Cas had just stepped through his front door when he heard it. His heart beat a little faster as he looked around himself, seeing nothing. Strange. That was definitely the wheezing noise the TARDIS always made.
Just as he was considering shrugging it off as a mistake on the part of his hearing, everything around him changed. Bit by bit, a new room materialised where his living room was. It was one he recognised, although it had changed.
As it came fully into focus, he took a moment to look around. The walls were silver, instead of the orangey brown he remembered, and the central console was much more organised. He also took a moment to stare at the contraption on the ceiling, covered in symbols that he recognised but could not read.
Movement across the room caught his eye and he turned, seeing a girl approach. She was short, and young, with brown hair and eyes, and very pretty. Cas decided to speak.
"It's been a while old friend," He said casually, "I see you've changed again, and into a girl this time. It looks good on you." He wandered past her, one hand idly on the console, and continued, "Where are we off to this time then?"
The girl looked confused for a moment, then seemed to pull herself together, and stepped towards him. "Oh...sorry, no I'm not...it's just he's...I'm Clara. Clara Oswald." She stuck out her hand.
He shook it gently, an amused look in his eye, and said, "My apologies, I assumed as you were the only person in the console room that you must be the Doctor. I would now guess you are his current travelling companion. Is he around?"
"Um, sort of," the girl named Clara replied slowly, "Sorry who are you?"
"Oh how rude of me, my name is Castiel Grey, I'm an old friend of the Doctor's." He paused looking thoughtful, "Although depending on when in his timeline this is, I'm not sure how old."
At that, Clara looked down for a moment, her features taking on a sad look, and said, "There's something wrong with him." Her eyes closed, in pain or fear he wasn't sure, and she added, "I panicked...after he was hurt, I got him back to the TARDIS, and managed to use the telepathic circuit to get us away, but I don't know where she brought us, and the Doctor won't wake up. I just wanted some help."
Her eyes were filling with tears as her voice became almost hysterical, so Cas calmly stepped forward, gently placed his hands on her upper arms, and firmly said, "Take me to him."
The girl nodded, eyes wide, and walked down a set of stairs towards one of the doors. He followed silently, apprehensive of what he would find. After a couple of twists and turns, they came to what looked like a medical bay, and he saw him.
"This isn't a face I've seen before." He said absently as he stepped closer. "Can you tell me what happened to him?"
"I'm not completely sure," Clara told him quickly, "We were in a little market on a desert planet I can't remember the name of, and these local guards told us and everyone else in the square that something had crashed outside the city and to be careful."
Cas nodded and she continued, "You seem to know the Doctor, so it won't be a surprise that he wanted to go have a look. We were about half a mile into the wilderness when a horrible noise pierced the air. I thought my ear drums were going to burst, and when I looked at the Doctor...he looked absolutely terrified. I've never seen him like that, he's normally so in control of things, but back there he completely lost it. Then there was a shadow above our heads and the scream got quieter, but the Doctor fell to the ground, and ever since then he wouldn't wake up."
He nodded along, looking thoughtful, and softly asked, "Did you get a good look at it?"
She shook her head, "Just a quick one as it flew away. It looked like a plane, or a spaceship, dark and spikey, and on the front I thought I saw a giant face, like a baby but gruesome and all in black...but that can't be right."
Cas visibly recoiled, shooting a worried glance at the Doctor, and just said, "Leave it to me."
He pulled up a chair at the head of the surgical table the Doctor was laid out on, placed a hand on either side of the older man's face and closed his eyes.
As Clara waited, and the minutes ticked past in silence, she took a moment to appraise the man she had just met. He was tall, similar in height to the Doctor, with jet black hair and a slim build. He was wearing a black suit, with a white shirt and no tie. He looked to be a similar age to her, but his features had a strangeness to them, like they weren't entirely human. She wasn't surprised by it, all the time she had spent with the Doctor had made her almost numb to the presence of aliens around her, but this felt different somehow.
As her idle thoughts continued, he dropped his hands from the Doctor's face and slumped in his chair. Clara stepped towards him, and said, "What did you do? Is he going to be okay?"
"I connected to his mind, as briefly as I could, to see if I could pull him out of it. If I'm right, he should wake up soon."
Clara swallowed, "How soon is soon?"
He shrugged, "5 minutes? 10 years? I'm not sure." He frowned, looking at her in concern.
She tried to look like she wasn't worried. He shook his head softly.
"It's okay to worry, I can see you care about him a lot. If you like I could drop you home, and stay with him until he wakes. I'm sure he'll pick you up again once he's okay." He smiled reassuringly, but she couldn't help but protest.
"Why would I leave? You said he's going to be okay."
"Do you want to spend 10 years of your life waiting for that though?" He replied in a serious tone.
"Maybe," she said stubbornly, "By that same logic, why should you stay with him?"
"I don't...age quite like most people," he said with a smirk, "10 years is a nap to me."
Her eyes widened in surprise, "I thought there was something different about you," she breathed softly, "Maybe you're right, I should visit my family, and I have work to go back to. Just promise me you'll bring him back to me when he's better."
