A/N: Lol

Chapter 41: The Hanged Man

A drink together wasn't an unusual way for Willy and Anteros to top off their nights. Tybur had to plan and divide up his days wisely and spend his valuable time accordingly, ranging from discrete political work, to spending what he would figure out was 'enough' time with his family, if he got any meaningful time with them at all on any given day. The man used to spend far more time with them, and they even did frequent traveling, as he had no real need to be living in Marley; he may be the one who holds true control from the shadows, but he had trust in the visible government to do things just fine by him. That was before his presence became too seductive to ignore... As things went along with their own plans, time with his family had diminished, he didn't travel with them anymore, he took more interest in how his country was functioning under the government he had been so unconcerned with before he became bound to Marley. With that, he did have more work keeping him busy, but it was brief and detached from others – yet he still used that as an excuse for the time with his family shrinking.

Once more, thanks to him, what kept his attention on work these days was the darker operations he was involved with regarding weapons development, namely The Atlas Project, and bolstering the general power of Marley's military secretly. Atlas was considered close to Black Ops, for the time being he kept his name out of it to claim deniability if something went wrong, and even just a small, specialized sector of the military, as well as the invaluable research scientists specializing in the field, were brought on for it – also sworn to secrecy outside appropriate channels with very few names disclosed – the names being only those willing to take the fall for the love of their country and protecting others involved if the work on nuclear weaponry went awry. Those plans were kept to himself at all costs, except for the one on a need to know basis: the white haired man sitting opposite Willy at the small table, situated before large doors that were mostly composed of glass panes that lead out to a balcony. They were open that night, for the air was fresh and temperature pleasant, leaving the diaphanous curtains lightly flowing. He was the one who kept Willy here in Marley; if they had never met, Willy probably would have kept up the facade of a life he was living before, the life he was expected to live... but at least, he still kept up appearances of that life as much as he could; somehow succeeding well enough at having his cake and eating it too. As for now, he and his partner would live in the moment as time marched forward and they awaited their goals to come to fruition, sharing their usual ritual for the end of the night when there was no more work or planning to be done.

Willy was drinking a red wine, his preferred alcoholic beverage, but his cohort had opted for something with a little more punch than usual. Anteros too was a lover of wine and had become a bit of an aficionado through their years of friendship and living with Willy, so it was rare to see him pour something harder for himself. He took a measured approach to the whiskey in his small glass, the man wasn't looking to get drunk, but something drew him towards the drink and Willy hadn't chosen to ask why yet.

Willy's jobs and duties were obvious, but what Anteros would do during the day was sometimes unclear when it came to taking time out on the town, but he enjoyed his luxurious surroundings anyway and had no need to venture far or for long; Willy made sure the needs of his long term guest were more than merely met, in fact he hoped he exceeded them. Anteros had a fondness for research, having spent much of his time reading and devoting his mind to learning things across a wide range of subjects – from biology, herbology and botany, philosophy, religion, autobiographies by notable figures, anything that happened to catch his interest at any given time, but he wasn't a fan of fiction; Anteros chose to enrich himself with knowledge, he even casually pursued a few years of higher education a while back where claimed to want a challenge during his time waiting, but he found no real intellectual challenge in that. Willy, who happened to bankroll the lavish whimsy of his ally, joked that he only did it to cite his education to add credibility to things he said. How much Anteros retained from his numerous paths of study, Willy couldn't be sure. A surprising facet of himself that he had revealed to Willy on a night not unlike this in the past, was that he had a fondness for poems, but he would only write them in his native language – which was all a bunch of nonsense runes to Willy, so he had no idea what sort of poems or even perhaps philosophical writing Anteros would be doing.

When not engaging in academia, Willy would occasionally allow the alluring whispers of the lithe man into his ears when he was at a crossroads on an issue, political or otherwise. Anteros didn't exactly have a huge impact on Tybur's political goings on, minimal as they still were, but every so often he'd offer up words of advice he might have if he thought it would help strengthen the nation of Marley; for he knew that to show some devotion to Marley would keep things running smoothly. In fact, Anteros was the one who incidentally got Willy making a quiet, but urgent, push towards some new weaponry; little did Willy know the military was already in coded talks about it before he covertly contacted them, but things didn't get off the ground until Tybur involved himself with his money and sway.

