Work Text:
Ruth’s fingertips froze in the unfrozen water of the lake. “Oh, how I wish you could see this,” she whispered to her rippling reflection. She quickly glanced over the shoulder of her parka to the crowd of passengers standing about in the sun. Alexandra and Carly were among them, a snowy chill pricking their rosy cheeks.
The train had kept all of its passengers alive longer than anyone ever expected, longer than anyone had the hope for. But now the world was warming and Melanie still chose the train over life--over… over her.
It was a dedication Ruth knew all too well. And she now had a small luxury of living for herself and, well, for what New Eden represented: life, freedom, people…
All while Melanie stayed behind to tend to tracks and cogs.
A shiver of ice ran through Ruth’s heart. Oh, how was Snowpiercer to function without her?
How was she to function without Snowpiercer?
There was laughter, real laughter, unimpeded by steel walls echoing across the open skies. This wasn’t a life Melanie wanted, not yet. And Ruth made it her mission to watch over Alexandra because of it.
But it was a life Melanie would come back to, someday, one way or another. And until then, Ruth would manage as she always had, this time with a future humming beneath her soles instead of the ever-rumbling floor of a train too many cars too short.
“I wish you could be here,” Ruth repeated with a sigh, imagining Melanie’s reflection beside her own. She closed her eyes, seeing Melanie beside her in her mirror as she clasped Ruth’s necklace together, fingertips brushing against her exposed neck.
She opened her eyes to the blue sky above. “But I know you will be… one day.”