_.- -" "- -._

(… .(_\.../_)… )

{ _"...=-... }- - - - - -{.. .-=..."_}

Xbballbolin

presents

Prodigal

A Pretty Little Liars Fan-Fiction

{_.."… … … … … … …""(_}

Chapter One: A Brother's Promise

"When I was a little boy, my understanding of revenge was as simple as the Sunday school proverbs it hid behind.
Neat little morality slogans, like "do unto others" and "two wrongs don't make a right".
But two wrongs can never make a right, because two wrongs can never equal each other.
For the truly wronged, real satisfaction can only be found in one of the two places: absolute forgiveness… or mortal vindication…
This is not a story about forgiveness."

–Adaptation of Revenge pilot voiceover

Alison DiLaurentis.

The name meant a lot of things to a lot of people… and if those people were being honest, it didn't mean anything good. Ali was the 'it girl', the queen bee of Rosewood High- and yes to most queen b meant queen bitch. They thought she had it all: elusive perfection, unattainable beauty, friends who would do anything for her, her parent's disposable income… she was the closest thing to royalty Rosewood High had. Yes, they thought they knew Alison DiLaurentis. But they didn't.

…At least not the way he did.

He knew that under all that bravado and showmanship, there was something tragic. It hid just beneath her skin, beneath the designer clothes and fixed smile, a feeling that at any moment someone could see past all she built and realize the truth: the predator had been prey all along. Yet, nobody else saw it until everyone saw it. Until she was gone. For a year, there was speculation of what had happened, whispers of the poor girl many thought to be dead. Then suspicions were confirmed and they found her body. Funeral services were held and it seemed the entire population of the small town was in attendance to mourn the girl who left this world entirely to young- or to sing ding dong the witch is dead depending on the person.

He, however, wasn't in attendance.

Jason DiLaurentis had missed his own twin sister's funeral… thus adding to the list of reasons he thought himself to be the worst brother ever. Maybe his parents thought it, too. After all, they didn't even put any acknowledgement that she had a brother on her headstone. An oval shaped tear slipped down the curvature of his cheek, salty liquid streaming steadily and making a track down to his jawline as he stared through tear-blurred eyes at his sister's headstone.

Alison DiLaurentis
Beloved Daughter. Trusted Friend
'Tis a fearful thing to love what death can't touch

Gorgeous green kept scanning over the words as if by some chance he'd misread the words engraved in the sheetrock but there was no mistake. Letting out a heavy sigh, Jason accepted that he really hadn't been much of a brother to Alison. Growing up… now that was a different story. He remembered when they were each other's rock, back when there world was only a block wide and they were each other's best friend. He used to run into her room at the first sign of a storm because he knew she hated them- used to run to her defense anytime she was scared actually. He used to let her go first anytime they had to take turns. He always put her first… then the growing pains started. She escalated her childish games and he drank, smoked, and snorted anything he could to feel numb. They drifted and the seas turned treacherous. They fought. He didn't approve of her methods of coping and she didn't approve of his. Then her games bled into their life and she got him sent to military school. He swore he hated her. He even told her he did. Part of him thought that's why she disappeared.

But now he knew it wasn't.

"Hey Alicat," he starts knowing that she hated the nickname, but she couldn't really protest its use now could she. "I know it's a little late, but I want to apologize. I'm sorry I wasn't a good brother. I could've been better. I should've been better."

A bitter, dry laugh escaped his lips at how underwhelming his words were, how they failed to capture the magnitude of him letting her down. Growing up his parents led him to believe he had one job: protect his sister. One job. And he couldn't even do that. In fact, he failed in such a way that made normal failure look like success. She was murdered. Someone savagely bashed in his sister's skull in with a rock, threw her in a pit, and buried her alive while he was passed out in a lawn chair less than a mile away from her. He could've prevented it all if he wasn't giving into his vices… if he hadn't dedicated that weekend to showing that military school hadn't changed him and he was still the same partier he was before, he could've saved her. But he didn't. He failed her as his brother back then. He couldn't save her, but he could avenge her.

"I will be better. I'm staying in Rosewood until I find who," he paused, throat straining to swallow the lump that formed in his throat knowing that if he said the words, they'd become all the more real. But at the same time, he knew that a promise only counted once it was confirmed between the parties in Ali's world. "Until I find out who took you from me and make sure they get what they deserve."

Want more of this fic?
Well there's a little trick.
All you gotta do,
is take the time to review!