Part 1: Prologue

Dionysus

No more than ten mortal years ago, when I had finally come of age, I had been officialized as a god by my father, Zeus.

I was Dionysus, God of Wine, Ecstasy, Theater and Lunacy.

Father's wife, Hera, had not been pleased. She hated me because I was another of his bastard children, along with the rest of my Olympian half-siblings except Athena, Ares and Hephaestus. What's more, Hera had been the one who had led the death of my mother, who, I have been told, was a mortal woman named Semele that had been one of my father's many lovers.

My mother died while I was still in her womb, and my father saved me by taking me out of her body and carrying me to full-term within his form. When I had been born, he sent me away to the Earth to be raised by rain nymphs on Mount Nysa.

Because of this, I did not feel a connection to my late mother. I did not know what she looked like, how she sounded like, what was her likes, what was her dislikes, what was her personality. The only thing that I held about her was my chestnut brown hair and my bright hazel eyes, which, I had been told by Father, were the same color as her's. Thus, I felt no anger and sadness when I heard that it was Hera who brought her to her death. But at times, I wished I did, for I could not deny the fact that I yearned for a chance to meet my unknown mother. However, I knew that it was impossible, since she had now passed on to the afterlife.

Under the nymphs, I had been raised as a girl, seemingly to not incur Hera's knowledge that the illegitimate son of Zeus and Semele was alive. However, I grew out of my girly tendencies and started becoming more masculine around the same time I discovered the art of wine-making and the pleasure it brought. It was then I found my calling as god, and was proud that indeed I became the God of Wine.

I too was proud when my father, the great King of the Skies and the Heavens, had taken me back to Mount Olympus and officialized me as an Olympian – the most greatest of status among gods.

However, my beginnings as an Olympian did not start off well. Due to my addition into the circle, the number had totaled up to thirteen. This was bad as the number was considered unlucky, and a decision had to be made to keep the Olympians as an official Twelve. My father had a fight with his wife-queen about this; Zeus wanted to keep me in for he knew that I would be a god of greatness, but Hera, as expected, wanted me out.

In the end, Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth and the Home and my aunt by Zeus, decided to step down from her seat among the circle and graciously presented it to me as mine, despite the fact that this meant that she had forfeited her title as a major Olympian and lowered herself to the status of a minor Olympian, like her brother Hades, my uncle who was the God-King of the Underworld. But she did not mind, telling me that she would rather see me play my part as a great god than see the council fall apart from this dispute. For her kindness and selflessness, I accepted the throne with thanks and gifted her a chalice of sweet honey wine as a token of appreciation.

So I had become the new, latest and last member of the Olympians, much to Hera's dismay. But it had managed to end the feud, and that was most important.

However, my beginnings as a god were much worse. I did not start off as a great god so easily like my older half-sister Athena or my older half-brother Apollo. No mortal would believe that there would be a new god, much less a god of the art of grape harvesting, or a god who had been mothered by a mortal woman. No mortal would worship me and I felt weak from the lack of worship.

As a result, I traveled far and wide to spread word of my name. Many have joined me when I proved to them my powers, but many scorned and attempted to make a fool of me. Those of the latter do not live today.

Over time, I had gained enough followers to keep me nourished with power. My followers and I celebrate in wine and the drunken pleasure it brought. Wine was a great gift to them. It liberated their stress, and I was the Liberator of stress who gave them such a gift. I reveled in the praises and their cries of joy and their gleeful laughter as they partook in merry-making in my name.

But still, they were not enough. I had to gain more. I had to continue spreading word of my name far and wide. There were still many lands for me to go to. There were still many chances for me to gain. I travel far and wide, aiming for that.

However, what I haven't mentioned was that I felt that something was missing in my life. I had that sort of feeling throughout my entire life. I had everything, except one thing. But what frustrated me was that I did not know what that one thing was, no matter how hard I try to do so. I thought, at first, that if I brushed it off and only think about the joy of wine and merry-making, I would be able to hide it.

But the feeling still stayed with me throughout, haunting me with the unknown knowledge of what I truly hoped to gain.

Ariadne

What I had done was right… What I had done was right… What I had done was right…

I knew that what I had done had caused me to betray all those who were dear to me. I had to betray my father, my mother and my siblings. I had to betray my honorary role as a princess of Crete.

But yet, I was not betraying it for misdeeds. In fact, in doing so, I had aided in saving the lives of future fourteen young Athenian lives – seven males and seven females – who could have met their end either by getting lost in the terrifying and confusing Labyrinth or by the monster that dwelt within it; the Minotaur. I had used my role as the guardian of the Labyrinth to help to discontinue the gruesome tradition of sacrificing these young lives to my monstrous half-brother.

