"We're going to a meeting! We're going to a meeting!" Zara sang as she skipped along with us back to the meeting hall. "Skip with me!" she exclaimed and looped her arm through Alex's, who skipped along with her arm through Alex's who skipped along with her. They'd probably go for Mari, Safi and I in a bit, but for now they were content as a twosome. Some of the countries shared the same happy-go-lucky mindset, like America and Italy. They linked arms with Alex and Zara and they began to sing, "We're off to see the wizard," Well, at least the Americans did. Italy didn't know the words, so he just said, "Ve, ve, ve," to the beat. Russia watched them, smiling happily. France was looking at his reflection in his nails. The rest of the countries weren't so at ease. They seemed worried about the meeting, like they didn't think bringing us was such a good idea. I should've been offended by that, but they were probably right.

It didn't take us long to get there, since we'd been there only an hour before, but when we got there, we noticed something that we hadn't noticed last night when we'd gone into the building. There was a sign on the door, and it said 'Authorized Personnel Only'. When the countries saw it, they weren't happy.

"Scheisse." Germany growled.

"What's the matter?" Mari asked.

England answered, and he didn't look much happier than Germany. "We'd forgotten the rules," he said. "Humans aren't allowed at these meetings, and I'm afraid that you are all quite human."

"I'm the ghost queen, so I'm not human anymore." Safi stated, more to us than to the countries.

"I'm a mermaid! But don't tell me! I don't know it yet!" Zara exclaimed happily, not caring who heard her. Then she pointed to me and said "She's a ninja!"

"… Uh, don't ask just please don't ask."

The countries stared at us. "Ooookay," America said. "Are you guys skitzo like England?"

"For the last time I'm not schizophrenic!"

"She told you not to ask," Mari said.

"Vell you still cannot come in."

"Whadaya mean we can't come in?!" Zara exclaimed. "We came all the way here and now you're telling us that we can't come in?!"

"Zat's exactly vhat I'm saying."

"How long is the meeting?" Mari asked.

"Usuarry a few hours," Japan answered, looking sad.

"A few hours?!" Zara yelled. "But that's like forever! Can't we just go with you guys?"

"Ve, yeah Germany!" Italy said, hugging the larger nation for emphasis. "Can the pretty girls come with us? Please pretty please with pasta on top?"

Germany scowled down at Italy, not even bothering to attempt to shake him off. "Nein Italy," he said. "Ze ozer countries vould have a fit. Besides, it's against ze rules."

"Rules schmules!" Alex exclaimed, and Germany did not seem too fond of the saying. "We're not going to wait out here for hours!"

"Zen go back to you empty house," Germany said as he ushered the other countries in.

"Don't worry dudettes!" America called after us. "The hero and his sidekicks will come back for you!"

"Let us in!" Zara yelled, making a charge for the door. Unluckily for her, the door slammed shut just before she got there. She ran into the door and stayed there, plastered to it.

"Oo," I said, grimacing as I began to peel Zara off the door. "That has got to hurt."

But Zara recovered remarkably quickly and in the next instant she was tugging on the door with all her might. "Let us in!" she screamed, but the door didn't respond.

"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Safi asked.

"We find a way in, that's what we gonnna do!" Alex said, pounding a fist into her palm.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mari asked.

"No. Now who's with me?"

No one responded, except Zara, who said, "I!"

"The ey's have it! Let's ride!" Alex exclaimed and she and Zara marched off.

Safi, Mari and I looked at each other.

"We'd better-"

"So they don't-"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Lees!" Zara called. "Use your ninja skills to find a way in!"

I frowned. "You do know that I'm not actually a ninja, right?" I asked. "If anyone's a ninja, its Safi. She's the flexible one."

"No." Alex said firmly, grabbing me by the shoulders and walking me towards the side of the building. "You're our ninja. Now use your super ninja powers to find a way in." She gave me a shove.

I stumbled a bit before I regained my footing. I sighed and wished that I really did have super ninja powers as I walked to the side of the building. I walked the length of it until I came upon a basement window, one of the old kinds that opened on a hinge. "I think this might work," I called to my friends and they came over. I gave the window a shove near the top and the bottom popped open. The space was small, but it looked like someone could fit through.

"I say Zara goes in," Alex said.

"Okay!" Zara exclaimed happily. She got down on her stomach and wriggled through the window feet first. "Woah!" she yelled as she suddenly dropped from view, followed by a thud, then "Ow! You guys didn't say that the window was seven feet off the ground!"

