Categories: Season 5, Alternate Reality
Characters: Buffy, Spike, Giles, Willow, Tara
Genres: Dramedy
Warnings: Adult Language, Buffy/Other (Temp), Character Death, Vampire!Buffy, Violence
Challenges: (Authors Choice)
Event: Truce Challenge 2023
Completed: Yes Chapters: 8
Word count: 34,372 Hit Count: 5,868 ePub Downloads: 70
Published: October 16, 2023 Updated: August 22, 2024


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1. Chapter 1 by Willow25 - Likes: 30 Comments: 17 Word Count: 3,511 Hit Count: 1,717 Published: October 16, 2023

First, I have to thank the EF mods who are always so helpful with questions. Second, big hugs to ClowniestLivEver for beta reading Chapter 1 and telling me it was good enough to post. Any remaining mistakes remaining are mine alone. Third, the amazingly talented loveisntbrains_ made the bright shiny banner for this story! My very first banner! Please show everyone who helped with this story your love, they all deserve it!

2. Chapter 2 by Willow25 - Likes: 24 Comments: 11 Word Count: 3,083 Hit Count: 777 Published: October 31, 2023

I made it! I promised myself when I posted Chapter 1 that I'd try to post at least two chapters this month, so this won't languish forever. I'm very pleased that I managed to stick to that. This chapter un-betaed, because I just wanna get it posted. Possible edits later.

3. Chapter 3 by Willow25 - Likes: 24 Comments: 12 Word Count: 3,770 Hit Count: 776 Published: November 06, 2023

This chapter was betaed once again by the amazing ClowniestLivEver, who made sure I wasn't using the wrong word and that I trusted where I was going with this. That said, I changed a few things after they read it, so any mistakes are mine alone.

Edit: A few people have mentioned in comments that they're having trouble keeping track of which Buffy is which, so I'm adding a little cheat sheet.

Buffy "One" existed in this universe before anyone showed up, which was canon through the end of Forever.

"Two"'s Dawn is Giles and Joyce's daughter, conceived during Band Candy. The Summers-Giles family left Sunnydale after graduation for LA, where the whole family runs a business. She's dating Spike, and gave up her Slayer powers to be 'human' with him after he got the Shanshu. She lost a leg in battle, and has a prosthetic. Basically, Faith and Angel cover the Hellmouth, and Buffy, Giles, and Spike are AI.

Buffy "Three" had her Giles go evil after Angelus, which broke up the Scooby gang and led to her and Spike becoming a couple. Kendra wasn't killed by Drusilla, and survived through the battle with the mayor. By then Faith had aged out, and Rona was called next. Spike sacrificed himself to save their daughter Dawn, and Buffy left town. Three years after his death, she is now married to someone else and pregnant (No, I'm not telling you who yet).

"Four" was vamped by Kakistos, who also killed Giles and Faith. When she turned she kept her soul, so Kakistos put her under thrall. He kept her hypnotized for over a year and ran the Hellmouth until Spike and Drusilla rolled into town, killed Kakistos and found Buffy. They have become her mates, and helped her take care of Joyce (who got ill but didn't die) and Dawn (Buffy's sister, as in canon). They've saved the world a couple of times, and tangled with Dark Willow.

Buffy "Five" dated an Angel who never lost his soul, which kept Jenny Calendar alive. Jenny and Giles organized all the magic-using students at Sunnydale High into a coven. Kendra was targeted by Kakistos, which called Faith. Angel still left, Buffy dated Riley in college but not Parker, and she ended up with Spike in the equivalent of early Season 5. They defeated Glory with magic, extracting the key power from Buffy's sister Dawn. Her Joyce died around the same time as our Buffy's.

This Faith is the Faith mentioned in another story I wrote, 'Wonderful Unknown'.

4. Chapter 4 by Willow25 - Likes: 19 Comments: 11 Word Count: 3,544 Hit Count: 753 Published: November 29, 2023

Unfortunately I probably won't have another chapter of this until January, but I think there are only 2-3 left, so we're past the halfway point! Happy Holidays, since this is the last update in 2023!

Oh, I promised a West Wing reference in this chapter, but then I had to pare it down for continuity/flow, so chances are no one will recognize what's left at this point. If you happen to spot it, consider me impressed. Also, I managed to work in a character detail I gave to loveisntbrains when she made my banner, which I told her would probably never make it from my brain to the page, so...Enjoy that, also.

5. Chapter 5 by Willow25 - Likes: 22 Comments: 11 Word Count: 4,226 Hit Count: 622 Published: January 16, 2024

I am so, so sorry this chapter took me so long to write, I re-jiggered some stuff halfway through because I got an idea. We'll see how this works out, and if I can still wrap up in two chapters as planned.

Un-betaed because I'm just so excited to be done I wanted to get it posted.

6. Chapter 6 by Willow25 - Likes: 18 Comments: 12 Word Count: 5,806 Hit Count: 465 Published: March 23, 2024

Hey everyone! Sorry that this chapter is *checks watch* two months late, but life decided to kick my butt for a while. Fortunately, Chapter 7 is started, so perhaps it won't take so long to complete that one. Thanks so much to ClowniestLivEver for beta-ing! I did take a pass at the chapter again after them, so you can blame my fiddling for any errors.

Also, there's a fight scene with a decent amount of blood/gore in this chapter, so read cautiously if that bothers you.

7. Chapter 7 by Willow25 - Likes: 17 Comments: 8 Word Count: 4,654 Hit Count: 397 Published: July 02, 2024

Hey everybody! Long time no post... I'm sorry this took so long for me to get to, but the muse went on vacation for a while, then I did, too. We're both back now though. I've even started Chapter 8!

"Chapter 8?!" You say. "But, this was supposed to be the final chapter!" Yeah, I'm aware that I promised that. It just took me a little longer to get from point A (Buffy not trusting Spike and being angry with him) to point B (Spuffy endgame). I'll get there in Chapter 8, though, so that's a relief. In the meantime, here's Chapter 7! This chapter is unbetaed, so don't blame my beta if it's rough, they have enough to deal with without your attitude.

There's a very brief, not terribly graphic conversation about Spike's 'equipment' in this chapter. In case you want to skip it, it's when Four and Five are sitting at the research table. I thought it added some depth to the Spikes in the other dimensions, but it's not strictly necessary that you read it if it makes you uncomfortable to read that sort of stuff. You can just skip to when the basement door opens again.

8. Chapter 8 by Willow25 - Likes: 23 Comments: 8 Word Count: 5,778 Hit Count: 360 Published: August 22, 2024

Well, this is it; finally done! It's 8 chapters instead of the 6 I'd originally outlined, but that's mostly because I wanted to keep the word counts relatively similar, and some scenes got wordy.

Many thanks to Liv, who has been the biggest champion of this story! Without them I never would have posted it at all, let alone finished it. And thanks to Howl, who popped in to help for this chapter!

Please let me know how the ending works for you, I'm pretty pleased with it.