Based off the prompt on EzriaGame: There's a shooting at Rosewood High and the shooter is pointing a gun at Aria and Ezra gets up and tells him to shoot him instead.
A/N: I've never been a part of a school shooting, and most of what I'm writing is based off of the little that I know about Virginia Tech and what I read in Columbine (by Dave Cullen, if you were wondering). I also have never had a major injury, so if I screw up terribly, I apologize. Things happen in the order they do in this story though for a reason, so bare with me.
Titanium
If there's one thing Aria never expected to be doing, it was staring down the barrel of a gun. She was sure it made her sound self-involved, but with all the other crap going on in her life - her parents divorce, Alison's death...A - she'd thought that she had met her quota of bad things that could happen in such a small period of time. And yet, somehow God was throwing more at her and her friends.
The school day had started just like any other - and wasn't that how it always was - she had arrived in time to meet up with Spencer, Hanna, and Emily outside. They were discussing the most current 'A' development - Hanna had received a text threatening her father unless she did...something. Aria couldn't remember. Because just after the second period bell, there was an ear-splitting rise in volume as girls started screaming and running in all different directions. She wasn't quite sure how she'd gotten into Ezra's classroom, but somehow she'd found herself in there. She knew that he had been on his way out when he'd pulled her in, but when bullets began flying, he'd thrown her into the room and ran in behind her before slamming the door shut and locking it. She had all but sprinted to the the door at the other end of the room to make sure it was locked as well. That had been well over half an hour ago.
"How long do you think we'll be stuck in here?" Aria asked as she stared across the room at the windows outside. The sky was a dark grey, clearly brewing an angry storm. The fact that the weather was so terrible seemed almost comical to her.
"Not long, I hope," Ezra replied as he turned to face her. He brushed her hair out of her face and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "Are you okay?"
Aria nodded, leaning into his touch. "I just wish we could get out of here. The windows-"
"We could be seen," Ezra reminded her. "The last thing I'm going to do is let you get killed two seconds before reaching freedom."
Aria shook her head, dropping her head back against the wall. "Whoever it is probably isn't even doing anything at this point. The Columbine shootings ended an hour after they started."
"Aria, listen to me," Ezra said firmly as his fingers gripped firmly against the back of her head. "There is nothing I am willing to let happen that puts you in danger. I thought I made that clear when everything happened earlier this year."
Aria huffed. She hated when he brought up being made to take on the role of 'A', even if it had only lasted two months. It sickened her that someone was that cruel to her and her friends.
"I'm sure someone will be through to get us when it's safe," he told her when she seemed to have resigned to doing anything reckless.
"This just makes me want to test out and never come back to highschool," she admitted. She looked back up at Ezra. "Let's just leave. Go to New York. Or San Francisco. Just pick a place on the map and leave."
Ezra wrapped his arms tight around her, pulling her closer to him. He kissed her forehead. As much as he wanted to tell her to stick it out through the next six weeks and finish out her senior year, it was hard to even convince himself that Rosewood was a safe place to stay.
"When we get out of here, you can decide to do whatever you want, and I'll follow you." Ezra told her. They sat in silence for a few moments and then the sudden sound of a boom in the next room caused Aria to shriek, leaning further into Ezra.
"Shh," he whispered softly, tightening his arms around her.
"Ezra," she whimpered, burying her face in his neck.
"Its probably just a pipe bomb," he told her softly. "No one's even in there."
"You don't know that," Aria said as she cried silently into his chest.
And he didn't. Truth be told, his stomach was in knots and he was absolutely terrified they weren't going to get out of the building alive.
The question was answered for him a few moments later when bullets shattered the window on the door nearest to Aria. It didn't seem possible that she could get any closer to Ezra, and yet somehow in the next moment, she was practically in his lap.
"Get up, Aria, c'mon," he said hushed and quickly as he wrapped his arms under her legs and tried to stand whilst still holding her.
