Geez! It has been WAY, WAY too long since I last updated. Shame on me! Why didn't you guys email me with hate mail or something…? That would get me motivated… anywho, I came back from writing an exam today. It was easier than writing a unit test. Geography is a cakewalk.

Prey

Schrödinger's Cat

Despite the fact that over the past two days, Atlanta had spent most of her time sleeping, she was absolutely whipped. She'd been sent home with headache medication and the instruction to report anything unusual.

Girl had retreated to her room for some quiet and some sleep. Sitting on the edge of her bed, Atlanta had already stripped down to her bra and underwear. At that moment I time, she seemed to be interested in her own palms.

God, I'm so drained… I can't even bring myself to roll over onto my bed.

With a groan, the huntress flopped to the side, bringing her hands up close to her face. Within seconds she was fast asleep, mind no longer plagued with nightmares - for the time being.

About ten minutes later Archie peeked his head in, recognizing the prone form on the forest green and blue bed to be his counterpart's. Seeing her, or any of the rest of the team in their underwear wasn't terribly new, the majority of their missions nowadays resulted in horribly torn and tattered clothes.

Archie carefully grasped her sleek legs which were hanging off the bed and swung them around onto the bed. He grabbed the sheets and brought them over her and paused when he realized that Atlanta's eyes were open half-way and were staring at him.

"Hey…"

The redhead whined softly and lifted one arm as if to say Come here. Archie did so and smiled one she wrapped said arm around his neck.

"I hope you didn't stare too long… might hurt your eyes." She murmured quietly.

Archie chuckled, realizing she meant not to stare at her near-nude body. "Naw, not too long…" Teenager pressed his forehead to hers, "You need some rest."

Atlanta's other arm came around his neck and tugged lightly on him, "Rest with me?"

Smiling, Archie kissed her forehead, "I can't, Ares is dragging me out somewhere. I don't think I'll be too, too long…" A kiss was placed on her lips this time, "Love you."

As Archie pulled away, the huntress replied, "Ditto." And curled up beneath her covers.

--

Cronus was having a great old time decimating his to-scale model of the city with various figurines and various mythological creatures.

"Haha! Fear me!" A Harpy was rammed into a few skyscrapers which crumbled. "Pew pew!"

Meanwhile, Agnon and the others stood nearby rather dumbly, watching their master act in a childish manner.

Wasn't long before the model was completely flattened and Cronus became bored. With an exasperated sigh, the maniacal god tossed the harpy away as he turned.

"Agnon! How long has it been since my plan was put into motion?"

The Giant blinked then began to count on his fingers before displaying two to the god. Said immortal grinned and moved to the huge basin that held the equivalent to a magic mirror. Waving his hand over its surface, the water rippled and within it the image of Atlanta fast asleep was produced.

"Heheh, in a day or two, Atlanta will be more than just a huntress." Cronus turned on his heel to face his minions before he burst out in diabolical laughter, "She'll kill them all!"

The insane laughter reverberated throughout the cavern and some ways into the night.

--

It was that damn dream again. It had been reoccurring since she was a child, and she could never predict what was going to happen, no matter how many times she had it.

Atlanta stood in the nude, in a clearing of a forest, but everything was all wrong. The lush grass she stood on was a bright indigo blue. The trees donned black bark with blue or purple winding through, and the leaves - if they could be called that - were either hot pink or purple. The sky was a gradient of green and violet and three moons were present; violet, chartreuse and crimson. Crimson and violet were in partial eclipse while chartruse was a bit off to the side.

Glaring eyes of yellow, green and red stared at her through the darkness that was behind the tree line. Demons. Suddenly a deep, grating growl sounded behind the redhead. She didn't even bother to look, she just ran.

Roots seemed jerk up from the ground to trip her. Atlanta leapt and bound over them until one lucky one snagged her foot and she came tumbling down. No, no, no, no! She couldn't stop now! Girl picked herself back up and darted again but didn't go far before stumbling and falling against a tree.

Upon looking back, an acute and overpowering sense of dread flooded her system. The thing that was chasing her, it was indescribable. Atlanta could see it but at that same time she couldn't, it was trivial, a paradox.

It leapt after her, and in that precise moment something clicked within Atlanta's own mind which sent her off towards it. The two collided, Atlanta clawing and biting and yowling with primal fury.

It was then, when the two had fallen to the ground with Atlanta on top did she realize that the entity she was wrestling was herself. Now that hadn't happened in the dream before…

Atlanta number two was different, however. Hair was long, reaching about to the middle of her back, if not an inch or two shorter. It was thick and held slight curl, its vibrant fire engine hue standing out in contrast to the bright blue grass. Eyes weren't hazel, either, or grey like the real Atlanta's were at times. Instead, they were deep gold. Wolf's eyes, as her German grandfather had described such eyes.

Overall, the second redhead was more sultry, more dangerous-looking, more… dark. She smirked at her counterpart, "Just look hard enough und you might see something you recognize, fraulein."

With a cry, Atlanta number one pushed herself off of the other and stumbled backward. The ground crumbled beneath her bare feet, falling down into an abyss of swirling darkness. Her horrified scream reverberated throughout the ethereal forest when gravity pulled her down, the shrillness of it sending flocks of dual-winged ravens into the air. Fortunately, Atlanta was able to grasp the edge of the crevice, though her old was not sure and wouldn't last forever.

"Oh Jesus…" Atlanta was never a religious girl, had never prayed to any god, not even now with her knowledge of the Greek gods. To utter the name of the Lord was simple verbal reflex. "Christ…"

The charcoal dirt was abrasive against her bare skin, making it itch feverishly. Whining, Atlanta began to pull herself up but for some reason, all her upper body strength had abandoned her.

Teenager's hold slipped, "Oh God!" Two clawed hands grasped her wrists, claws digging into the back of them. Over the edge peered Atlanta's doppelganger, grinning like a fiend.

"Vhat on earth are you doing, fraulein?" Crazy girl had an unmistakable German accent too, what was with this?

"Go away!" Simultaneously the doppelganger vanished to let her fall back into the crevice, and then the rest of the venue did as well. Next thing she knew, Atlanta was sitting upright in her bed, bedroom dark.

Aside from the heavy panting and cold sweat that drenched her body, Atlanta just didn't feel right. Skin crawled and her fingertips felt funny, among other things. Looking down at her hands she gawked and promptly held them up to the streetlight that streamed in through her window.

No, no… nothing but her normal freshly-clipped fingernails. She could've sworn there were obscenely long and sharpened nails in place, but it was in the dark… Atlanta shrugged it off and flopped back onto her bed, covering her face with her pillow.

"I wonder if that medication has hallucinogenic side-effects."

--

Well, that's it for that chapter. Few things; Atlanta's background,

Well, it seems the new trend is that Atlanta is French-Canadian, namely on her dad's side. I liked the idea too but when I saw how popular it was I had a nervous breakdown and decided to come up with the next coolest thing; German! So ja, she be German.

As for the significance of her German 'twin', you'll see in later chapters. I can tell you that two things are stirring in 'Lanta at the moment.

And did I mention that German 'Lanta reminds me of Scar from the Lion King? Creepy.