Chapter 25: Chapter Ten: The Testament of Shana MacArthur

*Content Warning: Sexual Assault and transphobia*

 

“Get off me!” Josie shouted, as she squirmed under a second guard’s body.

“Hey, hold up,” another guard said as he approached with a whole squad of back up, “that ain’t no witch, that’s the whore from the Angel Kiss brothel.” 

“No shit, this is that girl who only takes the rich folk right?” another said as they circled around us. 

“Let’s see if she’s really worth all that money,” one of the men laughed.

I wriggled, and struggled as much as I could, but the anti-magic weapon being forced down on me had sapped all my strength. “Don’t fuckin touch her!” I screamed, my throat hoarse from having all that weight on top of it.

“The hell you gonna do about it.” A guard said, kicking me in the stomach. I let out a yelp of pain as he continued to dig his toe into my side.

I watched in horror, as they converged on my ally, a greedy lustful glow in their empty eyes. The one who pinned her down grabbed the hem of her dress, and lifted it up, as she screamed in protest. Reaching his hand down he grinned with a frightening glutenous grin, only to pull his hand back in terror and shout “She’s a fuckin man!”

“The hell you say?” Another exclaimed.

“I said she’s got a dick!” He said in disgust. He looked at her face, with rage in his eyes, “fuckin sick, the hell you tryna pull trickin a man like that?” He pulled his fist back to punch Josie’s face, but another one stopped him.

“Hey, what’s it matter? He’s still got a pretty face right? Let me get him then.” He said, pushing the guard on top of her aside. 

“My love, we have to do something!” Gabby urged me.

“The hell do you think I’m tryin to do, Gabbs!” I strained with every fiber of my being to wrestle my hand behind my back, and grab my knife. Lucky for me, the ass hole on top of me was distracted by the shock of discovering Josie was a man, and I was able to grab the weapon from its sheath. Forcing every muscle I could command to use their full strength I had available, I managed to turn myself over underneath the almost boulder-like weight he put on me, and stab him in the neck before he knew what had happened. 

“Fuck the witch broke free,” one of the previously distracted guards said drawing a gun. It was too late for him though, I had tossed my knife right into his gut and he dropped. I scrambled to my feet, and grabbed a revolver off the dead guard, then ran up and shot the guard on top of Josie point blank in the side of his skull. I kicked the other one down, and shot him in the chest, before falling to my knees, exhausted from the strain of the Malecite that surrounded me. 

Josie, straining to hold back tears, climbed to her feet, and grabbed me by the shoulder, “We have to go!” She tried to haul me up, but her trembling arms couldn’t muster the strength to pull me to my feet. No energy left, I felt as though this was the end, before a dark voice spoke in the back of my mind.

“My precious toy, don’t fall here, I still need you.” I felt a strange surge of energy catapult me to my feet, as the sultry voice commanded me to run. Grabbing onto Josie’s hand, we dashed for the nearest door, as three more guards had entered and chased after us. I slammed my body against the door, and it flung open. Even more guards stood outside in the courtyard, they fired on us as we made our escape towards the fence. I reached for the black revolver on my left hip, as the voice urged me to draw it.

“Shana look out!” Josie screamed and pushed me to the ground, tumbling with me. We narrowly avoided a volley of gunfire as we rolled down into the disgusting murky black water that surrounded the factory. It was deeper than I expected, we sank down till there was almost no light, before we touched the bottom. He, or she... Josie struggled to return to the surface, her coat too heavy on her now that it was soaked. Against her will, I had torn it from her, knowing it was that or she drowned, and we swam back up to the surface. Before we could reach the top, the explosion went off, and we were greeted to a fiery display as we broke the water’s surface. 

The guards who hadn’t been caught in the blast became occupied with trying to help their injured companions, and lost sight of us. I frantically looked around, amidst the whole chaos, till I could see a path for us to escape. The guards that had been at the fences entrance had ran away, Fuckin cowards! I thought as I pulled Josie out of the water and we made for the gate. A guard caught sight of us, but my magic was back, and I shot him down with a wind bullet before he could fire his own gun. I fired a couple wind bullets at the gate, breaking the lock, and we pulled it open making our escape. 

