Hello! Welcome to "The Face of Oblivion" the sequel to the "The Terror of Silence!" If you haven't read "The Terror of Silence" yet, I would recommend that you do! Events that happened in that story will be referenced a lot throughout this story such as Montezuma, the accident, Polybius's, and Donna's relation, and much more. From the feedback I was receiving, it was an underrated story.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Now, with all of that out of the way, I do not be afraid to leave a review and let me know what you think of this story. These chapters are longer than the ones of its predecessor, so expect more content with each one.
Now without further ado, enjoy the first chapter of "The Face of Oblivion!"
Chapter 1
In The End...
Everything seemed surreal to Donna at that moment in time. How in less than twelve hours, she went from loving to crying, to hating, to shock, and now numb. All over one person. All over Polybius.
It had been almost a week since Polybius had been murdered. Seeing the explosion and Polybius getting annihilated had traumatized her. It had traumatized her even more severely than Montezuma did after what he had done to her.
When Donna had returned home, she discovered that her mother had figured out that she had been sneaking off to go play hero. However, her mother also saw Polybius's death and knew just how much he meant to her. So while she would normally have come down hard on Donna, she laid off of her after seeing what had happened. She even gave Donna permission to go to the funeral, which at first Donna wasn't sure she was going to go to.
But now she was at Titans Tower and getting ready to go to his funeral.
As for the rest of the world, the other Titans were all in shock. Everyone felt guilty about what had happened. Everyone took part of the blame as everyone had not only pushed him to get with Donna but also hated on him when he didn't do that.
Starting with Robin, the leader was crushed by the murder of Polybius. The mute was a highly valued member of the team and a very close friend of his. While the two didn't always see eye to eye on everything, and Robin was upset with him for rejecting Donna, he didn't want him to die. Robin wished he could go back in time and give Polybius support, and at least have him die knowing Robin was still his friend, rather than believing that Robin hated him.
As for Starfire, she had balled her eyes out for hours and hours on end. Everyone could tell Starfire was absolutely heartbroken by Polybius's murder. She couldn't stop thinking about their final interaction. Where she stood outside his door for a good hour or so, yelling at him. Being so mean to him. She hated how she had treated him and wished she could take it all back.
Moving onto Cyborg, the metal Titan too, was devastated by Polybius's death. Cyborg hated how he kept telling Polybius that things were going to get better, but then never did. And how in their final interaction, Cyborg proved that what he had been telling Polybius for years ended up being a lie. Things never did get better for him. And Cyborg hated how they never did, as well as his own lack of action to ensure that they did.
In terms of Beast Boy, the youngest Titan was struck hard by Polybius's untimely demise. While out of all of the Titans, Beast Boy would say that he was least closest to Polybius, the death still hit him hard. Already, he missed the usually reserved presence of the mute Titan. And wished they could have been closer while he was alive.
And lastly, as for Raven, while she went to great efforts to hide her pain, she failed miserably. She knew that Polybius was already upset. She knew that Polybius had very strong reasons as to why he didn't date. Why he was the way, he was. While she didn't know the reasons exactly, she felt horrifically guilty for pushing him so far. And she couldn't understand what had come over her to push him to that point.
As for the same people online who were once sending the mute hate and death threats, they were now giving an outpour of support for the Titans. Globally, the entire planet was in shock. Everyone who heard the news could hardly believe it.
Except for one person.
Approximately two hours after the attack, Red X claimed responsibility for the murder.
And while it surprised nobody after what he had done to Zenobia, what did surprise everybody were two people who had come to the tower.
"Um? Robin?" Starfire called over her phone, "We've got visitors."
"Send them away." Robin ordered.
"Robin." Starfire said again, "You may want to meet these people."
Robin looked around at his teammates in the main room. Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Donna were all there. With a sigh of defeat, he gave in.
"Fine." Robin said, "Send them up."
And when the two guests showed up, nobody was expecting two people who looked exactly like Polybius to show up.
The first one was dressed in a more formal business suit. His hair was grown out and well-combed in a comb-over. It suited his generally clean appearance. He also carried a cane with him. He didn't use it for walking but had it in his hand. On the top of it had a golden eagle precisely like the one on Polybius's shirt.
