One day, fourteen hours, and fifty two minutes before Sententia.

Reaper paused as he focused his eyes to get a good look at Séance. Space massaged his temples.

"You've got bags under your eyes too," he said, "and you're frightfully pale. I suppose that all Graveyard Cards are like that."

"Definitely want some," said Séance.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rumor snapped.

For the first time since arrival Reaper frowned.

"Didn't Georgiana tell you?" he asked.

"Who?" Space asked sharply.

"Can we get started now?" Alchemist asked.

"You're right. It doesn't matter. Go ahead by all means," replied Reaper.

"Fun," said Alchemist.

Reaching backwards she threw the rock at them. At first Spaceboy didn't think much of it. Then he realized that when it left her hands it had turned into a bomb. Picking up the metal cover they'd been using as a shield he threw it in the air to intercept it.

"Get down!" he yelled.

His siblings were able to comply only seconds before bits of hot metal flew everywhere. When the smoke cleared he saw Reaper untying the cloth bundle.

"You know the drill," he said.

The ropes and cloth fell off to reveal a large scythe. Comet sighed and moved forward. The only thought that Space had time to think before she tackled Séance was;

She's moving really fast.

Rumor suddenly found Alchemist trying to hit her with what was a minute before was a map. Now it was a sword.

"Transmutation's a bitch, isn't it?" she asked as the sword sliced Rumor's cheek.

Space was about to move to help one or both of his siblings before he had to bend back to avoid Reaper's scythe.

"Dammit," Reaper swore softly.

Withdrawing his laser gun Space made a shot that skimmed Reaper's leg. Hissing in pain Reaper moved to the side, careful to keep out of range. Séance had managed to get free, not before she'd managed to give him a sizeable black eye though, and was levitating bits of the carousel at Comet. So far she was artfully dodging all of the pieces.

Out of all of them Rumor was having the most trouble. Alchemist had turned several napkins into knives that were skimming past Rumor and cutting into her. Blood was coming from the many small incisions.

"Use your power!" demanded Alchemist, "Come on!"

The look in Rumor's eyes was furtive. Her lips trembled but Spaceboy could tell that she wouldn't, or couldn't, do it. As he looked towards her Reaper managed to dig into Space's shoulder with the scythe. Spaceboy couldn't keep the hiss of pain silent.

Despite wounding him Reaper didn't seem satisfied.

"Missed," he muttered.

"Well I'm not going to," said Space as he twirled around.

At point blank range he pulled the trigger. The laser beam went out, and for a moment he thought he saw a glimmer of violet. The beam bounced off of it. Quickly he dropped to the ground to avoid his own shot. When he looked up he saw a woman standing in front of Reaper. Unlike the rest of them she wore a long purple and violet striped gown with her hair pulled tightly back with several hair needles. She shifted from one foot to the other.

"Good job Ghost," Reaper smirked.

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"Thanks for the shirt kid," said Kraken as he finished putting on the makeshift bandage around his waist.

"Ummm, you're welcome?" the curly haired child said uncertainly.

Sloshing around unsteadily Kraken got out of the water. He was worried and pissed at the same time. Worried because Vanya had mentioned cutting through the Carnival, and pissed because he knew that he would have to see his siblings soon.

"You're in the water," a voice said, "Highly appropriate."

Kraken turned to see a man wearing an early 19th century red military jacket with gold trimmings. A mask obscured his face. Kraken rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess," he said, "You're called the Ringmaster or some other shit-tastic villain name."

"The Phoenix," Phoenix smiled, "The jacket's just because I like Adam Ant."

"Not too bad I guess," shrugged Kraken.

"I've got good news and bad news for you," Phoenix said, "Good news is the rest of the Terminauts are destroyed. Bad news is my siblings are killing yours."

"Couldn't care less," grunted Kraken, highly hoping that Vanya wasn't included in Phoenix's tally, "we're all adopted."

Disapproval and anger crossed Phoenix's face.

"So are we."

Kraken smirked.

"Now that's shit-tastic."

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Quietly Vanya edged her way out of the swinging ship queue. The explosions had settled down a little and she hoped that that meant that everything was alright. Slowly but surely she made her way down the steps into the plaza. It was open area but it was also the only way to get back into the city. The carnival had only one entrance and one exit. Peering around the corner of a building she saw what looked like a flashback of when the Umbrella Academy had taken on the League of Evil, Mayhem, and Keebler Elves. Perhaps the Terminauts hadn't come alone.

