Fandoms Buffy Epic

Best Epic Buffy Fanfics

Buffy fanfics over 100,000 words — the reader-favorite epics that define the fandom. Curated from AO3 and ranked by kudos.

TV Shows 21 epic fics Avg 216,962 words over 100,000 words

Top 21 Epic Buffy Fanfics

Ranked by AO3 kudos. These are the Buffy epics readers come back to. Save them for offline reading.

1

Every Letter That You Write Me

by othellia

In a world where soulmates have the ability to write on each other's skin, Spike finds himself shackled to a five-year-old Buffy, who (for once) listens to her mother's advice about not handing out personal information. With no way of tracking the annoyance down, Spike is forced to endure a decade o

3,833 kudos 204,676 words 49/49 chapters Mature Complete
2

Fix You

by enigmaticblue

Desperate times call for desperate measures where the First is involved. In order to prevent the end of the world, Buffy asks Willow to do a spell that’s supposed to fix everything, and Spike goes along for the ride.

2,301 kudos 169,377 words 51/51 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
3

Strings

by aliceinwonderbra

Buffy stumbles into a student group and a sexual identity crisis. When she turns to Faith for advice, things spiral.Starts after 'The Freshman' in a modified Season 4 where Faith never swapped sides in S3 and has remained in Sunnydale.

2,156 kudos 100,967 words 17/17 chapters Explicit Complete
4

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

by sunalso

Starts post NFA in 2004 and loops back to 1997 and a very AU Season 2. Having fallen into a deep depression following the destruction of her entire world, Buffy attempts to take her own life. In a desperate measure to save her, she is sent into the past. Only she doesn't go back entirely alone. Fac

1,882 kudos 134,962 words 34/34 chapters Explicit Complete
5

Hunger

by sunalso

AU. Spike killed his third Slayer, but Dru was already dust. He's been lost, but when his supper turns out to be more than he bargained for, it leaves him hungry for something else instead. And Buffy? She's just hungry.Takes place in an alternate universe in which Buffy isn't the Slayer (yet), just

1,521 kudos 148,698 words 40/40 chapters Explicit Complete
6

shadow of the day

by sevensevan

Faith wakes up just three weeks after graduation. She skips town with a knife in her belt, a warrant out for her arrest, and an unshakeable feeling that someday, somehow, she'll find her way back to Buffy.

1,493 kudos 191,366 words 22/22 chapters Not Rated Complete
7

hit rewind

by untiljanuary

He isn’t sure what it is, but since coming back, Buffy seems so much more… mature. Wiser. He isn’t exactly certain why.  A time-traveling Buffy fic from everybody else’s point of view.

1,480 kudos 407,140 words 98/? chapters Explicit
8

Hypnopompia

by aliceinwonderbra

After a brief trip to an alternate dimension, courtesy of D'Hoffryn, Buffy's back home. She wants to make amends with Faith, but there's just the little problem of her coma getting in the way. Set in a modified Season 4.

1,381 kudos 126,409 words 23/23 chapters Explicit Complete
9

Wished Away Series

by CSmalley

From Tumblr: A collection of snippits based around a prompt where Danny gets sold the Souls of different characters and adopts them.Written out of order.

1,337 kudos 254,664 words 386/? chapters Teen And Up Audiences
10

To Live In The World

by IvorySteel92

2001. Buffy Summers is dead, and Faith is the only Slayer left in the world. After dreaming of Buffy's final words, Faith takes her advice to heart and returns to Sunnydale, to shake off her past and be the hero she wasn't before.Then everything gets harder when Buffy climbs out of her grave. Becaus

1,277 kudos 207,138 words 43/43 chapters Mature Complete
11

to hold off the lightning

by cinnamonfiglatte

There’s no burst of dust, the way Faith expects. Only blood at her hands and blood at the stranger’s lips and the chilling sound of a death rattle fighting its way from his lungs.Or: Faith kills Allan Finch. The Scoobies offer her the literal crumbs of support she needs in order to not give in to da

