A/N: The good news? I done all my exams! The bad news? I'm writing again. Awful, I know. But seriously, I'm finally finished school for the summer, which I means I can finally have a life again! Hooray! I've got about a thousand fics to catch up on, (And I will be catching up on them all) and another fic that really, really needs to be updated. I've kind of made Marinus my first priority, so all my other stuff's kind of suffered. :D Anyway, sorry again about the wait, people. It won't happen again...I think. I was so determined to get this chapter out that I was typing it up at school in between exams. (Although that might have been due to my inability to study.) And guess what happened while I was typing said fic? We had an earthquake! Seriously, an actual earthquake! You can tell I live in Canada, because everyone's more excited than concerned. And yes, I will be bragged about this for a while.

~M&M

SciFiGeek14: I LOVE the ABC game! Seriously, it's the only way to get through family road trips. (I haven't been blessed with a lacrosse team like you have.) Thanks!

KittyKatZorse: Yay! Glad you like it! Aw and I just looked zorses up (Yes, I did stare blankly at my screen for a few seconds after your review.) and they're lovely! Sorry, I think it might have been about 2 in the morning when I asked you about that. Won't happen again. I think. ;)

Jasper winked: The whole arguing-over-something-that-honestly-isn't-relevent seems to be a theme in this fic, doesn't it? Or at least, it is for the last few chapters. But I don't care; it's fun to write! And oooh the screaming is rather creepy! :S Thanks for the good luck! It's all over now but I like to think it helped! Sort of.

Thanks so much to the reviews everyone!

On the opposite side of the wall, Jack slid from the idol's lap the moment its stone hands released him. As he landed on the ground with a thump, his hand instinctively fell to his hip, but paused when he remembered he still didn't have his blaster. He looked around the new landscape cautiously, wondering if he'd need it.

He was still in the jungle. Sure, he didn't exactly want to be staring into the face of danger right about now, but he had expected something a little more...dramatic. That said, on second glance, this side of the wall seemed different. Some of the trees surrounding him had been sawn off to make room for a wide, cobbled path, which stretched off in various directions, disappearing into the hot blur that encompassed the plant life. Around him the ground was barer, and it felt less like a jungle and more like a particularly hot and overgrown garden. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he began to walk on, but stopped in his tracks when he realized what else was different.

Scattered through the shapes of the trees and along the edges of the pathway were some of the strangest objects, littering the ground like odd lawn decorations. Beside him stood several potted plants and a white, marble statue of a child, hands stretched up to the sky in an unmoving dance. A little way down the path, amongst a dozen long, Grecian pillars that reached up to meet the canopy, he could just about make out the figure of a knight. It gleamed in the heat, its hopefully empty armour poised with an enormous axe held over its head, ready to bring the deadly weapon down on its invisible enemy's vulnerable skull at any moment. As he walked past it, he stared into the dark slits of its visor for a moment, unnerved.

Once the knight was behind him, however, he stopped, and stood still for a moment. If he listened...yes! He could hear something. Some sort of psychic whisper, a quick murmuring in the back of his mind. It crept along the jungle towards him, like someone breathing over the tops of the trees. Around him, everything stayed still, but the sound began to grow, becoming louder and louder until it was like breathless scream which he could only hear, as long as he focused on it. He frowned, walking around the clearing and trying to figure out where it was coming from. His eyes landed on a nearby stone wall, which divided him from the rest of the jungle. He rested his hands on its eroded surface, and closed his eyes, trying to find the source.

A few moments passed, and his frown deepened when the sound began to fade away. Suddenly, another sound filled his ears; a coarse growl, like rocks shifting against each other in anticipation, and his eyes shot open in surprise.

"Jack!" He turned as quickly as he could to find the source of the voice, and smiled brightly when Donna Noble came bounding out of the bushes at top speed; headed straight for him without any sign of stopping.

"Donna!" He called back happily. "You have no idea how happy I am to-Oof!" The redhead hit him with a forceful tackle, which sent them both flying backwards-just as the wall he'd been standing beside gave one loud, final growl and collapsed down on where he'd been loitering obliviously.

Stunned by what had just happened, Jack continued to stumble backwards, letting Donna slip from his grip as he did so. He made eye contact with her. "You saved me!"

She gave a breathless shrug, as if it was nothing to her, and leaned over to catch her breath. "Yeah, just don't expect me to do it again."

He smiled back widely, just happy that the Doctor wouldn't kill him anymore, but froze when his foot unexpectedly sank down into the pavement. His eyes drifted downwards, and he realized that the cobble he'd been standing on had been some sort of button, and him standing on it had initiated whatever it activated. He barely had to think; he swiftly turned where he stood, facing his enemy as he stared up into the dark visor of the knight.

