Dark Revelations

by Geothewriter

Summary:

Katara finds out the origins of Zuko's scar not long before their marriage.

She has some choice thoughts about Ozai, and decides to act on them.

Notes:

• For Ilya_Halfelven.

A raucous cacophony crashed overhead as near-constant lightning flashes illuminated the rain-streaked palace windows she left behind. The panes shook with every thunderous rumble. Her entire being relished the energy of the skies as she walked through the downpour.

On any other night, she may have stopped the water from soaking her through. Not tonight. Not at the midnight hour. Torrential as it was, she let the storm in. It made her feel alive. She felt the crackle of the storm’s power, but more; beyond the tempest, above the clouds, the moon hung full, brimming with power just begging to be set free. Who was she to deny it that want?

She entered the massive stone prison fortress with little resistance. The guards who recognized her bowed and immediately stepped aside, while those who didn’t were decidedly dealt with. Not harmed. Not permanently anyway. None would stop her from reaching her goal.

His cell was dark, dingy, and dismal, a desolate place for a man who once sat at the precipice of ruling the world. A fitting place for him to rot. The walls were thick with moisture, seeping in from the storm above. 

Perfect but unnecessary.

The guards posted to this prisoner’s cell were summarily dismissed. She felt their presence would only complicate the matter. This was personal. 

Standing in the barren hall, she felt the latent energy of the full moon still reaching out, still begging to be used, and she did intend to use it, but not just yet. He lay in the cot on the opposite wall, a pathetic example of what he once was, of what he represented. She shook her head, shunting away the tiniest pity that rose within. 

She bowed her head, a mockery of her own position and her own morals, but she wanted this to feel perfect as she softly spoke, “Fire Lord Ozai?”

A shuffle of clothing signaled his consciousness, and she could see in the shadows that he had sat up, eyes of amber shining through the dark. 

He returned her inquiry with graveled words, a sign that he rarely spoke. “You are bold to use such a title here. State your business.”

Pathetic how he thinks he yet holds any power here. He rose from the cot and approached the bars opposite her. 

She keeps her tone even, controlled, and if she were honest, almost dark. “I have learned an interesting tale regarding your son, the former Prince Zuko, and I would know its truth.” 

He seethes through the bars. “You speak from a place of knowledge. It is dangerous for a woman to come alone here and seek its origin; Unless of course, you seek power.” 

Anger roiled and growled within her, but it was not yet the time. She would play with her prey a while longer. “What power could you possibly offer from in there?”

She could feel his eyes narrow from within the cell, the twin coals of amber becoming mere pinpricks. “Who are you that dares disturb the only true Fire Lord of this land?”

She suppresses a smile as she responds, venom seeping from her words, “Tell me, Ozai. Does he visit you? Has your daughter seen the pitiful state you exist in? Do you hear any news in this dismal place?” A pause. “Do you ever see the sun?” 

Silence, broken only by the periodic crash of thunder and the shuddering of the rock walls stretches for minutes. As she stands, a puddle of water has formed at her feet, still dripping from her soaked clothing. 

He scoffed “A waste of my time. You’re nothing. A nobody! Not worth anything.” 

As he turned toward his bed, she replied in a near-whisper laced with conviction, “Is that what you think?”

It was enough to give him pause.

“Three years.” She begins darkly, “Three years ago a young woman came to this land. She learned the customs, the traditions, and forged her path forward. She was named ambassador for her work. The Fire Lord recognized her long before she gained the title. She and your son are now betrothed.” A beat. “Tell me, Ozai. Your son. Fire Lord Zuko. Are you proud of him?” Thunder crashes, shaking the chamber, as if to punctuate her question.

He whipped around and grasped the bars, eyes pressed to the opening, attempting to gain knowledge about the speaker before answering, disgust dripping from his every syllable, “Proud? I’d be proud if he were dead. So what if he tricked some weak simpleton to be his bride. It changes nothing. ” 

Bile surged into her throat as she witnessed firsthand his complete disdain for his own son, but they were nearing the end of this conversation. It would not matter much longer how he felt. 

“Your son will be making a waterbender his wife in two months. A waterbender, the Fire Lady.” 

