Well, this is the first chapter for Double Cross. I'm just posting this up just to see if people would like to read the rest, I have about several chapters written already, and if I get enough positive feed back and actually right another chapter I'll post chapter two :)

The idea came to me out of nowhere to be honest. I've recently got into Fairy tail and I've just fallen in love with the characters. I'm not very confident in my writing, I just think I'm not very good with expressing the characters and I drop projects after a day or two like hot coals, but this story... once I got the idea and wrote the first few sentences of chapter one, I haven't been able to stop writing since! It's been brilliant how I've made these awesome characters work in my mind and their conversations and actions have just typed themselves.

Hope you like this and hope to see reviews and feedback. Theories are welcomed, I like to see how people try to pick apart stories and almost get what the mystery is. I may dedicate chapters to the person who actually gets where I'm going with this but that'll probably be after several chapters in. If there are any mistakes then alert me and I will quickly sort them out. This story is set around after Edolas Arc but I started writing when I was on chapter 103 of the manga so I had to include the other characters and such into the story, they may not have important roles but the idea of Nakama and close bonds are still there. Mainly NaLu pairing, (I'm not too sure about Lisanna being alive again and everything, she's not going to have that much of a role to be honest. Sorry Natsu/Lisanna fans) and so many others as well, Gray and Juvia, Gajeel and Levy, and much more. It's all Lucy centric because something about her just intrigues me. Her mother, the stellar spirits, everything.

Oh jeez I'm rambling. Any way here you go and thanks so much for reading.

Disclaimer: Yeah, Like I would ever own something as awesome as Fairy Tail. Not mine.

EDIT 17/8/11

Just a couple of things I wanted to change, any spelling mistakes that sort of thing. My first edit! You know if people actually commented about the mistakes I've made then this would be a lot easier!

1. Betrayal

Lucy could handle words.

With them, she could create stories, make her characters come alive. Every laugh, every tear and every decision was created with words. Words express, words give meaning. Words can convey your hearts desire. Words evolve and can be manipulated. Words can be exchanged and debated. Lucy loved to use words. She used words to write to her long dead mother, pouring her very soul onto the pages that could never be read by the intended recipient. She could dictate her life, her adventures and her fears to these letters that made very detailed accounts of her teenaged years. Wrote of her friends, her nakama. Of Natsu, Happy, Gray, Erza and the rest of Fairy Tail. One day she hoped that her novel, filled with her words, would be read and re-read. That her children may even read the letters she had so lovingly wrote as a coping method to survive a lonely childhood. Yes words, Lucy found, were her constant.

But right now words failed her.

Right now she had to stare in disbelief at her guild master, Makarov. The man she respected and admired, though not for his perverted habits which she could live without, but for the strength, wisdom and love he felt for his guild. She stared as his magic steadily charged the air, devastating power only enhancing the killer intent palpable in the air. Intent directed at her.

And the only word she could think of would haunt her thoughts and torment her nightmares. This moment would be forever etched into the minds of her nakama and friends, forever be the moment they all would wonder how everything could have gone so wrong.

"Why?"

Her breathe froze the air, unmissed by the guild members that have gathered. Natsu to the left, confusing and hurt written on his boyish features as he observed the scene with wide eyes fixed on the two. Erza's features were cold and unmoving, the stoic expression betrayed by shaking hands and eyes full of pain. Happy was shedding silent tears. Gray had a look of disbelief and horror, weak knees supported by a shocked Juvia. Mirajane was sobbing openly, her brother and sister unable to comfort her because they were both frozen in place. Cana was uncharacteristically sober. Levy had both hands to her mouth, tears shining but never spilling. Beside her stood Gajeel, silent and as stoic as Erza, eyebrows knitted in resolve and a reserved Panther Lily by his side. Fried, Evergreen and Bixlow were silent with Charle looking away in regret. And dear Wendy hadn't a clue of what was going on.

And she couldn't meet his eyes. Those ever trusting eyes that promised so much hope and joy. Her best friend, who had done so much for her and the guild, who had saved her more times than she could count, who had comforted her and brought her to the life and people she loved with all her heart. People she would, could, never betray. And yet here she was facing judgement, from the man who claimed she had.

"Why?" She gasped again. If she wasn't mistaken, she swore tears started to well in Makarov's eyes.

"Because, my child, you were never here to begin with."

Varying degrees of shock and confusion caused the guild members to gasp while Lucy stayed silent. For her numbness had taken over and frozen her limbs and heart.

