Unbroken

Chapter 72

It was dark, and cold. Loki stood in the middle of a dungeon, his dungeon, the dungeon he grew up in. Loki stood still in the middle of the dungeon, the air around him was cold, unbearably cold, he could see his breath in the air as he looked around the room, blood stained the ground, chains and shackles decorated the walls, everything was exactly the same as when Loki left, even the tools of torture were still littering the ground, as if they were waiting for Lokis return, waiting to be used again. As he looked around the dungeon he remembered all the pain he used to live in. His back started to tingle when he saw the whips that were scattered across the floor, covered with his blood.
Everything in the room was freezing cold, but Loki felt something warm touch his knee.
"Loki".
The world around Loki dissolved into darkness, then his eyes opened as he inhaled sharply, and he was met with the warm reality that was Asgard.
"Where did you go Loki?" Frigga asked him. She'd been teaching him magic for the past several days. Loki was sitting on the ground in her chambers, he looked down to see her hand on his knee, which must have been that warmth he'd felt when he was visiting jotunhuem.
"I thought you weren't supposed to touch me when I'm doing that" Loki said.
"You also weren't supposed to send yourself to Jotunhiem " Frigga said. She was teaching Loki to send his mind to other places in the form of illusions of himself. He would be able to visit other realms and speak to other people without needing to go there physically. But if someone touched his physical body he'd be pulled back to where he really was. Frigga had been teaching him this for a few days, and she continued telling him to simply visit other places on Asgard, but Loki kept going to Jotunhiem instead.
"It's easier to go to jotunhuem. I knew it better, it's more vivid" Loki said as he stood up.
"But you could get caught. The people there can see you when you make these visits" she told him.
"I always go to my room, no one sees me" Loki said. Frigga shook her head.
"Don't call it that" she said.
"Call it what?" Loki asked.
"Don't call that place your room. I saw where he kept you, it was a cage, nothing more" she told him "and that's why I don't want you sending yourself there" she added. Lokis eyes slowly shifted to the floor, but then he nodded.
"How did I do?" He asked. It was difficult to train his mind to do what he wanted it to do, but he was getting very good very fast.
"You did very well. I was talking to you, did you hear me?" She asked, Loki shook his head.
"No, I was all there. I didn't notice anything from my physical surroundings until you touched me" he said, glad that he was improving so quickly.
"Good, try again, but don't go to jotunhiem" she said, having him sit down again. Loki nodded and sat down, closing his eyes and concentrating.
Thor was in his chambers, about to leave for dinner. But he turned around and saw Loki standing by his closet door, he was both startled and confused. He jumped slightly before processing that it was only Loki.
"Loki, how did you get In here without me seeing? And what are you doing? Thor asked.
"I'm not here" Loki told him. Thor walked over to him, confused.
"I'm looking at some pretty compelling evidence that proves otherwise" Thor said, looking Loki up and down.
"Mother's been teaching me some tricks" Loki explained. A look of understanding came across Thor's face.
"So this is one of those annoying illusion things?" He asked. Loki nodded.
"Well good job. Will you be at dinner tonight? Father's been asking about you lately, you aren't at meals" Thor commented.
"I've been busy. Trinity asked me to teach her fighting, mothers been teaching me this stuff, and father has had a few council meetings to discuss issues about laufey" Loki told him. Thor was quiet for a minute, clearly thinking about how to word something.
"Hey... when did you start saying mother and father instead did Odin and Frigga?" Thor asked him. Loki tried to cover up that he was both hurt and embarrassed by the question.
"Right.. sorry, I guess I just got comfortable. It won't happen again, they're your parents, not mine" he said with a tone of factuality that made it clear to Thor that he was covering up hurt feelings.
"Hey that's not what I meant. I'm glad you're feeling at home" Thor said "I was just wondering what changed for you, you're not always an open book" he added. He tried to nudge his arm, forgetting that Loki was only an illusion, so his hand went through Lokis shoulder.
"I don't know" Loki said "you called me your brother a couple of times, Odin called me his son when Laufey was here, I thought maybe I'd try it and see if I thought it fit" Loki explained.
"And what do you think? Do you like having a proper mother and father?" Thor asked. Loki nodded.
"Yeah I do. It's something I never thought I'd have" he said. Thor smiled a little bit and went to pat Lokis shoulder, once again forgetting that he wasn't real. again, his hand went right through him.
"That's really annoying, you know that?" Thor said with a slight laugh. Loki smirked a bit.
"I'll keep it to a minimum" Loki said. Thor looked like he had an idea suddenly.
"Hey, how easy is that for you? How far can you go?" Thor asked.
"It's not that difficult actually. I love gone to Jotunhiem a few times, but never with the intention of seeing anyone" Loki said.
"So could you use it to spy on Laufey? You could go in and eavesdrop without the risk of getting caught, right?" He asked, an excited look in his eyes. But Loki shook his head.
"I could, but mother would kill me. She doesn't like me going back there, even when I just visit my room" he explained. Thor's excitement evaporated.
"Alright... I guess we'll have to wait for Laufey to make a move then. Now disappear, I want to go to dinner" Thor told him. Loki smirked a bit and nodded. The image of Loki vanished in a shimmer of green, Lokis vision went to black and then he opened his eyes back in Friggas room.
"I went to talk to Thor" Loki told her, she seemed much more pleased than when he went to jotunhuen. Frigga just nodded and stood up again.
"Good. That's enough for today, go have dinner" Frigga told him. He had been training all day long, and the few times Frigga insisted that they take a break, Loki went to train by himself. He was eager to get good at using magic, and no matter how many times Frigga told him that he was advancing at an unrealistically fast pace, he always wanted to know more and learn more.
Loki knew he told Thor he'd be at dinner, but now he was thinking about spying on laufey, and he didn't want to waste time eating.
"I'm not hungry-" Frigga didn't let him finish.
"Loki, you haven't done anything but train all day long, please go eat dinner, then have drinks with Thor and the warriors in the lounge, then go to bed and actually sleep" she told him, almost pushing him toward the door.
"I'll eat dinner, but I want to keep training after that" he said.
"No. This is it for today, give yourself a rest Loki, you work yourself too hard" Frigga said as they left and headed for the dinning room.
"I'm used to hard work, and this work I enjoy. I just want to try one more thing" Loki argued.
"Try it tomorrow" Frigga said definitively. Loki knew he couldn't talk her out of wanting him to stop for the day, so he just stayed silent.
They got to the dining room and started eating, but all through dinner all Loki could think about was the possibility of spying on laufey. He didn't Know why he never thought of that before, it was perfect, Laufey wouldn't see it coming and Loki is crafty so it would be an easy job.
He ate dinner quickly, then skipped drinks and went right to his room. He shut the door and locked it, as well as all the windows. He wanted to make sure he wouldn't be interrupted. Once he locked himself in, he sat on the ground and closed his eyes, he took a deep breath and relaxed his mind, then concentrated on where he wanted to go. Soon the warm air around him turned to bitter cold, then he opened his eyes and he was on Jotunhiem. This time with the intention of seeing Laufey.