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Author:
patriciatepesArtist:
twisted_slinkyFandom: Supernatural/Darkwing Duck
Chapter: Prev | Next
Rating/Contents: PG-13
Characters: Dean, Sam, Castiel, Darkwing, Gosalyn, Launchpad, Morgana, with a special guest star later!
Warnings: Um… cartoonish violence, spoilers for previous Buffy/Darkwing xover, The Building Blocks of Good and Evil, light swearing
Summary: Set after The Building Blocks of Good and Evil (an interlude story). SPN S6. While on an ordinary hunt, Sam and Dean find themselves pulled into an unusual circumstance. They arrive in St. Canard and meet Darkwing and co. just in time for the main event: another attempt at an apocalypse.
Disclaimer: I don't own Darkwing Duck, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any related characters. DW belongs to Disney, SPN belongs to Kripke, and Buffy belongs to Whedon. For fun only.
Author's Notes: *laughs evilly* I am the chosen one! I, alone, have the power to take this plot seriously! *laughs evilly a bit more* Okay, but seriously, this is set in the same universe as The Building Blocks of Good and Evil, and it's set in between that story and its yet-to-be-written sequel, Devil You Don't Know. Although this is technically a three-way crossover between Darkwing Duck, Supernatural, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it is mostly between Darkwing Duck and Supernatural. Anything you don't know about what happened in Building Blocks will be revealed here. You won't need to read the other story, and you won't really need to know too much about the Buffy universe. I'll reveal everything you need to know. (So it's spoilry for that other story, if you're interested in it.) That being said, enjoy!
Chapter Seven: In Which a Guest Star Appears
"I think I've got it," Dean said as the group arrived back in Morgana's sitting room.
All eyes fell to the eldest Winchester, lit with confusion—but none more so than Morgana, who looked like she was coming in at the end of a conversation. They came to a stop in a semi-circle around Morgana, who was standing by a new addition to the room—a wooden pedestal, and upon it was an empty, perfectly clear glass spear about the size of a large bowling ball. Dean ignored the ball as Morgana was staring at him, head half tilted.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Yeah, Dean, care to let the rest of us in on this revelation?" Darkwing asked.
"Why, yes, Talking Hero Duck, I will. The demon. I think I know how he knows us." With this, he turned to Sam, adding, "Do you remember, years ago, when we were hunting Yellow Eyes, we exorcised that one demon with the crazy Judge Doom voice."
Sam let out a short, if not exasperated, chuckle. "Dean, to be fair, we hunted a lot of demons back then. Hell, we hunt a lot now."
"Yeah, but how many had flashing green eyes?"
It was suddenly like the proverbial lightbulb went off over Gosalyn's head, as she made her way to stand between the two brothers. Look up, she locked eyes with Dean.
"This demon you're talking about… did he talk about having fun a lot?"
Then it was Sam's turn to have the lightbulb of comprehension flash. "Yeah! Dean, yeah, I remember now!"
But Dean ignored his brother. Instead, he nodded at Gosalyn. "Yeah, in fact, he did. He's mentioned a few times when he's talked to us here too."
At this, the duckling whirled toward her Dad, a flicker of fear crossing her features. Darkwing's brow was arched, but it seemed that Launchpad was on whatever page Gosalyn was, because his teeth were literally chattering—the only thing that the pilot was missing was the biting of his own fingernails.
"Dad… it's Paddywhack," she said, and then it was Darkwing's turn to look a bit shocked and afraid.
"It can't be… can it?" Darkwing asked.
"Paddywhack," Morgana muttered, the old book back in her hands. "Yes. Here it is. It's one of the earliest seals." She paused, reading. Then, looking a little sheepish, she added, "Um, Dark, do you remember that story you and Gosalyn told me… about the first time you met Paddywhack at the toy museum?"
"I still have nightmares," Launchpad yelped.
"Yeah… Oh, Morg. Don't tell me…" the hero moaned, tugging down on the edges of his hat.
