Hi!
I realize that this may be a longshot, but I've been watching some of the older series episodes and couldn't help thinking that trouble was brewing in the Scoobyville even before the infamous ressurection, so I was wondering whether you know some stories that go AU in Gift - Buffy doesn't die (or actually it can be before, they find a way to beat Glory some other way), but things are far from roses and puppies afterwards..

It can be anything - Scoobies hating Spike and/or his relationship with Buffy, Willow has trouble with magic or any kind of trouble on the Spuffy front.. but those aren't really criteria, feel free to shoot anything my way, I'm sure others will appreciate it too

Somniloquy by Gwyneth Rhys


Summary:

What if Spike had actually saved Dawn, and thus saved Buffy, in The Gift? Does being a reluctant hero change your status with the people who are reluctant to admit your heroics? And would Buffy know it if the ending of her story was supposed to be different? Short novel/long novella length.

I'm a big fan of Spiegel im Spiegel and it's two sequels. They assume that the Scoobies failed and the dimensions bled into each other with devastating results. They are very beautifully written, focusing on Buffy and Spike as they each experience the following years in that reality.

Spiegel Im Spiegel By Fallowdoe

http://www.teaattheford.net/conversation.php?id=560

Summary: Novel, complete. Part One of the trilogy. Seven years have passed since The Gift went wrong. And those who remain are lost in a post-apocalyptic landscape, after the end of the world.


The Protecting Veil

http://www.teaattheford.net/conversation.php?id=336

Novel, complete. Midpoint in the trilogy. Spike and Buffy, the notebook and the Key, in a post-apocalyptic world. Fourteen years have passed since the world ended.


Near to Me by Fallowdoe

http://www.teaattheford.net/conversation.php?id=2375

Novel, in progress. Last in the trilogy. Twenty-one years have now passed since the AU ending of The Gift. By now this is very much an ensemble piece. And Buffy has won the axe.

Learning the Dance by Dreamweaver.

Let's pretend that 'Crush' never happened, Buffy does not know that Spike is in love with her, and Spike killed Doc on the tower so that Buffy never had to jump. Much as I'd love to own Spike (as who doesn't) you know the drill. Joss, ME and Fox own everything. I'm just playing in their sandbox

Ooooh and not quite but also Et Lux In Tenebris Lucet by EnigmaticBlue

Spoilers for "The Gift" and S6. Spike manages to save Dawn, but pays a terribly high price. Will he be able to find meaning in his suffering?

(First chapter always makes me weepy... the "get me to the crypt" stuff)