Ch. 1

"Whoa, whoa whoa." Heracles held up his hands trying to stop the situation before it progressed any further.

Perseus looked at him confused while Dionysus didn't seemed surprised by his hesitation.

"We're not going anywhere with you, Dionyquil, er, whatever your name was. Not until you tell us more than that. We don't go running just because some random guy shows up, claims to be a son of Zeus, and says the gods sent him to fetch us."

Heracles sent a slightly accusing look at Perseus who had the good mind to at least be embarrassed. For all his years of skepticism at anyone he met, he had apparently let his guard drop; taking this guy at his word with no proof of anything he was telling them.

The dark haired man looked a little offended at the butchery of his name but not opposed to further proving his identity and mission.

"Why don't we make camp here for the night. We can eat, drink some wine and I will tell you everything I know."

Heracles hesitated for a minute, unsure whether he should trust this supposed son of Zeus at all. Athena had appeared to them less than a week ago and made no mention of the gods being in trouble. Surely if they needed help, she would have mentioned it in between giving them the Krotala and destroying Perseus' eardrums.

But a small part of him told him that this guy wasn't lying. Though he looked nothing like him, Heracles felt a certain kinship to him. The feeling compelled him to at least hear him out completely before making any judgments.

And another part of him realized that if this guy was telling the truth and they blew him off, it might end with their being blasted out of existence by a bunch of pissed off immortals.

He glanced at Perseus to make sure he didn't have any input but the son of Poseidon still seemed to be wallowing in his embarrassment from before.

"Very well. We have some Stymphalian Birds left that we can cook up." Heracles offered, ignoring Perseus' look of loathing at the thought of more birds to eat. "But I'm afraid we are a bit short on the wine."

Dionysus smiled widely at his words, "Don't worry about the wine brother, I have that covered."

Despite his reservations, Heracles couldn't help but smile himself. The thought of some strong wine to go with his excellent cooking seemed like just what he and Perseus needed.

-X-

Dionysus was a man of his word.

Heracles wasn't sure he'd ever tasted a finer wine. And from the mellowed out vibe in the group and Perseus' drooping eyes, it was certainly strong. He's almost forgot how much he liked wine. Everything seemed so much better after a few cups of the divine liquid.

"So," Heracles began, "let's hear it. What's so bad that the gods sent you to come and find us?"

This seemed to break Perseus from his daze as he sat up looking much more alert. Even Dionysus seemed to sober up at the question, something that gave Heracles a bad feeling.

"Hera has been taken."

Dionysus' words hung over the threesome heavily. No one spoke, seemingly waiting for the more information. When it didn't come, Heracles burst out laughing.

"Hera? Hahahaha! You can't be serious! You think we're going to help you aide Hera? I would rather cast myself into Tartarus before I helped her!"

Perseus had started to chuckle when Heracles started laughing but stopped when he saw the fierce look on the other demigod's face. Dionysus glared at Heracles.

"Lord Zeus, our father, has requested our help. There is far more at stake than just Hera's safety, you fool."

Heracles stopped laughing. He narrowed his eyes at his half-brother.

"So you claim. How do we know you are a child of Zeus? You don't seem too remarkable to me. In fact, you look less divine than most mortals I've met."

Dionysus jolted to his feet. Thunder cracked overhead and a bolt of lightning shot across the sky.

"Would you like to test my divinity, brother?"

Perseus slowly got to his feet and stood between the two older demigods. He held his hands up in a placating manner.

"Alright, alright. Let's not start scaring the mortals with freak thunderstorms. Perhaps if you told us everything, we'd be more apt to help you," Perseus said calmly, "in whatever it is you want us to do."

Dionysus continued glaring at Heracles but slowly sat back down, taking a sip of his wine as he calmed himself down.

"I was trying to get to that part." He shot Heracles a look of distaste then turned back to Perseus. "Lord Hermes told me to find you two and lead you to Mount Olympus."

"We're going to Mount Olympus?" Heracles couldn't help but interrupt. He tried to hide his excitement but from Dionysus' eye roll, it didn't work well.

