As Romeo begged for the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt to stop, he heard the sound of running over the clang of the duelist’s swords. He then saw his friend Julius, who he knew was his now wife’s male guise so she could have a life outside the Capulet compound. “Julius! Draw and help part these men with me!”
“I take Tybalt you take Mercutio?” she questioned drawing her sword.
“Aye, on Three. One, two, Three!”
And with that the two grabbed their respective duelist batting down their swords as they pulled them apart. “Peace, good Mercutio. Peace, peace.” Romeo soothed his friend.
Meanwhile Julius was yelling “Calm down good Tybalt! Calm down lest you the prince come and sentence you to death for this foolish fight! Think of your kin Juliet! How would she feel if she found you’d gone and got yourself killed!?”
Like lightning the ferocious Tybalt suddenly calmed all anger and struggle against Julius stopped suddenly to the surprise of all. Tybalt stood there for a moment then looked down at the shorter ‘boy’ pulling him away from the fight. “What do you know of mine kinsmen and mine relationship with them, young Julius?” The prince of cats asked sounding genuinely confused.
“Oh, nothing but it has been long rumored your care of Capulets daughter,” Julius said conspiratorially. “Some would even say you are practically brother not her lowly kinsman…”
“You, art to tell me Tybalt, Tybalt Capulet, tormentor of Montagues, hater of peace, second in command to lord Capulet, practically heir to the house of Capulet, price of cats, is in secret but human and has an incredibly great care for that of his cousin Juliet?” Mercutio cut in suddenly stopping in his tracks causing Romeo to stumble.
“According to rumor, yes.” Julius mused.
“Wait, wait, wait, halt one moment. Art, thou insinuating to me that Tybalt is but to Juliet as Benvolio is to Romeo?!” The Dramatic kinsman of the prince questioned incredulously.
“I am like no Montague!” Tybalt exclaimed, striding towards Mercutio once again enraged. Mercutio to his credit began backing up immediately along with Romeo and Benvolio. Julius on the other hand had once again grabbed onto the older boy and began trying to drag him back away from the trio of boys quickly backing away from him. That was until Mercutio stopped dead in his tracks a look of disgust quickly spreading across his face.
“Does that insinuate I’m the Montague’s Paris?! Ewww! I do not wish to attempt to engage Romeo to marry as quickly hence, matter not inappropriateness or foulness in such occurrence! That notion is truly and utterly sickening!” The halted boy cried in horror. This caused Tybalt to halt as well causing Julius to fall in surprise at the sudden lack of fight on the taller boy’s part.
“Your kinsman is in the attempt to do what Mercutio?” the teen enraged but a minute earlier said a deadly calm seeming to take over him. A cold and malicious look spreading over his face soon joined by a frightening grimace, his eyes piercing through the county’s kin.
“He is attempting to gain thy cousin’s hand in marriage I heard not even yesterday that he would be married to her tomorrow would old Capulet allow, whether or not the lady wishes or consents to it. For if she doesn’t, he believes could always use his ways of forcing her affection towards him. Though I doubt that for Juliet is not weak of mind and is strong of heart.” The revulsion evident in his tone and face. Looking up at Tybalt, Mercutio saw the rage building in the other’s eyes as he digested Mercutio’s statement. As the other boy turned on his heel and began to walk away suddenly Romeo Benvolio, and Julius lunged towards the departing teen attempting to drag him back.
“Let me take my leave you ruffians, I only endeavor to take mine young cousins unwanted suitor’s life.” Tybalt said sounding more exasperated and annoyed than anything. Mercutio on the other hand found this absolutely hilarious after all who expected two Montagues and a friend of the Montagues to be trying to stop a Capulet from doing something stupid that would probably get him killed without much other collateral damage. Well, he would almost certainly be able to kill Paris, heck even a manic Romeo could probably kill Paris with ease, so that was not that grand of a feat. Plus, it’s not like Mercutio would miss the creep and with that thought he promptly doubled over laughing. This however did very little to defuse the situation and Tybalt still struggled against the trio of people trying to hold him back.
