In honour of Benedict Cumberbatch and Jared Padalecki's joint birthdays, I have worked so hard to get this chapter done for today so I hope you guys enjoy!
Amongst the Stars
Chapter 3: Heavenly Fire
"I've come to believe that in everyone's life, there's one undeniable moment of change, a set of circumstances that suddenly alters everything."
- Nicholas Sparks; Safe Haven
"Whoa! Easy, tiger!"
Sam Winchester breathed heavily and stared at the man pinning him to his own apartment floor.
"Dean?" he asked, receiving a short laugh in response. "You scared the crap out of me."
Dean smirked. "That's 'cause you're out of practice."
Sam grabbed Dean's hand and yanked him down, he slammed his bare foot into Dean's back and sent Dean to the floor.
"Or not." Dean chuckled as Sam pinned him down. "Get off of me."
Sam rolled to his feet and stood up, offering Dean a hand.
"Dean, what the hell are you doing here?"
Dean smirked and shook Sam lightly by the shoulders. "Well, actually, I was looking for a beer."
Even in the dark, Sam's glare was visable. "What the hell are you doing here?" he repeated slowly.
Dean held his hands up in defence. "Okay, alright, we gotta talk."
"Uh, the phone?"
"If I'd'a called, would you have picked up?"
Sam grimaced. He was about to tell Dean to get to his point but the lights were suddenly switched on.
"Sam?"
"Jess," A young woman stood by the door, wearing nothing but a small shirt and pyjama shorts. She looked at Dean in confusion, while Dean stared back. Sam grimaced again, this is not how he wanted Dean and Jess to ever meet. "Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica."
Jess smiled. "Wait, you're brother, Dean?"
"I love the Smurfs," said Dean pointed at the cartoon image printed over Jess' cleavage. "Y'know, I gotta tell you." Dean moved closer to Jess with a grin plastered on his face. "You are completely out of my brother's league."
"Just, let me go put something on,"
"Oh no," said Dean, stopping her as she turned around. "I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously." Dean turned back to Sam who stared at him with a stony expression. "Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business, but, uh, nice meeting you."
Sam swallowed. "No," he shoved passed Dean and stood besides Jess, his arm around her. "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."
"Okay," Dean paused for a moment, choosing his words wisely. "Um. Dad hasn't been home in a few days."
Sam sighed, choosing his words wisely like his brother, aware of Jess' gaze on him. "So he's working overtime on a Miller Shift, he'll stumble back in sooner or later."
Dean ducked his head before looking back up.
"Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days."
"Blimey..."
"Now don't laugh!"
"You look...beautiful." Rose couldn't stop the blush spreading across her cheeks at the Doctor's words. They'd seen the future and now they were back to 1860. Travelling back to 1860 meant that Rose needed to look the part, so the Doctor had sent her to the TARDIS wardrobe to get herself something appropriate for the era. Long dresses, corsets and small hair pieces, Rose thought she looked stupid, and she didn't expect the Doctor to think otherwise. "Considering."
"Considering what?" She tired to look offended.
The Doctor shrugged. "That you're human."
Rose rolled her eyes but kept the smile on her face. "I think that's a compliment," The Doctor grinned at her as he jumped up from the TARDIS floor (where he'd been doing a little maintenance work) and headed towards the exit. "Aren't you gonna change?"
The Doctor frowned, "I've changed my jumper! Come on-"
Rose ran to the TARDIS doors, pushing the Doctor back a little. "Erm, no, you've done this before, this is mine,"
Rose could barely hold back her excitement as she opened the TARDIS door to snowy Naples 1860. The scene was dimly lit by gas street lamps, and snowflakes fell gracefully to the ground. Rose looked around in awe at the beauty of everything. It was all so peaceful, there was no loud noises of cars or buses, and no one seemed to be in a hurry, pushing past each other. Once again, Rose found it hard to believe that she had just travelled through time.
"Right then," the Doctor stepped out next to her and locked the TARDIS door. "Read for this?"
Like a gentleman, the Doctor held out his arm for Rose to take – no man had ever offered Rose their arm before, the action made her feel quite giddy. Her smile never dropping, Rose took the Doctor's arm and the two strolled through the snowy streets.
"Here we go. History."
Rose was rather surprised that she didn't feel too cold walking around in the snow with only a short cape for a coat. She and the Doctor arrived to a town square, a few salesmen were still around. The Doctor bought a paper from one newsvendor, with a coin Rose didn't even know existed.
The Doctor looked down at his paper and grimaced.
"I got the flight a bit wrong." he told Rose carefully.
"I don't care." Rose really didn't, the past she'd been taken to was breathtaking, she loved it.
"It's not 1860, it's 1869."
"I don't care." Rose repeated.
"And it's not Naples,"
"I don't care."
"It's Cardiff."
Rose's smile fell and she stopped walking.
"...Right."
Cardiff. Rose had been to Cardiff a few times, it never got better. And that was Cardiff in the twenty first century. Might as well make the most of it. She caught up with the Doctor and took his arm again, there would be something interesting and if not, Rose was sure they'd just travel elsewhere.
The Doctor and Rose walked a little longer, taking in the sights around them, enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. And then they heard it. An ear-piercing scream, followed by dozens of other screams. Rose looked around their surroundings in concern. Was someone hurt? Is someone in danger? She looked at the Doctor for answers, but the alien only grinned.
"Now, that's more like it!"
The Doctor ran towards a large theatre where people were running out of in panic. Rose followed him closely, not wanting to get lost in the crowd, shoving passed the people to get inside.
The theatre was in chaos. Men and women were still running for the exits, screaming bloody murder. An elderly woman was slumped in her seat, unmoving; and a blue ghost-like creature was flying around the room, wailing and screaming with the audience.
"Fantastic!" said the Doctor at the sight before him. The joy he found in situations like this was still slightly frightening to Rose.
