Ozai: The Origin of Zuko

An Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic

By: Karen Rosenthal

Introduction

I got my inspiration for this story after watching Disney's Mulan...ya you can guess where this is going. The 'Shang' character is Ozai...just altered. Ozai is still Prince and has a simple ponytail like Prince Zuko, his son. Zuko isn't even a thought; Ozai is about 15 or 16 in this story. He looks like young Zuko in 'The Storm.' The 'Mulan' character is a made up character named Tala. It is before girls where allowed into the fire nation army (yes they are...pay attention to what Zhou says in 'The Blue Spirit'). She's the reason Ozai allowed women into the army. Tala goes into the army; using the name...can you guess it...Zuko. When she showed up at the army, they thought she was a boy. Well...you get the story...so let's start a little before Tala goes to the army...we'll rewind the story a little.

Chapter One - The Valley Camp

"Zuko..." said Ozai looking down at his eight-year-old son.

"Yes. Father." Zuko stood by his father's side.

"Did I ever tell you who you were named after?" Ozai couldn't look at his son with out being reminded of a younger version of himself, or seeing the love of his life shine through Zuko's eyes.

"No." Zuko said. "But Uncle Iroh told me once that I was named after the bravest soldier you ever knew."

"Yes you were." Ozai sounded a little upset that Iroh had told him such a thing with out his consent. "Zuko was the bravest soldier I ever knew. She was always a soldier...never anything more...just a soldier." Ozai knew that Zuko was a soldier, but the real person wasn't ever a soldier to him, but a traitor.

"She?" Zuko said raising an eyebrow.

"Yes...It was before women were allowed to enter the fire nation army." Ozai said thinking back on the memory. "Sit down, son and I will tell you the story." Ozai and Zuko sat down in a room where there was nothing but them and a fire. "It was spring...I was about 15..."

"Ozai." said the fire lord's voice.

"Yes, father." Ozai bowed in respect towards his father. His black hair pulled back into a simple ponytail. The sun reflected off of his armor.

"I need you to send a draft letter to every home requesting that any available man is to report to the Valley Camp on Thursday by 0900 hours."

"But father, how am I supposed to distribute hundreds of letters in a matter of about a day? It's only Tuesday."

"I didn't say you had to deliver them all...I said send them..." the fire lord walked off and Ozai mounted his rhino carrying letters behind him. As he sped off he ran into his brother, Iroh, and his best friend, Zhou.

"Hey Zhou!" Ozai said.

"Prince Ozai!" Zhou bowed.

"No need to bow do you think you could help me distribute these letters?"

"What kind of letters?" Iroh asked in a childish 'I haven't hit puberty yet' voice.

"None of your business pipsqueak. It's nothing that concerns you. Father happened to put this task to me...the OLDER one..." Ozai stuck his tongue out at his little brother.

"Good one..." Zhou said. "But sure I will...just let me get a Rhino and I'll help you." Zhou ran off.

"You're just jealous because I can kick your ass at Pi-cho!" Iroh shouted.

"Not true!"

"Oh yes, it is!"

"I don't have to listen to this!"

"Fine ignore me! I'll just tell Dad about that little village girl I caught you with!"

"What girl!" Ozai said in a 'you wouldn't dare bring that up now' voice.

"You know...black hair, pretty eyes, fire bender-"

"There are a lot of girls like that!"

"O really! How come it's THIS one that I caught you 'sewing your royal oats'?"

"Shut-up you little runt!" Ozai turned red.

"Prince Ozai...you actually?" Zhou said on his rhino looking like he was about to laugh.

"Hey! I'm a Prince I can do whatever I want!" Ozai shouted.

"Does that mean that I can-" Iroh started.

"No! You can't!"

"Why not! I'm a Prince too!"

"You're too young, plus you'll never be fire lord!" Ozai shouted. "That privilege belongs to me! And when I have a son it'll be his! You'll never get your chance!"

"Fine! DAD!" Iroh shouted.

"FINE!" Ozai shouted. "Have it your way! Help...these are draft letters. Deliver them to the Southern and Eastern villages. I'll take the Northern Villages, and Zhou can take the Western Villages. And here is a royal seal so people will take you seriously." He handed them each a pendant with the fire nation crest on it in gold. Ozai started off with a couple hundred letters. "If it makes you happy!" Ozai shouted back towards Iroh. "I gave you the village with that girl in it!"

