Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. I'm used to it.
Lu Ten: This is a long chapter.
Me: Not really…
Lu Ten: Oh… I'm awesome in this chapter.
Me: Not really…
QUICK NOTE: The events I put Zuko through later in this chapter, are not easy. This is why this fic was rated "T" for teens. It's nothing too graphic or violent, but the mental abuse that is shown being thrown on Zuko, as well as Azula and Ozai, are not simple little things. As well, the fight between Azula and Zuko during the training section is not a nice bonding experience. Many of you might see some of the moments between Zuko and Ozai as intense and mean, and yes there probably was a time when Zuko and Ozai didn't hate each other, but those moments are not life changing, and therefor are not on Lu Ten's tour guide. Sorry, those moments just aren't as fun to write.
EDIT: Reloaded on 2/10/13 with fixed grammar. Thank you theAsh0 for pointing them out.

"Where have you taken me," Ozai snarled as his feet landed on hard ground. His ember eyes, the only color on his form that wasn't a deep shade of blue, searched around the darkened red room. His vision was caught by a shape pacing along the opposite wall. Ozai narrowed his eyes as he stared at himself; many years younger.

"To the day when you're first child was born." Lu Ten's voice sounded beside him, as the deceased teen appeared. "This is the first stop in your adventure."

"Can he see us?" Ozai asked, dubious of the happenings around him.

"No," Lu Ten replied, "we are completely invisible to the world at this moment. We are merely onlookers.

"Look at you though Uncle," Lu Ten changed the subject as he pointed towards the clearly anxious man engraving his footsteps into the floor. "You were so excited. So proud."

"Until I learned what that boy would become," Ozai sneered. "Is there a point of coming here anyway? I have lived this moment. I do not need to relive it."

"Ah," Lu Ten smirked, "there is a point. And yes, you do need this Uncle. There was a time when you were pleased with your son. He was meant to be your redemption. Am I correct? You wanted him to be the thing you never were. A son a father could be proud of. Yet, when you realized just how alike he was to you, those plans changed."

"Now you are simply putting words in my mouth," Ozai grumbled. He wasn't going to allow this spirit the satisfaction of this journey success. Leaning casually on the wall behind him, the dethroned king eyed the younger version of him feet away. The young father passed quickly about the room, a deep look of concern knotting his eyebrows close together.

"Maybe," Lu Ten shrugged, "or maybe I am just more on track than you wish for me to be." Both men were silent as the Ozai of the past exited from the room, heading for the chamber that his wife and newborn son were. "Do you wish to see what is going on in the next room?"

"No," Ozai shock his head, "I have already witnessed that disgraces birth. I don't care to see it once more."

"Very well," Lu Ten sighed, "that just means we can get through this night quicker. I had hoped that this first stop would have done something for you. But don't worry, by the end of tonight, one of these events will have done something for you." With a frown he nodded, the scene changing along with his motions.

-oOo-

Ozai stumbled once more at the change in the landscape, but caught his footing; Lu Ten having moved no more than his previous nod. The sound of exotic animals entered into the ears of the pair, as Ozai connected the scene to Ember Island. Glancing between the ghost beside him and the large house before him, Ozai's ears picked up the soft sound of sobs to the right. Letting his eyes trail towards the noise, he spotted the huddle mass of a pale child.

"What is this?" Ozai stepped towards the huddle mass, realizing that the child was a young girl, no more than five. Her cries seemed familiar to him somehow.

"Keep in mind," Lu Ten's voice drew Ozai's head back towards him, "that this trip may be to show you what you need to see, but it does not focus around you solely."

"What are you-"

"There you are Zula!" Both males lifted their attention away from each other; landing on a seven year old Zuko as he raced towards the crying mass. Dropping down beside her, Zuko wrapped his arms around the girl.

"Get off me!" She screeched, tossing the older boy off of her shoulders. Ozai stared at the young version of his daughter; the fierce expression on her face one he had engrained into her. "I don't need you! And your stupid hugs!" She stood, her tiny fists clinched tighter. Her back was now to the two men, yet they could still see Zuko on the opposite side of her, still knocked to the ground.

"Yes you do!" Zuko yelled back, standing up. "You need a hug! Just admit it!"

