Work Text:
How does Hamilton, an arrogant immigrant, orphan
Bastard, whoreson
Somehow endorse Thomas Jefferson, his enemy
A man he's despised since the beginning
Just to keep me from winning?
As Arthur insists (“Insist?” “Yeah. Insist.”) that he let more of his family leave - John, Abigail, Jack and Mary-Beth, all of the other women and then some, Dutch wonders how it’s come to this. How has Arthur, a cocky, orphan - because he’s not really, his father, is he? He was born to Lyle Morgan and he’s seen the pictures, he looks just like the man, has heard the stories and he’s inherited his father’s anger, his mother’s anger and what of Dutch does he have?
Nothing. Maybe once upon a time he’d have called him Son, but those times are long gone, he’s Lyle’s boy now, not the boy he’d raised with Hosea, a bastard, whoreson because Arthur had told him what his mother had had to do when Lyle had left them for a year to go do who-knows-what - come to side with John?
John, who he’s hated since the moment he shot the rope of the noose he’d been hanging on. Who he’d tried to insist they send to an orphanage though he knew how awful they were, insisted he’d be better off though the boy had said he’d fled an orphanage and wasn’t going back to one. And from then on he’d hated the boy, grown only to tolerate him even though John had grown to follow him like a puppy to its master though he’d swear he hated him too.
And then he’d despised him when John betrayed them for the first time (and why had Dutch forgiven him then? Because he was his son? What is a son that abandons you for a year?) and yet he stood with John now, had gone to rescue him with the Adler widow even when Dutch had said “Not yet, not yet, I have a plan.”
I wanna be in the room where it happens
The room where it happens
The room where it happens
You've kept me from the room where it happens
For the last time
It hasn’t escaped him the sides the camp has been taking. Micah, Cleet and Joe, Javier and Bill. And then Arthur and John, Susan and Pearson and all the rest. Whispering and planning, and he wants to be there, to know what they’re saying, to know what they’re planning, Micah, Cleet and Joe have tried but they clam up when they near and it’s suspicious and he hates it, he’s done everything for these people and they dare whisper behind his back? It’s his job to plan, his job to lead them but Arthur’s split them in two and he can see it happening before his eyes.
Dear Alexander
I am slow to anger
But I toe the line
As I reckon with the effects
Of your life on mine
I look back on where I failed
And in every place I checked
The only common thread has been your disrespect
Arthur… now that he thinks on it, every time something’s gone wrong, Arthur was there. (Though Arthur is always there, isn’t he? He brings him along like one brings their favorite dog on every hunt, their favorite horse on every ride, but that escapes him as things do so often these days) Spouting his doubts, his lack of faith.
‘Let’s not waste any more lives needlessly!’
‘Here he goes… Doubting Thomas… is there any plan you ain’t sour on?’
He’d doubted Blackwater, doubted the Braithwaite and Gray con, the Saint Denis bank robbery. And every time he doubted, every time he lacked faith, every time he didn’t throw his all, someone died. Mac and Davey and Jenny, Sean and the Duffy boy, Lenny and Hosea, all because Arthur wouldn’t concede.
Every time Dutch failed, there was Arthur - the only common thread.
Now you call me "amoral"
A "dangerous disgrace"
If you've got something to say, name a time and place, face-to-face
I have the honor to be your obedient servant
A dot Burr
Arthur has taken to calling him a lot of things - but never to his face. “Dangerous,” was his favorite, though “Insane” and “Unhinged” were close after it, and many others that he heard through the grapevine - he’d heard ‘dangerous’ once, walking passed and only a deep breath, a desperate attempt to keep from reinforcing Arthur’s lies had kept him from confronting the man. Micah had taken to passing on Arthur’s lies, so Dutch would know what was being spread through the camp, telling him what he, Joe and Cleet heard when Arthur thought they weren’t listening.
He’d never raised Arthur to be a coward, but he’d raised Arthur to not be many things and he’d turned into them so should it surprise him that Arthur had turned yellow-belly and couldn’t insult him to his face?
