Freedom from Failure

I had gone back and edited alot after finding many errors. So enjoy this new and improved Freedom from Failure.

I don't own Avatar: The last Airbender. There, simple and short.

Katara crept along the walls of the Earth King's palace, checking around the corner for any Dai Li agents. Everything had been going smoothly so far. She had managed to get inside the palace walls using her waterbending to rise herself onto a windowsill. The bison whistle was tucked inside her robes to call Appa to get her and her emancipated prisoner as far away from Ba Sing Se as possible. She was dressed completely in black so she blended with the shadows. It was a vital part of her mission that they remained as quiet and stealthy as possible-

"BOSCO!! Don't eat that tapestry, we're trying to be sneaky!"

Katara's left eye twitched

So much for stealth...

Of course Sokka couldn't come to help her with her little mission. He was on his way to Chameleon Bay to find their father and to plan an attack the Fire Nation. Aang was healing in the Eastern Air Temple , drinking something he described as onion and banana juice and Toph was with him incase of any trouble. And Katara? She was risking her life to go save Iroh from the evil clutches of the Fire Nation brats. Why? So Iroh could consider maybe teaching Aang to firebend if the retired general felt like it.

Katara was going to make sure Iroh felt like it

The Earth King tripped on his black robes as he rounded the corner. Katara rubbed her temples and reminded herself of her little plan. Go in. Get the old guy. Get out.

Simple

Katara whirled around when she heard something had crashed behind her. The Earth King was standing over a broken vase and was chastising his bear quietly. Katara was about to yell something obscene when she heard guards running in their general direction. She looked around for something to hide in and found a door. She quickly pulled the king and his bear into the room.

"Who did this?" She heard the guard say from just behind the door.

"It was probably a hamster-mouse, clean it up and let's go, our shift is almost over."

Katara heard the sound of glass being thrown and the sound of grumbling. The guards left, talking about getting some cactus juice later.

Katara looked around the room they were in. The walls were lined with racks and racks of clothing. It looked to be a storage area for the clothing of the people who helped around the palace.

The king gazed at the needle and thread case in one corner of the room. "I always wondered what was in this room. I bet I could make Bosco a disguise in case we get caught."

Katara smiled behind the cloth that hid the bottom half of her face. "That's a great idea your Highness, why don't you and Bosco do that while I go find Iroh?"

His Highness smiled and petted Bosco. "All right, I'll get started right away. You know its been a while since I've used a needle." The bear groaned in reply.

"Right, right." Katara rolled her eyes as she closed the door. That was two distractions out of the way.

Iroh sipped his tea as he watched the gloomy walls of his cell. Zuko made sure Iroh was given tea everyday, but he never visited his uncle. Not once. Which was good for Iroh; he wasn't sure if he could face his nephew now.

There was no way to describe how betrayed Iroh felt, yet there was still a part of him that still hoped that this was all part of a plan Zuko had concocted, but Iroh wasn't stupid. He knew his nephew wasn't that clever. He smiled sadly; he thought Zuko had changed for the better, but the Dragon of the West must have gone senile to think anything would have changed in Zuko.

He had been there for two weeks, Azula had came the day before and told Iroh that his dear brother, the fire lord Ozai, would be coming in a week to Ba Sing Se to "visit" him and his nephew. There was no doubt in Iroh's old mind that Ozai would not take his son back as heir to the throne as Zuko thought he would, but instead probably finish off both his son and his brother in one swift blow.

Iroh looked at the shackles that attached him to the wall. It was the first time in his life that tea, even Ginseng tea, did not bring him peace in mind and heart.

Suddenly, Iroh heard someone fidgeting with the lock to his cell. It was way too late for Azula to come to insult him and it was way past supper time.

The small light of hope within him brightened slightly as a black clad hand slowly opened the door to his cell.

After leaving the Earth King and his bear in the safety of the dressing room, Katara wondered around the palace looking for the prison cells.

"Did he say left or right at the huge ostrich horse statue?" She whispered, annoyed. She looked at the crumbled piece of paper that had directions to the dungeons on it and decided the chicken-pig scratch useless. The king's actual purpose was to point her in the right direction, but he was now some random room in some random hallway in some random direction in the palace. She decided with a sigh that she was lost.

Then she saw three Dai Li agents round the corner of the hall she was in. She ducked behind a huge vase and thanked Yue they were distracted and didn't see her. As they walked into another room, another smaller agent emerged from the hallway they just exited, probably trying to look for them. He was very short and looked quite young, probably a little older than Katara herself.

Katara smiled at her window of opportunity as he came running toward her.

She gathered water from her pouch and froze the floor of which the agent ran on and he slipped. Before he could yell out, Katara semi-caught him and froze his mouth shut. She formed a small ice dagger and held it to his throat.

"Okay, here's the deal, you show me where you are keeping General Iroh, and I'll let you go. Okay?" It's not that she liked threatening people, but if she wanted to find Iroh fast and easy, this was the way she had to do it.

The man's eyes widened, and he nodded. Katara unfroze the floor and helped him up; she then told him quietly to start walking as she held the dagger on the back of his neck. He led her through several hallways, ducking out of sight when Dai Li agents appeared. After what seemed like a few hours, they came to a set of stairs leading downward.

"This leads to the dungeons? To Iroh?" She asked.

The man nodded, still unable to speak.

"Okay, thank you, and I'm sorry for this." She then knocked him out with a block of and drug him into a broom closet and sealed the lock on the door with ice.

She walked down the stairs and looked around the corner. There were three Dai Li agents guarding a door, Iroh's door.

Katara thought hard. If she would have just charged into battle, the earthbenders would have easily overcomed her and she would be trapped as well.

Katara thought long and hard about her plan before putting it into action. She was going to throw a rock at guard #1. Then, in is tired state, he was going to accuse guard #2 of tossing the pebble, and they would start bickering. Guard #3 would then get angry at guards #1 and #2, and he would soon join in. Then, they would fight, ending with them all unconscious, and Katara free to save Iroh. It was a brilliant plan that would make Sokka proud.

She looked at the guards again, ready with her pebble, when she found something incredible.

They were asleep.

So much for her brilliant plan...

But, Katara worked with it and slowly and very carefully crept towards the guards. Katara moved her hand inch by inch toward the keys on the guard's belt. She could hear the slow breathing of the guard in front of her. Within five minutes, she had the keys and began as quietly as she could to unlock the door.

The door creaked open. Katara saw Iroh looking at her in surprise. She also noted the shackles on his ankles and wrists. She closed the door after her.

This would take a while.

A/N

Yay chapter 1 done!

Stupid Zuko. Betraying his uncle like that. For shame dear Zuzu, for shame. Although it would be great, I don't think betraying his uncle was part of some elaborate scheme. Zuko's not that clever to come up with something like that on the spot. I'm sorry. BUT! Zuko and Katara did have that little back glance thing that went on.

After the hatred and spite that spewed from within my soul, I laughed my ass off. Why? Because here we zutarians were, thinking that Zuko and Katara would be stuck in the cave for about the whole episode and then they were actually in there for what, five, ten minutes tops? And then before the episodes, everyone was preparing for shipping battles and it turns out. No one won. The writers must be having fun.