Unbroken

Chapter 87

Loki wasn't expecting Frigga to declare him king. Too many things were happening too quickly; the jotuns were invading, Thors life was in danger, Odin is gone, and now all the responsibility is falling to Loki. He'd never been put in this kind of situation.
"I can't be king." Loki said, though the spear had ended up in his hands. "Mother I- Asgard is going to fall without proper leadership. The Jotuns are invading right now, if they make it into the palace then-" Frigga cut him off.
"Loki you're smart, you know the frost giants better than anyone, no one is better fit to lead than you. And you're right, we are falling, this could be our end, but You're nothing if not a survivor, you can get us through this" Frigga said. Loki looked at the staff in his hand for a moment, he thought he'd be terrified, but he kind of wasn't. He actually felt like this is what he'd been waiting for. This whole time he'd been following Odin and Thor through this war, but he knew the frost giants better than anyone else, he was far better equipped to beat them. Suddenly being king felt very right.
"How do I wake up that thing in the treasure room?" He asked. Frigga could see a change in him, he went from cautious to determined and powerful in a matter of seconds. All fear had somehow evaporated from his mind.
"The destroyer? With the staff. But Odin said it's not supposed to leave the treasure room" Frigga told him.
"Well Odin isn't in charge, and I need all the power I can get" loki said authoritatively. "Go to father, stay away from the fight and make sure no one gets to him. If anything happens, send a message to me" Loki told her, she nodded.
"Be careful Loki" she told him.
"I'll be as careful as possible" he told her "now go, I'm already worrying about Trinity and Thor, let me know that I don't need to worry about you too" he said. Frigga Gave him a hug and then left to go to Odin's chambers.
Loki left the meeting room and ran back down to where the fight was taking place. It was a mess, the Jotuns had made it inside, he Asgardians were struggling to keep them back, Thor was gone, they had no leadership, and they hadn't been ready for an attack. Loki wanted to wake up the destroyer, but he saw that the Jotuns were becoming Overpowering, so he took a detour. Instead of getting to the treasure room, he joined the fight, he summoned the casket back and started to attack them with it, trying to push them back.
The Asgardians were as surprised as the Jotuns were when Loki started killing them so swiftly with the casket, but there were still a lot of them coming in. He was able to push them back a little bit and he just hoped it was enough, he had to leave the fight.
He ran down to the treasure as quickly as possible, he stood in front of the glowing hall and held out the staff, touching the ground with it. It echoed through the room and the bars in front of the glowing hall started to groan like they had earlier. In moments, the destroyer had emerged.
"Make sure the Jotuns don't make it past our soldiers. Kill them all of you have to" look told the destroyer. It seemed to understand its orders, so loki ran back up to the palace, going to assist in the fight in any way he could. But something felt wrong, he felt like more was going on; if this was Laufey's big victory, where was he? Loki was fighting off the Jotun soldiers, but there was no sign of Laufey or Ilkay. This battle would end the war, this is what Laufey expected to be his grand victory, his triumphant attack to wipe out his oldest enemy, and he's not even here? Something was wrong. Loki had the sick feeling that he'd only seen part of the picture in the vision Zenoch had shown him, Laufey was hiding something else, it was the only thing that made sense.
Loki continued to fight, it was brutal, the beautiful palace of Asgard was turning into a bloody graveyard for both Asgardians and frost giants, and the frost giants were barely in the door. The Asgardians were able to hold them back, especially now that the casket and the destroyer were in the mix, but there were so many Jotun soldiers and they weren't backing down, no matter how many fell.
Loki was in the middle of a fight when he saw Zenoch, Zenoch was close to Laufey, he could give him answers. Loki plunged a knife into the neck of the Jotun he was fighting, then fought his way over to Zenoch.
"Where's Laufey" he demanded as he cut down another Jotun soldier. He was covered in Jotun blood, as well as a little bit of his own blood. Zenoch didn't seem to care that Loki had the kings staff, or the casket, or the destroyer.
