AUTHOR'S STATEMENT:

I am shamelessly obsessed with the Dai Li, but I couldn't find a story about them anywhere that lasted longer than a one-shot. My crushed soul couldn't handle "There is no such thing" as an answer, and that is literally why this is a Dai Li fanfiction. I've decided to take matters into my own hands and fulfill my wish for Avatar: The Last Airbender to have a heroic secret agent. I shall face the odds with original characters, and I'll make a Dai Li fan out of you! ...If only in my dreams. You already have my gratitude for reading this at all xD

Without further ado, here's my first attempt at writing. Let's see how it goes!

(NOTE: The correct pronunciation of the "-han" in "Yuhan" matches Han Solo! I've been told that readers get it mixed up, heh)

Prologue

Never forget those who sacrificed everything to help Avatar Aang restore balance to the world. Countless individuals placed their hopes and dreams into his hands for a better future, willing to endure anything as they faced the Fire Nation with impossible courage. Some were imprisoned. Others were broken beyond repair. Many never saw the light of day again.

No such courage, however, could be found within the walls of Ba Sing Se. There were those who watched from the shadows, gifted with wonderful and terrible abilities to bend the earth. Silent, precise, and feared by all, they were bound to their duties with absolute obedience, and bore their cold faces like masks. The Dai Li had no place for destiny and no use for emotions.

One agent, however, ached with emotion. One agent found what didn't exist in Ba Sing Se, and one agent alone saw hope.

But hope could not have been enough to change a Dai Li agent. The dark organization could never understand this betrayal, nor why it happened despite what was at stake. The dissenter never understood it himself.

He only knew the bleeding of his heart, and how to stop it.

Chapter 1

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se."

"THERE IS NO WAR IN BA SING SE." The cold, grey walls of the dreary chamber echoed with the drones of a hundred voices.

"There is no war within the walls." A single, thoroughly trained voice cut through the damp air a few seconds before the rest. Its smooth, captivating tone displayed several years of experience and unmistakable command.

"THERE IS NO WAR WITHIN THE WALLS." One hundred pairs of eyes stared after a glowing, orb-like lantern that emitted an eerie hum as it circled across a thick, rusty rail.

"Here, we are safe."

"HERE, WE ARE SAFE."

Agent Yuhan Tsen stifled a sigh and strained to resist covering his ears. The conspiracy nuts had struck with a rather large force this time. It had taken practically half of the Dai Li to stamp out the riot, to reassure everyone else of their safety - to silence Ba Sing Se once more. It had taken even longer to drag the defiant rebels beneath Lake Laogai.

Tonight, Yuhan was (as always) the unlucky nominee for Peace Orator. He'd given up trying to figure out why a long time ago and found it more useful not to complain and move on - which was probably why everyone kept nominating him. Yuhan was one of the younger agents with endurance for such things, a pale 21-year-old who lost most of his sleep to operate the conversion chambers. He had a sturdy build with chiseled muscles and jagged black hair, collectively sharp features that were concealed beneath the sleek layers of his uniform. His eyes were the kind that would usually notice anything beyond what met them, and they were a deep shade of emerald that eerily matched the color of his uniform. It was no surprise that Yuhan was toweringly tall and silent by default, as was the rest of the Dai Li. And yet, whenever he remembered to look up from the glowing lantern, there was the slightest hint of human-like kindness that made him approachable. Sometimes.

At the end of the day, a "hint" of kindness never spared the rioters. Yuhan was at it flawlessly every night. But even so, it wasn't as if he actually enjoyed holding a 703 record for the successful delivery of the anti-war speech. It was simply in his belief that he should be appreciative of his honored position and show his respect to his leaders and fellow members - even if that respect sometimes took the lives of innocents.

...But they weren't innocent, he reminded himself. If those people were left untouched, Ba Sing Se would fall into chaos and turmoil... Yuhan shook his head. As usual, the Dai Li's reasoning behind its brainwashing only barely provided enough incentive to stand here in front of Ba Sing Se's bold civilians. To stand here, and force the words from his throat into theirs.

