This one-shot was inspired by The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?) by Snow Patrol. If you like that kind of music I highly recommend giving it a listen!
If someone had told Emily Fields that almost three years after the disappearance, and assumed death, of Alison DiLaurentis that they would find out that she was still alive, she would have told them they were delusional.
But ironically, the only delusional one turned out to be Ali herself.
The four girls had finally solved the mystery: Alison had split personality disorder and had secretly been in and out of therapy and institutionalizations for it her entire life. She never told anyone about it, except for her family who obviously knew, but as the secret started to get out, the more violent her "bad side" would get.
A lot of things still didn't make sense to Emily, like why Ali had faked her own death, or why the girl's parents never intervened more, especially after they found out she was still alive. But there were other things that made perfect sense, like how Alison could be nice one minute and horrible the next, how some days she seemed to want Emily just as much as Emily wanted her, and then the next day she would meet up with multiple guys.
All of the games, and the "A's", and the deaths kept escalating and once the girls discovered the cold, hard truth, it all blew up.
What if the storm ends and I don't see you
As you are now, ever again?
The perfect halo of gold hair and lightning
Sets you off against the planet's last dance
A lot of things angered Alison after she was gone. Most of all, she hated how the girls survived without her, how they existed without following her lead. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Ali hated how Spencer was still at the top of their class, and made the varsity field hockey team when Alison never could have. She hated how Aria could get guys like Noel Khan, and Ezra Fitz, and even her own brother Jason to fall for her, even though she wore bizarre outfits and loved all things vintage. She hated how Hanna didn't have to purge to keep her figure anymore, and how she became popular with Mona. Normally it was hard for either side of Ali to truly hate Emily, but she hated when Emily stopped thinking about her, and the thing she hated most was the reason for it. Because the reason was 'Hefty' Hanna.
It started with small things, like Hanna bringing over old horror films to Emily's house after she broke up with Paige. Emily hadn't even invited her, but upon entering her room Hanna didn't say a thing, just started the first DVD and gave Emily a hug. She seemed to be the only one that knew when Emily wanted to talk about it and when she didn't. Emily returned the favor when Caleb left for Ravenswood a month later by surprising Hanna with tickets to a Justin Bieber concert in Philly.
"He's kind of a douchebag now, huh?" Hanna had commented afterwards on their drive home.
"Kinda," Emily laughed, "I hope you realize how painful it was for me to sit through two hours of him shirtless."
Hanna smirked before reaching over and placing her hand on top of Emily's, which was resting on the gearshift, "I know, but you did it for me. That's why I love you."
Hanna didn't move her hand until she got dropped off outside of her house, forty minutes later, and Emily decided she didn't even care that she spent her entire paycheck that week on the tickets.
Just for a minute the silver-forked sky
Lifts you up like a star that I will follow
But now it's found us, like I have a found you
I don't wanna run, just overwhelm me
It happens on a Thursday.
All four girls are at the point where they are ready for the final battle. They know that agreeing to meet Ali at an abandoned lakehouse screams trouble, but this time it's different, this time will be the last time, they can feel it. They meet at Spencer's house, in her barn, where it all started. Spencer goes over the plan one more time: find Ali, call the cops, and hold her down until they get there. It's simple, but all of them are completely comfortable using physical force against their former friend at this point. Spencer and Aria head outside to start the car, but Emily is still tying her shoes, so Hanna tells the other girls that they will be right there. Emily finishes and stands up, while slowly walking towards Hanna.
"This is it," Emily says, looking into the bluest eyes she thinks she's ever seen in her entire life.
"Someone could get seriously hurt tonight...I mean we don't know what she has planned. One of us might not make it back," the blonde comments, and even though there are tears in her eyes, Emily knows they aren't from fear.
"I know, but tonight it ends. For good," the brunette assures her.
Hanna takes a deep breath and wipes away a tear before speaking again, "I really love you, you know."
"I know," Emily responds with a small nod, "Me too."
Surprisingly, Emily is the one that leans in first. Even though she's never been the one to take charge in the past, especially after the mess with Ali, she knows that this time she won't be rejected. Their lips meet and Hanna wraps a hand behind Emily's neck. The kiss only lasts a few seconds, and it isn't necessarily romantic, but in that moment, it's perfect. It was the only thing that was left for them to do.
And just like that, they're ready. Hanna grips Emily's arm as they walk to the car, and once they get in they see Aria holding Spencer's hand tightly.
What if the storm ends? And leaves us nothing
Except the memory, a distant echo
I won't pin down, I've walked unsettled
Rattle cage after cage, until my blood boils
It's the final stand-off with Alison, and she may be trying to trap them in the old house, but it's four against one and it seems like she might finally lose.