"What is it?" Rose asked in shock.
"A wraith!" The Doctor ran towards the theatre stage where an elderly man stood, watching the scene unfold before him. "Did you see where it came from?"
The man looked at the Doctor with cold eyes. "Ah! The wag reveals himself, does he?" The Doctor frowned. "Well, I trust you're satisfied!"
Ignoring the man's rant, the Doctor jumped up onto the stage, watching the wraith spiralling around the theatre.
"Oi! Leave her alone!"
The Doctor looked over at Rose as she yelled at a man and young woman who were carrying the old woman – who had been slumped in her seat upon the Doctor and Rose's arrival – out of the theatre.
"Doctor! I'll get them!"
"Be careful!" The Doctor called as Rose ran after the mysterious pair. "Did it say anything?" He asked the man who had been accusing him of ruining the evening's show – still on the stage. "Can it speak? I'm the Doctor by the way."
"Doctor indeed!" The man scoffed. "You look more like a navvy."
The Doctor frowned and tugged on his black sweater. "What is wrong with this jumper?"
There was suddenly a loud wail – louder than before. The Doctor looked back at the wraith and saw it slither away, into one of the gas lamps on the wall. As the wraith vanished, the gas-lighting rose.
"Gas," the Doctor murmured to himself. "It's made of gas."
"I beg your pardon?" said the man. The Doctor ignored him and jumped down off the stage. "What do you mean 'it's made of gas'? Who are you?" The man made his way down the stage stairs on thr right and followed the Doctor out of the room. "What an earth is going on?"
"I don't know yet," explained the Doctor as he and the man made their way through the theatre lobby and towards the front doors. "All I know is that the wraith we saw is made of gas. I don't know how it got here, I don't know what it's it doing here – I'm the Doctor by the way, I'm sure I said that before."
Once outside, the Doctor looked around for Rose, the man still with him, his confused expression never leaving his face. Squinting through the crowds of people, the Doctor saw the young woman Rose had been chasing.
Other the heads of passers by, the Doctor noticed that the young woman was putting a blonde haired girl in the back of a hearse. The Doctor's eyes widened in panic.
"ROSE!"
As fast as he could, the Doctor ran towards the hearse, but it rattled off before he reached it. Luckily the Doctor caught sight of the address on the side. Sneed and Company – 7 Temperance Court, Llandaff.
"You're not escaping me, sir!" The man from the theatre called out, walking up to the Doctor, not noticing the alien's distress. "What do you know about that hobgoblin? A projection on glass, I suppose – who put you up to it?"
The Doctor looked around him, there had to be a carriage for him to use somewhere. "Yeah, thanks, not now, mate – Oi! You!" the Doctor spotted a coach of a splendid design, a lot nicer compared to the Sneed and Co. one that Rose had been taken away in. The Doctor hopped in the carriage. "Follow that hearse." he told the driver.
The young man shook his head. "Can't do that, sir."
The Doctor frowned. "Why not?"
"I'll tell you why not," the older man from the theatre said, opening the door. "I'll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is my coach!"
"Well get in then!"
The Doctor reached out and pulled the man inside, before yelling up at the driver, "Move!"
The coach rattled off, but not fast enough for the Doctor's liking. He smacked his hand on the carriage ceiling. "Come on! You're losing them!"
The driver looked through the small window behind him which allowed him to see the passengers. "Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?"
"No, it is not!" said the man angrily.
The Doctor's brow furrowed in thought. "What did he say?"
"Now let me say first, I'm not without a sense of humour but-"
"Mr. Dickens?" the Doctor interrupted.
"Yes."
A look of realisation burst onto the Doctor's face. "Charles Dickens?"
"Yes!"
"The Charles Dickens?"
"Should I remove the gentleman, sir?" the driver asked.
"Charles Dickens!" The Doctor grinned. "You're brilliant, you are! Completely, one-hundred-per-cent brilliant! Me and my friend Ellie – well, I say friend, she's only ten, more like my god-daughter – anyway, we've read 'em all! Great Expectations, I love that one. Ellie's favourite's are Oliver Twist and – what's the one with the ghost?"
"Ah," Dickens anger faded away. "You mean the old bear Scrooge-"
"No, no, no, the one about the trains." The Doctor clicked his fingers. "The Signalman, that's it! She loves that one – terrifying it is! Best short story ever! You're a genius. I wish I picked Ellie up now."
"D'you want me to get rid of him, sir?" The driver asked Dickens again.
"Um, no. I think he can stay."
"Honestly Charles – can I call you Charles? - Me and Ellie we're such big fans."
Dickens frowned. "Big what?"
"Fans. Number one fans, me and Ellie. She got the highest marks in her class for her homework once, she had to write a book report and she wrote four pages about Hard Times,"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but how are you a 'fan' exactly? In what way do you resemble a means of cooling oneself?"
"No, it means fanatic." The Doctor explained. "Devoted to you! Mind you, I've got to say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what's all that about? Was that just padding or what, I mean, it's rubbish, that bit."
"I thought you were my...fan?"
"Oh well, if you can't take criticism. Go on, do the death of Little Nell. It cracks me up – no! Sorry, never mind that-" the Doctor banged on the ceiling again. "Faster! Come on!"
The coach picked up speed.
"The hearse we're following, who's inside it?" asked Dickens.
"My friend. She's only nineteen and it's my fault. She's in my care and now she's in danger."
"Then why waste my time with dry old books? This is far more important – driver!" he called to the young man. "Be swift! The chase is on!"
"So, you want to give us your real name?"
The sheriff slammed a storage box down on the table in front of Dean who sat slumped in his chair, not phased at all by his situation. The cops had discovered that Dean and Sam were, in fact, not Federal Marshals, and the brothers were tracked down to the motel where they had discovered that John had been staying for almost a month.