"Here...we are...are..." The Peace Orator suddenly let out a long, drawn out yawn. Startled at himself, he quickly threw his hands over his mouth.

It was too late.

"HERE, WE ARE, ARE...AAAAAUUUUUUUOOWWWHH!" The chamber rang horrifyingly loud with the unnaturally recited noise. The rotating lantern stopped dead in its tracks while the rioters stood in confused, zombie-like silence.

A murderous Long Feng came storming in immediately. "Just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded. The creases in his naturally cross face seemed to dig even deeper and more terrifyingly than usual.

Yuhan grabbed nervously at the folds of his emerald-colored sleeves, his eyes flickering with panic for the briefest moment. I'm dead. Swallowing a gulp, he barely managed to mutter, "I-I'm very sorry, sir. Please forgive me - I'm tolerating my lack of sleep rather poorly -" A snarl started forming on the peeved leader's face. "- but I understand that I must perform my duties to the highest standards of the Dai Li, regardless of the circumstances," the Peace Orator quickly added, his voice automatically putting on a respectful, confident tone. "It was unacceptable to let personal needs interfere with my responsibilities, and I will not try to justify my failure to maintain a clear, proper speech during a conversion. I assure you, however, that it will not happen again." If I even live to see it happen again... Yuhan knelt to the cracked stone floor and bowed, holding his breath.

Miraculously, Long Feng's expression softened into something that almost resembled a smile. "I admit that I was not expecting you, of all agents, to make such a novice mistake in the conversion chamber. A tiny crack tends to stand out more like an earthquake when the rest of the ground has been kept so smooth and precise by you, Yuhan, Leader of Peace." His voice was as detached as ever, but any agent would've gladly taken the compliment over his usual threats. "Your performance as a Dai Li agent has always exceeded expectations, so I am sure that this mistake will not repeat itself." His tone grew a bit colder as he added, "I assume you'll prove to me that my confidence in you is not misplaced. You may rise."

"Thank you, sir." Yuhan let out a great sigh of relief as he straightened himself back up, watching the retreating figure of the Grand Secretariat disappear back into the shadows. Turning around to face the crowd of rioters, still standing and staring like awkward statues, he almost sighed again.

"...There is no war in Ba Sing Se."

~o~o~o~

Five hours past midnight, the tired "Leader of Peace" plopped face-first into his mattress, still in uniform. The familiar room, enclosed by a heavy sliding door of iron, was the same one he'd been assigned since his first day as a Dai Li agent years ago. It was comfortable enough, but Yuhan had kept it quite plain and lifeless - sort of like himself. The dull grey walls of stone were still bare, save for the rectangular bunk carved into the back corner that held the bed he'd just jumped into. The outer edges of this nook were inlaid with jade carvings of badgermoles, and silky green curtains hung across the top, which he often pulled to the sides and kept pinned with his own rock gloves. Inside, the plump mattress and the feathery pillows were the same emerald green, both with silken coverings, and the blankets had a smooth, sea-green sheen to them. It was a cozy little niche, even if Yuhan barely had any time to enjoy it. He spent most his non-brainwashing hours across from his bed at a little desk, which was carved from the same grey stone as the walls, and it also had jade accents at its corners. The carvings along the upper shelves were somewhat hidden by the piles and piles of earthbending and psychology scrolls stuffed within, and Yuhan's chair was a flat pillar jutting from the ground or whatever else he felt like earthbending; he needed the ornate chair that had come with the desk to drape his lazy laundry over. A jagged rock was mounted at the far corner of the desk, yielding a couple of brightly glowing green crystals that illuminated the room. The brightness was irritating for Yuhan's sleep-deprived eyes to endure, and he drowsily stuck his arm out of the bed curtains to throw his hat over the glowing shards. He dug his face deep into his feathery green pillow as comforting darkness engulfed the room. All the aches in his body that he'd ignored earlier seemed to come to life at once, and it took a while before he could actually feel the cushion of his mattress.

