Without the Mask
By Sava Varen
Quick Notes:
Disclaimer...prologue...GO!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! There's no milk!! I can't get so hyper it's hard to type until later!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! *shrugs* Oh well. Thank you everybody!! Again and again and again and again and again and...yeah you get the jest...
Trallgorda-yeah, it's because I write the way I speak. And believe me, my accent ain't pretty! I already know my problem; I'm just too lazy to fix it. Es tut Mier Leid ('I'm sorry' in german). I hope it's not too hard to understand, I can't help it. Thank you lots though! :) My English teacher is going off the walls, off the earth, over the moon, loop de loop, gaga, passed the stars insane from that one problem with my writing alone! I wish she'd just accept it...:( Thanks again!
Who cares?-thanks! Either way you do it, I'm just glad you're reading! :) YEAH!! T/SL FOREVER!!! Woohoo!!
Peppermint Dream-ahahahahahaha! Sexy!! Good one!! Yeah, he is, I gotta admit. Terra is the lucky one here! :)
ScreamingMonkeyDemons-haha! I've written an addicting story!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hehe. Well, I love the idea personally, but hey, everyone has their own opinions and I respect that!
This is just something random and want to type it cos I'm still on a cereal high: God made coke, God made Pepsi, God make paper and pencils and pens and computers.... my oh my is God a generous guy!!!
REQUEST: Please people, I need personal opinions on this. I'm beginning to feel I'm altering personas and need personal opinions whether I am or not and what to do to fix it if I am. PLEASE HELP! Please and Thank you!
Chapter 9: Slade's Affection
Hot and cold sweat ran freely down his face. A nightmare was usually no deal, but for some reason this time was different. Wiping his face with a towel, the images of the nightmare bore down on him again. Screaming, chaos, blood, death, and...Terra. She was crying, bleeding, praying and she was the one screaming as demons stabbed at her pale, soft skin. A searing pain ran through Slade's mind. Why did he care so much? Slade slipped on his mask and ran to Terra's room. Relief came as he found her sleeping peacefully in her bed.
'I don't care what happens to her!' he thought angrily.
But he couldn't block the fact that he did care... a lot. It happened little by little. It took him till just now to notice it. He could remember a strange reaction when it came to her. Usually, he would've beaten his minions to the ground if they acted the way Terra did. Why was he going so soft? Slade walked silent into the room and sat on the bed next to Terra's thin, sleeping figure. She subconsciously gave a light sneeze and turned so her face was towards him. For a second, Slade thought she'd wake, but he was wrong. Looking down on the beautiful, sleeping fifteen year old, he felt a sudden feeling of admire. Gently lifting his hand, he lightly traced the features of her pale face that was framed in slightly messy, platinum blond hair. He traced from her chin, to her eyes, her eyebrows, lips, etc. Even though his mind was screaming for him to stop and throw aside these feelings of love and admire, his heart guided him to keep going and except it.
Terra soon became aware of something soft and gentle tracing her face. It felt good. A small smirk appeared on her face. It was good, yes, but she was too lazy to open her eyes and see what it was. So she decided to touch instead of see. She slowly reached for it and found it was someone's hand. Confused and quite startled, she opened her eyes to see Slade there next to her. It was his hand! She gasped and sat up so quick it was unbelievable.
"What are you doing?" she asked in a startled voice.
Slade was stuck on that one. What was he doing? Terra looked at him as if he were going to harm her in some way. He didn't blame her either. Terra glanced around noticing she was in her room. Her armor was taken off too. Then everything came back to her.
"Huh? Why am I here? Where are the Titans? Why did you stop me?? You want to get rid of the Titans, yes?" she said all this angrily.
Slade, thankful for the sudden change in subject, said: "It's not time for that yet. We must take it slowly Terra. The Titans could prove to be a use to us instead of a burden, don't you think?"
Terra pondered this. Suddenly, she noticed something wrong with that question. She then became aware of his lack of costume. He didn't have the metal armor on, just the black suit. His gloves were off too revealing smooth, firm hands but with gentleness to them you couldn't quite place, but was there.
