This is for Whomever, who gets a dedication!
Title: Cruel Words
Wordcount: 218
Warning: Child abuse
Challenge: #35 - Memory
The young prince of the Fire Nation had always felt like a failure. He wasn't a prodigy like the sibling he wished would go away.
Although he trained harder then everyone else, he never was good enough. After each crushing defeat, he could feel the disappointment in his father's eyes. He was worthless.
"You were lucky to be born, because you do nothing to deserve it," Father would say over and over again.
The young prince hated those words and he internalized them as a mental whip to force himself to train harder. When blood and sweat would fall to the floor, he would hear those cruel words in his mind, forcing him to try even harder.
The young prince would remember those words when he had a lonely trek to find the Avatar.
He would remember those words when his endless amount of hard work had paid and he had finally become a terrifyingly powerful bender.
He remembered those words even when he surpassed his prodigy of a sibling.
He would remember those words when he had killed his abusive father.
He remembered because he heard those words coming out of his own mouth each time he saw his son Zuko. The child who reminded him too much of the memories he wanted to forget. The child he knew was too much like him.