Unbroken

Chapter 53

Loki couldn't stop reading those words, he kept reading them over and over, hoping that they would somehow change. But they didn't, Laufey wanted him back and he was making an effort to make it happen. Loki felt his stomach knot up and suddenly the room felt a lot smaller. He was trying to calm his thinking but he couldn't. He needed to get out of the study and away from every sign of Laufey, but right as he turned around, Odin walked in.
"Loki" he said in greeting, then saw that Loki looked a little bit green. "What's wrong with you?" Odin's said as he closed the door. Loki felt like his tongue had gotten bigger, he couldn't speak, nor did he want to. If he told Odin he'd been reading his messages Odin probably wouldn't be too happy about it.
"I wanted to talk to you about he position you offered me. about the council" Loki said, but Odin knew that he wouldn't look sick if he'd come to accept or decline a position.
"Loki, what-" he caught sight of the Letter that was on the desk, and knew that Loki had probably seen it. "You saw the message didn't you?" Odin asked, Loki knew it was pointless to pretend anything else, so he just nodded and decided that it didn't really matter. Even if Odin knew, who cares? He's probably going to be sent back to Jotunhiem anyway.
"Yes. i didn't mean to, but they were laying out and I accidentally read it.." loki said. Odin nodded.
"That explains why you look like you're going to faint" he said as he walked around his desk and sat down. "Have a seat, I'll explain to you what's going on" he said. Loki wasn't sure if he should sit or run, if Odin was going to give Loki back to Laufey, Loki wasn't going to stick around. He'd run the minute Odin told him he was sending him back. But maybe that's not what's going on..
Loki took a seat and waited for Odin to speak.
"Loki, I want you to know that you are not in danger, and you don't have anything to worry about" Odin told him. Loki looked confused, how could he not be in danger?
"Laufey wants me back" Loki said.
"Laufey has wanted you back since the day we brought you here" Odin told him. "The week after you came here I received a message. Laufey was demanding that I return you to him. Obviously, I refused" Odin explained "he continue to try and get me to give you back to him, but I have no plan to let him control you again. After a while the messages stopped and I thought he'd finally given up" he said. Loki knew this wasn't the end of the story, this message on the desk now couldn't be old, Odin would've thrown it away, it's been months. So Laufey must have started contacting him again.
"So then why is that message there? Why are you communicating with him again?" Loki asked. Odin was quiet for a minute and sighed.
"He's trying to convince me to return you again. He thinks he can convince me that you still belong to him" Odin explained. Loki felt his stomach collapse again.
"But there's nothing for you to worry about, he can't do anything to you here" Odin said, seeing Loki's face pale again.
"Laufey- he isn't someone who accepts no as an answer. he won't stop until he gets what he wants" Loki said, he had gotten good at being calm in these situations, but his hands still trembled a little bit and gave away the fact that he was nervous.
"He has no power" Odin said simply.
"He's Laufey, he has more power than-" Odin cut him short.
"The power that you think he possesses is false" Odin said sternly.  "Laufey raised you to be afraid of him, he taught you that he was all powerful and unstoppable, but that's false. He can't do anything to you as long as you're under our protection" Odin said.
"He'll find away to get me away from here then. He wants me back and he's not going to give in" Loki said.
"And neither will I" Odin told him, and the determination in his tone actually made Loki feel slightly less hopeless. "Laufey can't leave Jotunhiem without our consent, we put that restriction on them when we won the last war. All Laufey can do is send messages, and I can assure you, Loki, that no amount of messages will make me return you to him" Odin told him with a matter-of-fact tone. Loki took a deep breath, maybe he wasn't totally doomed.
"Do Frigga and Thor know about this?" He asked. To his surprise, Odin nodded.
"They do. We all agreed that we shouldn't tell you" Odin told him.
"Why?" Loki asked, though he kind of wished he didn't know, so maybe it made sense why they kept it from him.
"We knew it would cause you needless panic. There's no reason for you to worry, Laufey has been trying to get you back since day one with no success. We wanted you to be able to forget about him, and we knew that if we told you you'd start worrying" Odin explained. Loki ways quiet for a long time, he didn't know what to make of all of this, he'd like to talk to Thor and Frigga about it, but he didn't know what he would say, he also didn't know how to feel. Should he be afraid of Laufey getting him back, or should he count on their protection? He didn't know.
"I know it's a lot to think about, but try not to" Odin said "was there something else you wanted to see me about?" Maybe if he got Loki thinking about other things he'd be able to relax a bit. And Loki clearly came here for a reason, so it was an easy shift.
"Yes, I wanted to talk about the offer you gave me about being part of the counsel. I'd like to accept" loki said, maybe if he started getting involved in things more it would be harder for Laufey to get to him. He knew it didn't make any sense, but he'd feel better if he knew he was part of something.
"Excellent" Odin said "I'm very pleased to hear that, I think you'll do great. There will be a meeting tomorrow immediately after lunch, come with me to sit in. You can just listen and get a feel for what it will be" Odin instructed. Loki nodded, he could do that, he was good at listening.
"Yes sir, I'll be there" he said. Odin wanted to put Loki's mind at ease, but there wasn't much he could do.
"You're free to go Loki, but if you'd like to stay and continue to talk, I'm willing to spend some time with you" Odin said, Loki was grateful for the offer, but he didn't really want to talk about his thoughts to Odin.
"Thank you sir, but I don't think I want to talk anymore about it" he said as he stood up to leave.
Loki left the study and returned to his chambers to think. He knew he was overthinking but he couldn't help it. He wasn't going to be able to think about anything else for the rest of the day.
Loki paced the room for a long time thinking about what would happen if he got sent back to Jotunhiem . He remembered all the things Laufey did to him, He couldn't stop his past memories from playing back in his head. He even tried to think of an escape plan just in case laufey succeeded.
He lost track of all time and had just been walking back and fourth for hours, the only thing that pulled him out of his thoughts was a sudden knocking on the door. He was a bit startled but recovered quickly,  then went to open the door. He was confused when he saw Trinity there.
"Trinity?" He wasn't sure why she was there, and she wasn't dressed in her work clothes either, she was wearing a black sleeveless dress that came to her knees and hung very loosely, but the band around her waist made it flattering. Loki wasn't sure why she was dressed so nicely.
"Hey" she said, looking equally confused. Why did he seem so preoccupied? "You forgot didn't you?" She asked him. His eyes widened a little bit as he realized his mistake. He and Trinity had made plans for the evening and he forgot.
"Trinity- I'm so sorry" he said "Something happened this afternoon and this just completely slipped my mind, I'm sorry" he said, he felt terrible, he was supposed to have picked her up a long time ago. But She knew something was wrong by looking at him so she wasn't terribly angry.
"What happened?" She asked him. He didn't really want to explain all the details right now, but he owed her some form of expiration.
"Something came up with Laufey. Can we maybe go out tomorrow instead and I can give you a better explanation then?" He asked her, hoping she wasn't mad at him.
"Sure... yeah you can explain tomorrow" she said, she knew that if it had to do with Laufey it was probably pretty serious.
"Thank you" he said. She took a step closer to him and put her hands on his shoulders, then pulled him down so she could give him a Quick kiss.
"See you tomorrow. Try to forget about laufey, alright?" she said as she turned and walked away. Loki closed the door again and went to sit on his bed, but he couldn't stay still so He paced the room trying to think about other things. he tried reading a book, he practiced writing, he did whatever he could to get his mind off Laufey. He knew that if he went to bed thinking about him, his memories would return to him in his dreams. It had been some time since his last nightmare, but when he laid down in bed he knew there was no escaping it tonight.