Dean drove like hellhounds were on his tail. Cas had told him everything he knew: that Sam was going to break the final seal, and that the final seal was Lilith. He also discovered Lilith's location, and Dean knew that must be where Sam was, too. Cas had gleaned all this information mostly through unsavory means, and now half of heaven was after him for killing some of their own. As long as Cas had the angels distracted, though, Dean hoped that he could stop Sam without interference.
Dean pulls up outside St. Mary's Convent in Ilchester, Maryland. He hopes to…well, he hopes to God that this is truly where Sam is, and that he isn't too late.
He brings his shotgun and the demon-killing knife and slams down several sets of doors. When he finally arrives upon the scene in the chapel of the convent, though, he finds Sam, already looking horrified on the sidelines, as a dead Lilith bleeds out onto the floor and Ruby looks on in glee.
Dean takes that moment to kill Ruby with the knife and then grips onto Sam. "Sammy, what's happening?" he shouts as a roaring wind kicks up.
"Dean, what have I done?" Sam sobs, tears coming down his face. "Dean, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Lilith's blood began to run in a pattern, creating a large spiral on the ground. Light began to crack through the floor as the two brothers clutched each other, the one crying and the other just staring in horror.
"We'll make it through, Sammy," Dean shouted, his voice cracking. "We'll find a way to get by him, we'll make it out of this, I promise you."
A gigantic beam of light sprang out of the floor, and Dean began preparing himself for the end.
Suddenly, Dean saw something fade into view in his peripheral vision. Dazzled by the light, he was reluctant to pay attention to it, until he felt a strong hand grasp his arm and begin pulling him and Sam away.
"Come on, don't be stupid," a man's voice yelled. Dean briefly snapped his attention to where he was being yanked. He saw the back of a man in a tweed jacket struggling to open the door of what looked like one of those telephone boxes the British people used, except blue instead of red.
Dean glanced back at Sam and saw him looking just as confused and anxious as he was, but neither of them was going to resist being pulled along because it was either this or have a face-off with Satan.
The man managed to push open a door and beckoned to them. "Get in!" he practically screamed over the sound of hell's cage opening.
Dean dove in, even though reason told him that the small box shouldn't be able to fit three grown men. Sam, being the sasquatch that he was, had to duck to fit in the doorway. The two brothers grabbed at each other and panted as the other man slammed the door and darted past them. No noise from the outside could be heard, and as Dean's pulse slowed, he tried to make sense of his surroundings. As soon as he realized where he was, his pulse jumped again.
He was inside a huge room, with stairs and hallways leading off to what seemed like other rooms. In the center was a huge pillar of light, surrounded by a control panel covered in buttons and levers and monitors that couldn't make sense to anyone of this world.
"I thought we were in a tiny box," Sam mumbled, his tears drying on his face. He stepped forward with shaky legs, and Dean was at his shoulder. "What…what is this?"
The man in the tweed jacket pulled a lever on the control panel, and the entire place jerked, sending Sam and Dean to their knees. A strange, scratchy whooshing sound began, and the place continued to jerk around for several minutes until it stopped with a bang.
If Dean hadn't been subjected to the supernatural his entire life, he probably would have had a heart attack. Even so, he was still very freaked out.
"Who are you?" he demanded, just as Sam slurred, "Where are we?"
"Chiswick, I think," the man answered. He finally turned his attention to them. He had dark, floppy hair, and his tweed jacket looked strange with his red bowtie. "Hi," he said, stepping towards them and offering Sam a hand to help him to his feet. "I'm the Doctor."
"Yeah, doctor. Doctor who?" Dean grumbled, while Sam asked, "You're a doctor? Doctor of what?"
"Just the Doctor," the Doctor replied briskly, also offering a hand to Dean but quickly retracting it when Dean gave him a death glare and picked himself off the ground. "You're the Winchesters, I hope. Otherwise I crashed the wrong opening of the hell portal." The Doctor looked away and muttered to himself, "Wouldn't be the first time."
"Yes-yeah, we're the Winchesters," Sam said. "I'm Sam, and this is my brother Dean."
"Pleasure," Dean grunted. "Now can you please tell me what the hell this-" he gestured at his surroundings-"contraption is?"
"Oh, this is my TARDIS," the Doctor answered briskly. "Time And Relative Dimension In Space. The title itself is pretty self explanatory, I suppose. It takes you anywhere in time and space, anywhere at all."
"And how do you come across something like a TARDIS?" Sam asked politely.
