[Summary: With the premiere of the school play finally upon them, Vee and the Cabin 7 Crew prepare to give the performances of a lifetime. The Hexsquad, meanwhile, takes the opportunity to investigate a curious artifact uncovered during the renovations, too caught up in the possibility of locating a more expedient path back home to notice that their greatest enemy is growing strong enough to obtain his long-awaited revenge...
Special thanks to the Folger Shakespeare Library for providing a convenient means of referencing the original text of the play, which you can explore here: .edu/explore/shakespeares-works/romeo-and-juliet/read/]
PrologueThe prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the title characters "star-crossed lovers"—and the stars do seem to conspire against these young lovers.
Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet a Capulet. Their families are enmeshed in a feud, but the moment they meet—when Romeo and his friends attend a party at Juliet's house in disguise—the two fall in love and quickly decide that they want to be married.
A friar secretly marries them, hoping to end the feud. Romeo and his companions almost immediately encounter Juliet's cousin Tybalt, who challenges Romeo. When Romeo refuses to fight, Romeo's friend Mercutio accepts the challenge and is killed. Romeo then kills Tybalt and is banished. He spends that night with Juliet and then leaves for Mantua.
Juliet's father forces her into a marriage with Count Paris. To avoid this marriage, Juliet takes a potion, given her by the friar, that makes her appear dead. The friar will send Romeo word to be at her family tomb when she awakes. The plan goes awry, and Romeo learns instead that she is dead. In the tomb, Romeo kills himself. Juliet wakes, sees his body, and commits suicide.
Their deaths appear finally to end the feud...
It was only when the door closed and the reality of Ms. Pines' departure sunk in that Vee realized she would never have a better opportunity than this.
Everyone was here already - Ms. Pines had made sure of that, and she had also made sure to pepper in several paranormal objects that were safe enough, sure, but definitely capable of raising questions under certain circumstances. Although she hadn't intended it, her efforts in making the old house into something livable had also yielded an unexpected addition to that assortment with the discovery of what Luz called a "rebus." She and Masha were still chattering away about it even as Vee closed the door and everyone moved into the living room, and to her credit, Luz was doing a pretty good job of deflecting their attention away from the unusual symbology and towards its broader historical significance, at least for the moment. Still, Vee could tell from what snippets of their rapid conversation she could hear that it wouldn't take much for Masha to connect the dots on just what it represented, especially given their familiarity with the colonial "legends" of Gravesfield.
The way she saw it, it was now or never.
"Hey, um, can I-can I talk to you all for a moment?" Vee began, understandably hesitant, but not willing to put it off any longer than she already had. A stray glance was all it took for Vee to catch Juniper's eye, then Luz's, and both girls understood what was about to happen immediately. Junie moved a bit closer to Vee as unobtrusively as she could, while Luz did the same with her own friends, relying on their long history of shared peril and shenanigans to get them up to speed on the whole situation here without even saying a word. In no time at all, she went from having no one in her corner to having half a dozen people ready to do whatever they had to if it meant keeping this weird, wonderful group of people together even after Vee finally revealed her secrets to them all.
It definitely made it easier, if only just.
With the eyes of everyone else gradually shifting towards where Vee was standing, maybe a second's sprint away from the door (more out of habit than anything else), Vee took a deep breath. She had committed to this: it was happening. It was probably going to be messy, but it wasn't about to ruin everything she held dear. It couldn't, she knew that, but she'd still spent far too much time worrying about what would happen if it did. And honestly, how awful was she, for it to have taken her this long to really believe it when her friends told her that they loved her unconditionally? A part of her still had to wonder: would they still love her after this, after everything she'd done?
Junie's encouraging smile told her the answer, but that didn't quite stop the ache in her chest.
"I just, I wanted to say how sorry I am, for everything," she continued, finding it strange that it became easier to speak the longer she went on, regardless of how her anxiety about the outcome grew in tandem with every word she spoke. "From the moment we met, I've been putting up a front around all of you, and it-it wasn't a lie, exactly, but...it wasn't the truth, either," she admitted out loud at last, exhaling with a sigh as though she had just dropped a heavy stone she had been carrying with her for far too long. She'd had a lot of moments like that, moments where she was able to toss aside one or two or three of the stones that she had been stuck with from the moment she was made and treated like a monster because of it. The stones that weighed her down, metaphorically speaking. It felt good to let go of those stones, she thought. It felt good that, in the midst of her doing so much to help the people around her heal from their own wounds, their friendship and their kindness was enough on its own to help her recover from some of her own, even if they hadn't quite realized it.
If only there weren't so many more stones to let go of.
At this rate, she might never be done.
"Vee, I'll admit, it was a lot to process at first, but it's really-"
"Masha, let me finish," Vee said, cutting them off so quickly and so firmly that for a second, Masha looked at the face of their partner and saw a side of her that they didn't recognize, almost to the point of feeling like they were looking at someone else entirely. The sensation passed as quickly as it came, but even so, it caught them off guard, and the dormant part of their mind that had once been so determined to solve the mystery that was "Luz" slowly stirred back to life as they began to think back to all the odd things about Vee that still couldn't be explained by what she'd told them.
From the look on their face, that was quickly becoming a larger list than they once thought.
"When I asked you to Homecoming, I told you that I couldn't promise that things wouldn't get more crazy," Vee kept going, finding herself thankful that she had Junie, Luz, and the others to support her if things went sideways. "And that goes for each of you: I can't promise that, because..." She paused, stared down one last mental hurdle and willed herself to jump over it. "Because when I told you all that story about me and Luz being sisters...I wasn't telling you the whole truth, so much as I was telling you as much of the truth as I thought I could get away with. Story of my life, it feels like sometimes," she remarked off-handedly, caught up in bitterness for a moment, at herself and at the ones who had left her with all of the stones she still carried, before remembering where she was. From there, the rest of it just spilled out, too fast for her to keep track of anymore. "I knew that I couldn't just tell you everything all at once, because it would have been too much, and because it wasn't just my life that was at stake if I was wrong, but-but I've been turning it over in my head for weeks and I still can't fathom why I would ever think I was wrong, why I would ever doubt you, any of you! After everything you've done for me, everything we've been through...why can't I just let it go?" she asked herself at last, speaking into being a question that she had been running from for so long, from the moment that she had started to entertain the idea that she might be able to live her own life without taking someone else's. "Why is it that I still can't trust that something won't just go wrong out of nowhere? Why is it that I still can't trust anyone with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Why is it that my stupid brain just can't accept that I'm not going to-?!"
"Vee," Luz cut in firmly this time, because she knew where Vee was going with that train of thought, and because that was the absolute last thing she needed to be doing right now. Her friends' expressions, the pain written on their faces as they saw just how much Vee had been concealing for their sakes, was more than evidence enough of that.
