A/N: Today marks the one year anniversary of The Dragon Prince! What better way to celebrate than with a Childhood AU?

Chapter Summary: Rayla makes an interesting discovery she just has to share with Callum. It's such an amazing discovery that it calls for celebration! That's it! Childhood AU.

Word count: 2,191

The Birthday Cake

"Psst."

The soft whisper graced across Callum's ears, but his attention remained on his sketchbook. He sat slouched over on the bench out in the courtyard, using his head as shade to shield his work from the bright sun.

"Psst, Callum," came another whisper.

He ignored the voice as he stuck out his tongue, bringing his attention over to the bright spots of his drawing. As he began to shade them, he felt something prod at his spine.

"Callum!"

He rolled his eyes as he continued shading.

Another prod. "Hey Cal—"

"What!" he whined, throwing his head up out of agony. He turned around and glared at the young Moonshadow elf stood before him. "I'm trying to draw!" He waved his sketchbook at her as he added, "You can't see me drawings if you won't let me finish!"

"Draw later!" Rayla dismissed with a casual wave of her four-fingered hand. "I found somethin'!" she eagerly shouted as she bounced in place, clenching her fists as she shook them with excitement.

Of course, because it was Rayla, her mood was easily infectious and swayed Callum to forget his sketch. His brows raised in interest as he titled his head at her. "What kinda something? Something that feels like a magical artifact? Or a mystery?" he inquired, curiosity obviously peaked.

Rayla smiled as she leaned over, cupping her hand over her mouth as she glanced around the courtyard, wary of any eavesdroppers. "Both," she whispered.

Callum's eyes exploded in shock as his mouth fell to the ground. "No way…" he whispered back.

His friend merely nodded in pride as she straightened her posture, tucking her hands on her hips as she held her eager smile. "That's right! It's somethin' special, and crazy! I don't know what it's doing in the castle! I was—"

"Rayla, talk later," Callum interjected, hastily tucking his pens into his backpack. He slung his sketchbook's strap over his shoulder and stared at Rayla seriously. "If whatever you found was as magical and mysterious as you made it to be, someone else might find it!"

Rayla's mouth dropped. "Ya're right!" she gasped in shock. Shaking herself out of her shock, the young Assassin found her resolve and shot her finger into the air. "Quick! Follow!"

"Shhhhh!" Callum chatised her, bringing a finger to his lips. "Quietly!"

Rayla nodded once more. "Right, of course. Stealthy-sneaky," she waved her palm in front of her face, morphing her expression into what looked like an attempted shot of seriousness, "Assassin mode activated." She narrowed her eyes and dropped down to a crouch. "Now follow!" she loudly barked, releasing her voice to the walls of the courtyard.

Callum grinned as watched his friend whip her body around and dash off, flinging her arms behind her back as she ran, a running technique she claimed to make her run faster.

"Yeah!" the artist shouted after her, mimicking her running technique as he dashed right after her.

::::

"Runaan?"

The moonshadow elf in question raised a brow as he kept his gaze transfixed on his book. "Yes Sarai?"

"Why does Rayla run like she's got something tying her arms behind her back?" the Queen inquired, maintaining her confused gaze out onto the courtyard below them.

Harrow perked his head up from his meal, glancing his confusion between his wife and friend, before making his way over to the windowsill to steal a glance for himself. Amusement crept upon his lips as he watched his son follow after the Assassin-in-training, both running whilst crouching down to a low centre of mass with their arms dragging against the wind behind them. "What in all the lands—"

"It makes her run faster," Runaan simply answered, eyes still on his book.

The royal couple blinked at each other as a silence supplied the air. They simultaneously glanced over to their elven friend, noting how casual he seemed. "I'm… sorry? What?" Harrow spoke up.

"It… it makes her run… faster?" Sarai slowly clarified.

Runaan made an affirmative noise as he lazily flipped onto the next page of his novel.

"How…"

"It just does," he stated.

Harrow blinked once more, then asked, "But how—"

"It just… does."

The royal couple once more exchanged a set of confused stares, then settled on returning their attention out and into the courtyard, where they still saw their children running about. They decided not to question the professional Assassin on his methods.

