A/N: Thanks so much for the follows and favourites! A special thanks for those who reviewed, your comments made my day :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars.

Every parting is a form of death; as every reunion is a type of heaven. - Tyron Edwards.

"I don't think you understand, Lucas," Mona said, pacing in the slightly cramped motel room. "This is a monumental fuck-up. This is a monumental pain in my ass!" Lucas winced at the volume of Mona's voice.

"Calm down! Do you want someone to hear us?" He said, more frightened than angry. He hated this place, the Lost Woods Resort always gave him the creeps, and it was only made worse by all of the photos of Alison attached to every inch of the walls. Some of them were pictures of the other girls, but they were lost in the sea of faces belonging to her.

"Jesus, you really don't get it, do you," Mona laughed. It was a terrible sound, caught halfway between hysteria and actual amusement. "Emily Fields is missing. She might actually be dead. Do you understand that?" Lucas shook his head.

"I-I thought that was what you wanted-" Mona cut him off in a rage.

"That's not what I wanted, you idiot!" She took a deep breath and counted to ten in an attempt to calm herself down. "How do I put this into words that you'll understand... she's missing, so the police are already involved. But if she's dead, this will turn into a full blown investigation and we might get found out."

"W-what do you mean?" He asked uncomfortably.

"I mean, that anything getting traced back to us was never an issue, because those bitches wouldn't dare to go to the police on their own. They know that we'd spill every dirty secret that they're trying to hide. Now, having the police involved is unavoidable because she's missing. Do you understand why I'm so fucking mad now, Hermie?" Lucas winced at the old nick-name Alison had branded him with.

"You need to fix this. Preferably sooner rather than later, got it?" Lucas nodded wordlessly.

"Good. Because you know what will happen if you don't make me happy, right Hermie?" Lucas swallowed and looked away, anywhere but at her. Mona smiled.

"That's right. Everyone will know that you've been selling tests on the side. You'll get expelled, and I'll make sure that no other school will ever take you in. Daddy would be so disappointed. I will ruin your life." Mona continued, unperturbed by the threat she just made. "If somebody goes down for this, It's not going to be me. So you better hope that whatever you come up with works." Lucas glared at her angrily.

"What were you hoping to accomplish with this, Mona? If she didn't go missing, she would have died in that barn!" Mona frowned in annoyance.

"No she wouldn't have, I just meant to spook them. That's why I texted Hanna the address. They would have gotten her out in time, that was the plan." Lucas scoffed.

"It was a shitty plan to begin with! What makes Emily so special, anyway?"

"Oh, Lucas," Mona said patronizingly. "It's not about her, it's about what she represents." He looked at her confused and, although he wouldn't admit it, a little scared.

"...And what's that?" Mona turned away from him and smirked.

"Let me tell you a story," She said, absently fiddling with a picture of Alison on the wall.

"There was once a girl named Alison who liked to play with dolls. But, she thought, why play with dolls when you can play with people?" Mona chuckled but there was no humour in it. "It must be fun to mess with people who feel a lot when you don't feel anything at all. But -A will make her pay for that. -A will make her pay for everything." Turning around, Mona walked over to a small closet and took out a generic black hoodie.

"All this time, Alison thought she was the Queen and all of us were her pawns. But, what she doesn't realize is that after the game ends, the Queen and the pawns all go back into the same box." She pulled the sweatshirt over her clothes, and raised the hood so it covered her face.

"We have to get out in front of this. I am going to turn this unfortunate situation into a positive one. Come on." She threw Lucas another hoodie. Lucas sighed as he put it on, wishing above all else that Mona would just leave him alone.

Alison shifted awkwardly in the uncomfortable heat of Jonah's car. Emily was still unconscious in the back seat, but her breathing was steady. Alison hoped that she woke up soon, because if she didn't, she would need to be taken to a hospital and then everything would be ruined. People would start asking questions, and there was the constant risk that Alison be spotted by someone who knew her. It wouldn't have been the first time of course, but those other times hardly counted. Her friends had been barely conscious when she visited and likely didn't remember much. It was a little funny, actually. Hey, it's your friend who's been dead for a year dropping in to say hi. Don't tell anyone, they'll just think you're crazy.

It took an embarrassing amount of begging to convince Jonah to pick her up and take Emily with them. He was hesitant to talk to her even when she was in her Vivian disguise, but with another girl to worry about, Alison had to make him quite the offer. She still owed him a lot more money than she had for information he had gotten her, so she promised him double to take them. However, there was no way she would ever be able to pay him that money as long as she was on the run, and on some level she thinks he knew that. It was a good thing he was a big believer in karma or else she would be shit out of luck.

