A/N Trigger Warnings: Mentioned Suicide, Murder, and Suicide

Sixty Feet Under

Walking through the Dai Li compound was like something out of a horror story.

It was dark and deathly quiet, lit only by the glowing green crystals set into the walls, giving the place an eerie tone, not at all helped by the splatters of blood everywhere that looked black in the green light, leaving a clear trail of which direction they needed to go.

There was also no sign of any more Dai Li.

"So, does demonic cultivation bring back a dead person's bending?" asked Sokka, having little doubt what had happened to the rest of the people further in. But if Dai Li corpses could still bend, then they were at a disadvantage being trapped underground against them.

"Dunno," said Ty Lee, twirling her flute between her fingers. "There weren't exactly benders to try it on back then, and I haven't raised any dead since I remembered. Those Dai Li corpses at the front didn't use their bending at all, but then again, bending is new and Xue Yang might not have even tried. If it were possible, though, I'd theorize something like that takes more concentration and direct control."

"It's horrible," said Aang, still shaken from what he'd seen outside and the fearful unknown they were walking into.

"It's 'demonic' cultivation," said Zuko, like that should be obvious. He'd been telling Aang it was awful since the start.

"For the record, that last song I played outside was a Lan song to put the dead to rest. The demonic cultivation was what Xue Yang and I did to stir them all up. Now you see why everyone was afraid of me after the Sunshot Campaign for inventing it," said Ty Lee breezily, like the fact didn't bother her.

"Not everyone," Mai insisted. "I wasn't afraid."

Ty Lee sent her a fond smile. "Thanks, Mai, but we both know that's not entirely true. You were at least terrified for me even if you weren't of me."

Mai shot her a look, but didn't disagree, and from the hunch of Zuko's shoulders, it was clear he'd be afraid for his brother too but didn't want to admit it.

"Still… Why did you do it? Why did you make something like this?" Aang asked, looking like he just wanted to understand.

Ty Lee sighed. "Originally, to survive," she said. "I spent three months trapped in a place full of the resentful dead and no way to defend myself. It was learn to harness their energy or die and… I couldn't die yet. And then, when something is invented it's not always easy to un-invent. Not when I still had battles to fight and people I wanted to defend."

Aang nodded. He could understand that much, mentally comparing it to if he were ever stuck somewhere without plants and had to eat meat in order not to starve. He didn't want to, he'd hate it, but he could do it… maybe… but only as a very last resort.

They continued on through the dimly lit tunnels, following the signs of carnage until it led them to a door at the end of a long hallway.

Sensing a trap, Zuko glanced over at Jin. "I know you think it'd be safest behind Uncle during any fighting, but maybe it'd be better if you stay back with Aang too," he said, gesturing for them to hide in an empty room back in the way they'd come.

Jin and Iroh nodded, but Aang looked confused. "Why?" he asked.

"You've not started firebending yet, and no offense, but unless you're willing to rebury the corpses, water and airbending aren't going to do much good putting any of the dead to rest," Zuko said.

Aang, who still had nightmares about the time General Fong buried Katara alive, and knew full well what a Fire Nation funeral entailed, caught on fast. "Oh," he said, stepping away. "We'll be back here."

"Thanks, buddy," said Sokka as comfortingly as he could. "You're our back-up if things go south."

"Please don't let it," said Aang, and their hearts went out for him. Uncle was a seasoned general, and the rest of them were reincarnations with memories of war and bloodshed. Aang, Avatar or no, was still just a kid and this was a lot scarier than anything he'd had to face before.

Uncle put his hands on the twelve-year-old's shoulders comfortingly, and he and Jin led him to hide while they were asking him gentle questions like 'What is your favorite bird?' or 'How do you like your tea?'.

Once the two were safely out of sight, Mai reached for the door in front of them and pushed it open.

At first, the room seemed to be empty aside from some timber and tools that looked like they were being used to build boats.

Then the door slammed shut behind them, and they looked up to see dozens of Dai Li agents strung up from the ceiling like men hanging from gallows.

"You came!" a voice cheered above them, and they looked up to see Xue Yang standing on a balcony with more agents surrounding him, along with the corpse of a man with a long braid and expensive looking clothes standing hunched next to Xue Yang like his favorite general.

"Guess Long Feng is long gone," Sokka muttered to the rest of them, his eyes locked on the body of the Grand Secretariat who had been stonewalling their attempts to meet the king. He'd been holding that line in for some time, but this was not the context he'd wanted to use it in.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it, Dàozháng," Xue Yang continued with a savage grin.

"You didn't exactly give us much choice," Smellerbee shot back, only the minute shaking of her hands gave away her real feelings.

Xue Yang still saw it and his grin widened. "Aw, what's the matter, is Little Blind dead again?" He taunted

"She'll be fine, no thanks to you!" Sokka snapped.

That made Xue Yang pause. "She will?" he asked. Then he shrugged. "Something to fix later then, I suppose."

Everyone was aghast to hear that. "Haven't you done enough to her!" shouted Ty Lee, knowing better than most how cruel he'd been to her.

