Chapter Text
They stopped at the Arby's on the way out of town. Sam said he liked the salads; Dean grumbled, but in truth at least it was something different. He was, shockingly, beginning to get sick of pizza.
Cas appeared at the Winchester's table and they both flinched.
'There is no prior record of any shadow-creatures in any of heaven's history,' he said, 'I won't be able to help you out with this hunt.'
'Weren't planning to keep the hunt up,' said Dean, 'we're heading out.'
'There's no point trying to solve anything here,' said Sam, 'you can't explain it. Any of it. And Carlos is going to do a better job of fixing anything than we will.'
'The angels looking after Josie seem to be fairly capable as well,' added Cas, "though they are not following her at the moment.'
'How d'you know?' asked Dean.
'Josie is sitting just over there.'
Cas indicated where she was sitting and Sam and Dean did their best to look at her subtly. She was having lunch with a man sporting the most joyous grin they'd ever seen.
'That's Cecil,' said Sam and Dean at the same time.
Castiel looked at them both in confusion. 'I wasn't aware that you'd met him.'
'We didn't,' said Sam, equally confused, 'I don't even know what he looks like.'
'You know what he looks like now, though.'
'Yeah, sure,' said Dean, 'he's... I mean, his...'
'He's definitely Cecil,' said Sam.
'Oh, definitely.' said Dean.
'But you're unable to describe his physical appearance?' asked Castiel.
'You try if you're so brilliant,' said Dean with a small amount of frustration.
Castiel opened his mouth to start describing before pausing, closing it again, and looking intently at Cecil.
The three of them did their absolute worst at looking inconspicuous as they eavesdropped on Cecil and Josie's conversation.
'Did I tell you, Josie? I have a new boyfriend!"
'You did, Cecil dear. Fourteen times.'
'I'm sorry, I'm just... I'm so excited!'
Josie chuckled and smiled. 'Don't apologise dear, it's lovely to hear how happy you are.'
Cas, Sam and Dean turned away from their eavesdropping.
'Well,' said Sam, 'Carlos seems... lucky.'
'Dude, speak for yourself,' said Dean, 'that guy's terrifying.'
'Aside from bits of his show, you know, he actually seems kind of normal compared to half the people here.'
Dean snorted. 'You're kidding?'
'Well, either way,' said Sam, 'he seems happy here.'
'The positive feeling of most residents is confusing,' said Cas, 'despite the totalitarian nature of the local police force and the stringent measures in place against rule breakers, the humans here seem perfectly content.'
They all looked at each other, waiting for someone to suggest an explanation. Finally, Sam sighed and looked resigned.
'Look,' he said, 'we could talk about this for years and we'd still never get any closer to finding out what's going on here.'
'Good call,' said Dean. He put some money on the table and stood up. Sam quickly followed suit. If they stuck around to discuss anything else they'd never leave.
'If I find any more information on Night Vale, I'll let you know,' said Cas, before disappearing.
'This is gonna bug him til he figures it out,' said Dean with a chuckle as they clambered into the Impala.
'Well, if anyone's going to figure out, it'll be him,' said Sam, 'he's got eternity to figure it out.'
The engine revved and the Winchesters drove away, once more returning to the saner part of their reality.