She nodded. "Gosalyn awakening him with her prank… it was the first seal."
All eyes fell to the little red-headed girl. She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"It's not like I knew that and did it deliberately! How long am I gonna have to apologize for that?"
"Oh, boy," Darkwing groaned.
"It goes on to read that he will be the catalyst, the creature that will break the other seals. I suppose we all knew this in some form or another, but to put a name to a face, Paddywhack has been the one behind this all along," the witch explained.
"Like Yellow Eyes was supposed to be before we killed him, back in our world," Sam nodded.
"So, we have to stop Paddywhack?" Launchpad gulped.
"Well, we've done it before," Darkwing said, obviously trying to bolster his friend.
"No, we stop the seals," Dean said. "We went that route back in our world. Take it from me, speaking from experience, there's always someone willing to stand up and finish the job. Always."
At that moment, a loud pop sounded, causing everyone but Morgana to give a start, and the once empty glass ball was now filled with an orange-red flame. Morgana smiled at it.
"Morgana?" a distinctly feminine voice called out from within the flame. "Morg, are you there?"
"Willow!" the ducks all said in unison.
Ah, the mysterious Willow. A talking flame inside a glass ball. Was there anything left in this crazy dimension that could surprise Dean?
"It's so good to hear from you, Willow," Morgana said, moving her gaze from the ball of flame to the Winchesters. "Now, I know you can't see them, but this is Sam and Dean Winchester, our newest visiting humans. Say hello, boys."
They exchanged a glance before both muttering an awkward, "Hey."
"My, aren't we the orators?" the flame responded.
\ "Sorry," Dean said, not really meaning it. "But we weren't really expecting to meet any talking fires today… especially not after the talking ducks, water dogs, and evil doppelgangers."
"Ah," the flame moan sympathetically. "Negaduck's still on the loose, then?"
"One problem at a time," Darkwing bemoaned.
Gosalyn chuckled at Sam and Dean's utterly lost looks. "She's not really a flame, guys. She's a witch, from Buffy's dimension. Not to mention one of Buffy's friends. She was the one that was able to help get Buffy home."
"Great, any chance you can do that for us?" Dean asked the flaming ball.
"Sorry, boys. I mean, yes, there's only one Key to all the dimensions… but since it's been put into human form, we try not to use it all willy-nilly. Besides, I might accidently send you to the shrimp dimension, since I don't know, mystically, where you come from. Any idea how you got there in the first place?"
"We um… travelled though… Actually, I'm not sure what we travelled through. But at one point, it felt like we were being pulled through gelatin," Sam explained.
"Hmm…" Flame Willow said. "It sounds like someone or something actually yanked you through the walls, instead of just opening a portal. Sounds like you pissed off someone really powerful."
"Look," Dean said. "I'm not even gonna pretend that I understand half of what you're talking about. But, if you can't get us home, then why did Morgana waste time contacting you? We need to be stopping the apocalypse."
"Apocalypse? Again?" Willow asked.
"Yeah," Gosalyn sighed. "Still haven't had mutant zombie apocalypse or alien slug monster apocalypse yet. This one is just trying to get Beelzebub on Earth."
"Well, just keep holding out hope, Gos… I guess," the flame responded.
"Were you able to find anything in your research, Will?" Morgana asked.
"Wait. Is she researching the apocalypse, or getting us home?" Sam asked.
Morgana wrung her hands together for a moment, staring worriedly at the glass ball. "Willow's voice in this world is tenuous, especially in this form. Instead of just being able to broadcast through my ceiling, we can move her to whatever we might need her. So, I thought it best to just work on the one problem, sending you home."
"But we can't leave yet!" Sam protested. "We have to stop the seals!"
"And there is the problem in a nutshell," Dean said. "We've been translating the seals either just as they happen, or before. We need to know the ones still to come. By my count we have… three. Three damn seals left before it's curtains. We need to translate those before anything else can happen!"
