I'm back. A tad late.
Lu Ten: A tad? Three months! What the Hell were you doing?
Me: Graduating high school. Figuring out college. Job hunting. Helping a friend move. Writing short stories that were not Fanfictions.
Lu Ten: Original works?
Me: Ya, baby. I'm making my own worlds now. I'm an author with published original works.
Lu Ten: Published on an internet writing site…
Me: Two sites actually. Don't make me kill you.
Lu Ten: You already have. And brought me back.
Me: Good point. I've written your death, made you a tour guide and changed a plot line to keep you alive. All in three different fics. Lu! When did you become my fanfic mascot? Three of my best works have you in them.
Lu Ten: What can I say, I make a story good. Besides, you're not that bad. You have just a bit less talent than an average fanfic writer. Just a tad bit less though.
Me: I'll pretend you said something nice there. Got a playlist going with 3 hours of Mayday Parade, Hollywood Undead, Hedley, Never Shout Never, and Pop Evil (weird playlist right there), previous chapters read, and train of thought placed. Running on like six hours of actual sleep for the past three days. Clock is reading midnight, and I have to be up early in the morning for more moving. This is a good work environment. I can deal with this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or any characters from the show.
-oOo-
As the scene formed around them, Ozai found the tear no longer on his face. He glanced around, noting the changed in this location from the previous. It seemed that they were in a room similar to the one before, but instead of the group of couches that had filled that one, this room contained a set of tables; long, draped in a simple white table cloth, and having chairs lining both sides of it. While one of those tables was empty, the second was lined with children, all in various shades of colors, crowding around in their chairs. Along the wall opposite of them, Ozai could make out the faces of those individuals from the prior event along his trip. Among this group was the Avatar, the blind girl, the Water Tribe boy and his red head; along with Azula, her husband, and Iroh and his little party. Missing was Zuko and the waterbender.
Ozai's eyes searched over the adults in the room and froze as his eyes landed on the face of one aged woman. She had been moving prior, and was now standing behind Iroh and his wife. She placed a pale hand on both of their shoulders and spoke something to them that caused the couple to laugh. Ozai knew his wife's face, despite the time it had been seen he had last seen the woman he had loved.
"Welcome to the future," Lu Ten chuckled from beside him. The dethroned king's attention was gratefully pried away from her face.
Ozai shifted his gaze towards Lu Ten, but the flicker of movement to his right drew his gaze in that direction. Turning, he was greeted to the sight of the missing members. In front came the waterbender sporting a red Fire Nation dress, a smile on her face. Behind her, came his son. In his hands was a large white cake, several unlit candle dawning the top. Ozai watched as Zuko, now aged into his late thirties, moved passed him and towards the table where the children's face grew wide in joy. It took him little effort to slide up to the head of the table, where two unalike girls sat; identical smiles on their young faces. Zuko sat the cake down and smiled at the two girls. The waterbender stood beside him.
"This is the girl's thirteenth birthday," Lu Ten's voice fit into the scene once more, but Ozai would show no acknowledgeable to him. Instead he continued to watch the scene, as Zuko bent down towards the cake. It was in that moment that the man noticed the cake itself. He stepped closer, now standing on the opposite side of the table as his son. Glancing down he read the two names written skillfully in black lettering along the white icing on either side of the cake. Thirteen separate candles arched over the top of each name, giving a total of twenty six. Twenty six unlit candles.
"Do it dad!" The girl closest to Ozai spoke. He dropped his gaze onto the paler of the two children. The girl, he figured this one was Ursa, was smiling towards her father as Zuko scooted closer to the table. The firebenders eyes roamed from his two girls; on the edge of their seat in anticipation, back towards his wife behind him; who couldn't have a bigger smile if she tried, and finally back onto the cake. He inhaled, his mouth level with the top of the candles. He let a small burst of flames escape from his lips. With what appeared to be timed practice the flame sailed over each candle, effortlessly lighting it, before the fire faded away, leaving freshly burnt candles.
The two girls grinned like mad, and lunged over one another to wrap their father in a tight hug. Zuko swayed in his kneeling position but regained his balance easily. The sisters let go of him and turned towards the cake. A round of happy birthday was sung; loudly, off key and to the displeasure of Ozai.
"You brought me here for a birthday party," Ozai sneered trying to shove aside the smiling faces in the room.
