Out on the playground, just a young child in school, Lucy Heartfilia usually liked to keep to herself. She sat far separated from the other groups of children, content with watching them instead of joining the fun. That was normal for her. Lucy was a little less friendly around the other kids. She talked to Natsu, Gray and Levy sometimes, but she wasn't too close to them friend-wise.

"Hey! You!"

Lucy quietly stared as Juvia and Cana drew near, neither girl looking like all sunshine and smiles about seeing her. They were both quite angry, especially Juvia. Lucy hadn't even seen tomatoes that had the same consistency of red that was present on Juvia's face.

"Hey!"

"Y-Yes...?" Lucy didn't understand why Juvia kept repeating herself. This was one girl Lucy never wanted to be alone on a play-date with. According to a conversation she overheard from her parents, the curly-haired foreign girl was a bit of a 'bad egg'. Lucy didn't know what that phrase meant exactly, but she did know that rotten eggs smelled, so she knew to make that sort of connection to Juvia. She was smelly, and thus, bad. On the contrary, Lucy didn't know anything about Cana. They had interacted once or twice, but they weren't friends.

"I saw what you did at lunchtime yesterday!" Juvia shouted at her.

"W-What did I do?"

"You were sharing your crackers with Gray!"

"But Gray was hungry," Lucy whimpered back in defense, "I...I was just sharing, like the teachers taught us to do...!"

"I'm the one who's supposed to give Gray crackers! He's my boyfriend and no one else's!"

"Boyfriend?"

"I fell in love with him first!"

"Umm...okay..."

"So that means you can't talk to him at all! Don't give him food, either! That's my job!"

"Yeah!" Cana finally spoke up, but for it to be a one-word agreement, it was difficult to discern her exact reasons for helping Juvia in the first place. Cana seemed to be going along with this because she too was afraid of Juvia; Cana was good friends with girl, but she also knew what a fiery temper she had when it came to her 'boyfriend' Gray. Cana kept her position behind Juvia with a glare frozen on her face, like a temperamental parrot ready to squawk whatever its master wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry..." Lucy didn't know what else to say but an apology. She had never meant any harm; she had just wanted to help out one of her friends, that was all.

Unfortunately, Juvia was a girl not satisfied with words alone. Her hand lunged out, grabbing a clump of Lucy's hair and tugging it hard. Lucy shrieked. It hurt more than she had thought it would, and tears began filling up her eyes. Juvia pulled even harder.

"Leave Lucy alone already, you little brat!"

When Cana turned her head in the direction of this new voice, she took off in the other direction, as if she'd suddenly remembered she left a pot roast burning in the oven. Juvia and Lucy were too stunned to do much else but remain frozen in place, with Juvia's hand still clenched around Lucy's locks. Erza Scarlet wasn't looking too happy with them right now.

"Stop picking on Lucy! She didn't do anything wrong!" Erza shouted, her voice booming like a lion's. She was only a year older than Juvia and Lucy, but even as a young girl, she was especially intimidating when upset. It had been known across the playground that she beaten Mirajane in a scuffle two weeks ago, and everyone had grown to be wary around her. Lucy had never talked to Erza before, but in her opinion, she was very pretty.

"She's...she's trying to take Gray from me!" said Juvia. Her heart's desire for revenge was overriding her brain's desire for self-preservation.

"No, she's not! You're just being paranoid! Gray said he doesn't even like like you! Now let her go!"

"I won't-"

Erza whacked Juvia across the nose with a well-placed punch. Juvia tumbled backward onto the asphalt, and her grip released, allowing Lucy to run over to Erza's side for protection. It had only taken one hit to ruin Juvia's disposition, and to change her from a violent, cackling hyena to a sobbing, little lamb. Blood coated her button-nose, but it wasn't a continuous nosebleed, just an eruption of internal fluids from the initial hit. Wailing like crazy, Juvia covered her face with her hands, shouting Erza's name in a sort of cough-grumble before racing to the nearest teacher. Erza sighed.

"Now I'm going to get in trouble again..."

"Why did you hit her?" Lucy asked.