"He doesn't even know her name..." Iroh muttered. "Oh ya...he's spoiled."

Ozai rode towards stopping at each village, making the young girls there flock to his presence. He had them deliver them to their fathers in exchange for a kiss. That way he would get a free kiss and not have to a lick of work. Besides, girls were just so damn infatuated with him he could make them do whatever he wanted. When he got the last village it was dusk and he only had about a hundred more draft letters to distribute. Unfortunately this last village only went to war for the nation because they had to. The men could care less about the fire lord's family. But the daughters all hoped to be Prince Ozai's bride when the time came in a few years. When the girls flocked to his presence the men stared at him in rage as he'd kiss their daughters and sent them off doing his work.

"Spoiled little prince..." They'd mutter. As Ozai handed the last few letters to some girls. Something caught his eye. The one girl who didn't flock to his presence. She had shoulder length silky black hair. Her eyes were brown, but not just any brown. The brown that anyone could get lost in. She was getting water from a well. When she'd finally get the bucket to the top of the well, she'd reach out and the rope would slip sending the bucket back down. "Dammit!" she'd shout as steam would come from her nose. This was girl could fire bend, which would explain Ozai's attraction.

"Allow me to help." Ozai said when he reached her. He took the rope from her hand and started to hoist the bucket up.

"Thank you..." She panted. It was a heavy bucket. "Tala..."

"Pardon..." Ozai said.

"I'm...Tala..." She said, not looking at him, she was looking down at the floor.

"You can call me Ozai."

"Prince Ozai!" Tala bowed. She didn't know that Ozai was helping her. She started blushing.

"No need to bow...you might draw attention to yourself." Ozai said untying the bucket. He handed it to her.

"Thank you..." Tala bowed again and quickly left.

"Wait! Who's your father?" Ozai called out.

"Reli!" She said turning the corner.

"Hey..." He turned to one of the girls he had just given a letter to. "Let me see one of those...I need to make a personal delivery." He took the letter from the girl and hopped onto his rhino towards the direction where Tala went. When he got there he knocked on the door. Reli, Tala's father, answered the door.

"I have a letter for you...from my father...the fire lord." He said handing him the letter. Ozai looked behind him for Tala.

"...F-fire lord..." Reli stuttered. "You're not here to take her from me...are you?...tell your father...that I won't let him take her away...not yet...she's not even 15 yet...please don't take her..."

"What are you talking about?" Ozai asked rather rudely.

"You're Prince Iroh aren't you...Tala's fiancé..."

"Fiancé? Tala is engaged to my brother! What the hell!"

"...woops...you're Ozai aren't you...?"

"Yes...who did you think I was...my brother hasn't even hit puberty yet! Why would Tala be his fiancé!"

"Your fathers command! He said the age didn't matter...he said that Iroh deserved her...because you got the choice of free bride...he thinks that your brother since he has to suffer by betrothal...he deserved someone as beautiful as Tala..."

"WHAT!" Ozai was enraged. He took his anger out on Reli. He threw Reli into a wall and started burning him badly. Tala was hidden behind a door outside. She had gone to find some food. She saw Ozai throw her father into the wall and she heard her father scream. The only time she heard him scream. She slid down the wall with her hand over her mouth, and tears in her eyes.

"Daddy..." she whispered as her father's screams ceased. She heard Ozai grunt as he left. When he opened the door it hit Tala. He looked behind the door, and saw her mortified expression. "Daddy..." she whispered again. "You killed him..." She didn't look at him as her eyes swelled with tears.

"Tala..." he said in a comforting tone, he knelt down beside her. She pushed him away as she stood up and started running into the woods surrounding their village. "Wait!" he called after her. He ran after her grabbing her by the upper arm. She struggled in his grasp.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "Let me go! Get out of my life! I don't want to have anything to do with you or your family! Let me go!" Her eyes were full of tears and her cheeks were puffy and her nose was red, yet she still looked beautiful.

"No! I don't want to let you go!" Ozai said slightly raising his voice.

"Please let me go! Your family took away everything I had! EVERYTHING! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE ME! YOU CAN'T TAKE ME!" She teared as she fell to the ground with Ozai still holding her arm.

