Part 1: Chapter 12

Dionysus

Where the water of the lake met the grassy land, Ariadne was lying on the ground, her wet naked body struggling and thrashing – with the lower half of her body splashing about violently in the water – to escape the hand of the satyr who was gripping her hair tightly and painfully. The satyr was laughing maniacally as he looked down upon her with a lustful grin, and I knew from the look of his mad eyes what his intentions to her were.

Ariadne was crying hysterically and screaming for escape and help, her hands desperately trying in vain to pry off the hands of the half-man half-goat who was attempting to ravish her. But as though Fate had just stepped in to save the day, her teary eyes caught sight of me.

In a voice ridden with utmost fear and desperation, she cried out pleadingly, "DION! DION, HELP ME!"

The satyr began to look curious, but he did not look away from her heaving breasts. With a sadistic chuckle, he asked, "What is this? You have a friend? Well, that makes things even better…"

At that very moment, he was forcefully pushed to into the lake when I threw myself at him.

With the satyr still confused at the sudden tackle, I took this to my advantage and immediately pinned him to the underwater ground by straddling him on his front. That way, I could clearly see who it was, and was not really surprised to realize that it was one of my satyr followers. He must have been roaming the wildlands when, unfortunately, he caught sight of Ariadne.

Knowing satyrs, they would never hold back their eternal lust for beautiful women, especially mortals ones who were weak and vulnerable.

The sudden expression shock and panic was clear in his face when he realized who he was looking at. "My lord!" he cried. "I did not know that – "

But he was unable to finish his sentence when he was silenced by the powerful punch I threw to the side of his bearded face.

"HOW DARE YOU!" I roared in rage as I continued to pummel him with my tight fist. "YOU DESPICABLE SCUM! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER!"

I could the burning fires of rage and fury coursing through my veins, boiling up the golden ichor which flowed within them. I could feel my entire being radiating the said rage and fury, even feeling my own aura go ablaze.

My punches were strong and, with the type of strength I possessed, absolutely painful to the satyr that was pinned beneath me. I could already see blood trickling down his nose and dark bruises were starting to bloom on wherever I hit him, which, at this point of time, was everywhere. His entire face became swollen and disfigured, only increasing his hideousness.

Having enough of punching him in the water, I stood up and grabbed his neck in my hand, picking him up by a choke-hold. With my strength, I was able to hold him in the air, even above my own head. His hairy goat legs thrashed around and both his hands gripped my wrist to try to pry me off him, but it only succeeded in making my hold on him tighter.

Just then, I could hear a gasp come from behind me, and it was as though time slowed down with my heartbeat when I turned behind to look at her.

Ariadne had now gone into a sitting position, with her knees drawn up to her chest – effectively shielding her exposed breasts – and her arms wound tightly around it, looking so damn terrified and afraid as she inhaled and exhaled rapid harsh and ragged breaths of air. I felt my heart beat in dismay when I realized that this was the way I had found her this morning, with a fear tenfold clear in her eyes.

But what I realized to my utter horror was the fact that she could see the feat I was pulling. There was shock in her eyes as she took in the image of me holding up a satyr with just one sole hand around the creature's sake. And Tartarus be damned, she was sure to have just entirely witnessed me beating the satyr bloody with my two bare hands.

I knew what she was thinking right now; how in Tartarus was I able to singlehandedly take down a strong and dangerous creature with so much unnatural strength?

It was then I knew that I had unintentionally exposed the secret that I had kept from her since the very first night I met her.

I was pulled out of my realization when I felt the struggles of the satyr become more and more desperate. Forcing myself to look away from Ariadne's scared eyes, I focused my whole attentions on the creature and felt my anger returning full force.

With a roar of anger, I threw the satyr to the ground. He skidded about ten feet away, leaving a trail of broken grass and dirt on the ground. He rolled onto his back as he moaned and cried in pain, his face bloody and bruised and his body limp with weakness.

But I did not stop there. I stormed up to him and planted my foot on his chest. I pressed the sole of my feet onto him slightly but with a lot of strength, and he immediately started to cry out in pain and agony.

