A/N: Last update before I go to college and take a break from updating at least until a school break happens, and when I come back, I plan to start a multi-chapter ErLu fic, and I want your guys' help on deciding which idea I'm going to pursue. There's a poll on my profile now, and you ought to vote on it. It'll be open from now until early October, so vote in it, and the first chapter of the most popular may just show up in October or November...

Notes: AU, Erza is a goddess who has been flung from her realm and must recuperate. Lucy is a beleaguered twentysomething whose apartment Erza finds herself in.

"What the hell?" Demanded Erza, fresh off of her battle with a demon army.

"We're sorry, but Lord Makarov demands you stay out of the divine realm for the time being, until the destruction from the last battle is reversed, explained Mirajane, one of Makarov, the highest god's, assistants.

"If I hadn't banished all those demons there'd have been more destroyed! Protested Erza.

"You made them invade us in the first place." Countered Mirajane. "You will be placed in a random location on earth while your mess is cleaned up. Your body will still be unkillable by human hands and by all methods except that of a god or a demon, but you'll feel pain just like a human can. Maybe this'll teach you not to destroy so recklessly." Sighed Mirajane, as she activated a magic circle that tossed Erza out of the heavenly realm, and into low earth orbit.

Erza fell fast, reaching what humans called terminal velocity in seconds. Erza fell, headed for a landmass she'd heard called North America. She fell further and further, clouds surrounding her, and the land beneath coming into view. She noticed that she was headed for a city, and was about to land on top of a smaller, four-story apartment building. She crashed through the roof, but her godly powers kicked back in just after, and she was able to slow her descent and land on the apartment building floor with little more than a dull thud. It was the middle of the day, and it seemed that no one was yet home. Erza picked herself up from the floor and inspected her surroundings. A fairly standard apartment, a few tables and chairs, memorabilia on the walls here and there, and a bedroom and bathroom off to the side. Erza quickly searched her surroundings to determine who exactly might live there, and concluded it belonged to a young woman of middle class standing. Perhaps she might be some help in making sense of the world of humans once she returned. To make her a bit more willing to do so, Erza confirmed her magic was still working by repairing all of the damage to the roof. Erza sighed with both relief and a rising pain-as Mirajane had informed her prior-as she turned on a device in the living room she recognized as a TV. The news was already on, a mysterious object was spotted over the city and had crashed into an apartment building. Disaster crews were already on their way. Erza looked at the TV with worry in her eye. She should probably hide. "I hope some power is still left..." She thought to herself as she attempted to turn invisible with her divine magic, and did so. Good, at least she had more magic to work with here. Seconds later, the recovery team busted their way into the apartment, only to find it mysteriously empty. There appeared to be no damage at all, and as time went on, it seemed that their reason for being there at all was getting fuzzier and fuzzier-all effects of Erza's repair job.

"Why are we here?" One of them chimed in.

"I remember we were supposed to respond to some kind of disaster here, but it looks like we took a wrong turn, nothing out of the ordinary to be seen." Said another.

"Well we need to fix the damn door then, at which point this never happened." Sighed a third.

"Right." The others muttered in agreement, with Erza breathing a muffled sigh of relief. She was safe for now, at least until whoever lived here got home, but then, Erza was perfectly capable of using more magic...

"Thank god..." Muttered Lucy, as she entered the apartment, having heard the story on the news earlier, forgotten it like the others, but seemingly a bit more resistant to the power of Erza's magic, because she still had a lingering feeling that something had gone horribly wrong in her apartment. It seemed to be a false alarm though, Lucy thought to herself. Her home was the same as she'd left it, and there was no real reason to believe that there was anything wrong. Of course, Erza was hiding just behind the couch, as Lucy would soon discover, as she threw her purse onto the couch, as she so often did. This time though, it hit Erza, whose cloaking was disarmed and the goddess herself face to face with the apartment's tenant.

"Um, who and or what are you?" Asked Lucy, cowering behind a chair, the fear plain in her eyes.

