At seven o'clock, Monday morning, eight alarm clocks went off and seven hands turned it off and stretched. One hand hit the snooze button and slipped back under the pillow. At seven fifteen seven people stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel and one person hit the snooze button again. At seven thirty seven people sat down to breakfast and one person turned off the alarm and sat up in bed. At eight o'clock seven people put on their jackets and went out the door and one person pulled on clothes with a sandwich hanging out of his mouth. At eight thirty eight people drove down the highway to the same destination and at nine they all arrived and parked in an empty parking lot.

All eight people got out of their cars and looked around at one another. Germany looked neat and tidy as usual, Italy rushed over to him, his clothing wrinkled from lying on the floor all night and the two of them along with Japan walked to the large brick building. France and America took joy in tormenting Great Britain and with Canada trailing behind them they entered the building as well.

Russia looked around to see if China had decided to join them for once. Disappointed at the lack of his presence the big man turned and went through the doors alone to join the other members of the G8 in their meeting.

The eight men sat around a circular table in a large room with large windows and large doors. Despite their smallness compared to the room it was undeniable that each of them held a sort of importance about them that filled the room to the high ceiling. But that came with being a nation and none of them noticed it much anymore.

There was a long list of issues to discuss that day, but it was doubtful that all of them would be discussed and even less likely that anything useful would be done about them. Now, England was standing at the chalkboard writing down some of the things they needed to go over. It was the usual: Global warming, poverty, the Middle East, that sort of thing. Germany was doing a head-count to make sure that everyone was there seeing as they had had trouble with that sort of thing before.

Canada sat quietly watching America, his "brother", make a paper airplane out of his notebook paper as Japan tried to explain to him the importance of focus. France was chatting up Italy, who was completely oblivious to the man's intentions, much to the annoyance of the German sitting next to him. Russia smiled at nothing and held his gloved hands on top of the table casually.

It seemed perfectly normal until the ground beneath their chair suddenly began to shake violently. England fell over immediately because he had been off-balance from reaching up to the top of the board anyways, but the others clutched their chairs and looked around with wide eyes. Several of them began to shout nonsense at one another. A roar filled their heads and each one felt a tremendous pressure on his chest. The world blinked out for a second and then just as quickly as it had changed everything was suddenly back to normal, as though the earthquake had never happened.

"Sh*t," America breathed. "What the hell was that?"

"You tell us," said England from his spot on the floor. He sat up rubbing his head and looked over at the younger nation. "It's your country."

"Be damned if I know," he muttered.

"Is everyone okay?"

There was a murmur from around the room and the others nodded. "Ugh," said Japan. "I think I blacked out for a moment."

"No way, you too?" asked America.

"So did I, ve~" Italy said rubbing his eye with the heal of his hand. "It was weird."

"But everyone is okay now?" asked Germany. He looked around and frowned. "I don't think it was too bad, we were just caught off-guard." He went over to one of the expansive windows and looked out at the city. Anything that massive was bound to have caused some commotion. The others joined him all except for Russia who stayed where he was at the table.

"That's odd," said France. "No one else seems to have felt it."

The cars were still zooming along the road as though nothing had happened and there didn't seem to be any damage to anything aside from their shot nerves.

America shrugged. "It was probably just an isolated thing or something."

"Well, at least nothing ridiculous happened. After the last time there was an earthquake while we were at your house things became very strange," England reminisced. The others shivered at the mere mention of it.

"I never want to have to go through that again," muttered France.

"Hey, that was a one time thing, alright?" America argued.

"Right," said Germany, shaking it off. There were more important things to take care of. He turned around and walked over to the blackboard. He turned to face the others. "Everybody please calm down and take your seats, there is business to attend to."

There didn't seem to be any problems anywhere from the short earthquake so the others sat down again and began the meeting. It didn't take long before England and France were in a full-out fistfight. America, being who he was, egged them on as Germany attempted to gain control of the meeting again.

Japan watched placidly, but Canada paid them no mind. Instead he was watching Russia with some interest. The Russian was still sitting there with his hands on the table, but his smile was gone. He looked empty and he just kept staring straight ahead, through the wall at something Canada couldn't see.

