Warning: Graphic and Violent Content.

Rating is going to M for the violence. Just a warning for those who do not appreciate violence.


Emily didn't leave Dr. Rollins's office until dinnertime. Alison wondered why she didn't leave after transitioning back, but didn't want to question it. She was trying to avoid Emily, not make conversation with her. The other three still seemed slightly on edge about what had happened, and hoped that no one had seen Emily covered in her fish scales.

Alison saw Emily enter the cafeteria, changed out of the civilian clothes and in their regular jumpsuit. Everyone else was still in their civilian clothes, but Alison was pretty sure that Emily's dorsal fin had ripped through the fabric during the transition. She almost felt bad for, and the fact she had to be conscious about getting wet everywhere.

Hanna smiled cheerfully at Emily, as Emily moved to take a seat next to her. No one said anything, except for Emily. She mumbled that she wasn't hungry to Hanna, who had offered her a forkful of macaroni and cheese. Alison studied Emily's face, who avoided her gaze. She also noticed that Emily was randomly clenching her fists at odd moments, to a point that her knuckles turned white.

The girls ate in relative silence, but it wasn't like they were talking that much before Emily showed up either. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they put their trays away and made their way up to the Rec Room. A few others were also doing so, including Caleb, who smiled at Hanna widely. Alison rolled her eyes, he was so obvious with his crush for her. It was almost pathetic.

The Rec Room soon became noisy and packed with people. The girls began talking more once inside, as they moved towards the TV before anyone else could take it over. Hanna flipped through various movies, pulling them out for approval. Each one was denied by at least one of the other four. They finally managed to settle on Mulan, because who doesn't love Mulan?

Alison sat in one of the bean bag chairs, right next to Aria. Spencer, Hanna, and Emily sat on one of the couches. Other people who had come in began sitting around them as well, taking interest in the movie that was playing. She didn't pay much attention to them, though she felt herself almost hyper aware of their presence. She wondered if Dr. Rollins's concoction that was being injected into her everyday was taking effect.

When the movie was almost done, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Alison looked to her right, expecting it to be Aria getting her attention. Yet, Aria's eyes were trained on the screen. Alison looked up, and saw Noel standing over her. He had a smirk on his face, and a certain twinkle in his eye.

"Hey, what's up?" Alison asked, wondering why he was interrupting her from one of her favorite movies.

"Come with me," Noel said, his voice low. "I want to show you something."

"Show me what?" Alison asked, questionably. She didn't know if she had enough motivation to even sit up.

"Just come on," Noel said, grabbing her arm. He effortlessly pulled Alison to her feet, as if she weighed nothing. To Noel, she probably didn't weigh anything.

No one even gave them a second glance, as Noel motioned her away from the large amount of people watching the movie. They navigated their way through the people spread out across the floor, in beanbags or gaming chairs. Many of them weren't even considerate enough to move over to make it easier for Noel and Alison to get by them. Alison almost tripped on a fourteen year old boy, who was taking up as much space as he could with his body. She swore at him and called him out for being inconsiderate. Noel laughed in response.

She followed him out of the Rec Room, and towards the elevator. Alison frowned, as Noel scanned a card to call for the elevator. Usually, to call the elevator you would scan your wristband. Why did he have a black card?

"Where did you get that?" Alison asked, looking suspiciously at the card.

"Caleb," Noel said casually, as the elevator doors slid open and made an audible bing. "Ladies first?"

"I don't trust you," Alison said, smiling slightly. "You go in first."

Noel shrugged, "Fine by me."

He stepped onto the elevator and turned around, waiting for Alison to enter too. He raised his eyebrows expectantly, and Alison stepped in the elevator after him. Whatever he was up to, she decided to just go along with it. Noel hadn't really done anything to make Alison not trust him, but she had no idea where he was taking her.

Noel pressed the very top button of the elevator, which was unmarked. Alison had never been on this floor, or even knew what it was. Nonetheless, the elevator whizzed upward. Alison studied Noel's face, who looked at her through the corner of his eye. He smirked widely, which was the only way Noel seemed to know how to smile.