Erza attempted to erase the memory of this woman, but the next second decided against it, she might be helpful in understanding human culture for the duration of her stay in the world of mortals, after all. "I am called Erza Scarlet, and I am a goddess of the highest realm, what you humans might call Heaven, or Summerland, Elysium... Look, the point is I'm a deity and my superiors have seen fit to banish me while they clean up a demon army that I destroyed."

"Are you all there?" Asked Lucy, giving the redhead a strange look and slowly inching back while drawing her cell phone, ready to dial any authority that might listen.

"Does this prove it to you?" Erza asked, as she used her magic to make the objects in Lucy's apartment float in the air, effortlessly.

"What's your story then?" Asked Lucy, both fascinated and scared.

"I was cast down from the highest realm after my battle with an army of demons destroyed a good bit of the grand city, I am to remain here until the others have repaired the damage."

"How long will that take?" Asked Lucy.

"I'd guess about six of what you humans call months, but if they take their sweet time to teach me a lesson, who knows?"

"Well then, why did you come here?" Asked Lucy, confused not only about Erza's choice but also by the utter lack of evidence that there had been a break in.

"I fell through your roof, I fixed it and erased humanity's memory of it ever happening." Explained Erza.

"You can do all of that?" Asked Lucy, fascinated.

"Yes, but I think I need your help. I know nothing of human culture after all, so I would rather like a guide." Said Erza.

"Sure, I don't have work tomorrow, so I can help you with that tomorrow." Agreed Lucy, as she walked toward her bathroom to prepare for bed, and Erza fell upon the couch, the human concept of fatigue now taking her.

"So, humans need to work for all of the things you just have up there." Explained Lucy, as she walked Erza down a city street, showing her shops. "Now I don't know what skills you have where you're from, but it isn't likely you can be hired by anywhere major, you'll probably have to start at the bottom rung."

"The bottom rung?" Asked Erza.

"Yep." Affirmed Lucy, as she directed Erza to a fast food restaurant.

A few weeks later...

"This. Is. Fucking. Awful." Erza exclaimed, throwing the spatula she had flipped burgers with a few seconds before.

"Are you all right?" Asked Chelia, one of her coworkers, as Erza threw off her apron and left the hole in the wall for the city streets.

"I think Erza just quit..." Muttered Reedus, the off-kilter manager.

Lucy was shocked when she went to see Erza at that burger stand, because when she came there, she saw an impenetrable crowd, pushing through it, she came face to face with none other than the goddess, performing telekinetic feats, bringing random objects to life, and reading minds. "What are you doing?" Demanded Lucy, shocked at the goddess' impunity.

"Well the job was terrible, so I figured..."

"But you need to-" Began Lucy.

"I'll be sent back to the Highest Realm soon enough. I can just make the money you want me to in any way I can. Plus, I made more today than I did flipping burgers all week." Explained Erza, showing Lucy the money she'd obtained.

"Fine, just come to the apartment, I have something planned for tonight." Explained Lucy, as she led Erza by the hand down the city street.

In the shadows, a blue haired figure watched with interest. "Hm, it seems the gods themselves have sent the biggest thorn in our side to earth. I suppose this is a grand opportunity. I wonder, what should I do?" The demon called Jellal laughed to himself, as he slinked through the shadows.

"What do you want to do?" Asked Erza, finding it a bit strange.

"Show you a bit of humanity, I don't know what the gods do, but down here, there's more than anyone can do in what we call a lifetime. Maybe something of that will appeal to you." Explained Lucy, handing Erza a tourism guide for their area.

"Hm, how about here, I don't think we have anything like that in the Highest Realm." Said Erza, pointing to a page full of promotional pictures of an amusement park that advertised the fact that it was open late.

"Sure, we can do that." Agreed Lucy, as she led Erza out of the apartment to their newly found destination.

"That looks amazing!" Exclaimed Erza, as she prodded Lucy towards a towering roller coaster, extending further than any Lucy had ever seen.

