EMPTY GOLD.
003. | ❛ do you still have nightmares? ❜

Elena dropped her bags in the hotel room and bolted outside to go to her plot of land in Rosewood. She followed the dirt path and found an SUV parked in the front of it. She walks around it and hears the noise of a chainsaw and the man she loved with goggles covering his eyes. Toby sees her figure standing there and quickly stops while Elena runs towards him jumping onto of him while Toby caught her and twirled her around before setting her down on the ground and kissing her lips.

"Wow! This is impressive" Elena looked down at the blueprints that Toby made for their house.

"Ah, it's harder than I thought. I curse a lot. It's very therapeutic. How was New York?"

"Um, I curse a lot it's very therapeutic." Elena smiles at him.

"How long are you staying?" Her fiancé asked her.

"I got a request from The State of Pennsylvania. They would like my opinion on something."

"Ali's trying to get Charlotte out of the hospital. "

"Yeah. We're here to talk to the court."

"We?"

"Aria, Emily, Hanna, Spencer, and me." Elena said to him leaving Spencer's name last to not reference their break up.

"All of you in one place at one time. When's the last time that happened in Rosewood? "

"Long time." She patted his back.

"But when Alison flashes the Bat Signal... "

"You know it's not like that, you know, we're still friends and we're not just, "Let's go see a movie and have dinner" kinda friends, but the "I saved your life, now you save mine" kinda friends. You know. You were there."

"You still didn't answer the question" Toby says grabbing her hand and intertwining them with his.

"Well, the hearing's tomorrow, and then... and then I don't really know. I probably don't have to be back in New York for a week."

"Then I have to do something extra special for you this weekend." He leaned in and brushed his soft lips onto Elena's. Her heart started to melt before she pulled back," I, I should go though. I'm supposed to be meeting Ali. And I'm already late." She kissed his cheek before taking off to meet Ali and the other girls.
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Elena found her way to the classroom where Ali taught. The girls stood against the desks as they heard Alison reason for Charlotte's trial.

"Charlotte is getting the help she never had when she was little. Five years of treatment, undoing all the damage. I visit her, I spend time with her. She even stayed at my house for a weekend last Christmas."

"They let her out?" Hanna asked

"It was a supervised visit." Ali continued.

"So Charlotte is all better now. What does this have to do with us?" Spencer nudged her head towards all of us.

"At the hearing tomorrow, the judge will decide if she should be released. 'And they want to hear from people who were involved.'"

"Victim statements." Elena said blankly.

"Statements of support. Statements that she isn't a threat to anybody. That you guys are not afraid of her anymore. There is no reason to be afraid." We all just wandered our eyes because deep down we all were still afraid of Charlotte for all the years of torture.

"You know her.You heard her story. We all went through this together. "Alison tried to persuade us to go through with it.

"Yes, we did. We have the scars to prove it too."

"You're asking us to give a get-out-of-jail-free card to someone who tried to kill us."

"She's in a hospital, Hanna. She's not in jail."

"She's lucky."

"And we're lucky to be alive." Emily finally spoke up.

"That's why your statements would mean so much." Ali pleased towards the liars.

"Who else is speaking?" Spencer pried

"Mona demanded to be heard. She's going to talk to the judge about the Dollhouse, and being tortured."

"What about Sara Harvey?" Hanna asked which still left goosebumps when people uttered her name.

"What about her?"

"Well, suppose we do talk to the judge... 'they march in Sara Harvey.' "Elena uttered.

"She gives a few choice words about what happened to her that night at Radley?" Aria continued off of Elena.

"She's not allowed to testify because of how her criminal charges were resolved."

"Why isn't Jason here?"Spencer pointed out to why the oldest Dilaurentis sibling wasn't here. Elena changed her stance and stood more firm.

"He doesn't agree with Dr. Rollins and me."

"Okay, you realize what you're asking us to do. You want us to forgive Charlotte."

"I don't care if you forgive her. I'm asking you to give me my only chance at a real family."

"Alison, we're here to say how we feel and you're asking us to lie."

"I know what your asking for Alison but our feelings matter in this. Like Hanna said we're here to tell them how we feel." Elena crossed her arms and leaned back.

"Please do this. Do this for me." The girls weren't going to give out so easily.

"Pretty please? 'With sugar on top?' "

"What? "

"That's what you say on a playground to exact a favor. We're not on the playground anymore, Alison. We haven't been for a long time."

"Please?" Alison begged for the last time before walking out of the room.
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Elena went home to change before she was needed at the trial. She decided to stop by the Brew again to get some caffeine in her system. While waiting for her coffee, Elena saw a certain black haired girl who was the first A that also betrayed Hanna's trust.