The situation hadn’t changed much when the prince arrived with the elder Capulets a few minutes later except Mercutio had fallen to the ground at some point due to his fit of laughter. The newcomers stood for a minute in shock trying to get over their confusion about the situation. From the vantage point the prince and Juliet’s parents had the situation they saw could be described by them as nothing short of strange. On the ground lay the prince’s kin drowning in giggles while the two Montagues along with a familiar looking boy held back a murderous Tybalt. The trio binding the Capulet’s nephew where seemingly trying to talk the rallied boy out of something, begging him to calm down, and to stop this foolishness. Of what this foolishness was none of the new arrivals knew. “Mercutio!” the prince called, “Do you know what has happened to cause this veritably strange and unheard-of occurrence?”
The teen’s laughter slowly decapitated as he began to slowly pull himself up off the ground. He looked over at his friends to see that they still restraining Tybalt, then turned to the prince bowing politely. “Well, yond is quite simple, Tybalt came up to me and Benvolio looking for Romeo,” Mercutio answered lightly, “but as neither he nor I had seen Romeo since last night of all we told the prince of cats as such. Then as if the stars did write it, it is at the worst possible time Romeo appears. Tybalt did challenge Romeo to a duel, but he did doth refuse, but Tybalt refused to leave unsatisfied, so I did decide to duel him myself. We start dueling and Romeo tell us to stand ho and then Julius shows up and with his help the two mange pull us apart.”
The entire town square seemed to have quieted, besides the continued struggle of Tybalt and Mercutio’s friends. All eyes seemed to be on the flamboyant kin of prince Escalus, as he retold what had happened just moments earlier. Escalus and the lord and lady of the Capulets seemed to be frozen in shock for a time before urging the eccentric boy to continue his tale. The sun gloried down as the story continued, to flow from Mercutio’s mouth.
“Then I interpreted Julius’s calming words in a way that brought me much abhorrence and in my expression of this distaste I let slip to yound Tybalt Paris’s plans for his marriage to Juliet. This sent him into a rage like none I hath witnessed before and mine friends suddenly grabbed him, pulling back the murderous knave and keeping him from doing something foolish,” Mercutio smiled pausing for dramatic affect…
“I won’t let anyone rape my cousin like mine aunt rapes me, please let me go!” Tybalt’s sudden cry interrupting whatever Mercutio had been about to say and causing Julius to suddenly let of the struggling teen. Julius now turning her attention to lady Capulet, once again drawing her sword. Putting it up in a manner that suggested a challenge, or a duel directed directly at her mother, the lady of house Capulet. Romeo was looking ready to follow her into battle, as well as extremely worried for his wife.
“Worry not, Romeo my friend I only intend to commit patricide as mine mother has insulted and diminished mine cousin’s honor as well as my own and I demand satisfaction.” Julius said her hatred evident on her face.
“I worry not my jewel,” Romeo proclaimed also stepping away from Tybalt’s struggling form joining his wife his sword drawn, “I simply wish to even the slight against mine own honor, as well as regaining some of you and Tybalt’s honor stollen by yound kinsman.” His rapier pointed directly at his mother-in-law.
“I agree with mine friends, to take advantage of someone bears dishonor on all those who let it stand.” Mercutio declared joining his friends in their little triangle formation. Now to the modern reader this would not look very intimidating at all, as in the center was a short, long-haired thirteen-year-old little girl holding a large dagger-sword thing at a twenty-six-year-old flanked by two fourteen-year-old boys who were also holding dagger-swords at the woman. While a forty-five-year-old man and a twenty-one-year-old man, just stood there in shock and horror. Meanwhile a fifteen-year-old pulled another fifteen-year-old away from the woman who had raped him. Thought to those participating in this scene, this was the most serious moment in their life.
