Focused Fire (ATLA)

Credit to the treacherous children, the cell Ozai was put in was comprehensively secure. It was a perfect cube hole underground that, thanks to the earthbender builders, was absent of the weakness of a door. Instead, save for mealtimes where the wall would slide up, he was surrounded by six stony surfaces. 

Four fist-sized holes on the ceiling allowed weak sunlight from above to trickle in, serving as his sole light source. More holes at the top of the sliding wall provided minimum air circulation as well as some light when the sun was out. A raised block of dirt in one corner with a hole in it served as a latrine, while a wooden basin of water was provided each morning  .

If taking just these elements into consideration, the holding cell was a simple one, meant to keep non-benders and weak benders in place. Any real firebender could just blast their way out in a myriad of ways.

But leave it to the insidious children to figure out a way to deter any breakout. When he was first interred, Ozai’s blindfold was lifted by the guards as he was right at the entrance. They gave smug grins as they explained why the walls between his cell and the hallway were so thick, one of them even thumping a foot to lower the entrance’s section to reveal barrels sandwiched between the walls. 

“Prince Xing asks that we inform you that blasting jelly is stuffed behind your cell’s walls, floor and ceiling. You might notice the sharp smell in the air, that’s the firepowder that’s embedded onto every inch of your room. The prince asks that you be careful with your firebending, or he’ll have to regretfully explain to his fiance how her father turned into a massive underground firework.”

It was a demeaning, but - Ozai had to begrudgingly admit - effective captivity. He quickly got used to the sulfurous smell from the gray powder mixed in with his cell walls, nevermind the humiliatingly simple wooden furniture. They only gave him a bed (with mere hay for mattress stuffing at that), a stool, and a raised surface not big enough to be called a table. 

Beyond the briefing by the guards, the betrayed Fire Lord did not have any further social interaction with anyone. Not that he needed to talk to traitors and invaders anyway. Instead, Ozai spent most of his isolation steeping in the disappointment that was his children. 

Zuko was an utter failure, weak and useless to the very end, barely worth being a pawn of any value. Why many courtiers favored the useless boy was beyond Ozai’s comprehension. They liked him so much that they admired his time in exile, framing it as a valiant effort to catch the Avatar. Idiots. Ozai should’ve ejected those fools out of his court rather than magnanimously tolerating their presence. He should’ve rejected Azula’s offer of turning Zuko into a recruit, and thereby letting that weakling be party to her treachery. Zhao had the right idea, put the boy on a boat with blasting jelly and get it done with.

Azula had shown promise, but she’d let her ambition lead her down a treason path. It stung Ozai that he almost believed his daughter’s claims of just wanting to keep the colonies running efficiently. That she only cared about maintaining a level of competency within the Fire Nation. He should have listened to his instincts, that the girl was building up a power base to launch a coup, that her ‘culling’ of supposedly corrupt and ineffectual officials was actually meant to chip away at his supporters. But he let his paternal pride blind him until the very last moment.

The truth only dawned on Ozai when he saw Azula presenting herself with a preening, smug grin alongside the insidious Xing after the latter’s victory over Ba Sing Se. He had been cornered by the two scheming children, forced to celebrate their usurpation of his power and influence that was wrapped in an overblown victory.

He should’ve reneged on their engagement back then, even if Ozai only had his hunch to rely on.

Xing was as untrustworthy as his moniker. Scorpion indeed. He was too smart, too capable to be trusted. No doubt he prodded and encouraged Azula’s treachery to gain a share of the spoils. He hid dragons from Ozai and effectively made him a fool to the world. In hindsight, Xing no doubt seized Ba Sing Se in more practical means like bribing enough earthbenders and dressed it up as some glorious, impossible feat of bringing down the walls by himself. He probably orchestrated the failure of the War Ministry’s drill too, and conspired with the Mad King to turn Omashu into a humiliation for Ozai’s rule.

The more Ozai thought about it, the more it became clear that his first and biggest mistake had been allowing his daughter out of the palace with the Scorpion to shape her education. If she had stayed, Ozai could’ve corrected her treacherous behavior, and Xing would be able to parasitize her to rise in power so quickly.