"It their thirteenth," Lu Ten shrugged. "That's a big age. But no, we are not here for the actual party. Something tells me that you aren't a big party goer."
"Then why are we here," Ozai's eyes were glued once more on Ursa's smiling face. The woman looked just as he remembered, age having done little to chance her minus a few random grey hairs that were forming at the base of her scalp. She was no longer behind Iroh; instead she was over by Azula whispering something into her daughter's ear with a smile. Azula cast her mother a smile over her shoulder towards her mother, before the princess rested a hand on the large bulge that was her stomach.
"You know where she is, don't you?" Lu Ten's voice once more pried his attention from the family. He looked at his nephew with a curdling glare.
"I have an idea," Ozai shrugged as he crossed his arms over his chest. A smirk pulled at the corners of his lips as that single fact entered into his mind. He had an idea of where Ursa currently was. It wasn't as if he would have just let the woman leave and be completely free from him. No, she was living under his watch.
At least six years ago she had been. The smirk feel as Ozai remembered his imprisonment. It had been just more than six years ago since his informant had last updated him on his wives whereabouts. She had been meant to be his last resort when it came with dealing with the position he was in. She was to be the bargaining tool he needed in order to control his son. So Ozai hadn't been surprised whenever Zuko had first showed up to his cell to injure upon his mother's location. He had been shocked though whenever his son had said he would not return and as time went that had been the last time he had seen his son face to face. Zuko it seemed had kept his word upon never returning for a visit after that first one.
That had been about the time that Ozai had discovered that shortly before his dethronement, Ursa had vanished from his radar as well. His informant had managed to slip news of the world into his cell. That news had centered fully on the fact that Ursa was no longer where they last knew her to be. Ozai knew she wouldn't have gone far from where she had been, but as his informant had been caught just a week after slipping that news, Ozai had no way of knowing just where Ursa was.
"How is it that she is here?" Ozai decided to change the conversation.
"Zuko and Azula found her," Lu Ten answered.
"When?" Ozai pressed farther, allowing his gaze to land back on the scene. He watched as the waterbender cut the cake, slid it onto a plate and then handed it to Zuko, who was placing a large scope of ice cream on it before passing it to an awaiting child. Ozai could not fathom why the two were serving the group around them. They were in the Fire Nation palace; there were servants everywhere last time he checked. They should be the ones getting the cake and ice cream for the large group of kids. Ozai was beginning to wonder if they really where in the Fire Nation palace or not.
"That is for you to decide." Lu Ten answered. The deceased show no signs of noticing Ozai's narrowed eyes. "They will find her, but the time it takes for them to do it, could be shortened if you only told them where she is."
Ozai didn't let the fact that he possibly knew as little of Ursa's location as his own children did come out. Instead he nodded, and made no attempt to deny his nephew's words.
"Or at least where you think she is," Lu Ten smirked, earning a quick glare from his Uncle.
Ozai once more glanced towards Ursa who was now behind Katara, a gentle hand on her shoulder. The waterbender was saying something towards her mother-in-law and the woman smiled something back, before leaving the room. Ozai wanted to injure upon where she was heading, but found the answer whenever she returned a few minutes later with a handful of plates. Once more, Ozai wondered why they were doing all of this on their own when there should have been a host of servants to deal with problems like a shortage of plates.
"Was that the whole reason behind this?" Ozai turned his head towards Lu Ten as his mind connected what the teen had said.
With a careless gleam in his eyes, Lu Ten smiled. "No. This trip was to enlighten you. To show you things you were too blind to see. To let you see the world you tried to destroy and in turn missed out on. It's to teach you. To hopefully show you a brighter side of life and maybe restart up that heart inside of you."
Silence sunk over them as both men turned their attention back towards the scene before them as Zuko received a face full of cake courtesy of Sokka. Lu Ten chuckled. The sound carried over as he shifted his gaze towards Ozai. "And if restarting your heart somehow makes you see how much your children need their mother, than I'm not going to complain. You may not have exact coordinates, but you have an idea. That's more than they have."
-oOo-
"Uncle Ozai," Lu Ten's voice startled Ozai. Silence had descended upon them since Lu Ten's previous comment. He wasn't sure how long he had zoned out, but standing there waiting had indeed caused the unseated king to doze off.
"Were you asleep?" Lu Ten pressed a finger into his side.
Ozai growl upon the contact and his nephew stepped back. "There is nothing else to do at this moment."