His hand shot out, meeting the metal, empty helmet and knocking it from the knight's shoulders, but he never saw it land. As the helmet crashed to the forest floor, Jack felt himself fall into an all too familiar darkness, and collapsed on the cobbled walkway, a long, wooden axe buried deep in his back.

"I didn't mean it," Donna whispered.

Jack jerked back to life, gasping deeply. His arms flailed wildly at his sides, desperately grabbing on the the closest thing to him. Unfortunately, this just happened to be Donna's foot, and she lashed out immediately with a sharp kick and shriek before leaping backwards to escape his grip. His hand flew to where she'd kicked him, and he stared up at her.

She looked terrified. Her breath was coming out in sharp rattles, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Her fingers were tightly wound around the axe, fresh from being pulled out of his back and dripping with blood.

He calmed his breathing. "So you survived, then."

"No thanks to you!" she instantly snapped back.

Jack rolled his eyes. He should have expected this. He gave a groan, sat up, and looked around at the jungle. The shadows cast across the ground had grown longer, and the felt cooler than before. It felt like the evening. He looked up at Donna. "How long was I out for?"

She looked away sheepishly, and mumbled something out of the corner of her mouth.

"What?"

Donna sniffed. "Two and a half hours..." She trailed off when she saw the look on his face.

"Two and half hours?" He stared at her. "Two. And a half. Hours." His voice grew in volume. "You left that thing in my back for two and a half hours?"

"Oh yeah," she yelled back. "Because pulling axes out of people's spines is exactly what I do on a daily basis!"

"You took forever, Donna! We've got the rest of the party waiting for us at the next place, and the Doctor still thinking he's going to be seeing us in five days-"

"I didn't know what to do!" Her voice was slightly hysterical, and for the first time it occurred to Jack that she might not have left the axe in his back for so long out of pure spite. "Alright?"

He swallowed back his anger and nodded. "Yeah. Okay"

"And it wasn't like I was totally lost. If none of you appeared I was going to turn my dial, and see if I could meet you at the next destination."

"That's what we thought. But I had to come through anyway. That micro-key you found, it was a fake."

"What?"

"Babs says it's different than the others. And I'm guessing the real one's somewhere in here."

"Ooh, so we're calling her Babs now, are we? What does Ian think of that?"

He snorted. "Ian doesn't care. And I can call anyone whatever I like."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

In response, Donna drew the axe closer and stared around at the jungle in worry, biting her lip. Instantly understanding what had her so upset, Jack squared his shoulders heroically. "I'll get us out of here."

Had Rose been with him, she would have offered a sympathetic smile and an 'I'm sure you will,' while patting his back, but Donna just raised an eyebrow. "You'd better."

He missed Rose.

Rose missed the Doctor.

And the Doctor missed...well the guy had managed to escape to one of the most civilized societies in the system. Jack doubted he was finding things too difficult. Probably having the time of his life. Donna on the other hand, still looked absolutely terrified, despite her snark. And, quite ironically, he missed her normal self.

He smiled at her, trying to cheer the redhead up. She just stared at him indifferently, as if trying to figure out what he was up to now. A moment passed and then, not letting himself give up, he stepped forward and gave her a friendly hug. She went rigid in his arms. He let go and stepped back. She was still staring at him, eyebrows disappearing into her fringe. Finally, he put his hands on his hips and gave her another smile. "I missed you."

There, he thought. If that doesn't cheer her up, nothing will. A few moments passed, and then, Donna spoke. "I'm gonna go find the micro-key." She turned and walked away, fingers clutching the axe so tightly that they turned white.

Jack just sighed, and looked down at his feet. He sighed again. When he'd hugged Donna, she'd still been holding the axe, which was still covered in his fresh blood. And now his gorgeous, sexy, perfectly white toga was covered with dark red smears.

He missed a lot of things.

When he finally caught up to her, Donna had come to her senses, and was tossing the axe into the bushes. "There's some sort of a doorway up there," she said, having spotted him. "I tried to get it open while you were unconscious, but it won't budge."

He approached it; a large wooden door on the side of another brick wall. Closer inspection revealed that it was part of a large building, which stretched far back into the bushes. After trying the lock, which didn't move even a bit, he gave the door a kick.

"Tried that,"

He looked over at Donna. "What about-"

"Yup. Tried everything."

"Tell ya what. There's another wall over there." Jack pointed across the forest. "You wait here, and I'll check it out, okay? See if I can find anything that'll open it."

