#tw preg

A girl raised in this mindset gets drunk, makes the mistake of sleeping with some random guy and spends the next couple months being swallowed up by her own shame and fear, fear of people, her family, her church, finding out. The more she fears, the more The corruption takes root inside her.

She'd fallen pregnant from this mistake, belly swelling noticeably by the end of her 1st trimester. That fear of judgment keeps her home, away from prying eyes and questions, hiding it as she pretends its not happening.

Unbeknownst to her The Corruption had warped her would be child into something else. As she gets bigger she begins to notice thag when the child should be kicking, its instead a squirming sensation, one that makes her sick to think about, makes her fear, more food for The Corruption.

Perhaps its just one, human baby sized maggot, fat and long, wriggling and undulating inside her or perhaps its many smaller ones, still too big to be even remotely normal, a writhing mass that fights for space inside her cramped womb. It only gets worse as the gestation continues.

Maybe it gets to a point you can see the movement from outside, these unnatural ripples, reminiscent of maggots under a thin flap of skin of a carcass.

Does she break? claw at her own body in a pathetic attempt to free herself of this nightmare? or does she lose herself to it, let The Corruption warp her mind too and she comes to love the thing/s inside her. Rubbing her belly proudly, excited to bring her child or children into the world.

There's also like, shame and fear around gay sex, which is predominant enough I think The Corruption would have fun feeding off of it. Could tie mpreg into it as well. Just, there's alot of fears and shame around sex in many ways and I think there's alot of untapped potential lmao

Even her feelings about her dreams had changed. She was perfectly happy to let the strange, unconnected scenes in her head simply evaporate in the soft morning light. Since the bonding ceremony, it had become so much clearer to her that her sleeping mind was doing little more than taking out the trash. In her years of solitude, images of a wailing newborn in her arms would have jolted her out of bed and sent her to the gym at headquarters, regardless of the hour. When Tenzin’s face haunted her nightmares, she’d just get up and take a swig (or three) of firewhiskey and wait for the sunrise, resigned to spending the day arguing with beat cops about their arrest reports.

But ever since the night they had knelt facing each other, hand in hand, their entire family circled around them, Lin had woken in a state of peace. Even the nights when images assailed her, just opening her eyes in this room was almost enough to calm her. When she needed them, caresses and kisses and gentle words would settle her again. She never woke alone the mornings that followed.

She smiled again,secure in the knowledge that the night had passed in the quiet embrace of her loves, unhaunted by imaginary troubles.

But then, her stomach lurched.

The once comforting blankets suddenly were tight as ropes, and she couldn’t get free of them. When she opened her mouth to call for help, the contents of her stomach spilled out into the bedding beside her.

She retched again and again. Her nose ran sickeningly down her face. Tears streamed and blurred her vision.

A slam behind her told her someone had crashed through the door. Curled up, her face hanging over the side of the bed looking down at the soiled bedding she had shoved away, she couldn’t make herself take a look.

“Lin!” Pema’s voice cut through the haze, and a breath later, her soft hands cradled Lin’s sweaty, sick-stained face.

She felt the brush of Pema’s hand against her forehead. The confused look on Pema’s face worried her. 

“You don’t have a fever, Lin. Can you stand? Let’s get you to the basin here and we’ll get you cleaned up.”

She turned away to keep from shouting in Lin’s ear, calling for help. 

When a full ten-day passed with her waking up safe and secure, only to be wracked with revolt from her stomach, Pema ushered an unfamiliar healer over to the bedside. 

Lin felt her blood run cold when she met the eyes of this woman she had never met, whose face was just a touch too light around the eyes. The healer nevertheless went through the motions of examining Lin, giving her a precious few more minutes of deniability. 

Behind them, Tenzin entered quietly and closed the door behind himself, just in time to hear, “Congratulations. It appears that you may need to prepare for a child to arrive this autumn.”

Lin gaped, unable to breathe.

Tenzin rocked back on his heels.  “Are you certain?” he whispered.

Pema frowned a moment before rolling her eyes. 

“Tenzin. Surely, you suspected, days ago. We’ve been through four versions of this.”

She was pregnant.

Fifty-four years old, and pregnant.

In something like terror, she sought out the healer’s face. “But I’m too old,” she managed to say.

The medical professional patted her hand and stood, turning to pack her travelling case. “I cannot lie to you. You are of an advanced age for the strains of pregnancy. From my examination, I see an accumulation of damage common to earthbenders. I understand from Sister Pema that your medical history is… less than ideal. Obviously, you are strong and strong-willed, and that will serve you well.”