He was going to make a run for it. He had every intention of turning and doing anything it took - even if he had to shove her from the room and throw her down every hallway to keep her safe - anything to keep her safe. But the chance of actually making those things was so easily stripped from his hands as a hand reached through the now empty space where a window had been just moments before. He barely had Aria on her feet when the door opened and a student stepped through, guns aimed and ready to fire.
"Put her down and turn around."
The familiar voice made it too hard to disobey, and as Aria and Ezra turned, they were mildly surprised to see Connor standing some five feet in front of them with handguns in both palms, clearly ready to shoot at a moment's notice.
"It should figure I'd find you two in here," Connor commented, directing one of his guns at Aria. He walked towards them - Aria was only a few feet ahead of Ezra, just two steps forward and one to the left - though neither of them dared to move. "You really are a slut, aren't you Montgomery?"
The look on Connor's face was one that Ezra could easily read. It was pure and total contempt. It didn't entirely surprise him - he was the one that had vandalized Connor's car in his position as 'A'. It was one of the few things that he'd been able to instigate to keep Aria safe - aside from the whole Maggie/Malcolm situation, which had been a mess to explain and fix as it was. He knew that Aria had faced the situation with mild understanding, since she'd seen Spencer go through a similar situation. But that didn't make it alright.
"You must feel real high and mighty," Connor said to Aria. "Up there on your pedestal. All you do is point, and you've got people at your beck and call."
Ezra stiffened up at the harshness of Connor's words, but Aria's decision to not fight back calmed him somewhat. She was better off if she kept her mouth shut, and she seemed to understand that.
"What's so great about him anyway," Connor growled at her. "Or that other dirt bag you were dating for a nanosecond? Is it the dark hair? Or do you just not date anyone in your own legal age bracket?"
Aria gulped, and the extended silence made her think she should answer, but just as she opened her mouth, Connor spoke again.
"Fuck it. It doesn't really matter. You're just a worthless waste of space anyway." He stepped even closer to her, pulling back on the safety of the gun, clearly prepped and ready to shoot.
Every ounce of courage, love, and desperation rushed through Ezra as he stepped in front of her. "Don't shoot her," he begged. "Shoot me instead."
There was a rush of emotions that crossed Connor's face, but while Ezra was pretty sure one of them was rage, he was positive the final one was something akin to curiosity.
"Why?"
"I'm the one who smashed your car," Ezra told him honestly. "And I'm the one who put you in detention for a month. Aria was just a girl who wouldn't get with you. I'm the one you really want to hurt."
"You know what, you're right," Connor said, readjusting his aim.
"Connor, no!" Aria cried. But her words were too late.
People tell stories about the things that happen to them after a traumatic event. The most popular one is usually seeing their lives 'flash' before their eyes. In the moments after the ear-piercing crack of the gun firing bullets into Ezra Fitz's body, he wasn't sure what he was seeing. Well, at least to begin with.
In those first few moments after, there was nothing but silence, that was followed by ringing. He soon realized that the ringing was his ear drums reactions to the loud sound of the gun. And in those few moments, the adrenaline held out for a few seconds longer as he brushed his right hand up against his left shoulder, only to come away with blood.
In that short amount of time, everything was otherworldly - slow, yet quick - and he went from feeling nothing, to feeling everything. The next thing he knew, he was falling backwards with Aria behind him. It was then that he remembered where she'd been, but she was insistent on the fact that she hadn't been shot. From his spot below her, he could see a cut on her jaw line.
"He did get you," Ezra insisted, reaching a finger up and brushing it against the slow stream of blood on her face.
"It was just a graze," Aria told him. "I'm fine. You are not."
Ezra nodded shakily, glancing back down at bleeding wounds on his chest. His shirt was soaking quickly, although he wasn't sure if there was a difference in the amount of blood that would flood out of the body if the wound was fatal or...fixable?
"That's a lot of blood," Aria said in a wobbly tone. She turned her head in both directions, trying to see to the other door. Both were still open. "Ezra..."
Ezra grabbed her right hand where it rested on his shoulder and squeezed it tightly. "It's going to be okay. Just make sure it's safe and then close the doors and lock them again."
