Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Dragon Age: Inquisitions either. Both are amazing though.

A.N. Edited to include Cana as Inquisitor, not Lucy because it suits Cana better.

Run!

Levy swept her cloak back and closed her spyglass against her thigh as she stepped back from the edge of the cliff. Pulling out her map, she bit her lip. It indicated a camp seven and a half furlongs away, and she was nearly certain she could see the signs of the abandoned bedroll and propped up tent. Hopefully there would be something there, a scroll or a tome that might hold some information about beating Zeref but now she had to reach it. So far as she could see the land was quiet, not a creature stirred, but that didn't mean she could be afford to be reckless. She was on an important mission for the Inquisition, and she was the best at her job.

She folded up the map, placed both it and the spy glass in her satchel, and hopped down from the ledge, her boots planting firmly on the soft grass. A light breeze whipped up, pushing at her face, stirring her hair and lifting the hem of her blue cloak and tunic.

Clicking her tongue, Levy strode down the slight incline and smiled fondly as her faithful horse, Droy, plodded to her, with the ginger form of Jet nipping at his heels.

"Jet," she warned, wagging a finger at the dog, as she tucked her blue hair behind her delicately pointed ears with her free hand, "stop annoying Droy and keep an eye out for bears."

The Inquisitor, and her party, had cleared out the bandits from the Wildlands, placing it under the their protection, but bears and other natural predators often ignored those little banners and prowled the Wildlands, attacking unexpecting travellers. She didn't want to hurt a bear — even though Elfman, the stable manager, told her to bring back fresh bear meat because it apparently tasted good — but she would protect herself. She didn't expect much danger; after all, the Inquisition were particularly good at their jobs.

And because it was calm, Mirajane, their spymistress extraordinaire, had given Levy the all clear to take her companions and search for any tomes, letters, or scrolls that might offer some information on combatting Zeref or explain what he sought. If anything Levy could glean could help the Inquisitor, then she was happy to help — and if she happened to gather some herbs for Wendy while she was on her quest, then all the better.

Approaching Droy, ignoring his irritated snort as Jet continued to dance around him, she hooked her foot into the stirrup and swung herself up into the saddle. She took a moment to appreciate the calm, the musty scent of her horse mixing with the leather and the earthy fragrance of the Wildlands. Moments like this were to be treasured. It was amazing really, she mused, that not even three weeks ago, she'd never ridden a horse much. Oh, there had been plenty of horses used around the camp where she'd grown up but — she shook off the thoughts. She didn't like to think about 'home' or her 'people'. It hurt too much. She'd made her choice, they'd made theirs and that was that.

"Jet, don't run off," she warned, resting a hand on her dagger and scanning the rise and fall of the yellowing grass around her.

Pulling out her sensor globe, she clicked it and felt the buzz of magic as the rune inside scanned for disturbances on the land. A vibration shot up her arm. Lifting the dark orb, she studied it. There was a gold blur in the darkness to her left. Treasure, or maybe there were some herbs. Both were craved by the Inquisition. At the beginning, supplies had been hard to find, but now with Cana and her advisors gaining respect and admiration with her firm but fair nature, they were accruing all sorts of resources and allies. She'd even taken Levy on as her Chief Field Researcher, much to the surprise of almost everyone. Despite what people claimed, elves, especially elves like Levy, still struggled to find their place in the world.

Droy danced beneath her and she sat up a little straighter, fingers tightening briefly on the reins as she set her feet in the stirrups and looked around. Something had spooked her horse. She glanced around for Jet and frowned. He'd gone rabbiting under a cluster of rocks to the East and now she couldn't see him. Stupid, stupid mutt.

Something prickled between her shoulder blades and Levy muttered a curse. Kicking out her feet, she slid off Droy and gave him a slap on his dark velvet flank. "Find somewhere safe," she ordered, knowing her horse was smart enough to seek shelter and if he did need to run away, well without her weight, he would stand a good chance.

