Unbroken

chapter 66

Odin and Frigga were both in shock. They were so confused by everything Laufey had just said, that they almost forgot he was there until he spoke up.
"I want to speak with the boy again, Allfather, i wasn't finished with him" Laufey said, sounding angry. Odin turned on Laufey and gave him a look that would strike a weak man dead.
"You have done enough damage to him Laufey. Now that you've seen him, you will listen to our compromise" Odin said. "We will speak about it at dinner, after I've gotten some answers. This meal is over" Odin said to Laufey. Laufey got the message, he and Ilkay stood up and the guards escorted them back to their chambers.
Once laufey was gone, Odin turned to Thor.
"What in the-" Thor didn't let Odin finish.
"I can explain everything, but you can't be angry at Loki" Thor said. "I'm listening" Odin said, sounding less rage filled.
"Laufey never gave Loki a name" Thor started.
"Then where did the name Loki come from?" Frigga demanded, seeming as annoyed and flustered as Odin.
"I... suggested it" Thor said "when you kept pressing Loki about his name, he wasn't sure what to say. He was afraid of upsetting you, but He didn't have a proper name. then you asked me to find out his name. I was able to get him to admit that he didn't have one, so I quickly got a book and started reading off names. He liked 'Loki', so he decided to be called that.
I knew he was going through an extremely difficult time, so I decided to spare him some humiliation. I told him we didn't have to tell anyone, and that he could pretend that Loki had always been his name" Thor explained, they seemed to understand a little bit, but they still seemed mad. Maybe they were just mad at laufey. "And the reading? He told me he liked reading" Frigga said.
"Yeah, he lied. He said that so he wouldn't make you mad" Thor told her. At this, she seemed angry.
"Why would that make me mad?! Why would I be angry at someone for not knowing how to read?" She said.
"He was coming straight from laufey. He was used to being beaten for bleeding. He told me once that Laufey had him beaten, then when he passed out, he beat him some more. He was terrified. He was terrified. He was somewhere new and unfamiliar, he didn't know what was expected of him so he did what he felt he had to" Thor told her, his voice carrying a little louder than he meant it to. "I thought I made him feel safe" Frigga said, now just sounding hurt. She thought she did a good job of making Loki feel safe and comfortable, but he'd just been faking it?
"You did, mother. But he didn't have a name, he didn't know how to read, he was humiliated and ashamed of himself, so he tried to hide it. I only knew he couldn't read because I walked in on him reading a book that was upside down. He needed time to trust people, but believe me, you were the first person he trusted" Thor told her. She sighed a little bit.
"Go see if he's alright" Frigga said "I want to talk to odin" she added. Thor just nodded and got up to go see how Loki was holding up.
As Thor expected, loki wasn't doing so great.
Loki had gone to his room and immediately locked himself inside. He locked the door and the windows and made sure there was no way for anyone to get in uninvited. He didn't know what to do now, Laufey spilled everything to Odin and Frigga, everything that Loki tried to keep hidden was suddenly exposed to everyone. He stayed in his room for a long time just pacing in circles, he knew he'd have to explain everything to Odin and Frigga, but he didn't know what he would say. After a while, he heard a knock on the door, he was a little bit startled, but he went and opened the door.
"I'm so sorry" it was of course Thor. Thor decided to skip the 'how are you doing?' Part, and get right to the apology. Loki let him in and then locked the door again. "It's not your fault. I can't believe I didn't think that stuff would come up" Loki said, feeling beyond frustrated with himself. How could he not have thought of that? Of course Laufey would bring up his name, he didn't have one for a thousand years and now everyone is calling him Loki, of course he'd bring it up.
"I explained everything to mother and father. They might ask you some things but you won't have to go into detail about the stuff I helped you with" Thor said, he didn't know if that was the right to to have done or not, but he figured that Loki wouldn't want to have to be the one to explain that Thor gave him his name.
"Thanks" Loki said "I want laufey to leave. I just want them to leave. Why are they even here? Does Odin seriously think they'll listen to reason?" Loki said, feeling like this was all for nothing.
"I don't know what my father thinks, but I know he's just trying to avoid a war" Thor said. "The only way to avoid a war is to let Laufey take me back" Loki said "if Laufey doesn't get his way- Well I've said this a million times, you know that Laufey doesn't accept no as an answer" Loki muttered. He wouldn't last another day if he was sent back to Jotunhiem, if he was sent back he would never stop running until Laufey killed him, something he didn't have the courage to do before.
"You're not going back there. We have an army, we'll fight, but there is no way we're willingly handing you over" Thor assured him. Loki didn't seem convinced, but he stayed quiet, he didn't want to argue about it or talk about it anymore. "I won't be at dinner" loki said after a long silence.
"I figured that. I can arrange for Laufey and Ilkay to have their dinner in their chambers if you want. You can come to dinner that way." Thor said back. But loki still shook his head.
"I don't really want to see anyone. And I'm not hungry" Loki said, his tone made it clear that this was what he wanted and his mind wasn't going to be changed. "I'm going to take a walk in the gardens" Loki said as he went to grab some daggers in case he needed to defend himself. "it'll be dark soon" Thor said. Loki shook his head.
"I lived in a dungeon, I'm not afraid of the dark" loki said back, securing his daggers in his belt and walking past Thor to leave the room. Thor left him alone, he obviously needed time to think so he didn't try and go after him or offer to be company. Loki left his room and went outside to the gardens. The sun was setting now and it would be dark in a few minutes, but he didn't really care. The garden was a good place that Loki used to gather his thoughts and talk himself down. He was pretty sure he liked the garden so much because it was so opposite of Jotunhiem.
He walked around for several hours, he wasn't really doing anything, but being away from laufey was starting to make him feel a bit better.
But he had no idea what was really going on. He assumed that laufey was inside the palace, in his chambers or talking with Odin about a deal, but he was wrong.
Loki was walking along the stream, but when he decided to turn around and head back to the palace, he was faced with laufey, who was standing there in the darkness waiting for loki to turn around.
"Loki" Laufey said, his red eyes glowing in the dim light from the lanterns "I'd like to talk to you" he said with a sneer.