My Spuffy Long-Fic Recs (Part 1)
Some caveats to make sure you're on the same page as me:
1. Fantasy (aka human-only) AUs rub me the wrong way. Changing character identities and transplanting them into whole new worlds do not Buffy-and-Spike make, regardless of how good the writing is.
2. I'm a sucker for universal good characterisation, and that means every character. Character assassination is a turn-off for me.
3. I believe that great love emerges from growing up, fucking up and going through long soul-searching (yes, I actually like S6). Which explains why most of these recs are Post-S4.
4. I like a little monster in my stories. That means dark bits, bits where Buffy/Spike make bad choices, go out with some other, even character deaths, but still! ...still find their way home to each other.
5. I have a soft spot for sagas and lots of canonical characters. I don't subscribe to the philosophy that when two people fall in love, the rest of the world disappears, and an epic stage as backdrop for a romance? Irresistable.
6. Chronic bad grammar and spelling? Bye-bye. And most importantly...
7. See? It says up there My Spuffy Long-Fic Recs. Which means what's written below is my personal opinion, and no one else's. You are welcome to take what I say with a pinch of salt, even disagree, but I take the trouble to write these recs because I feel every author and story here strikes a chord in me, despite what I consider as flaws and turn-offs.
Stories are categorised by authors and do not follow a particular order. I don't believe in half-baked reviews that try to tread lightly on your toes for fear of spoilers and end up saying nothing about why you should go read the stuff. There are spoilers in here, but hopefully, just enough to entice you to discover these wonderful fics.
WARNING: MOST OF THE FICS RECCED HERE ARE RATED NC-17. PLEASE PRACTISE SOME SENSE OF DISCRETION IF YOU ARE UNDER-AGE (I.E. DON'T READ!)
1. BARB C.
Title:
A Raising in the Sun
Necessary Evils
A Parliament of Monsters (WIP)
(+ assorted short-fics)
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-S5 “The Gift”
Location: http://www.sleepingjaguars.com/buffy/bufindex.htm
A Raising in the Sun, followed by Necessary Evils and A Parliament of Monsters (WIP) is Barb’s refreshing and more light-hearted take on events following Buffy’s resurrection and beyond. In short, it is her response to the disastrous direction that ME writers took after S5. As Barb says herself: she has no idea what kind of emotional growth ME wanted Buffy to undergo in S6. Barb’s works are telephone-book-size novels, bloody good reads with a credible plot that has tendrils into all corners of buffyverse. The result? A mature spuffy relationship that learns to deal with the rest of the world which is in turn, enriched by their unorthodox bond. Barb’s portrayal of Buffy is one of the best I have seen. She's a mature adult, but retains her sense of humour, right down to the quips. And she is very likeable (which is a rare thing in the general atmosphere of buffy-bashing nowadays). Barb's Spike ups the love’s bitch ante by giving his soul to resurrect Buffy and spends the rest of the series proving that he can redeem himself even without the soul. However, Barb makes no concessions that it is a easy process and Spike stumbles quite a bit. This also means that if you miss S2’s rambunctious Spike with his fangs intact, Barb’s writing is the thing for you.
What can you expect:
1. a mature spuffy relationship
2. likeable!Buffy
3. fleshy plot to sink your teeth into
4. full-technicolour Spike of the yore (all parts, good and bad, can’t expect less, can we?)
2. MARY
Title:
Journeys
Journeys: Awakening
Journeys: Revelations (incomplete)
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post S5, “The Gift”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/auth.html?au=149
Another rewrite of events in S6 and beyond, Mary’s Journeys series is characterised by Spike-centric character development. It is angst-filled, overblown at times with histrionics, but the result is a touching portrayal of Spike’s redemption and his growing friendship with Dawn. The core of the trilogy, Journeys: Awakening is the segment which really shines, weaving a beautiful story of two people falling in love. Mary's writing does not offer much in terms of a plot but boy, she does play the emotional harp like a pro. Although I must admit I’m a bit tired of Buffy’s “stake first, ask later” mentality when she ends up driving Spike away with her paranoia. It's a common theme in spuffy fics where she has to right the wrong to get him back that I can personally do less with. Journeys: Revelations promises to address that issue, but unfortunately, Mary has stopped writing. She has posted draft chapters, but left us in the dark over the real thing. Which is a loss, considering the plot has been hinting at a mysterious connection between Buffy and Spike from Day 1.
