Chapter Text
Anyone who was anyone gathered in the arena to watch. The torches’ flames rose with every extra heartbeat that entered. The stands were almost crowded with snickering and murmuring nobles. Even some palace servants lingered at the fringes of the room, wondering. Waiting. What had the Prince done for the Firelord to challenge him to an Agni Kai?
Disrespectful brat, the generals who were there scoffed. Needed to learn his lesson. Pitiful prince, the servants who hid there cried. He was only trying to protect us. Our people. Both stories circulated the crowd, but no one dared raise their voice above a whisper. It would be no use knowing if the Prince died today.
The duel began, and both opponents turned. The room watched ( in delight, in horror ) as the prince’s eyes widened and he dropped to his knees.
“Please, Father! I only had the Fire Nation’s best interests at heart! I’m sorry I spoke out of turn!”
The General leaned over the bannister. “ Zuko ,” he whispered frantically. The Princess grinned and leaned over with him.
The Firelord pushed the cloak from his shoulders. ”You will fight for your honor.”
”I meant you no disrespect! I am your loyal son,” the Prince pleaded.
”Rise and fight, Prince Zuko!”
”I won’t fight you!” I can't fight you, they hear .
”You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.”
The Firelord approached the kneeling boy, hand outstretched. Time seemed to slow to that moment as the Prince looked up to his father ( his father, he was fighting his father). The General looked away. The Princess leaned forward jn anticipation.
For a split second, confusion washed over Prince Zuko's face.
Then an arc of red hot flame shot high into the air.
The Firelord leaped back, narrowly escaping the sudden burst of flame. To first burn, they murmured, and Prince Zuko almost caught him. He visibly gnashed his teeth and leaped forward, flames dancing between his fingers.
“You finally move! Here I was, thinking my cowardly son only knew to grovel.”
Prince Zuko rolled away, looking more and more confused by the second. He glanced down at his hands like he couldn't believe they were real. Not another glance was spared for his father.
“Fight, Prince Zuko!”
“Wait—” The Prince dispersed the flames headed toward his face. The Firelord stalked closer, sending another jet of fire that the Prince dispersed.
Back and forth, father exchanged blows with son. The son kept blocking and neutralizing every blow from the father. Even as the Firelord got visibly more frustrated, as his flames started to look hotter than what is needed to burn, Prince Zuko dodged and redirected it all, keeping his distance. If it weren't for the fire jetting from his feet and obeying under his hand, it did not even look like he was firebending.
“End this nonsense!” Ozai lunged for his opponent, his son.
As he danced around his father's attack, Prince Zuko unleashed a whip of fire that singed the edges of the Firelord's hair and left a streak of a burn against his left bicep.
“Call!”
The Firelord and the Prince whipped their heads around. Under the intense eyes of the royal family, the sage cowered.
“P-Prince Zuko has achieved the first burn, and w-wins the Agni Kai.”
A breath, and all hesitate to clap. The Firelord did not hesitate his next move however as a wave of ever growing flames flew towards the Prince. Murmurs and clamors were rising in the arena. The battle is done, the Prince has won. And yet, flames were still slung around the arena.
”My lord!”
”Father! It’s over!” Prince Zuko tried to call out over the roar of flames and heated air.
Ozai growled and sent another burst of flame at the Prince. “It's over when I say it is!”
Lightning crackled in his palms, and distant gasps came from the crowd.
“NO!” It might have come from the General, from the servants, from some spirit above. Echoing throughout the arena as lightning surged towards the prince, faster than he could run.
Prince Zuko planted his feet on the ground, arms outstretched. The look in his eyes spoke of an unmoving confidence. He did not need to run. In a foreign, fluid movement, he caught the lightning, pulled it back and around, and redirected it back at his father. Ozai, so confident in his attack, so arrogant in his stance, was not prepared for the lightning to return to him so quickly. In fact, he expected nothing at all.
It caught Ozai in the chest. His muscles twitched unnaturally, and he fell to the floor. Seconds passed, maybe whole minutes. He did not move. The sage hesitantly walked up to Ozai and brought a hand to his neck, feeling for a pulse. The room held a collective breath. He looked up and shook his head.
”WHAT?” the Princess screeched.
Silence. The boy looked upon his father's corpse in detached horror and confusion. Distinctly, there was no guilt.
“Zuko!”
Less than ten minutes earlier, he was at his desk. Burning the midnight oil, so to say. The lanterns all around his room rose and fell with his breathing. His crown acted as an overly important paperweight for the scrolls and letters crowding his desk. His own letters to the rest of Team Avatar sat on the side, remaining untouched and unsent. He knew that as busy as he was, it didn’t compare to all the working and traveling and talking the rest of his friends had to do. All Zuko needed to do was hole himself up in the palace and maybe wave during public events.
He had a searing headache for an hour before that, but he still tried to get some work done. When that didn’t work, he rested his head for a while. Maybe a power nap could get him through the night.
When he lifted his head, he was kneeling on the ground, his long gone father about to burn his face off. It’s been a bit since this nightmare came back, but this time, he wasn’t frozen. Zuko felt the heat of flames jet from his sweeping leg. Finally, a dream where he could fight back.
Then, he looked down at his hands. This…felt a little too real.
One thing led to another, and Zuko watched numbly as they carted Ozai’s body away from the arena. The audience above clamored.
Familiar hands rested on his bare shoulders. “Prince Zuko.”
Zuko looked up at Iroh (wasn’t Zuko taller than him?). “Uncle,” he said weakly.
”Zuko,” he started gravely, trying to keep his voice low. Not that it was hard over the mess of the crowd. “You…you do know what this means, yes?”
”I—“ This means a lot of things .
Zuko absently touched his left cheek. The skin under his fingers was smooth. It felt warm. It didn’t feel like a dream. But it has to be a dream because the left side of his face hasn’t been smooth in over a decade. Everything felt familiar in an unfamiliar way—the strands of hair he kept in front of his face weren’t there, the sounds and voices were clearer than they ever were after he was burned, and noticeably, the weight of the crown he almost always wore was not there.
”I won?”
He never won the Agni Kai in his dreams. Only lost and burned. But as the seconds passed by, as this whole ordeal continued not to end, it was starting to feel less and less like a dream. Zuko gripped his own shoulder tightly. His fingers still spasmed from redirecting the lightning, and that just made it more real.
Iroh hesitated. ”You didn’t just win, Nephew,” he said slowly.
Zuko didn’t know who was shaking: him or Iroh. He heard Azula screech incoherently over and over, leaning over the railing into the arena. She did not come down to congratulate Zuko’s victory.
”You are the Crown Prince,” Iroh reminded him. “With your father…you are the next Firelord.”
Zuko stared blankly. “Right. Firelord.”
Again . Because this is the second time he deposed his father. Just, much more permanently this time.
Nobody dared to move, to return to a reality outside of the Agni Kai arena. That would mean acknowledging the boy in the ring as their new ruler. But when the sage returned and nervously cleared his throat, eyes drifted to him.
Firelord Zuko . Three years too early, Zuko thought hysterically.