"Number 8, I want you to focus on what I'm thinking of," Reginald says with a stern voice. She took a step closer to the man who took her in and gave her a place to stay. She focused hard on what the man was thinking of but she couldn't quite get through the walls blocking them. If she was closer with him or even touching him, it wouldn't be as hard. But the migraine was already getting too much for her.
"I can't do it!" She cries out as she collapses to the ground.
"You're not trying hard enough! Stand up." The man snaps and Ashlinn does as she's told, trying to ignore the pounding in her head.
"Now, try again," Reginald says and Ashlinn closes her eyes. Her head felt as if it was about to explode, she could feel herself losing balance as she swayed side to side.
"Number 8! Focus!" His voice slowly drowned out as she hit the ground again. She couldn't take it. The pain was too much. And Reginald yelling wasn't doing much to help her cause.
"Number 8!"
Ashlinn jolts awake. She looks around the train that she is currently on. She is currently on her way to The Umbrella Academy for Reginald's funeral. She looks down at the bottle of whiskey in her hands before she takes a swig. She felt that she needed to be drunk before being in the house with them again.
She got off at her stop before stumbling into a taxi. The taxi driver noticed straight away that she was drunk.
"Bit early to be drinkin', doncha think?" The taxi driver comments and Ashlinn laughs.
"If you had my family, sir, you'd do the same." She gives the driver the address and it wasn't long before she arrived. She paid the driver before exiting the taxi. She hesitated at the gates. She did not want to go in. These people didn't treat her like family through her years here. She didn't know what to expect. She pushed her worries away as she pushed the gates open. She wondered who had already arrived. Everyone probably.
She walked through the doors she hoped she'd never have to walk through again and when she was inside her body froze. She didn't know what to do next. She brought the whiskey back up to her lips and she swallowed it back along with her emotions. She frowns at the empty bottle before walking further into the house.
"Miss Ashlinn, it's great to see you again." She hears a voice beside her and she drunkenly spins around to see Pogo. She smiles widely and runs over to him, engulfing him in a hug. She supposes that this will be worth it seeing Pogo and Grace.
"I missed you." Ashlinn smiles as she pulls out of the hug and Pogo smiles.
"I missed you too. The academy hasn't been the same since you all left." Pogo comments and Ashlinn looks at the ground.
"Who else is here?" She asks and Pogo motions towards the stairs.
"Why don't you look around and see?" He says and Ashlinn sighs as she makes her way upstairs, nearly tripping up the steps in the process. On her way to her room, she runs into Allison.
"Ashlinn? You're here?" Allison sounded shocked. Of course, she was only the replacement after all. What she didn't expect was Allison pulling her into a hug.
"It's great to see you." She exclaims and Ashlinn hesitantly hugged her back.
"Yeah, you too." Her words slurred slightly.
"Are you drunk?" Allison asks as she pulls out of the hug and Ashlinn nods.
"You guys' thoughts are too loud. I needed something to help me ease into it." Ashlinn walks past Allison and heads straight for her room. She passes Diego too but he just glares at her as he passes. Typical. When she finally reaches her room she closes the door behind her to collect her thoughts. But she wasn't given much time when she heard a knock. She groans internally before opening the door to reveal Klaus. Ashlinn felt her mood brightening already.
"Klaus!" She exclaims as she tackles him with a hug.
"Ash!" He immediately hugs her back. "I missed you."
"I missed you too. How are you?" She asks as she invites him in. Klaus dramatically sprawls himself out on her bed.
"I've been doing amazingly. Drugs are doing wonders for me." He smiles at her and she rolls her eyes.
"You shouldn't be putting that shit in your body." She sits on the bed beside him.
"Says the one with the empty bottle of whiskey in her hands." Klaus mocks and Ashlinn nudges him.
"You're so annoying." They both laugh as their conversation continued. Klaus Hargreeves, one of the only ones who accepted Ashlinn with open arms. He's the one that made everything that little bit more bearable. After Ben that is.
They continued to talk until Klaus said something about raiding Reginald's office. Ashlinn just rolls her eyes before standing up and heading downstairs. She had sobered up a bit and could hear everyone's thoughts. Luther's. Diego's. Klaus'. Allison's. And Vanya's. She smiles as she walks into the common area and sees Vanya there with her book.
"Just so you know, I liked your book." Ashlinn walks up to Vanya who looks at her with confusion.
"Why?" Was all she could ask.
"Mmh. I will admit the parts about me I didn't like but overall, I didn't care. You were just getting your point of view out there and I wish I had the balls to do that. I hate this place." A lot of negative emotions were let out as Ashlinn spoke those last few words. She wasn't lying. She did hate this place.
"Thanks. I suppose that means a lot." Vanya says and Ashlinn smiles at her.
"You're welcome. I presume the others aren't too happy?" Ashlinn asks and Vanya sighs.
"No. They're not but I can't blame them." Vanya frowns and Ashlinn hugs her.
"It'll be okay. You won't have to see them again for years when this is over." Ashlinn smiles at her as she pulls out of the hug.
Before either of them could say anything else, the rest of the family entered the room.
"What's going on?" Ashlinn's brows furrowed but no one answers her. Vanya and Ashlinn follow them and they sit on the couch across from Luther.
"I guess we should get started." Luther stands up and begins talking about what they should do for a memorial service. Klaus then comes over in Allison's skirt with a glass of Burgandy, a cigarette and Reginald's ashes asking about refreshments. They were starting to stray from the original conversation when Luther spoke up.
"Listen up. There are still some important things that we need to discuss, alright?"
"Like what?" Diego asks and Luther turns to face him.
"Like the way he died." Luther then says and Ashlinn knew that she wasn't going to get involved with this conversation.
"And here we go." Diego mumbles.
"I don't understand, I thought they said it was a heart attack?" Klaus plops down beside Ashlinn.
"Yeah, according to the coroner." Luther nods and Ashlinn looks at her lap. They started bickering back and forth and Ashlinn was already sick of it. Ashlinn heard something about a monocle mentioned and she looks at Luther.
"Where are you going with this?" Ashlinn finally speaks up and Diego glares at Luther.
"Oh, isn't it obvious Ashlinn? He thinks one of us killed Dad." Diego says and Luther grunts. They all stared at him in silence for a moment.
"You do?" Klaus breaks the silence.
"How could you think that?" Vanya then says.
"Great job, Luther. Way to lead." Diego says with a smug face before leaving the room. And then one by one they all left the room with a string of comments following.
YOU ARE READING
Replacement (The Umbrella Academy)
Fanfiction________________________ Ashlinn Sheehan. Born October 1st 1989 in Waterford, Ireland. She had loving parents and and the best life she could ask for. Until she was thirteen. She moved to America with her parents who ended up being brutally murdered...
