Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus. I don't own anything written by Rick Riordan.

Author's Note: Please review. I really want to know what you all think of my writing. Constructive criticism will be especially appreciated. Thanks to everyone that's been encouraging me lately. It really means a lot to me. A couple of chapters ago, a Guest asked if any 'stuff' would happen in this story. If I am understanding correctly, then the answer is no. This is a T rated story, not an M rated one. Anyways, the reviews I got about how you want me to include Dionysus were conflicted, so I went with what the majority wanted. Speaking of reviews, I got over ten in one day. Wow! Thanks for that. I was able to begin work on this chapter straight away. I've got 200+ reviews! What do you guys say to getting me to 220 reviews this time? As thanks for giving me around twenty reviews in two days, I'm giving you an extra chapter this week.

Chapter 21

Percy POV

Percy opened her eyes as she felt Ares loosen his grip around her. She kept her face buried in the war god's chest, trying to convey how much it meant to her that he wasn't repulsed by her scars. That, in a way, he actually thought they represented something good.

"Thank you," she murmured again.

"What for?" Ares asked, gently.

"When Anthony saw them the first time, h-he was disgusted. He hid it immediately, but it was still obvious from the look in his eyes. After that, I tried to make sure he didn't see them. But you... You aren't disgusted. You don't care. Thank you," explained Percy, a small sob escaping her.

Ares wrapped his arms around her tighter. "Anthony was wrong," he stated simply.

The two gods remained entwined for a long moment, until Percy finally took ahold of her emotions and firmly steadied them.

"We should go to the council meeting before we're late again," Ares suddenly remembered.

Percy's eyes widened. "Yeah. I just need to do my makeup and change my clothes. I'll meet you outside in a few minutes." The sea goddess was surprised by how easily she referred to her scars in the war god's presence, but brushed it off, hurriedly pushing Ares out the door.

She removed the torn shirt, quickly rubbing powders and creams into her arms, lightening the scars. She donned a lavender and rose tanktop and threw her leather jacket on as well. She swapped her tennis shoes for leather high heeled boots and walked out the door to find that Ares had also changed his clothes and was waiting for her.

The two held hands and Ares quickly teleported them to the council meeting room. They took their seats moments before Zeus flashed in.

"Let us begin!" announced the king of the gods. "Athena, what is our first order of business?"

The meeting ended and all the gods stood. They walked around, talking to each other. Percy made a beeline for Hera, as the queen had mentioned during the meeting, at one point, that she needed to speak to Percy. The goddess of tides was waylaid before she even got close to the goddess of marriage.

"Dionysus," said Percy coldly, recalling their interaction from the day before.

"Percy," greeted the wine god. "I wanted to apologize for the way I acted yesterday."

The goddess raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I was upset and more drunk than usual. I'd had a fight with Ariadne just before the meeting and..." Dionysus trailed off.

"And what?" prodded Percy, wanting to see how sincere the wine god was in his apology.

"We've been fighting a lot. Ari wants a divorce and I-"

"Don't," finished Percy for him, seeing how hard it was for him to get the words out.

Dionysus nodded sighing. "I'm truly sorry for yesterday, Percy. I wasn't thinking clearly. Maybe we can be friends?"

Percy studied the contrite god in front of her through narrowed eyes. She sighed and nodded. "Okay. But if you ever do something like that again..." She pulled Riptide out of her pocket and twirled it in between her fingers in pen form.

"Of course." The wine god nodded hurriedly, more than willing to agree to anything the sea goddess said.

Percy smirked mentally at the thought that even gods were terrified of her threats.

Percy's face suddenly broke into a mischievous grin. "So, tell me more about Ariadne. You obviously care for her."

Dionysus's face took on a lovesick appearance. "She's gorgeous with her long black hair and violet eyes. And Ari's so nice, even after what Theseus did to her. I could just sit and talk to her all day. Or maybe just stare at her."

"She sounds more important than your wine!" Percy laughed.

"Oh, she is! I wasn't really upset about the wine restrictions when father punished me and sent me to Camp Half-Blood. I was more upset about the fact that I couldn't spend time with my wife," explained Dionysus.

Percy stared at him, jaw dropped. "But you were punished for chasing a nymph!"

The wine god rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly. "Whenever I get extremely drunk, I do stuff like that. Ari's always getting mad at me for that."

"Then it seems to me, that if you stop drinking too much, your relationship with Ariadne would be much stronger," suggested Percy.

"Have you been hanging out with Aphrodite?" asked Dionysus, suspiciously. "You seem to be taking on the role of a love counselor, or at the very least, a daughter of Aphrodite."

"I may have spent a couple of hours yesterday evening talking to her," mentioned Percy, blushing in embarrassment.

"Are you having love problems?" teased the wine god.

"What? No!" denied Percy, vehemently.

Dionysus just raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," sighed the green-eyed goddess. "I'm not entirely sure of how to get over Anthony. I've been trying for the past week or so, but he's always on the back of my mind. I just don't know what to do!"

"What did Aphrodite say?" questioned the wine god.

"I didn't ask Dite. She feels bad enough about us breaking up. I don't need to keep reminding her..." Percy sighed.

"Hmm. Ari might be able to help. She was dumped by Theseus, after all. You two should talk sometime. And maybe you could put in a good word or two for me." Dionysus grinned, hopefully.

"That sounds good. Thanks, Dionysus." Percy smirked. "I'll be sure to put in a couple of words about you. Whether they'll be good or not, I don't know."

"Percy!" whined the wine god.

"I'm joking. I'll tell her she means a lot to you," promised the sea goddess.

"Why don't you come over right now? I'm sure Ari would be willing to help you," offered the wine god.

Percy almost agreed, but then remembered Hera. "Can you wait a few minutes? I need to talk to Hera and then let Ares know where I'm going."

"Sure. Let me know when you're ready." Dionysus left, searching for another god to talk to.

A/N: Some people actually supported my kidnapping idea. I didn't think anyone would like it. But anyways, as I was reading your reviews, I remembered that Dionysus really does love Ariadne in the books. I don't want to go off canon from the books, so I decided to just remove all romantic intentions from Dionysus's side towards Percy. I hope you guys don't mind. A few of you requested I do this, so that helped me make up my mind. I like your ideas of Ares being protective of Percy and telling Dionysus to back off. I might do a chapter involving that. Some of you have mentioned that I've done too many Ares and Percy chapters recently and have been ignoring the Seven. As a reminder, this is a really slow moving story, and this is actually just the fourth day of the two weeks Ares and Percy have to spend together... Anyways, what do you guys think? Was Percy too forgiving? I tried to bring Percy's facade of always being light hearted in at the end with all the teasing she was doing.

I have some important news. I have a small competition for you guys. I'm doing a short companion story about why Anthony cheated on Percy. It was brought to my attention by The Erudite Demigod that it isn't Annabeth's (Anthony's) style to cheat on someone in the books. Anyways, I need a good title for the story. Please give me ideas for the title. The person that gives me the best title will get a one-shot of their choice. (As long as I am comfortable writing it - no M rated stuff.) If you're a Guest sending in a title, give me your one-shot request at the same time you send your title idea in. The one-shot doesn't have to be related to the story. Also, give me a title for the one-shot. (I'm terrible at coming up with titles.)

Please review.