I knew something wasn't right from the moment I opened my eyes and saw a skinny man in a pinstripe suit leaning over me. A wide grin spread across his face when he saw I was awake. With a groan I rolled over. I hate the half state between sleeping and waking up, dreams seem so real... I opened my eyes and yelled in fright when I saw what was before me. "What the hell?" I cried, springing upright and dragging the sheet with me. Standing there beside the bed was a stone angel, its face distorted in a sharp toothed snarl and clawed fingers reaching towards me. I glanced back towards the man and then at the angel. I froze. Okay if I wasn't mistaken I could swear the statue had moved closer. I looked to the man for an explanation and found him staring the angel directly in the eye while also motioning for me to come towards him.
"Don't make any sudden moves." He cautioned. "Get out of bed, walk from the room and shut the door behind you. Whatever you do don't turn your back on the angel and don't blink." He said, pulling a slim metal wand from his pocket. He pressed a button on the side and the tip lit up with blue light.
Slowly I did as I was told, firmly closing the door behind me. Dear god I hoped I was dreaming right now. I headed through to the living room and collapsed into an armchair, burying my head in my hands. Perhaps I would wake up soon before things got any more weirder. Comforted a little by that thought I stood up and went into the kitchen, situations like this called for a cup of strong black coffee. Kettle on I went to knock on the door of my bedroom. Even if this was just a dream it didn't hurt to be polite to a complete stranger. "Would you like a cup of tea?" I asked. No reply came and despite the man's warning I cautiously pushed the door open. The room was empty and instead of a menacing stone angel and a man who was obviously slightly crazy a blue police phone box now stood beside the window. I blinked rapidly a few times. Well at least I knew I was still half asleep. Shaking my head I left the room and headed back into the cramped space of the kitchen. It was still full of boxes of Sherlock's scientific equipment I hadn't had the heart to get rid of yet. I am so preoccupied by the strange man and the angel that I don't notice the man sitting in Sherlock's armchair. He loudly cleared his throat and I started. The man is offering me a mug full of hot coffee and I gratefully take it.
"Thanks." I muttered, finding myself unnerved by the intense look in the man's blue/green eyes.
"You're most welcome John." The man said in a familiar, deep voice. "I was assuming you still didn't take sugar."
Realization struck me and my head jerked round to look at him. It couldn't be him could it? "S-S-Sherlock?" I gasped incredulously, staring at him and trying to drink in every little detail. He still looks exactly the same. Black messy hair, dark purple shirt... a sudden hot anger flared through me, strong enough to momentarily take my breath away. "Where the hell have you been for three bloody years?!" I shouted.
A hurt expression flashes across Sherlock's face. "I'm sorry John but it's rather difficult to explain and I doubt you would believe me." He replies, stretching his arms out towards me.
I cross my arms and frown at him, disappointed he didn't think me strong enough to process the news he was now telling me. I had had to cope with worse during my time in the army. "Try to explain. You owe me an explanation after what you have put me through for the past three years!" I say, my voice rising. Even in a dream Sherlock is still a dick
Sherlock snarls loudly and breathes twin streams of smoke from his nostrils. I do a second take; that wasn't normal behavior for him. "I tried to return John but I couldn't get back without help." He says, reaching out a hand that is tipped with sharp, curving claws.
I hesitate. Something here is very wrong. Slowly I raise my gaze to Sherlock and what I see is shocking enough to make me gasp loudly and stumble back a few steps. "What are you?" I ask, finding myself unable to meet Sherlock's glowing orange eyes. He shifts uncomfortably and unfurls a pair of red scaly wings that curl at the ends into two sharp talons. I drop my mug and it shatters against the floor with a crash. Bloody hell I wasn't dreaming- all of this; the angel statue, the strange crazy man and Sherlock is real.
"Come now John, don't be shy. I'm not going to hurt you." Sherlock pleads, a quiet hiss audible in his deep voice. I flinch back away from him and a sad expression settles over his face. "Oh John I knew you would react this way." He buries his head in his clawed hands. With a small jolt I notice a pair of red spiraling horns emerging from amidst his black hair.
"What are you?" I repeat, inching away from him again.
Sherlock shakes his head sadly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth."
A sudden thought hits me. "Does Mycroft know what you have become?"
Sherlock winces and closes his eyes, massaging his forehead as though he has a headache. "Mycroft is...changed like me." He leans back in the chair and rearranges his forked tail (another detail I hadn't previously noticed) so it curls about him. "This may be difficult to accept but history has been altered. Some one was saved who should have died and has caused everything we know to change. Apparently according to the Doctor if events are not righted time is going to tear itself apart."
