((A little fawn against a Rock Hound!?))

Running was all that Zera seemed to do these days. After leaving Erza her mind was elsewhere - which is why she almost ran straight into the back end of one of those skeletal wolves. She took three silent steps back.

And snapped a twig.

The wolf turned around slowly, the orange of it's eyes buring brightly. Zera cursed - a bad habit she picked up off Erza - then turned and ran. A niggling sensation in the back of her eyes urged Zera to duck. She threw herself to the ground just in time to see the wolf sail overhead. It skidded when it hit the ground and growled menacingly. It seemed to cough, curled in on itself then spat a huge vesicle of inky liquid at her. Zera rolled to the side, watching as the earth where she had just been sizzled into a small crater.

Zera scrambled to her feet as the wolf ran towards her. A million things raced through her mind but the action she took screamed STUPID. She ran straight towards the wolf, bellowing fiercely. The wolf yelped and skidded to a halt, clearly unnerved by the tactic Zera had taken. With all the energy she could muster Zera leapt over the wolf's head. It however had recovered quickly and snapped at Zera's legs.

There was a very loud crack and an extreme pain tore through her front left leg. She gasped in pain and her brother's face flash through her mind

"Erza...!" She yelled breathlessly lookind down to see her leg broken and useless, "Brother, what do I now!?"

She knew the answer though - go down fighting. Everything Erza had told her - all the myths and fable, they all had one thing in common. Stand your ground. So that was what Zera was going to do. The wolf began to advance, slowly. A grin seemed to grow on it's face but Zera knew that was just her imagination.

She tried to get up but the black ink that was spreading over her body prevented her form doing so. She fought it, pushing back the numbness however there was nothing she could do. She called out her brother's name one last time before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, ready to welcome death.

From somewhere in her mind, Erza's face appeared, angry.

"What the hell are you doing!? Get up, Z! You have to get up!" a desperate edge came into his voice. Though she knew it was just her mind playing tricks on her, there was no way she could give up on Erza. She was his lifeline - even though they'd had only just met.

Zera exhaled explosivley, her picto glowing magnificently. The black gel wobbled and then flew off as she continued to purge herself of the vile infection. As the infection hit the air it changed course and hit the wolf - hard. It speared straight into the wolf, stunning it. Zera took her chance and ran at it. Thanks to earlier encounters with these monsters, she knew how to kill it.

She ran round the side of it, gritted her teeth, reared then rested her front legs on it. It was agonising but she had to do it. Just like last time, she wrinkled her nose before dipping it into the mass of writhing black and wrenching out the orange crystal. She spat it out and quickly backed away as the wolf fell into a pile of bones. The infection leaked out the carcass and dispersed into the air.

Zera went and picked up the second crystal. She had just killed again. She shook her head to rid herself of the guilt - it was that thing or her, what choice did she have? It was only luck that had got her through that.

She shook herslef again, a proper, full-body shake then ran (as well as she could) away from that creature. She needed to find Erza.

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That was even more fun than the last one! Poor Zera though... a broken leg. Could have been worse though, but I feel really sadistic now! Sorry if there are spellign (ninja'd - that wasn't intentional!) mistakes - I'm writing this at quater past twelve and want to sleep but just need to finish this! Anyway, Good NIGHT ^^

Edit - Quadraptor, I know you you wanted them to be more realistic and this seemed pretty easy (sorry!) but I had thought about that before and just wanted to mention that Zera's life is closely followed by the Gods (due to the fact she was - well made by them) and all her good luck is down to them. It's unlikely I'll write anymore but if I do I'll make them more realistic ^^'