TITLE: Fill the Open Air
FANDOM: Teen Titans
PAIRING: Slade/Terra
PROMPT: Prompt #057. Hands.
RATING: G
WORD COUNT: 608
SUMMARY: Terra is inspired by fireflies, and wants to show Slade what she can do.
NOTES: Set after Betrayal, written with "Fireflies," by Owl City on my mind
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything related to anything I mention here!


The first time Terra gets the idea she's chasing lightning bugs, trying to catch one or two at a time. She found them in a bush near a diner, and she was trying to see if she could get one out to the cave she was living in that week. She finally got her hands on one, keeping her hands cupped loosely together so that she wouldn't squish it by accident.

Squinting one eye shut, she peeks between her thumbs, and watches the lightning bug spark yellow as it climbs the inside of her fingers. She likes watching this bug, until it tries to fly away and almost hits her in the eye.

She lets the bug go, and the idea that was growing in her mind drifts away…for a while.


When she begins to remember the idea, she's watching a Christmas display in some town a few miles out of Gotham; hundreds of white and yellow Christmas lights have been strung up on a pine tree, flickering on and off every few seconds. Terra watches them, captivated by the glow of light, and just as she's about to remember her idea from the fireflies there is a tremor, and she has to run out of the town before someone notices her.


She doesn't consider the idea again until long after she's met the Titans, after she's met Slade, after she ran to Slade for control. She remembers it one night, after a training session with Slade; she's cleaning herself up in her bathroom, and the lights flicker, dim, then come back--And she remembers her idea.


"Slade? I want to show you something I thought of-it isn't really a technique or anything, but I figured it would have some shock value, if anything…"

"Let's see it."

She nods, takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes. She keeps her arms by her sides, but her fingers are spreading apart and stretching, straining-

Suddenly, Terra pulls her arms up, her hands glowing and contorted so that her fingertips are still pointed at the ground. A gold hoop sparks into being in the ground around her, and the earth it covers shatters and disintegrates into golden shards. She groans and throws her head back; her hair flies up as she tosses her head, but it floats on the air. Terra pulls her arms up, straightening out her fingers until her hands are flat, and the debris follows her fingers.

Terra's hands stay facing palms down, but her fingers scoop towards the ground and then up at the ceiling. Now palms-out, her hands shake and her fingers spread apart; the dust and grime begin to spin around her, and every last mite of dirt is giving off a golden glow.

Slade watches all of this, not moving or saying anything until Terra eyes open. Her whole body is shining in the light from her creation, but her eyes are glistening with a light of her own.

"See?" She whispers this, letting herself smile, and she forgets where she is and who she's with. "It's like-like fireflies!"

"I see it." Slade holds a hand out, letting his fingers brush through the golden dust; it's the only thing separating the two of them, and when his fingers touch the dirt it parts to leave a space for him to see her.

She's staring at the grime floating in the air, lost in what she's done, when she whispers "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yes." He looks at her straining fingers, at her hair, still floating on the air; He watches her whole body shake with effort, trying to maintain the illusion. "Yes, it is."