Disclaimer: The following chapter is entirely fictitious. Any similarity to the history of any person living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional, except when specifically noted otherwise in the cast and crew credits. All celebrity voices are impersonated and no celebrities have endorsed any aspect of this fic.
Chapter One: The Now
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I don't want to be here, Zuko thought to himself.
"Fire Lord Zuko, are you listening to me?" a voice said in the distance.
I just want to rest…he thought
"Fire Lord Zuko, we needed to leave ten minutes ago! We're late!"
Just let me be…
"Fire Lord Zuko, the Earth King won't be happy!"
I don't care, just leave me alone…
"FIRE LORD ZUKO!" the voice of his assistant shouted at him.
"What!" Zuko shouted back, removing his head from his hands. The sun was beating down despite the fact it was winter, but the air was still chilled, just bright. He shielded his eyes to protect them from the sudden influx of light only to see his assistant standing angrily at his side.
"Fire Lord Zuko, the Earth King is waiting for us!" the assistant snapped at his boss. "We're ten minutes late and you were late the last time too! They're not very happy with you and the Fire Nation is already taking a lot of heat during this negotiation already. We're already 1.5 million gold in debt and the other two nations are not happy with us as it is! If you want to reduce their already preposterous demands then you have to start kissing ass!"
"Whatever," Zuko mumbled. He pushed himself away from his chair and forced himself to stand up. "Where am I going?"
"Damn it, Fire Lord Zuko, it's in your war room," the assistant groaned while he rubbed his temples.
"What makes you think you can talk to me like that?" Zuko snapped, heading to the war room.
"Sir, with all due respect, you've gone through twelve assistants since you started and every time you fire one it's because they never told you anything, or they didn't remind you of something, or something else along that line. Now I've lasted longer than the others and I don't know why, but I'm starting to think the others were fired unjustly." The assistant adjusted his glassed and glared at the Fire Lord. "I'm starting to think it was just you."
"Shut up," he growled at the man. The two of them reached the war room an extra ten minutes later and was greeted by an irate Earth King.
"So nice of you to join me, Fire Lord Zuko," the Earth King said sarcastically. "And only twenty minutes late today. You were early this time."
"I'm sorry," Zuko mumbled, taking his spot across the table, "I had a prior engagement."
"Interesting," the older gentleman replied. "Anyways, I was hoping to renegotiate our treaty."
"Renegotiate?" Zuko scoffed. "What is there to renegotiate? I'm already giving up the colonies and paying retribution of a million gold pieces, what else is there to do?"
"There's the thing," the King smiled. "I do not believe one and a half million will cover everything. I was thinking more along the lines of thirty-two million?"
"Thirty-two million gold pieces?" Zuko exclaimed, slamming his fists into the table. "Are you kidding me? We're in debt enough as it is! How do you expect us to get that money?"
"I also want restrictions on your military," the man added. "I want to make sure this will never happen again. I was thinking no more than ten thousand in your army—"
"That's ridiculous!" Zuko snarled, but the man did not skip a beat.
"Three battleships—"
"You're kidding me—"
"Two cruisers and a destroyer, prohibit the manufacture, import, and export of weapons and poison gas, and armed aircraft and tanks prohibited. And that's my final offer." The man folded his hands on his lap and simply watched the Fire Lord.
"How the hell do you expect me to manage all that?" Zuko yelled. "The Fire Nation is mad at me already and changing our emblem was hard enough! And now you expect me to give you more money and cut our military?"
"I will not sign the treaty until you agree to this," the King stated. "If you don't then we attack you. Your defenses are weak enough as it is so you won't be able to fight back."
"And if I agree to this then my nation turns on me!" Zuko growled. "They'll riot in the streets and I'll be killed! I'm trying to make things right for my nation but your demands are making it harder for me to be nice to you."
"Fire Lord Zuko, I swear to you that is my final offer, but remember your nation is weak enough as it is. It would be a shame if something happened." The man slipped the newly revised treaty to Zuko and smiled wickedly at him. "Just sign the treaty and I will be on my way."
"You're damn right you'll be on your way!" Zuko snarled, pushing himself into a standing position. "I agreed to our first treaty and now you're just getting greedy! Get out of my war room!"
"Let me remind you, Fire Lord Zuko, that your country killed a whole race of Air Nomads cold heartedly, almost destroyed the Water Tribe population, and killed half of my people! Now why don't you go tell the families of the dead soldiers why you refuse to give them retribution and why you refuse to reassure them that this kind of thing will never happen again? Or have you forgotten all this?"
"I did not forget, but you're out of control with your demands!" Zuko retorted. You need to be reasonable!"
"I'm sure I'll be reasonable when your nation finally falls!" the man said loudly. Zuko growled but finally reluctantly scrawled his name on the piece of parchment. "It was nice doing business with you, Fire Lord Zuko," the Earth King grinned. He took the document from Zuko and neatly rolled it up. "I hope the next time we meet it won't be under these pretences."
"You know, you tell me my nation killed millions, but I'm running the Fire Nation now," Zuko said quietly. "And you're a disgrace to your country." The man simply smiled and left the war room. "Damn it!" Zuko shouted, kicking the table over. "What the hell is his problem?"
"Bastards at the Earth Kingdom, I tell you, sir," the assistant rolled his eyes.
"What am I going to tell everyone?" Zuko mumbled. "That I messed everything up again?"
"You didn't mess everything up, Fire Lord," the assistant said calmly. "You did what you had to. I mean, what could you do anyways if he was threatening you like that?"
