A/N: New story. What if Sydney had chose to go with Marcus and his Merry Men instead of staying back with Adrian in Palm Springs at the end of The Indigo Spell? This picks up roughly a month and a half ish after Sydney leaves Palm Springs for Mexico. This story will be told from both Adrian and Sydney's POVs, chapter wise.

I updated 'VDVE' quite fast, but I will let you know now that this story will be a slower process. I will work as fast as I can, however and hopefully all will go as planned. Simply be patient. Expect weekly updates for now. :)

P.S The first 2-4 chapters are short, but they get longer.

Also, Please, PLEASE review. It would mean the world. Anyway... Enjoy.

Title: When The Darkness Comes

Summary: Everything will change as Sydney & Adrian are reunited once again by the very darkness that threatens to take over their lives. Now magic is tipping out of balance, a sorceress is on the loose & when Sydney's former History teacher is involved, trouble always ensues. The world as they know it may never be the same. {Sydrian} {Goes AU from The Indigo Spell}

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bloodlines or Vampire Academy characters no matter how much I wish I did sometimes. I have no affiliation with Richelle Mead whatsoever. This is written purely for fun.

Chapter One - Sydney

I know you're torn

And in between dreams

But it's all you've ever known

We're Not in Palm Springs Anymore

His twinkling emerald eyes were like a lush oasis.

They were endless, alluring and so full of life. Perhaps if I looked close enough I would see my reflection in them. I could drown myself in those eyes forever, it would be the closest thing to paradise. He blinked, and I pulled myself out of his entrancement. We were sitting cross-legged, facing each other, palm in palm. His touch was soft, warm and inviting. It felt like home.

There was a curve to his lips, like he was just about to break into a mischievous grin. He looked like he was sharing a joke with himself, one that only he understood. It left the rest of the world confused; but he didn't care, he didn't think anyone would understand it anyway. I waited for him to smile; but he didn't. Something flashed in his pretty eyes; but I couldn't grasp what it was. It was gone in a millisecond.

"What's happening?" I questioned, a little puzzled now.

Something felt wrong… Everything was extremely quiet. Too quiet. There was nothing here except for the two of us. Was this heaven? Is this what heaven felt like?

He shook his head, some of his messy brown hair falling over his eyes, I wanted to touch them, push them away. He didn't let me.

"It's all about to change, Sage. It's about to change for the both of us."

His voice was so distant that it scared me, and panic surged through me. Why did he sound so far away? He was sitting so close to me, we were connected. He wasn't allowed to sound so… surreal and obscure.

"Come closer to me," I spoke softly, "You're too far away."

He finally smiled, but the smile was sad and wistful.

"I wish I could, but you didn't let me."

What was he saying? I didn't understand a word. All I knew was now I was worried. Suddenly, everything started to tremble, a tumult shaking the ground beneath us.

"It's begun." Adrian's voice was only a soft whisper in the void.

"What? What's begun?" Adrian didn't look at me, his eyes were distant. "The realms of magic, both black and white, are tumbling inside and out. Change is almost here, and it's going to swallow us whole."

I frowned, my throat beginning to dry up. His image started to flicker like a candle flame in the wind, I extended an arm and tried to reach out to him. "Grab my hand!" I exclaimed, but Adrian just stared at me.

Those gorgeous green eyes suddenly lost all their charm; now they were empty, emotionless. His eyes stared off into nothingness; and I wanted to scream. He didn't move a muscle, "Adrian!" I cried out as loudly as I could but it was futile.

The dead couldn't hear me.

Blood. It was everywhere. The dark red liquid appeared out of nowhere and drenched his
white clothes in their demonic essence. I was aware that I was screaming but I wasn't
able to hear my own voice. I just kept calling out to him.

Suddenly, a brilliant white light flashed out of nowhere and the scene shifted.

We were in bed, wrapped in red blankets on red bed sheets. His lips, they were red too. We were kissing, his lips were warm and tasted like rose petals.

It was a blistering kiss that burned away the intolerable pressure that had been building up inside of both of us. The kiss hurt, it was hungry and unsatisfied. We devoured each other like animals. It was intense, passionate and… electrifying.

I paused to take a few long, much needed breaths. Adrian's silhouette flickered and
for a second, his eyes were wide open, staring off into space again. He was just a
lifeless body soaked in red, about a second later, he was Adrian again. His lips parted to trail kisses down my neck but I stood up, pushing him away and wrapping the red covers over my naked body.

"What's happening?" I repeated, "I don't understand."

Adrian spoke again, but the voice being enunciated wasn't his own. It was deep and echoed throughout the room,

"It's coming, and when it does… Everything will change."

xxxxx

I woke up kicking and screaming.

My forehead was glistening with sweat and I could feel it trickling down my right cheek.
When I looked up, I saw a familiar face. His eyes were blue and he had really white teeth.
His eccentric tattoo seemed to give away his identity far too easily. His blond hair were disheveled like he'd just woken up from bed. And of course, he had; because of me.

