I'm back again with another update. I would like to thank everyone who has been faithfully reviewing, I really appreciate it.(: This is the last game, I'm sad to say. Before I begin, I would like to say a few things pertaining to this story:

xx-fazzems-xx, it's okay, you can ask me to update as much as you like, I won't clog on the head for asking too much. Hopefully, though, I'm updating fast enough for you.(:

Paradox-Barbarian-Princess, good question about the inclusion of the exchanging of gifts. I've thought of that, but I'm not sure whether I should write that, and since I haven't gotten to that chapter yet (but will soon), I've left it as that.

Alright, I shall start the story now.(:

The No Game

"Ouch!" Atlanta bit her lip to stop herself from crying out loud as she winced from the pain. Theresa had been trying to bandage her wounded leg as carefully and gently as she could, but the contact between the bandage and her swollen leg was still enough cause for pain. They were in Persephone's solarium because they hadn't been able to find Chiron, who was probably helping out with the last-minute preparations for the party. The others had also likewise gone off to help, of course Archie went with much reluctance after reassurance from Theresa, who had promptly walked into Persephone down the hall and then quickly asked for bandages, which Persephone thankfully had. It was quiet, and only the two girls were in the room - besides the Horae, that is.

"Is it better now?" Theresa asked, worried for her friend. The swelling had gone down, but she was still worried.

"Yeah, much better," Atlanta replied, smiling and gently to her feet slowly. "Hey, and it doesn't hurt half as bad as just now. I think I can walk."

"Are... Are you sure?" Theresa questioned a little suspiciously. "After all, you did respond pretty loudly when I wrapped your leg up..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Atlanta dismissed Theresa with a wave of her hand. "That was only because the bandages touched my injury. Besides, I'm used to this. I get this all the time."

"Okay..." Theresa blinked, still a little disbelieving, but she knew how headstrong Atlanta was. Trying to stop her would be virtually useless, anyway. She'd have to ask Chiron about it if they ever found him later, which they probably would. Changing the subject quickly to the one of her interest, she said excitedly, "Okay, so now that I know you're okay, spill everything about what happened between you and Archie in that dark, dark part of the woods..."

Noticing Theresa's emphasis on the word 'dark' and that mischievous, teasing smile on Theresa's face, Atlanta grinned a little shyly and folded her arms. "Well, it wasn't much anyway. Nothing that is as interesting as the scary thoughts that run through your scary mind."

"Alright, okay, but what happened anyway?" Theresa, of course, refused to give up. "Come on, Lanta, you said specifically that you wanted to tell me all about it, remember?"

"Okay, okay. When I sprained my leg, Archie offered to carry me. When he was walking, I have no idea what possessed me at that moment to ask me if he actually loved me, but it happened." Atlanta scratched her head ruefully, blushing a little.

"You didn't!" Theresa's eyes widened, and she gave a sharp squeal of happiness.

"I did, and he told me that... That he loved me, and I responded that I did too," Atlanta finished, grinning broadly. She had previously been having seconds thoughts about telling her best friend because she felt a little embarrassed to share this with her, but then now the awesomeness of it all rushed into her once again, filling her with the blissfulness that felt like she was sitting on a fluffy, little cloud. But anyway, those fantasies were more of Theresa's type.

She grinned, suddenly remembering what Theresa has said. "Hey, okay, enough about me, how about you?"

Theresa shrugged. "Nothing as dramatic as yours," she replied, winking. "But when I caught up with Jay, he assured me that he did love me but he couldn't be with me because he was afraid that Cronus would take advantage of our relationship to hurt him through me."

Atlanta's jaws dropped. "Oh, that was just so sweet of Jay!"

Theresa beamed and nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "And before we left for the park, he hugged me and kissed me on the top of my head."

Atlanta grinned and rolled her eyes. "See, told you that you'd nothing to worry about. He loved you, he loves you and he will always love you. No biggie."

Theresa sighed. "But he's too worried that Cronus will target me," she said glumly, pouting a little. "He doesn't want us to get together yet. Just like Jay to start overreacting."

Atlanta thought for a while, then said, "Well, I'm sure you can convince him. What, work your powers of reasoning or something. I'm sure he'd relent."

