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"Hello, Ozai," Iroh greeted amicably.
Ozai sneered, though hidden behind his now wiry hair that was slick with grease. He did not approach the bars where Iroh had gotten close, even going as far to sit down right in front of Ozai.
"My treacherous brother has finally come to visit me. What a special day it must be." Ozai hated the warmth that exuded from Iroh, hated that he could not do the same anymore.
"No one should be alone on their birthday, Ozai." Iroh responded, tone light as he set down all that was in hand. A kettle, cups, and a box of tea that was immediately opened upon Iroh's seating. "I have brought you your favorite! Earl grey! If that is still your favorite, I suppose..."
Iroh hummed absentmindedly as he began the preparation of the bergamot flavored black tea.
Ozai had a stunned moment of it being his birthday. It means he's been in this cell for eight months now. He hadn't realized just how long he's been stuck in here. He couldn't think of anything to say so he didn't bother, not like it's ever mattered to Iroh what Ozai's had to say.
The resentment he feels for Iroh is lackadaisical when he's stuck in this cell. Iroh has probably only come to see what has become of Ozai anyway. Despite Iroh's past preaching of how wrong the war had been, Iroh had played a major part in the Fire Nation's success at gaining Earth Kingdom colonies and nearly overtaking Ba Sing Se, and he had enjoyed it then. Iroh had also been just as much of a prodigal son as Ozai had been, more so.
"Come, Ozai," Iroh finally looked at him, smiling.
He looks much older than Ozai remembered, wrinkling and greying hair as he is. Ozai's oil-colored strands had yet to begin peppering but he doubts he'll notice when they will. Unless his supporters are intelligent enough to get him out, though Ozai is cunning enough to know when he's stretching a thought.
If the Avatar is able to take away his bending for good, he can stop an army.
Iroh holds out the cup of steaming tea through the bars. Ozai clenches his jaw but scoots closer anyway, taking the cup and smelling the tea. Earl grey was still his favorite.
"I can't imagine you came here just for my birthday." Ozai glared at his brother, fingers tightening on the cup. It was wooden, a mockery. "What have you come to gloat about?"
Iroh's face saddens. Ozai doesn't remember his brother being like this. Of course, they had barely talked after Lu Ten had perished, and then it was only business. Soon after, Ozai had taken the throne and banished Zuko, and Iroh had followed his son into exile. A lot has seemingly changed for Iroh these past six years.
"There is nothing to gloat about." Iroh lets Ozai's words rush over him. Ozai had forgotten how frustratingly patient his brother was. "You are turning forty-six, that is why I'm here. I understand I have never been an older brother to you, Ozai, but do not think that I do not love you in any way."
Ozai snarls, setting the cup down. He wants to drink it but he can't believe Iroh. That he has the audacity to come in here and act like he cares. After he's ignored Ozai since he was born and had never done anything for Ozai throughout his lifetime.
"If you ever loved me, I would not be in this cell! If you ever loved me, I would not have been just the back up son!" Ozai hisses, grasping the bars in his hands and leaning towards his brother. He wishes he could melt the stupid metal.
Iroh sets his own cup down, scooting closer to Ozai. Ozai could reach through and grab Iroh if he wanted. But he didn't really want to touch the man. They had fought before, Ozai had never won, but this was much different circumstances.
"Our family did not know love, Ozai. It was only until Lu Ten had passed that I really understood what it meant. I am sorry that I didn't realize it sooner." Iroh's sincerity was suffocating. Ozai, regardless of his loathing towards his brother already, found himself despising this new Iroh.
What happened to the man who could succeed in anything? What happened to the man who was so prodigal, all the Sages predicted prosperity under his reign? What happened to the brother that had not glanced a second time at Ozai? What happened to the man who had never had time when Ozai was young but suddenly had time when it was Lu Ten? What happened to the man who had spent years studying strategy to crumble the walls of the strongest Earth Kingdom city? What happened to the man that scorned Ozai as much as Ozai had scorned him?
