Chapter 37

He Said...

With no hesitation nor delay, the mute shook his head.

The world seemed to stop moving at that moment in time. Shock overcame Donna and all of the Titans. Her jaw dropped, and she felt her heart shatter to a billion pieces.

"N- No?" Donna managed out as tears began to form in her eyes.

The mute shook his head again.

Donna couldn't hold back her tears. Almost immediately after the confirmation, she began to sob, rather loudly. The young girl covered her face and ran away from Polybius. The mute stood by and watched as she took off and flew away.

"Donna!" Starfire shouted as she and Raven chased after her.

As they flew away from the mute, he was left standing with Cyborg, Robin and Beast Boy.

"Really!?" Beast Boy asked as he put his phone away.

"Why would you say no!?" Cyborg demanded.

"How could you reject her, Polybius!?" Robin followed up.

Polybius was taken entirely off guard by his friend's hostility towards him. He would have expected support. Not for them to turn against him.

As the three male Titans began to degrade Polybius for his choice to reject Donna, the Starfire and Raven followed Donna out to the forest where Donna landed and continued to sob. The two quickly moved to comfort her as she cried.

"It's okay, friend Donna." Starfire said.

"How could he say no!?" Donna demanded, "What is it about me he doesn't like!?"

"Forget about him." Raven said, "He's just an idiot for rejecting you."

"But why!?" Donna asked.

"We do not know." Starfire said, "We tried to guide him towards pursuing a relationship with you."

"Don't worry about it too much, Donna." Raven said, "There are plenty of fish in the sea. You've got everything you need to reel in another one just like him!"

"But they won't be him." Donna said, "I love him!"

Meanwhile, back at Titans tower, Darkbius and Hostbius sat on the couch in the main room and smiled.

"Yes!" Darkbius said happily, "We've almost done it!"

"Hell yeah!" Hostbius agreed.

"Now all we gotta do is make sure he feels like shit." Darkbius said, "And he'll finally do what we've wanted him to do this whole time!"

Later that day, Polybius sat in his room in total shock of the situation. He was on his laptop browsing the internet, going to the official Titans pages when his eyes laid on a horror worse than anything he could have imagined.

Beast Boy had live-streamed the rejection. And it was everywhere on the internet, and everyone was talking about it.

Scrolling through the comments, Polybius saw nothing but hate. Hate towards him. From angry people to death threats, it was all there. Things were so bad that even major media outlets were also covering the story.

Polybius forced himself to close his laptop and leaned back in his chair in shock. Even his closest friends, Marc and Rayanus, had abandoned him in his time of need.

"The whole world hates you now." Darkbius said, "All because you said 'no' once again in your life."

The words began to echo in Polybius's mind as his darker counterpart spoke.

"I told you this would happen. Didn't I?" Darkbius asked, "Another woman has ruined your life."

"But, that's okay." Hostbius followed up, "There is one person on this Earth that would never leave or reject you."

"Go to her, Polybius." Darkbius ordered, "You've no longer got anyone besides her."

At that moment, Polybius heard his phone go off. Picking it up, he saw it was a text form Wonder Woman. She was clearly pissed off with him, and Polybius couldn't bring himself to respond.

"Face it, Polybius." Darkbius said, "The world has turned against you. You got up and fought for these people every day, who all have now abandoned you. Why? Because you did one small thing, they didn't like."

Looking up at the ceiling, Polybius let the words of his darker counterparts speak to him. And as he sat there and listened, back on Donna's end, it had taken her hours to finally stop crying over the rejection. She had requested to be left alone, which Starfire and Raven agreed to give her space, but she hadn't gone home to Paradise Island yet.

Donna couldn't stand to look at her phone. Her background was a picture of her and Polybius. She didn't want to see him. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't even want to think about him.

The poor girl couldn't make any sense of it. How was she rejected by him? Everybody had told her that he would say yes and that she had everything she needed to get him. What did she have that she didn't use?

It didn't make sense to Donna as more tears rolled down her face. She had also taken off her earrings Polybius had given her and held them in her hand.

She couldn't bring herself to get rid of them. Instead, she found herself holding them close to her chest near her heart.

Donna knew that, despite this rejection, she still loved him. But what she wanted to know is why he didn't love her? What was it about her that made him say no?

Looking at herself in a mirror, Donna began to wonder if it was her physical appearance. Was she getting fat? Maybe it was something about her face? Or perhaps her butt or tits was too big or small.