"Sorry, we didn't know," I apologized. "Go look for a door!"

The sunlight coming through the window illuminated Zara as she popped up. When she left the direct path of light, she disappeared into the darkness.

"Woah," I heard Zara say. "It's really dark down here-ow!... Oh… I found the stairs!"

"Maybe we shouldn't have sent the clumsiest one in," Mari said.

"Too late now," I said. "Go up them and look for a door! But be careful!"

"I'll crawl!" Zara said, and I heard scuffling. "Hey! I found the door!"

"Open it!" Safi told her.

We heard a door handle jiggling and Zara grunting. "Erg!" It's locked!"

"Dang,"

After more scuffling, Zara came back into the light, but she couldn't reach the window. I stuck myself through the window headfirst up to my chest. I reached down for Zara, but I wasn't far enough down to get a good grip, so I scooted in up to my waist. This gave me a better grip, so I began to pull Zara up. Then I felt myself begin to tip. "GUYS!" I screamed and I was quickly grabbed around the legs.

"We've got you Lees!" I heard Mari yell.

"Don't let go or I'm gonna fall on my head!" I looked down and gulped. "Onto concrete!" I looked down at Zara. "Okay, can you guys lower me down a bit?" I felt my friends shifting around and my ankles were grabbed as I was lowered. Zara and I locked arms and I yelled "Okay, I've got her!"

"Pull!" Alex yelled and I was hoisted upwards. I prayed that my pajama pants wouldn't come off.

It was a painful, difficult experience, but Zara and I were pulled up and out. I sighed and shook some dirt out of my pajama shirt. "Well that didn't work."

"Is there another way in?" Safi asked. We looked around and Alex saw an open window. The problem was, it was on the second floor.

"How are we going to get all the way up there?" Mari asked.

"… Weeeeeeeeeell," I said thoughtfully. "I have an idea, but you're not going to like it.

~~Mystery time skip :3~~

"It's a good thing you guys aren't wearing shoes," Mari grunted from her hands and knees on the ground. I felt bad about formulating a plan that involved poor Mari at the bottom of a pile, so I was in the same position to her left. On our backs stood Safi, Alex and Zara. They weren't doing the best job of keeping their balance, and it was only about to get worse. If they were following the plan, Safi and Alex were joining arms, and Zara was putting her hands on their shoulders and her foot on their arms.

"You guys ready for this?" Safi asked Mari and I.

I looked at Mari, who nodded. "We're ready," she replied and we braced ourselves.

"Okay," Alex said. "One, two, THREE!" Zara stepped on their arms and they hoisted her up. Mari and I groaned as the weight on our back became less evenly distributed.

"Woah!" I heard Zara say and knew that she was swaying.

"Lean towards the wall! The wall!" Alex's strained voices shouted.

"Zara if you fall," Mari threatened.

"Hey! I'm okay!" Zara yelled happily.

"Just get up there!" I shouted, my arms starting to shake. A few seconds later, there was less weight on our shoulders, and Zara didn't fall to the ground, so she must've made it through the window.

"Come on Safi!" Zara called down. I felt Alex and Safi repositioning themselves, and I knew that Alex gave Safi a boost up and then she was the only one on our backs. She quickly stepped off, much to our relief, and we hoisted her up the same way she and Safi had lifted Zara, who held onto Zara's waist and Safi hung out the window. Safi and Alex locked arms and Zara and Safi lifted Alex up. As she was pulled up, Mari and I positioned ourselves to catch her should she fall.

When Alex was up, Mari got into position to lift me the same way Alex had lifted Safi. I shook my head.

"But I'm stronger than you are," Mari reasoned.

"Which is why you'll be more help up there than I will," I pointed to our friends in the open window. "Lifting the last person is the hardest part. I trust you up there with them more than I trust myself."

Mari didn't look sure about it, but she relented.

I got into position and thought, Here we go. Mari's skinny, so she shouldn't be too hard to lift, and she's tall, so I wouldn't have to lift her for long, but I knew myself to be a weakling, so if we were gonna do this, we'd have to do it fast.

Mari placed her hands on my shoulders and her foot on my arms. "Ready?" she asked me.

"Ready." I told her, then I called up to our friends in the window, "You guys ready?"

"Ready!" Alex shouted, who was hanging out of the window.

"Okay," I said, bracing myself. "One, two, THREE!"

I heaved upwards with all my might and was able to hold my position until Mari was lifted up. I stood under her as she was pulled up, ready to put myself between her and the ground.

