Can I just say that I totally called who -A was at rehearsal. I had a feeling they'd trick us. To be honest, I'm really happy it's not Ezra and he and Aria are safe. As long as it's not him, I'll be satisfied with whoever -A is.

Their scenes last night made me bawl, squeal, and just...fangirl. Absolutely beautiful.

I read in an interview that Ezra becomes Aria's rock and safe place, so that's pretty much this story. She's scarred by Mona's reveal and Maya's death and closes herself up. It's up to Ezra to bring back the Aria he knows.

I OWN NOTHING.

~Prologue~

Two days. That's as long as it took for Aria's entire world to shift completely off course. Even with the mystery of -A being resolved and Mona being shipped off to some far away psychiatric ward, seeing Maya's body bag tipped her off the edge of no return and into an abyss of nightmares; pitch black nightmares that she couldn't push away with the thought of something happy. The one person she needed was still up at his parents, but was supposedly coming back to Rosewood soon.

Maya's death meant it wasn't over. Mona might have been gone and locked up, but a killer was still out there. And they were a killer with the girls in mind. Why else would they have hurt someone so close to Emily? Who would be next to have their heart shattered? Aria gulped back the large knot in her tense throat and pushed a stray piece of hair from her face.

Mona was put away, but someone was still lurking. That much Aria had come to realize. Spencer and the others were rejoicing that their torture was over and at the discovery, Aria had celebrated too. But, something deep inside her knew it wasn't over. Or at least, some scarred part of her was petrified that it wasn't over; speculating.

It was a Monday morning as she sat in her sweats that she'd barely changed out of. Her skin felt grimy, but Aria couldn't bring herself to get out of bed. She thought she'd be relieved at finding out -A's identity, but the truth did the complete opposite. Aria was afraid that someone wanting revenge for figuring everything out would pop out towards her from every shadow in her house.

The clock on Aria's bedside table read 5 A.M. She curled up in fetal position with her head in her hands, trying to stop the tears that were flowing from the recent nightmare. It had been worse than the others and amplified because of her phone call with Ezra the night before. Instead of Maya in that black bag, it had been Ezra. The dreams hadn't gotten to this extent until now.

Her entire body ached to have him near and for his arms to wrap her small frame and console her. Aria was withering away and the only person that could save her wasn't here.

A loud sob ripped from her chest, waking up Ella who clambered out of bed quickly to see what could be wrong. Aria's mother knew something was going on and especially knew how marked her daughter had been by seeing a dead body, but nothing Ella could do would be able to make it better.

Well, there was one thing. But she hadn't worked up enough courage to bring herself to that conclusion.

"Aria, Sweetheart, are you okay?" The always comforting voice of her mother made Aria's head perk up the slightest, tear streams staining her cheeks. Ella took in the sight of her, and a pang shot through her chest; her little girl was falling apart. And a big part of it was what she'd been doing to prevent Aria from getting the care and protection she needed by sending Ezra away.

Aria shook her head, a few more tears falling as she wiped them away with the back of her head. She was getting irritated of putting up a front every five seconds and trying to remain strong. Aria needed someone to be strong for her and be able to pick her up with the chips completely combusted.

"I-I need him, Mom," she cried, burying her head once more into her lap. Aria's chest convulsed with each sob, the white Hollis tee shirt she'd stolen from Ezra's closet straining against her back with each hiccup. The bedspread was was tightly wound around around her body, seeking warmth from the perpetual chill.

Aria had cracked. It brought tears to Ella's eyes to see her this broken and part of her felt responsible for the downward spiral. Biting her lip and fighting back her own set of tears, Ella walked towards her daughter on the bed and reached out her hand.

"May I have your phone, Sweetheart?"

Aria's face contorted to confusion and shock, but she was far too tired to protest. She exhaustively surrendered the mobile device to her mother. Ella opened up the contacts and searched until she came across the one number she was looking for.

Raising the phone to her ear, Ella waited until Ezra Fitz's voice sounded on the other end.

"Aria," he said loud enough for the girl to hear through the small speaker. Aria's head bobbed up and her heart lurched, wanting to talk to him.

"No, Ezra. This is Ella. You're going to need to come back to Rosewood. Now," she said sternly, not wanting to let her emotions get the best of her. Keeping her voice level, Ella continued to speak. "She needs you."