Author's Note: Last story before the two epilogues.

If you're confused about what happens at the end of this story, reread "Paradox", chapter 27. I figured that because I explained it all there, there was no point in explaining it again, here.

(Of course, in "Paradox", Buffy is inside the Doctor's head, and assuming that she can remember the Doctor. In this story, she can't, and is making assumptions based on other things she's noticed.)

You'll also see, in "Paradox", that Rose does, in fact, tell the Doctor about Buffy's predicament, in the hopes that he'd help her. And I love that Rose tells Buffy that she couldn't stop herself from saving a family member about to die, even at the cost of the universe - since that's exactly what happened in "Father's Day".

Rose may have her flaws. So does Buffy.

But they'd both do anything to save the ones they love.


Endgame

.

Glory had taken Dawn.

Buffy kept punching the punching bag in her training room at the back of the Magic Box, over and over again, trying not to think about what this meant.

Glory had taken Dawn. Glory would activate Dawn. The moment Dawn activated, the only way to close the inter-universal portal and save all of existence was to kill Dawn.

Buffy would have to kill her sister.

Buffy punched the bag even harder, over and over again. It wasn't fair! Wasn't, wasn't, wasn't fair! Not at all. She'd lost everything, everyone. And now she was about to lose Dawn.

A flash out of the corner of Buffy's eye, and she snapped her head up to discover Rose standing just in front of her, great big Dalek-killing gun in hand, still attired in that blue jacket and those black slacks.

Rose and Buffy just met one another's eyes for a moment.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" they both shouted, at once.


Rose dropped her gun onto the ground and began pacing around the room, her hand up to her ear, speaking as if to thin air.

"Command, I got diverted, again," said Rose. "That fused timeline. I'm gonna need another jump to…" She trailed off, freezing in mid-step, her every facial feature growing panicked. "What d'you mean, gone?"

Buffy stepped back, crossing her arms, waiting for Rose to just disappear and get out of her life so she could get on with being pissed off at this stupid sucky universe that seemed intent on making sure Buffy's life was hell.

"It can't just be gone!" Rose shouted. "It's an entire planet! It couldn't have just… disappeared!"

She paused, breathing heavily, her eyes growing more and more worried, her hands trembling.

"Just… do what you can. Get a lock on it," she said, at last. "If Earth's just disappeared, I've got to make sure I get to wherever it's gone. Remember: the moment this whole thing starts, everything's gonna get destroyed and everyone's gonna die." She paused, then gave a muttered, "Thanks."

She turned, and slumped onto a nearby bench, her head in her hands. It was only at that point that she realized Buffy was staring at her.

"Sorry," said Rose. "This is just… a really, really bad time."

"No arguments here," said Buffy.

"Endgame for you, too?" Rose asked.

"End of everything."

Rose nodded. "Same." She buried her head in her hands, and gave a long sigh. "It's just… I thought I fixed this. I went back, I found Donna, I told her that she had to make that sacrifice. Kill herself in the fake world so she could restore the real one. And she did. I thought… I thought I made it all better. But if you're still in trouble…" She glanced up at Buffy. "You still have no idea who the Doctor is?"

Buffy just shrugged. It hardly mattered, now, did it?

"And if the Earth's just disappeared," said Rose, "then… I don't know what to do. I really, really don't." She rested her hands on her knees, and stared off into the distance. "I'm lost."

"At least you're not the one whose just worked out that she has to kill her sister," Buffy muttered, giving the punching bag several more good punches.

Rose snapped her head over to Buffy. "What?"

"My sister has to die," Buffy gritted through her teeth. "And I have to kill her. Otherwise, every single reality goes kaboom. I've lost everything. Everything I've ever had! And now I have to lose her, too!"

Buffy kept punching that punching bag, over and over again, her anger flooding through her, her despair and pain and sorrow overwhelming her.

A hand rested on her arm.

"So don't," Rose told Buffy.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Buffy cried. "If I don't, then every wall between realities is going to collapse! Everything's going to fall apart! The universe — every universe — is going to end!"

"There's always a better way," Rose told her. "That's what the Doctor would say."

Buffy seethed. "I'm sick of listening to you ramble on and on about your precious Doctor!" she retorted. "I've spent this last year finding out just how worthless doctors really are! Doctors couldn't save my mom! Doctors couldn't save my sister! In fact, the only doctor I trusted wound up turning into an evil Hell Goddess who's about to end the world!"

Rose took her hand away and stepped back. Buffy resumed punching that punching bag, over and over again, her anger vented on the inert object.

"I've got a brother," Rose said. She faltered. "Kind of. He's… I guess I thought I'd never have a sibling, because my dad was dead and Mum never remarried. But then we wound up in a parallel universe and now, I've got a brother. Tony." She smiled. "And I love him. More than anything."

Buffy stopped punching the bag. She glanced over at Rose.

"If I found out that I had to sacrifice Tony to save the universe, I wouldn't do it," Rose said. "I'd find another way. I'd always find another way."

