A/N: Well, here's my new story. The basis behind this? Well, I came to interest by the idea of "Earth Kingdom rebellions" some Fire dude mentioned in the first part of Sozin's Comet. On the "Avatar Fanon Wiki," I began discussing with a user called "Zukofan123" of a project; a story, manga (yet to be released), etc, who wrote this with me. And here it is. Hope you enjoy, and review!
Chapter I: A Midnight Dreary
Ba Sing Se was once a metropolitan city, the last on Earth since the engulfment of the tyrannical war with the Fire Nation. But the Earth King had an adviser, an adviser who hid the war from the king, using his army of elite "cultural keepers" named Dai Li to lead out a conspiracy, damaging the very fabric of its society and economy. Avatar Aang and friends dissolved the conspiracy, but Princess Azula infiltrated the city and formed a coup d'état that nearly killed Avatar Aang. The world thought the Avatar dead, and the Earth Kingdom had fallen.
It was near midnight at Ba Sing Se one night. Fire soldiers clamored the streets, informing the late-night workers that they needed to be in by midnight, or face consequences. "Midnight, remember your curfew," they repeated again and again.
The night sky glistened over the cobblestones and gently sparkling water fountains. Fire Nation flags waved violently in the night wind, a dry silence in the air. All the house lights were out, and the only dim light was from the moon and the scattered cheep candles the Fire Nation gave that were only seldom seen in the night. Ten minutes to midnight.
A clap, clap, clap noise illuminated the eerie street corner, as two men, one tall, the other short, both broad relatively speaking, walked down it. Both were wearing green hoods, covering their faces to the point where only their mouths were shown. The two men were not newcomers. They always wandered the streets in the day, and then disappeared, only reappearing at night. No one knew their names, or what they did, or where they lived. Eight minutes to midnight.
A Fire soldier grabbed the shoulder of the short one. "Curfew's at midnight, kid." The kid turned to face the skull-masked man, his lips flat on his face. Suddenly, the young man smiled an odd smile that showed not real compassion but dry emotion, almost deceitfulness.
"Thank you sir," he remarked, the odd smile still smattered on his face. "We'll have to make sure we don't miss it, right, Mogra?"
"Yes, Sazuki," Mogra, the tall man, responded, wearing the exact same smile on his face, though not looking at the soldier. The two continued walking.
Sazuki glanced down at his robe, which concealed several weapons, mostly knives. All of them bore Fire Nation insignias and colors. He covered it, grinning pompously. The next day, the soldiers' weapons shop down the street would be scrambling over the mass theft of their weapons. Three to midnight.
As Mogra and Sazuki trekked the streets silently, another hooded man tapped by the soldiers. He was stout, and his feet could be seen sticking out from his robes, round and short. His big toe was missing. A soldier grabbed the man, beginning, "Curfew's at midni-"
But the man revealed a knife, jabbing it into the soldier's soft part of armor, near the gut. The soldier exclaimed in pain, falling to the ground, blood filling his hands and the ground around him; his spear dropped, clanking on the cobblestones. The stabber threw off his hood and turned to the small gather of gasping citizens, knife raised. The other soldiers grabbed the man by the wrists and dragged him back, the man kicking. He exclaimed, "Peace! Tyranny! Rebellion! You are hope, hope is final!" The soldiers kicked him, yelling for the man to silence himself. The man repeated the phrase loudly, and continued several more times, the citizens looking horrified by each exclamation. "Peace! Tyranny! Rebel-AHHH!!!!!!" The soldiers blasted the man with fire, his robes igniting and his face burning. He groaned, the soldiers dropping his limp body to the ground. The man was dead. Midnight.
"Curfew, people! Off to your houses!!" One soldier roared, his helmet illuminated by the moonlight. The people, still cold in shock of the horrific sight they had just laid witnessed to, and did not move. "Go!!" The soldier whipped at the ground with a blast, the people dropping their things and scrambling on.
Mogra and Sazuki walked away, a shocked look settling on their faces. Sazuki's face withered to an odd expression, of that curious. "Peace, Tyranny-? What does that even mean?"
"'Peace, Tyranny, Rebellion; You are hope, hope is final,'" Mogra intoned. "Avatar Ganchai. He founded Ba Sing Se thousands of years ago."
"What does it even mean?" Sazuki said, rubbing his forehead that was hidden by his hood, still mulling over the tragedy they just witnessed.
"Who knows?" Mogra remarked with a shrug. "Philosopher's are a peculiar race." He then added, "Rare, too."
Sazuki pulled off his hood, revealing an untidy blonde head of hair with a pony tail in the back. "So are revolutionaries," he said, looking at Mogra intently in the eye. Mogra knew what he was thinking. It was what they were preparing to do. One after midnight.
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."
- The Raven, Edger Allen Poe