ZUKO
The shower was perfect, and I was enjoying a moment of rest while I planned my next step, but it wasn't long before I was interrupted as a servant came into the room telling me that a visitor was here. The useless shits let him in before even asking me about it, clearly my status as an exiled prince was affecting my authority and sadly, I had to wait before taking over from Ozai, maybe i was being to harsh but if it had been an assassin i would be dead by now.
"Who did you even let inside my home?"
"Minister Qin said he had urgent business with you, and we let him in" the nervous reply of the boy was instantaneous
The minister again, for all his cowardice the man was not unintelligent and to survive as one of Ozai's pets you needed more than compliments, he was cunning enough to get his position and use whatever means he had available to maintain it.
I entered the room where he was waiting, the man sitting calmly as he drank some tea. He looked at me but didn't comment on my state of dress and simply waited for me to sit.
"Thank you for meeting me in such short notice prince Zuko, if you would prefer to change into your clothes I don't mind waiting some more"
I was wearing a robe and some shorts and looked as if I was about to spend the day playing in the beach, which if I'm being honest did cross my mind but those plans died after learning that Mai had retreated as fast as she could after I teased her a little, a shame because I would have loved seeing her in a bikini.
"No, my state of dress is hardly an impediment for holding a conversation, I'm curious," I spoke while leaning forward "what do you want minister?"
"I'm a simple man, and I don't ask for anything other than reassurance" he was afraid, I hadn't realized it before, but his words revealed the last clue I needed. "I saw the Fire Lord on my way here and he was hardly on a good mood, which means that he has proof of your blessing and that the feud that started on that Agni Kai so many years ago, is about to become more unpredictable"
"Feud?"
"There is no need to feign ignorance only a fool would think that you hold any affection for your father after the brutal punishment he inflicted on you"
Yes, only a fool would think that Ozai and Zuko could play happy family and while I was still young my new position gave me legitimacy that I didn't have after the duel, soon people would have to choose a side.
"Then you have made your choice, I hope your not taking this decision lightly" there was harshness in my tone as I continued "I don't like traitors or deserters"
"I believe in following the person most likely to succeed and that is you, sure Ozai may have more power now but he's unstable and while many won't speak of it aloud the fact that he was preparing to ascend the throne days before Azulon's death has left many with questions about the legitimacy of his reign and the dangerous precedent he set for matters of succession across the Fire Nation" taking a sip of his tea he continued
"The army is also starting to divide as the higher ranks follow Ozai and those with smaller posts but with more experience remember fondly the days they followed general Iroh, with his tacit support of you they will follow. The nobles are the only ones that will not consider you as they see a path to power through Azula that even if they are too cowardly to follow right now, they have not discarded the idea yet but that is where I come in"
I didn't know about the army and it's good to have such excellent news but depending on a sole person for the support of a major group will cause issues in the long run if I'm not careful.
Zuko has never been popular as he lacked the forcefulness and aura of a ruler and no noble family will meet with an exile privately, even one of royal blood, especially one of royal blood as Ozai may take interest in why they are doing it, for now I had no other option than to accept his help and allegiance.
"You already know then that the mechanist is now under my control and that any advancements made will be released at my discretion and convenience" I wanted to see how far his network reached and revealing something that I would have to tell him anyway now that he worked for me was the perfect way to test it.
"I didn't know it for certain, but I suspected that it would be the case, I don't know how you gained his loyalty or how exactly you learned of him, that doesn't really matter to me but I will ask you to give me something to work with when it comes to the Fire Lords requests"
"Of course, I wouldn't want you to lose your head on account of failure, I hope you know that while violent as long as you don't disrespect me you don't have to fear for your life, nor will you have to while I reign"
"That, prince Zuko is another excellent reason to follow you"
Plans needed to be made and while capturing more targets was important, securing my way to the top was a more pressing need right now and with my new ally things could start moving sooner than I thought.
"Do you know what the Fire Lord planned for the party?"
I decided to change the subject before making any real plans. I needed to speak with Iroh to make sure that the information the minister brought to me was trustworthy, I strongly suspected it was but it's always better to verify when the prize is a crown and failure means death.
Qin didn't appear bothered by the sudden subject change and answered promptly "I know what he was planning before"
"Let me guess, a humiliating gesture for me and some nonsense about forgetting about the spirits" I said while sneering.
Ozai was a brutish creature that didn't have much cunning or else he would have killed his father without Ursa long before she was forced to do it, the man never even stepped on the battlefield and even I had more experience in directly leading men into a real battle than him.
"You are right about the spirits but wrong about the gesture, he was merely going to ignore you and make sure that everyone there understood that even if you were invited you were not wanted there"
"Why would he do that? it doesn't make sense, I know that my presence here hasn't gone unnoticed, and everyone knows that only the Fire Lord could let someone who was exiled back into our nation's territory"
"He was planning and probably still is, on spreading the rumor that you begged to see him and that he only accepted to stop your whining"
That piece of shit Fire Lord, once I ascend to the throne, I will make sure to erase his name from history, a tad dramatic but he was dishonoring me...perhaps OG Zuko's inlfluence is what is making me so angry,hmm, thoughts for later.
"My reputation would suffer much if the rumor gained credibility, I assume you have started spreading something far more flattering?" I asked the minister, almost bemused.
