Fire Lord Ozai
The fire nation capital was a grand sight.
Built inside of a volcano's exoskeleton, its natural geography provided excellent defense. Inside the volcano's shell itself, the vast and vibrant capital was crowded and stuffed inside. Various hues of red and orange colored the buildings and there were dozens of fire nation flags billowing in the wind on each house.
Not only were the buildings crowded, but the streets were too. With thousands of people crowding the thorofare and thousands of off-duty and on-duty fire nation soldiers patrolling the capital streets, it painted a prosperous view of the most powerful nation in the avatar.
However, the signs of war didn't escape Bo's eyes as he rode inside a palanquin. Women, young and old, dressed in black - a sign of mourning for a loved one who perished in battle.
Widows and widowers aside, there were also many orphans and street urchins begging on the side of the road. Bo noticed that many times when their caravan of carriages passed by fire nation soldiers corralled these people out of the main streets and into the packed and desolate alleyways covered in shadows.
'A grim reminder that even though it was a kid's tv show, Avatar is a world that's been at war for a century...' Bo thought darkly as he peeked through the curtains of his palanquin.
Lost in his thoughts, Bo was shaken out of his thoughts when the palanquin came to a stop and a bearer opened the curtain, "We have arrived at the palace, sir Bo."
'Sir?' Bo thought with amusement.
Seeing that he was keeping the man waiting, Bo got up and off of the palanquin. Looking around Bo was taken aback by the display of wealth before him. Built upon a massive square, the Royal Palace stood out in the center of the capital with its massive red spires and ancient foundations.
'Who would have thought, a month after my transmigration and I'm in the most dangerous part of the fire nation!' Deciding it would be best for his sanity to not linger too long on that train of thought, Bo looked around for Zuko and Azula.
Perhaps noticing his searching expression, the aide who spoke earlier said, "The royal prince and princess have gone to receive their rewards and acknowledgment for the conquest of Ba Sing Se."
Nodding his head in understanding, Bo readily said, "Alrighty then, I'll take my leave."
Internally rejoicing at the opportunity to flee, Bo already began to turn away before the aide spoke up and said, "I'm afraid not sir Bo, I've been ordered by the princess to escort you to your quarters that you will stay in for the duration of your time in the capital."
Feeling his emotions sink, Bo continued listening to what the man had to say, "Fear not Sir Bo, I hear that the Fire Lord himself intends to reward you for your part in the Avatar's death!" The aide said with a cheerful smile.
Meanwhile, Bo had adopted a dead inside grampa expression and tuned out whatever else the naive aide was saying.
'My part in the avatar's death? Am I being implicated? Won't the Gaang want to kill me after this?' Realizing that if he were publicly awarded for the Avatar's death' there'd be no going back, Bo knew that he had to somehow escape before that happened.
That shouldn't be too difficult with the Sharingan and his fire bending, but he couldn't forget that he was in fire nation central. If he escaped where would he go? He was on an island that was literally called Capital island!
Scrunching his brows together Bo started to realize he may have gotten more than what he signed up for when he agreed to give Zuko a hand with the Avatar's location.
Deciding this was a problem for further brainstorming, Bo looked to the aide and said with a grin, "That sounds amazing! Wowee the fire lord himself!"
Nodding his head sagely in understanding the young aide said, "Yes it's truly an honor. In the meanwhile, let me escort you to the dwellings that the princes chose for you!"
Mimicking the aide's excitement back, the duo, followed by a contingent of elite fire nation soldiers 'escorted' Bo to an area of the inner section of the fire palace passed various luxurious gardens and passageways, and finally to the grand door of his bedroom.
As the aide opened his room, Bo nodded numbly at the sights of extravagance he saw. A bed big enough for a panda, a table large enough for ten pandas, and a sofa large enough for a tribe of pandas.
Thanking the blushing aide who was still excited to meet his hero who dealt a killing blow to the avatar, Bo escorted the young aide out and finally let out a sigh of relief, 'Finally, some alone time.'
Plopping down on the Panda-sized bed, Bo fell back into his thoughts. As the minutes passed his eyes grew heavier and heavier and before he knew it he was fast asleep.
------
Waking up to the sound of loud knocks, Bo haphazardly buttoned up his shirt and put on his pants that somehow flew across the room as he slept.
Opening the door that was still being pounded by someone knocking, Bo frustratedly said, "What?!"
Realizing who it was, Bo may have chosen his words better but there was no going back now. Her brows creased in irritation, Azula inspected Bo's sloppy appearance with a hint of disdain.