"Well there is now," Lu Ten huffed, irritation on his words. The prince's voice seemed a bit farther away, and as Ozai raised his gaze towards him, he was startled to see the teen walking away from him. Without waiting for an invite, Ozai followed behind, making sure to show his annoyance in his stomps. Lu Ten showed no signs of seeing Ozai's demonstration of anger as they exited from the room and entered into another.
Ozai had no time to take in what he perceived to be a small meeting room before his son's voice fell upon his ears.
"So when is this little one on its way?" Ozai turned his gaze towards the voice, and spotted Zuko. The young Fire Lord stood just feet in front of Azula, who was eating what remained of a piece of cake.
"Any day now," the woman smiled back, before taking a bite of the cake.
"Do you guys know what it will be?" Zuko asked.
"I'm going for a girl," Azula answered as she swallowed the bite. "Toph keeps dropping hints that she thinks it's a boy, but I'm really hoping she's just messing with me about it."
"You want a girl?" Zuko was smirking, which earned a playful shove from his sister.
"I live in a house of boys," she continued. "Between Kory, Coin and Zalic, I could use some girl power in that house. What about you and Katara? She looks like she's glowing."
"Can you keep that a secret," Zuko answered back hastening. Azula stopped mid-bite and left the last bit of her cake set back on the plate. Placing the dish on the desk beside her, the princess's face held a smile.
"Really Zuzu? I had been joking. Agni!" Her voice held a sarcastic tone which made Zuko visually cringe. "That makes four. You will have four kids! Not like I don't love my little nephew and nieces, but this makes four. How many kids are you planning on having?"
"We were gunna stop after Lu Ten," crossed his arms over his chest. The tone in his voice reminded Ozai of that of an arguing child.
"He named his son after me," Lu Ten's voice was beside him, reminding Ozai of his presents. The defeated king wanted to inform his nephew that he had indeed heard this, but stopped after realizing that the soldier had been talking more to himself.
"We thought we were good and in the clear," Zuko's voice picked his attention up, "but it had been a full moon, she's a waterbender and that affects things and then things just got crazy-"
"Just stop," Azula held up her hands. "I don't want to know about you twos sex life."
"I wasn't going to tell you about it," Zuko huffed. "Agni, woman."
"Are you excited," she asked. "This is the big number four."
"Very excited," he answered. "What about you? Have you guys picked out names yet?"
"We have," Azula nodded. "If it's a girl we were thinking Dahlia. It's a nice, strong name that fits no matter if we're here or on Kyoshi."
"And if it's a boy?"
"Kory wanted to name him after you," Azula spoke quickly.
"Really?" Her brother asked his voice full of confusion and surprise.
"I nipped that one in the butt when he said it," Azula nodded. "Zuko's just such a strange name."
"It's a lovely name," Zuko defended. "Zuko is an awesome name."
"It's a blah name," Azula shrugged, unable to hide the grin in her voice.
"Than what did you decide?"
"I agreed with him in the end."
"What?"
"I agreed with naming him Zuko if he is a boy," Azula smiled here.
"What?"
"You know how it's like tradition to name kids after ancestors," Azula said. "Well as our ancestors have been pretty off for the past few years, and you did take the good family names, I decided I might as well suffer with naming him after you and get tradition out of the way."
"Are you being serious?" Zuko looked at his sister with an unsure stare.
"Ya," Azula shrugged. "Besides, after everything you've done for me, your name just seemed like the right choice. You've been there to pick me back up since we were kids. You stuck with me through all the crazy. Whenever I thought you would dump me like old trash, you stayed and you never left my side."
"You're my sister, Zula. It's what family does for one another."
"Not our family." A hint of sadness clung to Azula's words. "We were raised to kill each other, and I nearly did. On several occasions I didn't return the caring and love that you have always showed me. If it hadn't been for you Zuzu, and your crazy ideas of family, I don't think I would have come back into the world after the whole comet thing. I certainly never would have made that trip to Kyoshi, and I never would have met Kory and had the boys. I owe you a lot brother, and when Kory suggested naming the kid after you, it just seemed right."
"I don't know what to say Azula," Zuko face was lit with a smile. He shook his head, before stepping forward and wrapping his sister into a hug.
"You can thank me if it's a boy," Azula snickered but returned the embrace.