I leaned my upper body down so that my face was a few inches from his. With venom of anger burning my tongue, I spat at him in warning, "Get out of here, you vile ass… Do not return to the revelry, unless you would wish to gain something even more painful than what I had done to you tonight… "

The minute I had taken my foot off, the satyr promptly got up onto his feet and staggered out of the area. When he had gone into the forest, I stayed where I was, glaring after him until I was sure that he had gone off.

And then, slowly and hesitantly, I took several deep breaths and turned around to face Ariadne.

She was still in that position, though she was trembling and shivering even more now as her eyes met mine. She flinched when I took a step towards her, but only continued to tremble when I made my way to her. I picked up the green dress that had fallen to the ground when I tackled the satyr to the lake, and silently held it out to her.

When she did not take it, seemingly hesitant to take her hands off herself, I decided to dress her for myself, not wanting her to bear the coldness of the night and the shame of being naked. Luckily for me, she did not flinch or start crying or screaming as I gently unwrapped her arms and slid the dress over her head, pulling it down her body. I was careful to mind my hands, not wanting to violate her in any other way than what I had done just now for her to see.

When she was fully covered but still shaking, I knew that she would not be able to walk due to her trauma. But I knew that it was best that neither of us stayed here any longer. Taking the initiative, I gently took her into my arms and lifted her up easily. I held her gently yet carefully to my chest and walked out of the area and into the forest.

As I walked, the air between us was tense and silent, and I could tell very well that she was now very afraid of me. It hurt me so much to realize this, but what was done was done. It was partially my mistake as well, for letting my anger towards the satyr cloud the reminder to keep my true self hidden from her knowledge.

Now that she had witnessed the strength that I had possessed, I knew there would be questions.

A lot of questions.

The minutes spent on walking finally came to an end when we had reached the grove. It was still quiet between us, the only sounds in the air was the chirping of crickets and the water flowing downstream.

Gently, I set Ariadne down against the tree. Her entire body was rigid, her arms still wrapped around herself as she eyed me warily with her red and teary grey-green eyes. I held up a finger, silently telling her to wait, before I made my towards the stream.

Tearing off a shred of cloth from my chiton, I dipped it into the cooling waters before returning to her. She was still in her rigid position, with her eyes still warily looking at me.

Slowly, I knelt right beside her and examined her face. There were a few minor scratches here and there, and tears stained her rosy cheeks, but other than that, she was fine. Just needed a little cleaning up.

With carefulness in my movements, I started to bring the wet shred of cloth to her face, wanting to help her.

But all of a sudden, she suddenly reacted.

Her hand reached up and slapped my approaching hand away, effectively flinging the wet cloth from my grip. She then planted the palms of both her hands on my chest and pushed me away before scrambling on her bottom further away from me. Her eyes no longer had wariness in them, but instead held anger and confusion.

"What. Just. Happened?" she questioned hotly under her breath in a hard voice.

I found myself being struck by anxiety now. Never had I wanted to be caught in such a position, especially by her. What was I going to do now? I knew that it was now the time for me to come clean and admit the entire truth, but I had hoped that it would come under better circumstances. Having just escaped from nearly being raped by a satyr was not the position I wanted Ariadne to be in when I told her the truth of who I was; she was now too fragile in a state that I was afraid that the truth would cause her to break.

"How in bloody Tartarus did you do that?!" she now screamed in rage. "No man could simply be able to fight such a beast! Especially with their own bare hands!"

I stayed quiet and only looked at her as she let out her anger. I did not want to make a move right now, afraid that I might incur her anger even more.

"And that creature somehow knew you! He called you 'my lord'! Why is that, Dion?!" she continued to press for answers hotly. "What are you not telling me?!"

With each seething word that escaped her lips, the anxiety within me continued to set in.

"Who are you?!"

Her eyes were tearing up again and her entire face was red with anger. But I could see clearly in her features her desperate yearn to understand what was going on. She really and desperately did want to know who I was, or more specifically…

"What are you?" she asked in whisper that was coated with fear.

I knew that this was it. There was no escaping from it. I had to tell her now, to no longer keep her in the dark of my true identity. I had done that long enough, and now the game of pretend was finally up for me.

Without hesitation, I finally revealed to her the truth.

"I am Dionysus."

Ariadne

I could feel a wave of emotions crash through my heart.

