A New Soul


49. The Uninvited

Zuko does not know why he has to be here. He should have never walked in, but he was the only person strong enough to carry his sister, who could handle injuries and burns and falls from high distances but apparently could not handle labor so far. Zuko knew she was not in the mood to be disobeyed and he intended to escape as soon as he set her down, but Ty Lee dug her nails into him and has not released him this entire time.

Beads of sweat drip from his forehead. This is a horrible situation.

Brothers should not be present for childbirth.

"You know, tomorrow is my birthday," Zuko comments, trying to lighten the mood.

Ty Lee replies chipperly, "Your birthday gift can be becoming an uncle!"

He can only glare at that.

"Shouldn't you be comforting your girlfriend?" asks Zuko and Ty Lee shakes her head. She then nods, then shakes her head again. "I see."

"Please approach her," whispers Ty Lee and Zuko steels himself.

He is strong enough to do this. He hopes he is, at least. If he can be Fire Lord and win a war and survive assassins and his father and any number of things, he can survive this.

Zuko slowly walks forward and awkwardly pats his sister's arm.

"Doing okay?" he asks as kindly as possible.

She lifts her hand and smashes it against his face. She lowers her palm and sighs.

Azula mutters dejectedly, "That was supposed to be on fire but I am literally in too much discomfort and pain to bend."

"That could've killed me!" is Zuko's screech.

Azula whispers to him, "Is that so much to ask?"

"Yes! Yes, it is way too much to ask!" he exclaims. Azula glares at him but he does not care.

"Ty Lee, please punch him," says Azula. "He shouldn't even be here."

"I don't think I should be here either!" Zuko says.

"Good. Ty Lee, escort Zuko out and maybe I'll consider marrying you," Azula snaps, and Ty Lee claps her hands before latching onto Zuko and dragging him out into the hallway.

"You have incredible upper body strength," Zuko comments, running his hand through his hair after being released.

"I know." Ty Lee smiles widely and bats her eyelashes. Her cheeriness vanishes once she remembers that Azula is in there. "I should go back to my girlfriend," she stammers.

"Good plan." Zuko smiles and points at the door.

Ty Lee opens and closes her mouth, takes a few deep breaths, turns towards the door and then turns around.

"I think I'll just wait here. I'm probably only stressing her out." Ty Lee looks pallid and ill, so Zuko does not prod her to be present for her child's birth. "I'm gonna go rock in the corner."

"Have fun," says Zuko.

They remain out there as the eternal night goes on.

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50. The Birthday Gift

"Here's your present, ZuZu," says Azula as too many people crowd around her and her extremely beautiful baby who is perfect and wonderful and if anyone even touches her she will claw their eyes out with her nails. "It's a baby."

"It's not my baby," Zuko says, taking a step back.

"No. It is mine. And, right now, if you died, she would be next in line to be Fire Lord. Am I not so thoughtful at gift giving," Azula purrs.

"I guess the agony of childbirth didn't affect your charm," Zuko grumbles. Mai comes very close to laughing when he says that.

"You never know," says Mai.

"Never know what? That I'll die young and be replaced by my sister's bastard child?" Zuko asks and Azula rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, but also you never know what the baby will grow up to be like. Maybe you two will get along if Azula lets you near her. It's a her, right? Not that I honestly care," Mai says, taking the only seat in the room. Ty Lee creeps closer to Azula.

"Now we just have to set our parenting goals, Ty Lee," Azula says, grabbing her wrist and securing her in place. "It is important to start a venture with proper goals, is it not?"

"This isn't a military operation or lifechanging journey or something. It's a baby," Ty Lee says.

"Those goals are the most important kind," Azula says, patting Ty Lee's hand.

"I think you only need one goal as a parent," says Mai. "Raise a child who doesn't have to recover from their childhood."

Azula wants to glare at Mai and tell her she is an idiot—because she is—yet that is not a bad statement and not a bad plan.

"It's low," Azula decides. She cannot praise her worst enemy. "I need higher goals for such an important venture."

"Sometimes setting low goals reduces stress," Mai states, yawning. "And also, given your family history, I think that might actually be aiming high."

Ty Lee nods feverishly. "She's right, she's right. You had really bad parents and bad grandparents and bad great grandparents and stuff. We'll be amazing parents! Who aren't married though. We would be better parents if we were married."

"Keeping dreaming," Azula replies without a bat of an eyelash. Zuko laughs alone. "Shut up, ZuZu. Sometimes dreams come true."

And let the false hope begin. Or maybe the not-false hope. Azula does not know what yet to make of Ty Lee. Her feelings come and go and spin around her mind in the most confusing way possible. They might end up together or might end up murdering each other.

"What's her name?" asks Zuko, breaking the awkward silence before it begins.

Maybe he has his uses upon occasion, thinks Azula.

"We don't know ye—" begins Ty Lee but a glare from her girlfriend shuts her up. She still fears Azula after all of these years. Good. That goes into the 'pro' of marrying her list, Azula decides.

Azula grandiosely announces in a weary voice, "Her name is Izumi."

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end part five