She knew that Emily would be angry with her after she woke up and the initial shock wore off. As soon as Emily's phone started to blow up with texts and calls, Jonah made her leave it behind. She decided to leave it in Emily's car, next to that creepy doll in the back seat. The most unnerving part of it all was what the doll said when Alison pulled it's string out of curiosity. She ultimately decided to take the doll with her, intending to ask Emily about it when she woke up.

I'm taking you to her. Go alone.

That was the only thing it said, and Alison had no idea what it meant. She was at least ninety percent sure that -A was involved, but that wasn't the problem. The thing that concerned her the most was that she didn't know who the doll was referencing. It could not have been her, she had been successfully hidden under -A's radar for a long time and even if she wasn't, it would be unlike -A to expose someone's secret without a little bit of blackmail involved. It just wasn't their style.

"Listen, Viv," Jonah started, breaking Alison from her thoughts. "You can stay at my place until your friend wakes up but no longer than a few hours." Alison nodded. It was way more than she expected.

"Thanks, Jonah." He looked at her a little awkwardly.

"It's nothing personal, you know how Lisa is..." Alison nodded. Lisa, Jonah's wife was an extremely jealous woman who would likely divorce him if she caught two attractive young women in his house. In fact, Alison was certain of it. She would rather climb down the fire escape with Emily slung over her shoulder than deal with that.

As Jonah pulled into a dingy parking lot across from his apartment building, Alison turned in her seat to see if Emily was awake. She reached over and shook her a little, but her eyes didn't open.

"Uh, Jonah..." Alison said, motioning towards Emily.

"Yep," he replied, opening the back door and picking the unconscious girl up. She shifted a little in his grasp, but still refused to awaken. Quickly opening the door for him, Alison shivered as she came face to face with the familiar dimly lit halls and permanent smell of dust. Jonah really deserved to live in a better place than this.

Coming up to his apartment, 34, Alison opened the door which was already unlocked (not like there's anything decent to steal, anyway) and reached in to turn on the lights. Jonah swiftly entered and kicked the door behind him shut, motioning for Alison to lock it. He deposited Emily on the couch and collapsed into an armchair, rubbing his unshaven face and reaching for an already open beer on the small table to his side. Alison wrinkled her nose as he lit a cigarette, and Jonah grinned at her expression.

"My place, my rules, kid."

Alison's attention shifted to the caramel skinned girl on the couch. She gently sat down beside her, looking at her face. It had looked rather pale after she was unconscious, but the colour was starting to return to her cheeks, restoring their slight rose quality. Alison gently nudged her arm.

"Come on, Em. Wake up for me." A quiet whine came from Emily's throat, and her eyes began to flutter. The butterflies in Alison's stomach were going wild. Jonah looked over at them, feeling a little embarrassed at their intimacy.

"I'll uh, leave you two alone for a minute." He made a quick exit, taking his now warm beer with him. Alison barely heard him, all of her attention focused on Emily. She felt like hyperventilating when Emily's intense, onyx coloured eyes finally opened, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

Aria drove in silence, Hanna beside her and Spencer in the backseat. Hanna absently switched through several radio stations, while Spencer stretched her legs out across the seat with her head leaning against the window. They were heading towards Emily's house, this being the only chance they would have to search her room without her parents being home. They decided to go at night, hoping that the darkness would prove enough cover to hide them. Hanna sighed when she found nothing worthwhile to listen to.

"How are we even going to get in to her house?" Spencer asked.

"She keeps a spare key outside," Aria answered. She had seen Emily use it several times, after she got tired of being accidentally locked out of her house for forgetting her keys. Aria parked her car at the end of Emily's block, and the three got out.

"What are we even planning on looking for?" Hanna asked.

"I don't know, maybe Emily left something behind? There's gotta be some clue of where she is in her room or something."

"We aren't Sherlock Holmes," Spencer said. "We aren't going to find a trail of breadcrumbs that lead us straight to her. People don't tend to do that when they're taken off the street in the middle of the day." Aria glared at her.

"We don't actually know if -A took her or not." She said, firm in her belief that Emily was going to show up in the next day or two perfectly fine. Hanna grinned briefly at a stray thought.

"You know, if Maya wasn't at that weird camp I'd think that she and Emily ran away to elope." Spencer cracked a smile.

"I don't think she'd do that."

"Well, you never know. You know what they say about lesbians and U-hauls..." Spencer laughed, but the amusement died down when they came upon Emily's house.