Confusion… Anger… Fear… Betrayal…

When he finally told me the secret that I had suspected he was keeping for so long, I had not wanted to believe him at first. Why should I? No one could just simply call themselves the name of a god. For a split second, I had thought that he was mental and crazy, since it had been slightly evidenced in his constant change of mood and personality.

But having personally witnessed what he had done to that horrible creature just now at the lake, I could not think of it like that now. Furthermore, he said with such honesty and truthfulness that it only made it so much more believable.

What he had just told me seemed more like the truth than all those other sorts of information he had told me in the past few days.

"You… You are…" I hesitated to say the name, but it managed to come out in a broken whisper, "Dio-ny-s-sus?"

He did not say anything, but he solemnly nodded his head in confirmation.

Still in disbelief, I just continued on. "Dionysus? As in… the God of Wine… Dionysus? As in… the Olympian… Dionysus?"

"Yes," he replied seriously.

And at that very moment, I felt as though my heart stopped beating, and my mind suddenly started to become so very dizzy as it tried to process what was going on right now.

I covered my face with my hands, shutting my eyes in a squeeze as I tried to comprehend everything. "Oh, Gods… Oh, Gods above… This cannot be happening…"

I absolutely could not believe this. Why were all these things happening to me? First I got branded a 'traitor' in my own homeland, then I was abandoned here on Naxos by the damnable bastard known as Theseus, and now the man that I had first met on Naxos and who had helped me survive here and became acquainted with me was actually a god?

I could not believe this… I absolutely could not believe this…

I felt a masculine hand touch my forearm shortly, and I immediately flinched from the contact. Tearing my hands from my face, I saw Dion – or Dionysus – kneeling right in front of me, with his hand in question extended out. I was shocked by how close he was, since I hadn't heard him approaching me while I was in my previous position.

Backing up a bit from him to maintain a safe distance between, I said to him, "You are a god."

He seemed confused, probably wondering why I was stating the obvious. "Yes," he answered simply.

Taking a deep breath, I continued on, "You are a god, and you never told me."

His dark hazel eyes began to look much more anxious now in a sudden instant. "Yes," he said.

"Why didn't you?" I questioned him, my voice now had dropped to a low murmur. "Why did you not tell me? Or more specifically, why won't you?"

The anxiety in his dark eyes became mixed with hesitation, and he pursed his lips into a straight line, as though he was trying to prevent any words on his tongue from slipping past his lips. But I was not going to let him do that. It was time that I deserved some answers from him.

Truthful answers.

"Why would you not tell me that you were a god, Dion? Or Dionysus, since that is your real name," I continued to press him, getting frustrated that he seemed to be refusing to answer. "What held you back?"

I continued to hold my gaze onto his, not even once tearing my eyes away. The more I looked at him, I noticed that he was slowly taking deep breaths and he looked thoughtful. I braced myself internally – mentally – for whatever he was going to tell me. But I prayed with all my heart that it would not be something that would drive me to rage.

He finally spoke after so long of silence. "When I first saw you that night on the beach, you looked so frightened and broken. I did not want to further worsen your state by revealing to you who I actually was. So I came to you in the guise of a mortal, because… at least… it would make myself seem 'normal' to you. And that way, it would be far more easier to interact with you. You would have had difficulty being in the presence of a god, and I only wished to make it easier."

Internally, I wanted to roll my eyes at him at his answer. He was a god, and he should have come up with a better excuse. But for some reason, I couldn't help but feel the earnest in his words, and note the sincerity his words portray.

However, I forced myself to not be so deeply affected by his tongue. I knew what gods were capable of. I knew very well of their ability to affect a person's – especially a woman's –emotions through charm, seduction and trickery. I knew the tales of many of lives who had spiraled down due to an encounter with a god. I knew what troubles could be brought forth just from having any sort of interaction with them.

Unfortunately, I had already – and unintentionally – ventured too deep into the danger zone to escape right now.

I could feel a muted pounding come from within my head, and I brought my fingers to my temples and rubbed gently to try to soothe it. "When were you planning to tell me all this?" I inquired of him. "Or were you even planning to tell me at all? Unless, you had wanted to keep it a secret for as long as you knew me?"

With a low and heavy sigh, he answered, "I do not really know, Ariadne… Maybe when I had already taken you somewhere you would be safe? Or maybe when after you had gotten over what had happened with Theseus…?"

