Ezra was in the hallway. The lights were off, he was alone. Even mentally he was alone, he had lost the love of his life and he was in an unstable state. He paced back and forth until he came to his classroom where he taught in. He came to his desk and threw his arms across it, knocking off everything in the process. His dream of writing the biggest real-life mystery thriller of the decade was at the bottom of his list for now. All he could think about was Aria. He hadn't told her about the book and when she found out herself she was very angry with him. If only he didn't write this stupid book, he would still have Aria. Or if he had told her earlier on what was going on. But he had been piecing together the mystery of her missing friend Alison. He had given Aria the book with major clues two nights earlier. On this night he had figured out who was after Alison, the person who goes by the name of "A".

Ezra believed Alison would only come out of hiding if Aria and her friends needed to talk to her. Well with all his camera's and a tracker he had inserted in Aria's phone quite some time ago, all he had to do was wait until they contacted Alison. Then he could make things right with Aria and expose "A" to the group to win Aria back. Aria would see he was doing this for her. He needed to cool down and realise this, so he sat down calmly in his chair, breathing in and out. He set his bag on his lap and took out his laptop to view the surveillance cameras. As he was going through them, he noticed Emily in her room talking on her phone to someone, looking worried. He would keep an eye on that but right now he had to focus on how he would word it to Aria, Alison, and the others. Or what would happen if they didn't believe him. He was always good with words, so he figured he would know what to say, but to have a good guideline was nice.

He turned his attention back to the camera, Hanna had shown up and it looked like they were waiting. He knew Aria and Spencer would be there soon.

After they arrived, Emily pulled out her phone and was talking again. After she hung up the four of them rushed out. Ezra could only assume they were going somewhere. Could it have been Alison? He went to check the tracker on Aria's phone; they were moving… towards Philadelphia. Ezra packed up his things and left the school getting into his car.

Ezra was scurrying around his apartment gathering up his coat, hat, and a few other things when he got the phone call.
"Hello Noel" Ezra said sharply.
"It's about the girls, I'm taking them to meet Alison in New York, we're ditching the vehicle and phones here to throw the police or anyone else off. If you want to meet Aria and the others, I'd advise you to leave now, we'll be a couple hours." Noel explained.
"Excellent, I'll call you when I land."
Ezra hung up and left his apartment.

He got to the airport and purchased a one-way ticket to New York. He should be there plenty in time before the girls.

Once he arrived in NY, he checked the address Noel had texted him. He called a taxi that dropped him off near the location. He called Noel back.

"Are you here yet Ezra?" Noel asked
"Yes I'm just a few blocks away from the place, I'll be right ov—" he was cut off by Noel
"Hold on, just wait a while, it seems like they are having a deep conversation with Alison. I'm keeping watch outside. Go for coffee or something. I'll text you in a bit"
Ezra paused for a moment then agreed, "I'll wait for your word, but in 20 minutes I'll be there"
"I'll text you within 20" ended Noel.
Ezra hung up and sat down on a nearby bench, watching his watch. As the time passed he only thought about Aria and what it would be like to finally have her in his arms again. The minutes seemed like hours as his thoughts were going wild. He saw that almost 25 minutes had passed, but no text from Noel yet. He decided to wait 5 more minutes. He took out a picture of him and Aria from his wallet and looked at it, a tear rolled down his face. He had hoped telling her and her friends of his discovery who was after Ali would win her back but had his doubts about her still not wanting him.

Five minutes were passed so he tried to call Noel. The phone rang and rang until it went to voicemail. Something seemed very wrong to him, his mind went to bad places. Could Alison and the others be in trouble? There was no way he could have calculated wrong… Noel couldn't be working for "A", but his mind went there anyway. His feet went too; he was sprinting towards the address that Noel had given him.

It was just around the corner now, and when Ezra turned he saw someone lying on the ground near the open door. It was Noel! A bullet-womb was in his chest. He was dead. Worried about Aria and angry at the death of Noel, Ezra bolted into the building. He heard more gunshots. He saw Aria's bag and other belongings of the girls. He knew he had to stop whoever this was before he hurt the girls… unless he already had. Ezra bolted up some stairs and was about to take the main route to the rooftop. But reconsidered and thought of a better plan. He acted swiftly and ran the opposite direction to the backdoor for the rooftop. He knew the girls would ultimately be cornered if they kept running and forced to the roof. His only hope was a surprise attack. He arrived at the door and heard screams. He used his phone to dial 911 and kept it in his pocket in the hopes that the police would track it and show up. He couldn't waste more time now. He kicked the door down and entered. He saw a masked figure aiming a gun at the girls and Aria screamed "Ezra!"
The masked figure immediately turned his attention to Ezra. Ezra shouted "Stop! I know who you are, the police are coming!"
The masked villain fired the gun and Ezra ducked down and charged at it and became engaged in a wrestling match for the gun. A single shot was fired during the struggle but eventually the gun fell to the ground and Hanna was quick to grab it. She pointed it at the figure as Ezra stood starring at the moonlight. Hanna shouted "Take off your mask"
Aria echoed "Do it now!"
Ezra heard Aria's voice and knew things would be alright. The figure faked taking off his mask and quickly leapt off the building to the next. Hanna stood frozen and didn't fire a shot. The rest of them yelled after the figure. Aria turned her attention to Ezra. Ezra was staring at the sky realising the beauty of it and how much he had missed before. "It's so beautiful" he said. He turned to Aria and smiled. Aria looked down at his stomach and saw blood gushing out. "NO!" she cried. Ezra fell into her arms feeling weaker. Ezra had begun losing vision, he heard Aria crying and more shouts for help. Emily was exclaiming "call 911!".
But all he heard was Aria's voice, "don't you dare leave Ezra". He was doing his best to stay alive, for her. He eyes shut uncontrollably. He could still hear her weeping, he felt awful for leaving, but he knew he had protected her in the process. She was safe for now.