Mr. Vice President
I am not the reason no one trusts you
No one knows what you believe
I will not equivocate on my opinion
I have always worn it on my sleeve
Even if I said what you think I said
You would need to cite a more specific grievance
Here's an itemized list of thirty years of disagreements
Sweet Jesus
Arthur will tell you he’s not the reason no one (well, almost no one, there’s some poor, deluded fools left who do) - Dutch is the reason few trust Dutch. No one knows what he believes anymore, what he thinks anymore. He used to be Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, had the motto of ‘shoot fellers as need shooting, save fellers as need saving, feed ‘em as need feeding’. But now he shot those who needed saving and saved those who needed saving and starved those who needed feeding. Robbed the rich and the poor indiscriminately, and Arthur was pretty damn sure he was robbing from their coffers too, and god above and hell below knew they couldn’t afford that.
He will not sugar coat his stance, will not back down: the women and John need to be set loose, to be set free with enough to give them a new life and if that means those who’re left behind go hungry so be it. The innocents of the gang need to be given a new life, they don’t deserve to be sleeping in the dirt, to be afraid of whatever lurks in the cave that looms over them, to be afraid to sleep for fear of what Cleet and Joe and Micah might do, of being woken by Dutch’s screaming. Maybe he might have hidden his opinion before, back when he could trust Dutch and Hosea to speak it for him but Dutch isn’t Dutch anymore, and if Dutch has a problem he needs to say what it is instead of brewing and growing angrier and angrier.
Because Dutch damn well has plenty of issues with Arthur, he’ll admit that. They used to be family, once upon a time, but this Dutch ain’t his pa anymore.
Hey, I have not been shy
I am just a guy in the public eye
Tryna do my best for our republic, I don't wanna fight
But I won't apologize for doing what's right
I have the honor to be your obedient servant
A dot Ham
Arthur’s just a man in the gang, just the workhorse and hardly even that anymore now that he can hardly mount his horse without shaking apart. Just trying to do his best for the gang, to get those that deserve better out. The innocents - as innocent as you can be running with them, those that aren’t murderers, that have only picked pockets and killed those that needed killing, the kid and the kid’s family because John is a murderer but not by his own will, he was as fooled as Arthur himself has been and Arthur’s too set in his ways, he’s dying and will be dead before he can get loose if Dutch or Micah or Cleet or Joe or Javier or Bill don’t kill him first, but John’s young and healthy and can start a new life with his family.
Arthur doesn’t want to fight his family, but he won’t apologize for doing what’s right.
Careful how you proceed, good man
Intemperate indeed, good man
Answer for the accusations I lay at your feet or prepare to bleed, good man
Dutch damn well thinks Arthur needs to watch his actions and his words, because he’s coming close to being a traitor - if he’s not one already. Sometimes, he thinks he just might be the rat that’s ruined everything. Every time something’s gone wrong - Blackwater, Rhodes, Saint Denis and Lakay and killing Cornwall Arthur was there, spouting his lack of faith and doubts and maybe that was him feeling guilty, or maybe that was some sort of code, alerting the Pinkertons they were planning something.
Arthur, Dutch decides, needs to prove he’s not a traitor, or be dealt with one. And traitors aren’t dealt with kindly in their line of work, Arthur knows that well. He’s dealt with them himself, dumping their carcasses once they finished with them, hunting them down when they fled and finishing them off himself.
Burr, your grievance is legitimate
I stand by what I said, every bit of it
You stand only for yourself, it's what you do
I can't apologize because it's true
Dutch’s grievances are legitimate - though maybe not the ones Dutch thinks. He stands by what he said, every bit of it. Dutch stands only for himself, it’s’ what he does. Maybe not what he used to do, back when he was a kid, back when he was growing up and the gang was only three strong, four strong, then six strong, even ten, fifteen strong, even in Colter, or maybe it was, maybe he was just good at hiding it, Arthur doesn’t know anymore, and he won’t apologize because it’s true.
Dutch stands only for himself, works only for his benefit, and Arthur will stand by that until he dies.
Then stand, Alexander
Weehawken, dawn
Guns drawn
They stand, guns drawn, in Beaver Hollow.
Susan and Arthur aim at Micah.
Bill, Micah, Cleet and Joe aim at Arthur.
Susan falls.
Dutch falters, aims at both.
John's alive.
At Arthur and John.
Javier aims at the sky.
You're on
I have the honor to be your obedient servant
A dot Ham
A dot Burr
Before it all, Arthur had the honor to be his son. And then his work-horse, then the rat, and now he dies, Dutch knowing he’s not the rat.