A column of fire erupted from the Tunnel of Terror. Vanya had to move back to the wall to avoid some of the fire from burning her. Looking around she saw what looked like an irate Ringmaster coming out of the tunnel. He was wincing and cradling a hand that looked as though it had been barbecued. Angrily ran off in the direction of the fire. It took her a minute to figure out that Kraken had been on the receiving end of that blast.

While she could see that he was only lightly singed he'd slammed into the wall of the opposite tunnel. He wasn't moving, and the oddly dressed man getting closer. Without thinking she yelled;

"KRAKEN!"

That had managed to wake Kraken up. It had also served to call a considerable amount of attention to herself. Across the fairground, the Reaper looked up.

"Music box," he grimaced, "Cover us Ghost."

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It took Séance a minute to figure out just what was going on. One minute the guy who looked like he'd been listening to too much Blue Oyster Cult was fighting Space with some Cheshire cat gone wrong girl. Then they ran off. All of the Sentinels were abandoning their targets. Even the weird one who had been shooting fire at Kraken a few minutes before had left as soon as the words 'music box' had left Reaper's lips. And what had they run to? Vanya. Even by Séance's thought process that didn't make much sense.

Needless to say Space and Kraken pursued. Séance followed at a more leisurely pace. He could see his two brothers trying to get to Vanya, who was now trapped on all sides. This wouldn't have been a problem if the Cheshire girl wasn't standing firmly in front of Kraken and Space, blocking them. Rumor was still on the other side of the park.

"Don't use your power and we'll make this quick," Reaper promised.

Vanya? A power? That was laughable. Séance actually did laugh, much to the irritation of both of his brothers. Space had tried shooting through again but the girl was quite immovable. From behind her he could hear Vanya getting more and more nervous.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid," Reaper hissed.

"Vanya!" Kraken yelled, getting himself blocked by Ghost for his efforts.

God how Séance wished he didn't have such a hangover.

"Will you stop the stop the shouting?" he asked irritably, "No use for you to fight her. Even I can see that she's not all here. I'll handle this."

Kraken and Space looked at him as if he had just said that he was the King of the Congo. Well, he actually was, but he ignored their looks. He stepped in front of them and concentrated hard on Ghost. She cocked her head as if trying to figure out what he was doing. Then a far away and detached look came to her face.

He'd known that she would be far away, making all of this difficult. A few drops of blood came from his nose but he ignored it and kept pressing. There were some background noises, like Reaper slamming Vanya's head into the wall. Séance ignored that too. Slowly Ghost pulled one of the hair needles from her upsweep. All of her thick black hair tumbled down as the needle slowly approached her neck.

Concentrating a little harder he pressed the needle against the skin of her neck. With a touch more pressure the needle was plunged in and her absent look was gone. Now she was choking and bleeding. Ghost fell slowly to her knees.

"CAT!"

Séance found himself shoved roughly to the ground by Alchemist. He hit his head hard on a piece of debris upon impact. Through the stars he managed to make out a few things. The first was that Kraken had been able to sidestep Ghost and knock Reaper out of the way. From where the scythe was Séance figured that another fifteen seconds and her head would've been off. Phoenix was trying to hold off Space and Reaper had sent Comet running, presumably to wherever Ghost really was. His big concern was that Alchemist had picked up a metal pole and was repeatedly hitting him with it.

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"If she's hurt in anyway then I swear to God-" Reaper threatened, his eyes flickering over to Ghost.

"You'll do what?" Kraken growled as he took Vanya's pulse.

For a minute Reaper concentrated on the two of them.

"She really doesn't have any powers," he murmured, "Well, less work for us."

A message crackled from a wire component on his ear. Although it seemed like it would've been impossible Reaper paled.

"This has been…fun," he said, "But I'm afraid that we must go. Don't worry, you'll be seeing us before the morrow is out. Sententia hasn't even started yet."

Gingerly Kraken picked Vanya up and headed off. Space yelled;

"What's Sententia?!"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," smiled Reaper, "Phoenix, give us cover."

"I'll try," Phoenix wheezed, holding his charred hand.

Spaceboy lunged forward but was stopped by a wall of smoke and flames cut him off. When it died down the Sentinels were gone.