Avatar: the last airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko and Nickelodeon.
Second version of
the story, using more canon events and characters. If you are
wondering, Malu is firebending magician seen in "The
Deserter" and General Bujing appeared in the flashbacks of
"The Storm", recommending for the 41st division to
be used as a bait.
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You're weak, Iroh, terribly weak and I'll not let the Fire Nation in the hands of someone like you. To achieve Sozin's wish, complete domination of the world, our nation needs a leader like Agni himself, not a feeble simpleton whose only ambition is to find the best tea in existence. The fact that you were meant to rule the country while I was a simple alternative in case you died always revolted me. I would have liked to see you as the backup plan.
The Fire Nation deserves someone strong and smart. A mighty leader who will not be shaken in the least because of the first defeat in his life. A sharp ruler who will not endanger his whole dynasty by having only one heir and sending him to battle. Someone like me. I had the presence of mind to provide more than one child to our bloodline and I won't send them on the frontline. Unless they prove to be like you, a disgrace to the Fire Nation. Then, I'll make our people a favor and let them die. Thankfully, while my firstborn doesn't live up to my littlest expectations, my secondborn seems to be Agni's incarnation.
I admit that you're a better firebender than me. But raw power alone doesn't make a fit Fire Lord. If it did, Jeong Jeong the deserter or Malu, this young firebending magician who once performed at the court, could pretend to the throne. They waste their powers by meditating Agni knows where or by using their gifts to please little children, but I despise them much less than you. After all, Jeong Jeong would be a general if it wasn't for his pathetic 'enlightenment'. Yes, he quitted like you, but his reasons were less stupid. He understood that the true nature of firebending was an everlasting destruction and failed to accept it, you gave up because of a simple death. Maybe you should have been raised in a circus like this firebending buffoon, it'd have been more appropriate.
Sadly, it seems that Father doesn't realize that you're unworthy of the throne. You broke through the walls of Ba Sing Se, yet managed to turn this unique success into a pathetic retreat because you lost your son. How pathetic of you, Iroh. Did tea cloud your mind to the point you fail to notice the obvious? We are at war, and death tends to occur frequently during wars. Abandoning is not an option. You deserved execution for giving up, but you were saved by this accursed birthright. I vow that my successor will be my child who deserved it the most, not the one who was born first. I suppose I should be sorry that the choice will be easy, considering one is a failure and the other a prodigy.
I understood where your flaws came from when I confronted Father, or should I say Fire Lord Azulon. I brought up evidence that even the most stubborn Earth Kingdom general would have accepted, but he didn't listen. "You must know the pain of losing a first born son, by sacrificing your own!" He had said. Sozin must turn in his grave, knowing his son and grandson's lack of common sense is doing more damage to our bloodline than all of our enemies combined.
My wife Ursa, though mystified by compassion and forgiveness, frivolities cherished so much among the other nations, still represents the fine art of firebending better than you do, Iroh. She can't even create a spark for she wasn't born a firebender but she never gives up. While you, heir to the throne and hypothetical son of Agni, insult the memory of your only son by not avenging him, she answered Azulon's threat to our firstborn by disposing of him. I knew she was my perfect match. Such a shame she had to run away that fateful night that would make me the current Fire Lord.
And yet another proof of your weakness comes to mind. You really are a quitter who kowtows to fate when things don't go as you wished. Instead of claiming your birthright, which you seemed to enjoy very much, by asking for an Agni Kai I would have accepted, you did nothing. Absolutely nothing. We firebenders channel the unbounded power of the sun. Fire does not surrender. The sun never capitulated. We fight back, we do not abandon.
My son, however, seems to take much of you and Father. He knows the real reason you abandoned the attack, yet he still admires you for some unfathomable reason my common sense can't possibly comprehend. During your invasion of the Earth Kingdom, you left countless deaths behind you, on both sides. You sent myriads upon myriads of soldiers against the wall during the Siege of Six Hundred Days while you were comfortably sipping your tea in your tent. Each of them had parents and families, most of them had children and yet when your son dies, due to your own foolishness, you give up. Your forfeit was an insult to all our dead soldiers, to the Fire Nation and to Agni himself.
How can you say you loved your son? You didn't even avenge him. Had it been my heiress, I would have turned all Ba Sing Se into his funeral pyre. Thank Agni, the only common points between my daughter and you are mastery of firebending. She deserves the throne, unlike you. When she becomes Fire Lord, I know that she will make Sozin and me proud. She already does. She's as ruthless, calculating and cold as her father, if not more.
Sometimes, I think that my disappointment of a son could have shown some qualities, maybe enough to be a councillor or an officer in the army, if you didn't taint his mind with your folly. Ursa taught him these flaws, but at least her education didn't hinder mine. Ever since you became his guardian after my wife's disappearance, he keeps complaining and quoting your lessons on life. I once overheard Azula, who hates her brother with a passion, talking to her two favorite schoolmates. She admitted that if it wasn't for 'his royal tea loving kookiness', Zuko could have been less of a failure. Coming from her, it's an incredible compliment to Zuko.
Because of you, he even puts his birthright above everything. You turned my son into an image of yourself, save for the tea addiction. People murmur that you're his real father. You really are a disgrace to everything you're related to.
And now, you allowed him to enter the war room. As if who could enter my war planning room was your responsibility. Arrogant fool. I just hope that Zuko, watered with your irrational lessons, will not shame me even more than usual in front of my generals. I sense that my daughter would relish in the dire consequences I would have to inflict, but having only one heir left is dangerous, no matter how cunning and powerful she is.
General Bujing has a very good lead here. A true Fire Nation general, understanding strategy and tactics, and ruthless enough to realize when a bait is needed. Zuko seems horrified, though. Weakling. But it seems he's about to speak?