"No!" She snarled back. The bickering continued back and forth without much progress. Lu Ten sighed as the moments past before them.

"I wish they would let me speed up time," he shrugged as young Zuko and Azula continued their banter. "It would make this so much easier."

"Why don't you just skip forward?" Ozai rolled his eyes, at both the children and the late soldier. "You seem to have that pleasure."

"I'm not allowed to fast forward moments. It's a rule." Lu Ten shrugged. He was silent for a moment as he watched Azula pounce on her brother. The siblings wrestled along the dirt. "This argument will be over in a minute. Azula's got give the boy a little nose bleed and we can progress in this time frame."

"You brought me back to watch my daughter give my son a nose bleed?" Ozai raised his eyebrows in confusion. "She has given him much worst later on. Couldn't we have skipped to one of those times? Because I would gladly watch those."

"I didn't bring you here to watch the fight." Lu Ten answered with a deep frown. "I meant to drop us off after their little round, but I missed the cut off by a few minutes. This is my first tour. Cut me some slack. On track though… we came for the conversation that happens after they beat on each other; more like Azula beats on Zuko." Lu Ten drug his attention back onto the siblings as they laid painting on the ground beside each other. "Here is our reason behind our trip." Ozai crossed his arms over his chest and pouted as the siblings looked at one another.

"You're stupid," Azula smirked, watching the way her brother was bundling up his shirt to prevent his bleeding nose from dripping over him.

"Thanks Zula," Zuko's voice was muffled through his shirt. "And here I came to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," Azula shot back. Tilting her head back, she stared at the clouds moving above them. The tears on her face not completely dried yet.

"No you're not," Zuko angled his head to face his sister. "You took what dad said to you pretty hard." Ozai placed all of his attention onto the conversation at the mention of himself.

"Right," Azula's voice was filled with sarcasm. "Look. I'm not use to being called useless and a failure. But you must have experience with this. Because you are useless Zuko. I mean seriously, even a child could pull off beginners forms."

"We are children," Zuko rolled his eyes at his sister. Azula narrowed her eyes at him deeper, successfully shoving her elbow into his side.

"I am not a child," Azula huffed. "I am a firebending prodigy. Plus I'm smarter than you. With my combined abilities and smarts, I totally rank higher in age than you. So shut up. Because I'm fine. What dad said doesn't bother me."

"I thought you said it didn't bother you," Zuko's eyes were filled with both compassion and understanding.

"Fine," the girl sighed. "I guess it did bother me. But that's because I'm not supposed to be the loser in the family. You have that handled."

"Thanks," Zuko rolled his eyes once more with the ease of a well-oiled machine.

"I'm serious Zuko," Azula couldn't suppress the frown forming. "I'm daddies little girl. I do everything right. And I couldn't perform a stupidly simple firebending form."

"That was a really hard form," Zuko rolled over to face his sister, careful to keep his shirt pressed firmly against his nose. His attention was removed from his bleeding nose, and focused on his sister. "It's alright if you have a little trouble every once in a while."

"Not for me," Azula rolled over to face him as well. "I don't have trouble. And now, dad is mad. I don't like it when he's mad at me. Than I'm in the same boat that you're always in."

"And what boat is that?"

"The loser boat," Azula shrugged.

"Look Azula," Zuko's small features were set into a solid glare. "I get it if you're mad and upset about it. Trust me; I'm used to being where you are. But you don't have to take it out on me. I came to make sure you were okay. So can you please stop dissing on me for one minute and at least just try and be nice? Because if you can't, than I'm going to leave. I've got better things to do than deal with you."

Zuko raised himself from the ground. Dusting himself off, his let his shirt fall back to where it belonged. His sharp nose had stopped bleeding moments ago, but the bottom of his shirt was stained a deeper shade of red than it had been intended. Turning from his sister, he kept his hands curled in tight little fists. The expression that played across his face was an equal mix of pity concern and fear.

"Wait Zuko," Azula scrambled from the ground, and all but threw herself onto her brothers back. Her arms wrapped themselves around his waist as if he were the only thing tying her to the ground. The siblings stood frozen, as Azula's tears drenched his back. Zuko managed to turn about, despite the deadly grip she held on him. His own arms draped themselves over her shoulders as she buried her face into his shirt.

