Sword Crossed Lovers

Some are born looking at the stars

Days had passed for all Houses to heal their wounds.  The Escalus House had managed to go quite unharmed except for Mercutio's thigh injury, which was healing quite nicely.  Although, the physician had advised him to stay off it for a couple of days but how could a hot-blooded youth heed such grounding orders?

Alas, for the Capulet House, many had been struck and injured.  Tybalt, Juliet, Nurse, and Capulet himself were the only who returned to the estate unharmed.  Capulet acclaimed Juliet's safety to Tybalt's watchful eye, yet he knew not where she was until she returned to the house and met him.  Their men and servants had been cut down and gravely injured.  None was a blow to the House of Capulet as this has been.

Now for the Montague House, they were the perpetrators of such a bloody attack in Verona's mind.  Their ways with the Northern Italian states gave them enough manpower to attack their opposing House as they did.  Romeo was injured badly and spent many nights staring up at the ceiling of his chambers.  He spoke not a word about how he sustained such a lucky injuring, missing all of his vital organs and muscle groups.  His father, however, was not so lucky.  He had been struck in the neck, back, and limbs protecting his wife.  Now she lies in safety but he walks the line between death and present life.  His servants tend to his needs but all know his time is coming fast on the next horizons.

The way the Montague head looks at his only son, his heir, Romeo knows.  He is not going to be long in this life.

As the next dawn rises, Romeo hears a stirring in his father's chambers.  He had been spending nights there, in a small and uncomfortable chair across from his father's bed.  How could a son leave his father to the care of physicians and servants?  It was his new honor to remain beside him.

Gasping sounds and more shuffling make Romeo rise from his seat and stand beside his father's bed.  "Father?" he asks the shaky man before him.  Montague's face is sunken and pale.  He appears almost like a ghost before his son's eyes.  Compared to his full eyes, his strong jaw and cheeks, Romeo can barely recognize and call this man his father.

"Son?" gasps the Montague, his eyes falling lazily around the room.  Romeo grasps his father's clammy hand.  "Aye, I am here."
"Good... good," Montague coughs, weakly dabbing the blood away from the corner of his lip with the back of his hand.  "If I survive this-"
"You will, father!"
"Patience... boy.  Let me speak," snaps the man, reminding Romeo that even injured, his father is still the same man he is known for.  The boy nods and respectfully bows his head.  "Continue, sir."
"If I survive this...  I will let these scars join the rest of my collection.  I respect and admire the scars I poses.  I like their stories.  Bravery, stupidity, pain- none of them come free.  Now, our hearts bare similar scars, Romeo.  I have no desire to suffer twice: now, and then in retrospect.  Thou shouldst desire the same.  For, what are men to rocks and mountains?  What are we to the great cathedral of Verona?  What are we in the eyes of the immortal and eternal Escalus House?  We are but shifting tides, son.  In this fair city of Verona, when the Capulet and Montague war has plagued this city for thousands of years, I can truly say that we have chosen to live in a gutter.  Yet, some of us are born looking at the stars.  Thou, my son, have and eye for the stars."
"I hope, or I could not live," replies Romeo solemnly, understanding every word his father speaks.
"However, we look up at the same stars, but see many different things.  I see in thou, boy, love.  Thou possesseth the greatest love of all.  No other's eyes shine as bright as the stars themselves.  I am only lucky to have been staring at you as my star or I might have been lead astray.  Hold onto that light, Romeo.  Never... let it....... die."