When they reached their destination, the elevator doors opened to a solitary set of stairs. The stairs lead to a steel door, which was locked with a code. Noel exited the elevator and went two at a time up the stairs. Alison followed after him, and made it to the top just as he was entering the code on the door.

"For future reference, the code's 73856," Noel said, as the door made a high pitched beep. He pushed the door open, and held the door open for Alison. "Roof access."

Alison raised her eyebrows, and stepped through the door. The night air was a bit chilly, and a soft wind blew Alison's blonde hair behind her. She looked at Noel, who closed the door behind her. There were a few bright lights lighting up the top of the building, allowing both of them to make out each other in the dark.

For the first time since Alison had known him, Noel was genuinely smiling. It was a nice sight to see, he had a good smile and good teeth as well. He was looking at Alison, and then he looked up. Alison looked up too, expecting to see stars. There weren't any, the lights shining down on them made them impossible to see.

"Watch," he said.

Alison looked back at him, watching as he opened a box on the wall. He pulled a switch down, and the lights went out. Alison looked back up at the clear night sky, and saw millions of stars. They were high enough up that the lights in Jersey City below were not dimming their view of the stars. Alison gaped in amazement, the only other time she had seen this many stars so vividly was back in Pennsylvania.

"I come up here a lot, mostly when everyone's asleep though," Noel said, moving to stand next to Alison. "It's a nice place to get away from everyone and think."

"So, is this like your special place that no one but you knows about?" Alison asked, glancing at Noel.

"Well, you know now," he pointed out. He was still smiling up at the stars, and pointed up at them. He was pointing to a set of stars, a square shape with a triangle on top. "That's cepheus. That constellation was named after the then king of Ethiopia."

"I see you know your stars," Alison pointed out, trying to find one of the only constellations that she knew. The big dipper.

"Being an Eagle Scout pays off. My astronomy Merit badge was one of the easiest Merit badges I got," Noel said, tearing his eyes away from the stars to look down at Alison. "Now it's your place to come and think too."

"Wow, an all access pass," Alison said, a bit sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't show this to just anyone," Noel said defensively, and Alison wondered if her sarcasm had hurt his feelings a bit.

"No, I didn't mean it in a bad way," Alison said, backtracking. "I meant, if this is such a special place for you, why did you bring me here?"

Noel shrugged, "I thought you would like it. And I thought maybe tonight wouldn't be the only night that we would spend up here."

Alison frowned slightly, wondering if he had meant to imply something. She looked at him, and searched his face for a sign. She could barely make out the outline his face in the darkness, even though they were less than two feet apart.

"I do like it. Thank you for showing me," Alison smiled. She never thought that Noel would ever be this genuine, he didn't seem the type to be. He seemed like a good guy in reality, despite his cocky attitude.

"You know, you're really something Ali," he said.

"I am?" Alison asked. She knew she was different, and maybe stood out more than others, but nothing more.

"Yeah, I guess it's new for me. I never really have felt real feelings for a girl until now," Noel admitted, and Alison could hear the nervousness in his voice. Noel Kahn was nervous?

Alison froze, was he admitting what she thought he was admitting? Alison opened her mouth to answer, in all honesty, she had never given Noel a second thought as being more than her friend. She secretly felt bad about it, she didn't know if she had been unknowingly leading him on.

"Noel, I-," Alison began.

"Do you not like me back?" he asked.

Alison's mouth shut. Now this was an awkward situation. And truthfully, she didn't know how she felt about Noel. She was sure she liked him as a friend, and he was very cute, but as a boyfriend? Someone that she would be in a romantic relationship with? It didn't feel right, even thinking about it for a split second. She hadn't really seen herself being with anyone at the facility. No one that she wanted to admit, at least.

"It's not that, but you just laid a lot on me just now," Alison said. "Was bringing me here supposed to aid you in wooing me over?"