Cas nodded, leading her back to the console room. As they walked, she asked, "What was it I said that made you look so freaked out earlier? The Doctor did the same face before he was attacked."
Cas stopped, looking thoughtful, before turning to face her and saying, "What do you know of the time war?"
Clara couldn't help an involuntary quiver of fear at the mention of it, "A bit, the Doctor has told me some, and I did see a bit of it once."
"I am sorry you had to witness any part of that monstrosity," Cas replied quickly, giving her a tender look, "I was there, at times, and it was the worst hell ever conceived by creation." He shuddered, "Did the Doctor ever tell you about a being called the Nightmare Child?"
She shook her head, and he continued walking. She hurried to catch up, and asked, "What was it?"
He didn't answer straight away, seeming to weigh his words, and said, "A weapon, created by the Deathsmiths of Goth for the Dalek Emperor. It is a living starship, with the mind of a child and all the hatred of the dalek race. It can kill you just by looking at you, and it's war cry is deadly. And worst of all, it is uncontrollable. The daleks lost control of it very quickly, and it killed their leader, Davros. After that it went rogue, destroying any and all who tried to stand against it, no matter what side they were on."
He paused as they reached the console room, and Clara prompted, "So what happened to it?"
Cas looked over at her and smiled slightly, simply saying, "The Doctor."
Before explaining, he started flipping switches and pushing buttons on the console. Clara heard the engines whir to life and was momentarily stunned. This man fought in the time war, and could fly the TARDIS. Who was he? She hoped the Doctor could shed some light when he woke up.
Cas pretended not to notice her confusion, and carried on his explanation. "As you know, the Doctor is an amazing man, capable of many things. He flew his TARDIS into the inner shell of the Nightmare Child, and placed a bug in there. The bug increased the creature's already unhealthy appetite for violence and destruction, and the Doctor led it on a merry chase across the stars. He stole a great deal of information from the Timelord High Council about what had previously occurred during the war, and manipulated it to his needs."
"What do you mean, how do you manipulate something that's already happened?" Clara asked without thinking, regretting it when he gave her a pointed look.
"It was a time war, think about it. The Doctor was the king of interfering in established timelines. He flew through that war like a ghost, and both sides feared him."
"Back to the Nightmare Child. With the information he had taken, he deliberately and meticulously went to every battle that had gone in the Daleks' favour. Everytime the Timelords lost, or were disadvantaged, he appeared, and the Nightmare Child followed. It was a bloodbath, millions died on both sides, not to mention the casualties caught in the cross fire, but it evened out the state of the war."
"So he hoped it would get itself killed in one of these battles then?" Clara asked dubiously.
"No, that creature is nigh unkillable." Cas told her casually as he carried on moving round the console. He stopped at the telepathic circuit, pushing his fingers in and closing his eyes. He carried on speaking, "The Doctor was just getting the best he could out of a bad situation. He didn't bank on the Daleks attempting to harness a black hole as a power source, much like the Timelords' own Eye of Omega. He flew right into the heart of their main fleet surrounding the black hole, and the creature, when it attempted to follow, got sucked in." He shrugged, "And that was it. Gone. After the Daleks lost their attempted power source, they decided instead to move their entire armada to Gallifrey, hoping to take the planet by brute force. And that, as I'm sure you know, is when the Doctor used the Moment to wipe them all out."
"Actually he didn't," Clara replied softly, stepping up beside him. His eyes snapped open, turning to face her, and she was shocked by his expression. The strength of his gaze seemed to burn into her, his liquid grey eyes radiating emotion.
"What do you mean?" He said after a moment.
"It's a long story, but the Doctor found a way to save Gallifrey and destroy the Daleks as well."
Cas shook his head, "Surely such a thing is impossible, even for him. How did he do it?"
"He used...um, I think it was called a stasis cube?" She saw the look of recognition on his face, "Yeah that was it, he brought all of his different selves together, each with a stasis cube in their TARDIS, and it just vanished."
His eyes widened. "That is genius!" He shook his head in wonder, "Even by the his normal standards, that is incredible."
Clara smiled at his wonder, but saw a tear gathering at the corner of his eye, and asked, "What's wrong?"
He wiped it away, "Nothing, I'm just happy the Doctor isn't as alone as he thought."
As he turned away, she placed a hand on his arm, and said, "I've been with the Doctor long enough to know when someone is hiding something. It's okay, you can tell me."
He didn't answer straight away, pulling his hands free and walking towards the door. She followed, and he opened them to reveal her house. She didn't step out, instead looking at him expectantly, and he eventually spoke.
"I helped the Doctor steal the Moment on Gallifrey, and I've always felt guilty about my part in helping him destroy his own people. Knowing he didn't do so is a great relief."
She looked momentarily surprised, and said, "How did you mange that?"
He gave her a cocky half smile and just said, "I have certain...abilities that came in very handy. Now, off you go. I'll come and get you when he wakes up."