Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aaron coughed weakly, all this for one person? For a single professor, who he held parental love for. George Washinton.

Aaron watched from the sidelines as Alexander got praise, a place to stay and a family. He watched Washington play favourites, giving extra attention to Alexander and his friends. Aaron was a prodigy and did better in Washington's classes than Alexander did, but he wasn’t worth a glance from his idol.

Aaron recalled the first time he coughed up those yellow carnation petals. Petals that now came out red instead, coated in Aaron's own blood. They were receiving back essays, which were to be written on the topic of how forming relationships helps in a workplace environment. Aaron got the essay done as quickly as possible when it had been assigned. The essay was given back with a full mark. He was proud of himself, until he realised Alexander had been given extra points. There was a small note next to the mark, reading ‘Great job, son’. Aarons chest constricted, he glanced over at Madison's page, almost perfect, another note. He tried his best to catch a glimpse of everyone else's papers, those that he did see had notes. Aaron felt a tingle at the back of his throat, there was something in his lungs.

Washington dismissed them and Aaron bolted up. He scrambled to grab his things and rushed to the bathroom, he felt as though he was going the puke. As soon as he made it into the stall he cough harshly, petals falling out of his mouth as saliva trailed down his chin. Aaron was shocked at the large amount of petals that filled the toilet bowl, although some ended up on the ground. Aaron heaved but nothing else came out. He pulled out his phone, and texted Laurens that he would be home late and to leave the door unlocked as Aaron would lock it when he showed up.

When Laurens replied Aaron sighed lightly, before cleaning himself up and heading to the library. He asked the librarian on where to find books with flower meanings. He flipped through several books before finding the meaning of yellow carnations, ‘Disdain, disappointment and rejection’. Aaron laughed bitterly, those felt pretty accurate to how his and Washington's relationship worked. The laughing turned into coughing, which turned into more yellow carnation petals falling to the floor. Aaron felt tears welling up in his eyes, it hurt, both the flowers and the rejection. He knew Hanahaki was relatively common nowadays, although usually to do with romantic love instead of platonic or familiar. Aaron cleaned himself off, gathering the petals and disposing of them. Just as he was throwing the last bit out he heard a gasp.

Aaron whirled around and was faced with Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton reached out but Aaron flinched away.

“I- I’m so sorry- is it you that has it?” Aaron pounced on the chance to remove Alexander's involvement. He shook his head.

“Friend. I’m just helping clean up the aftermath.” Alexander gave him a suspicious glance, before noting the book in his arms.

“What do they mean?” Aaron stuttered for a moment, before flipping to the page, acting as though the words hadn’t been ingrained into his mind.

“Disdain, disappointment and rejection.” Alexander winced, reaching for the book and taking it from Aarons arms.

“Do you know who they're for? What type of love? Is it a student? What’s their mental state like? Are they getting the surgery or confessing?” Alexander rapidly fired off questions, only stopping when he saw Aaron wince as the onslaught of loud talking.

“It's Prf. Washington. Familiar. They feel pretty bad. They don’t know yet.” Aaron answered, confessing his own feelings under the protection of a fake identity. Alexander nodded, promising to follow up as he’s never known someone with hanahaki before, Aaron agreed with a tight smile, clearly uncomfortable.

Once Alexander left Aaron made his way home, already knowing that the whole gang would be present. As soon as he entered he was interrogated by Alexander's friends, begging to know who it was on campus that Aaron knew and was coughing up flowers. Aaron sighed, pushing past them and heading into his bedroom, locking the door as quickly as possible so that he could rest. Aaron glanced at his measly trash can and sighed. He would need a bigger one if he wanted his issue to remain hidden. God, how would he keep it hidden from Laurens? He needed a very quick solution to this.

