Disclaimer: I'm not Sara Shepard, I don't own the Pretty Little Liar series... yada yada yada. You know how it goes. Set after the end of the series, so probably don't read if you haven't read Wanted.

Reflections

Aria reflects on how Ali was super-manipulative, and pretty much a huge bitch. She realizes that before she'd caught Ali and Noel kissing at the dance, she hadn't been planning to go to the Poconos with the others. A decision that, if she'd stuck with it, would have saved her life, but only in the short term.

She thinks about how she wasn't prepared to forgive and forget so easily, and that she should have stood her ground. She is sorry that she weakened so easily-that with just a few well-chosen words, and a sorry expression, she caved in and weakened to Ali.

She considers how Ali sucked them back into her spell-thinking over what an excellent actress Ali really was. Thinking also how sick Ali must have been, beyond what any of them had ever realized. She thinks idly that if she hadn't been so sick, Ali could have made a very successful career of acting-the girl could've been nominated for many awards if not for the desire for revenge that drove her deception.

She remembers the first time she spoke to Ali-or as it turned out to be, her sister Courtney. She was dazzled, sucked in even then. Her desire to fit in conflicted with her inability to do so, having been taught from a young age by her parents that she should be an individual and not just follow along with what everyone else was doing. She wonders if even then, she should have been more resistent to the DiLaurentis charm. After all, Courtney or Ali, both were Typical Rosewood Girls who were worshipped and followed by everyone. She can't really regret that time though, because she is still herself and once she found that niche with the others, she stayed herself and stopped experimenting in trying to find who she really was.

She considers briefly where being involved with the DiLaurentis family led her to-a short time of acceptance and friendship with three other girls who needed a leader and group of friends as much as she did. Then, after that leader disappeared, the threads of the group were torn and frayed, scattering all over the place. Aria moved away for a few years, which worked out well-it was a respite from all the memories and everything she would have wanted to get away from. After returning and starting eleventh grade, she and the other girls began to get stalked. Things turned fatal. Several more people died unnecessarily and she almost did. And now things have done a one-eighty. Things with Noel are really great. Her family is better than it was before, and she now has a new sister.

She recognizes that, sad as it may be, she's better off without Ali in her life. Things are so much better now. With the leader of their group alive, she was intoxicating and wonderful, but that came at a price. That price being the knowledge that Ali knew what no-one else did and had the power to let everyone know. With her dead, things were still not much better: their secrets were still known and some of their secrets were spilled publicly.

She reflects that now that both Ali and Courtney have died-assuming Ali didn't survive the fire in the Poconos, which she most likely didn't-the group is much better without someone manipulating them and lording their secrets over them. No one now has the power, and so no-one is being manipulated or teased.

Aria reflects that as a general rule, almost everything is better off without Alison DiLaurentis in her life.

Hope you liked it. I'm going to do one chapter for each of the four girls. The next chapter will be up in a few days. Please review, whether or not you liked it. Constructive criticism is welcome but please be gentle. I got the idea from this when I was looking in the mirror (hence the title) and considering how the word reflection has more than one meaning... then I got to wondering what each of them would reflect on and came up with this.

Review? :)