I loved him. But, as time went on, he began to change. The once calm and hard working Raza, turned into an angry jealous and spiteful monster. We have been married for about 3 months now, and my husband has turned into the complete opposite of what I originally got myself into. His mother, Suma, told Raza about his royal blood line about a month after our wedding and ever since, he's become obsessed with getting revenge on his father and his family. He believes he is the rightful heir to the throne.
"Raza, my love, please. Forget about it. You've lived without them for 17 years. We'll be fine without the wealth. We just need each other.", I said to my husband.
"Shei (sh-ay), you don't understand. You've never been lied to about your entire life. My father made my mother believe he'd take care of her. He laid with her and left me and her completely alone. He had the wealth to take care of another child! He just decided I was filth. Didn't even give my mom some money for food!", he yelled.
"It's not healthy. It's not good for you or for me or for our relationship in general. You don't know how badly this can go Raza. You have these crazy ideas about wanting to get your revenge. When you should be focusing on working to provide for us and our family.", I answered.
He ignored my comment and breathed heavily through his nose. I felt as if I've annoyed him enough and looked down with my eyes closed. The Fire Nation has been peaceful and happy since Lord Zuko had taken over. He's only 18 years old and is doing a better job than his great grandfather, grandfather, and father ever have. He's come from a troubled life, yet turned out amazing.
I admire Lord Zuko. He's helped the Avatar and sided with his "Traitor" of an uncle. The day Zuko got his scar, was one of the saddest moments that the Fire Nation had witnessed. So many people were against it, yet nobody had the courage to say anything. I was 12, and I remember standing in the crowd, watching the evil Ozai permanently scar his son's face. It was heartbreaking. The man has been through so much. Raza's selfishness is going to drive him to lose his mind about this, but I'm not so sure he'd ever go through with something so big.
He speaks about overthrowing Lord Zuko and claiming his rightful position as Fire lord. He claims to be doing it for me and his mother, but I feel as if he's doing it for himself. I know he is.
Today, there was a fire festival out in the upper side of the town. Lord Zuko would be there with his wife Mei. They're newly weds as well. It would be the first time they'd be out in public as a royal couple, which a lot of people wanted to see. The Fire Festival was great to take kids to. There was magic and fire shows and plays. There was amazing food and dancing! It was a great thing to be around, the people of the Fire Nation looked forward to this festival all year. It was the only time you could really be yourself. Now that Lord Zuko was in charge, things would be a lot freer; a lot more peaceful.
The Fire Festival
Fireworks lit up the sky. It was beautiful. Raza was to my left. I smiled and pointed up at the sky with excitement. When I looked to my left, Raza's face expression was lifeless. No excitement whatsoever to be there. My smile, turned into a frown.
"Hey, what's on your mind. Let's enjoy this.", I suggested.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. I turned and grabbed his face gently turning it toward my direction. He looked down at me.
"Please. Let's just enjoy this night."
He grabbed my wrists gently and put my hands down and began to walk off. He disappeared into the crowd and I lost him. A while later I began to look for him, I wanted to get back in order to see the Fire Lord and his queen. I headed back home and the house was completely empty and dark.
I looked around and tried to open the door to the basement. But, it was locked. It was unusual, because that door is never locked, even though nobody usually goes down there, not even Suma. His mother lived with us because he took care of her as well (she was an older woman who couldn't fend for herself and was alone). I began to scatter around looking for a key until eventually, I found one.
It was an odd looking key that I've never seen before out of the three months we've been married. I don't know what it was that made me want to go inside that basement, I guess it was just a gut feeling. I grabbed the strange key and it fit perfectly into the key hole. The door flew open and dust flew outward. As I began to walk down the steps into the dark room, the stairs began to creek. I was completely horrified, for I knew this couldn't be any good.
