"They think they're soldiers." Xander stated after having been filled in on the situation.

"They are soldiers, Xander." Leo reminded him.

"No, they served in the Army, there's a difference. One they either never learned or have forgotten. Unlike the ghosts we dealt with in High School, they're not trapped, repeating their actions, praying for a new outcome or the serial killer ghost who just wanted to keep killing. They've voluntarily trapped themselves in a feeling of betrayal, one they feel entitled to. Finish setting up for the summons and banish, I'm going to go get something. I may be able to talk to them in a language they might understand."

Xander returned home and changed clothes, he was just coming out of his and Cordelia's bedroom when he saw the ghosts appear behind Cordelia, who was still holding baby Cole and stabbed her, she fell unconscious to the floor, a scared baby Cole crying.

"Whether she's Wyatt's wife or not, he knows her and this should help weaken him."

"No actually, it's more likely to enrage me." Xander informed them. "Given that she's my wife." The ghosts swung around and faced Xander, who was wearing his Army uniform from Halloween.

"You can see us? Are you a witch too?" The older one asked. "And Army?"

"Yes, I'm a witch." He didn't confirm being in the Army, but since he was certain he knew more than these two about the Army, he didn't need to as he hurried over to Cordelia and picked up baby Cole. "You're a disgrace to those uniforms. This is how you see yourself, right? As soldiers, all neat uniform and pride and people must respect you because you're wearing that uniform. But you didn't die in that uniform, you died in a dirty, bloody, torn uniform. But then you didn't die as a soldier, you died as a coward."

The ghost gaped at him. "You can't, you can't say that to me! I'm a soldier!"

"You're a coward, you abandoned your wounded men in the battlefield and didn't report their injuries until questioned."

"My brother was hurt, he needed help!"

"His injury was minor compared to many of the real soldiers, the ones who fought with honor."

"I have honor, Wyatt abandoned us, he doesn't have any honor!"

"You just stabbed an innocent woman holding a baby in the back, where the Hell is the honor in that?!"

"Wyatt deserves to pay for what he did to us! How could they reward him, he betrayed us!"

"How exactly did he betray you?"

"He left us there to die! It was his job to help Nathan!"

"Why? Because he was a medic or because he was your friend?"

"Because he was our friend, of course!" The older one retorted.

"And there you are wrong. Leo Wyatt was a medic, he did his job, he stabilized your brother's condition and left him in the care of competent colleagues and went to help other wounded soldiers and that was his job."

"We died!"

"And how exactly is that his fault?! Did he shoot the weapon that destroyed the medical tent? That killed the injured and the medical personnel?"

"No, he was too busy running away!"

"Running towards more seriously injured soldiers with no one to help them. He had no idea the medical tent would be hit right then and even if he did, did you expect him to prove he was your friend first, by dying with you?"

"He shouldn't have left us, we needed him!"

"No, the other soldiers needed him, you needed your mommy because life had gotten too scary for you to deal with. You thought being a soldier meant posing for pictures and girls fawning over you. You forget the job of a soldier isn't to die for his country, it's to make the enemy die for his. The job of a medic is to help people. You ran away from the battlefield and used your brother as an excuse. Leo Wyatt charged into danger to do his job. And he did it while injured, that attack that killed you, injured him. And he still did his job. And a few years later, he died doing his job, helping people. He's spent decades helping people, what have you been doing for decades?"

"We deserve justice!"

"No crime, either moral or legal, has been committed against you. However, you did just assault a woman holding a baby with a knife. You've committed a crime, one that necessitates a Court Martial be called and both of you charged, one with attempted murder and the other with accessory and conspiracy. Followed by a dishonorable discharge and imprisonment in Leavenworth. Will your mommy visit her cowardly, murderous sons who disgraced the uniform they're claiming a right to wear?"

"Our mother?" The younger one looked confused.

"Did you forget you had a mother?" Xander asked. "One who mourned for you after burying you? One who thought you died with honor? What must she have thought when she died and realized her sons were cowards, not the heros they want to think they are?"

Xander could see he was getting through to them, the uniforms that reflected how they felt were changing, becoming dirty, bloody and torn, just as he'd described them.

"It's okay to be scared." Xander told them. "It's not okay to blame other people or to hurt other people because you can't acknowledge that you're scared. Let go of the feeling of betrayal, there was no betrayal. Acknowledge the fear and accept that being afraid isn't wrong. How you deal with fear, especially how you've dealt with your fear, that's where wrong can come in. You've been dealing with everything in the wrong way, try another way, but not by blaming others for your choices or by killing people."

"Your wife -." The younger one said. "I'm sorry."

"Do you know what I want to do to you for hurting her?" Xander's eyes were glowing. "I want to cause you never ending pain, but I'm going to settle for getting you to see reason and moving on. Because if you don't, we'll banish you, which means imprisoned. Your actions deserve that. But right now my wife needs help and the quickest way to help her is to help you. And I think I've succeeded, given that death is standing right behind you. He's here to escort you, running from him, isn't possible once he finds you."

As the two ghosts and the Angel of Death faded away Xander rushed to get a blood bag and slammed it into Cordelia's teeth.

"They're so lucky we can survive a knife to the heart." He muttered as he tried to calm baby Cole. "Your mother might think twice about letting us babysit again though."

######

A/N The Angels of Death or the angels that escorts the dead were introduced in an earlier episode, one that I didn't cover in this story.