Pain.

It blocked out everything, the pure, unrestricted pain that rocketed up and down every moment of every day. He'd been unconscious for the first few days, and the next time he woke up he had two heads rather than one. The pain had spread to his spine and he knew exactly what was going on, Logan had explained it rather clearly. 

"It's going to be alright, Aeneas, this is a natural process. Remember how Anx was made? He split from Patton, and now you're splitting into two. Thomas is dividing his creative thoughts. It's natural, especially for children of religious background like Thomas, to split thoughts into two categories. This development will take years, but I will eventually be able to guide you two apart properly."

He wasn't listening. Every thought he gave Thomas sent a pain rocketing up the slowly splitting spine, and he couldn't control if he did or not. The pain died down to an ache, but the room was still spinning and Logan's words blended together as they fell on deaf ears. 

Imagine a flower drawing you could show mom.

He screamed. The pain got worse and worse and the thoughts burned like acid in his veins. Anx burst in, closely followed by Patton and Dee. They could only stare in horror at the sight before them.

Aeneas was splitting into two, each half representing a different side of creativity. The two heads sobbed in unison, screaming at the top of their lungs as another thought burned every nerve in their conjoined body. 

After a while, things died down. The initial splitting had started and every morning Aeneas would wake up just a little less whole than he used to be. After the heads split the shoulders followed, down until he was stuck wearing patchy, cut and sewn pieces of shirts and jackets. 

He split into two torsos, now going by Remus and Roman. The two got on like a house on fire on the outside, but sharing a bloodstream meant they could always tell how the other was feeling, because they'd feel the exact same way.

Roman was self-conscious, constantly trying to come up with ideas so he could have a body fully his own. This hurt like hell, all of it hurt. Pretty things didn't hurt, so he couldn't be pretty. And what better way to be pretty than to not be conjoined twins?

Remus had quickly figured out that he was "bad" creativity. He was everything Roman didn't want to be, and he knew that the others were discussing what to do about him, and possibly anxiety. But it was only one night when they went downstairs so Roman could refill his drink that they heard it.

"We can't just... let them stay together! They're going to want to  merge back together somehow. You've destroyed all of those fusion books, right?" Patton's voice echoed from the living room. The two heads ducked out of view, but they didn't go back upstairs. They knew, both of them needed to know.

"They're gone. Their information lies only with me. What about Anxiety though, we can't have him strengthening. He could hurt Thomas. He has hurt Thomas."

"Simple," came a charming hiss from uncomfortably close to the stairs, "I take Anxiety and Remus with me... as well as... him."

Remus conjured a tape recorder and set it to record, listening to the conversation as the machine spun quietly.

"But what about Roman? How do we get him to... to believe Remus is gone? And Anxiety? Those three are as close as can be..."

"We lie," Logan muttered in realisation, "we paint a scene for them. Remus first. Convince him that Roman is gone for good, that he hates him or wants him dead... then... then Roman. Tell him that Remus thought he'd be better off without Remus there. Give him a body, a note, something. He's gullible enough, it'll be easy."

Remus had heard enough, but Roman was frozen on the spot. There, across the narrow corridor, was Anxiety, pallid and chubby cheeked, eyes locked on Roman's. The two glanced at the door, then back at each other, and nodded.

"Leave the recorder, we'll pick it up in the morning." Roman whispered, tucking it under the old bookshelf before dragging Virgil upstairs.

"We can't do anything!" Virgil bawled, cuddled in the twins' lap. "We- we're never gonna see each other again!" His eyes were puffy and his cheeks rosy red, but both of the twins were trying to shush him. "I want things to go back to the way they were before," He whispered, "I want Aeneas back..."

"We want him back too... but we can't have him back like this... we're split, possibly for good..." Roman hugged Virgil, playing with his hair. "There's nothing we can do, except try to slow down any ideas we give and... Make the others change their minds."

Virgil had closed his eyes, trying to comfort himself by humming a tune he'd heard on the radio. 

***

Roman started to cry as Logan tried to tug them away from Virgil. "Come on, we can split you totally now! Stop being idiots!" He scolded, tugging at Roman's sleeve. "Two inches of skin and sinew, that's all that's keeping you two together!"

"Maybe we don't want to split up!" Remus smacked Logan, summoning his mace in his free hand. "Don't make me use this!" 

The twins were sobbing, Roman tried to hold Remus back, but he couldn't hold back his other half, they were evenly matched. "Remus! If we ever want to go back to being Aeneas we need Logan!" 

***

"... just frame the halves and call them brothers, find your fathers and your mothers..."

"If you remember... who they are."

Remus glanced up, smiling at Roman. "You're here... did it go well?" He  asked hopefully, pulling himself up and going to hug his brother. Roman stepped back, eyes cast down. He mumbled something, though Remus couldn't hear him. The light-clothed creativity sniffled, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Regina Spektor's Call them brothers... fitting..." He murmured, holding himself tightly and stifling his sobs with one hand. Remus hugged him, rubbing his back gently. "Aeneas may not be coming back... but we'll remember him..."

"I want to feel complete... this hollow... hollow feeling... it's awful," He whispered, hugging his brother back. Remus nodded solemnly in agreement. "How many people can say they've waltzed with them-self though?" He joked, hiding his tears.

"I miss us... we were... so happy..."

"That we were brother, that we were..."