Notes: Yes, I'm going to finish my in progress fics. Honest. That whole 'War with Life' thing? Life be kickin' me arse. (And also my kidneys. For the record, kidney disease sucks!)

Anyhoo, this little piece is another one of those things that wouldn't go away no matter how many times I shot at it, so I finally gave in and started typing, mostly in the hopes that it would help me get back into the right head space. Let me know if I succeeded, would ya?

If you haven't read any of my other fics, a while back I killed Willow (Okay, a Balrog killed her, but I wrote it!) who then ascended and became a Goddess before rejoining her friends to carry on with the Good Fight.

Mentions of 'Doctor Who' and 'Stargate-Universe'.

Disclaimer: Insert the Disclaimer song here…

HERE, AT THE END OF ALL THINGS STAND WE

A GUARDIAN CHRONICLES TALE

By screaminheathen69

It has been said, by some, that there is no Center of the Universe.

That is a fallacy. Of course there is a Center. In any space, even a space as big and seemingly infinite as a universe, there has to be an outer boundary, which logically requires that there be a center.

That being said, the Center has shifted around a fair piece. The universe always did tend to expand a wee bit unevenly, after all.

But here, now (a few quadrillion years in the future, but who's counting?), the Center had finally become a fixed point. Frozen, unmoving for the first time since the last time. (Which was a few quadrillions years back, but who's counting?)

Not that there was anything to mark this point in space-time as anything special, mind you. Seems like there might have been a big neon sign flashing 'Center of the Universe'. But no. Nothing. Just a few gravitational eddies. Of course, by this stage of history, light has long since vanished from the face of the universe. Literally. No light, no heat, just light eon after light eon of deep, cold black.

Even the black holes have died.

Dreary, ain't it?

Willow Rosenberg certainly thought so. She wasn't sure what had drawn her here to this place. Hell, she wasn't even sure how it was that she still existed. After spending untold eons alone, the Red Goddess had given up, curled up on the surface of the (now dead) super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and gone to sleep.

There were definitely drawbacks to the whole godhood thing, she had concluded a long, long time ago. She knew she was going to outlive most of her friends, but geez…

As often as the Doctor had complained about Time-Lords living too long, he really hadn't had a clue, the poor fellow.

She hadn't even been able to locate the Key for the last couple of trillion years. She had hoped that Dawn (she still thought of the Key as Dawn. It had, after all, shown up many times over the millenia using that form.), being all mystical energy-y, might be able to survive the heat-death of the universe. Apparently not.

At any rate, a few hours ago (or a century or fifty, she wasn't sure), something had woken her up from her long slumber. It was, as best as she could describe it, a pull. Something was tugging at her.

Willow, being the curious goddess that she was, shrugged and sauntered off in the direction of the pull. And much sauntering later, here she stood, two feet slightly south of southwest away from the Center of the Universe.

"Hello?"

Nothing.

"Um, hello? Is there somebody there? I felt your call. Did you need help?"

Nothing.

She did a slow turn, trying to see… something. Anything.

Nothing.

"Well, it finally happened Rosenberg. You've officially gone whacko. Bad enough you've spent a trillion years talking to yourself, but now you're imagining beings that aren't there." She shook her head and sat down tiredly. (Yes, I know, she's in the middle of empty space, so how is she standing and sitting? Need I remind of the fact that she's a goddess? Gods can stand, or sit, wherever they darn well please.)

Something.

"Wait… What?"

Something… more.

"Who is that? Can you hear me?"

Something spoke.

"Of course I can hear you. Been hearing you ever since I ascended you." And all of a sudden, to Willow's delight, there stood God Herself.

A great deal of hugging ensued.

Finally, Willow took a step back. Remembering that she was angry, she poked God in the shoulder. "And just exactly where have you been? Huh? Leaving me all alone like that. If there'd been anybody around to hear me talking to myself, they'd have thought I was crazy from all the talking to myself."

