Title: Busman's Holiday
Author: Disasteriffic Kaz
Info: Tag to 7x01 – AU a little crossover interlude of this show I adore with the show I have loved since I was 6. Supernatural meets Doctor Who. Takes place between Death leaving the boys at the house and the next morning at Bobby's and anime porn.
Author's note: Note of warning: I'm going out of town on Sunday to visit my Mom for a week. I will TRY to have this finished before then. I promise! If not, there'll be a week delay on an update. :D
Do please Review once you've read. :D Every comment and vote of support helps keep me writing. Not to mention if I've pooched anything, someone can always tell me. :P
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CHAPTER 2
"Wow." Sam breathed. "Okay…we're…we're on another planet, right?" He looked to Dean and the Doctor before staring back out over the lush, forested vista before them with a single spire reaching out from the canopy to the crystal blue sky. "Dean?"
"Yeah, Sammy." Dean dragged his gaze away from the impossibility and gave his brother a smile. "We're really here." He could see the unasked question in Sam's eyes; 'am I hallucinating this?' and he supposed for someone whose melon was so recently cracked, this had to be a little tough to accept.
"What is that?" Sam pointed to the spire. It rose gleaming out of the tree tops as though it were made of highly polished metal.
"I have absolutely no idea." The Doctor grinned up at him. "Let's go find out." He strode off down the hill and left them to follow him.
"How you doin', Sam?" Dean asked as they followed.
"Good. I'm good." Sam gave him a smile and stepped ahead of him to keep him from asking any further questions. He didn't want Dean to know how much trouble he was having or just how hard it was starting to become to tell reality from the nightmare in his head. Dean already had the weight of the world, literally, on his shoulders and with Castiel's betrayal, Sam wasn't sure Dean had much left before he'd just crack.
The sun had warmed their backs as they'd made their way down the hill. Beneath the forest canopy it was much cooler and the boys were glad of their jackets as a cool breeze blew into them. It even smelled different, the air, Dean thought. It just didn't smell right. It wasn't earth and there were no birds to sound. That alone made him nervous and clutch the shotgun more securely. Every instinct he had told him that when the forest went quiet, it was time to cowboy up because the big bad was coming for you.
The Doctor however strolled easily along, surveying everything around them with a practiced eye as they made their way toward the tower. There was life in the woods, he could sense it. Life teemed around them thought it was silent. He felt the echo of it in his bones and though he was sure a good portion of the things living in the forest would enjoy them for lunch, he didn't feel any particular malice. Perhaps he would get lucky and for once the TARDIS hadn't dropped him into the middle of some crisis only he could solve.
Sam walked easily along beside his brother, watching the Doctor's back ahead of them and sincerely hoped that whatever they were going to find on this strange planet wouldn't try to eat them or have delusions of planetary destruction. Frankly, they already had more than enough of those problems in their lives and, unless everything went perfectly in the next day, more waiting for them.
"Oh that is impressive." The Doctor said happily as he stepped through a screen of trees and looked up, and up. The tower waited before them, vanishing into the trees above. It was incredibly wide and was indeed constructed of gleaming metal of some sort. Terallinium the Doctor thought; a sort of living metal. Two beasts stood outside a set of wide double doors across from them and he felt his companions tense beside him, guns rising. "Don't be combative." The Doctor warned them. "Let's try for friendly first, shall we?"
The Doctor straightened his bowtie and walked purposefully toward the tower and the two very tall, very furry beings waiting outside its doors. "Hello! I'm the Doctor."
One was most certainly some family of Wolf. He reminded Sam forcibly of a Siberian Husky. He was all grey and white, tall with a bushy tail and two cerulean blue eyes looked down at them with what looked like disdain. He preferred that over the bloodlust and madness he was used to seeing in a Werewolf's eyes. The other was feline, Leopard he thought. He too was tall and regal looking with a gracefully long tail that lashed out and wrapped around his own leg, gold eyes peering down at them curiously.
