[Atla] Weaknesses
Title: Weaknesses
Fandom: Avatar: the last airbender
Characters/Pairings: Ozai (Azulon, Ursa, Iroh, Zuko, Azula)
Length: 5x100 words


Azulon

When his father requires the death of his son, Ozai thinks of begging. He is not heartless. He loves Zuko. But this is his father in front of him, and his father wouldn’t hesitate to kill his own son (his second son, at least), if he didn’t obey him.

He is not Iroh, he is not weak. This death will not undo him. That’s exactly why he’d make a better a Firelord than his fool of a brother.

He would kill his son rather than die. Truly, he is his father’s son.

If only the old bastard could see that.


Ursa

Their marriage is of convenience, of course, and he always showed the dutiful amount of respect and affection. Anything more would be a shameful display of his weakness.

Ursa isn’t so quiet with her emotions, which never fails to unsettle him. Ursa angry with the unexpected knowledge of his discussion with the Firelord is especially disquieting, but it is the contempt that freezes him.

He lets her murder Father, not for his throne (not why she did it) but for the intensity of that look.

He banishes her (not for his sake that she acted) and learns to hate her.


Iroh

When Iroh finally returns, he welcomes him kindly, as a brother. Ozai cannot wait to see how Iroh will take his own ascension to the throne. Cannot wait to see Iroh bow to him.

He is soon disappointed when his brother shows only jovial indifference.

Yet one more proof that Ozai was the only one of Azulon’s son with the inner strength to ascend to Firelord.

Iroh laughs, makes tea, chats with courtesan and plays with Zuko.

Ozai’s got to admire his brother’s sly craft, taking his revenge by trying to steal his son from right under his nose.


Zuko

In three years he hasn’t seen his son’s face without thinking that he could have killed him (contempt in Ursa’s eyes). A wife for a son, he’s wondered, (her son over her husband) was it a fair trade? He has another child after all, or could have other sons yet.

Zuko has always been too undisciplined, too weak from his mother’s coddling. Iroh’s meddling hasn’t helped.

It is high time to teach him a lesson.

Ozai doesn’t worry when Iroh leaves with Zuko. His son won’t forget who he owes his life to, now. It is written over his face.


Azula

Ozai is never foolish enough to trust his daughter more than he ought to. He knows her, after all, as he knows himself. All of her mother’s beauty, and all of his cold mind. She always knows how to flatter him. She always satisfies him with her firebending skills. She makes a deadly weapon, when he needs it, always reliable for her viciousness, cunning and ambition.

Truly, Azula is her father’s son. She is a perfect daughter, without any weaknesses.

Sometimes he wonders why he doesn’t love her. But never for long, such things do not matter to a Firelord.