For a brief moment Aaron thought about going to Washington and telling him about the situation. Aaron quickly pushed that aside, what was he going to tell the older man? That he was so jealous of Alexander Hamilton's perfect life that he started to cough up flowers? Was he going to say how Washington treated him worse than all of his other students? How all Aaron wanted was to be acknowledged by one of his idols who he interacted with on a daily basis? Aaron felt the tears streaming down his face and heard the sobs coming out of his mouth. The horrible pain in his lungs as a flower grew and thrived within them, the feeling of petals shoving their way up his through and onto his floor as a mixture of saliva and tears flowed down his face.

Weren’t the petals supposed to be coming in small amounts at first? Didn’t Hanahaki take a while to form completely. Aaron gasped as he stopped coughing, taking in large amounts of air to compensate for the lack of oxygen he’d been taking in while coughing up petals. Aaron felt faint, dizzy even, for a couple of seconds before he blacked out, surrounded by a bed of yellow petals.

When Aaron woke up it was to the sound of his alarm clock, telling him that it was seven so he needed to start getting ready for class. Aaron coughed lightly, glad to see that no petals came up. He might’ve even believed it was a dream if not for the wilted petals surrounding him. Aaron winced at the dryness of his mouth, he was likely dehydrated from all the crying he did yesterday. Aaron quickly dumped all the petals into his trash can, which couldn't contain all of them, but he was in a hurry. Aaron threw on a quick outfit and opened his door silently, doing his best to close it silently as well. He crept through the hallway, and saw no on in the living room so he attempted to sneak out the front door.

Just as he was opening the door a hand landed on his shoulder, and Aaron froze. He didn’t turn around, he knew who was behind him and had no intention of talking to the older man.

“From what Alexander told me you shouldn’t be out of bed, let alone going to classes.” Aaron winced at the formal tone, it was cold, so unlike the way he speaks to the other students.

“What did Hamilton tell you?” Aaron asked, shrugging the hand of his shoulder but still not turning around.

“Alexander told me that you had a nasty bout of coughing last night. You shouldn’t go to classes if you are sick.” Aaron felt the now familiar feeling of flower petals rising up, triggered by the way Washington emphasised on using Alexander's name. Aaron knew Washington never used his name, he was only ever ‘Burr’.

“I’m not sick. I’m fine.” He wasn’t, he truly wasn't fine or okay. He was dying and nobody knew. Aaron inhaled deeply at that thought, he was dying. Aaron realised that Washington was still talking, but he didn’t care. Aaron pushed past the larger man and ran into the small bathroom in the apartment. He slammed the door but didn't lock it, not having enough time to before rushing to the toilet. Aaron gagged and coughed harshly as he hacked up the mostly yellow petals. Some had red staining the edges, and Aaron was terrified. It wasn’t supposed to develop this fast. Someone opened the door but Aaron didn’t look, only focussed on breathing through the pain and petals coming from his throat.

Aaron looked at the doorway, standing there was Alexander and Washington. Both looked horrified. Alexander rushed to Aarons side, and when Washington tried to follow, Alexander pushed him out. Aaron was grateful, although it made him feel a little worse to see how Washington gave up instantly, knowing that if he was Alexander the man would have forced his way through to him.

“So, I suppose there is no friend then?” Alexander joked, referencing their conversation from the previous day. Aaron laughed through the tears making their way down his face. Alexander sat down next to Aaron, patting him on the back. Aaron felt a pang of guilt in his gut, he hadn’t wanted Alexander to get involved.

“So, what now?” Aaron pushed himself up, Alexander helped steady him and trailed behind him as Aaron walked out into the kitchen, grabbing himself a glass of water and sat down on the couch. Alex didn’t miss the way Aaron completely ignored George and hoped they could talk it out.

Aaron looked over at Washington and gestured for him to come over. “I developed Hanahaki for you.” He stated, his face flushed as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. “I saw the way you treated all the other students with kindness and compassion, treated them like your own children. Yet you never spared me a glance, I never got any notes on my work, never compliments or criticisms. I was never called on in class. I worked my ass off to be good enough for you- but I never was.” Aaron laughed bitterly, tears welling up in his eyes yet again.