"Maybe a little bit," Noel admitted. "What I'm trying to say is Alison, we'd be great together. We're already pretty compatible, and I guess I've just been thinking about us a lot."

"Can I have some time to think about us?" Alison asked. "I'm sorry, you just kind of laid it all on me at once."

Noel clearly did not expect this, and cleared his throat awkwardly. Alison figured that he thought she would say yes, and they would be together by the time they got back to their rooms.

"Uh, yeah," Noel said. "Take your time I guess. I'll be waiting for you when you're ready."

She felt him getting closer to her without actually seeing it. It was so dark, she couldn't see him. Yet, she could feel his face get closer to her. In a fraction of a second, he had leaned forward and kissed her. In truth, Alison had only kissed three boys in her entirely life. One was named Ryan Ashton, and it was in seventh grade. It was awful, and basically dumped all of his spit in her mouth. The second was a guy, with a name Alison didn't remember. She made out with him the first time she got drunk in her sophomore year. The other was only a few months before she ended up in the facility she was currently in. His name was Justin O'Leary. Her kiss with Justin was a little better, but he tried to get things heated with her fast. Just because Alison was the queen of the school didn't mean she was as promiscuous and easy as some thought of her. She just kept up the act to avoid people thinking she was the hopeless romantic that she was.

Noel was definitely better than the other three, in fact he wasn't trying to make out with her at all. Their lips were sealed together, and he had trapped her bottom lip between both of his. His lips were firm, like all three of the guys she had kissed. She wasn't necessarily enjoying herself, but she wasn't disgusted like she was with the other three.

Noel had a hand on her waist, and another on neck. His hands were strong, and Alison was almost unsettled with the fact that Noel could easily snap her neck in less than a second if he wanted to. She didn't pull back from Noel, feeling bad that he had brought her to the rooftop and admitted his feelings, only for Alison to ask for some time to think about it. He was a nice guy, a good guy. It was the least she could do.

Soon enough, Noel tried to deep their kiss. Alison took this as her cue to pull back, and backed out of Noel's strong hold. He almost didn't let her go for a second, but loosened his grip to allow Alison to slip out of his hold.

"We probably should go back down," Alison said. "I'm really tired."


Aria and Alison were together with Lorenzo, practicing their fighting skills. It was clear that Alison was better at hand to hand combat than Aria was, and maybe that was why Lorenzo had chosen her to spar. That, and Lorenzo said that he wanted Aria to be able to use her lightning capability while she was fighting. Aria still couldn't issue any large amount of lightning from her hands unless she was thinking hard enough. Lorenzo said it was a lack of concentration.

Of all the trainers, Lorenzo seemed the toughest. He didn't hold back on the comments, especially ones that weren't exactly the nicest. Alison didn't know how she felt about him, the only comments he made at her was the fact her footwork was subpar.

Alison was wearing a fitted vest over her jumpsuit, one that absorbed electric currents. Lorenzo was using her to help Aria with using her power during fights. She would spar Aria, and when Lorenzo gave the word, Aria would literally try to zap Alison. Both Aria and Alison were worried about it at first. Aria didn't want to hurt Alison, and Alison wasn't too thrilled about potentially becoming bacon.

Lorenzo reassured them that the vest would prevent Alison from getting fried at all, which only calmed Alison's nerves moderately. She pushed the feelings aside, they were still going to go through with the exercise anyway.

Aria and Alison were currently fighting. Alison let Aria deliver blow after blow at her, ducking and dodging each other effortlessly. The heightened senses were helping her figure out what Aria's next potential move would be. It was becoming rather useful to her, and made it easier to avoid getting hit.

"Now!" Lorenzo said, giving the cue to Aria.

Alison braced herself, and stepped back. Aria did the same, and thrust her hands towards Alison. A feeble purple spark issued from Aria's hands, before disappearing from sight. Alison's body, which was tensed, eased a bit. She hoped that Aria would be unsuccessful for the whole exercise. Aria's lightning was a bright purple, that made Alison want to shield her eyes from the brilliance.