"Sorry?" I ask, starting to feel out of my depth. "The Doctor? Doctor Who? Who should have died? I don't understand." I groan quietly.
Sherlock stretches gracefully like a cat, his spine and wings cracking. "The Doctor will be here in a moment to explain. He just had to deal with a Weeping Angel first." He explains, confusing me even more.
I shrug and sit down in the armchair opposite Sherlock. Unsure what to say to him silence falls between us, broken only when a loud breathy, wheezing sound echoes through the flat. I start and glance round in alarm, wondering what could be making such a noise. Sherlock just smiles. I half rise to my feet, meaning to go and investigate the sound but the next moment the tall skinny man from earlier bursts into the room grinning from ear to ear. He nods at Sherlock before grabbing my hand and shaking it.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor." He says, letting go of my hand and beginning to pace around the room. I marvel at him, wondering how he can have so much energy. "Sorry about earlier but trust me when I tell you that you did not want the angel statue to get any closer. Anyway we need to get going. We only have two hours before the universe implodes. Follow me!" He cries loudly before almost skipping from the room.
I glance over at Sherlock to see what his reaction to the Doctor is and smile when he rolls his orange eyes. "Don't worry." He reassures me. "That is normal behavior for him." He makes his way towards my bedroom and I follow.
Once again the wooden blue box sits in the corner of the room but this time the door is open, allowing a glimpse of soft golden light and a low humming sound. Sherlock enters without hesitation but I am a little more wary. Before I go through the door I briefly lay my hand on the wall and jerk back when I feel a gentle vibration running through the wood. I shake my head. What can possibly be dangerous about a tiny blue box that only just looks big enough for me, Sherlock and the Doctor to fit inside. I enter and my mouth falls open in shock when I see what is before me. Instead of a small, broom cupboard sized space I find an impossibly larger on the inside than on the outside space open up before me with a center console in the middle that is lit by a gently glowing blue column. Sherlock is no where in sight while the Doctor rushes about flicking switches and pushing buttons. He glances up momentarily when he hears my clanging footsteps and clicks his fingers. The door shuts with a creak and a quiet thud.
Welcome to the Tardis." He exclaims, throwing out an arm in a grand gesture. At the same time he pulls a lever and a wheezing, groaning noise starts up along with the column in the middle beginning to move up and down in a steady rhythm. "Hold on tight, it could get a little bumpy."
The floor beneath me vibrates violently and I grab hold of a nearby railing to prevent myself from being flung to the ground. There is a bang and thick black smoke begins to pour from the center console. A worried look passes across the Doctor's face and he goes over to investigate, muttering under his breath. Obviously something has gone badly wrong. There is another even louder bang and this time I am knocked off my feet, colliding painfully with the metal floor. I hear a yell and look up to see the Doctor go flying across the Tardis to crash into the opposite wall. He slides down it and comes to a rest in a crumpled heap on the floor. He is only there momentarily before leaping to his feet and running back to the console where he scans his eyes across a computer readout.
"Whoops, sorry about that John. The Tardis is finding it hard to navigate the time vortex now sections of it are crumbling away. That jolt we felt was her only just managing to avoid dropping into the void which would have been exceptionally bad. Anyway we're here now." He says gleefully, striding across to the doors and flinging them open. "Oh look and I got us to the right place at the right date. Brilliant!" He explains.
A little worried now I give the Doctor a look but he is oblivious to my concern having already exited the Tardis for whatever the hell is outside. As I go to follow him Sherlock appears from no where. He looks a little battered but otherwise appears okay. "Where were you?" I ask.
Sherlock shrugs, his wings rustling with the movement. "Just exploring. I was trying to find the swimming pool again. Despite the fact I followed the same route I took the last time I travelled in the Tardis I stumbled into a library instead. Come on John, we don't want to keep the Doctor waiting."
I am still half expecting to find the interior of 221B outside the Tardis doors and so I am rather shocked to find myself on the roof of a building high above the streets of London. I examine my surroundings closely but it is still several moments before I realise where we are. The Doctor has taken us back to the rooftop of St Bart's Hospital. Off to one side I notice a prone human form lying on the roof with blood pooling about his head. I take a few steps forwards until I am able to see the face and realise that it is Moriarty lying there. I stumble back and glance round again, searching for Sherlock, not the one standing beside me blowing smoke rings into the air but the one I had known and loved three years ago. Urgh, I can feel a headache coming on.