“Why am I not good enough? What does everyone else have that I don’t? Am I too serious? Why don’t you like me? Why am I not good enough?” Aaron begged, but Washington just sat their, shocked.

“Mr. Burr- Aaron- you are my student. I care for all my students equally- I just figured you didn’t want the extra attention.”

“It’s not extra attention if everyone receives it. Just tell me I’m right, that I’m your least favourite student and we can continue on. The flower will die and we can push past this.”

“You could die to son-”

“-I’m not your son! I never have been before and never will be!” Aaron interrupted his professor, not believing the audacity of the man. “You have never treated me with the kindness that a father would treat his son. I would kill to be your son, this disease should be more than enough proof that I want to be your son, but I will never be your son.” Aaron sobbed, before bending over. Aaron gagged, blood mixed with saliva dripped streamed down onto the floor as Aaron choked. Alexander rushed over, desperately trying to help Aaron in any way possible while Washington watched, shocked that he could have caused his student so much pain.

Suddenly a large fully bloomed flower fell from Aarons mouth, splattered blood covering the yellow carnation. Aaron’s knees buckled and he fell onto his knees, mouth open as blood and saliva dripped down in equal measures. Alexander looked on in horror as Aaaron gasped for breath. Just as Aaron had started to calm down, he started gagging again. Alexander hit him harshly on the back, tears started to flow down his face as well.

Aaron cried desperately as more flowers started to fall from his mouth, each one coming out with more blood coating it. Soon Aaron found himself unable to breath, he choked, wasting the breath he didn’t have. He felt like his throat was being torn apart by the flowers, which was true. Aaron hacked and gagged as a fully fledged flower was pushed out of his throat and onto the floor. Aaron choked on his own blood as he stared at the flower in horror, his own tears had started to wash some of the blood off. Aaron suddenly noticed he couldn’t breath, and panic overtook him.
Aaron choked, desperately trying to breathe as blood filled his throat and lungs, which had been torn apart by the flower that now laid on the floor. Aaron felt his vision start going fuzzy, and he fell to the floor, his vision going black. Aaron felt the blood spill out of his mouth, as the last tear fell and he fell unconscious.

Chapter Text

Aaron gasped as he awoke, greedily inhaling every last bit of oxygen he could. Aaron warily took in his surroundings, he died, didn’t he? The room he was in had bright fluorescent lights, and the walls were an off white, and Aaron was hooked up to various machines, all of which lead into his chest. Aaron stared down at his chest in horror, the various tubes implanted into his lungs looked horrific. Aaron choked on his breath as his eyes widened, how was he alive?

Aaron was brought out of his panic when a flurry of doctors and nurses slammed the door open, crowding around him. Aaron sat there, staring at the nurses as they busied themselves checking his vitals and such. One doctor gave him a smile, before introducing himself.

“Hello, Mr. Burr, I’m Martha Washington.” Aaron briefly wondered why that name sounded vaguely familiar, but he didn’t remember anyone with the name Washington. “I’m sure you’re very confused at the moment, so let me explain. You developed Hanahaki,” She paused, allowing Aaron a second to collect his thoughts, “Alexander Hamilton called the paramedics and despite the flower having completely rooted, we managed to save your life.” Aaron’s eyes widened, Hamilton saved him? After all Aaron had done to the man was lie and worry him? But, why had Hamilton saved him? Who had Aaron developed Hanahaki for?

“You developed the disease for one of your professors. You won’t remember him personally, but luckily, due to breakthroughs in modern medicine you will still remember experiences that involved him, just not the actions he took.” Aaron let out a sigh of relief, at least he wouldn’t forget or he hadn’t forgotten one of his college courses.

Aaron cussed, his classes! How would he ever catch up? Unless… “How long have I’ve been here?”

“About a month,” Martha answered soothingly, “But it’s okay, you have all the time in the world to get better and to catch up, okay?” Aaron still felt upset, but the soothing tone had somewhat at ease. Aaron felt his mind fill up with even more questions, mostly about Hamilton. Aaron suddenly felt exhausted, he looked up to see a doctor adjusting his IV, noticing the drug that had started flowing through his veins. Aaron thought it must have been a sedative, before his vision went black once again.