"Our family knew strength and success!" Ozai spat, squeezing the bars between his fingers. "You knew strength and success! Now you know nothing but failure and loss!"
Ozai laughed but it was empty and mirthless, "Let me guess, riots have broken out across the Fire Nation. The other nations have been resistant to trading and treaties. They have probably also been asking for more than the Fire Nation can give as reparation. Your new Fire Lord must have to deal with assassins and resistance and insubordination. He is probably running himself to his grave at this moment!"
Iroh reached out, brows scrunching, hand not touching Ozai's but above it on the same bar.
"We both know change is difficult. While what you are referring to is, for the most part, true-" Ozai only has a moment to understand that Iroh's saying he's right- "It does not mean that the nations cannot heal. It will take time and effort but I have no doubt that Zuko will succeed. Besides that, weeding out lifetimes of propaganda and military mindsets and war mongering clan leaders seems to be our current focus."
Ozai listens raptly. He doesn't get any visitors really and the ones he does get are not this open about the goings on of the Fire Nation, or the nations in general. Before he can remark on his son's inability to focus on one thing only, Iroh continues.
"Even so, Zuko has taken to visiting our fellow nations to discuss these things in person. As most of the world leaders are not keen on venturing to the Fire Nation's capitol." Iroh smiles again, warm and distant, and Ozai wonders why he can't find anything scathing to say. "He has already made a peace with the Southern Water Tribe and is reaching the same point with the North, though after the Siege they've been very reluctant on trading. But after Zuko had released wrongfully imprisoned tribesmen, they're understanding that change is upon us.
"King Kuei is the least friendly but he is supportive. His country is going through a lot of change with the power of the Dai Li being reduced so drastically and the opening of the walls ever since they were torn down. He's very busy and that is the biggest reason why we haven't gotten further on reaching a resolution with the Earth Kingdom. Still, I am very proud of Zuko."
Iroh picks up his tea with his free hand, the other still above Ozai's. Ozai can't stop glaring, everything doesn't sound like it's falling apart and he wants to burn this prison to the ground and take Iroh with him. Instead, there's just an itch under his skin that cannot be scratched.
"You should be, too." Iroh continues, "He has even managed to create an understanding with the heads of our departments. As you know, they've been stuck in the same mindset for decades so Zuko has had to make it clear that while he is advocating for peace and change, he understands that it is all very sudden and difficult to grasp and he does not expect them to like his rule at first, but he does expect them to stand by him."
"He's showing weakness in front of the court," Ozai hisses. Or he tries to, the undertone he meant to have isn't there, it's more of a hush, a reprimand. "They'll never respect someone who is treating them like they've all done wrong while he has not. Sanctimony will get him nowhere."
Iroh grins at him, "I have warned him of the same. Despite our disagreements, Ozai, I had never doubted your ability at being Fire Lord. You are very cunning in leadership. Did you know earl grey tea is a representation of sophistication and introspection? It is also a symbol of tradition and rigidity, though neither are a bad thing in moderation."
"And I was not moderate?" Ozai assumes, amusement tinging his voice without permission. Ozai pushes his empty cup to Iroh, who immediately pours him another. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"I know you love the Fire Nation as much as I. However, you did not want change like I did, so I figured telling you our struggles will make you happier than our successes." Iroh admits, surprising Ozai, which seems to be a reoccurring theme.
"And what of your successes, brother?" Ozai says wearily, leaning against the bars. Even months after having his bending taken away, Ozai sometimes still feels like it had just happened. Weak and exhausted and lacking.
"I do not want to make you angry, I came here to spend time with you." Iroh shakes his head with a sad smile. "You are already stuck in here, brother, I will not make you miserable on top of it."