After a while of watching the quiet Canadian stood up and walked around the table to stand next to the most frightening man in the room. He tapped him on the shoulder timidly and said his name, but Russia didn't respond.

"Hey guys?" he said to the others. They didn't seem to hear so he said it again louder. They all looked at him (except for England and France who were still fighting) and Canada nodded at Russia. "What's wrong with him?"

Japan went over and knelt down next to the Russian. He studied him for a moment and then called Germany over. The two of them tried talking to him, but they got no response. America wandered over and leaned over to stare at Russia dead on.

He waved his hand in front of the man's eyes. "Hello-o," he said. "Earth to Commie, do you read me?"

Russia's hand shot out and grabbed America's wrist, twisting it painfully away from his face. With his other hand he pointed at the wall across from him. They all looked, but there was nothing there. "What is it?" America asked through gritted teeth. "Sh*t, man, you don't know your own strength." Russia let go and America pulled his hand away, rubbing his wrist angrily. "Okay, what are we looking at?"

"I don't know," said Japan.

"A black hole," came Russia's quiet voice, full of wonder. "A black hole in the wall."

"I don't see anything," America spat unhelpfully.

"I don't either," Germany agreed. "Russia, what are you talking about? What black hole."

"Wait, I see it too." They all looked at Canada who was staring at the wall as well. "I didn't see it before, but it just sort of… appeared."

"What does it look like?"

"Like he said. Just a big, black hole in the wall."

"Where does it go?"

"Nowhere," he said. His voice was quiet and had that sound of wonder to it as well. "It's just a hole with nothing inside it."

"Bro, you're starting to freak me out," America said with an uncertain laugh. "There's no hole there. It's a perfectly solid wall." To prove it he walked over and knocked on it three times. "See? Solid."

"No," Canada whispered. "There's a hole there. Right… there." He pointed straight ahead and America looked again, seeing only the wall again.

He was about to tell the northern nation to knock it off, that it wasn't funny anymore when there was an indignant cry from the other side of the room. They all turned to see what had happened and found France looking around in an angry confused kind of way. Italy was cowering in his chair where he had been watching France fight England only moments ago.

"Where are you?" France called out. "I bet this is one of your little magic tricks, oui?" He spun around, but England was nowhere to be found. "Hon hon hon, I will find you and when I do…"

Italy burst into tears. Immediately Germany was at his side and asking what was wrong. But the Italian didn't answer. Instead he continued to cry with so much fear in his eyes that none of them knew what to do. Germany himself was panicking.

"Dude, calm down," said America. "You seriously need to chill."

"Dummkopf!" he shouted. "Look at him!"

"Why? It's not like holy cr*p."

Italy was disappearing. His skin was becoming transparent and now they could see the chair through him. The nation himself was still crying, but they couldn't hear it anymore and it seemed like he couldn't hear them either. He curled up and hid his face into his vanishing hands. Germany's hand, which was on the Italian's back suddenly had nothing to hold on to. It slipped right through and the German tried to get a hold of Italy again, but he wasn't there anymore. They couldn't touch him and they could barely see him. And then he was gone entirely.

Germany shouted indignantly and stood back. The others stared at the chair where the Italian had just been. What had just happened? Where did he go?

America turned to look at Canada. Canada was no longer standing over by Russia but was over by the wall where the "black hole" was and was reaching out to touch it. His hand came into contact with the wall and then went through it. As soon as his fingertips disappeared he froze. His image flickered and then he was gone as well.

"Canada!"

His voice sounded oddly distant and with heaving breaths he looked down at his hands. They were almost clear and when he held them up the light shone through the flesh like it was paper.

Japan ran over to Germany and tried to tell him something, but no words came out of his mouth and he was fading just like the others. The German frowned and looked around. France was gone as well and America was nowhere to be seen. Russia was still sitting in his chair the look of amazement frozen on his face.

A numbness came over his foot and began to spread up his leg. His other limbs grew numb too and along with the numbness came the invisibility and it consumed him quietly until he was gone.

And then there was Russia. All alone in the room.

He blinked and looked around, just noticing that he was alone again. He stood up and wandered over to where the other nations had been. There he stopped and stood. His vision flickered and Russia swayed slightly. And then like a light the world blinked out around him.