Charcoal
Fire Lord Ozai is no more.
Scrolls dictate the history of the world. His reign, his father's, and his forefather's, blackened like charcoal. There will be no martyrdom for him. No fear anymore. Azula's cries bounce off the walls of the prison cells; screams at her absent mother and sobs like the day joy left the Fire Lord's house.
"I forgive you. I still love you." Cherry lips of a delicate mouth, soft-spoken in the night. Holds him as he struggles with the loathsome mortal man he has become.
Life is ending, and yet he is too proud, too broken to call out. Does not want redemption, cannot know what it means. He believes the last thing he will see is the rising sun above the rocks, and him kneeling, hopeless on the ground. But not this cell, not in here. Zuko calls. Ursa. Love like blistering skin. Inside, a burning fist that once held a flame cools down. There is the image of a woman who wants, who needs him to live -- but he can't. He just can't.
The fire nation. His divided family. Their daughter. His son. He needs to find her in order to let go.