"We should go around back, if someone sees us go inside when no-one's home it'll look mega suspicious," Hanna whispered. Spencer and Aria nodded in agreement.

"Okay, just let me grab the key," Aria whispered back. As the other two girls crouched down and made their way to the back of the house, Aria sneakily made her way towards the front door and reached down to turn over a normally inconspicuous looking rock. She sighed in relief when she found that the key was still there, not keen on having to resort in breaking in through Emily's bedroom window. Grabbing it, she made her way around into the back yard where she found the other girls waiting by the door.

"And... voila!" She said, opening the door which lead into a dark kitchen. As the three entered, she went to turn the lights on before Spencer stopped her.

"Don't, having random lights turn on is going to look just as suspicious as going in through the front door." Aria sighed.

"Alright, alright." She settled on turning her phone on and using the bright screen to see. The other two followed her lead, the three screens proving effective in providing enough light to navigate their way through the kitchen and into the living room. Spencer stopped when she noticed that Hanna was no longer following them. Turning around, she frowned in disbelief.

"Hanna, what the hell?" She whisper-shouted. Turning away from the fridge, Hanna looked at the other two sheepishly.

"I can't help it, I get hungry when I'm nervous."

"Emily is missing and you're going to raid her fridge?"

"I eat when I'm sad!" Hanna snapped. Spencer continued to glare at her, and she finally conceded with an annoyed sigh, shutting the fridge door.

"Eating your feelings isn't going to help, you know," Spencer said. Hanna laughed self deprecatingly.

"You don't have to tell me that, I'm the one who went to fat camp, remember?" Spencer stopped her glaring, feeling slightly bad at touching what was still a sore spot for the blonde.

"Come on, we need to hurry," Aria urged. The girls followed her up the stairs, and they made their way towards Emily's room. Opening the door, Aria winced as it creaked slightly. She was relieved, however, when she saw that the room looked relatively normal. She didn't know what she expected, but she had pessimistic thoughts of finding the room completely trashed by -A.

The girls went their separate ways after they entered, eyes roaming along the floor. Hanna went to check her closet, Spencer looked through Emily's bags and Aria crouched down the look under the bed. There was not a thing out of the ordinary, it looked exactly the same as it always did. Spencer turned around when she heard Hanna gasp, sounding horrified. They heard a bump as Aria, still under the bed hit her head in surprise at the sudden noise. Groaning, she crawled out from under the bed and stood up.

"Owww," she whined, rubbing the now sore spot on her head. She looked at her friends who were frozen in shock, phones pointed towards Emily's mirror. Turning, Aria's hand jumped to her mouth, covering it in shock. There was a message written on the mirror in what Aria knew to be Jungle Red.

One down, Three to go. -A.

Emily didn't understand what her senses were telling her. She was staring at an unfamiliar dirty ceiling, and the air was filled with the smell of cigarette smoke. But there was something else there, a certain lavender scent...

She tried to look around, but her head was suddenly filled with a searing pain as her vision blurred. She groaned out a pitiful sound, her entire body aching. She felt something soft brush her cheek, and realized that it was someone's hand. It felt like it took all of her strength just to try and sit up, but something held her down.

"Lay down. You need to rest." As she processed the words, her hazy brain was able to piece together that it was female. The voice was soft and slightly anxious sounding, like she was nervous. She decided it was the nicest sound she had ever heard.

"How do you feel?" The voice asked. Emily tried to swallow, and found that her throat felt like sandpaper. Wincing, Emily croaked out, "thirsty." She felt someone get up from the couch and heard the sound of footsteps. Feeling her limbs loosen up slightly, Emily sat up against the armrest of the couch and rubbed her eyes. Looking around, she started to panic slightly as she noticed she was in a seedy looking apartment, one that she didn't recognize.

Emily looked up as she heard somebody walk back into the room, and felt her mind go blank. It was like she was having an out of body experience, except that this was real and her mind just refused to believe it. Emily was dead. She had to be dead.

"...Alison?" She asked, her voice still scratchy. The blonde haired girl handed her a cup of water and Emily took it, her body working on autopilot. As she drank, her eyes took in all of the details of Alison's face. If she was dreaming. She was going to make every second count.

She looked a lot rougher than she remembered, a few cuts here and there with a light coat of dirt in some spots. Emily couldn't imagine Alison looking anything less than perfect, her hair was always done immaculately and her makeup was done to perfection, but now, she looked... worn out.

"Are you okay? How do you feel?" Alison asked worryingly. Emily was just... staring at her, and it was making her a little self conscious. She didn't look that bad, did she? Emily just blinked in response, and reached out a hand to touch Alison's face.