The second dressed in more relaxed, but still formal clothing. He wore tan pants with suspenders going over his shoulders. He wore a tan, long sleeve dress shirt and sunglasses. Unlike his the other man or Polybius, he also sported a small, but well-maintained mustache.
"Polybius?" Donna questioned as she laid eyes on them.
"Close." One of them said, "We're his brothers."
"Brothers!?" Starfire questioned, "Polybius never mentioned anything about you two!"
"And why do you both look exactly like him?" Beast Boy asked.
"Because we're triplets." The second one stated.
"Triplets!" Everybody shouted in shock.
"Do our appearances lie?" The first one asked.
"N- No." Robin replied, "It's just, he never mentioned anything about being a triplet."
"Well, duh!" The second one said, anger clearly present in his tone, "He can't mention anything because the poor bastard couldn't talk!"
"Please, Ernie!" The first one said, "There is no need to be rude."
The one called Ernie, let out a long, but frustrated sigh. He then lightened up and began speaking.
"Yes, we are all triplets." Ernie explained, "My name is Ernest, but everyone calls me Ernie, and you may feel free to as well. This here is my brother Daniel."
"Does he go by Danny?" Starfire asked, wondering if Daniel also went by a similar nickname.
"No." Daniel replied, "Call me, Daniel."
"Alright, hold up!" Beast Boy said, "You're both freaking me out here! You both look like Polybius, but how do we know you're really his brothers? I've never seen a picture of either of you in his room."
"That's because he thought we were dead." Daniel replied.
"Dead!?" Everyone questioned.
"Please calm down." Daniel said, "We'll explain everything after the funeral. Just, please, let's get through this first."
"Of course." Robin said.
"But before we do, I want to check your credentials." Cyborg said, "Make sure you aren't playing us for fools."
"Go ahead." Daniel said, "Take our DNA tests. They'll show that we are all brothers."
One quick DNA test later showed that both Daniel and Ernie were indeed the identical brothers of Polybius.
"So?" Robin asked, "Are they who they say they are?"
"Yep." Cyborg replied, "They're indeed his brothers."
Donna had remained awfully quiet during the whole thing, and Raven noticed.
"You holding up, alright?" Raven asked.
"Yeah…" Donna replied, somewhat distant, "I'm fine."
Shortly after that, everyone went to the funeral. It was a rather quick one. Nobody really had anything to say. Neither Ernie nor Daniel said anything. The only thing that took up a fair bit of time were all of the Titans had short little speeches they had prepared. And while everyone poured out their hearts for Polybius, when it was Donna's turn, there wasn't a dry eye for anybody hearing that speech.
"Polybius." Donna started, her voice already quivering, "My best friend, the one I loved. I just want to say that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what happened. It's my fault this happened. All my fault."
Donna took a pause to compose herself before continuing.
"Polybius was an absolutely extraordinary person." Donna went on, "He touched my life in a way nobody else ever has. He inspired me to be who I am today and to live more like him. To judge people based on their character and who they are as a person, and nothing else. And that the reason to get up and fight in the morning is to make sure that what happened to me does not happen to anybody else."
Donna took another pause as she felt tears begin to form in her eyes.
"But how we ended… Everyone has seen the video of when my heart was shattered. And while I wasn't sure if I would ever reconcile with him, I now know I never will. He is now gone forever, but if there was one thing I could say to him right now, is that I'm sorry…"
Donna couldn't take it anymore. She, for the first time since his death, broke down and began crying. She let the tears of pain a loss flow freely from her eyes as her friends moved to comfort her.
Since there was no body or any trace of Polybius for that matter, a mausoleum was rapidly constructed out in the forest he loved so much. It was built in record time and was dedicated to the life the mute had lived. On top of it was both his picture and a giant statue of him. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Or it would be if Polybius wasn't dead.
However, the Titans were eager to head to the tower. The two brothers of Polybius followed them back as well, and everyone headed up to the main room. Once there, the Titans sat on the couch and looked up at Ernie and Daniel.
"Alright." Robin said, "Please explain as to why Polybius thought you were dead."
"And why you never got in touch with him!" Donna followed up.
"You shut your fucking mouth, you big titted whore!" Ernie quickly spat back.