"Yes, but this isn't the first time," Zuko snapped. "I keep having to make these awful decisions all in favor of the Earth Kingdom, and now my country hates me! Even more than they already did anyways."
"I know, sir, but there's very little you can do," the assistant replied. "This country wants a lot of something for a whole lot of nothing. They don't realize the decisions you have to make are usually a catch-22. They're just stupid."
"I've had eight years to fix this damn war, but I've got nothing!" Zuko snarled. "They're mad at me for changing our emblem! Don't you know how many riots have broken out in the streets, people flaunting out old insignia and demanding we start the war up again? And now I agreed to cut back on our military! They're going to kill me now!"
"I swear to you, sir, they're not going to kill you," the assistant sighed.
"Yes they will, I guarantee it," he mumbled under his breath. He walked out of the room and back to the outside world where surely someone believed he was doing a bad job.
"Zuko," a woman's voice echoed down the hall, "can I talk to you for a moment?" He turned around to face the woman who called him. Approaching was the woman with the light brown hair he hated the most with the toddler he hated even more attached to her hip. She was nothing but the embodiment of everything he had failed at, being rubbed in his face.
It only made it worse that he was forced to marry it.
"What the hell do you want, Marukai?" Zuko barked. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Oh, whatever, I know you don't want to talk to me," she scoffed. "The nanny sent a message saying she couldn't come in today and I was wondering if you can send one of the chambermaids to come care for him while I go visit his tutor."
"Why the hell would I want to take care of that thing?" Zuko snapped. "It's your job to take care of him, not mine."
"You know what, you should be nicer to your son, Zuko," she snapped back.
"He's not my kid, damn it!" he shouted loud enough to scare the birds in the tree next to them. "How the hell do you expect me to father a kid when I can't even stand you? We don't even share the same room on the same floor! So what the hell made you think you could convince me that that was my kid? Are you stupid or just that desperate to stay here?"
"Fuck you Zuko!" she shouted.
"Yeah, buck you, dooco!" the baby suddenly exclaimed, giggling excessively after. Marukai's face contracted and she shot her head to the baby.
"Good boy," she whispered, pecking him on the head. "Anyways, I'm your wife. And if you're going to keep with your attitude then this is as good of an heir as you're going to get. And that's what you get for being so damn introverted that no woman wants to marry you. You're just lucky I came—"
"Lucky? How the hell am I lucky? I would rather die and have someone not related to me take the crown than be married to you!" Marukai smiled a devious smile.
"Then you get to have both," she smirked. "Congratulations. Anyways, just send up a god damn chambermaid and I'll get out of your business."
"They're maids, not babysitters," he stated. "Their job is to clean up the castle, not take care of him. I'm not sending one to you because they have a job to do."
"What are you talking about? Girls love children." She rolled her eyes and shifted the toddler to the other hip. "Just get the god damn maid." She shoved past him and the assistant with the baby in hand but not before the child could squeal, "Bye bye buck ship!" to Zuko.
"Cute kid," the assistant said sarcastically when Marukai was out of earshot. "Glad it's not yours or I would assume crazy just runs in your family."
"Shut up," Zuko snapped at him. "You shouldn't talk to me like that. I'm the Fire Lord. You should be groveling to me."
"I don't have to grovel to you," the assistant laughed. "If it wasn't for me, you'd be a mess. I mean, no offense to you, but you need me." Zuko rolled his eyes and placed his hands on the banister in front of him.
"I hate my life," he muttered. "Eight years ago I thought I wanted this. I fought tooth and nail for my right to the throne. Now I don't even want it. I think we would have been better off as a world power. I don't know how I'm going to fix this."
"Sir, you're young, you'll bounce back."
"Young?" Zuko exclaimed. "I'm older than you!"
"Still young, I would consider," the assistant stated. "And don't worry, when you find another woman, you can take her as a wife, instead of that crazy broad."
"There's only one woman I would have taken," Zuko said quietly. "And I don't know where she is."
"You can't tell me you've never had a girlfriend," his assistant chuckled. "There has to have been at least one. Someone has to have liked you at one point."
"I'm not you okay!" Zuko exploded. "I didn't get a childhood like yours! My life consisted mostly of staying at my father's side or out at sea on a wild goose chase or running this country! I didn't know very many girls in my life."
And the only one who I did get to know ran out on me… Either that or she was kidnapped…
"Well, what about Mai?" his assistant asked.
"Excuse me?" Zuko said, taken aback.
"Yeah, there's this girl, her name is Mai, and she actually just started working here in the palace. I remember someone telling me she use to know you when you were younger, and then they said something about a childhood crush you guys had—"
"Shh!" Zuko hissed at him. "That was a long time ago! And besides, I doubt she even thinks that way of me that way anymore."
"She's not married, sir," the assistant nudged. "You should take a look at her. Eh? EH?"
"Stop talking," Zuko grunted. "Your voice annoys me. And you shouldn't be meddling in my business in the first place."
"Yeah, but I disagree," the assistant replied. "From what I understand, you're miserable. You need something good in your life. For crying out loud, you were handed a country that was shit-faced, you were forced to marry a cheating whore, and you have everyone against you. Face it, you need a vacation."
"I don't need a vacation!" Zuko snarled. He grasped the edge of the rail tightly and sighed roughly.
I just want my life back…
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Sorry this chapter is so short. I didn't mean to make it short, but it was kind of awkward to add this to the other chapter coming up... So yeah... sorry. But I'm trying to make it as good as possible, people. Thank you, though, for reading, and please stay tuned for the next chapter!