The Devil's Redemption
A Zutara fanfiction by YouAreBeautifulxxx
Alert: This fanfic takes place a few days before Sozin's Comet. ZUKO STOPPED PURSUING AANG AFTER IROH WAS INJURED BY AZULA.
I do not own any of the characters or Avatar: The last airbender.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1-Capture
Zuko P.O.V
"Prince Zuko, your father sends a message."
"What is it?"
"The waterbender friend of the Avatar has been captured. The Fire Nation troops found her in a city not far from here. She is going to be presented in front of Fire Lord Ozai and tried for treason. You are demanded to make an appearance."
The watertribe girl? I thought as I stared blankly at the girl. Katara would not be so stupid as to let herself get captured like that. I had my experience battling her, and she wasn't the least bit ignorant. Not that I'm calling her intelligent…I'm not, but anyway.
The guard stared at me, wondering if he was going to get an answer.
"I will attend this little…trial. Now leave."
I gave the guard a dark glare and he sped away down the hallway quickly. Even though I was the banished prince, the guards still had some kind of fear of me. Maybe it was the scar. It did scare a load of people away. As I sat down on my silk bed, I couldn't help but dreading this trial. The last time I had seen Kata-I mean, the watertribe peasant, I had screamed at her to go away. Surely her feelings towards me weren't exactly…pleasant.
The clock struck twelve, causing me to jump a little bit.
Well, it's now or never.
Katara P.O.V
The Fire Nation is exactly as I imagined it as.
Pale, stuck-up people trotting around the streets, while I was being dragged to the kingdom in chains. It was my own fault I guess; I was trying too hard to search for edible food and ran into some Fire Nation troops. How very foolish of me! My father would be disappointed in me. I shook this thought out of my head as the guard pulled my chains forward.
No use dwindling on the past when I was probably about to be killed.
Women in the streets covered their mouths in disgust when they saw me. I suppose I was like a maggot to them; dirty, bad odor, dark-skinned, and trouble. They were all stiff and mysterious, while I was flexible and evident. They were obsessed with honor (cough, Zuko, cough) and I was obsessed with water. Not that any of that mattered…I'm just trying to find something else to think about before I meet my untimely death.
"Hurry up skank."
I gave the Fire Nation guard a glare, but started to walk faster as we approached the castle of Ozai. This place really needs some other colors besides red and orange; if you were new here, you would probably think it's a cult or something weird like that. The guards shoved me forward as they opened the doors in the stone palace.
Again, it was exactly what I expected.
The windows were draped with silk, red curtains, with a picture of Azula and Ozai off to the side. No pictures of Zuko were to be seen. I did find, however, a picture of Iroh, with who must have been his son. He still had that jolly smile on his aurous face. Normally, I would have smiled; but since I had chains digging into my flesh, I managed to hold it back.
I didn't have time to look at the rest of the pictures and artifacts, because one of the guards crushed his stick on the back of my head, causing me to fall to the ground in pain. An extremely loud thumping noise started pounding in my brain as I struggled to see clearly. Someone jerked me back up onto my feet, my feet stumbling over one another.
"You think the past few weeks have been bad girl? Well just wait until you see Ozai."
The other guard laughed, "Yeah! Wait till you see Ozai!"
I rolled my eyes, wondering if the other guards ever got annoyed with him repeating everything they said. The thought quickly evaporated from my mind as we inched closer and closer to the door which would lead me straight to the Fire Lord in which Aang would have to fight in a few days time.
"Open the doors."
My chest was heaving as I realized I was about to look into the eyes of one of my greatest enemies.
The doors opened, and I was again pushed forward.
It wasn't just Ozai that was in the room like I expected. There was numerous families crowded around the edges of the ball room, their mouths whispering what I was sure was foul things about me. There was about ten older looking men standing beside the throne, with very stern and angry looks on their faces. As I scanned the room, I found a very malicious pair of eyes looking at me.
Those eyes, of course, belonged to Azula.
She had a evil smirk on her narrow face as I locked eyes with her.
If there was anyone I hated more that Ozai, it was Azula.
I turned away from her, trying to find someone else to distract myself with. The person I next locked eyes with wasn't who I wanted to see at all. Zuko. He stood a few feet away from his uncle, who sadly, was standing next to his niece, with no emotion on his face at all. Prince Zuko; the boy who spent so long chasing after us, determined to get his honor back.
