I haven't read all of Matthew Reilly's book, only some. Hover car racer and Seven Ancient Wonders, and, like, 100 pages of Hell Island. I loved them all. I only JUST fisinished reading SAW, and the whole way through I was like, "I wonder if anyone has ever done an FF on the relationship between Lily and Jack."

When the answer was no, I decided to write this!

"Okay, everyone," Jack said, "you have to trust me on this one. No time to go in group, we have to do this together."

Lily looked over at her father-figure fearfully.

"A bit all or nothing, isn't it, Jack?" Zoe said, a bit sarcastically.

"No other choice," Jack dead-panned. "People, get your pony bottles ready. Then we all jump onto that stepping-stone. Ready . . . go!"

And then, they all jumped together.

The great cage above them dropped down, not making a single noise as it free-fell a few feet. When it hit the small opening they were all on, the ground immediately started to sink.

"I hope you're right, Jack!" Zoe yelled.

Lily saw Zoe grab her pony bottle, as the cage went knee-deep.

As the cage went further under, Lily looked desperately over at Jack, who was starting to look very worried.

As the water was waist-deep Big Ears lifted Lily up into his arms. She clutched onto him, fear taking hold of her.

"Jack . . ." Zoe called, concerned.

"Jack . . ." Wizard echoed in the same manner.

"It has to come," Lily saw Jack say quietly, reading his lips. "It has to-"

As the cage went two-thirds under, Jack cracked a glowstick, put his pony bottle in his mouth and went under the water.

"What's he doing?" Lily whispered, closing her eyes.

Stretch looked over at Lily and said, "He's just killed us all."

Zoe hit Stretch's arm and said, "He's looking for a way-out."

Lily decided to listen to Zoe, not Stretch in this situation.

Jack resurfaced, completely unaware of the small conversation that had just taken place.

"Anything down there?" Zoe called.

Jack frowned and said, "No . . . but there should be."

Stretch reverberated what he said before. "You've killed us all!"

Lily was hoping Jack was going to have a good come-back, but all he said was, "Just grab your pony bottles."

With the water neck deep, Lily was help high in Big Ears' arms. Jack looked over to her and said, "Hey, kiddo. You still with me?"

She nodded strenuously. "Uh-huh." What ever they were going to do – whatever Jack put them all though – she was always going to be with him.

"Just breathe through your pony bottle like we practiced at home, and you'll be alright." he said, and everyone picked up on the gentle tone in his voice. Jack never used that tone with anyone – except Lily.

"Did you mess up?" she whispered, wanting more than anything to be in his arms, not Big Ears' (though she was extremely grateful).

"I might have," Jack answered, which was what Lily was dreading. She could see he wasn't looking at her as he said that, but at Wizard.

"Hold your nerve, Jack," Wizard said. "I trust you."

"Good, because right now I don't," and with that, the cage lowed fully into the water.

ASDF

It was an impulse. A decision to say something, when she probably shouldn't have.

"Daddy . . . no!"

She could see the surprise and shock etched on his face. It look so deep, she thought that maybe it was permanent.

Lily instantly regretting calling his her father, thinking that he didn't even like her. But, she could see the gears turning in his head, and the quicksand rose higher and higher.

It was like she could hear him thinking, I . . . am . . . not . . . going . . . to . . . die . . .

And, then he said, "Don't give up on me, kiddo!" Lily's heart pounded in happiness. "I'm not dead yet."

Tears came to her eyes, and she really hoped Jack had a way out of this. Suddenly, his eyes twinkled.

He knew the right way out.

Lily almost cried out in happiness, but refrained herself. Jack made it through safely and Lily couldn't have been happier.

ASDF

As Lily willingly crawled into the Capstone, she really hoped her theory was right. The sun touched her heart and she convulsed.

She couldn't hear what was going on outside – more; she felt a vibration of sorts, the sounds becoming very dull.

Then it was silent.

Her eyes closed and heart so close to stopping it was an easy mistake, she heard the sounds of someone shimmying into the hole where she was.

"Oh, Lily . . ." She would have breathed a sigh of relief if she could have breathed at her.

It was Jack. He had come for her.

She felt his head come alongside hers, and she could feel him looking at her face, scanning for any sign of life. She wanted to scream out, "I'm okay daddy. I'm okay." But she couldn't breath, let alone scream anything.

She felt his body slump in anguish, and tears wanted to come to the girl's eyes.

"Oh, Lily," he repeated, his voice broken. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She felt a hot tear on her cheek and heard his voice say, "I love you, kiddo."

And then, he started to sob.

She opened her mouth to say something, and was ecstatic when she heard herself say, "I love you, too, Daddy . . ."

Her breath came back to her and she opened her eyes, despite the pain. Jack's head snapped up and she weakly smiled at him.

"You're alive . . . You're alive!"

He scooped her up into his arms and hugged her.

"But how . . . ?"

"I'll tell you later," she promised. "Can we please get out of here?"

"You bet," he breathed, still encasing her. "You bet."

It was actually a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be. Oh well. After I read Six Sacred Stones and Five Warriors or whatever its called, I'll probably fix it up a bit. :)

And, hey, on a kind of unrelated topic. One of my friend's dad is friends (or was friends) with Matthew Reilly . . . cool, huh?