Ah, school's out... Pandora's over... Relaxing sounds good.
Chapter 22: the Last Chapter
In the aftermath of the fight, it was discovered that many were bruised and bleeding, and Zeus was missing all of his hair. Several gods were dead, and Pandora, too, lay in a pool of her own blood. At the horrific sight, Ate revealed her true colours as the mastermind behind the whole plot in a wild attempt to finish her back up plan of blowing everyone's head off with the rigged olive branch crowns. However, as the fight had wound down, Eris had visited an old friend by the name of Cassandra, whose not-so cryptic prophecies she had ignored. Since Cassandra was in absence, Eris tore threw the drawers in the lab, digging around for Cassie's prophetic photographs. Therein, she saw the fight, all orchestrated by Ate, and she also saw the near future, Ate's decision to destroy the court of Olympus with the exploding victor's crowns.
Upon her return to Olympus, Eris foiled Ate's attempt at mass homicide/suicide. Two, furious at Ate for not only trying to kill him but also for trying to resurrect a known homicidal maniac (but mostly for trying to kill him), threw himself upon her and began throttling her, a death she most assuredly did not deserve—indeed, a traitor's death should be far worse. In the brief but confusing mayhem that ensued, the truth about Ate and Eris's relationship came out: Eris had managed to accidentally clone herself, a clone she named Ate in honour of Rhea's obsession. In addition, it was also discovered that Eris and Ate were dirty rotten liars (Ate far dirtier and more rotten, of course), and where Ate had never worked for the System, Eris had not for a good long time. The Merovingian was furious, of course, but rather forgiving of Eris because, face it, she did save his life; Zeus, on the side of "good" and capable of appreciating a pretty face (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), spared Ate's life, but she was forthwith banned from Olympus and the presence of any and all Olympians (in whole or in part).
During all the madness of the tearing down of a rather tremendous web of wiles, the Furies were also found to be in league with Ate and Nemesis, but the Furies had always been big supporters of "Destroy the System at All Costs," and their crimes were ignored. At Eris's request, a group of hitherto worthless but custodial Olympians, the Liata, was assigned to follow Ate around and clean up her godawful messes.
Somehow, Cassandra managed to worm her way into Olympus and, although she was blind and nearly choking to death because of its fancy shmancy programming, asked for Pandora's body, which Persephone reluctantly handed over. Before she left, Zeus demanded that the poor girl be given some sort of memorial service, a feat none-too-easily achieved, partly due to the fact that Cassandra was coughing up a lung and dying all over the place. Zeus's eulogy, which mostly consisted of his mourning of her pretty face with the occasional admittance to not actually knowing Pandora, was interrupted when her body suddenly returned to its six-year-old form. Somehow managing to smirk, the coughing Cassandra disappeared with the body.
Because Ate would not stop begging Eris and Two for forgiveness, both of whom were thoroughly disgusted with her, Zeus snatched her by the hair and threw her down from Olympus, sending the Liata, who were now ecstatic finally to have a purpose in life, down after her, although he did not throw them. Eris bid both of the Twins her fondest farewells, leaving arm in arm with her brother Ares, to whom she had to explain her relationship with each man; her description of One left out several details.
The Merovingian and Persephone managed some version of "Kiss and Make-Up," which somehow led to an Alpine adventure in which the Twins learned why a good skier does not wear white.
All in all, the story had a happy ending. Evil was vanquished, and everything worked out for the good guys. As for Pandora the Brave… why was Cassandra smirking?
MnI