Description: Zuko bent down and glared at Ozai. "Where is my mother?" Ozai laughed a hollow laugh. Why his son would ask a thing like that, he wondered. "You really want to know?"
A/N: Before you read this, please note that the first bit includes direct quotes from the show. I'm not making any money off of this, just trying to keep it as cannon as possible. Thanks for not suing me, Viacom :D
Confrontation
Ozai sighed. Being in this cell was so tiresome. It was the same thing, day in and day out. And he had only been there for a week! Sometimes he wished that the Avatar had killed him that day, then he wouldn't be stuck in this wretched prison for the rest of his life. No, what he really wished was that his plan had gone as imagined; then he would be Phoenix King with the entire world under his rule. Instead, the Avatar, the world's precious savior, and his useless son had bested him.
The door opened, and Ozai glanced over to see who it was. Speak of the devil; it was Zuko, strutting around in his new attire. Putting as much bitterness as he could into his words, he spat, "I should count myself lucky- the new Fire Lord has graced me with his presence in my lowly prison cell."
"You should count yourself lucky that the Avatar spared your life," Zuko shot back.
Ozai scoffed. It was obvious his son didn't know him at all.
Zuko continued, "Banishing me was the best thing you could have done for my life. It put me on the right path. Perhaps your time in here could do the same for you."
What, did the little maggot think he would just wake up one day and feel sorry for all he'd done? Beg forgiveness and then live happily ever after? This garbage was beyond irksome.
"Why are you really here?" Ozai asked.
"Because you're going to tell me something," Zuko replied. He bent down and glared at Ozai. "Where is my mother?"
Ozai laughed a hollow laugh. Why his son would ask a thing like that, he wondered. "You really want to know?"
Zuko's glare only intensified.
Ozai turned his whole head so that he was looking directly at Zuko. His face had so much determination, so much fire in it! He wouldn't leave the cell until he got some answers, Ozai knew that. But he wouldn't like the answers Ozai was going to give him.
"I suppose I've got nothing to gain by not telling you." Ozai turned his head away from his son so that it was facing the wall again.
"After banishing Ursa, I created an elite team of spies. Their purpose was to track her and send updates to me. It was difficult at first, they reported. She probably knew I would send spies after her, and she was very good at hiding herself. But they finally found her after nearly three months of searching, and after that, they never let her out of their sight. I received monthly reports on her, what she was doing, who she was in contact with-"
"But where is she?" interrupted Zuko.
Ozai smiled slightly. "Oh, she went everywhere. She became a real nomad, almost like the pathetic airbenders themselves. She mostly stayed in Earth Kingdom towns, though she did try my patience a few times by going into some of the Fire Nation colonies, and once she even visited the South Pole-"
"Where is she now?" interrupted Zuko a second time, now with real fury in his voice.
Ozai's eyes flickered to his son before going back to the wall. "Well, one week before Sozin's Comet, a routine report came in. I didn't have time to read it, however, being so busy with ruling my nation," he added to irk the current 'Fire Lord.'
"I did plan on reading it afterwards, but alas, I never had the chance. It's a shame, that scroll is only a few weeks old, it should probably still be accurate."
"Where is it? Where are all of the scrolls?" Zuko asked with hope in his eyes for the first time.
Ozai kept starring at his wall. "In my private library in the west corridor, there is a section marked 'Traitors.' Her file is alphabetically located there."
Zuko stood up quickly and started to leave. His hand was on the handle when Ozai spoke up again.
"At least, it was, until the fire devoured it."
Zuko froze, before turning around slowly. "What fire?" he asked.
Ozai sighed. "Unfortunately, the day before the comet, a terrible fire engulfed parts of the library. The scrolls concerning your mother, in fact, were some of the most valuable information lost. It is a real shame," he ended as his voice dripped sarcasm.
Zuko clenched his fists, enraged. "You burned her scrolls, didn't you!" he shouted.
Ozai turned his entire head toward his son. "Oh no, Fire Lord, I could never do such a horrible thing. It was an accident, honest to Agni."
"I don't believe you," his son whispered. And with that, he whipped his robes around to leave.
"Don't bother looking for the scrolls! They're all gone!" Ozai called out as Zuko slammed the door shut. Ozai began to laugh. He had never laughed like this in his entire life, and it felt wonderful. He laughed until his sides ached in pain, and still he kept on laughing. In fact, he sounded a bit mad, like his daughter, locked up in some mental institute miles and miles away. But Ozai was not thinking about his daughter. He just kept thinking of his son, his stupid son, and just when he thought he was about to calm down, the situation made him start cackling again.
He was not laughing at the thought of Zuko running to his private library hoping to find his mother's scrolls unharmed, though the mental picture was humorous. He was laughing because no such scrolls had ever existed. Ozai had never bothered to keep records on his wife because honestly, what was the point? She knew no one influential, no one who could have hurt him. He had made the entire story up. He had no more idea where his wife was than Zuko did.
Really, Zuko, even if I did know, why on earth would I tell you? You may have thrown me in jail, stripped me of all my dignity, and made a complete mockery of me, but I will still always be one step ahead of you. Even from my lowly prison cell, I was able to twist your mind around my lies without any real effort. And you are the one set to rule my nation? Pathetic, truly pathetic. The rebels will overtake you in five years, mark my words. And when they do, they will free me from this prison as a martyr, and I will rebuild Sozin's epic dream of complete Fire Nation rule. Phoenix King Ozai is not dead just yet...
A/N: I'll admit, at first I was very disappointed that Bryke kept us in the dark about what happened to Ursa, especially after I learned that an idea was storyboarded before Mike pulled it from the finale. But then I got to thinking- this is Ozai we're talking about, cold, hard Ozai. He hates his son, no doubt about that. It would be completely out of his character for him to tell Zuko something that would lead to his happiness. And thus, this story was born. I'm not sure I'm completely happy with it, but it's my resolution to this plot hole.