"I told you, it's Nugent. Ted Nugent."
After pick-locking their way into John's room, the boys had discovered that John had left Jericho in a hurry, leaving practically all his belongings behind. His duffle bag and clothes had been thrown across the unmade bed, leftover food was found rotting on the table, and several news articles and case studies were taped to the walls.
The sheriff sighed. "I don't think you realise just how much trouble you're in."
Amongst the articles, John had been working on the same job regarding Constance Welch, and he'd figured the whole thing out.
Constance Welch was a Woman in White. A spirit murdering unfaithful men.
"We talkin', like, misdemeanor kind of trouble or, squeal like a pig trouble?" Dean asked with a smile.
He'd been heading out for food when he was spotted by the cops. He quickly called Sam, telling him to get away and Dean's little brother hadn't been arrested yet.
"You got the faces of ten missing persons to your wall." Dean glanced away as the sheriff continued. "Along with a whole lot of Satanic mumbo-jumbo. Boy you are officially a suspect."
"That makes sense," Dean shot the sheriff a challenging look. "Because when the first one went missing in '82, I was three."
"I know you've got partners, one of 'em's apparently known as the Doctor-" Dean swallowed. "Maybe he started the whole thing." The sheriff started to shift through some items in the box. "Now tell me – Dean – is this his?"
The sheriff tossed a thick, battered, leather journal down onto the desk. Dean knew that journal. He knew it like he knew his car's engine. Dean couldn't do anything but stare as the sheriff flicked through the pages.
"I thought that might be your name. See the boys, when they were searching through that motel room, they found a message on the wall," Dean looked up at the sheriff. "Underneath all those articles-"
"What did it say?"
The sheriff stared hard at Dean for a moment, like he was trying to decide whether or not Dean had a right to hear the message. "It said, 'Dean, Cas needs you,' signed, "the Doctor'."
Dean frowned. Cas needs you. Cas needs you?
"Was there anything else, any other messages?"
"Yeah," smirked the sheriff. "But not on the wall."
He flicked through the journal again, stopping at a page. Dean leaned forward to read it's contents that had been written and circled in a black marker.
DEAN 35-111
"Now, you're staying right here until you tell me exactly what the hell those messages mean."
Sneed and Company was a tall, plain town-house, with the black sign nailed above the door.
"Not exactly hidden," said the Doctor as he stepped out of the coach, Dickens following him. "Which makes it more dangerous – they're amateurs."
The Doctor found the hearse (which had been left in front of the building) empty. Which meant that Rose was inside.
"Doctor, let me lead," said Dickens, putting on his top hat and stepping in front of the Doctor. "Dressed like that, they'll show you to the tradesman's entrance."
The Doctor motioned towards the house. "Lead on then, Charlie."
Dickens frowned. "No one calls me Charlie."
The Doctor raised his eyebrow and gave Dickens a knowing look. "The ladies do."
Dickens' cheeks turned slightly pink from embarrassment, his eyes darted from the Doctor to the ground. "How do you know that?"
"Told you," the Doctor grinned. "I'm your-"
"'Number one fan', yes."
Dickens marched forwards, the Doctor walking next to him. Upon arriving at the front door, Dickens knocked heavily with the brass knocker and waited for response.
"Ellie found that out by the way," the Doctor told Dickens while they waited. "About you being called Charlie, surprising what a ten year old can find isn't it?"
Dickens glanced at the Doctor. "Ellie sounds delightful, I do hope you'll introduce us sometime."
The front door opened and the young woman from the theatre stood there nervous, not looking at either man.
"I'm sorry sir, we're closed." she said quickly.
"Nonsense," said Dickens calmly. "Since when did an undertaker's keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule, now I demand to see your master-"
The Doctor glanced inside the house, it was clean and tidy and dimly lit by the gas-mantles, but suddenly the Doctor saw the an unnatural light blaze from the lamps.
"He's not in, sir-"
"Don't lie to me, child, summon him at once!"
Whispers could be heard now from the house. The Doctor tried to listen but couldn't make out what the voices were saying.
"I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Dickens, but the master is indisposed."
"Having trouble with your gas?" the Doctor asked, nodding his head towards the lamps. The young girl turned around to see the flame flicker madly.
"What in the Shakespeare is going on...?" Dickens muttered as the Doctor strolled inside and over to the gas-mantles. The whispers got louder as he got closer, he pressed his ear against the wall, listening for any sound.
"You're not allowed inside, sir-"
"There's something in the walls." The Doctor told the young woman who had turned pale. "The gas-pipes. Something's living inside the gas-"
"LET ME OUT!"
The Doctor jumped up away from the wall, "That's her!" he told Dickens, as he sprinted down the hallway, following Rose's cries.
Dickens and the young woman ran after the Doctor. The three were met by a middle aged man.
"How dare you, sir!" he sneered. "This is my house-!"
The Doctor barged past the man and towards a door where he could hear banging. The banging suddenly stopped and the Doctor heard Rose give out a muffled scream. Before Dickens or the others caught up to him, the Doctor kicked the door as hard as he could. The door slammed open as the others appeared behind the Doctor.
The room looked like a chapel of rest, two coffins stood opposite each other, empty. Ther residents stood in the centre of the room – a young man and the elderly woman from the theatre – Rose being held by the man.
The Doctor stepped forward, "I think this is my dance, thank you," he grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her out of the dead man's grip and into his arms.
"It's a prank." said Dickens. "Must be. We're under some mesmeric influence."
The Doctor stared at the dead before him. "No we're not. The dead are walking." He looked at Rose and smiled. "Hi."
"Hi," she breathed back, glancing behind her at the others. "Who's your friend?"
The Doctor grinned at her. "Charles Dickens."
Rose faced the dead again. "...Okay."
"My name's the Doctor, who are you then?"
"I don't know how many times I gotta tell you." sighed Dean. "It's my high school locker combo."
