Winwolfa (A Roan x Female OC Fanfic)

-Chapter 52-

3 years, 11 months, and 9 days prior

Three weeks on the Ring. Three goddamn insufferable weeks on the Ring with an infinite amount to go.

And for the past three weeks, Astrid spent nearly every free moment besides that giant window peering down on Earth. Or what was left of it. Whatever lush green and deep oceans were now covered with endless oranges, reds, and blues from the Praimfaya. Gone.

Decades of prosperity vanished into nothing. Whatever life remained on the surface was long gone by now.

Her gaze slowly shifted from the mass graveyard to the endless expanse of darkness and twinkling lights.

A part of her felt at home when she gazed upon those stars. Maybe because her home could have been one of those lights, sparkling against the nothingness. A place where she had a home, family, friends. If they were still alive.

But if Astrid was going to get any answers, she was in the right spot, with some of the most capable and determined people she'd known. Her only regret was not being able to hear more from Sinclair or the Chancellor themselves.

After the events from the past couple days had sunken in, Astrid announced what she knew to everybody. Nearly every single one of them had their jaws slacked open with dazed looks of disbelief. Some, like Raven and Echo who had known Astrid well, were more shocked than the others.

To know that somebody you had grown close may not even be the same species as you was... odd, to say the least. Those first days were filled with dodgy glances and whispered murmurs. All of it made Astrid feel more unwanted than she had before.

While there was still an unsettling feeling amongst the group, they did their best to be supportive of Astrid. All their lives had been flipped upside down in just a few days, and although Astrid had gone through so much, she seemed surprisingly okay. Even though her heart felt otherwise.

Deep down, she felt like she always knew. She just never put the vague signs together to form the small pieces to the large puzzle her life was. If she had truly grown up on the Ark, she would have remembered her parents' faces and names. Moments from her entire childhood were missing. No laughter, no bedtime stories or games, it was all blank. Like somebody wiped the hard drive of her mind.

There were a few things she did know. She knew she was completely inhuman. Her senses, her regeneration, her pain tolerance. It was probably why she thrived so well on the Earth in the first place. She just never knew until she left the Ark. Even now, sitting and staring out that window, she swore she could see the winds move, or the deserts shift.

What she also knew was whatever civilization she came from was brilliant, or incredibly psychotic. They must've had the technology to create some type of cryosleep pod that could withstand decades worth of travel. Or even longer. A feeling that didn't settle well with Astrid. But why they sent Astrid to Earth, she could fathom an answer.

Roan walked the chilled hallways, heading to the one place he knew where his wife was. It was hard to remember that all she knew were the cramped walls of her cell. Never seeing her home spinning around Earth. He remembered those stories she told, all with a brave face. Roan couldn't imagine living years in their large metal prison, let alone a solitary cell.

All this was as new for her as it was for him.

As he slouched down that cold metal wall, there was something undeniable that they both agreed on.

Space was beautiful. Nothing like Earth at all.

What would be blue skies was now a sea of twinkling lights. The iridescent stars seemed so much brighter, much clearer than ever before. Always changing, and never the same twice. There were so many of them it seemed impossible to count.