"Marley will need something better than Titans in the coming years, you know. With them gone and no back up plan ready and waiting once you have left this world, what do you think would happen to your dear home? It won't be good, I can tell you that much... There must be something out there that can topple any other nation the way Titans would in the past, but even stronger, something that hasn't been tried or discovered yet. I know Titans aren't the be all end all of power, but in terms of what most of the world knows... finding a way to surpass them as convenient weapons... Something more efficient, deadly, there must be..."

Willy knew this ranting had to have come from a mixture of his partner's grand plan and time spent in history books, it was too impromptu and not as calculating as if it were a pre-planned thought he had in his pocket, waiting to be strategically brought out. Even the way he spoke was out of character for Anteros, who usually kept up his tone charming, cool or alluring with a very specific cadence, when he said that Anteros sounded more candid than he did most of the time – inquisitive or like he was thinking out loud even, when mentioning that there had to be something to conquer nations that weren't Titans. For the man who seemed to have all the answers, his voice and demeanor when he was realizing he was at a loss was foreign to hear. Now they were here with military development silently taking place in the background of society with it's citizens, even a large portion of the military itself, none the wiser.

"Why is it..."

Willy looked up when he heard his friend speak. His white hair was completely let loose as took out the tie that held up the top half earlier in the night.

"Why is it that you keep your hair that long?" Anteros asked, holding his tiny glass up to his eyes by it's rim, "Surely it's not practical for a man in your position. For optics, I mean. And on top of the length, you always have it down like that. When I think of a politician, you really aren't what comes to mind."

"I'm flattered, although I don't think you deliberately meant that as a compliment," Willy chuckled quietly, "I think maybe that's it, or part of it at least, I don't exactly want to look like one. Nobody likes a politician, and you know I rarely have to make appearances anyway."

"I hear you put on a nice suit when you have to," Anteros mused, his sardonic ways starting to return, as he rested the glass onto the table, his gaze following it and keeping his head down while he hunched with his elbows resting on the table, "Now that must look interesting. A crisp, tailored suit for a special occasion paired with that hair of yours."

Willy raised his glass to his lips for a sip and said with a slight grin, "Maybe you'll have the misfortune of seeing it one day."

"Tch, wouldn't that be just lovely..." Anteros finally sat back up straight and extended further by stretching and letting his head fall backwards too for a brief moment before assuming proper posture, "A real sight to see... Well, now you've got me curious. Make sure you do it before you die."

Willy, despite the morbid statement maintained that grin, held his wine glass up, "Maybe I'll end up well dressed for my death, whenever it comes."

A sincere, but subdued laugh rumbled out of Anteros, "And make sure you keep your hair just the same so I can see just how ridiculous you'll look," a dark smirk pulled on his lips.

"To be perfectly honest I think you're jealous of mine being a bit longer than yours," Tybur joked in response and instinctively ran one of his hands through his hair that draped partially over his face, "In all seriousness... I've been prepared to die on your terms for a long time now, so making an effort to try and put on a suit and tie for the occasion isn't a tall order to fill."

"Ah..." The white haired man stood up, his staggering height always somewhat jarring when he went from seated to standing, "You really are one of the good ones. So technically... The only good one, really. Yeager is useful but he's still a pathetic dog. All Eldians are subhuman filth... But somehow you're different, and without your help I wouldn't be in such an advantageous position... I really owe it to you..."

"Anteros," Willy stood up too and approached his partner who had trailed off, concerned, "Are you sure that whiskey didn't get to you? You've never been so complimentary to me without some reason behind it, and even then I can tell in the tone of your voice that you're not all that sincere about it."

"What?! No, no of course it didn't... but..." The shocked Anteros quickly brushed Willy's statements away, before he looked him straight in the eye, "Why were you so willing to take me in anyway, Willy? Not even just willing but... eager?"

