Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of the characters.

xxx

Day one.

Much Later, when Freed would come to look back on his harrowing experience with bane particle poisoning, he would acknowledge that most of it blurred into one awful mass of memory: the sensation of something being terribly wrong with him, the struggle to get enough oxygen into his failing lungs and the distant but audible sound of troubled breathing that echoed his, reminding him that his team was facing the exact same fate as he was.

But, even though most of it would merge together, there was one part that stood out. He would remember, with alarming clarity, the weight of his teammates in his arms, on his back. He would remember Evergreen and Bickslow's hurt whimpers, the rattling in Laxus' lungs, the pained grimaces twisting all of their faces. And he would remember carrying them home – a herculean task in his condition, but it had been the very last thing Laxus had asked him to do, and dammitall since Laxus had sacrificed himself to save the entire town, Freed could suffer a little to get the three of them home.

(It hadn't just been a little – seconds had dragged on for hours, the prospect of taking another step had felt as impossible as hurdling a mountain, but if Freed gave up, then there would have been no one to take them home. And they had to make it home.)

At the time though, he didn't have the energy to focus on anything other than putting one foot in front of the other. He was using his dark écriture: darkness, and the drain on his magical energy was unbelievable. More unbelievable was that he was able to use it all, considering the bane particle poisoning, but he didn't have much of a choice.

Like all Fairy Tail members, he was at his best when defending others, but despite this his thoughts were making less and less sense, and it was only instinct and habit that was leading his feet in the right direction. It was a relief, therefore, when he recognised the building up ahead.

With the last of his energy, he collapsed through the door.

He had Laxus draped over his shoulders – literally the only way he could carry the man, considering he was so much bigger than Freed, and indeed most of the people in Fairy Tail. Bickslow and Evergreen, as well as Yajima – because never let it be said that Freed wasn't an overachiever – he had hanging from his arms at his sides, and when he fell, they went down with him, so he had one arm laying limply over Ever's stomach, one over Bickslow, and was slowly being crushed by Laxus. Which, normally, he'd think could be worse – but he couldn't breathe.

Breathing had been enough of a struggle before, with the bane particles slowly destroying him from the inside out, but with Laxus' considerable mass bearing down on him…

"Help!" He managed to wheeze out, frantically trying to pull oxygen into unwilling lungs.

He heard panicked cries, and then the weight on his back was lifted, and he felt himself be rolled onto his side – breathing became a little easier, suddenly. His demonic form melted away completely, and he coughed violently.

"Oh – Freed!" Mira exclaimed, falling to her knees next to the downed group. He focused on her face – white hair framing fearful features, beautiful by any measure and a huge relief to him. Because Mira was an integral part of Fairy Tail, and if she was here, then he had made it.

"H-help. Help them." He stammered out between coughs, the world tilting dangerously as colours blurred together awfully. It felt like gravity suddenly reversed, and in a panic he reached for something to grab onto, to anchor himself to the ground as it flipped. He latched onto something – a hand; it was gripping back. The white of Mira's hair washed away as if it was being smeared by a paintbrush on a canvas, and other colours – pink, black, yellow, blue… all washed across his vision.

Then they were overwhelmed by darkness.

xxx

It hard been a relatively normal day at the Guild. In fact, the only thing to distinguish it from any other day had been the concerned murmurs about the Council, but since there had been nothing anyone in Fairy Tail could do, most people were just going about their usual routine.

When Freed came crashing through the doors in a state of extreme distress, with his teammates in his arms, he caused immediate widespread panic. The closest wizards – Macao, Wakaba and Warren - had lunged to catch them, but weren't quite fast enough to prevent the four wizards from hitting the floor.

There had been exclamations and shouts, and then everyone was rushing over. A path automatically cleared itself for Mirajane, and she hurriedly dropped to her knees by Freed's head, since he was the only one conscious. Although he wouldn't be for long, if they didn't shift Laxus.

"What did this to them?" Lucy cried, pressing fingers to Evergreen's wrist, giving a worried look at what she found.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't manly," Elfman growled, anger seeping into his voice even while his hands on Laxus stayed gentle as he rolled the lightning man off his smaller teammate.

"H-help. Help them," Freed managed, even as a fierce cough wracked his body. Mira ran a hand through his hair.

"Don't worry, we've got you," she said reassuringly, taking his hand as it jerked and looking up, a determined look painted on her face. "Get them to the infirmary this minute! Warren, contact Porlyusica, tell her she is needed immediately!"

Then she activated her own takeover magic so she could lift Freed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Elfman pick up Evergreen – the young woman's body seemed tiny in his arms. Macao and Wakaba had Bickslow, while Natsu and Gray had each hefted one of Laxus' arms over their shoulders, pulling him up, while Erza rushed to help. The look on Natsu's face in particular made her heart clench – it was a distressing mix between anger at whatever had done this, and a strange sort of betrayal that Laxus, who was ever so strong, was in this condition.

Natsu would never refuse to help a guildmate in need, but she knew there some he had never expected to have to.

"Is Wendy here?" Mira called, hoping no one could hear the desperation in her voice. But they needed all the help they could get. The Thunder Legion was in such bad shape.

"I'm here!" The girl called out, running across the room. She fell in step with Mira and raised her hands to Freed. Mira shook her head.

