He was going to die. No, he was already dead, Cameron thought. He didn't regret his decision to save Liam, but he did regret not living. But that was life, sometimes decisions lead you to your death, and this was his. He knew it would not redeem him from what had occurred the past couple of nights or to what happened to the rest of the team, but at least he knew that Liam would live on. 

He was slipping into the darkness and the pain fading, it felt cold and isolated, but he felt at peace despite all that. His life started to flash before him from his very first memory, his mother singing him to sleep, then his high school graduation, Jake was there too. He thought that they would soon meet now that he was dying. Cameron remembered his grandmother, who always smelled bleach and sweat coming home from work. Then finally, he remembered her funeral. There was loud crying in the background, he knew it wasn't him, but he could quite figure out who it was and where it came from.

Somehow the drifting feeling dissipated, and he felt pain again; it was all around his body but primarily concentrated in the middle of his chest. He didn't know how he knew, but somehow the pain was related to the crying. He wanted it to stop so that he could continue to float away pain-free. The sound only got louder and louder. So he searched and searched within all the doors that led to each individual memory he ever held, and finally, he found the door that led to the annoying sound.

He felt scared to open it, but he knew he must, so he did. There he found a five to six-year-old boy crouched in the corner of a small room. It looked more like storage space and with his head down on his knees. The little boy looked really familiar to Cameron, but he couldn't quite remember it. It was weird because his memory was always quite great.

"Stop crying," Cameron's voice overlapped with another voice coming behind him. It sounded like his own voice but softer and higher in pitch. "Stop with the crying, they're gone, tears won't bring them back." 

Then the boy appeared in front of his eyes, he was wearing a black suit that was far too big and loose on him. The tie dipping as low as his belt, he was skinny and lacked meat to comfortably fit around the intimidating outfit. Although his tone was stern from looking at the young boy's face, it held a sad and softer expression. He, too, looked familiar to Cameron. 

"Come on now, you know that I would never leave you, I promise." The teenage boy crouched down to coax the crying little boy. Finally, the loud crying stop but he still held his head down, so Cameron couldn't see his face.

"Do..hic..you..hic really promise?" The scrawny little one asked in a hushed whisper, hiccuping after every word looking up at Cameron, who stood behind the teenager. It was Jeremy. The crying little boy was Jeremy. 

Cameron would have to break the promise he made to his brother. He was leaving him behind. This sobered him from the high he was chasing earlier, and he felt all of the pain he was avoiding before. Yes, he was stabbed by a falling tree, fell into the crevasse, and was now hanging stuck inside the hole. The tree had wedged itself against the sides of the crack. He still had a bit of life. Perhaps he could prolong death for a little bit longer.

He tried to escape the darkness that surrounded him but had no success. Death was here to claim a soul, and it would not leave without his in tow. Cameron could no longer fight his fate and was about to give in and simply rest.

"I'm so sorry Jeremy," He said it aloud, his voice cracking from the dryness and immense emotion that welled up.

But within the vast void, an entity that resembled darkness emerged and came to Cameron. 

"I see fire within you, you will do," the voice Cameron heard was deep, its tone silky and robust.

"Are you death itself?" Cameron asked curiously.

"Some have called me that in the past but no I am not, I simply seek for one's soul and yours came to me," the entity spoke in riddles, and it confused Cameron.

"Who are you then and why here, in my darkness?" Cameron asked some more. The last little bit was more to himself since he did not know exactly where he was.

"Like I said before you came to me and not I to you, my name is Ặ₥Ỗƃȓṯửȿ," the voice boomed proudly. "Also this is purgatorial space."

Purgatory? Cameron found the whole concept interesting; trust his subconscious, who he thinks he talking to, make up some bullshit.

"Uhhtr-" Cameron tried to pronounce the foreign and challenging name.

"Call me Ambrus!" The voice corrected. It sounded indignant and offended by the butchered pronunciation of its name that Cameron attempted.

"Alright Ambrus, if you are not death then why are you with me. I know that I am on my last breaths now. What is your deal?" Cameron said, seriously annoyed that his mind had to whip up a strange character to converse with himself in his last moment.

"You speak of a deal?" Ambrus said, and Cameron could swear that he felt the voice smirk even tho it didn't have a physical form. 

"If that is what you had in mind then yes I have a deal but you must decide now. Are you interested?" The mysterious voice called Ambrus said, but it continued before Cameron could ask what it meant. "I can save your broken body from death if you allow me, I only need your permission and I will enter it and heal it from the inside out. What do you say? Yes or no?" Ambrus no longer held a hint of amusement and was dead serious.

Cameron thought when it interrupted him once more.

"I don't have much time, your body doesn't have much time either, yes or no?"

Cameron only had one thing he thought about, it was his promise to Jeremy, and with that, he answered the darkness that looms around him "Yes." Then that same darkness consumed him.