"You approach the Tower of Gleddon." The Wereleopard said in a growling, clear voice and startled the boys. They hadn't been expecting it to be able to speak. "What is your business here?"
"Oh, just visiting." The Doctor stepped up between them and smiled genially. "Having a look about your lovely planet. We were hoping for a look inside the…Tower of Gleddon you said?"
"The Tower is a sacred place." The Wolf growled. "The gods walk its halls and those that step within do so at their own risk." He grinned a mouth full of sharp teeth and reached a clawed hand out to the door, pulling one leaf open. "By all means, explore."
Dean scowled at the beast. Every instinct in him was itching to pick a fight but the Doctor turned, as if sensing it and gave him a warning look. He lowered the shotgun slowly and nodded.
The Doctor tilted his head, looking up at the Wolf. "I get the impression you're hoping we go in and don't come back out." He looked over at the Leopard. "Sound about right?"
The Wereleopard showed his fangs in a sort of smile and nodded. "Bask does not like strangers so he would not tell you to tread with respect, nor that bringing a weapon into the tower is a death sentence." He nodded to Sam and Dean. "These would never return for they are too well armed."
"What? One gun?" Dean smiled and the Leopard let out a surprisingly musical laugh.
"One. And the gun at your back, the knife in your right boot that weighs your foot heavy when you walk." He grinned his toothy grin again. "You walk lightly for an ape but not lightly enough."
Sam snorted beside him, glancing over but wisely said nothing while Dean chewed his bottom lip.
"Ah good, well we're all friends then." The Doctor turned to the boys. "What do you say? Can you leave the arsenal behind for a peek inside?"
Dean's instinct was to give a resounding 'HELL no' and stalk back to the TARDIS but one look at his brother's face and he knew he was going to do it. Of course, it wasn't all for Sam. He wanted to see inside the damn thing too. Gods didn't scare him. Not anymore. He shrugged finally and set his rifle on the ground. He pulled the Desert Eagle from his back and set that beside it, following it with the silver knife in his boot. He saw Sam doing the same. He stood, glancing up to see a knowing grin the Leopard's face and sighed. No use tempting fate he thought and reached to his back again coming out with his bowie knife and laid that down in the pile. He stepped back and saw a small measure of respect in the Wolf's eyes this time.
"Impressive for an ape." The Wolf, Bask told him. "I would have liked to listen to you try to fight your way out."
"I bet you would have." Dean said with a toothy grin of his own.
"Well if we're all done comparing the size of our weapons." The Doctor said with a roll of his eyes and stepped through the door first. "Coming?" He turned back and smiled when both Winchesters followed.
The interior of the tower was as impressive as the exterior. The walls were lined in smooth, translucent crystal and gave off their own light. In the center was a round pool filled with sparkling water and a lithe tree grew impossibly narrow out of it and high up into the tower. Beyond the pool was the beginning of a spiral stair that wound up and up along the walls. Here and there as they looked they could see various beasts walking at different levels and some simply leaning out over the ramp wall to look down or up.
"This is amazing." Sam said softly, mouth curved into a smile. "It's unreal." It was and he was loathe to admit the difficulty he was having accepting that any of this was actually happening or here. Yet the sheer alienness of it all made him want to believe. This…splendor was something Lucifer had never given him in the Cage, never tried to use against him. Until now… Sam shivered and stepped closer to his brother, refusing to believe the whisper.
"Damn." Dean said, awed as he looked about and up and to the equally awed face of the Doctor.
"This universe of yours certainly has some spectacle worth seeing." The Doctor said happily and clapped his hands together. "Up! I want to see the view from the top."
"Hope you brought your running shoes, Sammy." Dean nudged his shoulder. He didn't catch the pause before Sam chuckled or the nervous look before he followed their tour guide onto the ramp.