1,209 kudos 123,029 words 13/13 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
12

surrender your power

by paperwasp

Three and a half years after closing the Hellmouth, Faith is doing good. She’s living in Cleveland, taking care of her dog, and showing a new Slayer the ropes. There’s just one tiny problem. Buffy moved back in five months ago. And now the feelings she’s been (semi) successfully tamping down for yea

1,014 kudos 150,025 words 14/14 chapters Explicit Complete
13

Skipping the Stone

by sandy_s

Buffy finds out that Spike was dusted in the big battle with Wolfram and Hart. Angry, hurt, and determined, she finally agrees to take a daring risk with Dawn to go back in time and make sure Spike knows he’s loved even if it doesn’t change his fate. This is a story based on Javajunkie’s challenge,

872 kudos 207,373 words 66/66 chapters Mature Complete
14

New Worlds to See

by Scififan33

3rd in New World series. A look at the other lives Harry will live in order to get back to his Sam. Set after New World, Again but there shouldn't be any spoilers

822 kudos 105,177 words 20/20 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
15

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...

by zinjadu

... It's a duck. There's just a tiny bit of magic floating around after Willow ends the Will be Done spell, and it turns the resident captive vampire into a duckling. And he's so adorably angry about it. Question is now... who's going to take care of duckling!Spike? Oh, it's Buffy, of course. But Sp

557 kudos 120,844 words 30/30 chapters Explicit Complete
16

Alone Together

by AgentGrey

Season 3 rewrite. The only major change is that Buffy and Faith meet in LA at the start of the season. Some other tweaks along the way to fix things that irk me, but otherwise sticking to canon except for where the altered relationship between Buffy and Faith changes things. This will be part of

529 kudos 192,675 words 18/18 chapters Mature Complete
17

Otherwise

by TheSigyn

The Slayer Buffy Summers drowned at the hellmouth two years ago. The vampire Spike was dusted in Prague. So what are they both doing here?Written for the Elysian Fields 'Artistic Anniversary Challenge'. Banners and challenge by Javajunkie247

466 kudos 167,145 words 40/40 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
18

Bring Me to Death

by Alley_Cat

Circa Buffy S04E11, Angel S01E10, and goes AU from there. Buffy puts on a brave front as everyone around her abandoned her. Betrayed by her friends, she tries to figure out what The Initiative is doing in Sunnydale, and what is she going to do about them? Angel fights to stay away, but when Buffy's

396 kudos 175,158 words 37/37 chapters Explicit Complete
19

Bring Me To Life : A Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel Crossover Event

by Jean_theGuardian

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel Crossover Event. Sunnydale's and L.A's heroes unite for the explosive final battle with Jasmine and the First Evil. Who will survive the End of Days? Set during Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7 / Angel Season 4.Redux of Angel Season 4, Episode 17 (Inside Out) and

196 kudos 997,034 words 86/? chapters Not Rated
20

serves you right

by socratesgirl

instead of going out of his mind, spike and buffy's life (and unlife) goes on as usual. only problem is... it only brings them closer. and they don't realize it.however long it takes before they realize what they're suppressing, well, it serves them right.

94 kudos 127,310 words 18/? chapters Explicit
21

Scooby Gamers by MistOfRainbows

by orphan_account

The Scooby Gang from Sunnydale dress as characters from the Gamer webtoon for Halloween (yes this is Yet Another Halloween Fic) and get extremely exploitable Gamer powers.

1 kudos 245,025 words 33/? chapters Not Rated

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About This List

169,377
median words
76%
complete
3,833
top kudos
~11.3 hours
median read time

This list of 21epic Buffy fanfics spans 4,556,192 total words. Kudos range from 1 on the newest entries to 3,833 on the most established. 76% are marked complete — check the status flag before committing to a longfic. The most common rating is Explicit (9 of 21 fics).

Recurring tags across this list: Time Travel · Hurt/Comfort · Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence · Angst · Romance.

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