But that didn't last long as an eery smile appeared on her face, "Come with me, my father requests your presence..."
Walking away after she said that, Bo hurriedly went after her aware that she wasn't going to give him time to change into formal wear. As he jogged down the halls to catch up to the speed-walking Azula he couldn't help but ask, "What does the Fire Lord want with me?"
At first, Azula didn't respond, but after a few minutes of awkward silence she said, "I'm not sure, but it's most likely a 'reward' for helping to slay the Avatar." The way she said reward didn't sit right with Bo but he didn't have the time to dwell on that, instead his thought were elsewhere.
'Reward? Already?! I thought id have more time to plan my harrowing escape!' Bo chewed on the bottom of his lip as he sneakily activated his Sharingan and looked for any openings for an escape.
But the more he thought about it the more futile it seemed. Thanks to the emo architectural style of the fire nation there were no windows to keep the vibe dark and grim, there was also the fact that hundreds of guards stood like statues on the sides of the halls, protecting and ensuring the safety of the royal family.
Not even with his two tomoe sharingan and powerful flames was Bo confident enough to take them all on. Plus there was the sadistic princess with the strength of two fire lords right next to him and he didn't doubt shed pull her punches on him if he made a run for it.
Sighing and deciding that accepting some recognition from the fire lord wasn't the end of the world, he accepted his fate and followed Azula into the dark red halls of the royal palace.
'Im sure Aang will understand why after I explain everything to him during the war crimes tribunal after the war...' Bo thought confidently.
As they reached a pair of large doors flanked by a dozen guards, Bo prepared himself for what was about to come. A meeting with the crazed fire lord dictator hell-bent on world domination... Fire Lord Ozai.
As the doors slowly opened, Bo walked into the iconic hall lined with columns and the line of vibrant powerful flames at the end of the wall where a large throne could be seen engulfed in. As Bo was walking in, he realized he was now alone, Azula must have left him at some point in the throne room.
Feeling the intimidating presence from all the way over here, Bo worked up his courage and walked up to the dais where people summoned by the Fire Lord stood for an audience.
Arriving at the dais, Bo looked up at the pillar of flames and tried to peer in between to see if he could get a look at the fire lord's face. But it was futile, almost as if egged on by the challenge, the flames strengthened and grew brighter making Bo wince and close his eyes for the pressure was too strong.
"Interesting... when Aula told me of a boy who helped in the slaying of the avatar she did not mention you were a fire bender but rather a skilled martial artist." The fire lord said in an indifferent yet majestic tone. Every time he spoke his voice echoed in the large hall.
Gulping down his nervousness, Bo responded, "I didn't use my fire bending in Ba Sing Se, I was injured and had to make use of my martial arts." Hoping that was enough to satisfy the fire lord, Bo already was looking forward to leaving the man's presence.
"Mm, even so, you aided my daughter and son in the slaying of the avatar thus I will bestow you a reward."
At the fire lord's words, a servant emerged from the darkness in the hall and handed Bo a scroll. Looking at the scroll's plain appearance in puzzlement, Bo said, "You flatter me, Lord Ozai. There is no need for bestowing me this gift."
'Psh, as if!' Bo thought, he was just acting humble to get some brownie points from the dictator and hed gladly leave with a free scroll regardless of its contents. Hearing this the fire lord said, "Very well..."
The servant reemerged to take the scroll back much to Bo's despair, "Wait hold on! Maybe I could make use of your gift, oh great fire lord!" After a few moments of awkward silence, the fire lord let out a small wheeze which Bo just assumed was a sneeze of some sort. Never would he have assumed that the fire lord actually held back some laughter at seeing Bos's shamelessness.
"Mm, that is all then." The fire lord said with finality. Taking that as his queue to leave and holding onto the scroll tightly Bo turned around to walk out.
"One last thing." The fire lord's voice boomed in the hall. "My daughter told me of something odd, something to do with your eyes changing..."
This time it seemed like the heat in the hall rose a hundred degrees as Bo felt the fire lord's deep stare and knew that if he lied even a little, he'd be turned to ash. "Ah yes, that... I come from an ancient mountain clan with a trait in our eyes that upon activation lets us have a better vision and memory retainment." Technically he wasn't lying, but he was definitely nerfing the true abilities of his eyes.
After a few moments of inspection from the fire lord, perhaps Ozai deemed it not a threat or simply had unknown intentions, the flames cooled and the fire lord said nothing else. Taking that as a sign of dismissal, Bo hiked it out of the throne room as fast as he could afraid of how close he came to dying and curious about what was contained inside the scroll gifted to him.