Erza looked down at her wide-eyed admirer. "Because she was picking on you. I should have helped you sooner, but I had really thought she'd go away. I'm sorry."

"Thank you." Lucy stood on her tip-toes and kissed her hero on the cheek. She had seen it in movies before, and she figured it was a good way to show her appreciation. She would never have done this with anyone else, but for some reason, being around this girl suddenly made her feel brave and confident enough to get away with it. Erza's jaw dropped, her whole face turning several shades brighter. Lucy giggled.

"Y...You're welcome..." Erza stammered out.

"Do you think...we could be friends?" Lucy asked.

"You're not afraid of me?"

"No. I think you're really nice! If I get picked on, no one ever helped me before, but now you can! Can we be friends?"

"Yeah, sure. We can be friends." Erza nodded. She was still trying to calm down after that unexpected peck on her skin. It had definitely surprised her, but...it also made her feel really good, really happy and warm, on the inside. It was very odd, and it was very new. She'd been kissed on the cheek by family members in the past, but she'd always despised such acts; they'd never made her feel like this before.

A few minutes later, Erza was apprehended by a teacher for 'bullying'. There was no lengthy discussion; she was quickly suspended for her misbehavior. Lucy did not see Erza again for three weeks, but when the redhead finally returned to her desk, Lucy was the first one to welcome her back. They both had a friend for each other now, and neither girl could be happier.

Some years later...

17-year-old Lucy Heartfilia had heard time and again how dangerous it was to pass through the city alleyways at night, even if you just wanted to get to the street on the other side. She had been told how easy people could pop out of the shadows to assault her. Lucy had shrugged it off as the fears of paranoid parents; she never believed it would happen to her, it would always happen to someone else instead. Unfortunately, with her eyes focused on the broad knife in the mugger's hand, Lucy realized that, in retrospect, she was just 'someone else' too.

"Hand it over." the man spoke in hushed, rapid tones. He was trying to be quick; it didn't seem like he was going for rape, only the money.

"I..."

"Hand it over. The purse."

Lucy didn't want to give up her purse, obviously, but it was obviously a better alternative than getting her face cut open like orange slices. She started to hold out her bag as her offering, and the thug proceeded to take it-

However, he only managed to grab the handle of the purse when he took a rather abrupt fall into the dirt, courtesy of a rusty folding chair. He was out like a light. Erza Scarlet stepped over the unconscious man's body, tossing the dirty chair back into the alley corner where she had found it. Foam was dribbling out of the mugger's mouth. She snatched the purse up and tossed it over to Lucy, who still stood in place with her eyes bigger than dinner plates.

"Erza...you..." Lucy gaped.

"Sorry for showing up late. I...I had a weird feeling like you were in trouble, so I went looking for you." Erza replied, keeping her back turned to Lucy. She started heading out of the alleyway.

"I mean, I was just walking over to the cafe to meet up, but you still came and saved me!" Lucy chased after her.

"Of course I would, Lucy. You think I'd just let you get hurt?"

"I mean, yeah Erza, you could be a little quicker with your sudden entrances, true, but you saving me like this, this isn't the first time it's happened...I'm starting to believe you're actually a guardian angel in disguise sent to protect me!" Lucy giggled. She took Erza's hand into her own, and gave it a loving squeeze.

"I've sworn myself to protect you no matter what...because I love you." Erza smiled at her.

"Well, here's your reward, then." Instead of a quick tap on the cheek, Lucy gingerly wrapped her lips around Erza's, holding the kiss for a few seconds. They couldn't keep kissing for much longer, or else it would become too hard to stop, and they knew that they needed to save all of their pent-up sexual energy for the bedroom. Not to mention it kinda bothered everyone around them. The two girls broke apart from their smooch, and they smiled at each other with wide happy grins.

Erza had protected Lucy again and again, many times since their first meeting, and most likely many more times after today. However, she would never grow tired of it, because being able to see her beloved smile back at her made it worth any amount of risk or effort. She was quite content with the moniker of being a 'guardian angel'.

However, despite telling herself all of that, Erza also wasn't against the idea of having to put the girl on a leash if it meant keeping her from falling down a manhole or tussling with the mafia every damn day. Either or, really.