Chapter 111 – Lin, Departure

Toph is giving birth. This is nowhere close to the last in the long series of babies delivered or expected by the female portion of the gang, which now includes Yue and Katara once again. After spending all day around babies for the past 5 months, most of them are desensitized to the ongoing stresses involved. Of course, there’s still times when they burn out and take vacations to the Spirit Realm while leaving the babies with their friends, but those times are only once a month or so.

When Toph’s water broke, she was doing what gets her mind off of her massively disproportionate belly best, lying with her back on a flat rock and eating. Her baby is a voracious little beast. Even though Toph eats for most of the day, she never puts on any weight. There is nothing Haru could do to stop her appetite. Gunner could not be convinced to help reduce her appetite since he never had proper eating habits from the start. He ate enough for 4 grown men! Also, it was a pain to always have one of his crew members around to translate his words, so they gave up communicating verbally.

The first thing Toph thought when she felt wet down there was that she peed her pants, which is utterly embarrassing, so she didn’t tell anyone and just earthbent some loose rock, crushed it into sand, and put it inside her pants to dry out the mess while also keeping it from smelling. When she got a whiff of it incidentally though, it didn’t smell like pee, so she got curious and finally decided to get up and go to the bathroom, which she should have done minutes ago.

The flow of the liquid dripping inside her panties increased uncontrollably when she stood up which clued her in on the fact that she’s about to give birth. After Toph called everyone over, Nuwa takes a look at her.

Nuwa puts her finger in Toph’s pussy. E-Nuwa concludes that she had already begun her labor contractions 2 hours earlier, but they were unnoticeable because Toph’s root chakra was firmly connected to the earth, basically allowing her to ignore how uncomfortable her body feels when her bare feet are on the floor. She finds this fact interesting and shares it with the gang. Maybe it is already known or would be useful knowledge for pregnant earthbenders in the future.

Haru and Gunner are outside waiting for Toph to get out. Zuko and Aiwei reassure Haru that everything will be fine since he seems anxious. Gunner is nonchalant and figures that Toph, who he has come to respect greatly for her fierceness, will be fine no matter what.

He is wrong though. Toph let herself go a little too much on the eating, which makes the baby a lot heavier than she is prepared for. Furthermore, she spent too long laying with her back on the floor, including when she slept that the baby did not orient itself properly. The baby is in breech position, according to the short analysis E-Nuwa makes by massaging Toph’s vagina and belly. The meaning of this is that the baby would be coming out of the womb butt first instead of head first.

Breech delivery is a dangerous option, since it is more difficult for the cervix to open properly. Cases where the umbilical cord wraps around the throat, strangling the blood flow to the brain, as the baby’s head exits the cervix are also possible. For these reasons, Nuwa’s only options are to turn the baby out of a breech position or give Toph a cesarean surgery.

Pausing for a moment to settle on a choice, Nuwa’s eyes harden. She knows that one of Toph’s goals is to take Gunner’s Stump of a dick. If Nuwa gives her a C-section, her vagina will lack the necessary experience of vaginal delivery to spread wide enough to conquer the Stump. The best choice for Toph is to use her superhuman technical prowess as E-Nuwa to turn the baby within the womb so that its head faces downward without tangling the umbilical cord. Toph can deliver the baby like a normal pregnancy this way!

Nuwa begins. She starts by chi-blocking various points to make Toph unable to move and to dull the flow of chi to the womb area. She puts one finger inside Toph’s vagina to keep E-Nuwa active, then squeezes Toph’s womb upward repeatedly, causing the amniotic fluid within to roll in a cyclical manner. The baby is swept up by the circular current and tumbles slowly into the correct position as Nuwa ends her disturbances and returns the flow of chi to the area, which stops the fluid from continuing to roll.

Meanwhile, Toph is beginning to feel a lot of the dulled pain that she should have felt before during the time when the chi flow to her belly is cut off. The contractions pause for the moment that Nuwa chi-blocks them to fix the breech, but resume with a vengeance when Nuwa unblocks them. Toph screams and all the metal in the area starts creaking. Nuwa blocks her root chakra to cut off the earthbending, but lets her chi flow through her body for the passive strength and pain resistance.