"I stole it. From my home planet, Gallifrey. Oh, you probably think I'm human. Sorry I didn't make that clear. I'm a Time Lord. I usually like being more mysterious about explaining who I am, but I'm afraid we don't have much time since someone just opened the devil's cage," the Doctor said hurriedly, with a pointed look at Sam on his last remark.
"As soon as I did it, I realized something was wrong. I didn't know Lilith was the last seal, I swear," Sam said, becoming upset.
The Doctor sighed. "Yes, well, I heard about the whole situation and I thought you might've wanted a hand at getting out of there as soon as you realized what you'd done."
"I don't know how I could ever thank you," Sam admitted.
"Yes, well." The Doctor looked at Dean. "Dean, was it? So you're brothers. I don't know what you were doing there, Dean, but I'm glad I was able to pick you up too since you needed it."
"Yeah, thanks," Dean said, still unsure of what to say about all this new information coming at him.
"Well," the Doctor said, and suddenly his eyes were brimming with tears, "you can stay here if you like, but I have some business to attend to." He pushed his way out of the TARDIS and into the bright sunlight.
Sam and Dean followed him and stepped out into the middle of a street lined with just about identical brick houses with well-kept lawns. The Doctor was making his way purposefully to one of these houses. Dean started to follow, but Sam held him back.
"I'm not sure we should go with him," Sam said quietly.
"Why not?" Dean insisted. "I mean, this crazy alien guy just shows up, saves us from Lucifer, and walks away? I think we deserve to know a little bit more."
"Dean," Sam said warningly. "Did you see his eyes?"
"What? No. I didn't spend my time looking into his eyes, Sam."
Sam sighed. "Well, they were ancient. Older than you can imagine, Dean. And this looks like something he needs to do by himself."
Dean glared at Sam, then resigned himself to lean against the strange blue box that was bigger on the inside.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
The Doctor wrung his hands nervously before ringing the doorbell. This is where Donna lived her normal life, with her mother and grandfather. This is where she was everyday, sitting and believing she was nothing important.
He heard trampling on the other side of the door, and the Doctor nearly cried when Wilfred Mott stuck his head out the door. "Yes? Who is it?"
He and the Doctor locked eyes. The Doctor realized that he had regenerated since he had last seen Wilf, and Wilf couldn't recognize him, shouldn't recognize him, and yet-
Wilf was squinting at him. "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" he said quietly. His face was more worn than the last time the Doctor saw him, when he had caused the Doctor's regeneration.
The Doctor swallowed, and gave a small smile. "Hi, Wilf," he said in a small voice. "I'm the Doctor."
Wilf's eyes widened, and he backed away but didn't slam the door. "No, you're not," he said. "You're a crackpot. The Doctor's dead, I-I killed him." His voice cracked, and his eyes were shrouded in pain.
The Doctor advanced in the doorway. "No, Wilf, I didn't die. I regenerated. It's a thing Time Lords do. I have a new face, yes, but I'm still the same person."
Wilf kept shaking his head. "No, no, the Doctor wouldn't come back to see me after I caused him so much pain. He wouldn't, he couldn't. He especially wouldn't come back where Donna could see him, because she-she can't remember."
The Doctor closed his eyes at those words. "It's me, Wilf, and I've come about Donna," he told him. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, and buzzed it, so Wilf gasped and immediately flung his arms around the Doctor.
"I can't believe you're here," Wilf sobbed into his shoulder. "It's a miracle, it really is." Wilf pulled himself together very quickly, though, and said thickly, "But you're here about Donna. You need to see her? Is…is everything alright?"
The Doctor couldn't bring himself to tell Wilf the truth. "It's…need-to-know," he said cautiously. And Wilf, glorious Wilf, didn't bother pressing him. The Doctor continued, "I'm actually supposed to be meeting someone here. You haven't come across anyone else, have you?"
Wilf frowned. "Well, not quite. Donna's mother is out, and Donna's up in her room taking a nap, I think. One of my old friends is over though, we were just having a cup of tea. He's a stargazer like me," Wilf added with a sad smile.
The Doctor passed Wilf and went into the sitting room, where he came upon an older man, sitting primly in an armchair. The Doctor shivered as soon as he came into the presence of this man. He had slick black hair, and extremely high cheekbones that made his face appear gaunt. His eyes were dark and seemed to be a manifestation of despair itself. At the sight of the Doctor, he stood, leaning lightly on a cane.
"Hello, Doctor," he said smoothly.
"You know each other?" Wilf asked incredulously, coming into the room behind the Doctor.