It had taken four more rounds of the anti-war speech to get the stupid yawn out of the rioters' memories. But still, the tired agent had to admit that he'd done a good job. He almost felt proud for still being able to pull it off, considering there were over a hundred rioters to un-yawn. And at the end of the day, he was still in Long Feng's good favors. Yuhan deserved this rest. His eyes grew heavy, gratefully allowing slumber to settle in.

A loud moan from somewhere outside his room startled the agent back awake. Irritated, he rolled over and pulled a few specially prepared rags from his pockets, stuffing them into his ears. Another difficult prisoner...I'll never get why they'd put the cells right across from the sleeping quarters... Yuhan felt like he knew the answer, but he decided not to dwell on Long Feng's prisoner escape paranoia at the moment.

A frightening vision suddenly materialized in the midst of Yuhan's disgruntled thoughts. It carried the blackness of a eternal, bottomless well, and its distorted figure was peering down at him, its looming shadow waiting to drown him, its low, poisonous voice making his hair stand on end. "You'll pay for everything..." it hissed. "Just wait...you'll burn...you'll wish you were never alive..."

Yuhan cringed. Curling up on his mattress, he tried to shift his mind back to the comforts of his much needed rest and on the kinds of errands Long Feng might force upon him in a few hours.

Somewhere deep within the crevices of his heart, the sleep-deprived agent feared that something - perhaps everything - around him was horribly wrong. He'd stuffed away this uncertainty long ago, focusing instead on what he was told to do and keeping his family's honor. Still, the awareness would leak out in little streams when his mind was most unstable, during the pause between consciousness and sleep. But, as a devoted agent, Yuhan always managed to chain it back down in the end. Most of it.

I'm more fortunate than the majority of Ba Sing Se's people, he assured himself for the thousandth time. I should be happy that I'm so respected and treated well by citizens, the Dai Li, and even Long Feng. My parents are well. The city is at peace. There's nothing to worry about. No one I care about is getting hurt... Yuhan was still shuddering as he fell asleep. Would those words hold true forever?

~o~o~o~

"My son! MY son, has been requested to join the agents of the Dai Li! I always knew that my boy's earthbending would go far! Didn't I always say that he's got talent? Just picture it - Agent Yuhan Tsen, the protector of our walls! The elite keeper of peace! Happiest day of my life, I tell you..."

An adolescent Yuhan covered his face as his father, tears streaming down his aged face, waved the gold and emerald-trimmed scroll around the whole shop. Due to the outburst, a small crowd had gathered around to congratulate the boy and to shake his hand, and some children even requested autographs. He forced a modest smile, throwing out some excuse about "picking up his uniform" while backing slowly towards the door. It hadn't quite sunken in yet, since he was still trying to figure out what he'd actually done to be chosen as an agent. Such a thing was extremely rare in the Lower Ring and unrealistic for most to hope for. Almost no one knew anyone from the Dai Li personally; the letter had simply appeared on Yuhan's windowsill when the sun rose this morning. Who had made the decision to pick him?

...How long had they been watching?

"Just look at the designs on this thing!" Yuhan's father was still obsessing over the embossed scroll, the summon from the mysterious organization. The crowd shifted their attention back to the letter, racing to look at it more closely and to hold it in their hands. The glare of the seal, a pair of black wings shielding a golden Earth Kingdom coin, made Yuhan's eyes sting. He gladly took the chance to slip quietly out of the shop, retreating into the back alley. Exhaling slowly, he gazed up at the sky. Everything was about to change... Would he be able to make the city a better place with this new authority? The thought made the fancy letter from the Dai Li look more appealing as he stole a glance back towards his cheering father with a smile.

Yuhan jumped when a cold, bitter voice next to him suddenly pierced the brief silence.

