Ice Princess

38

"I think I might know who they are," Melinoe started to push herself up, immediately all three tried to stop her. "I'll be alright, the room has stopped spinning a long time ago. I just need to get dressed, brush my teeth perhaps." Someone pushed a robe in her hands, she put it on and headed to the bathroom, thankful someone had put toiletries in there for her. There were no clothes, but she had that under control, she came out dressed in heeled boots, dark jeans, a v-neck sweater, and leather jacket.

"Wait did you just...." Bruce began to ask.

"One of the lovely things I learned from Wong and my dad." Smoothing her outfit out, which was impeccable and didn't need it, the men surrounded and escorted her to the front garden. It was true, the garden was unruly, almost alien and maleficent in how animated the vegetation had become. "Don't touch anything, let me do all the talking." She told them. "Stay here." She started walking forward. "Mother, Persephone, Queen of the Underworld and grandmother, Demeter, goddess of vegetation...." Melinoe went down the long list of Demeter's titles. "I welcome you to where I work. These are my friends." She introduced each of them with a brief synopsis of what each was known for. Gods, why was this taking so long. The two women ran up to Melinoe and quickly embraced her starting to harangue her with questions. "Slow down, please. We were just talking about what had happened." Melinoe turned to the gentlemen, "Would it be ok if my mother and grandmother joined us for tea?" Love sprinted through everyone and went right to the garden.

"Ooooh, look how pretty the garden is and how large the flowers are!" Melinoe caught Love before she could touch the plants which she was sure her grandmother had made poisonous if they needed to be used in battle.

"Love, this is my mom Persephone and my grandmom, Demeter. Be nice and say hi." Melinoe had swung the child up onto her hip.

"Hello! Did you make our garden grow like that? It never grew like that before."

"Yes, my mother made the garden grow like that." Persephone told Love and put a finger on the tip of the little girl's nose which caused her to laugh. Demeter caused the garden to go back to normal.

"Aww, it was so pretty. Do it again." Love commanded.

"Love, what have we learned about saying things like that?" Melinoe told her.

"You said you get more bees with honey than vinegar."

"Is there a better way to ask?"

"Could you, please make the flowers big like that again?" Demeter did and Love hooted and hollered. Melinoe handed the tot off to her father.

"Is she yours?" Demeter asked.

"No, grandmother, she is not mine. She's Thor's adopted daughter, but I help out." Melinoe explained.

"And is this what you normally wear?" Demeter was looking down her nose at Melinoe which wasn't easy considering they were relatively the same height.

"Yes, grandmother. Sometimes it varies, but it is rather difficult to work in this climate in the togas peploses. Please, while it is spring, it is still rather cold here. Let's head inside." Melinoe suggested. Melinoe set up the tea, grateful that the men stayed in the kitchen and allowed her to deal with her mother and grandmother.

"So how did you end up here?" Demeter asked. Melinoe gave the simplest answer of her start from the orphanage to getting the job at the compound. "No, that's not what I meant. The last we saw of you was in January and here you are. Why didn't you come home?" Demeter sipped her tea and frowned t it.

"Grandmother, the last thing I remember was in January. I saved Bruce and Bucky, then everything went dark. I didn't even know what day it was until Bucky told me the date yesterday. I have a flash of a memory of mother and father wailing, glimpse of you, then there was a bright light and Zeus and some other gods. I felt pain, but I didn't know what was going on and I don't remember anything about what happened between January and now."

"I will be the judge of that." Demeter placed her hands on either side of Melinoe's head, there was a buzzing and a weird electric feeling, not painful but not pleasant either that went through her head. "She doesn't remember anything." Demeter faced Persephone. "You try, perhaps I'm not as good as I used to be."

"I'm sorry we have to do this to you darling." Persephone said and repeated the same thing. "We just had to be sure, it was you and you didn't remember anything."

"I don't understand." Melinoe looked at both of them in confusion.

"That contraption that Doom created, is a way to unmake gods. It didn't kill you but destroyed you almost completely. Luckily, Apollo arrived in time to ensure your survival." Demeter began explaining.

"The process, I was told was painful not only for you to go through, but also those trying to help you. Several times, they had to stop. But the gods who helped you, like you are diminished right now. You're vulnerable. You must be careful." Persephone explained. "It hurt your father and me a great deal to see you go, but we were so happy to hear you were still alive." Persephone looked at her mother.

"You won't be able to return to the underworld. Not for a very long time. Eons perhaps." Demeter said.

"But I just found you both, now I have to lose father?"

"No, not really. You can still talk to him through mirrors..."

"It's not the same."

"No, it's not, but it's a small price to pay for your life." Persephone cleared her throat and reached out her hand squeezing Melinoe's. "Your grandmother can visit you anytime you might need her. I can visit you during spring and summer...."

"But ... but...."

"My darling, you will be with us one day. This human existence is but a mere blink of an eye for us."

"Mother, you may remember living eons. I haven't even lived a half century yet. This is not easy for me to take."

"That's because you still think of yourself as human. Once you stop that, things like this will stop to matter." Demeter said.

"Stop that? You're asking me to leave my humanity behind? How cruel is that?" She told her.

"You will see how cruel it is for you to think that way when you outlive all your loved ones. At least you still won't be able to mother children." Demeter said.

"Please leave." Melinoe said quietly.

"What's that darling?" Demeter asked.

"I said, please leave." Melinoe repeated herself.

"You'll see one day...."

"LEAVE NOW!" The two left in a poof of black smoke.

"What happened, where did they go?" Bruce asked.

"I sent them back to Omnipotence City. At least my grandmother will be happy there. No wonder my mother was so happy to live her life in the underworld away from her." Melinoe grabbed a random coat and headed outside. Bucky was shortly behind her. "I need a minute, just a walk, ok?" Melinoe kept walking. "I need space, I promise I won't leave the grounds and, shit, I don't have a phone."

"Here." Bucky gave her his phone. "We will have one for you when you get back. Thank you for taking one, just in case."