...READ...IT?

So I'm pretty sure I've disappointed my father. Oh, I didn't do anything, technically I had no part in the problem. It was actually his doing if you want to get to the nitty gritty about it. Of course, no one wants to listen to technicality. They only want to see what's in front of them. They don't want it to be their own fault, so I take all of the blame.

You see the problem is I am not a fire bender. Actually, I'm not any type of bender. I'm just me, regular old non-bending me.

Now, to most people this wouldn't be a problem. "Why does that matter?", they say. "Plenty of people get by without being a bender.", they say. Well according to the greatness that is the Fire Nation, everyone that is not a fire bender is beneath them. It's even worse if you can't bend at all. Especially if you're apart of the royal Fire Nation family. Yes, me, that's who I am and to be honest, I'm not really proud of it. Why, you ask? I don't want to be a horrible person, but my first reason is not because our people have ended so many innocent lives.

It's because that in the eyes of my father I am viewed as worthless and weak.

No, he hasn't said that yet. However, I'm sure he will soon. I haven't found any sort of talent that he would approve of yet and I don't think I ever will. Father wants strong children that can represent his nation and I am not one of them.

"Ow!" I winced as I was kicked over onto the floor.

"Sozai, in case you don't realize, this isn't a place to read. We train here and you're in the way." I frowned up to see my twin sister Azula. She held a hand on her hip with a bored expression.

"No one was using it yet, and it was quiet." I mumbled, turning over to pick up my glasses.

"Well, you need to move, father is going to present us to grandfather tonight. Oh, sorry, not us, just me and Zuzu." She said.

I frowned at her. "You don't have to say it like that, I know I can't fire bend. There's no need to rub it in all the time."

"I'm just stating a fact, you can't bend." She said with a smile. I wanted to hit her smug face so badly. However, I knew it would solve nothing. She would try to burn me and enjoy it. I pursed my lips before collecting my books and standing up. I didn't having anything else to say to her and to be honest I didn't want to. Azula would just turn it around into some sort of edge against me. I turned on my heel and left the room without looking back at her.

I sighed. Azula always makes me feel like crap. "Sozai, what's wrong?" I looked up to see Zuko looking at me with a raised brow.

I shrugged. "Nothing really, are you going to train?" I asked, glancing back down the hall.

He gave a hesitant nod. "Grandfather is going to watch our progress tonight; I don't want to disappoint him or father."

"Oh, I see. Well I don't know if you want to go now..." I said.

"Why...Azula is in there?" He stated more than asked. I nodded. "Oh."

"Do you want to come with me?" I asked. "I was going feed the turtle ducks by the pond."

"You do that?" He asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, haven't you?" I asked with a smile. He shook his head with a frown.

"Those stupid ducks are ungrateful." Zuko said with a huff.

I laughed. "So you have then? What happened, did they bite you?"

He blushed and I laughed even more. My brother was so amusing sometimes. "It's not funny, they actually attacked me!"

"Maybe you're just doing it wrong. I've read about them, you know. Any sign of aggression and they tend to get kind of feisty." I said with a smile.

"But I wasn't aggressive! I just wanted to feed the stupid things." He said.

"See there you go calling them stupid, I'm sure you wouldn't like it if I called you that." I said. He huffed out.

"Fine." He mumbled.

"Come on." I said, taking his hand leading him outside to the turtle duck pond. When we got outside, the ducks were swimming in the water. I went to walk closer, but Zuko stayed put next to the tree. "Oh come on Zuko, their not going to hurt you." I said, squatting next to the water, before sitting down completely. I went into my clothing and took out a cloth covered piece of bread; I had been saving it since breakfast. I tore off a piece and held it out for the duck. Some of them started to come out of the water and walk over to me.

"Here you go, it's good bread...good bread." I whispered as they took it from my hand. I smiled as they ate it. "Zuko, come out here, I told you it's fine." He slowly walked over and sat behind me. "Are you really afraid of baby wittle turtle ducks, Zuzu?"

"Don't call me that, and I'm not scared, Sozai." He said, snatching the bread from me and pushing it at the ducks. They scattered away. "Take it you dumb duck!" The bigger one in which I'm guessing is the mother bit Zuko's hand.

"OW!" He cried. "I told you they would bite me!" He held his hand in pain. I sighed, grabbing onto his hand.

