AN: This chapter is an entry for the TRF Se7en Challenge.
Seven Sins
11. Avarice
Azula missed the finer things in life.
She struggles to surrender herself to other people after so long being self-reliant, but she is glad she does. For the first time, she feels like a princess and that is not terrible. Soldiers guide her to her bedroom, where Ty Lee waits for her with a nervous expression.
"You're my responsibility," Ty Lee explains when she sees how Azula eyes her. "I'm just worried. Please don't lose it or something."
Azula nods noncommittally and walks over to the golden fixtures, running her fingers over them. They cleaned it recently; she can still smell the soap. It sickens her that Zuko probably let it fall into disrepair, but she decides to keep the loathing under wraps.
She embraces the luxury.
.
12. Sloth
"Why are you sleeping so much?" Ty Lee asks, brushing Azula's hair from her face.
She sits on the bed, fully dressed after having yet another discussion with Zuko and his advisors. Azula has slept for an entire day and half of a night now.
"Pregnant, tired from being a fugitive, trying to not think about people debating my head on a plate or not," Azula says before burying her face back in the pillows.
Ty Lee smiles softly, leaning back and hoping this will work out.
Zuko has been defending his sister, at least, and they must listen to him.
.
13. Envy
"So, you did not have a wedding date?" Azula asks, dressed and cleaned up and intoxicatingly beautiful. Ty Lee cannot help but fall in love with her again.
"Nope. That's why I think you're my wish come true." An example of the phrase, 'Be careful what you wish for,' but she does not say that part.
"Cute. So, you have avoided relationships? Or has no one wanted you?" Azula asks. Ty Lee clenches her jaw, barely stopping herself from saying something brash. Azula's eyes make her lose the strength she gathered over the years.
"I've been with people, a lot of people, but they've never worked out," says Ty Lee. She feels the derision radiating from Azula, the way her eyes tear her up like razor blades. Ty Lee holds her breath for a moment before she cannot help but burst. "You're pregnant! It's not like you've been waiting for me!"
Azula sits down, her hands on her lap and her nostrils flaring.
"Who do you think you are, speaking to me that way?" she demands, which means that she knows Ty Lee is right.
Ty Lee fights the urge to kneel and just offers a shrug in explanation.
She does see that Azula is not looking at her with wrath or disgust… but envy.
.
14. Pride
"You cannot keep me like a pet!" shouts Azula, standing up in an attempt to get into Zuko's face. Her face is at neck level, which does not aid the effect she was aiming at. "I have done nothing wrong!"
Zuko sighs. "The entire population of Ba Sing Se would strongly disagree."
"You helped with that! You are so much worse than me!" Azula knows that is not true, but she screams it anyway. She just wants to hurt him. She just wants to salvage her pride.
"I'm working on it, okay?" he says, setting his hand on her shoulder.
She shoves him off of her and turns to see her new zookeeper with her little fists clenched. Azula knocks Ty Lee's hands down, grabs her by the wrist and throws her to the floor.
Then she stands still, rolls her eyes and turns around.
"I'll follow your rules, but only because I value my life more than my pride."
Zuko takes what he can get at this point and helps a shell-shocked Ty Lee up.
.
15. Gluttony
"I just want to be around you is all," Ty Lee says, taking the bidden steps back.
Azula turns around.
Ty Lee does not think she will ever understand what it feels like to be able to smell the person you thought you lost forever. She definitely will never know how much Ty Lee just wants to stand near her and acknowledge that she is real.
It is a strange sort of hunger that Ty Lee did not know existed.
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16. Lust
They last three nights before they cannot help themselves.
Ty Lee started it. She stroked Azula's back just ever-so-slightly and Azula's response was less subtle.
It is perfect, even if they both feel like it was wrong in the morning.
.
17. Wrath
"I think you forget who betrayed who! You think you were wronged by me because I wasn't the perfect, sweet, doting little girlfriend?" Azula demands.
Her voice makes Ty Lee unable to make excuses. She kind of thinks she is going to burn to death, but she does not.
She feels too grateful for the fact that Azula does not kill her.