When I was younger, I used to think about how I'd like to die. Being buried alive was far from the top of my list. Well, it looks like the universe decided to play a cosmic joke on me, because that was exactly what happened.

As I got pulled into the maelstrom, the sand tornadoes above us started closing in and collapsing on us. I closed my eyes and mouth tightly as sand started flying all over my face and around me. If I was going to die, I'd rather die without having sand filling up in me.

I was getting pulled farther into the sand, and then it hit me. I was probably going to die. And if I died, there was a high chance the others would- no. Jack can't die, that would cause two thirds of reality to collapse. Great job, Liza. Distract yourself from panicking by panicking about something else.

The fact that the sand completely collapsed on us didn't really help matters either. And as the sand fully collapsed on us, I suddenly stopped getting pulled down. Like I'd hit the bottom. However, I didn't have the time to contemplate that as I was now being crushed by sand on all sides. I couldn't breathe in or out- the sand would fill up in my nose and that would cause its own set of problems- or well, a faster death.

My heart started beating faster than it was already, such that it seemed to be trying to force itself out from inside. Adding that to the sand trying to squish me, I was sure I'd have exploded if it weren't for the ground (or whatever it was) opening up underneath me.

I fell into what seemed to be a tunnel that led straight downwards. A strong gust of air was continuously blowing past me. Somehow, this air seemed to blow all the sand that was covering me. I tried to place my hand on the wall to slow down my fall (stupid decision, I know, but I was falling to my death after escaping death through oxygen deprivation- and my heart seemed to think that my oesophagus was a good exit route from my body). It felt rough and grainy, and a searing pain shot through my hand. I didn't even notice that I was actually able to breathe properly. I barely noticed that I was screaming at the top of my lungs. And then-

I hit something. I hit it hard. Pain shot through my legs. I was still falling down, and was being dragged forward as well. I was cold. And then the cold filled up my lungs. I tried to see where I was, but my eyes tung every time I opened them. I was still being thrown about at breakneck speed. My throat constricted and I tried to exhale, but all I could vaguely make out was a bunch of bubbles. The realisation hit me faintly. It didn't do anything to calm me down. I was drowning in a flowing body of water underneath a desert. That was when everything went black.

"She better be alive, I don't want to get murdered by an angry banana loving leather jacket dude with big ears."

Two blurry figures sitting beside me. I blinked and tried to say something, but my chest constricted, and the moment I opened my mouth, water shot out of it onto the ground in front of me. My throat felt dry and itchy despite the fact that I'd just puked out water. I coughed repeatedly, and my vision blurred. Someone grabbed my shoulders and rubbed my back, saying something I couldn't quite make out.

Fortunately, the coughing stopped after a few moments. I was finally able to hear Jack asking me if I was alright, but my head was still spinning. "I have no clue," I muttered, and put a hand on my head, waiting for a moment for my head rush to pass.

My vision finally cleared, and I blinked a couple of times. The first thing I saw was a hand waving up and down three inches from my face. "Hello? Jack to Liza! Seriously, if something happened to you, I'm probably going to be-"

"Stop that," I muttered, swatting his hand away. "I already feel like wet mush without you screaming into my ear and turning my brain into mushier mush."

"She's talking nonsense!" Jack cheered, "She's okay!"

I swatted my hand in his general direction and felt it hit something moderately sharp. "Ow!" He protested. I turned toward him and saw that he was holding his nose and scowling at me. "Rude!"

"And not ginger," The words spilled out of my mouth without me knowing, and I immediately felt like smacking myself for saying that. Maybe not. The Doc wasn't there, and that line was just too iconic to not say.

"What?" I turned around to see Luna, who looked more confused than Jack. I shook my head, "Sorry, that was a-"

"Reference?" Jack rolled his eyes and turned to Luna, "Yeah, she does that a lot. And now she's mushy mush, and I don't know how that works, but she did get drunk once and told the Doctor that John Smith is an idiot who ate a pear. And she poked his nose and said that he had an adorable grin."

"Hold on," I frowned at him. "I said what? How was this left out of the recap I got the next morning?!" My voice almost rose by an octave as I said that, and Jack flinched.

"Maybe he forgot it because he was giving you the list of reasons as to why he will never eat a pear despite your spoilers?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, probably." I turned to Luna, who was looking back and forth between the two of us, amused.

"Anyway, where the hell are we?" It looked like a dark cavern and the only source of light was a flashlight on the ground beside me.

"Well, I think I might know where we are, but you'll laugh."
I raised my eyebrows. "I don't care if we're in freaking Shadar Logoth, just tell me where we are! Wait, I do care if it's Shadar Logoth, we'd have to keep Jack away from everything."

"Is this a spoiler?"

"No, it's a reference to something that isn't related to our current problem anyway, Luna where do you think we are?"

She scratched her head. "Well, it's related to Valen's curse theory…"

"I think we'd better learn about this so-called curse theory."
"Alright, there's a legend that says that this planet has a gem called the eternity crystal in it, and this gem sort of regulates and controls everything in the planet."

