The Queen Of Winter Book One

You and Me

In a shimmer of green light Anna, Loki, Nat and Bucky found themselves back in the quinjet. All of them looked a bit worse for ware but they had made it back. Bucky's plan had worked. All eyes were on them. Instinctively, Anna took a few steps back and stood close to Loki and clung to his arm. He sensed her trepidation. He turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Do not be afraid, darling. You're safe here. No one will hurt you." Loki spoke in a low comforting voice.

"Good to have you back kiddo." Tony flashed a charming smile. "So since you're here I'm guessing the plan worked?"

"It kinda worked." Bucky answered. He was given quizzical looks by the team. "Dollface here has accepted Hydra are the bad guys but she still doesn't remember us."

"Sorry." Anna quietly mumbled She looked down at her hands and picked at her nails.

"You have nothing to be sorry for child. None of this is your fault. If there is anyone at fault it is I. I should have finished the job years ago." Njord sighed.

"So what's convinced you Hydra aren't who they say the are?" Steve questioned Anna.

"Apart from the busted lip and bruised face?" Anna quipped.

"Theres our Anna!" Clint laughed.

"I guess there was always a gut feeling something was wrong but I just chalked that up to having absolutely no memories what so ever. Then Loki ... you...you just seem so familiar to me. You were like this comforting presence. A light in mi darkness." Anna smiled at Loki "You all seem so familiar to me but I don't know how. I can feel that we are friends. That we've been through so much together. It's like ... It's like my heart knows you all but my head doesn't. It's playing catch up or something. Then I get like flashes of images. Teacups and chocolate cake and candles and libraries, the smell of old books and labs and training grounds and I feel likeI was happy. Really happy." Anna gave a sad smile. "What happened to me?"

"Temporary cognitive misalignment of the hippocampus caused by ingesting herbage with magical properties.." Bruce put forward his explanation. He pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"Hu?" Anna looked completely confused.

"You drank magic tea that made you forget everything, kiddo." Tony chuckled.

"Right... because that's a completely normal thing to happen." Anna laughed.

"Not the weirdest thing to happen though Doll." Bucky piped up. "Strange seems to follow you around." he joked.

The team spent the next while telling Anna her life story from their perspective. As they talked small nuggets of memories would pop into her head. Everyone of them had stories to tell. In the short time Anna had spent with them she had shared and experienced so much. Njord filled in a lot of blanks and told Anna of her life with him before he made the decision to hide her away.

"The story in your journal, the one about the little girl who could make rainbows..." Anna began.

"One of the proudest moments of my life was seeing you use and control your magic to conjure that for the very first time." Njord beamed.

"So I'm the baby. The one she tried to kill?" Anna asked

"I'm afraid so, daughter." Njord agreed sadly.

"So that means ... my mother ..." Anna held back some tears. Njord nodded his head. Anna ran her fingers through her hair. "I think I remember playing chase with you. In a field somewhere and there were these magnificent white horses."

"Baron and Duke. Kelpies, water spirits controlled by Calieach." Njord explained. "It would seem the stronger the emotion the memory elicits the easier it seems for you to recall the memory."