Dawn crept ominously across the sky, painting the water shades of red and pink.
Shades of blood.
Trees stretched their shadows across the field, reducing the figure in front of him to nothing but a silhouette. My first friend. My enemy.
Hamilton took a deep breath. It's not in his political interests to kill me. He thought, nervously fingering his gun.
He looked at the doctor, their number twos, wondering if this is how Philip had felt. He never hurt a fly, he must have been so scared. He blinked away tears, glad his glasses covered his eyes.
Slowly the two men walked towards each other, and Alexander caught a glimpse of his opponent's face. Burr's eyes were blazing and his jaw was set with determination. Hamilton felt a spark of anger inside him, what had he done? As far as he could tell Burr was simply mad over a petty argument. His eyes hardened.
They turned their backs, and the countdown started.
His breath started to come in short gasps and his heart pounded. Tightening his grip on his gun he knew what he had to do.
He aimed his pistol at the sky.
But in his overwhelming flood of emotions, he turned too soon.
He turned just in time to see Burr spin on his heel and shoot.
With reflexes only an ex-soldier could have, he dove out of the way, sprawling on the ground as the bullet embedded itself in a tree with a thud.
Nobody moved.
Burr looked at the scene in horror. He hadn't shot. But that didn't make sense… Hamilton didn't shoot. Hamilton didn't shoot. Hamilton didn't shoot. Hamilton didn't-
Hamilton sat up, his glasses askew. Burr saw his eyes were wide with shock.
Quickly the doctor rushed to his side, but Hamilton brushed him off, murmuring something and pointing at the tree. Nodding reluctantly, the doctor retreated.
Slowly, ever so slowly, yet far too fast did Hamilton make his way over to Burr, who's shaking hands had dropped the gun and raised to cover his mouth. Alexander walked towards him as you would a wild animal before finally stopping a few steps away.
"Burr… did you try to kill me?" That was all it took for him to break down, he felt tears slip down his cheeks, despite his futile attempt to wipe them away. Alexander watched awkwardly, obviously not wanting to come closer but not knowing what to do either.
Finally Burr choked out, "I thought you were going to kill me…"
"I- what- no. Why would you think that?"
"You're wearing your glasses! Why if not to take deadly aim?"
Hamilton looked at him incredulously. "I wore them to see Burr, you know my vision is bad!"
"But you looked so ready to shoot.."
Alex responded dryly, "I've been told that is my resting face."
Burr started to panic, running his hands across his head he said, "I can't believe I just shot you. I just shot you. I just shot Alexander Hamilton! I-"
"Hey! It's ok, see? I wasn't hit." Hamiltion tried.
"But you almost were!" Burr shrieked, making their number twos jump in the background.
Neither spoke for a moment, both wondering what could have possibly gone so wrong.
Alexander thought back to the letters Aaron had sent, and tentatively opened his mouth to speak. "I guess things just… built up between us, thirty years of disagreements to be exact, and all it took was the election to tip it over the edge."
"Sweet jesus."
Swallowing thickly, Alexander spoke again. "I'm… sorry. I should have realized how harsh I was being, I was just trying to do what was best for the country."
Burr looked at him in surprise, nodding slowly. "I suppose I should have realized even when we fought, the world was still big enough for the both of us."
Alexander stuck out his hand. "Aaron Burr, sir, I promise to take your ideas into consideration more often and insult you less when I don't."
Burr's lips quirked upwards, "and, Alexander Hamilton, I promise to take things less personally and look at the bigger picture."
The two shook hands, and with that one movement rekindled a friendship neither had realized had sputtered out over the years. Both smiled with palpable relief. Taking comfort from each other's presence in a way they hadn't in a long time.
Soo, yeah! Welcome to my first fic! This is just a short oneshot I wrote a while ago, but I'm really proud of it so I thought it would be a good place to start :)
Thanks for reading!