Mercutio’s life is quiet… As Quiet as a life with two young children can be. He spends his time caring for his children, tending their farm and helping injured wildlife when he finds them. While his life is busy, he wouldn't wish for it to be any other way.

Since Skyla's disappearance things have been turbulent in the household. Mercutio silently blames himself while Harper is loudly sure that she is dead - and blames Salvador for it. The twins seem unaware of the growing tension between Salvador and Harper which is destined to explode soon - and Mercutio tries to keep them in the dark about it. He believes that Skyla is still alive and that one day she will come back, he just needs to be patient.

Once known throughout the Gloomy Forest for their beauty, vanity and their cruelty, the Li Santis family was never liked but always talked about in fearful whispers.

Mercutio was born to Rosaline Li Santis and her husband. A beautiful but weak child, born with strange eyes. He was shunned by his family, hidden away from sight due to his horrible eyes. Forgotten and barely fed, he grew weaker and smaller by the day. Eventually, hunger drew him out. He slipped out of the mansion through an open window, stumbling along until he collapsed in a small clearing. He expected to die at such a young age but the friendly face of another child appeared, one who shared their lunch with him. The bigger, healthier child was Salvador; a young guard in training for the travelling caravans that had stopped nearby. The two boys quickly became friends, spending whatever time they could in their small clearing. Salvador’s visits were somewhat regular; the first week of every other month.

But outside of these short visits, Mercutio was alone. The villagers violently rejected him, the local children throwing stones at him as if the mere presence of a Li Santis would bring danger upon them. In his family home, he was at best ignored. His father was never present, he never knew where he was apart from the fact that his mother disapproved. And his mother… Rosaline had become exceptionally cold and violent towards him, often times forcefully blindfolding the child so she wouldn't have to look at his eyes or locking him in the basement with the talking statue that haunted and terrified him.

The only thing that kept him going was his time spent with Salvador, the only friend he ever had. They grew into teenagers; Salvador filling out and growing into the strong and noble warrior expected of him while Mercutio stayed small, slim, and boney. His mother's treatment of him became worse and worse. He broke under her treatment one day, fleeing to the sanctuary of the clearing. The creators must have been on his side as Salvador was there when he tumbled into the clearing. He sobbed into his friend's chest, confessing everything that had happened to him, everything that his mother had done to him. Salvador was furious but not at him - never at him - at his mother. He promised to take Mercutio away, that he would take him with the caravans so his family would never be able to happen. With his foolish heart, Mercutio believed him. He promised to wait in the clearing until Salvador returned. He waited a day… Two days… A week. Several weeks passed but there was no sign of Salvador. His heart shattered. Salvador wasn't coming. Rosaline appeared, furious at him, and dragged him back to the mansion with an announcement. Until this point, Mercutio had largely avoided the family ‘Traditions’; namely the arranged marriages. But that was all about to change. Rosaline had found a poor soul who would be his wife. He had a few seconds to glance at his future wife before he was locked in his bedroom.

He was left alone in his gilded cage with nothing but his thoughts. The taste he had had made him realise there was more to the world than the harsh walls and rules of the family mansion - a lot more. It showed him that he was more than what he could offer others, it showed him that not everyone was cruel and wanted to use him… Even if his best friend did abandon him…

He made a plan or at least the skeleton of one. That night, right before his own arranged wedding, he broke his bedroom window and climbed out onto the roof, escaping into the night with a few cuts and bruises. He fled south, towards Thundra where he found a small, abandoned shack that he claimed as his own. The locals of the nearby town were wary of him, not because of his family origins but simply because he was a stranger, Mercutio found that he could handle that - he would be wary too after all.

But even as he built a life for himself, the shadow of his family still weighed heavily on him. His dreams were plagued with images of his mother and what she would do to him once she found him. He was jumping at shadows, each one shaped like a kami to him, ready to drag him back to the forest. It began to eat away at him. He became more and more nervous, barely leaving the shack, avoiding the town and not speaking a word to anyone. Eventually, Mercutio's fragile mental state broke. He packed the few things he had and left once more, this time he returned to the Gloomy forest. He couldn't tell you what he planned to do once he got back to the mansion nor why he was even returning, in his state he wasn't really thinking. But he never reached the mansion. When he came to the clearing he once claimed as his own, there sat his best friend who had abandoned him, Salvador.

Mercutio was furious at first, angry that Salvador could just turn up again after leaving him so harshly. But the other did not give up on him even in the face of the iciest cold shoulder Mercutio could manage, he stuck with him, protecting him, caring for him just like when they were kids. The two wandered away from the Gloomy Forest and Mercutio was secretly thankful for that. With Salvador’s constant care and apologies, he begrudgingly came to forgive him. But then it got worse; he fell in love with his best friend. He knew that his friend would be disgusted with him if he ever knew - the strange statue had told him that and his mother made sure to beat into him that such affections towards another male were disgusting. So Mercutio kept his feelings to himself but they ate at him. Everytime Salvador gave him that small smile, the one that was for him alone, his heart swelled and he wanted to confess. He was so scared of being abandoned again but found himself caught between a rock and a hard place; losing Salvador or struggling to keep his feelings down. For a second time he broke and confessed his feelings, pretending that rejection wouldn't shatter him completely. But no rejection came. For Salvador - somehow, for some reason - returned his feelings.

They built a new life for themselves. They bought a small farm in Sunset Seaside, growing crops and caring for a few animals. After a while their home felt a little too big for just the two of them. They talked at lengths about what to do before they came to a mutual decision; they adopted a child. Harper was the perfect addition to their small family even if it took the child a while to assimilate. Just as they were getting used to their small family, it suddenly and rapidly expanded. A young child was left on their doorstep, an abandoned child in need of a home. One Mercutio happily supplied. Then it was revealed that one of his old friends was actually his half sister - revealed thanks to their mutual Half Sister. The farmhouse was full of laughter and warmth.

Then Mercutio was blinded during an attack where he tried to protect his children from a strange Kamishiba. Skyla took it particularly hard and ran off after an argument with Harper. It took a while and a lot of soul searching but Harper eventually brought his sister back and Mercutio was so grateful to have both children safe.

He began to become accustomed to his new life without sight. The family expanded again, a wish from him and Salvador had taken form in two eggs. He cared for them until they hatched when he allowed Harper and Skyla to name the two children.

Pepper and Echo brought a new form of chaos into the household but still Mercutio was happy and content. The large family with children running around and his sisters coming and going all the time was not something he would have seen for himself when he was just a child weeping in the basement but he didn't wish to live any other life.

But the past rarely stays down where it's meant to be. Once more he was attacked. This time his attacker smelt familiar. It was his mother - or rather a Lopdiemis in his mother's body. And not just any Lopdiemis; the one that had been sealed in the talking statue from the basement. She intended to kill him to fulfil the deal his mother made with the Lopdiemis. Before she could complete the deal, Skyla saved his life - by exchanging her own. Within only months, his daughter was taken from him. He refuses to believe she is dead, he will keep hoping for her safe return until he takes his final breath. For now he continues to care for his family.