Author's Note: Sorry it's so short. But it deserved to be its own section.

The end of the universe was actually not that much unlike the end of the world, Buffy noted. Both basically consisted of a whole lot of property damage, a large number of screaming people, and a dimensional portal that was threatening to open.

The portal was what they found in the room the Doctor led them to. The doors had been ripped off their hinges, and the bookcases that had once lined the walls were trashed, often knocked down. Books were everywhere. The portal itself — well, it wasn't exactly a portal, not yet. It was more like… a big ball of yellow and blue energy, slowly rotating in the center of the room, about five feet off the floor. It looked almost pretty, considering it was about to spell out doom for every living thing.

At one end of the room, on the other side of the floating energy ball, there appeared to be a stack of toppled bookcases arranged in such a way to form an elevated stage area. There, posed as if he had expected to be discovered, stood Omega, in all his shadowy glory.

"Doctor," he said.

The Doctor was standing in the doorway, Buffy and Jack behind him. Buffy was getting ready to fight. Jack, beside her, looked like he was doing pretty much the same thing. The Doctor was not. He seemed completely relaxed, his hands in his pockets, his eyes mildly curious.

"Omega," the Doctor acknowledged.

"At last, you have arrived to witness my victory," said Omega.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," dismissed the Doctor, strolling into the room. "Thing is, it's not really your victory, is it, Omega?"

"I have been planning for this for centuries," cried Omega. "Not even you can stop me, Doctor."

The Doctor just kept strolling towards Omega, completely unconcerned. "Really? Because it seems to me, if you were trying to open the Hellmouth, if you were really trying to get through, you'd have done it by now."

Buffy hit her head against the palm of her hand. She could see where this was going. Omega was going to laugh maniacally, and tell the Doctor that he'd been waiting for the correct time and place for his glorious ascension. Evil villain types usually waited for big important dates in history to spring their evil plans. It was pretty standard.

But after a few moments, when Omega didn't say anything, Buffy looked up, wondering what the holdup was.

Omega was looking between the Doctor and the big, swirling ball of energy, but there was an odd expression on his face. Almost… unnerved. Like he was hesitating, just that little bit.

"Oh, yeah," said the Doctor. "I know how much energy you've been siphoning off. You could have opened the Hellmouth centuries ago. You could have opened even the Cardiff Rift about 200 years ago, without needing a Zen-12 or a temporally unstable bilocational anomaly like Elizabeth. But you didn't. Why?"

"I… I…" started Omega. He cleared his throat, then tried again. "I needed more."

"Yes," said the Doctor. "More. And more, and more, and more, and more. Always more power. Always more energy. Why, Omega? Why?"

"It... it was necessary," Omega said. His voice was desperate, almost pleading.

"I know," agreed the Doctor. He stopped, at the base of Omega's makeshift stage, his eyes fixed on the shadowy creature. His voice, when he spoke again, was kinder, gentler, as if he were coaxing a frightened animal. "It was necessary. So, so necessary. I understand that. But it's not enough. It's never going to be enough."

"I can get more!" Omega insisted. "There's got to be a way —"

"I'm sorry," said the Doctor. "I'm so, so sorry. But in the end, you'll never be able to get the energy you need. Your plan will never work."

Omega glanced over at the ball of energy, nervously. There was something knocking at it from the other side. Something angry and ferocious. Something that smelled like hate.

"You don't know my plan, Doctor," said Omega.

"Oh, I do," said the Doctor. "Because that ball of temporal energy over there — that's a drop in the bucket. I've seen how many Slayers have died. The energy you've got here, it's nothing compared to the amount of energy you've gathered so far." He looked behind him, at the glowing, pulsing ball of energy in the center of the room. "You haven't been using the regenerative energy to open the Hellmouth. You've been using it to keep him away from the Hellmouth." He looked back at Omega, and gave a sad smile. "You're the one who's been keeping Toby out."