Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
Lights flashed into the house in the middle of the night, sirens now silenced, and Ozai, better known to the rest of the world as the Fire Lord- a notorious serial killer, knelt in front of his ten year old son, Zuko.
The man was handcuffed, smiling at the boy, who was very clearly unnerved. But his mother was busy talking to the detective, some man who had introduced himself as Iroh, to come get him. Even then, she was holding his little sister, Azula. Ursa wouldn’t bring the girl so close to Ozai, not now that they knew what he had done.
“Zuko, what I’m about to tell you, you need to remember,” Ozai began, and it pulled Zuko’s attention back to him- just as he’d intended. “No matter what happens, I want you to know that I will always love you. Do you know why?”
Zuko shook his head, wanting to back away from Ozai. He was uncomfortable with this, and he wanted his mother.
“Because you and I? We’re the same.”
A chill ran down the boy’s spine as his father grinned at him, then was hauled to his feet and carried out of the house. Ursa finally walked over and put her hand on his shoulder, a sleepy Azula rubbing her eyes and then burying her face in her mother’s shoulder.
She didn’t know what was going on, but she saw her dad being taken away, and all she knew was she wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe when she woke up, she’d see this was all a bad dream. Or maybe she could see Mr. Boots. He would explain it all to her, just as he always did.
As Ozai was put in the back of Iroh’s car for transportation, he grinned darkly to himself. His son still seemed so innocent, but he had already given Zuko the right... push, so to speak. In a matter of years, he imagined his boy picking up where he left off, the new Fire Lord- his prodigal son.