Aria nodded nervously, before moving Ezra gently off of her lap. She stood and walked over to the door nearest them - the one Connor had exited through. The window on it was still intact, but the door was wide open. Aria's hands trembled as she stood next to the doorway and held her breath, straining to hear any kind of movement at all that signaled that someone was coming. After a few seconds - during which all she heard was the pounding of her heart in her chest - she quickly reached out into the hallway and grabbed the door handle before quickly pulling the door closed until it was only ajar. She dramatically slowed her movement after that, turning the doorknob slowly as she pulled the last few centimeters in so that the door lined up with the lock. She slowly released the doorknob and then exhaled a long breath, turning back and leaning against the wall.
"Are you okay?" Ezra asked from his spot on the floor as he tried to push himself up.
Aria nodded, looking down at him. As soon as she saw him trying to move, she quickly dashed over to him. "Don't move. There aren't any exit wounds. You could hurt yourself worse."
"I'm fine," Ezra insisted, though the pain was clear in his voice. "Get the other door."
Aria stared at him for a moment longer before she moved across the room and pulled the other door shut. It wasn't opened as wide, which made her slightly more comfortable, but she was more reckless with her movements, wanting to get back to Ezra's side.
"Now I need you to help me do something else," he told her as Aria reached his side once more.
"What?" Aria asked.
Ezra tilted his head over towards the wall. "We need to get back over there where no one can see us."
"Ezra, I'm just going to hurt you more," Aria insisted.
"Aria, if I stay here, we're both gonna get killed," he argued back.
Aria was skeptical, but she knew he was right. Resigning to the fact, she leaned over and curled her arms under his shoulders and pulled him back towards the wall before dropping down onto the floor with Ezra's head and torso in her lap. She could see him visibly wincing.
"Damn it, I hurt you, didn't I?" She inquired angrily.
"No," Ezra insisted through ground teeth.
Aria shook her head and tore her sweater off before pressing the fabric into Ezra's shoulder and chest. She quickly leaned over so that her forearm was covering his mouth as he cried out in pain. It took all she had within her to not scream when he bit her arm, but she didn't let up, and shortly afterwards, he loosened his grip on her.
"I'm sorry," she cried.
Ezra was quiet for a bit, but Aria knew by the tears she could see running down his face that he was still very much conscious. After several long minutes of silence, Ezra slowly opened his mouth, stretching his jaw for a moment before he spoke.
"Tell me a story. About anything." His voice was watery, which only served to make Aria's heart hurt more.
"Okay. Um..." Aria looked around the room, searching for anything that might give her the slightest idea of what to talk to him about. Her eyes fell on his coffee cup sitting on his desk. It was from The Brew.
"Do you remember the day I kissed you in The Brew, right before I found out about you trying to stop A?" She asked.
Ezra nodded, though his attention seemed to be on her arm. As Aria glanced down at it, she saw that he'd broken skin. There was bloodshed, but it was superficial compared to his wounds.
"I remember sitting there listening to you talk that day, and I know I said that I don't know what came over me that made me do it, but I did," Aria told him as she brushed her fingers through his hair. "I remember staring at you and listening to what you were saying, and it was just like...I don't know. Things felt real again. I couldn't help but keep thinking back to when we were first together, before things got really messy. Back when I felt like we could tell each other anything, and it didn't matter. I'd been missing that so much ever since we'd ended things after Thanksgiving, and I just really wanted to know if your mouth tasted the same."
Aria laughed softly at herself, shaking her head. "I remember feeling like I was an idiot afterwards, and thinking 'man, I just keep making all the wrong moves here'. And then later that night, after everything... I just remember laying in bed and thinking, if I had just held out a little while longer, the truth would have come out."
"You can't think like that," Ezra murmured softly.
Aria glanced down at him, and her bottom lip began to tremble as she watched his eyelids drift open slowly. It was clear that his energy was waning with the blood loss, which - though it wasn't gushing from him - it was still flowing steadily.
"Ezra, please hold on," she whimpered as she leaned down and pressed her lips to his forehead. She curled her left arm around his head in an awkward hug.
"Trying to," he slurred wearily. He opened his eyes sluggishly and looked up at her. "Aria?"