Donna pushed those thoughts to the side. She knew Polybius didn't care about that stuff. It was something about her personality that he didn't like. It was something about the way she acted and carried herself that Polybius must not like about her.

The next Question in Donna's mind was, what was it about her that he didn't like? Was she too clingy? To dependant? Was she trying to be more like him too much? Was she too kind?

As Donna pondered what it could have been about herself that made Polybius reject her, back in Jump City, Nathan had played the rejection video on repeat multiple times.

"Son of a bitch." Nathan said, "He actually did it. I can't believe he actually did it."

Nathan shook his head again.

"Gotta post that shit on fucking r/madlads." Nathan followed up.

Meanwhile, back in Titans Tower, Polybius had practically locked himself in his room. Despite Starfire having decided to come and shout at him through the door for the past hour, he drowned her out with some music.

Taking off his hat and putting on headphones, for once Polybius was finally able to drown out the world and have thirty seconds of peace to himself.

However, his music choice was not improving his mood.

It was no secret that Polybius was a huge fan of Heavy Metal of all types. Most notably, Sabaton being his favorite. And while most of the music lifted his spirit, this particular set of songs didn't.

While Polybius typically left his entire playlist on shuffle and listened to whatever came on, Hostbius had gone in and lined up the sad songs and removed all of the others. That way, all the music was doing was bringing Polybius's mood down even further.

The current song that was playing was Sum 41's Pieces.

Polybius had tried to be perfect. He tried to do something better with his life, but it just wasn't worth it. Not if this was how he was treated for making a choice. While Polybius enjoyed fighting, he could no longer justify doing it for this world.

And the way Polybius saw it, he had two options going forward from this point.

The first option Polybius was heavily considering was suicide. He had the capabilities and motive to do so and knew what he needed to do to make sure it happened. All he needed to do was just execute.

His other option was to do what Darkbius and Hostbius had been advocating for years and go back. However, Polybius remembered that he said he would never go back unless he thought things there were better than they were here.

And at this moment in time, it really seemed that things back there were better with her.

That being said, Polybius still had issues with going back.

Therefore, the mute decided on suicide. That seemed to be the best option for him.

Digging into his bag, Polybius pulled out one thing he had kept hidden away for years. He held onto it, and while it hadn't seen maintenance for years, the mute was confident he could get one shot off in it.

In his hand, Polybius held a 50 caliber handgun. If pressed against his head, the armor-piercing round was more than enough to kill the mute Titan. And with it being a point-blank range, Polybius knew it would do the trick.

"Now hold up." Darkbius said once he saw Polybius pull out the gun.

The words fell on deaf ears as the same song continued to blast in Polybius's ears. Holding the weapon in his hand, the mute knew what was about to happen. What he was about to do.

For him, it didn't seem like anyone was going to be sad if he died. The whole world hated him at that point in time, and why would anybody take pity on him? Why should anybody take pity on him? He was a monster, after all.

Taking a seat in his chair, the mute took one last look outside his window. He held the weapon firmly in his hand as he began to draw what he presumed to be his final breaths. He held the gun against his head and closed his eyes.

"That I'm better off on my own…" The song ended.

Polybius pulled the trigger of the weapon.

But nothing happened.

Opening his eyes, Polybius looked at the weapon and could see nothing visibly wrong with it. He tried everything he could to fix it, but nothing worked.

Throwing the gun aside, Polybius grew frustrated. He wanted nothing more than to end his life at that moment. There was no way he could go back.

Or could he?

The mute, unable to properly kill himself, began to ponder the other option of going back. Not necessary all the way, but within a certain distance. Perhaps he could stay a shorter distance away.

Polybius shook his head. He knew that sooner or later if he didn't kill himself, he would get dragged back there. And moving closer was just too risky.

However, the idea of once again, at least knowing he wasn't hated by everyone on the planet. That was a comforting thought for him.

Torn up about it, Polybius looked out his window and did a lot of thinking about what he should do going forward.

Meanwhile, back on Donna's end, the girl had yet to leave Jump City. In fact, she had actually gone back in and was just wandering around. She was still grief-stricken over the event, and people avoided her, giving her her space.

As she walked down the street, she decided to get some food and stopped in a diner. She wasn't all that hungry but forced herself to eat something. She knew she needed to put at least a little something in her stomach as she was exhausted from all of the crying she had done.

Looking up at the TV, she saw that the news was covering the rejection. She couldn't help but notice the outpour of hate towards Polybius.