Suddenly, I caught on to that last part he said, and I felt myself overridden with shock.

"You knew…"

He seemed confused by this. "Knew what?"

With a now rapidly-beating heart, I seethed under my breath, "You knew what had happened with Theseus… You knew that before we had even come across each other… You knew everything…"

I had half-expected him to deny my accusations and argue that he was innocent by telling – or maybe lying – to me that he did not know anything at all. However, he did not do that. Instead, guilt began to set into his perfectly handsome features, and he slowly nodded his head, admitting to the truth.

All was silent for the few seconds that followed after, nothing happening at all…

But with all the pent-up hurt and anger within me finally coming to a breaking point, I let out a scream and hurled myself at him.

When I had him on his back, with me on top of him, I started to pound my tightly-clenched fists at his chest, all while screaming, "YOU LIAR! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! WHY?!"

I could not believe what I was doing right now; I was actually beating a god. How could I even have the audacity to do such a thing, and without even thinking twice before committing my shocking actions? But I was so consumed by the anger that I found that I could not care. I did not care that Dion/Dionysus was a god, I did not care that he had been someone I could consider a friend, and I did not care that he was stronger than me and thus could not feel any of my pathetic punches on his chest.

But all of a sudden, he stopped me by simply gripping my wrists in his. His hold was not painful, but it was very firm. Then he sat up, forcing me with the front of his body to sit up as well. I realized then that our position was very… unsuitable for the situation. I was straddling his thighs, with our hands in the tiny space between us and our faces inches apart.

Such a position would have been considered very intimate if it was not for the anger clearly seen on his face.

With venom clearly heard in his voice, he growled, "AT LEAST I HELPED YOU, DIDN'T I?! AT LEAST I DIDN'T ABANDON YOU HERE AND LEAVE YOU TO ROT! AT LEAST I SAVED YOU FROM PERISHING RIGHT HERE ON THIS BLOODY ISLAND! IF I HADN'T BEEN THERE AT THE RIGHT TIME, YOU WOULD NOT EVEN LAST A DAY HERE!"

The anger that was shown on his face and clear in his voice silenced me completely. As I remained silent and only stared at his fuming expression, I felt fear starting to develop in my heart. This was the first time I had seen him looking so very angry, and it terrified me immensely. It only made me even more scared that I may have crossed the line and had incurred his wrath upon me.

But as quickly as his anger appeared, it disappeared, suddenly changing into one of shock and regret.

"Gods above, I am so very sorry, Ariadne," he apologized in a low mutter, with utmost sincerity in his voice that had no traces of venom and fury left. "I did not mean to shout at you. It was just that I…"

He did not continue his words, but I was glad that he did not. I did not feel like speaking any more, and I was completely worn out from the heated exchange between us. I felt exhausted and I had no wish to continue this argument that had unintentionally sparked between us.

"Is there anything I can do for you now?" he asked me quietly, his eyes not leaving mine.

Willing myself to at least say a few more words to him, I told him just as quietly, "Take me to the beach. I wish to clear my head there."

Dionysus

It was still the dark hours of the wee morning. We have been here for a very long time, although the duration was the very least of our concerns now.

We both sat on the beach, where the water was close but could not touch us. Ariadne had been sitting quietly and gazing out at the dark sea, never once looking away except to glance up at the bright and luminous white moon. She looked so very deep in thought that I did not have the heart to pull her out of it, but the silence was starting to concern me after a while, until I finally could not handle it.

"Ariadne?"

She said nothing, but she turned her face away from the sea – finally – and looked at me.

Her eyes were blank, not holding one shred of emotion within them.

Gulping down a lump that was beginning to form in my throat, I asked warily, "Are you angry with me?"

I was afraid that she was, but I did not want her to be angry with me. If she was, then I would apologize to her, because I knew that I was to blame. I had lied to her, deceived her and had shouted at her in spontaneous moment of fury.

I hadn't meant to hurt her.

I had only wanted to help her.

Author's Note:

Wow. The satyr was predicted correctly in the last chapter! Well done!

Geez! Ariadne found out, and she's not really taking it so lightly! And Dionysus is getting all worried that his actions may cost him her presence! What's going to happen next to these two? How would Ariadne respond to his question?!

On Friday!

Muse of Fanfiction