"Right," Vee said, a quick glance silently thanking Luz for pulling her from the edge this time around. "The truth, and nothing but the truth," she repeated, psyching herself up to do something that nobody, not even Juniper and Luz, could have expected: she blinked, sideways, and let her eyes revert to their normal state as splotches appeared on her skin in the exact same way they had looked on that fateful day. It was a form she had shunned since then, for very good reason: there had been no need for it, and it didn't exactly bring back fond memories. Still, it was the closest her friends had come to seeing her true form, and she knew it would be far too much to show them everything right away, especially for an uninitiated observer like Clara or Juniper. Better to ease them in with what she knew most of them had seen already, and let them decide what to do from there.
Let them decide if they could even bear to look at her now.
"Hopkins was right: I'm...I'm a shapeshifting demon," she said, and braced herself for the worst, already noting the ways in which her friends' expressions had subtly shifted at the sight of this version of her and what exactly it meant. "I, um, I still have those letters that I wrote, the ones I told you about?" she added a bit awkwardly, finding herself off-kilter as a result of her friends' uncertain reactions to this sudden deluge of information. "I-I said they were made up, but you probably were wondering why I never did show them to you," she continued, and while Luz was kind enough to go rushing upstairs to where she knew they had been hidden for just this occasion, both her friends and the Hexsquad were left at an impasse, sharing looks between their "counterparts" and coming away with widened eyes which seemed to suggest that the humans in the room were getting brought up to speed at a truly dizzying pace. "It's, the truth is a lot to process, and-and I don't even know where to start, but I'm not - I wasn't lying about our friendship," Vee said, desperately trying to ignore the hammering in her chest as she waited for Luz to find where she had stashed the letters. "I wasn't lying about how much I care about you, any of you, and I know I probably should have told you this sooner, but I just - I couldn't bear the thought of losing you, no matter how unlikely it might have been." Her friends blinked, glanced towards each other and their counterparts again, and Vee could only stand there, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't just ruined everything, yet feeling in her heart like she most certainly had. "I-I'm sorry-" she half-gasped, her voice so choked up that she felt like she was suffocating and her vision blurring from the tears in her eyes and her knees felt like they were about to shift into jelly and why weren't any of them saying anything-?!
"Vee," Masha said at last, and oh, that's why they weren't saying anything: they were literally shaking, and Vee had barely even noticed in her panic. So much for her powers of observation.
"Y-yeah?" she asked, hesitantly reaching out to hold their hands in her own so that they wouldn't shake as much. Although there was a pause in the contact that was never there before...they still accepted it, and seemed to appreciate the gesture, judging from the shaky smile they gave her.
"Please tell me this is the only thing you're hiding," they said, in a tone which was the closest they would ever come to "begging," their face attempting to communicate every single emotion at once and maybe a few new ones for good measure. Both the Hexsquad and the rest of the Cabin 7 Crew could do nothing but watch, Juniper keeping Alex grounded with a side hug while Hunter had impulsively done the same with Sam. Willow slowly moved to hold Clara's hand in her own, and Gus and Amity stood off to the side, occasionally glancing towards the stairwell as though it would make Luz get back to them faster and somehow make the situation better like she always did.
As for Vee, she wasted no time in responding...even if it still wasn't the whole truth.
"Yeah," she said a little breathlessly, desperate for Masha and the rest of the Cabin 7 Crew to believe that she wasn't lying, exactly. "No more secrets between us," she continued, looking Masha in the eyes with all the love that she dare not put into words at a time like this. "I promise," she said at last, with a finality in her voice that sent ripples through the room. With that remark, it was as if a far greater weight had been lifted from everyone's shoulders, a heavy stone in the making that had been unmade with nothing but eight little words from the most honest liar in the world.
If only it could always be that simple.
"Good," Masha said, at a loss for words themself for once. "Glad we got that cleared up," they added feebly as their expression, and those of the others, became noticeably more relaxed, yet still residually stressed as they were gradually able to bring themselves to smile. Vee smiled as well with less visible reluctance, hoping that her friends and especially Luz's friends wouldn't notice the way it almost reached her eyes, clouded as they were by a decision she'd been avoiding for months.
"So, we're good?" Vee asked, trying not to sound too desperate when she asked it. "You're not, you're not mad that I'm not-?"
"Human?" Masha finished for her, sounding incredulous even through their residual shock. "You think I would be mad about - bitch, please!" they countered with a sharp laugh, catching Vee off-guard while also weirdly putting her at ease, given the familiar term of endearment and the casual manner in which it was expressed under the circumstances. "If anything, I'm jealous of you, girl! I wish I could be free of this hormonal flesh-prison!" they added, laughing a little more easily as the pair slid back into their old dynamic bit by bit.
Vee chuckled, deciding not to correct their assumption for the moment. She knew, with much greater certainty than before, that there would be all the time in the world for them to come to terms with all of this. For her friends to take her to task for all the little lies and little stones that she hadn't quite managed to let go of after everything. For Vee to open up at last, no longer having to look out for threats and watch what she said or did around any of her people. For her friends to finally get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, just like they had always deserved.
"Honestly? Same," Alex quipped a little shakily, definitely better off for having Juniper there to support them through this whole Thing. "If I could just - shoop! - and get rid of these, I mean..." they added, gesturing to their body and giggling a bit at the absurdity of the situation, now that they had a bit of time to emotionally distance themself from it. "You know what I'm saying?" they added, their increased giggling prompting Sam and Masha to respond in kind. Vee laughed a little too, now that she actually understood those kinds of jokes, and even Junie couldn't help but crack a relieved smile at the sight of all of her friends joking around in the weird, wonderfully crass way that they did.
Nothing had changed, and yet everything had changed.
And it was still wonderful.
Vee couldn't remember the last time she'd actually looked forward to going to sleep.
Oh, sure, once there had been enough time to process their new circumstances, the situation with her and her friends did become slightly more awkward, to put it mildly. There were still lots of questions to be answered, lots of facts to be checked in order to ensure that Vee hadn't been and wasn't going to be hiding anything else from them that they didn't already know about or wouldn't soon find out. Fortunately, once it became clear that things had little chance of rapidly deteriorating after the Big Reveal, Luz and her friends were more than happy to leave them alone in the Noceda house while they worked on deciphering the rebus. As such, the atmosphere did eventually peter back down to the crew's unique form of normalcy, to the point where Vee was just in the middle of showing off her remarkable strength in her true form (easily lifting Masha over her head while the rest of her friends cheered her on) when Camila finally came home to what she could easily say was the fifth most bizarre thing she had ever witnessed in her entire life.