With her heart beating a wild staccato against her ribs, Levy held her breath and pulled out her dagger and a smooth hexagonal shaped onyx that fit perfectly in her palm - yet another thing her Elven clan didn't agree with. She crept forward, the wild grass bending underfoot.

"Jet," she hissed.

Above a bird screeched as it flew under the fluffy clouds and something deep in the woods behind the hills bellowed, an agonised sound. She frantically tried to remember if Giants were native to the Wildlands but Mirajane and Elfman, only warned her about bears. She could outrun a bear, if she saw it coming in time. But now Jet was trying to get into a warren and goodness knows what he would awaken.

A sharp bark and she spotted Jet's dancing butt wiggling above the outcrop. Clenching her teeth, she darted across the ground, her feet carrying her swiftly to her canine partner. They, she, Droy and Jet, were a team. She'd even come up with a team name to make it seem more official when they were sent out on research quests, but Jet was becoming more of a hindrance than a help recently.

Brown eyes narrowed, Levy whistled sharply and snarled when Jet only sent her a passing glance before returning to burrowing into the hole. Lengthening her stride, she climbed up the slope, using the crevices in the rocks as natural footholds, and reached for Jet's collar, yanking him back with all her might just before he disappeared down the hole.

"You," she snapped, pulling Jet's face up close to her own, "are a rabbit menace. We have a duty. We need to find every last scrap of information scattered throughout the Wildlands so that we can decipher a way for Cana and the others to stop Zeref. You remember Zeref? He's that man that opened a huge hole in the sky and unleashed dragons into our world. You saw the city go up in flames, Jet, you were there, I rescued you, and now you put all of us in danger so that you can hunt rabbits?" She growled and set him down, stomping her foot. "Really, Jet, that's just selfish."

The dopey pup gave her hand a lavish lick and then he trotted down onto the path and gave a cheerful bark to let Droy know that all was well. Levy heaved a sigh and was dropping down to join him when the world shook hard. She stumbled and fell to her knees, vision blurring as the vibrations shot up her arms and through her body, causing her bones to rattle.

A shadow appeared over her and she slowly lifted her gaze, eyes widening. A grey craggy face, with narrow black eyes and thick horns protruding from its head, looked down at her over the outcrop of rocks. It must have been resting on the other side but Levy was at a loss as to what it was. It wasn't a giant, the horns were in the wrong place and it was bulkier and the skin had a grittier form. It looked sort of like a troll from those books she read but… they were supposed to be extinct. Then again, so were dragons and there were certainly enough of those in the world now.

"Oh, Mavis, save us," she whispered under her breath, as the creature tilted its head and focused on her.

Jet growled and the creature snapped its gaze to the dog, snarling back as it pushed itself up to its full height. No, no, no. Levy shot to her feet and grabbing Jet by his narrow waist — for the first time thrilled that despite the amount of food she snuck him, he was mostly a bag of bones — she began to run (lumber) to the hills. There were narrow paths there, too small for a troll to fit through and hopefully too steep for it to bother climbing. She was tiny, Jet was tiny, and with Droy running like the hounds of hell pursued him, they weren't a tempting morsel at all.

The ground jolted with each measured footstep as the creature rounded the rocks and Levy hefted Jet higher in her arms as he wiggled to get loose. Breath panting, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her and Jet. The pounding became steadier as the troll, or whatever it was, gained speed. She chanted a prayer to Mavis, promised all her worldly goods, bribed and begged, anything that could possibly save her and her animals.

She could feel it getting closer, could almost see its shadow looming over her as she tried to zigzag — though really she was weaving because the jostling was making it too hard to run in a straight line — in case the troll tried to reach for her. Maybe his eyesight would be terrible and they'd get a reprieve. Something swiped over her head and she ducked, shooting a frantic look over her shoulder.

Oh Mavis, it was right behind them.