::::

A raised fist brought Callum's running to a halt. Rayla had her body pressed up against a wall and her ears on the prowl. She glanced back at Callum, and motioned him to move over to the wall. The boy quickly obeyed and threw his back up against the wall with haste, panic reaching his eyes. He watched as Rayla carefully poked her head around the corner, the immediately retracted herself with a startle.

"What? What is it?" Callum quietly asked.

"A couple of guards," Rayla answered.

Callum's face contorted into worry. "Are they guarding the thing you found?"

"Uh-huh," Rayla answered, peeking her head out once more. "Ugh, they're right outside the door I found it in!"

Callum made his way over to the corner, peeking his head out under Rayla. The two narrowed their eyes at the sight. Two crownsguard were stood outside a set of double doors. Callum quickly recognized the room to be the dining hall. He had just realized wit all the surroundings they've been walking through that Rayla was leading him there.

Rayla sighed. "They must've been on break when I found it," she muttered under her breath.

"Well how do we get rid of them?" Callum asked. "Man if we knew some sort of spell, we could totally solve this!"

Rayla furrowed a brow at her friend. "How would that help?" she questioned.

The boy shrugged. "I dunno, I just think it's cool. Y'know, using magic?"

"Hey, I can do magic," Rayla shot back.

"You only turn invisible. During a full moon."

"That's still magic!"

"Hmm, I guess so," Callum agreed.

"Prince Callum?" a feminine voice echoed out. The two froze in their spot, realizing that they had not only been bickering quite loudly, they were also completely out of the way from the corner they were hiding from. The guard smiled at the two as she waved. "Oh, and Lady Rayla!" she cheerfully greeted the two, waving at them, "What're you up to this afternoon?"

Callum innocently waved back, whilst Rayla smiled. She then leaned over to Callum and whispered ever so quietly, "We gotta get them away from the door."

"Yeah, I know," Callum said back, matching her pitch.

"But how?"

"I dunno."

"Guys?" the other guard called out. "You okay?" He wore a look of concern as he stepped forward.

"Do you need anything Prince Callum?" the female guard asked.

"Ooh, I know!" Callum cheered, looking as if an idea had just struck his face. "My mother requested your presence."

Both guards' brows shot up in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes!" Rayla jumped in. "King Harrow was with her too!"

"Oh, uh—"

"And it was urgent!" Callum hastily added.

The guards shut their mouths as hesitance washed over them. "Uhh…"

"Like desperate urgent!" Rayla chimed in.

Their eyes flashed with worry. "Of course! Right away!" the first one shouted, darting off.

The second lagged behind, stammering, "W-Wait for me!"

Soon enough, the hallway was cleared, and the two were free to make their move. Rayla pushed open the double doors and eagerly led Callum by the hand, rushing over to the other end of the long table. With a show of pizazz, Rayla hopped up from her spot and gestured to the end of the table with jazzy hands. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed.

The young prince really had no idea what he was expecting. His mind flew from mystical things like a magic orb or enchanted sword, to mysterious and ominous items like an old map, or random letter with their names addressed on it. But, for all his imagination, Callum didn't expect to find a fat, creamy chocolate birthday cake set on the table. It was obviously chocolate, with the icing of its outermost layer oozing down onto the silver platter. With three layers, it was clear that a multitude of different chocolates went into the design, ranging from what looked to be mousse, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. The top had an array of melted cheese, circling around the edge of the cake, with a set of four sliced strawberries plopped on one side of each cake.

The most notable feature had been the white candle stuck in the dead centre. Just beneath it, a written text in white icing stating, "Celebration!"

"Whoa…" Callum muttered in awe. "You just found this?"

Rayla excitedly nodded as she stepped closer to the cake. "Yeah! I don't know where this came from, but it doesn't seem like anyone else knows it's here!"

Callum stepped forward, hands reaching toward the cake in temptation. Suddenly, common sense overwhelmed him as he shook his head to snap himself out of his thoughts. "Wait, wait, wait, we don't know who's cake this is! We can't eat it!"

