Ice Princess

29

"You know I do like her." Steve told him. "But, you were all using her. If I was her, I would have left as well."

"She agreed to it." Bucky told him.

"Yes, but then you started treating her like a yo-yo. Do you care for her?"

"I shouldn't but I do."

"So you were jealous of her lawyer and this Doom fellow?"

"Yes, but if I did anything to pursue her, the illusion with Doom would be broken."

"So you chose to hurt her instead. That doesn't sound like you Bucky."

"It's not like I planned this."

"No, it's not."

"I know a simple apology isn't going to cover it. But unless you tell me where she is, I can't make amends."

"She specifically said not to tell you where she was. Though I can't imagine why."

"And the reason she sent you is only to see if I'm ok?"

"Yes, she expected nothing in return. In fact, she said she could compel me to, but she asked me to instead. Then said the decision was mine to make." This was not like the Melinoe of lore. With that Steve vanished. It was a rare gift she gave him, a few more moments with his friend.

_______

"I had a very unusual visit last night from Steve." Bucky told the team in the conference room.

"Steve? Steve who?" Thor asked.

"As in Steve Rogers? How?" Bruce inquired.

"Melinoe asked him to ensure I was alright." Bucky told them.

"Well, that was very considerate considering how you treated her last," Thor said.

"Didn't by chance get a location of where she was did you?" Bruce added.

"Unfortunately not." Bucky said.

"Well, we have one week until Doom expects us in Latvaria. He is going to be truly disappointed if she doesn't show." Bruce told them all.

________

"You've done very well with your studies," Wong told her.

"Thank you. I think I figured out a way to visit the underworld without being summoned." She showed him a tomb.

"Why would you want to do that?" Wong asked her, baffled by her wanting to go somewhere that did not sound safe.

"Well, I think Hades and Persephone will see it as me wanting to work with them. Perhaps I can learn from them faster, then I will not have to go through this entire year of being yanked away from my regular life once a month."

"I don't like this idea."

"So you rather them be master of me than I master of myself?"

"When you put it that way, it makes more sense." Wong told her, "But why I asked you to come here today was I have a new teacher for you. His name is Shang-chi. His mother is from a pocket universe and learned how to fight using air. Perhaps you can learn his methods and apply them to the other elements."

"Perhaps. But at least it is something to do."

"Why are you getting bored after only being here for three weeks?" He joked.

"I don't know what I am." She told him. "I just feel like there's a hole in me, like I'm not doing something I'm supposed to be doing but I don't know what it is. "It's annoying." She walked with Wong until they came to a courtyard where Shang-chi was waiting. "So what have you told him about me?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Good."

"Yeah, I thought you would enjoy that and get a real workout." He told her. Melinoe cracked her neck and hands, shaking them out. "Shang-chi, this is Melinoe."

"Meli," she said holding out her hand to shake his. "Nice to meet you. So you're supposed to train men, huh?"

"Show her everything you know, I'll be back around noon to check up on you both." Wong said over his shoulder.

"So, let's check out your basic stance." Shang told her. What was going through her head was he was starting this low? Really? Ok. He walked around her making small adjustments, but she knew her stance was good. Taking one wrist in his hand he caused her to work through a punch. He repeated this a few times. "Ok, I'm going to hold out my hand and you're going to hit it as hard as you can. Do you understand?"

"Sure."

"Remember to rebalance as you shift through the punch and then bring it back to center. Got it?"

"Got it." Melinoe was only punching his hand, but she did with enough force to send him backwards several feet.

"This isn't your first time?" His eyes went wide.

"Yeah, no. Wong forgot to fill you in." She smiled at him.

"Ok, then. Give me what you got."

"Are you sure?"

"I can't teach you what you need to know unless I know what you already can do."

"I'm sorry," she told him as she landed punch and kick, after kick and punch.

"For what?" He said as he was thrown back yet again.

"For hurting you. I take no pleasure it in." They continued to fight, it was like a violent ballet and was drawing observers from all over Kamar Taj. There was shouts of encouragement for both of them. Ohs and ahhs from the children there to see one of their teachers finally with a worthy opponent. The duel continued until each was exhausted. "Do you yeild?" She asked him as she stopped before a fatal blow. He was breathing hard, as he tried to land a blow, she stepped back as he landed on his face.

"That's not fair." He told her, now out of breath.

"I gave you a chance to yield. Besides, I think this is what Wong wanted to happen." She pushed herself up and brought him water.

"Thanks, why?"

"Chronic insomnia. Now, what can you teach me?"

"Now?"

"No, you'll get to rest some, eat lunch. How about tomorrow? You look like you need your rest." She walked off towards the dining area as Chang still sat on the ground huffing and puffing.

Melinoe found the group of children she normally worked with, donning the hood of illusion, she became invisible. The children giggling and running to and fro.

"What is she doing?" Shang asked Wong.

"It's a game she invented, kind of like Marco Polo minus the water. The children area all Marcos and she is the Polo. It pushes them to use their senses and basic spells to find her. They love it." Wong explained.

_______

"Now watch," Shang demonstrated the moves to use the air as his power. "Ok, we'll do this together. Mirror my moves." While she was good, she didn't get the full force that Shang did on the first few tries, eventually by the end of their session she had it. "Wong said he wanted to see if you could do fire, water, and earth as well."

"Yes, he thinks I can figure it out from watching you."

"How?"

"It's sort of like a language. Once you hear a few words and understand sentence structure, it's mostly variations which create a conversation." She told him.

"When do you think you could have it figured out by?"

"I don't know. It's going to be a process of trial and error." She informed him.