"Your artwork is certainly on the rise." Mona spoke out to the liar.

"Well thank you Mona" Elena grabbed her coffee and was ready to leave when Mona spoke again.

"Do you still have nightmares?"

"I do" Elena would sometimes wake up screaming in the middle of the night. And that was only on good days, some nights Elena would stay awake from the fear of closing her eyes. Toby has never really seen Elena like that and would comfort her on the times that he did catch her awake. I'm

"Three shrinks and a whole lot of prescriptions but I still have bad dreams."

"How about you?"

"It's getting better." She sipped her coffee before letting out a sigh, "Mona it's been nice catching up but I have some place to be."

"Sure, don't let me keep you. By the way, congrats on the engagement Toby is a lucky man."

"Thanks Mona." Elena replied before exiting the Brew and making her way to the trial.
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"My family has always had a missing part. What's missing is my sister Charlotte. Past five years I've gotten to know come to love this missing part of my family. And now, I wanna bring my sister home." Ali gave her testimony to the judge while we all sat in the crowd.

"I'm sure that you've read all of the documents about who Charlotte is, and what she's done to us. Those are just reports. One thing that I've learned from all this is that people are not always the things that they do. Charlotte DiLaurentis poses no threat to me." Spencer reported to the judge with ease.

"I was angry for a long time. But now, every morning I wake up... I drink coffee, and I walk outside. It's either sunny or it's raining, but there I am. I'm free. I don't see why Charlotte shouldn't have the same chance to get caught in the rain as I do. No, I'm not afraid of her. "

"My dad taught me that fear is natural. It's a good instinct. 'He also said that you can decide' what you're going to be afraid of. I decided I'm not afraid of Charlotte Dilaurentis." Emily stated

"Aristotle once said that 'He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.' Charlotte is no longer a person I fear, that and many other reasons that I chose to believe that I'm free. I want her to be free too. I'm not scared of Charlotte Dilaurentis." Elena confessed. She went in there undecided but after hearing the others talk, Charlotte doesn't haunt them anymore.

"Alison and Dr. Rollins have told us how well Charlotte's been doing.
How rapidly she's been able to integrate herself into the General Hospital population. They feel strongly that... "

The door opens and the least expected person opens the door. "I'm sorry." The one and only Ezra Fitz sits next to Elena.

"Miss Montgomery. "

"Sorry. They feel strongly... that now is the right time for Charlotte... "

"Miss Montgomery, I've read the same reports that you have. Well, the doctors... The doctors can speak for themselves. You're here to tell me if you'd feel safe should Charlotte DiLaurentis leave the hospital. Miss Montgomery?"

"No. No, I would not feel safe. I was on the Redline going to Braintree... and the train stopped in the tunnel between the stations. The power went out and, and it was dark. 'No, not dark. It was black.' 'And I was back in every box' 'in every dark tight space that' "A" ever put me in, and I couldn't breathe. Then I heard a girl crying. Good. I thought somebody else is scared out of her mind. Then... the power came back on and every single person on that train was staring at me. Because I was the girl that was crying. I don't want Charlotte released. Ever. "

"Here comes the last nail in the coffin." Hanna whispers to Elena who looks at Mona who is taking the stand.

"I thought I could do this, but I can't. I've been listening to my friends how they've managed to forgive Charlotte. I wish I could hate her, but I can't. 'I can't, because I know what she went through.' I was in Radley Sanitarium. I was there for months. Charlotte was there for years and years. 'Being in that place is what twisted her all out of shape.' Let her out. Let her go home. That's all any of us want. Is to have a home. I'm sorry" Mona says before fleeing the court room.
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"Sorry, I'm late what did I miss?" Elena met with Spencer and Emily in the hotel lobby.

"You're not late, you're on time." Emily gave me a smile.

Hanna and Aria waltz as they wave their phones," Did you guys see? " Elena looked at her phone seeing that Charlotte was officially released and Ali thanked them for their help.

"We saw. "

"Everyone, say hello to the only honest woman in town." Hanna put her hand on Aria's shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, you spoke the truth."

"Elena's right. You're small, but you are mighty. You put us all to shame. "

"Alright, everyone turn your phones off. Not silent, not vibrate, off." Hanna eyed each one of us and Elena have in and turned her phone off. On the other hand Spencer wasn't that willing.

"I can't turn my phone all the way off. "

"Spencer, one of the lifesaving pieces of information I've learned is that these things actually have an off button. Do it, Spencer." Spencer finally gave in and powered off her phone before placing it on the table.

"Okay! The coven of the sacred cocktails is now in session."Hanna said lifting her finger which caused a waiter to come over with drinks.

A/N: Do you like that Elena's fiancé is Toby?