Well, sixth, maybe. She had seen a lot.
In any case, when the kids had finished Camila's supper and said their goodbyes to everyone in the house, Vee found herself shutting the door behind them with what might have been the most free and jubilant smile she had ever put on her myriad of faces, secure in the knowledge that she had finally let go of all the secrets she had left to keep...at least as far as her friends were concerned.
She took a deep breath as she picked up the excited voices of Luz and her friends, currently in the midst of telling Camila what they had managed to deduce about the rebus and the stash of Titan's Blood which they believed it would lead them to. She wished she'd had a bit more time to decompress and readjust after lifting such a massive weight from her shoulders, but a part of her had known from the moment they stumbled upon that thing that she was going to have to make a choice sooner or later. She couldn't keep straddling the fence like she had been for the last month: Luz and the others deserved better than that. They deserved to know where she stood.
They deserved to know that they might never see each other again.
Who knows? Maybe things would be just as fine the second time around.
"Oy, oy, repitelo: you're saying that there's a cache of Titan's Blood hidden in the cemetery?" Vee heard Camila ask, evidently not too jazzed about the prospect of the kids in her care partaking in a little nighttime grave-robbing. Amity flashed her the Blight family's signature disarming smile in an effort to reassure their de-facto guardian that the risks of this venture were minimal. Probably.
"From what I understand, the clues aren't super likely to indicate an actual grave that we'd need to dig up in order to recover it," she said matter-of-factly, backed up by Luz's supportive nods. "Luz thinks it's more likely to be found along the river, and there doesn't seem to be any real danger of us running into trouble out there. Compared to what we had to do to get Vee's papers in order, it should be easy! This should be fun!" Although not quite as, well, enthusiastic about the prospect as Gus, Luz, and Willow were, Amity and even Hunter were evidently reinvigorated by the discovery of the rebus, making them all the more difficult to refuse in Camila's estimation.
"Well, as much as I'm relieved to hear that you all may be close to getting home, it's a little too late to go out exploring tonight," Camila cautioned them as a thought occurred to her. "On the other hand, I do appreciate that you didn't just run out as soon as you knew where to go, so you kids at least have my permission to go check it out tomorrow during school," she added for the benefit of Luz's friends, who immediately brightened back up along with Luz. "Just...promise me you'll be careful, alright? I may still be new to all of this magic business, but I swear, there's some kind of energy that's been going around lately," she mused mostly to herself, the others too preoccupied with making plans and expressing their excitement at finally getting somewhere with their mission.
"Woo-hoo! Boiling Isles, here we come!" Gus cried out jubilantly.
"That little crescent-moon jerk won't know what hit him!" Willow added on, maybe a little too eager to get back at The Collector for taking her away from her family and friends and...yeah. Big feelings. So many feelings. A number of feelings that make you ask yourself, "Why?" You know? Why my family and friends, huh, bud? Why'd you have to do that? Why did you-? Are you even-?
"Don't forget we still don't know for sure that we'll be getting a stable portal door out of this," Hunter cautioned them, cutting Willow's rambling thoughts off and dulling their enthusiasm.
Just a little bit, though, but the effort to calm them all down is what really matters here.
"Not to mention that adds a whole new level of risk to all of this if The Collector manages to get their hands on it," Amity added, which only served to freak the others out further, including-!
"Aht aht, okay, true, those are valid points, but, counterpoint: he's never had to deal with the six of us!" Luz said as she prepared to launch into a big inspiring speech. Vee cringed: she evidently needed to work on her timing. "We've got the best of the Blight family, the greatest of the Golden Guards, and some of the most powerful prodigies the Isles has ever seen on our side, not to mention the unstoppable Noceda sisters! Am I right?!" Luz cried out upon spotting Vee, shooting her finger guns and showing a hint of hesitation once she noticed that they were not being returned. "Am I, uh, am I right? That's your cue, hermana, come on now," she said a bit more circumspectly, once more drawing all eyes to Vee as she cleared her throat and dropped her second bombshell of the night:
"I'm not going."
The room fell silent, the kids left in varying degrees of disbelief while Camila pursed her lips in a gesture of silent worry, knowing exactly where Vee was coming from with that declaration, even as the others had to take a moment to process just what she was saying.
"Wha-? But I thought - with your family, and-and with us, you would..." Luz began, trying her best not to let her emotions get the best of her. She understood better than most why Vee would have no intention of going with them, but because she hadn't said anything until now, she'd allowed herself to hope that the kindness her sister had been shown by her and her friends had been enough to convince her that things wouldn't be so bad. She had spent a month getting used to the idea that the two of them could take on anything together, that she would always be by her side...and yet...
"I'm sorry," Vee began, noting the way that the others' faces began to fall along with Luz's. "I won't lie, I definitely thought about it. You all have done so much for me, and for a while, I did think that I was ready to go back, but...I can't. I just can't," she admitted, trying her damndest to just maintain her own composure as Camila instinctively moved to pull her daughter into a hug.
"It's alright, bebé, you don't have to explain yourself," she said consolingly, only for Vee to push herself away from her a bit and offer one anyway. The others deserved that much, in her view.
"It's not just all the bad memories: I've made my peace with those, more or less," Vee began, causing the others to tune in a bit more closely. "And as for my family, it's-it's not that I don't want to see them again, I just...I can't help but worry that even if I did go back, all I would find would be the-the bodies that Philip left behind," she continued, choking up a bit towards the end and blinking back tears at the thought of finding her fellow basilisks in the form of drained, lifeless husks.
"Basilisks are pretty resilient, and it's-it's not like the Emperor's Coven is around to hunt them down anymore...right?" Amity suggested a little nervously in an effort to cheer Vee up again, if only, but her efforts were thwarted by the grim look on Hunter's face.
"I was never told about the others, but I knew at the very least that the basilisk that attacked Hexside was recaptured and, according to Belos...summarily executed. Personally," Hunter clarified, if only to follow up on what he almost told Vee the night they met, and never quite got back around to mentioning for fear of upsetting her. "It's entirely possible that the others are alive and using their shapeshifting to hide from The Collector and anyone else who might do them harm...except-"
"Philip likely had a contingency plan in place to deal with us before the Day of Unity," Vee finished for him, having come to the same conclusion a while ago and done her best not to dwell on it too much up until this point. "Number Two said that he tried, uh, branding him and Number One with sigils the same as everyone else, but they just drained the magic off of the coven scouts' gloves and tried to escape before they were contained again. After that, we were each fitted with one of these," she said, shifting back into her true form and letting her tail flop to the ground with its own corresponding tag fully visible to everyone in the room. "We never quite managed to find a way to get rid of them, at least not without losing our tails for our trouble, so we just kinda...wait a minute."
