uwu Yeeey here's the second one shot for this series. In which María is determined to figure out what this cursed object is. It wound up being... oddly adorable...
María had asked Joaquín if he wanted to leave Mexico City earlier than planned. Even if he was doing much better she couldn't imagine he'd be enjoying himself much.
But he argued, insisted on showing her all the sights. They'd just have to keep their distance from his mom's house.
She figured he kept their days so jam packed with events to distract himself but she didn't try to stop him. The city was lively and fun to explore, and she wanted him to enjoy himself just as much.
However in spite of all the events, shopping, and training she didn't lose focus on her current objective.
Just what was this cursed object?
María quietly cursed the woman for not being specific. The fastest way would be to ask Joaquín directly but he had only just started opening up to her. There was no sense in scaring him back under his rock. Not to mention he may not even know whatever object he had was cursed to begin with.
Hopefully if he did he wouldn't be using it.
After about four days she finally had an answer for what the item could do, at least. The pair were sparring on the outskirts of town. Plata stood nearby, the horse still barely friendly with her at all. María almost ended up on the street three times on the ride out here.
"What do I have to do?" María said. "Feed her treats every day?"
Joaquín smiled and ran his hands along the horse's neck. "Sorry about that, it just takes a bit of time with her." He pulled out their swords and tossed her one. "Worry about these right now."
"So you're finally going to teach me to use one huh?" The weapon was much heavier than the swords Manolo wielded. She almost hadn't expected it with how effortlessly Joaquín swung them around.
"You said you wanted to, and you've pretty much mastered tossing me onto the ground."
"Only because your approach is so blatant." María rolled her eyes. "I may still be an amateur but your hand to hand combat is very predictable. Size won't win you everything you know." She drew the sword and pointed it at him.
"I can't actually argue there." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess we both still have plenty to learn." He drew his own weapon, tossing it between his hands. "Are you sure you don't want to wait on this though? I can see you struggling to hold that."
María flinched and clutched the hilt tighter. "No faster way to build up muscle right?"
"Well if you'd wake up early enough to get in some work-outs that would probably help."
"Beat me enough times and maybe I will."
Joaquín burst out laughing. "So you're admitting you'll lose."
"Hey, I've barely used a sword before outside of when we were kids. Of course you're going to win."
"I feel like I should write this down. The day María Posada admits she can't beat me at something."
"Sure, go ahead, you can cry over it when I eventually get better than you."
Joaquín held the blade out. "You'll have to train for that."
"Then hurry up and attack."
He frowned at that and raised an eyebrow. It almost seemed like he was going to argue but a second later she got her wish. His sword swung towards her and she aimed to block.
When the metal clanged together the vibrations shot down to her hand and her wrist hurt to a point the weapon slipped out of her grip and hit the sand.
For a moment she just stared at it, feeling a warmth crawl up her neck. "Um, lucky shot?"
Joaquín shook his head and stuck his sword in the ground. "Practice swinging it and hitting a solid object before you try sparring. You haven't gotten used to the weight of them yet, it'll be hard to maintain your grip that way."
"Then why did you pull your sword out?"
"I was going to show you how to swing it first. Or would your rather flail it around?"
María huffed at him before she picked up her sword. "All right, come on." She headed toward an abandoned fence. "Show me."
Pretty much the entire day María swung the sword around. Her wrists ached and she was certain she was developing a blister on her hand. At one point she hit the wood far too hard and tore the skin open on her palm. Joaquín was by her side in seconds, bandage tape in hand.
It was odd. He hadn't carried any medical supplies with him when he first left San Angel. They had to get some in another town.
With both her hands wrapped she went back to work, making her arms sore as well. Joaquín asked multiple times if she wanted to take a break but she insisted that she was fine. The only time she rested was when he left and returned with some lunch.
"Okay." She kept her breathing steady as she spun around. Sweat was covering her forehead, neck and shoulders at this point. Her bangs clung to her skin. "Fight me again."
Joaquín paused his own swinging and stare at her. "What, now? María you're exhausted."
"I don't care. I at least want to try okay?" Even she could see how much the weapon was shaking in her tired arm. "Just to see if I can block?"
He sighed. "Fine, but that's all. Running yourself into the ground isn't going to help."
"Like you can talk. You never took breaks when you trained."
When his eyes darted to the side and stayed there she felt suspicion crawl up in the back of her mind.
Now that she thought about it she had never seen Joaquín worn down after training. When was the last time he developed a scar, or any kind of injury in general?
Her eyes narrowed and focused on him. This was something she had to test out now.
She dug her feet into the sand and readied herself.
When Joaquín lunged this time she swung her sword as well. Rather than taking the hit directly his blade slide along hers and hit the sand instead.
"Well done." He smiled.
"Again."
"Huh? María come on."
"Fine then, you block me."
"You need to rest."
María blinked and lifted her sword. "Ready or not."
"María no!"
Her only response was sending her weapon toward him. He easily raised his sword to block. The vibrations rattled all the way to her shoulders but that just made her more eager. She spun around on her heel, bringing the weapon in from the opposite direction.
"Hey," He blocked again. "Are you trying to take my head off?"