"I-I'm not good with those..." Sighed Lucy, embarrassed.

"Well you can wait here then." Said Erza, slightly disappointed, but more than willing to have fun on her own.

"Wait! I'll go with you!" Declared Lucy, suddenly and not entirely sure why she said it. She guessed she felt a lot safer by the goddess, seeing as she could basically reverse any adverse effects that Lucy might encounter, but also because she was finding this goddess quite beautiful, and wanted to spend some more time with her...

"Well, okay?" Muttered Erza a bit unnerved by the sudden change of heart.

"Ahhhhhhhh! I shouldn't have done this!" Shouted Lucy, as the roller coaster's car finally stopped in the station, and Lucy clung to Erza next to her.

"I don't know what to tell you." Deadpanned Erza. "You didn't want to, if I recall correctly."

Lucy sighed as the two walked out of the ride and went in search of a cold drink, because it was a hot night, and settled on a smoothie stand near some midway games.

"Well this is some of the most fun I've had in my life, for lack of a better term." Said Erza, sipping on a strawberry smoothie.

"Glad you're having fun." Lucy offered with a light blush, which she tried in vain to hide from Erza, as she started on her own smoothie, mango. She had hardly taken a sip before a passerby bumped her arm and sent the smoothie to the ground. "Damn..." She sighed.

"Here, have some of mine." Offered Erza, taking a second straw from a nearby stand and sticking it in her drink, then offering the straw to Lucy.

"Thank you." Agreed Lucy, as she drank a bit of the goddess' drink. It was good, probably better than what Lucy herself had ordered.

"Well, this is a great time, least I could do and all that." Erza said, simply.

"Great, how about we do some midway games?" Offered Lucy, motioning to the midway and ready to try to win something.

"Now seems as good a time as any, plenty to destroy..." Thought Jellal, as he saw his adversary across the way, with the same blonde companion as before. He began firing up a collective of bright, concussive lights, as was his specialty. Before he could catch Erza by surprise though, a crowd formed around him.

"Whoa, that guy's amazing."

"Crazy good effects."

"Fireworks from your own body? Bold move dude."

Jellal sighed. Humans weren't supposed to know about him. Therefore there was nothing he could do but play along, like he was some kind of circus freak.

"Haha! Take that!" Shouted Lucy, as she hit a final balloon with her final dart. She'd found a mark with each projectile, giving her a perfect score. The man behind the counter was shocked.

"Any prize you want..." He muttered, with a downcast expression, as Lucy chose a large chibi angel from the top rack of prizes and immediately handed it off to Erza.

"To remind you of home." Explained Lucy.

"We don't have anything that looks like that, is that something you on Earth believe of the highest realm?" Asked Erza, confused.

"Kind of..." Lucy said, trailing off.

"Well we don't, and now I think I may have to show you what it's like up there, if Lord Makarov lets me."

"I look forward to it." Agreed Lucy, as she and Erza walked to a less well lit corner of the park and stared at the other intently, and then without a word shared a kiss.

"Oh god..." Muttered Lucy, after breaking from it.

"What?" Asked Erza, confused at her companion's sudden hesitation.

"I'll die, and I'm in love with someone who won't..." Lucy sighed, suddenly downcast.

Erza bit her lip, realizing the same. "I'm sure we can figure something out..." She sighed. "It isn't common, but every once in awhile, Lord Makarov allows a human to attain godhood, often at the petition of a natural born god. I'm not on great terms with him now, but perhaps I can sway favor with him in the coming years."

"It's a start." Offered Lucy, coming in for another kiss as Jellal watched intently.

"Hm, I now know what is most important to her, perhaps I should use that human as a bargaining chip..." Jellal mused to himself, as he slinked back into the shadows, forming a new plan.

Several weeks later.

"Tomorrow is it, first big magic gig." Erza sighed, as she entered the bed with Lucy, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

"You're going to knock them dead, I just know it, you're a goddess, damn it." Said Lucy, giving the biggest smile she could, before giving Erza a reassuring kiss. "I wish I could get off work to see it..." Lucy sighed, wistfully.