"Ernie! Calm down!" Daniel ordered as the room went into shock.
"No!" Ernie replied, "I'm so tired of fucking women ruining his life! Those bitches are so demanding and do nothing but hurt him! And that one right there is the reason our brother is dead! And now I'm expected to stand here and put up with this bitch? Fuck off!"
Ernie then stormed out of the room. Daniel thought about going after him and started to, but stopped. He watched as Ernie quickly made his way out of the room, leaving him with the Titans. Daniel then looked at Donna and sighed.
"I'm sorry." Daniel apologized, "Ernie, he can be a bit rash at times. While the three of us are triplets, we are all very different people. And Ernie has always been the most impulse-driven out of the three of us."
"No joke." Cyborg said.
"Please, don't take what he said to heart." Daniel begged "It's just, we've had bad experiences with women in the past, and Ernie, is what he calls himself 'defensively sexist.'"
"'Defensively sexist?'" Raven questioned.
"It'll make sense once I explain everything." Daniel said, "You'll understand why Polybius was the way he was. And you'll know for sure why he rejected you."
Daniel then moved back to standing in front of the Titans. He pulled out his wallet and pulled out an old photo. He paused as he looked at it before quickly handing it off to Starfire.
"Is that Polybius?" Starfire questioned as she looked at the photo.
"When he was 7." Daniel explained, "Right before everything went to shit."
"And the woman?" Starfire asked, "Who is she?"
"That would be Claudia." Daniel explained, "The woman who destroyed Polybius."
"Destroyed?" Everyone asked as the photo was passed around.
"But they seem so happy in the photo." Beast Boy said as he looked at it.
"That's because they were." Daniel said, "Before everything went downhill."
"What happened?" Donna asked.
"To understand that, you have to understand where we were." Daniel said, "Tell me, have any of you ever heard of Buehring Adoption Center? The one up in the middle of nowhere, Alaska."
"Buehring, what?" Beast Boy asked.
"Buehring Adoption Center." Cyborg stated, "It was an orphanage up in Alaska that got shut down because the staff was horrifically cruel to the children. It's often compared to the holocaust in terms of cruelty."
"Oh…" Beast Boy said.
"Yeah, the media articles just sort of gloss over how bad things really were up there." Daniel explained, "Having lived there for the first part of our lives... Well, that should give you a pretty good idea as to why Polybius was as tough as he was." Daniel said.
"What happened to your parents?" Donna asked.
"Hell if I know." Daniel said, "For all we know, we could have all been prom night dumpster babies."
"Harsh." Raven commented.
"But my point is, we were abandoned at birth and dumped into the care of the orphanage." Daniel said.
"Dang." Cyborg commented.
"Well, things didn't get better for us." Daniel said, "One thing the media never talked about was the hierarchy in place there."
"Hierarchy?" Raven asked.
"The crimes going on at Buehring had been happening since it opened in the 50s." Daniel explained, "And that left a lot of time for the children, who were for the most part, on their own. This led to a far more hostile version of High school with what we called clicks. But you would call them gangs."
"So, you had gang wars?" Robin questioned.
"Constantly." Daniel said, "However, there were also those of us who didn't fall into any of those clicks. And without the protection of the clicks, we were the most exposed out of everyone."
"And this meant?" Starfire asked.
"That we had to worry about the kids, as much as we had to worry about the adults." Daniel answered.
"Ah." Starfire said.
"And none of it was pretty." Daniel said, "Beatings were a near-daily occurrence. I remember many nights sleeping on my paper-thin mattress and suddenly waking up to somebody beating me, Ernie or Polybius."
"I'm sorry." Starfire said.
"I'm not going to go into too much detail as to what happened to us, as it opens up old wounds for me that I'd rather leave them closed." Daniel said.
"Of course." Robin said, "By all means, we won't press you for information that you're not willing to share."
"Thank you." Daniel said.
"But, Claudia." Donna asked, "How does she fit into all this?"
"Well, Claudia also lived in the Buehring." Daniel started, "She was a little older than us, not by a whole lot, three years if I remember correctly, but she was tiny. Very small compared to the three of us. And if you looked at the photo, you would never believe that a few months after that was taken, she was going to turn on Polybius, on us."