In the center of the basement, there was a small candle light that dangled. I lit it up with a flick of a finger, and to my disbelief, I saw blue prints and notes. Raza had been planning a way to attack Lord Zuko and take him off of the throne and he was going to begin the plan tonight. My eyes got wider and wider and filled with tears and horror.
The man I had married, had turned into the villain. He had Ozai's blood. Which meant that when his dark side awakened, it wasn't something to take lightly. The only person that had ever beaten an evil as big and as powerful as Ozai's could have been anywhere in the world right now on a flying bison and there was no way I could ever reach him.
Who would let a peasant into the palace. How was I suppose to warn Zuko and Mei? What would happen had I not? Zuko was powerful, but Raza was too. The way he firebended was other worldly. The flames would come out blue instead of yellow and he managed to make an insane amount of damage. He fueled on anger and rage... and he had a lot of it.
I ran back to the Fire Festival distraught. I had just arrived in time to see Lord Zuko and Mei. They were being carried out and looked beautiful. But I couldn't help but to think, if Raza went through with the plan, it wouldn't be Zuko on that throne. I thought,
"This could get me in trouble"
I looked at Mei and Zuko and the crowd that surrounded themselves cheering. I began to push and shove my way to the front and began yelling,
"Lord Zuko!!" about 3 times.
I wasn't a fan, I mean I was but right now I had important information to give him! But, nobody listened. He glanced at me and smiled and waved. Beautiful of course, but it was up to me to save him. So, I headed back to my house and went to the basement again to get all of the notes and information I had seen, but to my surprise, it was gone.
Fire Lord Ozai's Cell
The door creaked open; illuminating the cells of Azula and Ozai. They sat on the floor chained up, dirty, and emotionless. As they looked up, they saw the tall shadow of Raza. Ozai had a look of confusion on his face, but then, he realized who it was. Azula remained clueless.
"You..", Ozai said in disbelief.
"Hello Ozai.", Raza responded as he began to walk towards the cell.
He crouched down in front of him with both of his arms against his thighs. They met eye to eye.
"Father, who is this?", Azula asked.
"You haven't told her about me?", Raza proceeded to ask Ozai.
The man was speechless; as if he'd just seen a ghost.
"What are you doing here? How did you find me?", he asked.
"Well, lets just say I found my way in through the roof. I've been waiting a long time for this moment.", Raza responded as he clenched his fists, looking at Ozai's scared eyes with anger.
"You shouldn't have abandoned me Father."
"Father?!", Azula exclaimed.
"What does he mean by father?"
Ozai's look of disappointment answered Azula's question. He was her brother and she now realized that. She crawled back into a corner, wondering if there was anything else her father was keeping from her. After all, they were suppose to rule together. She had been by his side throughout everything and there were no secrets kept from her. But this was one secret that Ozai never even mentioned.
"That's right princess. He's my father too. I'm not surprised he never told you. It would have ruined him. He had me the same year your brother Zuko was born. Only Zuko is about a month older.", Raza told Azula.
"Father what is the meaning of this?", she asked in anger.
"You are filth", Ozai responded
"You're nothing! Your mother was and still continues to be nothing but pure filth!", Ozai yelled at Raza without hesitation.
"That's too bad. Because despite of everything you've done to my mother and I, I was here to take my spot on the throne that belongs to me.", Raza said as he picked at his finger nails.
"You will never get that throne", Ozai responded.
"If I did, you and my little sister here will be the first ones out. And Zuko will suffer the consequences for what he's done. He's weak. He's shunned the power of my grandfathers and I will bring balance and power to my new empire.", Raza added.
"I'd rather rot than see you rule my empire", said Ozai.
"Fine. I gave you your chance. But when I overthrow the Fire Nation, I'll make sure they get rid of you once and for all. What a fool I was to think you'd reconsider. As for Azula, we'll see how I feel.", Raza said.
"See you soon father"
He began to walk out slowly and left Ozai and Azula in the dark room once again. The hope for the Fire Nation rested in my hands. I just needed to get to the Fire Lord and warn him before everything went down.