"I said I was leading you there. Hermes didn't elaborate. But if I had to guess, I would say no. Mortals do not simply go to Mount Olympus."

"Have you been there?" Perseus interjected, his own curiosity peaked at the way this demigod seemed so familiar with the gods and Olympus.

Dionysus' sneer seemed to shrink as he looked at the young boy. While he already despised this Heracles guy, this other demigod seemed like a pretty nice kid. He softened a little.

"A few times, yes. I was born there, actually."

Perseus' eyes went wide. He was about to ask more when Heracles snorted derisively, "Only gods are born on Olympus," he looked at Dionysus for a moment then snorted again, "and you're no god."

Perseus ignored Heracles, who apparently decided to be a dick from here on out, for whatever reason. He looked at Dionysus with curiosity.

"You're mortal, how were you born on Olympus?"

He hadn't expected the question to anger Dionysus but the elder demigod's face darkened. He glared daggers at the ground and stayed silent for an uncomfortably long moment. When he finally looked up, he spit on the ground in the direction of Heracles.

"I did not ask to be born on Olympus. It was either that, or I would have died with my mother."

Perseus felt a pang of guilt for prying into an obviously touchy subject. Even Heracles had the good sense to frown and eye the ground at his feet.

"When my mother became pregnant with me, she knew it was Zeus who was the father. She told anyone who would listen." Dionysus took a moment to take a long drink from his cup and then ran a hand through his curly black hair. "Foolish woman," his tone didn't match his words. His voice was soft and sorrowful speaking about his mother.

"Most people thought she was a nut. But there was one woman. And elderly midwife," Dionysus' eyes darkened. Their usual blue almost look purple in the dim firelight. "She convinced my mother to ask Zeus to reveal his true form. I don't know why he thought it was a good idea but apparently he had problems saying no to my mother."

Perseus still seemed intrigued but Heracles had a pretty good idea where the story was going. Though he wasn't particularly impressed by his half-brother, the feeling of kinship he felt to the fellow child of Zeus seemed to grow as he told the story.

"When he revealed his true form, my mother was destroyed."

"What?!" Perseus didn't even mean to yell but his outrage got the better of him.

"Mortals cannot look upon a god in their true divine form." Heracles explained to him. "Hera tricked her knowing it would kill her."

"And would have killed me too," Dionysus continued, "but Zeus managed to save me and, uh," he looked suddenly very uncomfortable and awkward, "he sowed me into his thigh."

His last sentence seemed to metaphorically knock both Perseus and Heracles off their feet. It was Perseus who finally voiced the obvious question on both their minds.

"You were... born from a thigh?"

Dionysus looked torn between embarrassment and irritation.

"Yeah," he grumbled. "It was that, or die."

Perseus looked over at Heracles and then over to Dionysus before a huge grin spread across his face.

"That's like the coolest thing I've ever heard."

His glee seemed to surprise and then please Dionysus. Even Heracles allowed a smile to creep onto his face.

"That's actually pretty incredible. Not something a lot of demigods can claim, if I had to guess."

Dionysus blushed a little and eyed the dying fire, "Yeah, well, after that Zeus had Hermes bring me to the rain nymphs of Nyssa. They raised me through childhood. I saw I've been to Olympus but only briefly and have never before seen my father Zeus."

There was a brief silence before Heracles spoke.

"That's an incredible story," he paused for a second, "brother."

Dionysus looked up at Heracles with skepticism, but when he saw his sincere expression, he gave a small nod of appreciation.

"So, uh," Perseus interjected, "we never really got to the part of why we're all here together. What could the gods possibly need from us, mere mortals?"

Dionysus was about to speak when a deep and louder voice spoke from behind him.

"A prophecy. One you have wasted far too much time getting to. Time is short, demigods."

A.N: Intro to this short story, a side story to my series The Legend of Perseus. Sorry, had a lot going on in real life but everything is much more settled now and I'm back on the metaphorical saddle. So stay tuned, I hope to make this between 5-10 chapters at most. Let me know what you thought so far, I know its just a short intro but things will be heating up very quickly.