The Truth Behind Ursa
Chapter 3 - Things Gone Wrong

"Dad's going to kill you. Really, he is." I said in a tone that even I was surprised by.

"Ha-ha, Azula. Nice try." Zuko mocked, sitting up and trying to brush it off.

"Fine, don't believe me. But I heard everything. Grandfather said dad's punishment should fit his crime." I began to quote Grandfather in a deep voice, " 'You must know the pain of loosing a firstborn son, by sacrificing your own!' " Zuko was obviously disturbed by this and kept trying to force it out of his mind.

"Liar!" He shouted.

"I'm only telling you for your own good." I continued, trying to frighten him more and enjoying myself doing so. I was swinging around his bed, holding onto the columns for support, all of which just added to the creepiness. I sat down on his bed. "I know! Maybe you can find a nice earth kingdom family to adopt you!"

"Stop it! You're lying." He knew that I wasn't lying, but he kept trying to push the thought away nonetheless. "Dad would never do that to me."

Then came a voice that made my spirit sink into the depths of hell.

"Your father would never do what to you?" My mother walked in. "What is going on here?"

She obviously knew that something was up. I did my best to keep my cool.

"I dunno." I lied.

"It's time for a talk." Mother replied, and grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me out of the room. As we walked out of the door I heard Zuko mumble something about my name. 'Azula always lies' if I recall correctly. But Mother continued to pull me out of Zuko's room and down the halls.

"Azula, what is going on?" Mother questioned as soon as we got to her room and she had closed the door. I sat down on the bed.

"I told you I don't know!" I panicked. I couldn't let Mother know of Father's intentions.

"I want you to tell me the truth, Azula. I don't want to have to punish you. You're my daughter, and I love you. Don't make me resort to larger measures. Tell me what is going on." At Mother's words I could feel my heart leaping into my throat.

"What do you mean, 'What is going on?'" I questioned nervously, trying to figure out how much she knew so that I could make up a lie.

"I know that you were eavesdropping on Firelord Azulon's conversation with your Father. Zuko told me."

Crud. I thought. He ratted me out.

"And I also heard you telling Zuko that he should move to the Earth Kingdom. What on earth were you talking about?" She sounded very surprised, and strangely uncomfortable at the same time. I took a deep breath, realizing that I couldn't successfully lie any longer. She would know I was lying with the amount of information Zuko told her.

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Father is going to kill Zuko." I blurted out as quickly as I could, cringing with one eye closed. Mother gasped loudly, holding her hand up to her mouth and shedding a tear of shock.

"Father requested to be next in line to be Firelord, and Grandfather said that he would only grant his wish if Zuko wasn't his heir." I stopped.

I couldn't believe what I had just said. I shouldn't have. Any punishment would have been better than that.

Mother stared off into space, horror pouring out of her eyes in the form of tears.

"Come." Mother simply said as she took my arm and lead me out of the room. We were heading down the halls and to... my room. She walked in with me, closed the door, then knelt down to look me in the eye.

"Listen to me, Azula. You have to obey me." My mother's voice was shaky and she still had a tear on her cheek. "Stay in here until I come to get you. Do you understand? Stay in here." She repeated.

I nodded, understanding what she meant, but with absolutely no intention of obeying. Mother stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I had no plans to stay locked away in my room for the rest of the day while Mother was off doing whatever she could. I waited a few minutes so she wouldn't catch me sneaking away, and then slipped out of the door. I ran in the direction of Zuko's room, eager to tell him that Mother now knew, just to prove that I wasn't lying.

As I ran through the hallways, thoughts of what Mother could be doing rushed into my mind. One after another after another. I had completely screwed everything up this time, and Mother was going to make it far worse, I knew she would.

As I was nearing Zuko's room, I turned a corner and saw Mother. I quickly stopped dead in my tracks, then jumped back behind the corner which I had just rounded. I waited a minute to make sure she left, and when I peered around the corner to see if she was gone.

She was. I continued for Zuko's room, but when I finally arrived, two guards were standing by the door. Zuko must have been inside, and Mother must have ordered the guards to protect him. To this day, I still don't know for certain why she was walking the halls near Zuko's room, but my suspicions are that she had just finished explaining the situation to the guards and ordered them to guard Zuko.

Oh no. I thought. One of the guards was walking towards me. I stood there, paralyzed and with no way of escape since I had already been spotted. The guard continued closer, and once he came within a few feet, he spoke quietly to me, bending down to my level.

"Princess," he said, "Your mother has ordered for you to stay in your room. Allow me to escort you back?"