Marcus Finch stood over me, his eyes full of concern. "Sydney? What's going on?"

I took a few calming breaths before I spoke, pushing wayward blonde locks away from my
sticky face. "Bad dream…" It couldn't have been a normal dream, could it have? I didn't remember most of my dreams, and the ones that I did remember… No, this wasn't Adrian's style.

Things felt warmer, brighter in his dreams.

This one felt dark and ominous, like a nightmare. He wouldn't do that to me, this hadn't been his doing.

"You were screaming his name again, Sydney. Third night in a row. Are you getting
homesick or something? I thought you liked it here, with us."

I sighed again, refusing to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry, Marcus. I didn't mean to wake you up."
I didn't want to respond to his question. If he wanted the truth I could lay it out on him, give it to him straight that yes, I missed Palm Springs and all my friends there. And yes, of course I missed Adrian the most. That, however, would lead to a pointless argument that wouldn't lead anywhere so it was better if I just kept my conflicted emotions to myself.

Plus, it was long past midnight - and Marcus got cranky and unbearable when he didn't get his beauty sleep.

He still peered at me with a skeptical look on his handsome face; waiting for further explanation.

"I do like it here. I can't control my dreams, I'm not a lucid dreamer, Marcus. You should go back to sleep, we'll talk in the morning." To my utter relief; he bought my words. He stood up, flashing me one of his million dollar smiles even in the middle of the night.

"Rest up and get your eight hours of sleep, we're going surfing tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes as Marcus walked out of my room. It was always surfing, beaches, dancing
and margaritas with these people. Which - I guess to anyone who wasn't me was a pretty good deal. Still, I was me; and I wasn't amused. They had dragged me along with them to Mexico with promises of making a real change. We had the leads and everything to prove it, instead,
they spent all their time 'laying low', which in Marcus speak meant partying and lazing it up.

It was disappointing.

I had joined them because I'd thought we could do some real good here and make a true difference, I'd left my responsibilities behind for this. And now here I was in a rundown motel in the middle of Mexico with a bunch of slackers.

You ARE doing good. Everyone here is human, like you.

The truth was that I got along much better with the Moroi and Dhampirs than I ever would in a million lives with Marcus or even the Alchemists for that matter. I worried every waking hour about my friends back in Palm Springs. I wondered how Jill was doing and if she had managed to get together with Eddie, I had to know if Angeline was keeping herself out of trouble, and even if Trey was doing okay. Most of all, I missed Adrian.

What would he be doing right now? Drinking his sorrows or doing just fine without me, already moving on to the next girl? The truth was, every time something important, funny or crazy happened in my life, my first instinct was to talk to Adrian about it. Which, of course, wasn't an option.

I spoke to Jill and the rest of the gang on the phone almost every week, but Adrian and I had stopped talking completely and it was all my fault. Isn't that what you wanted, though? You wanted to leave him, that's the main reason you ran away with Marcus and his Merry Men in the first place!

I rolled in my bed, peering at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It was only 4:00 am, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. So instead, I jumped out of bed, made myself some coffee from the instant coffee maker I'd managed to procure and pulled out the note that Adrian had given me before I'd left.

I stared at it, like I did every night before going to bed.

I took a sip of my coffee and traced the letters of my name written in his unique handwriting.
I remembered the first time I'd seen it, how much I'd hoped it was some big, flowery declaration of his love for me… Instead, it was just numbers. Not Adrian's style, not really. It had taken me only a few seconds of leering at it to decipher it, though. They were coordinates. Adrian had thought I would come back to him, he'd assumed I wouldn't run off with Marcus, but I had done exactly that.

I felt so guilty sometimes I felt like I was going to throw up if I mulled on about it for too long. One night, I'd even entered the numbers into my GPS and used the magical tools of Google Earth to find out where exactly it was that Adrian had planned on taking me.

I still remember how I'd clenched my jaw when I'd found out the place that he had probably been waiting for me at. I could still hear the sound of my heart breaking as I looked on. The coordinates were to a sister museum to the Getty Center, one that specialized in ancient Greek and Roman art. On the website, I had found out that admission was free but required reservation. Adrian had reserved it for us, in a museum of all places, he'd probably gotten bored to death over there… But he'd done it anyway because he knew I'd love it.

A grand romantic gesture and what did he receive in return? Nothing.

I'd left him there, all alone, crushing his hopes, dreams and his heart with it. I despised myself everyday for doing that, almost positive that I could never show my shameful face in Palm Springs again.

Mexico had been an utter and royal mistake. Marcus and his Merry Men were all talk, and that's it. They hid in their little shells and did nothing about the grand information that they had. Marcus had assured me that he could at least get my tattoo 'fixed', but I'd refused and eventually, he had no choice but to comply. Now I was here in Mexico with a bunch of lazy
'rebels' who did nothing but drink and party. I was wasting away my time while Jill and the others could be in real danger, not that I could've helped with the danger part even if I was in Palm Springs, but I did have some magic up my sleeves now.

