Ice Princess

39

Alone again. Utterly, freaking alone. Melinoe, queen of nightmares, ability to mess with people's minds, talk to ghosts. With the amount of times she has been alone in her life, that should have been her superpower. Why? Why were they forcing her not to see her father? At least she would have 24 hours without repercussions from her grandmother. It sucked she couldn't see her mother without seeing her grandmother at the same time. The more she walked and thought about it, the more and more her grandmother reminded her of mother superior. No, not reminded her, talked like her, walked liked her, and acted like her. Deep down, Melinoe had the feeling they were the same person. Why was her grandmother treating her so horribly as a child and still looked down her nose at her.

She continued walking around the lake. Picking up random stones skipping them across the water. Something glittery on the other side of the lake caught her attention. She continued walking until she got there. When Melinoe got there, there was a stained glass statue in blues which twisted up until it turned into a star burst in silvers. It was beautiful. Below it was her name and the dates of her birth and death and some platitudes which were beautiful. While it looked delicate, it was well made. Around the base were little plates and saucers that Love must have been leaving food and drink for her.

"Love said your favorite color was blue. And one of the watercolors your lawyer sold had swirls of blue in the mountains which looked like this. I know you said you wanted to be alone, but there's alone and then there's ALONE." Bucky told her.

"This is beautiful. I really appreciate it. I'm touched. But I feel bad at the same time. Love kept coming out here in the middle of winter brining stuff, like offerings to a shrine. That's so not healthy." She sat on the bench, just staring off into the distance.

"Well, some days she made Thor bring stuff out here, but I'm pretty sure he gave it to Rocket to eat of just ate it himself." Bucky explained.

"Still, I didn't ask for any of this on so many levels."

"So, what's going on with ...."

"Don't worry, Demeter won't be back for 24 hours at least. It takes a bit for the spell to wear off. But in order to see my mom, I have to see my grandmother at the same time."

"We heard some of what they were saying to you."

"I just found my family to lose it again. I want nothing to do with the Olympians if it means I have to constantly be put down by her, what kind of existence is that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Bucky now sat beside her, "I'm pretty sure my grandmother was posing as mother superior at my orphanage."

"What do you mean?" Melinoe explained her thinking. "That's just not right."

"She wants me to give up my humanity and come back to Omnipotence City to be with them. Even then, I won't be able to see my father for an eon and I would only get to see my mother for half the year." Bucky put his arm around her and she leaned into his strength. "The whole time, she had the power to make sure I had a good life and she robbed me of it. Why would I want to spend time with her?"

"Because you're a good woman and your heart hurts. You missed out on having people who love and took care of you. When you finally got it, it was ripped away from you."

"Yeah, just another fun birthday for me. Grant it, it doesn't beat the time Bill had me, but it is up there." Then it hit her, "Maybe she had something to do what that! What kind of grandmother does that shit."

"Come on." He stood up and held out his hand. "It's a nice day, that should be warm enough for you. The boots are good." Bucky lead her back to the compound.

"For what? I really don't feel like going to space. We saw how well that turned out the last time."

"No, but we are going for a ride." She looked at him skeptically. "No tricks, I promise you'll enjoy it. I also promise to treat you right and I realize it is going to take a lot of faith from you for that and I apologize for everything. I want to start trying to make a few of those egregious errors up to you, is all." He took her to the compounds garage and asked her to wait there for a moment and he'd be back. About 15 minutes later, he appeared with two helmets. She placed it on and asked her to get on the bike behind him. What did she have to lose, she thought, so much was already lost.

On the back of his motorcycle, she learned her cheek against his back. The new spring buds of leaves had yet to start unfurling but you could smell the newness in the air. Spring meant new beginnings but even as she thought about that, it was really ow much she would have to start all over again. For right now, she just wanted to enjoy the ride literally.