That familiar subtle, sinister way of infecting his words so that they were darkly alluring – that tone and cadence that beckoned an answer or at least one's attention, to those susceptible to it anyway, and Willy was one of those vulnerable to it. In fact, the majority of people would be taken in by his speech if he approached them and let his angelic, charismatic aura do the rest. After his moment of slipping into a, perhaps unintentionally, more honest statement about how he feels about his comrade – not that it was all that different than the things he'd said before about Willy; Anteros had fairly recently said he considered Willy Tybur 'as close to' one of the good ones as one can get... but this time, he spoke with certainty about it, and reiterated it, with the whole time sounding like he could have really meant all those words and said them with no expectation to gain anything. It sparked the possibility that, deep down in his dark soul, Anteros legitimately considered Willy a true friend, but even in a moment of thoughtless transparency he wouldn't go as far as to say that. Of course, once called out on his strange shift, he had made his heel turn back to normalcy – and hopefully, control.

"Eager, was I?" Willy asked, amused, "It's been so long that I don't remember being exceptionally insistent..."

"You were," Anteros informed him, "I also remember... your hair was shorter then too."

"Hah, back to the hair again?" Willy laughed as he placed his glass down on the table, but Anteros wasn't laughing; Anteros was waiting for an answer, "I remember... after the 'disaster' with the rest of your people is when I and other members of my family first met with you... we didn't get a chance to meet with you all before that since we had been away when we got word of 'political refugees' having arrived in Marley. I was still just the successor in waiting, but that also meant I had some sway."

"Hmm, right. You were still only poised to become the ruler of Marley... just a few years older than me too... your father was still the head of the family at the time," Anteros added to the recollection, "I recall him not being fond of me, so the sway you had was clearly effective."

"You had nowhere to go," Willy continued, "And you were some kind of important person, something like royalty. You'd lost everything, you were valuable and the fact that you came from the island was interesting... I thought it'd be a reasonable short term thing until you got your life figured out... but..."

The grin had never left his face, but it grew bigger as Anteros listened to Willy recount those days – and he also knew what was coming next.

Willy exhaled deeply, "But then we started to speak more about the Eldians and what a... problem they are."

"I do love how to talk as if you're not one of them," Anteros smugly replied, "That aside, it was a shock that you took interest in me despite my open disdain towards your kind. I needed to bite my tongue when I realized how much more beneficial it'd be for me to rub elbows with the family ruling over this country. I had already allied with Yeager, but I wanted to keep my alliances minimal, especially if they had to be with Eldians. But knowing you were part of the most powerful family in this country, set to become it's leader even, you were the last alliance I'd ever need to make after Yeager."

"I could still easily see your hatred for them regardless of you trying to 'bite your tongue,' you must be lousy at poker," Willy remarked, "And I spoke honestly about it with you in private, about how I wish I'd never been born and how the world would be better off without us. That I understood what you felt was justified and that we shared that feeling."

The ever-present smile on the white haired man's face shifted into one of dark joy, "You really captured my heart with that little chat back then," He replied with the typical sarcasm he added to almost anything nice he had to say, "An influential Eldian so willingly telling me how much he hates his own kind, how much he hates himself... A beautiful partnership was blooming before my very eyes."

"Yes, I too had a feeling there was some mutual gain to be made," Willy replied, "And look where we are now, I took a gamble on a ha- a stranger and it paid off more than I think either of us could have predicted."

The man lightly pounded his fist against his chest and feigned that he had something stuck in his throat to cover up his near slip up; he hoped he could pass off the sudden disruption in his speaking with a few fake coughs and not face scrutiny and escape suspicion from the man he almost carelessly admitted to finding handsome. Given that Anteros didn't have a change in expression or spoke up about it, Willy felt some peace of mind, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder if he knew anyway and just chose to ignore it. His green eyes were shrouded in mystery as ever, so trying to read them for an answer was useless. It's just that Willy's reasoning behind his answer about why he initially took him in, it left him a bit shocked that Anteros didn't find his flimsy rationalizations odd and press for more. While what he said was still true, Willy had been quite stunned by the angelic appearance he had back then, and still does to this day, and he was drawn to him.