Buffy clenched her hands, and spun around to glare at Rose. "You think I haven't tried that?" Buffy shouted. "You think I haven't done everything I can think of? I love her! And I'm going to lose her! You think there's anything I can do to fix this?"

"Yeah," said Rose. "I do. I always have."

Buffy blinked. "What?"

"You don't know how I first met you," said Rose. "Cause it hasn't happened for you, yet. Your future. It's sort of… complicated. Like I said. But when I was a kid, I made… a mistake. Dated someone I shouldn't have." She closed her eyes in pain. "He made me feel like I was… worthless. Horrible. Nothing. And I spent a long time thinking that." She opened her eyes and glanced up at Buffy. "But then, one day, this… woman showed up, out of the blue, and saved my life. She beat up Jimmy, then took me out for ice cream and told me that I wasn't worthless. That I was really important. And that woman was you."

Buffy frowned. "Huh?"

"And you kept saving my life," said Rose. "Kept showin' up and dragging me out of danger, over and over again. I didn't know why, but you… said I was important. 'N I thought maybe… just maybe… you were right. So in 2005, when I was standing there, beneath the London Eye, with Mickey whimpering on the floor, scared to death, 'n the Doctor bein' threatened, I thought… this is your chance, Rose. To be important. Just like Buffy always told you."

Buffy shook her head. "Look, I've got no idea what you're talking about, but… I don't know you! All these things you're talking about — they never happened! They're not real!"

"They haven't happened to you," said Rose. "That doesn't mean they're not real."

"You're not my friend!" Buffy shrieked. "You're just someone that pops up in my life, over and over again for no apparent reason, and does totally random stuff that I don't understand…"

Rose grinned. "That's what it felt like," she agreed. She fixed her eyes off into the distance. "Just some… superhero who kept running into my life and saving the day. I never thought… you'd wind up being someone just like me."

Buffy stared at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm a human being," said Rose. "Like you. And we human beings don't give up. That's what the monsters never understand. Whether it's trying to find the Doctor, or trying to locate a missing planet, or trying to save your little sister — we're human beings, and we'd do anything to protect the people we love."

Buffy slumped. "Yeah," she admitted. "I just… don't get how. If the ritual begins, if the portal opens…"

"You don't need to kill your sister," Rose told her. "I know someone who can close portals to other universes. When I find him, I promise, I'll tell him what's going on, here. I'll make sure he comes back and fixes this all."

"Your Doctor?"

"Yeah," said Rose, with a smile. "You don't need to kill anyone to stop the end of the universe, Buffy. All you need is a Time Lord. Remember that."

Buffy was about to reply, when Rose turned away, suddenly, her hand back up to her ear.

"Where is it?" Rose asked the air. She paused, listening to the answer. "Well, where's that?" She paused. "Oh, never mind. Just get me there." She walked over and picked up her gun, steadying it in her hands.

She turned back to Buffy, and gave her a hopeful smile that spoke of all the fear and terror that was really coursing through her veins.

"Good luck," said Buffy.

"And to you," said Rose, as she faded into the air. "Elizabeth."

And usually, when Rose left, Buffy forgot about her. Usually, when Rose left, Buffy forgot everything. But this time, Buffy remembered.


The ritual had begun.

Buffy was up in the air, with Dawn, standing on a rickety platform high above Sunnydale. Dawn was crying, her blood spilt, the blue electric portal swirling open behind her. Around them, the universe was crumbling, the walls between worlds were all colliding, and Buffy didn't know how to stop it without doing the one thing she could never do.

She looked at her sister. Dawn. Her wonderful, amazing little sister. Who she loved so very, very much. The one whose death would close the portal. The one whose death would save the world.

In the distance, the sun began to rise.

It was at that moment, as Buffy felt the gentle glow of the sunlight and the morning air brushing across her face, as she looked at that sun — a star, a spark of hope illuminating the darkness of night — that it all came together.

"Your timeline… is weird," Rose had said. "Sometimes, it's almost as if… there's two of you."

Buffy holding Dawn, so tightly, telling her that she loved her, wanting to make sure that Dawn knew it, understood it.

"There's someone else," some other TV Buffy had said. "Someone out there that you're not remembering." The red notebook flashing in front of the camera. "This notebook isn't blank!"

"The world's just the way it always is," Anya had mentioned, after watching the recording. "You're just missing a person."

"You knew him," Rose had told her, the mysterious Yale key in her hand. "He's been here."

Two hers. Two Buffys. One with a Time Lord, and one without.

You don't need to kill anyone to stop the end of the universe, Buffy. All you need is a Time Lord.

Love would lead her to her gift. Death. Death was her gift.

Buffy turned from Dawn, and ran towards the glowing blue energy of the portal.

"Buffy! No!" Dawn shouted after her.

But Buffy knew. If this was a portal linking every world, every reality, then it linked her with the reality where there was someone else. Someone who could fix this. Someone who could guard the Key and keep it safe. This was where it had always been leading. Where everything had always been leading. This was the end.

Buffy jumped. And died.

And in another timeline, in a time and place far removed from our own, the Doctor was born.