It isn't until you are about to die that you realize every second of your life has been building up to that final climax; that moment when to reach the top of the philosophical mountain of life and you realize you have nowhere left to go. Some people decide to take the gradual route down the mountain to their grave, others accidently trip and fall.

Me? I jumped.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way, it wasn't supposed to be me. It did happen this way though and it was me who was now trapped in a solid iridium vault that was set to be buried deep in the ground where no one would ever find it. My only companion was an incredibly pissed alpha shapeshifter. It was almost pitiful the way he threw himself repetitively against the iridium door screaming in agony each time his body crashed into the smooth metal. I knew I didn't have long until he remembered I was here.

Everything was dark, I couldn't see a thing which somehow made everything seem all the more real. The air was already beginning to get hot and sweat trickled down my forehead like blood. Maybe it was blood, I had gotten pretty banged up on the way in here. If I discovered that I was spouting my innards would hardly surprise me.

The alpha finally let out a deafening scream of pure rage as he pounded his fist into the wall one final time in defeat. "What is this?" He growled through the thick darkness, his voice hoarse from screaming.

"Me?" My voice came out far more strangled than I had intended it to. Out of nowhere the alpha's fist came barreling into my face. I fell backward my head cracking against the wall. Pain shot down my spine like electricity.

I heard him snort. "Is there any other bastard in this room? What the hell is this?" He repeated, his voice filled with venom.

I decided it was probably better not to suggest that he was a bastard as well. "It's a long story." I moaned sitting up and rubbing my skull which only seemed to make it hurt more.

"Well it appears as though I have time. Spit it out before I kill you." The alpha snapped. I heard him lower his body to the ground with an irritated huff.

"You're going to kill me either way...." I muttered letting my arm fall to my lap in defeat as I recalled the events leading to me here to this moment in which I was going to be brutally maimed. The funny part of it all was that I wasn't supposed to die.

"Desmedeia wanted to just storm the place," I started remembering how the old woman had begun taken charge and begun to assign different roles to everyone. "It was going to be a massacre. There are only seven hunters left I knew had to say something, so I did. Diana suggested a diversion and then simply going in to trap you rather than lose people trying to stab you." I sigh and stared into the empty abyss of blackness that surrounded me, that seemed to trap me more than the cage itself.

"Desmedeia immediately voulenteered to be the one to lure you into the cage, because obviously we needed some type of bait. We all asked her not to but she insisted that she would be fine." I felt a grim laugh bubble up in my aching chest for some reason. "She told us she had cyanide in her purse."

"I don't care about the old lady! Cut to the chase! What is going on? What are they just going to leave us to rot in here?" He hissed a little desperation leaking into his voice. I hadn't known they were capable of fear, it almost made me feel bad for him.

I took a deep breath thinking back to the original outline of the plan. Desmedeia had died with Diamond on the way in here when the alpha had jumped us instead of it being the other way around. I shuddered as I remembered the panic that had raced through me as I had gaped at there dead bodies lying lifeless on the ground. I remembered that crazy moment when I decided to be selfless. I decided to be selfless for all the times that I hadn't been. I was being selfless for Jose.

A thought struck me. Just because Desmedeia wasn't the one in here didn't mean I couldn't try to complete Plan A on my own. "Something like that." I said, my mind racing as I tried to think through the adrenaline that was suddenly infecting my veins again

The alpha let out another enraged growl as his hands were suddenly around my throat, squeezing it. "I am going to make your death long and painful, dammit! It wasn't supposed to end like this!" He let out an indignant snort. "My children weren't even the ones who killed Andre. We didn't have to because we had an empty-headed hunter do it for us."

I reached into the back of my beltline for the iridium knife that I had been given to defend Desmedeia in order to assure that she was the one who was in this box, not me. I tried to ignore the guilt that began to crush my chest more than the shifter's fist was crashing my neck. "It was an accident. " I choked hoarsely, clutching my the knife in my clammy hands.

"I'm sure little Andre though so as he was bleeding to death on the ground." The alpha hissed mockingly, his hot breath hitting my face. I felt his grip tighten slightly around my neck.

I didn't hesitate before I shoved the iridium knife into his chest. I felt the knife break through the alpha's thick cartilage before it slid with ease into his organs. He let go of my neck, his face shocked for a moment before the once powerful being fell to the ground, reduced to nothing but fertilizer.

I gasped for air as relief flooded my veins. I stumbled blindly in the general direction of the door. The plan had been to let Desmedeia out if she successfully killed the shifter, I wondered if the other hunters were already out there. I resisted the urge to throw back my head and laugh, I wasn't going to die. I had a second chance. "Guys, guys, I killed him! Let me out! Please!" I called hopefully, already mapping out in my head how I was going to make everything I had ever done wrong right.

There was no answer for a long second, I was about to call again when a low voice drifted through the door sending chills down my spine. "I heard what he said, I heard what you did to Andre."

I didn't say anything for a second, my stomach flipping in dread. "I hate myself for it." I choked trying to push the pain that began to swell in my chest away.

"Well that makes two of us, it's good that you understand." My heart began to sink in my chest as the meaning of the voice on the other side of the vault truly took hold in my head. "Goodby. Indigo." I heard the person's footsteps begin to fade as they walked away.

I think I screamed, I think I begged, I think I even began to cry until my voice was hoarse. The only reply I received though was an heavy silence.

Yes, I had jumped to my death but the worst part though was that I had almost lived.