Narrator's POV

Ciel was shocked as the confession fell from his twin's lips.

To be the one that survived in Astre's place, no he did not want such a world.

It was not that Astre was too weak to have gone through the countless surgeries and experiments Undertaker had forced upon Ciel in their quest to fully revive him —no his sweet little brother had proven himself quite resilient these past few years— it was the opposite.

Ciel knew he himself was too weak to have been Earl Phantomhive and the Queen's Watchdog without his beloved twin by his side.

When they were little, and it stayed true even now, Ciel had been the stoic face of the operation —the heir all feared— while Astre had the true brains and manipulator behind the scenes.

Because Astre had always been helpless to his asthma spells and sickly constitution, he had spend countless hours bed-bound reading and learning and filling his head with knowledge.

Meanwhile Ciel had to be basically dragged to all of their lessons —excluding his private Watchdog training with their father and fencing whenever Aunt Frances came to visit— even on the best of days and only ever did the bare minimum whereas Astre excelled.

It had been so hard to keep Astre from finding out about the music hall until they were ready, but they had just managed it by the skin of their teeth by throwing him off using the Aurora Society.

"No, do not say that." Ciel comforted, taking his twin's hands in his own

Astre frowned, closing his eyes fo try and conceal his tears, "It is true, everyone always preferred you to me."

"That is not true at all, starshine, grief and survivors guilt are blinding you." Ciel soothed, "You were always the precious one where I was merely the heir."

"W-What?" The younger twin asked, confused, everyone had always liked Ciel more

"Mother and father adored you, they were always concerned about your fragile health. I was expected to always attend everything with father even when I did not want to, but you were always given a choice of you wanted to come along and if you were too sick to come they always tried to reschedule or cancel the trips if they could but you always denied the notion." The elder explained

"Because I am the spare." Astre shot down

The undead blunette frowned, "I could strangle Aunt Frances for putting that vile word in your head. You are not my understudy, you are my precious baby brother."

"No one missed me." The younger pointed out, "No one even brought me up when they thought I was you."

"That is because Aunt Frances loves nothing." Ciel practically spat before calmly adding, "And think about it, the entire family knew how close we are, they probably did not want to bring you up and remind 'me' that you were not here anymore. Of course letting you grieve alone was not the proper thing to do, but from Lizzy has told me they all grieved us during that horrible month and especially you after 'I' reappeared."

Astre said nothing to that, deep in thought: was it possible that he had felt so stuck in Ciel's shadow that he never noticed his family's affections.

Ciel frowned at his brother's silence but did not comment on it, merely beginning to clean them both before their skin went clammy and the water got too much colder.

Once they were both clean, Ciel maneuvered his silent twin out of the tub and dried them both off before taking them back to the bedroom and dressing them both.

In all this time, Astre did not say a word, just letting himself get pulled around like a doll as he thought.

Once Ciel began to cuddle him, Astre burst into tears.

The elder twin was shocked, asking his twin if he was hurt.

Astre just hugged him tightly, sobbing against his chest as he tried to regain his composure.

"It is okay, starshine." Ciel comforted, "I am here."

***

After a new minutes, Astre calmed down but stayed clinging to his twin.

"Astre?" Ciel asked

"Yes, skylight?" Astre softly replied

Ciel beamed at the nickname, knowing his brother had truly accepted the truth that he was back.

"I love you." The elder twin smiled, pressing a kiss to the younger's forehead

Astre cuddled closer to him, "I love you too."

"Do you feel better?" Ciel asked

The slightly shorter blunette nodded, "A bit."

"That is good. Let's go to bed and tomorrow you can talk with Lizzy and she can assure you that everything I have told you is true." Ciel said, running his fingers through his brother's hair, "You are not an extra; we were not a 'buy-one, get-one-free' arrangement. You are our most precious one."

Astre just nodded, hearing the words but having trouble accepting them.

"Goodnight." Ciel softly said, turning off the bedside lamp

Astre stayed put where he was, using his brother's chest as his pillow, listening to the sounds of its beats.

As he listened to the weak beats he remembered what Ciel had said to him before he had locked him in the closet for being naughty:

"See, my heart beats. It beats for you."

The living twin blushed at the sweetness of it.

His long black lashes fluttered close, hiding his mismatched eyes as he fell asleep.

***

A few hours later but ling before sunrise, the door to Lord Sirius' room opened and a tall figure slipped in.

Undertaker smiled at the sight of the twins cuddled together in bed, a smile on their faces as well.

He moved silently, his heeled boots not making a sound on the carpeted floor.

Once he reached the side of the bed, he reached into the pocket and pulled out two small glass vials no bigger than his pinky.

He pulled the stopper out of the first one, a clear medicine that would hopefully allow Ciel more freedom from the transfusion machine.

Carefully parting the sleeping blunette's lips, he poured the medication in and waited for him to swallow.

Once Ciel's Adam's apple bobbed, he knew he had so he opened the second bottle.

Unlike the one given to Ciel, this one was tinted slightly pink and the undead twin had requested he give it to Astre.

So, he parted Astre's lips gently as he had Ciel's and fed him the elixir, watching him swallow it as well.

With both vials empty, the reaper stared at the twins affectionately for a moment more before leaving the room as silently as he had came...