Jade gazed dreamily at the dark, stormy clouds. A raindrop fell on her face, trickling down the girl's cheek. Jade was 23, and the representative of the newest country: Zero. Zero was found deep underground, 100 miles below America. Jade only surfaced twice a month for the World Meetings. She had been lying on a hill next to the graveyard for hours. Nobody realized she was missing, and nobody cared either. "What am I doing? I have to leave... now. Before somebody finds me," Jade thought as she pulled herself to a stand. The willowy girl trudged groggily through the large cemetery, her black cargo pants swishing with each step. "Crap," She muttered, pausing when she realized Austria standing at the other side of the row she was in. Austria was a tall man with glasses, straight brown hair, and dressed like a victorian gentleman (not to mention extremely handsome). The truth was that Jade really liked him, but her low self esteem made it hard for her to be around him. He stood solemnly in front of Hungary's grave. His ex-wife of a few years. She died six months ago, by tripping and landing right in front of a moving train. Austria visited Hungary's grave every once in a while, but not often enough to make it seem like he still loved her. Austria glanced up, smiling at the sight of Jade. He looked her up and down, taking in her appearance. The classy man had never taken a good look at her, so it was interesting to him how she dressed. She was 5 ft 10", had short black hair (pixie cut), long bony limbs, purple eyes, wore black cargo pants, a black shirt with white stitches on it, black combat boots, gauze wrapped around her forearms, and a cloth mask covering her mouth and nose. Everybody often wondered why she wore it, and they weren't sure if she would ever say. Her attire usually had several blood stains on it, but people don't mention it around her. Austria gestured for her to come closer. He spoke, "Hello Miss Zero, I was wondering where you had gone after the meeting." Jade (Everybody only knew her as Zero) was shocked, she didn't think anybody had ever noticed her presence. She moved closer to him. Only looking at him once she was standing next to the man, "Hello Mr. Austria. I've been here, taking in fresh air before retiring back to Zero. I didn't mean to interrupt you... I should probably be going." Zero took off running, sprinting into the thick fog. Austria stared after her, curious and dazed.

Austria fell asleep that night with Zero on his mind. "The young lady is so frightening... yet her scary presence thrills me. Blood stains. From what? What does she do that causes her to get drenched in the awful stuff?" He pondered all of her mysteries. The mask, why she was so terrifying, the blood, and many other things. Austria suddenly felt desperate to see her again. He wasn't sure why, perhaps she intruiged him. "The next world meeting is in one week. Can I wait that long? Maybe I should go and see her. Or invite her here." Austria sighed and tried to settle down, letting slumber take him.

Zero stood quietly next to the operating table, grinning. Her scalpel gleamed in the light as she held it with a steady hand. She put the tip of the blade on the skin centered below her patient's ribcage. Zero took in the sight of what she was doing before beginning her dissection. Her victim was a teenage boy of 19, who Zero had seen beating up a small girl. The boy was breathing quickly, struggling against his restraints. Leather straps held his limbs to the metal table. He screamed, "LET ME GO! Please... I'll never harm another peron again just don't hurt me!" tears ran down his cheeks. His captor laughed wickedly and whispered, "Sshhh... it'll all be over soon. I won't kill you. I'll just make you hurt enough to regret it." The young man was sweating and squirming, eyes trained on her scalpel. Zero slowly pushed the blade into his skin and pulled the knife towards his pelvis, taking immense joy in hearing his frantic screams of pain. His blood splattered onto her shirt, causing her to giggle. She dropped the tool and picked up a vile of acid and a needle. She dipped the needle in the small bottle and wrote the words, "You shouldn't have done that." on his stomach. The letters were burned into his skin, and the boy passed out from pain. Zero proceeded her operation, cutting, stitching, destroying, inserting. After a while of this she started to sew his wound closed. When she was halfway finished she was startled by the sound of a man clearing his throat.

Austria sat on the dark couch, nervously fidgeting with his cup (well, I should say beaker) of coffee. Zero entered the room, the blood now washed off of her hands. Neither of them spoke for minutes, making the situation extremely awkward. He stammered, "U-um Miss Zero, Germany asked me to come and get you so we can meet his little sister... I'm sorry I, um, interrupted you. Zero smiled and said, "It's no problem. I should be the one apologizing for... what you just saw. It's a form of entertainment to me. Don't worry I don't do that to acquaintances. Only people that get on my bad side. He was beating up a five year old girl when I found him. Not that that's any excuse..." The mask luckily covered Zero's cheeks, which were now burning red. Austria, on the other hand, was pale as a sheet, "It's quite alright... in fact it's so terrifying that it excites me. You're definitely the most interesting person I've met in a while." They both smiled and proceeded to talk about Zero's scary tendencies as Zero showed Austria around her small country. It was seven miles wide and ten miles long, all underground. The city built there was all dismal and dark, street lights giving off a greyish white glow. The walls and cieling were made of shining black obsidian, and instead of birds there were bats. "Well this is it. It's dark but I like it. The only downside is that its only inhabitant is me. Oh well, I don't like people that much anyway." Zero commented as they arrived at the train to take them back to the surface.

"Vell you two, this is Julia. My little sister. Austria... ven you said you vere bringing a guest I didn't think you meant... never mind." Julia was a short girl of only five feet. She had long blonde hair, green eyes, and was very large in the chest area. She smiled and yelled, "COOL IT'S YOU! Germany's told me about you! Mysteriousand creepy... I like it. I'm Julia." Zero said, "Uh... I'm Zero. Hey." Germany and Austria walked out of the room, leaving Julia and Zero to talk alone. Julia was very up-beat and happy. She carried on, "So what's with the mask?" Zero was taken aback, nobody ever asked her, "Well it's a secret... so until I know you better you can't know." Julia shrugged and crossed her arms, "So do you know Canada? I really like him but I can't decide how to tell him." Zero smiled, for once someone actually wanted her advice."Just tell him. Don't be afraid." She smiled and nodded. "Well you're my friend now, so deal with it." Julia said sarcastically, standing and stretching her arms. Zero laughed and said, "I think I can handle it." The blonde girl raised her eyebrows and said, "That's what she said."

Zero trudged over to Canada's house, searching for Julia. She pounded on the door,when nobody answered she punched the lock to break it and opened the door casually. Zero searched every room looking for Julia, and even found Germany making out with some other girl. When she reached Canada's bedroom door, she could hear noises coming from the other side. Zero smirked and rapped her knuckles against the wooden doorframe. "Not a good time, blondie?" Zero called. When she recieved no response she kicked in the door to find her best friend and the invisible boy on Canada's bed... just a few more undergarments away from getting SERIOUS. Zero laughed histerically and shouted, "HAHA...ok... never mind... it can wait until later...hahahahaha!"