all lowercase letters: Like every other chapter title of this fic, this chapter's title is in all lowercase letters.
Content Warnings: There’s one before the start of the chapter. It says it’s the second of three chapters posted that day so the reader shouldn’t read it if they haven’t covered the previous chapter, which was also posted that day. The previous chapter has a content warning for general darkness and gave readers a choice to skip the chapter and read a synopsis after the end in the author’s notes to avoid having to read something that might put them in a bad mental place. This chapter does not ever explicitly mention it is warning a reader for darkness, but one can assume it intends to because, like the previous chapter, it also focuses on death and tells the reader they can skip the chapter and just read a synopsis after the end in the author’s notes.
Death by Despair: Despair contributes to Aaron’s death. He wastes away and doesn’t eat as part of his grief, which prompts characters to send him on a ship to see John Laurens, who they think can help him recover since they were very close during the Revolutionary War. He dies on this trip.
Double Meaning: Not explicit in the text, but it’s implied especially when the chapter references “It’s Quiet Uptown” which refers to swimming down metaphorically as a part of dealing with grief. Aaron dies drowning: he physically drowns; throughout the chapter up to the point he dies he’s been drowning in grief; and his drowning in grief is part of what causes his physical death at sea: he’s been wasting away, preoccupied with grief, so he’s sent on a ship to see John Laurens in the hope it’ll make him feel better. This sea trip is where he drowns.
Double-Meaning Title: Chapter 27, "sept, huit, neuf" (7, 8, 9 in French) takes place in 1797, 1798, and 1799. These numbers are also associated with Philip Hamilton, dueling, and dying in Hamilton, and this is the chapter where Philip Burr dies just like Philip Hamilton does in the musical, counting to 9 after being shot in a duel, with the addition that Philip Burr dies in 1799 as opposed to Philip Hamilton's historical 1801 death. Aaron also dies in 1799.
Dreaming of Things to Come: Aaron dreams of drowning, and dies when a ship is lost at sea. Presumably, he drowned, which he confirms in his third lifetime.
History Repeats: Aaron dreams of drowning. Then, a Burr is struck down with grief after the death of their son. They’re sent on a ship to see a man close to them in an attempt to help them recover from that, only for the ship to be lost at sea and them to drown. This happened to Aaron’s daughter Theodosia in real life and in the first lifetime in the fic, and happens to him in this chapter. If one allows for real life history as well, there’s even more History Repeating. The person the Burr is taking the previously described trip to visit has a friend with some knowledge of medicine, whose surname is “Green,” and who is accompanying them on the trip. This happens to Theodosia in real life (though not in the fic, where nobody could accompany her to see Aaron, there was no Green) and to Aaron in this chapter. Presumably, it’s the same Timothy Green from history that accompanied the real Theodosia.
Hope Spot: Aaron starts healing and getting involved with life again after Alexander’s death, only for Philip to die and for him to return to withdrawing from life.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Following the convention of naming every chapter title after a Hamilton lyric, this chapter takes its title from the lyric “sept, huit, neuf” from "Stay Alive (Reprise)" and possibly "Take a Break."note "Take a Break" is where it originated, and its use in "Stay Alive (Reprise)" is a reference to it being used in "Take a Break."
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Overlaps with Silence of Sadness. Angie Burr, usually outspoken, goes quiet in the wake of family friend Alexander’s death, and rumors that Alexander is the biological father of at least some of her siblings. (Though it’s not clear if the rumors specify Alexander as her father too, she’s worried she’s Alexander’s child and distressed that her brothers are his as of chapter 24).
Outliving One's Offspring: Philip Burr dies in a duel, while his mother, Eliza; his father, Aaron; and his biological father, Alexander, are still alive.
Repaying for the One: Aaron withdraws from politics and life in general after Alexander Hamilton dies. Soldiers from the Revolutionary War, where he saved many lives and ended the war earlier than it did in reality by giving information on future battles, justify his extended mourning period talking about how his visions are a heavy burden to bear and Alexander was the only one who could help him through it. He got slavery written out of the Constitution and wrote a pamphlet pushing for gender equality, and
Aaron still walks the length of the city, sometimes long after dark, sometimes sits on a bench and forgets the time or where he is until suddenly he’s lost and drowning and he doesn’t know what to do. But people notice, women, at first. They bring him blankets, wrap him in them when he’s non-responsive, they bring him hot drinks, usually tea. They sit and talk with him. Freed slaves, veterans, or just the new generation that has started to believe in the equality that was so radical when he and Alexander first spoke for it, they start looking out for him. Taking care of him. They don’t forget him.
Season Finale: The last chapter of Aaron’s second lifetime, and includes the dramatic conclusion event of Philip dying, and the aftermath of Aaron withdrawing from life and dying.
Silence of Sadness: Overlaps with O.O.C. Is Serious Business. Angie Burr, usually outspoken, goes quiet in the wake of family friend Alexander’s death, and rumors that Alexander is the biological father of at least some of her siblings.
Sorry That I'm Dying: Philip apologizes for forgetting what Aaron taught him (most likely “don’t ever duel“) as he’s dying.
The chapter title is titledropped twice right before Philip dies.
Philip begins speaking again. Aaron leans in closer, cradles him, but his eyes are closed, unseeing, and he’s whispering something and Aaron bends down to hear it— “Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, sex, sept, huit, neuf…” The old piano exercises that Betsey used to go through with him, when he was small, when Aaron could prop him on his knee, the exercises that he’d then insisted on teaching Angie every morning, the two of them sitting at the piano and grinning as they counted it out: “Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf…”
The fic title is also titledropped right before Philip dies.
And Aaron has seen death, he’s seen death so much it feels more like a memory, he knows it so intimately, he can see it coming now—
