Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender, though I love the story almost as much as I love Squirrels.
Summary: Season 3 fic. Zuko loyal to Fire Nation and not tricking Azula, Azula's not lying to Zuko, and he's not going to change his mind and join the gang after 1 or 2 chapters. Will he ever turn to good read to find out. Zukoxkatara I can't help myself. I just know I'll add a little Zutara fluff, it's unavoidable.
Zuko was in the war council chamber with Azula. They had assembled trusted fire nation generals and admirals to plan the next move in fire nation conquest. No Dai Lee were present at this meeting. No matter how mind numbingly loyal the Earthbenders were to princess Azula, the other members of the war council did not completely trust them. They had been studying the placement of Earth Kingdom troops until they were interrupted by a man dressed in the holy robes of a fire sage. He was bowing and scraping annoyingly to Azula, though she just seemed to enjoy the abject servitude. However, after a few minutes it was too much for even her
"Enough," she said in her sharp commanding tone. The man immediately looked up fearfully. He drew himself up into a kneeling position, but couldn't seem to make his body stand to face Azula. "What is your news of the Avatar?" she questioned.
The man took a deep shuddering breath and attempted to swallow to clear his throat. After a cool look from Azula he hurriedly began his report, "The…the Avatar is dead…My Lady," he tacked the last part of his sentence on breathlessly. "We have consulted any fire sages within reach and they all felt the Avatar's spirit leave the world. You are victorious my Lady you have killed the Av…Avatar," the older man spluttered.
Zuko tried to tune out any feelings he may have associated with the Avatar's death. He was feeling slightly frustrated and regretful, which he assumed were emotions left over from his long chase of the Avatar. He had wanted to capture the boy for so long to regain his honor and now he never could. He was also feeling slightly guilty. The boy couldn't have been more than ten or eleven and it was regretful that he died in order to ensure the victory of the fire nation. Zuko refused to consider that his feelings of guilt could arise from a sense of betrayal. He was never loyal to the Avatar; his loyalties had always lay with the fire nation and his family. Once his mind echoed the word family he forced his brain to shut down. He did not need to think about that now. He had managed to keep his face neutral and glanced at his sister to see her reaction to the news.
Zuko had expected her to smile or at least smirk, and was surprised to see her face contemplative. "It is unfortunate that the Avatar was killed, but it could not be helped". Azula's words appeared to shock everyone in the room as Zuko noticed many raised eyebrows and slack jaws. Zuko hoped his expression didn't look as surprised.
"My Lady?" The fire sage questioned.
"Now that the last Airbender is dead his spirit will be reincarnated into one of the water tribes, which is such a nuisance," Azula said studying her nails. "It would have been better if we could have captured him," Azula explained to the fire sage. Zuko couldn't help but think that the word 'capture' was Azula's way of pointing out his own failure once again. He gritted his teeth, but forced his expression to remain neutral.
"Yes, my Lady," the fire sage agreed bowing his head to the floor once more.
"No matter," Azula waved her hand dismissively. "We will just have to eradicate the water tribes before the next Avatar is born". She turned towards the groveling old man. "You will alert me the moment the Avatar's spirit returns to this world,"
"Of course my Lady. Thank you for this great honor. I will…"
"Leave us," Azula dismissed. The old man jumped up and quickly scurried out of the council chamber.
"The Avatar's death will force our plans to change, but I believe in the greater scheme of things it is to our advantage," Azula told the assembled war council.
"In what way?" one of the fire nation generals asked.
Everyone turned to look at Azula, but it was her brother that answered. "He was the other nations' last hope for peace," Zuko replied recalling the Waterbender's words. "Without him they will be lost". A memory of the water bender holding the body of the Avatar came unbidden into his mind and the broken look on her face almost made him turn his head in shame. However, he managed to clear his mind of useful thoughts once again.
"Precisely," Azula agreed giving her brother an approvingly cruel smile. "Any rebel forces will now be easy to dispose of without their precious Avatar for guidance. This is why we must change our priorities. With the Avatar gone the Water tribes are the last obstacle to complete fire nation rule. We must destroy them as soon as possible," Azula announced.