When she climbed up and over the window, she, Alex, Safi and Zara all looked exhausted. I was pretty tired too, so I yelled up to them, "Take a break! This is the hardest part! We'll need all the energy we can get!"

My friends sighed in relief and disappeared from view, probably sitting on the floor. I sat against a tree, rolling my shoulders. I really hoped that I wouldn't get my arms yanked out of their sockets. That would be painful.

After about five minutes, I got up and yelled to the window, "You guys ready?"

My friends appeared in the window. They looked better, but they were still tired. There was little ambition in their voice as they said, "Yeah."

That wouldn't do, that amount of energy, so I said, "Yeah?"

My friends looked at me, confused, and said, "Yeah."

"Yeah?!" I yelled more forcefully.

Then they caught on. "Yeah!"

"Yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH?!"

"YEAH!"

"Let's do this thing!"

"Okay!" It was decided that Zara would be lowered because she'd be the easiest to catch, even though they had no intention of dropping her. Zara quickly put herself into position and she was quickly but carefully lowered down by Mari, Alex and Safi. She looked nervous at being held in the air, headfirst, (Who wouldn't be?!), and yelled, "You'd better catch me if I fall!"

"Wouldn't think of doing otherwise" I shouted back as I reached for her arms. It wasn't the best grip but it'd have to do. Soon I was being lifted off the ground. I clung to Zara with a death grip and kept very still while we were pulled up. Our hands were very sweaty and it was all Zara and I could do to try to keep our grips.

After what seemed like forever, Zara cringed as she was pulled over the edge of the window. Now that she was up, more hands grabbed my arms and I too was dragged over the edge of the window. I would've faceplanted into the floor if my friends hadn't caught me first.

We all fell into a heap on the floor, gasping for breath and massaging our strained arms. Eventually, I said. "Great teamwork guys. The hard part's over."

