This is what gets me:
One of the prime reasons, I think, that Vincent loathes Xerx so much has to do with the lesson Break has taught his younger brother.
“The thing you need. Is it really Oz Vessalius? It’s about time you graduated from being a spoiled brat. Or else eventually you’ll use your own hand to hurt the thing most important to you.”
Even when he’s half dead, the creepy-ass fucker, rarely do we see Xerx any more than five steps ahead of the main characters. He knows what’s up, pardon the phrase. So we know he means what he says. Over the course of the manga, Break has berated, and teased, and prodded Gilbert for his dependence on his master. Until recently, Gilbert has so relied on his ‘master’ that he didn’t know how to make decisions by himself. Gilbert’s whole character revolved around Oz Vessalius, like Vincent’s whole character revolved around Gilbert Nightray. Which doesn’t usually turn out so peachy.
Our Xerx himself, of course, has learned this lesson painfully, when he slaughtered over a hundred people—more, he has realized, to put himself and his own guilt at ease than to help his own master. This partially explains the adamancy of his crusade against Gilbert’s obsessive behavior. And we all know, too, that he was right; Gilbert did use that hand to hurt the thing most precious to him.
Damn psychic.
Well, here’s the thing: Gilbert has made a decision, now. When he was Gilbert’s age, Xerx was unable to let go of his own guilt, and become a, erm, creepy-ass lackey, to his own need. This time, because of the lessons Gilbert has learned from him, Gilbert was able to sever—rather literally—all that made him a servant, and become Oz’s friend over his valet. He has begun to open his mind more and more, and make his own decisions. And ain’t Break proud of him, too?
Aw, what a sweet dude.
Now, why would this tick Vincent off? I mean, he should be happy for his brother. Oh, and he and Break have a lot in common, too. They can both be creepy as fuck, anyway. But the two characters are oppositional forces in Gilbert’s life. While Vincent represents Gilbert’s childhood—and all he was as a character before now, as Gilbert was somewhat a child up ‘til now—Break represents this new Gilbert, the force that molded his real self. Vincent represents everything Gilbert felt for his master, all the guilt and the need and the obsessive love he felt for him, without the ability to cherish himself as a human being. Break hates the fucker because he refuses to learn the lesson Gilbert has. He doesn’t understand that such destructive behavior will only hurt his cherished person. Vincent has based his whole self, his whole character off of a version of Gilbert that has begun to slip away. Gilbert has found his salvation, and Vincent doesn’t feel needed anymore. Gilbert has even verbally forgiven him.
Well, shit. You base yourself off of your own guilt and someone else’s needs and now you don’t have a reason to be guilty and they don’t need your help anymore. Your reason to live, or to die, whichever you prefer, has been stripped away. So, erm, so much for that.
Now what the fuck do you do with yourself?
Well, first you beat the shit out of the person that did this to you, I guess.