"Start with Laxus – he's the worst case." She told her, shooting the dragonslayer a worried look. He really was – while none of them were doing well, Laxus was a sickening shade of grey, and his breaths came in short, pained gasps that kept terrifying her with their irregularity. His shaking was so much worse too.

Wendy nodded, thankfully not questioning her authority – she hoped Freed would forgive her when he woke up.

(She knew he would. If he had been awake, he would have insisted on treating Laxus first. He was, after all, devoted to him. Knowing that didn't make her feel better.)

Wendy's hands were aglow with her magic as she held them over Laxus' chest. They stayed that way as they reached the infirmary, before she finally pulled back, and turned to Mirajane with tears in her eyes.

"I-I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before! My magic isn't working, and I – I don't know what to do!" She cried out.

Mira was increasingly aware of the steady hum of voices behind her, even though she had drowned them out as she worried about the sick wizards. Now the voices were raising – concerned remarks, scared comments… the entire guild was working itself into a panic.

Cana stepped forward. "What the hell is going on? What's wrong with them?" She demanded, and Mira knew it was fear for their friends that was responsible for colouring her voice with anger, but still…

"Lucy and Juvia, get wet cloths. Levy, go research anything with these kinds of symptoms. Jet, Droy, Cana – get out onto the streets and see if you can find out what happened. I want one person at least keeping an eye on each of them. Gray, get the master. Now."

"Who the hell made you queen? Mira, we need to know-"

"I don't know!" Mira finally hissed, pulling herself up to her full height. "None of us know! But I am the highest ranking wizard here, and I'm telling you – go find out." She took in the looks on their faces, and softened slightly. "We can get our answers later – first we save them. Now hurry!"

That got everyone to rush to their appointed jobs. After barely a few minutes, Mira thought she would go mad in the infirmary – her little sister's presence at her side helped soothe her, but then, her little brother's dead-eyed expression as he stood by Evergreen's bedside had the opposite effect. And it was clear just listening to them that the Thunder Legion was in a bad way.

The stillness was interrupted by the door bursting open, almost hard enough to break it straight off its hinges.

"LAXUS!"

As the master marched into the room, making a beeline for his grandson's bed, Mira almost expected Laxus to straighten up, a glower on his face and a salty response on his lips, like he always did. This time though, the only response he gave was a strangled cry as his body twisted on the bed.

She heard a sharp intake of breath as Makarov took a long look at the dragon slayer, and Mira knew he was seeing the same signs she herself had already noted, before turning to her.

"What's wrong with him? What happened? Why isn't he being healed?" Quickly, he looked over the rest of the beds, his expression darkening further. Blood or not, they were all his children, she knew.

"We don't know." She admitted. "We…"

Before she could finish, Cana took her turn to slam the door open. This time, the wood really did splinter in her urgency.

"Master!" She shouted, a wild look in her eyes. "It's – people are dying on the streets, it's a state of emergency! Some kind of poisonous mist! There are over fifty casualties already!" She reported. "They're putting a quarantine in place. It's pretty far, we should be fine here. I don't know how Freed made it, especially carrying those four."

Makarov's expression was steadily shutting down the more she spoke. When he answered, it was in a controlled, even tone.

No one was fooled.

"Is Porlyusica on her way?"

"Yes. Warren got in touch, she is coming as fast as she can." Mira answered, relieved despite herself that he was here and taking control. She helped, sure, but she wasn't the guildmaster. This was far beyond her regular duties.

That didn't mean her job here was done. Watching the master put a small hand on Laxus' much larger one, trying to calm the younger man's weak struggles, she felt her own heart wrench painfully. Then she walked back into the main guildhall.

The atmosphere was charged, and she felt all eyes on her as she walked in.

"The master is with them. All we can do is wait for Porlyusica." She told them.

"That can't be all we can do!" Gray argued, already standing in his underwear.

"We can't go to where the quarantine is. This was a mist; there's no one to beat up. What do you suggest?" That was Lucy, the situation sharpening her tone into a deadly point. Gray turned a cold glare her way, which she met evenly, but then Natsu interrupted.

"It was Tartaros. We all know it was." He stated, no trace of his usual cheer in his voice, and Mira was sure she felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees in a way which had nothing to do with Gray's magic.

Thankfully, Erza stepped up. "That may be true, but we have no proof. Furthermore, even if we did, there is still so much information lacking. We need to find out what happened to the Thunder Legion. What took Laxus out."

Because that was the main question, wasn't? What was so powerful it took down an S-class dragon slayer, and left him on death's door?

As if on cue, the door swung open to reveal Porlyusica, her sharp eyes assessing them as they all rose and turned her way, their eyes brightening with cautious hope at the sight of her.

"Shut up. Leave me alone." She snapped, cutting off their greetings and exclamations, striding purposefully towards the infirmary. Erza and Mirajane fell in step after her, and soon everyone was trampling after her, squeezing into the infirmary and keeping out of her way she examined her patients.

Then they all heard about bane particle poisoning, and Freed woke up lucid enough to tell them what Laxus had done, what he had sacrificed himself for. Or what he had tried to, at least.

No one blamed the master for lying to Freed, but it was a twist to the knife that Tartaros had buried deep in their hearts.

For this, for them, Fairy Tail would go to war.

xxx

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to drop a comment if you have the time and inclination!