Footsteps echo across the roof, heading in the direction of Moriarty's prone body. Beside me Sherlock tenses and gives voice to a small growl followed by a trail of smoke drifting from his nostrils. The Doctor leans forward, his expression eager. After a few seconds a tall, thin person dressed in golden armour with a green cloak streaming out behind him appears. His face is framed by a horned helmet the same colour of his armour. Kneeling beside Moriarty he lays a hand on his chest.
"Loki! I should have known you were involved somehow." The Doctor says as he walks forward. He motions for Sherlock and I to stay back. "I'm sorry but I can't let you save Moriarty. The universe must be set to rights or it will tear itself apart."
Loki glances up, a sneer distorting his handsome features when he spots Sherlock. "You should be dead detective. Perhaps I didn't do a good enough job getting rid of you last time." He says, his expression becoming ugly.
"Wait, what?" The Doctor exclaims. "Sherlock jumped...no one tried to kill him." He frowns in confusion and looks over his shoulder at us. For the first time since I have met him he appears unsure, an emotion he obviously isn't comfortable with judging by the grimace he gives us. "He definatly jumped because Moriarty told him it was the only way he could save his friends." The Doctor cries, waving his hands about. "Changing even that small detail could endanger all of time."
Loki lets out a quiet snort and once more turns his full concentration to Moriarty. I frown, trying to make sense of what I am seeing. Was it possible the consulting criminal was breathing again? "Oh and would that really be such a big loss Doctor? Don't tell me you have never beeen curious to know what it would feel like to be in power, to rule over all those races and specis who you helped but who never even bothered to thank you for saving them. Think of it Timelord... together you and I could rule over the universe." He says, his voice low and intense and his gaze fixed on the Doctor.
Beside me Sherlock snarls loudly and flexes his clawed hands as though desperate to pounce on Loki. He starts a little when the Doctor lays a placating hand on his shoulder before returning to glaring at Loki who looks unmoved by the half human, half dragon threatening him. "I would never join you Loki for unlike you I care about the people I have helped. Let me tell you that if you try to take over the universe I will stop you." The Doctor says, his voice suddenly serious.
Smoothly Loki rises to his feet and faces us with his golden hooked staff loosely clutched in his right hand. He toys with it, stroking his fingers down it as he stares over the Doctor's shoulder. "Really Timelord? And how exactly do you plan to stop me, especially considering the allies I have on my side..." He gloats. He guestures with his staff and without warning, as though from thin air, six stone angels similiar to the one I was confronted with this morning materialise in a tight circle around us. "Do you recognise your old enemies Doctor? Wait there's more." He cries gleefully, throwing his arms wide. In response four peculiar machines with flashing lights on their domed heads, eye stalks and what appears to be a plunger sticking from their bodies appear.
Sherlock glances over at the Doctor with a frown. "I am assuming you have a plan to get us out of this mess?" He asks, a definate worried tone present in his voice.
The Doctor, who is staring wide eyed at the things before him, shrugs and absentmindedly sticks his hands in his pockets. "I wish I did have a plan Sherlock, I wish I did. Unfortuantly I did not any clue as to what we were going to find up here." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, causing it to stick on end. "I'm really sorry." He says heavily, staring down at the ground. I am taken aback by how defeated he sounds.
I am not the only one to be startled either because Sherlock spins round to face him, shock written plainly in his features. "Surely you must have had some idea. I mean you're a timelord for goodness sake with the ability to travel through time and space. How could you not have had some idea?" Sherlock demands. A trickle of smoke trickles from his nostrils followed by some spurts of flame. With the tips of his claws he swipes at an angel statue which has gotten too close to us and snarls loudly.
The Doctor sadly shakes his head. "Normally I would have some forewarning but Loki the god of mischief is very good at hiding his tracks and anyway he enjoys deliberatly shaking things up." He pauses and looks over at me and the angel standing beside me. A strange expression comes over his face. Reaching forward he grabs my wrist and pulls me away from it. "By the way don't let the angels touch you. If you do you'll be zapped back into the past and I really don't have the time right now to rescue you." He says, glaring over at Loki who smirks in reponse.
A bored expression on his face Loki waves the staff in his hand. In response the metallic rubbish bins smoothly glide forward while chanting in harsh, grating voices, "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE", forcing the three of us to step closer to the edge of the roof and the steep drop to the pavement below. I really don't see how we can escape from this situation alive.