"That confirms my suspicions." Giles said. "There is only one soul in each body."
"Giles, what does that mean?" Buffy asked.
"It mean Xander and Cordelia are not possessed."
"Yes, they are Giles." Willow insisted. "By Alexander and Corda."
"Alexander and Corda are Xander and Cordelia."
"You're not making any sense, Giles." Buffy said.
"Do you believe in reincarnation?" Corda asked. "The belief that the soul is eternal and could choose to be reborn into a new life, rather then going to an after life? We do."
"Somehow the combination of Magic, DNA and this Alteran tech, combined to bring out an earlier incarnation of the soul." Giles said. "The soul remembers every lifetime, but consciously we are only aware of the current lifetime. Subconsciously, things like deja vu happens. Where something from a past life can seem familiar to a current one."
"Okay, so it's a past life, how do we make it go back where it belongs?"
"Buffy, unusual name, I've never heard it before. You're mother makes you all a beverage, hot chocolate, once you've emptied the packet into the hot water, can you change the chocolate back into powder?" Alexander asked.
"No, of course not, it's...mixed together?" Buffy asked in dawning horror. "You're saying you and Xander and her and Cordelia are mixed together."
"That's why they remember both lifetimes, Buffy." Giles said. "There is no undoing this. Alexander and Corda's personalities and memories are dominant because there are more of them. How much more?"
"I'm five hundred and six years old." Alexander said. "Middle years for my people, as I told Willow. Which means I died half way thru my life span."
"I'm five hundred and eight." Corda said. "And given when our memories end, we must have died soon after. As far as I know, most people, even when they are aware of their past lives, do not remember either their birth or death."
"That is my understanding as well." Giles said.
"We were in space, we had just finished a battle and defeated the hive ship. We were beginning repairs and attending to the wounded." Corda said. "Alexander's arm had been damaged, too much for the healing touch, he was about to enter a healing stasis pod. We must have been attacked. That's where my memories end."
"Mine too." Alexander said. "Who knows how many lifetimes our souls have had in-between?"
"We can't get Xander back, the way he was?" Willow asked with tears in her eyes.
"No. There is no undoing this. Alexander's analogy suits what I am seeing with my evaluation. They are one person with two lifetimes of memories. Unlike Angel, who was a soul and a demon in the same body."
"Angel, that's what Willow called the blood daemona."
"Yes." Buffy said. "He was our friend. I cared about him."
"Then I'm sorry for your loss, but what had been done to the soul was a crime. To bind it into a dead body, one with a blood daemona in it, would damage and corrupt the soul. Plus, whoever bound it into the body, had to pull it from its most recent incarceration. Destroying that life in the process." Corda said. "That's not a fair trade. The soul is innocent of the crimes of the daemona. It would be like you being incarcerated for her crimes." Indicating Willow.
"Where do we go from here?" Willow asked.
"Well I can't go to Xander's house. I'm likely to kill his father." Alexander said.
"Why?" Buffy asked.
"He's an abusive drunk." Was the startling reply.
"I knew he was a drunk, but I didn't know he hurt Xander!" Willow exclaimed.
"Often badly. Although, not since Xander had been possessed by that animal spirit."
"Xander had been possessed?" Corda asked.
"Yes, last spring. He stopped some bullies from hassling another kid and inadvertently triggered a transpossession ritual. He wasn't in control. The spirit was. All it wanted was food, sleep and a mate. It knew from Xander's memories that you were strong, Buffy and it considered Willow weak. So it decided you should be it's mate. Your acceptance wasn't an issue as far as it was concerned. While Xander was possessed by it, it knocked his father out. It was an Alpha, it wasn't going to endure that."
"Well, we can go to Cordelia's for now. Her parents aren't home and won't be for weeks. It'll give us time to figure something else out." Corda said.
"Probably the best solution for now." Giles agreed. "Well, we all have school tomorrow. We should get some sleep."
"We're going to have to pretend to be Xander and Cordelia aren't we?" Alexander said. "Live their lives, publicly anyway. We were centuries beyond you technologically. You're science is so far behind us. They don't even acknowledge what you call Magic, the working of the energy of a world. This isn't going to be easy."
"We'll figure something out. This is our life now. But we're together. You once swore to me that you'd refuse to move on to a new life without me. It seems we managed to find each other in another lifetime. I wonder, how many have we found each other in?"
Alexander reached out and laced his fingers thru hers. "Every one, I hope."
Willow wanted to scream, but held it in. She'd never had Xander, not how she'd wanted. Now, she probably never would.