"I am already miserable," He retorts numbly. "My failure of a son is on my throne, my older brother sees me as weak and comes here to make me happy," Ozai spits the word. "My army has been dismantled and my advisors resigned, and I am stuck here. With no bending, no visitors except my weak brother and weaker son, and idiot guards that are either afraid of me or despise me."
Iroh is not sympathetic and Ozai had not expected such a reaction.
"Which I cannot change." Iroh seems to contemplate what he says next before sighing, "I will not lie, I am not sorry you are here in this cell. I am sorry that you will never see or understand why the world had to go back to what it was like a hundred years ago. After all that has happened, I still see you as my little brother that I failed."
"You weren't even there when I was born." Ozai drawls, electing to ignore the part about how irredeemable he is to Iroh, because it's true and he knows it.
"I was not. But I could have tried harder and been a better brother. I was too focused on becoming Fire Lord and our father's strict ideals. But I was seventeen then, and Zuko has turned the same age a couple months ago, yet he is still talking to Azula despite almost having been killed by her on multiple occasions."
Ozai laughs under his breath at the notion. Still attempting to see something where it's not. That's who Zuko is, weak and foldable.
"I have failed you, I have failed Mother, I have failed Lu Ten, I have failed Azula, I have failed Zuko. I don't want to fail my family anymore. And if this is the only way I can see you, then I'd rather talk about things that make you happy rather than things that will make you more miserable."
Ozai can't imagine regretting something like that. Ozai had not failed his family, he had been rectifying it, finally winning the war. He had made sure his children would be perfect heirs (despite their now obvious lack for it) and himself an even better heir than Iroh, though Ozai knows he had never quite surpassed his brother in patience and bending, maybe perhaps in brutality and ruthlessness however.
"What do you do at the palace?" If Iroh doesn't want to talk about something, Ozai knows he can't make him. Maybe he can keep Iroh here a little longer though, even if he loathes to admit so.
"Nothing, really. I have told Zuko that I cannot make any decisions for him though I can advise him. I don't even live in the Caldera anymore, I am visiting this week."
Ozai would've been surprised but Iroh hadn't even tried to fight for the throne when he came back from his rendezvous post the death of Lu Ten.
"Despite his age, Zuko has made remarkable achievements." Iroh does not elaborate and Ozai's sure the achievements are nothing he'd personally consider exemplary. "I cannot imagine being on the throne at such an age."
Ozai had never really thought about that. The Fire Nation must have been reeling over having such a young ruler.
"Is he the youngest?" Ozai's never bothered to read the papers on the Fire Nation's leaders' history. It had never seemed important and he hadn't really cared, but he knew Iroh had often visited the dragon catacombs.
"He is. The second youngest Fire Lord was Lady Izumi, the first woman to ever take the crown. She was twenty-two and her father died from a foreseen illness." Iroh does not seem derogatory at Ozai's lack of knowledge on their forefathers (and mothers, apparently).
"I'm sure that caused another riot." Ozai feels the glee at such a notion but has no room to outwardly express it, lest Iroh leaves.
"It had, but only from the advisors and generals. Most of which had been resigned following his coronation, as I'm sure you know they quite liked your tenacity. He has proven himself responsible enough to be Fire Lord these past months."
"You said there's still riots and lack of trading and movement." Ozai points out, there was no more tea in the pot so he gave Iroh his cup numbly.
"Even so, he has gained quite the following. It does help that Zuko has been among shanty towns and has visited all the districts in the Fire Nation."
"Ah, yes. During his banishment." Ozai feels a spark of triumph, remembering the permanent mark upon his son's face, but there's no gloat to his tone. What is there to gloat about when it apparently ended up helping Zuko rule the Fire Nation? "I suppose I should have killed him when Father told me to."
Iroh startles for a moment and Ozai remembers that he hadn't been there.
"Perhaps. But then I would have had to fight you for the throne. I am glad I didn't." Iroh says instead of what he probably wants to. Ozai knows how Iroh feels about Zuko nowadays. "Unlike the Avatar, I would have had to kill you to stop you."
