THROUGH TIME AND SPACE - Doctor Who/Glee crossover

[skyblueadvari]

Title - Through Time and Space
Pairing - Klaine (Glee)
Word Count - 2,602
Warnings - none

Summary - Kurt and Blaine are in trouble and since when are there police boxes in Westerville, Ohio?
Author's Note - This is a Doctor Who/Glee crossover.


It began in a
cosmic whirlwind, in a terrible rush of time and space and planets overhead,
the vacuum pressing down on them until they felt small and tight and as though
their guts had been sucked out of their bodies and they were empty, so empty
and that pressure still pulling them further, the breath going out of their
lungs and their hearts struggling with the effort of continuing to pump.

I am going to die Kurt Hummel thought,
realizing only then that he had never really given much thought to his own
death. He didn’t believe in God or the great beyond or any such nonsense as
that, and when he did think about what came next it was because he was forced
to. Well guess it’s no use being stubborn
about this now.

Dying was
just the kind of thing that forced you to think about death.

His heart
throbbed, and his eyes burned as he watched the planets swirl overhead, no
doubt something his mind had cooked up as some petty apology for the failure of
his body. It was beautiful really, the galaxies all spread out like that, but
there was something missing, something vital that was not here. But what was
it? What was gone that had been here only moments before?

Blaine. Blaine is gone. There was no ‘they’ anymore. Kurt was alone.

And just like
that, the constellations swirling around him disappeared, and he was again
standing in the homely little coffee shop, breath whooshing back into his lungs
with a gasp.  He blinked, looking dazedly
around only to realize that he was next in line, and the barista was staring at
him in a way that meant she’d been waiting for a good while.

“Oh um…” he
glanced around the shop, trying to find anything abnormal. People were sitting
in plush arm chairs and at stools at high-legged tables, sipping coffee and
scrolling on laptops or else chatting with friends. Absolutely normal coffee
shop behavior.

“Excuse me,
sir? Are you going to order?” the barista lifted an eyebrow, and Kurt flushed,
having forgotten what he’d wanted in the first place. The people in line behind
him were getting impatient, and a few of customers in the shop were giving him
odd looks.

“Sorry, um… two
medium drips, plea--- Hang on.” There was something missing. Where was-? “Was
there someone else with me just now? Didn’t I come in with someone?”

The barista
looked at him as if she thought he had a few screws loose.

“No, sir. You
came in alone. Now, please, sir, what-“

“Sorry,
sorry,” Kurt said. “One medium drip.”

Embarrassed
as he realized a good-sized line had formed behind him, Kurt stepped off to the
side to wait for his coffee, hands shoved in his pockets and head ducked.
Coffee in hand, he left the shop quickly, ignoring the stares that followed him
out. He was used to staring, so it was easy enough to pretend it didn’t exist.

Stepping out
onto the street, he paused a moment to get his bearings. He couldn’t remember
coming into the shop or even what day it was exactly. A quick glance at his
watch revealed it to be around three o clock, which meant he’d probably stopped
by the shop after school, but this was a little out of the way. Judging by the
look of the quaint, little storefronts this was downtown Westerville. He knew
because he’d come here loads of times with-

Kurt frowned.
Who had he come here with?

He took a sip
of his coffee, closing his eyes against the headache that was coming on and
slipped his phone out of his pocket. He’d probably have to call someone to come
get him, because he couldn’t remember where he’d parked his car. He turned to
begin walking along the sidewalk, and that was when he noticed the big, blue
police box.

It was weird.
He didn’t remember having ever seen it before, but there it was, sitting snug
against a little boutique by the name of Silvia’s that sold clothing two years
out of style. Kurt glanced around, wondering if anyone else thought it as weird
as he did, but the streets were empty. It looked like a storm was coming on,
the hanging baskets of purple flowers along the street swaying on their hooks
and the sky slowly darkening. Thunder growled faintly in the distance, and Kurt
walked towards the blue police box, interest peaked.

Close up, it
looked like an antique, the paint peeling slightly around the edges and the
wood weathered with age. There was a note on the narrow door.

