Ok. So I'm still not quite done yet but I did say I'd have it all up by September. So I've just put up some more chapters that are done. Enjoy.

4: Make a wish

It was a Saturday night and the scoobies were all assembled at the bronze. Even Giles had shown up despite his dislike for the place. But then again these were special circumstances. Buffy had gotten the group, together to take Faith out for the night. Faith may have annoyed her some of the time but Buffy had to admit that she was feeling sorry for her right now.

Faith's new 'watcher' Gwendolyn Post had turned out to be completely crazy and hell bent on attaining dark magic artefacts. Buffy had also neglected to tell Faith (or anyone else for that matter) about Angel returning from Hell. The others would forgive her in time but Buffy got the feeling that Faith might not fully trust her after that.

As Buffy looked at Faith she noticed that she seemed...less than herself. She wasn't smiling or dancing she was just sitting there staring at her drink.

"You ok there F.?" asked Buffy.

Faith looked up from her drink and gave Buffy a false smile "Yeah, just fine B."

The bronze was having a sort-of karaoke night, where people could go on stage and sing a rock song of their choice. Pretty much everyone who went up was terrible, obviously.

"Hey come on Faith, cheer up" said Willow "You know, we'll just keep on getting you ice cream until you do."

"And later you can beat up that ...um what's his name?" Xander snapped his fingers as he concentrated. "Darkside"

Faith shifted uncomfortably. "Faith, what's wrong?" asked Buffy.

"He's dead. Or gone or something" Faith didn't look anyone in the eye as she spoke she just stated what happened. The others just listened to her, stunned. "There...there wasn't anything I could do. He just...faded away."

Buffy was about to say something comforting, then something on stage caught her eye. "Faith. You said that Darkside was dead, right?"

"Yes B. I thought I just covered that." Faith sounded angry at Buffy but she didn't really care right now.

"It's just that he looks...pretty lively for a dead guy."

Everyone followed Buffy's line of vision to the stage. Standing in the middle, holding a mike was Darkside. Alive and well.

"You've got to be kidding." said Faith, almost to herself.

"Hello Sunnydale!" said Darkside, his voice amplified by the bronze's speakers.

"That's Darkside?" said Xander.

"Did anyone tell this guy that there are other primary colours than black?" said Cordilia. Buffy ignored her, she was too busy staring at her self styled 'nemesis' back from the dead on stage.

"I take it your all having a good time tonight. So sorry, but I'm going to have to spoil it all with my terrible singing." He continued. "Now you won't have heard this one before but it not mine, and I have no idea who sang it. So whoever they are, all credit to them. Here we go."

"This time. I wonder what it feels like. To find the one in this life. The one we all dream of, but dreams just aren't enough so I'll be waiting for the real thing..."

Buffy listened as Darkside continued. Despite his warning he wasn't that bad at singing. He may not be boy-band material but still...

"...'casue nobody wants to be the last one there. And everyone wants to feel like someone cares. Someone to love with my life in their hands. There's gotta be somebody for me out there..."

Darkside finished his song and bowed for the applause. After handing the mike back to the announcer he jumped off the stage and headed over to the scoobies table. "Um...hi."

"Hi. Don't take this the wrong way but...Faith sort of told us you. Died." said Buffy.

"Ah. Right, the whole disappearing act thing. Yeah that's one of the downsides of using my powers. But...I think I'm over it now." He sat down in the chair opposite from Buffy.

"So...I, um. Heard that your boyfriend is back from the dead."

Buffy straightened up in surprise. "How did you know!?"

"It's a small Hellmouth honey, word gets around."

"Will you stop calling me 'honey'." said Buffy, venomously.

"Ok, ok. So this is the 'scobby gang'." He looked at all of the assembled Scoobies. "Willow, trainee witch. Oz, guitarist, Willow's boyfriend and Werewolf. Cordilia, High school queen, pain in the ass. Xander...Xander. And Giles, your watcher."

Faith smile slightly. "Looks like you've got a stalker B."

Darkside looked offended. "I'm not stalking, I'm spying! It not like I'm going through your underwear draw and leaving creepy poems."

"It's still a little creepy" said Xander.

"A lot creepy" added Willow.

Cordilia gave Darkside an indignant look "I'm not a pain in the ass!"

"I'm more curious as to the nature of your powers." Buffy looked over to Giles. "You said that there were 'downside's'. As in more than one."

"Aside from it nearly killing me...none that I'm worried about." He got up and started o move away "I'm off. If you want a rematch then You'll find me at the graveyard."

"What makes you think we want to fight you" said Faith.

"You got something better to do?"

They watched as he left the club. "We'll, he may be a jerk but you gotta admit. He's got confidence." said Oz.

Darkside was walking through Sunnydale's high street, window shopping. The slayers hadn't show up the last few nights so he'd tested his new powers on some very unfortunate vampires.

Ansem had taught his some spells before he came to Sunnydale, but those were just the basics. Fire, ice, heal. After opening his heart to darkness those spells had become a lot stronger and he was starting to learn new ones. Ansem was always close by of course. Keeping an eye on things.

"Hey boss" Darkside had notice Ansem's reflection in the window.

"You are waiting for something" it wasn't a question.

