Work Text:
"More souls?"
The Ferryman stares up at Greed’s giant king. Sisyphus lounged against a pyramid almost as large as he was, chin leaned in a propped hand. His question booms across the space between the small oasis the Ferryman’s ship harbored in.
"Yes," the Ferryman rasped, thankful that they didn’t need to raise their voice to be heard. Sisyphus and Minos both, somehow, had ways of listening. "King Minos judged these souls to Greed."
"Why?"
"I’m not privy to the judgements of—"
"The angels have been gone for years now. The dead need guidance only your kind can provide, yes. But why continue your work otherwise?"
The Ferryman watches the misshapen forms of fresh husks pour from their ferry to the sands of Greed.
"Souls need sorting," they say simply. "God’s work must be done."
Sisyphus sneers slightly. "A diligent servant."
The smaller husk (though large in their own right, Sisyphus and the Ferryman both were supreme husks) turns toward the helm. This conversation will go nowhere. Sisyphus tried it before.
Something is different, though. Minos and Sisyphus both tried to tempt them into abandoning their work. But there’s vitriol in the king’s voice. Something happened. They don’t want to know. Whatever he’s plotting, they won’t be seduced by yet another—
"Minos is dead."
They stop. Gaze frozen towards the gate leading to the Styx.
"Hours ago. By Gabriel’s hands. You’ll be happy to know they’re back."
"...Gabriel," they whisper.
"No more judge or judgment... Not of Minos’s kind." Something simmers in Sisyphus’s voice. The Ferryman has been in Wrath long enough to know it well. Grief. Anger. Whatever Sisyphus held seemed contained, unlike most souls in Wrath, but he was holding back. "He’ll be replaced. By one of their kind, most likely."
The Ferryman turns. They’re silent, thinking.
"Divine judgment would be most just."
Sisyphus, whose gaze had been mostly focused on the new husks, slowly turns towards them.
"…And Minos?"
"His judgments were sometimes—" Soft. "—tainted by his humanity."
Silence.
Then, the king leans forward until his face looms over the ferry, casting shadow over the entire ship. Funny how, even blind, he seems to know exactly where they are.
"The same humanity we should all aim to absolve ourselves of," they continue. "It led us to sin, to Hell. If God judged it so, then it was his time to—"
"Watch—" His voice is sharp, like the flash of a blade. "—your tongue."
He grabs the edge of the ship deck. The ferry jerks violently. Several sinners still crossing the gangway pitch sideways into the water. The Ferryman, used to raging waves, spreads themselves to keep their footing. Skeletal fingers wrap tightly around their oar, and they mentally prepare for a fight.
"I don’t know who gave you that cloth, much less your position," Sisyphus growls. "But you’re as unworthy as any other soul here."
"...That," the Ferryman says. "That we agree on."
"I could crush you," he retorts, ignoring their self-pity. "Easily."
"You wouldn’t."
"I wouldn’t?" He sneers. "Why? Because you’re His servant? Haven’t you heard of the tyrant King Sisyphus, and all his sacrilege?"
The Ferryman says nothing. For a long time, the two husks simply stare at each other. Then, Sisyphus lets go, letting his hand drop.
"Minos was right," he murmurs, sighing. "Ferrymen don’t scare easily."
The Ferryman again says nothing, and slowly climbs the stairs to the pilothouse.
"I cheated my way through mortal life...and I know deceit when I see it." They know this tone - he’s trying to persuade them again. "Heaven doesn’t care about atonement. Surely you know this, somewhere in you. Gabriel already abandoned you all this time. What makes you think he won’t still destroy you someday?"
"You think I do not know what he is capable of?"
Sisyphus stares. The Ferryman stops in the middle of the steel flight and gives him a sidelong glance.
"You assume I’m naive? I’ve served Heaven far longer than I can remember. I know exactly what he can do. Gabriel is radiant and Just, and a righteous soldier of the Lord. Would I disobey Heaven, he would have every reason to cut me down. Just as you would die doing the same." Unconsciously, the Ferryman had straightened to their full height. "That is how it should be."
Sisyphus slowly leans back. An eyebrow quirks. He almost seems impressed.
"...Well then," he finally says, and sits back to recline again. "I tried. I told Minos from the beginning there was no reasoning with you. But I tried, one last time, for his sake. You want to be holy? Fine. Leave, before I break you and your toy boat."