"It's only because you were aggressive, Zuko. You can't be angry with animals or nature. It will only lash out at you." I said. His eyes were watered and he looked like he was fighting the urge to cry in front of his younger sister. "You have to be calm and accept them as your equal, no matter how small."

"It bit me." He mumbled again.

"And do you want to know why?" I asked. He hesitantly nodded. "It's because the one you were shoving the bread at was a baby. The one who bit you was it's mother."

"It was it's mother?" He repeated.

I nodded. "Look at them, closely. The mother thought you were threatening it's child, so it retaliated."

"Oh..." He said furrowing his brow.

"Do you want to try again?" He looked at me as if I had grown another head. "Come on, I know you can do it."

"Okay." He said tearing off a piece of bread, slowly inching toward the mother duck. She stared at it for a moment before taking the bread into her mouth. He smiled brightly at me. "I did it! Did you see that? I did it!"

I gave a teasing smile. "Your first step at becoming one with nature, big brother."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh be quiet...how did you know all that stuff?"

"That's what I'd like to know." We both turned around to see our mother standing behind them with a smile.

"Oh, just books mom." I said with a shy smile.

"Hi, mother." Zuko said with a bright grin. "Sozai and I were feeding the ducks."

"I can see that." She said, taking a step forward. "She right you know, a mother would do anything to protect her children."

"Even you?" He asked.

"Even me." She said with a smile. "Zuko you'd better get prepared for tonight."

"Oh, right." He said with a nervous smile. "I'm going to do my best mother, I promise."

"I know you will, you already do, so there's nothing for you to worry about." She said.

"Bye Mother, see you later Sozai." He said running off. I waved to him before dropping my hand with a sigh.

"What books have you been reading lately?" My mother suddenly said. I looked up at her and held up the one in my hand.

"I got this from Uncle Iroh it's from Ba Sing Se. It's about patience and wisdom, but it explains it in a way that isn't boring. Oh and I have another one about the spirit world, do you know there's a creature that can take your face!"

"Really?" She said with an amused smile.

"And not only that! But there were GIGANTIC turtles that gave people bending. Did you also know that everyone wasn't born with it, it was given to them as protection for when they left there village..."

My mother looked down at me when I stopped talking. "What's wrong, Sozai?"

"Mom...why wasn't I born a fire bender?" I asked. "I mean Firelord Azulon, father, Zuko, Azula and you all have it, but I don't. Why is that?"

"Sometimes...that happens." She said. "Not everyone is born a bender."

"But I'm apart of the royal family, we're suppose to have bending. If I don't then that means I'm nothing-" Suddenly, mom placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't you ever say that about yourself. Your are my daughter and that means you're important to me. I love you, Sozai."

"Father doesn't, he thinks I'm an embarrassment to the family." I said, staring down at my feet. It took a moment before mom said anything. I knew it was true.

"Sozai, I don't want you to put yourself down. I want you to use your skills to your advantage."

"What skills?" I asked, looking up at her curiously.

She tapped a finger to my forehead. "Yes, it's true you're not a firebender, but you have some thing a lot of benders don't. You're very smart." I scrunched up my face. "Don't give me that face, a lot of benders have because they acted on there ability rather than their brain. Have they not?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, there has been several battles lately and I think we've been acting rashly. We're not thinking about the soldiers as soldiers, but barriers rather."

Mother started to laugh. "You see, your smart. You think when others don't. I'm proud of you for that."

I slowly smiled up at her before giving her a warm hug. "Thank you, mom. I love you too."

"Alright Sozai. You need to go eat before we watch your brother and sister."

I frowned, but said nothing. "Yes, mom." I turned away and walked back inside. I couldn't place what it was, but something was bothering me. I felt worry in the pit of my stomach. I shook my head, everything would be fine.

I shifted uncomfortably as I sat with my legs underneath me. They were losing there feeling and it was starting to hurt. It hadn't been that long. We were in the Firelord's throne room, Azula and Zuko were sitting in the middle waiting to be called on. I sat next to mother, making sure not to be so close to father.

Zuko went first and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as impressive as it could have been. According to my fathers expression, of course. I thought he did great, from a non-benders perspective. Mother and I smiled with a supportive expression. He sat back down and Azula stood up throwing around her blue fire. From the look on father's face she was doing a wonderful job. Which she was, but Azula made it so you couldn't be happy for her. She was cocky and the way she bended was perfection, but it looked as if she wanted to hurt someone with it.

The thought made me scared of her. More than I already was.

