Buffy stared, wondering what was wrong, then she remembered! Angel! Cordelia had killed Angel! Xander had said Angel was suffering and killing him was a mercy and the gods would be angry. Pain, anger, confusion and concern all mingled inside her. She didn't know what to think, she hoped they had an explanation she could understand when they woke up. She called the library to see if Giles was there, but got no answer. She tried again fifteen minutes later, but didn't get an answer until her third try.
"Giles, Xander and Cordelia are unconscious and have been since this spell or whatever it was, stopped. What do I do?"
"Are you still at your home, Buffy?"
"Yes."
"I'll be right there. Don't touch them, I may need to do a magical evaluation."
"Okay." Not long after a knock sounded at the front door. 'It's too soon for Giles.' She thought and hurried to the door.
"Willow! Are you alright?" Buffy asked when she saw who was at the door.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I woke up in my body. Is Xander okay?"
"He and Cordelia are unconscious and have been since the spell ended. I finally got a hold of Giles and he said not to touch them, he may need to do a mystical evaluation. He should be here soon. Did Cordelia really murder Angel? I wasn't imagining that?"
"Yes, she did and no, you weren't. And they said it was a mercy and the gods would be angry at whoever had given him his soul back. They said the demon was feeding off his emotions."
"Angel said he was cursed with a soul as punishment. I never realized that meant he was suffering."
"I don't think any of us really did. I mean, it doesn't make sense does it? A vampire committed the crimes, not the soul, so why make a soul suffer? I guess we thought, maybe he misunderstood or something or the people who cast it misunderstood. If Angel really was suffering, maybe this is better."
"How do we know? We just have their word for it."
"Maybe we should have done what Xander suggested back at the beginning and done some checking. Then we'd know for sure."
Giles arrived a few minutes later but before he could begin checking Xander or Cordelia they began to wake up.
Xander sat up. "I don't remember nightmares or consciousness transfer being apart of a healing stasis pod before." He said, startling the others.
"And that doesn't explain why I also experienced that consciousness transfer." Cordelia said, startling them even more.
"I feel like, I have two sets of memories. Two lifetimes in my head." Xander said.
"I do too. Who were those children who's bodies we were in?" And then she looked more closely at Xander and said. "Are still in!"
"What?!" Xander said and looked more closely at her as well. "You're still Corda but you're still in that young woman's body. What is going on? I know exactly who the girl who's body you're in is. I didn't before. Her name is Cordelia Chase, a childhood friend. They lost their friendship for awhile, but were starting to reconnect. The body I'm in belongs to Alexander Harris, known as Xander, he was very attracted to Cordelia and there is a Buffy who was a sort of hero. The memories include another girl, a red head he thought of as a sister. Why do I remember this boy's life? I am not him."
"I remember this girl's life too. She also found this Xander attractive. I agree. We need answers."
Willow felt her insides writhe in despair. Those people were still possessing them. And Xander thought of her as a sister and liked Cordelia? Gods, could this night get any worse?!
"Do you know who I am?" Giles asked.
"Dr. Rupert Giles, formerly of the British Museum, expert on the occult. Xander thought of you as a role model." Alexander answered. "He called you G-man to show his affection."
"Truly? I thought it was just to irritate me."
"That too. It seems we have similar personalities. I do that too, give nicknames to people I like. Allow me to formally introduce myself, Dr. Giles. I am Alexander, Captain of the Congeria, an Alteran warship and this is my wife and first officer, Commander Corda. We are Alterans, from the city of Atlantis."
"Atlantis! There's nothing about Atlantis on the tv show they got their costumes from, Giles!" Willow exclaimed.
"She's correct." Alexander said. "Xander has watched the television show. They know a great number of things about our people, but are guessing at some others."
"You're saying your people are real?!" Giles asked. "Not just characters from a television show?"
Alexander pulled his scanner out and tossed it to Buffy, who caught it. "Pass that around." He said. "Then pass it back." Buffy handed it to Willow, who passed it to Giles, who passed it to Corda. It lit up, with a smile, she passed it back to Alexander, it stayed lit up.
"Somehow, they have real Alteran tech. This is a scanning device. It requires a genetic key to activate and deactivate it and a mental command to work it. The bodies we're currently occupying are either Alteran themselves or descended from a union between an Alteran and one of your people."
"You're saying you're aliens." Willow said.
"We're human, just as you are, but we evolved first. Our civilization is millions of years old. We've occupied three galaxies. The red head, Willow, I believe it is, called this planet Earth. My translator translates that as Terra. Terra was the seat of our power in the Avalon galaxy. Approximately a million years ago, we left that galaxy after a plague devastated our population. We seeded Terra before we left, so that life could begin anew. If this really is Terra, then at some point our people came back."
"There is talk recently in the Council of returning to Terra. The war is going so badly for us." Corda said. "I wonder, did they return?"
"But wouldn't you know that?" Buffy asked.
"Not if we'd died before it happened." Alexander said.
"You're saying you're ghosts possessing them." Willow said.
"No, I don't think that's what they're saying, Willow." Giles said. "But I need to run tests, to be sure."
"Do what you must, Dr. Giles." Corda said. "We want answers too."