Title: Role Model
Author: overlithe
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Summary: AU/What-If of the For Want of a Nail variety. In a very different world, Ozai and Zuko mark the latter's tenth birthday in a decidedly child-unfriendly manner.
Characters/Pairings: Zuko, Ozai; gen
Prompt: avatar_500 prompt 022. Knight; fanfic100 prompt 091. Birthday
Word Count: 496
Rating: T
Warnings: Implied violence, unwitting folie à deux, Hit-Girl!Zuko
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and concepts created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and owned by Nickelodeon and various other corporations/people. I'm not making any money and do not intend any copyright or trademark infringement. See the end of the fic for additional disclaimers.
Author's Notes: This is a sort of outtake from my fic Children of the Empire, but it stands completely on its own. In that AU, a single change to the canon long before the fic starts has made the Avatar world very different from what's portrayed in the series; if you're interested in a more detailed overview of the AU's premise, I have a link to it in my profile (under the heading Links). Also, take it as a given that Ozai has an idiosyncratic approach to child-rearing. And truth-telling. And facts. Many thanks to muffinbitch for her input on this ficlet.
Role Model
The weight of the dao swords felt unfamiliar on Zuko's back as he hurried across moon-slick roofs and scanned the streets below. Father always led when they patrolled, but today father had laid a box filled with steel in his hands, and when Zuko asked him if he could try out his new blades—his present—for real, he'd simply been told him that tonight, they'd see if he was ready.
He turned ten today. He had been five when father had first placed the half-mask on his face. He was ready.
He slowed; father's gaze settled on him. The city spread all around them, criss-crossed by lines of street-lamps like glowing blood vessels, the brittle lights of airships high above.
Father had said this place used to be called the Earth Kingdom, back when there were still nations.
He balanced on a curving eave. The sounds of the people in the larger streets and plazas wafted up to him.
They thought they were happy. Prosperous. Safe. Father was the only one who understood, who had seen the rot-stained flesh under the skin of the world. The one who had told Zuko the truth, about how Avatar Sozin had killed father's family. About how he'd escaped and Zuko had survived, a baby left disregarded in the rubble. About how the Avatar and the people who ran the world were criminals, no different than the ones who still scuttled like cockroach-fleas where the shadows were thickest.
And criminals were there to be hunted. No matter who they were.
Zuko scanned the buildings huddled in front of him, slower than when he had just been checking for threats, exits, and entry points. 'There,' he said, pointing at a half-shuttered window where light still flickered.
'How many, Scarlet Shadow?' father asked. The moonlight careened off his hood, struck two bright spots in his goggles.
Zuko studied the window again. 'Two—no, three,' he added quickly. Mistakes could kill you, and father did not like them.
He did not like them one little bit.
Seconds crawled by. Zuko's heart beat a steady rhythm against his breastbone; the cold air stung the skin below his mask.
Finally, father nodded. 'No firebending tonight. Just the swords.'
'Yes, father.' He touched his mask and felt the padded leather in his outfit shift as he unhooked the grapple from his belt, studied the jump. His throat dried. His heart sped up.
I am more than ready, he thought, and made his move.
:=:=:
The blood on the blades had clotted, but Zuko knew he'd be able to clean it off. The scent of melted sugar filled the hideout, masked the tang of salt and copper. Fruit tarts, he hoped. They were his favourite.
'You did well tonight.'
He looked up. His father's tone was flat, but there was a sliver of a smile on his lips. Zuko felt his face glow.
Sometimes the night was good to them.
++The End++
Notes/Disclaimer: So that's what Zuko's like when he has Daddy's approval (I'm also pretty sure that AU!Zuko thinks Ozai is the best father in the history of fathers: for his tenth birthday, he gets dual dao swords, is allowed to kill some bad guys on his own, and then there is cake! Best present ever!). I wouldn't immediately have guessed that costumed vigilantism would be the key to that, but in retrospect, the amount of gold lamé in Ozai's Phoenix King costume should have been a clue. ;)
Anyway, Zuko's whole shtick is of course meant to be a parody of those edgy superhero monologues from the Darker and Grittier comics era. Fittingly, two of his lines are lifted (with minor alterations) from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen ("The Comedian is the only one who understands" and "Sometimes the night is good to me"), and his relationship with Ozai draws a lot on the relationship between Hit-Girl and Big Daddy in the movie version of Kick-Ass (though Ozai's obviously bogus backstory is more akin to the comics version of Big Daddy, I suppose). Zuko's mask name and costume are of course not only a reference to his canon Blue Spirit persona, but also heavily based on the original name (the Red Spirit) and concept art for his disguise, in which he looks like the AtLA version of Spider-Man (I have scanned the relevant page of the artbook and linked to it in my profile, under the heading Links). Ozai's costume (except for his awesome steampunk goggles; again, a picture of the RL goggles I borrowed for his outfit is linked in my profile under the heading Links) is a riff off Batman's and that of his evil parallel-universe version, Owlman. (Speaking of Batman, a large percentage of Zuko's family is voiced by someone who has also voiced a Batverse/DCU character. Sozin: Bane, Clayface, Deathstroke, Dr Double X, Killer Croc, the Goddamn Batman; Roku: Alfred Pennyworth; Ozai: Spectre, Solomon Grundy, and of course the Joker; Azula/Ta Min: Black Canary, Harley Quinn. Clearly, a superhero/supervillain AU is simply meant to be. ;))
Anyway, I am currently working on Part 1 of Children of the Empire, which will hopefully be ready in a few months' time. If you enjoyed this fic, I hope you will enjoy that one too. :)