Chapter 1: Funeral for a Tyrant

Zuko had attended the funeral of a Fire Lord once before.

When Fire Lord Azulon died, the entire Fire Nation had mourned him. The grim, canny old ruler hadn't been loved like his charismatic father Sozin, but he was widely respected for his intelligence and power. The crowds had turned out in vast numbers, like a huge sea of white, to mourn their fallen leader and pledge loyalty to his chosen successor- Zuko's father, Ozai.

Now Ozai himself lay upon the funeral bier, and the crowds were nowhere to be seen. Azulon had not been loved, but by the end of his life his son had been hated; while on the throne, the Phoenix King had taken advantage of the Fire Nation's vast propaganda machine to present himself as a towering, godlike figure, but after he had been deposed Zuko had used that same resource to make certain that every citizen knew of Ozai's ruthlessness and atrocities. Once word of his mad plan to burn all life from the entire Earth Kingdom continent became known, few but the most extreme of the war's diehard supporters found themselves willing to shed tears for him.

In life Ozai had been a towering figure of dreadful power and infinite cruelty- a man made soulless by unchecked ambition, who was capable of any crime if he might profit from it. The scar that covered one side of Zuko's face tingled slightly at the memory of Ozai's most personally affecting act, but it was far from the only pain the former Fire Lord had caused. Now he seemed pathetic and shrunken, and far older than he had ever looked while alive. The Fire Sages had cleaned the body and dressed it in fine robes, but even their handiwork couldn't hide the wound that had killed him- a clean slash across the throat, which the royal physician assured Zuko could only have been cause by a knife of incredible sharpness.

The murder itself still stumped Zuko. There were plenty of people who wanted Ozai dead, but the Fire Lord knew of no one who could pass through walls and locked doors without leaving a trace, and so far neither the army's investigator's or his hired bounty hunters had been able to shed much light on the mystery.

For now, though, such questions had to wait. Zuko stood on the steps of the Fire Nation palace in white mourning robes, at his side his betrothed, the Lady Mai. Off on one side, flanked by guards, was Zuko's younger sister, Princess Azula, a strange look on her normally impassive face. Azula had been the one person who could truly have been said to love Ozai, twisted as her relationship with him had been. Recently she had seemed to throw off some of his influence and had been instrumental in the defeat of the rebel general Azun, but the Phoenix King's shadow still loomed large in her mind. Her grief was genuine- perhaps the only genuine grief anyone felt for the man, a fact that Zuko found darkly ironic, considering that Azula was generally the last person one looked to for genuine human emotion.

Apart from the High Fire Sage, they were the only mourners present. Zuko himself would not have been there if it hadn't been for the knowledge that Ozai would have expected him to toss his body into the sea and forget about it (and would have likely done exactly that had their positions been reversed), and while Zuko no longer felt a need to prove himself to his father, he did need to show that he was a better man than Ozai had ever been. Uncle probably would have come too, but Zuko didn't want to have to drag the old man out of his well-earned retirement to travel halfway around the world just to say farewell to the younger brother who'd hated him.

The High Fire Sage stepped forward and raised his hands over the body. "Ozai," he intoned, "Fire Lord of our nation for seven years. You were our ruler during the conquest of Ba Sing Se, and were the first to use airships as weapons of war. You were the husband of Ursa. You were the father of Zuko and Azula. We lay you to rest." The Fire Sage raised his hands and sent twin blasts of golden flame towards the body. In an instant Ozai was consumed. The Fire Sage bowed and stepped back, his work now done.

Zuko felt a light touch on his arm and turned to see Mai. "You've done enough, Zuko," she said. "He didn't even deserve this much."

"You're right," Zuko said to her. "But he was still my father, despite everything. I did my duty as his son for the last time. In an hour there won't be anything left of him but ash." Without another word Zuko turned and began to walk back towards the palace, Mai at his side. Ozai was gone now- he would never harm anyone again. He was best left as no more than a bad memory.

/

Azula noticed her brother and former friend leaving out of the corner of her eye, but her full attention was on the flames that chewed on her father's body.

Azula loved Ozai. She was firmly convinced that he was the most powerful firebender and greatest king who had ever lived, and that he had fully deserved to have the entire world laid out at his feet. All she had done during the war- tracking Zuko, conquering Ba Sing Se, striking the Avatar down in the height of his power- had been for him.

Azula hated Ozai. He had manipulated her for her entire life, made her into little more than a younger, female version of himself, and then, when she was no longer useful, abandoned her. Azula had done similar things to others in her life, and perhaps that was why this hit home so painfully- it reminded her that underneath her royal glamour and prodigy's skill, she was just as weak, just as vulnerable, as anyone else.

And it could easily be said that he was responsible for her current condition. His ruthless manipulation of her emotions throughout her childhood had sown the seeds of madness- his abandonment of her before the Comet had triggered its ultimate appearance. A month ago, Azula had regained control- barely- by betraying her lifelong belief that power was the ultimate goal and helping Zuko defeat Azun. Now that she was in the Palace again, surrounded by guards day and night and unable to take any meaningful action, she could feel the madness growing once more. Only shear effort of will had prevented it from returning in full force.