She could see his hands shake against the bars, clenching with what strength he had available. The whites of his teeth shone in the dim light as he gritted them together, then to her surprise, a sickening laugh peeled out from the cell. 

A moment later, the laughter subsided, and he spoke with unexpected joviality. “The news you have for me of my son, is that he picked a weakling pathetic water tribe peasant to be his wife? To rule my nation? You’re joking. The elite will tear him to shreds. What could he possibly see in such an inferior being?” He laughed once more then continued, “They will hang her in the streets and come crawling back to–” 

She interrupts with a fake sweetness in her voice. “Tell me, Ozai, why do you think he belongs to her?”

A glint of light poured through his eyes as realization struck him and he growled, “You… It’s you! You’re her? I should have known he would choose a stupid peasant girl not fit for rule! You're just a cheap whore who doesn't know–”

She smiled as her hands began to curl, “He did not choose me.”

The moon’s power flowed within her, and when she reached for it with impossibly flexed fingers, the liquid in him answered her command. He was frozen in place, unable to speak, unable to move, and for the first time in years, fear welled within him.

“Your son is marrying a waterbender.” She spoke with a scarily even tone. “He is noble, compassionate, and righteous. He is right for our nation.” 

She waited, pausing for a response she knew would not arrive, before continuing, “His bride is like him. She is driven, loving, and cares very deeply for both he and their nation, but I chose to accept his proposal.” 

Lightning flashed once more as he spoke with great effort sputtering through gritted teeth, “Your tricks will not save you. I–”

“I am marrying your son in two months. And tonight, I learned something about his past.” 

Ozai spat toward her, showing his contempt.

She gripped the moisture in the air as it flew toward her, froze it, and smashed it into his chest, leaving a bloody welt in its wake, and the former Fire Lord grimacing in pain. The blow sent him reeling backward, and through an expression of shocked terror he sputtered, “What– What are you?!”

She straightened her back and the water that once coated her lifted free of her clothing, levitating in the air before her. The storm crashed with a crescendo of lightning flashes, clearing the air for her to speak. 

“I am retribution.” She paused, letting the water around her swirl momentarily before continuing with all the hatred in her heart. “And I know what you did to him!”

Her fingers curled sickeningly, and his body was suddenly lifted, held aloft in his cell. Wide-eyed, he realized all too late, that he could not scream. 

“My future husband may not forgive it, but he is willing to put what you did to him aside…”

His fingers continued to grasp the bars, even as his body was pulled away, lifted by invisible strings, and suspended in the middle of the cell. 

“I am not so compassionate for those who hurt my loved ones .”

Her hands twitched, and he involuntarily released his hold on the bars. In a moment, his arms were pinned to his sides, and once again, he was brought back before her, but now entirely tensed, unable to move.

“You say my people are weak. When you were powerful, you showed your son just how to treat the weak.” Barely containing her anger, her words seethed through clenched teeth. “You burned him! Permanently scarred him! To what end?!”

A moment passed and she found her calm voice once more, dark and calculated, and no more than a whisper, “I will teach you in the way you taught him. I don't care that you won’t learn, but if power is all that you recognize…Then witness mine .” A few murky laughs escaped her before she continued, “Where there is water, I have all the power in the world, and in your blood, I can feel the water churning. It calls to me.”

The power of the moon rushed through her, pulling his blood through the rivers it flowed, and the now-distant thunderclaps echoed his heartbeat. She gripped at the tendrils of power and twisted.

A deafening scream issued from the cell, heard only by her, so intense was the cacophony of thunder that the sky raised at that very moment. His howls faded into a whimper, and when she was finished, her voice hauntingly whispered into his cell.

“No matter who you tell, it will not matter.” She cooed at the bloodstained former Fire Lord as he lay broken on the cold cell floor. “There will be no trace.” 

At her word, the broken skin began to heal, wounds stitching themselves back together, bones mending, and mangled flesh reforming. In no time, her lesson was no more than a memory. 

His form shuddered at her final words, “There will be more lessons. I have much to teach you about respect.”

As she walked back to the palace, the sky released another torrent of rain. She did nothing to stop its impact; yet this time, the drops dared not touch her.