Recognizing her failed attempt, Aria looked at Lorenzo. His jaw was clenched, but he didn't say anything. Alison looked at Aria, and smiled encouragingly when she caught her eye.

"Again," Lorenzo said. "Aria, I want you to think about channeling all of that energy onto Alison."

"I'm trying," Aria said, though Alison could tell she did not want to be there. Who could blame her?

Alison cracked her neck, and flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. She was prepared for Aria to start coming at her again, as both fell into their fighting stance. A few seconds later, Aria came at her with a kick to her stomach. Alison pushed her leg away with her hands, and stepped backwards a few steps.

They continued on like this for a few more minutes, and Alison was starting to get tired out. She began to pant slightly, and she could see the tiredness on Aria's face too.

"Now again!" Lorenzo yelled.

Alison braced again, as Aria stepped back and thrust her hands towards Alison. A brighter, more powerful bolt issued from both of Aria's hands. The bolt flew forward in an instant, and hit Alison in the chest. Alison felt hot, as the electricity hit her. It didn't hurt, and she assumed the vest was doing its job. She stumbled back and fell on her back though, and sat up to see Aria looking at her.

"You're not hurt, right?" Aria asked, walking over to Alison to help her up.

"I'm fine," Alison said, taking Aria's hand gratefully. "You did it though!"

Alison stood up, and looked at Lorenzo. Lorenzo was nodding in impressment, he probably didn't think Aria would get it on the second try. Alison looked from Lorenzo to Aria, as he approached them.

"That was good!" Lorenzo said. "Let's try it again one more time. See if you can do it without the distraction of fighting."

Aria looked at him quizzically, but thrust her hands forward nonetheless. An even larger spark came out of her hands, and made a loud thundering noise. As she pulled her hands back, they disappeared. Alison was impressed.

"That's so cool how that happens," Alison said. "It's like you just push and it happens on its own."

To model what Aria had done, Alison stepped forward and pushed her hands forward as well. She could feel a hotness in her hand, and a light coming out of her palms. She quickly stepped back, shocked by what happened. Did that just happen? Had the tiniest amount of lightning come from her hands?

"Woah," Aria said, who saw it too. "You just did what I do."

Alison looked at Lorenzo, whose mouth was hanging open stupidly. He saw it too, it wasn't just her imagination.

"How did you do that?" Lorenzo asked, completely dumbfounded.

"I honestly have no idea," Alison admitted. "You saw that too then. It was weird, it felt hot on my palms."

"Yeah, that's what I feel," Aria agreed.

"Alison, come with me. Now," Lorenzo said, beckoning her towards the door. "I think we need to go see Dr. Rollins. Something isn't right."


Word got around quickly about what happened. Alison's thing was moving objects with her mind, and here she was able to issue a small amount of sparks from her hands after being hit with one of Aria's electric bolts.

People whispered as she passed, but she ignored them. Some came right up to her to ask how she had managed to pull it all off, but Alison gave the same answer. "I don't know," she would say. And she didn't know! She had no idea what was going on.

Even Emily looked at her with a certain interest in the Rec Room, her hands flickering from Alison's face to her hands. She didn't say anything to her however, and Alison didn't expect her to. Getting this attention made Alison feel good, since no one had ever heard of someone in the facility being able to potentially have more than one assigned power.

Noel and Alison avoided each other for the most part, they only talked to each other briefly over the next few days. It was a bit awkward, and Alison and been staying up lately to think about potentially being with Noel.

"Alison," someone said behind her. She on her way to dinner when stopped her. She turned around to see Dr. Rollins standing behind her.

"Uh, hi," she said, always feeling a bit uncomfortable in his presence. She dreaded going to get her shot everyday, because everyday his touch would linger or brush places that normally a doctor would not go near at all.

"You forgot to get your shot today," he said, approaching her. "Why don't you come with me and get it before dinner?"