She had to make sure that she was real. She didn't want to waste a second and risk waking up before whatever twisted dream she was having ended.

"Is this a dream? Am I dead?" Emily asked. If this apartment was heaven, she would have to have a serious talk with god.

Alison smiled and Emily's heart melted.

"I missed you so much, Emily," Alison admitted. Emily's eyes widened as the familiar words brought on a memory.

"I never told you this, but... you were always my favourite. Nobody loved me as much as you did."

"...Because, two can only keep a secret, if one of them is dead."

"You have to decide what you want, Emily. You can stay here... or you can come with me."

She suddenly felt like an idiot. "It was you! You were there... you pulled me out of that barn!" Alison nodded encouragingly.

"Then... this is real. You're alive." Emily felt her vision become blurry with tears, and, before Alison could react, Emily was in her arms. She felt her neck and shirt become wet as Emily cried into her shoulder. A few seconds later, Emily let her go and wiped her tears dry, relishing in Alison's familiar scent of lavender.

"We have to tell the others! Hanna, Aria, Spencer... they'll be so happy." Emily looked around, quickly realizing that she didn't have her phone, or anything at all.

"Hey now, slow down," Alison said hesitantly.

"What do you mean, slow down? Ali, they need to know." Emily's brow furrowed. Alison sighed.

"No, they don't. They can't." Emily's face twisted into an expression of anger. Alison quickly continued before Emily had a chance to go off on her.

"Em, it isn't like that. It's not safe for them to know." Emily's brow furrowed. The girl across from her looked scared, more scared than she had ever seen her.

"Alison, please who's doing this to you? Who's making you stay away? You can trust me!" She pleaded.

"I know I can. That's why I did what I did," the blonde answered vaguely.

"Did what you did? What do you mean? Saved me?" Alison shook her head, feeling a little apprehensive.

"No, I mean... listen, Emily, please don't be mad," Alison said, feeling like she was nine and about to tell her mother that she broke her favourite vase.

"You're starting to scare me Ali," Emily answered, looking worried for her. Alison felt her spirits rise; classic Emily. Always worried for others, even after waking up in a strange place after someone tried to kill her.

"You have to understand, I couldn't just leave you there. I could have texted one of the girls from your phone, I know that, but I couldn't leave you unconscious in the middle of nowhere." Emily nodded slowly.

"...Right, and I'm glad you did. If you weren't there I'd be dead. What are you so scared for?" She asked, reaching out and placing her hand on Alison's arm. Alison lowered her head.

"You don't understand, Em." Alison raised her sapphire gaze to meet Emily's.

"You can't go back."

Hanna didn't know how many times it was going to take for her to be brought into the police station until she killed somebody, but she was definitely getting there. Whoever was going to question them decided to split them up this time, so Hanna was left to sit by herself in the interrogation room. She was the first to go in, Aria and Spencer sitting outside waiting for their turn. She absolutely hated the looks that they would get whenever they entered the precinct, like oh, there go those girls again, what a surprise. They didn't even let her take her phone in with her, and she was forced to sit there awkwardly for what had been twenty minutes. She stared at the clock and watched the big hand slowly go around, the ticking slowly driving her up the wall. She jumped when the door finally opened and revealed one of the last people she wanted to see.

Garrett.

Hanna fumed. The only thing that would have been worse was if Jenna had walked in, cane clacking on the floor and large sized glasses hiding her expression. She would have even preferred Wilden, at least she always knew what he was after and how he felt about her. Garrett though, was always so aloof and was obviously hiding a lot of things and generally being suspicious. She just wasn't sure if those secrets were dangerous yet or not. Garrett took a seat across from her, and Hanna decided that she would have the first word.

"Where's Wilden?" She asked. Garrett looked up from his files.

"Wilden isn't here. He wasn't reinstated permanently, he's just acting as chief officer for the DiLaurentis case." He answered. Hanna wasn't satisfied.

"He was the one who questioned us last time," she pointed out.

"Well, yes, that's because we found you with evidence pertaining to his case. No matter how hard he tries to bully his way into things, he can't be apart of cases that he isn't involved in," he said, seeming almost amused by Wilden's lack of power.

"Well," Garrett said. "Let's get started, this shouldn't take very long." He opened the files, briefly reading them over.

"Emily, as you know has been missing for over twenty-four hours. We've brought you in for questioning because as far as we know, she was with you getting ready for a wedding before she disappeared, correct?" Hanna considered lying, but ultimately decided not to. She didn't know the story the other two girls were going to tell and if they all told him different ones, they would be done for.