They passed the occasional Wolf and Leopard as they made their way higher in the tower, of all different colors and patterned coats. Neither of the boys had yet gotten over being among Lycanthropes that weren't feral, let alone ones who could speak as well as they did and had a society of their own. Dean found that the longer they were among them, with each polite nod of a canine head, he felt a small weight begin to lift from his shoulders. The universe wasn't just full of nothing but crap and monsters and hell and wars. There actually seemed to be at least one place in the universe where chaos didn't reign.
"What are Were's like on your Earth?" The Doctor asked as they walked, stretching three sets of long legs up the gentle ramps.
"Hungry." Dean said simply and with a grim smile.
"They're not aware of who they are." Sam told the Doctor with an eye roll at his brother. "When they turn, they're just animals with no memory and no control. All we can do is stop them."
"You mean you kill them?" The Doctor said and there was more than a note of disapproval in his voice. Sam bristled.
"They don't leave us a choice, Doctor." Sam stared off, seeing Madison's face for a moment. "If you think we do it easily…"
The Doctor rested a hand on Sam's shoulder for a moment and smiled. "No, no of course you don't." Killing was never something he managed easily but there were times, perhaps too many times through his long life when he could see no other choice. He watched the two men as they passed him and could see the stain of war and horrible loss on them as he did on himself. Sometimes there really was no other choice.
Dean ran a hand along the crystal wall, smiling as it caused a trail of rippling light as his fingers passed. "This is too cool." He said and grinned over at Sam. Even though he tensed each time one of the creatures would walk past them, he felt indefinably different and he almost remembered what it was like to be a kid. He glanced back and saw a similar childlike smile on the Doctor's face.
"Um…Dean?" Sam's voice turned him back around.
Ahead of them and in the center of the ramp, a lazy light was beginning to spiral in the air. It grew and expanded, a wind beginning to blow outward from it.
"What the hell is that?" Dean asked.
"At a guess…" The Doctor pulled his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and took a reading. "I'd say a god?" The readings were fascinating; far from some mystical apparition he was seeing definite signs of a directed transportation and grinned.
"You always smile like that when things start to go sideways?" Dean yelled over the now roaring wind. He ducked his head behind his arm to shield his eyes and saw Sam do the same. Above them on the ramp, several Wereleopards had gone to their knees, faces to the floor.
"Only when things get this interesting this fast!" The Doctor spared a look for him. "Which is fairly regularly with me."
The ball of light expanded, growing to several meters around, pressure built in the air in the hall. Dean took a step forward toward his brother when the pressure broke. It blew outward like a wave, crashing into him and threw him backwards. He saw Sam blown the other way in a tumble and grunted when the Doctor landed atop of himself.
"Holy crap!" Dean said in the sudden silence and heaved the Doctor off of him to the side.
"Oof." The Doctor thumped to the floor and sat up, shaking his head. "Wasn't expecting that!"
"Sam?" Dean crawled to his knees, rubbing his sore back and saw his brother sprawled further up on the ramp, head against the railing. "Sammy!" He lurched to his feet at a run and skidded to a stop. Where the ball of light had been born stood now an unnaturally tall figure with features both vaguely human and vaguely animal. She was coldly beautiful and translucent. Dean could see the bowing Wereleopards through her as they rose to their feet. Next time he'd remember to duck too. The calculating look in her eyes as she gazed briefly at him made his hands itch for his gun. He skirted her carefully and then ran to Sam and dropped beside him.
"Sam." Dean took his shoulders and rolled Sam over from where he lay face down. His head left a small crimson stain on the crystal as he lifted his brothers' shoulders into his arms. "Sammy?" he was unconscious, knocked cold by the impromptu impact. "Doctor! Get over here!" Dean called and rested a hand on Sam's neck, feeling the steady beat of his heart. "You gotta wake up, Sam." Dean told him. He'd spent way too much time lately seeing his little brother in this state it was wearing on him. He'd only just got him back after Cas imploded his brain. "You're a Doctor. Do something." Dean said as the Doctor knelt on Sam's other side.