When Aaron woke up the second time he found he didn’t freak out nearly as much as the first time. The wire’s and tube’s flowing into him seem less scary and more of an extension of his own body. Aaron looked over to the side, startling when he saw a sleeping Alexander Hamilton. Aaron heard his heart rate spike and quickly calmed himself down, he didn’t want to attract any nurses or doctors.

“Ham-Ilt-ton?” Aaron called out, his mouth dry and his voice stuttered. Hamilton stirred, eye’s briefly fluttering, closing before they swiftly opened again, staring at Aaron with such intensity that Aaron felt a familiar burning sensation in his chest, which caused him to flinch. Aaron watched as Hamilton’s eye’s softened, before the taller man gave him a soft smile.

“Hey Aaron,” Hamilton greeted softly. Aaron was hit by a strong feeling of guilt, Hamilton- No Alexander- looked exhausted. Aaron briefly wondered if Alexander was okay, the man looked like he had just gone through a hurricane.

“How are you?” Aaron recalled Alexander always talking so much more than the man was right now.

“I-” Aaron paused, how was he? “I’m not dead..?” Alexander let out a short laugh, Aaron wished he knew what was wrong.

“And, h-how are you?” Aaron asked, watching as Alexander stared down at his hands, which were shaking.

“Not too great, to be honest,” Alexander choked out a life, looking up as tears started to fall. “You almost died man, you did die! And- god, there was so much blood, red and gold everywhere.” Alexander inhaled deeply, calming himself down.

“I thought I’d never see you again.” Aaron felt his heart melting, guilt and shame crashing into him at full force.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron whispered, “I’m so sorry. I was so selfish-” Aaron cut himself off when Alexander’s eyes flew up, a burning fury in his eyes.

“You were not selfish.” Aaron flinched slightly at the venom in his friend's tone. “Professor Washington showed blatant disrespect towards you. He was selfish, not you.”

“Professor Washington?” Aaron asked, was that the man he had developed hanahaki for?

“He’s a teacher at our college. He was there when you,” Alexander slit his throat with his finger and made a choking sound. It was such dark humour, but Aaron cracked a smile anyway.

“When I kicked the bucket?” Alexander nodded, matching Aaron’s smile with a much brighter one.

“They were yellow carnations, you know. Very pretty flowers.” Alexander commented, pointedly looking at a vase that held what Aaron presumed to be yellow carnations.

“Oh. What do they mean?” Alexander winced, a grimace overtaking his smile.
“Disdain, disappointment and rejection. At least that's what they mean er- meant to you.” Aaron nodded.

“Did I confess?” Alexander sputtered at the sudden question but soon a grin overtook the grimace that was still on his face.

“Quite passionately. You had a whole rant and you were screaming at him. Looking back on it, it was pretty badass.” Aaron grinned up at Alexander, then started coughing.

He coughed until his lungs felt empty, and was shocked to see the flowers that would inevitably haunt his dreams. As he coughed Alexander rang for a nurse, who quickly came to Aaron’s bed side.

“Why are they still there?”

“I have no idea, I will call the doctor right away.” Aaron looked up at Alexander in fear. Alexander returned the look.

Chapter Text

Aaron sat there, motionless and unseeing as the doctor told him that the surgery had failed, and that it was likely that he would die if he came into contact with his professor ever again.

Alexander was staring at him, while his friends quietly conversed behind him, sitting in a circle on the floor. They had arrived shortly before the doctor, having left the second Aaron woke up.

“Do you understand, Mr. Burr?” Aaron nodded, although he hadn’t listened to what most of the doctor said. Alexander continued to stare at him, gaze growing more concerned by the moment.

“What?!” Aaron snapped, eyes narrowing as he glared at Alex. Alex seemed to shake himself out of whatever mental funk he was in and glared back.

