Laxus's POV

Laxus carried Wendy in his arms as he and Mirajane walked into the guildhall from the train station. They arrived early that morning and went directly to the guild since it seemed Wendy's condition worsened on the train, so much so that she hadn't even been aware of the train to become motion sick. Laxus kept himself together the best he could since he couldn't let himself depend on Mirajane to watch them both throughout the night. Mira also kept her promise and stayed by Laxus's side without any complaint or hesitation.

"Hey Mira!" Lisanna was the first to notice her sister's arrival but her smile disappeared as soon as her eyes landed on Wendy's limp body in Laxus's arms.

"What happened?" Elfman came forward, his voice causing everyone else to look up and come over to see what had happened.

"WENDY!" a frantic Carla came bolting through the air looking hysterical.

Laxus let the exceed fly in front of him as she got a closer look at the sky dragon slayer but Laxus still kept Wendy wrapped up in his arms. He was waiting for Gramps to appear and wouldn't let go until his orders were made.

"Laxus, bring her up here to the infirmary," Makarov appeared at the top of the stairs looking pale at the sight of Wendy.

Laxus obliged and followed him into the infirmary which was more packed than usual. Levy and Gajeel were sitting off in the corner with Lily, looking like some sort of ragtag family. Laxus hated to admit that the feeling inside of him might be reminiscent of jealousy with how easy they were making it look to just sit together like that. On the other side of the room Gray was sitting looking thoroughly exhausted but looked in good shape compared to Natsu who was sleeping in the bed in front of him.

Porlyusica directed Laxus to a vacant bed off to the side and that's when he finally noticed the young boy Romeo also passed out on a bed looking worse for wear. Laxus suppressed his snarl of frustration by how ragged his guild looked but he didn't want to stir Wendy who felt fragile in his arms.

He gently laid her down and Porlyusica wasted no time in getting to work. Laxus felt Mira standing just inside the doorway which helped keep him in check rather than speaking his mind like usual.

"Wait, where the hell is Lucy?" Gray asked as he looked between Laxus and Mira.

It was dawning on the guild now that Lucy hadn't been brought back. When Laxus and Mira were sent to retrieve the girls, no one considered the possibility that someone might not come back.

"Lucy?" Natsu suddenly stirred awake and Gray internally reprimanded himself for being so careless around Natsu.

Although Gray was growing more impatient and worried by the second that Lucy wasn't walking through the door of the infirmary, everyone knew it wasn't good to alert Natsu of such a situation.

Natsu sniffed the air instinctually and found that there were more people in the room than normal.

"Wendy's back… Laxus and Mira brought Wendy back," Laxus watched the elated expression on Natsu's face and hated knowing it was about to disappear. "But where's Lucy?"

"Laxus, what happened?" his grandfather interrupted in an exasperated voice.

Laxus hated thinking what Makarov must have been putting up with in his absence with Natsu and the others. Laxus also hated that he obviously let his grandfather down and things were presumably about to get even worse now. Even if he knew there was nothing he could have done since Lucy was apparently in another realm, he felt he had failed the guild by coming back from an incomplete mission.

"Well, the little one was the only person who actually knows what happened. We showed up in the morning like we were supposed to, but they had fought that—that thing the night before," Laxus growled at the word thing since he still wasn't sure what all this talk about a devil meant. Laxus handed the note he was given by the mayor over to Gramps who frowned while reading it.

"Who is this HD person?" Makarov barked impatiently after finishing the short letter.

"We don't know Master," Mira interjected. "Wendy only called him The Devil."

The entire room went pin drop quiet before it was torn through by Natsu's howling. Gray immediately jumped on top of him to restrain him but Natsu took his renewed energy to claw at Gray and tried to buck him off. Erza had since entered the room after seeing Laxus and Mira return, so she immediately went to help Gray in his efforts. Thankfully Porlyusica had a sedative ready and took advantage of Erza's assistance to hold Natsu down. After a bit more thrashing, Natsu passed out again but everyone stared at him, waiting for him to rally.

However Natsu stayed asleep while it set in for everyone else that Lucy really wasn't coming home.

"So, you're telling us that she was gone when you showed up?" Gray asked in a grudging tone.

"When we arrived, only the pipsqueak was there, already passed out from battle," Carla gasped hearing that Wendy was in such bad shape when they arrived.

"So, what does this mean for Lucy?" Erza asked, wanting to hear Master's plan to proceed immediately.

Everyone was agreeing that a plan needed to be made while others complained that no one knew where to start.

"Laxus," Mira's sweet voice somehow cut through the rising panic.

Laxus immediately looked up at the woman he felt wholly drawn to and deadpanned at the resolute expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like I can't keep my promise right now," Mira stated gently.

She didn't look scared but was being honest as she felt something violent tugging inside her. Something she knew was connected to one of the many demon souls living inside her.

Laxus watched in horror as Mira's silhouette started to fade, starting with her fingertips and then up until only a shadow was left behind before disappearing all together.

Laxus's primal roar reverberated through the infirmary and down into the guildhall. Everyone else froze, it now completely apparent that Mira was Laxus's mate if there was any previous doubt. Also that somehow Fairy Tail was being stealthily infiltrated and taken down one-by-one. The number of occupied beds and now two disappearances spoke volumes of how truly vulnerable Fairy Tail was to this enemy.

"The question you should be asking yourselves is what does this mean for Fairy Tail?" Levy's voice rose above Laxus's growling which was uncharacteristic for the usually gentle-natured solid-script mage.

"Levy?" Gajeel glared into the eyes of the woman he loved and only saw a stranger looking out of them.

"That's all the slayers now, and you are the last one Gajeel Redfox."