Summary: Updated! When Cordelia makes her wish to Anyanka, she's urged in another direction, which has consequences for all the Scoobies, even those Cordelia hasn't met yet.
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: The What-If Books
Categories: Season 3, Alternate Reality, Challenge Response, Episode Rewrite
Characters: Buffy, Spike, Giles, Willow, Xander, Amy Madison, Andrew Wells, Cordelia, Devon MacLeish, Harmony, Jenny Calendar, Jesse McNally, Larry Blaisdell, Marcie Ross, Mr. Trick, Oliver Pike, Tara
Genres: Queer Themes
Warnings: Abuse, Character Death, Sexual Situations, Violence
Challenges: "Sir, that's my emotional support vampire!", Not Every Wish Comes True
Event: April Challenge 2023
Completed: No Chapters: 4
Word count: 22,763 Hit Count: 1,508 ePub Downloads: 22
Published: April 07, 2023 Updated: March 02, 2025


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Story Notes:

This story was written for the April 2023 Challenge Event at Elysian Fields, for responses to Challenges previously posted on the site.

It’s also part of my “What-If Books” Series, answering Willow’s question: “What if Cordelia had Wished for Something Other than ‘Buffy never came to Sunnydale’?”

I put Queer Themes as a genre, and they're definitely here, but I should warn y'all, there's also Homophobia. It's not particularly violent as of now, but it may get there, FYI.
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

1. Chapter 1 by Willow25 - Likes: 17 Comments: 10 Word Count: 4,426 Hit Count: 972 Published: April 07, 2023

This chapter is mostly focused on Cordelia, since it starts from her wish and defines the new world she's created.

Edit: I realized long after I originally posted this that I'd rearranged the canon timeline, so that The Wish takes place in February instead of December. As you're reading this, just imagine that Christmas and Buffy's 18th birthday are in the past.

2. Chapter 2 by Willow25 - Likes: 14 Comments: 9 Word Count: 5,469 Hit Count: 228 Published: January 16, 2025

When I wrote the first chapter of this story (lo, these many months ago...) I envisioned more of a 'meet the new Scoobies' vibe for this chapter. Then I got stuck for a long time on what else there was to tell and who should be telling it. I left the little bit of that I did in here, but eventually I realized the story I was most interested in telling was Cordelia seeing herself in kind of a funhouse mirror of different experiences, and how the various Scoobies interact with their fish out of water friend. So, that's where I went with it, and the words started flowing again, and I've actually got the next chapter started.

3. Chapter 3 by Willow25 - Likes: 14 Comments: 7 Word Count: 6,339 Hit Count: 173 Published: February 08, 2025

Unbelievably, I managed to finish another chapter of this story. Thanks to everyone on the Discord server who's been cheerleading me through this, for some reason this story has been rough going despite how much I love the concept.

4. Chapter 4 by Willow25 - Likes: 9 Comments: 4 Word Count: 6,529 Hit Count: 135 Published: March 02, 2025

One more chapter after this one. We'll see if I can get it done in March. Fingers crossed!

Thanks so much to everyone who's gone on this journey with me, I hope you enjoy this one.