You know, you don't exactly make this any easier, guys. Haha, but I suppose any amount of reviews is good, especially in this desolate, little fandom. Sigh, oh well… I'll do this chapter and if anybody changes their mind, or if anybody new reads and decides to vote, yay! If not, I'll take in the consideration from the small amount of reviews and go from there.

Also, Quark is sad in this chapter… Blehhh, poor Quark, and it's kind of difficult to judge his reaction to this kind of situation, but I'm gonna say he'd probably cry if his grandpa died… right?

Oh! And remember that they're on Earth, not the moon and Rhizome-9, okay?

I don't own Zero Escape.


Chapter One


The outside world was very, very strange. At first, they had went through theories of how they could have gotten to the moon or some other strange object in space, but Sigma started to realize he was carrying most of that whole conversation.

The tension was very thick. So thick, in fact, that he could slice it with a knife, but he might still have trouble cutting it.

However, as the silence continued, Quark began to stir. Luna was the first to notice, and pointed to Sigma's shoulders, where the boy currently rested. After she pointed it out, they stopped and waited for the young boy to fully awaken.

When his eyes blinked open, sighs of relief were heaved out from the three adults. Quark had been unconscious, they knew that, as Luna had been the one to drug him and take his bracelet off (or so she had begun to explained, but that conversation ended when they got outside and wondered where the hell they were), but it was certainly a relief to see Quark awake and alive.

Quark yawned, and stared at the three in front of him, and eventually looked around, expecting to find cold, shiny metal, and not some strange wasteland. His eyes widened.

"Guys… where are we?"

"Where should we start?" Sigma wondered aloud.

"How about we start at we escaped?" Phi suggested, rolling her eyes. Luna giggled slightly.

"We… escaped? You mean you guys got out?!" He was bouncing, and the others were nodding.

Quark was suddenly very excited, and then… not so much. "Where's everyone else? …Where's grandpa?"

Ouch. That was what they had been dreading. Such a horrible question with such a horrible answer, and Sigma almost winced at the mention of the others. Luna frowned and looked away, and Phi simply looked to the side. Even Phi didn't want to mention what happened to the boy.

"What aren't you telling me? Did they not have nine BP or somethin'?"

"It's… a little more complicated than that, Quark," Phi started, "We're still not entirely sure what happened…"

Sigma saw her glance at Luna, quickly looking away just as fast as she had glanced at her… Jeez, this was starting to get more awkward by the hour. Despite that, he was more concerned with Quark and the explanation.

Luna sighed gently and bent down to Quark's level, "You see, Quark… The others are…" Luna paused, suddenly unable to finish.

"Dead," Sigma stated quietly.

Quark blinked, and stared blankly at Sigma.

"You were out for a long time, and while we were looking for you, they were all…"

Phi looked at Quark, "Murdered."

"Does that mean grandpa is…?"

"I'm sorry, Quark," Luna responded, trying to blink away some tears of her own. That was when Sigma noted that Quark had started to cry, as well – though that was entirely understandable – and this situation was getting way too uncomfortable, for all of them, though more specifically Phi and himself.

They simply let Quark cry, and they each tried to comfort him, but ultimately decided that was best left to Luna, the most caring figure in this group. She was definitely soothing, as Quark eventually started to calm down.

"It'll be okay, Quark," Luna promised, "After all, you… you have us now."

Phi blinked and Sigma looked confused, and they nodded Luna over.

"Are we really going to take care of him?"

"Well, we can't just… just leave him alone! That would be cruel, and it's not right… He doesn't have anyone else."

"I guess that settles it," Sigma said, looking at Quark, "We're sticking together, then."

Quark smiled, and it was a nice change of pace from the large amount of tears he had shed before. It was nice to know that he was still… happy.

"Well, first thing's first… Where are we?"

Quark jumped up, "Oh, Mr. Sigma! I can answer that one! We're not too far from where I used to live with grandpa!"

"Wait…Do you mean this is… Earth?" Phi asked, "Because I don't remember it looking like some kind of deserted wasteland.

"Sorry to say, but yeah, this is Earth. This is what it looked like for me… after the Radical-6 outbreak."

Luna cringed, "This is horrible." Sigma and Phi had nothing to add, because she had stolen the words right out of their mouths. Slowly, they turned towards each other and back to Quark.

There was a lot of time to panic and scream and wonder why Earth was like this, and how they had gone into the future without aging, but Phi had stolen the words this time.

"Look, we can figure this out later. We should probably get some shelter, or head towards town."

"Then you should all just follow me!" Quark stated, jumping ahead.

"We could always find my car…" Sigma suggested.

Quark laughed, "Sorry, Mr. Sigma, but there… there aren't any more cars around… or any transportation, for that matter. It made the disease spread faster."

Sigma looked downtrodden, "That's… okay… It was junk, anyway."

Quark grew serious, "And since you guys aren't used to it, I should warn you: As we get closer to town, there'll be tons more bodies."

"Bodies…? As in… corpses?"

"Yeah, that's right, Ms. Luna…"

It was going to be a long walk, Quark had stated, but it wouldn't be the farthest he had ever walked, but it would probably be a stretch for them who hadn't lived on such a planet. And, just as he foretold, as they started to see the makings of a town, there was a… a stench.

And it was putrid.

Quark, though used to the smell, crinkled his nose a little bit, "Yeah, smells like we're comin' close to a body pile or something… Town's not too far."

Panting, Sigma had to ask: "Body pile?"

"Well, they… kinda have to put the bodies somewhere so the rest of the world doesn't get infected… But even that doesn't help too much."

Quark had directed them to a place where they could stay for the oncoming days until he could finish explaining everything that had happened in their absence on the planet. It wasn't much, but it was sentimental.

"It would be easier for grandpa to explain it, since he lived longer…"

Luna moved closer to the young boy, and he eventually drifted off into a deep sleep while leaning on her. The orange-haired woman fell asleep as well, and Sigma could feel his eyelids drooping.

"What a day," he commented.

"You can say that again."

"I think… we should figure out who killed everyone," Sigma said with an awkward sigh.

"Don't you already have it figured out?"

"Well… yeah, but only if we eliminate Luna as a possible suspect."

Sigma started to explain, but Phi cut him off with a yawn, "There's plenty of time for this in the morning, Sigma."

"Yeah, but –"

"Just shut the fuck up and go to bed."


And on that note, that is the end of chapter one! Sorry it's slow, but I wanted to get this in, and the next chapter will be murders and the like, as well as Quark's explaining of the Earth and then maybe some town exploring? Probably. Oh, and some more fluff because there wasn't enough of that in here.

AND I STILL CAN'T DECIDE WHICH PAIRING. I LOVE THEM BOTH SO MUCH, OKAY. IT'S RIDICULOUS. Send help.

Please review! (Or favorite, but I would prefer the feedback, if you have any.)