"By trying to drive a wedge between your children," Lu Ten spoke for the first time since the siblings had begun. Ozai withdrew his eyes, which had been glued to the scene before him, and located them onto his nephew. The siblings before them were frozen as Lu Ten turned his face onto the man. "You brought them even closer. At least, at an early age you did. In the end though. You turned this pair, a brother and sister who showed more love for one another than any other siblings I had ever seen; into your own little play thing. You were the reason they pulled apart. Under your continuous watch and control, you did manage to create at least one of the pawns you wanted. But at the expenses of these two."

"They pulled apart because he was weak," Ozai snarled; outraged at the audacity with which Lu Ten was speaking to him. The accusation he was calling out was correct, more correct than anything that had been said that day. "She left him behind in the dust. I merely helped her move past him."

"You deprived young Zuko of the sister he was meant to protect," rage built up in Lu Ten's voice, and he didn't try to control or fight it. He let the anger he felt towards the man be shown. "You took from him so much; his childhood, his innocents, for the longest time you had stolen his own identity. You did the same to Azula. You robbed her of every chance she had on living a normal life. And all of this, started at this moment. When you made it your mission to not only creates a mindless and merciless pawn out of Azula, but to just break your son in the process. Without their mother, they turned to each other. And you took advantage of that, driving them apart."

Silence echoed loudly as Lu Ten's fierce words hung in the air. Ozai didn't move to speak, as he found no words that count come to his lips. Lu Ten as well stood rooted, afraid of what more would come out in his rage.

"I think we're done with this moment." Lu Ten found his voice returning. The rage settled down. "We have a lot more to get to."

-oOo-

They stood in the training fields of the Fire Nation royal palace.

"You are weak!" His father's long unheard screams were a knife into all of Ozai. Lifting shaky eyes, he locked them on his departed father, the man many years younger than he had been at his death. At his feet, and cringing from his father's taunts was a child that Ozai would have recognized anywhere. The eleven year old Ozai lifted his eyes to look at his father, but lowered them again once more as the verbal abuse rained down upon him. "A disgrace to both this nation and your family! I am ashamed to call you my son! Your brother was doing forms much more advance than this before you were even beginning to become a failure!"

Azulon's hand pointed towards a young Iroh on the sidelines of the arena. Looking onto the scene as a third party, Ozai was able to see something that he had noticed when he had been in the child's shoes. Iroh, at the age of eighteen, stood on the sidelines, a pure look of pity and remorse for his brother written over his face. The teen seemed to be fighting back the urge to race into the scene and place himself between his brother and his father's rage.

"Your mother made you weak!" Azulon spat. "But now you are dealing with me! And I will not allow my son to be weak!

"I have been patient with your failures," Azulon's words began again. "I have tried to be calm with you! But that time is over. If you do not master this form before dinner, than do not think about joining us." Those words hung in the air as Azulon turned from his crying son and walked away.

The young Ozai crumbled farther into himself, his hands cupped into tight fists as they tried to dig themselves into the stone floor. Warm tears trickled down his youthful face as he remained where he was. The on lookers didn't speak as Iroh walked beside his young brother. Dropping to his knees, Iroh placed a reassuring hand onto his brother's shoulders.

"Stop crying," his voice compassionate as he spoke to his brother. The older Ozai remembered the care that had once graced his brother's voice whenever he had spoken to him. "Come on, stand up. I'll help you. We'll figure out how to do this together. Sound good?"

"Go away," the eleven year old shrugged his brother's touch off. "I don't need you!" He lifted his head towards his brother, and though he was facing away from them, Ozai knew how deep of a glare was over his face.

"Ozai," Iroh sighed.

"I don't need you!" he screamed. His small fists were shooting thin streaks of fire from his knuckles with little control. Raising his burning hand, Ozai made a move to shove Iroh away. The flames touched the older's shirt, leaving a singed hole where they had made contact. Sigh, Iroh stood from where he was kneeling.

Looking down upon his brother, he shook his head. With a small smile he spoke. "I know you don't. I'm expecting to see you at dinner tonight though. If you make it, I'll give you my desert." That was Iroh's leaving note as he left the scene. The young firebender watched his brother leave.

