The Lost Prince
Chapter 1

I don't own avatar. I wish!

Ages when lu ten died:
Lu ten:16
Iroh: 34
Ozai: 26
Ursa: 24
Zuko: 1 and ½ or something
Azulon: who knows.

"voice"
Thoughts

For punishment for trying to convince Fire Lord Azulon to retract Iroh's birthright after Iroh lost his son and his drive for war, Ozai had to let Azulon take Zuko away to wherever he wanted. It was done to show the pain of losing a son but to make it even worse then that!-Ozai would now constantly wonder where his son was, how he was doing, if he was alive. He always held high standards in his version of how his son was. He would be powerful and of high status...wherever he was. His best guess was probably earth kingdom and hopefully because he would "definitely" be a firebender he would go to a firenation colony and join the army eventually!...right?

(We're gonna say that zuko was about a year&a half when this happens, so as a 18 month baby/toddler we're gonna just assume zuko could recognize his name but not say it yet. Meaning he couldn't say his name and had to get a new one basically. AND ursa was pregnant with azula at the time)

A baby cried from a box he was put into on the edge of a town. His cries were heard from a midwife that was walking back home. As she explored the edge of town to find zuko bundled up in red sheets, his cheeks and eyes were red from crying. She picked him up and comforted the boy. "Oh baby, where are your parents honey?" How could anyone leave a poor defenseless child alone. "Its ok sh sh, will go and get you something to eat ok?" Then I could ask around...where did this child come from.

Her name was Aki and all her life she wished to have a child of her own. She grew up playing house and as she grew older she took care of children. Her recent jobs have been delivering children; unfortunately she was never able to have kids of her own. She did not find this out tell she married and did not conceive. Her husband and her argued for many years. He was unhappy that no one would carry on his name or be able to raise a son to glory(a military man). Because young zuko couldn't say his own name yet but he would sometimes make sounds like zuzu "I true fire baby" -Aki gave him a name with a z and a sound of "zu", Kozu.

In his young years to follow, Kozu would run into some of his family members without ever knowing it. One of them being Iroh. His uncle iroh, of course zuko...kozu did not know this. Iroh had returned from that loss at Ba Sing Se, heartbroken after losing his son. More heartbreak was to come. As he strode up to the palace, he was informed his nephew was kidnaped a couple days prior to his return and had not been found. Iroh did not even get to met his nephew as a newborn because he left to war when Ursa was still pregnant.
Iroh rushed to his brother to find some answer about zuko's disappearance.
"Brother" Iroh greeted.
"Iroh"
Iroh stood there for a moment, not sure how to ask...
"It should be impossible to get in the palace unnoticed iroh" Ozai said, beating iroh to the punch.
"Then how brother"
Ozai gave his brother a loaded look.
"You can't possible think," Iroh started
"You know as well as a do the fortress of a palace we live in brother." Ozai said
"An inside job though? Brother you can't possible mean some one would take the prince and-"
"Im not saying anything." Ozai proclaimed
"You're saying someone in this palace walls committed treason-to your son Ozai!"
"No." Ozai and Iroh locked eyes. For once the two brothers understood each other, they were both heartbroken.
"Im not saying that." Ozai finished. This confused Iroh and as Ozai turned to leave, ozai added "Im sorry for your loss Iroh, I understand your grief."

But what Iroh didn't understand was why the news of the lost prince wasn't publicized.

No one knew where Kozu came from. There was not another town for miles and no one in the village claimed him. Aki could not just drop him off at an orphanage in the city. No, she took him in as her own. Her husband and her saw zuko as a gift from agni. Masaru(her husband) raised Kozu strictly but because he had waited years to have a son-his lessons had more meaning and less cruelty. Kozu looked up to his father as a war hero and imitated him from an early age. And with positive reinforcement, he was able to be himself. At the same time being influenced by his father. Watching his father, her learned to be a charismatic leader. He was smart and graduated at the top of his class in firebending and military strategies at only 12 years old. Following his father's footsteps, he became a solider at 13 and soon worked his way up to Captain at 15.(Youngest in firenation history). He knew every commanding officer personally and even met general iroh on occasion and princess azula.

Azula was raised in the shadow of an older brother. THAT WASNT EVEN THERE. She learned to be resentful to him. It tired her to be constantly compared to a boy that could or could not be even alive. Let only be stronger then her! She had the best tutors and got praise as being a "firebending prodigy" but none of this could please her father. Her father that would constantly put her down as a weakling and that she "could not possible compare to her older brother." Her father never gave up on having his son return to him someday and vowed when Fire Lord Azulon died, he would send out a mass search. It would be hard, but they are ways to prove if a person was royal.

As soon as a baby is born in the royal family, their blood would be plucked and put into a goblet of fire that constantly burns. The blood is connect to a person's fire. When a royal can firebending at the goblet, the fire will turn white-recognizing them. Any imposter would be punished.

Reviews are lovely and well appreciated! ~Ash