disclaimer - don't own atla or aladdin
Ozai paced in his study for the girls to return with the lamp.
They should have been back by now.
A soft knocking on the door was heard and a young woman in a servant robe entered the room. She looked visibly terrified to be in the same room as the prince.
"Well?" demanded Ozai and the servant winced "What is it?"
She bowed low to him.
"Fire Lord Iroh wishes to speak with you in the throne room." The servant said softly.
Ozai growled in frustration and left the room. The still bowing servant flinched when he walked past her. He strode down the corridors until reaching the entrance to the throne room. He parted the curtain and entered the dimly lit room. Iroh sat in the throne behind a wall of flames which were the only source of light for the room. From behind the fire Ozai could see that Iroh had a look of anger on his face. Ozai approached the wall of fire and bowed slightly.
"You wanted to speak with me?"
"Yes, Ozai. Katara told me about the boy from the city that you had executed. You know you don't have that authority unless express permission from me. From now on, you are to discuss sentencing the prisoners with me, before they are executed. Is that understood?"
Ozai's eyes narrowed but he remained in his bow. "I assure you, Iroh, it won't happen again."
"You may go."
Ozai got to his feet and turned to leave but saw Katara standing in front of the curtain. She stood there with her arms crossed. If looks could kill…
"Ah, Katara," Iroh stepped out from behind his wall of flame and approached the angry waterbender, "I have just spoken with Prince Ozai about this."
Ozai approached the two and bowed slightly to Katara. "My apologies to you as well." He took her hand to kiss it but she yanked it away before it met his lips.
"At least there's one good thing about this forced marriage," said Katara in a dangerous tone, "As soon as I get married I'm getting as far away from you as possible!" She turned and stormed out. Iroh sighed sadly and followed after her.
Ozai resisted his urge to send a fireball after the two when he left the throne room and watched them depart through the corridor in the opposite direction he was going. It was always so tempting to firebend at Iroh, the Water Tribe siblings, and the earthbender. He was patient, however, for he knew that once the lamp in his possession, he will gain complete control and do whatever he wanted to his foolish brother and those annoying brats.
When he made it back to his study, he found Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai standing in the middle of the room. When he entered all three of them looked down to avoid his eyes. He looked at Azula expectantly.
"Princess Azula, at last. Now I can become Fire Lord and I can get rid of Iroh and those brats once and for all."
Azula didn't smile. She seemed very interested in her shoes.
"Give me the lamp." Ozai held out his hand to Azula.
She didn't move.
"Azula," Ozai's tone started to sound impatient, "Where is the lamp?"
The three girls bowed at his feet. Ozai noticed that Ty Lee was trembling slightly.
"Where is it?" demanded Ozai.
The three girls cringed.
Azula and the girls sat up
"I'm sorry, Father." said Azula, "But there was a flaw in the plan."
"What happened?"
"Well, Mr. Prince Ozai, sir, we had the lamp but…" Ty Lee trailed off, too terrified to speak anymore.
"You lost it?" Ozai glared daggers at the girls. He was about ready to burn the girls to a crisp. Did they forget how long he had waited to find the whereabouts of that lamp? Did they forget how long he waited for the opportunity to finally be Fire Lord?
"Why do you need the lamp to become Fire Lord anyway, Prince Ozai?" asked Mai. "Why not just kill Iroh?"
"It's not that simple! It would be too obvious!" Ozai sat down in the chair behind his desk and brought a hand to his face and shook his head at the girls' stupidity. "And now I have to wait for Iroh to die on his own!"
"At least we won't have to deal with the Water Tribe siblings anymore." said Mai.
"Shame," said Azula, "They were the perfect toys to play with."
"Have you not been paying attention these past for weeks, girls?" said Ozai, annoyed, "Princess Katara refuses to marry any of the boys that have come here! She and her brother will only be able to leave the palace once she marries!"
"Well, what about Sokka?" asked Ty Lee, "He's old enough to marry."