She turned back to Lin, her face drawn and serious. “If you have already had this much trouble with morning sickness, I cannot guarantee that it will get better. I would strongly advise that you take a leave of absence from your position in the City, and stay here. You do not have to be idle yet. I would not recommend bed rest for several more months. But this is a preliminary examination, and you should work with a doctor or healer who specializes in mothers of your age.”

Mothers.

The air in the room seemed to vanish, and she clenched a hand to her chest, wheezing.

The healer vanished from view, blocked in an instant by Pema and Tenzin. She could see them speak to each other, but the blood roaring in her ears overwhelmed her.

Tenzin’s warm hands enveloped her own, and he pulled her fingertips to his lips. She bent her neck to press her forehead to his. He pulled her hands apart and pressed them to his own chest.

The feel of him inhaling, the feel of his heart inside his chest, the aroma of the incense that had not been burning just minutes earlier… gradually, she was able to calm her breathing, and sit back.

The healer was gone. Her loves sat with her until she could make herself leave the room to eat.

For the next eight months, she never again woke alone.

***

Slowly, painfully, Lin rolled onto her back, and then to her right side so she could see through the window to the forbidden expanses outside. It had been months since she had been allowed to leave the dormitory building, and weeks since she was allowed to leave the room for any reason other than bathroom necessities.

The family had a well-planned schedule to keep her company, cleverly organized to appear random. She could count on a few hours a day in quiet solitude, but she could tell that would be ending soon. 

As little as she knew about pregnancy, she knew she was in more pain than she should be. Pema had told her to expect her limbs to feel disjointed, for every scrape or bruise to feel worse than usual. 

But they were too different, as expectant mothers. Pema had been youthful, full of enthusiasm for her husband, her community. She had been bright and optimistic, loved and supported by everyone around her. Jinora had been an easy baby, Ikki and Meelo just a little more challenging. 

Though Lin had to acknowledge that even Pema did not have a story-book story.

On the anniversary of Pema’s miscarriage, Lin had taken her up on Oogi, and together, they had cried in each other’s arms.

The night of Rohan’s birthday, the three of them had put him to bed before retiring early, speaking to no one else until the middle of the next day.

Lin knew she was loved and supported, but she knew, deep in her bones, that something was different, because, well, everything was different.

There were those who watched her from the corners of their eyes, or stopped speaking when she entered a room. Those who ducked out of a room when she appeared, leaning on Tenzin’s solicitous arm.

But she was accustomed to ignoring the vast majority of the Island’s populace.

The children, of course, had been over the moon with joy for her. They brought her flowers and fresh fruit. They read poetry to the baby, especially after they began to see that her pregnancy was quite real. Meelo and Ikki could be counted on for a song every morning.

She would always cherish the memory of each of their faces, the first time they felt the little one squirm in her abdomen. Jinora’s eyes had widened, but her stare was focused on nothing Lin could see. Ikki had startled, then held her hands to her own belly, obviously trying to imagine what Lin was feeling. Meelo had dropped his ear to her stomach, and tried to talk to the child.

Following a stressful day, Rohan had been in the room during one exam. When the healer’s assistant tried to shoo him away, he grabbed Lin’s hand, and informed everyone that he was staying right there to be sure everyone treated her well. He asked so many questions Lin had to pull him to sit under her arm to let the healer do his work.

Rohan mimicked the healer’s motions over the swell of her abdomen, and she swore to Tenzin that night that she could feel his chi mix with the baby’s.

Behind her, the door whispered open.

“Hello, Lin. It’s good to see you.”

Craning her neck, Lin took in the sight of her second mother. Katara was even shorter than she had been that terrible day.

Katara walked slowly over to the bed, heaving herself up on the step while Lin shifted to lay down on her back. They sat quietly for a moment, just holding hands and taking in each other’s face. 

They both started a little when the door clattered open again, a nearly breathless Rohan carrying his Gran-Gran’s medical bag. He set it carefully down on the bed beside his grandmother, ran outside, and brought back a small folding table that was as tall as the bed.

He hopped back down to the floor, grabbed the ewer from its basin, and went charging out to fill it. When Lin breathed as if to scold him, Katara shifted her finger to cover Lin’s lips.

“Let him be helpful. He will be sure the water makes it here.” With a smile that was only visible in the wrinkles around her eyes, Katara patted Lin on the cheek, and pulled the covers down to her waist.

Rohan returned with the ewer, full of determination. He set the ewer down, moved the basin, then used his bending to shift the water closer to his grandmother. 

She leaned over and spoke to him for a moment. With a nod, he extended his hands over the water, calling it up to cover them. Lin watched the water dance at their command, comforted by the presence of her not-mother and her not-son.