That's when it struck me that I had my ex History teacher, Mrs. Terwilliger who was also a sort of a witch, complete with a coven and cats. She could probably help me understand where these crazy dreams were coming from. I just had to wait until morning.

xxxxx

"Oh, dear. You should have told me about this sooner."

Mrs. Terwilliger's voice was agitated. It was funny, I'd called her out of desperation, but I hadn't actually known that she would have all the answers. It didn't really come to me as a surprise, though, she always seemed to have all the answers. She was like this all-knowing human Wikipedia. I was envious, I thought that I was the only one wielding such knowledge.

"I don't understand," I mused, I heard her scoff on the other end of the line. "I was afraid this would happen. However, I was hoping you wouldn't be involved in this."

"Mrs. Terwilliger, can you please elaborate?"
"Of course, dear, of course. Ah, this is not completely out of bounds however I must say that it is quite uncommon for a regular witch; especially a fledgling like yourself to receive prophetic dreams."

I froze, my heart pounding so hard inside my chest that I thought it would explode. "Prophetic? As in I'm seeing the future? Mrs. Terwilliger, is something going to happen to him? Is Adrian in danger?"

Her answer was as infuriating and vague as I'd expected it to be, "Yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

"That means that I need you to come back to Palm Springs immediately."

"But—"

"We have a situation on our hands, Miss Melrose. I wouldn't be telling you this if it weren't important. Everything could break into chaos if this…The peace between our worlds would just… I need you to come back, no questions asked. Do as your told."

The line went dead.

I spent the rest of my day pacing around, frustrated, confused and trying to figure out my next step. When I finally came to a conclusion, I was packing my bags and booking a flight to Palm Springs before I even knew it. An hour or so later, I decided to go tell Marcus and his Merry men that I was going to have to leave Mexico to run an errand. That was going to be difficult and I already knew they wouldn't take it lightly.

I trudged down the staircase at the motel and found Marcus, Wade and Amelia by the poolside. Marcus was shirtless and in Bermuda shorts, wearing expensive sun glasses and rubbing sun block on his arms. I rolled my eyes as I walked towards them, "You're sun-bathing with an ample amount of sun-block on. The whole point is to get tanned, Marcus."

He looked at me from over his sunglasses and flashed me a white-teethed smile, "It impresses the ladies, what can I say?"

"So, Sydney, are you coming surfing with us or what? There's this bonfire party by the beach afterwards, I'm pretty sure they've got marshmallows and cute boys." Amelia offered, she was in the pool, staring up at me from the edge. Despite being inside the swimming pool, Amelia's hair and face were perfectly dry.

I sighed and took a seat on one of the lounging chairs that faced them, "Thanks but I can't… And I actually have to talk to you guys."

Three inquisitive pairs of eyes peered up at me. I took a deep breath, here goes nothing…

"Something's come up in Palm Springs and it's very important. So I—I'll be leaving tomorrow morning to go back. I don't know how long it'll take me so I think you guys will have to carry on without me for now." I chose my words very carefully, but Marcus looked upset already.

He sat up straight, pulling off his sun glasses so his blue eyes could prove to me that he wasn't okay with this. "Where is this coming from, Sydney? Is it the dreams? - it's those dreams, right? Or have you been talking to—what's-his-name? Adrian? Is he filling your head with all this? I thought you made a solid decision when you chose to come with us—A final decision."

I groaned, thinking that this was going to be harder than I had initially imagined. "I did but as I told you, something has come up. No, I do not speak to Adrian—It's not even about him! Look, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to bail on you guys. You've been very nice to me and I appreciate it but I've got to do this."

Marcus scoffed, giving me a look of extreme disapproval. "We thought you were cool, Syd. We thought you were one of us. We let you in. You know all our secrets—"

I cut him off this time.

"And they will stay secret, you have my word. I'm not ditching you or telling on you, everything will go as planned; you'll just have to do it without me. I have a responsibility back at Palm Springs, I can't pretend like it doesn't exist."

"Yeah? Well, that's exactly what you did when you chose to come with us."

I tried not to pay heat to that comment and went on, "I'm sorry, I have to go. And a piece of advice? Maybe you should do something about Master Jameson and the information you've obtained instead of sitting on your butts all day and drinking margaritas."

I wasn't one to be harsh like that, the comment had literally come out of nowhere. I started to turn on my heel to leave, I could feel Wade and Amelia's scowls on my back—and Marcus's incredulity.

"Sydney!" He called out, but I didn't turn around, I just kept walking away.

"Wait up!"

He was following me, so I skidded to a stop and turned to face him.

"What is it, Marcus?"

"Will you come back?"

I took a deep breath, peering at Mexico's blue, blue sky and Marcus's inviting grin. Then, I began to think about Jill's warm smile, friendly conversations with Eddie, Angeline's constant blabbering and Adrian's precious green eyes and soft lips. Then I thought about everything else about Adrian—His jokes and innuendos, his expensive cologne, and the way I felt when I was in his embrace.

"I don't know, Marcus… but I will."