aru shah fan fiction

assassins au: two

Whish.

"Again!"

Whish.

"AGAIN!"

Whish.

"FASTER!"

WHISH.

Brynne nodded in approval. "Your strokes are getting better, but let's do one more set. Remember, keep your core tight. Your center of balance is still a little shaky."

Aiden pushed his hair back and squeezed the grip of his katana, jaw set in determination.

"Ready?" A nod.

"Step, stroke, swing, one. Step, stroke, swing, two. Step, stroke, swing, three. Keep going! Faster!"

Step. Stroke. Swing. Step. Stroke. Swing. It was like the choreography to a dance Aiden knew by memory, but his body hadn't quite mastered the steps yet. Sword fighting is a difficult skill to master, his trainer often reminded him. It requires the perfect harmony of the mind and body working together as one vessel.

Stay focused.

"Good, Aiden!" Brynne clapped her hands. "Let's take a rest."

Aiden sighed in satisfaction and plopped cross-legged on the floor, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. "Why do you like sword fighting so much, Brynne? This is so exhausting." He let out a breathy laugh.

She shrugged and lowered herself onto the spot next to him. "I guess that's why I like it. Exhausting myself by working hard makes me feel accomplished. It's fun too."

"You're weird."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't supposed to be one."

Brynne snorted. "Whatever. You in the mood for a snack?"

Aiden opened his mouth to protest. He wanted to perfect his sword fighting skills–he was in the Phoenix Division, after all. But his stomach growled. Loudly. It was as if it was grumbling "yes."

Brynne laughed. "Seems like your stomach is in agreement with me. Let's go!"

—

To say the eating pavilion in Oksaana was big would be an understatement. The pale walls stretched up toward the heavens and the dark floor spanned through the room like a desert, seemingly endless. Long tables organized into perfect lines ran across one end of the pavilion to the other. Aiden was convinced you could fit one thousand people in there without a problem. He never understood why the indoor training rooms had been built so small, while the eating area was the size of a mansion. When he proposed this question to Brynne, she had only said, "Eating comes first before anything. Duh."

To be honest, he wasn't sure why he expected any other answer from her.

Brynne flicked her head in the direction of the food booths. "I'll get some snacks–can you go find a table for us?"

Aiden nodded, scoping for an empty spot. As he walked toward the end of the first table to the left, he felt something bump into his side. A person.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" A girl backed away from him, head bowed in apology. Her skin reminded Aiden of the color of chocolate, and her shorter frame was dressed in the signature Oksaana uniform of a black long-sleeve and cargo pants. When she turned to face him, her brown eyes grew wide, her face beet red.

"Oh no, it's fine. Are you okay?" Aiden smiled at her, although he was confused at her expression. Do I have something on my face?

The girl's face didn't change. Her expression vaguely reminded Aiden of a constipated fish, and he found himself holding back an amused chuckle.

"Uh, I'm fine," she said after a while. "Um, sorry about that. Bye?" She posed it like a question, and ran off.

Aiden watched her retreating figure, an amused smile on his face. She sat down next to a girl with red hair and a boy scarfing his face down with food. The red haired girl seemed to be scolding the boy about eating too much, but the boy was clearly tuning her out.

"Who was that?"

Aiden whipped his head around, slightly startled to find Brynne right behind his shoulder. "Geez, Bee. I swear, you come out of nowhere sometimes."

She grinned. "It's my talent. But who was that girl?"

Aiden shrugged. "I'm not sure. She just accidentally bumped into me, not that big of a deal. She did make a funny face, though."

Brynne had a knowing smile on her face or some strange reason. "Ah, I see." What's that about?  Aiden frowned. She nodded. "Should we go now?"

She walked off, Aiden following in her wake. As Brynne plopped her bottom on an empty spot and handed him a bread pastry, he couldn't help but think back to that interaction he had with Funny Face Girl. Yeah, that's what he would call her.

I never got her name, Aiden realized. Maybe next time.

Next time. 

a/n weeeeee, it feels so good to write again!

how have you guys been? i know it's been a while, im so sorry for being so inactive for so long. thank you guys for sticking with me <3333

so this was the second part of the assassins au! woo! what do you guys think? there will definitely be a lot more aiden content in this au :)))

also, now i'll be updating during the WEEKENDS PACIFIC TIME. this will be in my bio as well. although today isn't actually the weekend, i was too excited to wait to upload it haha 

question: favorite celebrities? it could be any actor, musician, influencer, model, author, etc :) while i was away, i really got into the KPOP group EXO, and i am completely obsessed now haha. tell me who your favorite people are! :DDD

hope you guys have a wonderful day/night, and i'll see you next weekend! 

- abbizzzz <3