From caduceus03 :

Title: Phoenix Burning
Author: Yahtzee
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Buffy/Angel
Categories: Romance, AU, Drama, Angst, Action
Length: Epic
Warnings: The stories on Yahtzee’s website show up (at least on my computer) as white font on white background. You can set the page style to “No style” to fix it or simply stick to her fanfiction.net account. For the story, there is technically significant character death but only as function of the fact that Buffy is now centuries in the future and of course, her friends are gone.

Author on LJ: n/a?
Website: yahtzee!

Author’s Summary: After "The Gift." Buffy returns to life -- to find a world greatly changed.

Review:
During that summer after season 5, the BtVS fandom literally exploded with post-“Gift” fanfiction. Phoenix Burning made no attempt to dovetail into a possible season 6 and bravely set off into full-on AU with tremendous results, and became one of those do-not-miss stories in the fandom. It takes place 350 years in the future where the supernatural is no longer a dirty little secret: the demon situation is out of control, and the Watchers’ Council, also no longer secret, decide they need more help and bring back five of the greatest slayers, including Buffy as I’m sure you’ve guessed.

The plot is fantastic – well-crafted, clever, and twisty – and the OCs (of which there are scads) are wonderful, fully fleshed and fascinating. The pairing is Buffy/Angel, and it works in a way even the show never fully convinced me. Even if you’re not a fan of the pairing, like me, give it a try – you won’t be disappointed. Buffy, in particular, stands out in this fic. I have a bit of love/hate for Buffy as a character, especially in fanfiction where she typically swings between bashing and saintly extremes. Yahtzee’s Buffy strikes exactly the right chord – she’s young and fallible and uncertain but also determined and brave with that flash of extra something (understanding? insight? wisdom? I can never figure out the word) – that reminds me of why I loved the show and the character in the first place.

It’s amazing. If you somehow missed reading it, go correct that now.

Phoenix Burning (ff.net link)
Phoenix Burning (homepage link)