Summary: Written for the April Challenge Event - Response to the Tarot Cards challenge and Christmas Carol challenge.
After Buffy stands up for Tara when her family tries to take her away, Tara shows her gratitude by offering Buffy a reading from a special Tarot deck she has had in her family for generations. Buffy chooses to focus on relationships, and Tara proposes a series of three-card (Past, Present, Future) readings over the course of three days, to evaluate three separate possible relationships.  After each reading, Buffy meditates on the cards, and learns additional information, as she tries to see whether or not her relationship with Riley will succeed, or if there is a chance with Angel.  She has no idea who she will consider for the third reading, but there's an annoying vampire who keeps insulting her and standing out under her tree every night...  A mix of Tarot and A Christmas Carol leading to an unexpectedly happy new relationship.
Complete at 5 chapters.

Categories: Season 5, Crossover (AtS), Challenge Response
Characters: Buffy, Spike, Giles, Angel, Darla, Drusilla, Ensemble, Glory, Harmony, Lloyd, Riley Finn, Samantha (Sam) Finn, Tara, William
Genres: Fix-It, HEA/HFN, Romance
Warnings: Adult Language, Attempted Rape, Buffy/Other (Temp), Sexual Situations, Torture (Physical)
Challenges: Tarot Cards (Author's Choice of Name) , christmas carol, but for love instead (author choice)
Completed: Yes Chapters: 5 Table of Contents
Word count: 32,430 Hit Count: 5,315 ePub Downloads: 95
Published: April 09, 2023 Updated: June 25, 2023

Summary: SPIKE: Willow knew there was a chance that she'd come back wrong. So wrong that you'd have ... that she would have to get rid of what came back. And I wouldn't let her. If any part of that was Buffy, I wouldn't let her. And that's why she shut me out.
 
After Buffy jumps to her death in The Gift, she is in a hell dimension where she has to fight every day, but every day she loses. The fights are intolerable. Sometimes, she has to claw her way out of a coffin. Sometimes, she has to fight demons who look like people she once loved.
 
So, when she is newly resurrected and has to dig her way out of her grave, she thinks she is still in hell. And when Spike can hit her without his chip firing, she knows it's not the real Spike. They just want her to think that -- just like they let her think she might best any of the opponents she's faced. But she always loses, and this can't be real.
 
Meanwhile, Spike doesn't know why his chip isn't working, but he knows he has to protect Buffy: from demons, yes, but mostly from herself and from her so-called friends. She might attack them; they might try to send her back. He won't let them.
 
A reworking of Season 6 with many of the same characters and conflicts from canon interspersed with a new larger plot arc involving a Demon underground bent on punishing Spike for turning against them to work with the White Hats. A Season 6 with a Buffy straight out of hell desperate to cling to her own sense of reality. Better the hell she knows than the hell she'd experience if everything was taken away... again.

Categories: Season 6, Alternate Reality, Taboo - Adults Only
Characters: Buffy, Spike, Willow, Amy Madison, Anya, Clem, Dawn, Original Characters, Rack, Tara
Genres: Angst, Dark, Fighting, HEA/HFN, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Resurrection, Slow-Burn
Warnings: Abuse, Adult Language, Character Death, Depictions of Bigotry, Mental Health Issues, Sexual Situations, Torture (Emotional/Psychological), Torture (Physical), Vampire!Buffy, Violence
Completed: No Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 2,304 Hit Count: 166 ePub Downloads: 4
Published: October 16, 2023 Updated: October 16, 2023