“Pull to open…?”
Kurt read to himself, an odd tingling feeling of unease moving along his skin.
He felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. It’s the storm, he thought and was just lifting his hand to open
the door when it suddenly swung inward.

“Ah! Hello.
Kurt, is it? Good to see you’re all in one piece. Now come on, come on in! Look
like there’s a nasty storm brewing out there, for sure.” No sooner had the
mystery voice spoken than someone grabbed him by the front of his shirt and
pulled him inside.

“Hey, this is
Marc Jacobs, you- Oh.” He stared, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. It
looked like something straight out of one of those science fiction movies Finn
always went on about. “It’s-Oh my god, it’s bigger
on the inside.”

“Well yeah, ‘course
it is! Now come on, kiddo, no time for introductions. We’ve got a bit of an
emergency, so if you would just-“

“Wait a
minute, who are you?” Kurt couldn’t really get a clear look at the man who had
dragged him inside, before he bounded away up towards what looked like a
central platform and began flipping switches and levers in what seemed like
random order.

“All in good
time, yes… now… Kurt Hummel.” The man looked his way for just long enough Kurt
to see that he had a brilliantly handsome smile. “I’d suggest you find
something to hang onto.”

And then
there was a lurch, and Kurt suddenly hurtled back on his ass, knocking his head
against the door. Everything rattled and refused to stay still for a moment,
and then everything was still again and the strange man was squatting in front
of him, looking concerned.

“Quite a
knock you took there. You alright?”

“I’ll be just
fine as soon as you tell me who you are. And… what exactly is going on.”

“Ah, well…
now that’s… that’s quite an interesting
story, y’see. Well…. No, I guess, you don’t see, otherwise you wouldn’t have
asked… But! Nevertheless, we haven’t got time.” The man hopped to his feet,
scurrying back to the platform, gesticulating wildly as he went. Kurt struggled
to get to his feet after him.

“Why? What’s
going on? Who are you?”

“Oh well,”
the man said, as though it were the most obviously thing in the world. “I’m the
Doctor.”

“Doctor who?”
Kurt asked, but the man had already dashed away, checking instruments
one-by-one on what looked like a massively confusing control panel and frowning
to himself.

“Now, if I’m
correct, you’ve just experienced something a little… wonky, yes? Just standing
there, minding your own business one moment, and the next WHAM, you’re suddenly
somewhere else. Am I right?” Kurt nodded, though the question of how this
strange man knew this burned in his mind.

“I was in…
space.”

“Ah, lovely.
That’s a new one. Last girl said she was in Africa for a few minutes. Nearly
got eaten by a lion… But anyway! Not sure why it’s happening exactly.
Dreadfully boring place, Ohio, you know? Not the kind of place you usually see
random and involuntary temporal shifts, you know. But eh… bet you already knew
that.” Kurt stared, hands on his hips.

“I’m sorry
but what-“

“No idea what’s
causing it either! Or well… I suppose I do, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought
you here, but it’s brilliant actually. Whisks people away out of time and
space, addles the minds of whoever’s left behind. Nasty things, the creatures
that are doing it. Tell me… don’t you feel like something’s missing? Like you’ve
forgotten something?”

“What are you-“
But something throbbed suddenly in Kurt’s heart, and the sensation of loss was
overpowering. There was something just out of his reach that dissolved the
moment he tried to grasp it, gone and trickling away even as he fought to keep
it close. “What’s happening?”

“Well, lucky
for you, your friend has a pretty distinct… time signature, I suppose it is.
Just made that up, actually, but anyway, the Tardis locked on to it, followed
him here. Uh… not sure where here is, but I guess we’ll find out then. Right!
Come on!”

The Doctor swiveled
on his heels and grabbed Kurt by the hand, pulling him down towards the door
before he could fully process what had been said. He was dragged through the
door and suddenly, they both were standing in the middle of a thick jungle,
vines sweeping down from towering trees and odd plants flowering all around.
They didn’t look like any flowers Kurt had seen before, oddly shaped and almost
alien. The entire jungle seemed larger than life, the roots of the trees
dwarfing himself and the Doctor as they stood outside of the police box.

