Once a hero - Riordan_LeoGreyson

Bonus chapter

Mr. D

It was a week after young Perry Johansson's death and Mr. D was lecturing a demigod about archery and Pegasi combined, as a child of Apollo came running over.

"I'll take it from here Mr. D." He grinned at the camp director.

The God huffed and nodded, "Good luck, Jonah Maddison." He turned around and began walking away, hearing the young boy yell after him that his name was not 'Jonah Maddison' but 'John Maleic'. The God rolled his eyes, "Whatever!" He yelled over his shoulder.

He was stopped on his way, by Annabeth who smiled at him. "Hey, Mr. D." She greeted him. The God nodded and narrowed his eyes at the daughter of Athena.

"What do you want, Annabelle?"

"Annabeth." She corrected the God. "But I just wanted to ask where you wanted Percy's statue to be? I know we are soon going to war, but I just wanted to know. I plan on having it ready by the end of the week." She tilted her head, her gray eyes looked right into Mr. D's purple ones.

"Oh," He swallowed and glanced around. "Just wherever might seem appropriate." He shrugged and waved her away.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "So, I can place it at the beach where it's near the ocean?" She asked.

"Yeah whatever."

"Great!" She smiled. "I'll see you around, I need to go check on Matteo..." She mumbled and jogged off to find the demigod. Mr. D rolled his eyes. Love. He thought. How disgusting. Even in times like this, the demigod was loved. The demigod who participated in taking the hero's life. Even though it was proved that Matteo had also been mind-controlled, Mr. D did still not trust the demigod. There was something cunning about him. And he intended to figure out what it was.

He began walking again, his shoulders were slumped as the child of Athena had reminded him of Perry Johansson's death. He pushed the thought aside as he had done so many times. No. He couldn't dwell on every demigod's death. He couldn't dwell on the past. Not anymore.

Mr. D walked up on the porch in the big house and entered the blue house as he glanced at Chiron and Nico playing pinocle together, taking a break from war plans. He gave them a slight nod. At least the kid had good taste. He walked down the narrow hallway and opened the door to his office. He entered and closed the wooden door behind him and turned the lock. He scurried over to the window and pulled down the curtain and proceeded to take a deep breath before a heartbreaking sob escaped his throat.

The exiled God dropped down on his knees and covered his mouth with a hand as more sobs escaped from him. Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the floor. His face contorted into an expression of utter hurt and sadness. How was he supposed to deal with this? Every demigod in his camp was destined to live a painful life or die young. Often, they wouldn't reach adulthood.

His throat contracted as he tried to take a deep breath. His chest hurt and he scraped his nails against where his heart should be in his chest. How. How was he supposed to live with this kind of pain? He wouldn't admit it to others, but he had loved the son of Poseidon. The kid had always been so bright even though he had been hurting so much.

Dionysus closed his eyes tightly as he tried to control himself. His chest hurt and his head spun. He sobbed and couldn't stop. The son of Poseidon had touched him. And he had never gotten the chance - or the guts - to tell him how much he was appreciated. He hadn't even seen him since he left camp. Mr. D leaned against the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest and curled into a ball and hid his face in his arms. The sobs were reeking through his body, not able to stop them as he had kept it bottled up for centuries. He had acted like his normal self at the funeral. He had even held a speech, where he had dissed Perry Johansson.

The door was busted open and the wise centaur, Chiron, walked in. The God of wine looked up through his tears at his old friend. Chiron slowly approached the God who was on his knees and laid down.

The centaur said not a word as he drew the God into his embrace. Dionysus leaned into him and wailed. The old centaur said nothing as he listened to the God of Madness cry, his own heart breaking as he comforted the God. He closed his eyes and lowered his head as he mourned.

Dionysus held on tightly on Chiron and cried. His body reeking with sobs as he mourned the loss of the hero. He hated this. He hated his job. He had gone centuries without breaking down. When his son had died, he had mourned, though he hadn't cried, he had pushed the feelings down, not allowing himself to feel. Centuries of sorrow and hate was let out as he cried onto his friend's shoulder.

Years had gone by with Mr. D acting angry at the demigods and annoyed at them, he had kept the facade up for so long, only for the hero to break it. Only for Percy Jackson, to break him.