'No wonder it felt so good when he touched me, his hands are perfect!' Terra thought as she admired them.
Feeling suddenly weak, she looked up at him.
"What do you mean 'us'?"
That's where Slade knew he slipped up.
"You'll see soon enough." He said trying to sound as normal as possible.
"Slade! Enlighten things for me! What are you planning? I need to know ahead of time."
"You're agreeing to join me willingly?"
"Yes. It's clear that the Titans never want to make contact with me again anymore. They're my enemy and they're your enemy too, so is the enemy of my enemy, my enemy or my friend? Even though there is the fact that you tricked me..."
"Tell me Terra, when I said I wanted to help you, was that a lie?"
"...No. I guess not."
"If I'd have told you then that we'd be doing whatever it took to get the Titans, even if it meant breaking the law, would you have agreed?"
"No. Good point though."
"So. You swear to join me? To never betray me and stay by my side? To never put your trust in people outside our alliance?"
"Yes. I promise." she said proudly.
Slade grinned and nodded. He was about to get up and leave but he suddenly remembered something.
"I'm trusting you not to pull anything." He said as he reached over and pulled the hair clip off.
Terra felt the rush of her powers returning once again. It felt better than ever!
"Thank you! I wasn't expecting you to do that this soon!"
"You gave your word. I see no reason to suspect you." He stood up and walked to the door. "Get some sleep Terra. I've kept you up too long as it is."
Something bothered him from the back of his mind. He didn't even make it one step farther because of it.
"And Terra."
"Yeah?"
"Sleep in. It's sunrise, you'll never succeed in getting up in about two or three hours without being miserable." Then he left and succeeded in making it back to his quarters without bashing his head into the titanium steel walls from his need to be with her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was about seven in the morning when Slade awoke. The usual , nothing special. Not even feeling a bit tired (even though he barely slept at all), he got out of bed as usual and took a shower. After preparing himself for the day he headed towards subconsciously. Once there, he peeked inside just to make sure she kept her word. She was still sleeping soundly. Slade then went to Riley's quarters.
"Good morning Master Slade, have a nice sleep?" Riley greeted him kindly as usual.
"Not as well as I should like." Was all Slade answered as he checked the gages on the machine that caught the visions Riley gets; the Psyche View.
Riley's third-eye (spiritual eye, everyone has one, you just can't see it, look it up!) followed Slade as he walked around the room making sure everything was working properly and everything was in order. Riley got a bit curious as to what kept Slade up last night. Not just anything could do that to Slade, it had to be something of importance...GREAT importance. Riley decided to take a quick peek into Slade's mind. Unfortunately, Slade had telepathic powers of his own and blocked Riley.
"Careful you! Don't get too curious." Slade warned.
Riley smirked. He didn't need to read his mind anymore. A quick vision of what happened last night had come to him.
"You like her Master Slade. I know you do." Riley's light voice sounded.
"Who?"
"The beautiful young flower girl." Riley replied.
"You mean Terra? No. That's not what's wrong."
"I didn't say that's what's wrong. All I said is that you've taken a fancy for her."
"Quiet! You're wrong! If I liked her you'd know already." Slade knew he was in denial, but what other choice was there besides admitting it and he didn't want to do that...yet.
"Yes Master Slade, but I would really like to meet her once more."
"Why is that?"
"She resembles someone I met long ago. I wish to find out if it's the same young one I met in the past is all."
"Hmmmmmmmmm...well, Terra is asleep at the moment. I let her sleep in today."
"Very noble of you Master."
"Hmph! Well, Riley, keep up your job and who knows, you just might be able to speak with young Terra soon!"
"She's not too young, Master."
"Riley! Don't push it!"
"Good day my Master." Riley said as Slade left.
Slade's mind was in another place at the time. It happened so fast. He'd come out the door, turned and crashed right into...
"Terra!" he gasped as she almost fell.
He grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her. What was she doing up so early??
"Terra? What's wrong? I told you to sleep in."
"I'm hungry. I'll go back to bed after I eat a snack." she said innocently.
"Alright. Come with me." he said sighing.
