Take Me to the Sky | BTS+

Civil War

Shae could see the arena pit through the bars. She'd just been looking down at those blank sandy fields with ignorant indifference hours ago, and now here she was: being thrown into the bloodstained pit.

She heard Yoongi's voice echo over the stadium outside, felt the quake of voices rising up around the stadium in a shout. Then a horn sounded.

The gate opened.

Whenever she didn't move, one of the centries grabbed her forcefully by the arm and began dragging her out into the arena, throwing her out and down into the sand with a grunt before they turned and walked back through the gate. It clanged shut behind them, the sound echoing ten times louder from the acoustics of the pit.

Shae quickly scrambled to her feet in her powdery blue spandex body suit. Shae found the sand difficult to find a good footing on in her boots, though. Her hands traveled to the ultra skinny, medium length blade that had been attached to her hip like an awkward extra elbow. She pulled it halfway from it's creamy yellow sheath and stared at it.

I've not even gotten past hand-to-hand combat training. What the heck am I supposed to do with this?

There was an echo of iron crashing as three more gates into the arena were opened, and three more figures stepped out: Jeon Jungkook to her left, Lilith straight across, and Jung Hoseok from the doorway to her right.

What are we all doing in here at once?

Shae walked slowly and carefully towards the center of the arena, and so did the other three combatants.

Jeon Jungkook raked through his hair with one hand, while the other braced casually against the hilt of his longsword as it knocked against his hip. His eyes weren't deceiving him as he strode forward through that arena pit.

When his gaze fell onto Shae, there was an echo of anger from somewhere in the pit of his stomach that rose up and almost escaped through his own throat freely in the form of a yell. He swallowed the force of it back and let his eyes fall into focus, scanning the scene carefully before him. He didn't take long to deduce that Hoseok had already proven himself the more lethal threat to Shae's wellbeing. He'd be the one to watch.

The four figures stopped and stood around each other in the center of the arena.

Jungkook looked suspiciously around the circle that had formed, with his eyes landing on Jung Hoseok. "Why are you doing this?"

Lilith was the one who answered. "We're doing it for your own good. For everyone's good."

"Don't coddle them. This isn't a day care, this is a battleground." Hoseok's eyes flickered fiercely back at Jungkook. Hoseok plucked up a tiny Geji sword from his hip that seemed suitable as a throwing knife, a dark grin twisting into his lips.

This could be over before it even begins, Shae thought, confusion consuming her. Hadn't Hoseok just given this pep talk about justice? What was just about attacking Jeon Jungkook and me? We didn't do anything wrong.

Jungkook didn't wait for gongs to sound or the fight to start. He made his way over to Shae as he pulled his longsword from its sheath. "Stay behind me. Don't go far from me. I'll protect you, Shae."

She replied in a small voice, "Thank you."

The gong sounded.

The fight was on.

____

Joon didn't even bother with railings or staircases. His singular direction was forward: getting as close to Shae as he could, as quickly as possible. He raced through the stadium seats, the nosebleed white lawn chairs, and as he ran shouts of awe or screams of fear followed him like a wave.