New chapter!
Disclaimer: My name is neither Kathy Reichs, Brendan Reichs, Joseph Fink nor Jeffrey Cranor. Therefore, I don't own anything here except Han and the story.
"I should start at the beginning. For...well, for as long as anyone can remember, really, Night Vale and Desert Bluffs - that's the nearest city- have been enemies. Got that?" The Virals nodded. "Desert Bluffs is owned by this huge company, StrexCorp Synernists Incorporated. A few months ago they bought out every business in town."
"So this is all just about some corporate takeover?" Asked Tory. I thought she was in real danger!
"Not exactly." Han replied. "You see, Strex isn't like most corporations. Ever been to Desert Bluffs?" Negatives all round."Good, but if you were to visit, you'd see the danger we're all in. Everyone goes around with these...these...these expressions they think are smiles but aren't." She demonstrated as best she could and was met with a chorus of screams, groans and one sob. Coop whimpered and pressed himself into Tory's leg. "Exactly. And they all seem incapable of feeling anything other than this emotion they think is happiness but really isn't. It's hard to explain. But the point is, they've all been brainwashed into becoming chipper, productive worker-drones, in some cases without eyes." She shuddered. "The whole place is basically dripping in blood, and the Bluffsmen seem to like it that way. It's horrible, and now they've taken Night Vale."
"And no-one's resisting?"
"We tried, Hiram." For a moment, the red fire faded from Haneet's eyes to be replaced by the deep indigo blue of sadness. "The whole city fought back against them, but there were too many. They defeated us easily. That's when things went from bad to really, really bad."
She went on with her tale. "First thing they did was lock up Tamika Flynn and her book club militia. At least, I think they're locked up. No-one's really sure what happened to them. They were the best defence we had, and true heroes. That was what broke our spirit initially. Then they regained control of NVCR. One day I just showed up and I knew something was wrong, I could feel it. Cecil wasn't there and Kevin was and that was that."
"Who are these people?" Ben had never had much patience for people he didn't know.
"Cecil Palmer was - is" she corrected herself, "the Voice of Night Vale, although that means nothing to you, of course. It's a job somewhere between 'radio host', 'spokesentity' and 'high priest of the Glow Cloud'. Kevin L'Heureux is basically the Desert Bluffs version."
"But people get replaced all the time." Hi scratched his head,not getting it.
"Being the Voice isn't that kind of a job. It's prophesied. Until the next Voice - the Chosen One, if you like - turns twenty (around which time their successor-to-be is born), the only entities that know they're the Chosen One are Station Management (whatever they actually are), the current Voice, and the next Voice's parents, who are told when the kid turns five. They'd take over at twenty-five. The next Voice would be about our age now, and potentially old enough to replace Cecil in an emergency situation like this one, so logic would dictate that when Kevin took over someone would complain and say that their kid should be the new Voice. But no-one did, so we all just assumed that was it. A new Voice hadn't been prophesied. And the only way that could happen would be if there was to be no more Night Vale." She sighed shakily, gazing at the ground. "After that, most people stopped resisting. Those who refused left as soon as they could, or else tried to play along."
Shelton felt his heart start to sink. "Which camp do your parents fall into?"
"They took Sanjay and moved to Rachel." She shrugged. "Ravi was still at college at the time, so it didn't really affect him."
"And what about you?" Tory asked.
"I quit my job at the station, stole some equipment, bought a gun and set up camp here."
"Here?"
"The sand wastes." She twirled like a little girl pretending to be a ballerina. "This is my kingdom!"
Her bitter laughter died away as the area around them began to steadily increase in brightness.
"Is that you?" asked Ella.
"No!" Han drew her weapon. "I...this hasn't happened since the doors were last opened! It's gotta be Strex!" She turned and fired blindly. It was almost impossible to see, partly because of the brilliant, terrible light and partly because their surroundings were beginning to turn translucent. "Get in the car!" She yelled. "Now! Drive!"
"Where to?" Ben screamed back from behind the wheel.
"Anywhere! I've got everything I need right here!"
"The nearest motel." Tory sounded so much calmer than she felt. "It'll give her a chance to get cleaned up." Together, they sped out of the light.
The young vigilante relaxed as she felt the warm water from the shower drumming over her skin and hair, watching as it swirled around her feet before draining away, stained with the beige of sand and dust and the rusty colour of dried blood - hers, theirs, it didn't matter anymore. For the first time since the battle, she began to relax.
Then she remembered. The light, so close to her beloved Night Vale. So very close. The Smiling God...
She had to fight.
She had to fight, but she couldn't do it alone.
No.
And soon, dear listeners, she would have to tell the others what she had become.
How she dreaded that moment.
A note about Kevin: I don't know if his last name was ever mentioned in the show, and I didn't want to make it 'Free' like the voice actor, so I tried to think of an idea of my own and came up with 'L'Heureux'. If you don't like it, you could always mentally change it?
A note about the Voice prophecy: my personal headcanon. It's been mentioned that Cecil becoming the Voice was prophesied from the age of 5, but in 'Cassettes' his younger self seems totally unaware. I figured my explanation sort of made sense.