He led her to the kitchen (his hand on her shoulder by the way....). She didn't seem to mind. As soon as they entered the kitchen Terra did something far unexpected. She passed out! Wow she was sleepy. She leaned sideway (unintentionally) onto Slade.
"Terra..."he said sighing. "That shoots down that idea."
He picked her up and carried her back to her room. After laying her on her bed once more, he sat down next to her again. This time, he just stared. He sat there like that for a while, admiring her each and every feature. Every curve of her face, her soft shoulders, her matted platinum blond hair that fell into her pale face, everything about her. All of a sudden, his thoughts were interrupted by something moving behind him. He turned to see Riley with the biggest smile imaginable spread on his face. Slade would've warned him not to wake her but it was too late.
"Oh my gosh! You DO like her!!" he yelled pointing at him accusingly.
Terra woke suddenly and jumped up almost falling off the side of her bed. Luckily, Slade grabbed her and pulled her up in mid air. After that, Terra (as frightened as possible) yanked free from Slade's grip and ran as far from them as possible.
"What's going on?" She asked, pure fear in her eyes.
"Terra, please calm down, nothing is..." Slade was interrupted by Riley's blabbering.
"Slade loves Terra! Slade loves Terra! Slade loves--" Slade whacked him over the head. "Owwww!"
Terra just stood looking frightened at the two.
"Terra. You fell asleep while you were with me in the kitchen. I brought you back and Riley woke you up! That's all."
Terra's fear turned to anger. Both men could see she was on the verge of explosion.
"Terra, please--"
"QUIET!" she yelled at the top of her lungs!
Both men froze. (here's Slade right now: *_*) Fire was burning in Terra's eyes.
"RILEY, YOUR ROOM, GO! SLADE, CHAIR, SIT!" She ordered angrily.
Both knew to listen before she started to attack with her powers. (the room was already shaking, but...) Riley ran out of the room while Slade, half calm half alarmed, walked to the chair and sat. Terra sighed heavily from staining herself the way she did and let herself fall onto the bed.
"Okay, what's going on?" she asked trying to be calm.
"Terra, I've already told you. You fell asleep and--"
"No! What Riley was saying? What's that about?"
Slade's heart skipped a beat. He was gonna have to punish Riley later for that one.
"Nothing, it was nothing." he answered.
"The way you're saying it, it sounds like something."
"Terra! I don't want to talk about it!"
"So it is something."
"What? No..." there he goes again, slipping up.
"So...so that's what you meant by 'we'? Slade, I can go on forever guessing. Just say the truth. That's all I want."
Slade couldn't. He got up and left the room. He returned to his quarters and finally did what he'd wanted to do. He bashed his head into the wall. His mask and strong force made a dent in the wall! Once feeling like he didn't need to do that anymore, he sat on his bed and removed his mask. Things were not going well at all. He buried his face in his hands and raced through his mind for any sign of relieving himself from this...this burden. But none came. This was the first time in probably forever that he'd had a break down like this. It wasn't like him at all. And to have Terra watch...how would he face her again? The question was: could he face her again? When he was younger he never thought he'd fall head over heels in love for someone nine to ten years younger than himself. Man this love business was confusing and painful. How did other people do it? Oh, yeah, they weren't highly dangerous super villains who are ruthless and destructive, that's how. They had more time for that stuff. Some even dreamed about it. Slade, on the other hand, had probably only thought of it about twice or three times in his whole life. He hadn't feared it nor did he look forward to it, he just...ignored it. Put it aside because he thought it'd never happen to him. Looks like he was wrong.
A/N: wow. I have mixed feelings about this one. On some parts it seems off, but on others it's great. Krissy, one of my best friends, helped me with the production of this chapter. I'd tell which parts but she helped with almost the whole thing since I ran out of ideas at the last second. Thank you Krissy. EVERYBODY BOW DOWN TO THE ALMIGHTY KRISSY WHO HAPPENS TO BE HOME SICK WITH THE FLU! Poor Krissy. *hugs Krissy* Hope you feel better soon! I dedicate this chapter to Krissy! EVERYBOW HUG KRISSY! NOW! :) Thanks everyone for help and inspiration and encouragement. Yous are all a great help!
