Title: Dance Inside
Chapter Title: Idea
Word count: 1976 Rating: G Warnings: a certain pairing and some ideas that may not seem very realistic at all
Notes: I'm sorry to everyone who wanted a fic with Toph and Aang in it—but I just couldn't think of ideas for that right now. I just had to do another character (not Katara, Zuko, Toph, Aang, Sokka or Iroh) instead, because I had a good idea for it. (And that's the title of this drabble xD)

Update: 8/19/08: Recall that practically all of these drabbles in this set were written before season three or possibly even most/all of season two. That might the characters' emotions, thoughts, and words more believable.

Idea

The room was dark except for the high flames in front of the throne that the Fire Lord was sitting on. The meeting in the war room had been going on for quite some time now and was trying the Ozai's patience. The plan to crush Ba Sing Se was taken very cautiously in remembrance of the failed siege by none other than the Fire Lord's own brother, 'the once great' Iroh. Finally the tell-tale signs of the meeting ending showed and the Fire Lord sighed in relief.

He was completely unaware of the small girl hiding behind one of the pillars. She watched carefully, waiting for her cue. She did not have long to wait either—as soon enough, one of the generals stood up and asked, "Is there any questions?" more as a formality than an actual question.

So the Fire Lord watched in disbelief as a girl came from behind one the pillars near the corner, walking to the front of the room and looking directly at the Fire Lord, saying, "I have a question for the Fire Lord." The generals looked nervously at each other. This wasn't supposed to happen. Nobody else was supposed to be in the war room, no other men or boys, much less a little girl and absolutely no one was supposed to ask a question. They had to do something—but were considering if it was worse to speak out and say something or wait for the Fire Lord to do something.

The decision was made for them when one of the younger men in the room stood up and said, "My Lord, we will get her out of her at once and have her severely punished. We have no idea how she got in here, but we—"

"Stop. You will all leave at once. I will deal with her." The Fire Lord commanded, speaking an even tone while still looking at the girl as if he was captivated by her—though his voice sounded deathly to the old generals. They glanced at one another quickly and were about to protest when the Fire Lord looked at them and said a little louder, "You will leave at once or I will have you personally escorted out of the room," venom seeping off his tongue. The generals wasted no more time, standing up quickly and walking out of the room, none of them daring to glance back. The guards in front of the door on the outside had gone into the room at the sound of the commotion and now looked toward the Fire Lord, awaiting his orders.

"Leave." He said, waving a dismissal hand at them. They wasted no time questioning him like the generals did and left the room. The Fire Lord turned his attention back to the girl, looking her over.

She was not clearly Fire Nation, not clearly any nation at all. Her hair was a light brown, almost to a point of not being considered brown—and her eyes looked like a hazel color. They changed from green to brown to gray, even to a point of almost being blue as the light of the fire flickered, which didn't seem at all natural to Ozai. Their color reflected the dominant eye color of each nation and the Fire Lord was slowly growing angry with his confusion.

How dare she confuse him! He looked her over again, guessing that she was about nine or ten, though she had the posture and act of a girl much older. She did not waver in front of him, did not cower in fear—her eyes and face did not even show traces of fear. Her face was practically a mask, one of emotionless and expressionless beauty. She was not like anybody else he had ever met and his curiosity grew. He was sure that she must have been trained at an early age to be like that, and had been trained well.

He would have some fun with her after interrogating her.

But he had to first gain her trust, see how much she had heard and how much she knew. He sighed. She would have to die, for all the information she heard could not be trusted to be kept a secret. But what surprised and angered the Fire Lord even more than what he had already been pondering about was the fact that she spoke first. Even more than that was the fact that she did bow or kneel or even address him as one should.

No, she walked up to him as close to the flames as she could get without touching them, stood straight up, looking straight into his eyes and said, "Why do you want to conquer the world? Why do you want to win this war against all of the other nations?" The Fire Lord was speechless and didn't even have time to regain his composure before she started again.

"I mean, sure, you'd be in charge of the whole world and all, but why do you want that? I mean, number one, the other nations won't bow down to you; you'd have to kill them first. And even if you did murder and hurt people until they bowed down to you, what would you achieve from that? World domination sounds nice and all, but you'd get bored eventually. Once you have everything, you'd still want more. I mean, you've always wanted more—always. But if you have everything already, what's there left to get, to go after?"

Ozai could not believe the insults he heard coming out of her mouth at him, the flames in front of him slowly rising with his anger and he was just about to angrily retort back 'who do you think you are to be talking—talking to me like that?" but she started again, cutting him off.