"I don't understand, how can I not be here? It's me! Why would I do this? I'm right here and I'm telling you I didn't do it!" tears were falling now, and she was helpless to stop them.

"No. You haven't been here, not for a long time now." Makarov said, raising one arm.

"NO!" Natsu was suddenly standing in front of her, arms stretched wide in protection and defiance.

"Natsu" Lucy murmured.

"She didn't do anything! You can't do this! She's done nothing! Nothing!" He shouted. And yet Lucy could hear the doubt and the confusion. She too didn't understand what Makarov meant by her 'not being here' but right now she only felt affection and tenderness for Natsu, who would risk everything, even in a situation with such little information.

"Stand aside Natsu."

"No."

"Stand aside"

"I said NO!"

"Look at her Natsu!" Erza yelled, her lips trembling as she flung her hand at Lucy's direction. "Can't you see?"

"See what! It's Lucy, I tell you! I know her! I trust her!"

"And we'll get her back. I promise you we'll get her back." Makarov said, his eye's holding sorrow and regret.

"What do you mean 'get her back'? She's right here!" Natsu mimicked her thoughts, his confusion and loyalties at war. Loyalty and respect for the guild, or loyalty to her.

"Stand aside. Please. It's the only way."

"I… No. NO!" His voice broke from the stress.

She made her decision "It's… it's alright Natsu. Move." Lucy whispered. She was so scared. The tears were not stopping and all she wanted was to be in his arms, in everyone's arms. But it was because of this fear that she had to fix whatever this was.

He turned his head to look at her, his eyes tortured. "Lucy…" His shoulders tensed in resolution. "I won't."

"Natsu please. Trust me. Just like always, just trust me." She pleaded. Their gazes held, for seconds or for a minute they didn't know. But still, the world dissolved and it was only each other that mattered, as it always did. With what was seemingly tremendous strength of mind and muscles, he lowered his arms.

"Ok." He whispered, his shoulders slumping in defeat but his eyes bored into her's with the fire that burned within him in every day since she'd known him. God help them if that life ever burnt out. "Ok." He moved away and Lucy was faced with Makarov once again. Natsu's fingers fisted and his mouth was set. As if he was preventing himself from tearing over and sweeping her away from this judgement.

"Lucy." Makarov's voice was remorseful and infinitely sad as she left her eyes from Natsu to him. "I swear. We will find the people who took you and we will end them!"

Lucy sobbed. "I… I don't… I'm so scared." Mirajane, if possible, cried harder and Levy buried herself into Gajeel's welcoming embrace. Erza turned away.

"Don't be. You're going to be brave, child. You are already are so brave, the bravest of us all… to endure for so long…"

"I don't understand!" She cried out. "I'm here! How can I be anywhere but at my home! I can't not be a Fairy Tail!"

"It will be fine." He said, ignoring her cries. "However far, however long we will find you!" Bolt's of electricity erupted from his fist, the hand growing in size at an alarming rate. Natsu yelled.

"Please. Don't" Lucy staggered backwards. "Please." She was sobbing openly now and yet through her tears she could see Elfman, Macao, Droy and Jet holding a struggling Natsu back and Gray looked ready to pounce their Guild Master himself.

"Be brave. Be the bravest, Lucy Heartifilia."

And whiteness then engulfed Lucy completely. The last things she heard were the Guild members cries, Happy and Erza's tears and Natsu's horrified yells.

Lucy Heartfilia, stellar spirit mage, was dead to Fairy Tail.

One month earlier.

"…"

"Natsu, you're going to wear a hole in the carpet."

"…"

"Natsu, you driving me insane, stop pacing!"

"…"

"God damnit, she'll be here any minute now so just sit your ass on something!" Gray Fullbuster growled, irritated and itching for a fight.

"Shut up ice head!" Natsu snarled. And resumed his pacing.

"Natsu, calm down. Gray's right, she'll be here at any moment." Mirajane said soothingly, wiping the glasses in her hands dry.

"Three weeks, she goes away for three weeks without telling anyone and all we get is a note saying she's gone away to see her old man! What if she's decided that she doesn't want to come back?" Natsu exclaimed, the question having been asked many times over the last few weeks and yet still without an answer.

Gray instantly tensed, remembering how Natsu had decided to run off in a frenzy to get Lucy back from her father and how he and Erza had to drag him back kicking and screaming like a two year old. And the time before that. And the time before that. Secretly he was glad of Natsu's impetuousness, knowing that if he and Erza didn't have to stop Natsu every time, they both would have done the exact same thing. No one would be willing for Lucy to go back home, she was an important part of Fairy Tail and would be greatly missed if she left. Fairy Tail was her home now.

