One day, twenty hours, and thirty two minutes before Sententia.

"I spent the next fifty years trying to prove him wrong," explained .05, "As usual…it seemed he wasn't. I gave up, accepting my fate as a ghost among the ruins."

All of the Hargreeves siblings were standing in their old classroom, with the exception of Kraken. Vanya stood a little ways from the rest of her siblings. As much as she hadn't wanted to go Pogo had managed to convince her. Rumor and Space had given her surprised and curious looks when she arrived. From the way Rumor looked at herVanya could only guess that Pogo had told her about her and Kraken. Séance simply hovered in the corner and read an issue of Vogue. Then there was .05 going on and on.

In that house she felt worthless again. It was like she was eighteen, looking at all of her siblings that had obviously been doing things with their lives. Without Pogo there she felt like she was as transparent as a pane of glass. She wished Kraken were there. Then perhaps she wouldn't feel so alone. Personally she wasn't sure if he was coming or not. She hadn't gotten a definite answer from him that morning.

.

.

.

"So you're going?" he'd asked, eyebrows raised, "You don't have to."

"I don't want to."

"Then don't," said Kraken, "Why bother with him? Good riddance."

Ignoring his question Vanya looked at her two black dresses.

"Which one do you think?" she asked herself.

"Either one," Kraken shrugged, "Besides, Pogo said that you're supposed to be in costume."

Vanya rolled her eyes. Kraken got up and stood behind her.

"I don't have one," laughed Vanya bitterly, "Unless you count that old school uniform I used to wear. I don't think it would fit anymore, not to mention I'm too old."

"Actually," he smirked, wrapping his arm around her waist, "I think you'd look-"

"Stop right there," she said, trying to keep in laughter.

She paused for a minute.

"Are you coming?"

She felt him tense.

"Maybe later."

.

.

.

"-where I started, ten years old, the day before the Eiffel Tower went berserk…the day before I ran away from home…but something went wrong."

Vanya was abruptly snapped out of her musings.

"Something pulled me out of the time-stream. Much too soon," said .05.

"Hargreeves's death?" mused Spaceboy.

"Possibly," shrugged .05, "but he was dead by the time I arri-"

"If your story checks out, that is," came a voice from the corner of the room.

Even Séance turned around to see Kraken leaning up against the back wall.

"Coroner estimates the time of death at 7:02 p.m., but the security cameras on the estate mysteriously stopped recording at 6:44 p.m. Convenient," continued Kraken, "Lucky for you I broke into the city morgue and ran an autopsy. Natural causes…heart attack. Apparently."

Despite his rather brusque entrance Vanya was glad to see him.

"Agent .02, I presume," said .05.

"Diego, how lovely to see you," Rumor gave an interested look at Vanya before continuing, "You know I heard a rumor-"

"Don't try your witchcraft on me, sister," interrupted Kraken, "While you were busy playing house I was picking bullets out of my shoulder and throwing nut jobs in the clink."

"Stand down Kraken-" started Space irritably.

Wincing Vanya realized that this wasn't going to end well. The way to stop Kraken wasn't to tell him to do anything. The way was… actually she hadn't figured out the appropriate method yet. She just knew that that wasn't it.

"Still giving the orders, Monkey-boy?" sneered Kraken, "Last I checked your zip code doesn't qualify you as team leader-"

"That's enough Kraken," Pogo said firmly as he walked into the room, "I am the only one here of the pongidae persuasion…and I take offense at that comment. So start acting like Homo Sapiens so we can bury your father."

In all her life Vanya had never been so happy to see Pogo. There really was a reason why the Hargreeves didn't see each other except at weddings and funerals. As they filed out of the room Vanya fell into step besides Kraken. Everyone at the front gathered into a conversation as they headed towards Hargreeves's coffin.

"Glad you could make it," she said.

"Space gets more irritating every year," grunted Kraken.

"Just, try and behave," she murmured.

"What are you, my mother?" he hissed as he leaned against a tree.

"All I'm trying to say-" she started, her own temper rising.

"Does anyone wish to say anything?" Pogo said.

Silence descended on them. Did she wish to say anything at the grave of the man who had bullied her and made her feel worthless for her entire childhood? Certainly not. Even .05, who had to suffer the least of them, took out his watch and started to look at it.

"He wasn't the best father," a voice said, "and an even worse husband."

Everyone turned around as Grace Hargreeves, a.k.a Mom walked up.

"But if he was guilty of anything," she said, "It was caring for the world so much that he sacrificed his personal relationships. Unfortunately he never asked us how we felt about that."

"Mom," Rumor whispered.

"But that doesn't make his death in vain," she continued, "we must-"

"KRAKEN DON'T!" yelled Spaceboy.

Not even Vanya had seen Kraken sneak up and wrench their mother's coat off. Vanya felt a stab of pity as her crinoline frame mother said with tears in her eyes;

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have come."

Rumor hurried up and put the coat over her mother's shoulders.

"I would've worn the limbs," sniffled Mom, "but they're so uncomfortable."

"It's okay Mom," Rumor reassured.

Spaceboy stalked up to Kraken, his face alight with rage.

"I'm warning you Kraken-" snarled Space.

"Or what?" Kraken shot back, "You gonna beat your chest? Everything is a lie, Cowboy. Hargreeves left us with nothing but a mausoleum full of questions and a piece of plastic for a mother. Those tears aren't even real."
"Well these are!" Rumor yelled miserably.

Everyone turned away. Vanya walked up to him.

"So this is why you came?" she asked, "You just wanted to piss everyone off?"

"I can't help it if they make me want to smash their faces in!" he snapped.

"Please try to make this a little less painful," she said with an edge to her voice.

"Let's cut the crap already," he growled, "No one here is upset he died. So why not just say it? And while you're at it stop lecturing me!"

"I'm not lecturing," she said, "All I'm trying to do is help-"

"If you want to do something useful," he snarled, "Why don't you go play your violin? We both know it's the only thing you're good at!"

It was like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her. As though realizing he had gone too far Kraken fumbled for words.

"Look…that wasn't…I didn't mean…what I meant was-"

"No," she said listlessly, looking at the ground, "You're right. I…I'm just going to go home. I…I'll see you there."

"I'll go too," he said desperately.

"No," she replied softly, "I'm fine…I can take a taxi or something…and I know of a shortcut through the carnival."

Still avoiding eye contact she turned away and started walking. Kraken made a move to go after her but Pogo put a hand on his arm.

"Let her go Kraken," he said quietly, "I think she needs to be alone right now."

Kraken turned to him with his lip curling into a snarl. Pogo gave him a level stare. Kraken slumped, defeated.