He also shouldn’t have relied so much on his court for advice. The officials and nobles were supposed to be extensions of his will, but Ozai had slackened their leash too much. He had entertained too much of their schemes, and what results did it produce? Their proposal to send off the home islands’ garrisons to the front only made the girl’s invasion easier. The new tanks and heavy infantry of the War Ministry were useless against Azula’s coup. They omitted the fact that the Avatar was involved, which made his escape on the airship a major mistake…

Or…or did the damned girl get to them as well? Did they purposely sabotage his rule? But he was sure that she was disliked. Despised even.

As he processed his thoughts for the nth time to form a clearer picture, a hole opened up at head level in the sliding wall. Ozai stood up and found no one on the other side, but one of the guards’ voices rang through while the walls around him rumbled softly. “Ozai, you got a guest.”

Despite himself, Ozai took a cautious step towards the hole, but he froze in surprise as Iroh’s face appeared on the other side. Iroh, in the robes and headdress of the Fire Lord.

Of course. Ozai scowled as the loose pieces all fit together.

“Brother.”

“Iroh,” he forced through gritted teeth as the archtraitor, the true hand behind all of this. “I should have known.”

The statement caught the usurper off-guard, and Iroh, ever the over-expressive fool, regarding him with what was definitely false confusion. “Ozai? What do you mean?”

“All this time…you couldn’t let your better claim the throne, and so you turned my children and my advisors against me.”

Iroh frowned. “You are greatly mistaken, brother. The needs of the Fire Nation has forced me to assume-”

“Please,” Ozai scoffed with disgust. “Spare me the spiel for the gullible masses.” He stared hatefully at his traitorous brother, who still had the gall to feign ignorance. “How long did it take for you to worm your way into my court’s confidence? What did you dangle for my daughter to accept your treasonous schemes?”

“Ozai, I do not want to be Fi-”

“Hah!” he spat back. “Of course you’d say that, now that you’re on the throne. No doubt your simpering courtiers and noble houses will gladly swallow that excuse.”

Ozai growled with rising anger. His brother had fooled him completely with his soft act. Even if he mostly stayed out of politics, everyone still held him in high regard. Enough so that it overrode their rightful fear and respect for Ozai’s station. Zuko of course looked up to Iroh as a role model for weakness. No doubt his brother used that influence to keep his son impotent and meek. As for Azula… He probably blunted her ambition, made her content to be nothing more than a broodmare to a freak.

It was so obvious now. 

“So, I was set up to fail, is that it?” Ozai needlessly asked. “My rule undermined from the start, so that you can sweep in and be proclaimed the savior of the Fire Nation.”

“You are deluding yourself, Ozai,” Iroh finally retorted with some hardness in his voice and features. Ozai smiled at his brother’s frustration, at having ruined Iroh’s attempt to gloat. Now that he’s on the defensive, the usurper could only settle on glaring at him with disdain, showing his true colors at last.

 

And Ozai would not give him the satisfaction of submitting.

“So, are you done looking down on me?” he asked defiantly.

Iroh continued glaring for a few seconds more, before he let out a theatrical sigh and shook his head. He still had the gall to put on his compassionate mask, the bastard. “I came to see how you were doing, but…”

It was satisfying for Ozai to see his brother’s face harden, to see that stupid mask of Iroh crack. “Ozai. Someone has brought a grave accusation against you. A man called Vachir-”

Ozai stiffened, unable to hide his surprise at the name. Another incompetent or treacherous servant. Had he, too, turned to Iroh immediately after his failure?

“Are you listening to me, brother?” the traitorous sibling asked, snapping Ozai out of his thoughts. “Why did you send a Yuyan Archer after a mere commoner?”

It rankled Ozai to have his brother continue pretending to be oblivious. “Don’t be obtuse. You know who he is, brother.”

“Then why kill a man who has nothing to do anymore with your wife?”

“That’s a lie!” he snapped, only his surroundings keeping him from displaying his rage in flames. The words were forced out through gritted teeth, the years of resentment and hate urging them on. “She was supposed to be mine! Yet she only ever sought her past life, sought him! The ungrateful wench never knew how to appreciate her place as my wife. Ungrateful. Treacherous. Just like everyone I’ve known.” 

