I stared at him, startled as he suddenly appeared in front of me. He set a hand on my arm, and his eyes widened in surprise the moment he came into contact with me. James sucked in a breath of air and looked over at Thomas.

"Is he...?"

"Real?" Thomas asked, finishing for him, as he was unable to by himself. "Yes. As far as I know."

"I'm confused," I said, stating what I assumed to be the obvious.

But my statement was disregarded as the newcomer swept me into a sudden hug. I, unsure of what to do, stood there uselessly.

"Aww, so you do have a heart," Thomas teased as he watched the two of us. 

"Fuck off," James hissed. He seemed to remember some part of himself and quickly moved away from me. Thomas seemed amused, and I focused my gaze elsewhere.

The soft, boyish look in the man's gaze was quickly replaced by anger. "Where. The. Fuck. Have you been?" he demanded all at once, making me blink in surprise at his sudden change. "No! No, you know what? Don't answer that because I don't want to know! Do you have any idea of what you've put us through?"

"I—" I tried, but he waved me away and continued on.

"No, you don't get to speak! So, was this all some sort of game to you? Some elaborate little joke? Haha, you played us all for fools! Isn't it hilarious that we actually mourned for you?" he demanded.

"James—" Thomas began, not bothering to hide the exasperation from his tone.

"Do you have any idea of the pain we were forced through? I cried at your Divinity damned funeral, asshole. And you know that never happens!"

"That's not true, you cry all the time," interjected Thomas, but he was ignored again.

"And if what I suffered through was bad, you should have seen Washington. You should have seen Eliza. Do you know how awful it was to watch her lock herself away for decades on end? To listen to her blame herself for not being able to do anything? No! You don't! Because meanwhile, you're off on Earth just having the time of your life, huh?"

"James—"

"I bet you and John planned this together. You're a Divinity damned asshole, Hamilton. I hope you know that. I hope you also know that I hate you!"

I want it to be known that this man was a couple of inches shorter than me, yet I have never felt more pure and utter terror in my life.

"And how are you even here? I watched you die! This doesn't make any—"

"JAMES!" Thomas yelled.

"What?"

"He doesn't remember anything!"

James faltered. His entire focus turned to Thomas. "Wh... what do you mean?"

"I mean that he likes to prance around in fields all day and pick daisies," Thomas shot back dryly, crossing his arms. His eyes met mine and his expression softened. "He doesn't remember anything about us. About Perriterra."

"Oh." James' frown softened. He looked up at me and held out his hand. "Well, so much for first impressions then. Let's start over. Hi! I'm James."

I stared at him, unsure of what to do or say.

James let his hand fall to his side after a moment of my hesitation and turned to Thomas. "How did this happen? Why doesn't he remember us? Is that why you've made us research memory loss spells? What are we going to tell the others?" A light flickered in his eyes. "Correction. What are you going to tell the others?"

"You're really going to make me do this on my own?"

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, royal advisor! Advise me! Royally! Because Divinity knows I'm going to need it!"

Silence fell heavy for a few moments before James broke it.

"I have an idea."

"I'm all ears."

"Step one, we kill him. Step two, we hide the body. Step three, nobody finds out about it and we get to move on with our lives!"

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "Can... can we not do that?" I asked.

James turned to me, regarding me like a scientist does to an anomaly of nature. I felt as if his stare was scrutinizing and meticulously sifting through every single one of my flaws.

"And how exactly did he lose his memory after coming back to life?" He sounded more intrigued than angry.

Thomas didn't respond, and I was more interested about what he had called James a few seconds ago.

"Did you call him a royal advisor a second ago?" I asked Thomas.

Thomas opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and nodded, his eyes focusing elsewhere.

"Yes," James answered. "I am Thomas' royal advisor. It's an over glorified job. My main goal is to make sure this idiot doesn't get himself killed."

"Royal advisor?"

"Yes. That is what I said."

Thomas squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, he smiled nervously at me.

"You haven't told him." It sounded more of a statement than a question.

"I haven't exactly had the time."

I know that when you find out your best friend is actually royalty, you're supposed to fall to your knees or whatever, but seeing Thomas' bashfulness at the revelation made me relax in spite of the situation I was in.

"Oh, royalty?" I asked teasingly. "Do I bow, your highness?"

"Actually, you fall to your knees and kiss the ground I walk on, peasant," Thomas said in a mock majesty that sounded like it had been practiced in front of a mirror a couple dozen times.

I couldn't help but laugh, and Thomas' smile was an easy one.

"Eww," James said. "Are you being affectionate towards him?" He pointed towards me with the emphasis on the last word.