"And Valen thinks that's what's causing the whole living sand thing." I said, and Jack grinned. "I had a feeling he had the right idea."

Luna nodded, "These are supposed to be the underground corridors that lead to the vault where the crystal is believed to be kept. Under powerful security, though."

"And what about a way out?"

"Weren't you the one who was ready to jump into danger despite the Doc's protests? What changed your mind?" Jack folded his hands, frowning.

"The fact that you're here. We're on a planet that's basically working against us, and now we're nearing the source of everything, meaning, things are gonna get more dangerous. And there's a chance we could die. Oh, and one more thing, only I get to call him Doc."

"You're afraid of dying now? After you volunteered to get swallowed up by sand?"

I scowled at him. "I just said that the fact that you're here is what concerns me. If you die, the universe is doomed."
"I'm that important, huh?"

I scoffed. "Everybody is that important, but you should not die under any circumstances because you play a huge part in creating a fixed point in time and if said fixed event doesn't happen, we'll be stuck in a paradoxical universe where all time starts falling apart." I took a deep breath and looked at Jack and Luna, whose eyes were wide. "Okay, that came out a lot more intense than I intended it to."
Jack let out a breath, "Yeah, no shit."

"Anyway, Luna, the way out?" I turned to Luna, who was staring at the two of us like we were a TV show or something. She snapped out of her daze and shook her head. "Well, that's the problem. According to the legend, the ruler of this planet sealed all exits when he left so that nobody could get their hands on the eternity crystal."

"Great. Looks like you're gonna go to the paradox world after all." Jack sighed.

I shook my head. "No. No. There's gotta be a way out, there's always a way out." I stood up and started pacing around. "There can't not be a way out, that's against every Who philosophy there is!"

"Who what?" Luna frowned, and Jack shook his head, "We don't understand you,"

I turned to him, "Of course you don't, I'm talking about fandom stuff, but seriously! This is when someone comes up with a deus ex machina idea and slash or the TARDIS majestically materialises- oh!" And then it hit me. "The TARDIS!"

"The what?" Luna asked, and Jack frowned. "Are we naming things we don't have? Because I have a whole list. Let's see, my vortex manipulator, my phone-"

"No, dummy, the TARDIS got sucked by the sand, remember? There's a chance she could be here!"

"What's a TARDIS?"

I grinned at Luna, "Our ticket out of here! And the best spaceship and timeship in all of time and space! Oh, this is fantastic!"

"Doctor who?" Jack muttered, and I raised my eyebrows. "Nobody knows the answer to that question. Well, except for one person, but that doesn't matter!"

"Okay, if your TARDIS theory is right, then how the hell do we find it?"

I scratched my head. "Well, the TARDIS keys do help bring the TARDIS to you, but I'm guessing that's when we're close to the TARDIS. Although, she responds very well to huge phones. Well, phone batteries. Or batteries in general."

Luna dug through her pockets and grinned. "Oh! I didn't know it actually survived the whole sand and water trip!" She pulled out a red cuboid thing. "Scanner battery. And it's waterproof! Lucas gave it to me."

"Okay, we have the battery, I'm hoping the TARDIS keys didn't get lost when we fell," Jack said, and I put a hand in my pockets. I pulled my phone out, "It's wet, probably damaged, but," I removed my phone cover and pulled out the key. "Undamaged."

"How did you not lose your phone?"

I shrugged. "Bigger on the inside pockets. They keep everything safe. Like," I reached into them again and grinned. I was so much better at this than the Doc. I pulled out the sonic. "The only thing that'll get the TARDIS keys and batteries to work!"

I looked at Jack and Luna, who were staring at me, wide-eyed. "Where the hell did you get bigger on the inside pockets from?!"

"The TARDIS gave them to me. Said I'd need them someday."

"What do you put in them? Laser guns? UNIT files? Information on interplanetary secret weapons?" Luna asked.

"Actually, just some psychic paper, my phone and an all use credit stick I got in Karabraxos." I turned to Luna, "The Doc, Rose and I helped catch a criminal there. Although, that was an accident- the Doctor wanted to prevent him from blowing up Hexagrane and using the core to create an artificial wormhole that would rip the space time continuum- a win-win situation for everyone. Anyway, back to the point, Jack, I'll need your key."

He dug into his pockets and pulled out a huge keyring. "What the hell do you even need all those keys for?"
He shrugged. "To look impressive?"

"You look like a bloody idiot," Luna said. I grinned at her. Jack started looking through all the keys, and pulled his hand back like he was stung. "This key burned me!"

"That's the TARDIS key, then. Give it here." I held my hand out, and he gave the key to me. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hot as Jack made it out to be. Probably because he was an even bigger drama queen than the Doctor, or maybe because the key burned him because it was annoyed. Probably the second one- the Doc did mention that TARDIS keys were telepathically connected to the TARDIS.