Before Ozai could speak, the scene dissolved and transformed. The man watched as where his younger form had been kneeling, now knelt a child just slightly older. The resemblance between his younger self and this new child was predominant, as Ozai realized he was looking at his eldest child. In the exact same position he himself had found himself kneeling in.

"You are an embarrassment to this family!" It was his voice that spoke. Slowly, the man who had spoken materialized before them. The thirty year old Ozai stood over his son. "I have been patient with you! But I am not going to anymore. You bring nothing but shame to this family, and I will not allow any child of mine to be such a disgrace. Your mother as engraved a weakness into you. But I will break you of it. Do you understand? You are the crown prince of this nation! The least you can do is attempted to bring the honor that a title such as that deserves!"

The young Zuko cringed deeper at his father's words. Ozai looked upon the scene, in slight horror as to what he had been doing. The words spilling out of his mouth were almost parallels to those his own father had screamed at him.

"Your sister has already mastered this technique," the man's snarling continued. "That's it." He smiled as he turned his gaze onto his daughter waiting carelessly on the sidelines. "Azula! Show your brother how this is done."

The eleven year old smiled at her father's words. Silently, she took the place where her father had been standing as he exited the arena. The man came and stood in the grass; to the right of where Ozai stood with Lu Ten.

"Get up Zuko," his voice was a short distance from the boy, but it still pact a powerful rage. Zuko remained kneeling on the ground, in both shame and fear. "I will not repeat myself!"

Stumbling to his feet, Zuko looked upon his father for a hint of love. The man's face stayed hard as he redirected his gaze onto Azula. His son's eyes followed. "Show your brother how it is done."

"Gladly father," Azula smirked as she bowed before him. Righting herself, she cast a sickening gaze onto her brother.

"Ready ZuZu?" Her voice was mocking as her brother tried to understand what it was the two had decided up.

"I won't fight her," Zuko spoke, his voice trembling slightly; his eyes darting between his father and sister. "I can't fight her."

"I am aware that you can't compare to your sister," his father snarled. "But you will either stand your ground against her or you will learn your lesson for failure and disobedience."

Gulping, Zuko turned towards his younger sister. The girl, a whole foot shorter than him, glared upon him with golden eyes that seemed almost empty. Nodding his head in acceptance, he dropped into a fighting stance. His breathing was heavy as Azula's smile turned into a fierce glare.

Her attack was quick. The flames shooting through the air with a determination to burn. Knocking the blast away, Zuko stumbled slightly but held his ground. Lu Ten and Ozai, along with the younger version of himself, watched as this counter continued.

Azula grew impatient as Zuko managed to shove her blast aside for the fourth time. Snarling, she drew all of her strength into her next attack. The fire escaping from her knuckles burned blue. A color never before erupting from her fists. Zuko was struck center by the attack. The assault beat him into the ground. Gasping, Zuko fought back warm tears as he lifted himself onto his knees. Lifting his eyes, Azula had already left the arena. Ozai was gone as well.

"I think we are done here," Lu Ten's voice was a hammer into the scene as Zuko's broken expression remained frozen into the air. "If we stay any longer, I may just kill you myself. I really hope that these two moments tell you something. Because when I heard of this, I was so close to busting my way out of the Spirit World, just to drag you back with me."

Lu Ten's cheerful attitude and demeanor had completely changed between the two scenes. Ozai watched the younger from the side of his eye as the soldier stared down at the young child feet from him. The sharply arched brow across his nephew's forehead, told Ozai that the other had no intention of making this easy for him. And, as a profound sense of something Ozai could not name swept into him, he knew that the outing was making its mark upon him.

-oOo-

The scene dissolved once more. Only for it to rematerialize into an Agni Ki arena, the audience filing quickly out of the open door. The crowd swarmed around him, and Ozai shoved his shoulder forwards to push through, only to realize that the crowd just passed through him. Looking for Lu Ten, he found the youth no longer beside him. Glancing through the mass of people, he spotted the blue form ahead of him, slightly more raised than the rest of the crowd. Ozai narrowed his eyes as he walked closer.