"Not that kind of Doctor." He took one of Sam's boneless hands in his own. "He'll be fine, Dean. Just a knock to the head."
"No. No you don't understand." Dean held Sam close. "That's the last thing he needs right now." He looked down with such fear in his face the Doctor sighed in sympathy. "He only just woke up. Come on, Sammy. Come back."
The Doctor didn't understand of course but Dean's concern was clear and heartbreaking. He curved his hands on either side of Sam's face and closed his eyes. If head injury was this much of a worry then he could at least settle Dean's mind on that front. He allowed himself to drop into Sam's surface thoughts like a drop on a pond, following the currents.
Dean watched the crease on the Doctor's forehead deepen as he cradled Sam's face. His eyes blinked wide and he rocked back on his heels, staring down at Sam.
"You've had some cowboys in there, Sam." The Doctor said softly. The things he'd seen in his brief look, he was astonished the boy was even able to walk, let alone function, He'd found a level of suffering to rival his own.
"Doctor?" Dean asked, watching him closely.
The Doctor shook himself and smiled. "He's fine, Dean. Should wake up any moment. Just talk to him." He patted the older brother's shoulder as he stood. "Give him something to hold on to and he'll come back." There had been a shadow of a presence in Sam's mind; a memory with so much power it had made the Time Lord's skin crawl and that was not a feeling he was accustomed too. He turned his attention to the surprising being that had manifested and smiled. "Hello there."
"Hey, Sammy. You're missin' the fun here." Dean spoke firmly. "You gotta come back now. Nap time's over, little brother."
The Doctor strode in a circle around the 'god', observing her from every angle. It tweeked his nerves that her appearance had been damaging and that she seemed to show no concern for the unconscious boy. "I'm the Doctor. If you don't mind my asking…well even if you do, what exactly are you a god of?" She gazed down at him but said nothing. "Not very talkative are you?" The Doctor aimed his Sonic Screwdriver at her again. "See, 'gods' like you make my teeth itch with curiosity. It's a personal fault. What sort of 'god' needs a super powered transmit to materialize?" He smiled widely. "Or is that an impertinent question? I can never tell the difference."
"Guh." Sam groaned, blinking heavy eyes open. "Dean?"
"Hey, Tiger." Dean smiled. "You wanted a nap that bad you could have asked."
"What'd I miss?" Sam put a hand to his head and grimaced at the tacky sensation of drying blood.
"One of the gods. She made a hell of an entrance." Dean shifted, getting his arms under Sam's shoulders and pulled him up. Sam leaned heavily on him a moment while the floor swayed.
"How's your head?" Dean asked, nodding with relief when Sam's eyes finally steadied.
"Still there." Sam smiled and then caught sight of the god. "Whoa."
She seemed to hear him. She turned toward Sam's voice and floated slowly toward them, eyes intent.
"Uh…what…Doctor?" Sam backed up into Dean and his brother quickly stepped in front of him as she neared.
"No offense, but back off sister." Dean warned in his gravelly voice. He could see the Doctor behind her with some weird green flashlight humming away. She stopped so close Den could feel an odd energy prickling along his skin. He put an arm behind and backed Sam to the railing.
"I don't think she means any harm." The Doctor said and Dean snorted, keeping his place.
"You sure about that?" Sam asked, feeling a bit unnerved by the scrutiny.
"Well, to be fair, sure is a strong word." The Doctor reached a hand out toward the being, feeling the prickle of energy. "Reasonably somewhere in the vicinity of sure?"
She raised one ethereal arm, reaching past Dean's face toward his brother. Dean could feel Sam tremble once behind him and growled. "No way." He swept an arm up to knock hers away as the Doctor opened his mouth, raising a hand in warning as Dean's arm touched hers. The jolt traveled through his body from head to toes and back up again, stiffening him impossibly. He saw her eyes shift to meet his, felt his brother's arms come around his chest to catch him and then mercifully passed out.