Chapter Text
Ash sits on his bed and stares at his old, dusty keyboard he pulled out from under his childhood bed. He hasn't touched it, or any other piano, since 1981.
He blows off some of the dust before switching the instrument on. Memories of the hours he spent writing his own songs and playing them for Cheryl, of watching Linda dance around his room as he played beautiful pieces from ballets, and of his father yelling at him to stop when he played late in the night, flood his mind as the keyboard plays its start up tune.
His left hand hovers over the keys, Ash knows he won't be able to play as well as he used to, not only because it's been decades, but because his mechanical right hand didn't have the capability of moving the way he'd need. He spends a few seconds, reminiscing on old memories, good and bad. Music had been such an escape for him during his rough teenage years, a way of expressing himself and a way of rebelling for his father's strict views on gender roles.
He turns the keyboard off with a heavy sigh, never playing a single note. He can't bring himself to play it, in his mind, playing would be too painful. He has no one to play for anymore, and that's a reminder of all the death that followed him, that his sister, love and father all died because of some apparent pre-determined destiny he never wanted. That Ash would never be timid, quiet, smart kid he was before he faced Hell and won.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice had Brandy returned home, and called for him. He only snapped out of it, when she entered his room,
"oh! there you are, Dad. I wondering if-- Is that a keyboard?"
"huh? oh, hey kiddo, yeah... just an old thing I had laying around."
"you play the piano?"
"I did, but it's been so long and, " he holds up his right hand, "can't really play with only one hand"
Brandy smiles and sits beside him on the bed,
"well, maybe I can be your right. we can play a song together"
Ash smiles slightly and tilts his head,
"you play?"
"uhh, no but.. maybe you can teach me?"
Ash sighs and shakes his head,
"I'm not much of a teacher, kiddo, besides, it's been 30 something years, I'm sure I'm just as much of a beginner as you are" he laughs slightly, "if you want to learn some music, maybe Pablo can teach you how to play the maracas!"
"oh... um, no, it's okay..." Brandy gets up, clearly feeling dejected, "you um.. you want a Pop-Tart?"
"... yeah, sure. thanks, kid."
Brandy nods, and starts to leave before Ash stops her,
"uh, Brandy, I'm pretty sure there's an old tape around here somewhere of me teaching Cheryl how to play a song... I can look for it, if you want... you can use my keyboard and follow along if you really want to learn..."
"Thanks Dad, but if I wanted to learn from a video, I'd just YouTube it."
"oh right..."
There's a second of awkward silence, before Brandy speaks,
"Well, I'll go make those Pop-Tarts now..."
and with that she walks out the room.