"So, you're going to add new bars to the prison of Ba Sing Se...You must be proud." An old, ragged man was sitting against the wall a few feet away. The tattered remains of a faded brown robe hung over his shoulder like a toga, revealing the dark skin of his bony chest. His long, dirty grey hair hung before his eyes but could not hide the horrible scars that marred his face. One of his cheekbones looked oddly out of place as he spoke. Yuhan felt an uneasiness crawling within his gut as he looked down at that face. He was tempted to ask if there was anything he could do, but the old man spoke up again before the words could form. "The Dai Li are quite something..." The man's black eyes glinted with an unspoken hatred. One hand lifted to touch the distorted cheekbone. Yuhan swallowed. "I hope you enjoy yourself in there, boy. It must be so much fun prancing around the kingdom in fancy outfits, forcing everyone to worship you..." The old man appeared to be talking to himself now. "Just you wait, it'll all come back one day..." His eyes were wild and demented as they suddenly fixated upon Yuhan, who took a frightened step backwards. "You'll pay for taking Yuki from me. All of you bastards, you'll wish you never lived... I'll make sure you burn, every single one -"

CRUNCH.

Yuhan found himself frozen to the spot, staring in horror as the frail old man's head spun on its axis from the sheer impact of a single, brick-sized slab of stone. The sickening shatter of bone split open the air as his thin frame followed suit, flipping and crashing against the dirt in unnatural angles as the rest of the force carried through. He twisted in agony on the ground, clutching aimlessly at his crushed skull, and his skeleton arms waved about in twitch-like motions before dropping to the ground, sending up small clouds of dust.

The sharp, perfectly cut slab of stone simply fell into the dirt after striking its target, landing quietly next to the still body. It was only after Yuhan noticed the crimson lining of this slab that the scream finally escaped his lips. Without knowing what he was doing, he lunged forward and reached uselessly towards the body as if he could somehow pull it back up to life. However, the ground suddenly shook beneath him and the old man, trembling precariously. Quicksand! Yuhan immediately reacted, jumping into the air for a moment before landing two heavy feet upon the rapidly forming mud, solidifying the surface back into a stable platform. However, the old man a few paces away was hopelessly sinking into the earth. Giving a cry of dismay, Yuhan threw forward his arms from his platform and yanked upon any limbs that were still visible, but a sharp, invisible force was suddenly yanking the back of his collar. He was reeling backwards before he knew it.

"Leave him."

The sound of a cold, frightfully calm voice finally caused Yuhan to stop and twist around, huffing angrily. He immediately froze upon sight of long, emerald robes and a pointed hat of the same color, both accented with gold. Not far off, the old man finally sank away from sight as the ground crackled shut.

"I apologize that we had to meet this way. Truly. We're lucky not to have any passersby around, though. You will come to understand all of this very soon." The agent simply lifted his arms, spreading out his fingers as if stretching. Several tiny pieces of rock flew to cover his hands completely, like gloves. Yuhan suddenly realized that these stone hands had been pulling him away from the quicksand this whole time. He glanced back, still horrified, at the patch of dirt that a battered body had occupied only seconds ago. The agent stepped in front of him and blocked it all from view with a quiet shuffle of his robes. He offered an arm with such a cheery, nonchalant smile that it was disturbing. Yuhan reluctantly grasped the stone-covered fingers, allowing himself to be helped back to his feet.

"Sorry that you had to catch me on the job. I was just dispatched to come get you, and this peasant was sitting in the way. Anyway - Yuhan, was it? Welcome to the Dai Li, kid."

.

Post Chapter Trivia

This story has a lot of professional artwork, by the way! (Including the main image :D) The links are on my profile and I encourage you to take a look because the character drawings are SPOT. ON. The gallery is a compilation of illustration prizes I won from random writing contests and gifts from creative friends. This is a shout-out and thank you to the artists. Anyway, take a look, yo. I promise it'll make for a groovier reading experience ;)