The sheriff sat across from Dean, holding his head up by his fist. He'd been interrogating Dean about the note found in the journal for the past ten minutes and the man wasn't giving up.
"We gonna do this all night?" Dean flashed him a cheeky, challenging look. "Okay, what about the message on the wall."
"I honestly don't know."
"Who – or what – is Cas?"
"No idea."
"Then who's the Doctor?"
There was a quick knock at the door and a deputy office leaned in, looking at the sheriff.
"We just got a nine-one-one," he said quickly. "Shots fired over at Whiteford Road."
Huh. Dean thought. How inconvenient.
The sheriff sighed and looked at Dean. "You have to go to the bathroom?"
Gwyneth – the young woman – could hear the Gelths, she always has. Not just that but she could always read the thoughts of other people. While Rose spoke to her alone, Gwyneth had been able to repeat Rose's thoughts about home, and her brother, and her mum, and her dad. Not even the Doctor knew about Rose's dad, so how on earth did Gwyneth?
The Doctor explained that Gwyneth is the key, and that they needed to summon the spirits to find out what they had to do to help them.
Rose, Dickens, Gwyneth, Sneed and the Doctor sat around a circular table in Sneed's parlour, preparing for the séance. Rose had never been involved in a séance, she'd seen them happen on TV, but she never knew how they worked.
"I've seen it done," Gwyneth explained to them, she was rather excited. "This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the land of mists, down in Butetown. Come, we must all join hands-"
"I can't partaker in this," said Dickens, rising from his seat.
"Humbug?" asked the Doctor. "Come on, open mind."
"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances! Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze-box concealed between the knees." said Dickens bitterly. "This girl knows nothing."
"Now don't antagonise her." The Doctor smiled at Gwyneth. "I love a happy medium."
Rose shook her head. "I can't believe you just said that."
"Come on, we might need you."
Dickens stood and glanced around the table before reluctently returning to his seat.
"Good man." The five held each others hands. "Now, Gwyneth, reach out."
A silence fell upon the group.
"Speak to us." Gwyneth said softly. "Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden..."
Whispers suddenly erupted and Gwyneth tilted her head back.
"Can you here that?" Rose asked the others.
Dickens rolled his eyes. "Nothing can happen. It's sheer folly-"
"Look at her."
The group looked towards Gwyneth as the whispers grew louder. She was rocking back and forth, her eyes darting across the ceiling.
"I see them!" Everyone looked up and saw the blue ectoplasm that had infected the corpses in the chapel of rest. "I feel them!"
The ectoplasm swam around the room, taking the form of the wraith. It swirled above the group, speaking, but the words were rising and falling too fast.
"What's it saying?" asked Rose.
"It can't get through the rift." The Doctor turned to Gwyneth. "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep," he told her urgently with gentleness. "Allow them through-"
"I can't-"
"Yes you can." Dickens and Sneed watch fearfully as the Doctor spoke to Gwyneth. "Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."
Gwyneth closed her eyes tightly, almost as if she was struggling. Then her eyes snapped open. "Yes!" she said, and then she bolted up straight in her seat. The wraith flew above Gwyneth and it's energy burst. Three people-shaped gelths appeared behind Gwyneth.
"Great God!" whispered Sneed. "Spirits from the other side!"
The Doctor smiled. "The other side of the universe."
"Pity us!" The wraith's voice was high and broken, like a wail. "Pity the Gelth! There is so little time. Help us!"
"What d'you want us to do?" the Doctor asked.
"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."
"What for?"
"We are very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction! Our universe was destroyed, we have no where to go!"
"Why, what happened?"
"We once had a physical form, like you. But then the War came."
"What war?" asked Dickens.
"The Time War." Rose glanced at the Doctor, he allowed his eyes to flicker to hers briefly before looking away. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."
"So that's why you need the corpses." The Doctor stated.
"We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form and your dead are abandoned, they go to waste. Give them to us."
"But we can't," said Rose.
"Why not?"
She looked at the Doctor. "It's not...I mean it's not..."
"Not decent? Not polite?" he offered. "It could save their lives."
Gwyneth groaned in pain, and the voices began to slowly fade.
"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us...Pity the Gelth!"
"Fake nine-one-one phone call?" Dean grinned widely. "Sammy, I don't know, that's pretty illegal."
"You're welcome."
Dean was stood in a phone box, glancing around the streets for any cops. The sheriff had cuffed Dean before he left, however the idiot left the journal in there with Dean and the oldest Winchester had found a paper clip. A nice little way to break free.
Grabbing the journal and swiping a gun that had been left lying around, Dean managed to escape the station, and all thanks to Sam.
"Listen, we gotta talk,"
"Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a woman in white. And she's buried behind her old house-"
"Sam-"
"So that would have been Dad's next stop-"
"Sammy, would you shut up for one second?"
"I just can't figure out-" Dean rolled his eyes and let Sam continue. "-why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet."
"Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you." Sam didn't say anything else and listened to Dean. "He's gone. Dad left Jericho."
"What? How d'you know?"
"I've got his journal. Cops found it at the motel."
"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing."
"Yeah, well, he did this time." Although he'd never admit, Dean was worried. More worried than he had ever been. Dean didn't even know John had been headed to Jericho until a few days ago. John had told Dean over a month ago that he was heading to New York on a job. Did he lie? If so, why the hell did he lie to Dean?
"What's it say?"
"Same old ex-Marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he's going."
"Coordinates. Where to?"
"I'm not sure. By the way, sheriff told me that the Doctor left a message in the motel."
"What?"
"Said they found it written on the wall, saying 'Cas needs you'."
"'Cas'? As in a person, a thing?"
"I'm not sure. Look, we'll finish up here, and we'll try to get hold of the Doc, maybe he can help us find Dad."
