Fire Child
I believe this story started from a review from my other avatar story 'Its Funny What Fate Throws You' Amazing what one little request could do, and the word 'Mpreg'
That's right! Male Pregnancy. And I believe it's the first one in the Avatar section. I'm warning you now that if you don't like the discussion of guys getting pregnant, leave now or forever hold your flames. I don't want to hear them, I'm still a tad bitter from the reviews from 'Avalanche' sorry.
Warnings: Yaoi; Zuko/Sokka, though not graphic, not in this story. Mpreg; Sokka gets Pregnant with Zuko's baby. Future fic; its set 7 years later and its not all sun shine and flowers. Any I'm relying on my point of view at a parent, because I've never been pregnant and never plan to be, because I really, really dislike the thought of pain.
Hope you guys like it and thank you to HKL for Beta-ing
The icy winds blew harshly across the frozen tundra of the South Pole. A small boy bundled up in warm clothes and mittens ran out of an ice hut, a hood pulled over his head to save his skin from the biting winds. His mittened hands immediately dove for the snow in the front of his house and he balled it up into an imperfect sphere. He then put it on the ground and began to roll it, the small ball rapidly building up, sticking to the snow it rolled on. He grinned as it got harder to push, almost as tall as him now and in the center of the village. He stood and leaned down to get another ball of snow, but then the wind blew up just right and it pushed his fur clad hood off his head. He blinked large yellow eyes and stood straight, his short arms trying to reach back to pulls his hood back over his head. His thick brown hair fluttered in its pony tail and his dark skin was out of place in his white surroundings. His short 6 year old arms finally pulled the hood back over his head and he continued to gather snow for the second ball of his snowman.
"Heisui!" The young boy looked up at his name and saw a familiar man coming towards him. The man had dark skin like him and his hair was the same thickness and color, though it maybe was a tad lighter. The man's eye where blue though, unlike Heisui's deep amber orbs. Heisui smiled at the man, his father, as he came into proper hearing range. "Heisui, I told you to wait for me."
"I'm ok, daddy." The young boy said, still rolling his ball of snow. Sokka sighed in relief, he hated when Heisui ran off like that, and he'd taken up that horrid habit from his uncle Aang, and it scared Sokka to death when he did it. Sokka allowed his son to roll the balls himself, he always was stubborn like that. Heisui started to make the third ball of snow for the head and it gave Sokka a moment to quietly muse, a soft smile coming to his lips.
Six years with this boy in his life. Everything seemed to change, but yet, everything was the same. Everyone went about their lives in peace, their small village hadn't changed much, but Sokka knew he had. He was 7 years older, only a little bit taller than he had been as a teenager. He had matured quickly, he'd had to. His hair was a bit longer; when it was out of his pony tail, it brushed his shoulders. He also didn't train as vigorously as he had, he had to watch his son grow up and in times of peace, there was no more war to fight. He folded his arms and watched Heisui, mind drifting back without meaning to.
He remembered not 2 years ago Heisui had run out of the village in a hurry, without his coat, too eager to start playing in the snow to worry about the cold. Sokka had run out of the house after him, panic filling him, as any parent was terrified of their child running off. He yelled for Heisui to come back but the boy thought it was only a game and ran further, giggling uncontrollably. Sokka chased after him and after a good few minute he was getting fed up with the chase. He'd called Heisui's name in frustration and told him that it wasn't a joke any more, and he was going to tell the boy that he was going to get hurt, but he didn't get to speak the warning words before he heard the cracking of thin ice and a cut off scream that made Sokka's blood run cold. Unwanted memories resurfaced in his mind and he couldn't stop them.
"Daddy!" A gargled scream was caught as the young boy was dragged back under by the water current beneath the ice. Sokka knew what to do, even though he didn't pride himself in the knowledge, he acted fast, skidding to the hole in the ice and grabbed the tiny fingers that were disappearing into the blue waters and yanked up his son, who gasped for the air. Heisui was shaking uncontrollably and crying, eyes wide and filled with fear. Sokka began stripping the boy out of his wet clothes, knowing that if he didn't, it would only get worse, hypothermia set in quick in the poles. Heisui's teeth chattered as his wet skin met freezing air, trying to curl up to keep warm.