"Aren't you supposed to be well practiced?" She twisted the blade in her hands making his slant back. Her weapon retreated for a moment before she lunged in for a stab toward his shoulder.
Joaquín side stepped this time, bringing his sword down and forcing hers to hit the sand.
Without thinking her knee shot out and slammed into his hand. He dropped his weapon and she snapped hers back up, pointing it at his throat.
"Hah! Take that."
"You cheated." He mumbled.
"There's no such thing in real combat." She stuck out her tongue. "Just admit it."
Joaquín sighed. "Okay fine, you got the upper hand there. But from now on when we practice with swords we stick with swords. You're supposed to learn how to use them."
"Fine." She agreed and began to lower her blade.
Then a strange thought struck her. Not getting hurt, never getting tired, those were likely results of whatever magic object he had, right?
Was he wearing it right now?
"Now honestly, that's enough for today we should-"
María didn't stab his shoulder that hard, just enough that it should break skin. Instead she went through his uniform and practically hit stone.
"M-María- what- what are you doing?" Joaquín look terrified as he glanced between her and the sword.
"Do you even feel that?" She figured it was cruel to twist the sword but she did. The same solid feeling reached her palm.
"What are you doing?" He slapped her sword away and stumbled back. "I mean what the- what the hell?"
"That didn't hurt you." She lowered her sword and frowned. "Joaquín why didn't that hurt you?"
He straightened up in an instant. His eyes darted around and he kept stepping back.
Then something caught her eye, something green glowing on his chest.
"I- maybe I need to sharpen these swords." He laughed. "But... why did you do that in the first place?"
The heat around her suddenly became painfully obvious. "S-sorry." She searched her mind for her own excuse. "My hand kind of slipped and then... you sure you're not hurt?"
"No, but I'm going to have to patch this up." He pointed to the hole in his uniform.
"Well then, to make it up to you I'll use my horrifying lady skills to sew it."
"I thought sewing was the one thing you failed at."
"Fine then, you do it."
"Ah no, María I was kidding."
She hid her smile as she headed over to Plata.
"María!"
María's mind was screaming the entire time she opened the door to Joaquín's room and slipped inside. He had gone off to get a bath, trying to insist she do the same. Instead she just passed it off, saying she'd try in the morning instead. Besides maybe the warm water would wake her up easier.
That, and she honestly didn't mind being dirty for a little while.
But that hadn't been the reason she wanted to avoid it. No, she wanted to sneak in and see if she could find that glowing object while he was away. It was a horrible tactic, she knew, but if she could get her hands on it there's no way Joaquín could deny anything further.
The only problem was, where was his uniform?
She was positive he hadn't taken it down with him. He said he'd leave it until it could get repaired and she hadn't stopped staring at the muscles on his shoulders the entire conversation. Incredible how she hadn't noticed them much before this trip. Then again she hadn't gotten nearly as many chances to see him topless back home.
María shook her head. Focus.
She carefully picked through his clothes first but found nothing. It wasn't laying on the bed or even nestled under the covers.
As she tossed a pillow to the side she found something else that peaked her interest.
Was that a book? But Joaquín had often complained about reading. Never about listening to her read, of course, but reading on his own.
She picked it up, studying the black leather cover and the tattered edges. It seemed to have been through a lot of use. Was it even his or something that was left behind by someone else?
With a shrug she opened it up to a random page.
The date written at the top caught her eye first. Then her eyes scanned the words, impressed by the neat handwriting.
Can't believe I'll be leaving San Angel in a couple of months.
Her mouth fell open.
I'm old enough now to go on my own after all. I begged Posada to let me stick around until María's birthday but of course he wouldn't let me stay for Manny's. I'll never figure out what he has against the Sanchezes.
This was Joaquín's? It was his journal?
She flipped through the pages faster her eyes widening at the amount of words in here. How long had he kept this?
"Ay," A familiar voice came as the door opened. "That feels so much be-"
Her eyes met Joaquín's. The journal slipped from her hands and hit the bed. For the longest time the pair just stared at each other.
"What are you doing in here?" He straightened up and took the towel off his wet hair.
"I- um-"
"You've been acting strange today in general. Is there something- ah, oh no!"
She jumped back when Joaquín ran toward her. But rather than aim for her he snatched the book off the bed and clung to it.
"Ah, oh god, how much of this did you see?" His face had gone completely red.
"Just a few pages I- I'm sorry. I just ran across it while I was looking for your uniform."
"Why were you looking for that?"
"To uh- sew it, you know." She pushed her hair behind her ear.
Joaquín actually narrowed his eyes at her. "María what's going on?"
Guilt washed over her in an instant. There she was a few nights ago begging Joaquín to trust her and she might as well have smashed it to pieces.
She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, for snooping around." An apology was in order first. "I should have just told you directly."
"Told me what?"
María took a deep breath and sat on the bed. "After we got to the inn the first time I went back out to talk to your mom."
"What? Why?"
"To find out why she spoke to you that way." She shot him a glare but looked down at her fingers instead. "She was weird, and cryptic but... She told me you were carrying a cursed object, and that I should either get rid of it or leave you behind."