God shrugged, rubbing Her sore shoulder. "Been busy."

Willow's eyes bugged. "Busy? Seriously?" She waved her arms about. "Doing what, fer cryin' out loud?"

God smiled. "Tracking down a Universal Constant. Kind of important. Also very hard to find. It was spread out over several hundred trillion parsecs."

"Universal Constant? What Universal Constant?" Willow was starting to calm down, but she was still one of the most curious beings in all of ever.

"This Universal Constant," said a voice from right behind her. Willow yelped and spun around.

And more hugging ensued.

"Dawnie! Sweetie, I thought you were gone!"

"Not gone, just sleeping." She leaned in close. "It's been so boring these last few years."

"Tell me about it," said God and Willow at the same time. "Jinx! You owe me a Coke!" They were both grinning at each other like idiots by this point.

Dawn shook her head, eyebrow climbing towards her hairline. "Seriously? What are you two, twelve?"

They all cracked up. It was an old, tired joke, but they'd been alone for far too long.

Much, much later, and after much reminiscing, God glanced at her watch and sighed. "Getting close now." She looked up at her two friends, soaking in their presence. "I suppose you're wondering why I brought you both here?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," said Willow. Dawn just nodded.

God stood up and started pacing. "Well, it's because I need your help with a little something."

Dawn and Willow glanced at each other. "What's that?" asked Dawn.

God waved a hand. "Nothin' much. Just the End of the Universe and the Beginning of the Next. Small stuff, really."

More eye bugging. Combined with dropped jaws and stunned expressions.

"Huh?"

God stopped pacing and stared at Her feet. "The Big Crunch and the next Big Bang. I need your help making them happen. We have to do it, the three of us." She shot a look at Her friends, then started pacing again. "It's actually where the idea of the Holy Trinity originated from. The Three Powers that jump-started the universe."

Willow was shaking her head, trying to wrap her head around it. "So what you're saying is that the end of the universe is nearly here?"

God checked Her watch again and nodded. "In forty-two minutes. And thirteen seconds. Twelve. Eleven…"

"And you know this how?"

"Got a message a little while back. Sent it to myself at the beginning of the universe. It had all the information that we need to do what we need to do."

Dawn tilted her head to the right and stared at God thoughtfully. "You sent a message to yourself? How'd you pull that off?"

"Buried it in the background radiation of the Big Bang. You remember that message the Destiny was sent out to track down? The one that traced back to the moment of Creation? That was me. Even I didn't know that." God was shaking Her head, chuckling at Herself.

"You didn't know it was your message?"

"I didn't even remember I'dsent the darn thing. Apparently, I erased my own memory so I wouldn't have to spend all this time worrying about what comes next." She sighed. "Now that I do know, I wish I could forget it again."

Willow reached up and took her hand. "What comes next?"

To Willow's surprise, Dawn answered. "The Cycle continues."

God nodded as Willow turned to look at Dawn, who was staring off into infinity. "The Cycle?"

"Creation," said God. "The Cycle of Creation."

Dawn was nodding, still lost in thought. "I'm starting to remember, now…"

Willow turned a confused look on God, who took pity. "Did you ever wonder why I'm called the One? Why I've always been the one at the top of the Great Big God Dog Pile?"

Willow shrugged. "Figured you were the most powerful."

"I am. Was. Whatever. But here's the thing; The reason I was the most powerful was because I brought most of my power with me from the universe before this one. I had a big head start."

She laid her hands on Willow's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Just as you'll have a head start in the next one."

"What? Me? Why me? Where will you be?"

"Gone. I'll be gone."

"Why?"

God and Dawn shared a look. Dawn knew what was next, and there were tears in her eyes. "It takes three, Willow. It always takes three." God gestured at Herself. "Me to supply the energy to start the Big Crunch and the Spark for the Big Bang, the Key to focus and channel all that mass and energy into a singularity, and you to guide the energy outwards after the Big Bang. You have to start the process that induces gravity, as well as the nuclear ignition that sets stars to burning."