I inwardly scoffed his last remark and blew my hair out of my eyes. I felt him place a hand on my shoulder and lightly guide me back where I had came. Once we reached my room a few minute later, he walked in with me and spoke once more before leaving.

"You must stay in here, Princess." He said this and closed the door, and following this I heard the lock turn. I panicked and ran up to the door, banging on it.

"Hey! Let me out of here! LET ME OUT!" I yelled, continuing to bang on the door. For five minutes I continued trying to escape, but seeing that it was yielding me no results, I stopped and went to ponder the situation on my bed.

I sat there for hours. It was excruciatingly boring. I had nothing to do as I watched the time go by.

Eleven.

Twelve..

One...

..Two...

...Two thirty...

And two thirty was the last of my remembrance. Much against my own will, I fell asleep, only to be awakened at seven the next morning by Father himself.

"Azula," he said, shaking me out of my sleep. I eyed him curiously, wondering why he looked so tired.

"Father, what's wrong?"

"Your mother told me everything that you did. I am very disappointed in you." He paused, contemplating his words. "...things... happened last night. Horrible things."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, knowing that Mother had done something.

Father looked down, obviously in emotional pain. "Ursa is no longer with us, and neither is Firelord Azulon."

I was rubbing my eyes, but abruptly stopped when I heard this.

"You mean... Mother's dead?" I questioned, completely shocked. How could she be dead?!

"I don't know. We have no knowledge of what happened to her." Father responded, depressed. I later found out that Mother had been banished, and Father was simply lying to me.

"Well, what happened?" I questioned, being completely confused and hating this uncommon and wretched feeling of confusion. "Did you, ya know... ...rid... Zuko? Are you the next firelord? Am I you--"

"Azula." He interrupted me. "I cannot give you all the answers now, but listen to me. Your mother discovered my plans. She stopped them, and Azulon is now dead. I am to be crowned firelord at sunset. And mother is no longer with us. That is all I can tell you right now. But listen to me, Azula." He was speaking very quietly. "If you tell anyone about what happened yesterday and last night, you and I will both be in great danger. So make me this promise."

I looked into his eyes and saw the great sincerity of his words. I could tell there was something about him at that moment that was utterly distraught.

"Promise me that you will never tell anyone, anyone at all of my original plans. If you make this promise to me, I will make this promise to you: Keep to your word, and I will be sure that you are the next firelord after me. Zuko will not be placed on the throne while I am still alive."

I jumped with excitement. "I promise, Dad! I promise!"

"Good." He stood up and left the room, leaving the door open behind him.

After breakfast I walked into the room where we had opened our gifts from Uncle the day before. I found Zuko's knife laying on the ground, so just as a pastime I began to sharpen it. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps running behind me. I saw Zuko coming into the room at a great speed, so I slid behind a column, ready to scare him.

He looked around the room as I slid out from behind the column, leaning on my back against it's side. Zuko turned his head and saw me, somewhat surprised.

"Where's mom!?" He frantically asked in a state of obvious panic.

"No one knows." I said, trying once again to creep him out. And it worked. "Oh, and last night, Grampa past away."

"Not funny Azula." He said cooly, walking towards me. "You're sick. And I want my knife back, NOW."

He reached out to grab if from my hands, but I jumped back for one last comment.

"Who's going to make me? Mom?" I teased. I held the knife up in the air and let him grab it. I knew this was a way for me to totally bug him out of his mind. He grabbed it from my loose grip a ran out of the room for the courtyards.

The rest of the day was rather boring. Nothing really happened. Everyone around the palace was quiet, especially Father. He stayed outside the majority of the day, overlooking the turtleduck pond for hours on end until a servant finally came up to him and gave him some sort of information.

It was time for his coronation.

After dressing in our ceremonial robes, Zuko and I were escorted to the front of the palace where the coronation service was to begin. A few minutes after being positioned into our spots, the service began.

A loud gong sounded throughout the palace courtyard. Next, a deep and elderly voice rang through my ears.

"Azulon. Firelord to our nation for twenty-three years. You were our our fearless leader in the battle of Gar Sai. Our matchless conqueror of the Hu Sin provinces. You were father of Iroh. Father of Ozai. Husband of Ila, now passed. Grandfather of Lu Ten, now passed. Grandfather of Zuko and Azula. We lay you to rest. As was your dying wish, you are now succeeded by your... second... son."

The sage crowned Father, and I smiled in gratification knowing that this would some day be me.

"Hail Firelord Ozai!"

We all bowed to the new firelord, and my dreams, though not as I imagined, began to come true. Mother was gone. Zuko is no threat. And I was lined up to be the next firelord.