What can you expect:
1. Spike, Spike and more Spike!
2. it’s a beautiful love story
3. lots of angsty, emotional stuffing
3. KINDRED
Title:
No Vacancy
Open All Night
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: S3, episodic rewrite of “Anne”, AU for S3
Location: http://www.nocturnal-light.net/archive/authors.php?kindred
Kindred’s forte is smut, but that’s not all she is good at. She shines at interweaving character and emotional development in pages of smut, and the final result is both electrifying and heartrending to read. No Vacancy begins after Buffy sends Angel to hell and runs away to waiter in an anonymous town. She has despaired, hurt beyond anything she has ever felt, but now she has gone beyond despair and hurt - she is rapidly sinking into spiritual oblivion. Spike’s entrance and her almost-mechanical surrender to him leads to a one-night stand between them. For Buffy, it begins as a self-induced rite of punishment which lead to a mind-blowing experience for her budding sexuality, and eventually her means of salvation. For Spike, it opens his eyes to the girl behind the Slayer, and hints at the woman she will become, a woman he can devote his life to. Open All Night is the sequel where Spike goes to Buffy in Sunnydale and they end up confronting Angel, newly-returned from hell. In the end, Buffy is forced to grow up the hard way, ditch her rose-tinted glasses of first loves and a normal life.
What can you expect:
1. great smut
2. incredible portrayal of Buffy’s character growth
Title: Detour
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Future AU
Location: http://www.nocturnal-light.net/stories/d/detour.html
Detour is Kindred’s serious post-canon offering. Drusilla returns to take revenge on Spike by erasing all his memories from and beyond the moment he arrives at Sunnydale in S2. Permanently. She leaves him a raving monster that a heartbroken Buffy has to lock up. Thus begins Buffy’s painful journey of re-creating from scratch Spike’s memories of loving her and his role as a champion who has redeemed himself. No short-cuts, no magic, no miracles. The only tools Buffy have is the knowledge that blood calls to blood, that bodies retain visceral memories, and most importantly, that Spike is still Spike, regardless of how much he has changed, or hasn’t changed.
What can you expect:
1. more great smut
2. character study of Spike
Title: Furlough
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-AtS “Not Fade Away”
Location: http://www.nocturnal-light.net/stories/f/furlough.html
In case you didn’t know, Kindred is one helluva comic writer as well. Her tricky Buffy 1st-person POV in the first chapter is a scream to read. Furlough is a long holidayish piece that takes place after Spike survives the final battle in “Not Fade Away” and finally meets up with Buffy. The fic centres around the notion of Spike, Buffy and Dawn as a family, along with Giles to a certain extent. The dialogue is sharp, hilarious and utterly true to the characters, recalling the snappy repartee of the earlier seasons. This is one fic that I go to sleep with when I think of “happily ever after” for Buffy and Spike if there is such a thing for them.
What can you expect:
1. kinky roleplay and hilarity all round
2. great sisterly dynamics between Buffy & Dawn
3. general feeling of goodness and lassitude
4. ANNIE SEWELL-JENNINGS
Title: The Ballad of Randy and Joan
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: S6 Post-“Wreaked”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/fic.html?id=124
There’s an indescribably quality to Annie’s writing. It’s both symbolic and poetic, a lush exercise in words that leaves you swimming in images. Combine that with the panache of a skilled story-teller and the result is euphoria. What brands Annie’s stories indelible into my mind is also the fact that she take no prisoners. Character death, sickness, insanity, and oblivion are executed with a thoughtfulness that say something beyond the borders of her stories. Don’t let the title trick you. Set in a surrealistic world-gone-wrong, The Ballad of Randy and Joan is the most tragic and heartrending fic I’ve read from any fandom. Buffy fails to save the world for the last time and witnesses her family and friends die for her mistake. Broken and exhausted beyond relief, she forces Willow to perform a mind-wipe on her. Then in her last act of thanksgiving, she gives herself to Spike, becoming his shattered lover and ward as they wander through the dystopic new world. But as years pass, the barriers in Buffy’s mind begin to break down, and she is inextricably drawn back to Sunnydale where the original players converge…
What can you expect:
1. I’ve never felt for Spike more than in this story
2. haunting images with the power to say more than words
3. sometimes, a good plunge into the deep end cleanses the soul, y’know what I mean?
