ELYSIAN, the riordanverse

11

INSANITY

Dionysus was the Greek god of wine. And though many did not remember, he was the god of insanity as well.

Dionysus, or as our demigods know him, Mr. D was an expert at insanity. He had seen so many people who had gone mad, whether that was because of an addiction, or a death of a loved one... He had seen tortured souls and people. People so broken, so shattered that their minds weren't in the right place. 

Their worries seeped into their minds like wine seeped into the god's mouth. Well, it was Diet Coke now. Zeus and his stupid punishment.

Mr. D groaned as he sat on the porch of the Big House, looking out at the demigods training. All of them continued to fight and spear, never giving up. Heroes never change, he knew that much. 

But then again, he thought.... He had been a hero once too. Gosh, he missed those days. The simple days back with the nymphs of Mount Nysa. Travelling the world, meeting the Titaness Rhea... It had been fun. And then rescuing Ariadne, he missed Ariadne. His wife, Dionysus thought that out of all the things he couldn't do now because of his punishment, the worst was not being able to be with his wife. 

Mr. D sighed and shook his head, he had only a few centuries left of his punishment, anyway. And though he would never admit it, the camp had grown on him. Camp Half-Blood and its puny demigods and heroes. 

Camp Half-Blood and its saviors, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and the rest of them. He knew their names, oh, Mr. D knew the names of every single demigod here. He knew Kayla and Austin and Lacy and Mitchell and Butch, but there was a reason to why he called them by names they were not born with. 

There was a reason he called the son of Poseidon, Peter and the grey-eyed girl, Annabelle. 

He knew that they would die one day, he knew that too well. His own son, Castor had died in the Second Titan War. That had hurt, it had hurt so much. He knew how much pain it had caused Pollux, how lonely the boy had been without his brother. Dionysus clenched his teeth and took another swig of his Diet Coke. 

Remembering was easy, forgetting was the hard part. He would never forget when Hera inflicted his aunt and her family with madness, he would never forget watching the life seep from his son's body or gazing up at the stars, looking at the Hyades. 

So, Dionysus says the wrong names. He stops from associating with the demigods, he doesn't need to go more insane than he already is. 

Mr. D looks out at camp and sighs again as he hears someone call him, "the wine dude". He laughs, heroes never change.