All's Fair in Love and Hate: Epilogue

"... and then he went back through the portal," Jay explained. Gathered around their leader on the couches neatly aligned in the god's secret home, four tired, blood-splattered heads nodded in dissent at Jay's final words. Archie, though eager to escape his treatment by Chiron, had been hastily rushed to the healer centaur, and Odie had very reluctantly stayed behind to wait for his friends.

Hera gave a slow, regretful smile at this. "Cronus is quite the coward," she sighed, and turned to face the grimy goddess who sat beside the teenagers, bundled up in rope and tears and ignoring everyone around her as she quietly cried. The goddess of matrimony sighed again, this time slightly more sorrowfully. "Erida," Hera murmured, "perhaps we should get you cleaned up."

Atlanta gaped at this. "You mean, you're not going to punish her?" she asked in disbelief. "She would have torn Arch- us into pieces!"

In similar confusion, the others stared up at the goddess, eyes wide. Hera shook her head calmly. "I believe she has punished herself enough by her own decisions."

Theresa gave a bit of a hmph at this, at which Hera raised a many-times raised eyebrow. "Would you suggest otherwise?" the goddess asked politely.

"Don't you think it's a bit - I mean -" Theresa started, but bit her lip as her eyes sought out Erida's form. The goddess of hate looked more than devastated, tears having already washed a clean path down her dirt-streaked cheeks. She had made no attempt to escape again, and had not opened her mouth since Cronus' cruel farewell. Curled up and shivering slightly, she looked less than fit to endure any of the entirely too harsh punishments the gods had bestowed on disobedient people before. "Never mind," the redhead added softly.

Ares, who had not spoken a word throughout his stand next to his mother, gruffly suggested, "maybe we should get Chiron to take a look at her."

"Her pain goes far beyond physical injuries," Hera answered sharply. "I've arranged for the Graces to come."

The god of war gaped. "The Graces?" he barely squeaked, before straightening up and lowering his voice to only a quiet boom, "but Mother, Erida wouldn't like that sort of thing, really..."

Jay blinked at this, not used to Ares speaking very much to Hera, no less in such a pathetic tone. The others looked equally taken aback, or in Neil's case, amused; the blond was snickering behind an elegantly manicured hand.

Hera primly pursed her lips. "I've arranged for them to come," she repeated, shooting a cold glare at her son. "That is all."

As if on cue, three softly giggling women sashayed through the open doors, generous curves quite visible through their clingy robes and comely faces clean and fresh. They fell silent as their eyes glanced upon the group of teenagers, drawing closer to each other. One, dressed in flowing green, broke the hushed atmosphere by catching Herry's appreciative eye and twisting a blonde lock around her finger, giving a giggle as she fluttered her eyelashes.

Rolling her eyes, Theresa glared very obviously at the brunette who was similarly reacting to Jay's gaze, smoothing down the fabric of her white gown with practiced fingers. The other, a curvy redhead, smiled at Neil, who waved in recognition.

Leaning over, Herry muttered with an impressed tone, "you know these girls?"

Neil lazily reached for his mirror, checking his perfect blond hair for flyaways. "They hang around with Aphrodite a lot," he answered calmly. "I see them all the time."

Herry gave a whistle. "Lucky," he sighed, leaning back to gaze at the Graces. His blond friend raised his eyebrows smugly, tucking away his mirror. "I sure am."

The three women practically floated up to Hera, curtseying politely to her. They looked at Ares with only slight interest before the redhead piped up, "you called for us, Hera?"

Hera smiled, turning around to gently stroke the feathers of one of her peacocks. "Yes, Thalia," she replied. Looking back in their direction, she added, "I have a job for you."

The brunette clasped her hands together. "We'd be delighted to take it," she said happily, giving a charming laugh that sounded remarkably like the chime of bells.

The blonde Grace added, "Euphrosyne is always delighted."

"Good," Hera said, stroking her peacock once more. "I need you three to take care of Erida for a little while."

Immediately, all three beautiful goddesses gasped simultaneously in horror. "What?" Thalia screeched, before lowering her voice slightly. "But -"

"- Erida!" Aglaea finished, looking positively horrified. "It's not possible!"

"And why not?" Hera steadily shot back. "She is in need of some help," she said, nodding to the forlorn goddess still sadly sprawled upon the couch. Erida's body, dirtied and begrimed with both mud and blood, was hardly a sight to be impressed at.