After an excruciating 6 hours, with lots of help from Nuwa, Toph finally gives birth to a baby girl. Nuwa could have helped Toph give birth faster, but the long period of time ensures that Toph’s vagina is adequately prepared for the Stump as she wanted it to be. Then again, Nuwa has yet to ask Toph if she actually still wants to after the 6 months that have passed since she first tried. Hopefully she does, otherwise Toph would have suffered a lot of pain for nothing. In the end, Nuwa resolves not to tell her about how it could have been over sooner.

Dan wasn’t present when Toph began her labor, but he’s here now. Ty Li is hanging on his arm with complicated feelings regarding Dan’s first child with Toph. Dan has been thinking about what to do with his first biological child and he even discussed it with Ty Li. They know that Haru has claimed full responsibility for raising the baby girl and they intend to respect that, but they still want to visit often, so they’ve come to provide emotional support.

Haru is allowed into the room when the crying of the baby begins. The rest of the men, along with Ty Li, follow in shortly after. Seeing the worry on the faces of her friends, Toph gives an exhausted smile of gratitude. Sensing that Dan is looking at their daughter with most of his body language focusing on Ty Li, she sighs and realizes that it’s time for her to let go of her silly crush.

She turns to Haru and holds his hand tightly, which elicits a fond smile back from him. She knows that he’s in love with her, which she finds weird since she can’t really think of any reason for him to be in love with her. Dan had originally sneaked into her heart because he’s the only man her age that could subdue her, even if only temporarily. For now, she’s going to try her best to get over Dan by riding Haru, her pretty boy.

First of all though.. “OI GUNNER. We have an appointment!” Toph’s eyes light up with a battle thirsty fervor. Despite having just given birth, she hops out of bed and limps slightly before she grabs his hand and pulls him into the bathroom.

Nuwa mentally wipes the sweat off her brows, “Phew, looks like I chose right.”

The gang hears a wild scream from the bathroom after which Toph starts laughing heartily in victory. Haru facepalms with the baby girl in his arms.

Nuwa wipes a melodramatic tear from her eye out of pride at Toph finally conquering the Stump. This is proof for her that people can do whatever they set their minds on. Unfortunately, the moment she fixes Toph’s genitals with her Dao String, she will once again be fruitless in her efforts to mount the Stump. That’s why she will not offer the procedure to Toph until asked.

Meanwhile, Haru waits with embarrassment for Toph to finish so they can name the baby together. Nuwa looks at him with mild pity, ‘Wow.. I wonder what Toph did to deserve a guy this accommodating.’

The gang begins to file out, finding the situation too shameless even for them. Only Dan, Ty Li, Haru, and Nuwa remain. The group continues to hear moans and grunts from the bathroom as they shuffle awkwardly. Nuwa strikes up a conversation, “How’s the house coming along?”

Ty Li replies cheerfully, “It’s built, but we’re still furnishing it, so there’s only a bed and other essentials. We’ll invite everyone when it’s done.”

Dan nods with equal cheer, making occasional glances towards the baby girl.

One uncomfortable silence later, Toph exits the bathroom with cum dripping down her leg. She is both limping and waddling now. There’s red splotches all over her legs. She has a big smile on looking like she’s returning victoriously from a hard-fought and bloody battle. Gunner is unconscious in the bathtub, but no one pays him any mind.

Nuwa says, “Congratulations!” enthusiastically, which the other members of the gang repeat, with significantly less enthusiasm.

Toph bows theatrically and nearly falls over out of pain and exhaustion. Haru catches her with one hand before it can happen and brings her back to bed. “Toph, aren’t you overdoing it?!” He nags. Toph scoffs and takes the baby out of his other arm. She holds the baby girl up in front of her face and says, “Lin Beifong.” She nods in satisfaction, returns her to Haru, and passes out directly.