Azula sat back down and Zuko looked uncomfortable. He took a deep breath and stood to his feet again. This made father frown. "I-I would like to try again."

Before anyone could protest Zuko attempted to mimic Azula's complicated movements. He ended falling on his butt. I winced for him and I knew that he was embarrassed. Father looked disappointed and bothered that Zuko would even stand up again.

"We're done here." The Firelord said. "Everyone out except for you, Ozai." We all awkwardly stood to our feet and were edging toward the door. Zuko held his head in frustration.

"I shamed father, I ruined everything!" He said to himself.

"No, you didn't." I said, lightly patting his shoulder. "You were just trying your best, that's all you can do."

He frowned at me. "What do you know, your not even a bender." Ouch. He yanked his arm away and trudged down the hall way.

"He didn't mean it." Mother said.

"Yeah..." I turned on my heel and went to walk down the hall, but I spotted Azula on the wall. "Azula, what are you-"

"SHH!" She said harshly.

"What?" I whispered carefully walking over to her.

I glanced over to see that my father and the Firelord were talking. "How dare you, how dare you even suggest such a thing. Relinquish Iroh's right from the throne? He lost his son, he is in grieving. But of course you couldn't understand...no...your son, you will end his so you can understand the pain Iroh is feeling."

My eyes widened. I wanted to yell, scream, do something. Anything! Father was going to kill Zuko, I knew he would. He didn't love any of us. All he wanted was to become the Firelord. I had to stop him. I had to. I pulled away from the hiding spot and ran down the hallway as fast as I could. I need to hide Zuko, I was thinking like a child, but what else could I do? I ran as fast as my legs would take me through the halls with fear welling at the surface of my stomach.

I burst into Zuko's room which seems to catch him off guard. He glared. "What are you doing in here?" His expression changed when he saw my face. "Why are you cryingi? Did Azula hurt you again?"

I shook my head walking over to him. "We need to go, we need to go now!"

"What are you talking about, you're freaking me out." He said, snatching his arm away.

"Something bad is gonna happen if we don't get you out of here. Please, please, please. I don't want you to die." I said.

His eyes widened. "D-Die? What are you talking about?" I wasn't sure if should say anymore. I pursed my lips before taking his arms again. Apparently me saying this caught him off guard, so he allowed me to pull him along. I rubbed my head in frustration. Where could I hide him? Think, think, think. My room would be the first place they would look. It's to obvious, so in a way it was genius and stupid at the same time. Father wouldn't kill both of us, it would look to suspicious to the public. I nodded.

"Come on, let's go." I dragged him into my room, putting a chair in front of the door. It wouldn't stop him, but it could slow him down if we had to get away. "Do you have that knife uncle gave you?" He nodded. "Good." I sat down in the bed and patted the seat next to me. He hesitantly sat down beside me.

"Sozai, what's wrong? Why did you say that earlier? What's going on?" He looked like he was very scared.

I took a deep breath. "Just...just, just stay in here tonight okay? Please?"

"Okay..." He laid back against the pillow with his back facing me. I held my hands over my eyes. What was I doing? What if we both died anyway? Would father really kill Zuko?

Without a doubt.

That's why I had to do something to help him. If it was only this so be it.

"Sozai...Sozai..." I jumped, grabbing Zuko's knife. I blinked in surprise when I saw it was mother. I slowly dropped the knife.

"Mom, what are you doing here? What's going on?" Zuko grumbled in his sleep and I slowly shook him awake.

"Mother?"

"I'm sorry you two, I don't have much time. Soon they'll know what I've done." I furrowed my brow, what did she mean? Did she kill father? Why was I so hopeful for this? "I love you both so much." She hugged us to her and I felt like she was telling me goodbye.

"We love you too mom." He said sleepily. My lip trembled, couldn't he be more awake for this?

"Mom..." She knew that I knew.

"Take care of your brother and sister, Sozai." She whispered in my ear. I gulped before nodding. "Goodbye."

I couldn't even voice the words. She was never coming back and whatever she did was bad. I looked over at Zuko who slowly went back to sleep. My eyes watered up. This was all so messed up.

I didn't sleep the rest of the night and I didn't leave the room either, I was too scared to do anything.

The next morning the news was sent out that that Firelord Azulon was dead. Mother had killed him and father was now the Firelord. She was gone and she was never coming back. Somehow I wasn't relieved that father wasn't the one that died.