The Graces recoiled, but Euphrosyne doubtfully said, "I suppose so."

Leaning in closer, Hera began speaking very quietly to the three Graces. As her voice wore on, their faces relaxed slightly. The five teenagers stiffly placed upon the couches could not hear Hera's words, although Theresa later remarked that she had said something about "problems with men".

"Oh, the poor dear!" Thaila chirruped, looking sympathetically at Erida. She lifted a hand up for a moment, no doubt comparing the other goddess's dirty skin with her own, then hurriedly moved towards Erida.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Aglaea said, in a very motherly tone. The three hoisted Erida to her feet with surprising strength, accompanying her towards the door. "We'll send her back when she's alright," Euphrosyne called back to Hera.

Just as they pushed Erida past the doorway, Jay suddenly stood. "Wait!" he cried, sliding a hand into his pocket as his friends looked up in puzzlement.

The three Graces turned slightly to look at him. Euphrosyne, the Grace who had just been admiring Jay's figure, smiled. "Yes?" she answered coquettishly.

Taking the golden apple of Discord from his pocket, Jay held it up to the light. The gleam of gold caused Hera's eyes to narrow slightly, her expression slightly hungry. Her fingers twitched once against her white dress, then clenched tightly into fists.

"You'd better give this back to Aphrodite," Jay said calmly, tossing the apple in their direction. "She'll be happy to get it back."

The Graces nodded, Thalia pocketing the apple and sweetly voicing a thank-you as they turned turned, their steps light as they dragged and pushed Erida away. Hera watched them go with a wistful, faraway look in her eyes before she looked back down at the teenagers. "You did well, children," she stated, a smile curving with some difficulty over her face.

Ares rolled his eyes. "Right, then, some warm-ups and cool-downs are in order!" he ordered, clapping his hands together and expectantly glaring at the teenagers. He turned, making it halfway to the door before turning back with annoyance. "Hurry up!"

Shooting death-glares at the war god, the five reluctantly stood, muttering in frustration as they followed Ares to the training room. Jay gave a small, secret smile as he voiced his complaints along with them. Everything was back to normal - or as normal as things could get.

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"And then, Hera sent the Graces to pick her up," Neil finished, pulling out a nail buffer and touching up his manicure. Gathered around Archie and Odie, the team was as talkative as ever. Herry sat next to Odie's seat on one of the beds, the smaller boy occasionally reaching down to ruffle his hair the grins on both their faces were wide.

"I just can't believe you figured out the whole thing!" Odie exclaimed in disbelief, shaking his head at the tale of Archie's discovery. He looked mischeviously at Archie and added, "I didn't even know you had a brain."

Archie rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Very funny," he replied dryly, as the other six giggled amongst themselves. "I'm just lucky you guys all heard me."

"You know, I wonder," Jay pondered, hand stroking chin mock-thoughtfully, "what were you thinking about when you came up with that brilliant solution?"

Theresa's grin widened, eyebrows shooting up. She glanced at Atlanta, and added with a giggle, "or who?"

Archie's neck grew dangerously red, heat rushing up to the base of his chin before he shot back, "the real question is, what were you two thinking about?"

Immediately, Jay's face grew bright red and he uncomfortably cleared his throat. The others, the light far too bright in their gleaming eyes, looked at him pointedly. "I, er, don't know what you're talking about," he replied lamely. Shifting from foot to foot as he watched their expressions become more interested, Jay looked to the door and hastily added, "I have some Geography to finish," then walked out the door, head held high with a dignified air but face flaming red.

Likewise, Theresa's face tinted a slight pink. Defiantly, she answered, "that's none of your business," then strode out behind their leader.

Barely disguising his chuckles, Odie looked at Neil, who seemed not at all bothered by the question but slightly put-out by Theresa's hasty exit. Odie raised an eyebrow in curiosity, to which Neil drawled, "you honestly don't know the answer to that question?"

Slipping the nail file back in his pocket and tugging out his golden monogrammed mirror, the blond admired himself or a moment before making his way out the door. Atlanta rolled her eyes at his exit. "You didn't have to ask him," she responded dryly, "the only person he loves is himself."

Herry laughed at this, then stuck his hand in his pocket, drawing out some small change and a very wrinkled five dollar bill. "I'm hungry," he announced, counting through the change. "Odie, treat you to a burger?"