Ozai had never beaten his brother in spars. He has no doubt that Iroh would have won. He can't imagine how things would've gone if Ozai had killed Zuko when he had the chance and Iroh came back. Azulon would have ordered an Agni Kai between them, no doubt, and those fights are meant to be to the death. Though losers who live are dishonored, quite blatantly.
Ozai would have been fighting for death, Iroh would probably know that about him and act accordingly, ever the over thinker.
"And that would have been seen as an act of violence by the nation." Ozai finishes with a sigh. Brother killing brother for power.
"Indeed. That's why I am thankful the Avatar has reappeared."
Ozai sneers. A twelve year old child had bested him. At the height of a fire bender's power, the Avatar had succeeded in beating him.
"Can you believe King Bumi of Omashu was friends with the Avatar as a child?"
Ozai's eyes pop open, he had heard the king had taken back his city on his own. How can someone be so old and so powerful?
"One familiar face among such catastrophic loss is certainly not a win." Ozai says, not really wanting to admit he's a little impressed someone had lived for so long. The oldest Fire Lord had been 102 when he had passed.
"Certainly not." Iroh concedes with no weight. "King Bumi is a little... mad, I shall say."
Ozai knows what that means. "You've met him?"
"I've worked with him. we had freed Ba Sing Se the day of the comet together with others. He is one of the most powerful earth benders I've ever seen."
Iroh begins to gather up his supplies, "I have enjoyed our time together, brother. I will come to see you again."
Ozai white knuckles the bars, anger scorches through him but the effort to act on it is missing. What's there really to say? There's the majority of him that wants to shout and curse Iroh to never come back, to tell him how much he hates Iroh, but there's a tiny, tiny part that can't believe his brother would even bother to visit him on such a minuscule day as his birthday. That his brother would visit him at all. Every time before now, Iroh had shown his disparagement for Ozai. Why has everything changed?
Iroh stands but pauses just before he leaves, smiling gently, "You are a great conversationalist. I look forward to seeing you again, Ozai. Have a good day."
Ozai suddenly remembers the amount of promises Iroh had made in his childhood about seeing him, and the little hope he had had that Iroh was meaning his words crumbles itself. He does not show it. But finality riddles his tone.
"Goodbye, Iroh."
...
To Ozai's bemusement, Iroh does continue to visit every year on the same day. Eventually, the day of another visit, Ozai paces his cell because it's taking Iroh much longer than usual to arrive.
Ozai tenses and snarls when the door opens, ready to bite Iroh's head off, but it isn't his brother that comes in. It's Zuko, holding a tea set just like the one Iroh typically brings.
Ozai sits cross-legged in front of the bars slowly, narrowing his eyes at his son. He's much older than Ozai remembers, just how long has he been in this cell? Zuko hasn't visited him in awhile, Ozai doesn't think. Time blurred in the four walls and Ozai had a hard time grasping the days passing by.
But Ozai knows it's been a long time just by Zuko's appearance. It's unsettling to see how much Zuko looks like him, even with his handprint on his face. He looks regal, to Ozai's contempt.
He doesn't say anything as he sits in front of Ozai, pouring a cup of tea and handing it through the bars and setting it down when Ozai doesn't take it. He pours his own and only after he drinks from his cup does Ozai pick up the one given to him. It's earl grey, his favorite, and it tastes just like how Iroh makes it.
"To what do I owe the great Fire Lord to grace my presence." Ozai wonders if he looks as old as he feels. Zuko appears to have smile lines and crows feet. Ozai's felt his own thinning skin and seen the unruly length of his whitening hair, his knees and hips hurt more often than not and he's gotten much skinnier. A great part of Ozai is glad he doesn’t have a mirror.
Zuko takes a shuddering breath and Ozai finally notices the red rimmed eye. Ozai's grip tightens on the wooden cup in his hand.
