The battle of Yorktown. 1781.
Alexandra's POV
I'm finally here, on the battlefield, doing what I was meant to do, what I dreamt of doing. Fighting for freedom, constructing my legacy bit by bit. Breathing in the crisp fall air, I decide this is the day when my life truly begins.
"Madame Hamilton!" I hear from behind me, and I turn to see a certain Frenchman coming my way, the widest smile threatening to break his face in two.
I mirror his expression, embracing him when he finally reaches me. "Monsieur Lafayette!" I ignore the fact that he is more careful around me than usual, and is very cautious when he hugs me. I'm about to tell him off for it when he lets go, tell him that I'm not delicate, and he's not going to break me in half, but he keeps talking to me.
"In command where you belong!"
I decide to let it go, and poke a little fun at him instead, "How you say, no sweat," mimicking his accent perfectly. I push him playfully in the arm to show I mean no disrespect. "We're finally on the field, we've had quite a run," I say, just like we practiced, and his eyes light up.
Lafayette starts it off. "Immigrants:"
"We get the job done!" high-fiving, we say the last part together. Lafayette came up with it just before the Laurens-Lee duel, when Washington sent me home, and he's been waiting for a chance to use it ever since.
Quickly I change the subject, before he can launch into another of his creations. "What happens if we win?" I ask, but the "if" is more of a "when" in my mind. Alexandra Hamilton doesn't lose.
"I go back to France," Lafayette says, like it should be obvious. It is, but I'm not about to tell him that. "I give freedom to my people if I'm given the chance."
Nodding in agreement, I assure him, "We'll be with you when you do."
I see his eyes glisten for a moment, but then he pushes me away. "Go, lead your men," but he's not angry. Instead he's amused, and a bit overwhelmed with the promise of support I've just given him.
"I'll see you on the other side," I start, but he waves the farewells away with a scoff.
He says simply, "'Til we meet again!" Then he turns to his group of men, and leads them away, roaring, "Let's go!"
After he's out of my sight, I reflect back on that night in the bar again, with my friends, particularly the part I said. I am not throwing away my shot! I am not throwing away my shot! I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy and hungry, and I'm not throwing away my shot! I am not throwing away my shot!
"'Til the world turns upside down!" I shout to my soldiers. The British will not control us forever. Yes, some of us won't make it, but our country will be a better place for the ones that do. They pick up on this, and shout back, "'Til the world turns upside down!"
I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory. This is where it gets me: on my feet, the enemy ahead of me? If this is the end of me, at least I have a friend with me, a weapon in my hand and my men with me.
Then I remember my Elijah's expecting me. Not only that, my Elijah's expecting us! Looking down at my stomach, I can't pretend that this child isn't important. I can't pretend I'm eager to die a martyr. I can't pretend that the loss of either of us would tear my husband apart, nevermind the loss of us both.
Turning to my men, I make the conscious decision that I want more that a legacy, I want a life, with my family. I want us to be happy, to be safe. "We gotta go, gotta get the job done! Gotta start a new nation, gotta meet my son!
"Take the bullets out your gun!" I yell, and the soldiers stare at me in confusion.
"What?" they ask.
I elaborate, "The bullets out your gun!"
Still they yell, "What?" They heard me the first time, they just didn't understand, and didn't trust me enough to blindly obey.
"We move under cover and we move as one through the night! We have one shot to live another day! We cannot let a stray gunshot give us away!" I see recognition and understanding dawn on the faces of my men, and they hurry to comply with my orders. "We will fight up close, seize the moment and stay in it! It's either that or meet the business end of a bayonet! The code word is 'Rochambeau', dig me?"
An echoing cry of, "Rochambeau!" nearly blows out my eardrums. Perfect.
"You have your orders, now go, man, go!" I yell, and they surge into the fray, falling British soldiers left and right, some of them going down with screams, others falling with hardly a sound. It's gruesome and it's bloody, but I didn't expect anything less. After all, it is war.
And so the American experiment begins, with my friends all scattered to the winds. Laurens is in South Carolina, redefining bravery. He was always so dedicated, so committed to his cause. I remember what he said to me before he left. "We'll never be free until we end slavery!"
When we finally draw the British away, Lafayette is there waiting in Chesapeake Bay, to cut them off at sea, just like he promised the General. But how did we know this plan would work? We had a spy on the inside...
"Hercules Mulligan!"
My friend bursts from the ranks of the British, spreading more and more confusion with every word he hollers. This whole reveal isn't necessary, at all, but my friends seem to have a flair for the dramatic. (See Lafayette.)
He yells the next part while jumping around and dancing. "A tailor spying on the British government! I take their measurements, information, and then I smuggle it! Up to my brother's revolutionary covenant. I'm running with the Sons of Liberty and I am loving it!"
The speech he's making is raising everybody's spirits, getting cheers and hoots and filthy comments left and right, and it's right up Hercules' alley. "See, that's what happens when you go up against the ruffians! We in the shit now, somebody's gotta shovel it!
"Hercules Mulligan, I need no introduction! You knock me down, I get the fuck back up again!"
When he finishes, I find myself screaming with the rest of the mob, stomping my feet and clapping my hands. Suddenly dodging bullets doesn't seem so bad. It's another way to infuriate the Redcoats, and that's something I love to do.
The siege is in full swing, cannon shots echoing, gunpowder smoking, and commanders yelling orders all around me. I keep it together, directing my men as best I can, determined to win this.
After a week of fighting, a young man in a red coat stands on a parapet. We lower our guns as he frantically waves a white handkerchief. And just like that, it's over. We tend to our wounded, we count our dead. Black and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom.
Not yet.
We negotiate the terms of surrender. I see George Washington smile. We escort their men out of Yorktown. They stagger home single file. Tens of thousands of people flood the streets. There are screams and church bells ringing. And as our fallen foes retreat, I hear the drinking song they're singing.
"The world turned upside down..."
"The world turned upside down... the world turned upside down... the world turned upside down... down, down, down!"
The peace that has settled over the soldiers despite the chaos around us shatters. Lafayette rushes toward me, shouting, "Freedom for America, freedom for France!" When he envelops me in a bone-crushing hug, I feel him shaking. I can tell that he's crying on my shoulder, overcome with the realization that his people could be free.
When he finally releases me to go attack Hercules, I feel my own tears drip down my face as I come to a realization of my own. "Gotta start a new nation," I yell, my voice cracking, "gotta meet my son!"
"We won!" roars Hercules from where he and Lafayette are standing, Lafayette still quite teary-eyed.
Wiping his eyes, the Frenchman laughs, and then says in disbelief, "We won!"
Then Lafayette launches himself at Hercules, and the two of them break down again, yelling, "We won!" and sobbing into each other.
All of the soldiers, Washington and myself included, join them, shouting, "We won!" loud enough for the defeated British to hear as they trudge away. "The world turned upside down!"
Watching all this, it strikes me that war, while it is bloody and traumatic and horrific, is the bringer of laughter and joy, and the feeling in the pit of your stomach that makes you feel lighter than air. It brings the tears of full-grown men with very masculine beards, and the smiles of men whose jobs are to hide their feelings and project fake ones. Most importantly to me, it brings the promise of safety and peace for little children, who will never have to feel the oppression of a cruel or unwanted government.
I can't describe that day in all the glory and emotion it deserves. I can only say that it turned the world upside down.