Disclaimer: All credit for this idea goes to Joss Wedon. Basically this is an episode of BtVS but involving the Digimon cast. No harm was intended. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all.

Warnings: Slight shounen-ai.

Miyako silently stood and watched a pair of her friends walking in the distance. She frowned slightly.

"Why does Daisuke have to be the one that caught Ken's eye?" she asked herself sullenly.

While nothing had been proven, the keeper of love and sincerity could see the way those two looked at each other. She was feeling very envious, because she wanted Ken to like her as much as she liked him.

What Miyako didn't know was that as she watched her friends, someone was watching her from across the street.

Arukenimon stared intently at the lavender haired girl. She had recently come into the possession of a little trinket that allowed her to grant wishes. Being the evil digimon that she was, she didn't just grant the wish, but had to distort it into something completely different that what the person had asked for. Her favorite targets were those who were scorned by love. She smiled to herself. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect."

Slowly, the evil digimon morphed her shape. Instead of looking like the tall spider woman she actually was, she now looked like a fourteen year old girl. She was wearing a red skirt with a white top. Her hair color remained the same and she wore purple sunglasses. Smiling at her reflection in a store window, she crossed the street over to the school, where Miyako was standing.

"Hello," Arukenimon greeted Miyako.

"Hey," Miyako answered half heartedly. She was still watching Daisuke and Ken.

"I don't mean to pry, but you seem down about something."

Miyako turned slightly and looked at the girl. She had never seen her before, but she was certainly perceptive. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Want to talk about it? It might make you feel better."

Miyako shrugged. While she didn't know the girl, she was offering to listen. "I guess I'm just pining away for someone I can't have."

"Ah," Arukenimon replied. "He's in love with someone else."

"Yeah."

"And you wish that things were different."

Miyako nodded. "That's a really pretty necklace," she commented, pointing to the amulet around Arukenimon's neck.

The digimon in disguise removed it. "Would you like to try it on?" she offered it to Miyako.

Miyako took the necklace and put it around her own neck. The stone's color almost exactly matched that of her hair. "It's beautiful. Where did you get it?"

"Oh, it's been in my family for generations. They story behind it is that the wearer would have any one wish of theirs granted. What ever their heart desired."

Miyako gave the girl a skeptical look. "Oh please. Everyone knows that wishes don't come true."

Arukenimon smiled. "Humor me. If you could wish that something, anything, could be different about your situation, what would it be?"

Miyako paused and thought about what the girl had said. Without really realizing what she was saying, she spoke.

"I wish Ken had never become a digidestined." she said as she leaned against a railing. "That way he never would have met Daisuke and I could have him all to myself."

Arukenimon gave her a wicked smile. "Done." The amulet she had just given Miyako began to glow.

It was mere moments before everything was engulfed in black.

***

Miyako shook her head, trying to get rid of the dizzy spell that had just over taken her. While trying to get her bearings she looked around. It had gotten very dark, very quickly. Also, the strange girl was no where to be found.

"That's odd," she said to herself. She pushed herself away from the railing and went inside the school, hoping to find a friendly face.

As she walked the hallways, she noticed there were only a few people. She made a right turn at a T junction, intent on going to the computer lab. She came to the room and stepped inside, halting in her tracks.

There were no computers in the room, just rows and rows of desks.

Miyako shrugged. "I guess they moved all the computers to a different room." Turning on her heel, she went back out into the hallway, continuing her search.

After 20 minutes and no luck of finding the room she was looking for, Miyako was getting severely annoyed. Just then, a girl slightly older than her passed by.

"Wait!" Miyako called out. The girl stopped and turned to face her.

"Could you tell me where they moved the computer lab to? I can't seem to find it."

The girl's jaw dropped and she gapped at Miyako.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

The other just shook her head in disbelief. "You're joking right?"

"No, I'm not. Why would I be?"

"There are no computers in this school, or anywhere else for that matter. They use of them by the common people has been outlawed."

Now it was Miyako's turn to be surprised. She briefly wondered if one of her friends were trying to pull a prank on her. 'Outlawed? Common people? What on earth is she talking about?' where the thoughts racing through her mind.

The girl glanced at her watch and then back to Miyako. She had suddenly become very afraid. "We have to go now. We cannot break curfew," she said as she backed away.

Miyako glanced at her own watch. It read 4:19 pm. "Curfew?" she asked. There was no reply as the girl had turned and fled. Deciding that nothing else could be accomplished, she also left the school.

