A Son From Lands Unknown (PJO x Male Reader)

The Wine God's Madness

"W-What?" (Y/N) asked, his mind still needed a moment to catch up to his surroundings. There was simply no way, in (Y/N)'s mind. The blood disappeared. He wouldn't be surprised if the body had disappeared, been sent back to Tartarus.

This... the very fact that they even think it could have been Edward was baffling, madness even!

Wait, madness. Dionysus was a god of madness. The vine god had not been subtle with his disdain for the son of Greed. This had to be his doing, it had to be!

And so, (Y/N) leveled his accusation, saying, "You've been messing with my head, haven't you Mr. D?"

That got the god of wine to pay attention. He opened one of his eyes and stopped drinking his root beer, placing the bottle on the plastic table. The head counselors by now were looking incredibly nervous, looking between Mr. D and (Y/N).

"Yeah, you heard me!" (Y/N) continued. "You're messing with my head, all of our heads, making us see things! Just like you did to those sailors who kidnapped you all those- URK!"

A vine was wrapped around (Y/N)'s neck, lifting him into the air. Dionysus stood there, anger painted across his face. A small amount of his godly power was leaking from his form, the mortal disguise beginning to fall apart. If one were to look particularly close, one could even see ram horns peeking out of his curled hair. Overall, it looked like something out of Star Wars if it was high fantasy instead of space fantasy.

(Y/N)'s hands tore at the vine wrapped around his neck, trying to escape. Dionysus responded by wrapping it tighter, beginning to leave the boy blue in the face. Not wanting to kill the boy, at least not yet, the wine god instead threw him against the wall. The son of Greed hit the wall with a thud before crumpling on the floor. (Y/N) looked up at Dionysus, only for the boy's eyes to start glowing purple. He began to violently whip his head around, panicking at the presence of shadows that were not there. He even attempted to draw Tentazione, however Dionysus ensured that he did not get the chance, wrapping a vine around the boy's wrist.

"Once more, you find yourself lucky, (Y/N) (L/N), that your family is who they are," Dionysus said. "Were it not for Lord Zeus's fear of your uncles and grandfather, I would kill you where you stand for even suggesting such a theory. However, just because I cannot kill you does not mean I cannot give you a mere taste of what it would be like if you were correct."

No one in the room was quite sure what the wine god was making (Y/N) see and hear, but given the way that he was acting, they were certain that it wasn't pleasant. They could all hear him mumbling something about drums never meant to play and dreaming gods wanting to wake.

"Enough, Mr. D!" Chiron shouted, catching Dionysus's attention. With the god now distracted from continuing (Y/N)'s madness, the purple glow faded from the son of Greed's eyes. Returned to reality, and the words he and others had said rapidly catching up with him, he curled into the fetal position, mumbling words that no one else could comprehend. Tears were beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. Even the head of Apollo cabin, who had by far the most anger at him, was beginning to feel bad.

"It is clear that Mr. (L/N) is not mentally well enough at this time to participate in this hearing," Chiron said. "As such, he shall be confined to his cabin until he is. Stolls, please stay behind for a moment. The rest of you are dismissed, though if one of you could please bring Clovis, it would be appreciated."

The rest began to file out of the Big House. Mr. D stayed for a moment before Chiron asked him to wait on the porch, and that he would be back out in a moment. Soon, the only people in the main room of the Big House were Chiron, the Stoll brothers, and (Y/N), still crying in the fetal position on the floor.

"So, what did this to him?" one of the brothers whispered to Chiron. At the question, Chiron let out a sigh, though he kept the conversation to a whisper as well.

"That's the reason I wanted to dismiss everyone before I talked any further," Chiron explained. "He's been attacked by Eidolons multiple times. Monsters that treat us the same way we treat cattle."

"What do you mean?"

"Particularly hungry ones will attack anyone who is alone in the woods or just generally out of sight, be they demigod or mortal," Chiron continued. "That's part of why so many people go missing in the woods so often. However, once they have sufficiently filled their bellies with fear and loathing, they begin to foster it in others. Starting with those who know of their presence."

"But why (Y/N) first?" Connor asked. "He must have reported them to Clarisse when he first encountered them, and taking her out would have been a much bigger problem for us."

"Because she just turns all of those emotions into anger and goes to the arena to beat it out of someone, dude," Travis said.

"Indeed. Ms. LaRue simply puts such matters to the back of her mind and gets back to commanding her cabin," Chiron said. "Mr. (L/N), however, takes such matters and diverts all focus upon it, taking the weight of the world on his shoulders."

"So because he focuses more on them, they divert more of their resources to stopping him?"

"Indeed, but that's not the only reason," Chiron stated. "They very likely know by now that (Y/N) is the only one here whose parent isn't Greek. As such, that is another kind of isolation they can exploit. Which brings me to why I wanted you two to stay behind for a moment."

By now, Clovis had arrived and put (Y/N) to sleep and taken Tentazione, though (Y/N) was still crying in said sleep. Clovis approached the others and joined the conversation, revealing that he had taken the liberty of looking through (Y/N)'s memories from the past couple of weeks.

"If I'm putting him to sleep a second time for having a mental break, I want to know what's causing them," Clovis argued. "He thinks it's his job exclusively to take the Eidolons down or die trying. Thinks everyone he gives details to besides Chiron, Clarisse, or Thalia is another person dead."

"Why Thalia?" Connor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because she stumbled into an encounter, but she saved him, so he thinks she can handle herself," Clovis explained. "At least, that's what I can gather from what I saw."

"This is why, whoever you choose to watch over him, make sure they are actually friends," Chiron stressed, turning towards the Stoll brothers. "He needs them now more than ever, to know that he is not alone."