Title: The Last Summer
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-S4 “Restless”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/fic.html?id=132
The Last Summer is Annie’s meta-textual exercise that explores the role of champions and their duty in relation to the clockwork monstrosity that is the real world. The world is enveloped in a radioactive haze as countries go to war with each other. The cloud spares none, heroes and villians alike, and human beings are about to be wiped off the face of the earth. It’s the last summer down under, where Buffy escapes to only to meet Spike - the last two survivors of Sunnydale. They embark on a wild and desperate relationship, a dance to the death that leaves them no time to contemplate the futility of all that they have fought for.
What can you expect:
1. I'll admit, this story left me in deep depression after I finished
2. death has an ugly face
3. once again with the haunting images
Title:
The Waiting Season
Waking the Dead (WIP)
Rating: R to NC-17
Timeline: Post-S6 “Grave”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/fic.html?id=60
The Waiting Season and Waking the Dead (WIP) are two of Annie’s more canonical long works. Set during the summer where Spike leaves Sunnydale for Africa, the story tells of S6’s events from Buffy’s retrospection. True to the darker tones of Annie’s writing, Buffy realises that despite, or more likely because of S6’s fuck-ups, she has fallen for soulless Spike, damnation be damned. But in an ironic twist, when the truth about Spike’s soul emerges, she has difficulties accepting him. Once again, Annie's skilful depiction of the characters' emotional development manages to rationalise an otherwise far-fetched approach to the relationship.
What can you expect:
1. a twist to the buffy-can’t-love-soulless-spike route
2. character lows and highs as you have never seen
3. there is an ongoing story plot
Title: Nineteen Hours
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-S7 “Chosen”
Location: http://anniesj.net/fanfic/nineteen/index.htm
In contrast to Annie’s usual fest of depressing long-fics, Nineteen Hours is a quiet intimation, a struggling, new dialogue between two people who used to know each other. As the title suggests, the story comes in nineteen parts, each part covering an hour after the apocalyptic battle at the Hellmouth. Spike is now human, having shanshued and Buffy is no longer the Chosen One. Like a still-life study of inhabitants in motel rooms, the story explores what the future holds in store for both of them, individually and together. Nineteen Hours is one of those rare fics which convinces me in the aftermath of S6-7 that Buffy truly loves Spike. The result is a story that reads like quiet but hopeful prayer.
What can you expect:
1. Buffy finally sees Spike in his entirety
5. COUSINJEAN
Title: The Butterfly Effect
Rating: R
Timeline: Post-S7 “Chosen”
Location: http://www.adultfanfiction.net/aff/story.php?no=544197133
Reading Cousinjean is a bit like reading Hemmingway. The style is spare, and not a single word is wasted. Despite that, her writing packs a punch because it invites readers to read between the lines and figure out for themselves the emotional resonances. At first glance, the Butterfly Effect seems to be one out of many “what-if”, time-travel stories, but Cousinjean's execution renders the piece into a real gem. Set five months after "Chosen", Buffy returns to S2's Sunnydale on a mission. There, she meets Spike again and has to convince him to help her. Revisiting the past gives Buffy a chance to see Spike as he is, sans soul, chip or the burden of loving her. And Buffy is finally struck by an epiphany... The Butterfly Effect is a classic. Tight and compact, it’s an easy read with a polished emotional and strutural resolution few other stories can boast of. In case you are wondering about that one niggling plotline at the end, Cousinjean did embark on a sequel titled "Ripples", but it's not likely to be completed.
What can you expect:
1. lean 'n mean story-telling
2. a perfect emotional resolution
Title: Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground
Rating: R
Timeline: Post-AtS "Not Fade Away"
Location: http://www.adultfanfiction.net/aff/story.php?no=544197125
Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground take place after AtS S5 with the premise that Spike has shanshued, and that he and Buffy are happily together. Then an apocalyptic battle drags Buffy into hell and Spike must rescue her. Unfortunately, the person he emerges with is no longer human but a soulless vampire. Buffy sires him, returning him to the darkness and the duo wreak their way across the country. Gradually, Spike rises above the bloodlust to become the pre-souled Spike we know and tries to make amends. Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground paints an uncompromising picture of Buffy as a demon who turns Connor and almost succeeds in sacrificing Dawn. But Spike is no selfless champion either. His shaky moral compass eventually brings Buffy home but also highlights how flawed both characters are. Yet despite that, they don't stop striving to rise above those flaws and become more than the sum of two parts.
What can you expect:
1. intriguing and fast-moving plot
2. the story does not pander to niceties
Part Two can be found here.