She took in the surroundings and instantly knew something wasn't right. All the buildings looked so run down, and there weren't any trees lining the streets, like usual. Miyako didn't get to contemplate any further as a loud tolling of a bell could be heard. That was followed by an announcement by an electronic sounding voice.

"It is now 4:30. Anyone found breaking curfew by being outside of their homes will be terminated."

"What?" She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Something then caught her eye. She strained to see what was moving in the distance. As the object got closer, she saw it to be a very large group of Bakemon, all of whom were foaming at the mouth.

Miyako reached into her pocket, ready to pull out her D3, but to her surprise and horror, it wasn't there. Not that it would have mattered much, considering Hawkmon wasn't with her.

"Great...just great." She glanced up again, and realized that some of the Bakemon had spotted her. They were now coming her way.

"Get the human," one of them hissed.

Not wasting another moment, she took off running. The last thing she wanted to be was lunch for a bunch of phantoms The Bakemon were extremely fast and were gaining on her. Just when she had run out of energy and was about to collapse, she passed by an alley. A pair of small hands reached out and pulled her inside.

"Shhh," a somewhat familiar voice said, placing a hand over her mouth to keep quiet.

Miyako felt like screaming but did as she was told. 'One problem at a time,' she thought to herself.

After awhile, when the Bakemon had all passed, Miyako's savior released his hold of her.

"Thank you," she whispered, trying to catch her breath still.

"Miyako?" the voice answered. "Miyako Inoue?"

"Yes?" she answered tentatively.

The mystery person stepped out from behind her, and into the light streaming into the alley from the street. Miyako's eyes went wide.

"Iori??"

"It's good to hear you again, Miyako." He smiled, stretching out his hands towards the sound of her voice. Miyako was puzzled as to why he was doing that, but then she saw.

"My God. Iori, what happened to you??"

Iori's milky white eyes darted back and forth. He was completely blind. "The Emperor said that the way I looked at him severely displeased him. To punish me, he took away my sight so that I may never look upon anything ever again. How I wish I could see your face."

"The Emperor? You mean Ken?"

His brow creased in confusion. "Ken? Who's Ken?"

Miyako placed her hands on his shoulders, drawing him into a hug. She was really frightened now. "What's going on?" she whispered.

"Are you okay, Miyako? You're shaking."

"No, I'm not. It's like I'm in the twilight zone or something. Nothing is as it should be."

"C'mon," he said, while taking her hand. "Let's go see Takeru. Maybe he can help explain things to you. Perhaps you are suffering some sort of amnesia."

Miyako allowed herself to be lead down the alley way by her small friend. All she could hope was that Takeru would have some sort of explanation for what was going on.

***

Takeru glanced up from the book at the sound of a small knock on the door. Judging by the pattern and the sound, he guessed it was Iori. Getting up, he went to answer it.

"Look who I found," Iori said as he stepped inside.

"Miyako? Is it really you?"

'I could ask you the same thing,' Miyako thought as she stepped inside the bunker. Takeru looked a lot different. His was entirely too thin, and his hair was now a dull blonde instead of the brilliant yellow it was as she remembered him. He was also wearing glasses and it appeared that one of his arms was encased in metal.

"What happened to your arm?" she asked.

Takeru glanced down at his left appendage. "Come off it Miyako, you were there when I lost it. Koushiro made me this robotic one. Jyou managed to attach it so that it responds to the electrical signals sent through my nervous system." He flexed his metal fingers to demonstrate.

Miyako felt like crying. Everything was so different.

"Miyako, what's wrong?"

"Have you ever been in a situation where you don't know if you are asleep or awake? Well, I'm in one of those right now. I'm praying to the Powers That Be that I'm asleep, but I can't seem to wake myself up from this nightmare."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's like I've fallen into a parallel universe. In my world, Iori has his sight, you have both of your arms, there is no curfew there aren't rabid packs of digimon roaming the streets and there is no more Digimon Emperor."

Both Takeru and Iori stared at her. They couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Did you hit your head or something?"

"No, I did not. Tell me something, are you, Iori, Daisuke, Ken and I still digidestined? I don't have my D3 and I was sure I had it with me earlier today."

Takeru gave her another skeptical look. "There's no way you could have. They were destroyed shortly after we received them."

"Technically, we still are digidestined, but this 'Ken' isn't." Iori said. "You mentioned him before. Who is he?"

Miyako ignored the question and went on. "So Ken never became a digidestined? That's a good thing right? That means that there should have been no Digimon Emperor."

"What are you taking about, Miyako? Of course there was a Digimon Emperor. He rules over both the digital world and the earth as we speak. "

"If Ken didn't become the Digimon Emperor, then who did?"