“Nice! Welcome to the gang, little Lin.” says Nuwa. The baby starts crying again after that so Nuwa lets her suckle from her breast in case she is hungry. Now that she thinks about it, Toph might not have enough breast milk to feed this voracious baby. Nuwa turns to Haru and recommends, “You might want to consider a wet nurse. I won’t always be available.” Haru avoids staring at Nuwa’s bare tit and says, “Yeah, sure. We’re going back to Earth Kingdom, right? There will be plenty of willing people there.”

Nuwa smiles and agrees. She’s happy to get back into some action after the monotonous routine of the last 5 months between paperwork at the Pea mansion, meditation, and playing with Tulen. Dan and Ty Li aren’t coming this time.

Ty La and her new boyfriend Jet are though. Somehow, Jet, who was imprisoned for being a warmongering bandit, started dating Ty La, who was the head prison warden. Unlike in canon, the Dai Li were already taken down by the time Jet had arrived in Ba Sing Se so he did not encounter Zuko or Iroh and was not brainwashed or killed by Long Feng. How he managed to end up in a maximum security prison is something she will have to ask about. Nuwa is extremely suspicious of how Jet schemed his way into being Ty La’s boyfriend and out of prison. The Fire Nation only has him booked on banditry, and Nuwa suspects that is the reason that Ty La gave him a chance, but Nuwa knows he’s a killer.

She doesn’t have anything against killers per se, but Jet held a fanatical hatred in canon due to witnessing the death of his parents at the hands of firebenders. The worst part about it is that he was fine with killing innocent Earth Nation villagers to spark outrage against the Fire Nation to escalate the war. That takes warmongering to a whole new level. He did, however, run into Aang, Katara, and Sokka, who prevented the scheme just like what occurred in canon.

All she can hope is that he really has changed his ways like he claims he was trying to do in canon or else she’s going to put him right back into prison.

Before they leave for the Earth Kingdom, there’s one thing left to do. Nuwa, Azula, Aiwei, and Iroh go to visit Ozai in prison. Five months later, his form paints a sorry picture. He has lost a lot of muscle mass, his cheeks are sunken, and the air around him reeks due to the infrequent replacement of the chamberpot. He could easily pass for a beggar on the street.

Ozai’s wife, children, vassals, and citizens had all abandoned him. Iroh looks at his younger brother, who had lost everything he held dear, with pity. After the cell is unlocked, the four of them enter and dismiss the guards. Iroh says, “Why did it have to come to this Ozai?”

Ozai sits cross legged with his head and hair down. He says without looking at them, “This is the way of the world. The strongest do what they want and the weak merely perish. You were stronger this time. Let’s see how long that lasts, elder brother.”

Shaking his head, Iroh patiently explains, “You’re wrong, brother. The strong must take care of the weak. Every act of kindness carries its karma through reincarnation.”

Ozai is about to continue arguing, but Azula cuts him off, “Our cousin! Who killed him?”

There is a moment of silence before Ozai begins laughing. “Kukuku.. You want to know so badly? I already told you.. that I’ll never tell.”

Azula loses her patience and decides she has enough of his shit. She kicks her father to the ground and steps on his chest. He struggles but is unable to remove her from atop him after losing so much strength. Azula grabs one of his flailing arms and begins disintegrating it into dust finger by finger.

Outwardly, it looks like his hand is being erased from the very tip since the onlookers can see the interior cross-sections. Azula’s control over her Phoenix fire has improved enough for her to concentrate it to be small enough not to visually obscure the area of disintegration. Even the blood is disintegrated, so the entire process is disturbingly bloodless.

Iroh struggles to see this act of intergenerational cruelty, but holds himself back from stopping her. Ozai screams as his hand burns with severe pain. He thinks Azula is firebending, but when he opens his eyes, he can see that his hand is disappearing steadily. He screams with extreme fear! Ozai finally begins to regret following through with the prophecy that a descendent of Roku would bring power to his lineage. Azula’s powers are too scary!

