The night when he revealed to Conner who he truly was—that they were brothers—the two of them hugged and promised to never keep another secret from each other. Desmond told him the full truth then, about the Citium, and the Looking Glass, a device that would change the world and allow both of them to be healed, to start over, to literally rewrite the past if they wanted. He saw what he had hoped to see since the moment Conner had walked out of that run-down apartment: true transformation. Hope. Faith. Belief that a happy life was possible for him.

Peyton had been right: Desmond did need someone to save. Helping Conner gave purpose to his life. The Looking Glass took on a whole new meaning for him. It became their project, their obsession. The two brothers, along with Yuri, became the trinity guiding the project, each with their own component: Desmond oversaw the creation of Rendition, Yuri created Rapture, and Conner completed Rook.

And then everything changed. Desmond learned the truth about what Yuri intended to do. He learned about the pandemic, and he was horrified.

But Conner wasn’t; he insisted that it was the only way. He was willing to do anything for the Looking Glass; Desmond wasn’t.

In the conference room on the Kentaro Maru, they fought over it, said things they both regretted. A bridge officer opened the door and informed them that an American expedition had found the Beagle, the Citium research submarine that had conducted advanced research in the early years of the Looking Glass. It was a tomb at the bottom of the ocean that held secrets they wanted to keep buried—secrets that might compromise everything they were doing.

Conner ordered a strike on the American ship. Desmond pleaded for him not to, but it was no use. Conner and Yuri were going forward with the pandemic, and there was nothing Desmond could say to convince them not to. So he created a plan to stop them.

Desmond contacted Garin Meyer, an investigative journalist in Berlin who had unknowingly stumbled upon the Citium conspiracy. Desmond tried and failed to expose the Citium before the pandemic began, but Conner and Yuri acted too quickly.

Yet Desmond had also created a backup plan: hiding Rendition and erasing his own memories. In doing so, he prevented Conner and Yuri from completing the Looking Glass and ensured they couldn’t kill him. He hid clues to himself in the hotel room in Berlin and in the Labyrinth Reality app. His backup plan had led him to Peyton; to William; and now here, to the Isle. Behind him, Avery held the tablet with the list of sites with the cure. If they could transmit the data to Rubicon, the information could save countless lives.