-oOo-
Ozai found himself no longer in the room. He had been paying so much attention onto his children that he had not noticed the scene change until the embracing siblings had vanished. Glancing around, he realized that he and Lu Ten were now standing in the Fire Lord's office. This room had been where Ozai had practically lived after his crowning. But when he looked towards the desk, it wasn't himself he saw.
Instead of seeing himself sitting in the chair, he spotted his son, sitting cross legged on the desk, with his head buried into his lap. By the shaking of his shoulders it seemed he was crying, but Ozai could not see his son's face to tell. Beside him stood Iroh; clearly having reached those very golden years. The Dragon of the West was rubbing his nephew's shoulders as he muttered reassuring things to him.
From behind them, Ozai heard the door open. He didn't have a chance to turn around, before Katara rushed passed them. Ursa was a few steps behind the waterbender and the two women were by Zuko's side as soon as they saw him. Katara whispered something that Ozai could not fully hear.
"I'm fine," Zuko suddenly muttered as he realized how many people were in the room. He lifted his head, and Ozai could fully see the stream of tears that were leaking from his son's eyes. Zuko appeared to be in his mid to late thirties; if not just a bit older. His attention shifted towards his wife.
"You're not fine Zuko," Katara whispered. "And that's okay. You are allowed to cry about these things."
"I really am fine," Zuko was rubbing the tears away quickly. "You guys don't have to worry. I'm fine."
Katara removed her eyes from Zuko long enough to glance up at Iroh. The two shared a look, and with a nod, the man gave Zuko's shoulders a squeeze before stepping out of the room. Ursa did the same. It was only Zuko, Katara, and their two unseen onlookers.
"You don't have to always be strong Zuko," Katara placed a hand on his shoulders. "It's okay to cry about something like this."
"Katara, I'm fi-"
"-If you say you're fine one more time, I will hurt you." The slightest of smiles appeared on the Fire Lord's face at his wives words. "Do you remember what you told me whenever Gran Gran died and I wasn't ready to accept it? You told me that I didn't have to be Mrs. Put-Together all the time and that if I didn't take a moment to grieve and cry, than I would explode whenever things got too built up later. The same thing applies here. At this moment, you don't have to be a Put-Together Mr. Fire Lord. Right now, you get to be just Zuko, and the only job that you have, is to just grieve and cry."
"I shouldn't be crying though," Zuko answered, his voice broken. "With your Grandmother it was different. She was amazing and she loved you more than anything. Him? I mean, that man made it clear how much he despised me. He made it clear that he could and would have gotten rid of me at his first chance."
"Zuko…" Katara's voice was comforting.
"I mean, why should I cry for him?" Zuko's voice picked up in volume, but remained mottled by the tears. "He wouldn't have cried for me. I highly doubt he would have even cared with all the shit he put me through. All the shit he did to this world."
"But he was still your father." There was something about the way that the waterbender said that sentence that irked at Ozai.
"Some father," Zuko chuckled through tears. "He's done nothing but ruin everything around him. He tore his family apart with so much ease. I mean look at what he did to Azula. I nearly lost her because of him. He used her like a pawn. He used both of us like his sick little pawns. Then she and I went so long without knowing if our mother was even alive because of his mistakes. And when we stumbled upon those papers that pretty well said he hired for Lu Ten's murder…"
Zuko's voice broke off, and when it returned it was just above a whisper. "I almost became a monster for him. I nearly lost and killed myself to gain this love that he was unable to give. You would think I would be happy to hear he died. Instead I'm a mess, crying over the father who wouldn't have blink twice at my death."
Ozai felt as if a knife were shoved into his heart as he heard not only of his own death, but the words his son was saying.
"That just shows how different you are from him," Katara responded. She slide aside a stack of papers and positioned herself on top of the desk with him. "After everything he did to you, you still loved him. And I understand; all of us do. He was your father. That's not something that could be erased or changed. After everything he did, the fact that you still do care shows that you have the heart he never did."
She slid her hands into his, and Ozai could see his son's hands stop their shacking at the contact. He watched as the couple met each other's eyes. An understanding look was shared between them. Before either could continue, from behind came the crashing sound of children's voices. Turning sharply, Ozai watched as the four kids raced into the room. At the head was a young boy, no more than ten, and sporting the same childish features that Zuko had at that age. Ozai was startled at the child's resemblance to his own son. Behind him, dashed a small toddler; her skin a soft tan, with black as night hair and startling golden eyes. The child's little legs racing under the red dress as she followed after the older child. Taking up the rear, where two girls, clearly in their sixteen's, and Ozai quickly realized that these two where the two twins he had been seeing a lot of.
