Unbroken

Chapter 11

Chapter 11:
It was early in the morning when Laufeys son woke from his sleep, he knew it must be early because no one had come to kick him in his ribs, but despite having been able to sleep he was very uncomfortable. His skin was wet and his clothes were damp from sweat, he was used to sleeping naked on cold stones in a cold cell on the cold realm of Jotunhiem, now he was on Asgard -a much warmer realm- he was wearing clothes that actually covered him and he had several blankets over him. his body wasn't used to being warm like this and he was sweating because of it. He didn't like the bed either, he wasn't used to something so soft, he always slept on the rock hard ground. Sleeping in this bed made him feel like he was sinking, the blankets made him feel like he was drowning, and the clothes made him feel like he was suffocating. Frigga had said to stay in bed, so he knew he wasn't allowed to get up and take off his clothes or move the blankets. He wished she would hurry and come to give him his orders for the day. it was already two o'clock, someone will come to beat him pretty soon right? He thought, but of course he was wrong, no one was going to come to beat him. For two hours he laid in bed fidgeting with the blankets and the sheets and his clothes, but he was wet form sweating and everything just stuck to his body when he tried to move. For several hours all he could do was think and because of his past his thoughts weren't good ones. What if it turns out that Odin is just as horrible as Laufey? What if when Odin wakes up he comes and beats the young frost giant for sleeping too much or for taking too much of the healers time? He noticed that one of the cuts had opened up again and there was a small amount of blood staining his shirt and That made him panic even more, what if frigga comes and gets angry because he ruined her things? He didn't know what methods they used as punishment, what if they end up being worse than Laufey? His mind started racing and thinking about the horrible things Laufey had done to him, the Asgardians might be even worse. He was getting anxious and panicked, he wanted to get up and hide somewhere
but he couldn't move very well with all the casts and bandages, he was stuck in bed while his anxiety and fear ate him up.
Finally after a long time the doors opened and frigga came in, by now Laufeys son had had enough time with his thoughts to have come up with the worst possible thing that Frigga could do to him, so seeing her enter made him even more afraid, he wished he could hide, he wanted to get up and beg her not to hurt him, but he couldn't get out of bed. Frigga came over to the side of the bed and saw the terror in his face, he was breathing hard and trying to move further away from her.
"Hey what's wrong? What happened?" She asked him as she reached out and put a hand on his face, he winced to her touch. She immediately looked concerned when she felt how clammy and sweaty his face was "you're sweating, you're hot, why didn't you take these off?" She asked him as she pulled the blankets off of him so he could breath. It felt so good to get hem off, he didn't feel like he was being strangled anymore. "Why didn't you take them off if you were so hot sweetie? You shouldn't lay here sweating like that" she asked him, he was still afraid that she was going to be angry, now not for staying in bed too late, but because of the blood on his shirt.
"I didn't- you put them on me" he said quickly, like he was afraid to speak a word and had to hurry to get them all out. Frigga could tell he was very scared, his breathing was still uneven and slightly panicked, like it was when she first met him in the library on jotunhiem. She helped him to sit up and then put a hand on is arm.
"Calm down, you're okay, you're safe. I said I wasn't going to hurt you, remember?" She asked. He swallowed hard and then nodded. Frigga assumed he had had some kind of nightmare, she had no idea he had been laying awake for the past few hours dreading seeing her.
He tried to control his breathing, but he looked scared again when she noticed the bloodstain.
"Oh you're bleeding" she said as she lifted up his shirt a bit to see the cut that had opened. "It's not too bad, I'll get a bandage okay? I'll be right back" she said as she smiled a bit and went to get a bandage to cover the small cut.
She came back after a minute and sat down on the bed next to him and started to clean and cover up the cut after taking off his shirt, she'd get him clean one later.
"I'm sorry" he said "I won't- it won't happen again I- just please don't have me whipped" he said with a panicked tone. Frigga looked up at him with confusion in her face.
"Why would I do that? Why would I have you whipped?" She asked him.
"Because I- I stayed in bed so late and- and I got blood on- on the shirt and I- talked when I wasn't supposed to" he stuttered. Frigga finished covering the cut and then looked at him.
"Listen to me. I will never have you whipped, alright? You can stay in bed as long as you want, it's not your fault that you started bleeding, and you can talk whenever you have something to say" she told him as she put a hand on his face "I know Laufey did terrible horrible things to you... that's why I took you from him, I wanted to save you, I still do. You're not a slave or a pet as long as you're here alright?" She said, she doubted he understood but his breathing did calm and he looked like he was processing what she was saying.
"So- so I can- I can talk?" He asked, as if that was the craziest thing he'd ever been told. Frigga smiled sadly and nodded.
"Yes. You can talk as much as you want" she said. He stilled looked baffled. "So how about telling me your name?" She said. She still didn't know what to call him and she imagined that 'sweetie' was not something he wanted to be called for the rest of his life.
When she asked for his name he looked confused "you- you can call me anything you want... you own me so- whatever you want" he said with an unsure tone. Frigga shook her head.
"No no it's not like that, I don't own you, you're free. I want to know what your name was when you were on jotunhiem, I won't change it" she said. He still looked clueless. "What did people call you?" She asked, trying to make the question as clear as possible.
"Well... Laufey- um... he normally just called me 'runt'" he said reluctantly, he hoped she didn't keep calling him that, Laufey made sure he knew what the word meant and made it very clear that it was meant to be humiliating.
"No no, 'runt' is not name, he just called you that to be mean. I want to know what your actual name is" she said. He looked at her blankly for a long time, maybe he was afraid to tell her because he viewed himself as her property, or maybe he just had a really horrible name and didn't want to say it.
"Laufey and Ilkay always just called me runt.... and sometimes they called me idiot" he said again, she didn't want him to get scared of her again so she just nodded and stopped pressuring him for an answer.
"Okay, well I'm not going to call you either of those things, I'll find out your name another time" she said, he had only been here for two days, he needed time to get comfortable before she could pressure him into telling her things he clearly wasn't comfortable with. 
After a minute there was a knock on the door and his breakfast was brought in.
"Are you hungry?" She Realized how stupid the question was after she said it. He nodded eagerly as he fixed his eyes on the plate of food. She took the plate from the maid and began to feed him like she did the night before.
This time he didn't hesitate, he trusted her enough to eat what she offered.