The black boy shrugged nonchalantly, grabbing the laptop case that sat on his lap with his uninjured hand. Chiron had declared him fit to leave after examining both his ribs and his broken arm, though the latter was still encased in a splint. Odie had attributed the unusually quick healing process to the feedings of ambrosia and nectar Chiron had given him. Archie was still grumpy he hadn't been offered any.

Helping his friend up, Herry looked to Atlanta. "You coming?"

The girl shook her head. "I'm... going to stay for a little while," she answered awkwardly. Archie, though he had protested greatly, was deemed by Chiron unfit to go anywhere for the next few days, though his ankle was healing quickly. Jay suspected this had something to do with the mysterious salve Chiron applied to his heel thrice a day - it gave off a suspicious scent very similar to honey. The scars on Archie's face were still healing slowly.

Odie grinned, eyes flickering between Archie and Atlanta, and turned. "Let's not keep them apart any longer," he said loudly, striding through the door as Herry guffawed next to him. Archie's face reddened.

The silence that followed was somewhat uncomfortable as both Archie and Atlanta searched for things to say. Finally, Archie broke through with the stunningly intelligent statement, "Weather's been nice lately."

"Yeah," Atlanta automatically replied. Again, they fell back into an awkward silence.

After a moment of staring at the ceiling and twiddling his thumbs, Archie tried again. "Lot of homework, huh?"

"Tons," the redhead answered woodenly. They lapsed back into quiet, only the soft thrum of Apollo playing his lute a few rooms over wavering in the air.

Archie started then paused for a moment, staring at her, and raised an eyebrow. "You sure are a great conversation carrier."

Atlanta gave a bit of a laugh, looking up at him. "I'm usually better with conversation," she said dryly, "but only if the conversation involves someone with equal or higher brainpower than me."

"Hey!" Archie cried, glaring at her. "That wasn't very nice, considering I just about saved your life back there."

She grinned, prodding him. "And I guess I'm eternally grateful."

"You better be," he retorted, making a face. "I sacrificed life and limb for you guys."

"That's what we do for each other on a weekly basis," Atlanta replied wryly. "It all comes with being the saviours of mankind."

He nodded thoughtfully, looking down at his injured ankle. Her gaze followed his, resting on the swollen heel that had been bandaged securely, a golden liquid seeping through from where Chiron had applied a poultice.

Atlanta took in a breath as she let her eyes travel back up to his face, biting her lip. "I wanted to talk to you," she muttered.

"Yeah?" he asked curiously, though something expectant glittered in his eye, "About what?"

"Okay, well," she said, hesitating as she drew out the last word, "I've been thinking more about when, you know, you asked me about going out to watch a movie one day?"

Archie's face took on a frozen look, and he coughed, expression growing a little hopeful. "Uh, yeah?"

"And when you told me you really liked me and all that," she finished, fiddling with her belt loops. He nodded, looking slightly more excited.

Atlanta took another deep breath. "I don't think it's going to work out."

"What?" he blurted as his face fell, then quickly tried to cover his tracks. "Well, if you feel that way - I mean, you know, I didn't mean anything serious or -"

"I do like you," the redhead muttered, and it was enough to stop him as he stared at her with disbelief written all over his face, "I do. But maybe we should, you know, wait a bit?"

"Why?" Archie asked, looking a bit crestfallen. He was clutching the sides of his bed very tightly.

Atlanta bit her lip, going a bit pink. "Jay's always talking about group dynamic and all that, you know, and maybe it would be better if we lay off until we're all done with Cronus. I have a feeling it's not going to be easy, catching him, and I don't want to ruin it for the team if anything goes wrong."

After a moment of subconciously holding his breath, Archie's expression relaxed slowly. Nodding, Archie reluctantly muttered, "I guess you're right."

She grinned, then, a nice grin that warmed his heart a little, and Archie found himself smiling back. "Let me treat you to ice-cream once I can get out of here, though," he added.

He found himself looking at a doubtful Atlanta, and Archie wheedled, "c'mon, just once, at least."

"I don't think once is enough to make up for all the money you owe me," she teased, crossing her arms. He groaned, reaching a hand up to rake through his unruly violet hair, and winced slightly as his ankle shifted in the wrong direction.

"A grocery store, then," he shot back, rolling his eyes. "I guess a pound of apples is cheaper than two chocolate sundaes."