Theresa bit her lip. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I was going to try later. I just hope it'll go alright."

Atlanta smiled encouragingly at her. "I'm sure it will. Don't worry. It's Christmas! The time of festivity and all."

And with that, the two of them walked out, one limping uncomfortably, as they went to join the Christmas dinner.

--

Hera stood, smiling at the seven teenagers who were mingling around with the gods. Although they might just be mortals, she had somehow come to love them like her own children. They were brave, young and capable, and though they might seem to be normal, the prophecy had proclaimed them special - they would be the ones to defeat Cronus.

Meanwhile, Atlanta somehow herded the seven of them into a corner and handed out ribbons, one each.

Neil wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Ugh, what's this?" His skin was currently slathered with a thick white liquid to help ease his rashes. He examined the ribbon, then accidentally poked himself with the pin at the back. "Yeouch!"

Theresa rolled her eyes, then begun. "Everyone wear that ribbon. We're going to play the No Game."

"And what's that?" Archie said, gingerly fastening his blue ribbon onto his jacket and hoping the gods weren't looking.

"Okay, so all of you have to try collect the most ribbons. To do that, you must have an opponent say the word 'No' to you. When that person says 'No', you may collect every single ribbon currently on them. They are yours till you say 'No', whether accidentally or on purpose. Other words, phrases and actions like 'Nope', 'Nah' and 'Certainly not' are alright. So yeah, the person with the most ribbons wins the game."

"Haha, that's easy," Archie scoffed, crossing his arms.

Odie frowned and shook his head. "I'm not so sure about that, Archie. After all, it is surprisingly hard to remove a common word from one's vocabulary and -"

"Nah," Neil said, grinning. "Archie's right. It's going to be easy."

Atlanta glared at Neil. "Alright, anyway, all of us can now go back and eat - but don't forget to try and trick one another."

Herry smiled and stretched. "Yay, food."

--

Zeus watched with a raised eyebrow as the teenagers emerged from the little corner, each wearing a ribbon. "Do you know what they're doing?" he asked Hephaestus.

Hephaestus shrugged. "Nope," he answered humourously, tearing into his chicken drumstick. Ahh, Kentucky Fried Chicken. "Maybe it's just for a little game of theirs, or something."

Meanwhile, Neil hovered near the punch bowl, waiting to catch someone in the game. After all, he had a lucky reputation to keep up, didn't he?

He watched as Jay walked by, holding a cup, and he grabbed Jay's sleeve and smiled sweetly. "Hey, Jay, do you want some punch?"

"Uhm, n- I mean, nope, I think I'd get some coffee," Jay grinned broadly at Neil, who groaned in disappointment. "You were trying to catch me in a trap, weren't you?"

"Who, me? I wouldn't do something like that, excuse me!" Neil huffed in pretense, but Jay just shook his head and walked off.

Neil was watching for potential prey, but what he didn't notice was that Archie was standing at the other side of the table, planning the same trick as him.

Atlanta walked by on Archie's side, who promptly stopped her. "Hey, Lannie, want some punch?" he asked, grinning a little too suspiciously at her.

Atlanta winked and said, "Nah, I'll pass." Then she leaned in and kissed Archie's cheek, causing him to be stunned and start his stuttering act at Atlanta's sudden show of affection. "How about you, Archie? Do you want some punch?"

"N-no thanks," Archie stuttered, blushing.

"Alright, I'll have that," Atlanta smiled at him sweetly, then in a flash, she unpinned his ribbon, put it on her and was gone.

"Oh great." Archie groaned. Maybe this wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.

Meanwhile, Odie walked by on Neil's side. Neil, eager to get a ribbon, immediately "flagged" down Odie. "Hey Odie," he said, flashing a brilliant smile. "Would you like to have some punch?"

"Yeah, thanks Neil," Odie replied, surprised at Neil's kindness.

Neil, however, grabbed Odie's cup grudgingly and ladled punch into it in annoyance. Then, turning to Odie and placing the cup in Odie's hand, he whined, "You were supposed to say no!"