"Not quite," the Doctor said, eyeing the man. "I don't know him, but I think he knows me."
"Indeed I do," the man drawled, stepping forward. He held out his hand to shake the Doctor's. The Doctor gripped it warily, and felt like the happiness was being sucked out of him. He drew back his hand at the other man's ice cold touch, drawing a smirk from the other man.
"Wilf," the Doctor muttered, "do you trust me?"
"With my life," Wilf muttered back, unfaltering.
"I'm going to ask you to leave," the Doctor said. "Can you do that? Can you do that for me, please?"
"But what about Donna-"
"She'll be fine." The Doctor didn't look into Wilf's eyes. "But you must go, Wilf."
Wilf hesitated. Of course he hesitated, the Doctor was asking him to leave his granddaughter alone with an alien and a person he apparently barely knew. But Wilf was always loyal to the end. Eventually, finally, Wilf left the house, closing the door gently behind him.
"Who are you?" the Doctor spat out at the click of the latch.
"Raphael sent me," the man said, tapping his cane on the floor. "I am Death."
The Doctor bristled. "Raphael sent you just to kill Donna? I won't allow it."
"Relax." Death put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder, and the Doctor shook it off. "I am here for different reasons, but you and I actually might be working toward a common goal."
"What would that be?" the Doctor snarled. "What would I have in common with Death?"
Death positively bared his teeth at this. "Oh, Doctor. I think you and I have a lot more in common than you would hope to believe. But let us not talk about the dozens of planets on which the word doctor has come to mean great warrior or bringer of destruction. And certainly, let us not talk about the Time War, where you practically became me. No, we have more pressing matters, don't we?"
The Doctor's teeth were gritted, but he had no words to counter what Death had just said. Death seemed pleased with this. "Now we can get somewhere, can't we?" He strolled idly around the room. "I am old, Doctor. I may even be older than God himself. I am Death, and I am feared and hated, but I am also quite necessary." Death's eyes grew stormy. "I keep balance. That is all I want: balance." Now he faced the Doctor. "The apocalypse will not bring balance. Wiping out every species on Earth will not bring balance." Death paused, then seemed to switch tracks. "Do you know how the angels work, Doctor? How they appear on Earth?"
"They use vessels," the Doctor answered. "They take over people's bodies and use them as their own."
"Precisely." Death tipped his head toward him. "So have you met Dean Winchester?"
"Yes, I have."
"Well, I happen to know that Dean Winchester is meant to be Michael's vessel." When the Doctor's eyes filled with horror, Death let out a small chuckle. "Yes, it helps to be acquaintances with Death, doesn't it? I am quite in the know about everything around here, whether the angels want me to be or not."
"Does Dean know this?"
"No, not yet, but I think with his annoying little angel friend Castiel flitting about, he is bound to learn soon enough. But you aren't quite as concerned with Mr. Winchester as you are with Ms. Noble."
"What does Donna have to do with anything? Please, tell me," the Doctor begged.
"I was asked by Raphael to meet with you, and collectively use our powers to knock down the walls in Donna's head," Death said. "Every memory would come flooding back into her mind, and thus she would become unstable, and quite susceptible, and oh, so powerful."
"She would be unstoppable," the Doctor whispered.
"Which is why she would be the perfect vessel for Lucifer."
The Doctor was speechless. Finally he breathed, "No."
"Oh, yes. However, Raphael was not relying on one fact: I do not take orders from anyone, certainly not orders that will destroy the natural balance of things. And so I have reached my conclusion: together, we shall weaken the walls of Donna's mind, just enough that she remembers you, and she remembers how to fight the good fight."
"And then?"
"I'm afraid that's up to you to figure out. But I have heard that Donna Noble is one of the most strong-willed people in the universe, and so is Dean Winchester. And Doctor, if anyone can come up with a way out of this, it is you."
"So Death is helping us."
"Death is on your side, yes."
And with those words, the Doctor and Death went up into Donna's room. They found her lying on her face on her bed, snoring.
Death grabbed the Doctor's hand, and the Doctor didn't pull away.
"Now I'm going to go in. She will remember you, she will remember several of your adventures, but she will not remember the DoctorDonna. She will not remember that she is the Most Important Woman in the Universe; I'm afraid you'll have to convince her of that once more."
"Sure," the Doctor breathed. Anything to be with Donna once again.
With that, Death reached into Donna's mind. "Don't scratch the wall any more, or the results will be catastrophic," he breathed. "Don't scratch the wall."