She paused, giving Willow a moment to absorb. "It will be you, Willow, just like it was me the last time. You'll be the One That Sparks Life. You'll be the First, and the Last."

Willow, reeling, sat down heavily. "The Alpha and the Omega."

"Exactly."

Willow looked up at her mentor. "But where will you be?"

"I told you. I'll be gone. Doing what I have to do, Willow, it'll destroy me. Every fiber of my Being will be converted into raw energy." She grinned. "It takes a lot of juice to kick-start a universe."

"And that's what happens to me at the end of the next universe?"

Dawn took Willow's hand, gave it a squeeze. "Hey, at least you get to go out with a Bang."

"Oh, ha ha. Very droll." Willow rolled her eyes, then turned serious again. "So I'll be all alone again?"

God shook Her head. "Nope. You'll still have Dawnie over there to give you grief. Why do you think I called her a Universal Constant? She's the Universal Constant."

God leaned in and said in a stage whisper. "She's actually older than I am!"

Dawn flipped God the bird.

"Well, you are!"

"Just because I'm fifty-three universes old is no reason to rub it in!"

God blew a raspberry. Dawn just shot Her a petulant look, complete with eye-roll and stuck out tongue.

Willow was rather wide-eyed at this point. Partly from the revelation that there had been fifty-three universes, partly from the fact of the Key having existed for that long, and partly from the fact that the two oldest living creatures in all of Creation were acting like third-graders.

And there was that whole 'Alpha and Omega' thing.

There was just so much a girl could take, you know?

God knelt down and brushed her knuckles down Willow's cheek. "Still with us hun?"

"More or less."

"Good, 'cause it's time to start this hootenanny." God pulled Willow to her feet. "Ready?"

"Not even a little."

God laughed. "Me neither. Oh well."

God hugged them both. "I love you. Take care of each other. Make me a universe to be proud of." She walked over and stood at The Center of the Universe.

"Here goes everything…"

She closed Her eyes, reached out Her hands, and pulled.

Slowly at first, then gradually accelerating, the long stagnant universe began collapsing in on itself, compressing the near infinite mass into a lone singularity. The lifeless, cold atoms and molecules, crushed and colliding, began to heat up, bringing light and warmth to a space long dead.

The Big Crunch was happening before their eyes. Willow was in tears at the sheer beauty of it, and at the sight of her friend and mentor caught glowing at the center of it all.

Dawn reached over and took Willow's left hand in her right. Willow somehow tore her eyes away from God, and gasped at the sight of her Dawnie, glowing the most beautiful shade of green she had ever seen, the glow swirling about them both before funneling into the vortex. She gasped. "Dawn…"

Dawn smiled serenely and nodded once toward the singularity forming in front of them. "Watch Her, Willow. Keep watching. You ain't seen nothin' yet."

They watched. They watched as the universe fell down around them.

They watched as the very stuff of Creation ignited, burning, burning, lighting the heavens as had not been seen since the end of the last universe.

They watched as God drew in one last, deep breath.

Heard the very heavens tremble as God spoke Her last.

"IT IS DONE!"

Everything collapsed in, crushed down into the singularity, and for one brief moment that couldn't exist because there was no longer anything to exist in, there was absolute silence.

And then came The Spark.

Followed immediately by the aptly named, at least as far as Willow was concerned, Big Bang. Still standing side by side and hand in hand, the Red Goddess and the Key watched the universe expanding out at faster than light speeds.

And Willow could feel it, feel all the subtle workings of it as she set in motion those things that she somehow knew she must guide. A twist here to get gravity flowing in the right direction. A push there to get a batch of hydrogen atoms to coalesce.

It was amazing.

She sent herself a message, just as her predecessor had done, then turned back to her work. Shooting a smile at Dawn, she raised her right hand and set one more thing in motion.

"Let there be light!"

'To thee no star be dark…'