It was a sunny day. The light hurt Erza's eyes but he stuck with Zera who was revelling in it. She was too close to his heart to let her go. Trust and love was hard for him to give and Zera was the only one. Over-protective? He didn't think so.

"Brother, what's wrong?"
"The light, Z. How can you tell?"
"I can See it. You're eyes have turned grey."
This confused Erza. He knew his eyes were green, so what was Zera talking about?

"Brother, it's a God given gift."
"Wha - You mean the white of your eyes?"

Zera nodded slowly, her eyes that were the center of the attention glistening.
"You really are a bundle of surprises, huh?"
She nodded again as she laughed "Let's go, Brother!"
And then they wandered into the shade



The light created a dappled effect on the ground. Pretty green and brown and yellow pools spread out onto the ground which Zera leapt from one to the next joyously.

"Stay close, Z..."
"Why, Brother? The Forest has nothing dangerous!" she laughed and hopped to the next spread of light. Erza shook his head but had to agree with her. They walked aimlessly for a while longer, Erza's eye glued firmly on Zera. She may have been right but there was no way he was letting her out of his sight.

Then Zera stopped, ears flat.
"Brother," She whispered, "Brother, you mustn't turn around! There's something behind you!" Zera shuddered.
"What?"His voice was suddenly very serious,"Zera, what is it?"
"I - I don't know, Brother! It's painful just to look at it!" A tear rolled down her muzzle. She blinked quickly trying to rid herself of the tight knot in her chest and growing pain throbbing behind her eyes. Her breathing became irregular and she stumbled forward. The simple movement made the skeletal figure pounce. She let a shout. It gave Erza just enough time to throw himself forward. He slamed onto the ground and looked up.

Nothing.

Dirt had been disturbed in skid mark pattern but it wasn't deer. Erza recognised it. From a past memory. Canine! He leapt up, scanning the area but still there was nothing.

"Zera! Where is it?"
"Immediate right!" She yelled

Erza ran left. He could hear it behind him, the loping gait all wolves had echoing in his ears and in his memories.

"Duck, Brother!" Zera shouted.

Erza hurled himself onto the ground again and felt the air shift as the wolf flew overhead - a hairsbreadth away from his shoulder. Only problem being, it got caught in his antlers.

"It's there, Brother! It's visable!"

But Erza knew this. He could see the snapping jaws that were barely mussing his muzzle. He gathered all his strength and threw the wolf as hard as he can against a tree. It whimpered almost silently as it slid down the tree. It got up anyway. Erza cursed. How was he to kill this thing? He bellowed loudly, hopeful of some help even though the forest was unusually empty.

The wolf growled and began to circle, obviously wary. The stories he had been told and scenes he had seen as a fawn were very different. A single wolf would have thrown itself into a fight. This was different, terrifying.

Then it disappeared from sight.

"Brother! Lower your antlers!"

Erza did as he was bid and immediately felt the wolf bones become mangled in his antlers.

"Pin it to the ground! Maybe if you keep it there long enough..."

Erza crashed his antlers into the ground - luckily it was soft and none snapped off. The wolf continued to writhe and bite at Erza but it couldn't break free.

Then he saw it. A glowing purple crystal at the base of it's skull.

"Zera! Come here! Pull this out!"

Zera ran over and looked in.

"Eew! No way!"
"NOW, Zera!"

Gingerly she dipped her muzzle into the inky black that built up the skeleton's insides, bit down hard on the crystal and pulled it out. She spat it out as far away as she could and both watched it turn dark. The wolf collapsed into a heap of motionless bones. Erza pulled his antlers cleanly out of the earth and shook them. All the adrenaline flowed out of Erza and he collapsed, watching Zera carefully as she headed over to pick up the crystal.

"I heard some other deer talking, sounded like this - this monster... Illrose or Quad - I think..." She sounded shaken, which was hardly surprising, but it was time to move. Erza dragged his own weary bones from the floor of the forest and took a deep breath.

"Let's go find one of them, then."



That's it... PHEW! That took me a couple of hours... It was fun though. I'm pretty bad at fight scenes but I hope I did okay.

Anyways, sorry I used Illrose, SnowSauria - It's just I read yours and was kinda inspired by it ^-^
and I used Quad because, well, the Rock Hounds are your idea QuadRaptor!

Also, I had to put in the first scene about the God's involvment because it's pretty important to the Rock Hound part. I would have put it somewhere else but it was easier to put it here >W<
Erza's fighting came from defending himself in his old forest from which he was exiled. Being different made him a target. The strength he had to fight came from the fact a loved one was in danger - like it said in the beginning, his sister is the only one in his life.

Phew (again)