Ice Princess

36

Everything hurt. The best way to describe the sensation Melinoe felt was a car wreck. Chaos, nothing could be focused upon and everything was jumbled up all mixed up with a tipsy turvy kanter over heels feeling.

"Destroy the lab, destroy the machine." She told them. If it remained in tact, Melinoe didn't know what the purpose was but Doom could do the same thing to Thor that he did to her. Although, Thor wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place. Time, space, nothing had meaning, everything flew by and held still at the same time. There was complete darkness. For the briefest of seconds, she thought she saw Persephone and Hades. His blue glow in the darkness was evident. Then everything became bright and light and she was suddenly being summersaulted through everything again. Where were her parents? Then her grandmother came into view. She felt Demeter's cool hand on her head, trying to speak, no sound came out. Asceplious, the god of medicine came, as did Zeus. She caught brief glimpses of Apollo as well. Melinoe couldn't make out what they were all saying, everything was jumbled up. Where was her mother and father? All she remembered was the pain.

________

"Love, what are you doing?" Thor asked.

"I'm making a sandwich for Meli." Love informed him. "I think she might be hungry."

"Honey, I don't think Meli can eat a sandwich." Thor looked sadly down at his adoptive daughter. It had been nearly three months since that day in the castle.

"Really, because her stomach is growling." Love told him. "What kind of sandwich do you think she would like?" The little girl continued to get out all the things to make a sandwich from the fridge and the pantry.

"Love, we can't take her a sandwich right now. It's raining. Perhaps tomorrow." Bruce told her, kids dealt with grief differently than adults.

"It's not raining in the living room." Love told them. "I'm going to make her a Nutella and banana sandwich. She always made those to make me feel better."

"Living room?" Bruce asked, now Bucky's attention was gotten.

"Yeah, she's sleeping on the couch silly." Love said as she popped two slices of bread in the toaster. By then, all the chairs started scrapping on the floor and foot steps on the tiles headed towards the living room. There on one of the couches, Melinoe slept, her hair covering her face concealing it. "Shh... she's asleep. I covered her up, her nightgown was so shiny."

"Love, how about I help you in the kitchen make the sandwich." Thor said escorting his daughter out.

"Do you think it's her?" Bucky asked.

"It looks like her, but we will need to run some tests." Bruce told him. Before Bruce could approach, Bucky scooped her up. It felt like her, smelled like her.

"Why did you come here?" Bucky asked not thinking.

"I got nowhere else to go." Melinoe mumbled in her sleep. He nearly dropped her.

Bruce started a battery of tests, DNA, RNA, full body scans, fingerprinting, hair and skin samples and whatever else he could think of to ensure this wasn't a clone or a plant made to do harm. Bucky sat beside the hospital bed holding her hand. Love came in with a plate and the sandwich.

"Daddy said to make you one, too, uncle Bucky." She handed the plate to Bucky who took it. Love climbed up on the bed before Bucky could stop her and snuggled in to Melinoe. "I'm going to practice my reading with you, ok?" She whispered. It was sweet. When Love finished reading the book, she started to brush and braid Melinoe's hair. It had to be her, Bucky thought. If not, it would really break Love's heart and his own. He wanted to talk to Thor about letting the little girl do all this but he also didn't want to leave the two unattended. As if reading his thoughts, Bruce entered.

"It's her. I don't know how, but it is." Bruce started to check her vitals. "Why don't you take a break, I got the two ladies awhile." Wiping his face, Bucky didn't know how to make heads or tails of the situation and decided to talk to Thor about what was happening. Perhaps, he'd know.

"So, how'd she do it?"

"I have no idea. This is not something Asgaardians do. Without going to Omnipotence City and talking with the individuals there, I couldn't even begin to make a guess."

"Perhaps Strange can help out."

"Yes, the last time we went to him, we lost her for nearly two months. Do you think that's the wisest decision?"

"Unless you want to go back to Omnipotence City, he might be our only person to turn to if she doesn't wake up." Just then a small person ran into Bucky's leg.

"Uncle Bucky, you should go kiss aunt Meli."

"What?!" The two men said.

"It's like in the fairytales. The handsome prince kisses the princess awake." She told him.

"Wouldn't your dad be closer to a prince? I mean technically, he's a king." Bucky joked.

"Well, I don't mind." Thor began but Bucky stopped him and gave him a look saying 'over my dead body'. "Things aren't always like they are in your books dear heart." It was a weary smile that he showed his daughter. "Bucky, I would never interfere, however there really was never anything between the two of you."

"Yes, because I was an ass, sorry Love, and I should have known better."

"Well, there's that."

"Bruce says she's fine, somewhat healthy, but could stand to put some more weight on, just sleeping."

_________

"So, Strange, we asked for your input on this situation." Bruce began. Melinoe's room was filled with Bruce, Bucky, and Thor as well.

"Vitals?" Strange asked, Bruce went over them. "And you say Love found her in the living room yesterday around lunch time?"

"Yes." Thor responded.

"Let's see if there are any clues there first before we try to wake her." Strange did a scan. "There is some residuals of a transportation spell, but not from any area of concern in our universe."

"Could she be from one of the other parts of the multiverse?" Bruce asked.

"We honestly won't know until she wakes up. But, I will see what I can find out through all the tomes I have access to." Strange said and began to leave.

Right back where we started from, Bucky thought, flopping into the same chair he stayed in since Melinoe arrived back.