His eyes remained glued on the blue form, standing in the center of the arena. Ozai's feet climbed up the steps, passing by the solid faced guards without their movement, and noticing the toppled mess of a crying child at the late soldier he suppressed a desire to vomit. Standing beside Lu Ten, Ozai looked down upon his son; cringing and withering on the stone ground, his hands wrapped tightly around his reddening face.

The day came back into Ozai's mind as the whispers from the crowd fell away. Looking down at the boy, a sense of empathy licked at his heart. He quickly pushed it back down. This was what the boy needed. He had needed to learn respect. He needed to learn his place. And this had been his teacher.

"It wasn't bad enough what you did," Lu Ten withdrew his eyes from the child, "but you had the cruelty to place guards on the arena as to allow no one to reach the boy until you saw fit."

The man stopped as the guards at the base of the steps moved past to allow Iroh to walk onto the battle field. His eyes remained glued to Zuko's form as he raced across the stone and slide beside him. His arms wrapped themselves under the boys head as Zuko convulsed in his unconscious sleep. The general's voice was broken as he called for a doctor onto the scene. The arena was completely deserted minus them.

"It was a good thing they listened to dad more than you," Lu Ten continued, "because while you were busy signing the papers to send your son off, which you had had written up months prior, your son was coming close to dying. From both shock and blood lose. That wasn't a skin grazing burn you inflicted. You managed to destroy the tissue. Managed to put an end to any chance of it healing. And that's what you wanted. It's what you planned."

His words hung in the air as a young doctor rushed into the arena. He through his bag down beside him, and fishing out for gauze, began to wrap them carefully around the young boy's face and singed shoulder. "This will keep the tissue together," the man's voice sounded like it was filtered through a glass of water, "long enough to get him into the infirmary where I can better heal him." A team of doctors entered behind him, a stretcher in their hands. As Iroh and the first doctor lifted him cautiously, the boy gave a deep moan.

"It's going to be alright nephew," Iroh ran a hand softly through the boy's loose hair as they set him onto the stretcher. "Hang on just a little longer." With that, the group carried the stretcher away. Lu Ten and Ozai remained standing in the arena as the others vanished.

"You were too busy finishing up getting rid of your son," Lu Ten picked the conversation back up, "that you didn't know that those papers you were signing, came close to not being needed. He would have died. At your hands. At thirteen. That was too young. There isn't an age where this kind of event would be okay. Not talking much are you Uncle?" Lu Ten's voice kept the livid tone it had picked up.

"What do you want me to say?" Ozai found his snarl. With the image of his burnt son still before his eyes, Ozai glared indignantly at him. "That I'm sorry? Because I am not. The boy needed to learn, and he wouldn't learn by just words."

"So burning him was the right teaching method?" Lu Ten's eyes narrowed.

"It got what need done," Ozai glared in return, "done. He learned his place, and he learned respect."

"What he learned," Lu Ten sighed, trying to keep his building annoyance down, "was that not listening to you, would lead to this. He didn't learn to respect you. He learned to fear you. He could never trust you after this."

"I didn't need his trust," Ozai roared. "I didn't care about how he felt, and I still don't. He learned that his place was below me. Where he belonged. I instilled fear into his heart, and he learned. Love and compassion are for fools!"

"That's where those words originated from," Lu Ten's heated gaze turned into a slight smirk. "Seems we are getting somewhere with this."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think it's time to move on," Lu Ten smirked at his uncle's rage. "There's a young lad waiting in the infirmary for some company."

-oOo-

Ozai couldn't help but glare at Lu Ten as he was once more transported from the scene and into another. The dethroned king didn't even bother scanning the hospital room, merely letting his eyes land on his son in the bed and settling for that imagine. The top left side of the boy's face was tightly wrapped, limiting his vision. To compensate, Iroh sat on the right side of the bed. His hand was wrapped tightly around his nephew's as the boy fought down his breathing.

"His mind went into shock," Lu Ten supplied a voice over for the scene, "moments after your flames made contact. That was at least a small blessing in all of this. He only felt the physical pain for a few seconds. However, in a few minutes that pain will sink back in and bother him for months. The mental though, that will haunt him for years to come. Dad's filling him in on what happened."

"What are we doing here?" Ozai didn't realize how deep his glare into his brother's form was as he watched his son's breathing slowly slightly.

