As a fanfic tagged with "Angst" on Archive of Our Own, one would expect it has tearjerking moments. As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Aaron trying to save General Montgomery. Montgomery goes ahead with the battle Aaron told him he’ll die in, because he prioritizes the possibility they might win the battle over his death. His sacrifice is in vain since most of the soldiers die or are captured. Also, Aaron’s the only one to arrive safely at Washington’s camp, and that’s because Montgomery explicitly sent him there because he’s the Seer and can’t risk capture. This is what makes Aaron feel actively guilty about his Seer ability for the first time.
- Everyone knows their loved ones will die at some point, but not specifically how they’ll die. Aaron marries Theodosia, knowing she’ll die of an incurable stomach illness. And he doesn’t know when or what it is, so he can’t do anything to try to prevent it.
- Right after Aaron’s daughter Theodosia is born, he has to reject holding her to avoid seeing how she dies. He’s able to hold her if he wears thin gloves, making it worse because he’s so close but not quite there:And when she wraps her little fingers around his cloth-covered one, when she reaches for him and he can feel the warmth and the life through the silk but he can’t touch her, he can never touch her, he’ll never be able to hold her hand or brush tears from her cheeks or hug her without the worry that something will slip and she’ll graze against him—he’ll never be able to hold his own daughter—
- This sacrifice, avoiding touching her to avoid seeing her death, is in vain. He gets nightmares of her dying, pushing him to change his mind and decide to touch her hoping that for “once in his life his power can be used for something good,” which would be finding out how she dies and working to prevent it. This, along with wanting to comfort her after she’s “struck down with grief” because of her son’s death, is why he invites her up to visit him. She gets on a ship to visit him and dies. She dies on a trip he asked her to come on, a trip that was meant to bring her comfort and avert her death. If Aaron had held to his stance on not touching her, he’d have less of a reason to invite her up and might not have invited her at all given there was a war going on, and then she might have had a longer life. Theodosia’s death at sea stays with him, as he’s afraid to travel on ships after this happens.
- By chapter 3, Aaron thinks everyone who loves him has died before he does. That alone is sad, and it’s already correct: his parents and grandparents died when he was a child, and from his visions, he knows of his wife and Alexander’s coming deaths. But what he doesn’t know is that his currently-unborn grandson will also dies before him, and he’s purposely remaining ignorant to the fact that his daughter dies before him too. He’s very unfortunately correct with his statement—and it has nothing to do with his Seer abilities because he says the same thing in the musical.note
- The deterioration of Aaron and Alexander's relationship.
- Aaron's feelings of betrayal when he thinks Alexander wrote the pamphlet that has all the things he confided in him: accusing him of abusing public trust and the fact nobody can refute his words on the future in order to gain power, which he told Alexander he feared doing; accusing him of being a liar when he mostly Will Not Tell a Lie and feels awful when he does lie; and revealing the specifics of his Seer power which definitely weren't known by many. The saving grace is that according to the Chernow biography, there is no evidence the real Alexander wrote the real "The Liar, Caught in His Own Toils" or any other unsigned documents criticizing Aaron even though real Aaron thought he was behind them, and that it's not clear exactly how many people knew the specifics of Aaron's Seer power so perhaps Alexander didn't leak that information (after all, a council confirmed his powers, and George Washington says all the way back in chapter 1 he is "aware of the extent of [Aaron's] abilities" without Aaron actually disclosing it). But regardless of the truth of the matter, Aaron still thinks it's Alexander's fault, and it's part of what pushes him to duel Alexander.
- Aaron's reflection on the positive side of their relationship the morning of the duel. The things he previously said and did contrast spectacularly with their current animosity.
- Despite the deterioration of their relationship, even though Aaron thinks of how he's been overly patient and understanding and how he thinks Alexander has exposed all the things he told him in confidence to stop him from winning an election, after reflecting on the whole situation, Aaron still decides not to shoot Alexander. The hair-trigger gun goes off and he dies anyways, making his choice all for nothing. Alexander leaves behind a note telling him he forgives him, which either makes it less sad or more sad, both on account of it being a sign of Alexander not hating Aaron, of their relationship not being totally broken after the violence is finished.
- Aaron tries to visit Alexander. Angelica turns him away. Aaron doesn’t get to say anything to him before he dies.
- Not being able to communicate with your loved ones about how they die, them refusing to listen, or them listening to you and dying because of what you told them to do. Aaron knows how and when his father dies, and tries and fails to communicate this to him because he’s one year old. It’s implied the same thing happens with his mother. When he learns to talk, he can communicate with his grandparents about their impending deaths but they don’t believe him and his grandmother dies. This gets him verified as a Seer. Now his grandfather listens to him about how he’ll die by smallpox. He tries to prevent it with a vaccine but something goes wrong with the vaccine and he dies of smallpox anyways. Really inspires feelings of helplessness in the face of death and an inability to overcome nasty events even with foresight. Overlaps with Nightmare Fuel.
- Second-lifetime Aaron thinks “Confiding truly in Washington is out of the question. Confiding truly in anyone is out of the question.” It’s possible he feels this way because of the time his secrets and insecurities that he confided in Alexander were published in the press: (him thinking) Alexander violated his trust left him unable to fully trust anyone.
- Despite Aaron's primary concern in the second lifetime being stopping Alexander from dying in a duel, he dies in a duel anyways. At least it's not Aaron shooting Alexander this time.
- This causes Aaron to withdraw from life and fall into a depression.
- Philip Burr wants to be like Alexander. Philip already is, genetically, and that similarity is hammered in with him using Alexander’s line from the musical. Philip used that line “I’ll write under a pseudonym, you’ll see what I can do to him/then” hoping to go on the offense against attacks on his family, attacks that happened partially because of Alexander.
- Philip dies dueling in the second lifetime even though Aaron made it clear he should not ever set foot on a dueling ground. His death in particular plays out just like it did in the musical, and presumably just like it did in his first life.
- Philip’s death causes Aaron to fall back into withdrawing from life, after he was starting to recover from Alexander’s death.
- Aaron explicitly told George Eacker not to duel Philip in the third lifetime, even though he is completely unaffiliated with the Hamilton family in this lifetime. This does not prevent Philip from dying in a duel with him again.
- Aaron dies in the second lifetime just like his daughter Theodosia: he dreams of drowning, then after his child dies and he’s struck down with grief, he goes on a ship to see a man he’s close to that’s meant to help him recover. The ship is lost at sea and he drowns. Further hammered in if you know the “Green” Aaron was sent with is Timothy Green, who real-life Aaron sent to accompany Theodosia on the trip to see him that led to her death.
