Chapter 23
Say Hello to the End...
The mute Titan sat up on top of the tower, quite frustrated. He was frustrated with everything right now. His plants, his friends, his life! It was all causing him an enormous amount of stress, and he hated it.
In Polybius's mind, Beast Boy had gotten off too easy with what he did. He just had to pick up Polybius's share of the chores for the rest of the year, along with a couple of other minor restrictions. And while Beast Boy didn't know that Polybius's pain was that bad. And that there was a reason why the first thing he did in the morning was to eat a health mix. Polybius wasn't kidding when he said he was useless without them.
What made things even worse, is that Beast Boy had yet to come forth and face him after the event. Not once outside of missions had the two formally interacted. The reason being Polybius was too angry, and Beast Boy was too timid to make the first move.
Regardless, this event had caused a rift to form between Polybius and the others. While Raven agreed with him that the punishment was too light, she felt too distant. For Polybius nearly dying, she didn't really give him the support that he wanted. That being, she would at least look like she was there for him. However, she just hid away in her room and detached herself from the situation.
And of course, Cyborg and Starfire agreed with Robin's punishment, and that formed a rift between himself and them. At that moment in his life, he didn't really feel like he had anybody to comfortably turn too.
This, of course, wasn't aided by Darkbius's words that reminded him just how alone he really was. And now, Polybius was starting to believe that Darkbius was right about that Wicked Scary monster night. That initially, they didn't want to go after him and leave him for dead. At that moment in time, he really believed that.
And things would only get worse for him when Terra decided to show her face again. Polybius wasn't even on the roof when she reappeared. He wasn't even on the island.
Instead, since the event, Polybius withdrew himself more from the team. He opted to go hide out in the forest alone. At least out there, he felt comfortable surrounded by nothing other than trees and grass.
However, what really angered Polybius is after a Slade mission where he sent big metal worms to attack Titans Tower, the other five decided to allow her to join the team. They made her own room and everything. And while Polybius wasn't opposed to her joining the team, thinking it could certainly use another member, he was just too frustrated with the others to really support this decision.
In fact, the only good he saw out of it at that moment in time was that it got Starfire off his back. And while he wasn't mad at her, he was still annoyed by her constant nagging and worrying.
And the following week when Cyborg, Robin and Beast Boy disappeared for a couple of days, it was highly welcomed by the mute. Even though the three females were still hanging around in the tower, it felt nice to be given more breathing space. Regardless, however long it lasted.
On the second day of the male Titan's absence, Polybius was sitting down on the shore of the island. He was looking out at the ocean blue, trying to relax. However, he found himself unable too due to the amount of stress he was under.
"Polybius?" He heard a less than familiar voice ask.
The mute Titan looked over his right shoulder to see Terra standing there.
"Uh, hi." Terra greeted, "Mind if I take a seat?"
The mute Titan motioned for her to take a seat next to him. He was somewhat confused as to why Terra was here. Ever since she arrived, Starfire and Beast Boy had done nothing but fought over her attention. And with Beast Boy gone, he would have figured that Starfire would have been happy to have her all to herself.
Starfire must have been asleep for Terra to get away from her.
"So I know you don't like me." Terra stated, "And I get why."
The mute Titan cut her off. He then pulled out his notebook and wrote some things down for Terra to see.
"So you're not mad at me." Terra said, "And the reason you've been rather distant lately is because you're frustrated. Just not with me, but the others."
The mute Titan nodded.
"I see." Terra said, "Getting on your nerves?"
The mute Titan nodded again.
"Understandable." Terra said, "Just a few days ago, I heard Robin talking about how they don't treat you right. And how the fact that they keep saying it's going to get better and then doesn't is a serious problem."
The mute Titan then wrote down that he had heard that a million times before, and things never changed.
"I see." Terra replied after reading the statement, "Well… I suppose this is the part where I'm supposed to tell you that I'm going to treat you better."
The mute Titan looked over at her with a look of no confidence on his face.
"I know that probably means nothing to you now, but I promise I'll do better than them." Terra said.
The mute Titan just rolled his eyes. Everything he had heard before, and yet he didn't believe her.
"Let me prove it to you!" Terra said, "I know you love the outdoors, right! Why don't we go for a nature walk or something? Get to know each other while Starfire is asleep, and Beast Boy is away. You down?"
The mute Titan thought about it for a moment. If Terra was going to be a part of the team, then getting to know her better would be a good idea.
The mute Titan nodded.
"Great!" Terra said, "I know this excellent trail that walks along the edge of the desert and the forest. I know you prefer the forest and I prefer the desert, so that should be a good route for both of us!"