"What?" She asked, still curled up over him.
"If I don't make it out of here-"
"Don't, Ezra." She insisted.
"Aria," he argued. "Please. If I don't make it out of here...Just know it's you. It's always been you. Everything has always been for you. Okay?"
Aria could feel her chest moving with the silent sobs that moved through her body and out of her mouth as she nodded, holding Ezra that much tighter while still trying to keep pressure on his wounds. The complete silence coming from the hallway gave her very little hope.
There was a thin line between unconscious and comatose. Ezra wasn't sure if he was straddling the line or firmly on one side of it as the world around him seemed to shift. All he knew was that in this place, it was quiet, and nothing hurt.
He walked through what he quickly realized was the school hallways until he came upon his classroom door. He opened it, and then stepped inside, only to become confused when the world seemed to resettle around him. He looked around the room before a familiar voice caught his attention.
"You alright down there?"
"I'm a bit jet-lagged. I just got back from Europe."
He shook his head, trying to get a grasp on what was going on. But as he looked around, he had a pretty good idea. This was the 'life flashing before him' part, wasn't it?
His gaze fell to Aria as the words repeated through his mind, recalling their first conversation. She was still as beautiful as he remembered; his mind had not squandered his first view of her at all. She was a bit thinner with slightly hollower cheeks, but she still appeared just as bright as she always did, if not a little less...tainted. There was something less haunted about her. Mona hadn't had a chance to hurt her yet, even if Alison had.
"You're smart, you've traveled, great taste in music. I'd like to know more about you."
The clarity of how much he had been putting himself out there that first day was bright and shining as he stood there. Aria was just a girl, telling a few fibs to get by, while he was already seeing something worth giving attention to. He was sure, looking at her in that moment, that her sixteen year old self wasn't looking to still be staring down the same road almost two years later, but the light in her eyes didn't diminish the possibility of it either.
Ezra lifted a hand to rub his eyes and then brushed his fingers through his hair a moment later, only to be confused when the world seemed to shift around him. One moment melted into another, and suddenly he was on a street in Rosewood, watching as a familiar silver car came to an idling stop just in front of him. A few moments later, he watched as he and Aria joined in a heated kiss. He could feel the rush of emotions just as he had that rainy day, almost as if it was happening all over again.
He felt the same way in the next few minutes that passed, as he was suddenly standing in his hallway hugging Aria after she had sown up at his apartment upset. He so easily recalled how much his heart had ached even then for her, even when he barely knew her - wasn't allowed to let himself know her. At least, not that intimately.
"I don't wanna argue or try to convince you of anything... I know its over. I know that. But, I just I cant stand the idea of you walking around and hating me."
His heart sank as he heard those words, he turned, and then turned again, trying to see through the dark hallways. Finally, his eyes fell on Aria's lithe body standing in the middle of the hallway. His eyes drifted up to his own as he stood facing her.
"Hate you? The only person right now I hate is myself, for asking too much of you. Seeing you out there tonight, out on the dance floor, having fun with guys your own age - not sneaking around sneaking around, holing up with me in my apartment... To watch videos and eat one of the three things I can actually cook... Because I can't take you to the movies. I can't take you out to a nice restaurant. And for the record, I could never hate you."
Those words resonated deeply with him, even a year later as he knew they were staring down at the moment. Regardless of anything Aria ever did, he knew there was no possible way for him to hate her, or even stay angry at her for more than a few moments. He loved her too much to ever feel anything towards her than love.
Aria whimpered as she held Ezra against her. She was completely terrified, and it seemed like there was no hope of ever getting out of there. His lack of consciousness in the past few minutes didn't help her feel any better.
A few moments later, she suddenly perked up at sound. She wasn't sure what it was, but she could hear movement outside the classroom. Inhaling a deep breath, she tightened her arms around Ezra and did her best to breath as slow and quietly as she could. If Connor was coming back for her...
Several minutes passed before she was able to make out more clearly what was going on, and then she heard voices.
"Mark the empty classrooms with the green tape." There was a pause before noise grew closer. "There's shattered glass over there. Someone might be in there."
