Ashlinn closes her room door behind her. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. This is the first time she has been alone with her own thoughts without other people's thoughts trying to force their way in for a while. Peace and serenity. That's what she wants to focus on right now. Screw the apocalypse. Screw the academy. Screw the human race. Let the world fucking burn.
"Peace and serenity..." Ashlinn sits on her bed, crossing her legs and she scoffs. "Peace and serenity?"
Who was she kidding? She hasn't felt peace in seventeen years. What's going to change that now? An apocalypse? That's making her more stressed, she knows that she's dead in three days. Who can find peace knowing that? Luther? She knows he's trying, but he doesn't know what he's doing? Five? He's gone. Poof. Literally. How's he gonna save anyone now?
Ashlinn groans loudly as she falls back on the bed. Now her thoughts are louder than her sibling's.
"I need coffee." Ashlinn stands up and she practically storms out of her room angry at herself for staying riled up. She goes to the kitchen and she boils the kettle. She leans against the counter with her arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face.
"Is everything alright?" Ashlinn's head shoots up at the sound of Grace's voice. She stared at her in shock before speaking.
"Mom? How are you...I thought..." Ashlinn was at a loss for words.
"You seem upset. Do you want me to make you something to eat? How about breakfast?" Grace asks and Ashlinn was about to turn her down, but a thought crossed her mind. How many more times will Grace be able to cook breakfast for her?
"Yes, please. I'm starving." Ashlinn sits at the table as she waits for Grace to finish with the bacon. Grace places a plate of bacon and pancakes in front of Ashlinn. She immediately digs in.
"Ash?" Ashlinn turns to see Klaus standing at the door of the kitchen.
"Hey, Klaus. What's up?" Ashlinn smiles as she gestures for him to sit.
"Honestly, I feel pretty shitty. I was going to ask you to help but you seem busy." He goes to walk away, but Ashlinn called out to him.
"What with?" She asks but he just dismisses her.
"It's okay. I think Diego is upstairs." He walks away before he could stop him again.
Ashlinn slumps into her seat as she tries to think of what she can do to pass the time.
'You could do so much more with your power, Number 8. If you weren't so stubborn.'
Ashlinn looks at her hands with an inquisitive look. What can she do with her power? She was only stubborn with Reginald because she didn't like him or his methods of teaching. So, what if she used her methods? What if she learned about her power herself? Ashlinn abruptly leaves the kitchen and heads to her room to see if she can tap into whatever power she hasn't tapped into.
She locks her room door and she begins to pace the room with her eyes closed, trying to focus on the energy inside of her...nothing. She takes a deep breath...and another...and one more before opening her eyes and stomping her foot with a frustrated grunt. How is she supposed to do this? She can barely keep her shit together, now she's supposed to try and coax out a new side of her power.
"What am I doing..." She sits on the edge of her bed with a defeated sigh. She shakes her head.
"Why am I giving up so easily?" Ashlinn inhales deeply and as she exhales she closes her eyes.
Focus. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.
Focus. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.
Focus. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.
"I wish I knew what you are doing." Ashlinn hears a voice from behind her.
"I'm trying to unlock my full potential or something," Ashlinn answers, trying not to lose focus.
"You heard that?!" She hears the voice exclaim from behind her and she sighs.
"Of course, I heard that. What do you think I am, deaf?" Ashlinn jokes her eyes still closed.
"Ashlinn, look at me." Ashlinn sighs but doesn't protest. She slowly opens her eyes to see that it was already dark as fuck outside. How long was she like that? Fuck. She turns to see who was talking to her and there she sees the last person she expected to see standing there in front of her.
"You can see me."
"...Ben...is that you?"
...
...
...
"Hold the phone." Ashlinn focuses her attention on Klaus. "We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?" Klaus points out.
"Klaus shockingly has a point. What gives us a win this time?" Diego asks and Ashlinn looks up from the ground to answer him but was interrupted by the sound of electricity and a small blue cloud appearing above the bar. Five falls out of the cloud and he lands on the bar, desperately clutching onto what looked like a black briefcase. Everyone jumps back in shock before looking closely at the bar again.
"You guys, am I still high? Or do you see him too?" Klaus asks and Ashlinn smiles as she gestures towards Five who was stumbling off of the bar.
"There's your answer, Diego."
"Five, where have you been?" Everyone except for Ashlinn rushes to him as he falls off of the bar. Everyone started to spit-fire questions as Five gained his composure.
"Irrelevant." He mumbles as he takes Allison's cup of coffee and he walks away from them. Everyone looked with concern as Five downed the entire cup of coffee before he slowly turned to face them.
"So, the apocalypse is in three days. And the only chance we have to save our world is, well, us." Five swings his arm, gesturing to all of them. Ashlinn wanted to laugh. How the hell are they gonna save the world?
"The Umbrella Academy," Luther states confidently and this time Ashlinn did laugh, earning her a glare from Luther.
"Yeah, but with me, obviously. So, if y'all don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed." Everyone just stared at Five. They were being lectured by a thirteen-year-old, kind of.
"Who cares if Dad messes us up? We gonna let that define us? No." Ashlinn doesn't know why, but she felt herself shake her head before she rolled her eyes to herself.
"And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead." Five holds up a battered-looking piece of paper. "I know who's responsible for the apocalypse. This is who we have to stop."
Ashlinn takes the paper from Five and everyone gathers around to see what the paper says. Ashlinn looked up at Five before looking back at the page.
"Who in the name of God is Harold Jenkins?"
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...