He stared at her like she had two heads. "Osamu Ichijouji."

"Where are the others, Takeru?" she asked quietly, her head spinning from all of this information. Maybe they could help. "Please tell me that your brother and his friends are here." She couldn't help but notice the pain in his eyes.

His shoulders slumped forward as he sighed. "C'mon," he answered. "I'll show you."

Miyako, holding Iori's hand, followed Takeru out of the back door of the bunker, which was on the outskirts of town. They walked for awhile through a small field. Miyako couldn't help but notice how run down and dilapidated, as well as sickly shades of grey and black. Even the grass under her feet was brown and dead.

Takeru stopped his journey and stared down. Miyako looked around, not understanding.

"I thought you were taking me to see the others."

Takeru merely pointed at the ground. Miyako stepped next to him to see what he was pointing at. She gasped as she realized what she was seeing.

Headstones. Tiny headstones bearing the names and dates of her friends. She felt hot tears form at the corners of her eyes as she read them one by one.

"H-How?...What happened to them?"

Takeru, who was misty eyed himself, gulped hard. "Since mine, Hikari's, your's, Iori's and Daisuke's digivices were destroyed by Osamu, that meant it was up to the original digidestined to try and stop him. He was too powerful though..... He wasn't just content with destroying their digimon and digivices, he also had to destroy the digidestined themselves. Taichi and Hikari were the first to go, tortured before being put to death. Once Courage and Light were gone, it was only a matter of time for the rest. Koushiro was made into a slave, keeping the Emperor's network up and running. From what I heard, he outlived his usefulness and was killed. Jyou, he was a doctor, but not the kind he had always envisioned being. The Emperor turned him into Dr. Frankenstein, making horrible digimon out of spare parts. Jyou put his foot down when his lord and master demanded that he start trying to create digimon/human hybrids. He paid for his insubordination with his life. Sora was killed by a group of Bakemon. A perfect example of what can happen if you miss curfew. "Yamato..," Takeru had to stop a moment as his voice finally broke, "Yamato took a bullet that was meant for me. I should be the one in the ground....not him."

Miyako wiped away some of her tears, but they were only replaced by more. "Where's Daisuke? Or Mimi? I don't see her grave."

"Mimi's not dead."

"What?!"

"She, for lack of a better title, is the Digimon Empress."

All Miyako could do was stare at Takeru, eyes wide.

"It's not what you think. The only reason she's being kept alive is to produce an heir for the Emperor. Once she has done that, she's as good as dead."

"What about Daisuke?

"I don't even know if he is alive or not. I haven't heard from him in months. I can only assume the worst."

"Shh," Iori interrupted. "I hear something."

Takeru immediately shut up and scanned the surrounding area. Visibility was extremely low now that night had fallen.

Miyako clutched Iori's hand a little tighter as she too looked around. She couldn't hear anything. Every couple of seconds, she could have sworn she saw things moving out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, nothing was there.

"We should go. Now." Takeru said, breaking into a run.

"You're a bit too late boy," something hissed.

Faster than a blink of an eye, they were surrounded by Bakemon, and one Blackwargreymon.

"Get them," the Blackwargreymon snarled.

Miyako turned quickly, but in the process tripped. Her impact with the ground broke the necklace. She scrambled to her feet, the amulet forgotten.

She saw several Bakemon chase, and capture Iori. She watched in horror as they killed him instantly. He was the youngest digidestined and her closest friend. The whole thing occurred right before her eyes. She stood there, rooted in place, unable to move.

Blackwargreymon walked over and picked Miyako up in his large hand. She felt her body go limp, all of her strength was gone. Between this strange horrible world, learning of the deaths of everyone, and witnessing the murder of her best friend, she had gone into shock.

"You're a smart one," the digimon snarled. "You accept your death and do not try to escape."

Miyako stared at him with glassy eyes. "This can't be real....can't be happening...."

Blackwargreymon smiled as he raised his other arm, intent on running her through with his claws. Miyako closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Moments later, Blackwargreymon dropped her lifeless body to the ground, where it joined Iori's. It turned it's attention to a group of returning Bakemon.

"Well? Did you kill the other one?"

"No sir. He managed to escape and we are having trouble locating him," a Bakemon replied.

"He couldn't have gotten very far. We will report this news to the Emperor and bring reinforcements." With that, the digimon left the field.

Several hours later, Takeru returned to graveyard. He had managed to make it to a secret door with out being detected. He soon realized that his friends were not so lucky.

