Three drabbles, three points of view, all set in the last scene of Dead Things.

Buffy

He's finally made her cry. Somehow, she has always known that the instant he was capable of making her cry, he was one of her own; and now he's done it, and the realization makes her cry even more.

No. It's not him who's made her cry, it's her. She's done this to herself, full of guilt and remorse and self-loathing. In their unlikely relationship, she is the monster, and to find out that she isn't, that she's human and…and responsible…it's killing her.

Being with Spike is killing her.

But being without him makes her wish she were still dead.

Tara

She's finally a Scoobie.

The thought takes her by surprise, because she's considered herself a true Scoobie since the summer she spent every night fighting the evils that lurked in the shadows of Sunnydale.

Now she realizes that that was never what being a Scoobie is about, and it's why Anya, too, has never made the grade. It's about Buffy, of being someone Buffy can lean on and cry to and beg for absolution.

All Buffy wants is forgiveness and love.

And Tara tries to give her both, her heart swelling with compassion and just a little joy at belonging.

Willow

She watches from the stairs, unseen by both girls.

Once, that was her. Once, the girl comforting Buffy like that had been Willow. Once, the girl crying into Tara's lap had been Willow.

She doesn't know what had brought on Buffy's pain, but she doesn't care. She can't care, not when she has so many other things to worry about. It's selfish, but this is what she has become, much as she hates herself for it.

She watches the soft curve of Tara's hand as it strokes through Buffy's hair and swallows a sob as she retreats to her room.

And in the moment of crisis, while a man lies in pieces in an alley, three lost souls think of themselves.