"Uncle... Uncle wanted me to tell you in person that he has passed on." Zuko wipes at his watery eye and takes a steadying breath before meeting his gaze. Ozai wonders what he must see for Zuko to look at him so pityingly.
Ozai has no effort to rebuke the sight and he's been in this cell long enough to know he only has the ability to wonder.
Ozai looks at the tea and suddenly can't stomach it. He grimaces and sets the cup down in front of him, leaning forward onto the bars like he would if it were Iroh here instead.
"I assume the funeral has already happened." Ozai doesn't ask because there's nothing he can really question. The world has moved on and he has been left to rot. And now he no longer has the one thing preventing him from losing his mind. Though maybe Ozai had lost it long ago, he really doesn't know. It’s all foggy now.
"It has. I just, he told me he comes to visit you on your birthday and with earl grey tea, so I waited until today."
"When did he pass?" Ozai asks quietly, looking at the dancing flame of the torch on the wall. Zuko didn't seem to notice that it was following his breaths. The weak pang of absence is drowned out by resignation.
"Two weeks ago." Zuko looks at him again, contemplative. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Ozai doesn't know why Zuko says it. He doesn't know anything about Zuko. Time has given Ozai the insight to understand that while he's still stuck in his failure to his Nation, his Nation has prospered into peace.
Ozai laughs mirthlessly, leaning his forehead on the bars. His hair stuck against his face and Ozai had to wonder if he looks as pathetic as Zuko had in the Agni Kai arena.
"Is it really my loss?"
Zuko has grown much more than Ozai had really comprehended from Iroh's visits. Sure, he knew Zuko had married and had a heir, but he hadn't grasped just how old he'd gotten.
"He's your brother." Zuko queries it, not really asking but thoughtful. It's not like Ozai has anything to lose.
"He was never a good older brother, Zuko. If you want to call him a good brother for visiting me once a year ever since my imprisonment began, you can, but you have not known him as long as I." Ozai watches his own thumb rub against the metal bars mindlessly. "I loathe to admit it but I will miss seeing him every year."
"You're right. I do not know him as you do. What did you talk about when he came to visit?" Zuko questions curiously, interest appearing on him.
Ozai recognizes this may be the last time someone will ever visit him before he dies. It's quite ironic that the visitor is his son, if it were anyone else Ozai would perhaps beg them to stay longer. But Ozai would also rather go insane than see Zuko every once in awhile in his prison.
"Many things. Mostly whatever made me happy." Ozai exaggerates the word. Nothing he'd heard had ever really made him happy. What would have made him happy was leaving this cell, now he's not so sure he would leave it even if he was allowed to. He doesn't know the world outside and he doesn't want to. "He's told me about Republic City, the rebellions against the Avatar, but mostly about the Fire Nation. The government, the people, the advancements in bending and technology, you."
Ozai silently asks for another cup and Zuko doesn't even make a face. Last time Zuko had visited, he was much younger than he is now and had gotten quite frustrated with Ozai quickly. This Zuko was patient and not very talkative.
Zuko hums, "He has told you about Princess Izumi?"
Ozai smirks knowingly, closing his eyes against the blatant pride Zuko is preening in about his offspring. It's quite ridiculous, Zuko's admiration for a child.
"Yes, your heir. Iroh had gone on and on about his granddaughter. I mostly listen, it's not as if I have many stories to tell."
"I suppose not. She's turned fifteen this year. I am going to give her the Fire Lord mantle when I can't travel any longer." Zuko admits with a small smile. He doesn't really look at Ozai when he talks but Ozai knows it's not out of fear. He's not old enough to delude himself yet. "I'm having her visit all the districts and all the nations before I do so. I want her to be prepared for the crown unlike how I was."
"You have become quite the Fire Lord." Ozai responds wryly instead. Zuko really does look just like him. "Though I'm sure Iroh only has praise for you rather than ridicule."
