Emily Fields has always had a crush on her next door neighbor Alison DiLaurentis, ever since they met as kids, the two had always seemed drawn together.
It was strange, but it felt right. They were too young to realize the implications of their closeness at the time, but as they grew up, they'd realize why this was eventually.
To Emily, Alison was her everything. Alison had always been there, always the guiding hand in her life that saved her when she got upset that her father had to leave again, always there for each of her milestones.
The other girls in their clique didn't come until much later. Emily and Alison, it has always been them from the start.
Spencer Hastings came next, she was introduced in the seventh grade, and she and Alison didn't get along at first, always seeming to but heads, the two were very competitive with one another.
Especially when it came to field hockey. Emily was the mediator, the one who kept Ali calm and made sure Spencer wouldn't rile her up again.
The two were too similar, which is why they'd fight so often.
Aria Montgomery came during eighth grade. She was a spunky girl who had pink highlights in her hair and seemed so different from either Emily or Spencer, but Alison immediately welcomed her into their clique.
Which was weird since it took Spencer three full months to fall into place with Emily and Alison.
Though Emily was relieved that she didn't always have to be the mediator anymore, seeing as Aria stepped in from time to time.
The only issue with Aria stepping in was that 50% of the time she ended up riling the two competitive girls up more. Doing more harm than good.
Ninth grade was when Hanna Marin officially joined the clique. She wasn't like any of the other girls Alison usually hung out with, or welcomed into her group, but Hanna was really sweet and shy, much like Emily was,.so Alison ended up caving and allowing her into the Queen Bee clique that everyone wanted to be in.
It was also ninth grade when their soul bonds would officially activate.
Something all the girls were excited for, bar Alison. She had never wanted something as silly as a soul bond to force her into loving someone. Especially if it was someone that she didn't know.
She thought soul bonds were a farce. That was, until she got her soul mark.
It wasn't like any soul mark she'd ever seen, it was the title of a book. One that she'd read often. Great Expectations.
Emily too received that soul mark. Though neither would know about it until two months later.
They were in the library when Alison took out the book, immersing herself into the story of Estelle and Pip.
She liked that they had a happy ending. But then again, with a name like Great Expectation, was there really any doubt that the ending would be good?
When Emily first sat down next to her, and Alison began to talk about the book, Emily had been shocked.
Shocked that Alison was reading the book, and shocked that when Emily leaned in to kiss her (because she felt an inexplicable need to do so) that the title of the book on her left side of her ribcage right where her heart rest, glowed a soft golden.
Hearing Alison gasp into the kiss, Emily pulled back with wide eyes. Alison was her soulmate?
Alison had never expected to like her soulmate. She never viewed them as something good.
And secretly it was because she has been in love with Emily since they were little.
Emily had always made her feel safe and comfortable, in any environment that they were in.
Finding out that her soulmate was Emily was a big deal to Alison.
But at the time she was already getting mysterious text messages from someone called A, and she couldn't drag Emily into her mess.
So she asked Emily to keep their soul bond a secret. At first, Emily was saddened, believing that Alison was disgusted by their bond, disappointed that Emily was her destined partner.
But Alison reassured her that she was happy about the bond, she just wasn't ready for anyone else to know.
It could be their little secret. For now at least.
...
And so, Alison and Emily dated in secret, keeping their bond from everyone else. It was just for them, and it felt special.
A, was the real monster. The stalker was relentless, always threatening Alison with her secrets, and even saying that she was getting to close to her precious Mermaid.
Alison disappeared 7 months after she activated her bond with Emily.
Emily became depressed shortly after. Her life seemed to slowly fall apart without her soulmate standing beside her.
It has always been Emily and Alison. And without her other half, Emily wasn't exactly sure how to function.
Her soul mark became the only saving grace for her. It showed that she was still connected to Alison, even when she was missing. Emily's only hope was that she wasn't dead.
Slowly, the other members of Alison's clique start to spread apart.
First to leave is Aria, who's family moved to Iceland.
Then it was Hanna who started losing weight and becoming the new It girl at the school along with Mona, who also used to be someone Alison bullied.
Spencer was the last to leave Emily. She had taken on too many responsibilities, it was no wonder that she slipped away.
Emily had never felt so alone in her life.
She went to great lengths to hide her soul mark, she refused to talk about soulmates, always shitting down those types of conversations firmly.
Emily put on a mask, one that would hide her actual feelings of loss, hurt, and confusion.
...
It was a year before Emily's world seemed to shatter before her.
A new girl named Maya moved into Ali's old house.
Emily was at first angry, but she slowly got over it. Allison's family had loved out of their old house months ago.
Even though Alison is gone, Emily keeps her promise that she made so many months ago. She never tells anyone of her soul mark.
They find Alison's body only a day after Maya and her family move in.
Emily's entire world seems to shatter.
No one would ever understand how she felt that day, watching the paramedics roll the body bag past her.
