All right, this is going to be a rather lengthy rant. Sorry in advance, I've read the previous three stories and I'm getting close to my own "one-man Chernobyl" moment. Not so much about your story or your writing skills (both of which I think are excellent), I'm actually royally pissed off at your characters (and, to a much lesser extent, at the canon characters). ;) Which should be read as a compliment, I think, people don't give a damn one way or another about badly written characters.

Anyway, this Buffy is so infinitely DUMB that it's a miracle she can walk and breathe at the same time. "He didn't want her after all" indeed. It's good to get people frustrated with the characters and their difficulties, it makes them want to see the situation resolved and makes them empathize and care. But there's frustrating and then there are the depths of stupidity which make you feel contempt for the main hero of the story (and most of her friends). Which is not of the good. I'm finding it harder and harder to cheer for the Spuffy ending, because I think that Spike deserves a lot better. Normally I'm all for Spuffy, and a sucker for a happy-end too, but this amount of crap is simply not worth it. 

Yeah, I know, Buffy's young and everyone is ten kinds of stupid when they're young, even without the Hellmouthy complications. I mean, I'm the bloody queen of the "if I pretend it doesn't exist, it will go away" school of dealing (not) with problems but she just gives the word "denial" a whole new meaning. 

Personally I blame Giles. As a teacher and guardian the man is a total failure of a magnitude that should have him committing seppuku to save the last scraps of respect anyone could still have for him. Five years of being a father-figure to a bunch of teenagers and a result is a power-hungry, monstrously selfish witch, a hateful bigot hiding his insecurities by bullying others and, the best of them all, a super-hero at war with herself, not capable of any kind of logical thinking and as a result doing the headless chicken routine on a weekly basis, who believes every single bit of bullshit that she's being fed and at the same time rebels against those doing the feeding. I mean, seriously. How can you include both “The Council is a bunch of self-important, dried-up old farts who want to control my life” and “Of course the demons of any sort are evil and the vampires can't have feelings, the Council says so” in your world-view, without a serious case of schizophrenia? 

I always thought a Watcher should be a "scientist", you know. Searching for anything that might help the Slayer, expanding the knowledge. Giles, and the Council that indoctrinated him (however he might try to deny it), became more like "high priests". They preserve the sacred wisdom and pass it on unchanged, without questioning, without testing new theories, considering any idea that can't be found in a century old dusty book a blasphemy. I'm just saying, this way of thinking, this mental laziness and rigidity SHOWS in every single one of the Scoobies.

I've been enjoying this story a lot (yeah, I like to get totally exasperated by the characters too). But if they keep using their brains as ballast and hurting everyone (themselves included) by their mindless flailing around, I'm going to stop wishing for Spuffy and start waiting for Spike to leave them for their melodramatic bullshit and maybe come back in two or three decades, when they finally start to grow the hell up...

Wow. That felt good. ;)

Anyway, I know the story was posted ages ago and there's a chance you won't even read it, but I just needed to vent. ;)

 

A failure to communicate..but that's what drives us to read more.

Oh, silly silly Buffy. Such an amazing chapter though. Even if I do want to give them both a slap upside the head. Update again soon.

Great, great chapter. I was waiting for that encounter. I'm absolutely surprised that Buffy started to realize how she feels about Spike.

You konw, I really like Susan. If I wasn't a Spuffy shipper I would definitely count on her. Jacob on the other hand is oh-so-lame. I hope he's the one who'll be drained in this ritual.

You're throwing away your chance! Silly Spike!

AARGH!! Those two are just so damned stubborn!! I love this story, but sometimes I'd like to smack them both.

Oh they kissed well 3 times actually, but now Buffy thinks that he doesn't love her that he loves Susan which may be true, because of instead of saying something about breaking up with Jacob and Susan he reinforced he had Susan and then eventually told her to go and it never happened.

I wonder what Buffy will do now.

He's trying to make it easier on you, stupid girl!!!!

Can these two get any more stupid? It takes almost losing Spike for Buffy to realize that maybe Jacob was onto something and then after everything, she actually thinks Spike would reject her. Spike has a moment where he's sure Buffy is in love with him then acts like the anti-Spike and lets it go while pushing her away. I'm so very frustrated right now! Anyway, thanks for the return to Slayer duties, fighting, and the Big Bad. Can't wait to see where it goes from here!

HAH a taste of her own poisonous medicine eh. Deserved. He knows that the next day she'd just be angry with him and run like the wind. Maybe she'll begin to face her feelings seeing the possibility that he won't always just be there when she has an itch to scratch.

Giles seems to have forgotten all Spike did against Glory and then that summer. Typical to distrust the being who was a comrade in arms just because a wee piece of technology has stopped functioning. All the chip did was prevent Spike from making his own kills it didn't cause him to make the choices he did.

Nice nice update....really enjoyed Spike being the one to put an end to it while she was ready for more.

Twice in this chapter she was confronted with the mortality of Spike (the crossbow and Giles and then his injuries with the demon) and it scared her. Now she is facing the possibility (as if) that he has "moved on"....hum....maybe that's what it will take for her to see the truth.

Kathleen

Always with the misunderstandings with these two. And Susan.. dislike the girl.. and poor Jacob knows. Who wants to be second best?

And the ritual.. So who will be the sacrifice?

Enjoying.

Oh, that was wonderful!!! Absolutely loved that scene where B saves S; hopefully she'll wake up and smell the blond hottie before it's too late!! Can't wait to read more; will B confess her little indiscretion to J? Maybe he'll leave her! Oh, that'd be sad! *snicker* Please update again soon!