Sobbing as though his heart would break, he walked towards the prone forms of Iori and Miyako. As he neared them, he kicked something. Leaning down, he picked up the broken amulet.

"Miyako was wearing this," he said quietly to himself. For some reason he couldn't explain, he put it in his pocket. There was something about it that tugged at the back of his mind. He would have to go back to his bunker and see if he could find the reason.

That would have to wait though.

He had two more graves to dig.

***

"Report!" The Emperor barked to his minions.

A Blackwargreymon knelt in front of the throne. "Your highness, two more of the digidestined have been eliminated. Miyako Inoue and Iori Hida."

"Excellent," Osamu replied as he laced his fingers together. "And what of the last of them?"

The digimon gulped. "Daisuke Motomiya is still missing and Takeru Takaishi managed to escape. I believe his lair to be somewhere nearby where we found them. I have my troops searching as we speak."

The Emperor's eyes narrowed. He lifted his dark digivice and pointed towards Blackwargreymon. As it activated, the digimon screamed, and was dissolved into nothing more than little bits of data.

He then turned to the rest of the Blackwargreymon. "Let that be a lesson to all of you. I will not stand for failure. Find the last of the digidestined and destroy them!"

"Yes sir!" They shouted in unison before promptly leaving.

Osamu leaned back on his throne and glanced to his left. Mimi was sitting next to him, a single tear traced its way down her cheek.

"Now, now, my dear. You shouldn't let yourself get upset, especially in your condition."

At his words, Mimi placed a hand on her midsection, already starting to bulge with her unborn child.

Osamu's hand curled into a fist. He was very displeased that the last threats to his power was still alive. He felt the need to take it out on someone.

"Slave!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

A few moments went by when the distinct clanking sound could be heard. A door on the right cracks open and in steps a boy. He is extremely frail and is limping severely. His body is covered with bruises and sores, and he was wearing nothing but some cut off shorts. Both his wrists and and ankles have chains around them. His movements are slow, restricted by the metal restraints. He made his way up the steps and next to the Emperor, kneeling before him.

Osamu backhanded him across the face. "That was for taking too long to come here after I called you. And this," he punched him in the stomach, "was just for being you."

Ken doubled over in pain, but he didn't dare cry out. That would just earn him another beating.

Osamu raised his hand to strike his slave again, but was interrupted by the doors swinging open. He turned a murderous gaze on the party who dared to interrupt him.

"Sire!" a Devimon called out. "We have captured him!"

"Who? Who have you captured?"

In response, a boy with flame red hair was lead into the throne room, being held by two Piedmons.

A grin spread it's way across Osamu's face. He stood up to get a better look at the captive. Ken was too slow in moving out of his master's way, and received a severe kick. Ken fell stumbled backward from the blow and fell down the steps leading up to the throne.

Daisuke shook off the digimon that were holding him and went to the fallen boy. He couldn't explain it, but something was drawing him to this slave. As Daisuke knelt beside him, their gazes locked. Although they had never meet, Daisuke couldn't help but feel like he knew this individual. The kind eyes, the midnight hair, it all seemed so familiar.

"I knew you'd come," Ken whispered, leaning his head against Daisuke's chest.

Daisuke protectively put his arms around Ken's body. Ken smiled slightly.

This enraged the Emperor. His slave had no reason to be happy. His life was a living hell, and yet there he was, smiling, in the arms of a digidestined. It was time to put him out of his misery. Jumping down from his throne, Osamu grabbed one of the Piedmon's swords. He raised it above his head and plunged it deep into his brother's chest.

Ken gasped, as neither he nor Daisuke had time to react. Osamu savagely yanked the sword out, and stood there, watching Ken bleed to death.

Daisuke became frantic. "No...."

"It wasn't supposed to be like this....." Ken whispered, his life running out onto the floor.

Daisuke didn't understand to what he was talking about. All he concentrate on was that it felt as if his heart was being torn from his chest, it hurt so bad. The keeper of courage and friendship loved this boy. He didn't know how or why, but only that something that felt this powerful could not by denied. He had just found his reason to go on living, and that reason was now dying in his arms.

Ken stared into Daisuke's bottomless brown eyes. He smiled again, for he couldn't feel anymore pain. He kissed his fingertips and placed them against Daisuke's.

"For what should have been...." he whispered, before closing his eyes for the final time.

The tears fell freely from Daisuke's eyes as he hugged Ken tighter. He lowered his head in defeat, exposing his neck. There was no use fighting anymore. It was time to leave as well. Once again, the Digimon Emperor raised the sword, pure evil glinting in his eyes.

The last thing Daisuke heard was the sound of the sword descending upon him.