Aria bit down so hard on her bottom lip, she could feel the skin splitting under teeth. Her hands shook where she was still trying to hold her blood-soaked sweater to Ezra's wounds, watching as the door opened. Those few seconds felt like hours as she waited for the door to open. When it finally did, she couldn't help the heavy sigh of relief that rushed out of her as a someone who was very clearly a cop stepped inside the room.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he and Aria made eye contact.
Aria nodded quickly. "H-h-he's not th-th-though."
"Okay," the officer replied as he walked over. Aria's was practically convulsing by the time he was kneeling down next to them to check on Ezra. The officer reached a hand out and placed it on her shoulder.
"Just breathe," he told her calmly and softly. "I'm not going to hurt you. Okay?"
Aria nodded, though it didn't really stop her shaking. The cop reached for his transmitter on his hip and lifted it, pressing on the talk button. "Male down. Multiple GSWs, unconscious, but breathing steadily. Level one."
"What's a level one?" Aria asked.
The cop slipped his hands under Ezra's head and side, slowly and gently easing him off of Aria. "It means treat first. In need of medical attention quickly. A lot of things, actually. I need to get you out of here now, though."
Aria shook her head, refusing to move. "I'm not leaving him. He's been a family friend for two years now."
There was a clear skepticism in the officer's eyes, but the insistence in Aria's eyes was clear as well, leaving him with a tough decision. "I cant leave you in here," he told her. "The school hasn't been completely cleared."
"I won't go," Aria told him.
The officer huffed. "When the EMTs come in, we need to go."
Aria nodded. They sat for a few moments before another officer popped around the corner, gun raised. Aria jumped, but the officer quickly lowered his gun to his holder.
"Jefferson, what're you still doin' in here with her?"
"Waiting on EMS, sir," the officer in front of her replied. "She refuses to leave."
The officer standing at the door - who was clearly in charge - stared at Aria for several long moments before nodding. "When she's out of here, meet us in the Science centre."
"Yes sir," the officer in front of Aria replied before the man at the door tearing off a strip of thick yellow tape from a roll and slapping it on the door before he turned and walked away.
"If the green tape means its clear, and yellow means living victim..." Aria's voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes.
"I haven't seen any red tape yet, if it's any consolation," the officer told her.
Before Aria had a chance to ask anything further, EMTs were crossing into the room with a stretcher. The officer extended a hand to Aria. "Alright, let's get out of their way."
Aria reluctantly took the man's hand and let him help her to her feet. Her legs were stiff, so it took a moment for her to readjust to standing. As she did, she watched as the EMTs worked around Ezra, quickly checking his vitals before someone administered an IV. They were talking in quick, quiet voices, clearly trying to get finished as quickly as possible. When they had him strapped down to the board, Aria finally let the officer whose name she had yet to ask lead her out of the classroom.
There was an eerie silence as they walked through the halls. Aria quickly realized she was being taken to the nearest exit which was a fire exit at the end of the hall. Nothing was said as she was led out, and she didn't have the heart to look at the doors and see how they were marked.
When she reached the doors, she couldn't help but run through them, feeling a fresh rush of adrenaline. She forgot about the sudden step down as she got out, and skinned her knees as she crashed onto the concrete. Even so, she didn't feel it as tears filled her eyes.
She was out of the school, and she knew they were taking Ezra out of another emergency exit to an ambulance. She was out.
Ezra was aware that time seemed as though it wasn't passing at all, even though he knew it definitely had. He exhaled a frustrated sigh as he stood behind Byron and Ella, watching Aria tell her parents that she loved him. This had been going on for far too long. He wanted it to end.
He moved to walk around the couch, but as he came around it, the world tilted around him again. It was different though this time, because there was a heaviness to it, and suddenly he felt as though there was a heavy weight draped on his chest. As his view began to focus, he could see Aria standing in her fathers office, speaking in a hushed tone.
"I just...I really needed to hear your voice."
His heart sank at the sound of her voice, and the look in her eyes. The mixture of pain and despair there was enough to eat him alive. The weight on his chest grew tighter.
