You're My Son

The Casket's Ice

Thor could only watch in disbelief as his younger brother sucked air back into his lungs. His skin seemed to absorb the ice and bring it into his heart. He was afraid to touch his brother, afraid of what Loki might do to him in this state. He waited until everything was calm.

Once the ice had vanished, Loki slowly sat up, still out of breath and in shock. Thor helped him sit up.

"Brother, what happened? What did you do?"

It took a while for Loki to answer. Thor looked around in the mean time to see if he could figure it out on his own. All he could figure out is that Loki ran in the cave to get whatever was inside the Casket. Thor wished he knew more about Jotunheim than the lies he grew up hearing. He wondered what was inside the Casket that Loki had to almost risk his life for.

"What happened?" Thor asked again.

"I don't know."

"You can do better than 'I don't know'. You broke it for a purpose. What was it?"

Loki looked at his hands as if they were unusual. They didn't look any different to Thor. "I had to break it."

"Why?"

"It was something that Heimdall said. We are getting defeated, Thor. We have nothing. This Casket is all we have."

"Then why break it?"

"How can we fight with something that Asgard can so easily take away? I am their only hope right now." Loki turned his head away from his brother and looked at the broken glass. "The Casket itself is only a container of what truly lies inside. It's not power. Whoever has a good and right heart can withstand its power, and its power becomes theirs. If not, they die a frozen death."

Thor raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Even if you're a Frost Giant?"

Loki nodded.

"What was inside?"

"Some crystal of ice. It was as if touching an Infinity Stone. The moment I touched it, I felt its power consume me. As if everything inside me became frozen."

"You were frozen, brother. You were fragile, ready to break at any moment. But you survived. You were able to survive the Casket's ice, its power. Its power is now yours." Thor smiled a proud smile and put a hand on Loki's shoulder. "You are worthy."

Loki snorted. "I'm not worthy, Thor. I just discovered that my heart is right and good after all, despite my reputation of mischief."

"Same thing."

They remained silent for a moment. Everything was quiet, peaceful even, despite the war that was going on miles away. They wondered how they can use the new power to help the Frost Giants win.

Loki looked over at the weapons in Thor's hands. It shocked him to see that one of the things in his grasp was the king's weapon Gungnir. "You actually took that from Odin?"

"I did," Thor said proudly. "We have an advantage."

Loki reached over to grab the weapon, but the moment he touched it, a heavy frost covered it entirely. Only Loki's hand turned blue.

"What was that?"

"I don't know," Loki said as he watched his hand turn back to Asgardian.

Out of curiosity, Thor pointed Gungnir toward one of the walls. He tried to activate the weapon, but it did nothing. No matter how much he tried, it did nothing. The brothers looked at it in shock. Now they really had an advantage.

Loki remembered reading about the Casket when he was younger. He remembered reading it in the library after Volstagg's father told them about the battle he had with Jotunheim. He remembered reading about the wars that the two realms have had and how the Casket was used. If only he remembered more about that part, how the Casket worked.

"Come on," Loki told Thor.

"Where to?"

"Asgard."

Thor grabbed his brother's shoulder and turned Loki to face him. "What are you going to do?"

"Relax, brother, I'm not gonna do anything stupid. I just need to get something."

"Get what?"

"A book."
-------------------------------------------------------
Loki and Thor went through the portal and got to the library as quick as they could. Loki immediately got to the shelf with the books about the wars that Asgard have had.

"What are we looking for?" asked Thor.

"I remember a long time ago that I was reading something about the Casket, its power, and how it can be used. If I could find it, hopefully we could end this."

The two brothers searched desperately for the book. Loki went to the shelf that he remembered going to as a child. He looked all over it, from top to bottom and left to right. Then he found it sitting in the bottom left corner, almost hidden.

"Thor, I found it," he said, walking to him.

"What does it say?" Thor tightened his grip on the frozen weapon.

Loki flipped to the page that he remembered reading. It was a battle between Asgard and Jotunheim, one of the most devastating battles between the two realms. It was long ago when Odin's father and Laufey's father both ruled their worlds. Laufey's father was the one who used the Casket.

"The Casket holds many powers," Loki read. "The most powerful of them is the one that was used on Gungnir."

"Yes, but what is that power?"

"I can freeze even the most powerful weapons temporarily. You can't break it and no Frost Giant can take it off but the one who froze it. I can freeze other realms entirely, even beings."

Thor's eyes widened at what the Casket could do. "What will you do to end this war? You wouldn't threaten to freeze Asgard, would you?"

"If Odin does not end this war, I will. Freezing the realm will be my last option, but it's the option with the least damage, unless you want me to freeze the people as well. Remember that I can take it away. If you have any other suggestions, let me hear it."

Thor sighed. "Fine. Last option."

"Alright," Loki said, closing the book with one hand. "Let's go stop Odin."