Honestly, I knew he was never going to get it back.
I understood his father on a weird level. I understood his mind; his sick, twisted mind. Even if Zuko did bring Aang back to him, there was no way he was ever going to restore his only son's honor! That's just the kind of person I knew him to be. Zuko disgraced him in front of a bunch of people (or so I hear); bringing him the avatar isn't nearly enough for Ozai to give him honor.
Deep inside, I understood Zuko too.
If my father had did what Zuko's father did to him, I would probably spend my whole life getting my honor back too. I would want to prove everyone wrong, just like he wanted too. Not saying his actions were just, but I'm only saying that I get it.
The guards stopped me just short of Ozai's throne. Fire Lord Ozai really was as ugly as he looked on posters. His nose was like a fishing hook. I bet he could sniff up a whole bowl of soup with that thing. His face was pure white, but there was still something about it that made it look blood red. Probably the hatred he had for everyone who had more power than him. The look in his eyes was more than wicked; it was malignant.
"Welcome to the Fire Nation young waterbender. How are you liking it here so far?
I scanned the ceiling, shrugging a bit.
"It could use a little more color to be honest. It's kind of depressing in here."
Ozai had the hint of a smile on his face.
"I can see why your wife left this place."
The hint of the smile disappeared.
What have I got to lose? If I'm going to die, at least I die while being sassy.
"Do you know why you're here peasant?"
"I have a good idea, yeah."
"Humor me." Ozai said, holding his hands on his lap. I noticed Zuko staring at me from the corner of my eyes. "Well, I think I'm here because your son unsuccessfully captured the avatar because of me and a few other people protecting him. It's not like you want your son's honor to be restored, but you just want something to distract the people from the embarrassment that came to you that day." I replied, seeing people in the room start to whisper. I was starting to have fun with this.
"So you had me kidnapped and brought me here to try and squeeze the information about the whereabouts of Aang-I mean, the avatar, out of me so you can kill him. Am I right?"
The room was dead silent as everyone peered back at the Fire Lord to see his response.
His jaw was clenched and his black eyes squinted down at me.
"You are being tried with treason against the Fire Nation. If convicted, the penalty may include death or life in the Fire Nation prisons. Do you deny your actions?"
Hatred filling up inside of my heart, I cleared my throat.
"No."
I was proud to have been an ally and friend to Aang. I would never deny that. Hopefully, he can use my death as another reason to defeat Ozai. Speaking of Ozai, he was now staring at me hard, with a scary look in his eyes. The words rolled off his lips like poison.
"Would you like to apologize for what you have done?"
Something in that moment snapped inside of me.
"Yeah, I would actually! I want to apologize to the poor citizens of the Fire Nation, who have to put up with your shit every day. I want to apologize to your wife, who saw the darkness in your heart and left you all alone with your psychotic daughter. I want to apologize to Iroh, who deserves so much more than what he gets. Mostly though, I want to apologize to Zuko."
I turned my head at him, locking my blue eyes with his yellow ones.
"Zuko, I am so sorry you had to have him as a father. I've seen that hint of good in you…but it's been so blindsided by emotional pain and arrogance that it's hard to find. I still believe that you could have turned out to be a good person if it hadn't been for him. Just remember that for me…you owe me that much."
Zuko's eyes were glistening with something I had never seen in him before. It almost looked like…respect. He may have hurt me and disappointed me, but I have still have hope that he can turn his life around. I smiled as I looked at him; I never would have imagined that this would be my last thought. Zuko can still turn his life around.
I must have gotten hit in the head harder than I thought.
Why had I said that?! Zuko was one of my arch enemies! He had chased us for months and months and now I was saying he could be redeemed?! A small voice in the back of my mind spoke to me as Zuko and I continued to stare at each other.
You know there is something else Katara. Something special about him that you admire.
"So you can beat me and torture me all you want Ozai…but nothing can make up for the pain you have caused every single person on this planet. Killing the avatar will not make you a hero. It won't change one thing about you."
With that, I flipped the water in the bowl next to Ozai up into the air, and brought it across right in a whip against his cheek.
If you think Zuko angry is frightening, wait till you see Ozai.
Holy shit, would be the only way to describe it.
"TAKE HER TO THE DUNGEONS IMMEDIATELY!"
An object was wailed at my head, and the world went black.