"No, keep moving, you can't stop moving." He mumbled, trying not to let his voice waver in fear, but maybe it did, because Heisui listened, his arms moving up and down his arms and his feet jumped from one to the other, teeth chattering loudly. Sokka removed his coat and threw it around his son, wrapping him tightly, hoping the lingering body heat would help. Heisui still kept moving and Sokka was glad for that. He quickly picked Heisui up and ran back to the village, calling for Katara to help him.
Sokka nibbled his bottom lip; the terrifying experience had taken a good 4 years off his life. Heisui had been sick and ill for a week before he'd stabilized and got better. Sokka had to admire his son's strength, he didn't give up, he was stubborn, but not without good reason to be.
"Daddy!" Sokka snapped out of his daze, finally noticing that Heisui was trying to push the second largest ball onto the largest one, and was having trouble, but he'd gotten it half way up and didn't want to put it down. Sokka smiled and walked over to the small boy and with the two of them, though it was mostly Sokka, hefted the first, then the last snow ball. Sokka brushed the snow off his mittens, finding the snowman came to his waist in height, and a head taller than Heisui. The little boy then took off his mitten, reached up on his tip toes and using his index finger, he drew a mouth, nose and eyes on the head. Sokka stood back and let him decorate. They didn't have pebbles to make buttons, nor sticks to make arms; there was only fish, snow and fur coats to keep warm in.
Sokka didn't notice at first how easily and smoothly Heisui's fingers glided through the snow, but Heisui did and he blinked, confused. Why was his hand hot? He slowly drew buttons on the middle of the snowman; the snow melted into smooth water and then instantly froze from the cold Antarctic air. Curiously he rested his bear hand on the largest snow ball and nothing happened except his skin got cold. His fingers curled some, skin becoming numb, but then he took a breath and his hand suddenly became very hot, as if his hands were too close to the fire in the huts. The snow became water under his finger tips, causing a hand like imprint to melt into the snow.
He snapped his hand back to his body, startled by the sudden and strange reaction. Sokka tilted his head to the side, wondering what the sudden movement was for.
"Heisui?" He asked and crouched down to his son's eye level. Heisui turned, with a confused look in his yellow eyes, and held up his hand to Sokka, coming close to his father, palm of his hand nearly touching Sokka's nose and Sokka had to pull back to see the little hand clearly.
"Daddy, my hand is hot." He announced in a confused tone that matched his eyes and Sokka just laughed, grasping Heisui's hand in both of his gently.
"That happens when you're playing in the snow without your mittens on," Sokka explained patiently, "And it's also how little boys catch colds." Heisui made a face that told anyone who saw that he didn't like being treated like a little kid, even though he was one.
"No really! It's not just the snow." He concentrated on his hand, but again nothing happened. Sokka at first blamed it on his son's imaginative thinking but then there was a pulse of heat that startled him, his hands darting away from Heisui's hand as if he was burned. Heisui blinked slowly at his father's reaction. Had he done something bad?
Sokka's heart pounded in his chest, eyes wide for a minute. How many times had he felt that heat of fire from bear hands? Dozens of times from enemies, and few times with intimate passion. It scared him, it did; it scared him just as much as the thought of loosing Heisui to the watery depths. He realized his hands were shaking and Heisui was looking worriedly at him. He forced a smile to cover up his shock.
"H-Heisui," He startled himself by stuttering, he didn't like to do it and he rarely if ever had stuttered to his son, "How about you go and see Aori, I'm sure she would like to see you; and Gran-Gran too." Heisui took the hint; Sokka was thankful for that.
"Ok." He said, a bit put down by his fathers reaction, but never the less went to one of the near by houses, calling for his grandmother and cousin before going inside. Sokka stood and felt his head spin from that short, but powerful information. He basically stumbled back to his and his sister's ice hut, blown away by the idea that his son could be a fire bender.
Trying to stick in character here; always am. Remember, 7 years into the future, people mature, especially with kids. Next chapter will have information, and it will have quite a few flash backs. Review and I'll update quick.