Willy had a life he was expected to live as not just a member of the Tybur family, but as the leader of the greatest nation in the world as well. For that reason he kept that part of himself hidden and eventually married and sired children, so many that it seemed like he was overcompensating. Willy was even recently married upon meeting with the supposed last Hyperian, which made it feel like the great act of matrimony to cover himself in was for nothing, but he stuck with what he must do for the good of his image, even if he wasn't all that visible to many it would be foolish to let his guard down when nobody was looking. The man with the white hair was an eternal wrench thrown into a life he otherwise could have lived without any issue, but also his saving grace with his promise to eradicate the Eldians. Willy Tybur couldn't be happier to have this elegant and evil being in his life, but he knew that to Anteros he was merely a means to an end – but he knew that since the beginning, and he accepted that he'd be lucky to actually hear Anteros refer to him as a real friend – he may not have heard those exact words, but the insinuation was close enough for him to feel some genuine happiness from it, whether Anteros' words came from a place of rambling sincerity or not; but if not, where else would that abnormal moment for Anteros have come from? The way in which he spoke reminded Willy of Anteros when he was thinking out loud about the future of war with no plan or cunning ideas behind it, just a revealing stream of consciousness.

"Quite the lucky gamble you made," Anteros remarked, making his way over the the balcony where his eyes raised up and met with his old, familiar friend: the moon.

Willy had quietly followed and stood next to him, making sure to grab his glass and what remained of the wine he poured into it first, "So, why did you change your drink tonight anyway?"

"Hm?" His long white hair swished over his face as he turned his head to look at Willy.

"It's uncharacteristic of you to stray from wine of any sort, and to whiskey too..." Willy explained, then took a sip before continuing, "Not only that, but the brand was the lowest quality out of anything in that cabinet. I know you too well to just blindly believe you would ever settle for something that beneath you, or want anything beneath you... And I know you think even a drink can be beneath you."

"Tch, have you been waiting to share your psychoanalysis of my drink choice all night? Surely none of that only just occurred to you."

"I was waiting for the right moment, yes," Tybur confirmed, then added with a scoff, "Though, I don't know if there's ever a good way to tell what the right moment is with you."

Anteros turned back forward and leaned heavily on the sturdy railing that surrounded it, lowering his head and letting his hair fall over his face, "It was... a reminder."

With those words, a haze fell upon him and he was drawn into a distant memory...

How sickening...

The Council had convened and Anteros had recently been made officially a member of the elite group that governs Hyperia, it only made sense as he was the only son of their Highborn leader. He was often called 'The Highborn Son" and he quite liked that title, it dripped with the same level of importance that he felt he was entitled to. The 'Highborn' title was only attributed to their family, but they didn't act like some sort of royalty; they lived among their peers and didn't do much different than anyone else, but there was also a subconscious acknowledgment that Anteros and his family inherently had a privilege over others – this is why his father was their leader, and Anteros would be his successor when the time came... if there was anything left to succeed.

They're all just so calm, Anteros thought as his eyes scanned around the other members there, whatever they were talking about had been filtered out from speech into white noise, No passion or conviction, everybody just agreeing, how can there be a society where it's representatives don't even have anything close to a disagreement?

All the men at the ovular table were both his mirror and his polar opposite: they all shared the very fair skin, white hair and peridot-green eyes, but all with their own distinct looks and body forms. The difference in their polarity was in how they thought and behaved. Anteros had been observing this meeting, and the last couple in the past he attended; he had only recently been granted access to this place, a subterranean space located beneath the center of their city, right where the statue of the goddess stood. Anyone else would say that it was meant to be that there would be a hollowed out space for the unseen workings of society's leaders right beneath the statue, saying that it was a blessed cavern and she continues to divinely protect even in death. Glowing stones that were naturally spaced around and embedded in all sides of this cavern, they came in varying sizes: some only as big as your thumb, some bigger than the largest man in the room. Their glow was singularly white, and they featured thin, metallic silver lining along the crystals in no symmetrical pattern, but there was a soft and subtle pulsing to them – all in unison. If there were any notable properties to these crystals, it was knowledge that didn't get shared with Anteros yet, so for all he knew they were just fancy, naturally occurring atmospheric lamps.