Good-bye, Father, Azula said silently to the pyre. I will always love you- and I will hate you until my dying breath. Does that satisfy you? With a final sigh she turned away from the flames and motioned to her guards.

"I am returning to my chambers now," she said and immediately began walking in that direction. The guards quickly fell into step behind her. In that position they looked like honored bodyguards, but Azula knew what they were- her jailers. Zuzu still didn't trust her. Azula didn't suppose she blamed him. She wasn't entirely sure she trusted herself.

Finally the little procession arrived at Azula's rooms. The guards- both men- took their places beside the door but did not enter. The deposed princess gave them both mocking smiles as she passed between them and entered her bedchamber, shutting the door behind her.

A sudden blow to the side of her face sent Azula staggering. Catching herself against her bedpost, she turned to face her attacker, preparing to conjure her trademark blue fire and incinerate the fool who had dared to lay hands on her person before they could draw another breath.

Then she saw the intruder's face, and all such thoughts were driven from her mind.

Her father towered over her, resplendent in the robes of the Phoenix King. He was clearly alive and his eyes burned with absolute rage- an expression Azula had only seen once before, on the day Zuko was scarred and banished.

"Traitor!" Ozai roared, landing another blow in his petrified daughter, sending her crashing to the floor. Azula looked up at him, eyes wide and brimming with unaccustomed tears.

"Father… why?" she croaked.

"You know why," he snarled. "You have betrayed me, Azula. I trusted you, loved you- you were my heir, by the spirits! I thought I'd taught you well to see the world as it truly is- to despise weakness and seek power, even as I did. We could have ruled the world together, but when you had the chance you threw it away! You're no better than Zuko. I should have known that children from such a weak mother would both turn out to be worthless."

Logic overrode Azula's fear and shame. "This isn't real!" she spat. "You died- I saw them burn your body. You can't use me anymore!"

Ozai laughed. "Really? You thought a knife in the dark would be enough to kill me? I live on inside you, my dear daughter. I will always be with you. You cannot escape me, even when you cling to your mother's promises of love and the Avatar's power."

Azula stood on shaking legs. "Get out. You taught me to always be in control, all the while controlling my life completely. I've learned better than to listen to you. I make my own path now- not yours, not Mother's, and not Zuko's."

"Really?" Ozai grabbed his daughter by her arm and pulled her close. "I would have made you great, Azula, but you stubborn children simply won't listen. But know this- I will haunt you forever. You will never be free of me until you embrace who you are again. You want to avoid madness, girl? Embrace everything I taught you once again, or I will tear you apart. I promise that- and no one can save you."

He raised his free hand then and formed a ball of flame within it, and it seemed to grow until the whole room was ablaze. Azula's eyes widened in horror and she tried to flee, but her legs wouldn't move, and the flames consumed her. Agony coursed along every inch of her body, and she screamed and screamed and….

She was lying on the floor, curled up in a ball, still in her mourning clothes. Someone was shaking her, and she looked up tentatively to see one of her guards standing over her, a concerned look on his face.

"Don't you know better than to enter my room without asking?" Azula spat, but her heart wasn't in it.

"I'm sorry, Prin- Azula. We heard you scream, and thought you might be in trouble."

Azula shot him a withering glance. "You thought wrong. Now get out, or else you'll be the one screaming." The guard bowed- a bow of respect, not the subservience due to royalty- and removed himself from the chamber.

Azula stood slowly and stretched, trying to work out the ghost of pain that still shot through her body while her mind spun. Her hands ran along her limbs, felt her torso, her face – there were no burns from the fire, no bruises from her father's hands. As she'd expected, the entire episode had taken place within her mind. The former princess shuddered inboluntarily. She hadn't had a hallucination in a while- not since the one of her mother, just before she decided to help defeat Azun. That wasn't a good sign- it meant she was starting to lose control again. She remembered the mad beast she had become when fighting Zuko for the throne and shuddered inwardly. Never again, she vowed silently. Whatever it takes.

But it was starting to look like the inevitable madness was her only option.

/

Ozai's funeral was a direct follow-up to the events of the prologue, of course. I changed some of the wording for this version – mostly to establish that the populace came to hate Ozai after his reign rather than during it, when he had the full force of Fire Nation propaganda plus the traditions of his office on his side – but in essence I left it much the same.

Azula's encounter with Ozai's hallucination is intended to be shocking; "Ozai" is certainly more violent and cruel here than he was to his daughter in life, just like the Ursa hallucination is more saintly than the genuine article. Some of my early readers questioned this bit, wondering that Azula seemed to perceive herself as a victim of her father's violence rather than just his manipulation, but the Ozai hallucination, like the Ursa hallucination, is best understood as a part of Azula's own mind – the part that still believes in power, ruthlessness, and cruelty. So yes, that means that Azula essentially just got beat up by herself, though I added a bit in this version specifying that she sustained no physical injuries during the encounter to make it clear it really was a hallucination and not a spirit of some sort.

-MasterGhandalf