Cold metal hearted love story!

Chapter Three

A/n:Okay, so the
words "argr" and "ergi" are used as derogatory slurs in this, but I've changed the meanings just slightly from the usual headcanon.

Argr = womanly, feminine, weak (usually in reference to magic)

Ergi = womanly, feminine, gay (usually in reference to sexual orientation)

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Asgard watches as Thor and Loki grow.

From infancy until Thor's hundredth year, the boys are near inseparable. They grow together, learn together, laugh together, and when they are old enough, argue and train and fight together. The boys explore and play and act like brothers, and soon enough a bond is formed between them; a bond of simple, easy love.

Pure. Innocent. Whole.

But for all their similarities, there are many stark differences.

The whispers start when Loki is seven. His seidr has grown with him, has learned as he learned, and now it ripples across his false skin and tears at the lie he is cloaked in. Odin is forced to strengthen the illusion, until the Odinforce is so thickly layered upon Loki's skin that not even an enchanted blade can cut it. Only the touch of another Jötun or the Casket of Ancient Winters itself could possibly break through the spell, and Loki's seidr is filled with fury. It slams itself against the barrier wrapped round his body, trying desperately to break free of the lies and the deceit. Loki is filled with a constant sense of wrong, but he doesn't know how or why, and it drives him mad.

Loki cannot understand why every time he looks at Odin, something deep within him screams. Why every time he looks in the mirror, his magic shudders with revulsion. Why every time he shows his father a new trick or spell, the man he idolises scowls and demands that he stop practicing such useless crafts, commands that Loki focus more on strategy and swords and forget all about seidr and spells. Odin does not want a mage for a son, he wants two strong, brave warriors, and he makes that abundantly clear.

Privately, Loki cries and shouts and throws daggers at the walls, begging his empty room for answers to questions he is punished for asking but that won't leave him alone.

Privately, Odin watches Loki's power grow and worries that his adopted son will soon break free of the shackles he does not yet realise have been placed on him. Odin fears what Loki will do if he does.

So Asgard watches as Odin suppresses and dismisses and discourages Loki at every turn. And soon Thor has begun to parrot the words that fall from his beloved father's lips: magic is womanly, magic is for the weak, magic should be forgotten about and ignored. Loki gains his first derogatory label, argr, and many are quick to follow in its footsteps. Liar, trickster, deviant, thief.

Every triumph is Thor's; every failure is Loki's. All glory and honour is the God of Thunder's; all blame and dishonour is the God of Lies'. Without knowing why, Loki is fashioned into the scapegoat of Asgard. Thor is too young and naïve and ignorant to see the unjust treatment of his brother, and so follows the crowd that loves him and begins to throw dirt upon his brother's name. Loki is left to watch, horrified, as the bond between them becomes sickly and rotten and splintered, and all attempts to reach out to his brother fail. Where once Thor's heart was filled with love for Loki, now it has been swayed by fame and glory and honour.

Loki might adore his brother, but Thor adores his father. As Odin's desperation to control Loki increases, his words become bitter and poisonous and cutting. Odin doesn't realise it, not until it is too late, but Asgard follows its king with unwavering loyalty. Every time Odin criticises his second son or curses Loki's name, people hear. Soon the whispering turns to talking turns to snarling accusations. Odin's words become the people's, and they hurl them at Loki with hatred burning in their hearts.