"Well if I'm right. Today's the day Cordilia make that wish that turns this town upside down." He looked down the street and saw a bright white light approaching him. Everyone else seemed oblivious to it however. This would be fun.

"You might want to hold on to your hat...erm, hood. This may be bumpy."

The wave passed over. Darkside felt a tingling sensation, then the world came back into view. But it wasn't the same.

It was still mid-morning but there were far less people than there had been a few moments ago. He looked back at the shop he'd been standing in front of. Before, it had been a men's fashion shop but now it looked dilapidated and abandoned. The mannequins in the window had been stripped and most had been damaged in one way or another, the door was boarded up and the interior looked empty and dusty.

"Eventually everything will go back to normal. But until then, nothing I do here has any impact on what happens in the other Sunnydale. In other words..." Darkside threw a fire ball into the empty shop. It exploded, shattering the glass and setting the whole building on fire. What few people were about screamed and ran. "party time."

Darkside walked off, freezing a car as he went. Ansem stayed where he was for a moment, then he disappeared into a black portal.

After sundown Darkside was still walking about the town. Right now he was feeling absolutely giddy with power. He'd hadn't had a chance to use his new powers to their full in the real Sunnydale but in this one he could do as he pleased.

The past few hours had been spent by him singing as loud as he could, fiery explosions playing counterpoint to his operatic efforts. After incinerating yet another car (which never seemed to get old) Darkside stopped fooling about and decided to look for a proper fight. Question was, where to find it?

"Hey! Um...dorkside!" Cordilia, why did it have to be Cordilia?

"It's Darkside, Cordi!."

"Whatever. What is going on with this town? It's like ever since lunchtime everything's gone bizaroworld?"

Darkside smiled broadly. This was going to be fun. "Well its simple Cordi. Today you made a wish that came true. You wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale."

Cordilia was surprised and shocked. How did he know about the wish? And how had it come true?

"Now think Cordi. If Buffy was never here, who stopped the Master from rising?" Cordilia thought for a moment. Then realisation dawned on her.

"Oh" she managed.

"Yep. Notice how it's so empty?. It's cause everyone's dead. Because of you."

"Me!" Yelled Cordilia "This isn't my fault. I'm not the one who-"

"Made a wish that changed reality for the worst?" Cordilia was starting to get sick of Darkside and his mocking tone. Then she thought of something.

"Wait. How come you remember the other Sunnydale?"

"Simple really, magic doesn't affect me. Plus I understand more than you do. Not that you understand much."

Cordilia gave him an indignant look "Are you calling me dumb?"

"What on earth gave you that impression?" Darkside's voice was thick with sarcasm. Cordilia was about to tell him exactly what she thought of him until she spotted someone she knew.

"Xander?"

"Well, wadda ya know, Cordilia chase." he replied.

"Not just Xander." Darkside pointed to a woman who was standing next to Xander. It took a moment of Cordilia to recognise her as Willow. At least it looked like Willow but the outfit she was wearing, all black leather and tight fitting...'Weird and wrong on so many levels' she thought.

"Board now" said Willow.

"Couldn't agree more." said Darkside. "See, thing is Cordi. In this world Xander and Wills here are an item."

"What! I wish us into another reality and their still together. Oh, I can't win!"

"It gets better. Again, with no Buffy, who saved them from the vampires those two and a bit years ago?"

Cordilia jumped back as Willow and Xander vamped out, their faces changing into demonic parodies of their original forms.

"Yeah, Harmony looked like that to, when I ran her through. With this." Darkside produced his sword, pointing it at Cordilia's chest. She was having trouble processing all this. Darkside was evil, real evil and he'd killed Harmony!

"I'd run if I were you." Cordilia needed no further encouragement. She turned and ran down the street, not pausing to look back. He turned his attention back to the vampire versions of Willow and Xander.

"Now are you two going to go for the hard fight, or the easy kill?" The vampires looked at each other for a moment then they circled round Darkside, planning to go after Cordilia. "Oh and one more thing" they paused for a moment to look at him. "She's bringing the slayer to town, your boss will be pissed is she lives. That's all."

With that he turned and walked away, leaving events to unfold. He knew he had only a limited time left in this world now and he was going to make it last.

Sometime later Darkside had gone back to causing property damage using magic. His actions hadn't gone unnoticed and a small group of vampires had taken to following him around just to see what he'd do next. He'd actually notice two of the groups female members eyeing him up. After turning a car into an icicle he decided to try his luck.

"So ladies, like what you see? This isn't the only type of magic I can do you know." He gave them a wink. The two vampires gave him a smile each and moved a little closer to him.

Then Darkside saw something on the horizon. A bright white light heading his way. "Ohhhh. Not now. It was just about to get good!" The wave of light passed over him. The dark, vamp infested Sunnydale was gone, replaced by the bright, mid morning, happy(er) town.

"Crap. I'm never going to get any, am I."

"Enjoying yourself?" Darkside practically jumped out of his skin at Ansem's voice.

"Seriously, get a bell or something. One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack." Darkside started to walk down the street, with Ansem beside him. "I did enjoy myself actually. And the funs going to continue. I think it's time I started to shake things up, and I know just where to start. See, I look around at the forces of evil here, and I find them...wanting. The First Evil is coming to town soon, and when it does." He put on his best evil smirk. "I'll be waiting."