"Alright," Kennedy said, shining a light in Kayla's face. "Spill."
Kayla sighed. "Get the light out of my eyes. And why would I help you? I hate all of you and there's no personal gain here. Does that make sense to anyone in this room?"
Kennedy turned the light off walking away. "Alright, someone try the demon. Maybe she'll talk."
"Alright Cherry, tell us," Buffy said in a no-nonsense voice. "What did you do to Spike?"
Cherry frowned. "Why the hell would I tell you and all that junk Kayla said about personal gain and…" She began to follow a fly around the room with her eyes.
Buffy turned around. "Andrew, bring in the secret weapon." Andrew walked into the room and handed Buffy the "secret weapon".
"Alright Cherry," Buffy said tauntingly. "If you tell us what you did, we'll give you…this." She began to wave a cherry popsicle in front of her face, just out of her reach.
"OK! I'll tell you!" Cherry said. "Ok, so, there was this demon named, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh," Cherry paused, "I don't remember. But he gave me this box thing-a-ma-jigger. And then me and Kayla were at the, the, oh yea, the Bronze. And I was all like 'I wanna press the button' and Kayla was all like, well, she said I couldn't."
"CHERRY!" Kayla yelled from across the room. "What are you doing?! Why are you helping them? They're the en-e-my. Y'know, the people we hate?"
"But, but, but, you said that if there was a personal gain…and I have personally gained a popsicle…a cherry popsicle."
"You're telling them our plan…for a…popsicle?! And I thought Fyaral demons were slow."
"Anyway, before we were so rudely interrupted, you were saying Cherry?" Buffy asked patiently, glaring at Kayla. The vampire returned the glare with just as much hatred as Cherry went on.
"Uh…oh yea! So then we, um, um, um…Oh yea! We ran into Buffy the Vampire Lay- I mean you and uh Kayla had my box-a-ma-jigger and I wanted it back so we fought…HEY!" She looked at Kayla. "That's not nice!" She then looked back to the Slayer. "Anyway, then we broke it and then they glowed and can I have my popsicle now?"
"You can have your popsicle in a minute," Willow said over a pile of books. "But first can you tell us what it looked like?"
Cherry raised her eyebrows. "Uh, ok if you want me to. It's long and frozen and red and yummy and-"
"They mean the box, you twit!" Kayla yelled. "And I'm hungry, can I have someone to eat."
Everyone ignored Kayla and waited for Cherry to describe the box.
"Right, ok, it was box-y , and shiny, and it had a big button and there was a funny looking drawing on it," Cherry explained looking at her popsicle with hungry eyes. "I don't remember what the drawing looked like. But I'm sure it can't be much better than Anya's face."
Kayla rolled her eyes. "Well, it looks like you two are gonna be stuck that way forever 'cause there's only one other person in the whole world who knows what the seal was and I'm not telling." Kayla suddenly screamed. "Who left that in here?" she asked, frantically trying to get away from the chicken that appeared at her feet and was now trying to hop into her lap. "Ok, ok, ok. I'll tell you whatever you wanna know, just get it off my lap."
Buffy smirked. "Willow will remove the chicken she summoned there as soon as you tell us what we need to know. So the sooner you spill the sooner the chicken goes."
Kayla swallowed. "Ok. The demon's name was Hago. He was a Harjilop demon. The box's symbol was two interlocked triangles inside of a circle. I don't know any more about it now get it off!"
Giles frowned. "I've heard of those kind of demons before. They're almost like Vengance Demons, only, they don't help wronged parties seek vengance, they help other demons hurt those they hate most." He took off his glasses and cleaned them. "I wonder…" He picked up a book and began to look through it.
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, standing on tip toe, trying to see what was in the book. "Is that a good 'I wonder' or a bad 'I wonder'?"
"Shhh!" Giles waved a hand at Buffy, motioning for her to go away. "Ah-ha!" He shut the book. "The box that Hago gave you is from Egypt. It's triggered by negative energy- the negative feelings Cherry and Kayla had about their siblings must have done it." He placed his glasses on his face.
