Ice Princess

37

"No, stop. You don't know what you're doing." Melinoe began mumbling over and over again. The mumbling is what caught Bucky's attention at first. He noticed she was shivering and felt cold. Reaching down, he pulled the blankets up around her.

"It's ok, you're safe now." He cooed to her. It was 3 AM. When her eyes flew open they glowed with silver light and she inhaled fast and deeply like she was just coming up for air from a great depth.

"What happened? Where am I?" Her voice sounded like dried leaves over ice again. Weakly, she started to sit up.

"You don't remember?" Bucky asked her.

"Just so tired." She looked out of it but at least her eyes turned back to normal. Melinoe wiggled to the edge of the bed and started to put her legs over the edge, trying to get up and walk around. Her feet didn't reach the ground and she lost her footing.

"Whoa, hold on there. How about you just wait for a bit, ok?" He caught her in time and helped her sit up in bed.

"Everything is moving." She closed her eyes. "The lights are too bright." She flicked her hand and the lights dimmed.

"You're in the compound's infirmary. Everyone is going to be so excited to see you're awake." Bucky told her.

"Awake, how long was I asleep?" She asked keeping her eyes closed but following him with her ears and slight head movements.

"Only a few days since you showed up." Bucky told her.

"What day is it?"

"Of the week? Ahh, Monday, I think."

"No, the date."

"March, 20th."

"March 20th?" Her voice squeaked. "That's more than a few days. The last day I remember was January 6th. The tunnel collapsed."

"It did. You saved Bruce and I. It took us days to get to you. Do you not remember anything between January and now?"

"No. Nothing. I'm just so tired." She laughed, "Tomorrow's my birthday." She mumbled and fell back asleep. Bucky tried to wake her up, several times, but she was in a deep sleep. There was more than enough room on the bed for him to lay beside her, and she felt so cold, even with the extra blanket. He sat beside her and curled his body around hers, placing a protective hand on her stomach, it felt good, right. Melinoe's breathing became longer and normal, turning she snuggled into his chest and held onto his shirt. Bucky marveled at her little fingers. When she started to mumble in her sleep again, he stroked her back and she relaxed and fell back asleep. This time, he wasn't going to screw this up. He would be there for her and listen to her. Somehow, he'd make it work.

________

"See, she's awake." Love came bouncing in and up onto the bed.

"Easy, easy, easy." Melinoe told her, "I may be awake but I still have no clue as to what happened." Bruce gave her a look saying he would talk to her after Love left.

"I came to visit you everyday and I left things by the tree for you." Love said.

"Left what things by what tree?" Melinoe asked looking down at Love.

"Love, how about you help Rocket in the garage. I'm sure he would love your help." Bruce had a weird laugh about him. He waited until the little girl left. "Ok, first, don't freak out because I have a feeling that you're going to freak out and I don't know what that means now that you've been to Wong's school and everything."

"What am I going to freak out about? What are you skirting around? Do you know where I was between January and now?" He was skirting the issues and that really concerned her.

"Yes, and no?" Bucky volunteered.

"Ok, this is not getting us anywhere. Let's start with the cave in, I remembered that." She said.

"We don't know what happened. You cast a spell without Doom knowing which prevented the cave in from killing us. It took us days to get back to the castle. When we got there it looked like all hell broke loose." Bucky began.

"We searched the castle and couldn't find you. We heard Doom screaming and found his secret lab. Does that ring any bells?" Bruce asked.

"No, why?"

"He had you hooked up to some sort of machine it was draining you of your life force for lack of a better term,". Bruce continued. "The last thing you said was 'destroy the machine, destroy the lab.' Which we did. Then you just...." Bruce couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"You literally turned to dust." Bucky was refusing to make eye contact with her.

"What? How?" She looked so confused.

"We don't know. Bucky destroyed the lab and the machine. Doom was taken into custody. Apparently, you caused him to go insane." Bruce told her.

"I remember telling the ghosts and spirits of the castle they could leave if they confronted Doom. But that was before the cave in." She told them both. "So you both left me there?" She looked hurt.

"No, before I destroyed the lab, I collected you. There wasn't much left, I was able to put you in a small box and I buried you near a tree that looks at the lake. It's pretty out there with everything blooming. That's where Love kept going leaving little gifts for you." Bucky told her. "We had a real ceremony a few days later, there's a marker out there as well."

"So I died for real this time? So why am I here?"

"You said the other day you had no where else to go." Bucky told her.

"I don't even remember saying that." She started to massage her temples. "I have these really brief flashes, I saw my mother and my father. But then they were screaming. Then I saw Zeus for sure and Apollo as well as a few others, but until last night nothing. Everything is all flashes and bits and pieces."

"There are two women out front who say they are not leaving until they see Melinoe." Thor announced.

"How did they get through security?" Bucky asked already putting himself between Melinoe and the door.

"That's the thing, they just appeared in the front garden. And the garden looks like it has gone out of control." Thor told them.