“You’re not okay, Aaron! Stop being angry and let me help you!” Aaron simply turned away, glaring at a potted plant in the corner of the room.

“Soo, anyone want to play go fish?” Laurens asked, breaking the tension of the room. Mulligan and Lafayette quickly voiced their agreements, and Alexander nodded. Everyone waited with baited breath as Aaron loosened his shoulders.

“Sure.”

-----

A few hours later every young man in the room was staring shiftily at their counterparts, enemies now. They had switched to Uno an hour ago, and quickly fallen into the game.

“What the fuck, dude?!” Screeched Alex when Laurens stacked a plus four on top of Aarons. Mulligan snorted and choked on his own spit, which Lafayette laughed at while patting the older man on his back. Aaron smiled, forgetting about the tubes and the flowers, the pain and depression he felt.

And then, it happened.

Aaron doubled over, hacking up flower after flower, all fully bloomed. Blood steadily coated them, the amount increasing with each flower. Soon the flowers stopped coming up, just blood. Aaron hacked and coughed, equal parts of blood and saliva spraying and dripping onto the sheets and cards. Soon doctors and nurses alike ran in, ushering Hamilton and Friends out of the room. They could hear Aaron’s coughs echoing through the hallway, Alexander felt guilty for causing the fit, after all it was his reaction that sparked the laugh that caused the fit to happen.

John gave Alexander a pitying look, and briefly reflected on his own feelings. He had no idea that Aaron developed Hanahaki until he came home to blood, flowers and a quickly written note from Alexander. He felt somewhat guilty, after all he never made the effort to get to know Aaron and Aaron felt like he couldn’t come to him with this.

Hercules didn’t really know Aaron, only having interacted with him once or twice, but he still felt responsible for the kid. How had no one noticed how bad Aaron wanted praise? Seriously, had no one ever given the kid a complement?

Je ne sais pas comment écrire Lafayette, alors je vais juste dire qu'il se sentait mal de ne pas prendre soin d'Aaron et de le mettre en français, parce qu'il est français, tu sais? J'espère que c'est assez long, euh, il se sent coupable qu'Aaron ne lui en ait pas parlé, et qu'il n'ait jamais fait l'effort de mieux le connaître que de poser des questions sur l'étudiant qui était censé avoir la maladie.

No one really knew how to act, especially now that Aaron was nearly dead in that room. All of them tried to spark conversation, but it quickly died. No one wanted to talk while they could hear Aaron’s coughs and gags from that cursed hospital room.

Then it went silent, and each person in the hall tensed. It was completely silent, not a sound to be heard, even the beeping.

Shit. Alexander started shaking, emerging deep into anxiety at the lack of the steady beeping that showed Aaron was alive.

John froze, eyes dying, dulling as he went into a catatonic-like state. His roommate’s heart had just stopped.

Hercules choked on the words he was about to say, dry sobs coming out instead.

Lafayette blinked, then realized what the silence meant and promptly dissolved into a mess of rapid french and tears.

The doctors inside the room jumped into action, all pushing past each other in chaotic harmony as they tried to save Aaron Burr’s life.

Aaron heard nothing, he was back in the darkness. He looked around, trying to envision anything else but the darkness that surrounded him. No success. Aaron contemplated his life, his actions. Lying to Alexander had been bad. Not telling Washington had been bad. Dying had been bad. Aaron though his life might have been bad, but then he remembered uno and late nights with Laurens. Binge watching Netflix on Halloween while Hamilton and Friends tried to break down his door and bring him to a party.

Aaron fought the darkness with all the light he had, and gasped. The hospital room slowly spun into focus as he stared into the faces of confused doctors and wide mouthed nurses.

“Get me *Insert doctor stuff here* stat!” The once frozen room sprung into action, nurses and doctors scrambling around as they did what the one doctor, who he now realised was Martha, wanted.

Aaron wondered where Alexander was.

“Well,” Marth started, “You just died, and then revived with no interception. Any idea how?” Aaron thought about the question briefly and nodded.

“Love.”