"I know. Me too. But you can't call here anymore."
The tightness continued, and the world around him was once again swirling, but not in the way that had become familiar. Everything was fading into darkness, and it was becoming impossible to breathe. Before he knew what was happening, he was choking for air, brought to his knees. Aria's voice was a distant echo, just barely lit in the depths of his mind.
And then, there was no light.
No air.
Nothing. Not even a heartbeat.
And then there was a dim light. Like in a movie, when the camera focuses back after doing a complete cut to black. The light came through slowly before finally, he could see once again. And then breathe.
When it did, he was aware of the fact that there should've been rain on him. Even so, it was try, and the light wasn't all that bright, because he was standing in the middle of an intersection, and then he was walking towards Aria. When he reached her, and their lips met, the world was back in full colour. He could feel the blood rushing through him like being hit with a lightening rod. Or, at least a defibrillator.
Finally, things felt clear, and the memories he'd walked through since they'd started, suddenly felt so much clearer. Everything felt lighter.
The memories continued, but he was aware of the fact that now he was a part of them...which made some of them awkward. Especially when he recalled telling Aria that he'd been fired from Hollis.
The moments were far and few after that, and he chose to skip through the end of September, all the way up three weeks previous when he was standing with Aria at her eighteenth birthday. They were in Brookhaven, having just finished dinner. She was talking about getting a pass on the homework for the next day. As they reached his car, she stopped and turned to face him, wrappinng her arms around his neck.
"Thank you," she murmured softly, pushing up onto the tips of her toes to brush her lips against his. "Thank you for figuring out what Alison and CeCe were doing, and for stopping them. And for always trying to protect me."
Ezra shook his head, reaching up and brushing a strand of Aria's hair out of her face. "Don't you know already? There isn't anything in this world that I wouldn't do for you, Aria. You are everything."
"He said that there was a few moments where they weren't sure," Hardy said as he held Aria gently by the elbow, leading her into Ezra's hospital room. Due to the overflow in Rosewood and his need for major surgery, he was in Philadelphia. "But he's still alive. They said he should come to at any point now."
Aria nodded, glancing up at Hardy. She'd barely seen the older man in the past few months, and she'd been surprised when he showed up at the hospital. He'd told her that Ezra had him listed as his emergency contact. The news didn't much surprise Aria. Dianne and Wes were less than reliable.
Hardy looked as exhausted as she felt. Dressed in a light grey cotton thermal with buttons halfway down the shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans, it was clear that this was the last thing he'd expected today. Aria herself had managed to convince her dad to bring her a fresh pair of clothes - he hadn't done bad, playing it safe with a pair of black jeans and a dark grey shirt. He'd also managed to remember to bring her sweater, since hers was taken by the police.
Aria crossed the room over to Ezra's bed. She slipped her fingers under his as her other hand moved up his arm to his bandaged shoulder. That had been the worst of his injuries, although the doctor had told Hardy that one of the bullets could've killed him if it had pierced his liver. Thankfully, it hadn't.
"I need coffee," Aria murmured softly as she stared down at Ezra. It was late, and she was exhausted, but she also needed to see him open his eyes.
"I'll go get some in a minute," Hardy said as he sunk down into a chair and rested his head back against the top of it. He shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position.
"Bring me some too," a crackly, weary voice chimed in.
Aria and Hardy both were suddenly alert as Ezra opened his eyes, groaning as he looked around. His eyes finally fell on Hardy.
"Where am I?"
"UPenn Hospital," Hardy told him as he stood up. He tucked his hands in his pockets as he stared down at Ezra. "Rosewood had an overflow."
"Aria?" Ezra questioned. She squeezed his hand, and he turned to look at her. A weary smile crossed his face as he pointed up to her chin, which had a bandage on it. "You're okay."
"I always was," she told him. She leaned down and kissed his cheek as she brushed her thumb back and forth on the back of his hand. He turned his face into hers, pressing his lips to her cheek before Aria leaned up and looked down at him. She smiled, brushing his fringe off his forehead. "And you're going to be."