"Yes." Garrett waited for a moment. When she didn't elaborate, he continued.

"And... she didn't say anything about where she was going?" He asked.

"No. I gave her the address to the church, she said she was on her way but she never got there."

"She never acted suspicious? Did you get the impression that anything was off?"

"No," she answered, which was the truth. Emily was acting normal. Well, as normal as any of them could due to the circumstances.

"Are you sure? She didn't seem scared, or nervous about something?"

"No," Hanna replied. Garrett sighed at the short and unhelpful replies. He knew this would be difficult. He decided to change tactics.

"Emily's car was found parked outside a barn at 457 Grover Rd. That's very close to where you girls were picked up," he said, sounding cautious. Hanna felt like cursing. This was looking very bad.

"The barn was searched but all the officers found was a car that was still running. Do you know anything about that?" Hanna tensed at the slightly accusatory tone Garrett's voice had adopted.

"No. I really have no idea what you're talking about," she sighed, which wasn't a total lie. She knew about the car, but she had no idea what it was doing there. When they had found Emily's car but no Emily, they had feared the worst. They had called her name and searched everywhere, but found no other sign of her.

"And Emily never mentioned anything about this barn? You don't know any other place she would have gone?" Hanna thought hard, but she couldn't think of anywhere plausible. Emily's favourite place seemed to be the pool at the school where she would frequently practice, but she doubted that Emily was there hiding in her gym locker. She shook her head in response.

"You don't seem to know very much about someone who's supposed to be one of your best friends," he said, his tone suspicious. Hanna felt a surge of anger.

"If you did your fucking job right she would have been found by now!" She said, her voice quickly rising in volume. The other officer who was standing at the wall moved forward in warning, but Garrett waved his hand at him.

"I'm not psychic, Hanna. The only way we're going to find her is if you and your friends cooperate." Her eyes narrowed.

"I am cooperating. I've told you everything that I know." Garrett huffed, and moved to rise from his chair, closing his files.

"That's it for now. You'd better hope your friends stories match yours," he said, but his tone wasn't threatening, it was almost like he wanted them to leave the station unscathed. Hanna rose from her sitting position, and Garrett opened the door for her. Walking out of the room, Spencer and Aria's eyes lit up as they saw their friend exit. Garrett motioned for Spencer next, and the brunette released a breath as she got up. She looked back at them before she entered, looking scared. Hanna gave her a smile to try and make her feel better, but it didn't reach her eyes. As soon as the door closed, Aria was on her.

"What happened? What did you say?" The girl asked.

"I didn't say anything. I told him the truth, but he didn't ask for much." Aria sighed in relief.

"That's good. Spencer and I were talking about what we were going to say, but we didn't know what kind of questions to prepare for," she smiled briefly.

"I'm just glad we don't have to talk to Wilden. I might have actually strangled that guy." Hanna nodded silently in response, distracted by her thoughts.

"Han..." the other girl started. Hanna turned to look at her and was startled to see the beginning of tears in the other girl's eyes.

"What's the matter?" She asked. "Garrett isn't that scary."

"Where do you think she is?" Aria asked, ignoring the blonde's statement. Hanna's expression turned solemn.

"I don't know. Maybe she finally took a hint and got out of this town," she said, attempting to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

"I'm serious! That message was pretty clear. -A might have actually..." she trailed off, not even wanting to think about the possibility that her friend could be dead.

"Listen, -A might be psychotic, but I don't think they're a murderer," Hanna said, more for Aria's benefit than her own. She didn't even believe her own words.

"Not a murderer? Are we just going to forget that -A probably killed you know who?"

"She's not Voldemort Aria, you can say her name."

"No, I can't," Aria replied, tears now making their way down her cheeks, "because that would make it real. She's dead, and now Emily might be too," the tears were running freely now. She quickly attempted to wipe them away.

"Don't say that. You make it sound like one of us might be next," Hanna said. Although her words were steady, she was beginning to experience the horrible feeling of terror form in the pit of her stomach, the same terror she had felt when Alison went missing. She put her arm around Aria's shoulders, and the hazel-eyed girl leaned her head against her.

"It'll be alright, I promise," she said, the words feeling meaningless and rehearsed even to her own ears. They had all heard the exact same phrase in the weeks after Alison's disappearance, until too much time had passed and people stopped pretending.

She wondered, morbidly, how long it would take for people to stop pretending this time.

A/N: Aaaand there's the end of chapter two! Things are about to get interesting ;)

Also, this story is unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. I'd appreciate it if you let me know of any mistakes you catch. I try to edit as best as I can, but I'm far from perfect.