1. Fantasy (aka human-only) AUs rub me the wrong way. Changing character identities and transplanting them into whole new worlds do not Buffy-and-Spike make, regardless of how good the writing is.
2. I'm a sucker for universal good characterisation, and that means every character. Character assassination is a turn-off for me.
3. I believe that great love emerges from growing up, fucking up and going through long soul-searching (yes, I actually like S6). Which explains why most of these recs are Post-S4.
4. I like a little monster in my stories. That means dark bits, bits where Buffy/Spike make bad choices, go out with some other, even character deaths, but still! ...still find their way home to each other.
5. I have a soft spot for sagas and lots of canonical characters. I don't subscribe to the philosophy that when two people fall in love, the rest of the world disappears, and an epic stage as backdrop for a romance? Irresistable.
6. Chronic bad grammar and spelling? Bye-bye. And most importantly...
7. See? It says up there My Spuffy Long-Fic Recs. Which means what's written below is my personal opinion, and no one else's. You are welcome to take what I say with a pinch of salt, even disagree, but I take the trouble to write these recs because I feel every author and story here strikes a chord in me, despite what I consider as flaws and turn-offs.
Stories are categorised by authors and do not follow a particular order. I don't believe in half-baked reviews that try to tread lightly on your toes for fear of spoilers and end up saying nothing about why you should go read the stuff. There are spoilers in here, but hopefully, just enough to entice you to discover these wonderful fics.
WARNING: MOST OF THE FICS RECCED HERE ARE RATED NC-17. PLEASE PRACTISE SOME SENSE OF DISCRETION IF YOU ARE UNDER-AGE (I.E. DON'T READ!)
1. BARB C.
Title:
A Raising in the Sun
Necessary Evils
A Parliament of Monsters (WIP)
(+ assorted short-fics)
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-S5 “The Gift”
Location: http://www.sleepingjaguars.com/buffy/bufindex.htm
A Raising in the Sun, followed by Necessary Evils and A Parliament of Monsters (WIP) is Barb’s refreshing and more light-hearted take on events following Buffy’s resurrection and beyond. In short, it is her response to the disastrous direction that ME writers took after S5. As Barb says herself: she has no idea what kind of emotional growth ME wanted Buffy to undergo in S6. Barb’s works are telephone-book-size novels, bloody good reads with a credible plot that has tendrils into all corners of buffyverse. The result? A mature spuffy relationship that learns to deal with the rest of the world which is in turn, enriched by their unorthodox bond. Barb’s portrayal of Buffy is one of the best I have seen. She's a mature adult, but retains her sense of humour, right down to the quips. And she is very likeable (which is a rare thing in the general atmosphere of buffy-bashing nowadays). Barb's Spike ups the love’s bitch ante by giving his soul to resurrect Buffy and spends the rest of the series proving that he can redeem himself even without the soul. However, Barb makes no concessions that it is a easy process and Spike stumbles quite a bit. This also means that if you miss S2’s rambunctious Spike with his fangs intact, Barb’s writing is the thing for you.
What can you expect:
1. a mature spuffy relationship
2. likeable!Buffy
3. fleshy plot to sink your teeth into
4. full-technicolour Spike of the yore (all parts, good and bad, can’t expect less, can we?)
2. MARY
Title:
Journeys
Journeys: Awakening
Journeys: Revelations (incomplete)
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post S5, “The Gift”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/auth.html?au=149
Another rewrite of events in S6 and beyond, Mary’s Journeys series is characterised by Spike-centric character development. It is angst-filled, overblown at times with histrionics, but the result is a touching portrayal of Spike’s redemption and his growing friendship with Dawn. The core of the trilogy, Journeys: Awakening is the segment which really shines, weaving a beautiful story of two people falling in love. Mary's writing does not offer much in terms of a plot but boy, she does play the emotional harp like a pro. Although I must admit I’m a bit tired of Buffy’s “stake first, ask later” mentality when she ends up driving Spike away with her paranoia. It's a common theme in spuffy fics where she has to right the wrong to get him back that I can personally do less with. Journeys: Revelations promises to address that issue, but unfortunately, Mary has stopped writing. She has posted draft chapters, but left us in the dark over the real thing. Which is a loss, considering the plot has been hinting at a mysterious connection between Buffy and Spike from Day 1.