"You wouldn't see him in the hospital," Lu Ten shrugged, "so now I am making you. Because I have control over what we are doing tonight, and as I am dead and the only thing I have to look forward to anymore is Pai Sho with Sozin and Roku, and tea with the lovely Prince Yue every Friday, I have no reason to hurry."

"You are enjoying this aren't you?" Ozai locked his gaze onto his nephew.

"Not in the least bit," Lu Ten wouldn't look at the man, but instead smiled at the pair before them. "I don't enjoy watching you ruining my cousins' life."

"Then why not just let me go," Ozai offered. "Solve both of our problems."

"Because you need this Uncle," Lu Ten tilted his head towards him. "Nice try though."

The sound of a door opening before crashing shut drowned out what reply Ozai was forming. His eyes traveled until they landed on his daughter walking into the room; a scroll in one hand, the other behind her back and a deeply unreadable expression on her face.

"Quietly Azula," Iroh reprimanded, his voice shattered. "Your brother is still trying to wake and needs some quiet."

"Whatever," Azula shrugged, her voice as indecipherable as her face. "Dad wanted me to give you this. He said to read it. It's important." She threw the scroll onto Zuko's blanket covered lap. Iroh's eyes grew wide and he lifted his hand to reach the scroll first, but Zuko's small hands found it first. Ripping it open, he read it out loud

"By decree of Fire Lord Ozai," Zuko's voice was shaky, but he continued to read. "You are hereby sentenced to banishment." His voice broke, his hands around the scroll growing as white as his face was.

"Maybe you should give that to me," Iroh placed his hand over Zuko's, but the boy withdrew as if he had been stung.

"The time; indefinitely." He continued to read. "You items will be gathered for you, and upon this hour tomorrow, you are to be off of this premise and out of the Fire Nation." His voice was unstable and trembling as his eyes soaked in each word. "This punishment is nonnegotiable and the results of traitorous weakness…"

Iroh didn't wait for Zuko finish before snatching the scroll from the boy's hand. Zuko looked at his Uncle with the expression of a beaten dog.

"Give it back," he screamed, diving for the page. A sharp intake of breath silenced his demands and brought him back into the bed.

"I think you need to rest prince Zuko," Iroh slide the scroll into his pocket. Standing, he placed a reassuring hand on the boys shoulder. "I will find out what is happening. Maybe there was a mix up and I can do something."

"It said," Zuko's words were muffled in the tears that tracked down his face, "that this was nonnegotiable! That means its happening! There isn't any talking or negotiating. I'm banished."

"Relax Zuko," Iroh gripped the boy's shoulder tighter as his breathing grew more rapid. "You are injured; working your body from this stress will do you no good. Breath, relax. Let me worry about this while you concern yourself with getting better, and only getting better."

Turning to face Azula, who had stood staring during the whole ordeal, he sighed. "If that is the only reason why you came-"

"It's not," the eleven years old answered with a shake of her head. "I had something else to give him." Bringing her other hand around to the front, she placed a torn stuffed turtleduck onto Zuko's lap, with much more care than she had placed the letter.

"I'm sorry ZuZu," her voice remained unreadable, but the corners of her eyes began to grow wet. Biting her lower lip and rocking slightly, she fought the emotions down. "I really am. They were just going to throw some clothes together for you, and I know how much this thing means to you. Mom made it, and I know you miss her. So I thought that if you were going to explore the world, maybe you could take a piece of home with you. A piece of mom. A piece of me. I still have mine under my bed."

"Thanks Azula," Zuko smiled at his sisters. The tears ceased to flow from his eyes, only for them to grow too heavy in his sisters. "It means a lot."

Azula forgot biting her lip and trying to keep the emotions down. She threw herself into her brother's arm, almost toppling Iroh over in the process. Zuko hissed in pain under his breath, but masked it as he returned the embrace.

"I'm going to miss you," she muttered into his chest.

"I won't be gone forever," Zuko rested his chin on the top of his sister's thickly haired head. "I'm sure I'll be back home soon. I just have to prove to dad that I'm not weak like he thinks. I have to show him that I don't belong in the loser boat."

Azula chuckled as she removed herself from him. "You live in the loser boat Zuko. How are you planning on doing all of this?"