"Well I'm sure it'll be on local tv later, maybe the internet too." Reassured Erza, ruffling Lucy's hair."

"I can hope." Agreed Lucy, as the two drifted off to sleep.

Erza had the crowd enraptured. She had shown her incredible levitating, telekinesis, and even line of sight teleportation to all of the people there, and it would seem to have been unlike anything they'd ever seen. Erza couldn't wait to tell Lucy all about it. Unfortunately, it would have to wait.

"Lucy! It was amazing! The crowd loved me, I-" Erza returned to an empty apartment. "Lucy? Lucy!?" She cried, before noticing a note written in a scrawl she did not recognize. "If you want to see her again, come to the outskirts of the city, to the oldest warehouse there." Erza dropped the note in surprise. Someone had kidnapped Lucy. When Erza caught up, she'd give whoever it was hell. Of that, she was certain.

"Well, you swallowed that with little trouble." Remarked Jellal. as he showed Erza her girlfriend as the former walked into the room. Lucy seemed to be suspended by magical energy and unconscious, though a steady amount of breathing told Erza the young woman was still alive.

"Who are you?" Demanded Erza, angry and ready to kill the man before her.

"My name is Jellal, and I am, as you may have guessed, a demon. I understand there are few in the world of the Highest realm who are quite the thorn in our side as you, Goddess Erza Scarlet. Lord Mard Greer sent me to give you a proper sendoff."

"Kill me if you must, but leave her out of it!" Demanded Erza, falling to her knees.

"No. I don't much mind the death of a human, especially if that human is already half there!" Laughed Jellal, as Erza, realizing that she'd either die for sure or possibly live, rose to her feet and summoned a rain of swords, which hit Jellal and sent him flying.

"Hm, not bad, but I doubt you can stand up to my abilities..." Jellal laughed as he shot bursts of star energy at Erza, which hit home and sent Erza flying back in earnest.

"Not good..." Erza sighed. It seemed those demons she had faced prior were not the strongest stock among them. This Jellal far exceeded what Erza had known in the past to expect from a demon.

"Well, this shouldn't be long at all..." Yawned Jellal, growing bored with the battle, as he conjured what appeared to be a localized black hole and fired it towards Erza.

"One thing left to do." Decided Erza, a steel resolve dotting her face as she summoned a weapon unlike any other; a katana blade that would focus all of her power into one devastating strike. Here was hoping it would be enough. She charged at the black hole, and sliced her way through it, her momentum carrying, and she struck Jellal, slicing him in half as well. As that all happened, his cursed power faded, and the tethers placed upon Lucy were slowly loosed. Lucy began to fall from the relatively high point and Erza rushed over to catch her. Erza held the dying blonde in her arms, not sure what to do, or even to say. It didn't seem like Lucy could hear her anyway. While ruminating on exactly where she would go from there. Everything suddenly went white.

"Congratulations, your sentence is over." Said Makarov, giving Erza, Lucy still in her arms, a warm smile. "I am terribly sorry for doing so, but it seems you may have redeemed yourself. All that time on earth without any meaningful destruction, and a good deal of benefit to people's psyches, particularly the woman you are now holding."

Erza faltered. A bit embarrassed, but soon that gave way to joy as Lucy suddenly awoke and kissed Erza hard. "Lucy." Gasped Erza, as she alighted from Erza's arms, and inadvertently began floating in the air.

"I know the both of you wanted to come here, both as goddesses." Explained Makarov. "I think you've earned it, especially after handling that troublesome demon."

"Thank you so much, I promise to do all I can as a goddess." Said Lucy, as she was led by Erza to the latter's chambers.

A/N: Thank you all for reading these first 20 chapters of Of Stars and Of Swords. I hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it, and while I may be putting this one on the back burner for a bit, I'm in no way turning my back on this fandom or this pairing. Remember, vote in that poll and let your voice be heard on what you want to see from me in the future! Until next time!