“Oh, look at
this place!” The Doctor said, laughing and began leading him through the forest.
Kurt wondered if there was ever a moment that the man wasn’t going at top
speed. “Careful not to touch anything, Kurt. Most of these plants are poisonous
to humans.”

Despite his
own warning, the man picked flowers as he went, tucking a few into his lapel and
grinning crazily. Oh god, Kurt
thought as he was dragged along. I’ve
been kidnapped by a madman.

After a long
time speeding down the path through the jungle, they emerged into a vast
clearing and stopped, Kurt immediately doubling over as he gasped to catch his
breath. It had been a long time since he’d done that much running.

“Well this is
interesting,” the Doctor said, and Kurt swallowed and looked up, hands still on
his knees. The clearing wasn’t as empty as he’d first thought. A group of
creatures stood before the most massive, ugly plant that Kurt had ever seen.
The creatures were elongated and vine-like with translucent skin and no
discernible heads or faces. The plant that stood before them was fat and
rubbery looking, with purple and blue veins running through its thick, green length
and broad leaves reaching towards the canopy that changed colors from time to
time. Tucked at its base were several blue-grey pods, vaguely human silhouettes
visible through the veined membrane.

“Is that-?”

“I’m afraid
it is.” Before Kurt could say anything else, the Doctor was charging towards
the group of creatures, pushing through them to the pods. Oddly enough, they
let him go and continued their odd, rhythmic movements as though didn’t even
notice him. Kurt had no choice but to follow, squeezing between two creatures,
face pinched with disgust.

“Are they in
a trance?” he asked as the Doctor bent before one of the pods, pulling out an
odd instrument about the size of a pen that glowed blue as he pointed it at the
pod’s membrane.

“Something
like that, yes. In the middle of a ritual actually. Looks like their Mummy
needs to eat.”

“Their…” Kurt
looked up at the giant plant and frowned. This close, it gave off an odd smell,
something like a mix between garlic breath and mushrooms. “This is their
mother.”

“Or father, I guess… Or god... but the idea stays the same. They
only like people with certain er... time signatures. You didn’t make the cut, I
guess. Not quite as tasty as your friend-Ah, here we are!”

The bottom of one of the pods sliced open, fluid gushing out onto
the grass as the person inside fell to the ground. She was entirely naked and
lay very still, eyes closed. The Doctor bent beside her and swept some of the
goopy fluid from her pale face, checking her pulse with two steady fingers. He
swore, quickly moving onto the next pod.

“Is she-?” Kurt swallowed hard as he stared at her grey body.

“Dead. She’s been here weeks, if I had to guess… Mummy’s already
absorbed her. Or her soul at least. That’s what this thing feasts on.”

“But why can’t I… why can’t I remember? What are we looking for?”
The next pod gave way, this one with the same result as the last: an empty,
grey-skinned body, nothing but a husk.

“Well, I suppose that’s a bit of defense mechanism. They snatch
people up by sucking them through a time-space vortex, always two people,
always very close. They spit back the people they don’t want, and it’s a nifty
thing really… Once the person you’re closest to in the whole wide world forgets
you, everyone else does too. If you went up to this kid’s parents right now,
they wouldn’t remember they’d ever had a son.” Kurt shivered at the thought.
Hard as he tried, he couldn’t remember… Who had he gone into the coffee shop
with? Who had he been with when he’d been sucked into space?

“I remember… we were holding hands. But that’s it, that’s all. It’s
just… it’s gone.”

“Don’t you worry, Kurt, those memories will come back to you as
soon as Mummy’s gone. Or maybe as soon as you see whoever you lost, but I don’t-ah
ha, this one’s alive!” The fluid gushed from the pod, freeing a boy with dark
hair and the prettiest eyelashes Kurt had ever seen. He was less grey than the
others, and as Kurt and the Doctor watched, he coughed and sputtered, blinking
blearily up at them.