"Sokka's still getting over Princess Yue's death." Mai reminded Ty Lee in an undertone.
"Oh, maybe that's why he's so distant from me!" said Ty Lee with a big smile on her face.
Azula brought and hand to her face.
"Yes, Ty Lee," said Mai sarcastically, "That's exactly why."
Ty Lee, not noticing the sarcasm, smiled even more widely.
"I guess it's too bad Sokka's around, then maybe Prince Ozai could marry Katara and become Chief of her tribe."
Ozai laughed.
"That has to be the most ridiculous thing I've heard." said Ozai.
Azula smirked.
"Actually, Father, Ty Lee may have something there."
"Thanks Azula!" Ty Lee's big smile then changed into a confused frown. "What exactly do I have?"
Azula ignored her friend and continued.
"What we can do is have you marry the Water Tribe princess-"
"But then he'd be second in line for Chief." Mai interrupted.
"Don't interrupt me!" snapped Azula, "Back to what I was saying, after you marry the Water Tribe princess, we kill Uncle, the brother, and the blind earthbender, and we frame the princess for it. Then she's executed and you are Fire Lord of the Fire Nation and the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. And then we can destroy that frozen wasteland if the people there dare to defy you!"
Mai and Ty Lee looked at Azula with amazed looks on their faces. Ozai smiled at Azula and laughed softly.
"I love the way your mind works, daughter!" he laughed.
Appa flew through the desert all morning until Aang found an oasis for him to land in. As soon as Appa's feet touched the ground he rolled over on his side in exhaustion, causing his riders to falls off.
"And thank you for choosing flying bison for all your travel needs!" said Aang as he got to his feet and dusted himself off. Zuko rolled his eyes.
"Well, now." Aang asked with a smug smile on his face, "How about that, Mr. Doubting mustafa? Still think I'm not all powerful?"
"Yeah, you sure showed me." said Zuko. He resisted his urge to laugh but not his urge to roll his eyes. "Now about my three wishes-"
"Three? You are down by ONE, boy!" Aang held up his index finger in Zuko's face which he pushed away.
"You know, I never actually wished to get out of the cave. You did that on your own."
Aang raised a finger and opened his mouth for a return argument but when he couldn't think of anything his jaw just dropped.
"Monkey feathers!" he crossed his arms in annoyance. "All right, but no more freebies."
Zuko raised his hands in surrender, "Fair enough." He started pacing with his hand on his chin in thought while he contemplated on what he was going to wish for. "So, three wishes. I want them to be good. What would you wish for?" He added, looking at Aang, who had been lying on Appa's tail playing with his marble again. He sat up abruptly when he heard the question.
"Me?" Aang pointed at himself as if not believing what he heard, "No one's ever asked me that before." He smiled blissfully, "Well, actually," his smile turned into a frown when he changed his mind on what he was going to say, "Forget it."
"What? Come on, tell me."
Aang hesitated, then answered.
"Freedom."
Zuko's eyes widened with shock and he felt his jaw drop slightly. He pulled out the lamp from his vest and looked at it in shock.
"You mean you're a prisoner?" he asked.
"The whole genie gig is all part-and-parcel." Aang jumped into the air with his eyes and arrow glowing. He was in a sphere of air. The wind blew at Zuko, Appa, and Momo. Zuko tried to keep his balance against the harsh winds. Some water came out of the oasis and some rocks flew off the ground and both elements became part of the sphere. Fire streams appear and become part of the sphere.
"Phenomenal cosmic powers!" When Aang shouted those words, it sounded like a large group of people were shouting with him.
He dropped the rocks and the water, (which splashed on Zuko) and the fire and air sphere disappeared. Aang's arrows and eyes stopped glowing and he shrank down into the lamp. Zuko saw that he could barely fit into it.
"Itty bitty living space" Aang said squeakily.
"Aang, that's terrible." said Zuko sympathetically.