"Now the fun begins," Alex said as she smiled mischievously. "Come on!" She got to her feet and yanked Safi to hers, which must've been torture on their arms. "Let's go see what's so secret about this meeting."

~~~~~~~~Squigles~~~~~~~~~

Now, we'd been in the World Conference Hall before, but we hadn't had a chance to look around. All we knew was how to get from the front door to the meeting room and to one bathroom. The rest of the rather large building was a mystery, and it was ours for the exploring!

Carefully we picked our way through the numerous halls, being as quiet as our loud group could be. Sadly the building wasn't as interesting as we'd hoped it to be.

We heard voices. They were coming from further down the hall.

Mari started freaking out in a whisper, "What're we gonna do?! What're we gonna do?!" She was scared into illiteracy. Safi looked like she was gonna start freaking out too.

"Quick!" Alex said quietly as she opened a janitor's closet. "Everyone inside!"

I wasn't too thrilled about the idea, but I followed my friends into the small, dark room and Alex shut the door behind us.

Putting us in a small room together is not smart. Putting us in a dark room together is not smart. Putting us in a small, dark room together is really not smart.

"Ow! Get off my foot Zara!"

"Hey! Move over!"

"Okay, who's touching me?"

"That is not my hand."

"Shh!" Alex hissed at us. "They're coming!"

We all became very quiet and very still. It was a miracle. We could hear footsteps approaching.

"I swear I heard someone down here!" said a man's voice with an Italian accent like Italy's except not as high and definatly not as happy.

"Oh, come on, mi amigo" said a man with a Spanish accent. "You're just imagining things."

"I am not imagining things you d*** flamenco dancer!" said the Italian. "I heard someone down here, and it sounded like girls."

"Chicas?" said the Spaniard. "You have chicas on the brain, man. I raised you well."

The Italian told the Spaniard to shut up in a ride way and then said, 'Come on, let's go find my idiot brother. He's probably with that potato b****** again."

We listened to them walk further and further away until we could hear them no more, then we let out our breath.

"What was that all abou-?" Zara started to say but was interrupted by me when something brushed across my forehead.

"WAH! Something's on my face! It's a spider! GetitoffgetitoffGETITOFF!"

"LEES!" Mari shouted and suddenly the room lit up. "It was just the chain for the light bulb."

"… Oh."

"Hopefully the entire building didn't hear you," Alex said.

I sighed and slunk to my knees, embarrassed, but while I was down there, something caught my eye. A box had slid out from beneath a shelf in our scuffle. It was filled with books, but it had so much dust on it that I couldn't tell what they were about. I picked up a book and wiped off the cover to see a great big pair of-

"OMIGOSH EW!" I yelled. "Safi! Virgin eyes! Oh gosh virgin eyes!" I slammed the book face down on top of the others, which did not help because the back had pictures on it too and they were not covered with dust. I averted my eyes.

"What is it?" Safi asked, her hands over her eyes.

"Dirty books," I replied flatly.

Safi didn't quite get it. "So…they're dirty. So what?"

"No Safi," Zara said. "Not dusty dirty, dirty dirty."

"… Oooooooh," Safi said, not removing.

"Whose are THOSE?" Mari asked, keeping her distance from the box. No one said anything for a second, then Mari kicked the box to Alex. She was the least sheltered one of us, and she had enough courage to look for a name.

Alex rolled her eyes. "A guy's," Alex said bitterly as she looked for a name on the book. "Or a lesbian's…possibly. I just hope that this isn't a reflection of the world we're in." She peeked inside for a split second, but then quickly shut both the book and her eyes. "Oh gosh," she said. "It's really kinky too. That's just disgusting." She sighed. "And there's no name on it." She put the book back in the box. "Let's just pretend it never happened."

"Agreed." We said. Safi uncovered her eyes as Zara kicked the box back under the shelf and walked over to the door to put her ear against it. Everyone was quiet as she listened. "I don't hear anything," she said after a while. She turned the knob a little, but stopped when I said, "Wait. Let's shut off the light first."

Mari reached up and yanked on the cord, once again plunging the closet into darkness. Zara then slowly turned the doorknob and poked her head out and looked down the hall both ways.

"Coat's clear," she said.

"… Coats?" I asked as we opened the door and stepped out of the closet.

"Coat's clear?" Safi giggled. "Who even says that?"

"I don't know!" Zara laughed.

"Shh! You guys!" I said, trying to hold back giggles. "Y-You're gonna get us caught!"

Mari was smiling hugely and giggling. Oh no, if this continued, we'd go into an all-out laugh-attack and then we'd most definitely be found.

Alex must've realized this too because she bit down her own laughter and said "Come on guys, we gotta keep moving."

We did the best we could to stifle our laughter and followed her down the hall. We found a room that was under construction. Nothing was very interesting about it, being that there were no power tools, paint or hammers around, and we were turning to leave when Zara said, "Wait."

We followed her pointed finger to a square hole in the wall. It was an air vent with the guard taken off. The vent was large enough for a person to crawl through…

"… Oh no," I said, realizing what Zara wanted to do.

"Oh yes!" Zara said and she grabbed me in a burst of adrenaline and was able to shove me into the vent.

"Zara I don't want to do this!" I said, wriggling backwards.

"Too late Lees!" I heard Zara say. "I'm already in the vent!"

"So back out!" I countered, continuing to wriggle backwards, but I stopped when I felt something crawl over the sole of my bare foot. "EEP!" I squeaked and I shot forward through the vents in record speed. I only stopped when I came across a vent guard that was beneath me and revealed that we were in the ceiling vents, of this room anyway.

I paused too long to look through it, for I soon felt something crawl over my foot again. "DON'T!" I squealed as I crawled quickly over the guard. Once I was on the other side, I curled myself into a tight ball and was able to reverse myself so that I was facing the person behind me. "Don't do that!" I shouted.