Vee paused at that, turning what she had just said over and over again in her head, yet not finding herself any closer to understanding where she had gone wrong.
"That-that doesn't make sense," she said out-loud to herself in her attempts to rationalize the apparent discrepancy between what she remembered and what was objectively correct. "The tag, it-it was given to me for a reason, it shifts with me whenever I transform, but if it were designed to be impossible for us to remove, it wouldn't be nearly as small as it is, and it wouldn't be on the very tip of my tail either!" As she spoke, Vee found herself growing increasingly agitated as she endeavored to put the pieces together without losing her composure in the process. "The only explanation I can think of is that it has some kind of enchantment built into it, something similar to what the sigils did to everyone during the Day of Unity, and if that's the case, then the only thing stopping me or any of us from removing it when we had the chance was...me." Vee fell silent once again as she came to this rather belated conclusion, but now found herself rooted to the spot as she realized something else:
Nobody else had said a word.
"Guys?" she asked no one in particular, glancing back and forth between what was quickly turning out to be an entire room full of blank faces, their eyes obscured by shadows as everything seemed to tilt on an imaginary axis that sent her suddenly plummeting down, down, down into the very depths from which she had crawled out of the dirt and made a life for herself built on nothing but lies and lies and lies and lies and LIES-
"Vee?"
"Vee? Veeee? Is everything okay in there, pumpkin?"
Vee blinked once, twice, then three more times, hoping to God or Titan or whatever deity was actually deserving of her worship that none of those blinks were made in an abnormal fashion. It took a moment for her mind to reacquaint herself with the circumstances she had currently found herself in: they were backstage on opening night for Gravesfield High's production of Romeo & Juliet, their first scene was mere minutes away, and Masha, the perfect partner that they were, had ventured over to where Vee had sequestered herself ahead of curtain call, only to discover that her girlfriend was having some kind of episode likely triggered by her intense anxiety regarding the play and all of the other things that would soon be happening once opening night was over and done with. Vee had to resist the temptation to smack herself upside the head: Masha had enough to worry about without her anxious mind playing tricks on her! With a quick run-through of Cabin 7's own special breathing technique to calm her down, Vee was able to regain her composure and offer her partner a coherent response that she was hoping would set their mind at ease.
"Sorry about that, Mash: just got lost in thought for a minute there, but I'm fine now," Vee said, a part of her wondering just how true that was before the rest of her mind silenced that errant thought before it could get any traction. Masha cocked their head, confusion evident in their tone.
"Are you sure? I've seen you lost in thought, and this didn't feel like that," Masha reasoned, unable to explain why this particular incident felt so different from all the other times she had pulled her adorable girlfriend out of her own head, yet unable to shake the feeling that something was up.
"Masha, I promise, there is absolutely nothing wrong with-" Vee began, only to be rudely interrupted by the sudden announcement that they were due on stage at any moment. Suddenly lacking any amount of time with which to continue their conversation, Vee offered her partner an apologetic smile and hoped that her expression would finish the thought better than words could.
After all, they both had far more pressing matters to attend to.
"Two households, both alike in dignity," Vee began loud and clear as soon as the curtain came up, finding it unexpectedly difficult for her eyes to adjust to the glare of the spotlights.
"In fair Verona, where we lay our scene," Clara finished by her side, looking absolutely radiant in her period costume in a way that made Vee feel a strange sort of longing in her chest.
"From ancient grudge break to new mutiny," Sam continued dutifully, likewise looking dapper in his fancy noble getup complete with a white cravat and a rapier holstered at his side.
"Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean," Alex finished in turn, dressed to the nines in a similar fashion and loving every second of it.
"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes," Mr. Fisch said in his "Capulet" voice.
"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life," Mrs. Fisch finished in a similar manner.
"Whose misadventured piteous overthrows," Masha remarked, unable to keep themself from sparing one more worried glance in the direction of their girlfriend before looking away again.
"Doth with their death bury their parents' strife," Juniper finished with utmost detachment.
"The fearful passage of their death-marked love," Mr. Fisch said in his "Montague" voice, holding up a pink mustache on a stick to cover his lip so that the audience could clearly see the difference. As he had hoped, the kids in the audience giggled. The adults...not so much. Hrm.
"And the continuance of their parents' rage," Mrs. Fisch finished in the exact same way, because she knew exactly what that pink mustache meant to her husband and she loved him for it, although it was odd that, out of dozens of adults, only Camila chuckled at the whole bit. Very odd.
"Which, but their children's end, naught could remove-" Mike Underwood said, having not registered anything unusual about the audience's behavior - to him, it just seemed like a tough crowd.
"Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage," Ares Anderson finished dutifully.
"The which, if you with patient ears attend," Clara picked up, glancing over to Vee. The serpent girl took a deep breath. This was it. This was the moment it had all been leading towards.
"What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend," she concluded perfectly, refusing to let any trace of her residual anxiety show on her face. When it came to this play, she knew with hardly any doubt in her mind that she was going to knock it out of the park. Her friends still believed in her, Mr. Fisch had always believed in her, and dammit, she believed in her! She was going to have a fun night with her friends, she was gonna put on one hell of a show for these people, and above all, she was going to make her family proud to see how far she had come. It didn't matter what may or may not happen, it didn't matter where she was going to go after this, and it didn't even matter if she did somehow mess up her part on opening night! Right now, nothing mattered, except for this play and these people standing alongside her. And after everything they had done for her, after they had all accepted her as she was in whatever way mattered most, she knew with ironclad certainty that she would do anything for them, no matter what. When all pretenses were shed, Vee realized that this moment was no different than the moment she had auditioned for this play to begin with. Because whether she could do it or not, the fact remained:
It was showtime.
Act I, Scene IAct I, Scene IIAct I, Scene IIIAct I, Scene IVAct I, Scene VAct II, ChorusAct II, Scene IAct II, Scene II"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"
"Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."
"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"
"Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? It is neither hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name belonging to a man. What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word, would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, and, for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself."
"I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized. Henceforth I never will be Romeo."
"What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night, so stumblest on my counsel?"
"By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am. My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word."
"My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?"
"Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike."
"How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore? The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, and the place death, considering who thou art, if any of my kinsmen find thee here."
"With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do, that dares love attempt. Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me."
"If they do see thee, they will murder thee."
"Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet, and I am proof against their enmity."
"I would not for the world they saw thee here."
"I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes, and, but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were better ended by their hate than death proroguèd, wanting of thy love."
"By whose direction found'st thou out this place?"
"By love, that first did prompt me to inquire. He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes. I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far as that vast shore washed with the farthest sea, I should adventure for such merchandise."
"Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face, else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek for that which thou hast heard me speak tonight. Fain would I dwell on form; fain, fain deny what I have spoke. But farewell compliment. Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say "Ay," and I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear'st, thou mayst prove false. At lovers' perjuries, they say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, if thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. Or, if thou thinkest I am too quickly won, I'll frown and be perverse and say thee nay, so thou wilt woo, but else not for the world. In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond, and therefore thou mayst think my havior light. But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true than those that have more coying to be strange. I should have been more strange, I must confess, but that thou overheard'st ere I was ware my true-love passion. Therefore pardon me, and not impute this yielding to light love, which the dark night hath so discoverèd."
"Lady, by yonder blessèd moon I vow, that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-"
"O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable."
"What shall I swear by?"
"Do not swear at all. Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, which is the god of my idolatry, and I'll believe thee."
"If my heart's dear love-"
"Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight. It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, too like the lightning, which doth cease to be ere one can say "It lightens." Sweet, good night. This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Good night, good night. As sweet repose and rest come to thy heart as that within my breast."
"O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?"
"What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?"
"Th' exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine."
"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it, and yet I would it were to give again."
"Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?"
"But to be frank and give it thee again. And yet I wish but for the thing I have. My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."
"Juliet?"
"I hear some noise within. Dear love, adieu.— Anon, good nurse.— Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little; I will come again."
"O blessèd, blessèd night! I am afeard, being in night, all this is but a dream, too flattering sweet to be substantial."
"Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say "Good night" till it be morrow."
"Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast. Would I were sleep and peace so sweet to rest. Hence will I to my ghostly friar's close cell, his help to crave, and my dear hap to tell."
Act II, Scene IIIAct II, Scene IVAct II, Scene VAct II, Scene VIAct III, Scene IIt is in the third act, as it is in the play, that things quickly begin to go wrong.
"Follow me close, for I will speak to them," Alex commanded to the extras before striding forward with purpose. "Gentlemen, good e'en. A word with one of you," they said sternly, as though they expected to be obeyed immediately. Masha scoffed and regarded them with a cool smirk.
"And but one word with one of us?" they asked innocently. "Couple it with something. Make it a word...and a blow," they added, taunting smirk on full display as Alex laughed cockily.
"You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will give me occasion," they claimed.
"Could you not take some occasion without giving?" Masha shot back immediately. Sam looked at the two of them with worry evident on his usually-stoic features, particularly when Alex simply smiled in return before laying out their accusation.
"Mercutio...thou consortest with Romeo," they said, as though they were revealing a dirty secret to the world. A couple of the extras played up the drama of the line through their reactions, while Masha themselves fell into stunned silence for a moment before donning their mask again.
"Consort?" they asked snarkily. "What, dost thou make us minstrels? An thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords! Here's my fiddlestick!" they proclaimed, getting up from their seat and dramatically flourishing their coat such that the prop sword they held in a scabbard at their side was now plainly visible. "Here's that shall make you dance. Zounds, consort!" With the proverbial gauntlet thrown, Alex took a step backward, hand reaching for their own blade while Sam attempted to put an end to the conflict before it could escalate into bloodshed.
"We talk here in the public haunt of men. Either withdraw unto some private place, or reason coldly of your grievances, or else depart! Here all eyes gaze on us," he attempted to impress upon both gentlemen, only to find himself haughtily rebuked.
"Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze! I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I," Masha countered swiftly, finding a great deal of truth in the words. Just as it appeared to both the audience and the characters that the two were about to go at it, however, Vee at last entered the scene, looking as though it were taking all of her self-control not to break into joyous song. Seeing their target, Alex smirked at Masha before relaxing their posture and turning towards Vee.
"Well, peace be with you, sir. Here comes my man," they said, equal parts dismissive towards Mercutio and giddy at the prospect of beating Romeo senseless.
"But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery," Masha snarked. "Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower. Your Worship in that sense may call him 'man,'" they continued, but Alex made it very clear that Tybalt didn't give a damn what Mercutio was saying any longer as they strode across the stage with even greater purpose than before.
"Romeo!" they bellowed as though they were speaking the name of their arch-nemesis, which was enough to momentarily pull Vee from her reverie. "The love I bear thee can afford no better term than this: thou art a villain," they spat in Vee's face, who looked rather put out for a moment before her expression shifted to a patient smile, as though the enemy standing before her were little more than an impertinent child whose tantrum was unworthy of her anger.
"Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting," Vee said as warmly as she could under the circumstances, visibly catching Alex and their extras off-guard. "Villain am I none. Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not," she said a little more curtly, clearly intending for that to be her final word on the subject, but Tybalt wouldn't have it.
"Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me! Therefore turn and draw!" Alex demanded, brushing aside their coat to reveal their sword so that Romeo would take Tybalt's meaning. Unfortunately, this was not sufficient to get a rise out of Romeo; quite the opposite, in fact.
"I do protest, I never injured thee!" Vee argued in her own defense before taking Alex's hand, which was ready to pretend-smack Vee across the face to initiate a duel, and holding it in her own as though Tybalt was a dear friend. "But love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love," she continued cryptically, her words sweet even as they clearly made no sense to Tybalt or anyone else surrounding them. "And so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own...be satisfied," she asked plaintively, letting go of Alex's hand and leaving them in a state of utter shock and awe as she walked away. For a brief second or two, nobody spoke, none of the characters able to wrap their minds around what had just happened. Through some movement of their face, some twitch of their eye, Masha gave the impression that Mercutio alone had some inclination of what had transpired...and the conclusion he came to clearly drove him into a rage.
"O calm, dishonorable, vile submission!" they snapped angrily, once again leaping to their feet and marching towards Alex with fury in their eyes. "Alla stoccato carries it away! Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?" they demanded, drawing their blade at last and leaving Alex confused, but more than a little bit angry as well.
"What wouldst thou have with me?" they demanded in turn, causing Masha to smirk as Vee's face fell along with Sam's at the conflict that was brewing in the wake of what she had done.
"Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives, that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight!" Masha declared, slashing at the air in order to punctuate their threats and show off their skill with the blade all at once. "Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out!" they taunted, leveling one last thrust such that the fake blade flew just past Alex's ear before darting back to Masha's side in a flash. So bold and so disrespectful was this that, judging by the expressions of the cast, none of the characters could quite believe that Mercutio had done it. However, of these characters, Tybalt was the first to recover...and he would not be insulted so easily.
"I am for you," Alex said, speaking with grim determination as they drew their sword as well.
"Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up!" Vee called out at last, desperate to avoid a conflict that was going to happen whether Romeo liked it or not.
"Come, sir, your passado!" Masha demanded, and so the battle finally began, with both actors executing their fight choreography with a level of precision which spoke to the hours they had spent practicing together both on and off the stage. She did a good job of hiding it for the sake of the scene, but Vee couldn't help but feel proud of her friends as they danced around each other, even as her character was supposed to be stopping them.