Alison eyed him warily, but knew she needed to get her shot. She couldn't ignore it, so she changed her route and followed him down the hallway and to his office. Once inside, he closed the door behind them. Alison thought this was a bit odd, and told herself firmly that if he tried to touch her at all like he had been, she would finally take action.

But he didn't. He went into a drawer and got out her shot, as Alison shrugged out of the sleeve of her jumpsuit. She saw the needle scars on her arm, and wondered what other people's arms looked like. He wiped her arm with an antiseptic wipe, and injected the substance into her bloodstream. It wasn't until most of the liquid was in her arm, that Alison realized it wasn't the normal blue color. This was an earthy green, and she looked up at him in alarm.

"Hey! What the fuck?" Alison asked, in shock.

He didn't even look up at her, and she felt her arm start to tense up. She couldn't move her arm, and slowly she wasn't able to move the rest of her body. She was frozen, unable to move. Dr. Rollins barely even moved as he threw the syringe across the room and pushed Alison back onto the exam table so that she was lying flat on her back.

She couldn't talk either, only choking like noises issued from her mouth when she tried. Dr. Rollins removed his gloves, and threw them hastily across the room as well. Alison's eyes widened as he pulled leather belts from the drawer and pulled Alison's feet together.

"You're the supreme," he mumbled, in a British accent. Since when was he British? "They've been looking for you for a long time."

Alison was confused, did this have to do with issuing sparks from her hand like Aria could? Could she really have more than one power? Dr. Rollins seemed to think so, as he tightly belted her legs together. He moved to her arms, and effortlessly pulled them to the front of her body. He belted her arms together too, and Alison struggled desperately to get any part of her body to move besides her eyes.

Dr. Rollins looked down at her, and smiled slightly.

"I always hoped you would be the one that we would take," he said, cynically. "Wait here. But, it's not like you have a choice."

He left in the room alone, and closed the door behind her. Alison wanted to cry, there was no way she could move at all. Her body physically would not let her, and now the restraints wouldn't either.

She must've been then for two minutes when the door opened.

"Hey Dr. Rollins, I was wondering if I could get more-,"

It was Noel. He was here to save her, even though he didn't know it. Noel saw Alison on the exam table, and immediately stopped what he was saying. His eyes widened, and he rushed over to her.

"Ali?!" he asked. "What the fuck is going on? Why the fuck are you roped up?"

She couldn't answer him, and she hoped Noel would get help or help her himself. Noel didn't seem to pick up on the fact Alison couldn't physically speak.

"Talk to me!" he yelled. "Shit, let me help you."

Alison didn't hear him, he was so silent. But he came right up behind Noel in the doorway, and Alison couldn't do anything to stop it. She looked pleadingly at Noel, who was hurriedly fumbling with the belt straps.

Dr. Rollins walked right up behind Noel, wrapped an arm around Noel's chest and plunged a knife into his back. Alison could hear the sound of the blade entering his skin, and knew she would never forget that sound. Noel let out a gasp for air, as Dr. Rollins twisted the knife. Noel immediately fell into shock, and collapsed on the floor. Alison could hear him gasping for air on the floor, although she could not see him.

There was blood on Dr. Rollins's hands, Noel's blood. He looked from Noel on the ground, to Alison.

"I had to do it," he said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself more than her. "He would've told. The A Team killed my family, you don't know what they're like. You don't."

Alison still couldn't move, but she felt tears rolling down her the sides of her face. She wanted to scream for Noel, and tell him that he would be okay. A mix of sadness, disbelief, and anger erupted inside Alison. What had he done?!

Her eyes flashed angrily to Dr. Rollins, who was staring down at Noel's body in shock. The bloody knife was still in his hands. Her eyes snapped from Dr. Rollins, to the white filing cabinets. Dr. Rollins flew towards them at such a great force, that his head hit one of the cabinets and left a sizeable dent.

He fell to the floor in a heap, and didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon. Alison stayed in her spot, bound together on the exam table. She didn't know how long she lied there, aching to aid Noel. She heard him gasping for air and dry heaving. He stopped after a while, and she hoped he had regained control of his breathing so that she could help him.