Ozai watched in silence as the two youngest children climbed onto the desk and wrapped their father into a tight hug. The sisters were a step behind, and while they showed a little more restraint, soon found them as part of the embrace as well. Ozai was appalled at the way the set of children busted into the room and interrupted. Had his children been so insolent and ill-mannered they would have found themselves running out quicker than they had entered, with a trail at their heels.
But as it was, Zuko didn't seem to share the same idea of child care that his father did. Instead, the young Fire Lord returned the embrace his children were giving, and when the group broke apart, he lifted the youngest girl up onto his lap; where she scooted about to get comfortable. In the background, Ozai caught the sight of the older Ursa and Iroh reentering into the room.
"Are you o'tay daddy?" The toddler spoke, a hint of a lisp in her light voice.
"I'm fine Zula," Zuko ruffled the girl's hair, earning a squeal of delight from her.
"Are you sure dad?" Kya looked at her father with curious eyes.
"Ya dad," the boy; who Ozai imagined to be the young Lu Ten Jr. said. "You look really sad."
Ursa the second looked between her mother and father. "Did something happen? Grandpa Iroh said we were supposed to give you guys some space." She narrowed her eyes at the rest of her siblings.
"We really were gunna listen," Kya defended, "but we didn't know if you were okay or not."
"And we wanted to help if you were sad," Lu Ten Jr. added as Katara picked him up and place the boy on her lap.
"Ya," Zula smiled. "Don't be sad daddy."
"I'm not sad sweetheart," Zuko smiled. With a free hand he brushed off the remaining tears on his cheeks. Glancing up, he motioned for the twins to join. The two girls smile and climbed onto the desk; Ursa on the corner closest to her mother and Kya on the one beside her father.
"I just want you four to know," Zuko said, "that I love you more than anything. And no matter what happens, I will always love you and I want you to know that."
"We already know that dad," Lu Ten Jr. smiled up at his father.
Ozai found his narrowed glare softening as the family sat beside one another.
-oOo-
The funeral was small and to Ozai's horror he quickly realized it was his own.
It went off with the usual ceremonies; the Fire Sages having said a prayer or two before they lit the body. It didn't hold the fair wells and remembrances that most Fire Nation funeral held. And by Ozai's standards, it was too small for his position as once holding the title Fire Lord.
In the stands, only four stood. Zuko and Azula stood in the front row, their faces hard and unreadable as they watched the flames rise. They grasped the other's hand tightly. Behind them, Ursa and Iroh placed a comforting hand on their shoulders. The older two's faces were a lot easier for Ozai to read than his children's were. Iroh's aged face held something of pity and remorse, as if he were blaming himself for something. Ursa didn't even fight the tears running down her face. Ozai didn't know which one irritated him more, the pity of his brothers face, or the remnants of love that graced Ursa's.
Ozai didn't speak, and Lu Ten made no sign of beginning a conversation as both men turned their gaze towards the body. The flames burnt high, licking into the air over the coffin.
As Ozai watched it crumble, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his chest, as if it where himself at that moment that were burning and not his future body.
-oOo-
He had been grateful whenever the scene changed and he no longer had to smell the scent of smoke. Glancing around, Ozai was slightly confused at their destination. His immediate surroundings were a lush garden, but outside of the green was a sight he had never thought he'd see.
Surrounding them, were large buildings, taller than he had ever seen, stretched up into the sky. Through the streets, moved carefully built metal machines; they turned corners and stopped with ease through the streets. The people moving about in both the city and the park also surprised the unseated king. Red, blue, green, brown, and a whole host of colors and shades made up the clothes of the people moving about. Somewhere to the right, there was a young couple, creating shapes and preforming tricks with fire and water for the amusement of the crowd watching them.
"Welcome to Republic City," Lu Ten's voice greeted him after the long silence that had set over them. "The City of possibilities and unity."
"The city of possibilities?" Ozai crossed his arms over his chest. "And unity?"
