Vincent Nightray had known what he wanted from his life since he was eight years old.
He wanted his brother, Gilbert, to be happy.
He knew that he was the worst thing that could have ever happened to his brother. His entire existence was the problem. Him, with his cursed red eye.
Since he had been born, his parents had hidden him away in their disgust and dismay at the mark of misfortune staring out of his face. He was the son they never acknowledged they had. Vincent had to have been unlucky for them, for when Vincent was four years old, a fire burned their house down and the parents lost everything, except for the two children. If Gilbert had not pulled Vincent out of his room to safety, Gilbert would have lived the rest of his life as an only child.
As it was, their beleaguered parents sold them to the circus, where he was made into a part of their freak show, despite the initial misgivings of the circus owner. The children's fortunes worsened; now, in addition to being neglected, they were beaten and starved. Most times, they forgot to feed him, not caring if he lived or died. After all, if he died, his stigma died with him. If he lived, he would continue being a cursed attraction of the circus. It was only due to Gilbert sharing his paltry, and often, stolen rations of food and water that he had managed to survive on.
Then, in perfect keeping with Vincent's cursed luck, the circus ran into debt, the performers suffered fatal or crippling accidents, and the animals started dropping dead in their stalls. Everyone blamed Vincent for their misfortunes and voted unanimously to abandon him in the back alleys of the darkest slums to die.
Gilbert might have stayed with the circus and lived a marginally better life, but he ran away from that meager security to be with him. Gilbert continued sharing his beatings, his discomforts, all this while protecting him as they were driven from backdoor to alleyway, even as shopkeepers screamed in terror and fury on seeing his red eye, at his temerity for daring to seek shelter so near their homes, for scattering his misfortunes so close to their hearths. He loved his brother for staying with him during those horrible times, for all the times his brother could've left him while he was sleeping but didn't.
It wasn't as if Gilbert had never thought about leaving; he could see it in the conflicted lines of his brother's dirty and bruised face. Everyday, Gilbert made his choice to stay and Vincent loved him more every time he woke up and saw his brother staying by his side and planning how to survive another day together.
Vincent silently vowed to Gilbert, that as Gilbert had protected him, so too, would Vincent protect Gilbert when the time came.
The bond between brothers was special, Gilbert had taught him that.
Out of the blue, they were taken in by the Baskervilles, who seemed to have no fear of Vincent's unlucky red eye. They were taken care of, fed and clothed. They slept in warm beds for what seemed to be the first time in their lives and it seemed that their fortunes had turned.
One day, they were introduced to Alice, the strange girl locked up in the tower. They had tried to be friends but Alice taunted Vincent in her fey moods and Gilbert had lost his temper and fought Alice in a rage on his behalf.
"How dare you say such things about him!" he had screamed. Gilbert had been punished for his violent outburst and the girl seemed unrepentant, so Vincent killed Cheshire, her cat, and left it where she could find it. Her cries of anguish over her dead pet were a barely acceptable balm to assuage his rage for the punishment meted out to Gil.
That will teach you to put on acts and taunt us, he thought vindictively. Leave us alone!
She still continued taunting Vincent with her barbed words however, and it was from her that Vincent found out that Gilbert was to be sacrificed, taken away from him and turned into the next vessel of Glen Baskerville. How she knew all this, locked away in her tower, was a mystery.
Gil, a sacrifice? After all we've had been through? He had scoffed at first, but all signs indicated that it was true and Vincent grew more and more frantic. That was why he had listened to the hooded lady with blood-red hair, had listened to her instructions on how to open the Abyss. Disrupt the ceremony, she had said, and your brother will be saved.
Anything, he had thought, to save Gil. As long as Gil was saved, it would be alright.
Except, that it wasn't.