Zuko smiles slightly, "Probably. He had always believed in me too much."
There's an undertone of tension that is not missed by either party. Ozai knows Zuko doesn't quite want to be here but he also knows Zuko is too stubborn to admit anything of the sort.
"You have gotten much older since I last saw you." Ozai relieves the observation from his conscious thoughts. It's a bitter thing, to know Zuko has succeeded in his goals and Ozai had failed. But the bitterness is stale. How long has he been in here now?
"I suppose," Zuko shrugs. "It has been awhile. Druk is fully grown now."
"I had forgotten. Iroh mentioned you found a dragon." Ozai sighs out, snickering to himself. He had not believed Iroh until the man snuck in the tiny little red serpent. It was one of Ozai's best memories in this cell, he had never imagined seeing a dragon in real life. All he had were those visits of Iroh's.
"Yeah." Zuko looks up at him now. "You seem updated on everything still."
Ozai shakes his head, "Only on things my brother said. The guards don't taunt me anymore with your accomplishments."
"They did that?" Zuko makes a face, a frown of disapproval marring his skin. "You were already stuck in here, there was no point in kicking a downed man."
Zuko looks irritated for just a moment before pushing it aside, instead studying Ozai. Ozai feels no insecurity in the investigation. What's there to see except the man who burned his face and failed in ruling the world. Why was Zuko even disappointed that his guards so obviously approved of him as Fire Lord?
"You have gotten much older, too. You look a lot like Azulon."
Ozai sneers at the thought, "You look a lot like me."
Zuko frowns at him, tilting his head. "I am... glad at how I look. Not because I look like you, and I do, but because it shows the good in evil."
"Since you're a spitting image of your forefathers and you've created an era of peace." Ozai explicates for him with a small roll of his eyes. "I know."
"It doesn't matter. I'm sorry for comparing you to Azulon." Ozai's taken aback for a moment but of course Zuko would apologize. He's a good man.
Ozai waves a hand in dismissal, "When is Izumi going to go on this trip of yours."
Zuko sighs, "When she's eighteen. It should only take a year, with how Mai set it all up, but I'm still worried. I know she's about the age I was when I became Fire Lord but I can't imagine putting a child on the throne."
Zuko gives a dry smile, "It doesn't quite feel like I've been on the throne for twenty-five years."
"I would assume not. You've surpassed my rule, as well as Sozin's rule." Ozai has a brief thought at Zuko's words: I'm seventy today.
Zuko thinks for a moment, "I have, haven't I. I don't think I'll quite reach Azulon's rule."
Ozai scoffs, "No one will. Iroh was sixty years old with a heir and Azulon had still not given him the crown."
"Do you know why that was?"
"My father did not quite like Lu Ten. Well, he didn't like any of his grandchildren, frankly. Azula was named after him and a bending prodigy, yet he still did not favor her."
"Really? I had not known. I mean, I knew he didn't like me but that was expected." Zuko hums again. "Uncle was right, by the way. You are a great conversationalist when you're not being a narcissist."
"Ah, snark from the son I exiled. I shall take it with a grain of salt." Ozai muttered, setting his empty cup outside the bars. He hung his arms through them on a support, gesturing to Zuko. "What happened to the other two layers."
"It's too fucking hot for them," Zuko scowls, looking down at his robes. Ozai blinks a little at the brashness. "Some of my advisors were upset that I refused to where every single layer but I told them that we can get them something similar and they can where all fucking seven of them in one hundred degree weather. They did not refute me after that."
Zuko smiles a little at his own recount, waving a hand, "I get the traditionalism but I've nearly passed out before from the layering."
"You must leave the palace often to nearly pass out." Ozai remarked humorously, he would pay to see Zuko faint from the heat in Fire Lord regalia in front of the Fire Nation population. He would pay to see Zuko murdered, but that's besides the point.
"I do. I attempt to visit my districts often to ensure my advisors have not been deceiving me on the goings on in their clans."