"What did she do?" Donna asked.
"Before I get to that, there is one more thing you must understand." Daniel started, "Buehring Adoption Center was located in the middle of nowhere. More than fifty miles from the nearest settlement. And the staff lived there as well. So it was very easy for them to get away with what they were doing every day."
"Yeah, we get that." Beast Boy said, "What about Claudia?"
"You didn't let me finish." Daniel countered, "And because we were in the middle of nowhere, we were surrounded by forests. Very thick forests. It was out there that we felt safe because when we were alone out there, we really didn't have to worry about anybody attacking us or anything."
"That explains why Polybius loved the outdoors." Robin pointed out.
"Well, the reason that nobody bothered us was because they knew we had to go back to the building, or we'd die out there." Daniel said, "However, it was out there that Polybius felt safest, and where we all spent a majority of the time."
"Okay." Robin said, "You still haven't talked about Claudia."
"I was just getting to that." Daniel stated, "You see, the only good memories of my childhood that I have were when the four of us were in that forest. It was the safest place for us despite the hostile wildlife and harsh conditions. But even then, during the winter, we were all locked inside because it was a constant night and constantly below negative fifty."
"Yeah, no shit." Donna said, "What did Claudia do to him?"
The Titans were a bit surprised by Donna's more hostile language. That wasn't like her at all.
"Well, one day, when myself, Ernie, and Polybius were eight, the four of us were out in the forest, exploring an area that we really hadn't touched all that much, when we found something we weren't supposed to."
"And that was?" Raven asked.
"I'm not sure." Daniel said, "All I remember is that it was purple, glowing, and a liquid of some kind."
"Some strange glowing purple liquid in the forest?" Beast Boy asked, "That's how Polybius got his powers?"
"No." Daniel answered, "What happened is when Claudia and Polybius were out a good ten or so meters ahead of myself and Ernie, they fell. They were moving kinda fast, so they didn't see it. It was in a small, but a very deep puddle."
"They fell in?" Cyborg asked.
"Both of them were completely submerged. We were able to pull Polybius out long before we did Claudia. Both Ernie and I got the liquid on ourselves as we saved them, but Claudia took a while to save. Maybe that's why she came out as powerful as she did."
"Powerful?" Donna asked.
"Yeah." Daniel said, "It didn't have any immediate effects on either Polybius, Ernie, or myself. But it did on Claudia."
"What happened to her?" Robin asked.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure." Daniel admitted, "But the powers she got, allowed her to literally bend reality. And while she wasn't proficient with them, even at her level of inexperience, she could have easily ended things like world hunger or stop global warming."
"That doesn't sound bad." Starfire stated.
"Well, if she had used her powers for that, we wouldn't be here." Daniel said, "However, the liquid also had a more adverse effect on her as well."
"Did it mutate her?" Beast Boy asked.
"No." Daniel answered, "Her mind… It did something to her mind that made her go insane. Insane for Polybius."
"Insane, how?" Donna asked.
"Lustful." Daniel replied, "And while she did have a thing for myself and Ernie, she was crazily obsessed over Polybius. And if you looked at her physical size, despite the age difference, she was still smaller than him. So you would never think that somebody like her would be able to force herself on him."
"Force!?" Donna asked, both anger and shock high in her voice.
"She… She…" Daniel started, pain clear in his voice, "She raped and molested him."
A shock wave was sent around the room as the words left Daniel's mouth. Suddenly everything made sense.
"Oh my gosh…" Donna said in shock.
"And this wasn't a one-time thing either." Daniel went on, "This would continue to go on for five years, and it happened daily. And the big thing that that really got Claudia off was pain and torture."
Daniel paused to prevent himself from breaking down as another shockwave was sent around the room.
"She did it daily." Daniel repeated again, "Every day, for hours on end, she would torment him. Her favorite thing was mind games accompanied by physical beatings. But agony and torture, whether physical or mental, is what got her off."
"That fucking bitch!" Donna said, anger even more prevalent in her voice, "What gave her the right to do that!?"
"Well, when you are the most powerful person to ever exist, then I guess you can give yourself whatever rights you want." Daniel said.
