Redstone: Sanctuaries
Chapter 24: Realization

Maria woke up early, but Jose was awake. The man was sitting leaning against the head of the bed, by his side, reading a letter.

"The crafts are right, you" whispered Maria.

Jose turned his head, his curly hair was still a mess, but his smile was sweeter than usual. "Good morning, Mary. You're not having nightmares?"

"Never have a nightmare with you" Mary replied sleepily, not fully aware of what she was saying. "We should have been this way more often."

"Wouldn't want a bedroom with you alone."

"I don't like ..," Maria closed her eyes and lay on her side, hugging Jose's arm. "If sleeping together .. then midnight wakes up to find the place next to me empty, it feels sad. Better to sleep alone from the beginning."

Jose looked at the old Maria. It is not usual for such complaints to come. He only knew that the reason for Mary's rejection was because her pride as a woman did not allow her to be seen while she was doing makeup or removing makeup.

"Funny," he said as he cleared the letter, putting it over the silver tray on the nightstand. He slumped back into the blanket and hugged Mary. "Other people are honest when they are drunk or under pressure. You're being honest about being sleepy."

Maria only muttered indistinctly, her head slumping against Jose's chest, seeking warmth. "You're being honest yourself if what?"

"I never lied." Jose kissed Maria's temples, his fingers combed her brown hair, admiring her sparkling hue as honey was exposed to the light of a lamp. "Not to you."

"Who's letter? Nolan?"

"What's? Not." Jose laughs. He reached back, reaching for the letter he had just put away. "It's from Tom. Thomas North's. Wanna read?"

Maria shook her head. "I'm just asking."

"Me and Nolan haven't corresponded in a long time. It's been a month."

"Good."

Jose furrowed his brows. His hand movements stopped. He rested on his elbow, watching Mary no longer close his eyes, only staring blankly ahead. "Why? I just found out you don't like it. You've never protested."

"I'm silent because you're just writing a regular letter" said Maria, waking up. He lowered the blanket, sat on his back at the head of the bed. His blue eyes were only half open, clearly still sleepy. "At least once a week. But ..." He stopped for a long time to gather consciousness. "You'll know he's still expecting you."

Jose chuckles. "No. He likes other people."

"I'm sure she still liked you when we got married."

"She likes other people" Jose reiterated firmly. "Otherwise, he couldn't possibly stop corresponding with me. You know why he stopped?" his voice shrieked into a low whisper, "he's afraid that the person he likes misunderstands."

"Who?" Mary asked in wonder.

"I can't say."

"Marsh?"

Jose smiled in secret. "Is there anything else you're worried about?" tanyakanya. "Or another complaint? Another thing you don't like but don't want to say? Just tell me, you're not really conscious."

Maria held the yaw with both hands. "No complaints, dear." He stared at the window, seeing the dark day behind the curtain. The sun is not shining. "I'm not complaining. By the way, you haven't told me why you know what to do with Cory's rope. How do you know what to look for?"

"Know about my windmill, right?" Jose sat down on Maria's side. "When determining the place, I saw there were traces of soil excavation. There's a rope half-buried in there, but I just saw it at a glance on the way. I think someone's digging there to find the relics of the dead ... Graham said, people are looking for money from scavenging tombs, hoping to find Ghost Relics."

Maria groans. "They know that field used to be a former execution ground, right?"

"Especially because it knows. They call such places 'websites'."

"Site?"

"Sites." Jose nodded. "Sites that could potentially store artifacts. I guess that's also why windmills are being vandalized .. they're afraid development will drive away livelihoods."

Maria wheezed. "People are always afraid of change." He grabbed Jose's hand, clasped it to give support. His cheeks blushed as Jose kissed the back of his hand. It still thumped every time the man showed affection. "Since when did this kind of mystical thing become the main livelihood in Redstone?"

"From a long time ago" Jose recalled. "Everybody hates witches, but what they do themselves is the same. Think about it, it was my fault for focusing on building things. I think development will open up livelihoods, then make this place inevitably move forward, so move forward. I was too fixated on what Uncle Marco did to build Bjork, but Redstone was different. People are different."

Maria agreed to that. The Redstone people uphold different values than Bjork. Here loyalty is not a noble thing. People defected and betrayed each other, block each other's territory. "Then what do you want to do?" tanyakanya.

"First, break the inflow of those damn relics." Jose wheezing. "Therefore I need Blake Krucher."

Jose wrapped his arm around Maria's shoulder, landing a soft kiss on the delicate cheek. "Don't apologize." His black eyes looked seriously.

Every human life is precious. As much as possible, Jose does not want to be careless with others. But when he saw Maria as pale as a corpse, Jose felt that something was burning inside him. He knew that if Mary were to leave, there would be another life to lose in order to pay for it. He will lose control of the moral standards he has always held. It's scary to realize that Maria can make it like this. He really thought of killing everyone in this manor if Mary were to die.

I'm not going to be like Uncle, Jose remembers saying that to Marco as a child, when he first saw his uncle's hands covered in blood.

Someone kidnapped Jose in exchange for rations. The man was kind to Jose, careful with him, telling him about his life journey. It was not the first time Jose had been kidnapped, but the first time he sympathized with his captors. Everyone has a reason to do something, Jose realizes, even evil things also have a reason.

When Marco arrives, Jose intends to protect the man. He promised to explain the problem to his uncle. He promise.

But Marco did not even give Jose a chance to speak. His uncle shot the man dead as soon as Jose was safe. Without hearing an explanation, unwilling to know any reason, Marco killed him.

Jose is eight years old. When he saw his captor die in front of his own eyes, all he did was go berserk.

"I was wrong for not being careful! Why didn't I get shot at all?!"

"You're my family, he's not, '" Marco said coldly, dragging him home. "You'll understand when you grow up tomorrow, when there's someone you need to protect."

"I'm not going to be like Uncle!" jose exclaimed with wet cheeks from tears. "I'm not going to be a killer!"

Marco just laughed, a long, nasty laugh. "I don't want you to be a killer either, Jose. But you'll still be trained to do it. After all, you're an Argent."

"Does all Argent have to be murderers?!"

"No, Son. But you'll do it when you need to." Marco looked seriously. "You will protect your family, even if your hands are dirty. Your job is to make a ghost."

It was a conversation years ago, one that Jose didn't understand at his age. But now he understood all the actions of his uncle and—in his pain—a little agree. The kidnapper was nice to her, but if now she puts herself in Marco's position, if Maria is kidnapped ... Jose knew he would do the same.

What he wants is the same as everyone. Same with Marco, same with the kidnapper. He just wanted a safe place for his family.

To achieve this, Jose knew it was impossible to keep his hands completely clean, especially at Redstone. His weakness during this time was that he was too weak in making decisions. He was always looking for a way to make everyone happy.

"Darling?" Maria calls out, resuscitating Jose from the daydream. That face was so pretty, so soft.

Jose knows the most important thing for him is only Maria. He did not want to lose his wife. He didn't want to see this delicate face turn as pale as last night again.

"What are you thinking?" Maria turned her head, her sapphire blue eyes staring curiously.

"Thinking about you." Jose brought his face closer, swept his lips against Mary's lips, enjoying the sweetness that came when his hands were cupped in that slender body. He pushed Mary to lie down, stroked her while continuing to kiss.

The only person he should be happy about is the one under his body now. Jose regretted he was late to realize that, whereas from the beginning he took Redstone for Maria.

In the past, the thing he feared the most was to be cold and cruel like his uncle. Now his fears are only one, and have nothing to do with Marco anymore.

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note:

¬santuari/sanctuary: shelter.