Top 5 Personal Favorites - Long Fic
Each of these fics will forever be standouts for me for their style, plot creativity, and impact. Athough the pairings differ, they each pack a powerful, angsty, emotional punch that will leave you breathless, hopeful, and anxious. In no particular order...
1. Of Infinite Space by redbrickrose
Rating: R
Setting: Post-NFA ignoring comics canon
Pairing: Angel/Buffy/Spike/Faith and every permutation thereof
Summary: In the chaos and uncertainty following NFA, both vampires and Slayers must break free of past hurts and habits if they ever hope to make a future for themselves... with or without each other.
Comments: When I first read this story I was enchanted by the style of the prose and the clever use of past, present and future parallels that redbrickrose was able to draw between the A/B/S/F dynamic and that of the Fanged Four. A beautiful, thoughtful read that believably explores the relationships and roadblocks that exist between the shows forefront heroes.
2. Detour by Kindred
Rating: NC-17
Setting: Post-Chosen
Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Summary: When all that went before is erased, Spike proves that memory and experience are not the measure of a man.
Comments: This is my favorite Spuffy fic ever because it explores that grey area of what makes us us. Without our memories, do we still remain intact? Or do we lose our sense of self? Kindred tackles this issue when Buffy must come face to face with the man she knows and the demon she first met.
3. Family Reunion by shapinglight
Rating: NC-17
Setting: Set five years after the events in Lullaby in AtS S3
Pairing: Spike/Darla, Spike/Angel Spike/OC
Summary: A dark AU story that asks us what might have happened if Darla hadn't had to die to give birth to Connor.
Comments: Deb manages to juggle with amazing skill a panopoly of canon and original characters in this thrilling AU that takes us into the heart of London and its subway system. Prophecy, good/evil and loyalties are completely thrown by the wayside as we get to follow a truly evil Spike in his role as Darla's chosen soldier and lover.
4. Friday by girlpire
Rating: NC-17
Setting: AtS S5
Pairing: Spike/Angel
Summary: When Spike finds himself and the employees of Wolfram & Hart caught in a time abberation, he must get to the bottom of the temporal loop and warn Angel before it's too late for them all.
Comments: Christ. I don't even know where to begin. I cried. Hard. A fic has never made me cry, but the emotional rollercoaster that girlpire takes her readers on through this mystery is intense, frightening, and full of plot twists that are unpredictable. I was never a huge Angel fan until I read her work and both she and this fic made me see what I had been missing out on.
5. This Wanton World by eurydice72
Rating: NC-17
Setting: Majorly AU. Throw canon out the window. This is something completely different!
Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Summary: Los Angeles, 2003. For the first time since she was Chosen, Buffy's back in town. She never planned to return, but someone else had a different idea. This time, she comes with a purpose, power, and an assassin hot on her heels. She just hopes that this time... she doesn't die.
Comments: What's fantastic about this story is the universe that Eurydice creates and the past that she weaves to bring us the hard-bitten, manipulated, and world-weary Buffy of this story. She's angry, she's been lied to and she has a mission that some rather unexpected allies aid her in. Plus, evil Spike whose got a soft spot for this battered Slayer. Fantastic premise and execution.
1. Of Infinite Space by redbrickrose
Rating: R
Setting: Post-NFA ignoring comics canon
Pairing: Angel/Buffy/Spike/Faith and every permutation thereof
Summary: In the chaos and uncertainty following NFA, both vampires and Slayers must break free of past hurts and habits if they ever hope to make a future for themselves... with or without each other.
Comments: When I first read this story I was enchanted by the style of the prose and the clever use of past, present and future parallels that redbrickrose was able to draw between the A/B/S/F dynamic and that of the Fanged Four. A beautiful, thoughtful read that believably explores the relationships and roadblocks that exist between the shows forefront heroes.
2. Detour by Kindred
Rating: NC-17
Setting: Post-Chosen
Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Summary: When all that went before is erased, Spike proves that memory and experience are not the measure of a man.
Comments: This is my favorite Spuffy fic ever because it explores that grey area of what makes us us. Without our memories, do we still remain intact? Or do we lose our sense of self? Kindred tackles this issue when Buffy must come face to face with the man she knows and the demon she first met.
3. Family Reunion by shapinglight
Rating: NC-17
Setting: Set five years after the events in Lullaby in AtS S3
Pairing: Spike/Darla, Spike/Angel Spike/OC
Summary: A dark AU story that asks us what might have happened if Darla hadn't had to die to give birth to Connor.
Comments: Deb manages to juggle with amazing skill a panopoly of canon and original characters in this thrilling AU that takes us into the heart of London and its subway system. Prophecy, good/evil and loyalties are completely thrown by the wayside as we get to follow a truly evil Spike in his role as Darla's chosen soldier and lover.
4. Friday by girlpire
Rating: NC-17
Setting: AtS S5
Pairing: Spike/Angel
Summary: When Spike finds himself and the employees of Wolfram & Hart caught in a time abberation, he must get to the bottom of the temporal loop and warn Angel before it's too late for them all.
Comments: Christ. I don't even know where to begin. I cried. Hard. A fic has never made me cry, but the emotional rollercoaster that girlpire takes her readers on through this mystery is intense, frightening, and full of plot twists that are unpredictable. I was never a huge Angel fan until I read her work and both she and this fic made me see what I had been missing out on.
5. This Wanton World by eurydice72
Rating: NC-17
Setting: Majorly AU. Throw canon out the window. This is something completely different!
Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Summary: Los Angeles, 2003. For the first time since she was Chosen, Buffy's back in town. She never planned to return, but someone else had a different idea. This time, she comes with a purpose, power, and an assassin hot on her heels. She just hopes that this time... she doesn't die.
Comments: What's fantastic about this story is the universe that Eurydice creates and the past that she weaves to bring us the hard-bitten, manipulated, and world-weary Buffy of this story. She's angry, she's been lied to and she has a mission that some rather unexpected allies aid her in. Plus, evil Spike whose got a soft spot for this battered Slayer. Fantastic premise and execution.