Aru Shah One-Shots

One Chance Pt 3

AN: may be the quickest i've ever written something then actually tried to edit it. love you all, happy new year!!

-9 years earlier-

Aru watched in what she would call slow-motion as her father raised the tip of the blade to her neck.

"If you want to learn, you must try!"

Aru was not doing well in her training and her father was getting frustrated. "You have to focus," he said. "You have to be better." She tried her best, but it was difficult. She kept making mistakes.

"I am trying! Can't you see?!" Aru snapped, backing up from the blade.

"Obviously, you're not trying hard enough!"

"Yes, I am! I don't know what else you want from me!" Aru yelled.

"I want you to be better," Suyodhana said firmly.

"Is this-is this why you took me in? So you can try and make me into something I'm not?" Aru asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Standing in silence, the her father looked away for a brief moment. Aru felt her heart break as she realized that this was what it had all been about, all of the 'fun' she had been having with her father. All the time they had spent together... She was just being used as a tool for revenge toward the people who had hurt him so many years ago... The wife who had hurt him so many years ago.

"Dad, no. Please... don't tell me I've just been a piece in your game this whole time." Aru's voice broke as she spoke.

"Oh, darling." He knelt in front of her and wiped the tears away that ran down her cheeks. "Don't cry. You're stronger than this. Don't cry, Aru," he hushed.

She used her sleeve to wipe away the remainder of her tears. "I'm not as strong as you think, Dad."

Her father just nodded. "You will be."

-5 years later-

"These are your new partners, Brynne Rao and Mini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez. Everything you need to know will be in this file. Talk to your father if you have any complaints." Aru's father's assistant handed Aru the file and then walked away.

Aru felt Brynne's glare on her as she flipped through the file.

"Daddy's little girl," Brynne scoffed. "Mini, can you believe we've been put with her? She doesn't even look like she knows how to hold her own."

"I-I mean, I don't know. She looks alright," Mini stuttered.

"Dude, you're crumbling at the base. Get it together," Brynne whispered to Mini.

Aru started to walk away while continuing to read the file in her hands.

"Wait! Where're you going?" Mini yelled after her.

"Come find out," Aru shrugged. "Unless you have an issue with a daddy's girl."

Aru heard the sound of shoes on the floor behind her and she laughed under her breath.

"Brynne Rao. Abandoned by her mother, then taken in by her uncles. Ooo, I can see why you're salty about my father," Aru teased.

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Nor do you," Aru said, turning to Brynne. "I advise you keep your mouth shut if you want to thrive here, Ms. Rao. Otherwise, you have no chance at ever becoming something great."

She averted her eyes to Mini. "You. Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez. You're a..." Aru paused and checked the file again. "You're a doctor," Aru
chuckled. "Why not go to a hospital and get employed there? Easier, is it not?"