It could stomp on them. Jet growled and his struggles became more vicious. If she let go, he'd try to fight and she couldn't let him try to take on something that was six times her height.

Flinging out her right hand, she threw the rune and prayed it would work. She kept running. The world flashed brightly, something sizzled and the air smelled like burnt rock, but she didn't dare look behind her. The vibrating stopped but Levy wouldn't look. If she looked, she'd jinx herself. When she was safe, that's when she'd — the pounding footsteps began again and she whimpered, tears springing to the corners of her eyes. She would die. Worse, Jet would die, and all because she'd befriended him outside her favourite little bookshop as the world burnt around them.

She couldn't outrun the troll, couldn't hide from it. There was nothing but land for the next furlong and a half, flat land with just a few patches of long grass that whipped past her legs as she ran.

"Levy!"

She glanced up to see a figure in the blue and white cloak of the Inquisition standing on a stone jutting out from the hilly verge.

"Keep running!"

Advice gratefully received, Levy thought, but she was going to do that anyway. The creature was almost upon her again but she felt hope now. Juvia was here and usually when Juvia was around — a loud roar to rival the troll's echoed through the craggy wall — Gajeel wouldn't be far behind. Levy grinned just as arrows whistled through the air. The troll fell back with a grunt but continued to chase her.

Pinpointing a narrow path that she could probably run up, Levy veered towards it just as Gajeel came barrelling over the crest. He slid down the sheer slope, both hands clenching his axe as he fixed his gaze on the troll behind her and grinned in that terrifying manner that was solely Gajeel. Levy's mouth went dry at the sight of him and once upon a time she might have claimed it to be a natural response to someone that frightened her, but now she wasn't quite sure.

"Shrimp, the hell did you wake up?"

"I don't know," she shouted back, tightening her hold on Jet, because her dog hated Gajeel and needed some damn priorities!

"Heh, stop shooting it with arrows Juvia, you're gonna weaken it!"

"Juvia believes that to be the point, boss," Juvia retorted wryly as she notched yet another arrow and let it fly.

Levy was very appreciative of Juvia's actions, after all, they were saving her. The troll had lost distance, enough that Levy could catch her breath as she tried to get her jelly legs to climb the narrow incline.

"Get up out of the way, Shrimp. This could get messy and take your damn dog with you. I might get confused on the battle field." He bared his teeth at Jet as he passed by, all shoulders and chest and spiked black hair. Levy's heart jolted into a different, yet equally fast beat, and her breath clogged in her lung. She paused to watch him stalk towards the troll and then, after a sharp warning glance from him, she scurried up the bray, allowing Juvia to take Jet.

"Droy is up above eating some grass near our camp. He was the reason we figured you were in danger," Juvia said, stroking Jet's head. "Come, let's find a good spot to watch the Boss. Or if you would like, the camp is just over the crest. You could have a sleep."

"Sleep?" Levy twisted her cloak. "What if he loses?"

Juvia blinked, then tapped a finger to her lips. "Well, that would not be fun. Do not worry, the Boss never loses against anything bigger than him. Small things," she said with a slow smirk in Levy's direction, "well they're a different matter entirely."

Deciding she didn't know what to make of that comment, Levy remained silent and, because her knees were like water, she sank down onto the flat-topped rock to watch Gajeel fight the troll, or to faint. Definitely one or the other.

TBC

Honestly, I don't know where this is going but I really had to write it. It's been plaguing me for weeks, every time I play the game, I can just see Levy going around cutting herbs off cliff faces and searching through abandoned camps for scrolls, being ridiculously thrilled when she finds mentions of Zeref while Gajeel just shrugs and tosses it into his backpack. I can see so many overlaps between the game and how I can use certain characters, but I don't know if I want to take on something of that magnitude so this will probably be left to small moments between Gajeel and Levy in the background of an epic mission to save the world as such.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. I kind of think they're all wildly out of character but I had fun writing this.