Quick Notes:
Disclaimer...prologue...GO!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! There's no milk!! I can't get so hyper it's hard to type until later!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! *shrugs* Oh well. Thank you everybody!! Again and again and again and again and again and...yeah you get the jest...
Trallgorda-yeah, it's because I write the way I speak. And believe me, my accent ain't pretty! I already know my problem; I'm just too lazy to fix it. Es tut Mier Leid ('I'm sorry' in german). I hope it's not too hard to understand, I can't help it. Thank you lots though! :) My English teacher is going off the walls, off the earth, over the moon, loop de loop, gaga, passed the stars insane from that one problem with my writing alone! I wish she'd just accept it...:( Thanks again!
Who cares?-thanks! Either way you do it, I'm just glad you're reading! :) YEAH!! T/SL FOREVER!!! Woohoo!!
Peppermint Dream-ahahahahahaha! Sexy!! Good one!! Yeah, he is, I gotta admit. Terra is the lucky one here! :)
ScreamingMonkeyDemons-haha! I've written an addicting story!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hehe. Well, I love the idea personally, but hey, everyone has their own opinions and I respect that!
This is just something random and want to type it cos I'm still on a cereal high: God made coke, God made Pepsi, God make paper and pencils and pens and computers.... my oh my is God a generous guy!!!
REQUEST: Please people, I need personal opinions on this. I'm beginning to feel I'm altering personas and need personal opinions whether I am or not and what to do to fix it if I am. PLEASE HELP! Please and Thank you!
Chapter 9: Slade's Affection
Hot and cold sweat ran freely down his face. A nightmare was usually no deal, but for some reason this time was different. Wiping his face with a towel, the images of the nightmare bore down on him again. Screaming, chaos, blood, death, and...Terra. She was crying, bleeding, praying and she was the one screaming as demons stabbed at her pale, soft skin. A searing pain ran through Slade's mind. Why did he care so much? Slade slipped on his mask and ran to Terra's room. Relief came as he found her sleeping peacefully in her bed.
'I don't care what happens to her!' he thought angrily.
But he couldn't block the fact that he did care... a lot. It happened little by little. It took him till just now to notice it. He could remember a strange reaction when it came to her. Usually, he would've beaten his minions to the ground if they acted the way Terra did. Why was he going so soft? Slade walked silent into the room and sat on the bed next to Terra's thin, sleeping figure. She subconsciously gave a light sneeze and turned so her face was towards him. For a second, Slade thought she'd wake, but he was wrong. Looking down on the beautiful, sleeping fifteen year old, he felt a sudden feeling of admire. Gently lifting his hand, he lightly traced the features of her pale face that was framed in slightly messy, platinum blond hair. He traced from her chin, to her eyes, her eyebrows, lips, etc. Even though his mind was screaming for him to stop and throw aside these feelings of love and admire, his heart guided him to keep going and except it.
Terra soon became aware of something soft and gentle tracing her face. It felt good. A small smirk appeared on her face. It was good, yes, but she was too lazy to open her eyes and see what it was. So she decided to touch instead of see. She slowly reached for it and found it was someone's hand. Confused and quite startled, she opened her eyes to see Slade there next to her. It was his hand! She gasped and sat up so quick it was unbelievable.
"What are you doing?" she asked in a startled voice.
Slade was stuck on that one. What was he doing? Terra looked at him as if he were going to harm her in some way. He didn't blame her either. Terra glanced around noticing she was in her room. Her armor was taken off too. Then everything came back to her.
"Huh? Why am I here? Where are the Titans? Why did you stop me?? You want to get rid of the Titans, yes?" she said all this angrily.
Slade, thankful for the sudden change in subject, said: "It's not time for that yet. We must take it slowly Terra. The Titans could prove to be a use to us instead of a burden, don't you think?"
Terra pondered this. Suddenly, she noticed something wrong with that question. She then became aware of his lack of costume. He didn't have the metal armor on, just the black suit. His gloves were off too revealing smooth, firm hands but with gentleness to them you couldn't quite place, but was there.
'No wonder it felt so good when he touched me, his hands are perfect!' Terra thought as she admired them.