"Jeez if I'd known you'd be such a lovesick puppy I would have stopped her leaving ages ago." Gray smirked. Natsu rounded on him.

"Say that again, Squinty-eyes!" He roared but before the two of them engaged in another tussle, someone behind them tsked.

"Honestly, I go away and you two still fight. Nothing changes." Lucy grinned, one eyebrow raised. She was suddenly engulfed in a hug.

"LUCY!" Happy squealed. "I missed you, I really did! I wanted to get you back but they always stopped me!" He started to bawl, tears flowing like a river on Lucy's shoulder. Lucy laughed, suddenly uncomfortable with the tears but she hugged the eccentric cat none the less.

"I missed you too Happy." She said, unaware of the evil glint sparking in Happy's suddenly and suspiciously dry eyes. Natsu and Gray, surprised into silence by Lucy's arrival, narrowed their eyes at the devious cat, Lucy's back to the two boys. Happy stuck his tongue out at them.

"So did you get me anything?" he asked. Lucy was on instant alert, not fooled in the slightest but she instead set him down on the bar table and fished in her bag. Happy bounced in excitement.

"Of course I did!" She exclaimed in a falsely bright voice. "Some one has to give treats to the strongest guild member in Fairy Tail!" Happy stuck his tongue out again at Natsu and Gray, both displaying expressions of comic outrage and annoyance. "Close your eyes!" Lucy smiled at the cat who eagerly complied.

If he had only allowed himself a peek he might have been saved.

When Lucy told him to, he opened his eyes and was struck dumb with shock and fear at the sight of a collar around his neck. A symbol of entrapment and slavery to a cat that revered freedom like a bird. And to make things worse the collar was pink. A very bright, fluorescent, clashing with blue fur pink.

"GYAHH!" He shrieked, grabbed and wrestled with the collar, nearly choking from his frantic clawing. Natsu and Gray roared with laughter and Lucy giggled with a hand over her mouth.

"It's good to have you back Lucy!" Gray clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"It's good to be back-" She turned to the ice mage but then stopped as she looked at him. "Gray your shirt!"

"Damn!" He cursed before diving under the table where he had spotted his shirt.

Lucy laughed and turned again, only to be crushed in Natsu's warm embrace.

"Don't leave without telling us again!" he pouted in her ear. Lucy smirked and linked her arms around his waist, returning his hug.

"Did you miss me that much?"

"Yes! All the food in your apartment is gone and I couldn't eat for a week 'cause you weren't there to put more food in your fridge- OW! Luce, what was that for?" He exclaimed, clutching his now throbbing head. Lucy huffed and flounced off, shaking out her sore hand, hiding her smile from him. Natsu stared after her before grinning again. It really was good to have Lucy back.

Squeals erupted across the guild as Mirajane and Lucy reunited, Levy soon joining them with the love struck duo of Droy and Jet. Soon Elfman, Lisanna, Wakaba, Cana, Macao, Wendy, an indifferent Charle, Bisca, Altraz and even a grumbling Gajeel gathered around Lucy. Lucy was finding it difficult to hug them all and answer their multitude of questions.

"Lucy!" A voice came from the stairs and everyone turned to see a smile on the usually stern features of Erza. "I see you've returned."

"Yep!" Lucy smiled brightly, enveloping the older woman in a tight hug when she reached the crowd, not really caring about the hard armour. Erza was shocked for a moment, her eyes meeting surprised and teasing glances from her guild mates before returning the hug, her cheeks a faint pink.

"Aw, Titania's gone soft." Natsu chuckled. He yelped when Erza suddenly loomed before him, her knuckles cracking.

"You say something Salamander?"

"N-n-no! Nothing Erza ma'am!"

"Baka" Gray snorted.

"Shut it douche!" Natsu snarled at him. This was a mistake as Erza slammed both men's heads together, mercilessly. Lucy, Levy and Mirajane sweat dropped, a still struggling Happy in danger of falling of the bar and, worse, losing the war against pink.

"Lucy you're the worst!" He howled. Lucy took pity and moved towards him, a recovered Natsu pulling himself up to sit on the barstool next to her, clutching his twice abused head.

"That's what you get for telling fibs and trying to take advantage of me" Lucy scolded half heartedly, smiling as she set the cat free. The cat flew to Natsu's shoulder, sulking and planning his revenge on the blonde. Around the three the guild settled into routine, Gray still looking for his shirt.