Except that she was the subject of discussion, she need not have been in the room. Katara talked to Rohan about the shape and function of Lin’s internal organs, the way her bending affected her joints and bones, and why his mother had been so picky about what they brought her to eat. They examined the fetus, a word Lin had long since shelved as irrelevant to her own life.

And yet, here she was.

She laid her head back and drifted to sleep.

***

Struggling for breath, she dreamt of a storm at sea.

Waves crashed against her, winds howled.

No moon, no stars gave light to the ocean’s surface.

Unlike any ocean water she had encountered before, this water was warm.

Instead of salt, she tasted iron.

Beside her, she heard Pema startle awake.

“Lin! Your water has broken! It’s time for the baby!”

And then the pain began.

The pain consumed her. Every muscle in her body burned. She felt the tears in her eyes, running down her cheeks, into her long-healed scars.

When the contractions hit, she couldn’t breathe. Someone was yelling at her to breathe, but she couldn’t remember how.

She couldn’t remember her own name.

Her heart beat wildly in her chest, but as soon as she thought about it, another wave of pain overwhelmed her.

They kept touching her!

Somehow, she knew they had brought the birthing tub, and that Tenzin was supporting her from behind. Pema’s voice felt like a blanket that covered her and a rock she clung to. 

Katara was there, her blue furs a blur before her, somewhere near her knees.

But she couldn’t hear the old woman. Why can’t I hear -

Her heart staggered.

In a panic, she raked in a breath, but it burned. 

She couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear, she only felt pain - ripping, tearing, pushing - 

And then, nothing…

She sat in the water…

It was so warm.

Her heart fluttered.

The pain dissipated.

Her heart stuttered.

Tenzin allowed her to grip his hand, and she could feel his bare chest against her back. He settled against the edge of the tub, and her into his embrace.

Faintly, so faintly - in the distance, she heard a baby’s cry.

Pema knelt in front of her, and the crying grew louder. Lin’s arms came forward to accept the baby and pull back. Her head swam, but then she felt it, the suck and pull at her breast. She looked down - 

A girl - 

She wrapped her arms around the baby.

“Hello…”

Her heart skipped a beat. 

Lin opened her eyes again to see Pema kneeling, still in a shift that once had been white, but was now covered in blood. She looked down, and knew.

Too much blood. It flowed through the water around their legs.

She knew.

But she had to say - 

She pulled Tenzin’s hand around her arm under the baby, then reached over to take Pema’s hand so they were all touching.

“Take care of her,” she whispered, her breath escaping. 

She squeezed their hands.

“Take care of each other for…”

Her hand fell away.

Her head fell forward.

Her soul fled.

***

Ikki was the first to depart the Island, just a few days later. Her enlistment certificate for the United Forces arrived in the care of a White Lotus guard who was moving to the Island for his last tour. He remembered her from his first service on the Island during the Equalist Uprising. His compliments were received politely, but he found it curious that her parents never engaged him in conversation.

Kya and Bumi left together to bear word to Suyin. They never set foot on the Island again.

Near the end of the year, Kai sat stunned in the dining hall,clutching  a short note left for him. Word came from Izumi three months later that the Fire Sages reported a new acolyte who did not have fire bending, and had taken a vow of silence.

Katara finally agreed to escort Rohan to the North Pole to begin his healing training. Weeks later, the ambassador arrived under his own waterbending power to inform the family that she had walked across the tundra toward the Spirit Portal, leaving all of her belongings behind. Rohan’s only response when questioned was, “She knows what she’s doing.”

One morning, Pema and Tenzin woke to find Meelo’s room bare to the walls. His note only said, “I love you.”

Tenzin spent days in meditation on a promontory where he and Lin had first spent the night alone after their rejoining. Pema looked out one day but couldn’t see him. The young airbender brought her his leaf brooch and glider, but had seen no sign of him anywhere.

***

“Rose, this is Sister Yuting. She will take you to see the Eastern Air Temple, where Avatar Yangchen used to live, a long, long time ago. It’s beautiful there. I think you’ll like it.”

Pema gave the child the last hug she would receive from her family. 

Sister Yuting picked up the child and watched as Pema began walking through the city, back toward a village she had not seen with her own eyes in nearly thirty years.

When inquiries were made, none there remembered the name. 

***

“Avatar Korra! Avatar Korra! We’ve been looking into things and have questions! Why is this new Beifong Day today? It wasn’t the recorded birthdays for either Toph or Lin Beifong. No one knows when either of them died. Why today?”

Korra and Mako exchanged a look and a nod. Mako stepped forward.