Atla AU Where During The Eclipse, Zuko Confronts His Father, And Ozai Is Shocked When He Discovers That

Atla AU where during the Eclipse, Zuko confronts his father, and Ozai is shocked when he discovers that his son can redirect lightning.

… that is to say, when Zuko receives the lightning thrown at him and is momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer amount of power rushing through his body, he’s not thinking as much about where he’s aiming his redirection than he maybe should have been, and his father receives a shot-to-kill lightning bolt directly to the chest. Fatally.

Zuko comes to his senses and is left alone in a room with a body, and a terrible feeling in his stomach.

To his surprise, when the eclipse ends, the doors open, and the guards rush in, he’s not immediately exiled, or executed, or even imprisoned. He’s simply met with mouths agape and the sort of silence you’d expect when the fate of a nation hangs in the balance. He’s taken to a quiet room while the Fire Sages examine the crime scene to determine what the will of the spirits is, and then brought out again to face them when they’ve made their decision.

Any member of the Royal Family can challenge for the right to rule via Agni Kai. Zuko challenged his father, and although it was not a match in the traditional sense, it was only fair for him to do so after his father’s disrespect of the ‘traditional sense’ in enacting Agni Kai three years ago; and won. The Fire Sages announce that by the Spirits’ decree, he is the rightful Firelord.

Zuko does not tell them what happened, nor correct them when they make the assumption that he has mastered the cold-blooded fire and shot lighting as an attack on his father and an attempt to gain the throne for himself. He stays silent, he does not speak up when they talk politics, he does not protest in the slightest. All he feels is a numbed fear of what this means, what this means for him, but more importantly, what this means for the war. It was not his destiny to defeat the Fire Lord. His father taken down by another member the royal family is expected at best, a cause for martyrdom at the worst- but it is not a victory for the Avatar. It is not in itself something that will bring the end of the Fire Nation’s conquest, and Zuko knows enough politics to know that he is trapped. If the Avatar had taken out the Fire Lord, there would be hope in the other nations, and there would be doubt within his own nation, enough so that altogether they could be steered back onto the right path, but that didn’t happen. With him on the throne now, he is trapped in rooms with admirals and generals and bloodthirsty tyrants who would be more than happy to figurehead him while they carry out their own sick ideas, or who would see him fall for what he did to their old and more respected head of state. They do not respect him, for his age, for his inexperience, for his disrespect. He cannot speak out, he is in no position to instigate real change.

He knows he cannot abdicate the throne either, because however bad he has it, his sister in his position would solve nothing. Even if she thinks she is, she’s not ready to be the Fire Lord, and obviously she has wildly different ideas of what makes a good leader to him. He can’t find his uncle, let alone face him this way.

And also because for the war to end, the Avatar has to defeat the Fire Lord. If Azula were on the throne, Zuko has no doubt that this ‘defeat’ would be in the same vein as what would have been Ozai’s.

He doesn’t know what it means for him. He has an idea, and it’s not like it’s much better, but if he can spare anyone else from what’s coming, it’s the least he can do, maybe the only thing he can do to try, right?

A funeral is held for his father. The Fire Sages announce to the nation what the spirits have made of his death, and proudly crown Zuko the new Fire Lord. They proclaim that it is a good omen for their nation, a sign of their just cause to have such a strong leader come and enact justice in order to claim the throne and lead their nation to victory.

Agni guided his hand, they say, and with it, the start of a prosperous new era. Long live Fire Lord Zuko!

The citizens of his nation accept him readily, and there is a terrible feeling in his stomach.

“Why is everyone wearing white?”

Sokka poked a finger at one of the locals, less inconspicuously than he might have thought. “I thought red was supposed to be these people’s colour. We look out of place.”

“Haven’t you heard?” The merchant at the stall over thumbed out a pamphlet, and handed it, unfortunately enough, to the one of them that couldn’t read. “We’re in mourning. You two should be in mourning too.”

Sokka tried not to be too indignant at the man’s eavesdropping, but he supposed information was information. And this seemed like pretty important information. “Okay, well, who died?”

“Who died? Have you been under a rock?” At that, Toph smirked, but Sokka was too concerned with this sudden news to bring up the semantics of the Western Air Temple.

“Just tell me!” Sokka felt a piece of paper in his hand, as Toph had finally decided to relinquish her useless bounty. Sokka whipped it up to read, and his eyes caught on the words the exact moment the merchant clarified-

“Fire Lord Ozai?!”

This was unbelievable. This was completely insane. This was…

Sokka knew that this should have been good news, but all he felt was a horrible, terrible, growing sense of dread in his stomach. Beside him, Toph had stopped moving, and Sokka knew she was listening very intently for something.

“It’s true,” she helpfully confirmed. Even she couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.

“He was killed during the Day of the Black Sun,” the merchant went on. “Not by the invading forces, but within the sanctity of the palace walls themselves.”

The pit in Sokka’s stomach grew larger.

“It was lightning that defeated him. He was struck down, they say, in Agni Kai. Defeated by his son, and successor.”

This was bad. This was very bad.

“So that means…” Sokka’s gut had figured it out, but his brain was still putting the pieces together.

“We have a new Fire Lord, one who inspires us, one who gives us hope that we will end this war victorious.”

“Zuko.” Toph stated bluntly, without a hint of readable emotion in her voice.

Sokka corrected her. “Fire Lord Zuko.”