Aang slid out of the lamp with the same blissful smile on his face again "But, man-to be free. Not have to go, 'Poof! What do you need? Poof! What do you need? Poof! What do you need?' To be my own master, such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world!"
Aang smacked himself on the head.
"But what am I talking about, here? Let's get real here. It's not gonna happen. Aang, wake up and smell the hummus."
"Why not?" asked Zuko.
"The only way I get outta this is if my master wishes me out. So you can guess how often that's happened."
"I'll do it." Offered Zuko with a smile, "I'll set you free."
"Uh huh, right."
Aang made a gesture as if to make it look like his nose was growing.
"No, really, I promise. After I make my first two wishes, I'll use my third wish to set you free."
Zuko held out his hand for Aang to shake.
"Well, here's hoping." Aang shook Zuko's hand.
"O.K. Let's make some magic! So how 'bout it. What is it you want most?"
Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly shy. "Well, there's this girl-"
Aang made a buzzer sound.
"Wrong! I can't make anybody fall in love, remember?"
"I'm not asking that it's just... She's smart and fun and..."
"Pretty?"
"Beautiful."
It was Aang's turn to roll his eyes. He smiled at how the teen spoke of this girl.
"She's got these big blue eyes that just...and this long curly hair that almost looks like a brown ocean, wow...and her smile." He sighed when he remembered Katara's smile but he frowned when he remembered something.
"But she's the princess. To even have a chance, I'd have to be a-" An idea came to him. "Hey, can you make me a prince?"
Aang looked slyly at Zuko. "I don't know. Is that an official wish? Say the magic words!"
"Aang, I wish for you to make me a prince!"
"First, we gotta get rid of those rags!" He picked at Zuko's vest. "What are you trying to say, beggar?"
He clapped his hands and Zuko's peasant clothes were replaced with royal Fire Nation robes.
"Lookin' good!" said Aang with a thumb's up.
"Now, still needs something. What does it need?"
He snapped his fingers.
"I've got it! Mode of transportation. Now I'd lend you Appa, but if you're going to be walking through a city, it'll be best to go with something not totally shy."
He saw Momo on the ground licking his fur and got an idea.
"Momo, over here!"
Momo flew to Aang and before he landed on Aang's shoulder, the young airbender snapped his fingers and the lemur changed into a into an ostrich.
"Mmm, not enough."
He snapped his fingers again and Momo changed into a komodo rhino.
"Still not enough. Let's see. What do you need?"
Aang paced around for a bit until finally, he decided on something.
"Yes! I got it!"
He zapped Momo into an elephant. Momo looked into the pool of water to see his reflection and trumpeted in fear. He jumped into a tree and the tree naturally bended right back down to the ground, where Momo hung on and looked at Zuko upside down.
"Momo, you look good." said Zuko as he repressed a chuckle. He went to the pool of water to look at his reflection and saw that his shaggy hair was in a neat top knot. His bandages were gone, revealing a comet shaped scar over the left side of his face. He touched it and closed his eyes and sighed when he felt the burnt skin beneath his fingers. Aang put a sympathetic hand on Zuko's shoulder.
"Maybe you could wish that scar away, Zuko." said Aang.
"No." said Zuko. "I'm not going to waste a wish on a blemish. Besides, I think it's best that I keep this scar anyway. I don't want her to recognize me."
He looked at the genie.
"Now what?"
"You've got the outfit, you've got the elephant, but we're not through yet. Hang on to your headpiece, Zuko, cause we're gonna make you a star!"
"By the way, I'm probably going to need to change my name."
"How about Kuzon?" suggested Aang.
"'Kuzon'?"
"He was a friend of mine from the Fire Nation before I became the genie. You don't have to use that name if you don't-"
"No, don't worry. It sounds like the perfect name."
Will the villains' plan work? Will Zuko keep his promise to Aang? Stay tuned next time on Fire Nation Nights!