“Love?” Martha asked confused. “Isn’t that what put you in this mess in the first place, dear?” Martha chuckled good naturedly and Aaron gave her a smile.

“Love for my friends and life, and understanding that no matter how much negativity there is I can still survive.” Martha nodded, a small smile on her face as she was swept up into the mess of medical professionals that were on their way to prepare tests.

Epilogue:

After surviving getting killed by the flowers a second time, Aaron made a miraculous recovery. Whether this was because of the Hamilsquads constant care or because he actually followed doctor's instructions was unclear.

Aaron had confronted Washington as soon as he was back on campus, the one doctor order he had ignored. They had a long talk, a very long talk. So long in fact, that Alexander actually came in to make sure they weren’t dead.

Aaron explained his feelings while not choking on flowers, blood and spit. Washington explained his own perspective, now understanding that he had been excluding Aaron and acting selfishly. Washington had nothing against Aaron, simply thought him too mature to enjoy little notes or chats.

Washington went home to Martha and broke down, tears bubbling as he worked through the guilt he felt. He had killed a student, twice! The same one had died twice as a result of his actions. Martha comforted him the best she could, but understood this was something he had to work out on his own.

Alexander and co. never failed to cheer Aaron up, almost constantly surrounding him. They made a group chat titled, “Aaron Burr Protection Squad” and never changed it, despite Aaron’s pleadings.

Aaron recovered at his own pace, working through things with Washington and becoming more friendly and outgoing with the help of the Hamilsquad.

Aaron smiled, he still had a long road ahead of him, but at least he could face it with the help of his friends.

Chapter Text

Aaron sat there, motionless and unseeing as the doctor told him that the surgery had failed, and that it was likely that he would die if he came into contact with his professor ever again.

Alexander was staring at him, while his friends quietly conversed behind him, sitting in a circle on the floor. They had arrived shortly before the doctor, having left the second Aaron woke up.

“Do you understand, Mr. Burr?” Aaron nodded, although he hadn’t listened to what most of the doctor said. Alexander continued to stare at him, gaze growing more concerned by the moment.

“What?!” Aaron snapped, eyes narrowing as he glared at Alex. Alex seemed to shake himself out of whatever mental funk he was in and glared back.

“You’re not okay, Aaron! Stop being angry and let me help you!” Aaron simply turned away, glaring at a potted plant in the corner of the room.

“Soo, anyone want to play go fish?” Laurens asked, breaking the tension of the room. Mulligan and Lafayette quickly voiced their agreements, and Alexander nodded. Everyone waited with baited breath as Aaron loosened his shoulders.

“Sure.”

-----

A few hours later every young man in the room was staring shiftly at their counterparts, enemies now. They had switched to Uno an hour ago, and quickly fallen into the game.

“What the fuck, dude?!” Screeched Alex when Laurens stacked a plus four on top of Aarons. Mulligan snorted and choked on his own spit, which Lafayette laughed at while patting the older man on his back. Aaron smiled, forgetting about the tubes and the flowers, the pain and depression he felt.

And then, it happened.

Aaron doubled over, hacking up flower after flower, all fully bloomed. Blood steadily coated them, the amount increasing with each flower. Soon the flowers stopped coming up, just blood. Aaron hacked and coughed, equal parts of blood and saliva spraying and dripping onto the sheets and cards. Soon doctors and nurses alike ran in, ushering Hamilton and Friends out of the room. They could hear Aaron’s coughs echoing through the hallway, Alexander felt guilty for causing the fit, after all it was his reaction that sparked the laugh that caused the fit to happen.

John gave Alexander a pitying look, and briefly reflected on his own feelings. He had no idea that Aaron developed Hanahaki until he came home to blood, flowers and a quickly written note from Alexander. He felt somewhat guilty, after all he never made the effort to get to know Aaron and Aaron felt like he couldn’t come to him with this.

Hercules didn’t really know Aaron, only having interacted with him once or twice, but he still felt responsible for the kid. How had no one noticed how bad Aaron wanted praise? Seriously, had no one ever given the kid a complement?