As if in response, a pair of squeaking bats, carrying a cartoonish, hairy brown spider between them entered the room from the archway in the back. "Jesus," Dean swore, jumping back into Sam.
"Those are just Morg's pets," Gosalyn said. "Eek, Squeak, and the spider's Archie."
In response, as the spider was dropped onto Morgana's shoulder, it actually grumbled, like a disgruntled old man. Dean knew in that moment that he was wrong. There were, in fact, many things in this world that could still surprise him. The bats, meanwhile, flew to the far right of the room, circling an old, boxy television that Dean had not noticed before.
"What is it?" the witch asked her pets.
One of the bats punched a foot into the power button of the TV, and the screen was instantly filled with a news shot of somewhere in St. Canard. The image showed a large, towering skyscraper that someone was painting something upon it. The painting had yet to take any form, and the camera zoomed in until finally a figure in black with unruly hair could be seen.
"That's impossible," Darkwing muttered.
"I don't think your world knows the meaning of that word, Darkwing," Dean said.
He ignored Dean's comment, saying, "That's Splatter Phoenix. She melted like a year or so ago."
"Melted?" Sam asked.
"Long, long story," Launchpad answered.
"Oh no… no one's going to like this," Morgana said, calling the tome back to her hand.
Dean held up a hand. "Hang on. Let me guess. This is a seal."
Morgana nodded, not bothering to look up. "I think so. It reads, the fallen prophet shall rise again. The next one mentions the prophet again, but that's as far as I've gotten in the translation."
"Hold on. I mean, Splatter Phoenix was many things… art thief, crook… okay, that might be it. But she was definitely not a prophet," Darkwing argued.
"But she was gone, presumed dead. And now she's here again, painting something on that skyscraper. It's got to be what this seal means."
"And then there were two," Dean noted. "Any idea, Morg? Any at all?"
She shook her head. Darkwing crossed his arms.
"I hate to admit it, but Dean's right. We need those seals figured out, now, before it's too late. Some of us need to go deal with Splatter, and some of us need to stay here and help Morg translate. Maybe some extra eyes will help."
"I'll go," Dean said. "Sam, you stay. You're better at this type of stuff anyhow."
Sam nodded.
"I'm going," Gosalyn said.
Darkwing opened his beak to argue, when Launchpad interrupted, "I'll stay. I dunno how much help I'll be, but I know that Gos is better suited to this fight at the moment. Being the slayer that she is and all that."
He winked at the duckling, who beamed. Dean smiled. Darkwing sighed.
"Fine. Gos, Dean, and I will go. Sam and Launchpad will stay with Morg to translate. Get those seals to us ASAP," the Mighty Mallard commanded.
The sound of a throat clearing drew everyone's eyes back to Flame Willow. "Um, what should I be doing?"
"Oh, dear," Morgana said. "I thought for certain that Castiel would be back by now. He was the one that would be helping you, Willow. The angel."
Sam blinked. "Yeah. Where is Cas?"
#
Castiel, still in his more feathered form, leaned over the lip of the small chasm. It was as he had thought. This so-called portal had, indeed, been misnamed. He took a step back, glancing about the basement of the public building he was in, sighing. This portal didn't lead to Hell, as its name indicated… it led to Purgatory.
The very place that he and—unbeknownst to the Winchesters, as they thought him dead—Crowley had been searching for. The very place that had everything Castiel could ever need to win the war against Raphael. The very place that would prevent another attempt at the apocalypse that the Winchesters had sacrificed so much for to stop from re-starting. But, there was a problem. A dilemma of the greatest proportions.
Using this portal to send Sam and Dean home would use every ounce of its energy, rendering it useless. It would cease to exist. But if he absorbed its power now, returned to his noncorporeal form, and returned to Crowley, then they would have everything they would need to crack open Purgatory and retrieve the souls they needed. No more searching. No more war.
And, in that scenario, no more Winchesters.
Castiel sighed. He knew what he had to do… what the right thing to do was. In a blink, he was gone.