The bloody, fiery aftermath that had followed the opening of the Abyss totally horrified him and that was when he finally believed he truly was the Child of Misfortune. One that had caused the death of tens of thousands, one that had caused a beautiful, innocent city to be wiped off the map. One that had resulted in his brother being slashed from behind by their master's best friend, and their master, murdered. One that had caused the loss of a place they could finally call home, caused them to be thrown into the dark, bloody and monster-filled Abyss, one that had caused them to be spat out a hundred years later in a time and place that was not their own.
But at least they was alive! Alive! That had to count for something, right?
Sablier,... It wasn't his fault!
All he had wanted to do was to save his brother! The brother that had always been there for him.
His most precious person... The most important person to Vincent in the whole wide world.
He was adopted by the Nightrays, a gamble for the slighted family to remain in power. He had located Gilbert through the Nightray's connections. Though his brother had lost his memory and sworn himself into the service of the Vessalius, he still remembered his brotherly bond of family with Vincent, even if he remembered nothing else.
That was fine with Vincent. He was relieved, even. There was no need for Gilbert to remember all that he had suffered for him. In fact, that was for the best. So long as Gilbert was safe, Vincent would be happy.
Gilbert would not remain safe for long, though. Not while he remained kind and naïve. Not while he remained in the poisonous Nightray household. Not while he was forced to do the dirty jobs that came with being the Nightray heir.
Something was afoot, tied in with the Vessalius boy's disappearance. The more Vincent found out, the more alarmed he became. Not for himself, naturally.
For Gilbert was in the thick of it all.
So Vincent plotted and schemed, while maintaining a flirtatious, harmless persona. Most people believed the sugar-coated personality that he put up for the world to see, even Gil.
(There were exceptions, like the Mad Hatter, but that was because they were the same kind, down to the frivolous front and their red eyes. Vincent rued that he couldn't get rid of Xerxes Break, but as long as even he had no evidence of where Vincent's true intentions and loyalties lie, he could suffer him to live. It was even somewhat of an enjoyable game and who knew? The Hatter could prove to be a useful piece on Vincent's chessboard.)
And what a game it was. Things were happening that most people were unaware, even those who considered themselves key players. He secretly contracted with The Queen of Hearts. Became proficient at, then downplayed his proficiency with guns. Killed the brothers who had plotted to kill his brother. He had made use of so many people, and been used, all to maneuver himself into a position of power and opportunity so he could act when the time came. All for Gilbert's sake.
But, still, he could not protect his brother from suffering. His fault, his fault, all his fault.
Then, the Vessalius boy reappeared, ten years later, with Alice. Things were beginning to move more quickly.
So, when he located Leo, the current Glen vessel, he swore himself into his service. His price was simple. He wanted his existence to be erased, so that Gilbert would live a life free from all the misfortune that Vincent had brought into it, from the moment he had been born. He wanted the past to be rewritten without him.
It had been a long battle, but they finally prevailed. They prevented the rewriting the Tragedy of Sablier, they saved the world. Leo came back from Glen's possession. Despite everything that had happened, Vincent's decision had remained the same.
In the bloody aftermath and smoking rubble of a burning city, Leo granted Vincent's wish.
A gap to the Abyss had opened, and Vincent had walked into it willingly.
"VINCE~~~NT! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Vincent's heart flew when he heard Gil shout his name. Gilbert had come looking for him!
He saw his brother break into a run, running! To stop his foolish little brother before the Abyss sealed shut.
His brother cared for him. Had always cared for him. (He could face the Abyss with equanimity, knowing this.)
Vincent looked at the anguished face of the one he loved the most, and felt a small flicker of regret at having caused such an expression on Gil's face. Everything he did seemed to inevitably cause his brother pain.
It's alright, Vincent told himself. This would be the last time his brother would wear such a heartbroken expression. If everything could be rewritten, if all the suffering could be undone, then Vincent would gladly let himself be erased by the Abyss a million times over, no matter how painful the process would be. His only regret was that it couldn't have been done sooner.
He straightened and smiled, despite the blood, the hurts and the wounds, his last small act for Gilbert.
"Please walk in the sunshine for me, my dear brother," he whispered as the Abyss sealed shut.