How This Happened?!

Chapter 37 - Epilogue

Things didn't go back to normal exactly as they were before.

In fact, it would be safe to say that nothing was normal again.

Let's start with the Queen and King of Heavens, Hera and Zeus (though, most would still agree that Zeus behaved like some kind of drama queen still...). Their relationship didn't improve until Hades and Poseidon grabbed them by their ankles and left them hanging from the floor two straight days, when they promised that they would work something to improve and save their marriage.

Zeus wasn't pleased that, while he was busy partying around and seducing males, things had gone smooth and without a hiccup. Hera knew exactly how to run things around, because she was a woman or because she knew what she was doing, he didn't care. He gave in (especially when the Council voted against him) into allowing the goddesses more power into the final decisions.

Hades and Poseidon's marriages did a 180 degree turn and things were getting better. Things improved a lot, both rulers making his time to be with their wives and take them in consideration with their advices. They even went beyond that and assigned them special tasks (for example, Poseidon allowed Amphitrite to handle the matters of the palace, while Hades allowed Persephone to pass judgement in younger souls).

While Demeter continued to pester Persephone into leaving Hades for someone like Alcepious, the god of medicine, her amount of pestering had been reduced thanks to weekly visits to Hestia, who realized that she could do more than just look after the hearth and actually help around. Her talks to the different gods and goddesses made great difference and tolerance around.

Artemis was one of the main beneficiaries of this talks, as she was still confused after her confession to the mortal girl, Ginny. Hestia helped her understand that, while she couldn't fall in love with her due to a gift she asked when she was granted godhood, she felt a great attraction towards her and that denying it would be, not only wrong and hurtful to herself, but not a crime. It helped her decision that Ginny decided to join the Hunt and was the goddess' favorite companion.

The Hunters had been horrified that the lovely Poppy was none other than Apollo under a spell and were disgusted at themselves, especially when they found out their Lady was the boy they all shun away. However, Apollo seemed subdued from the experience and learnt that the Hunters weren't playdates anymore (probably, the thousand arrows aimed at his godly behind were an incentive... We'll never know...)

Hermes found the way out of Ariadne's labyrinth, eventually. It took him longer than expected, as Ariadne had made some traps and turns that had missed with his inner GGPS (Godly Global Position System). The vines that Dionysus were also having too much fun to let him go, but he found the exit after two days. In that absence, Hermes was informed by Martha and George that he had 10,568,852 messages without replies, 47,823,891 voice mails and 107,468,357,128 mails without reading (without counting the spams and discounts in ambrosia).

A nightmare.

Dionysus and Ariadne mended the bonded that they had, making it stronger by playing pranks around. Sounds a little childish, but it was a good way to release his anger towards his 'punishment' in Camp Half-Blood. Playing pranks with Ariadne was definitely better than threatening all the annoying and bad-behaved campers to turn them into dolphins.

Aphrodite, the goddess that caused this mess in the beginning, was serious about her promise of making it up to Hephaestus and had been seen many times in the forges since. At first, she was simply some kind of company for the lonely Hephaestus, but soon, she was giving him ideas and organizing his forge and shop (because, being a genius at mechanics didn't make him organized). Hephaestus began to allow this visits and was cutting short his working time, to compensate.

That meant that she had stopped spending time with Ares, though the god didn't seem to mind much. Of course, at the beginning, he threw a tantrum about how Aphrodite had all along being playing with him, just to keep apperances. Inside, he was relief and delighted that he wasn't with her anymore and could spend more time with someone else.

That someone else was, of course, Athena.

Still not used to being with someone that wasn't a mortal seeking knowledge, Athena had problems dividing her time between her researches and Ares. They decided to keep it as a secret (which meant that everyone knew it... Gods are bad at keeping secrets!), but they also decided to keep their relationship the way its was, which was a very kind-of toxic relation with Athena ins charge (like Hades she was gonna be the loser)

Like I mentioned before, anything wasn't normal anymore.

Let's see how much it lasts...