… The Doctor opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was that he was in nothingness. He rubbed his eyes with his fists, but as much as he rubbed it wouldn't make much of a difference: the darkness was still there. He looked around himself trying to find a way around, he waved his hands around and there was absolutely nothing in the space around him. Was he dead? Was death this way? No, wait… He turned around and saw a silhouette crouched down, with their knees to their face, and he could hear a sob coming from them… Gwen!
The Doctor ran to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, calming her down and telling her it would be alright. She clutched at her hair, big tears rolling down her cheeks and groaned as if in pain.
"It's OK," the Doctor said, patting her back, "whatever Adam is keeping us here for we'll be OK. I'll make sure you're OK."
Gwen sobbed. "Adam didn't take us here…" she mumbled. "I did."
The Doctor looked down at her with a frown, which she sensed. "How did you do that?"
"When I was seeing the Rift through my eyes and Adam was near me and touched my head some of his energy must have passed through me, which my mind must have absorbed…"
The Doctor nodded. "You're Gwyneth's great-great-great-great-great granddaughter. I should have known this could happen to you as well."
She started to cry again. "I tried to get us to Earth, but…" she hesitated, trying to catch a breath, "but there's nothing."
"You're still controlling your powers, Gwen, it's fine…"
"No, I took us there," Gwen insisted. "There's absolutely nothing left of Earth!"
"Maybe you took us to the wrong place."
"I have the whole of the Rift in my head," she protested. "How would I not know where we are?"
"You're still learning to control it at the moment," the Doctor explained. "You couldn't possibly get us there by your first go."
"But this is it!" she said spreading her arms outwards and around them.
"We could be anywhere."
"But look around you!" she said insistently. "Look around yourself, look at the ashes! Look at them! Really look at them!"
The Doctor looked around him, seeing nothing. "I don't see anything."
Gwen started to sob again. "All around us: there's nothing."
The Doctor looked around them again, but wouldn't want to believe it. The whole Earth, the whole galaxy, the whole constellation even the whole of the universe: there was nothing there. There was nothing to see. They were alone.
"It's all my fault," the Doctor murmured to himself, "all my entire fault. If I had been more careful… maybe this wouldn't have happened…"
Gwen kept on sobbing. "I wish I could do something to go back and make it right…" she muttered.
And then it struck the Doctor. "Gwen! That's right! We can rewind everything back to normal!" Gwen looked up at him, frowning. The Doctor hit his head with the palm of his hand. "I can't believe I forgot about what Rose told me!"
He started to look inside his pockets to find the gizmo he had kept this entire time.
Gwen tilted her head to the side. "What's that?"
The Doctor smiled. "It's alien tech. It's a control remote, like in DVD's, but not really like them. This kind of stuff just rewinds ones doings to whichever moment without having to relive the day again. Brilliant, isn't it?"
Gwen looked at him with eyes wide like plates looking back at him with an odd look. "Did you memorise that definition from a book?"
He stopped smiling. "No, I memorised it after telling Adam about it… So," he continued, "this is just simple, all we have to do is plug this gizmo to a point of origin from which has at least been once in Earth and… we just press some buttons and everything gets back to normal and Earth is save forever after!"
Gwen wasn't sure yet. "Will Earth be normal, like before?"
"Uh-ha."
"Will it get the Tower of Eiffel and Cardiff back?"
"Uh-ha."
"Will Jack and Ianto live still?"
"Uh-ha."
"Will the whole of humanity be brought back to life?"
"Uh-ha."
"Does that mean Rhys will be alive too?"
"Uh-ha."
A big smile lit in Gwen's face. "Then let's do it!"
"There's a catch, though…" he said, suddenly very sober. "There's always a consequence to every action." He hesitated, but Gwen was ready to listen to what he had to say. "The first time you saw the Rift, do you remember?" she nodded, not saying a word, knowing what he meant. "You said 'darkness will come and in the dimmest of times one will have to die'." She started to shake. "Someone's got to give their life in order to let a million, maybe a billion, and infinite people." Gwen started to sob, as she knew what was to come next. "With the Rift inside you now, Gwen, that power could expand the energy of this 'rewinder' and get the whole universe back to normal." She started to cry. "I wouldn't want to do something like this to you, Gwen, but there's nothing else we can do." She couldn't stop crying, and he understood why: she was about to die. They both knew. He couldn't blame her. He closed his eyes and sighed. "We have two choices: either save the whole universe by taking your life, or let the universe as it is and die in this nothingness surrounding us." She looked up at him, and he knew the answer, but he still wanted her to think carefully. "It's your choice."
