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Izumi hid her pregnancy well after deciding nobody needed to know about her private life. She remained by her father’s side during war meetings and ministry meetings, wearing particularly baggy robes with large shoulder armor right up until delivery. She was surprised with how well she managed the early contractions until the very end of the last meeting of the day. As soon as the doors to the throne room closed behind the last general, Izumi spoke.
“Father, he’s coming,” she whispered taking a deep, slow breath with her fists closed over her knees.
Zuko turned to Iliana who always came for the Princess after such meetings. “Quickly! Summon Master Akira and the business man, Masaru!” Zuko ordered.
“Yes, My Lord!” Iliana said sprinting to the infirmary.
Zuko personally helped his daughter to the birthing room, meeting Mai and Masaru there.
“I swear to god, if I ever renovate this palace, I am going to make it much smaller!” Izumi muttered as they helped her to bed. “Everything is so… fucking… far…” she said reeling with pain.
“Sorry, love,” Mai said dabbing her head with a wet cloth.
“I promise, I will do ANYTHING I can to help,” Masaru whispered in her ear before kissing her temple.
“She’s only about two centimeters dilated, so at the moment, you can only wait,” Master Akira said readying tubs of water, cool cloths for the Princess’s head, and the blankets and cloths to clean the coming babe. The healers monitored Izumi very closely, constantly checking for any distress. They even invited a bloodbender in case the umbilical cord became wrapped around the unborn baby’s neck.
“Any distress?” Mai asked after a few hours of waiting anxiously.
“No, My Lady,” Master Akira said swirling water around Izumi’s belly, trying to ease the pain. “He is properly oriented, head down, nothing in the way… It should be an easy birth,”
“I didn’t realize that was a thing,” Masaru chuckled, biting his lip nervously as he held Izumi’s left hand while Mai held her right, and Zuko sat by her side with a hand next to her hip, not quite knowing where he should be, or where she hurt the most, but wanting to provide support in some way.
Izumi glared at him, and he instantly replaced his grin with a more stern expression remembering the last time Izumi gave birth and feeling a pang of guilt flood his being.
A little while later, the baby was finally crowning. “You’re alright, Princess. Everything is going to be okay, push on my count,” Akira said.
Both Mai and Masaru could practically watch as the trauma flashed before the front of Izumi’s mind. She fell into a panic. Her breathing became ragged and irregular with her heartbeat accelerating rapidly.
“I can’t!” Izumi gasped.
Mai and Masaru turned to face each other then Izumi again. They could see the panic fill her eyes.
“You got this!” Masaru yelled. “You’ve done it before, Zumzu! You can do it again!”
“Zuko, her hair-” Mai said nervously as it began to streak blue. “Akira! She’s burning,” Mai shrieked, mortified, letting go of Izumi’s burning arm.
An assisting healer rushed over to treat the Fire Lady’s burnt hands.
“I can’t!” Izumi screamed hyperventilating.
“Princess you need to calm down-” Akira begged, reaching for her, but flinching back, away from the heat emanating from the distressed Princess’s body. In a flash, all of her hair turned blue and her hand holding Masaru caught on fire, as she lost her sense of self in the fit of panic.
Masaru looked around quickly. Here goes nothing, he thought as he placed his left hand on her swollen belly, keeping his right hand intertwined in her left, using his own firebending to keep her flame and heat from burning him. He felt and mapped every electrical pathway in her body.
“Akira! Count for me!” Masaru yelled.
“What is he?!” Akira asked.
“JUST TRUST ME!” Masaru yelled.
“Three… Two… One…”
Masaru closed his eyes and took over the electrical signalling in Izumi’s lower body and forced all of the muscles in her vagina to contract. Izumi screamed as she felt baby’s head came out.
“One more!” Akira said putting her hand into Izumi’s vagina to help turn the child.
“No!” Izumi cried panting through sweat and tears.
Akira ignored her and counted down. Masaru sent another wave of dark lightning through her body effectively forcing her to push again and the baby came out.
“Saru-” Mai gasped looking up with her hands encased in ice where her daughter’s skin burned her at him as he quickly removed his hand from Izumi’s belly, leaving no mark at all. Maybe dark lightning wasn’t such a bad thing.
Izumi was panting. Her hair darkened, but she was still panicking. A healer put a cool rag on her head.
Zuko was in shock. “That makes three,” he whispered thinking about the dark lightning. Hisoki used it to paralyze his daughter. Azula used it to verify her pregnancy with Iroh, and now Masaru used it to deliver their baby.
There was a gurgle and a sputter and then wailing.
“And a prince is born!” Akira said cheerfully.
“He’s not a prince,” Zuko corrected Akira with a sadness in his tone. “But he will be… someday… when things change.” he said turning to his daughter expectantly.
Izumi was too weak to even lift her head or acknowledge anything that was happening at this point.
“Will her skin burn his body?” Masaru asked as Akira approached Izumi with the baby.
“Not if he’s a firebender,” Akira said.
“Then don’t put him on her. Not yet!” Masaru said. “I don’t want to risk hurting him!” Masaru said looking at Izumi’s still blue hair.
“Zumi! Zumi listen to me!” He begged holding her hand tightly. “You’re fine! Everything is fine. He is safe. Our son is safe. He is breathing. He is screaming. He needs you, Izumi! He needs you to come back to us, to calm down. YOU ARE BOTH SAFE! So cool down.” He said holding her hand as she cried. “Please… Breathe, Love,” he said. Izumi gasped for air. “Slowly,” he reminded her. She took a deep breath and her hair darkened. A second and it was almost black again. “You cannot hold the boy until you cool down. You don’t want to hurt him, right?” Masaru said letting go of her hand to take the slimy lump of life from Akira and show Izumi. “See?” he asked presenting the mushy little newborn to her with shaking hands.
Izumi smiled at the sight of him and her hair turned black again.
“Zuko, can you check her temperature?” Mai asked giving her hands to a healer to get the ice melted off.
“She should be safe,” Zuko said checking Izumi’s arm and neck temperature.
Masaru verified and Izumi reached for her new son.
Masaru placed the baby onto her bare chest and she started crying.
Masaru kept a hand on Izumi’s forehead and they all moved towards the headboard of the birthing bed so the healers could clean the baby in Izumi’s arms.
“What will you call him?” Akira asked.
Izumi looked up at Masaru to answer for her.
“Takeo,” he said. “Bastard or not, he will have a great name and we will teach him to love his country and make him want to defend all that is good and right, just like his parents, in whatever capacity he is able.”
Akira smiled.
Izumi held her hand to the back of the baby’s head she tucked under her chin, feeling his little warm body against her bare skin. She said nothing. She didn’t need to. She and ‘Saru had already discussed names ahead of time. They already discussed everything, including legitimizing her son someday, when the time was right. Until then, they would hide him from their enemies in the Fire Sages’ Temples in plain sight. He would bear Masaru’s last name, live in Masaru’s estate most of the time, and go to school like every other child, and never know the loneliness of Palace Life.
FanFiction by zhenyilani 