos stood. He was angry, beyond angry; some sort of defensive rage. It was almost like he didn't even notice Carlos standing there until the last dog was dead, finally his eyes landed on Carlos and all the rage gave way to fear. The black tendrils shrunk back considerably, Carlos knew he had to look shocked maybe even freaked out, and Hell he was freaked out. His boyfriend had sprouted tendrils and a third eye, a minute ago he thought Cecil had been killed by dogs but now he was here and he was...It was weird.
"Cecil?" His voice came out as sort of squeak, he felt confused.
He moved a step towards the older man only for Cecil to back away from him, he shook his head in refusal.
"I'm so sorry Carlos" He whispered before turning and leaving.
Carlos tried chasing after him, but the older man was too fast for him. He exited the dog park strangely enough he ended up outside of his apartment, if he hadn't been so concerned with following Cecil then he probably would have paid more mind to just how he found his way out of the dog park or why it led him right to his home.
He figured it must have had led Cecil back to his own apartment or maybe the radio station, he thought about going to both places in search for the other man, but he was still in shock. He'd nearly died, he hadn't discovered a damned thing, and his boyfriend had a third eye and tendrils sprouting from his back. He never noticed that, he was pretty sure that was something a person would notice at one point or another; Hell maybe it was just something about the dog park, but how scared Cecil had looked, how he had apologized, and that even explained why he said he didn't need a weapon. This was something that had been going on for a long time, maybe even the entirety of his life, but for whatever reason he hadn't told Carlos a thing about it.
He felt like a dick about how he reacted, he knew shock was reasonable, but he also knew that it had hurt his boyfriend's feelings.
Carlos sat down on the navy blue couch in his too small living room, he ran his fingers back through his hair that he wouldn't mind cutting but knew how upset it would make Cecil.
He thought about it, thought about what he had seen; he asked himself if it really bothered him. He discovered that it didn't, he discovered that he was more okay with this than a normal man should be. It was still a shock, he had a hundred or so questions he wished to ask; that all of course depended on if Cecil was willing to talk to him again. This was something the older man hadn't wanted him to know about, hadn't wanted him to see, but why now?
He was still the same person; the same radio host with the dark menacing voice that could turn valley girl within a second or less, the same man who obsessed over Carlos for a year, and the same one the scientist had fallen in love with. It wasn't like Cecil had ever looked purely normal; no person that Carlos could think of had violet eyes unless of course they were wearing contact lenses or if there was some strange genetic mutation, then how pointed and fang like the man's teeth were was also something abnormal. Those things had never really bothered him though, they were odd, but in a way that was fascinating; if anything he'd felt a bit comforted the first time Cecil smiled at him. He wasn't threatening, well back in the dog park he had been, but only to the Hell hounds that had been ready to kill Carlos.
No he hadn't planned on Carlos ever finding this out, but it had happened. He knew his chances of reaching Cecil that night would be close to impossible; he knew his boyfriend would be worrying, angry with himself, and probably mentally abusing himself over what had happened. He wouldn't answer his phone, door, or reply to text messages; Carlos wished he could talk to him about it, tell him that he had seen so many things in Night Vale in his time there that his boyfriend sprouting a few extra limbs seemed pretty normal.
He knew that wouldn't happen, not tonight anyway. He would try him tomorrow or maybe the day after that; he still needed time to think about what had happened and Cecil needed time to figure his own things out.