Finally, she was able to move a bit. She was still bound together, but was able to move around a bit. She rolled off of the exam table, and onto the tile floor. The fall hurt a bit, and she almost hit her head. She twisted around to face Noel, who was facing away from her and lying in a pool of his own blood. In fact, Alison had rolled in it too. It was seeping into her jumpsuit, and turning the gray and dark red.

She looked down at the belts, and glared at them. She felt them start to heat up, and smoke issued from them. She pulled her arms apart, which snapped the leather belt in half. She quickly sat up, and began undoing the belt on her leg. It was done rather tight, but she managed to get it off.

Once free, she slid towards Noel. Her legs were now soaked in his blood as she leaned next to him. She grabbed his chin in her hands, and turned his head to face her. His eyes were closed, and he looked almost peaceful.

"Noel," she croaked, full on sobbing at this point. She was almost blinded with tears as she desperately searched for a pulse. After finding none on his neck, she tried his wrists. His palms were bloody, as if he had been trying to press his wound.

She pushed his body over after finding no pulse on his wrist, and looked at the ripped fabric of his jumpsuit. She could see where he was stabbed, and the large wound from it being twisted. She wanted to puke, but held it back.

She continued to cry, knowing that nothing she could do could save him. She leaned her head on his large bicep, and continued to cry. Noel was gone, his life had been extinguished. He was only seventeen, and had his whole life ahead of him...as much of a life he had. He would spend the rest of the life fighting for the government, and he had feelings for Alison.

She felt awful for not telling him sooner, and now he had died without knowing if Alison had had feelings for him back or not. She had come to the conclusion that she hadn't, maybe not yet. But he was still a good friend to her all the same, and he had just died for her expense.

She rose from her feet, and walked away from his motionless body and towards Dr. Rollins unconscious one. He was moaning in pain, and stirring slightly. Alison stared down at him, and noticed an area of his head was bleeding. She picked him up by his lab coat, which was a lot easier than she thought. She didn't know where she got gotten the sudden strength, maybe it was an adrenaline rush.

She threw him across the room again, and he hit the wall hard. The wall caved in, leaving a large hole where his body had hit. That wasn't enough for Alison, she was too angry to think properly. She walked closer to him, and stared at his head.

Sure enough, smoke began to issue from Dr. Rollins head. It smelt awful, but Alison knew exactly what she was doing as she stared at him. After about a minute, she stopped. He had to be dead, or brain dead at least.

She stumbled through the hallway, everyone was still at dinner. The halls were deserted other than her, and she yelled for help as she walked through them.

"Alison!"

Alison had whipped around a corner and come face to face with Dr. Kingston. He took one good look at her, his eyes widened in shock.

"Sit down," he said, helping Alison lay down in the middle of the hallway. "I'll get some help, it's going to be okay."


Alison was sitting in the Rec Room at 2am the same night, staring out at the city. She didn't want to go to the roof, she couldn't go back to the roof. It reminded her of Noel, and Noel was gone. She sat on the window sill, with her legs pulled to her chest. She had been sitting there since she had taken a shower. It took forever for the water going down the drain to turn clear. She cried the whole time, to a point she was out of tears.

She heard the door close softly behind her, and wondered who else was up this late. She didn't turn to face them, she couldn't care less at this point.

"Ali?"

The voice was soft and comforting. She knew exactly who it was, and they were one of the last people that Alison expected to be in the Rec Room. She turned her head to look at the source of the noise, and saw Emily walking quietly over to her. She was wearing her pajamas, a gray t-shirt and shorts.

Alison didn't say anything, and Emily sat down on the windowsill next to her. She buried her face in her knees, to avoid having Emily see her start crying again. Emily seemed to realize what she was doing, and reached a hand out to place on top of Alison's. Alison immediately thought of Dr. Rollins, and how Emily's hand felt nothing like his.

