Replacement (The Umbrella Academy)

Chapter 7: Mom

They arrive back at the academy and everyone was waiting in the living room. Ashlinn looked around with a frown. What was up with Grace? What was so important?

"Where's Five?" Allison asks and Luther shakes his head.

"He had other things to do." Luther walks up to a small t.v.

"What's this about?" Ashlinn asks and Luther sighs.

"Just watch." Ashlinn and everyone else looks at the t.v. as Luther plays the video. The video showed Reginald's death and Grace doing nothing about it. If anything, it looked like she poisoned him.

"What?" Ashlinn mumbles to herself.

She swore her eyes were deceiving her. Grace wouldn't do that. It was Grace. The same Grace that made smiley faces out of their bacon, blueberries and pancakes. She couldn't have done this, there must be a reasonable explanation.

"I mean, do you really think that Mom would hurt Dad?" Vanya asks, in the same disbelief as Ashlinn.

"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya. Maybe you don't know Grace anymore." Luther says and Ashlinn couldn't believe what she was hearing. Grace is a robot, she's programmed one way, she wouldn't go against that unless programmed otherwise.

"If he was poisoned, it would've shown in the corners report." Diego chimes in. Ashlinn sighs with relief.

"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Luther shoots him down but it was clear that Diego saw something that Luther didn't.

"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision." Diego rewinds the video. "Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone." Ashlinn looks closer and what he said was correct. He would've been a great detective if he hadn't been thrown out of the police academy because of his hero complex.

Klaus chuckles. "Oh, yeah!" He points at the screen cheerily.

"She wasn't poisoning him. She was... taking it. To clean." Diego says as he walks away from the t.v. Ashlinn smiles again.

"Then where is it? I've searched the house, including her things. She doesn't have it." Luther rebuttals and Diego looks at the ground. This conversation is escalating too quick for Ashlinn. Everyone's thoughts are very loud and her head was starting to hurt. She looks over to Diego again as she tried to concentrate on blocking out everyone's thoughts.

"That's because I took it from her. After the funeral." Diego says and everyone looked at him with a shocked expression.

"You've had the monocle this whole time?!" Allison exclaims. She pauses for a moment. "What the hell, Diego?"

"Give it to me!" Luther demands as he holds his and out.

"I threw it away," Diego says and everyone went silent for a moment.

"You what?" Luther was getting angry and Allison scoffs. Ashlinn understood why he did it. To protect Grace. She would've done the same. She knew how close Diego and Grace were. She was also close with Grace and so she understood.

"Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit," Diego says and Ashlinn smiles. She knew it and she was going to back Diego up if it came to it.

"Diego, you son of a bitch." Luther says and the both of them get ready to fight.

"Hey! No. Calm down." Vanya stops them before anything could start. "I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was designed to be a caretaker, but also as a protector." Vanya says and Ashlinn remembers Reginald saying that vaguely.