I'm Watching You Burn - Hamilton Fanfic

I Hope

     Alex opened his mouth and closed it again, willing an answer to come into his brain. Something...

     Anything.

     "I saved every letter you wrote me," Eliza murmured, a musical thrum in her words as she glanced at him. She made her way to a box on the mantle, one she had never let him open.

     "Eliza..." He whispered.

     Her gaze travelled to the box, her fingers tracing the carving on the top, a butterfly. 

     "From the moment I read them, I knew you were mine," She looked at him again without turning her head. "You said you were mine, I thought you were mine." 

     Alex, in all his past arrogance and haughtiness, was speechless as his wife stared him down.

     "Do you know what Angelica said," Her butterfly hands opened the box, her fingers picking up a folded peace of paper. "When we saw your first letter arrive?" The firelight shed its glow on the paper, curved letters appeared, it was a letter. Alex read a visible sentence, and he knew that these were the letters he wrote her.

     "She said," Her gaze turned to the painting of the Schuyler's on the wall. "Be careful of that one, love. He will do what it takes to survive."

     Alex froze, and his eyes flicked to Angelica's face, her sensual lips upturned in a half smile. "She said that?" He whispered, his brows crinkling. 

     "You and your words flooded my sentences," She picked out a letter and held it to her chest, tucking in her chin and swaying. "Your sentences left me defenceless, you built me palaces out of paragraphs, you built cathedrals."

     Alex was frozen to his spot as Eliza continued, the musical tilt to her voice growing and growing. Soon, she was singing to him, her voice wet and angry. She continued her song, and Alex wanted nothing more than to hold her and kiss her on her nose as she had done to him, a million years ago,

     "I'm watching it burn," Eliza sang, and she glanced numbly at the box in her hands, every letter he wrote to her placed in a careful order. She collapsed on her knees, and looked to him. "I'm watching it burn," She tossed the box into the fire, as if it was nothing. Alex ran toward it, but Eliza stood up in one motion, blocking his way. 

     "The world has no right to my heart, the world has no place in our bed," She pointed at her heart, leaning forward to see his face. It was drained of colour, as he watched her face contort with pain. 

     "You'll sleep in your office instead, with only the memories," Eliza's voice reached a crescendo, and Alex reached out to her, calling her name, but she ignored him as her voice cracked. "Of when you were mine!" Eliza held the note, tears falling, and falling. She refused to break eye contact, and Alex felt his heart crack, and he collapsed on the ground. 

     She reached for him then, a reflex that she had often found herself doing when he collapsed from exhaustion only a year ago, before drawing her hand back, and looking down on him, her face crumbled.

     "I hope that you burn. . ." She whispered, and Alex looked up at her, with the most helpless look in his eyes. 

     "Please don't go," He whispered, his voice cracking as he sat on his knees and taking hold gently of her magic hands. She was tempted to hold his hand, and her fingers twitched, fighting that reflex. She didn't draw away, but she let her hand sit limply in his, her face broken and sad. He stared up at her a moment before, before he let go, stood up and said three words. Words he should have said so long ago.

     "I love you." 

     He turned before he could see Eliza's hands cover her mouth, stifling a sob as her eyes filled with tears. He shut the door quietly, and it was then when she let out her sob and collapsed silently on the floor, calling silently for him to come back.