Absolutely amazing. I love the part where Ozai talks about how Zuko looks nothing like Ursa anymore with his scar.

A truly amazing introspective of a character that is oft derided or entirely ignored.

this is beautiful

hmm.. is ouchie; nice and mean. but you kind of not end it; with going to the (not even for an istant),
and then straight to AN without even a space line of a break or whatever.

I do think Ozai is a little more 'evil' than he needs to be here, but it makes a lot of sense. I really like how you make the connection that his hate for Zuko isn't really because he's just a terrible person, but rather largely due to his projection of his feelings towards other people, e.g. Ursa choosing to save Zuko rather than be with Ozai, Zuko's betrayal piled on top of a lifetime of having to endure general deception in court, etc. (or perhaps some resentment for Iroh, who seems to have a good relationship with Zuko throughout, and so appeared to overshadow Ozai in every way including fatherhood) I don't understand how Zuko is a fan favourite character yet Ozai is the #1 most hated when clearly the two are very similar but nurtured into different directions thanks to people in their lives. Anyway, this was short and satisfying, and I know it's been a long time, but if you ever wanted to do a Zuko or Ursa perspective I would love that.

Good story,

I really liked your take on Ozai. I thought it was amusing how much he ranted, and how he actually fears his own daughter. I also liked how you threw Ursa in. Nice job.

Amazing. Absoultly amazing. You always manage to make me think; this seems to be a running trait in your work. I never even considered Ozai's thoughts, I was mainly concerned with Azula's complex behavior to even think about the man of madness himself! Keep your work up!

This was amazing! I actually hope that we get a Ozai backstory in the future. I would love to see how he became the man that he is. The one part of the fic that really stuck out for me was the beginning when he was talking about Azula:

"but there are times when his daughter scares even him with her utter depravity, and he loathes that feeling because he’s much too powerful for petty fear."

I always wondered whether he REALLY saw his daughter for the monster than she was and if he felt anything for making her that way.

lol "evil-obsessed-fanatic"...Yeah, in too many fics he comes across that way. But don't worry, i love the way you portrayed Ozai in this piece. It's nice to find someone else who tries to write him as being complex and human, and even pitiable, as well as remorselessly ruthless (talk about tongue twisters...lol). The last line ties in really well with the title, and i like the way you had Ozai trying to convince himself he didn't miss Zuko or Ursa. I also really liked the bit about him fearing judgement even tho he "knew" his decision had been the right one. I thought that part was very powerful. Anyway, great job! I've added this to my favorites.

Maybe this means I am a twisted person, but I am really amused by some lines in this because of their blatant evilness. ("A truly heartless leader—the kind of leader Ozai is determined to become—", and you know I

Not many people would want to write about Ozai and humanize him, but this was good.

Though you probably do not want to also bold italicized words if they're stressed; all you really need to do is unitalicized them.

Awesome. I love Ozai for being such a complex character, you described everything very well.

You review my story, I review yours. And you reviewed Metamorphosis, so I review Afterthought.

And I'm glad I decided to look at your stuff. This made me sad, but that's a good thing. It means you can affect people's emotions!

... I made it sound so freaky.

I love the stuff in brackets... I wrote a Toph/Aang like this once (AKA yesterday), but different. You did the bracket thing so much better.

I was about to literally start crying halfway through... though I cry easily. Well, not anymore, but... I'm not making sense.

I love this line: "Ursa wasn’t his first love, truly. His first—and last—love will always be that bitter scent of chaos lying stagnant over the charred remains of a battlefield."

So... gah. No words to describe how powerful that line is.

It's like an atypical character analysis! I just realised that.

And this: "(he didn’t miss her either, of course, but for weeks after she abandoned him he couldn’t look upon his son without betrayal and disgust curdling in his veins. That boy looked too much like his mother—his eyes were too innocent, too fresh. Azula, on the other hand, looked completely different; her features were hardened by some strange, self-created hatred, and for that Ozai was grateful.)"

... WAH! Now I'm depressed for Zuko.

Well, this is more or less how I imagine Ozai, though I so badly want him to have loved Ursa, frankly, it's not very plausible that he did.

*reads your profile* ... I support basically ALL your ships. Which is weird. And scary. And Royai is many levels of awesome, is it not? Reason why I write it...

*sees the shiny Royai fic*

Okay, I'm going to stop now and go read your FMA stuff.

And give you more incoherent reviews.

Hmm. Interesting. I've watched Avatar off and on (I never wait for a new episode to come on, but I catch up on Youtube if I miss more than an episode or two), and I never really thought of it as more than a junk food anime-ish-show like Martin Mystery. But this made me think. The Fire Nation always appealed to me more than the other people in the show (Aang bores me, and Katara is pointless, in my opinion), and this just sort of shows me why I like the whole lot of them the best.

As far as how this is written goes, I'm impressed that you pulled off the "subconscious thoughts in parenthesis" thing. I've seen very few authors who can do that and still make something come out that sounds both professional and in character. I liked it - a lot.

Oh, and if you're going to ever review any of my stuff, you should tell me which story you'd prefer me to review. I get all in a tizzy when somebody who's already reviewed me reviews me again, because then it means that I need to go and make more than a grasp in the dark as far as choosing a story to review goes. XD