“Ozai…”

He snapped a finger up at his brother. “Don’t you dare play the sympathetic card on me, Iroh! I know what you are now!”

Iroh sighed again, and Ozai was treated to the sight of the old hardened general that had earned the moniker ‘Dragon of the West’. His brother’s glare would’ve been withering, if not for how little Ozai regarded him now.

“Very well then, brother. Tell me then. Did you have anything to do with our father’s passing?”

The deposed Fire Lord scoffed. He should have expected that as well. It was obvious, now. “What? Sour that I beat you to it, brother?”

Iroh’s face tightened with rage, and Ozai basked in the one victory he got over his brother. “You, who were trying to play the long game, were ruined by my involvement. Is that why you set me up for such failure, brother? Were you angry that I rightfully snatched the throne from you?”

“You are a disgrace, Ozai!”

“Disgrace? From you, of all people, who plotted behind my back for taking what is mine? For all your scheming, you’re as much of a blinkered failure as our father was, unwilling to make the hard decisions. Soft. Weak. I would’ve led the Fire Nation to new heights.”

A noise came from outside, and Iroh visibly calmed. Of course he’d bring an audience to share in the gloating. Well, Ozai was not going to play along. 

“How did you do it, Ozai?” his brother’s voice was delivered very evenly. “How did you assassinate our father?”

Should he take that secret to the grave, or would that only give Iroh a bigger opportunity to slander him?

 

Ozai grinned, realizing who else might be affected by the truth. If he was going to fall, then he would not do so alone.

*****

Azula watched as Zuko had to be held back and gagged by Xing’s people. Not that she had any right to be smug about it, Suki was still in front of her, keeping her back after she’d listened to her father’s madness. 

Did he really think so little of his children? Were Azula and her brother truly little more than convenient pawns for him? Even if she’d accepted that possibility, it was still…hurtful to hear it straight from his mouth.

They continued to watch from the sidelines as Uncle Iroh drew out their father’s eager confession, and Zuko had to be dragged back once more as Toph from beside Iroh gave a scowling nod of her head.

“If you damn me, then damn that stupid bitch as well!” the former Fire Lord said, and the princess could imagine his spiteful smirk. “I might have instructed her, but it was her hands that poisoned our father! It was the only thing she ever did right, and it took pitiful threats to get it done…”

Azula felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see an apologetic Xing. She gave a shrug, showing that she didn’t blame him for her father’s delusions.

She wasn’t as deluded as Ozai was to senselessly blame everyone, after all.

The gathering out of her father’s view had had enough of the rambling, as did Uncle Iroh. With a weary and disappointed sigh, the new Fire Lord gave his brother one last look. “I am partly to blame for not taking your derangement seriously. I should have paid your tantrums and lack of empathy more attention. But the fact remains, Ozai, that you have dishonored and disgraced yourself with your schemes!”

“Save your theatrics for people who’d believe your act, brother.”

It stung Azula to hear how deluded her father had become. And to think, if Xing had not been around to guide her, she could very well end up like him. The princess shuddered at the thought of turning into a rambling, wide-eyed lunatic.

Uncle Iroh drew himself up, seemingly fuelled by his newfound contempt for his brother. “You will be kept here until we’ve decided on a suitable punishment. Know that I was against execution before, but now, with your heinous acts, I cannot find any cause to turn that option away. You brought this on yourself, brother.”

He gave a nod, and Toph stomped her foot to close up the yard-thick viewing hole and reset the cell’s security to what it was before. Azula could hear the barrels shifting from behind the earthen walls to return to their places while the cell itself was moved further back, and she was only slightly disappointed that her father hadn’t been made enough to try firebending in his cell. The amusement of seeing him potentially stun himself from the fireworks powder instead of taking out everyone in one last act of spite would’ve made up for all the nonsense he spewed.

Uncle Iroh walked up to her and Zuko then, looking grievously distraught. “I should have known that my brother could be so bold…”

“His faults are not yours, Iroh,” Avatar Aang said from behind the royal siblings. “And at least we now know the extent of his madness.” The select few officials and commanders that were brought along were nodding in a mix of shock and disappointment at hearing how far gone their old Fire Lord was.