His head lazily laid in his hand, bored of these meetings where nothing exciting ever happened, nor did contentious debate spark up. Anteros had no idea what things were like in the past beyond his own lifetime, but he had a hard time believing his people were so benevolent and peaceful that something like a brief civil disagreement about where to allocate funds should go never happened. He wanted to believe there was more to their tiny governing body that bland agreements on the safest ideas, but nowadays there wasn't anything to start arguing about when only a few dozen people were left and that there was a unanimous agreement that they were in a crisis. Nothing brings people together quite like facing extinction, especially for a race as important as theirs; Anteros was privy to the secret they held that was kept from their society at large. Across their ovular table, Anteros took a glance at the man directly opposite him. He could easily tell this man wasn't paying attention to anything around him by the vacant look in his eyes despite his best efforts to nod and say 'mhm' now and then, something that the average person wouldn't exactly pick up on, but Anteros was the farthest thing from average.

I wonder what... I don't even remember the bastard's name... I wonder what he's daydreaming about over there. Let's see if it's anything fun.

He was a man of about middle age, round in the face and belly, who was quietly nodding along with whatever banal nonsense was being discussed – likely how they need to leave this place, which has been brought up each time Anteros has been present, and surely plenty of times before that. Suddenly, it made sense why this man was more aloof than others. Anteros let out a barely audible hum as he forced his way into the man's mind, he none the wiser that the youngest member was doing so. After a moment Anteros choked back a laugh.

Planning on asking a lady out on a date? For what purpose? They're all infertile... He thought with a grimace, This buffoon is nothing impressive anyway, it'd be a crime for him to reproduce if this is how he's looking. Doubtful he could carry a date far enough anyway.

"Anteros?" His father brashly called his name, getting his attention but Anteros kept staring forward with his head leaning into his hand, "A contribution?"

The Highborn Son limply waved his free hand at his father and said with amusement, "No, none at all."

"Right then, you may have some input on the next subject though," He replied, although Anteros didn't take him very seriously... until her name came up, "We must consider how we handle the situation if my daughter is able to bear children."

"What do you mean?!" Anteros shot up from his seat instantly, his attention was indeed captured, but his rage flared immediately as well, "What situation? Handle what? Everyone here knows that she's mine, that she's my future bride to be, I don't see what the relevance of h-"

"This no longer has anything to do with the sacred rites of matrimony, not when we are in peril such as we are..." His father stated flatly while his son stared wild eyed back at him, shaking with anger, "When she comes of age, you will wed and you will have her. If she is fertile and you two produce a child, then I propose that for the sake of diversifying the gene pool and spreading her childbearing blessings, that any remaining men partake in sowing their seeds."

There was a wave of dull humming among the other men, all nodding along in agreement as Anteros could predict. No dissent, no disagreements.

"You monster!" Anteros snarled, "How long did it take you to come up with a way of saying 'share her' or 'pass her around' without actually using those words?! Must have been a tough task for you, even a great orator couldn't make that up on the spot and not miss a beat! Did you have it rehearsed ahead of time? Eh, father?! A nice little script, perhaps?"

"Son, calm yourself..."

"What a joke! When have we been ones to take issue with genetic diversity anyway? Plenty of families didn't mix with others over the history of Hyperia, and even still we hold beliefs that support-"

His father slowly rose to his feet too, standing at the head of the table which Anteros was several seats away from, so his son's greater height didn't come off as intimidating as it normally would if they were close to each other, "If you kept her to yourself we'd be down to a single bloodline and swiftly die off, or by the time any daughters you might have become old enough, the aging male population will be in poor shape to reproduce, or dying off."

