FIC: Lessons of an Usurper [Avatar, Ozai & Ursa]

[omnicat]

Title: Lessons of an Usurper
Author: Omnicat
Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge: Preferably everything aired so far, but 'Zuko Alone' and 'The Day of Black Sun' in particular.
Warnings: None.
Pairings: Ozai x Ursa
Summary: Ursa was a mother more so than she was a wife.
Author’s Note: Avatar has done an excellent job so far of giving even their villains some shades of three-dimensionality. Here's one of Ozai’s. :)



Lessons of an Usurper

Ozai may have loved her then, in that one moment stretched between the two sides of Fire Lord Azulon’s bed. He never really has before. Not like this.

Ursa is a warm, caring woman, soft and snuggleable all over. It is hard not to like her, and Ozai does appreciate the wifely duties she performs for him. Even he likes to be indulged every now and then.

But only when the teddy bear gloves come off and her iron will surfaces as claws - stricken, striking, struck - does Ozai recognize the beauty in her. Hard, powerful lines in her stance, love and hatred converging in a ruthlessness that transform her pretty features into an image of perfection.

Fire Lord Azulon is dead; because of Ursa, the throne is Ozai’s to take.

He may have loved her then. And she may have broken his heart with a single promise.

"I won’t let anyone harm Zuko."

Her banishment takes effect that very night. He sends her far away, casting her from his nation - out of sight, out of mind - with a promise of his own (he will keep Zuko safe) and a threat (she will face face the rightful consequences should she ever return), neither of which he is sure he can make good on - not yet.

But he will. He will cast his doubts aside, as soon and surely as he will be Fire Lord. It has already been decided. Ursa has sealed the fate of them all.

Because though he may not be able to kill her that night, Ozai knows that those who rule through treachery can never allow disloyalty.



PSAN: "He will keep Zuko safe," HAHAHAHA. To use a Once Upon A Time quote that's gotten popuplar lately: "When you see the future, there is irony everywhere." (Thank you, kind reviewer, for rightfully pointing out that my sense of irony is about as sharp as a soup ladle. I don't wanna get all pompous about ~hidden messages~ and shit like that, but ironic hindsight was, indeed, the entire point of this fic. I hope this note clears up any confusion about the odds of Ozai actually keeping that promise.)