Summary: Alternative scene to episode 14. Lucy evilly and cunningly redirects Erza's anger to Gray and Natsu.

Pairings: implied Natsu/Lucy/Gray and some sisterly Erza/Lucy.

YouTube Prompt: Lucy tribute to Stand My Ground by Within Temptation.

For one brief moment Lucy thought she was going to die.

Death by gigantic rat dressed in pink….oh God! No one would be able to take that seriously. She could so see the likes of Natsu unable to stop laughing during her funeral, and people will read her obituary in the newspaper and laugh, and her Father will cry tears of mirth as he tells everyone how glad he was to disown her when he had the chance…

And then she was saved!

With one graceful slash of her sword, Erza incapacitated the gigantic rat, and landed on her feet like a cat. Lucy felt like she was going to burst with joy at the sight of her friend. She was saved. She wasn't going to die a humiliating death! And even better Erza could help with this entire situation because they were obviously way over the heads.

"Erza!" she cried out cheerfully as she made her way to hug the redheaded knight. Erza turned round to face Lucy and the look she gave her….well Lucy was surprised she didn't suddenly die from the murderous glare. If looks could kill she would definitely be six feet under.

For a moment she couldn't work out why she was being glared at but then she remembered why she needed rescuing in the first place. Oh yeah…. She thought as sweat ran down her entire body out of sheer fear of Erza. We broke the guild rules and went on an S Class quest without permission…

"Lucy," Erza said coldly, "you know why I am here, don't you?"

At first Lucy didn't know how to answer not because she didn't understand or anything, she wasn't a moron like Natsu, but because she desperately wanted to know what could be the right answer to prevent her bloody, tragic, death at her guild mate's hand.

And then it occurred to her…Erza was quite overprotective of her fellow female guild members, and incredibly biased against the male ones. Lucy had no problem accepting punishment from Master when she was home but right now she would anything to get away from Erza's ire, even if it meant throwing Natsu and Gray under the train so to speak.

"Yes!" she cried out before she actually tackled Erza into a hug that she wanted to give her before. "And I'm so glad you're here! It's been hell! And I don't just mean because it's an S-Class mission, that we should definitely not have taken, but because I had to share a bed with Gray and Natsu and I don't think I'm fit for marriage anymore!"

Lucy began to cry actual tears at that point as she remembered what it felt like to be stuck between two snoring men. It was horrible! She couldn't sleep at all and now she was so exhausted that she just wanted to curl up, and cry herself to sleep.

"What?!" Erza pulled Lucy away to examine her tearful face. "What do you mean you don't think you're fit for marriage anymore? What exactly did those bastards do to you?"

"I had no choice they forced me in between them!" Lucy wailed.

"There was no consent?"

Lucy shook her head. She had absolutely no say in it the night before, Natsu and Gray had just thrown themselves onto the two different sleeping mats as far away from one another as they could, and then Natsu dragged Lucy down when he saw her hovering uncertainly around them. "And Gray was naked again," Lucy began to babble tearfully, "and sprawled out everywhere, I saw everything, and then Natsu grabbed me and wouldn't let go, and….and….Erza, does this make me a slut?!"

Okay she may have lain it on a little too thick with the question but the rest had, in fact, been true. Natsu was a little handsy in his sleep, as Lucy had to slap his hand from her breasts five times the night before, and Gray's naked limbs seemed to be everywhere.

Erza had now lost all of her anger with Lucy which had been the aim anyway. Her beautiful brown eyes softened with motherly concern, and her body relaxed ever so slightly, as she reached out and grabbed Lucy by the back of her head, and then slammed it against her hard, cold, metal armour.

Lucy almost lost consciousness and wondered if this was karma getting its own back on her already.

"Of course not Lucy," Erza reassured her as she stroked Lucy's hair. "Don't worry my fellow sister, I will avenge your virtue!"

"Great…." Lucy rasped against Erza's breastplate. "Can't breathe!" she choked.

Lucy cannot described what happened next because it was so horrifying, but the moment Erza laid eyes on Gray and Natsu they were incredibly dead men. Both Lucy and Lyon, who was the sort of bad guy but considering the wide-eyed innocence he wore as he watched Erza destroy Gray told Lucy he wasn't really, shuddered and winced in sympathy as Erza released a storm of brimstone and hell on the two men for besmirching Lucy's virtue.

"Lucy…" Natsu croaked. "….why?"

"Will…" Gray glowered as menacingly as possible with two black eyes, a broken nose, and a split lip, "Get….revenge…"

Feeling incredibly guilty, Lucy nodded in agreement. She would accept any form of revenge Natsu and Gray inflicted upon her, and not just because she totally deserved it, but because it would be nothing compared to what Erza would have done to her if she hadn't redirected that anger.

"What was that?!" Erza growled. "Were you threatening to besmirch Lucy's virtue again?!"

"What?! No! Erza – AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

.