What can you expect:
1. Spike, Spike and more Spike!
2. it’s a beautiful love story
3. lots of angsty, emotional stuffing
3. KINDRED
Title:
No Vacancy
Open All Night
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: S3, episodic rewrite of “Anne”, AU for S3
Location: http://www.nocturnal-light.net/archive/authors.php?kindred
Kindred’s forte is smut, but that’s not all she is good at. She shines at interweaving character and emotional development in pages of smut, and the final result is both electrifying and heartrending to read. No Vacancy begins after Buffy sends Angel to hell and runs away to waiter in an anonymous town. She has despaired, hurt beyond anything she has ever felt, but now she has gone beyond despair and hurt - she is rapidly sinking into spiritual oblivion. Spike’s entrance and her almost-mechanical surrender to him leads to a one-night stand between them. For Buffy, it begins as a self-induced rite of punishment which lead to a mind-blowing experience for her budding sexuality, and eventually her means of salvation. For Spike, it opens his eyes to the girl behind the Slayer, and hints at the woman she will become, a woman he can devote his life to. Open All Night is the sequel where Spike goes to Buffy in Sunnydale and they end up confronting Angel, newly-returned from hell. In the end, Buffy is forced to grow up the hard way, ditch her rose-tinted glasses of first loves and a normal life.
What can you expect:
1. great smut
2. incredible portrayal of Buffy’s character growth
Title: Detour
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Future AU
Location: http://www.nocturnal-light.net/stories/d/detour.html
Detour is Kindred’s serious post-canon offering. Drusilla returns to take revenge on Spike by erasing all his memories from and beyond the moment he arrives at Sunnydale in S2. Permanently. She leaves him a raving monster that a heartbroken Buffy has to lock up. Thus begins Buffy’s painful journey of re-creating from scratch Spike’s memories of loving her and his role as a champion who has redeemed himself. No short-cuts, no magic, no miracles. The only tools Buffy have is the knowledge that blood calls to blood, that bodies retain visceral memories, and most importantly, that Spike is still Spike, regardless of how much he has changed, or hasn’t changed.
What can you expect:
1. more great smut
2. character study of Spike
Title: Furlough
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-AtS “Not Fade Away”
Location: http://www.nocturnal-light.net/stories/f/furlough.html
In case you didn’t know, Kindred is one helluva comic writer as well. Her tricky Buffy 1st-person POV in the first chapter is a scream to read. Furlough is a long holidayish piece that takes place after Spike survives the final battle in “Not Fade Away” and finally meets up with Buffy. The fic centres around the notion of Spike, Buffy and Dawn as a family, along with Giles to a certain extent. The dialogue is sharp, hilarious and utterly true to the characters, recalling the snappy repartee of the earlier seasons. This is one fic that I go to sleep with when I think of “happily ever after” for Buffy and Spike if there is such a thing for them.
What can you expect:
1. kinky roleplay and hilarity all round
2. great sisterly dynamics between Buffy & Dawn
3. general feeling of goodness and lassitude
4. ANNIE SEWELL-JENNINGS
Title: The Ballad of Randy and Joan
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: S6 Post-“Wreaked”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/fic.html?id=124
There’s an indescribably quality to Annie’s writing. It’s both symbolic and poetic, a lush exercise in words that leaves you swimming in images. Combine that with the panache of a skilled story-teller and the result is euphoria. What brands Annie’s stories indelible into my mind is also the fact that she take no prisoners. Character death, sickness, insanity, and oblivion are executed with a thoughtfulness that say something beyond the borders of her stories. Don’t let the title trick you. Set in a surrealistic world-gone-wrong, The Ballad of Randy and Joan is the most tragic and heartrending fic I’ve read from any fandom. Buffy fails to save the world for the last time and witnesses her family and friends die for her mistake. Broken and exhausted beyond relief, she forces Willow to perform a mind-wipe on her. Then in her last act of thanksgiving, she gives herself to Spike, becoming his shattered lover and ward as they wander through the dystopic new world. But as years pass, the barriers in Buffy’s mind begin to break down, and she is inextricably drawn back to Sunnydale where the original players converge…
What can you expect:
1. I’ve never felt for Spike more than in this story
2. haunting images with the power to say more than words
3. sometimes, a good plunge into the deep end cleanses the soul, y’know what I mean?