"Can it be fixed?!" Both Anya and Spike yelled at once. They had finally gotten Anya in Spike's body to change out of the sundress and back into more Spike-ish clothing and remove the nail polish. They has also persueded Spike in Anya's body to get into jeans and a more feminine shirt.
"Yes, yes. It can be fixed- hold on." Giles began to look in the book again. "The curse left by the Harjilop's box can be reversed if the party which triggered the curse- Oh no."
"What?!" Everyone in the room was on the edge of their seats, save for Kayla, who was still trying to get away from the chicken.
Giles sighed. "Well, it seems that this box is actually a 'soul stealer'. It literally sucks the soul out of whoever the energy is directed at. In this case, both Kayla and Cherry triggered it, and Anya and Spike should really be souless…things, but instead, since there were two parties involved, their souls simply switched bodies." Giles began to walk upstairs, motioning for everyone to follow.
"Can it be reversed?" Buffy asked, looking very concerned. She shut the door after everyone was out of the basement, not bothering to leave a light on for Kalya and Cherry.
"Yes, yes it can. All Kayla and Cherry have to do is apologize." He sat back in a chair, shutting the book.
"Yeah, right like they'd ever- Hey! I have an idea!" Buffy yelled excitedly.
"Where's my popsicle?" Cherry whined. "I want my popsicle and I want it now! I told them what they needed to know."
"Who cares about your damn popsicle? This chicken's still on me!" Kayla screamed. "Get back you evil spawn of Satan! Get back!"
Buffy walked down the stairs, a hidden tape recorder in her pocket. She walked over to Cherry and spoke very quietly so only the demon could hear. At the same time, Kennedy had approached Kayla, also holding a hidden tape recorder.
"Cherry, I want you to do something for me," Buffy said, handing the demon her popsicle. "I want you to apologize. Just say 'I'm sorry'."
"To who and why?" Cherry asked, happily licking her popsicle.
"To your sister because you cursed her. So just say it, come on Cherry."
"I will not say I'm sorry to her. Why the hell would I wanna do that?" Cherry asked. She looked at her popsicle. "Got any more of these?"
"No, I'm sorry," Buffy said. She stood up. "You know what, it's none of my business." Buffy headed back up the sttairs with a smile on her face.
"Hey Kayla," Kennedy said, walking over to the vampire and taking the chicken off her lap. "Shoo!" she said, kicking the chicken. "I want you to do something. Will you do it?"
"Depends. Probably no, but say it anyway," Kayla answered, relived that the chicken was gone.
"I want you to apologize to Spike. 'Cause, y'know, you did curse him."
"Um, why would I say I'm sorry to my brother? He's a, he's a…a vampire slayer layer!"
Kennedy stood. "Y'know, you're right. Why would you do that? I was all wrong to think you'd be a good sister. Whatever." She got up and left.
"Did ya get it?" Willow asked. Buffy and Kennedy handing her their tape recorders was enough of an answer for her.
Willow sat down with the tape recorders and the rest of the materials needed for the reversal spell. "Oh goddess, hear my call. Reverse the wrongs done to this pair once and for all. Here the regrets of those who cursed…" she played clips of both tape recorders of the vampire and demon saying 'I'm sorry' and resumed the spell. "so, um, switch them back already." Willow paused. "Uh, please."
Suddenly both Spike and Anya glowed with the same brilliant light and collapsed.
Spike sat up and rubbed his head, suddenly realizing he was in his own body again. "I'm me again! I'm me, I'm me, I'm me!"
Anya responded to her discovery by jumping into Xander's arms and kissing him.
Suddenly the basement door opened with a bang. "Did ya really think you could hold me with a bunch of rope?" She realized something. "Aw, dammit, you fixed them, didn't ya? Oh well. A happy day is short lived. I am so going to…" She was interrupted by a loud squacking sound. The chicken had followed her upstairs. Without another word, Kayla ran out the back door as fast as she could, despite the approaching sunrise.
"Kayla, did ya kill them?" Cherry walked through the basement door, finishing her popsicle. She looked around. "Uh, where's Kayla?" Everyone pointed to the back door. "Right then." In the blink of an eye, Cherry was gone.
The chicken stood on the floor and squacked loudly. Spike looked around. "Fried chicken anyone?"