I had done so by giving aid to Theseus, the prince of Athens who was one of the seven male tributes. From the first time I set my eyes upon him, he had an aura of a brave and strong warrior. I could even see it in his green-grey eyes that he held no fear of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.

And because of those traits which were shown clearly in him, I fell in love.

As though blessed by Aphrodite herself, he seemed to reciprocate my feelings, for he came to me on the night before he was to venture into the Labyrinth, and he lay with me in a night of passion on my bed.

Overnight, he became the most important thing in the world to me.

I did not want him to die at the hands of the Minotaur, nor did I want him to get lost in the Labyrinth. Wanting so desperately to ensure that his life was safe, I discarded all the sworn oaths and promises that I had made to my father Minos and broke into the weaponry vault and stole Theseus' sword, the only weapon he had brought with him to Crete. And then, I went to Daedalus, my tutor and my father's royal craftsmen, who was the great creator of the Labyrinth itself.

After hearing what I had to say, wise Daedalus only gave me a clue of thread, and I knew.

Just a few minutes before the fourteen tributes were to be sent into the Labyrinth, I came to Theseus in secret. I discretely gave him his sword and the clue of thread and whispered to him in secret of the plan. In response, he went down on his knees and kissed my hands, swearing to me that when he finally emerged from the Labyrinth, he would take me with him back to Athens to make me his bride.

I smiled at the promise and gave him a kiss on his lips as a wish of good luck. He did not return the kiss; I suspected it was because of fear and anxiety.

When he had hidden his weapon and the clue in his chiton, he rejoined the several tributes and entered the Labyrinth.

A few hours later, Theseus emerged out of the Labyrinth with all the other tributes. All of them were unharmed. There was blood on his chiton, and he threw the decapitated head of a horned bull at the feet of my father.

The whole of Crete went into frenzy at the knowledge that the powerful and fearsome Minotaur had been slain.

Father was not pleased. He knew that if there was no more Minotaur, then he wouldn't be able to gain compensation in the form of the fourteen Athenian lives for the death of my older brother Androgeus, who had been killed by the Athenians before I was even born. He raged even stronger than the storming winds that had claimed the lives of many sailors.

In no time, Father had found out that Theseus had his father's sword with him when he ventured into the Labyrinth and that he used the clue of long thread to mark his way in and out of the maze. Father took his rage out on me, having suspected that I had played some part in Theseus' success in the Labyrinth since the man had been empty-handed when he entered and that no one had guided the tributes to the starting point except me, the Labyrinth's guardian.

Father threatened my life, telling me that I would play dearly for causing the downfall of a Cretan tradition.

As a result, I was so scared for my life that I ran away from home, taking nothing with me except the clothes I wore and my younger sister, Phaedra, who I felt was the only sibling I could not bear to be apart from. Theseus led me away from the chaos in the palace to his ship that was adorned with black sails.

His ship sailed away without a moment's hesitation. My eyes never left the sight of Crete, my birthplace and my home. In my heart, a twinge of pain could be felt at the thought that I could never return without incurring Father's wrath.

However, the thought of being Theseus' bride in Athens helped to numb the pain slightly. Every night, as we got further and further away from Crete and closer and closer to Athens, Theseus would make love to me, further strengthening our bond. I was glad; he was the man that I had sworn my whole life to; the man who I would be spending the rest of my life with.

At times, he lulled me to sleep with words of me being his bride and a good queen of Athens. That always never failed to make me smile.

What I had done was right.

Author's Note:

Hello, hello!

Welcome to Drunk On Love! I must tell you that I am very excited, because this is the first time I am venturing out of my usual Hades & Persephone or Artemis fanfictions, and now writing a Dionysus fanfiction!

First; let me tell you how I got inspiration for the story. One day, while going through my options of next projects, I was listening to Drunk On Love by Rihanna and, for some reason, I immediately thought of Ariadne. As a result, my mind started getting to work, and I have planned out the entire story!

Second; let me point out to you that I am trying a new writing style. Unlike my other fanfictions that are usually a mixture of first-person and third-person, I've decided to use a first-person POV for both the main characters, which are Dionysus and Ariadne. This is to allow you guys a clearer look on what the both of them are thinking, which might make things easier yet more fun to red. However! There are other characters in this fanfiction that too will have first-person moments, somewhere in the later chapters.

Third; the story will be in two major parts and the epilogue.

Fourth; I will be following the update plan I did for Promises. This means that updates are every Monday and Friday. Chapters may seem short to some in the beginnings, but I'll try to make sure they're longer in later times.

Fifth; I hope that you guys will enjoy this as much as I do. It's my first time writing a full-length fanfiction about a character I have never ever written before, so I really hope that I can do well! Support from you guys are, of course, very appreciated!

So, see you on Friday!

Muse of Fanfiction