Donna nodded. She'd finally calmed down from before, and was ready to cooperate with the time agent. "Be careful. This whole place is one big booby trap. It's all stuff like that wall, just waiting to get us."

"Yeah, cause that's just what I need," Jack sighed, before giving her shoulders a squeeze and carefully making his way towards his target.

By the time he finally got to the wall, the sun was even lower in what he could make out of the horizon. He stopped by the stone barrier and stared up at it. Across the wall he could just about see the tips of leaves poking through the bricks, and further along whole vines stuck through the gaps. It was as if the entire jungle was pushing against it, trying to get through...

"Jack?" He jumped when Donna's voice came echoing through the trees, and scowled at where he'd come from. Honestly, she hadn't even given him a moment to start searching!

"I'll be there in a bit! Just give me a sec!" There was no reply. He shrugged and began walking along the wall, eventually coming to a small alcove, outlined by an arch. Inside, he could see the sharp glint of metal, and ducked through to investigate. Several tools lay on the ground, and he sifted through them, trying to pick which one would be best for breaking the door down.

Suddenly, a high, terrified shriek came from the doorway, and he looked up in alarm. "Donna!" Grabbing the first thing he could find-a rather large pickaxe-he ran for the alcove's opening, but was pulled back by something. He looked behind him, and groaned in frustration. Connected to the pickaxe, and leading down deep into the ground, was a long, metal chain. He gave a an angry yell, feeling so fed up with everything in this place, and gave the chain a hard yank.

Unfortunately, this only made things worse for the time agent, for the moment he pulled on the tool, a row of metal bars came running down from the ceiling, sticking into the ground in front of him and trapping him in the alcove.

Donna screamed again, this time sounding even more terrified than ever, and Jack yanked the pickaxe as hard as he could, finally pulling it from the ground. He frantically placed it between the bars of his makeshift cells, muscles straining as he pushed with all his might. "I'm coming Donna!"

By the time one of the bars finally gave way, Donna had been quiet for far longer than he was happy with, and he squeezed through the opening he'd made as quickly as possible. Unintentionally letting the pickaxe fall to the ground, he ran for the doorway, screaming Donna's name all the while. When he finally reached it however, his blood ran cold.

The door was open.

He swallowed nervously, terrified at what he'd find when he entered, and then dashed through the opening. Inside, it was cooler, but he barely stopped to admire the temperature as he ran through the building's tunnels, still yelling for his friend.

He wasn't running for very long when he came to a small room, and his heart nearly stopped beating at what he found. Donna lay in the middle of the room, curled up on the floor in a fetal position. A large net had been thrown over her, each edge fused immovably to the floor with metal clasps. And above her...above her, the ceiling was descending, the long, sharp spikes that hung from it coming closer and closer to her prone body with every second.

He instantly ran to her side, kneeling down to get as close to the redhead as possible. Her eyes were closed, but he could hear her soft whimpers over the grinding of the ceiling, and saw silent tears trailing down her cheeks to land on the floor. She'd given up on him. Through the thick mesh of the net, he grabbed her shaking hand. "I'm here."

Her eyes sprung open, and she gave a frightened gasp. Barely sparing a moment to look up at the ceiling, which was now getting dangerously close, Jack began examining the clasps connecting the net to the floor. He tried pulling them from the ground, attempting to pry them away from the floorboards with his bare fingers but, like the doorway to the building, they wouldn't budge. "Move, dammit!"

Finally, breathing heavily from anger, and hating himself for forgetting to bring along the pickaxe, he stopped, leaning over her body out of sheer hopelessness. "I can't get you out, Donna," he choked out.

She gave a quiet sniffle. "I-I know," she replied, her voice on the verge of tears. "Get out."

Jack smiled sadly. "Over my dead body." And then, ducking his head down just in time to avoid being struck by one of the spikes above them, he lay down next to her; curling around her back and winding his arms around her shaking body. She didn't protest, but instantly gripped his arm and gave a sob. He wasn't going to leave her. He would live on, find the micro-key and find their friends, but for now, all he could do was give her someone to die with.

The glinting ends of the spikes were now only centimetres from his cheek. Holding his breath, and tightening his grip on the woman beside him, Jack gave the back of Donna's head a quick kiss through the net, and waited for the darkness to arrive.

Oh, god! How melancholy was that? Sorry everyone! :D

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it despite how utterly depressing it was, and remember; reviewers get pin-ups of a shirtless William Russell! If you don't know who that is, you need to look him up. You'll get what I'm saying. ;)

Oh, and this chapters dedicated to earthquakes. Because I love them.