“To threaten his wife using his own children’s lives…” Katara’s voice was shaky and rightfully disturbed, which then resolved into something harder and colder, like a dagger of ice. “That’s a monster, not a man.” Surprisingly, the waterbender gave Azula and Zuko a highly sympathetic and apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had to put up with…that.”

“I’ve come to terms with it,” Azula waved off, and then glanced at Zuko who was only coming down from his rage and spitting out the cloth gag that was supposed to be for Colonel Dao (and that the loudmouth colonel kept silent throughout the whole thing made Azula reassess his character). “My brother, though, might need time.”

“He used our mother to kill grandpa!”

“Yes, we heard that part, Zuzu. And he abused you because mother played him at his own game and pissed him off. And he used me as a convenient beat stick to keep you down.”

“Why are you not more mad at this?”

Azula shrugged before glaring a little at her brother. “Because he doesn’t deserve the effort it takes to be angry at him. To be mad, to be outraged, to be anything but mildly disappointed… That would be proving that he’s worth the investment of my emotion. He is not. Therefore, I’ve written him off. Our father warrants nothing more than a shake of my head and a soft tsk of disappointment, because he’s not worth my time or thoughts.”

“Wow. Okay, that’s…harsh…?” Sokka commented, which earned nods from the rest of the Avatar’s clique and some of the courtiers. 

Zuko at least calmed down from her explanation and she saw the fog of anger clear from his eyes. “I…maybe you’re right.” 

Of course she was, but it’d be impolite to mention that now. Or the fact that she’d learned it from Xing. Apparently Zuko was still a bit insecure about missing out on Xing’s education. But it was an education gained from intimacy, and Azula would not tolerate knowing (or spirits save her, seeing) her brother and her beloved be…close.

“Still, he deserves the full punishment that the Fire Nation can mete out.”

“On that we’re in agreement, brother. Uncle Iroh?” 

Now there was none of the conflicted look that he used to show when the topic came up. Uncle Iroh’s face was fixed into a scowl of disappointment and anger, though it lessened as he regarded the people in the hallway. “As you both say. We have enough witnesses here. Once Sozin’s Comet has passed, and he disappoints Xing’s expectation-” 

Xing had the courtesy to remain still and unexpressive. His low estimation on what would likely happen was already known to all in the hallway.

“-then Ozai will face the full extent of our law, with no compromises.”

“I’m sorry that my suspicions were not wrong,” Xing needlessly voiced, earning him the shaking heads of many present.

“No,” Uncle Iroh said firmly. “I must thank you, Xing, for making me consider those questions. It is a harsh and disappointing truth, but knowing the extent of my brother’s madness is still important.”

Katara gave a glum nod before a conciliatory smile formed. “And on the bright side, we know that your mom’s still out there and alive.”

That of course made Zuko perk up, and Sokka placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, we still got some time, so we can help you look for her. Right Aang?”

Azula admired the innocent resolve of the Avatar and his friends. Just like that, they were willing to postpone more serious duties to help search for a woman that’s gone missing for years.

Perhaps Vachir and his fellow Rough Riders could be of use to help track her down… Not that Azula needed it, but Zuko at least needed the closure.

“Come, let’s get out of this stuffy place,” Uncle Iroh finally said, his countenance softening as he herded them out. “We’ve still much to discuss.” He managed to break into his old, genial smile once more, directing it at both Zuko and Azula. “Like what we might do to find Ursa again.”

Toph grinned. “If anything, it’d piss Ozai off more if she was here to meet him.”

There was that, indeed. All the more reason to be involved in the planning at least, but Azula had to be the competent princess here and get everyone’s priorities in order.

“That may be so, but we’ve still more pertinent things to consider. Like the preparations for Sozin’s Comet. Uncle, I trust you’re alright with Xing’s plan now?”

Her uncle’s face fell with disappointment again. “Yes… Yes, we’ve got much work to do. Let us hope that my brother does not have as many supporters as we credit him of having.”