"Draw, Benvolio, beat down their weapons!" she cried out, beckoning Sam to enter the fray as they both skated around the combat area, looking for an opening during which they could safely intercede before someone got hurt. "Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage! Tybalt! Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath Forbid this bandying in Verona streets! Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!" When it became clear that her words were being completely lost in the din of pitched combat, Vee let frustration show on her face as Romeo moved to beat down their weapons more recklessly than he should have done. As Vee interposed herself between Alex and Masha, Alex's sword snuck in underneath her arm (and also Masha's, technically), making it appear as though Tybalt had taken advantage of the cover Romeo gave him to stab Mercutio right through the side. With a cry of pain, Masha stumbled to the ground so convincingly that Vee was almost worried herself, making it easy to sell Romeo's growing terror at the sight of his fallen friend as Tybalt reflexively stepped back.
"Away, Tybalt!" the actor for Petruchio cried, beckoning Alex to withdraw for the moment along with the rest of Tybalt's followers. As they went off into shadow without going quite off-stage, the lights fell away from them and focused on Vee, whose attention was centered entirely on the fallen Masha as Sam moved to assess their injuries.
"I am hurt," Masha muttered, as though they were just realizing that they could ever be hurt. "A plague on both houses! I am sped," they gasped out, lacking the venom with which they would speak that line in the near future. "Is he gone and hath nothing?" they asked nobody in particular, evidently finding the whole affair rather pointless without there being anything to show for it.
"What, art thou hurt?" Sam asked, and though it was obvious enough what the answer was, so too was it obvious that Benvolio meant whether Mercutio had been grievously injured. Masha attempted to laugh the way they used to, but it felt hollower this time.
"Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch! Marry...'tis enough." The stage fell silent as Masha spoke that line, seeming to make the realization of their impending demise in real time before brushing it aside for the moment and shakily getting back up to their feet. "Where is my page?" they asked with all due severity, prompting one of the extras to rush to their side. "Go, villain, fetch a surgeon," they demanded, and so the extra vanished into the shadows of the outer stage just as quickly.
"Courage, man, the hurt cannot be much," Vee said at last, making it clear from her shaky delivery and the worry etched into her face that Romeo was desperately trying to convince himself that his dear friend was fine, and wasn't entirely succeeding. Masha looked at Vee for a moment, a million different emotions playing out on their face. They had rehearsed this scene many times before, each one subtly different in a dozen little ways, especially with regards to how they played Mercutio in his final moments. Anger, fear, regret, sadness - all of those emotions and more were touched upon to differing extents between each take of this scene that they did, but something about their performance now felt...different. More profound than it really ought to be for what all of this was, in a way which they couldn't quite explain and couldn't quite shake. For whatever reason, they felt all the more determined to do it right, and with the weight of all of their past performances taken into account...Masha knew exactly what Mercutio would do before everything faded to black.
And by Goddess, they were going to make it look good.
"No," they said, smiling at Vee in a way which was so laced with pain and conflict that it almost broke her heart to look at it, even knowing this was all nothing but a stage play. "Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough. 'Twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world." They had been moving about almost as animatedly as they had done before as they said these words, trying to make it seem as though everything was fine, only to pause as they got to the middle of the stage. There, they looked out towards both sides of it - the Capulets off in shadow to their right, and the Montagues now fading into shadow to their left as the lights shifted to focus on them exclusively. This was it.
This was the moment which everyone was waiting for.
"A plague on both your houses!" they screamed, fury and hurt and loathing and regret all coming out so strongly in their words that the audience, muted though they had been, were clearly moved by their delivery. "Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! A braggart, a rogue, a villain that fights by the book of arithmetic!" they continued to rant, pacing unsteadily back and forth as Vee hesitantly moved out of the shadow and back into their light. At the sight of Vee, Masha's expression softened, their rage momentarily giving way to sadness. "Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm," they asked, the pain in their voice likewise touching something in Vee so strongly that she truly felt what Romeo was feeling in that moment.
"I thought all for the best," she replied tearfully, her convincing delivery likewise managing to stir something in an audience which had proven oddly difficult to stir so far. Masha looked at Vee for a moment, something in their expression indicating that they had found themselves similarly moved by Vee's words, but this did not change what they both knew was coming next. It was a change made to the script not long into the process, when something Masha had improvised on a whim in an early rehearsal had impressed Mr. Fisch so much that he asked them to refine it with every subsequent performance. Having been there for every single one, Vee and the rest of the cast knew that Masha had stumbled onto something good, something that may not have been what Shakespeare intended, but which probably wasn't something he'd mind very much. And so, after a second's pause which felt like an eternity, Mercutio did exactly what Masha thought he would do:
He laughed with the painful sincerity of a dead man walking.
What began as a breathless, gasping response to Romeo's silent plea for forgiveness soon gave way to Masha outright cackling at the absurdity and injustice of the entire situation. There was still fury and hurt and loathing and regret beneath the surface, of course, but all of that had suddenly given way to something else, something far more twisted and complicated which digs its roots into a person's soul and makes it so that all they can do is laugh in the face of tragedy. Of course, feigned amusement of that type almost always transitions into genuine sorrow, and so it was scripted into Masha's performance, to the point where both the audience and the cast could scarcely tell the difference between laugh and sob. Nevertheless, with the last of their laugh/sobs also went the last of their strength, as Masha stumbled so severely that Sam had to catch them before they fell.
"Help me into some house, Benvolio, or I shall faint," they whispered, the fire which burned brightly in their chest beginning to flicker in and out. "A plague on both your houses!" they spat one final time, the conviction of their words making up for the weakness of their voice. "They have made worms' meat...of me," they declared with nothing left in their heart but sadness and the cold resignation of a man doomed to die. "I have it, and soundly, too. Your...houses," they muttered before falling limp in Benvolio's arms just as they made it past the light, leaving Sam and the extras to silently act out a scene realizing that Mercutio was slain while the focus of the stage light shifted squarely onto Vee, who could only look on at the tragedy in despair.
"This gentleman, the Prince's near ally, my very friend, hath got this mortal hurt in my behalf. My reputation stained with Tybalt's slander: Tybalt, that an hour hath been my cousin!" Vee lamented, growing more and more angry as she laid out Romeo's situation until her expression hardened into a look of cool fury which was easier for her to adopt than she would have liked. "O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate, and in my temper softened valor's steel," Vee declared, Romeo's next course of action apparent even before Sam re-entered the scene.
"O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead," Sam stated firmly, yet with a hint of true pain in his voice, reflecting how deeply he too felt the loss. "That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds, which too untimely here did scorn the earth," he continued, causing Vee's fury to grow.