"Very wise of you, Fire Lord. I imagine the people are quite taken with you." There's no resentment there. Ozai had never met the peasantry and he didn't care about them. It's not like it matters anyway, he's not going anywhere.
"I like to think so." Zuko sets down his cup, folding his hands together. "I'm glad I decided to come down here. It was... nice, talking to you."
Ozai eyes Zuko for a moment. Zuko does not falter under his gaze and meets it. Ozai would almost think he's looking in a mirror if it weren't for the scar.
"You didn't have to tell me about Iroh." It's a statement, Zuko's words implied that he had been debating even coming to tell Ozai. Ozai's not a very thankful person, especially for the man in front of him, but that's the best he can really do.
"Yes, I did." Zuko gathers the utensils, standing up and smiling carefully at Ozai. "He's your family too. Goodbye, Ozai."
It doesn't really register that it's weird hearing Zuko call him by his name. It certainly doesn't matter, of course, but it's a definition and Ozai knows how to take a hint. He nods silently as Zuko walks from the cell.
There's a ringing finality in that moment. A stone feeling in his gut. In the next few years, Ozai knows, no visitors will come and no one will care when he dies. Ozai still can't find any remorse in him to regret what's transpired.
...
Time passes in muddled thoughts. There's no point in paying attention to it with the position he's reached. The guards have not taunted him in decades and no one has visited in what must be years.
Ozai is surprised when he gets another, but there's no energy to be had. He only forces his cracking joints to get close to the bars, hoping the visitor brought earl grey tea. The visitor did not and Ozai found himself disappointed for a moment.
It's a woman he doesn't recognize, but that's happened a couple times early on in his imprisonment. Which is really all that sticks out in his memories: his beginning days of being locked in. He's not one to reminisce so all he had were thoughts of those who had visited previously.
Ozai sighs and grasps the bars, peering up at the woman. She's Fire Nation, with royal garb and gold-rimmed glasses. She's an adult but Ozai can't tell if she's old enough to have been alive during the war. It's difficult to grasp that there are now generations who have not known war or the greatness of the Fire Nation. Everything he's heard of the outside world is difficult to grasp though.
"You're less intimidating than I’d thought you’d be." Her voice is flat and unimpressed. Ozai apparently has the effort to bristle at her tone.
"I've been in prison for over thirty years now. Of course I'm not." He scowls at her. She tilts her head in a familiar fashion and takes a moment to debate something silently. She seems to settle and sighs heavily, sitting down seiza before him.
Ozai relaxes at that. He hated when the visitors stood over him. He may have lost everything but he was once a royal and he liked to pretend he still was.
She looks familiar in a vague way, the wires not connecting in his brain. Is he supposed to know her?
"I suppose so. And it's actually been forty-three years since you were imprisoned."
Ozai can't help the way he sags against the bars. It didn't feel like forty years. He squeezes his eyes closed, he can't even remember what Agni used to feel like anymore.
"I'm eighty-eight?" Most days it felt like he'd just lost everything he had been, everything he had had.
"You are." Her dull nature and composed posture irritates him but he's so stuck on having a visitor he doesn't even care. Even if the visitor doesn't care for him. "I've come here to see you, for reasons I can't quite grasp. My father had painted you as powerful and looming but lacking. I now see he had known quite a different man from who you are today."
"Your father?" Ozai rasped, looking up at her again. She doesn't look much like Zuko, but she's a spitting image of Mai. "Princess Izumi... I never thought I'd meet you."
"I didn't think you'd still be alive if I got the urge." Izumi shrugs numbly, as if it had not bothered her. It probably hadn't. "You seem so pathetic to the heinous crimes you committed."
Blatant and unrepentant, quite like Zuko. Ozai wonders how much of it is from Mai. He only remembers meeting her once, within the first week of imprisonment, he thinks. It's all so distant now that he knows how long he's been in this cell.