"Poor Doctor, always giving the sad speech and getting the others to take the choice," boomed the voice of Adam in the abyss.
Adam appeared from the dark, a green brightness shining behind him.
"Haven't you ever wondered, Doctor, why in the name of word should she choose what you want her to choose: to kill herself?" He gave a big laugh, which echoed across. "Letting her take her own life just to save your own, isn't that right?"
"There's no other choice…" the Doctor said but was interrupted by Adam again.
"Gwen, haven't you wondered: why should you trust this complete stranger? Jack, your boss, isn't? He isn't a stranger to you, but you stopped believing in him and followed this fool instead."
"Don't listen to him," the Doctor whispered to her.
"Oh, shut up, Doctor!" Adam yelled. "It's you who wants to kill her. Haven't you thought maybe that that gizmo won't work, that Gwen isn't strong enough and experienced enough to get the gizmo working to its full power?" Adam laughed again in mocking tone. "Always taking the easy path, Doctor. That's who you are: the man who takes the easy path. It's your fault the entire universe is gone. It's your fault all your companions had left the TARDIS. It's your fault this is the end of the whole species in the universe!"
Adam was right. It would always be and be again his fault. Every time he had to make a choice: lose one person or the whole of Earth, a planet or the universe itself. But why did he have to always choose the easy path? To kill at least one and save the rest? Why couldn't he save the whole planet? Why did it always have to be one for the sake of the rest?
"Oh, stop being all quietly sentimental again, Doctor," Adam said imitating his face. "It's depressing." He turned to Gwen again. "You've seen this man, Gwen. There's nothing you can trust about him. Everywhere he goes: danger and darkness lurks, as if like a magnet. If you do as he asks, you'll just die. The whole universe will have died, and the only people who will be left: the Doctor."
Gwen started to think that Adam had a point. Rhys had died because of the Doctor. Cardiff had been destroyed because of the Doctor. The Tower of Eiffel fell, and many people died, and who was right in the middle of all of it: the Doctor. And now the entire universe had just vanished, and maybe other dimensions and parallel worlds in its way. There was nothing left because the Doctor had let all this happen.
The Doctor placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder, but she didn't look back at him, her eyes only showing the vision of Adam.
The Doctor, knowing that Gwen was letting Adam influence her, lent down to her ear. "Don't listen to him," he whispered. "Whatever happens, don't let him into your mind."
"Oh, shut up, Doctor!" Adam repeated. And with that, he raised his arm and threw a strike of green, killing him.
Gwen, startled stepped away as the Doctor's lifeless body fell at her feet. Her eyes wide open, at the verge of tears, and then Adam snickered, his voice echoing as he spoke:
"What a useless scam bag!" Adam exclaimed, walking around in circles in front of Gwen. "And to know that you believed every word he said."
Gwen looked up at Adam. Now that the Doctor died, she wasn't sure who to believe. Adam snorted.
"Now, Gwen, don't give me that look," he continued. "I know people have died and that the whole universe has gone forever. But you now have the power to make a better place."
Gwen's eyes lit with bright hope.
Adam smiled back at her. "Together, with the power of the Rift we can build a new better universe," he said with a reassuring tone that everything would be alright. "We have enough power to get the whole universe in shape and in a form that no one has ever been able to be responsible enough to do so. There could always be peace and no one would die."
Gwen had been smiling until the point he mentioned death. She looked down at the Doctor's dead body. "If no one is to die why did you kill him?"
Adam sighed. "He wasn't going to let us do this," he said, "and he wanted you dead. He said there was only one choice: to kill you. But there's always more than one choice.' Gwen couldn't stop staring at the Doctor. "Don't mind him anymore. He wasn't anything. Rhys died because of the Doctor. Cardiff was destroyed because of the Doctor. The Tower of Eiffel fell, and many people died, and who was right in the middle of all of it: the Doctor. And now the entire universe has just vanished, and maybe other dimensions and parallel worlds in its way. There's nothing left because the Doctor had let all this happen."
Gwen's eyes widened. When had she heard the exact same words?
Don't listen to him. Don't let him into your mind.
Gwen looked down again at the Doctor, in his coat the gizmo, shining in hope. Gwen grabbed it and placed her fingers on the buttons. Adam looked at her with rage.
"Gwen, you don't want to do that," Adam said, staring with a green gaze, which tried to get into her mind again.
"Oh, yes I do," she replied with firmness. And with that she pressed the buttons.