"It's a great city," Lu Ten chuckled. "Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko were the ones to come up and back the idea. This city was created with their ideas of peace and harmony in mind, and I have to admit that it was an amazing accomplishment. What started as a home for refuges, and the colonials who didn't want to become Earth Kingdom citizens, turned into the gateway into a world of peace. It's become a melting pot of sorts."
"A melting pot?" Ozai was beginning to wonder if these were actual terms that people used for this city, or if it were simply his nephew having fun with words.
"Ya," Lu Ten shrugged. "A melting pot. Those things that blacksmiths and sword makers and people like that use to melt things and such. The actual melting pot isn't the idea here. It's a metaphor for the people coming together. Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe and even the Air Nomads."
"Don't you mean Nomad?" Ozai snorted. "Singular."
"No," Lu Ten narrowed his eyes. "Plural. Shortly after the war, it was discovered that there were a few Air Nomads and their descendants who managed to escape Sozin's genocide and the raiding parties. They grew out their hair, changed clothes, and hid in the Earth Kingdom. Even a few found their way into the Fire Nation. They hid well. Only problem being that after a hundred years of hiding their bending in fear of death, the knowledge of where these descends came from was lost to many of them. A good couple dozen or so have been found already, but the number of airbenders, who don't even know what they are, is still great."
"There are no more airbenders," Ozai couldn't keep his comment to himself much longer.
"But there are," Lu Ten continued. "I mentioned earlier that your daughter's friend, Ty Lee is in fact one of these descendants. Her and all six of her sister in fact. Unfortunately, Ty Lee was the only one of the sisters who was willing to accept what they were and embrace their gifts. That's not to say that her sisters don't understand, and after a bit of persuading, they realized that trying to shove their family secret away, would take away from their own children a gift that they didn't get the chance to have. That family alone; between the sisters' children, has at least a dozen and a half young airbenders now. Ty Lee; who became the first student Aang taught, has been teaching her nieces and nephews, along with her own daughter."
"That girl was always a disgrace," Ozai snarled. "The fact that that family is defiling the Fire Nation with those little airbenders of theirs only confirms the filth that this world has become."
"Does this look like filth," Lu Ten motioned towards the city around them. "A city built to unite the world after one hundred years of war, pain and death. People from all corners of the world make up and live in this city. This is a haven for the world. It doesn't matter if they're Fire Nation, Water Tribe, if they bend or not, this city is a unity of people who have learned to see passed the differences that began that war."
-oOo-
After accepting the fact of the cities existence, Lu Ten had allowed them to continue to the last day that would make up this trip. The two men now stood in a large room, which Lu Ten muttered was on some place called Air Temple island. Ozai hadn't even bothered to look at his surroundings. He told himself that this fact was due to his closeness of being free from this trip, but in honestly it had been because he had been too focused on the group that was in the room with him.
It seemed to be some sort of reunion, judging by the way his son and daughter greeted and hugged the rest of the group as if they hadn't seen each other in a while. What really startled Ozai, was the large number of children that were running around the room. There had to be at least a dozen of them, and in the mix of colors, Ozai easily found the four he knew to be his grandchildren. The twins sat with another two girls and a boy who all looked to be about the same age. Zula and Lu Ten Jr., Ozai was surprised he remembered their names, were running about with the rest of the group.
-oOo-
The celebration went on for some time, and as Ozai watched from a distance, he began to piece together the families his children had created and become a part of.
Zuko and his wife Katara, had decided to stop after their fourth child. The four they had, were a mix of their parents contrasting ethnics. Young Ursa and Zula were talented firebenders; Kya and Lu Ten, were just as talented in their waterbending as their siblings in their own element.
Ozai also picked up on the friendships between Zuko and the others. Zuko had married the waterbender. It seemed, from the friendly noggy competition the two men had only an hour ago, that Zuko and the one called Sokka had a very close relationship that seemed to borderline on one of brothers. Along with this, his interactions between the Avatar, Toph, and even the red haired named Suki showed a friendship that also border lined on sibling care and love.
Azula was no different. She spent most of her time with her husband Kory and her own children; Coin, Zalic and Dahlia, but that didn't mean that Ozai didn't see the relations between her and the group. The interactions between Azula and Katara were strange ones. He had watched as the waterbender came over offering a glass of wine, and the offering had led to the two falling into an easy conversation that brought out real and true laughter. Shortly after, did Toph and Suki venture over, and the conversation soon spread to four with ease. With the way the women connected and joked with one another, it became clear the close bond that the princess had with those she had once called enemies.