Donna couldn't help but agree with the people hating on Polybius. She hated that he rejected her. And she didn't ever want to see him again.

Little did she know, Polybius was working on plans to make sure that would happen.

After borrowing the T-car from Cyborg, the mute Titan went shopping at Walmart and Home Depot, Polybius bought a rather strange array of items, and carried around in his recently emptied backpack. The mute had remembered seeing something while out on a mission once, and it had given him the inspiration to see if he could recreate it for himself.

Driving around in the T-car, Polybius parked on the side of the road and began getting to work.

Back at Titans Tower, the five heroes were sitting around their dining table discussing what had happened.

"I can't believe he rejected her!" Beast Boy said angrily, "And how she cried afterward. That was freaking heartbreaking!"

"That was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen." Starfire commented.

"To be honest, I've never seen two people more perfect for each other than those two." Cyborg stated, "And it was all ruined because Polybius wussed out."

"And the way he rejected her." Robin said, "No hesitation. He didn't even skip a beat when he said no. It's like he didn't even think about it."

"I don't think he did." Raven pointed out.

"No, he didn't." Beast Boy agreed, "Otherwise, he would have realized that Donna was the perfect girl for him and said yes!"

"She really was." Cyborg agreed.

There was a long silence before Starfire spoke up.

"So, what do we do now?" Starfire asked.

"Support Donna." Robin answered.

"And Polybius?" Raven asked.

"Screw him." Robin said bluntly, "He's tough, he'll make it through this and come back to us. We all will just have to give it some time for this whole thing to blow over."

"But, it won't!" Starfire said, "Donna truly loved Polybius. And now that he has rejected her, I fear that she may leave the Titans."

"That's her choice." Raven countered, "If she chooses to leave over this, then there is nothing we can do about it."

"But do you think she will?" Cyborg asked.

"Maybe." Raven answered.

"Maybe?" Cyborg questioned.

"It's hard to say." Robin said, "Polybius was the one who recruited her and basically turned her into the hero she has become. It was because of him that she even decided to pick up the mantle of being a hero in the first place."

"And now that her inspiration is gone?" Beast Boy questioned.

"She may or may not continue." Robin said, "Polybius had always preached selflessness in her eyes. Depending on how she sees this, she may see it as hypocrisy on his part and decide that this world isn't worth fighting for."

"Is there anything we can do to prevent that?" Beast Boy questioned.

"No." Cyborg answered, "After that mock date, she may be angry with us as well."

"How?" Starfire asked.

"Because we sorta forced the idea that Polybius wasn't going to say no." Raven answered.

"We did help drill that idea into her head." Beast Boy agreed.

"And therefore, all we can do is wait and see how this plays out." Robin said.

With the team deciding to wait and see how things played out, Nathan again watched the video of the rejection. However, he was taken off guard when the voice began speaking to him.

"Nathan." The voice called out, "I have what possibly, might be the last task I'll ever need from you."

"Really!?" Nathan asked as he spun around.

"Maybe." The voice said, "Depends on how I feel."

"What do you need me to do?" Nathan asked.

"I need you to remain on standby." The voice ordered, "Depending on how this situation plays out, I may have you take the blame for it."

"Blame?" Nathan asked, "For what?"

"You'll see." The voice answered, "In fact, you'll know it when you see it."

"Okay…" Nathan said.

"And I wouldn't worry about this one too much." The voice said in an honest tone, "I may not need you to take the blame on this one. You may have finally served your purpose."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Nathan said.

"Now, just listen and wait for my word." The voice said, "I will tell you whether or not you need to take the blame. But I would count on doing so."

"Got it!" Nathan said.

Meanwhile, Donna started to think that she needed to get home. So she began to walk that way. However, she got a sudden and colossal urge to go back towards Titans tower. She couldn't explain why, but rather than take the left she needed to take to leave the city, she took the right and began walking down the street.

Donna kept her head held high as she walked. There were few people out, but the sun was once again shining bright. Donna found it strange how only a night had passed since the rejection, but it still felt like it had just happened seconds ago. Like she was still staring at him right in his eyes when he rejected her.

Despite this, Donna wished she had never met Polybius. And he never inspired her to be the hero she had become. She would much rather be at home, not upset over this, and living wholly isolated and oblivious to man's world. And forgetting that Polybius ever existed!

Oh snap! He said no! And now shit is aobut to hit the fan!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for one last chapter of The Terror of Silence...