Bangtan Scouts (BTS x Sailor Moon AU)

⚠️CHAPTER 8: Blood, Sweat, Tears ⚠️

A/N: TW⚠️// witchcraft, sacrifice, blood //

The room is almost pitch black, lit only by the flickering of candles placed randomly throughout the room. The only sounds that can be heard is a low chanting coming from the person kneeling in the middle of the room, and soft clucking from a wire cage nearby.

The person sighs, frustrated with their progress so far. They reach for the ivory mortar and pestle, cracked and yellowing from age. Their hand grazes the strings of the cinched leather pouch next to them, which holds various herbs for the ritual. Lifting it gently, they separate the sides of the pouch and pour the fragrant, dried herbs into the bowl. They then use the pestle to grind up the herbs before setting the mortar aside.

Those damn scouts! They rage inwardly. Everything I have done so far has been fucked with. I'm sorry...I will not fail you.

They think through what they've already tried to set into motion. The attempt to gather the souls of students who visited the Campus tech store failed because they didn't shut down the store first before attempting to skin-swap with the worker...a complete waste of a demon ritual. And then they almost had gathered a batch of souls from that Academic Club, but all of the charmed amulets were destroyed in the process, leaving them to start back at the beginning. Had the Bangtan Scouts not shown up at the gallery show, they would have kept that batch of souls as well. A low growl escapes their throat at the anger they feel. How had they let this happen not once or twice, but three times? Their master must be angry with them. They need to stop failing.

Reaching for the bronze, keris dagger resting before their knees, they place the sharpened edge to the palm of their hand, slicing cleanly across. Holding their hand above the mortar, they clench their fist, letting the blood rush out and pool into the bowl, mixing with the crushed flora. They continue the chant where they'd left off, thinking about their master.

When the earth was first created, there was light and there was dark. There was always a balance. But such is the way of the dark and the light, that they want to cancel each other out, as they tend to do. But as the sun rises, it must also set, for the world needs both day and night. The ANTI, as it became known as, was born out of hatred, fear, judgement, and other negative human emotions and actions. It bred in the corners of lonely people, under the beds of fearful children, in the hearts of spiteful humans, and served one purpose: to spread as much malice as it could. Feeding off the souls of those who it was able to corrupt, through suicide, murder, and other violence in the early ages, it began to find pleasure in the vileness of bullying and teasing, the isolation of others, their tears and sadness, which can lead to its collection of more souls. But as we know, dark does not come without light. From this, the Bangtan Scouts were created, a society of mages who had devoted themselves to fighting the ANTI. Commissioned by the ruling monarch at that time, they worked to capture this ancient evil and kept it at bay for several eras. Every lifetime, the scouts are reborn to fight against this evil, who never gives up trying to escape back into the world.

Once, just once, it almost succeeded. That is what set everything in motion. In the Dark Ages, the Bangtan Scouts worked under the current monarch, which enabled them to be aware of what was happening in the world. This helped to identify minions of the ANTI who were carrying out various rituals to try and bring it back to fruition. It appeared to be working. The scouts had to disclose to the current monarch, Princess Yi Hwa-Young about the ANTI and who they were. She wanted to help them, and so she secretly appointed them positions within her government. Disaster struck one day, when all of the great seals keeping the ancient evil at bay were unlocked through the work of its minions and through a fate of events, she, along with all of the Bangtan Scouts had to sacrifice themselves in order to save humanity. This created a cyclical chain, a revolving door of sorts, tying the fates of these 8 light warriors to battle the dark.

For many years now, ANTI has lain dormant...that was until it's blindly devoted minion could begin the process to return this ancient evil to the world.

The candles in the dark room flicker as the chanting rises, filling the room to the web-filled corners, reverberating in a way that seems impossible from a lone voice in a cavernous room. They reach for the dagger again, still stained with its blood, placing the mortar in front of their knees. With everything else already in place, and the last steps ready to be completed, the sound of the clucking ceases.

Notes:

AN: tldr for the t/w

In a dark room we witnessed an unknown character who is holding a supernatural type of activity. While they are carrying out the various acts to set up for it, they are deep in thought reflecting the failed plots that have been happening on campus, thwarted by out Scouts and Smeraldo Mask. They appear to be blindly devoted to an ancient evil, which they are attempting to bring out of hiding by making it strong enough through the souls of people. They are desperate, and this is reflected in the words they say and the acts they are committing. This is not the first time that the ancient evil has been attempted to be resurrected, as the ancient evil was once on Earth, spreading and feeding off of hatred, fear, self-loathing, isolation, and all the negative energy humans could provide. The unknown character was devoted to these black arts and became a disciple of this ancient evil, blindly loyal and overzealous to fulfill their malevolent plans of spreading discord and disharmony throughout the world. Captured and returned to darkness in the distant past by the Scouts and Smeraldo Mask, every lifetime the ancient evil attempts to escape with the help of their minion. Only once has the ancient evil been able to successfully escape and begin his hateful corruption, causing the Scouts and Smeraldo to commit a great act to save humanity. For many years, it had lain dormant, until it's fanatical servant could begin the process to return the ancient evil to its power. The chapter ends with the unknown character completing their ritual.

AN:
Sorry this chapter is so short, it has a lot of information in it to help move our story along, though, so hopefully this will help set up the rest of the story nicely. It was time for it to happen. Also, some easter eggs in this chapter, the Princess's name Hwa-Young means "beautiful flower"... hint hint for those who didn't catch on. Also, a lot of the words and items used have more meaning than on the surface. I hope you figure them out! Anyways, as always I hope you enjoyed, please vote and leave comments!
-Vanessa