"But Polybius got away!" Donna pointed out, "How did he get away from her!?"
"Well... I'm not sure what happened that night." Daniel admitted, "The only handful of people who knew are now dead."
"Dead?" Cyborg asked, "What happened to Claudia?"
"Well, I think what happened is one day, Polybius had enough and turned on her." Daniel said, "I'm confident that he killed her that night. I remember there was blood everywhere, hearing the screams as I rushed towards and into the room. Everything." Daniel explained, "To this day, I still have nightmares about that night."
"But, Claudia died!" Donna pointed out, "Shouldn't he have gotten better like I did after what Montezuma did to me?"
"Or why didn't Claudia, if she is as powerful as you claimed her to be, just not simply subdue Polybius?" Robin followed up.
"You'd think she would, but no." Daniel went on, "I think somewhere inside her heart, Claudia did truly love Polybius. And she couldn't bring herself to kill him, which she could have very easily done."
"But then you guys learned that Polybius had awesome powers, took down the orphanage staff, and you busted out of there!" Beast Boy cheered, only to receive a harsh glare from the Titans.
"That's only half true." Daniel replied, somewhat surprising everyone, "While Claudia couldn't kill him, that didn't mean she didn't punish him for turning on her and doing what he did?"
"What did she do?" Donna demanded.
"She triggered mutations in all of us." Daniel said, "While both Ernie and I got powers and no physical mutations, we were the lucky ones. Polybius's physical mutations, as you all saw, were far stronger and more pronounced than ours. While Ernie and I live with no pain, Polybius had to live with an extreme pain for the rest of his life. His only saving grace was that Claudia also bestowed onto him the knowledge to make some sort of pain killer medication. And if he did not take it at least once a day within the first five minutes of waking up, he would not die from the pain. But rather, he would be left in a vegetative state, very much alive, for an undisclosed amount of time, or until he got a new dose of medication in him."
Everyone's eyes gave Beast Boy another harsh glance as the teen winched at the memory of when he stole Poybius's medication. However, this didn't last very long as everyone was quick to return to the subject.
"So, what made you guys not want to go and get away from the orphanage?" Cyborg asked, "With Polybius's powers, he could have taken out everyone in that building!"
"Where would we go?" Daniel asked, "You've gotta remember, our world extended from the North Facing Mountain in the North, to the Valley of the Death in the South, to the River of Doom in the East, and the Cliffs of Terror in the west. So even if we did decide to leave at that time, where would we go?"
"So you stayed put?" Starfire asked.
"For another two years." Daniel replied, "That was until we were sixteen, but those two years were rough for Polybius."
"How so?" Donna asked.
"Well, even though Claudia was gone, and Polybius never pinned for her death, he didn't get better." Daniel went on.
"How did he not get better?" Raven asked, "With her gone, shouldn't he have been happy now that he was free from her?"
"No." Daniel replied, "You see, for Polybius, she never left him. At least in his mind."
"So he started hallucinating?" Cyborg asked.
"Bingo." Daniel replied, "While Claudia was very much dead, for Polybius, she was still there. And it was painful for both him and us. You see, one of the things Claudia did to him, and this was before he killed her, is she took away his ability to talk."
"Why?" Starfire asked.
"He tried reaching out to people, thinking that he might get some help." Daniel answered, "But instead, they laughed in his face. And just by looking at that picture and seeing the size difference between the two, you'd never think that she could do that to him."
"So nobody believed him?" Donna asked.
"Only Ernie and I." Daniel replied, "And that's because we saw it."
"Okay." Raven said, trying to steer the conversation back on track, "So Polybius killed Claudia, and he then began to hallucinate."
"Oh that's not all." Daniel said, "You see, Polybius truly believed that she was still there. And I'm certain that there was a part of him that still genuinely loved her. He would always act like she was there, and you could see the pain in his eyes and motions. And in all my years alive, I've never seen someone so broken."
"Fucking bitch." Donna angrily commented.
"Yes she was." Daniel agreed, "And these hallucinations would go on for years. However, when we turned sixteen, something else happened."
Daniel paused as he closed his eyes and shook his head at the memory.