The two Titan then got up, and Terra used her powers to fly them on a rock to the start of the trail. From there, the two set off down on their path. It was silent for a short while until Terra began talking.
"So what's wrong with the desert?" Terra asked, "I don't mean to ask that to be rude, but I am just interested as to why you don't like it."
Polybius pulled out his notebook, but Terra stopped him and pulled out her phone.
"Just text it to me." Terra said.
The mute Titan nodded and swapped out for his phone and texted her his answer.
"Okay." So Terra said, getting ready to read the message out loud, "It's not that you don't like the desert, it's that it's the most different biome from where you grew up."
Terra then took a moment to think about her next question before asking it.
"So, where did you grow up?" Terra asked.
Polybius texted a response.
"Way up north." Terra read out loud, "Like, how far north, Washington?"
The mute Titan shook his head.
"Further?" Terra asked.
The mute nodded.
"British Columbia?" Terra asked.
The mute Shook his head.
"Alaska?" Terra asked.
The mute nodded.
"Wow!" Terra said, "That had to of been cool. I hear that the nature up there is beautiful!"
Polybius nodded.
"Well I guess that explains a lot about you then." Terra said, "I know Starfire said at some point you grew up somewhere remote and rural. And if there was anywhere that far north to be, Alaska would be the place."
The mute teen smiled.
"I've gotta ask, did you grow up in the part where it is night all day for a portion of the year, and then day all day for a portion of the year?"
Polybius nodded his head.
"Cool!" Terra commented, "I've always wanted to go to Alaska. However, I've never had the proper gear to do it. Plus running around up there in that big open area, I'd probably get lost without the help of locals. And frankly, I'd rather just keep to myself."
The mute couldn't blame her. He had gotten lost many times in his adventures in Alaska.
Polybius then texted her something that made her quite happy.
"Really!?" Terra asked in disbelief, "You'll show me around sometime!?"
The mute nodded.
"Oh man, I can't wait!" Terra proclaimed.
The two continued their little walk down the trail, and Terra talked to him a little bit about her past life. About how she bounced from place to place, trashed a few bad guys here and there. How she had been a free spirit wandering around. And how she was now happy to be apart of the Titans.
By the end of the trail, the two finished back where they started. They then headed back over to the tower. However, just before the duo walked back inside, Terra began talking about something that took Polybius off guard.
"Oh, say I was scrolling through Beast Boy's Twitter page the other day, trying to figure out what happened since the last time I saw you guys." Terra started, "It was mostly just of you guys stomping bad guys and hanging out. But there was this one picture of you and this Donna girl, and I gotta ask, are you dating her?"
The mute Titan about choked when he heard this. The idea of dating anyone was not one he liked. He quickly shook his head.
"I see." Terra said "Well I won't push you much further about that. It's not right of me to get all up in your personal life like that. But I will be seeing you later, right?"
The mute nodded.
And with that, Terra left him. The mute wasn't sure how he felt about her. He wasn't sure if he liked her or not.
That opinion would get sealed two weeks later when two hundred armed robots attacked Titans tower, and it was revealed she was a traitor.
While all of the Titans got hit by this betrayal, Polybus was the least affected by this. He and Terra didn't get off on the right foot, and the two never entirely got all that close, unlike the others. And when it boiled down to it, the mute was already half expecting this to happen.
What he wasn't expecting was what was going to happen the following day.
The mute was sitting in his room, generally minding his own business in his rocking chair. When a voice that sounded a lot like his, expect a little deeper began speaking.
"Well look at what we have here." The voice said.
The mute Titan looked over to the other chair to see that he was sitting there. Except this version of him was wearing beige pants and a beige dress shirt. He had on sleek looking black dress shoes, and his hair was a little longer than the mute's. However, the most notable feature of this man is that he was wearing suspenders to keep his pants up. They were light brown with a purple stripe down the middle. The same color purple that made up the eagle on his long sleeve tee shirt he wore under his jacket.
"Polybius the Titan." The man went on, "Once the most feared Titan on the team! Now reduced to a punching bag and a broken shell."
The mute Titan couldn't help but notice that the way this person talked, he dragged out each word in his sentence a little bit, but the flow was normal. Despite how off he was talking, it didn't sound weird.
"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, and whatever the third thing is." The man started as if he were on some sort of news show "My name is Polybius Prussia, and today we have Polybius Prussia! So, Polybius! Let us begin this interview and find out where it all went so horribly wrong!?"
Polybius gave the man a perplexed look. The Titan had no idea what was going on.