Thomas' silence was the only answer he needed.

"Well. I guess people do change," he remarked softly.

When I looked at Thomas for clarification, he shook his head in his usual dismissive way. "Come on, you should meet the others."

"Are they all going to... uhh, yell at me?"

James smiled guiltily.

"I won't let them," Thomas said, shooting James a pointed look. He turned back to me and held out his hand for me to take hold of. I happily complied as he was the only familiar thing in this wretched place, and he led me up the stairs.

"Wait!" James exclaimed. "I want to hold your hand!"

"No." Thomas didn't pause to consider it or even spare him a glance.

"What?" James demanded. "But that isn't fair!"

"Frankly, I couldn't care less."

James grumbled something under his breath but left it at that.

The stairwell was elegantly decorated with flowers and banners that were both colored a shade of blue that almost appeared white. When I questioned Thomas about the color, he responded with, "That's the color that represents our group of rebels. The flowers are called Fide. They represent loyalty, bravery, and virtue."

"They smell nice," I noted. They smelled sweet like perfume. It was calming, and it even helped to clear my mind.

Thomas nodded. "We wear them during battles to help sharpen our minds and our magic. They also make really good tea."

"Hippies. All of you," I muttered, not intending for him to hear it, but he did anyway and chuckled lightly.

"Please don't tell me you've already been teaching him potions," James groaned from behind us.

"For someone as intelligent and intellectually curious as you, you really don't like potions."

"Yeah, because it's a waste of time."

Thomas shook his head in disapproval. When we reached the top of the stairs, he led me to the left.

"Are they in the library?"

"Sitting room," James said.

"So, do I call you 'King' or what?"

"Lord," Thomas corrected, assuming the mock nobility from before.

James scoffed. "Not even."

"Not yet."

"I thought you didn't want to be a lord?" James asked. "And even if you did, you've got a while to go."

Thomas cast me a knowing look. "I don't. Trust me. Being a lord must be the most boring job ever."

Suddenly, he stopped in front of a great wooden door. Carvings were etched up and down the frame in a noble manner, and the wood was dark and appeared to be very old.

Taking a deep breath, Thomas pushed the door open.

Inside, seven people were scattered through the room, each reading through scrolls or books.

"Ah, Thomas. What have we done to be graced by such an elegant presence such as yourself?" commented one of the women wryly without bothering to look up. "It's about time you decided to help."

"With your own project," added the man sprawled on the couch.

"Welcome back from Earth, Thomas!" Thomas exclaimed dryly, preforming the welcome he much rather preferred. "We're so happy you're back!"

"Give us a break, we're bored," said a familiar voice. I looked over to see John sitting against the grand window opposing the door. He threw the scroll he was reading down. "This is stupid. Can we be done, please?" He glanced up at me and grinned. "Hello again, Alex! I'm not sure why you're here, but it's me! John! See, I did something different with my hair today, so I didn't know if you knew it was me, but fear not!"

I smiled. "Hello, John."

I wonder how everything would have turned out if I hadn't come here in the first place. If I denied Thomas' offer to come to Perriterra and decided to return home.

It was like an explosion had just gone of, the way everyone suddenly looked up and stared at me after I had spoken.

Thomas let go of my hand and went to stand off to the side quietly. James pushed past me and joined him.

"Umm, hello," I said, unsure of what else to say.

One of the girls, different from the one who had chastised Thomas earlier, let the book fall from her hands. She stood up slowly. I didn't see her disappear or move or anything, but one moment she was there across the room, and the next, she was standing in front of me. I flinched in surprise, not use to the whole magic and teleportation thing yet.

"If this is your idea of a joke," said the girl from earlier to Thomas as she crossed the room to join him. "It isn't funny."

The girl in front of me reached out to touch me, holding my face in her hand. Similar to James, her eyes widened in surprise the moment she touched me. She quickly pulled her hand away and moved it to cover her mouth.

"Alexander," she breathed, her hand dropping. She seemed to be in a dream-like state. On the pointer finger of her offhand, a tiny flicker appeared and hovered just above it. I watched in interest as the small flame danced. Then, she moved her arm to it and grimaced in pain.

"Are you okay?!" I asked, realizing what she had done. "Don't do that!"

She grinned as tears pooled into her eyes. "It's you," she breathed. Suddenly, her arms were around me and she rested her head in the crook of my neck. "It'syouit'syouit'syou. I knew you would come back to me. I knew you weren't dead."

"Alexander!"

The girl stepped away from me, revealing a man almost as tall as Thomas with his hair tied back in a bun. His voice was accented French, which was surprising considering these people were from a whole other world entirely.