"Ours is the only bloodline that matters!" The teen screeched in response, then threw his pointed finger at the man who's mind he was just gazing into before this argument broke out, "Do you think that someone like him deserves or needs to reproduce?!"

"Son," The father said with a stern look, "You're not seeing the bigger picture here."

"Quite the contrary! I believe I'm the only one thinking big about the future, what you have planned is some small scale degeneracy that can't be sustained or lead to a full re-population, or anything close to it... but perhaps... Oh, is this some kind of fantasy of yours? Never would a father say such things about his daughter unless he took a very special interest in what she does behind closed doors, any good parent would object to this, not be the one to suggest it!"

"It has nothing to do with me in that way," His father calmly insisted, though his patience was wearing very thin. He was used to the tantrums from his son, but him acting up in an official meeting was foolishly not something he ever expected, "I don't have an easy time coming to terms with the decisions I have to make as a leader in the best interest of my people, especially since it hinges on one person that unfortunately happens to be my own daughter."

"Lotta words for a load of shit, you've been thinking about this since the day she was born!" The young man's accusing finger swinging to his father, eyes still wide and wild, "I know it!"

"You're the one who's been obsessing over your future with her and how she belongs to you! Since the day she was born!" His father snapped and screamed back at him.

Seeing his father break after trying to keep it together was so satisfying to Anteros, but at the same time he was still furious; the arm he held straight out was shaking as he went on shouting, "I won't let you do anything to her! Not this depraved plan you've concocted or anything else to hurt her! No, I'll keep her safe, no wonder I'm so attached to her... something inside me must have been able to tell that our own father would be the greatest threat to her of all. To unleash one strange man after another on her instead of just letting she and I be like we were meant to... You'd choose to turn her into breeding sow for this dying race, but I won't be letting that happen. It'll be Addie and I alone, you all can rot, she and I will be the ones who will go on and make the world a better place! Together, we'll bring the revolution that should have happened long ago!"

One his shouting fit ceased, he inhaled and panted heavily as he slammed his fist on the table before making his exit. He frantically ran, overwhelmed with emotion and unable to think straight, to go find his sister. Anteros was reeling with anger, horror, concern and determination to make sure he forged a better life for his sister.

"And that was a critical moment for me," Anteros spoke to Willy, "I tried to see what my father was thinking, since it had to be something worth knowing, but I couldn't. My focus was too poor from being so emotional, and I failed to discern ahead of time that the plan of separating Addie and I had changed. Without that knowledge, I wasn't able to do anything to stop it... now... I must always make an effort to stay calm, and not react too much if exposed to something or a situation I don't like. So the small act of drinking something I dislike was a reminder of that; that I need to hold it together better if I..."

His words trailed off, but Willy was quick to fill in the words not spoken, not thinking about whether it was a good idea or not.

"If you want any insight? ...Didn't you say you can't even properly read her?" Tybur asked, "I understand anyway, anything to compromise what link you do have is undesirable."

"You're correct," Anteros confirmed with a subtle hint of bitterness, standing up straight once more, "I've only ever really been able to see brief glimpses of her from a third person perspective, or have some empathetic reaction when she feels strongly, I cannot effectively pierce her mind. If I can't do that, what hope do I have to get her to be compliant?"

"And I know she gets you worked up, I remember you coming back here all sorts of angry when the dog bit you," Willy reminded him, "Among other times."

"Yes... She has an exceptional skill for getting under my skin, when all I want is the best for her, if only she'd be more open minded and just trust me," Anteros continued, "I have had a harder time keeping myself in check since she and I reunited..."

Willy casually turned and leaned back against the railing, resting his elbows on it, "Do you consider me something unpleasant to be around and tolerate?" He said with a grin, deciding to take a risk by joking around after his ally had an emotional and serious moment.

Anteros stood in silence with his eyes forward while Willy smugly looked his way waiting for an answer; Tybur knew that no matter what there was no way to be disappointed, except in the case of Anteros snapping, which would defeat the whole purpose of the discussion, and if the man was going to yell at Willy, he wouldn't be taking an extended quiet moment before doing it.

"No."