Top 5 Epics

[dragonyphoenix]

the really long ones ...

1. Of Old Mystics: It's not a secret that Giles / Ethan is one of my favorite pairings in the 'verse. When Giles, now head of the Council, rescues Ethan from the Initiative, they learn they have a destiny. Prophecies, not only for Slayers, ya know? The two men have to learn to trust each other. Giles has to learn to trust his magic. Ethan has to learn to reconnect with a more natural form of Chaos. Ooh, and they get Slayers who are two delightful girls. It's just awesome.
2. Tarnished: Trekker's one of those amazing authors who'd been gone from the fandom before I discovered it, but happily the stories remain. Than you Wayback Machine! After Buffy's death, Giles is stuck in some dead-end Council job, and then Ethan shows up, sort of like a cat really. And Ethan gets pulled into the fight against the First.
3. Dr. Squidlove's New York: Divorced Dad Xander is so realistic.And the poor guy can't really explain to his wife why he refuses to let his girls take the subway anywhere. That's so great because obviously he'd be "No, that's way too dangerous" but it's New York. Everyone takes the subway! It's awesome that Giles has been trapped in some demon dimension all those years and nobody noticed. Giles sticks around in New York for Xander who is completely oblivious. There are rat demons and feelings and it's just an excellent story.
4. Sands of Time: In season 1, Giles realizes how truly awful Xander's parents are. So he adopts Xander and so much changes from there. Seeing Xander acting like an excited kid cause he gets to go to a bookstore; Eeee! Oh, and grandma Giles. I love her. But there's still trauma for the poor boy to deal with. This one has a twist ending that is ... *jaw drop*.
5. And last by definitely not least Indri's In the Morning of the Magicians: First of all ... *does happy dance*. I had no idea this was up on AO3 now. This is my head-canon for Ripper's and Ethan's backstory. There is no way anyone will convince me it happened differently. It's full of incredible and realistic characters, so much so that if Indri wasn't part of that electric koolaid acid groove scene in London, I'll eat my hat. As I've been working on this list, for each story I've been thinking that I need to go back and reread it. This one I'll be reading first.

Comments

[thenewbuzwuzz]

That's good to know that In the Morning of the Magicians is on AO3! I've been meaning to read it. And heh, I see I've marked Sands of Time "for later" before... maybe this will be the year! :D

[dragonyphoenix]

*laughs* They do both require quite the time commitment!

[yourlibrarian]

Seconding the excitement at having indri's work over on AO3! Clearly it was added this year so I hope it finds a new readership.

[dragonyphoenix]

That is my hope as well.

[yourlibrarian]

One thing I meant to add was that New York has such a great banner. Usually they just have the title and images but this one's like an actual book cover or movie poster.

[dragonyphoenix]

Yeah, it is an excellent banner. I wish I'd thought to mention it! ;-)

[petzipellepingo]

Those are some of the best writers, excellent choices. Thanks for posting.

[dragonyphoenix]

Thank you

[double_dutchess]

I love Giles/Ethan too! But I'm sad to say I'm probably not going to have time to read any of these, no matter how good they sound :-(