For Once We're At Peace

Chapter 1

Aspen
"Your job isn't over yet, Nana," I told Nana from behind. I watched her as Alexander was pushed further and further away from her, sealing their fate. This wasn't her end, nor was it his.

As quick as a lioness hunting prey, Nana turned to me with tears in her eyes. "Why? Why are you stopping me from going to my happiness?!" She screamed at me, slowly edging closer to hysterics. Shaking my head, I motioned for her to follow me. She did. "What is this?" Esperanza asked when we stopped at the mirror glass.

"Listen. You have a choice, Esperanza." I told her, resting my hands on her shoulders. "You can either go and be with Alexander and the others, or you can go back to your original time and continue telling everyone's story, continue telling Alexander's story. It's up to you, Nana. I can't pick for you this time, it's your decision like it should have been every time before."

"If... If I were to, y'know, go back to my original time, what would happen here?" Nana asked, looking through the mirror as I stood back. I sighed, motioning towards the mirror.

"This is what will happen," I then stepped through, gently pulling her with me.

Alexander and Esperanza smiled, foreheads pressed against each other as their family and friends stood around them in a circle with giant smiles spread across their faces.

"This is what will happen in the afterlife. Do you want to see what will happen in the real world if you choose to go with Alexander?" She nodded. "Very well."

Lin-Manuel Miranda was a mess. He was dressed in a black suit, tear stains on his cheeks and his eyes red and puffy. It looked as if he had been crying for hours now. No, weeks. "Lin, hunny? It's time to go," Lin's wife, Vanessa Nadal-Miranda, spoke gently. Lin took a deep breath, nodding and following his wife out of the door and to their car. They made their way to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, where Esperanza was going to be buried. See, Esperanza never woke up from her coma. They pulled life support a week ago and her heart stopped. She was dead, and nothing was going to bring her back. Nothing.

As Lin got out of the car, he was greeted by the sorrow-filled face of his best friend, Christopher Jackson. "Hey, Lin," Chris greeted, giving the grieving man a hug. Lin returned it, fresh tears streaming down his cheeks. "She's in a better place now, mate." Lin merely nodded, following Chris into the church where they had the funeral. There wasn't a dry eye in the church, nor was there a dry eye from the ghosts that surrounded the graveyard and the church. They had heard so much about this 'Esperanza' girl from those she had met who had come before her and wished to see her for themselves. They didn't expect this; another soul joining them too early in their opinions.

"You have a choice, Nana. Do you want to go to Alexander and the others, or go to Lin and the others in 2015?" I asked, getting prepared for what she was going to decide. I was hoping 2015, but, like I said earlier, it was her choice, not mine.

"I..." I watched as Nana looked over her shoulder, her eyes meeting those of a smiling Alexander. He already knew what she had chosen, and was encouraging her to go for it. After smiling one last time at her husband, Nana turned to face me. "I'm going to 2015. Lin and the cast need me more than my friends and family do." I smiled, nodding. Gently taking her hand and closing my eyes, I started to murmur the spell underneath my breath.

"Mitte ad annum 2015. Esperanza quam illi remittam est, patitur se ad Alexandrum dicere in historia novissima hora est." I murmured, watching as my little sister started to fade from my view. "I'll see you soon, little sister." I whispered before she disappeared completely. She was back in 2015, and it was time for her to play Esperanza Washington Hamilton in Hamilton: An American Musical on Broadway.