"Azula. My child. I've missed you." Azula refused to face Ursa as silent tears ran down both their cheeks.
"Mother. I assume you've come here to gloat." Azula wiped away her tears and put on an emotionless mask. She had learned how to do this when she was younger. HIding your emotions at Court was necessary to survive.
"I've come to help you."
"HELP ME?!?" Azula lost her cool and turned to Ursa, tears flowing freely across her face. "Where were you when I needed help when I was a child? Where was your love? You loved Zuko, but you hated me. You thought I was a monster, but I was a monster of YOUR creation. Now you want to help me? Sorry mother but that isn't going to happen." She said mother with such spite that Ursa winced.
"I admit I've made mistakes before, but I don't hate you Azula, and I never have. I love you. So much."
"No, you don't." Azula collapsed on the floor and looked up at her mother. "If you loved me, then why did you leave me?"
Ursa didn't say anything. She dropped to the floor with her daughter. "I had to. You have every right to be angry with me but I was doing it for you and Zuko."
"No. You were doing it for Zuko. Not me. The night you left, Zuko got a heartfelt apology and a proper goodbye. What did I get? A mother who left me and a father who used me." Azula scoffed. "And you wonder why I'm a monster."
"Azula, listen to me. You are NOT a monster. You are just... confused. And I can help you but only if you allow me to."
"Again, I don't want your help and I don't need it. I figured everything out on my own. I know you hate me, or at least you don't love me as much as Zuko because even thogh Korra isn't my biological daughter, I love her more than anything. Being away from her is unbearable. How were you able to leave me without a second thought when I am your daughter? You are even more of a monster than Father was."
Ursa looked at Azula and hung her head in shame. " I love you Azula. You are my only daughter and you and Zuko are the lights of my life. I tried to save both of you but your father got to you before I could help you. So I helped Zuko. As time went on, you began to think that I hated you because Ozai fed you lies that you started to believe. It was my fault. I should've fought for you.
"Do you remember when you heard your father and grandfather plotting about killing Zuko?"
Azula nodded.
"Well, you didn't stay long enough to hear what happened after that."
"For you to understand your brother's misery, you must kill your child!" Azulon erupted with rage yelling at his son. Ozai nodded, with a smirk on his face.
"Of course, Fire Lord."
Azula gasped and ran out of the throne room, shocked by what had just happened. Ursa walked to the throne room and passed by Azula who made a face at her. She sighed at her daughter's tactics and rushed to the throne room to find Ozai.
"I remember you passing me that day. You told me to find Zuo and stay with him!"
Ursa only nodded and continued with her story.
Ursa quietly slipped into the throne room and hid to hear the conversation. "I could just slip him poison during lunch. No one would suspect me and I'll pin the blame on one of the servants. I'll make his execution public and grieve Zuko on the outside. Azula will take her rightful place on the throne after that weak son of mine finally dies."
Azulon looked at his son in disgust as he continued to describe Zuko's death in excruciating detail. It seemed as if he was looking forward to killing his own son. No, like he had been planning to for a long time, and was just waiting for the right opportunity or excuse. Even though he lacked any empathy for his firstborn, he did seem to be fond of azula. Not fatherly love, but as close to love as Ozai had ever gotten. Azulon gritted his teeth and decided that killing Zuko would be too much of a waste. Ozai would just be happy. Killing Azula on the other hand....
Azulon smirked and cut Ozai off.
"And then for the funeral we could-"
"ENOUGH!" Azulon's voice echoed throughout the room and Ozai knelt down on one knee.
Azulon took a deep breath before continuing. "i wasn't talking about killing Zuko. I was talking about killing Azula."
Ozai looked up at his father in shock and Ursa covered her mouth with her hand to keep anyone from hearing her silent sobs. She slid down the pillar and fell to the floor. Before anyone could see her, she raced to Ozai's chambers and waited for him to appear. He looked too tired to argue with Ursa and just shook his head at her when Ursa asked him a silent question with her eyes.
Ozai had guessed that Ursa was there in the conversation between him and Azulon. He heard her muffled cries even though Azulon hadn't. Azulon. Azula's own namesake ordered her to be killed. He was disgusted.
"Are you going to do it?" Ursa asked after a long pause.
"I have to." Ursa looked at him in disbelief as he ran a hand through his hair.
"You don't HAVE to do anything. You just want to be Fire Lord. What kind of monster are you? You would sacrifice your own children for power??"
"They only exist because of me. If we had the power to give them life, we should also have the power to take it away. It's only fair." Ozai said in a regular voice as if they were talking about running errands, not killing their daughter.
"That is something only a psychopath would say! Ozai, you can't seriously be able to kill your daughter!"
"Why not? I've dreamt about killing Zuko before."
Ursa got up and slapped him across the cheek. Ozai, furious, tried to backhand her, but she ducked behind him and pushed him to the floor. When he tried to get up, Ursa grabbed a ceremonial sword hanging in front of Ozai's bed and pointed it at his chest. Putting his hands up after seeing the cold fire in Ursa's eyes, he stepped backwards. Ursa forced Ozai back until he was pinned against the wall.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Never realized what it meant until now." Ursa snarled at Ozai's words.
She was burning with a cold fury and indifference that Ozai had only ever seen in himself before.
"OK. What if we make a deal? I don't really want to kill Azula, but I do want to be Fire Lord, so make Azulon make me the next Fire Lord, and then kill him so I don't have to kill Azula."
Ursa weighed his words in his mind. She'd much rather kill both Azulon and Ozai, but if it kept her children safe, then she would settle for one. She pulled the sword back and Ozai sighed a breath of relief.
"You know, for a second, I thought you were really going to kill me."
"I thought about it. I decided it was better to keep killing you little by little so I can enjoy it, just like we've been doing to each other for the past 15 years we've been married."
"Oh, about that. You'll be banished."
"What??! If you think I'm going to leave my children with you, then you must be even more delusional than I remember!"
"You'll have to leave. Because when I'm Fire Lord, I'll blame you for my father's death and who do you think they'll believe? The Fire Lord or a woman" He spat out the last word and Ursa considered stabbing him and leaving him to bleed out but she decided against it.
"Fine. I'll do it."
"Good." Ozai turned away and Ursa left to get the poison ready. After finding the poison in her chambers, she went to the Fire Lord's chamber and came upon a sleeping Azulon. She quickly pinched his nose and made him swallow the poison. It was odorless and fast-working. He died quickly and painlessly.
After that was done, she went into Zuko's chamber, hoping to find Azula there as well, but she had not heeded her warning and was nowhere to be found. Ursa woke Zuko up from his slumber and explained that she was leaving. Zuko wasn't completely awake and didn't know what was happening.
Ursa was going to Azula's chambers, but before she could reach it, bells started tolling as the death of Fire Lord Azulon was realized. She slipped out of the castle before anyone noticed and when she looked back, she saw Ozai looking at her with a smile on his face. She swallowed and turned away from him. From Fire Lord Ozai.