Emily feels lost, living in a world without Alison had never been anything she had ever expected to do before.
It has always been Emily and Alison.
Together since that first day of preschool when Alison introduced herself to to a shy and young Emily who was to afraid to speak to the other kids or play with them.
Alison had demanded her attention from the get go.
Life throws unexpected curve balls at people, but Emily felt like a cannon ball had been launched into her chest, shredding her heart and killing her.
The funeral for Alison was beautiful, Alison would've loved it. But Emily hated it. Hated seeing the picture of her soulmate on that stand. Hated seeing the casket slowly enter the ground.
It felt like a large part of her had also died with Alison that day. She'd never feel the same way ever again.
...
Maya is cute, but she's not Alison. She could never love Maya like she could Alison. The kisses they share are fine, but they never have that electrifying feeling that her kisses with Alison always seemed to spark when their lips touched.
But she somewhat helped Emily out of her hidden slump.
Emily grew feelings for Maya, but they weren't as strong as her feelings for Emily.
Sure, she liked Maya, but Emily is never sure she could love Maya.
The other girls and her would get messages from A sometimes. This person seemed to know all of their secrets. All of them except for Emily's most important secret.
Her true connection to Alison.
...
A was dangerous. That much was very obvious. But A had more dirt on the others than they did on Emily.
Like how Aria met her soulmate Ezra Fitz, who just so happened to be their English teacher.
They too kept their connection a secret. But if came out in the end. Like mostly all of the liar's secrets.
Spencer met her soulmate next in the form of Toby. At first she was very distrustful of him, believing him to be A, but eventually she learnt to trust him, and they ended up being soulmate too! Which was something that Spencer found nice.
But, much like Alison, Spencer wouldn't allow her bond to rule her life, she made Toby earn her love. She didn't give it freely.
Hanna was the last to meet her soulmate in a hacker boy named Caleb.
Caleb was perfect for Hanna, they just worked together so well.
Of course the girls, even under the threat of A, has always been curious about Emily's soulmate mark.
Always wondering if Maya was her soulmate.
After Emily's firm refusal, the girls stared at her wide eyes, wondering why she had seed so offended and angry.
When Maya dies, it hurt quite a lot. But Emily and Maya were broken up with at the time. Maya dies and was found similarly to Alison, bringing up old traumatic wounds that would never truly be healed.
...
Paige came into Emily's life unexpectedly. Emily was hesitant to try and love someone again.
The last time didn't go so well. But Paige seemed to make Emily forget about the loss of her soulmate for a little while.
Of course, the girls were curious, could this be Emily's soulmate?
But Emily's staunch refusal made them back off. Knowing that the mere mention of soulmates irritated Emily to no end.
Paige would always notice Emily wearing a bracelet with her name on it, and whenever she mentioned that Alison gave it to her, she would look at the bracelet as if it offended her.
Emily and Paige don't last long. And Emily was perfectly fine with that.
Paige wasn't right for her. No one ever would be. Not like Emily was.
...
Mona was A, at least the first A. When Emily thought her suffering was over, a new A walked into their lives.
But this one knew something that the other A didn't.
They knew her connection to Alison.
Sending photos of her and Alison kissing on the Kissing Rock.
Knowing the Emily was who Alison had been in a relationship with. Even though the Liar's thought it had been Ian. It was a hard pill to swallow to force herself to not speak up when the girls believed Ian and Alison were together.
...
Emily could hardly take the torment not only did she get an ulcer from it, she fucked up her swim meet too.
Emily's depression gets worse. Without Alison there with her, Emily spirals. Suicide was something that she contemplated many times, all she wanted was to feel whole again, and without Alison, she'd never feel whole.
...
Sometimes the girls try to set her up with other girls, trying to help Emily find her soulmate, even if they knew she always hated when soulmates were brought up.
Which was unusual for the sweet girl. But something they had learnt to live with.
...
When Emily sees Alison outside of the barn, she almost feels a sort of serenity that she hadn't felt before.
But when she wakes up again, she was alone.
...
When Alison does finally come home, the reunion was surprising to say the least.
Everyone has known that Emily and Alison were close. No one had ever realized just how close the were.
But the moment that they'd locked eyes, there just seemed to be a magnetic pull between the two girls.
And there was no holding back when Alison grabbed Emily by the collar and pulled her in for a kiss as a wave of golden light surrounded the couple after being away from one another so long.
"I've missed you my Pip." Alison said with a fond smile on her lips.
"I missed you as well Estelle." Emily said with a smile.
It was no surprise when the next time they had a pool part, two matching Great Expectation soul marks were proudly shown.
The girls had never understood how close Emily and Alison were.
They never understood Emily's aversion to soulmates.
But, upon learning the true story of Emily and Alison. Everything just seemed to click into place.
Emily and Alison were soulmates, their story is not usual, but it was theirs, and they had a ton of GREAT EXPECTATIONS for the future.