"Yeah, maybe. I just don't understand. I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on? WHOA!"
"Sam?" Dean heard the screeching that he had known all his life, Sam was driving, and something had happened on the road. "Sam!"
It wasn't Sam who spoke, but a chilling female voice before the call cut off. "Take me home."
"Shit!"
Gwyneth lay on the chaise-longue, her skin white as chalk. Rose gently dabbed a wet cloth around her face. Her eyes flickered open.
"S'all right." said Rose when Gwyneth moved to sit up. "You just sleep."
"But my angels, miss!" said Gwyneth weakly. "They came, didn't they? They need me!"
Gwyneth looked around the faces in the room, all staring at her. Sneed and Dickens had helped themselves to large brandies, while the Doctor stood behind Rose.
"They do need you, Gwyneth," Rose turned around as the Doctor spoke. "You're their only chance of survival-"
"I told you, leave her alone." said Rose sharply. "She's exhausted, and she's not fighting your battles."
The Doctor sighed like he'd been told for the fifteenth time.
Rose turned back to Gwyneth and held up a glass of water. "Have a drink of this..."
"What did you say, Doctor?" asked Sneed. "Explain it again. What are they?"
The Doctor looked at Sneed. "Aliens."
"Like, foreigners, you mean?"
"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there." The Doctor pointed upwards.
"Brecon?"
"Close. And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff, but the road's blocked, only one or two can slip through – even then they're weak." The Doctor explained the situation like he was talking to a child, well, he supposed he was. "They can only test-drive the bodies for so long. They revert to gas and hide in the pipes."
"And that's why they need the girl," said Dickens.
"They're not having her." said Rose.
"But she can help. Living on the rift has made her part of it. Gwyneth can open up the rift, make a bridge, and let them through." The Doctor tried to reason with Rose but she refused to partake in his plan.
"Incredible." said Dickens, he was obviously slightly tipsy. "Ghosts that aren't ghosts but beings from another world. Only able to exist in our realm by inhabiting cadavers."
The Doctor nodded. "Good system – it might work."
Rose stood up from Gwyneth's side and looked angrily at the Doctor. "You can't let them run around inside dead people!"
"Why not?" The Doctor really couldn't see the problem. "It's just like recycling."
"Seriously though, you can't."
"Seriously though, I can."
"But it's just...wrong! Those bodies were living people. We should respect them, even in death."
The Doctor folded his arms. "D'you carry a donor card?"
Rose was exasperated. "But that's different, that's-"
"It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it, or go home."
The Doctor and Rose stared at each other – Rose felt like she had just been slapped in the face, the Doctor's words stung and burned her in ways she never thought possible.
"You heard what they said," the Doctor said more calmly. "Time is short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last few Gelth could be dying."
"I don't care," argued Rose. "You're not using her-"
"Don't I get a say, miss?"
Rose turned around to face Gwyneth whose face has regained some of it's colour, she sat up, more awake.
"Well, yes, but...you don't understand what's going on-"
"You would say that, miss, 'cos that's very clear inside your head. That you think I'm stupid."
"That's not fair-"
"But it's true though. Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind. And the angels need me." Rose looked away in defeat. "Doctor, what do I have to do?"
The Doctor looked at Rose for a while before looking at Gwyneth. "You don't have to do anything."
"They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my Mam on a holy mission." Gwyneth smiled. "So tell me."
The Doctor smiled brightly. "We need to find the rift. This house is a weak spot," the Doctor began pacing around the room. "So there must be one spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed – what's the weakest part of this house? The place where the most ghosts have been seen?"
"That would be," Sneed swallowed. "The morgue."
Sam cried out in agony as gun shots were fired. The woman in white vanished and Sam grabbed the wheel. He glared angrily at the house in front of him.
"I'm taking you home."
Sam pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and drove towards the house.
"SAM!" Dean yelled as he ran after the Impala.
With a crash, Sam drove straight throw the walls and into the aging house. The impact of the crash, shook Sam a little.
"Sam?" Dean called out, making his way through the wreck of the house. "Sam, you okay?"
"I think..." Dean opened up the car door, the knelt down to see Sam's face.
"Can you move?"
"Yeah, help me?" Dean placed an arm around Sam's waist and hauled him out.
"There you go – crap." Sam looked up to see the woman glaring at them, a picture frame clutched tightly in her hands. She throw the picture down and moved a bureau across the house towards Sam and Dean. The furniture slammed into the two brothers, pinning them to the car.
"Mommy..." A child-like whisper came from the staircase. The woman heard it and looked up. Water dripped down the stairs, every drop echoing. The woman looked up at the spirits of her son and daughter. "You've come home to us, Mommy..."
Suddenly the children appeared and wrapped their arms tightly around the distraught Constance Welch. She screamed in pain, her image flickering, as she and her children melted into nothing but a puddle of water.
Glancing at each other, Dean and Sam pushed the bureau aside and walked over to the puddle.
"So this is where she drowned her kids," Dean mused.
Sam nodded. "That's why she could never go home. She could never face them."
"You found her weak spot. Nice job, Sammy." Dean slapped Sam on his injured chest and walked towards the car.
Sam gave a pain filled laugh. "Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?"
"Hey. Saved your ass." Dean leaned over to inspect the Impala. "I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car – I'll kill you."
When Rose was five, her mum started leaving her and Sebastian alone in the flat. Sebastian was thirteen and usually stopped at home by himself so taking care of Rose would be no probably for him. However he was a teenage boy and wanted to watch a horror film. Rose was sat on the floor playing with her dolls when the film came on, she could never remember what it was called but there was a morgue scene that scared her more than anything else.
The morgue in the basement of Sneed and Company, reminded her of that horror film. She remembered watching as the psychopathic killer tortured an innocent woman. She remembered how Sebastian had gone to pay for a pizza delivery at the time so he didn't know that Rose was watching the film. She remembered throwing up all over the carpet.