Odie grinned, then rolled his eyes. "Oh, so that was what I was supposed to say. Alright, I'd kindly have that ribbon on you, and hey, Neil? Thanks for the punch!" Taking the ribbon off Neil, he went off to enjoy more food.

"Wha-what?" Neil said, clueless. Then realization struck him. He had said the word 'no'! Closing his eyes at his own stupidity - no, carelessness, Neil the supermodel could never be stupid, he awaited another victim with solemness.

At the other end of the room, Theresa was getting some cake when Jay went to get some ice cream.

"Oh, you want some cake, Jay?" Theresa asked.

"I think I'll pass," Jay answered, on his guard for all the tricks coming his way. He knew Theresa could be a sly one, what with her taking advantage of how he became a bumbling fool around her all the time.

The two of them left the table to eat at the side, appreciating how much the gods had actually put into this feast. Not far away, they could spot Herry pigging out and his lack of a ribbon, while Odie stalked around displaying his three. Theresa and Jay only had one - their ones - and they hadn't lost theirs yet.

"Jay?" Theresa piqued.

"Yeah?" he answered carefully.

"You know, you said we could discuss about our relationship sometime."

"Uhm, yeah."

"I don't mind putting myself at risk by being with you, Jay. I mean, it's alright. We put ourselves in danger almost every day. I really don't mind."

"But I do," Jay said resolutely. He should have known that Theresa wouldn't have gone down without at least trying to convince him.

"But the prophecy says seven heroes will defeat Cronus, which means I will still be around to see his defeat," she argued. "I can take care of myself. Jay, I'm not a weak-minded, vulnerable damsel-in-distress, Jay."

"But I can't let you be in danger." Jay sighed and leaned against the wall heavily. "If something happens to you, I'll never forgive myself."

"So you do think I'm a weak-minded, vulnerable damsel-in-distress, don't you?" Theresa crossed her arms.

Jay protested, "N-no! I-"

Theresa gave him a winning smile and unpinned his ribbon. "Thank you, Jay." Then she walked off, leaving a shocked Jay behind to think about how he had just oh-so-dumbly fallen into her trap.

About an hour later, Atlanta called all of them back. "Okay, so how was the game? Let's see those ribbons."

Atlanta had two, Theresa had two, Odie had three, while the rest of them merely grinned sheepishly and pretended not to care, especially Archie and Neil.

"Hmm, what did you say about the game being a piece of cake?" Atlanta taunted, leaning close to Archie, who folded his arms and ignored her.

"You mean... I win?" Odie questioned, looking absurdly pleased.

"Yeah," Theresa replied.

"Congrats," Neil said sarcastically, earning a glare from Odie.

"The party's just about over," Jay remarked, noticing how almost all the food had seemed to be gone. They'd just about finished everything, and everyone had eaten an astounding amount of food. Of course, Herry could be expected for that as such, but even Neil had downed quite a bit. So much for the already-thin-enough Neil being on a diet.

"We should get going, it's actually pretty late," Odie commented, glancing at his watch.

Theresa grinned. "Back to the dorm, so we can open our presents." After all, on Christmas Eve they had already dished out the gods' presents, and recieved theirs from the gods. Now it was time for some personal moments within the team, and the team alone.

"Alright, but first, I need to go see Hera. She called for me," Jay said. "Why don't you guys go first, I'll catch up later."

"Okay, will do," Archie replied, but Theresa shook her head and said, "I'll stay." After all, she had been meaning to talk to Jay, and she wasn't sure if she would have any other opportunities to do so later.

With that, the others left, and only Jay and Theresa remained in the room.

--

Okay, that wasn't half as good as the earlier chapters, but since I've already gotten to the climax, it goes down from there, I'm sorry to say. All the same, I hope it was okay with you guys! The next chapter may or may not be the last chapter. I have decided now that the I will either exclude the giving of presents part, or do something relating to that in an epilogue, which will be entirely AxA (I think). Yeah. So I've put up this poll on my profile, so you guys go and vote, alright? Vote as soon as you can, because I'll be going on a 5-day trip soon and won't be anywhere near a computer, so I can decide whether to include the epilogue or not. Yeah. Thanks(: