Zuko was born in 83 ASC (after Sozin's Comet) as the firstborn child of the Second Prince Ozai and his wife Ursa. Since his birth, he was disdained by his father. As the infant seemed to lack the "spark in his eyes" that is typical for most firebenders, the royal family was unsure if Zuko was a bender at all.
Ozai, viewing a non bender firstborn as "shame", planned to cast his son over the palace walls. Only when Ursa and the Fire Sages intervened did the Second Prince give his newborn son a chance. Later on, it turned out that Zuko was a firebender, and peace returned to the young family but the animosity still remained.
The royal family made frequent vacations to Ember Island in the following years, moments like this would make even a skeptic believe they were a happy family.
At the age of three, Zuko already had inner conflicts between the nature of good and evil. One example of this was when the young prince acted to save a turtle-crab from the talons of an eagle hawk, but immediately had conflicted feelings in letting the predator to die of hunger.
Such an event didn't earn him anything but more contempt from his father, especially after forcing Ozai to rescue him from drowning after a wave caught him off guard in the beach.
Zuko also often watched the play at the Ember Island Theater with his family. He used to reenact the action scenes of the play with his younger sister Azula, normally taking the role of the evil antagonist against his will.
As he grew older, Ozai wasn't the only family member that became hostile to Zuko, Azula eventually started to place him as the object of her manipulation, ridicule, and deception. Their mother was the only one that treated him kindly and showed affection for him, apparently her favor for Zuko only made Azula's animosity towards him increase.
This only led to Zuko tearfully lamenting for not understanding why his sister had to be so evil, especially towards him. All the while always reflecting why he suffered for doing what he believed was the right thing.
Although he was trained by Piandao in the art of fighting with dual broadswords in his early youth, his father's remarked it as being a barbaric fighting style.
Ozai constantly asked Zuko about his firebending training, expecting to compare him to his sister that had already mastered more than a dozen forms. The meek and easy to intimidate prince had to continuously hear his father recount how he would have almost discarded Zuko because he thought that he was a nonbender.
Ozai directly stated that Azula had been born lucky, while he had been lucky to be born.
At the age of eleven, his cousin, Lu Ten, was killed in battle. General Iroh, devastated by the loss of his only child, abandoned his 600-day siege of the Earth Kingdom capital city, Ba Sin Se.
Following this event during an audience with Fire Lord Azulon, Ozai voiced his desire to be made heir in Iroh's place, justifying his reason by pointing out Iroh's erratic behavior after such war effort had been made, and then concluded that he would be a more fitting heir to carry on his line.
The Fire Lord angrily disagreed, outraged he declared that Iroh had suffered enough, but Ozai's suffering had just begun (while both Azula and Zuko eavesdropped their encounter).
That same night Zuko ran away to his chamber trying to sleep, provoked by Azula's remark that Azulon ordered their Father to kill him as punishment. Their mother heard the commotion and took Azula away to talk to her. Zuko reassured himself by remembering that "Azula always lies."
Later his mother returned and explained to her sleepy son that everything she had done was to protect him, and pleaded with him to never forget who he was.
Since that night, things changed drastically, Fire Lord Azulon had died and their mother went missing. Not much after, at Azulon's funeral, the Fire Sage conducted the ceremony named Ozai the new Fire Lord declaring it was Lord Azulon's dying request.
Now, two years later, general Iroh allowed his thirteen-year-old nephew Zuko into a war council.
Although the young prince was instructed to not speak during the meeting, when one general outlined a plan to sacrifice a complete division of fresh recruits in a deceptive maneuver, Zuko publicly spoke out against the general's suggestion, seeing it as a betrayal of the recruits' patriotism.
This act of insubordination was seen as a grave insult and an Agni Kai was immediately demanded for the prince to participate. The fool accepted.
Upon turning to discover the face of his opponent, he found out that it was his father and not the general whom he had insulted that challenged him. He immediately became meek and shamefully bowed on his knees and tearfully begging for his father's forgiveness.
His refusal was considered another act of disrespect and cowardice, Ozai announced "he will learn respect, and suffering will be his teacher".
When Ozai tried to burn his son's face, something unbelievable happened. Ozai saw white and black flames emerging from the fists that were grabbing his wrist. And a completely different expression from his cowardly son, stared back at him.
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Previously on Avatar...
When a thirteen-years-old Zuko was allowed entrance to a war council.
He was instructed to be silent during the meeting, but eventually spoke out against a general's plan of action.
In consequence, an Agni Kai was immediately demanded.
It was actually the Fire Lord Ozai who was demanding the challenge.
But when Ozai tried to burn his son's face, something unbelievable happened.
He saw white and black flames emerging from the fists that were grabbing his wrist.
And a completely different expression stared back at him.
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'Where am I?... I recognize this environment! He?! Oh!...'Someone murmured mentally.
'I see.'
Feeling a very strong grip on his wrist slowly overpowering his arm's strength, Ozai instinctively backed off to free himself.
His adversary complied by releasing him from his grasp.
Baffled, Ozai couldn't say what shocked him the most.
The agonizing pain in his carpus from being forcefully twisted, or the insufferable pain caused by the monochromatic blazes still burning his hand.
Scarily, the white flames were leaving scars of frostbite in his flesh.
But after a predatory grin and an audible snap of fingers from the young duelist, the scorching mini inferno extinguished itself.
While Ozai was recovering himself from the ludicrous situation, he remembered who he was dealing with.
"Am I supposed to be intimidated by this sudden act of courage?" Asked the Fire Lord arrogantly.
"That is correct." Replied Zuko.
"Do you consider yourself capable of opposing me, without being turned to cinders and ash?" Asked the Lord, while ignoring his right hand protesting pain.
"Who knows?" Zuko said grinning but quickly shifted his attention to something he considered more worthy of his focus.
"Such arrogance!" Ozai retorted back.
The prince ignored him without a care while conjuring the terrifying flames in his palm, doing what appeared to be, getting familiar with his newfound power.
Ozai chose to ignore this disrespect and continued talking. "But I'm impressed with your previous display, much better than that previous act of weakness and stupidity. Low your guard and submit, I look forward to seeing your future accomplishments."
"HaHaHaHaHa!" Zuko wasn't able to avoid laughing out loud.
"You are just a fly pretending to be a God! I'm tired of you already. Bow down now! If not, you cannot blame me for taking your life."
Ozai's face showed his tremendous rage at his firstborn's words.
"What's the matter? Where is all that confidence you showed when facing your own son in an Agni Kai? Do you really see yourself fit to lead our great nation?" Zuko kept ridiculing his father.
Ozai restrained himself from lashing out, and stated arrogantly. "It's a shame really, I was expecting to see you finally surpassing your sister. But there is a limit to how much one can piss me off!"
"When the weak rave this much, it's impressive actually." Zuko casually mocked him.
"Tch! Di..." The Fire Lord was interrupted mid rant, because of his son's unbelievable response.
"I'm bored already! Should I be the one to finally end this?" Announced the prince after stopping from playing with his fire, exposing his naked chest purposefully, daring him to attack.
"What's the meaning of this?" Ozai points out his son's insane posture.
"Know that I, prince Zuko of the new Fire Empire will show you no mercy." He declared, oozing determination for a brief moment right before relaxing again.
"Now, attack me fully prepared to die!" He dismissed him with a smug face.
"Bastard!" He shouted to his son, right before launching a web of lightning chirping so loudly that everyone watching the duel covered their ears in pain.
But the prince just stood there with open arms, calmly closing his eyes while amidst the raging storm.
"I'm not finished!" Ozai started mid dash, just before engulfing Zuko in a sea of pure fire at point blank.
Seeing the smoke of destruction made by his attack, he displayed a maniacal grin of satisfaction.
When suddenly, the Fire Lord received a sweep kick that knocked him to the ground, hard.
After the smoke cleared, everyone saw the little prince crouching while pinning the Fire Lord down.
Zuko was chokeholding his father with one hand, and raising up his index and middle finger together on his other hand.
"Cease to exist!" Proclaimed the young prince.
Ozai's face became one of shock and absolute terror when his son poked his chest with his previously raised fingers.
Then... BOOOOOMMMM!!!
A gigantic mass of golden lightning tore through the multiple layers of the ceiling and hit it's marked target in what appeared to be in one one thousandth of a second, blowing out the entire area of the ring while keeping the spectating crowd free from any harm.
Except for some cases of permanent blindness for those dumb enough to keep looking at it when the entire building appeared to be collapsing.
And like this, after the threat appeared to calm down, there in the middle of the obliterated area, getting up from the ground, was a very calm looking Zuko.
With Ozai nowhere to be seen.
Zuko's expression didn't match his trousers' condition, for they were torn and burned to the point of almost exposing his privacy.
The prince stretched nonchalantly and remarked. "It appears that this matter has been dealt with."
He began walking without a care straight to the exit. Ignoring all the speechless spectators.
Eventually passing by a very sad and conflicted ex-great general, whom he not even wasted a glimpse at.
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Azula's POV (11 years old)
Azula tightly clenched her fists as her heart became filled with rage and doubt.
She should have killed Zuko long ago!
But could she really? Wasn't she mistaking his sudden display of power as if he somehow just acquired it?
She can't imagine that he was able to grow to such a frightening degree in such a ridiculous short amount of time!
It simply wasn't possible! Not for him!
Could he somehow be the Avatar that her nation and family hunted for so long? Impossible!
She remembered defeating him in all of their duels.
'No! He must have been acting all along!'
Azula's eyes widened just by considering the possibility.
If she was right, it meant that this might be her first time seeing the real Zuko.
Azula, however, was quietly watching his back leaving the arena.
The fire princess was even contemplating if she should try her luck against him, sure all this destruction must have hindered his abilities somehow!
But she wasn't a fool to risk it.
Zuko seemed to be too calm, not taking any form of threat into consideration.
He has easily surpassed their father in regards to power.
But she will not relent!
She needs to start scheming on how to destroy him.
And humiliate him, she can't forget about it.
She won't forgive.
That's what her father always taught her.
She knew, in order to become the next Fire Lord, Zuko would have to make the arrangements to his coronation soon.
Otherwise, his title will simply be as the brutal kinslayer.
But Azula's mind didn't provide her an immediate solution for the problems to come, Zuko's feat certainly will spread like the plague.
Perhaps she can become Zuko's important right hand. That would help in her preparation to his eventual downfall.
'Yes, I will not be inferior to him!' Assured the young princess.
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Future Phoenix Emperor POV
After ordering the sages and royal guards to follow his instructions in preparation for his public coronation.
The victorious prince went to his chamber to reflect about his current situation.
'Such majestic power!' He contemplated holding out a black flare of flame amidst his fingers.
Despite its small size, he could feel the air getting hotter by the second.
And his room grew darker, as if all the light was being sucked by the small combustion.
'The power of the sun in the palm of my hand!' As if to make his point clearer, the bottle of water close began to expel visible quantities of steam.
'So... what should I do now?' He questioned while still observing the spectacle of science in front of him.
He tried out the other type of flame he saw before.
A more contained white version of his previous demonstration ignited.
But it produced so much light, that he deduced it was capable of blinding someone else.
Notably, this time his room appeared to become lifeless.
The temperature was dropping just as fast as it rose before. The previous bottle cracked because of the sudden change in climate.
'I know I didn't put enough thought in the "melon lord" matter, but the prick had it coming.'
The prince stopped his bending and lied down on his bed.
'But what about now?' He pondered.
'Should I stop the ongoing war, saving innumerable lives from needless fighting?'
His face suggested that some sort of good hearted feelings were emerging in him.
But it quickly died down. 'Well, that is a more idealistic notion to it all I suppose...'
Instead, a grin appeared on his face. 'No. The Fire Nation has the power!'
'But was that premise wrong? Power is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power in itself is not evil.'
He himself was already OP enough compared to this universe's inhabitants.
He didn't really care how or why he became this strong.
He only cared about becoming stronger.
Bending prowess can give him lots of things, but it isn't the only way of asserting dominance.
It wasn't even perfect. Sure he had Hax-like bending abilities. But is it it's full extent?
'I need to learn how to bend more effectively. If I just count with my enormous reserves of chi, it will be really boring.'
'But, Firebending is indeed an interesting concept.' He acknowledged.
'The proper way to fuel it is physically and emotionally, hinting that it is nature with the greatest potential for evolution of all the other elements.' He began his line of thought.
Like any kid that paid attention to the cartoon series, he knew that there was an ancient art of bending that controlled energy in its purest form.
'The ability to generate lightning was the prime example.' As he spoke a golden current of a billion volts of electricity began crawling around his forearm.
'So how could it be controlled by Firebenders?' He questioned while straining the electrical fluxes enmeshed around his fingers.
After clenching his fist, the golden discharge extinguishes itself.
'Unless what Firebenders truly did was bend energy to form fire and lightning.'
If that were true, who was to say what other forms of energy Firebenders could learn to control?
No one knew how to do it nowadays, and no one really knew much about it, other than the fact that it had supposedly been more powerful than any of the four bending arts that existed today.
All in the Fire Nation knew that it had once existed, but now it was much forgotten or greatly misunderstood.
'I believe Firebending is the true incarnation of "energy bending". Of all the four bending arts, only Firebending could truly create.'
'Although, other elements may have other ways to control their substances, be it because of new substances within their element that could be manipulated. They could never create something of their own.'
'Waterbenders needed a source to draw their water from. Earthbenders acted just the same. Even Airbenders needed actual air to control, regardless of how rare there might be of places where air was absent, my point still stands.'
The prince smiled, thinking of the nomads that claimed to be detached from all mundane matters.
'Only Firebenders could conjure their own element out of nowhere, our inner energy being a close next contender to my speculation.' He disputed.
His mental ramblings made a lot of sense to him, he stared at the mirror and contemplated his new face for the first time.
"I can't believe I still haven't thought about my harem!" Were his first words since entering his chamber.
"Because of course I'm having a fucking harem! Quite literally I suppose." He joked to himself.
But his stare then focused on something heinous in his reflection.
"Argh! How stupid could have you been Zuko? Look at this ridiculous mixture between ponytail and shaved head! I need to fix it immediately." Doing an one-eighty to his previous smug face, Zuko furrowed his eyebrows and contemplated torturing whoever did his hair cut.
He did not even consider that the original Zuko would've committed such a heinous crime.
"Oh goodness... I completely forgot about the Avatar!"
He giggled at his remark.
"Did I? Why not just send an armada with those giant ships and raid the southern pole just before he is released from ice?... meh, it won't be interesting! The true war hasn't even begun!"
*cue the epic music!
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(24/07/2020)
(31/07/2020)
*Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is of your liking. I know the story didn't progress much. But while I was writing what I thought was gonna be a large chapter, I recognized that the transition between segments was rather jarring, so only this short chapter for now.
As I previously mentioned in the description of this story. I'm taking a more relaxing approach, the MC is already OP, the only thing that rests for me to do is give my personal teaks to the original story.
Any ideas for girls, powers and actions towards the war is more than welcomed. I might not use anything, but you will have my gratitude for trying.
If this chapter is a mess of grammatical errors, please wait and I'll promptly try to fix it. But for that I need your feedback.
I do recommend on FanFiction.Net "To break the cycle" from marinenerd01 and "War for peace" from Shadow0Fire. They show a more serious and realistic portrayal of the Avatar world. I really like them both!
Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe. Bye.