Narrator's POV

The following morning, the twins bid their extended family goodbye and had Lizzy continue looking after Sebastian until the 'mess' was cleaned up —aka all the servants were taken care of.

They then left to make their next stop on the way home.

Athena Sanatorium for Wounded Servicemen was the best sanatorium in the country.

It had the lowest mortality rates and was the cleanliest by miles.

The latter fact is what made the former true, though the cleanliness was not for the soldier's benefit but for their blood.

Tainted blood could keep imperfect Bizarre Dolls —like the ones on the Campania— functioning but it hurt perfect ones like Ciel and the other Star Lords, so every precaution was made to prevent the blood from being ruined.

The fact that all the cleaning kept the soldiers from dying of horrible infections was just a happy accident to those behind the scenes.

***

Bard or Matthew Burgh, the second son of a nobleman who was harmed in war, scowled as he walked down the halls of the Sanatorium.

He had no idea what to do.

Sebastian had sent him here to destroy the blood collection facility so they could rescue the Young Master from the imposter.

But, he was torn.

This place was actually helping soldiers reenter society, keeping them alive where most would have let them die.

And, he had seen that the nurses only collected blood from those willing and healthy enough to donate.

No one here knew that the blood collected was not going to some 'research institution' but was actually fueling the undead so they did not deserve to be slain.

Steeling himself, he grabbed the gun he had hidden and went to Ada, the head nurse, where she was in the blood drawing room cleaning up.

"Where are you keeping all the blood?" Bard asked, holding the gun to the back of her head

Ada gave a shuddered breath, "The miracle healer keeps it in her office."

"Take me there." Bard demanded, pressing the gun harder against her head

The nurse did as told, taking him upstairs to a narrow hallway and pointed to the farthest door, "It is in there."

The first thing Bard saw upon entering the small office was his young master sitting at the table in front of a chess board, moving the white pieces.

The white queen took the black king.

"It seems you win, baby brother." Another voice said

Bard immediately noticed the imposter sitting across from his master.

"Only at chess." The blunette wearing an eyepatch shrugged

"Father and I were the only ones who could ever beat you at games, it seems you have finally beaten me too." The imposter pouted

"Do not be so dramatic, skylight, it is but chess." The shorter boy soothed, "I am certain you will win our next game."

Bard stood there in shock, thinking they had not yet noticed him.

If he worked quickly, he could capture the imposter and save his master now.

But, before he could move and put his plan in motion, his master spoke.

"Please do give us a moment, Bard, you caught us at quite the unexpected time." He said, not even looking at him

The imposter nodded, "Yeah, we were not even going to confront you until tomorrow. We had a whole plan and everything and you soiled it!"

"Calm yourself, Ciel, it is not good for you to get riled up this late in the week." Astre softly said, "It would not do for you to fall in need of a transfusion right now in front of him, we are already embarrassed enough as it is."

The undead boy crossed his arms, "I am calm."

"Sure you are." The living one replied, kissing his cheek

The nearly identical boys then turned to face the man in the room.

"We were going to have Ada jump you before you woke up tomorrow and take you to the basement, but it seems you foiled that." The imposter frowned

"He did not really foil that, Ada can still do that now." The young master shrugged

Bard suddenly found himself smacked in the head with a metal tray, going unconscious immediately.

***

Hours later —or was it just minutes— Bard woke up chained to a wall in what he assumed was a basement.

Just like the rest of the sanatorium, it was extremely pristine and free of rats and other could creatures.

He was completely alone save the machine nearby that was connected to him through the needle in his arm.

The blond stared at the slowly filling glass vial labeled 'Vega', knowing that his blood was being stolen.

The chef was taken out of his staring when he heard footsteps approaching him from down the stairs.

He saw his young master enter the dark room holding a candle.

"Hello, Bard." The teen greeted

"What the hell is going on? Why are you helping the imposter when we are tryin' to save you!" Bard yelled

"There is nothing I need protection from besides Sebastian." The blunette calmly replied, "My brother would never hurt me. Speaking of my twin, I did try to convince him to spare you and have you remain here to be a blood bank but he just would not have it. I will share a secret with you though, since you cannot really share it with anyone: Ciel is so stubborn he makes me look docile and he also has anger issues —our parents never got to address it and it has gotten a bit worse but he is also easy to manipulate, so it evens out. Unfortunately for you, thwarting his plan to capture you in the morning and interrupting us really angered him and now he wants you dead. So, you will be drained of all your blood and your corpse buried unceremoniously in the forest."

Bard just stared at him in shock, barely able to believe that they had been betrayed.

He and the other servants had spent the past four years of their lives protecting him with their all and he was just throwing them away like garbage.

And the young master was doing it because his crazy undead brother told him to.

No further words were exchanged as the blunette walked back up the stairs, not even bothering to say goodbye.

Bard leaned his head against the stone brick wall, at least he would be with his wife and son again...