Lucy ordered a drink from a smiling Mirajane, suddenly feeling Natsu at her shoulder and quickly becoming aware that Natsu was sniffing her like a dog.

"N-Natsu what are you doing?" She stammered, surprised and a little wary of him. He leaned towards her and sniffed her neck, as usual not understanding the concepts of personal space. Lucy edged as far away from him as she could, feeling awkward as she gazed at his furrowed brow and curious eyes.

"You smell weird…" he pulled away.

"What does that mean!" Lucy huffed in anger, perplexed and irritated with Natsu's strange behaviour.

"I-I mean you smell different." he stammered, wary of Lucy's wrath that rivalled Erza's "All clean and stuff…" Lucy frowned in confusion before a bulb went off in her head.

"Oh, yeah now you mention it, the house is going through some spring cleaning." The house. Not her home, the house. She didn't feel the pangs of remorse like she used to when she first came to Fairy Tail and she felt almost giddy from the realization.

"Well now you're back you can smell just like the Guild!" he exclaimed loudly, a happy grin spreading across his face and dazzling her like a mini sun.

"What? Alcohol, wood, vomit and ashes from your flames when you fight Gray?"

Sarcasm was lost on Natsu.

"Exactly!"

Lucy laughed at her friends excitement.

"Oh you're back Lucy dear."

"Guild master!" Lucy beamed at the old man. Makarov chuckled.

"How was your trip? You're father was very worried when you arrived late to the 'Heartphilia manor'."

"He contacted you?" Lucy asked in puzzlement. Makarov nodded. "That's odd. Usually he doesn't care if I'm late."

"Well he did sound irritated, tried to accuse me of wrongful abduction of his precious daughter." he chuckled again.

Lucy father had managed to do well at the Merchants guild in Alcalypha. He had gathered enough money to built a new house, a rather small one but it was cosy. Why her father had named it Heartphilia manor she didn't know, whether it was to remember how things used to be or he still had that pig-headed pride that nearly cost him everything. He had sent her a letter four weeks back and asked her to stay. She had agreed but had been cautious. She still wasn't ready to forgive him and her father had understood, leaving as much distance between himself and her throughout her stay.

She was only suppose to stay for a few days but then her father had suddenly dropped that bombshell of a news… She'd had a pretty bad few weeks if she was perfectly honest.

She didn't know which was worse, that she didn't make a head way with reconciling with her father or that.

Her father had actually found servants to clean the house… did things ever change? Would her father…

Lucy felt her face grimace with such thoughts.

At Makarov's strange revelation she suddenly remembered how her keys had mysteriously went missing when she had stepped onto the platform. She had spent two hours at the station, only to find that she had accidentally dropped them behind a bench. How she had dropped them there of all places was beyond her. She shuddered when she imagined Aquarius' reaction the next time Lucy summoned her.

"I lost my keys. Not something for him to worry about, I was only late by two hours. Not that he would care." She sounded bitter to her own ears, a dark cloud hanging over her head.

And then her sun rose to chase them away.

"Silly Lucy, always so irresponsible." Natsu laughed, throwing an arm around Lucy's shoulder. Lucy's teeth clenched in anger and for the third time that day Natsu suffered brain damage.

"Can you stop hitting me!" He wailed at the blonde.

"Maybe it's her time of month." Happy mused. He was on the floor unconscious within seconds.

"HAPPY!" Natsu yelled. Lucy sipped her coffee angrily, trying to pretend that there wasn't a blush on her cheeks and that Mirajane wasn't giggling at the blonde's expense.

"I want you to take a mission for me." Makarov murmured ten minutes later to the man next to him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Really." The man growled. "Jeez old man, some people would think I was your mule."

"Don't tempt me into giving you that collar Lucy got for Happy." Makarov smirked, relieved for the second of humour in an otherwise grave situation.

"Wouldn't be caught dead in it. Clashes something horrible. And I'd kill all who would ever think of me wearing that thing. You wouldn't want that." He scowled. Makarov smirked again.

"So who do you want me to investigate? Someone in the Guild?"

"No. This person's not in the guild. At least I think they're not. Maybe it's my old mind playing tricks."

"But you still think something's up." The man grunted before folding his arms, staring at the assortment of guild members.

"I wish I was wrong."

"… But you never really are. " The man finished for him. Makarov sighed.

"Will you?"

"You had me at mission. Then lost me at the collar threat."

The old man chuckled again. "…Ten tonnes of all the iron you can eat and an S-class mission with free beer for a month."

"Don't need to go that far. But since you're offering…" Gajeel grinned slyly at the Guild master. "I'll take it."