"Princess Azula, I must respectfully disagree," another man interrupted. It was Admiral Kuzon. He typically served as an advisor to the fire lord and therefore was not intimidated by the princess. "The day of black son is approaching. It would be… irresponsible to leave the fire nation open to attack".
Zuko thought that Admiral Kuzon wanted to say something besides 'irresponsible'. Perhaps the admiral had meant 'foolish' or 'studpid', but was not foolish or stupid enough to use those words to describe Azula's plan. Zuko's thoughts caused the corner of his mouth to quirk slightly.
"That is the beauty of the situation," Azula told him her eyes burning brightly. "There is no one who could muster an attack against the Fire Nation. "The Airbenders are dead. The Earth Kingdom is now firmly under our control. It would be impossible for a rebel army to gain support here; our Earth Kingdom spies would alert us to the tiniest hint of rebelion. And if the Waterbenders are trying to defend their home lands they will be unable to attack the Fire Nation," Azula explained as if talking to a child. "Where do you think that this theoretical attack will come from. The other nations are crippled beyond repair; it is time to strike and finish them once and for all". The generals and admirals in the room who had counseled with the Fire Lord could feel a similar power and strength of command in his daughter. Everything was under her control including her brother. It left no doubt in the minds of those surrounded who would be the next leader of the Fire Nation.
"Assuming all of our intelligence is correct, I suppose the Fire Nation Guard could eliminate any attack the rebels could throw together," Admiral Kuzon conceded. "Though, I would suggest that we increase the number of non-bender soldiers stationed in the fire nation as a precaution".
"Agreed, we can never be too careful," Azula smiled around the table. "Zuko," she said abruptly.
"Yes," he responded in a neutral tone.
"You and you're crew are the ones that have had the most recent contact with the Southern Water Tribe. What were there defenses like?"
Zuko thought back to the drab little village. At the time he had been too concerned about the Avatar than cataloging the Water Tribe's defenses, but really there wasn't anything to catalog. The tribe had been easily dominated by his one ship. No men and no benders, excluding the Water Tribe boy and girl who traveled…had traveled with the Avatar. "They are defenseless, only women, children, and the elderly. The only Waterbender there at the time was the girl traveling with the Avatar," Zuko explained to those assembled".
"Excellent. We will send a ship as soon as possible to the Southern Tribe and destroy it," Azula commanded an unearthly blood lust in her eyes.
Zuko clenched his fists in anger and surprise. "They are no threat to us. Why should we destroy them?" Zuko knew he shouldn't question his sister's plans. He had just earned his way back into her and his father's good graces. He knew he was stretching a tenuous relationship and the look his sister gave him confirmed his fears. However, looking around the table he noticed that many of the generals and admirals were nodding their heads in agreement. Apparently they did not relish the idea of slaughtering a helpless village. This gave him a small amount of courage. "There are no men in the village. It's impossible for the Avatar to be reborn in the South. We should concentrate our efforts on the Northern Tribe".
"Those children will one day grow up to be men and benders. Besides men could return to the village and sire the next Avatar, we must destroy them while they are weak. It would only take one ship and save us so much trouble later on," she said in a sickeningly calm voice.
"Azula, it would be dishonorable to attack a defenseless village," Zuko argued. He could feel his temper rising and with it the heat of his body.
"No it's practical. You are too…lenient dear brother," Azula told him maintaining her calm. And with that word all of the fight drained out of Zuko, because he knew she meant 'weak', and he was done being weak. He had made his choice.
The assembled sensed the opposition leave the young prince and their own protests died before leaving their lips. They could only hope that one of their ships would not be put to the task of destroying the Southern Tribe.
See Azula can manipulate Zuko, so she doesn't have to lie to him and then betray him in the next chapter. She's confident that he'll make a nice useful tool.
The name "Kuzon" sounds really familiar to me. I don't know if I took it from the show or a fanfic I read. Please excuse the misuse of the name if so and let me know. I could probably think of something else. He's intended to be a character we've never seen before.