The Doctor jolted up from his spot in the dirt, taking in a single, gasping breath. Wait. Dirt. He was on a spaceship earlier, hundreds of aliens surrounding him. How did he get here?

He grabbed at the ground around him, this time coming into contact with a root. He looked to it in surprise, still not able to comprehend how he was in a forest.

"It's a pocket universe," he mumbled to himself, coming to a realization that his surroundings matched those of the pocket universe he had recently come in contact with.

But how? No TARDIS, no-

Then he remembered. Those hundreds of aliens that were surrounding him, the flash of light that surrounded him and the short burst of pain that coursed through his veins. All while he was in the middle of regenerating.

"I'm dead," he whispers.

He takes another deep breath and stands up, taking in his surroundings. The forest could be the pocket universe's twin: the strange mist, the overcast skies, the sound of a dying stream nearby. But there was something off about the feeling of the place. Although the previous pocket universe was eerie, this one had a much more ominous sense than the last.

No, no. I'm not dead. They've just sent me here to toy with me. Most likely I'm still up on that ship. Maybe I'm the flesh!

Excited at his recent deduction, The Doctor scrambled to pull his sonic screwdriver out of his left jacket pocket. Or maybe the right – he never put it there.

Empty.

His expression grew hard. "And they took my screwdriver."

"Doc!"

He heard the faint echo resonate through the leaves and he turned swiftly on the heels of his feet. He strained his ears and listened for it again – only one person called him by that nickname.

"Doc!" he heard again.

"Ah, Dean Winchester," he said to himself. "I haven't seen you in a while."

As he drew in a breath to return the call, he was cut short when something – something that seemed twice the size of him – rammed into him from the side and knocked him to the ground.

"Wha-!"

He had seen thousands of different species, but this one he had only seen once. A human with dozens of thin, needle-like teeth stared down at him. He immediately knew it was a vampire, having fighting one – or something that pretended to be one – back in Venice with Amy and Rory. The thing's tongue moved behind its teeth, and The Doctor immediately knew he would become its prey if he didn't move.

So he ran.

He ran as fast as he could, turning when he heard another voice calling for him, this time Sam's.

"Sam!" he called back, continuing to run with the monster on his trail.

Not too far from The Doctor's current location, Sam and Dean turned when they heard their friend's call for help.

"On your left!" Sam yelled to Dean, where a vampire had suddenly appeared.

Dean pushed him up against a tree, a knife to the monster's throat.

"Where's The Doctor?" he growled.

The vampire smiled maliciously before giving an answer. "I don't know."

Dean's expectant expression turned to one of rage as he removed his hand from the vamp's collarbone, allowing Sam to finish him.

"Dean!"

The Winchesters turned toward the sound again, this time taking off after it.

"We've got you, Doc!" Sam called.

"It'd be fantastic if you got here faster!"

They could hear the almost comical panic in his voice, and assumed that something had already found him.

"Then turn towards our voices!" Dean called.

"That would be more logical," The Doctor huffed to himself. He seemed to be faster than the monster as it was already a fair amount behind him. "Okay," he breathed in anticipation as he made a turn, knowing this new path would bring him closer to the Winchesters as well as to the monster.

The Doctor and the Winchesters continued to hurdle fallen trees, rocks, and skid down ridges.

Dean called "Doc!" one more time, and The Doctor finally caught sight of them.

He gave a quick laugh of relief which the brothers heard, and they stopped in their tracks and turned toward The Doctor.

"Duck!" Sam shouted to The Doctor, who promptly followed his friend's order.

Sam swung his machete, effectively decapitating the vampire.

The Doctor stood up, exhausted as he huffed loudly alongside the Winchesters.

"Hello boys," The Doctor greets.

"Good to see you, Doc," Dean breathes.

"Yeah," Sam said with a willed smile, still too out of breath to say anything else.

"Never thought I'd be back here," Dean breathed.

"And where is here, exactly?" The Doctor asked.

"Purgatory," the two brothers said in sync.

"Oh. I guess that's better than a pocket universe."

Sam and Dean exchanged expressions of confusion.

"So how do we get out of here?" The Doctor asked, looking up and down and everywhere around him.

"There's a portal not too far from here," Dean said. "But only humans can pass through it."

"Well there's a dilemma," The Doctor mumbled.

"I'll do it," Dean offered.

"Do what?" The Doctor asked.

"No, I'll do it," Sam protested. "You brought Benny back the first time, and the second time we had to bring him back he stayed. You've already done your share."

"Your share of what?"

"Sam, it's nothing you're already going through enough," Dean argued.

"Will one of you please tell me what's going on?" The Doctor begged.

The brothers turned, pausing they're argument.

"See that portal?" Sam asked.

They all stopped their procession through the woods to look where Sam was pointing. At the top of a small hill, the air churned and a blue portal roared.

The Doctor looked back to Sam, squinting his eyes because of the strong wind. He nodded once.

"Dean, give me your knife," Sam said, holding out his hand toward Dean.

Sam waited, but nothing was placed in his hand.

"Dean, come on," he said with an exasperated sigh.

"Oi!" The Doctor suddenly exclaimed. "What are you doing that for?"

Sam turned in his spot to see that Dean had already made the cut just below his elbow.

"Dean-"

"Just put your hand there, Doc," Dean instructed.

"Why did you do that?!" he asked, appalled as to why Dean would just randomly cut himself.

"It's the only way we're getting out of here," Dean explained.

The Doctor looked to Sam, who gave him a small nod. He was still angry at his brother, however.

With a sigh of discontent, The Doctor gripped Dean over the cut. He began to feel constricted, his airways growing tighter with each breath.

"Once we get back to the real world, we won't see you for a while," Dean said to the soul in his forearm. "You'll end up back wherever your body is."

Sam and Dean continued up the ridge toward the portal, Sam giving Dean a hand on the last step.

They breathed deeply once they were back in their bodies, both of them jolting up on their beds in a motel room.

"Let's hope that's the last time we have to go back there," Sam breathed.

Dean nodded in agreement, assuming Sam had left his anger in purgatory.

"I assume you've found The Doctor," Cas says near the door of the motel.

Dean jolts at the sound of his voice, forgetting that Cas was waiting for them while they were in Purgatory. He walked into the light of the room, hands folded in front of him. He suggests with his eyes to the Dean's bulging, red forearm.

"Yeah, that's him," Dean says, noticing Castiel's subtlety.

Sam takes in a deep breath. "Time to send him back."

Dean gives a short chuckle, "He's always getting into trouble."

"Hey, last time he saved our asses," Sam argues.

"That's true," Dean smirks. "'Kay Doc, see you… whenever you decide to show up again."

Dean sucks in a breath before he once again cuts his arm, letting The Doctor free. He watches the faint mist that rolls from his veins and how it flows quickly towards the window, where it flattens out and flows through the cracks.

The brothers look to each other, one more weird encounter under their belts.