I know. It's been too long. I'M SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEE!

Also I got a main role in my upcoming musical!

Aaaaaand I'm sorry in advance for this chapter.

We've been wandering for hours, searching for any sign of civilization. Y/n had gotten worse, shaking and shivering violently. It was getting so bad, we had to stop for the night.

Herc made a fire while I tried to make Y/n as comfortable as possible. "Hey. Are you alright?" I asked, very well knowing the answer. "Yeah, I'm-" she shuttered, coughing. "I'm fine."  My face contorted with worry. "I-" Oh, how I wish there was something I could say in that moment. Nothing I thought of sounded right, so I held her close to me instead. She managed a small smile and looked up at me with big eyes. 

"Laurens?"She asked, using my last name as a reminder of the joke she had made so long ago. "If I.... if I don't make it back to camp, can you thank General Washington for me? And tell my brother that I love him?"

"Y/n! Don't say that! You'll live to tell them yourself." I protested. She gave me a melancholy smile, a far away look in her eyes. She didn't reply for a long time. Her breathing seemed to slow, her face turning a ghastly gray. Mulligan walked over, covering his mouth when he saw the condition she was in.

"Y/n?" My throat seemed to close up; tears blurred my vision.

"I can see my father and my mother." She said, staring up at the sky. "I can see your family too." 

"No no no no! You can't leave me! I just got you back!" Her gaze shifted back towards my face. "I'm sorry, John."

Then, she looked at Hercules. "Keep him in check for me, okay buddy?" She chuckled lightly, which turned onto a cough. Herc nodded, tears filling his eyes. I, on the other hand, couldn't contain the water works. I choked down a sob. At that moment, I knew our time was running short.

"I..." I fished through my pocket, finding the small object. "I was gonna give you this when you got better, but I guess it's now or never." 

I gave her the box, no bigger then my hand. She opened it curiously, and inside, rested a simple gold ring. She gasped. "John, i-it's beautiful." She said, her voice barely a whisper. I sighed. "I just wished I had given it to you sooner." Tears were running down my face like a waterfall. "I love you Y/n. I don't know if I can life without you."  She frowned, her eyes getting that distant look again.  "Please, take your time." She closed her eyes and sighed. "We need to win this war. Do it for me, John. We'll be known as the patriots who never gave up. That name suits you." She smiled, eyes still closed. "People everywhere will remember these years of war. They'll remember them and tell your story. The story of tonight."

Her breathing was getting slower by the minuet. Neither Herc nor I could find our voices in that moment.

"I love you, John Laurens." She said. Her head leaned against my chest. "I love you too." I said between sobs. 

"W-what was that song you s-sang for me?" She asked, surprising me. "It w-was around the first t-time I met you. It had the l-lyrics I just used, "they'll tell the story of tonight". If it weren't for that s-song, I wouldn't of f-found my b-brother, and wouldn't have known y-you like I do n-now . I can r-remember you singing i-it, but it's a bit of a blur." The effort put into those words made me feel bad for taking speech for granted.

I wracked my brain, thinking back to the time when I had first met Y/n, then Alex, at that bar. The words and memories came flooding back to me. I took a breath, finding my voice.

I may not live to see our glory

But I will gladly join the fight

And when our children tell our story

They'll tell the story of tonight

Raise a glass to freedom

Something they can never take away

No matter what they tell you

Let's have another round tonight

Raise a glass to the four of us

Tomorrow there'll be more of us

Telling the story of tonight

Let's have another round tonight

They'll tell the story of tonight

Raise a glass to freedom

They'll tell the story of tonight

Raise a glass to freedom

They'll tell the story of tonight

They'll tell the story of tonight 

I let the last note hang in the air, before floating away like Y/n's life. "Thank you." She said, her stutter gone. "Don't forget me."

"I could never forget you."

With that her chest rose and fell....

But it didn't rise again.

A soldier had fallen.

A life gone to waste.

My love was gone.