She looked up, tears streaking down her face. Emily's arms were open and inviting, and Alison realized that Emily was beckoning her in. She didn't have to ask twice, Alison had moved over and leaned against Emily within seconds. Emily's arms wrapped around Alison's body and she placed her cheek on the top of Alison's head.

Alison continued to cry, harder this time. Maybe she did have some tears left. Emily didn't say anything, and Alison was glad she didn't. She stroked Alison's back and hugged her tightly. That was all Alison needed. Alison breathed in Emily's scent, which was making her stomach loosen a bit from the tight knots that had formed inside.

It took a few minutes, but when Alison regained her composure, she began to wonder why Emily was doing this. They hated each other, or at least acted like it. Since her first day, they were fighting and on bad terms. And here Emily was, comforting her.

"Feel any better?" Emily asked, as she released Alison and scooted away from her.

"A little," Alison said. "Thanks. Sorry about that."

"Don't worry, I know how it feels," Emily said. "Everyone is pretty distraught, and you were one of his closest friends. I can only imagine how you feel. Toby hasn't left his room since the news got out."

"I listened to him die, and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. I couldn't move," Alison said. "What are you even doing up?"

"I don't sleep most nights," Emily shrugged. "Never have been a good sleeper really. It's basically Hanna's room."

"You were right, we aren't invisible. Noel had super strength, yet he was taken down by one small knife," Alison said, looking at Emily. Emily looked taken aback.

"Look, about that speech. That was kind of rude of me to say," Emily admitted.

"If you're trying to apologize, don't. Because you were right, you were only telling me the truth," Alison said, looking back out at the skyline. "It's not like the movies. The way they fall. He fell so heavy, there was nothing graceful to it."

"I know, it's so much worse," Emily sighed. "It goes to show that we're just like everyone else, just with a few capabilities that make us freaks."

Alison looked at Emily, "You're not a freak."

Emily smiled weakly, and leaned over to wipe a tear from Alison's cheek. "You can melt people's brains with your mind if you want to. But is your power as prominent as mine?"

Alison looked down at Emily's hand, the tip of her finger where she had caught Alison's tear was blue and scaly. Any sort of water that touched her skin made her turn.

"Have you ever had to kill someone?" Alison asked.

Emily sighed, "Yeah. They put me on a trial mission once last year. I had to assassinate some corrupted leader in Manhattan. It's the only person I've ever had to kill, I hate killing people."

"Me too," Alison said. "Dr. Rollins was the first person I ever remember killing."

"Oh that's right," Emily said. "You killed your parents, right?"

Alison nodded.

"How did you end up here?" Alison asked, abruptly.

Emily looked at her in surprise, clearly not expecting Alison to ask that question. Realizing the error of her ways, Alison quickly apologized.

"It's fine. Do you really want to know?" Emily asked.

"If you feel like sharing," Alison said, sniffling.

Emily leaned back a bit, and looked out at the skyline. She bit her lip softly, probably wondering where to start. "The day I was born, I was taken from my mom and dad. I was born covered in those blue scales, and everyone thought my mom had birthed Satan or something. It was a big commotion, but the government quickly stepped in. I was taken from them and brought to somewhere similar to this, but the organization didn't start for another decade later. All I have is one photo of them, and I wonder if they wonder where I am. They haven't tried to contact me at all, they probably think I'm a freak too."

"Don't say that," Alison said. "I'm sure your parents love you, you're theirs! And if they don't, then your friends are your family. I can tell that Spencer, Aria, Toby, and Hanna all love you. That's all you need sometimes."

Emily smiled, and Alison wondered if her words had had an effect on Emily.

"Well, I'm going to go back and make sure Hanna is okay. She's had some trouble sleeping too, even though she practically hated Noel," Emily said, standing up. "You know, you're actually not that bad."

Alison smiled, "Same to you. Goodnight."

Emily walked away from Alison, but stopped in her tracks. She turned around to face Alison, "This doesn't mean we're friends, by the way."

"I didn't get the impression we were," Alison responded.


RIP Noel. Let me know what you thought.