Ozai laughs. Insults didn't mean much to a man at the end of his rope.
"Yet I still committed them. I won't drag on the details but they had not been crimes."
"Actually, one hundred and fifty years ago, it had been illegal in the Fire Nation to challenge someone under the age of adulthood to an Agni Kai. The age of maturity then and now was sixteen." Izumi says this as if she's reading from a book. She's the heir, Ozai probably should have expected her to have been drilled on the war and the history before, during, and after.
"Sure, but a man named Kaito, who was actually an agricultural advisor at the palace, challenged me to an Agni Kai. I was fifteen and my father allowed it to happen. Of course, I won and my father had to get a new advisor, but I was still underage."
Her brows furrow and she hums just like Zuko had done. "I figured your childhood was insufficient considering your psychology. I didn't know you fought an Agni Kai so young, however. You know, despite how different you both have turned out, you and my father grew up quite similarly."
Ozai squeezes the bars, he's had years to make that comparison but it wasn't something he liked acknowledging. Because, at the end of the day, Zuko had prevailed and Ozai had fallen.
"It doesn't much matter now. I will not be here soon."
"No, of course not. It's just an observation." She waves a flippant hand. "I am surprised how much you look like Dad as well. Iroh is only nine but he looks quite like him so I assume he looks like you."
"Iroh?" Ozai queries. What? When did this happen? He hopes he doesn't sound as desperate as he feels. He doesn’t think he succeeds.
"Oh." She nods her head absentmindedly, like she's had a thought confirmed. "I bore my son, Iroh II, at the age of twenty-four. He is currently nine years old."
"When were you betrothed?" Izumi seems surprised by the question but it's such a subtle shock that Ozai almost overlooks it.
"I was twenty-one," She informs. The monotonous personality of hers was irking but also entertaining in a way Ozai had not had in a long time. It was... something, to meet someone new. Ozai found himself reveling in the moment.
"So you met my brother."
A quirk of her lips, "I did. I miss him quite a lot."
Ozai almost says he does too. It's not as if he needs to say, Izumi seems to just know. Ozai wonders what Iroh and Zuko have told her about him.
"You are much what I expected you to be." Ozai says quietly, studying the woman before him, his granddaughter. There's no care for her, no feelings he has, but it's odd to know that, as he only has so many things to think about in his prison cell, he had pieced her together quite well. Ozai had always been good at pattern recognition. It's also very odd to know that Zuko, the son he despised and banished, has a child, a grandson. "Zuko gave you a very respectable name."
"The first Fire Lady's, if I'm not mistaken." She nods, "You're more amicable than I had expected."
"What else have I to do?" Ozai waves around the cell, the barren mat his only solace. "You're my first visitor since Iroh had died. Though Zuko did come down to tell me."
"He did? I'm surprised my father would see you at all."
"He used to in his first years, to ask questions mostly." Ozai admitted. There was a near-nonexistent piece of him that missed seeing Zuko, even if it was only to relive the imitation of his past righteousness at the sight of his handprint upon his face.
"I shouldn't be surprised then, since I have come down here. Thought not to ask questions, just to see the man who had nearly destroyed the world." Izumi says carelessly. Her eyes are sharp and intelligent as they rove over him. "You seem to still feel as if you had done right by your Nation, and I shall not fault you for such, but I find myself content that you will die in here."
Ozai grins at her, "I'll take that as absolution."
"Take it as you wish but do note that I will always view you as this pathetic man rotting in his own filth rather than the Phoenix King you had claimed to be." Izumi stands then, folding her hands together. "I would not call it pleasant to meet you, Grandfather. However, it was quite insightful."
She was biting, Ozai did not doubt her reign will be superior to Zuko's.
"Goodbye, Princess Izumi."
"Farewell, Ozai." She nods at him and the slight royal pretense of the gesture makes him want to rip his skin off.
Three years later, Ozai dies in his sleep, alone.