Chapter Text
Silver-white stood as a stark contrast against the murky darkness, slowly making its way towards its brightly-lit destination. Those patrolling seemed unaware of the presence that intended to invade the sanctity of the holy barque. It rose from the darkness, crawling along the shadows of the stern, peeking its ash-violet gaze over the edge before melding into the shadows onboard.
A dark, humanoid feline sprawled itself lazily across a nearby chaise lounge, slightly stretching her dark, iridescent wings.
"You won't make it," she quietly teased towards the figure hidden behind her.
"I will if you stop talking to me," the figure quietly growled.
"Good luck with that. Set's on to you, and won't allow the barque to pass through the First Gate without having checked over every cubit," the dark feline replied, hiding her words by pretending to sip from a wine chalice.
A humanoid canid the color of blood approached the feline, the tip of his curved snout twitching as he smelled the air. "I smell the thief. You wouldn't happen to know his whereabouts?"
The feline coyly narrowed her sapphire gaze. "Sorry, I haven't laid a single eye on him. And of course you smell him. His stench is putrid. I have no doubt it still lingers in the wood from his repeated attempts to sneak onboard."
The god, Set, leaned in close, brandishing his sickle. "Sanura, if I discover you are hiding the thief, or are aiding him in any way, I promise you will share his eventual fate."
Sanura threw her head back in a mock-laugh. "You threaten the daughter of Anubis with Ammit?"
Set growled low. "You are not immune to eternal damnation."
Sanura rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. The thief's repeated attempts to sneak through the Twelve Gates is the most exciting thing to have happened in millennia. Before he came along, it was just riding this stupid barque night after night and wishing I could be one of the mortal dead."
"You are part mortal. I'm sure it can be arranged," Set taunted with a grin.
Sanura stared boredly for a long moment. "Your threats are like your promises: Empty."
Set's nostrils flared with rage as he lifted his sickle high into the air. Sanura felt a weight place itself between her shoulders, and before the god could bring his weapon down upon her, she spread her midnight wings and lifted up into the sky with a single downward thrust.
"You know what?" she called down to the god spewing curses at her. "This ride is boring. I think I'd rather walk." She glided her way to the edge of the River of Night, landing softly on its bank. She waved once towards Ra himself, who nodded as the barque continued its journey towards the First Gate.
As soon as the barque passed through the gate, the weight fell from between her shoulders, spewing curses of his own.
"Sorry. I tried," she said apologetically.
The Thief King plopped himself onto the ground. "Did you really have to say I smelled 'putrid'?"
"A slight over-exaggeration to throw him off your trail."
"Slight?"
"You do smell."
The Thief King folded his arms while sharply turning his head in the opposite direction to hide his pout. Sanura sat beside him, staring off in the direction where Ra's Solar Barque began its nightly journey.
"Thanks for trying to help," the Thief King mumbled quietly after a long period of silence.
"I think it's unfair what they ask of you. You are the remaining fragment of a destroyed soul, yet they demand you follow the path as intended just to end up as a meal for Ammit? It is not your fault that the only thing that remains is your Sah."
The Thief King lowered his head as if defeated. "My soul rotted away for millennia in a cursed object, fused and twisted by the dark entity Zorc. What remains of me is now free…and I just want the entire nightmare to end. Have I not suffered enough already?"
The Thief King lay down on his back to stare at the sky of the Duat, placing his head on Sanura's lap as though it were a pillow. The feline demigod looked sadly down upon him as she gently raked her clawed fingers through his tangled locks.
"Would feeding yourself to Ammit make you happy?"
The Thief King tilted his head back to meet the sapphire gaze that looked down upon him.
"Happy?" he scoffed. "I don't know what that even is. Maybe it was something I felt before my people were murdered to make cursed relics, but honestly, I remember nothing prior to that day. All I can recall are things like pain, anger, and hatred. For you to ask if it'll make me 'Happy'? Sure. I won't exist beyond Ammit's maw. I won't have to feel anything."
"Have you encountered nothing that brought you joy?"
The Thief King didn't like the curious, yet sad, expression that the feline wore.
"Does killing people and trapping souls count?"
Sanura's expression remained unchanged.
The Thief King sighed heavily. "I don't know…maybe?"
He returned his gaze to the sky in an attempt to avoid the eyes that he knew could see further into his very being than she let on.
"There wasn't much of me when I was in the Ring. However…I do recall feeling something with my last host. Not sure what it was though. I don't recall ever feeling it before him."
"Can you describe it?"
The Thief King slowly shook his head. "Not really. I don't have anything to compare it to." He tilted his head back again. "Actually, that's not true. It was…" He chewed his lip in contemplation. "It was kinda like right now with you. I'm not sure what to call it."
"Empathy?"
The Thief King's eyes shifted back and forth in thought. "Huh…so that's what this is? Yeah…I suppose it is. He knew pain and…and the guilt of surviving. He understood. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the Zorc portion fucking shit up, I wonder if…"
"If?"
The Thief King quickly sat up, keeping his back to the demigod, his head lowered.
"Are we…friends?" he asked quietly.
"You ask that question in a way that makes me think friendship is another of those things you have never experienced," Sanura stated sadly.
The Thief King sheepishly shook his head. "I haven't. Allies, yes. Friends…not really."
"Not really?"
"It's hard to explain. My previous host…I think he wanted that…but there was too much Zorc in the way for it to happen. There was another…we had a mutually beneficial agreement…but I found myself doing things that didn't mutually benefit me. Apparently the Zorc part was oblivious to these things."
"Yes, I like to think we are friends," Sanura finally answered. "I don't wish to see you face Ammit. I don't wish for your existence to come to such an end. For your suffering to be all for nothing."
The Thief King turned his head enough to look back and see the caring expression in Sanura's feline features.
"It's not like I have much of an alternative at this point."
"What if you did have an alternative? What if you could have a second chance? What would you wish for in a new life? What would make you happy?" Sanura asked.
The Thief King smirked while shaking his head. "No offense, Sanura…but I don't think a demigod has the ability to give me a second life. Especially the daughter of a death deity. That sounds more like a life deity thing to me."
Sanura flattened her ears and scowled, appearing insulted. "Answer the question."
"Fine," the Thief King said in annoyance. "You really wanna know what'll make me happy in a new life? For the Millennium Items to have never existed in the first place. To live a life where I am surrounded by family and friends like how it should have been. To be able to genuinely feel…happy."
Sanura rose, standing proud and regal, her dark wings outstretched, shimmering with iridescence even in the darkness of the Duat. She extended a hand down toward the Thief King, inviting him to stand as well.
The Thief King rolled his eyes, but stood anyway to humor the demigod. He accepted the outstretched appendage, only to be surprised when Sanura pulled him in close for an embrace.
"Consider it done, my friend."