That got Xue Yang's attention onto her. "Patriarch! Long time no see!" he called in a tone that could be mistaken for welcoming if one didn't see the curl of his sneer. "How do you like what I've done to this place?"

"Well, it's a step up from Yi City," Ty Lee said, her tone a little too sweet as she looked around like that was a valid question. "Less dreary fog for one thing, and the mood-lighting is nice. Could do with less innocent victims, though. Just a thought."

Xue Yang let out a cackle after hearing that. "Innocent?" he asked like the word was hysterical. "There's nothing innocent about these bastards." He waved his hand making the Dai Li corpses stand at attention. "They're a lot like those cultivation sects you were so fond of. Committing atrocities and ruling through fear while covering it up with a shiny coat of righteousness. Maybe I'll let you live long enough to take a tour of their brainwashing facilities. That'll be fun, won't it? Making you into my pet patriarch?"

Smellerbee and Longshot shared a quick glance hearing that. So that was how Jet's side of his personality got suppressed, and Mai looked furious at the idea of Xue Yang doing the same to her lover.

"And as for Little Blind," Xue Yang continued, going back to Ty Lee's initial question. "It's all her fault I died before. She's the one who told Song Zichen where to find me. She's the one who told Dàozháng who I really was. And she's the one who's incessant tapping told that stupid Lan how to kill me! Everything that went wrong was her fault!" He finished his rant and grinned down at them viciously. "And you all know exactly how I go about paying people back who hurt me."

The 'stupid Lan' in question narrowed her eyes and kept her stilettos primed to fire as everyone else hissed angrily at the threat to Toph. "I'm the one who killed you, Xue Yang," Mai said icily. "Why don't you come down here for a rematch, or are you just going to talk us to death."

Xue Yang chuckled darkly. "Oh, Hanguang-Jun, I most certainly haven't forgotten that!"

Then, with a snap of his fingers he set the Dai Li corpses on them.

The fierce corpses fell from the ceiling and in motions that seemed to be all muscle memory, thrust out their fists so that the stone gloves they wore were sent flying at them.

Zuko blasted them away with his bending, and the rest fended them off with their blades.

"Guess that answers if corpses can bend or not," said Zuko as he bent a lightning whip into one hand, and fought with his dao in the other to cut down the corpses as they hurled themselves at them along with their gloves.

"Ty Lee, start playing, we'll cover you," Sokka said, blocking another set of stone gloves from hitting them, and using his sword to cut down the Dai Li who threw it.

Ty Lee brought her dizi back to her lips and began playing a wild melody to wrest control of the dead away from Xue Yang.

Seeing this, Xue Yang also brought a flute up to his lips. Unlike Ty Lee's jade one, his looked to be carved from rough, solid stone, and it was likely one of his first orders to the dead Dai Li was to have them earthbend one for him, but death robbed them of their finesse for more delicate work. But as Wei Wuxian had proven when he first came back from the dead, the flute didn't need to be pretty or sound good to do its job.

The shadows whipped wildly around the room as the two demonic cultivators fought for control, but Ty Lee had the advantage. The Dai Li were most resentful towards the one who killed them. And like Wei Wuxian had told him a lifetime ago, Xue Yang may be skilled, but Wei Wuxian was the grandmaster for a reason.

Xue Yang, seeming to realize this, poured more energy into his playing to make the Dai Li's earthbending more violent.

On Ty Lee's part, it's pretty hard to keep up a steady melody on her flute when the ground is shaking underneath her. It's even harder when parts of the wall and ceiling start shooting out to crush her.

Mai was quick to grab her and yank her out of the way and the two cartwheel to safety, but with all the earthbending attacks focused on them, it was difficult for them to take a minute to breathe, much less let Ty Lee play again.

With the others doing their best to take down the Dai Li, Zuko bolted for the balcony where Xue Yang was standing, ready to show the murderous delinquent why the Sandu Shenshou was the worst fear of demonic cultivators everywhere.

Xue Yang had to stop playing to stop the sword strike from Zuko, and shoved Long Feng's corpse in front of him to take the lightning blast the Fire Prince unleashed.

Xue Yang smirked as he watched Zuko use flames and his blades to take down the corpse, but the sight of the prince's firebending stirred something deep inside him.

'I KNEW IT!'

Xue Yang reached up to clutch his head as what felt like a shout of anger and vindication rang through it.

Zuko managed to dispatch the corpse of Long Feng, and turn his attention back to him, and Xue Yang found himself reacting with Jet's hook swords instead of his flute.

Zuko's eyes widened as he noticed this reaction, but engaged him with his own dao.

With Xue Yang too busy sword fighting with Zuko, the Dai Li corpses began losing their concentration and stopped earthbending in order to throw themselves mindlessly at the fighters like normal fierce corpses do.

Without the ground trying to smush her and their enemy distracted, Ty Lee was able to bring her dizi back to her lips and play again, turning the corpses on each other rather than those still living.