I took both the keys and sat down, pointing the sonic at them. I didn't know exactly what setting he used when he was trying to get the TARDIS back, but I did remember that he used setting 69C to track down Jack's phone when we'd gotten separated in Shan Shen. "Luna, can I have the battery?"

She gave it to me. I took the keys and placed them on the battery, and soniced the whole thing. The Doctor did something like that, so hopefully this would work. "Okay, I'm hoping this works," I said, holding the keys in one hand and the battery on the other.

"You don't know if this is gonna work?" Jack looked at me incredulously.

"In my defense, our technical expert isn't here. Improvisation was the best I could do. Also, I'm the one who can operate the sonic best out of the three of us." I stood up. "Anyway, we've got a TARDIS to find, and there's absolutely no way I'm leaving anybody here, so let's go."
Jack scowled and stood up. "Like I said, Doctor who?"

"Doctor Chang, now move." I said, and pulled him along. Luna, on the other hand, was a lot less difficult. She started walking beside me and Jack. We walked straight for a while before we reached a turning. "Well, let's see if this thing works," I muttered, and took the path that was closest to me.

The keys felt a little cold in my hand and I stopped, frowning. "I think we should go the other way."
When we did, the keys started growing warmer. I smiled. "Looks like this thing is working."

"Well, there's hope for us after all," Luna said from behind me and I smiled, looking back. "Hopefully we find the TARDIS as soon as possible and get the hell out of here."

"Bloody hell," Luna murmured, after I'd jumped back and almost fell into Jack.

"Those things look creepy," Jack caught me and steadied me, not taking his eyes off the huge statues in front of us.

"Thanks again for pointing out the obvious, Harkness," I muttered. "And it would be helpful for all of us to pay attention to the doorway in the middle of the statues instead of the actual statues. And also pay attention to the fact that the keys are really warm right now, meaning, we're much closer to the TARDIS."

"And the sun, and the sky, and my beautiful girlfriend whom I haven't seen in weeks…" Luna said, her voice trailing off, "She would've loved this."

"Walking around in creepy tunnels with creepy statues while using keys to navigate?" Jack scoffed, and Luna nodded. "She always said that this was why she even wanted to become an archeologist. Well, that and the fact that she could go and see what actually happened to Cleopatra."

"Your girlfriend sounds awesome. The Doctor would've loved her."

I shook my head. "Nah, he's a time traveler. He points and laughs at archeologists. Although, he didn't laugh at-" I stopped myself in time. He did point and laugh at River that one time.

"That's rude." Luna scoffed, and then turned toward me, her eyes wide. "Wait, time traveler?! I thought you worked at UNIT!"

I shrugged. "Well, technically the Doctor worked at UNIT, in the 1970s, but he owns a ship that can travel through time. Anyway, enough talking, we need to get to the TARDIS. I'm getting a bad feeling about those statues, and the sooner we pass them, the better."

"I agree," Jack said.

We all walked toward the entrance, but we'd not even passed through completely when a grinding noise was heard behind us. We froze, staring at each other, eyes wide, as the noise stopped. And then, two thuds were heard.
"Oh my God I just jinxed it!" I exclaimed as the statues appeared at the entrance. "Run!"

Well, nobody needed to be told twice. We all ran straight forward, trying to ignore the statues chasing after us. However, luck was not on our side. The corridor we ran in turned out to have statues everywhere, and every time we ran past a statue, it came to life.

We finally reached a turning. It was dark, but had no statues. The three of us ran in. The corridor led into a chamber, which was also dark and only lit by the torch Jack was holding.

I slowly peeked outside. There was nothing. "We appear to have lost them." The words came out of my mouth with difficulty as I was puffing and panting. My breaths were short and the adrenaline was slowly receding.

"What about the keys?" Luna wheezed, sitting down. I looked down at my palm, which was hurting a bit. I'd held onto the keys and they'd left an impression. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to feel the keys.

After a few moments, I opened my eyes. "They're still warm, but I think we've gone the wrong way. They're colder than they were."

"Maybe we should stay here, though, the statues aren't here and we can rest." Jack said and I looked at him. "Why? Why aren't they here?"

He folded his hands. "You're seriously asking why? Don't question your luck, dummy."

"No, I'm just saying-"

"Liza, relax, maybe they missed us running here or something," He leaned against the wall, "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation- AAH!"

"Jack!" I screamed, and Luna jumped up, screaming, "Bloody hell!"

No. No. No. It wasn't happening, it couldn't be happening! The floor underneath Jack had given way, and he'd fallen down into what looked like a tunnel that went straight downward. Screams. Repeated screams. Loud ones.
I ran toward where he was, and slowly looked down. I immediately stepped back, breathing heavily as the initial shock wore off. I took a deep breath. He was gonna be alright. He had to be.

A hand on my shoulder made me jolt. I turned around, ready to hit whoever was behind me, but thankfully, it was just Luna. And then I heard it. Pattering footsteps. My heart rate picked up again, but calmed slightly. "Liza!"

I let out a deep breath. Thank God. "Doctor, we're here!"