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Zuzu gives her a cake on her 15th birthday. He personally delivers it to her room even though he's the high and mighty Fire Lord and no doubt is busy running the new pathetic version of the Fire Nation.
He had tried to say something when he came by but Azula screamed at him and tried to send a fire blast roaring at his head, trying to aim for the crown the crown that should have been hers. The guards that came with him rushed him out of the room and Zuzu disappears as quickly as he came.
She almost thinks she imagined it if it weren't for the cake he had set on the floor before knocking.
Azula picked up the cake.
In the very center is a message written in icing.
Happy Birthday Azula
Her brother’s handwriting.
She turns and angrily kicks the door closed, holding the cake in trembling hands. She dropped it onto a table and promptly locked herself in the connected bathroom, feeling tears already building up in the corners of her eyes.
~~
Later, she creeps out into the bedroom to stare at it properly.
It’s sweetbread, relatively small, very crooked and lopsided, and most certainly leaning to one side. The frosting smeared around the top looked applied by an unexperienced hand.
Azula hesitantly cuts herself a slice and drops it onto a place. After all, she may be under lockdown but she still has etiquette.
She takes a bite.
It’s amazing, she thinks begrudgingly, even if Zuzu had been the one to make it. She hasn't had anything like this in a while.
Alone in her room, for the first time since the Agni Kai, Azula allowed herself a genuine smile.