Xue Yang could see all this, but something was keeping him from doing anything to stop it. Whatever it was, it had a burning sense of hatred that was focused solely on Zuko.

Zuko, meanwhile, may have only fought Jet once and never fought Xue Yang, but he was certain the moves being thrown at him did not come from Xue Yang. The delinquent demonic cultivator was once a part of the Jin sect, and this fighting style was definitely not Jin.

This was how Jet fights.

"Guess you weren't totally suppressed after all, Jet," Zuko said bitingly, trying to provoke a response.

Smellerbee and Longshot's heads snapped up to look at the balcony in shock upon hearing that.

Xue Yang physically hesitated at Zuko's words before he glared and slashed at him with his hook. "I told you, he's gone!" he snapped.

"Yeah, sure," said Zuko sarcastically, enraging Xue Yang further.

Smellerbee and Longshot shared a glance and nodded. Then Longshot gave Smellerbee a boost to get up to the balcony too so she could face Xue Yang alongside Zuko.

Seeing Smellerbee standing and fighting beside the firebender caused the delinquent to pause and for a moment he actually looked hurt. But the expression was gone a second later and replaced by Xue Yang's snarl.

"Desperate for a rematch, Dàozháng?" he asked.

"I'm not here as Xiao Xingchen fighting against Xue Yang," she said firmly, holding her diamond sword out in front of her. "I'm here as Smellerbee trying to get through to her friend, Jet."

The 'twang' of a bow string sounded below them, and Xue Yang was forced to deflect an arrow.

"With some help from our friend, Longshot," Smellerbee added with a smirk.

Below them, Longshot gave them a mocking salute, then notched another arrow.

"I told you, he's gone!" Xue Yang snapped, launching himself at them with his hooks.

"And I don't believe you!" Smellerbee shot back, parrying his strikes with her sword. "You lie like you breathe! Why should this be any different?"

Zuko ducked around her to aim a jab with his dao, but Jet shoved Smellerbee back to lash out at him instead. "Wish I had Zidian right now," Zuko grunted as they traded blows.

"That wouldn't even work!" Xue Yang snarled. "It's my soul! You can't separate my soul from my soul!"

"Oh, not for that," Zuko taunted. "I wish I had it because a punk like you could use a lashing even before you woke up instead of Jet."

Xue Yang hissed in anger, before twisting away to deflect another arrow and go after Smellerbee again. "What's the difference!" he said to her face. "It's my soul! Even if you do somehow wake up the 'Jet' part of me, it will still be me! And you made it clear you'd never forgive ME when you cut your own throat!"

Smellerbee grunted as their swords impacted and she tried to strike without losing her blade to the hooks. "It's like you said when we met," she said through gritted teeth. "New life, second chance! You may have died a disgusting beast, but Jet can still change! We promised we'd make a new start!"

That word again.

Disgusting…

Whatever bit of control Jet may have had on their fighting style vanished as Xue Yang's fury had him hammering his sword against Smellerbee's in brutal succession. Getting too close to her for Longshot to shoot without possibly hitting Smellerbee.

Zuko tried to come to her aid, but Xue Yang whipped around faster than expected and threw dust from the cave floor into his eyes before kicking him off the balcony to the ground below, landing on top of Longshot as he did so.

Then, with his twin hooks he manages to knock Smellerbee over and snag her sword away from her and catch it in his own hand.

"Let's see how much fun I can have using your sword this time," he said as he raised the blade over his head.

"JET! PLEASE!" Smellerbee yelled beneath him.

For a moment, the expression on Xue Yang's face changed.

Then the sword came plunging down.

Smellerbee shut her eyes, expecting to die again.

There was a wet sound as the sword made contact, and Smellerbee felt blood splatter across her face.

… but there was no pain…

Smellerbee opened her eyes to see that Xue Yang hadn't stabbed her.

Instead, Jet had stabbed himself through the stomach.

Jet made eye contact with her, and with a wet cough, tumbled off the balcony to the ground below, and Smellerbee scrambled to jump down after him.

Without Xue Yang's power, Ty Lee easily forced the remaining Dai Li corpses to rest, and she and the other fighters turned to see the sorry sight of Smellerbee and Longshot hurrying to their dying leader's side.

"'M sorry…" Jet choked out as blood dribbled down his chin. "I'm sorry… Tell that little girl… I'm sorry too…"

"Shh," said Smellerbee comfortingly, pulling him into her arms as Longshot rushed to her side. "You did it. You changed."

"Yeah… I did," Jet said, looking triumphant as the light in his eyes began to fade. "Smellerbee, Longshot… if we meet again… in the next life… don't… ever… let me… re…mem… ber…"

And with that last request, Jet was dead.

Smellerbee hugged his body to her chest and sobbed, and beside her Longshot removed his hat in grief.

Xue Yang was dead, and Jet gave his life to save them from him.

Zuko caught the others' eyes, and jerked his head towards the door to give the grieving pair some privacy.

Deep under a lake and surrounded by the dead, the Freedom Fighters mourned.

A/N With Xue Yang's memories, this could only end in tragedy. He would have refused to change.