Mix and match: John Laurens X!Mermaid! Reader

~~Chapter 19: Concluded~~

"You're utterly useless when it comes to reading," Lafayette told me, diving into his 28th book about cursed illnesses. "What did you expect?" I asked him, looking at the pictures of the book he just skimmed through. "I can't read," I told him, making him sigh. "I know," He answered. "I know," He sighed.

He flipped through a few more pages before he intensely began to stare at one page. I looked up from what I was doing and look at him, eventually standing up and looking over his shoulder at the book. "Ha-na-ha-ki," he slowly read as he looked at the page. Next to a big of text, there was a beautiful illustration of a person with a rose blooming out of their mouth. Lafayette and I shared a look together before he anxiously read:

"The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from one-sided love, where the patient throws up and coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. The infection can be removed through a certain unknown remedy, but the feelings disappear along with the petals," Lafayette read aloud. I frowned deeply as I clutched my stomach. "One-sided love?" I repeated. He turned back to me, looking down like he was struck by something. He coughs, quickly shook the expression off and looked at me. "Do you like someone, Y/N?" He asked as I shook my head lightly. "I couldn't tell you even if I liked someone. I don't know how that feels like," I explained slowly. I felt the information sink in. He inhaled to read further but stopped himself as his eyes widened.

"What?" I asked as he quickly switched looks from me to the book as he twitched his finger over the corner of a page. I gripped the chair. "What is it?" I asked a little bit sterner. He inhaled and continued:

"If not to be removed, the patient's air canal will be blocked by the petals. The patient will suffocate to death, slowly dying over the course of a week as the air they can inhale lessens every day," He finished.

I clutched my stomach. "One-sided love?" I repeated. He turned back to me, looking down like he was struck by something. He coughs, quickly shook the expression off and looked at me. "Do you like someone, Y/N?" He asked as I shook my head lightly. "I couldn't tell you even if I liked someone. I don't know how that feels like," I explained slowly. I felt the information sink in.

"I don't want to die-"

"You're not going to die," he told me.

"We don't even know for sure," he added as he put his hand on my shoulder, sending a comforting feeling through my body. "So don't bury your head into that conclusion," he reminded me as I nodded. "Let's wait until we get the green light from Hercules," he told me as he picked up the book. "Until then, let's do our own research," he frowned as he looked at the book and looked at the next pages. He said it contained the history of the hanahaki disease and was slowly reading aloud.

But my mind was buried into my fears. 

~~Later that evening~~

"Up," I heard someone as they heavily shook my shoulder. I shot up from my lying position in Hercules' unoccupied bed. I was sleeping soundly before the person decided to wake me up. "Huh?" I asked pushing the mess that was my hair out of my eyes. "You wanted to be a guy at the winter's ball?" The person asked me as I blinked to clear my vision.

"Time to prove it," The person told me. "Alexander?" I guessed as I felt someone grabbing my collar and set me on my feet. "Good observation," Alexander scoffed as he threw a blue coat in my direction. "Hair up and under this hat," He told me as he threw me a hat, which landed right in my face. I put my hand on the hat and shuffled it up until it was on my head. I pushed all the hair in. I put the jacket on and put on the boots Alexander gave me on my way out. I followed him. 

It seemed to be night as everything seemed silent and peaceful. "Why am I-" I started with a yawn. "Where am I going?" I corrected myself. "Sanders died, we need someone who can do the job he was supposed to do, Sam," He told me as I cocked my eyebrow. "What was he supposed to do?" I asked as we pushed through the tall grass. He got down on his knees and looked through the grass. I think I was supposed to do the same, but I didn't. So he pulled me down on my knees by my shirt.

He pushed the grass aside. "See that over there?" He asked as he pointed at the big wooden whale. "The whale?" I asked as he groaned. "The boat, Sam, the boat!" He told me after he had made a violent gesture at me. He was tired and stressed.

"Right the boat,"

"Yeah, the boat!"

"The boat?" 

"The boat."

"The...boat..."

"The. Boat."

"What's with the boat?"

"THE BOAT, SAM!- Oh..." Alexander muted his tone as soon as he understood my question. "Why are you calling me Sam?" I asked. "Because I need to get used to it so I don't mess up when the others come," He nervously rambled. "The others?" I asked. "Right," He got back to business. "That boat is called the Asia," He explained. 

"British elite boat," He explained further. "Armed with 64 heavy guns. It's pointed at the city. We can't have that," He briefly gave me an insight. "We had 24 cannons around," He sighed as if he was embarrassed to continue. "Unfortunately, we left them standing when the Asia sailed in and now they're British property," He groaned. "We need those cannons,"  He pointed out with gritted teeth. "And?" I asked not getting his point. "We're gonna steal those cannons," He smirked as he rubbed his hands together like a supervillain.

"And my job is?" I asked as I looked at him with a concerned. "John, Lafayette, me and some of my college friends are going to open fire at the Asia with the cannons as the others try to get the other cannons into safety," He explained his master plan. "Your only job is to stay here and keep watch. If anything were to go wrong, you need to run to Washington," He explained. 

"Washington knows about this, right?" 

"...What if I said no,"

"Uh-huh," 

"Are you judging me?"

"...No."

"You're judging me aren't you?"

"No! I would never-"

He cocked an eyebrow at me. I nervously chuckled. He rolled his eyes at me. "Washington doesn't need to know," He muttered. "I'll show him that I can handle things on my own," He added and stood up. He patted my shoulder. "Stay safe," He told me. "Good luck," I mumbled as he gave me a nod and left.

I pushed some of the grass out of my way and waited.

And waited some more.

And 

Some

More-

Suddenly a loud shot could be heard. I almost fell off my knees and onto the grass. I looked at the Asia as it caught fire. My eyes widened as I leaned in and looked at the boat. A lot of yelling unleashed. British redcoats began to look at the fire and grab their muskets to fire back. Turns out they were as sleepy and dazed as me because they missed every shot at the rebels. I chuckled slightly, mostly because I thought this was a dream.

Cut to Hamilton. Musket in hand, frontline,  yelling as hard as he could, firing at the boat. Kill after kill. Acting as bada$$ as he could.

I saw the cannons being taken one by one. Rolled off the hill, people jumping on them like it was a horse and riding down the hill until they had to pull it towards the camp. I was amazed at how disciplined and in sync, they behaved. Like they knew what to do and when to execute it. 

I smiled as I saw John push a cannon towards the ledge and grab a friend's hand, pulling him on the cannon as they went downhill and disappeared into the woods. I turned my head back towards Alexander who had run out of ammo and tossed the musket away, yelling commands at his fellow comrades to grab a cannon as fast as they could and ride it downhill.He gave a quick high-five to Lafayette before he pushed a cannon to the ledge and disappeared. I realized that I should scurry back to the camp.

The Asia was damaged and on fire. Unluckily for us, they managed to put out the fire and the boat didn't sink.

But we had cannons.