"This day's black fate on more days doth depend. This but begins the woe others must end," she said bitterly, prompting Alex and the Capulet extras to re-enter the scene as well.
"Here comes the furious Tybalt back again," Sam remarked nervously, with Benvolio clearly wanting to get Romeo out of there before he did something reckless, as Vee was wont to do.
"Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain! Away to heaven, respective lenity, and fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!" Vee declared, marching to meet Alex with the same fury that Masha had shown before. "Now, Tybalt, take the 'villain' back again that late thou gavest me, for Mercutio's soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company! Either thou or I or both must go with him!" With this, Vee drew forth her own sword at last, fueled only by the desire for revenge.
"Thou wretched boy that didst consort him here shalt with him hence!" Alex declared, drawing their own blade in response and standing ready to strike.
"This shall determine that!" Vee cried, kicking off the second duel of the scene with what she only hoped was the same gusto that the others had shown previously. For her part, Vee was admittedly not the best in the cast when it came to stage fighting, finding it trickier than usual to rein in her unusual strength on top of it just being plain harder for her. As a result, she hadn't been able to hide her difficulties completely from Mr. Fisch and the rest of the cast...but it hadn't quite blown her cover. Instead, Mr. Fisch suggested running with them as part of Romeo's fight choreography, under the premise that such raw strength could help to explain how Romeo manages to prevail in not one, but two duels against opponents older and more skilled than he is. Frankly, Vee was just happy that she hadn't gotten herself caught, so she was all too willing to play along for the sake of the play. That being said, Alex always made sure that Tybalt especially didn't make it easy for her.
Much like the fight between Masha and Alex earlier, Alex and Vee danced around the stage while the extras surrounded them cautiously, Sam struggling in vain to find an opening where he might intercede. Vee didn't have to try especially hard to make it look like she was losing, given her aforementioned struggles with regards to stage fighting. At one point, the choreography called for Romeo to be put onto the back foot so severely that he winds up defending himself from the ground, narrowly avoiding several lethal blows before mercifully leaping back up to his feet. Once they arrived at that juncture, Vee did her part and made it look as though Alex had tripped her, only to be somewhat off-put by the faint sound of parents in the audience...chuckling, as she fell?
Wait a minute. Were they rooting for Tybalt?!
Vee didn't consider herself to be a petty person by any means, but this crowd was starting to get on her nerves a little! First they barely reacted when she and Clara were, frankly, killing it during the balcony scene, and now those curmudgeons apparently disliked her enough to root for the villain during her big heroic fight scene?! It was fortunate indeed that she was largely preoccupied with avoiding Alex's stage blows, as focusing on the fight choreography gave her the space to calm down from her initial indignation and think through this more rationally. Maybe she was projecting, she reasoned. Maybe she was simply letting her anxiety about doing well in the play color her view of the crowd. A reaction like theirs could easily be explained in several other ways beyond assuming that they dislike or, Titan forbid, hate her. They couldn't hate her: they barely know her!
...So why did it feel like they did, nonetheless?
Pushing her insecurity aside for the moment, Vee continued to focus on the fight, not letting her baggage distract from her performance for more than a split second of hesitation. As she leapt back to her feet with practiced ease and began to swing at Alex more aggressively than she had done before, it was as though her brief pause when she was on the ground hadn't even happened. She was sure that nobody other than Alex and Sam had really noticed it, although it was unclear whether they had put together what exactly the cause was. In any case, their fight continued without interruption, and Vee certainly hoped that the shifting tide of battle was being portrayed as effectively as they had done during their rehearsals. Nobody should have been surprised when, after Romeo's aggressive assault gradually left Tybalt off-balance, all it took was one small mistake to give Vee the opportunity to grab Alex with her free hand. From there, it wasn't too difficult to make it look as if Tybalt's wrist was buckling under the strength of Romeo's grip, until at last Alex dropped their sword and fell to one knee, allowing Vee to drive her own sword under their arm and "kill" them stone dead. Vee made sure to widen her eyes in shock even as the dark deed was being done...because Romeo simply couldn't believe that he was, in fact, capable of murder.
A part of Vee couldn't help but mourn how suddenly she had lost that sort of innocence.
"Romeo, away, begone! The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain!" Sam cried with the utmost urgency, to the point where he moved to shake Vee as she stood there unmoving. "Stand not amazed! The Prince will doom thee death if thou art taken! Hence, be gone, away!" he pleaded, the desperation in his voice snapping Vee out of her reverie, both in and out of character.
"O, I am Fortune's fool!" she lamented, haunted by what she had done.
"Why do you stay?!" Sam demanded, at which point Vee finally disappeared into shadow and off of the stage, to which she would not return for several scenes yet. Plenty of time for her to ruminate on the unusual reaction of the audience (was it just her, or was somebody booing?), and plenty of time for her to watch from backstage as the rest of the cast went on just fine without her.
"Which way ran he that killed Mercutio?! Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?!" one of the extras cried, taking the role of a concerned citizen.
"There lies that Tybalt," Sam said, gesturing to Alex as they continued to lie "dead" upon the stage, eyes still open and face frozen in shock as a testament to their commitment to realism.
"Up, sir, go with me," the extra replied, attempting to move Tybalt and finding his weight too much to bear. "I charge thee in the Prince's name, obey!" they cried, taking a few more seconds to realize that this man was dead. By that point, a new crowd arrived, with Mike Underwood and the Fisches standing out chief among them as Prince Escalus and the heads of both noble families.
"Where are the vile beginners of this fray?" Mike demanded, the Prince's stern command laced with a subtle sort of rage at this flagrant defiance of his will.
"O noble prince, I can discover all the unlucky manage of this fatal brawl. There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, that slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio," Sam explained in a level tone, reflecting that Benvolio had mustered enough focus to serve his family and his country in this way.
"Tybalt, my cousin, O my brother's child! O prince! O cousin! Husband! O, the blood is spilled of my dear kinsman!" Mrs. Fisch cried, sounding very distraught even as she turned to Mike with a scowl. "Prince, as thou art true, for blood of ours, shed blood of Montague," she demanded more harshly before snapping right back to mourning. "O cousin, cousin!"
"Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?" Mike asked, ignoring the cries of Lady Capulet.
"Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay: Romeo, that spoke him fair, bid him bethink how nice the quarrel was, and urged withal your high displeasure," Sam began, laying out the facts of the matter as only Benvolio could. "All this utterèd with gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bowed could not take truce with the unruly spleen of Tybalt, deaf to peace, but that he tilts with piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast, who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point and, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats cold death aside and with the other sends it back to Tybalt, whose dexterity retorts it. Romeo, he cries aloud "Hold, friends! Friends, part!" and swifter than his tongue his agile arm beats down their fatal points, and 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm an envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled. But by and by comes back to Romeo, who had but newly entertained revenge, and to 't they go like lightning, for ere I could draw to part them was stout Tybalt slain, and, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly." Sam paused to let the crowd and the audience process his words before concluding. "This is the truth, or let Benvolio die," he declared, only for Mrs. Fisch to scoff indignantly.
"He is a kinsman to the Montague. Affection makes him false; he speaks not true!" she countered, striding forward in order to present her own version of events. "Some twenty of them fought in this black strife, and all those twenty could but kill one life. I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give. Romeo slew Tybalt; Romeo must not live." With this bitter declaration of her own, the crowd of extras murmured amongst themselves, some in agreement and others in fear, before Mike lifted his hand and the crowd silenced themselves at once.
"Romeo slew him; he slew Mercutio. Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?" Mike asked simply, and before Mrs. Fisch could offer a retort as Lady Capulet, Mr. Fisch swooped in to interject, pulling out the pink mustache on a stick which indicated that he was now Montague.
"Not Romeo, Prince; he was Mercutio's friend. His fault concludes but what the law should end, the life of Tybalt," Montague argued firmly, and to which the Prince responded in kind.
"And for that offense immediately we do exile him hence," Mike declared with the voice of one who had grown tired of being ignored. "I have an interest in your hearts' proceeding: my blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding. But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine that you shall all repent the loss of mine," he continued harshly, glaring at everyone present. "I will be deaf to pleading and excuses," he said, looking at Montague. "Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses," he said just as bitterly to Lady Capulet. "Therefore use none. Let Romeo hence in haste, else, when he is found, that hour is his last. Bear hence this body and attend our will."
At this command, the crowd rushed to disperse and "dispose" of Alex's body, preparing it for burial such that only the Prince remained on stage for a brief moment. He clenched his fist in anger as he spoke his final line, a line which would prove all too fitting in the worst way possible.
"Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill."
Act III, Scene IIAct III, Scene IIIAct III, Scene IVAct III, Scene VAct IV, Scene IAct IV, Scene IIAct IV, Scene IIIAct IV, Scene IVAct IV, Scene VAct V, Scene I"If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep, my dreams presage some joyful news at hand. My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne, and all this day an unaccustomed spirit lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. I dreamt my lady came and found me dead (strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think!) and breathed such life with kisses in my lips that I revived and was an emperor. Ah me, how sweet is love itself possessed when but love's shadows are so rich in joy!"
"News from Verona!" Vee exclaimed joyously for the first time in half the play. "How now, Balthasar? Dost thou not bring me letters from the Friar? How doth my lady? Is my father well? How doth my Juliet? That I ask again, for nothing can be ill if she be well," she asked, her words running the poor man over such that he could only look at her sadly until Romeo got the message.
"Then she is well and nothing can be ill," Alex said at last. "Her body sleeps in Capels' monument, and her immortal part with angels lives. I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault and presently took post to tell it you. O, pardon me for bringing these ill news, since you did leave it for my office, sir."
"Is it e'en so?—Then I deny you, stars!— Thou knowest my lodging. Get me ink and paper, and hire post-horses. I will hence tonight."
"I do beseech you, sir, have patience. Your looks are pale and wild and do import some misadventure."
"Tush, thou art deceived. Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do. Hast thou no letters to me from the Friar?"
"No, my good lord."
"No matter. Get thee gone, and hire those horses. I'll be with thee straight."
"Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. Let's see for means. O mischief, thou art swift to enter in the thoughts of desperate men. I do remember an apothecary (and hereabouts he dwells) which late I noted in tattered weeds, with overwhelming brows, culling of simples. Meager were his looks. Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, an alligator stuffed, and other skins of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves, a beggarly account of empty boxes, green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds, remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses were thinly scattered to make up a show. Noting this penury, to myself I said 'An if a man did need a poison now, whose sale is present death in Mantua, here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.' O, this same thought did but forerun my need, and this same needy man must sell it me."
"As I remember, this should be the house. Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut. What ho, Apothecary!"
"Who calls so loud?" Masha remarked, doing a remarkably good impression of an old and wizened sage of some sort. Vee would never stop being impressed by their vocal range.
"Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor," Vee replied, pretending to pull out a sizable quantity of coin from her nonexistent coin purse. "Hold, there is forty ducats. Let me have a dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear as will disperse itself through all the veins, that the life-weary taker may fall dead, and that the trunk may be discharged of breath as violently as hasty powder fired doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb."
"Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua's law is death to any he that utters them."
"Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness, and fearest to die? Famine is in thy cheeks, need and oppression starveth in thy eyes, contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back. The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law. The world affords no law to make thee rich. Then be not poor, but break it, and take this."
"My poverty, but not my will, consents."
"I pay thy poverty and not thy will."
"Put this in any liquid thing you will and drink it off, and if you had the strength of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight."
"There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, doing more murder in this loathsome world than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell. I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none. Farewell, buy food, and get thyself in flesh."
"Come, cordial and not poison, go with me to Juliet's grave, for there must I use thee."
Act V, Scene II Act V, Scene III"How oft when men are at the point of death have they been merry, which their keepers call a light'ning before death! O, how may I call this a light'ning?"
"O my love, my wife," "Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquered. Beauty's ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, and death's pale flag is not advancèd there.
"Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet? O, what more favor can I do to thee than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain to sunder his that was thine enemy? Forgive me, cousin."
Ah, dear Juliet, why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous, and that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that I still will stay with thee and never from this palace of dim night depart again. Here, here will I remain with worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here will I set up my everlasting rest and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh!
"Eyes, look your last. "Arms, take your last embrace," "And, lips, O, you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death."
"Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark! Here's to my love!" she said, hesitating for only a split second before taking the vial in her hand and drinking its contents to the very last drop, stumbling around as if afflicted with a terrible sickness immediately...and finding it easier to pull off than she expected.
"O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick," she muttered, "Thus with a kiss I-!"
Something was wrong.
"Die," she finished subconsciously as if in a trance, stumbling forward so suddenly that it might have looked like an intentional acting choice to sell the effects of the apothecary's poison.
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers," demanded a voice that Vee couldn't believe she was hearing here of all places, surrounded by her friends and the people that she cared about. A voice ripped straight from her nightmares, straight from the jaws of death and into the one place she thought he'd never reach. It was impossible, and yet he was here. Of course he was here.
What else could Vee have expected from a life of so many cruelties?
"For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?"
"For ye are the temple of the living God," that voice continued unabated. "As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you!"
"And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters...saith the Lord Almighty."