"So with the kids sixteen and older, they would be forced to go out with the adults on supply runs." Daniel started, "It was the first time in our lives that we ever saw the outside world. Well, at least for Ernie and myself anyway. Polybius, with him being broken, was considered too dumb to go out and help. Most of his time, he would spend just standing motionless except for his breathing, and occasionally swaying. Everybody thought he was partially brain dead. Well, except for the two of us."
Daniel took another pause as he stifled a tear away.
"You see, one day, we were expecting a massive snowstorm to roll over all of Alaska. One of the biggest and worst we had ever been through, and one of the worst Alaska had seen in years." Daniel started, "Now if you know people from Alaska are called a blizzard bad, then you know it was one real storm."
"Okay." Robin said, "But something happened?"
"On our way back with the supplies, the snow was starting to fall. It wasn't bad yet, but we were an hour behind schedule." Daniel started, "And we had two vans, big one that you'd see government plates on. Anyway, we were supposed to be in Van 5, but because of the amount of supplies we got, we were stuffed in Van 7 instead."
"What happened to Van 5?" Cyborg questioned.
"Rolled down a mountain." Daniel replied bluntly, "Freaking thing was going a little too fast, the driver lost control, and the bitch rolled about half a mile down a mountain. There were no survivors."
"My gosh." Starfire said.
"Well, what happened to Ernie and me, is Van 7 stopped, but word went ahead of us that Van 5 went down." Daniel said, "We ended up actually hiding out in the van for the duration of that blizzard because we were stuck. And I guess that Polybius wasn't as disconnected as everyone thought and knew that we were in Van 5. So when word got back to him, I can only imagine how he must have reacted."
"So he thought you died in that accident?" Cyborg questioned.
"That's my guess." Daniel said, "I don't know exactly what he heard, but when we finally got back to the orphanage three days later, he was gone."
"Gone?" Donna asked.
"From my understanding, while everyone was sleeping, he just up and left. He only took the clothes on his back." Daniel replied, "And for the next two and a half years, Ernie and I assumed that he ran out into the forest and froze to death, or was eaten by animals."
"But, he wasn't!" Starfire said, "Because he became a Teen Titan!"
"He did." Daniel said, "And Ernie and were finally freed from the orphanage."
"Okay, but here's the thing I don't understand." Raven said, "Why did you two not reconnect with Polybius when you figured out he was alive?"
"Because the first picture we saw of him, was that one of him and you sitting in that spot with those smiles on your faces." Daniel answered, pointing at Donna, "That smile… We hadn't seen him smile at all in years, and we could tell that he was genuinely happy even though the picture. He had finally found peace and was living a far better life than the one he left behind."
"So what you're saying is after two years of living in the wild, and as a nomad, Polybius came to terms with what had happened to him and finally moved on?" Donna asked.
"That's what Ernie and I think." Daniel stated.
"So then why not reconnect with him?" Cyborg asked, "You three were brothers, and I'm sure Polybius would have been ecstatic to have seen you two."
"At first, Ernie and I were planning on doing that." Daniel explained, "However, on the ship to LA, we began talking about him and how he seemed happy and in a better place."
"And?" Raven asked.
"It boiled down to this." Daniel started, "We were afraid that if we reconnected with him, we would inadvertently tear open those old wounds. And we thought that since he had come to terms with what had happened without us, then he would be better off on his own."
"That… Makes sense." Robin commented.
"I know you guys couldn't possibly understand how happy it made us to see him smiling again. And with a female on top of that, it made us this that it was obvious that Polybius was in a much better place. And who were we to bring him back down because we wanted to reconnect with him? It would have been wrong for us to do so." Daniel explained, "So we decided that what we were gonna do was we were going to follow all of the Titan's social media pages and keep a close eye on him. That way, if we ever felt that the time was right, we would come back into his life, and hopefully, reconcile."
"But now that's never gonna happen." Ernie said as he walked back into the room but clearly calmed down, "We just keep losing people. First, Claudia, now Polybius. This shit is so fucked up…"
"It is." Daniel agreed, "However, now with Polybius gone, we've gotta move on. He would have wanted all of us to do that. Just like he did!"
"He would have." Ernie said, "He sure would have."
And there you have it! A very sad, but informational chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and have a good one!