Zara laughed at me. "It was so funny though!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah yeah."

Zara began to crawl over the vent. "Scoot back so I can turn around too," she said and I complied so that she turned around the same way I had. Once she'd turned around I crawled half-over-half-beside her so that I could see the guard again. Mari crawled into view from across the vent, followed by Alex and Safi, who crawled on top of her in a similar fashion. We were all looking at the vent, but Safi said, "Shh! Someone's coming!"

We were all quiet and sure enough, we could hear footsteps approaching. Soon, we saw someone open the door and walk into the room. He looked about 19 and had shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes, wore a green sweater over a white dress shirt, green tie and dark pants and he was holding a bunch of papers and was looking through them. He did so frantically, and he had this nervous feel about him. Suddenly, he stopped what he was doing and looked around. "H-Hello?" he asked in an accent I didn't recognize. "Is someone there?"

None of us moved a muscle.

"M-Mr. R-Russia?" he asked becoming even more nervous." Is th-that y-you?"

That gave me an idea. I looked at my friends, allowing myself a mischievous smile. They saw my smile and knew what I meant by it and they nodded, grinning eagerly.

I cleared my throat, preparing my Russian accent, which I happen to be very proud of, remembered the pitch of Russia's voice, and said in my best imitation, "Da, eet ees me, Russia. Who ees being dere?"

My voice reverberated through the vent, so the guy couldn't tell which direction my voice was coming from.

"It's me, Lithuania," the country said. "M-Mr. Russia? You're voice sounds different."

Shoot, I thought and said, "Da Leeduania, I believe I am coming down weed a cold."

"Oh." Lithuania said. "I'm sorry to hear that. Where are you?"

I choked a bit. "Er, um I am being een de oder room, but please to not come een. I do not weesh Leeduania to be getting seeck as well."

"Y-Yes Mr. Russia," Lithuania said. "Would you like me to bring you anything sir?"

"Da," I said, winking to my friends, who covered their mouths to stifle any giggles that may come. "I need you to be getting me some caramel yak*," I began.

Lithuania made a funny face. "Um, Mr. Russia," he said. "I don't think-"

"I am not being finished Leeduania," I said with a bit of a threat.

Lithuania gulped. "Y-Yes M-Mr. R-Russia. Wh-What else?"

"I am also needing deesposable slacks," I continued. "A Mormon deesco ball,"

My friends muffled their laughter, and I tried so hard to not laugh. "And," I said, my voice raising an octave, which only brought my friends and me closer to an outburst. I cleared my throat, returning to my Russia-voice. "And, I need an oil painting of circus clowns storming de beach at Normandy!" I plugged my nose to prevent myself from snorting.

Lithuania was sooooo confused, and it was SOOOOOO funny! "Um, is that all Mr. Russia?"

"Da, I said. "Dat ees all. You may go now Leeduania."

"Y-Yes sir," Lithuania said, still super confused. He went out the door, shut it, and his footsteps got further and further until they were gone.

We couldn't take it anymore. Our howling laughter filled the vents, reverberating down the metal tunnels, but we didn't care.

"Omigosh!" Mari cried, whipping away a tear. "That was amazing!"

"Thank you," I said, bowing with my head. "Now can we keep going? I don't like being in here much."

"Okay," Zara said, still giggling wildly. "You've earned it."

I grinned, turned myself around and lead my crazy friends through the vents.

~~Scrolling scrolling scrolling~~

I soon found a vent hanging over a different room that was large enough for us to drop through. I took off the guard, set it aside, and dropped to the ground. Once I was down, Zara came down after me. I had to partially catch her because her balance is so horrible, but we fell over into a laughing heap anyways. Mari came down next and laughed at us, as did Alex, and Safi smiled at us and said, "Oh Zara."

We were in another empty room, so we decided to move on. Still giggling and just enjoying ourselves, we walked over to the door.

"Now we gotta be quiet you guys!" I giggled hysterically at tem, trying to shush them but giggling every time I tried. I opened the door to lead the way out. "We don't wanna get-" I stared down the barrel of a gun. "-in trouble."

The person holding the gun was a short young man of about 18 with choppy blond hair in a chin-length bob cut and dark flatly-colored mint-green eyes. He wore a green camouflage-print hooded jacket with a brown shoulder strap and dark pants. He did not look happy. "Who are you girls?' he asked in an accent I did not recognize. "What are you doing in here? Don't you know zat zis building is restricted?"

"Yes," Zara said before anyone could stop her.

"Zen you're knowingly trespassing!" He said, getting angrier.

"Svitzerland!" Someone yelled in an accent that was similar to Germany's but more proper-sounding. "You know zat veapons are restricted in here!" He came into view and noticed us. He had violet eyes and somewhat wavy brown hair, with a wild strand. He wore a deep blue suit with a white dress shirt and frilly neck thing. "VHAT ARE ZESE GIRLS DOING IN HERE?!" he spazzed.

"That's what I was trying to find out when you showed up Austria! You're always butting in on my business!'

"Zat's because you can never do anyzing right! Und it's all of our business if zey're in here!"

The two of them were too busy arguing to notice us anymore, so I looked at my friends, jutted my head to the side, and we slowly started to sneak away. They didn't so much as look in our direction so we went down the hall and rounded the corner with ease.

"Dodged that bullet!" I said, breaking into a run. I looked over my shoulder at my friends, who weren't running. "Come on guys!" I called. "Let's go!"

"Lees! Look out!" Mari yelled.

I turned my head back around just in time to slam face-first into something large and hard. The force of the impact knocked me backwards onto my butt. I shook my head to clear it and said, "Hey! Watch it ya-" I looked up to meet a pair of sky blue eyes. They were NOT HAPPY.

"… Oh," I said after a pause. "Guten tag Germany."

* watch?v=CYbVpAwGGGs