A frown sank into Ozai's face as he watched everything. Both of his children seemed at ease and home in this idea of a family. He had been shown several moments of the siblings with this group, but with them all together, it made shrugging off that nagging sensation in the back of his mind difficult.
Every time Azula smiled at one of them, he felt as if he were being kicked in the chest.
Each time Zuko's deep youthful laughter filled the air, Ozai suppressed a desire to vomit.
These unselfish shows of affection and care, was not something that the Phoenix King could fully understand.
-oOo-
And that is the end of that chapter. I feel like it's not as good as the ones before. It just, it feel like it lacks something. But as I have been working on this chapter for at least a month now, I know I'm not going to figure it out within the next few hours. So for now, I will leave it as it. I'll try to tweak with it whenever I get free time, but I'm moving on for now.
The first scene was just a birthday party, nothing special. A few things that might need to be clarified. Zuko setting the birthday candles on fire thing wasn't anything special, as it was more of this image I had in my head that I wanted to us. The story behind it being that during one of the girl's birthdays, Aang and Toph's eldest child, Isis, discovered that she was an airbender after a very powerful sneeze blew out the candle. Improvising, Zuko relit the candles and it became tradition for him to use that cool breath of fire to lit them.
Ursa's return was the main purpose behind that entire thing. The whole reason I decided to write this fic, was because of her and a day dream I had. I don't want to ruin anything, as next chapter will hopefully better explain. I know, I tell you she's important and then I don't explain. I'm so horrible.
The conversation between Azula and Zuko was a fun one to do. For anyone actually curious, no she does not have a boy. That fact is mentioned towards the end, but not really elaborated on. So after that whole emotional thing where the two connected, she has a girl. But that's okay, because both of them were a bit relieved. They would have gone crazy whenever Uncle Zuko and Little Zuko were in the same room and one of them was needed. So thus a girl was born, making the Azula/Kory babies to three.
Zutara babies are at four. Because I love children, I imagine Katara would want a big family, and Zuko would be more than glad to help her with that. That sounded dirty. Anyways, they now have four (Ursa, Kya, Lu Ten, Zula) and are stopping. I love their names though.
Ozai dying was not in the original idea. But as I went, I couldn't skip it. I wanted to show a scene for Ozai where he would see the fact that he still is these kids father. Even if he did somewhat bad job at it.
*I was planning on including Azula's finding out about Ozai, but I could not get it to work right with this. That's probably the missing piece for me. It's currently sitting with the rest of the parts that just didn't work and got cut. If I do manage to make it presentable, I will use it for this. I'll probably upload it with the rest of the scenes that didn't work. "Ozai's Grand Tour, Deleted Scenes". Yep, sounds great.
The funeral didn't get much because one, there wasn't much to go off of. Normally, I'd just run with things not fully described in the show and make them work, but a funeral was not something I was in the mood to figure out how to create. Sorry people, just not doing that. Besides, the minor details weren't important in that. The whole experience of seeing his own funeral, and nobody being there besides those four, was the purpose.
Republic City! Because I could.
The repopulation of airbenders became a larger part that I expected. Trying to slim it down, I couldn't get the same reactions from Ozai, so I left it. I don't know how many people are on the Ty Lee being an airbender wagon, but I know it's a large number. Plus, she's got all those sisters… think of all the kids to come from them… half of the airbender population will be descends of the Ty Lee family.
The last half of this was more of an overview than an actual specific scene. Those scenes were more for wrapping up the tour, and confirming things that Ozai has learned, more than being things to provoke thoughts for him. His reactions and thoughts will come in next chapter whenever Lu Ten plays a game of Memory with him.
There were a bunch of kids mentioned at the end, but I only named some of them. So I should probably go ahead and put down the rest of the second generation, just to be safe.
Aang/Toph; Isis (female/airbender), Konya (male/airbender) , Lin (female/earthbender)
****Lin was added to already preexisting Taang babies, because I love her.
Sokka/Suki; Galia (female/nonbender) and Naima (female/nonbender)
Azula and Kory and their kids; Coin (male/firebender), Zalic (male/firebender), Dahlia (female/earthbender)
Zuko and Katara and their kids; Ursa (female/firebender), Kya (female/waterbender), Lu Ten (male/waterbender), Zula (female/firebender.)
One more chapter to go after this to wrap everything up.