all things truly wicked
is Pretty Little Liars What If? Fan Fic written by twocankeepasecret
The main premise of this story is that Spencer's suspicion that Ezra was A in the episode "Free Fall" was entirely right. This fic deviates from the scene in which Ezra confronts Aria at the ski lift, and kidnaps her to use as leverage against the other Liars in exchange for Alison, whom he never stopped obsessing over.
This page contains unmarked spoilers for the TV show and the fic.
Tropes found in this work:
- Adaptation Expansion: More details are given in regards to where Alison was during the time she disappeared from Rosewood. Ezra shows Aria a photograph of Alison taken by the NAT club which Aria discovers was taken from her father's apartment when her family was vacationing in Europe.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: The revelation that CeCe is Alison's sister, Charlotte DiLaurentis, who was sent to Radley by her father for being transgender occurs much earlier compared to the series.
- Adaptational Heroism: CeCe Drake/Charlotte DiLaurentis, by virtue of not being A in this story.
- Adaptational Villainy: Ezra is A in this story and thus the one who has been tormenting the Liars. The fic also takes his more unsavory canon moments to the forefront and shows how horrifying they actually are.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Aria questions Ezra on why he would try and kill Alison after getting her pregnant, he asks her what she would have done in his position of being a grown man in a sexual relationship with an underage girl, Aria reponds that she wouldn't be sick enough to date a teenager in the first place to which Ezra remarks that she should have thought about that when she chose to date her high school teacher. Aria visibly recoils at this.
- Big Bad: Ezra Fitz/A
- Big Sister Instinct: When Emily asks Charlotte whose side she's on, Charlotte honestly responds that she's on Alison's side and always has been.
- Damsel in Distress: Aria is kidnapped by Ezra at the start of the story.
- Deconstruction Fic: This fic does not excuse Ezra's crimes in the show, such as willingly having a sexual relationship with an underage girl, seducing another underage girl trying to pass herself off as legal even though he knows that she's not, and stalking her and her friends. Even if he wasn't A, he's still portrayed as a thoroughly despicable sexual predator. A few of the Liars (Aria especially) mentally kick themselves for believing that it was perfectly acceptable for Ezra and Aria to be involved romantically.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: When Emily sympathizes with CeCe when the latter tells her that her father made her the Unperson for coming out as transgender, CeCe responds that she doesn't want her pity.
- Everyone Has Standards: Paige may have hated Alison, but she's still disgusted at Ezra when she learns that he willingly pursued a relationship with her despite the fact that he was an adult and she was a teenager.
- Go-Go Enslavement: Aria is provided with a wardrobe full of nice dresses, tights, underwear, and shoes by Ezra while she's being held captive. She notes that the style of the clothing was from before she met him and started dressing to appear older, the implications of which unsettle her.
- The Man Behind the Man: When going through Ezra's tax records, Aria discovers he made a series of payments to Detective Wilden ever since he introduced himself to the Liars as the lead detective in Alison's murder.
- Replacement Goldfish: Aria realizes in hindsight that Ezra has been using her as a substitute for Alison the entire time they were together.
- Spit Take: Mona chokes on her frappuccino when Hanna reveals that she knows that Ezra is A.
- Wham Line: After learning from Eddie Lamb that Melissa is the one who told Wren to take a job at Radley, Spencer confronts her sister on if she told Wren to do so in order to keep watch on Charlotte, Melissa responds with this:"It wasn't so that Wren could keep an eye on Charlotte. It was so Charlotte could keep an eye on Wren."
- And when Spencer asks Melissa to explain why she would want to do that:
"I found out Wren went to boarding school in New England, and I went through his yearbooks. His roommate three years in a row was Ezra Fitzgerald." - Yandere: Ezra, given his obsession with Alison. One of the first things he does in this fic is kidnapping Aria and holding her captive in exchange for Alison.
