Disclaimer: I own nobody. That's just how life works.
Lu Ten: I'm in this one.
Me: Yes, yes you are.
Lu Ten: But I'm still dead.
Me: Yes, yes you are.

-oOo-

Ozai growled against the foreign cold wind that licked through his cell bars; as it had for the last week. The man curled into himself as the cold licked against his tattered rags of clothes. The strange breeze had occurred first about a week ago, when the dethroned Fire Lord had stopped eating; when the news of his children had reached him; after six years of hearing nothing from or about them. It seemed as if the son he once saw as useless, now had grown independent from his father's approval, and the daughter he had molded into his pawn had as well broken from his manipulating hands.

His rugged ebony hair flickered around his chin as the breeze seeped from the thick walls. A whiff of jasmine poured into the usually must filled cell. The fragrance itched at the inside of Ozai's nose, the familiar scent bringing unwelcomed memories into his dwindling mind. The aroma had all but attached itself to his nephews, years before when the young man had still been alive. Ozai had despised that stench, as his brother had passed that addiction to tea onto Lu Ten, only for the boy to become an addict, almost as quickly as his father had.

"I use to love the smell of jasmine," Ozai's eyes narrowed as the voice that had not touch the ears of the living for years, touched his. "But then after dying, the smell seems to follow me everywhere. It got annoying quickly. They didn't make that point clear whenever I first dropped in. I spent, what I imagine would have been months, the timing in the Spirit World is a bit off… anyways, I spent awhile smelling jasmine everywhere before they explained the whole concept, and that I wasn't crazy. Just dead."

Ozai growled into the mat of hair framing his face. "Just what I needed. The most annoying voice that has ever graced this world, minus my own son's, is now dancing around in my head. As if this prison wasn't punishment enough."

"Lighten up Uncle Ozai," Lu Ten's voice was layered with humor. "My voice is lovely. Anyone would be happy getting to hear my beautiful voice every day."

"Then bother one of them," Ozai snarled. "Now, get out of my head."

"I'm not in your head."

Those words struck at Ozai, causing his heart to stumble in his chest. Lifting his ember eyes, the dethroned king stared in awe and dismay. Before him, soft cobalt light radiated from the darker blue form that was clearly that, of the man's late nephew. Lu Ten, or what appeared to be him, stood leaning against the bars of the cell, a cup of what could only be imagined as tea, resting in his cupped hands.

"You are not here," Ozai snarled, turning his head back towards the wall, attempting to remove the glow from his line of vision.

"Oh, yes I am." Lu Ten chuckled.

"You're dead," Ozai roared, turning from his crumbled mess on the floor to glare at the teen. "I made sure of that."

"I never thought I'd say this but, thanks for that by the way," Lu Ten shrugged, the joy fallen from his voice. "At first, I had been sad about it, pissed when found out you planned it, and then relieved when told what it would bring."

"Now what are you blabbering about," Ozai kept his eyes trained on the spirit before him.

"You having me killed," Lu Ten replied. "Seemed like a good plan at the time, kill off your nephew, open one more step closer to you taking over the throne. Than everything just seemed to fall together with dad calling off the siege, and your little stunt with Grandfather really seemed to set everything in motion for you. I wonder if you knew what that one action would have led to, would you still have taken the risk."

"Killing you was one of the best moves I made," Ozai kept his gaze steady. "The only death that would have been better than yours would have been if I could have taken out that brother of mine, as well as my son."

"And yet," Lu Ten smirked, "you only got me. I ask again though, would you have taken the risk? Even if you knew that killing me, would have set off a chain reaction, which ends with you here."

"What did killing you; have to do with me here?" Ozai's eyes narrowed until they were just thin slits.

"Well," Lu Ten unlaced his hands from around the cup, only for it to vanish as he placed his hands into his pockets, "if you had left me to live, the siege would have never been called off and dad wouldn't have come home as he did. This event leads to your gaining the throne, as well as the loss of your wife. And with Aunt Ursa not there, there was no one to protect Zuko from you. You're hardship on the boy was what pushed him into going into that war meeting. That fateful meeting, where you showed your true colors, was one of the defining moments in this family's history. You're mistake in casting aside and burning Zuko was what leads him into the arms of Team Avatar. And his choice in doing what was right placed you here and the word back into the peace it needed. You see where I'm going with this? I never realized how important I was until I was sitting around a Pi Sho table with an Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin. The conversations they have."

"Is there a reason you are here, other than to drive me insane?" Ozai asked.

"Not driving you insane," Lu Ten shrugged, "that would be considered more insane, than you already are. Because let's face it, you are not fully here at this moment."

"Then why are you here?"

"You're not eating Uncle," Lu Ten answered, "and as much as this world is ready to get rid of you, the Spirit World isn't ready for you. Trust me, I've got enough to deal with, including Roku and Sozin's constant arguments, usually about where Zuko will end up but thankfully Ruko won that battle. Back on track though, we don't need to add you to the Pi Sho table right now."

"This was why you came here," Ozai snickered. "Because of my eating habits."

"Not just because of your dieting," Lu Ten sighed, "but for other reasons as well. It's been six years since you got in here. You have shown no signs of remorse, do desire for change in all these years."

"There is nothing for me to feel sorry about," Ozai sneered. "Except for the fact that I left that son of mine alive. That I am sorry for."

"I knew this was going to be a hard job when I signed up for this," Lu Ten shock his head, "but I decided on it anyway. Because you are family, even with how crazy and cruel as you are, you're still my Uncle. So I'm here. To try and show you what was, what is, and what will be."

"What the Hell are you talking about boy," Ozai shock his head, the eye roll following close behind.

"I'm here to show you your past mistakes, and what they have caused," Lu Ten dug his hands deeper in his pocket. "Big jump from the previous conversation, I know. But I figured telling you all of this, isn't going to change much, so I'm going to have to show you it."

"So what," Ozai shrugged, the loose rags scratching against his skin, "you're going to use those magic Spirit World powers of yours to bust me out, and take me gallivanting all over the place in my lovely prison garb."

Lu Ten turned his head back towards Ozai, a mischiefs gleam in the late teens golden eyes. A simple wink from Lu Ten was all it took, before Ozai found himself standing above his collapsed body. The deep blue glow that surrounded Lu Ten's lighter form, now downed Ozai's, as he narrowed his eyes at the teen.

"Oh Uncle Ozai," Lu Ten cocked his head to the side, his eyes turned to the ceiling, "this is going to be a fun night."

-oOo-

Would you believe that this thing started from a simple little one shot? Now I've got three more, possibly four chapters set aside, and semi written, just waiting to be uploaded. This is my side project, when my head is confuzzled from working on other things.

Next part should be up in the next couple of days, after I finish up with the next chapter of A Life Returned and possibly finish up Nine Years, which needs to be completed. This one will be done in no time. I was planning on putting it all in one, but I felt the different time moments needed their own chapters. Plus, it would be a really long one-shot, and really long one-shots drive me crazy to write. I like the separation, and that little next button which makes everything work better.

Don't forget to review. Tell me thoughts, comments, concerns.