Feeling suddenly weak, she looked up at him.
"What do you mean 'us'?"
That's where Slade knew he slipped up.
"You'll see soon enough." He said trying to sound as normal as possible.
"Slade! Enlighten things for me! What are you planning? I need to know ahead of time."
"You're agreeing to join me willingly?"
"Yes. It's clear that the Titans never want to make contact with me again anymore. They're my enemy and they're your enemy too, so is the enemy of my enemy, my enemy or my friend? Even though there is the fact that you tricked me..."
"Tell me Terra, when I said I wanted to help you, was that a lie?"
"...No. I guess not."
"If I'd have told you then that we'd be doing whatever it took to get the Titans, even if it meant breaking the law, would you have agreed?"
"No. Good point though."
"So. You swear to join me? To never betray me and stay by my side? To never put your trust in people outside our alliance?"
"Yes. I promise." she said proudly.
Slade grinned and nodded. He was about to get up and leave but he suddenly remembered something.
"I'm trusting you not to pull anything." He said as he reached over and pulled the hair clip off.
Terra felt the rush of her powers returning once again. It felt better than ever!
"Thank you! I wasn't expecting you to do that this soon!"
"You gave your word. I see no reason to suspect you." He stood up and walked to the door. "Get some sleep Terra. I've kept you up too long as it is."
Something bothered him from the back of his mind. He didn't even make it one step farther because of it.
"And Terra."
"Yeah?"
"Sleep in. It's sunrise, you'll never succeed in getting up in about two or three hours without being miserable." Then he left and succeeded in making it back to his quarters without bashing his head into the titanium steel walls from his need to be with her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was about seven in the morning when Slade awoke. The usual , nothing special. Not even feeling a bit tired (even though he barely slept at all), he got out of bed as usual and took a shower. After preparing himself for the day he headed towards subconsciously. Once there, he peeked inside just to make sure she kept her word. She was still sleeping soundly. Slade then went to Riley's quarters.
"Good morning Master Slade, have a nice sleep?" Riley greeted him kindly as usual.
"Not as well as I should like." Was all Slade answered as he checked the gages on the machine that caught the visions Riley gets; the Psyche View.
Riley's third-eye (spiritual eye, everyone has one, you just can't see it, look it up!) followed Slade as he walked around the room making sure everything was working properly and everything was in order. Riley got a bit curious as to what kept Slade up last night. Not just anything could do that to Slade, it had to be something of importance...GREAT importance. Riley decided to take a quick peek into Slade's mind. Unfortunately, Slade had telepathic powers of his own and blocked Riley.
"Careful you! Don't get too curious." Slade warned.
Riley smirked. He didn't need to read his mind anymore. A quick vision of what happened last night had come to him.
"You like her Master Slade. I know you do." Riley's light voice sounded.
"Who?"
"The beautiful young flower girl." Riley replied.
"You mean Terra? No. That's not what's wrong."
"I didn't say that's what's wrong. All I said is that you've taken a fancy for her."
"Quiet! You're wrong! If I liked her you'd know already." Slade knew he was in denial, but what other choice was there besides admitting it and he didn't want to do that...yet.
"Yes Master Slade, but I would really like to meet her once more."
"Why is that?"
"She resembles someone I met long ago. I wish to find out if it's the same young one I met in the past is all."
"Hmmmmmmmmm...well, Terra is asleep at the moment. I let her sleep in today."
"Very noble of you Master."
"Hmph! Well, Riley, keep up your job and who knows, you just might be able to speak with young Terra soon!"
"She's not too young, Master."
"Riley! Don't push it!"
"Good day my Master." Riley said as Slade left.
Slade's mind was in another place at the time. It happened so fast. He'd come out the door, turned and crashed right into...
"Terra!" he gasped as she almost fell.
He grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her. What was she doing up so early??
"Terra? What's wrong? I told you to sleep in."
"I'm hungry. I'll go back to bed after I eat a snack." she said innocently.
"Alright. Come with me." he said sighing.