A few corpses lay covered on wooden trollies, there was an iron-gated sluice at the end of long room, and a strong stench of rotting bodies in the air.
"Huh, talk about bleak house." The Doctor commented.
"Thing is, Doctor," Rose's voice shook. "The Gelth don't succeed, 'cos I know they don't. I know for a fact that corpses weren't walking around in eighteen-sixty-nine."
"Time's in flux," explained the Doctor. "Changing every second. Your comfy little world could be rewritten like that-" the Doctor snapped his fingers. "Nothing is safe – remember that. Nothing."
"Doctor," said Dickens. "I think the room is getting colder."
The whispers flew into the morgue, hissing louder and louder.
Rose sighed. "Here they come."
The only light in the room dimmed as blue ectophalsm flew from the gas-matle, forming a hazy, blue Gelth before the group.
"You have come to help! Praise the Doctor! Praise him!"
"Promise you won't hurt her." said Rose.
"Hurry! Please! So little time. Pity the Gelth!"
"I'll take you somewhere after the transfer." said the Doctor. "Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right?"
"My angels," murmured Gwyneth. "I can help them live."
The Doctor paused for a moment. Everything Rose had argued to him came flooding into his mind. He questioned himself whether or not he was doing the right thing.
"Okay," he finally said. "Where's the weak point?"
"Here! Beneath the arch!"
Gwyneth walked forwards and stood underneath the arch, just under the Gelth. Rose rushed after her and grabbed her hands.
"You don't have to do this,"
Gwyneth reached out and touched Rose's cheek. "My angels."
"Establish the bridge! Reach out to the void. Let us through!"
The Doctor pulled Rose away from Gwyneth as the young woman stared unblinkingly ahead.
"Yes! I can see you. I can see you! Come!"
The Doctor, Rose, Dickens and Sneed watched with held breaths.
"Bridgehead establishing,"
"Come to me. Come to this world. Poor lost souls,"
"It has begun! The bridge is made."
Gwyneth's mouth opened and ectoplasm swam out.
"She has given herself to the Gelth!"
The others watched as dozens of Gelth flew around the morgue. More seemed to be coming. Gelth after Gelth after Gelth, hundreds pouring out.
"Rather a lot of them," muttered Dickens.
"The bridge is open! We descend!"
Suddenly the beautiful Gelth transformed into a creature of nightmares, a vicious smile on it's face as it mockingly laughed.
"The Gelth will come through in force!"
"You said that you were few in number!" yelled Dickens.
"A few billion! And all of us in need of corpses!"
The Doctor glanced at Rose, his eyes full of sorry and regret.
"Now Gwyneth," Sneed stepped forward trying to get to the woman. "Stop this, there's a good girl. Listen to your master! This has gone far enough, now stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you."
Gwyneth did not respond – she couldn't respond.
One of the circling Gelths plunged down towards one of the covered corpses – the one closest to Sneed.
"Mr. Sneed, get back!" Rose yelled but the corpse sat up and grabbed Sneed. The Doctor pulled Rose back, and Dickens jumped to the side; they watched in horror as the corpse snapped Sneed's neck, killing him. Once the undertaker was dead, a Gelth poured itself into his mouth. Slowly, Sneed looked up at Rose and the Doctor – his eyes stone cold.
"I think it's gone a little bit wrong."
"I have join the legions of the Gelth." said Sneed. "Come, march with us."
Dickens took another step back. "Oh, Glory!"
"We need bodies. All of you, dead. The human race, dead," The corpses dragged their feet towards Rose and the Doctor. "Fit only to become our vessels. The Gelth shall march in victory!"
The Doctor held his arm out in front of Rose as they backed away from the Gelth.
"Gwyneth! Stop them!" The Doctor called out. "Send them back!"
"Three more bodies! Convert them!" The Gelth above Gwyneth said. "Make them your vessels!"
The Doctor looked over at Dickens who had managed to make his way to the door unseen.
"Doctor, I'm sorry! This new world of yours is too much for me!"
The Doctor pulled Rose into the sluice, slamming the iron gates shut behind them. The corpses reached through the bars, trying to grab them.
"I'm so sorry-!" Dickens fled from the morgue, leaving Rose and the Doctor trapped.
"Give youself to glory! Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth!"
The Doctor and Rose stood with their backs against the wall, breathing heavily, Rose had gone pale from fear.
"I trusted you!" The Doctor spat at the Gelth. "I pitied you!"
"We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh."
"Not while I'm alive."
"Then live no more."
The corpses began shaking the gate bars, they were bound to pull it off it's hinges.
"But I can't die." said Rose. "Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die. Isn't it?"
The Doctor looked at Rose. "I'm sorry."
"But it's eighteen-sixty-nine, how can I die now?"
"Time isn't a straight line, it can twist into any shape. Believe me, I've seen it happen before. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth, and it's all my fault. I brought you here."
"It's not your fault. I wanted to come."
"What about me? I saw the fall of Troy. World War Five. I was pushing boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm gonna die in a dungeon...in Cardiff!"
"And it's not just dying. We become one of them." The Doctor and Rose pressed their backs further against the wall as one of the corpses leered forward. "We'll go down fighting, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Together?"
"Yeah."
Rose wrapped her hand around the Doctor's, their fingers weaving together. He smiled at her.
"I'm so glad I met you." He told her.
Rose smiled back. "Me too."
"Doctor!" Rose and the Doctor looked away from each other as Dickens ran into the morgue. "The gas! Turn on the gas – all of it, now!"
Dickens raced over to the gas-mantle and twisted the tap, letting the gas hiss out.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked.
"I might be an old fool but I understand basic science, sir! Turn on quickly, turn on the gas, fill the room!"
"Brilliant! Gas!"
The Doctor followed Dickens instructions and turned on the gas-tap in the sluice.