"But I want you..."

"You can want me all you want...but I'm not yours...I'm the one thing you can't get your grimy little murdering arms around...because I'm your brothers so LIVE with it!" As she shouted this Ozai started to burn the part of her that he held in his hand. Tala screamed. After her whole arm was covered in flame he stopped. When he let go the flame went down. Tala grabbed her scorched arm.

"Never...tell me I can't have something...I AM THE PRINCE! I WILL COME TO RULE THIS NATION! YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T HAVE!" He grabbed her off the ground.

"You've already taken my mother, brother, sister and father! Why should I give you me!"

"Because I said so!" Ozai said forcing her onto his Rhino. Tala tried to escape, but it was ineffective. He tied her hands using some rope he'd taken off the bucket.

"NO! PLEASE! I'm not yours! You can't do this too me!" Tala shrieked.

"Ozai!" came the strict voice of the fire lord.

"What! Oh father..." Ozai bowed gracefully.

"What are you doing to this poor girl?"

"Ruining my life!" Tala shouted.

"Silent!" The fire lord sent her a warning flame.

"I'm making her mine..."

"By force..."

"By any means necessary..."

"You may not have her...she belongs to your brother and you cannot take her away." The fire lord sounded pissed off. "Now release her."

"But father..."

"I SAID...release her." Ozai grudgingly untied her and she ran off. "How'd you get here anyway?" Ozai said as he and his father started to leave.

"I can't let you go somewhere alone without something going wrong...so I followed at a far distance...and when I heard Tala screaming I came here."

"Why can't I have her...?" Ozai ordered.

"Son...you can't everything you want in life...and I believe that Tala is the one beautiful thing you can't take form your brother."

"But she should belong to me!"

"Don't you dare raise your voice to me ever again!"

"Or what!"

"Or I'll deny you your crown..."

"What?"

"And don't think I won't do it." He warned.

As they rode off Tala ran into her house and saw her father's charred lifeless body against the wall. "Daddy..." Tala said closing her eyes. "I can't believe him...he..." She fell to the floor in tears. When she sat up again she saw the letter Ozai had given him lying on the floor. Tala picked it up. She opened it up. "Drafted...Valley Camp..." she read. "Your head officer is-" Tala gasped dropping the letter. "Captain Ozai..." It just brought more tears to her eyes. She cried late into the night. Suddenly she stopped. She tied her hair in the ceremonial ponytail of a soldier. Then put on her fathers fire armor. She didn't know what she was doing. She just felt like taking her fathers place in the army...maybe she'd be killed and could join him where he rested. She then got on a spare Rhino in the village and started towards the Valley Camp. When she got there on Thursday she was really tired and her butt hurt from sitting on the rhino. The place was full of stupid chattering men. She got off her rhino and walked around. She dodged men who were bragging about their fire bending skills. As she was looking at the bragging men she ran into a really BIG fire bender.

"Sorry..." she said in her girlish voice.

"Watch were you're going!"

"I said sorry..."

"I don't care what you said..." He said right up in her face. She recognized this guy. He was from her village. His daughter, Careson, was her best friend.

"Camil..." she said.

"How do you know who I am?" Camil demanded.

"Your daughter's my..." she changed to her man voice. "I know your daughter."

"You keep your little hands off of her!" He grabbed her shoulders.

"I've uhh...never touched her..." she said trying her best to sound like an adolescent boy.

"If you can speak about it in that casual tone than you have! I'll kill you!" he aimed a fire punch at her, which she ducked just in time. It hit the guy behind her who began to fight Camil. In moments a huge fight erupted. Tala ducked as to not get herself hurt.

In a tent at the camp Ozai sat with his father and Iroh, discussing ways to train new recruits. "Ozai, Iroh I'm counting on you two to train them well. Especially you...Captain..." He smiled at Ozai's title.

"You have my word father..." Ozai bowed his head respectfully as they left the tent. They saw the fight before them.

"Good luck Ozai..." Iroh and the fire lord said. The fire lord took some of the men that weren't fighting and left.

"Cease...Desist! Stop biting his ear off!" Ozai shouted trying to get the men to stop. Iroh whistled really loudly and they stopped, and moved aside to reveal a Tala who was under her armor in a ball under them.

"He started it..." They said in Unison.