"But before we begin, let me tell you a little bit about myself." The man said, "My name is Polybius Prussia, the most highly respected newsman to ever live! Why? Because I am willing to interview and talk to the monsters that nobody else is. I am the one who goes out into the middle of the forest at night and interviews the Siren Head! I am what you could have been if you had just simply walked away that fateful night!"
The mute Titan wondered what he was going on about.
"Yes! That night you ran into the Titans. You had a choice. You could have walked away and become me! Had you walked away that day, you would have gotten your voice back. You would have then gone to work for a small news company. And with you being the main reporter, they would have skyrocketed to become more popular than even the Daily Planet."
The mute was starting to follow what his counterpart was saying.
"I am what you could have been! And let me tell you, your life if you had walked away, would be a lot better. You would be one of the most famous people alive and highly sought after by everyone. And better yet, you wouldn't be feeling miserable. You would be living a far better life than you will ever get with the Titans!"
The mute Titan wasn't quite sure he believed his counterpart. Yet, Polybius couldn't help but feel that there was at least some truth to the man's words.
"And the best part of all is this!" The man went on, "Your friend Donna would have never been put through any torture if you had walked away."
That caught Polybius off guard. What was this man going on about now?
"You can't understand why now. But it'll all make sense later, trust me." The man said, "It'll all make sense once you go back!"
Meanwhile, back on Paradise Island, Donna laid in bed. She was rather upset at that moment. The reason being is this whole Wonder training was going extremely slow. Far slower than she would have liked it.
As expected, when she returned home, things had changed considerably. Security was heightened, combat training was increased, and she had been placed under high supervision. With Montezuma still at large, her practice with Diana was once in a blue moon. That coupled with her older sister's duties to the Justice League, it meant she was sitting on her butt most of the day.
And while she was delighted to be returned home, she missed what she saw in the outside world. Yes, Montezuma was a horrible first impression. But what Polybius and Starfire had shown the world for what it really was for, she wanted nothing more to go back and cursed the fact that she washed up on this island as an infant.
Then again, if she hadn't, then she would have never met Polybius or Starfire.
Upon her return, she had been warmly greeted, and a small celebration was held for her safe return. Of course, her mother wasn't thrilled that not only a man saved her looked almost exactly like the one who nearly brought the total destruction of the Amazonian women.
The fact that Polybius had a very uncanny resemblance to Montezuma didn't bother Donna. Donna didn't see Montezuma when she looked at Polybius. Instead, she saw inspiration. His words, even though not spoken by him, had really inspired her to be a better person. His forgiveness. His integrity. His malleability. Everything!
And as much as her mother or sisters would hate to hear it, she missed him. She missed him more than she did Cyborg, Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, or even Starfire. She wished she could see him again and the others one more time.
Looking over at her closet, Donna decided to pull out her uniform Diana had gotten her. It was a red dress with yellow stars on it. The sleeveless dress went from her shoulders down to about the same length as Starfire's skirt. She had a golden belt with a W on it and black high heel boots. She also had her bracelets and lasso.
Grabbing hold of the uniform, Donna couldn't help but think that she was never going to learn anything from once in a blue moon training sessions with her older sister. She was far too occupied with her duties to the League to really take the time to teach her. Donna knew if she wanted to live up to Polybius, she would have to take matters into her own hands.
The one issue, however, was the near-constant supervision she had been under since she returned home. When her mother found out Montezuma was still at large, she highly suspected that he may try and attack the island again. And Donna would be his target. This left Donna really unable to do any training without her older sister around so they could go off and do it alone.
However, what neither Donna nor Polybius knew at that moment in time, was that Montezuma was drawing his final breath.
As the chair fell down from under him, his neck didn't snap like it was supposed to, leaving him to die a slow, painful death in his own home.
Ever since his failure to sacrifice Donna, he had not been in a good position. His Sun God had abandoned him. He lost his powers and everything granted for him. He couldn't dare to get a job due to him being wanted. He had nothing.
Deciding that he was better dead than alive, Monteuzm took some of the rope, the same rope he had used to kidnap Donna with, and tied a noose around his neck. Hanging himself in the basement where he once made all of his glorious sacrifices. And where he would lose his life at his own hands.
And there you have it! Chapter 23 of The Terror of Silence.
Just as a heads up, there is about to be a major time change on my end, which will affect when I will be uploading. The schedule should be the same, however, the chapter will come 8 to 9 hours earlier in the day. I don't know exactly the day this will happen, it may be one of those things where I'll know three hours before it happens.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful rest of your day!