"Let's see," she said, holding up her fingers, putting them down as she counted things off. "You're already the Fire Lord, in charge of the Fire Nation and higher than anybody in the Fire Nation—and probably all the other royalty and leaders of the world. You've got probably the strongest army and navy of the nations. Your country is currently winning the war. Sozin's comet will come in the summer and your firebenders will be granted greater power than anyone will ever know, making you end the war in your favor. Once the Fire Nation wins the war, world domination will be in your grasp. You'll have everything you've have ever wanted, everything that your father and his father fought to get—and yet you still won't be satisfied. Even with someone to fulfill your every whim, every desire, you still will want and crave more. One can never have enough, I guess." She said, smirking. The Fire Lord at this point was burning up, but the girl was still not done.

"The only hitch to your whole plan is the Avatar. He returned to the world many months ago and your people have still not captured him, try as they might. You've got the highest, most trained, best firebenders out there searching for him, chasing him and still he has escaped every time. He's the only one who can stop you now, but he still has to master all four elements by summertime. He's already mastered airbending and waterbending—and he's learning earthbending as we speak. The only thing left for him is to find a firebending teacher soon so he can master all four elements. Your only hope now is that he won't find that teacher, because he is clearly incapable of being captured.

"And then there's another hitch. Your son whom you call a failure and a disgrace and your brother who you consider a traitor. Both are enemies to the Fire Nation now and are running from your daughter who is trying to capture them. Your worst fears will come true when they join the Avatar and teach him firebending, for they are the only firebenders that can teach him currently that aren't attached to the fire nation—for Master Jeong Jeong, the Avatar's old firebending teacher, disappeared and hasn't returned. It is only time before the two groups join up, for both are running from you and both have the same goals in mind. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet, but you of all people should know of Zuko's pride." She said, her voice never wavering. And still she would not let the Fire Lord be and continued.

"So, what is it? Even if the Avatar is defeated, what is it about world domination that you want? It must be the idea of world domination that captures your fancy—the fact that it's something still yet to defeat and win. Something out there that doesn't belong to you, something you have not conquered yet. It must be the idea, just like the idea of Zuko not acting as you want him to gets you all burned up. It has to be the idea of the whole world bowing down to you that must appease you." She said, finally stopping.

"Just like the idea of you slowly burning to death right where you stand would appease me." Ozai said very icily. The girl did not look frightened at all, did not have any expression on her face at all.

"Who do you think you are?" The fire lord asked, continuing. He seriously was considering roasting her right then and there. She knew everything about him, and yet he knew nothing about her.

"My name is Lei." She said, still expressionless. "And I think I just outsmarted the Fire Lord."

Suddenly the flames roared to the ceiling and a fire ball was hurtled from the Fire Lord's throne. It never met its target, though, because the girl had disappeared. The fire lord screamed with anguish. She had disappeared without a trace and still he knew nothing about her except her name and that she knew way too much for his liking.

He would find her, though, and he would make sure that she got what she deserved.

Lei watched from afar as Ozai nearly burnt down the whole room. She had said what she had come to say and had gotten her question answered as well. She looked down at her blue spirit form and smiled as her ride appeared. She touched the blue bison, and they disappeared.

The man watched as she reappeared in the room. The bison happily joined him and he smiled. He did not need to say anything, there was nothing to say. She smiled as well and nodded. Suddenly the man, the bison and the room disappeared and another replaced it.

A man and woman, each in red robes, nervously watched the girl on the floor—who was obviously in some sort of trance, her eyes glowing. The man paced across the room and the woman stood in place, her dark brown hair moving with the breeze coming in through the window, her eyes never leaving the girl. Suddenly the girl's eyes stopped glowing and she opened her eyes and stood up shakily. The woman rushed over to her and helped her stand up. The man stopped and watched, his nervousness growing. The girl brushed off the woman's affection as nicely as she could and turned to the man.

"I was right." She said, smirking, "It was just the idea, father."

He smiled finally and said, "I never said you were wrong. I just said you needed to see it for yourself—though that wasn't quite what I meant when I said I wanted you to see it for yourself."

"Does time travel make you nervous?" the girl said, her smirk growing. Her father smiled, thinking that she acted just like he used to.

The woman looked between the two, a smirk slowing growing on her face. She turned to the man.

"So," she said jokingly, "Does the idea of world domination appeal to you as well, Fire Lord Zuko?"

A/N- Well, I'm certainly getting better with twists! Hehe, I just can't help putting in Zutara. But you got your dose of Ozai! And I used a different ending than I normally do!

Anyway, if you didn't get it; here goes:

Lei is from the future; she is Katara and Zuko's daughter and she is the new Avatar. (Sorry; I killed Aang! I had to, to make Lei the Avatar.) The first man you read about is Aang—and Lei is talking to him like Aang did with Roku in Avatar, you know, at the Winter Solstice—and Appa helped her travel back in time to talk to Ozai because she was curious about the reason why her grandfather wanted world domination. (And Lei is a smart aleck, if you haven't noticed—she likes to mess with people.)

I fit all that into one drabble and used a different ending. Yay!