Azula knew Zuko didn't want to bring her to that prison again. She knew he was worried of how seeing Ozai would affect her mind when she had listened to his voice cruelly mocking her while she had been away from the palace, pretending to be one of his supporters. But she had to do this. For a long time, she had actively avoided so much as talking about her father. She had spent so many years thinking that his approval was the only thing that truly mattered, and even realizing that he had just been using her and never cared about her had not been enough to make her move on. Even knowing that he was in prison and no longer could bend, it was hard not to imagine that he would, somehow, find a way to punish her for daring to turn her back on him.

Yet seeing him so utterly humiliated when Zuko used him as an example to intimidate the Dai Li had managed to break some of that illusion that she had been believing her whole life. And now, standing before him as two guards dragged him out of his cell as he looked absolutely disgusted and furious to have people he considered to be below him having the audacity to touch him and obey somebody else's orders, she could finally in him the man who had terrified the world for so long.

And how he had always been doomed to fail. Looking at him was like seeing her old self, the only difference is that her father didn't seem to have any humanity left in him. He would never see what he did wrong, and he would never see his own flaws. It would never occur to him that there could be anything more important than power. He would never find love and happiness like she had. If he had not been such a horrible person, she could have maybe found it in herself to feel bad for him.

But she couldn't. Not when the first thing he did once the three of them were alone was making fun of her relationship with Zuko.

"My two useless, treacherous children. If you're here to give me an invitation to your wedding, I'm afraid I'll have to turn it down. But please invite me to the funeral once you kill him, Azula"

"I see you've heard about our engagement" Zuko said.

"The whole world heard of it. You two started quite a pandemonium" Ozai mocked, then looked eyes with Azula, giving her a cruel smirk "Maybe this time you'll actually answer my question. How long did it take you to convince this idiot that actually cared about him? Two minutes?"

"I do care about him. And about our baby. But that is just not something a miserable, despicable worm like you could ever understand, is it?"

"How sentimental and noble" he scoffed once more "I see your insanity didn't make you stupid, you still know what to say to make people do what you want them to. I have to admit I'm almost proud. Now tell me, did you decide to pretend to be a loving sister before or after you started whoring yourself out to him?"

"Watch your tongue or I'll cut it out and make you eat it" her brother warned, and Azula took immense satisfaction in seeing Ozai immediately cower before Zuko, his entire demeanor going from self-assured and downright arrogant to submissive, scared and resentful in the blink of an eye. She would never get sick of seeing her brother being so assertive and downright frightening, especially when he did it for her. Having him there with her made her feel safe despite their father's presence and the effect it still had on her.

He can't hurt me anymore. Not when I'm with Zuzu.

"Why are you two here?" he asked, avoiding looking directly at either of them.

"You see, Ty Lee has her own circus now and I decided you'll be the clown" Azula's answer made Zuko smirk and Ozai twitch in anger. She walked towards their father, her brother following right behind her "I wanted one last look at the pathetic, sad excuse of man that my father has become, so I'll never forget the fate Zuko saved me from. I would gladly spend every day of my life being tortured by visions and voices that are not real over ending up like you. Locked away while life passes you by because you can't get over your delusion that you're some superior being despite being defeated by a literal child of a 'weaker' race. Trying to hold on to a false glory that is long gone and that people are forgetting about. Being completely empty and alone."

Ozai merely leaned back against the bars of his cell "You honestly do believe this the best life for you now, don't you? I knew you had gone mad, but this is just embarrassing. And to think you're a child of mine" he shook his head negatively.

"If it makes you feel better, I hate that fact just as much as you do"

"Enjoy it while it lasts" he went on as if she had not interrupted him at all "You'll regret this choice once you realize you'll have to live in the shadow of a weak-link like your brother until the end of your days"

"You of all people shouldn't call anyone else weak. And Zuko is a better ruler and a better man than you ever could be"

Ozai looked at her with nothing but disdain "Hate it all you want and be as ungrateful as you like, but everything you've ever had you only had because of me. Your status and political power as a princess, your fighting and firebending skills, your ability to make others do whatever you tell them to, as well as the imbecile of a brother you've grown so found of and every deformed, retarded bastard you two will have. Even the few years you got to spend with your mother only happened because of me. You know very well that she would have abandoned you while you were still an infant if I had not had my reasons to force her to stick around"

Azula tried not to let it show, but his words had hurt her, especially when he talked about Ursa.

But she didn't have time to feel sorry for herself nor to recover and put their father in his place. He had barely finished talking when Zuko launched himself at him, repeatedly punching him in the face and in the gut, then kicking him. The guards rushed inside, only to stop on their tracks as they realized, with both relief and horror, that their Fire Lord's life was not in danger, but that the same could definitively not be said about Ozai's. Azula's watched with her eyes wide and her jaw dropped as her brother viciously beat up their father. She felt shivers going up and down her spine as he commanded the guards to leave, and they immediately ran off, clearly scared.

But not as scared as the defeated man that was now curled up on the floor, coughing blood and with one ankle visibly broken.

"You really are just a pathetic, ungrateful waste of space. You would have never even become Fire Lord if Azula had not told our mother about your plan to kill me under our grand-father's orders. You used her abilities and her victories to make yourself look better. She's a prodigy. She is the only firebender in history to have blue fire, mastered lightning at just 14 and could still use it while having a breakdown. She conquered Omashu, Ba Sing Se, killed the Avatar, and fought my friends during the eclipse while you were hiding like the coward you are. She was a better warrior than you in every way, to the point that you didn't want her to help you defeat the Avatar because you didn't want to risk having her steal your glory. And because of it, you lost the war, your bending, your freedom, and your title. Azula was all you had. And you lost her"

The princess gently took her brother's hands in hers when he turned to her again. His angry expression instantly softened, and he kissed the tip of her nose before pressing his forehead against hers.

"We can stay a little longer if you still have something to say to him, but I really think he's not worth your time, Zula"

She chuckled "Well, you pretty much did that for me already"

Zuko blushed slightly "Sorry."

Azula smiled and gave him a quick kiss "Thank you, dum-dum"

Ozai looked at them in disgust and rolled his eyes "You two deserve each other"

"Good to know that even you are not stupid enough to miss that" she said "But if it bothers you that much, I'll be happy to put you out of your misery, father. I just can't promise you it will be quick"

"Just leave" he asked, trying to get back on his feet, but not being able to.

Azula smirked "After you get back to cage"

Ozai gave her an angry glare... then pathetically crawled back into his cell, holding on to the bars to and using whatever strength he had left to drag himself across the floor. Zuko called for the guards, who locked up the door.

"Did this really help you?" her brother asked as they walked through the halls, one arm around her.

"I just saw you almost kill someone for insulting me. Of course I'm gonna feel better after that."

Zuko just chuckled and kissed the top of her head.