He led her to the kitchen (his hand on her shoulder by the way....). She didn't seem to mind. As soon as they entered the kitchen Terra did something far unexpected. She passed out! Wow she was sleepy. She leaned sideway (unintentionally) onto Slade.
"Terra..."he said sighing. "That shoots down that idea."
He picked her up and carried her back to her room. After laying her on her bed once more, he sat down next to her again. This time, he just stared. He sat there like that for a while, admiring her each and every feature. Every curve of her face, her soft shoulders, her matted platinum blond hair that fell into her pale face, everything about her. All of a sudden, his thoughts were interrupted by something moving behind him. He turned to see Riley with the biggest smile imaginable spread on his face. Slade would've warned him not to wake her but it was too late.
"Oh my gosh! You DO like her!!" he yelled pointing at him accusingly.
Terra woke suddenly and jumped up almost falling off the side of her bed. Luckily, Slade grabbed her and pulled her up in mid air. After that, Terra (as frightened as possible) yanked free from Slade's grip and ran as far from them as possible.
"What's going on?" She asked, pure fear in her eyes.
"Terra, please calm down, nothing is..." Slade was interrupted by Riley's blabbering.
"Slade loves Terra! Slade loves Terra! Slade loves--" Slade whacked him over the head. "Owwww!"
Terra just stood looking frightened at the two.
"Terra. You fell asleep while you were with me in the kitchen. I brought you back and Riley woke you up! That's all."
Terra's fear turned to anger. Both men could see she was on the verge of explosion.
"Terra, please--"
"QUIET!" she yelled at the top of her lungs!
Both men froze. (here's Slade right now: *_*) Fire was burning in Terra's eyes.
"RILEY, YOUR ROOM, GO! SLADE, CHAIR, SIT!" She ordered angrily.
Both knew to listen before she started to attack with her powers. (the room was already shaking, but...) Riley ran out of the room while Slade, half calm half alarmed, walked to the chair and sat. Terra sighed heavily from staining herself the way she did and let herself fall onto the bed.
"Okay, what's going on?" she asked trying to be calm.
"Terra, I've already told you. You fell asleep and--"
"No! What Riley was saying? What's that about?"
Slade's heart skipped a beat. He was gonna have to punish Riley later for that one.
"Nothing, it was nothing." he answered.
"The way you're saying it, it sounds like something."
"Terra! I don't want to talk about it!"
"So it is something."
"What? No..." there he goes again, slipping up.
"So...so that's what you meant by 'we'? Slade, I can go on forever guessing. Just say the truth. That's all I want."
Slade couldn't. He got up and left the room. He returned to his quarters and finally did what he'd wanted to do. He bashed his head into the wall. His mask and strong force made a dent in the wall! Once feeling like he didn't need to do that anymore, he sat on his bed and removed his mask. Things were not going well at all. He buried his face in his hands and raced through his mind for any sign of relieving himself from this...this burden. But none came. This was the first time in probably forever that he'd had a break down like this. It wasn't like him at all. And to have Terra watch...how would he face her again? The question was: could he face her again? When he was younger he never thought he'd fall head over heels in love for someone nine to ten years younger than himself. Man this love business was confusing and painful. How did other people do it? Oh, yeah, they weren't highly dangerous super villains who are ruthless and destructive, that's how. They had more time for that stuff. Some even dreamed about it. Slade, on the other hand, had probably only thought of it about twice or three times in his whole life. He hadn't feared it nor did he look forward to it, he just...ignored it. Put it aside because he thought it'd never happen to him. Looks like he was wrong.
A/N: wow. I have mixed feelings about this one. On some parts it seems off, but on others it's great. Krissy, one of my best friends, helped me with the production of this chapter. I'd tell which parts but she helped with almost the whole thing since I ran out of ideas at the last second. Thank you Krissy. EVERYBODY BOW DOWN TO THE ALMIGHTY KRISSY WHO HAPPENS TO BE HOME SICK WITH THE FLU! Poor Krissy. *hugs Krissy* Hope you feel better soon! I dedicate this chapter to Krissy! EVERYBOW HUG KRISSY! NOW! :) Thanks everyone for help and inspiration and encouragement. Yous are all a great help!