Qin nodded "While the Fire Lord ordered me not to say anything about your blessing, my conversation with him about the subject wasn't as private as he would have preferred, and the guards are acceptable scapegoats for this"
"Good, very good, you are quickly proving your competence"
"I live to serve" was the response of Qin
Thinking about it more deeply it made perfect sense that he would help me, he couldn't rise anymore in the current regime and I knew that he had ties to Yuzhen the man that would become the founder of the Sparrowkeet Air Company and that right now he was looking for a new product, the war balloons that the mechanist was working on could be that product and the company from canon could then be made but with the mechanist in my pocket he needed me.
"I need to speak with my uncle about this new development, I will call for you once we feel it prudent, I hope you will maintain a low profile until the time comes"
"It won't be a problem; it has been a most excellent visit" he bowed and headed out.
Now only one last thing remained, I had to get rid of Ozai's spies. It was a shame that innocent people had to get caught in the crossfire but if Ozai learns of what happened here I will be facing an uphill battle for the throne.
"For your sake I hope you don't move '' I spoke to the seemingly empty room but with the superior senses I had finally developed the sound of a person's breathing getting more erratic could be heard as if I was beside them in the silence that reigned in the room.
I walked to the center of the room before looking upwards and there in the ceiling a little hole that anyone else would ignore showed me the eye of another person.
"Let me tell you something, your choices now are to die by my hand slowly or dying quickly, you decide"
The idiot choose poorly as I heard her get up but with a jump and some help from my flames I burst onto the second floor, the terror on the face of the woman was unmistakable and with one look at her features I knew why Ozai had chosen her to be the spy.
She looked a lot like Ursa, there were subtle differences but if she and my mother were side by side most people would say they were either sisters or at least related.
"Ozai is too cruel forcing a person like you into my service" my voice was calm but everyday my hatred for Ozai grew stronger with every act he took against me "Do you know who you look like?"
The woman threw herself to my feet and started sobbing "Pri-nce Zuko ph-please! I was just following orders!"
Ignoring her pleas, I kneeled and put my hands under her eyes as I wiped the tears from her face "You look like my mother"
"H-e f-orced me t-o come here; you have to believe me!" she started stuttering but managed to control herself to speak clearly, death awaited her, and she knew it, she had heard too much even so she still tried to live.
"Tell me do you know if there are more spies among the remaining servants?"
She didn't respond, staring off into space and before losing consciousness.
"This isn't good" with a sigh I started dragging her downstairs and into my room. There appeared to be no other servants around the house right now so everything was going good.
"What are you doing zuzu?" of all the times for Azula to arrive unannounced it had to be now "and who are you dragging there?"
Her face went ashen the second she got a good look at her face, the predatory smile she wore on her face disappeared.
"Mother?" The confused and almost hopeful tone that had a hint of fear coming out of Azula's mouth made me want to hug her, but I had things to do and even though I might regret it later I had to be harsh.
"You must not be able to remember her face if you think this woman, I sour mother" Azula looked sharply at me and flames started pouring out of her hands as she heard my mocking tone "she looks like her but it's not her, she's just a little gift from Ozai, it's good to know you miss mother too even if you can't remember her face"
Azula let out a battle cry before throwing a bolt of lightning towards me, I dodged and closed the distance before punching her stomach and then I pushed her to the floor.
"Your anger makes you predictable sister, maybe you should lay there until you calm down" I put my foot on her neck and pressed it gently as a non-spoken threat "You look cute while you growl"
She thrashed around intent on making me lose my balance but a little more pressure on her neck had her choking and abandoning her efforts "Tell me Azula~ " I said almost singing her name "do you think you're scary? Do you think you're a monster?"
As soon as the word monster came out of my mouth she froze, her eyes watered and she refused to meet my gaze as she bit her lip. I bent down without taking my foot off her and dragged her head back so I could see into her eyes.
My hands caressed her face as I spoke "You are not a monster, not yet, I have seen what a true monster looks like, the face of a man that would force his wife to murder his own father and scar his son"
Azula's eyes widened but she remained silent, however I knew that her mind was quickly analyzing my face for any hints that I was lying.
"Do you remember Azula, that day, when Azulon spoke of killing me and that soon after he died and our mother fled, she killed him to protect me and she fled so we could have a chance at finding her because if she had stayed Ozai would have had her killed because she poisoned Azulon on his orders"
I removed my foot from her throat, and she stood up looking at me warily "She is out there Azula waiting for us, you might not remember because you were sleeping but she visited us both before leaving, she loved us"
"LIAR! She never loved me; she was scared of me!" the torches of the room turned blue and grew in size as she spoke "I could see it in her eyes whenever she looked at me"
"She was scared of what Ozai was turning you into, she loved us, you rejected her attention when she tried to motivate you into 'softer' interest"
Azula slapped me as the tears in her eyes finally started falling down her face, I could have dodged but I didn't, instead I grabbed her hand and dragged her into a hug.
"I really missed you Azula and no matter how much Ozai makes us fight I will always love you, no matter what you think you are"
We spent a few minutes hugging while she cried but once she finished, she pushed me way and turned around.
"Don't think this means anything" she left in a hurry.
I wanted to wait before confronting her like this, but the situation demanded it, speaking of which, I looked back at the unconscious form of the woman that looked like my mother.
"You've caused a lot of trouble for me, you're so lucky I still need to interrogate you"
Author note: i know things are starting to get a dark tone, but in the fight for the trhone you can expect for things to get messy and while Avatar has always been a kid's show it has very dark moments, but if you guys think it's too much i can rewrite it to something softer, also i'm happy to anounce that my battle against the squirrels is finally over, there were many dead in the end but i prevailed, you know the drill by now in regards to my so i will just leave the link below.
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