"The Avatar's still missing," Zuko shrugged. "Maybe I can be the one to find him. That should prove it."

Ozai watched the scene as Zuko spoke as it all of this was just water rolling off of his chest. The man felt an admirance for his son, something he had never felt, as he watched the boy blatantly lie to his sister's face, for her benefit.

"You do that," Azula's voice was once more unreadable as she dried the tears. "I'm sure you'll be home in no time."

"Never know," Zuko smiled, the large bandage on his face making the feat hard. A large yawn pulled at the corners of his mouth, until it eventually won.

"I think your brother needs his rest," Iroh placed a hand comforting on Azula's shoulder. "I will make sure you are sent for when he wakes tomorrow."

Azula set a glare towards the man before accepting his voice. Sighing she said her goodbyes before walking away. But she paused before sliding out.

"Dad say's get well soon," Azula said as she held the door open. "I just remembered to tell you."

"He did?" Zuko asked, the sharp look of pain crossing through his visible eye.

"Ya," Azula answered. Her face faltered with the single word. Zuko showed no signs of realizing the lie that escaped his sister's lips as she exited the room. Iroh whispered something into Zuko's ear before departing as well through the back. Moments later, the young doctor appeared with Iroh once more as he gave Zuko a glass of water as well as a handful of pills. The prince took them as told, his eyes dropping from sleep even before the doctor left.

Iroh promised to stay by his side until he fell asleep.

"This is what you miss," Lu Ten spoke, as the night surrounding them grew darker, "when you are too selfish to see what is before you."

-oOo-

So I figured it was time to cut this one off. For now. Already 5,767 words. And this isn't including all the add on's to the chapter, or the Authors Note below. Besides, these were long and traumatic memories, minus the first one. After all of this, and the next few stops being a bit less violently fierce, I decided on splitting them.

Some explanations!

SCENE ONE! Birth of Zuko! Not a big in-depth moment. It was more a glance and go. Mainly, because it is important for Ozai to remember the joy he felt with his first born child. Of course, new father Ozai feels this love. But as we are not talking about new father Ozai, but Loser Lord Ozai, we don't see that love. Sorry. Mean comments are shared between Lu Ten and Ozai. Lu gets a few jabs into the mind of Ozai. A baby is born off screen. They move on. Thank you for watching this commercial. You can tell I am suffering from lack of sleep here.

SCENE TWO! Zuko, Azula and the Loser Boat! I think this was my favorite scene to write. Simply due to getting to mess around with young Zuko and Azula's relationship. I peg Zuko as being the protective big brother. I just do. Something about the way he said, 'she's not going to make it,' whenever Azula was falling, and the way I imagine he would have become a brother figure for all of Team Avatar, just makes me feel that way. He is big brother Zuko. And as I, and the entire fandom of Avatar, do not believe that Zuko would just abandon his sister after the war, I don't see why he wouldn't want to protect her when they were younger as well.

And in contrast, Azula is the independent type. The 'I don't need a big brother,' kind of child. This is what makes it so much fun to do. Because whenever things get stressful, Azula builds it up inside of her. In the series the only time you see her truly expressing what she feels, minus anger and a desire to kill, as on Ember Island. And even then, I still imagine it was more of a to herself conversation. Until she starts breaking mirrors and imagining things, you never realize she has a problem. Well… you know she has a problem, you just don't realize it was that big. This is my reason for why little Azula would run off whenever something gets too hard.

And her not being able to perform a bending move would push her over the edge. As Azula is Miss Perfect in my head. But more important than her bending stumbles, are the reactions of her pushing and rude father. Ozai does not tolerate failure, and Azula has just stepped into the Loser Boat, where Zuko feels he has permanent residence. So when things get bad and Zuko knows what his sister is feeling, he goes to comfort her. This ends with a bloody nose. For no real purpose.

But the conversation between the two is highly important, and something Ozai needed to see. You see the pressure he placed on his children from an early age, as well as how they coupled with it, and their mindsets. Ozai tried to tear his children apart from each other, as Lu Ten angrily states. Angry Lu Ten is surprisingly fun to write. He's like the voice of logic whenever he's POed. After this chapter, he will not get as intense as he was. The chapters will not be as intense either. From here, is a bit more humor. I just needed to get that dark past written.