Title: The Last Summer
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-S4 “Restless”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/fic.html?id=132
The Last Summer is Annie’s meta-textual exercise that explores the role of champions and their duty in relation to the clockwork monstrosity that is the real world. The world is enveloped in a radioactive haze as countries go to war with each other. The cloud spares none, heroes and villians alike, and human beings are about to be wiped off the face of the earth. It’s the last summer down under, where Buffy escapes to only to meet Spike - the last two survivors of Sunnydale. They embark on a wild and desperate relationship, a dance to the death that leaves them no time to contemplate the futility of all that they have fought for.
What can you expect:
1. I'll admit, this story left me in deep depression after I finished
2. death has an ugly face
3. once again with the haunting images
Title:
The Waiting Season
Waking the Dead (WIP)
Rating: R to NC-17
Timeline: Post-S6 “Grave”
Location: http://www.allaboutspike.com/fic.html?id=60
The Waiting Season and Waking the Dead (WIP) are two of Annie’s more canonical long works. Set during the summer where Spike leaves Sunnydale for Africa, the story tells of S6’s events from Buffy’s retrospection. True to the darker tones of Annie’s writing, Buffy realises that despite, or more likely because of S6’s fuck-ups, she has fallen for soulless Spike, damnation be damned. But in an ironic twist, when the truth about Spike’s soul emerges, she has difficulties accepting him. Once again, Annie's skilful depiction of the characters' emotional development manages to rationalise an otherwise far-fetched approach to the relationship.
What can you expect:
1. a twist to the buffy-can’t-love-soulless-spike route
2. character lows and highs as you have never seen
3. there is an ongoing story plot
Title: Nineteen Hours
Rating: NC-17
Timeline: Post-S7 “Chosen”
Location: http://anniesj.net/fanfic/nineteen/index.htm
In contrast to Annie’s usual fest of depressing long-fics, Nineteen Hours is a quiet intimation, a struggling, new dialogue between two people who used to know each other. As the title suggests, the story comes in nineteen parts, each part covering an hour after the apocalyptic battle at the Hellmouth. Spike is now human, having shanshued and Buffy is no longer the Chosen One. Like a still-life study of inhabitants in motel rooms, the story explores what the future holds in store for both of them, individually and together. Nineteen Hours is one of those rare fics which convinces me in the aftermath of S6-7 that Buffy truly loves Spike. The result is a story that reads like quiet but hopeful prayer.
What can you expect:
1. Buffy finally sees Spike in his entirety
5. COUSINJEAN
Title: The Butterfly Effect
Rating: R
Timeline: Post-S7 “Chosen”
Location: http://www.adultfanfiction.net/aff/story.php?no=544197133
Reading Cousinjean is a bit like reading Hemmingway. The style is spare, and not a single word is wasted. Despite that, her writing packs a punch because it invites readers to read between the lines and figure out for themselves the emotional resonances. At first glance, the Butterfly Effect seems to be one out of many “what-if”, time-travel stories, but Cousinjean's execution renders the piece into a real gem. Set five months after "Chosen", Buffy returns to S2's Sunnydale on a mission. There, she meets Spike again and has to convince him to help her. Revisiting the past gives Buffy a chance to see Spike as he is, sans soul, chip or the burden of loving her. And Buffy is finally struck by an epiphany... The Butterfly Effect is a classic. Tight and compact, it’s an easy read with a polished emotional and strutural resolution few other stories can boast of. In case you are wondering about that one niggling plotline at the end, Cousinjean did embark on a sequel titled "Ripples", but it's not likely to be completed.
What can you expect:
1. lean 'n mean story-telling
2. a perfect emotional resolution
Title: Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground
Rating: R
Timeline: Post-AtS "Not Fade Away"
Location: http://www.adultfanfiction.net/aff/story.php?no=544197125
Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground take place after AtS S5 with the premise that Spike has shanshued, and that he and Buffy are happily together. Then an apocalyptic battle drags Buffy into hell and Spike must rescue her. Unfortunately, the person he emerges with is no longer human but a soulless vampire. Buffy sires him, returning him to the darkness and the duo wreak their way across the country. Gradually, Spike rises above the bloodlust to become the pre-souled Spike we know and tries to make amends. Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground paints an uncompromising picture of Buffy as a demon who turns Connor and almost succeeds in sacrificing Dawn. But Spike is no selfless champion either. His shaky moral compass eventually brings Buffy home but also highlights how flawed both characters are. Yet despite that, they don't stop striving to rise above those flaws and become more than the sum of two parts.
What can you expect:
1. intriguing and fast-moving plot
2. the story does not pander to niceties
Part Two can be found here.