The sword hovered over them. It had taken on a life of its own since Cordelia had grabbed the handle in exactly the right way, unknowingly, and it sprang to life. The Sword of Illusion. Giles had read the details to them in the library from one of the musty books. Whoever touched it can take on any form they wished for a period of 24 hours. It was no wonder its owner treasured it so much.

The glow around it was the color of Kryponite - a near-blinding green that made Angel squint. It bobbed in front of them, waiting to do its job. Angel didn't mean anything when he grabbed it, reaching out so that his hand became a silhouette against the green glow. He didn't consciously think about what he wanted. But it was somewhere, buried in the back of his mind, filed with all of the old memories of past loves and fears and worries. The light grew in a split second, intensifying so much that Cordelia cried out. Angel squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the sword slip through his fingers and clatter to the ground. He wasn't aware that anything that changed until Cordelia's voice cut through the thick air in a near scream.

"What the *hell* did you do?"

Angel opened his eyes and squinted again. It couldn't be. But his vision slowly returned to normal, creeping in with the realization. The person in front of him wasn't Cordelia anymore. It was a tall, solid man in a black trench coat, squinting back at him. A mirror image.

Finally the mirror image spoke. "Angel, you're me!"

He looked down stupidly, seeing that instead of his old, familiar body, it was the slender body of the most annoying woman he could think of. He didn't feel any different physically. He couldn't sense a hormonal shift or any sort of psychological one. Except now he was horrified that his black trench coat had turned into the black dress Cordelia was wearing two minutes ago. They had changed bodies.

The mirror image of him smacked his arm. He put his hand up to stop it but it was easily shoved away. "Angel, you stupid ass!" Cordelia hissed. "How did you do this?"

"I...uh...." That was a good question. He knew of the sword but he didn't know how to activate it. It made sense that you had to consciously want to be someone different before it would work. Maybe it was a glitch. Maybe it was broken. Or maybe...had he *wanted* this? Impossible. If Cordelia was him, that meant she wanted it too.

But there was no time to go on this train of thought. Cordelia was in a full-blown hissy fit now, doing a dance of rage around the room before glaring at him again. Angel hadn't realized how insane he looked when he was angry.

"Undo it *now*," Cordelia hissed. "NOW."

"I don't know how." His voice was high and shrill now - the voice that had annoyed him for years. He'd rather turn into Buffy than Cordelia. What was he thinking? Or did he think it at all?

He sighed, grabbing the sword and following Cordelia as she stormed through the door to the next room. The house was located on a remote street on the outskirts of Sunnydale, a perfect place for the vampires to store a weapon of deceit. It seemed like a good idea at the time to let Cordelia and Angel go ahead while Buffy and Xander hunted for the owner and Willow and Giles worked on a way to erase the illusions the sword created. Cordelia marched through a dangling cobweb, stopping to tear herself away from it before she stormed toward the door.

"Where exactly are we going?" Angel said, watching his shoulders pulled taut as Cordelia grabbed the door handle.

"If those guys show up here, they're going to want to kick *my* ass," Cordelia said. "We have the damn sword. Let's get out of here and see if anyone knows how to undo this."

An hour later they found themselves sitting on a desk in the library, watching Giles read a thick, tattered book by the light of a black candle. He took off his glasses to address them, stammering a little on the first word. "According to this, only the sword's owner can reverse the illusion, and nothing short of killing him will prematurely shatter the illusion."

"Good," Cordelia said. "Let's kill him."

Giles sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. We have to find him first, and he could be disguised as anyone. Buffy is out trying to hunt him down right now. Do you think you could manage just a little longer?"

Cordelia's eyes widened. "*What?* You want me to *stay* like this?" Angel couldn't help but glance at her sideways. He was the one who had become the diminutive cheerleader type.

Angel ran his hands through his hair, realizing for the first time how much of it he had. "I'm going to go help them."

He took a step forward before a strong hand yanked him back. "Not with my body, you're not."

"Don't worry," Angel said. "I won't do anything to destroy your reputation." He used all the strength he had to pull away and leave. Cordelia wanted this reversed as much as he did. Maybe more.

Angel wandered down the street, letting the cool wind blow through his hair. It wouldn't be so bad being a woman if he knew how to reverse it. He passed a bakery, eyeing a slice of cheesecake and wondering what Cordelia would do if he went in and devoured anything he could find over 500 calories. There were a thousand other things he could do, now that he thought about it. He could extract all the money in her account with the ATM card in her pocket. The possibilities were endless.

He was halfway down Maple Ave. when he saw a figure in the distance, walking through the row of quiet houses. He recognized the form immediately, and the voice was unmistakable.

"What are you doing out here?" Xander called.

Angel let him get closer before he responded. "I was wondering the same thing about you."

Xander shrugged. "We split up. She's checking the mayor's place and I was on my way back to report to Giles."

Angel gripped Xander's arm in spite of himself. "Take me to Buffy," he said, hoping Xander wouldn't ask why. He wasn't ready to blow his cover yet.

But Xander didn't. Instead he slipped his arm around Angel's waist, pulling him close as he retraced his steps. A black cat skittered across the road in front of them and Angel played his part, cowering in a little closer until he caught a whiff of Xander's cologne. It had a warm peppermint smell to it and Angel couldn't help but lean closer to smell it again.

Xander turned his head and planted a kiss on Angel's forehead that made his heart leap. He could get used to being Cordelia for awhile. He hadn't really had these thoughts about Xander before, but something about his new outer shell was causing an inexplicable attraction.

Xander stopped for a second, turning Angel to face him and catching his gaze. "Something's different about you tonight," he said. Angel's breath caught in his throat, wondering how he could explain that he didn't tell Xander immediately, when Xander said "Is that a new dress?"

Angel nodded breathlessly. His eyes were already closed when Xander leaned down and kissed him. Angel did what any red blooded vampire would do. He kissed him back.

Xander gripped his arms, probably sensing some new sort of intensity to his girlfriend. The kiss could have lasted forever but Angel knew that was hardly practical. He pulled away and kissed Xander on the nose. "Come on," he said. "We have to help Buffy."

They were at the stoplights, the cold light from the mayor's house already in sight, when Angel felt something about himself change. He fell back a couple of steps, squeezing his eyes shut from a blinding pain that made him wonder if Cordelia had a bottle of Aspirin in these pockets of hers. When he opened them again, he knew something was different. Xander was the same height now, staring like Angel had just crawled out of a fresh grave.

"*Angel?*"

Their eyes locked for a minute, their mouths open a little as a million thoughts passed between them. Angel broke the silence first.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go see if she's okay."

Xander followed without a word. So Angel didn't get to examine Xander's smooth jaw line or the softness of his lips. So he hadn't shown Xander the black satin sheets of his bed or acted on the intense passion he had felt a few minutes ago. But maybe some other time.