Spencer locks Alison out of the house with Aria and Emily manages to surprise the blonde outside and tackles her to the ground, trying to hold her down until the authorities arrive. Alison manages to flip Emily over, and as soon as she lands on top of the brunette she gets a smug look on her face.
"I know you want to kiss me," she says, and Emily's blood begins to boil.
Then Hanna comes out of nowhere, Uggs covered in mud, sweat and dirt all over her face, and she rips Alison off of Emily, and starts swinging at the other blonde. Hard. There's a lot of yelling, but Emily thinks she distinctly hears Hanna yell "You never deserved her," and "The crazy bitch act is so three years ago," and other absurd statements that she couldn't make out over Alison's screaming. And even though Emily knows that Hanna would think she looked like an absolute mess right now, Emily had never been more attracted to her than she was in that moment. And that was saying a lot.
I wanna see you, as you are now
Every single day that I am living
Painted in flames, a peeling thunder
Be the lightning in me that strikes relentless
It's the calm after the stom and Emily doesn't really know what to make of it. Alison is locked up in one of the best mental facilities in the country, states away, and there are no more texts, no more unexpected deaths, no more puzzles or struggles.
All of the girls have to worry about college now, since Spencer was the first to accept a position at UPenn, so the rest of the group had started narrowing down their choices. Hanna's mother had already moved to New York, where she accepted a new job with the bank, and Hanna was looking to move too and go to fashion school in the city. Emily isn't sure how she feels about that anymore, or how she feels about Hanna. They haven't talked about their kiss that night, and Emily knows that it was sort of a "heat of the moment" type of thing, but now that they both survived Ali's wrath, she knew a conversation had to happen.
But both of them worried about what would happen to them when everything calmed down. The bond that all of the girls had was strengthened by the fact that no one else could possible understand the things they had gone through. If they lost that, though, would their relationship be the same? Would they still have a special connection anymore, or would it slowly fade and become dull? Emily eventually decides that the idea is ridiculous, and she invites Hanna over the next evening. The blonde arrived and they went into the swimmer's room, Emily sitting on her bed and Hanna standing by the window, and spent a few minutes in comfortable silence.
What if the storm ends and I don't see you
As you are now ever again?
The perfect halo of gold hair and lightning
Sets you off against the planet's last dance
"It's weird. It's like I don't know how to be calm anymore," Hanna was the first one to speak, "I'm always anxious. I'm either thinking about Ali somehow escaping from that place or I'm thinking about..." she suddenly trailed off, leaving her thought unfinished.
"Or thinking about what?" Emily asked with genuine curiosity.
"Nothing," the blonde muttered, looking away from her friend.
"Come on Han, you can tell me, since when have we ever kept secrets from each other?" Emily said with a smile, still oblivious to the thoughts in the other girl's head.
Hanna sighed before replying, "You."
"Me?" Emily questioned, still confused.
"If I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about you," Hanna clarified, still refusing to look the brunette in the eyes.
"What about me?" Emily asked.
"Everything about you. About us," Hanna responded to quietly it was almost a whisper, "is that bad?"
"No. I think about it too," Emily answered honestly.
"So what do we do? You are my best friend, I don't want to ruin that, I can't ruin that. And we start college soon. Like zero relationships ever survive being long distance during the college years. And we are so young. I'm sure I would screw it up eventually and then you would be out of my life for good. But how am I supposed to just be your friend and act like seeing you date someone else wouldn't make me want to strangle the bitch?"
Hanna was pacing back and forth now, completely absorbed in her rant, and no matter how many times Emily tried to interrupt her, nothing was working. Finally, the swimmer walked over to the girl and planted a kiss on her lips, successfully shutting her up. After a few seconds, they pulled back from each other and Hanna let out a frustrated sigh, "Why did you do that?"
"Because you wouldn't stop! I know there are tons of reasons why this could go bad. But if there is one thing we've learned, after all of this, it's that life is too short. Too short to not do what we want to do," Emily said, "I could walk out that door tomorrow and get hit by a bus, and I don't want to die not knowing what its like to be with you."
Hanna silently considered this before responding, "But there aren't any buses in Rosewood."
"You know what I mean," Emily replied while rolling her eyes and letting out a small laugh.
Hanna walked towards the brunette and carefully took her hand, "Let's do this then. Let's do it for real."
"It was already real. It's always been real," Emily said quietly, meeting blue eyes with her gaze.
"I know," Hanna replied before closing the gap between them.
Lyrics from: .
Just for a minute, the silver-forked sky
Lifts you up like a star that I will follow
But now it's found us, like I have found you
I don't wanna run, just overwhelm me