Je ne sais pas comment écrire Lafayette, alors je vais juste dire qu'il se sentait mal de ne pas prendre soin d'Aaron et de le mettre en français, parce qu'il est français, tu sais? J'espère que c'est assez long, euh, il se sent coupable qu'Aaron ne lui en ait pas parlé, et qu'il n'ait jamais fait l'effort de mieux le connaître que de poser des questions sur l'étudiant qui était censé avoir la maladie.

No one really knew how to act, especially now that Aaron was nearly dead in that room. All of them tried to spark conversation, but it quickly died. No one wanted to talk while they could hear Aaron’s coughs and gags from that cursed hospital room.

Then it went silent, and each person in the hall tensed. It was completely silent, not a sound to be heard, even the beeping.

Shit. Alexander started shaking, emerging deep into anxiety at the lack of the steady beeping that showed Aaron was alive.

John froze, eyes dying, dulling as he went into a catatonic-like state. His roommate’s heart had just stopped.

Hercules choked on the words he was about to say, dry sobs coming out instead.

Lafayette blinked, then realized what the silence meant and promptly dissolved into a mess of rapid french and tears.

The doctors inside the room jumped into action, all pushing past each other in chaotic harmony as they tried to save Aaron Burr’s life.

Aaron heard nothing, he was back in the darkness. He looked around, trying to envision anything else but the darkness that surrounded him. No success. Aaron contemplated his life, his actions. Lying to Alexander had been bad. Not telling Washington had been bad. Dying had been bad. Aaron though his life might have been bad, but then he remembered uno and late nights with Laurens. Binge watching Netflix on Halloween while Hamilton and Friends tried to break down his door and bring him to a party.

Aaron thought back on every good moment, and decided that the bad outweighed the good. There was nothing left for him here, and so with one final look Aaron Burr died.

All the doctors paused, watching while they tried to recissitate the young man, with no success. Martha composed herself, then went to deliver the news to the young men waiting outside.

“So- Did- How is he?” Alexander stumbled over his friends and his words in his rush to Martha.

“I”m very sorry, but Mr. Burr did not pull through in the end.

Screams rang through the halls at the hospital that night.

Epilogue:

The once cheerful group of young men sat stoically, dressed in all black. It was a sunny day, and flowers were blooming. How ironic.

Alexander Hamilton sat in the front row, tears streaming down his face even as he tried to hide them. Next to him sat John Laurence, who was also crying. His face was buried in Alexander's shoulder as his own shook. Hercules Mulligan sat quietly, softly comforting his friends the best he could. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed in himself. Lafayette was balling his eyes out, loudly sobbing without a care as he muttered to himself in french.

George Washington lurked in the back, leaning against a wall. He looked out upon the small group of people who had gathered to share condolences and goodbyes to the young, sole heir of the Burr name. His wife sat up with the others, giving soft recurrences and offers to talk. His own eyes dripped with tears, gently travelling down his face and splashing onto the floor.

If only he had realised quicker, or done something. He could still hear the boys words ringing in his head, speaking between mouthfuls of blood and petals. The guilt and shame felt overwhelming, washing over him in waves. George softly coughed into his hands, small, delicate asphodel petals coming out. George watched them fall to the floor, and knew he wouldn’t get the surgery.

The world was better off without him, he decided. It would be a slow, painful death, but it was nothing less than what he deserved. Aaron Burr, a prodigy student, had died it and so would he.

George pushed himself off the wall and left the building, but he did not leave behind his grievances. No, those followed him back to the campus, back to the dorm room where blood stained the floors and walls. Back where red and gold came together in a chaotic disaster ending a young man's life. George sat down on the couch, remembering the horrific scene that had occurred in this very room.

Later, once everything had settled down, Alexander, John, Hercules and Lafayette would come into the apartment, only to once again see something horrific. What did they see, you ask?

Why, no one other than a Mr. George Washington covered in bloody asphodel petals and blossoms, dead long before they arrived.