"Callum, I brought ya here so we can eat it! Together!" Rayla shouted, grabbing two plates from the table that had been set prior.

He frowned as he glanced. The fact that there were so many utensils and plates set up, he got the vibe this was met for something. "Hmm, I dunno."

"In the time I went to go get ya, no one even came by!"

"Then why were there guards outside?"

"There's always guards outside the dining hall."

"Hmmm…" Callum's skepticism was shrinking ever so quickly with each retort Rayla shot back. She did make convincing arguments. "Well, I think our only issue is following the rules!"

Rayla's head cocked to the right as she furrowed a brow. "Rules?"

"Yeah!" Callum rushed over to the table and pointed at the cake's icing. "It says 'celebration'! We need to be celebrating something in order to eat it!"

Rayla shrugged. "Why not just eat it?"

"My mum always said, 'You're not allowed to eat a birthday cake if whatever's written on it isn't addressed for you!'" Callum recalled in a deep voice, attempting to sound sophisticated.

Rayla giggled. "Well, if it's a celebration, can it be us celebratin' that we found a cake!"

Callum smiled in delight. "That might work!" he eagerly agreed. Quickly, Rayla handed him a plate and the two rushed over to either side of the cake. With eager forks, the two began to advance on the sweet celebratory dessert. Callum's hand halted as he shouted, "Wait! What if we're celebrating our friendship!"

Rayla's face of brief confusion immediately subsided into excitement. "Yeah! We can say that this is a celebration to our friendship!"

"Or me celebrating how cool of a friend you are!"

"Or me celebratin' how cool of an artist ya are!"

Callum's face suddenly felt hot, but he laughed it away. "Or maybe it's us celebrating your epic Assassin training!"

Rayla grinned. "Or maybe we're celebratin' how ya're my best friend in all of the world!"

The prince giggled as he shook his head. "How about we just agree with celebrating our friendship?"

The Assassin-in-training nodded. She jabbed her fork into the cake and pulled out a big chunk. "To my bestest friend in the all the lands!"

Matching her smile, Callum dug his fork into the cake and nearly pulled out a size that matched her chunk. "To my most awesomest friend in all of the known kingdoms!"

With passionate smiles, the two bit into their chunks, and were immediately sold. It tasted like the sweetest, most chocolatey dessert they had ever sunk their teeth into. It was like heaven had taken the form of food, and graced their taste buds with its presence. Their eyes lit up with excitement as they found each other's stare. Both knew what the other was thinking in that exact moment.

"It's mine!"

::::

"I swear my Queen, your son and Lady Rayla informed us of your desperate need of assistance!" the guard pleaded, following after the royal couple and their elven friend. She glanced to her partner, prompting him to chime in.

"It's true!" he swore, "They said it was urgent!"

Without any consideration for their desperate pleas, Sarai rolled her eyes. "Relax, you're not in trouble." The group arrived at the double doors. With a push, Harrow and Runaan entered the room, with Sarai and the guards tailing right after.

And they had no idea what they were looking at.

Passed out on the far end of the table, Callum and Rayla had a fork in their hands buckets of chocolate stains all over their clothes and face. As they approached the two, Sarai quickly gathered they were sleeping soundly out of content, with what looked to be cake crumbs left in their wake. She had no words for what she was looking at.

She glanced up from the scene and stared at her husband and friend. "So… who's cake is this?"

A/N: So I know I said I'd update my other stuff before I ever return to this, but I honestly forgot about TDP's one year anniversary. And I had to celebrate it. So I decided to do a quick little Childhood AU, and throw in some fun friendship between Callum and Rayla. Of course this wasn't anything big or whatever, but I wanted to mark the special day with a oneshot just to say, "It's been a year! Woo!" That said, the hiatus will return so don't expect another update so soon. I mean it this time.

Anyways, who's cake was it? What was it for? It was literally there just to celebrate TDP's anniversary. Just a random cake, created out of the thin air that is literature, and made for this silly little plot. Also, gotta say, it's great to see that after one year, this community has grown so much! This cakes for you guys too!

Until next time,

- Bleh