Then all went black.

***

Takeru flipped the necklace over and over in his hand. He knew he had seen something like this before, but he just couldn't place it. On an off chance, he went over to his book shelf and selected a very old volume. Returning to his seat, he began to flip through the pages. It was becoming increasing harder to ignore the sound of the Emperor's minions trying to break into his bunker. It took a long time, and he was about to give up hope, when something caught his eye. In the book there was an exact picture of the necklace. He carefully read the caption underneath.

"This is the amulet of Arukenimon, a digimon whose soul purpose is to grant the wishes of those betrayed or punished by love," Takeru mumbled to himself while staring at the brightly colored stone. "That means that Miyako must have wished for something, if she was the one in possession of this."

"What a bright boy you are." Startled, Takeru whirled around at the sound of the unknown voice.

He eyed the woman for a moment. "Arukenimon, I presume."

"You would presume correctly," she replied, smiling nastily.

"What did Miyako wish for?"

"Why does that even matter? She made such a wonderful new world with her wish. It's a shame she was foolish enough to get herself killed. She might have learned to like it here."

"New world?"

"Oh yes. She was unhappy with the world in which she was living, so she made a wish and my powers changed everything accordingly. Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking what is mine and leaving. So many scorned people's wishes to grant, so little time."

Takeru's grip tightened around them amulet. His mind raced furiously. The guards would be there soon to kill him. His time was growing short. After what seemed like forever, a thought occurred to him, as if someone had switched on a light inside his skull. Loosening his grip, he let the amulet fall to the floor. He then placed his foot so that it was resting on top of it.

Arukenimon's eyes went wide.

Takeru grinned at her, something he hadn't been able to do in a long time. "I wonder what would happen if I smashed this lovely little trinket of yours?"

"I'll kill you..."

"I'm dead already," Takeru replied as the sound of splintering wood heralded the approach of the Emperor's guards. He stared intently at the amulet sticking out from under his toe.

"Fool!" she hissed. "How do you know that that reality will be any better than this one?"

"Because it has to be," the young man replied as he lifted his boot high in the air, bringing it down on the object of her power.

"NOOOOOOO!!" Arukenimon screamed as everything was engulfed in a brilliant white light.

***

"I wish Ken had never become a digidestined." Miyako said as she leaned against railing.

"Done."

"Better yet, I wish he had feelings only for me. And Daisuke Motomiya be condemned to a life of seeing me blissfully happy with the one he loves."

"Done!" Arukenimon cried out, but still nothing happened.

Miyako went on talking as the evil digimon sighed bitterly. She turned around and walked into the school, looking for a port to go back to the digiworld. Miyako suddenly realized she was alone and her voice trailed off. The stranger had disappeared, and Miyako was still in possession of her amulet.

Picking it up, she stared at it intently. She then turned her attention back to Daisuke and Ken. A pang of guilt worked it's way into her conscious. She chided herself for being so selfish.

"At least they found love," she mused. "And who knows, there's sure to be someone out there for me."

Moments later, Koushiro walked by and gave Miyako a small smile. If she wasn't mistaken, he appeared to be blushing slightly.

Miyako smiled back. 'Wishing stone....whatever,' she thought. Removing the necklace, she drew her arm back and let it fly into the courtyard.

Turning around, she went to catch up with Koushiro.

In the distance, Ken and Daisuke watched her leave.

"Do you think she'll ever get over you?" Daisuke asked.

"Judging by the way she's running after Koushiro, I'd say so," Ken chuckled.

Daisuke took the keeper of kindness' hand in his. "I consider myself a lucky guy that I found you. I'm glad fate was planned out this way."

Ken regarded his beloved. "I don't believe fate is cast in stone, Daisuke."

"Oh?"

"At best, fate is merely writing upon sand....and the winds are always changing."

"Then how do you explain destiny if everything isn't already planned out for us?"

"What is meant to happen, happens. How we get to that point though is entirely up to us."

Daisuke disengaged his hand and unslung his backpack. He removed two cans of soda. He handed one to Ken to drink as they walked home. Half way into their journey, Daisuke spoke up.

"I think we should have a toast."

"And to what shall we toast to?" Ken asked, humoring his friend.

"To what might be," Daisuke responded.

Ken raised his drink. "To what might be," he echoed.

The End.

More Author's Notes: Well, that's my thirtieth fic. I would love to know what you thought of it. (It was going to be my last one for quite awhile, but my muses went and gave me more ideas. So it looks like I'll be continuing up until my 32nd or 33rd fic.) Until next time.

"Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same." - Emily Bronte