"What, so we choke to death instead?" yelled Rose.
"Am I correct, Doctor?" asked Dickens. "They're gaseous creatures-"
"Fill the air with gas – it'll draw them out of the host, suck them back into the air, like poison from a wound-"
"Oh, I hope – Oh lord-!"
The elderly woman and young man from earlier that night walked in the morgue, and cornered Dickens with the other corpses.
"I hope this theory will be validated soon. If not immediately."
"Plenty more!" The Doctor tore the gas pipe off the wall and the Gelth shirked as they were sucked out of their vessels.
"It's working," Dickens confirmed, pressing his handkerchief to his mouth and nose. The Doctor and Rose (her hand over her face) ran out of the sluice, over to Gwyneth.
"Gwyneth!" yelled the Doctor. "Send them back! They lied, they're not angels!"
The ectoplasm that had circled Gwyneth faded away and she regained a conscious state.
"Liars?" she asked in a small voice.
"Look at them. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you strength. Now send them back!"
Rose let out a strangled cry. "Can't breath-!"
"Charles, get her out."
"I'm not leaving her!"
"They'd too strong..." Gwyneth murmured.
"Remember that world you saw? Rose's world? All those people, none of them will exist, if you don't send them back through the rift."
"Can't send them back...But I can hold them. Hold them in place. Hold them here..." Gwyneth reached into her pocked and pulled out a small box of matches. "Get out."
"You can't!" Rose screamed, running towards. The Doctor grabbed her and pulled her back.
"Rose, get out, go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!"
Rose and Dickens ran out of the morgue, coughing and supporting each other.
The Doctor held out his hand to Gwyneth. "Come on. Leave that to me-"
Gwyneth just stared ahead, her eyes meeting the wall and not the Doctor's. Her body and facial expression were frozen. The Doctor reached out his hand to feel Gwyneth's neck. She didn't respond and she was ice cold.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor kissed her forehead and whispered, "Thank you." before running out after Rose and Dickens.
The Doctor managed to just make it outside when the house exploded. Pieces of glass and wood flying around him as he hit the snowy ground. Rose and Dickens ran forward to help him up. Rose looked around for Gwyneth and then looked at the Doctor.
"She didn't make it..."
"I'm sorry." said the Doctor. "She closed the rift."
"At such a cost." said Dickens softly. "The poor child."
"I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes."
"What d'you mean?"
"I think she was dead the minute she stood in that arch."
Rose looked back at the house, where her friend had perished to save the world. And no one would ever know.
The Impala tore down the road, leaving Jericho. Dean hummed along to his music as Sam tracked the coordinates (35-111) on a large map.
"Okay," said Sam after a while. "Here's where Dad went. It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado."
Dean gave a single nod. "Sounds charming, how far?"
"About...six-hundred miles."
Dean thought about that for a moment and grinned at Sam. "Hey, if we shag ass or find the Doc, we could make it by morning."
Sam looked at his brother, opened his mouth to say something and closed it again. He didn't need to say anything though, Dean could see it all over his face.
"You're not going."
"The interview's in like...ten hours, I gotta be there." Dean thought back a few days ago. It's a law school interview and it's my whole future on a plate.
Dean nodded, not letting his disappointment show. "Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'll take you home."
"Right then, if you don't mind, Charlie boy, I've just got to pop into my um...shed. Won't be long."
The Doctor headed inside the TARDIS, leaving Rose and Dickens outside.
"What are you going to do now?" Rose asked him.
"I shall take the mail-coach back to London, quite literally post-haste, it's the wrong time of year to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family, and try to make amends." Dickens smiled widely. "After all I've seen tonight there's nothing more vital."
The TARDIS doors squeaked open and the Doctor reappeared with a small hard back book in his hand.
"Here we are, promised Ellie I'd get her this in first addition," He handed Dickens the copy of Oliver Twist. "Would you mind signing it for her?"
Dickens smiled wider. "Of course, Doctor. It would be an honour."
The Doctor took a pen out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Dickens who stared at it in confusion.
"Modern technology, that is," the Doctor explained. "The ink's inside a plastic shell. Genius invention."
Dickens struggled at first but managed to get the hang of it, Rose held back a laugh as she watched him.
"Dear Ellie," Dickens read out loud as he wrote. "Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. I hope we will have the honour of meeting soon, Charles Dickens."
Dickens blew over the ink thinking he needed to dry it before he handed the book and pen back to the Doctor.
"Thanks."
"Charles was just saying, he's going to spend Christmas with his family." Rose explained.
"After all," said Dickens. "Christmas is a joyous occasion to spend with ones loved ones."
The Doctor grinned. "You've cheered up."
"Exceedingly!" Dickens chuckled. "This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've barely started. And what an appetite I have, Doctor! All these huge, wonderful notions! I am inspired – I must write about them!"
"D'you think that's wise?" Rose asked him.
"Oh, I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle, perhaps he was not of this earth! The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals! I can spread the word, and tell the truth!"
The Doctor held out his hand for Dickens to shake. "Good luck with it. Nice to meet you. Fantastic."
"Bye then. And thanks." Rose leaned over and gave Dickens a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh my dear," Dickens cheeks shaded pink. "How modern. Thank you. I hope to see you both again sometime, and Ellie with you."
"Definitely." The Doctor promised, opening the TARDIS door.
"But I don't understand, in what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"
"Into the shed." The Doctor smirked. "You'll see."
"'Pon my soul, it's one riddle after another with you. But Doctor – in amongst all the revelations, there's one mystery you haven't explained. Answer me this. Who are you?"
The Doctor glanced at Rose, then back at Dickens. "Just a friend. Passing through."
"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you," Dickens hesitated before asking. "My books. Doctor, do they last?"
"Oh yes."
"For how long?"