He shouts with tears in his eyes, “STOP! IT WAS LORD ZATA! HE.. convinced me.” Azula finally stops disintegrating his hand when he confesses. He starts bleeding profusely when she stops, so she scalds the wound shut with firebending, leaving only a stump on his wrist. “GAHHHH!” Ozai crumples to the floor holding the stump of his left wrist. Nuwa and Azula look at Aiwei, who nods his head. Nuwa gets one kick of her own in on the crunched up Ozai for Heza’s sake.

Azula sneers and looks down on her groaning father with disgust. “Tell us the full story.”

Holding his arms up around his head, Ozai says, “Ok.. ok. That sneaky Zata said if he takes care of Lu Ten, it’ll ruin all of Iroh’s momentum leading him towards the throne. He said I can swoop in and take advantage of the moment to appoint him as the new general to siege Ba Sing Se after which he’ll give me credit for conquering the Earth Kingdom. Neither of us expected, Iroh, that you would pull back all your forces into a complete and unconditional retreat from Ba Sing Se before we could replace you! Shameless!”

Iroh clenches his fists in rage at how his own brother acquiesced to a fatal plot against Lu Ten! Still, he doesn’t lash out against him. Instead, Ozai rushes forward with manic desperation and tries to land a cheap shot against Iroh. If he was in top form, it might have worked, but he’s much weaker now. His right fist is easily redirected by Iroh, who returns a palm to his chest in response.

Ozai is launched sliding on the floor until he hits the prison bars by the seemingly harmless palm. He coughs from being winded, but tries to escape from the open prison door regardless of his physical state. The fear of death drives him to do whatever he can to get away from Azula. Iroh lobs a ball of fire overhead that forms a wall of fire on the rocky floor of the prison, cutting off his escape path, intent on resolving this matter peacefully.

Hyperventilating and increasingly manic, Ozai seems to think that he still has his natural fire resistance as a firebender and dashes towards the flames, attempting to part them with his chi. It doesn’t work. He ends up being fully lit on fire from jumping into Iroh’s flame wall. Even Ozai’s battle experience fails him at this moment as he flounders about in confusion and agony from his whole body being on fire. Iroh tries to rush over and put the fire out, but he forgets to use his fire thrusters in panic and only runs with his feet to catch up to Ozai.

Ozai runs through the halls like a human torch screaming in horror and pain. He finally loses consciousness at the entrance of the mess hall by the time Iroh gets to him. There’s a sizable crowd of guards around them, which causes Nuwa to lament that there’s no way to cover up this incident. She could have wrapped him in earth with her [E-Vibe] if she wanted to prevent his death in the moments after he put himself on fire, but she hesitated because she really did want him dead.

Azula seems equally as surprised as everyone else, but pulls herself together. Now that Iroh’s tea spark had extinguished the fire, she knelt down and checked Ozai’s pulse. After seeing Nuwa shake her head, Azula addresses the crowd with a blank face, “The former Fire Lord committed suicide attempting to escape confinement. May he rest in peace.”

*Main Mission [Resolve Iroh’s Regrets] completed. Rewards will be provided upon World Completion.*

Everyone could tell that Azula didn’t mean what she said given how nonchalant she was over the gruesome death of her own father, but they repeated, “May he rest in peace.” robotically. With Ozai dead, the New Ozai Society is officially dead as well. Shrugging, Nuwa thinks, ‘One less headache for me,’ after which she sighs, ‘and I’m finally done with that accursed mission.’

Iroh sees to it that proper ceremonies are made for his brother’s corpse while Azula and Nuwa go about the rest of their day as usual.

+30k LEE, Total: 9340k LEE

The next day, Nuwa, Azula, Toph, Haru, Gunner, June, Aiwei, the trio of Younger Ty sisters, Lady Pea, and Xai Bau set off on an airship for Boiling Rock prison where they’ll pick up Ty La and Jet. The babies, Tulen and Lin, will be getting to know each other on the trip.

(A/N: Toph is a gigachad OWO she can do anything she sets her mind to!)