Joaquín's face went pale. The journal almost fell out of his hands but he caught it with fumbling hands. "I- cursed object? Wh- what would she possibly mean by that." He laughed and tapped his fingers against the book.
María frowned. "Joaquín she recognized it. Because... apparently your father used it too."
He did drop the journal this time.
"And when he did... it did something awful to him."
His mouth fell open and he stumbled back. "N-no that's... That's impossible. If he had it then he shouldn't have lost back then. There's no way he..."
When she saw how much his legs were shaking she shot off the bed. With her arms up she managed to catch him before he hit the floor. Her arms screamed with pain again from the weight but she didn't dare let go.
"What happened to my father." He mumbled.
"I wish I had answers." She tried to keep her voice even in spite of the strain. "But I don't, and it doesn't seem like your mom is inclined to talk about it either."
"Just who was that old man?"
"Huh?"
Joaquín regained his footing and straightened up. He stared at the corner of the room before he spoke up again. "I think I know what object you mean, although I... didn't think it was cursed at all."
María just watched him as he headed over to one of the night stands. She rubbed her upper arms to try and relieve some of the pain.
He opened the drawer and pulled out the green object from earlier. In the dim light it almost lit up the room with an eerie glow.
"What is that?"
"A medal," Joaquín shrugged and stepped back over to her. "When I was ten an old man asked me for some bread and gave me this in return. He told me it would give me immeasurable courage and keep me from getting hurt."
When he held it out to her she took it. Holding it filled her with strange energy. The pain in her arms started to ebb away.
"Well that explains a lot." She raised an eyebrow and studied it. "But really? Just accepting weird magic objects from strange old men?"
Joaquín rubbed the back of his neck. "I... wanted to prove to someone that I could be great like my dad. I figured it might help."
She regretted the comment and skipped to another subject. "You know, you don't read a lot so you might not know this, but I don't have any good theories about the old guy you met."
"What do you mean?"
"You gave him bread right? Joaquín usually in fairytales trading objects like that indicates some kind of pact being formed."
"Oh." He went bug-eyed again.
"I couldn't say why, or why he gave you this. As bait? Or insurance." She flipped the medal over in her hands but couldn't find much in terms of hints on it's origin.
"He told me to keep it hidden. That Chakal would want to steal it back."
"That also explains why you didn't tell me sooner." She shrugged and decided not to make him feel guilty about that. There were probably a ton of reasons he kept this thing hidden.
"Are... you mad at me?"
"Hm, tell you what. Learn to fight without it and let me borrow it from time to time and we'll call it even." She handed the medal back to him. "Because, seriously, I have a bad feeling about it after what your mom said. Overusing it is probably not a risk worth taking."
Joaquín took a deep breath. "You're right."
"Now," She stretched, her muscles feeling much better. "It's been a long day. How about I read a little something and we get some sleep?"
"Not until you take a bath." He frowned and even put a hand on his hip.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, you stink." He picked up his journal off the floor and went to put the objects away.
The second the medal was back in the drawer she darted over and kicked him in the back of the knee. Not hard, but enough to make the soldier yelp in pain and whirl around.
"I do not." She snapped.
"Yes you do." He pushed her shoulder. "And don't kick, that's rude."
"I'll kick you again if you don't take it back."
"Oh really?"
She lifted her foot, but just then another idea struck her.
His face went pale as the smile crawled over her face. "What's with that look?"
"I just realized why you suddenly stopped being ticklish."
"Wha- no María don't you dare-"
She darted closer before he could retreat. He tried to grab her hands but couldn't stop her from poking at his stomach. He squeaked and squealed with each one and was doing his damnedest not to burst into laughter.
"Marí- no- ah!" In his struggle he lost his footing and fell onto the bed.
She laughed and followed him, pinning his shoulders down. "I win, now take it back."
Joaquín took a moment to catch his breath and stared at her. Then a small smile came across his face before he made a dramatic gasp for air. "Oh no, fumes so toxic, vision going blurry."
"Hey!"
"I've never smelled something so foul in my life. It's... it's killing me..."
"It is not that bad."
"Ah, María... tell Manolo... that his hair is stupid."
She couldn't stop herself from busting out laughing at that. "Only as stupid as your mustache." One of her hands moved to trail along it.
His cheeks turned pink but he grinned at her. "Admit it, I just wouldn't be me without it."
"Of course not." Her hand moved over to his cheek and rested there.
His smile did fall then and his eyes widened, as if he just witnessed something amazing. The color in his cheeks spread up to his ears.
As she tilted her head at his expression he seemed to snap out of his trance.
"But seriously, you should get cleaned up."
"Can't it wait until morning?"
"Will you actually wake up early enough?"
"Soldier's honor." She took her hand off his face and put it over her chest.
"You're not a soldier."
"A uniform has nothing to do with it. Speaking of which where did you put that thing anyways?"
Joaquín raised an eyebrow as he managed to sit up. "I put it in your room, remember?"
No, she most certainly did not. Glancing at his shoulders again she knew why.
"Whoops, must not have noticed."
The soldier just shook his head and smiled.