"Forever." Dickens could see that the Doctor truly meant it, he wasn't exaggerating or lying. "Right. Shed. Come on, Rose."
"In the box? Both of you?"
"Down boy." The Doctor grinned. "See ya."
With one last smile at Dickens, Rose followed the Doctor inside the TARDIS.
"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" She asked.
"In a week's time, it's eighteen-seventy. And that's the year he dies." The Doctor gave Rose a sad smile. "Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story."
Rose looked at the TARDIS screen with the Doctor, they saw Dickens still standing outside, staring at the TARDIS in wonder.
"Oh no. He was so nice."
"I'll have to make sure I bring Ellie to see him closer to now. He'll be disappointed if he'd never get to meet her, and she'd be upset if we came and he was ill and dying."
"Hang on, who's Ellie? You've never said."
"A friend of mines' daughter. You'd like her." The Doctor looked at the TARDIS screen again, Dickens was still outside. "Let's give him one last surprise."
And in the early hours of Christmas morning, Charles Dickens watched in awe as the TARDIS vanished before his eyes.
Dean and Sam pulled up outside Sam's apartment block. The car was silent, Dean had turned the radio down and neither brother knew what to say. Sam got out the Impala, and leaned over to look at Dean through the window.
"Call me if you find him?"
"Dad or the Doctor?"
"Both." Sam paused for a moment. "And maybe I can meet up with you later?"
Dean nodded. "Yeah, all right."
Sam turned to enter the building. Dean bit his lip, debating on something to say. "Sam?" he called. "Y'know, we made a hell of a team back there."
The brothers smiled at each other, before Dean, realising that someone needed to go first, drove away.
The lights were off when Sam arrived at his apartment.
"Jess?" he called. "You home?"
Walking through the kitchen, Sam found a plate of chocolate chip cookies with a note. Missed you! Love you!
Sam smiled and walked into the bedroom, the shower could be heard running so Jess was there.
With a sigh, Sam lay back on his bed, closing his eyes. He flinched when something suddenly dripped onto his forehead, and again when a second drop followed. Sam opened his eyes and they widened in horror.
Spread across the ceiling, with her stomach cut open was Jess.
"No!" Screamed Sam. "Jess!"
Jess burst into flames and Sam watched as the fire covered, crying and choking out her name. Sam didn't realise when Dean raced into the bedroom.
"Sam!"
Dean ran over to his little brother. Sam grabbed Dean jacket, and cried out. "It got Jess! It got Jess!"
Dean looked up at the ceiling, realising what had happened. Ignoring the painful flashbacks of what happened twenty-two years ago, Dean hauled Sam to his feet and pushed towards the door.
"Come on, we gotta go!"
"No, Dean – please! - Jess!" Sam cried and screamed all the way out of the building, collapsing to the floor once they were outside.
Dean knelt down besides his brother, and held him against his chest, with one hand wrapped around his head. "It's okay, Sammy." Dean murmured, his gaze on the burning building as memories flooded back into his mind. "It's gonna be okay. I got you baby brother. I got you."
After a much needed shower and a change of clothes, Rose skipped back to the TARDIS console room, where the Doctor was running around in a panic.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Something's happened to some friends of mine – I need to go help-" The Doctor pulled down a lever, "Hold on to something!"
"But where are we going?"
"America."
Dean stood amongst the building residents, cops and fire-fighters. They had told the public that there had been a gas leak, which meant that Sam wouldn't be questioned by anyone. There were several sirens erupted around the block. Another fire truck was on it's way and an ambulance had just arrived, and something else was arriving too. Something Dean and Sam needed more than anything else.
Dean turned around and saw the TARDIS. The familiar doors squeaked open and the Doctor stepped out, looking over at the building and then Dean who made his way over.
"You got my call then," Dean said in gretting.
"TARDIS picks up distress calls." The Doctor glanced behind him as Rose came out. "Dean Winchester, Rose Tyler."
"Dean Winchester?" Rose repeated, her eyes wide.
"You know me?" Dean's eyebrows pulled together.
"You're Sebastian Moran's cousin, I'm his sister."
"Wow," Dean gave her a small smile. "Well, it's great to meet you. Um..."
Dean glanced behind him and looked at Sam who stood with his back to them, sorting through the guns in the Impala's trunk.
"How is he?" The Doctor asked.
Dean shrugged. "He hasn't said much since I got him out. Come on," Dean led the Doctor and Rose over to Sam. "Hey Sammy? The Doctor's here..."
Sam glanced up and looked from Dean to the Doctor with a blank expression, Rose had never seen someone look so broken.
"I'm sorry, Sam." said the Doctor. Sam only nodded in response.
Dean cleared his throat. "Sam, you remember Uncle Issac? Remember the photo I showed you of the two of us and Sebastian?" Sam nodded. "Well, this is Rose...Sebastian sister."
Sam glanced at her, and she looked back at him sadly. The Doctor had explained to her in the TARDIS what had happened to Sam's girlfriend Jess. Rose didn't realise at the time that Sam was Sam Winchester. She had seen photos of Sebastian when he was younger with his cousins, but she never thought she'd meet them. And under the circumstances it was cruel that this had to be the way they met.
"Hi," Sam choked out at her before returning to the guns. Rose swallowed when she saw the collection of weapons the brothers had in their car, she grow rather scared, despite the Doctor's obvious trust in the Winchesters.
"We're going to stick around for a bit, Sam," the Doctor explained. "We're going to help in every way we can."
Sam nodded and threw the shotgun he'd been seeing to into the trunk. "We got work to do."
DemolitionLove14:
Thanks again! So glad you enjoyed chapter 2 – I hope you loved all the little mentions in this one! Gabriel is my all time Supernatural favourite and I just had to write him in that chapter to cross things over a little more – probably a bad decision because I have no idea of how anything is really gonna go after this first fanfic (I'm sure I'll figure it all out!).