"Golden apples?" Atlanta asked grimly, smile twisting slightly, "I think I've had enough of those."

Archie reached over to punch her shoulder. "From what I know, Atalanta would take up an offer of golden apples at any chance she got."

She stuck her tongue out at him, pushing his fist away and standing up. "I don't think we work that way, even though I am a faster runner than you are," she retorted, though she was smiling. Quickly, she stepped away before he could reach over to punch her playfully, making faces at Archie as she headed out the door.

The violet-haired warrior shook his head with a laugh as he tucked his hands behind his head, letting his eyes close. "I'll make sure to thank Aphrodite this time around," he called to her, the smile on his face widening. If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me.

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"Agnon!"

The giant grunted, looking up from his place guarding the entrance to the caverns, and lumbered forward towards the sound of Cronus' voice. The god, imperiously seated at the head of a magnificent table carved from stone, looked impatient. And very annoyed.

Agnon grunted again as he slowed to a stop next to Cronus, who tapped his forefinger loudly against the armrest of his chair. The god's face was twisted into an annoyed frown, glowering at the giant. "Where is the plate of fruit I asked you to retrieve for me?"

Pausing, the giant pondered this question. He didn't recall ever receiving an order to get anything, plate or not. Looking up to Cronus, he shrugged dumbly.

It was the wrong answer. In anger, Cronus seized a large building block from the model in front of him and threw it at the giant, a sharp corner hitting him squarely in the forehead. Agnon winced.

"You fool!" Cronus growled, sinking back down in his chair and covering his face with his hands. Perhaps, he thought in a moment of pure reflection, the other gods were wise in choosing children as their warriors - for one, humans actually had the ability to think.

With a sigh, he rubbed at his temples with his forefingers and looked back at where the giant stood - or, really, where he had stood only a moment ago. With a furious bang of his fist, Cronus growled, "Agnon!"

A whimper came from under the table, and Cronus stood up, marching over and bending down to peer under the tabletop. "Agnon, you idiot, what are you doing?"

Eyes wide with fear, the giant nursed a spot of raw skin at his forehead, and whimpered again as he pointed just over Cronus' shoulder. The god, however, did not have time to turn back and look, because something very small but very painful came in contact with his rear end.

With an undignified howl, Cronus brought his hands around to clutch at his injured rear, leaping about in pain. He dropped to the floor, rolling about with moans of agony before the sore spot finally healed over. Clearing his throat as soon as the sting of pain had subsided, he straightened up in a useless attempt to regain his dignity. Agnon was quietly snickering under the table.

The god of Time groaned, massaging the patch of skin that was now visible through his burnt pants. He looked around with sharp eyes, trying to spot the source of his injury to both his rear end and pride. All he observed that was out of place were two halves of a tiny capsule lying innocently on the floor.

Reaching down to pick up the empty broken pellet, Cronus' brow furrowed in confusion. They fit together, that was true, but there was no indication of where they might have come from, other than a tiny engraving barely the size of the top of a pen cap etched carefully into the surface of one. The god squinted at the engraving, trying to make it.out, but all he could see was the letter E.

Suddenly, another of the pellets came in contact with his hand, and Cronus let out another howl of pain as it broke and the acid inside burned at his skin. There was no time for him to nurse it, though, because a shower of the tiny capsules came raining down on him, and he began to jump and duck in order to try to avoid the burning pellets. In the middle of the strange dance he was doing to avoid the painful pellets, Cronus looked up to see the silhouette of a woman standing just before him. "Who's there?" he called, in a panic, trying to summon up his scythes and dodge the capsules of acid at the same time.

As she strode forward, he caught glance of the mousy brown hair falling across her face and over her eyes as well as the clean green robes that swathed her body. Holding up a handful of small acid-filled pellets, her eyes glittered furiously.

"Nobody," Erida hissed dangerously, "lies to the goddess of Hate."

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A/N: So that's the end! I couldn't resist giving Erida a happier ending - I rather though she ought to have one. Nice bits of fluff, an quite a few myths thrown into the mix. In case you can't recognise them, the Graces were the goddesses of beauty who took Aphrodite into their care, and that's why Erida isn't as dirty as she was in the first place at the end; Archie and Atlanta are referring to the myth of Atalanta as they banter.

I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, given con-crit, favourited, alerted, taken a look, and c2ed this story - you guys are awesome!

Not planning for a sequel, but I do have some things coming up that a few of you might just like!