I read fanfic. You read fanfic. (Or you will when this thread is done with you), but 90% of everything is crap; so, you have someone else find the top 10% of fanfics.
Rules: It has to be good. It has to have a reccomendation. One dead fic per post.
Completed stories:
For the uninitiated, these are stories that are complete. They may have sequels, they may be stand alone short stories.
Pokemon
I Don't Care What You Think Unless it is About Me Don't let the title fool you, there is a reason I put this heartstring yanking pokemon fic at the top. The brief, one-chapter story of a Bisharp and his trainer. It takes 5 minutes to read, go do it. I still can't read it without tearing up.
EDIT: Taken down becuase the author wrote smut. If you find it, let me know.
Rurouni Kenshin:
Hajme and Tokio If you loved Saito from Rurouni Kenshin, you will absolutely love this fic, the story of him and his wife. I really recommend it because I loved Saito, and his character here is great.
Blades of Blood Rurouni Kenshin x NightLife (A WW competitor) Great retelling of the encounter between Kenshin and Jin-Ei arc, set in a New York By Night. Lots of fun, and a great way to see corruption and spiritual Claiming. A must for those looking for inspiration for white-wolf.
Naruto
Time Braid Sakura doesn't get enough love in the Naruto universe, nor in most of the fanfiction community. This fic questions: when you stick sakura in a time loop, how far do you have to push before she becomes as awesome as she could be. Rated M for scenes of sex, unusual sexual pairings, and mind-rape.
Harry Potter
By the Divining Light Hey you, mage player. You like magic that feels epic and powerful and awesome? Read this. Has almost nothing to do with the regular harry potter magic system, and instead focuses on a style of Olde Magic that feels really really old and powerful.
The Greatest Minister of Magic Corenlius fudge is an ass and self-serving, but sometimes, self-serving can save the world. A single-chapter story that is a great read into 'the other side of the story'.
Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time One of the best fics, because it shows a renewel of hope where hope seems lost, and is full of amazing one-liners and epic magic.
The Strange Disappearance of SallyAnne Perks Sally Anne Perks was sorted just before Harry, but soon after, we never hear of her again. This fic asked what happened to her, and goes on a great mystery tour of hogwarts to find her. Light and surprisingly deep.
Saving Connor If you want to read the best of slash in the harry potter fanfiction community, this is the fic that spawned thousands of bad copy attempts. The harry here is sympathetic, proud, and strong. Warning 1: Slash (in the sequels). Warning 2: sympathetic Malfoys. Warning 3: Manipulative!Dumbledore Warning 4: 3. Million. Words. Long. (With the sequels) But still a good fic.
Halo
The Enemy of My Enemy *No master chief, no prophets, no flood, why read? *Because this story depicts war in a way that is both noble and horrific, bloody and heroic. *We see the slow process of turning enemies into friends, and beating back the horde. *Easily one of the best war fics I have read.
Final Fantasy VII
The Fifth Act Cloud has an accident with a time Materia, and is sent back in time to the war against Wutai. He sets his goal of killing Sephiroth and Hojo to prevent the mess that happened. One of the few great time-travels of Final Fantasy VII that doesn't contain sex, instead having awesome sword-swinging.
In Progress Fics
These are stories that are still going on, still in progress. They may finish, they may stall out, but they are good enough to read as is.
Avatar, the Last Airbender
Embers This is my favorite fic. seriously, bar none, #1. It takes the cheesy Epcot style mix of cultures that Avatar gives us, and takes it to its cultural supremacist conclusion. And it treats spirits the way they should be treated- with terrifying awe and resolute determination. Great read for werewolf and spirit mages.
Rosario+Vampire
He Who Fights Monsters Want to see what the loss of humanity looks like, read this? Rosario+Vampire is a story of a normal human who ends up a monster high school, and is a blatant wish fulfillment harem fantasy, as he gets several of the beatiful women-monsters to protect him and help him fake being a monster. This story is the story of a normal human who ends up at a monster high school, and does not receive help, or aid. When pushed to the brink, humanity will not just look into the abyss, but dive right in.
Power Rangers
DinoThunder: The legacy of Tommy Oliver If you liked power rangers, and Tommy especially, you'll like this. It adds continuity from the old series to the newer one, where Tommy shows up again.
Pokemon
The Sun Soul Takes Pokemon and turns it dark and terryfing, where pikachu is a rat that can kill you dead before you even know what hit you, where a rattata can knock down and a child and kill him. Now, go read what a "trainer's quest" really is.
Harry Potter
Prince of the Dark Kingdom What a boy does to fight against an implacable foe is impressive. What he does to please his father can shatter mountains. I love reading this because Harry is awesome, Voldemort is Awesome, Snape is awesome, and there are about 30 xanatos gambits all running around, and occasionally one of them fails to turn in time.
Bleach
Lord of Winter - A character piece on Hitsugaya Toushiro, one that paints him as the solitary but not lonely genius who struggles. This is good because it is subtle. Things are immediately explained, you have to read and think and ponder before it all makes sense.
Inuyasha
Beside your in Time A pairing fic that demonstrates that real relationships don't grow on trees overnight, that you have to fight and work to gain someone's respect and trust. Also, that homicidal monkey demons can make your eternity a living hell.
Dead Fic
When someone writes just because they love a story, they sometimes get distracted, by classes, by a job, a spouse. And sometimes great fics become dead. Don't read expecting a conclusion, its just a fun ride. Dead fics are any fics that haven't been updated in 12 months, or 18 if the author has a habit of updating yearly.
Naruto
People Lie - Dark and disturbing is what happens when you take naruto and make the ninjas ruthless and cutthroat. Brain exploding awesome darkness is what happens when you add Shoggoths and elder gods to a fic already dark and ruthless and hysterically funny. Sasuke, hinata, and Naruto are the focus. And they are all sorts of messed up crazy. Rated M for lots and lots of terrifying images. If you want more humor and less scary, the author has an AU of his story called Ask me no Questions. It's set about 3/4s of the way through People Lie.