“What-Where am I?” he asked in a weak voice, wincing as he moved.

“This one’s yours,” the Doctor said. “Take care of him.” And then,
he moved onto the next pod.

Kurt kneeled before the strange boy and wiped some of the goop
from his face just as the Doctor had, staring into the warm brown eyes. Nothing
about him was familiar, yet there was some part of Kurt that ached as he
shuffled closer on his knees, something that told him he’d been close to this
boy before.

Take his hand.

Shaking, Kurt reached out and did so, and warmth flooded through
his chest, his heartbeat speeding as he looked down at the boy and suddenly
knew him.

“Blaine,” Kurt whispered, wondering how he ever could have
forgotten him. “Shhh, it’s ok. I’ve got you.”

Blaine was shaking and close to tears, and he turned to press his
face into Kurt’s stomach, trembling arms wrapping around his waist. “You’re
going to be ok. It’s-“

A sudden explosion swallowed his words, and everything shook with
the force of it. The Doctor ran around the other side of the now writhing
plant, a woman cradled in his arms and gestured frantically at them.

“Can he walk? Come on, get him up! We’ve got to go! Hurry, hurry!
Just… run, Kurt Hummel, run!”

Kurt struggled to pull Blaine up into his arms, only realizing him
as he turned to follow the Doctor, that the creatures had broken out of their
trance and were advancing on them, their long vine-like arms whipping violently
back and forth.

“Go, go, go!” The Doctor shouted, and Kurt ran, his arms straining
to hold Blaine up as he ducked around the creatures and sprinted to the edge of
the clearing, following the Doctor back along the jungle path. It took him a
few moments to realize that the path seemed narrower than when they had first
ran down it, the foliage on either side slowly drawing in towards them, the path
slowly shrinking.

“Doctor!” he shouted. “We’re going to be trapped!”

“Just a bit farther, Kurt. Right up here! Come on, just… run for
your life!”

Kurt could feel tendrils of plants tickling his arms and
attempting to curl around his legs, but he pushed on, adjusting his grip on
Blaine and following blindly after the Doctor and there was the big, blue box,
right in front of them, the plants closing in around them just as they pushed
through the narrow door and crashed forward onto the floor of the Doctor’s odd
little spaceship.

“Right, ok, back to Earth, hold on!” The Doctor was back messing
with the control panel, and Kurt felt the odd lurch again as the world shifted
and everything felt like it was about to come apart. But it didn’t matter,
because Blaine was here and he remembered.

“Kurt?” The Doctor asked, leaning close. “You two alright?” The
woman he’d been carrying was sitting up and looking around blearily. Blaine
clung weakly to Kurt’s neck, eyes half-closed, but he looked more exhausted
than hurt.

“Yeah, we’re… We’re ok, I think. Thank you.”

“Not a problem. I think I’ve brought you back to the right place.
Westerville, Ohio?” He grimaced. “Dreadfully boring place.”

“Kurt, what-“ Blaine whispered, but Kurt shushed him,
pushing back his curly, wet hair from his forehead.

“Now! I’m off to Oregon to put this nice lady back where she’s
come from, so good luck, Kurt Hummel. It’s been a pleasure.” Kurt stood and
helped Blaine up, his naked body still slightly slippery with alien plant goop.

“But wait,” he
said. “Who are you? What were those things? What-“

“Goodbye, Kurt Hummel,” the Doctor said with a mysterious
smile, and Kurt stepped through the door onto a cobbled side street, right where
he’d parked his Navigator. As he turned back to the blue box, its engines began
to whirr, and it slowly vanished out
of sight, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone in the street.

Thunder rumbled as Kurt helped Blaine into one of the back
seats, and the rain started as he climbed into the front. He sat awhile as the
rainwater lashed against his windshield and thought about the strange man in
the little blue box. He wondered if he would ever see him again.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Kurt whispered to himself, looking in
the rearview mirror at Blaine’s sleeping face. He never wanted to be alone again.