He wrapped his arms around me and effortlessly lifted me into the air.

"Put me down!"

"Sorry!" he exclaimed, complying. He grinned sheepishly. "I forgot you aren't a, uh, touchy feely person."

"No, I am a touchy feely person!" I said. "Thomas can tell you that much! But not with people I don't know!"

The man stopped. "What... what do you mean?"

"Alexander," said the girl from besides me. "That's Lafayette..."

"You are joking," Lafayette decided. "You have to be. And it isn't funny!"

"I, uh, have an explanation. If you want to hear it," Thomas said carefully. All eyes turned to him. "First off, you all know Alexander."

"No!" said a boy who was sitting in a corner. "You are not invited to speak at this ceremony of sadness!"

"What did you do?" demanded the man who was sprawled on the couch. He had set down the book and was staring up at the sky.

"I found him like this! I didn't do anything! And do you even care?"

"I mean... not really? Yeah. He's back. Greaaaaat. Just another problem to deal with." He sat up and grinned at me. "I kid, of course."

"I don't think you are," Thomas said.

The man shrugged.

Thomas turned to me. "That's Aaron. Resident asshole. But he's actually a sweetheart when you get to know him."

"Sweet! Hah! I'm as sweet as that damn bird you always have with you." He paused. "Not Amica. The other one." He paused again, this time a genuine frown sweeping across his face. "Why did you introduce me to him?"

"Alex?" the girl besides me murmured. "Alex, what's wrong? Why did you let us think you were dead?"

"I—" I began.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, eyes widening as she took a step away from me.

"Eliza," Thomas said, cutting in. "It's no use. He doesn't remember anything."

"What?" she asked. "W-what do you mean?"

"He doesn't know who I am. Who any of us are. He doesn't know how to harness magic. He doesn't know what a Tenebrie is. This is his second time he's been to Perriterra, as far as he's concerned. Alexander Hamilton does not remember who he is." Thomas sounded so defeated. He caught my eye and smiled. "Hey! You owe me twenty bucks!"

"What?"

"Remember? We bet over the existence of aliens. You defined aliens as people from other worlds. Technically, that makes me an alien. That also makes you an alien. Pay up."

"You played me like a fiddle, huh?"

"Yep!" Thomas exclaimed, grinning. "You're also technically our guest... wanna sit or something?"

"I'm good."

"I can enchant a candlestick to talk and serenade you while plates dance in the background if you want."

"That would actually be amazing. Can you?"

"Is that like... some sort of Earth thing?" asked the only other girl in the room.

"It's from Beauty and the Beast."

"They don't know what Beauty and the Beast is," Thomas said.

"Oh! Well, it's a movie abou—"

"They don't know what a movie is."

"Oh."

"You don't remember anything?" the girl next to me asked. When I shook my head, she said, "so you don't remember... me."

"I wish I could say that I did."

She took another step away from me. Her face gained an impassive look. Then, she looked up at me and smiled. "Well, in that case, my name is Elizabeth. Elizabeth Schuyler. But you can call me Eliza."

"Wait," said John, pushing Eliza aside. "You're Alexander Hamilton? As in the Alexander Hamilton?"

"I guess?"

He frowned. "I always imagined that you'd be taller."

"Oh, John," sighed Thomas. "You should not have said that."

"But you knew my dad!"

"Oh," the first girl said, crossing her arms. "He knew your dad alright." She turned her gaze to me. "You really don't remember anything?"

I shook my head, slightly intimidated, but I tried not to let it show.

"Well, I'm Angelica. That's Peggy."

"I can introduce myself to my friend, you dingleberry!" said the girl dressed in yellow from across the room.

"That's a new one," Angelica murmured.

"You know John," Thomas said. "You met James. That lazy asshole is Aaron."

"Hi."

"Wait, how do you know John?" asked Lafayette. "Because if you don't remember me, you certainly should not know John."

"You promised you wouldn't tell," John said, turning on Thomas.

"Tell what? Anyway, that's Lafayette, and that's Hercules."

Hercules, who had been the one sitting on the ground in the corner, smiled.

"Oh! You're the person who fucks horses!"

His smile quickly fell. "Now. How do you know that if you don't remember anything?" he asked, looking over at Thomas with a wry look.

"I said it for scientific purposes. To see what he remembered," Thomas responded.

"I said that one time, people! One time! And I was joking! Do you people kn—"

"Shit guys," said James from his position next to Thomas. "What are we going to do when the General finds out about this?"

"Oh," said a new voice that was filled with authority, "he already knows."

~•~

Saturday update because I love you guys~

Also, Merry Christmas! Much better present than last year's, no?