STREETS RUN RED: Mercutio Slain, Tybalt Dead, Romeo Banished Before Nightfall
The square where it began. By the time it ended, two men were dead.
What began as a war of words between Tybalt Capulet and Mercutio escalated, within minutes, into drawn swords. Romeo, freshly married and desperate to keep the peace, tried to step between them — and only made things worse.
Tybalt's blade found Mercutio beneath Romeo's own arm. Dying, Mercutio managed one final, furious joke before the truth of his wound set in.
"A plague o' both your houses! They have made worms' meat of me."
He was gone within the hour. Romeo, our sources say, stood frozen with grief — until Tybalt returned to the square, and something in him changed entirely.
What followed was brief and final. Romeo drew his sword and, where moments before he had refused to fight, did not hesitate a second time.
The Prince of Verona arrived to find two bodies and a city on the edge of open war. His verdict was swift: Romeo Montague is banished from Verona, on pain of death, effective immediately.