Like the topic says, I got bit ( :awesome ) by the urge to read a decent B:TVS timetravel fic that didnt involve massive Spike/Buffy fluff.

Anyone know of any?

 

Well, here's one that has Xander casting some spell that causes him to go back in time to that Season 2 episode where everyone turned into their Halloween costumes. It's rather long, and the main Buffy time travel fic that comes to mind off the top of my head.

It's been awhile since I've read it, but from what I remember it was well-written and interesting enough.

There's no Spike/Buffy, either - in fact, if I remember right, Spike ends up being dusted rather early on.

I Am What I Am by MMcGregor

 

Eh, in my opinion there is a better Xander Timetravel fic of sorts.

The Road To Hell 2: The Road Back by MPrattky is a superior time travel fic. Just read the intro to Part I on Xanderzone to get the summary of The Road To Hell.

FYI, only the first 40 chapters are archived on Xanderzone. The rest up to Ch. 54 I believe, can be found on MPrattky's livejournal.

 

I don't really read many time travel stories - they're not really my cup of tea - so you're probably right.

 

Having read the first, and a bit of the second, I can say that I far prefer I am What I am. Tbh though, most of that is because of my love of the interludes, seriously loved those. The actual story does get pretty weak after half way or so.

Definitely check it out though.

 

Well, I Am What I Am is an incredible fic - until Faith goes back to Sunnydale with Xander and Buffy. Then the fic just plummets in quality - although the flashbacks to the future still remain most excellent.

The Road Back is more along the lines of a Tom Clancy novel. It's a tad cartoony, but it is fun to read - although it would be better if the author took the time to properly archive the newest 14 chapters. Especially because one of the links is broken in Chapter 51 on the livejournal account.

 

There's always Compelled, which has its... quirks, but if you can get past those it's pretty enjoyable. I think there may be some minor S/B in it, but it's so tangential to everything that is plot (and even everything that is random fluff) I wouldn't worry about it unless you want to burn the pairing with fire.

 

I almost wish that he had just written a Post-Sunnydale story about the things that happened before he cast the spell, because most of the snap-shots of what occurred before then were pretty awesome.

Also, didn't they end up with super, time-freezing weapons in I Am What I Am? From what I remember of it, that's the main thing that sticks out as being annoying about the story. They'd already gotten several upgrades from canon at that point, so did they really need uber, all-powerful weapons as well?

 

I don't remember any of them actually freezing time. It seemed like a more ho-hum sorta "My Sword is on fire", "My Handaxe bounces around like a Xena thingy" kind of deal, which is nice and flashy and all but all that's really going to do for a scrub is make him a rather competent scrub, in the scheme of things.

 

Good recommendations so far, thank you all. Any that are Buffy centric? I like Xander and all, but...

 

I'm not sure how well a Buffy-Centric time travel would even work. If it was into the past, and it was something big enough that the slayers then couldn't handle, then....the present wouldn't have existed. If it's in the future, well. Something about the S7 spell must have gone way wrong.

If it's the classic 'rewrite with memories of what went down' scenario, I think that works better with a 'normal' character, ie Xander. Taking the element of surprise away from situations would likely lead to a pretty quick mop up on Buffy's end, and her spending all her time fucking vampires.

I dunno, if anyone has a good non-Xander-centric time travel, I'd like to read it, of course. I just doubt there are many good ones. There are some Buffy-centric AU's and such that are quite good, though.