"But fire is a horrible burden to bear. Its nature is to consume and without control, it destroys everything around it. Learn restraint or risk destroying yourself and everything you love."
He had held the power to destroy in his hands since he was born, the power of fire. He could burn villages, scar bodies, and destroy lives, that was the power he was born with, his birthright as a son of fire. He had used his fire to harm those in his way, a means to reach the destiny he believed he was entitled to, but he had also used it protect. The little boy who had lost so much already but could keep his innocence at least if Zuko stepped in, his uncle who had been captured for sins in his past, and his friends, those who had accepted him as part of their little family when he had nothing else. He had the power destroy and the power to protect flowing through him, fire. He was wise enough now to see the difference between the two and to understand when to use his blessed curse, he would use it to keep them safe, the ones who couldn't fight, and the ones he couldn't bear to see hurt.
"But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we're torn apart."
This was the cost of having the power to keep the ones he loved from harm. He would take in all the pain, all the hurt that the world tried to use to tear them apart, to take them away from him and he would destroy it. His flames wouldn't tear him apart, they would be his sanity as he walked the fine line of being a father, husband, and friend, and a monarch, a ruler, a target. His father's power had defined him for years, marking him forever as a failure, but his would never touch their pale skin because he knew the only thing that would truly destroy him would be to lose his family.
"Growing up we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are *terrified* by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They *hate* us. And we deserve it! We created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness."
He was Fire Lord now, the ruler of a nation defined by a century of war and hate that they had caused. He could bring it back, the war, the pain, the hopelessness, it was all within his reach as ruler. Plenty of his citizens were still baffled by the fact that he given up on the war when they were so close to victory, but they hadn't see the refugees struggling to survive, the ashes covering the land, the families torn apart just like his own. They hadn't seen the world outside like he had, they couldn't know the pain their very existence cause the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes simply because of the atrocities their fellow countrymen had committed under his family's rule. He would use his political sway, his newly found power to usher in an era of peace and security into a world that was still recovering from a hundred years of wounds.
"You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher."
Zuko stood at the edge of the garden beside the Avatar who was chatting amiably about how his daughter was taking to waterbending, but the Fire Lord was too distracted to give his friend his full attention. He watched the Avatar's two children run and tumble around the fountain and trees as their mother chatted with his wife. His eyes landed on the little girl tucked under her mother's arm, her head of dark brown hair leaning against Mai's chest as she listened quietly to the adults' conversation. Izumi, his four year-old daughter. He saw her pale amber eyes flick around the expanse of grass with a gentle smile on her lips before snuggling closer into her mother's side. She was a happy child as far as Zuko could tell, equally pleased chasing after her older 'cousins' or sitting by the pond to watch the turtleducks play with either of her parents. The Fire Lord smiled as the little girl's eyes met his own, reaching his hand up to wave at her and laughing as she waved back enthusiastically, tugging on Mai's robes to show her as well. Their daughter was happy, she was loved and more importantly she knew that. Zuko knew the power he held over the tiny girl as a father, his own had showed him that. No matter how many times he tried to forget him, Ozai would sneak into his mind, making him doubt himself, and curse the fact that he had never had a father to hold him when he cried and guide him until Iroh took him under his wing. He knew that he had the power to mold Izumi into a tool of hate and self-doubt like what his father had done to Azula, or take away any sense of self she had by forcing his own will onto her like his own father had done to him. He had the power to control her, but he never would. She would be free to choose the life she wanted, to know that regardless of her actions that he loved, and that that singular fact would never change. He would protect his wife and daughter, he had the power to do that now, and this time...he wouldn't fail.