"Careful Loki, you're not in good shape, your clothes are pretty torn, it'd be easy for me to send you back to that place" Zenoch said. He was right, Loki hadn't been ready for battle, he wasn't even in armor, and his torn cloths gave Zenoch a lot of opportunity to touch him and send his mind into that loop again. He needed to protect himself. He knew how to magically summon things, and he figured that now was a good time to practice.
"Tell me where Laufey is" loki said, his gold armor materializing around him, helmet and all. He wasn't going to leave himself open this time, anywhere, and though this armor was more ceremonial, it was affective and pretty much enveloped him in metal. Zenoch looked mad, he didn't realize the extent of Lokis training in the use of spells.
"You've learned new tricks" he commented, eyeing Loki for an opening.
"And you still haven't answered my questions" Loki said, drawing his daggers.
"I don't answer to you, runt" Zenoch said mockingly. Both of them lunged at each other, each trying to kill the other. They fought for a few minutes, Loki was finding that the staff was a nice and useful weapon, he was able to keep Zenoch at a comfortable distance, but Zenoch was still determined to attack Lokis mind, and he kept looking for an opening in his armor but wasn't able to find one, he knew he'd have to beat Loki down and rip off his helmet to get to his neck again.
Loki thought he had the advantage, he was about to strike Zenoch down with the staff, but he heard Trinity shouting for help, he didn't know if she needed help or if she was trying to help someone else, and he tried not to pay attention, but he was momentarily distracted.
Zenoch noticed his moments hesitation and he took the opportunity to knock him down. He moved quickly and was able to get in and kick down Lokis knee. Loki stumbled and fell to the ground, before he could get up, Zenoch was leaning over him and keeping him down.
"Enjoy the water" Zenoch said. He grabbed Lokis helmet to take it off, loki knew he was about to have his mind played with again, which would leave him vulnerable to anyone who wanted to kill him, and drive him into insanity. His mind was racing, he needed to stop Zenoch from touching him, but he was pinned and needed information from Zenoch, so he couldn't kill him. Zenoch started to remove the helmet, and then loki had an idea.
"Enjoy not having hands" he spat back as he grabbed a dagger in each hand and quickly and suddenly slashed them upward, slicing off Zenoch's hands at the wrists.
Zenoch screamed angrily and blood gushed from his wrists. Loki struck Zenoch on the head and he fell sideways, still screaming in anger and pain.
"Tell me where Laufey is!" Loki shouted as he got up and Locked his own hands around Zenoch's throat.
"You will pay for this.. you will pay for all of this" Zenoch growled. Loki took his dagger and plunged it into Zenoch's side, between two ribs.
"I know how to hurt people, so make it easy on yourself and just tell me where he is!" Loki shouted again. He knew laufey was somewhere, fulfilling the vision Loki had seen. Zenoch howled in pain as Loki twisted the knife that was in his ribs.
"Tell me where he is, or I'll break of the hilt and leave the blade inside of you." Loki ordered, a certain darkness coming over his face.
"Your councilman... the traitor. He told us how to get into the palace" Zenoch said.
"I know that, I already got the casket" loki said back.
"Laufey wasn't after the casket, that was a side goal... he's after the king" Zenoch said. Loki shook his head.
"You guys have barely made it in the front door, what makes him think he'll be able to get all the way to the king?" Loki asked.
"I told you already.... Quyen showed us how to get in. He showed us how to break into the treasure room, and he showed us a secret passage directly into the kings chambers. Laufey is either already there, or very close. The king will be dead in minutes" Zenoch said. Loki felt the color leave his face. Odin was completely vulnerable, all their forces were here, guarding the front gates, no one was with Odin except Frigga, and she couldn't face laufey alone.
Loki pulled the knife out of Zenoch's side, then shoved it into his neck, killing him. He then got up and ran toward Odin's chambers, hoping to catch Laufey before Odin was dead.