Author's Note: I have other things I REALLY need to update. They're sitting there, staring at me on my computer. But, hey. :P Fanfiction is my outlet. I write whatever comes to me, and this little story popped into my head pretty much as a vignette from a movie.
Yes, children, it's another (very short) ATLA fic, only this one features some very different people than the Fire Nation royal family. This baby features our very own Dai Li agents; to be specific, two Dai Li agents: a faithful agent, and an insurgent. This idea occurred to me as I sat and thought about how hard it would be to hide a 600-day siege from any semi-intelligent inhabitant of Ba Sing Se. That naturally led to the conclusion that, for some Dai Li agents, secrecy would seem like a lost cause.
Song: Fear and Loathing by Marina and the Diamonds .com/watch?v=ndYO7MwWQf0 (very mysterious and bleak)
Anyway...enjoy!
I lived a lot of different lives
Been different people many times
I lived my life in bitterness
And filled my heart with emptiness
And now I see you for the first time
There is no crime in being kind
Not everyone is out to screw you over
Maybe, maybe they just want to get to know ya
And now the time is here
Baby ,you don't have to live your life in fear.
And the sky is clear Is clear of fear
Don't want to live in fear and loathing
I want to feel like I am floating
Instead of constantly exploding
In fear and loathing.
-Fear and Loathing by Marina and the Diamonds
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se."
"Yes, there is," said Leo.
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se," repeated Agent Whin, tightening the shackles around Leo's hands.
"We can't hide the truth forever, Whin," said Leo. He stared steadily at the other agent's down-turned face.
Whin met Leo's gaze. "Here, we are safe. Here, we are secure."
"You can't lie to our people about this! Their lives are in danger!"
"Here, there is no danger. Here, we are safe."
"I know the truth," Leo said, "and you won't make me forget."
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se."
"Not yet, but it's coming," Leo said grimly. He closed his eyes against the faint green glow beginning to shine from the lantern in front of him. "Long Feng is wrong to hide the siege from our people," he continued, as the lantern began to move in a slow circle around him. "Someone had to break protocol."
"The Dai Li protect our culture," Whin said. "They preserve and protect Ba Sing Se."
Leo would not look at the glowing green light. "Can you justify this deception to yourself, Whin?" he asked, his body as rigid as his voice. "Can you live with this lie?"
"The Dai Li will protect us. The city is safe in their hands."
"What about your family? Can you justify lying to them?"
"The Dai Li will give us justice. The Dai Li know the truth."
"We have to tell our people about the Fire Nation's attack!"
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se!" Agent Whin's voice ended in a punctuation.
Leo smiled. "There is a war. It has been raging through the rest of the world for the last century. Ba Sing Se must be informed."
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se." Whin circled Leo's chair in the opposite direction of the lantern. As he passed by the former agent, he leaned down to whisper, "Just accept it..." He returned to a regular volume. "There is no war in Ba Sing Se..."
Leo shook his head, fighting the hypnotic pull of the lantern. "I can't forget the truth. I saw them-the soldiers-the firebenders-"
"This is your only alternative to death," Whin said, and again his voice swelled: "There is no war in Ba Sing Se..."
"I'm only sorry I didn't tell more before I was caught-"
"I'm trying to help you," snapped Whin, pain crossing his face before he could squelch it back into a blank mask. "There is no war in Ba Sing Se..."
"Help me, Whin," Leo said softly.
The interrogating agent clenched his hands behind his back. "There is no war in Ba Sing Se..."
"Help me tell them the truth..."
"Here, we are safe. Here, we are free."
Leo threw back his head, his green eyes glinting in defiance. "That's, a lie, Whin!"
Whin seized Leo's chin, forcing the fallen agent to face the lantern as it spun around him. "Here, we are safe," he repeated firmly. "Here, we are secure."
"It's only a matter of time before the walls come down," Leo said, straining against the other man's iron grip on his face. "Our people will be invaded, and they will be helpless to defend themselves."
"The Dai Li will protect us." Whin intensified the lantern's glow until it was a bright, pulsing green, filling Leo's eyes with its luminescence. His gaze followed it through four revolutions, caught up by its ghostly orbit.
"There will be war in Be Sing Se," Leo said, fighting the sudden weightlessness spreading through him.
Whin rested a hand on his shoulder. "Here, you are safe, Leo; here, you are free."
"I won't forget the truth." Unbidden, Leo's body began to relax, his fists smoothing out, fitting his wrists more loosely in their manacles. "Somewhere within me," he whispered, "I will always know the truth."
"The Dai Li know the truth," Whin said gently. "The Dai Li will give you justice."
"I have served my people well..."
"The Dai Li will protect you..."
"The Dai Li have betrayed me..."
"The Da Li will protect you..."
Leo closed his eyes, but Whin only brightened the crystal within the lantern until its light seemed to pierce into his skull.
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se." Whin's words were accompanied by a sharp flash as the lantern crossed Leo's face. "There is no war in Ba Sing Se..."
Hours later, when his world had been reduced to the dark reconditioning chamber, the lantern light, and the other agent's voice, Leo finally gave Whin the answer he had been waiting for.
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se," Leo said, as the last glimmer faded from his dark green eyes.