We ran several more blocks, through crowds of spectators who began to flood the streets in their own misguided curiosity. People were fricken stupid when it came to things like this, it would have done them good to mind their own business. Guess it was lucky for us though, we were able to lose any would be pursuers in the mass of brainless civilians. 

After a few minutes of running, till neither of our legs would let us run any further, we ducked around the corner of some abandoned alleyway to catch our breath. Doubled over, and ready to hurl, I looked up at my companion. Since I had removed her dress and left it behind in that filthy Ael-made river, she was left wearing only a frilly undershirt and some lingerie. She was practically naked, I never saw her with this little clothing. Even when she wore her more skimpy outfits, they covered her better than this. Though looking at her now, I guess he was the term.

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“You really are a man?” I said breathless.

“No,” Josie said, her voice about to break, “no no no no no no” she fell to her knees and began to bawl her eyes out. She looked so pathetic, so sad and defeated as she curled up with her legs pressed to her chest. My stomach felt empty as I watched her, and my heart ached like I never knew it could for another. 

I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her shaking shoulders, “I’m sorry,” I said as softly as I could manage. Anger kicked around in my guts as I thought of how I could only lay there and watch as they violated her. I was pathetic, and because of that she had to suffer. “I’m so, so sorry Josie,” I repeated as her tears mixed with the water that already soaked my poncho. I held her tightly for what seemed like an hour, though it was probably only minutes, and let her sob into my chest. 

“Thank you.” She said between sniffles as she pulled her head away.

“Hey you know...” I couldn’t think of what to say. I’d never been in a situation like that before. Honestly I wanted to march back there and make sure every one of them died a horrible painful death. Though I guess with the explosion and the fire, they probably did. I took my poncho off, wrung it out, and placed it around her. “Here, you got to cover yourself up. I’m sorry that I had to make you lose your dress.”

She sniffled some more, then gave me a sweet, sad, smile. “No, you did what you had to. Thank you Shana.”

“Don’t worry about it.” It was literally the least I could do. I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t know what to do with the whole situation. I still didn’t quite understand the whole, well man thing, but really it wasn’t as important as consoling Josie was. To add to it, what was that voice I heard back in the factory? My mind was just a scrambled mess of questions, and I honestly couldn’t focus on any of them because Josie was more important. 

“Oh shit!” she cried out, “the papers were in my pockets!” she sprung to her feet, but stumbled over back into my arms. She was crying again, or more accurately she never actually stopped. I hugged her, placing one hand on her head. 

“Don’t worry about that, your life is more important,” I said, patting her head, “I’m sure Kara would agree with that.”

“I’m such a failure.”

“No you’re not!” I said as stern yet gentle as I could. “Shit happens, then we move on. That’s the way the world works right?”

“But I lost everything we risked our lives for.” her mascara ran down her face, as she looked up at me with her red crying eyes.

“We blew up the factory, that’s still a win in my book.” She tried to protest, but I stopped her, “you did as good as anyone else would. You even managed to save me, don't forget.”

Hey big doe eyes stared up at me, a small smile on her lips, then her expression turned to one of concern. “Shana, your neck,” she said, reaching around and lightly touching the back of my neck.

“Ah damn!” I winced as a searing pain radiated where the guard had been holding their baton. “Malicite will do that to you when you’re a witch,” I said softly pushing her hand away. “It’s no big deal.”

“But you’re hurt, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault!”

“No it’s not, I should have been paying more attention while you were setting the bomb. If anything this really is all my fault. Especially, what they did to...” I couldn’t finish my sentence. My body may hurt, but that wouldn’t compare to the hurt I knew she was feeling right now. A familiar hurt that haunted the back of my mind. A pain that had emerged when I heard that mysterious voice. 

“No Shana, don’t blame yourself. It’s not like I’m innocent. I flirt with men for a living, teasing them, enticing them with offers I will never uphold. Was only a matter of time before something like this happened.”

“Oh hell no!” I snapped, “Don’t go blaming the victim, girl! There is nothing you could ever do to deserve that!” I grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “I don’t care if you’re a prostitute, or a cabaret girl, or what. No one deserves that!” Again I pulled her into my arms, and held her tightly. “Don’t ever blame yourself Josie, don’t you dare.” I began to feel tears stream down my own cheeks.

“I’m sorry...” she said in almost a whisper. “Thank you, Shana.”

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