SCENE THREEE! Weakness and shame! Probably the most important part of this entire thing! The cycle of abuse started somewhere, and that beginning was Azulon. Maybe Sozin did the same thing to his son, trying to build strong boys, but I don't need Sozin for this. So the linage in not looked beyond Azulon.

There has to be a reason why Ozai is the exact way he is, and why he feels certain hatred for different people. On a physiological outlook, this had to have sprung from somewhere. You don't just wake up one morning and decide that you hate your kids, and your brother, and the world. And the world should be a smoldering mess under your spit shined shoes… I need some sleep after this. So I had this quality spawn from Ozai's treatment at the hands of his father.

This scene, with young Ozai and young Zuko standing in the same places, also tied back together the earlier concept that Ozai hated Zuko most because he was so alike him. Its head cannon that Ozai wasn't a good bender when he was young. Its cannon that Zuko wasn't a good bender when he was young. Couple that with the fact that Zuko, for me, looks a lot like his father, and the anger just increases.

The main difference between the two scenes though, their siblings reactions. Iroh is there to comfort his younger brother, tries to motivate and reassure him. *Azula is there to set hers on fire. Thinking about this, it's amazing that Zuko was the one who managed to not break and become criminally insane and evil.

*As much as this fic deals with Ozai, and shows a great deal of Zuko, Azula's development throughout this is a largely playing factor. She starts off sweet sister, turns into fire monster, gives him stuffed animal in the hospital and then cries that she'll miss him. In later chapters, Azula will play an even more predominate role as we get into the Present and Future and she is free from her father's control.

SCENE FOUR! Agni Ki! You couldn't write this without it! Not the actual thing though, because Ozai was there when it happened. And I cry a little whenever I watched that episode and see him. So no crying for me. Therefore I skipped to afterwards. Whenever Ozai left his son to bleed on the arena. I know. That is cruel. Cruel! Cruel! CRUEL! No loving parent would do that. But no loving parent would set their kid on fire for a statement. There are a lot of conspiracies as to other reasons behind this duel, but that doesn't matter.

Angry Lu Ten is brought out once more.

SCENE FIVE: Hospital! Set right after Agni Ki. It just seemed ever crueler for Ozai to send the letter through Azula. That makes me feel even worst for writing it that way. The Avatar idea, I have as starting from Zuko's mind. I don't imagine Ozai writing 'bring me that Avatar and I will let you live in my house'. The concept of the purpose of hunting Aang, for me, began with something Zuko said. Zuko+Avatar=Home! This is Zuko's cannon. Ozai adopts the plan, because it is crazy and if his son is out causing trouble looking for someone who everyone thought was dead, than he would have to worry about dealing with where he would go. Supply him with a ship and crew, and no more sons! Victory for Ozai! And Iroh just goes with Zuko. Ozai wants a parade.

Of course, while he's in his office planning his parade, Azula is showing a bit of humanity towards her injured brother. I know the scene with the Agni Ki showed her smiling like the Devils daughter, but I think after everything sank in, she would have lost that grin. Zuko getting burnt would have been no big deal. She does for fun. Zuko not getting up after said burn would have scared her. Learning that Zuko was leaving, because you know she read the letter, would have set everything off in her mind. I picture little Azula going on a breaking spree, completely destroying a lot of things, mainly Zuko's old stuff, after his is gone. Because despite everything, he is her brother. Her protector.

With Zuko out of the way… Ozai can make his monster. I knew he had other reasons other than shiggles behind that Agni Ki. It all makes sense.

That's about it for this chapter. (7,130 words as of here)

Feel free to comment/respond upon some of this. I have a feeling there are going to be a few people who don't agree with the way Ozai handled each situation, and the way the characters reacted to everything. And I know there is someone reading who thinks I should stop abusing Zuko.

If you are one of those people… LEAVE A COMMENT! I love other views on things, and if you have a thought on something, or want to say something, please do.

I love all of you reviews and readers. You make me what to keep writing.

Next chapter should be up in the next week/two weeks.

7, 256 Words Total!

14 pages long!

Seven hours of typing!

Four of those straight!

Three days' work for this!