Azulon didn't know how he did it, but Raizu was the only one who could have even come close to doing what he did with Ozai. His boy had his Chi burned out of him and somehow even had his inner fire suppressed to such a degree that Ozai never noticed whatever was being done to him.
Was the little imp really spirit touched? He knew the flame of fear could burn the Chi of others, but it didn't explain how he did anything else. Ozai wouldn't tell him anything about what happened the last few days, but he didn't mention any names. Azulon wasn't sure if Ozai even suspected his own son had so thoroughly manhandled him.
He didn't have any proof if this really was Raizu's doing, and confronting something with the ability to suppress the inner fire of others was folly unless there was a countermeasure. If one even existed.
Iroh had already returned to the frontlines but was actually preparing the way for Ursa's escape with the children. The timing made sense for him to act now, and yet there was no great reason for doing so. Azulon couldn't give Iroh the throne right now, it was too sudden. A civil war would tear his nation apart at its worst with how much friction this would create.
And yet the damned spirits or the boy prodded him into acting anyway. Azulon knew Ozai might… could have gone as far to rouse his own armies once Iroh took the throne, that was clear once he'd paid enough attention to his errant son's voice in the council.
But did it merit something so cruel?
Yes, his own heart answered for him. Was this the spirits way of telling him what needed to be done? Did they provide him this chance so he could right the mistakes of his blood? Was this his penance and sacrifice bringing him to the crossroads?
How could he be given so cruel a choice.
He was a father before he was the Fire Lord. He wasn't strong enough to make that decision if it really came to that. He didn't want to choose between his duty and his son, no matter how lost the boy was. Azulon could only do what a father could against something he could neither fight, cure, nor understand.
He called for his grandson to his chamber.
"Raizu," he said to the boy—that might not have been a boy at all.
"Yes grandfather?"
"Why did you do that to your father?"
And then—the boy slumped to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut loose, his inner fire gone, leaving only an empty, cooling husk that sapped all the heat around it.
The body jerked and spasmed before righting itself with jagged movements, like some newborn beast making its first steps, picking itself up on shaking arms and legs it had never used before.
Azulon's inner fire dimmed, while the chill snaked its way from his fingertips to his heart. He was now at the mercy of whatever was in front of him. He wondered if meeting the Avatar might have been a kinder fate, but it seemed the spirits were crueler than they let on.
What used to be Raizu stared at him with a pale blank face: the façade finally gone, the spark of gold in his eyes dead, leaving only an extinguished ink black.
Azulon wished he'd just turned a blind eye like he'd always done and let the spirits have their way, but he knew he could never go back to the person he used to be. He couldn't blind himself after finally opening his own eyes to the truth after so long. He owed that much to his children and to all the people he'd wronged.
But now, he could only regret what he'd unleashed.
Regret and pay his dues.
He fell to his knees and humbled himself.
"Hello Fire Lord," said the thing with Raizu's voice. "You've been very naughty, haven't you."
The voice dripped with malice unbecoming of what used to be his grandson, reminding him of the prophecy: great power was all it said, but never that it would be a power the Fire Nation owned.
Or could even control.
"Hello, great spirit."
"Don't worry, the boy will be fine, somewhat." It cleared its throat. "Speaking like this feels strange, is this what its like to breathe air." It cleared its throat some more. "Make sure to listen, please. I do not enjoy being in this meat bag and I would really hate to come back for a reminder."
"By your will, great spirit."
"Seek the Avatar and beg for his forgiveness, try and appeal to their better nature. If you're lucky, the air bender is still alive. The fate of the Fire Nation rests on this. You and your people have really annoyed too many."
Azulon knew at least two other nations who wanted their pound of flesh but didn't dare presume to know anything else beyond that. He had already planned to end the war, but he had to admit the Avatar seemed like a non-factor. That was an error on his part.
"I swear it upon the unbroken line of the royal family, great spirit. Your will be done."
"And another thing, fix what you and your people have broken. Stop the war, and stop the killing. I am a reasonable spirit, you do not need to sacrifice any lives, I will be fine with a good, honest effort. Try really hard, alright?"
It would take generations to do so, but if that's what it took to prevent the death of his people, then so be it.
"I swear it upon the unbroken line of the royal family, great spirit. Your will be done."
"Good. Very good. Hopefully with this Agni will finally leave me alone." The thing stretched its arms and legs. "How you humans move around with these clumsy things, I will honestly never understand."
"Thank you for your kindness, great spirit."
"Ah yes, you asked why I did what I did to your boy."
"It would be most gracious of you if you'd let a father know what must be with his son."
"Hmm, well, I didn't like that he was being mean to his son. I mean, after all, I am a reasonable spirit, yes?"
"Thank you for sparing him."
"Oh, I didn't spare him. He will spare himself, if he knows what's good for him." The thing cleared its throat again. "Well, that is all, Fire Lord, I really must be going my way now."
"Would you spare me your name, great spirit, so my nation knows who to honor for our salvation."
"A… name? Hmm, I have always been. And really, Fire Lord, you would make a spirit give you its name, please, we've barely met. You ought to take me out to dinner first." A pause. "Still, how peculiar, but reasonable, I agree."
The thing bowed with a strange flair, one hand behind its back and the other flared to its side.
"I suppose, if you must have one, then you may call me Sephiroth, you may have heard of me."
And with that, the boy slumped back to the floor face first with an audible thud.
Alive.
Raizu gasped a might gulp of air.
Azulon dove for his grandson and felt for anything wrong: he was cold, much too cold like Ozai, though at least his inner fire was intact. He only noticed that his own inner fire was blazing again, and that the chill had finally left his body. Perhaps that Sephiroth was a water or winter spirit of some sort for it to be able to suppress heat to such a degree.
But that didn't matter right now.
The boy groaned and opened his eyes—the spark back where it should be.
"Why do I feel like I got spat out by a komodo rhino?"