HI EVERYONE! I am back with the next book in the series! Guys I am so excited to keep writing for ya'll! Please sit back, relax, and enjoy! Go Fairy Tail! If you haven't done so, please go read Book 1: The Force Wizard! I do not own Fairy Tail!

Prologue-

The crowd gathered inside of the cathedral down the road from the home of Lena Mukai. Today was the day of Lena's funeral. Many wizards, friends, and those she considered family gathered for this day of mourning. That included her ward and young student Krysta Fairchild and her guild mates from Fairy Tail. The whole guild did not come out for this. Krysta had only asked a select group to join her. She knew that was going to recognize Dale and a few other faces from Lena's days in the guild along with her friend Zira and a couple other people from the town. But her new family wanted to be there for her too. So Master Makarov, Erza, Natsu, Lucy, and Gray joined her for this. She would have asked Wendy and Carla, but the young blue haired girl was off on a job with Lisanna and Elfman at the moment. Natsu even told Happy to go with the girls as the funeral scene was a little too sad for his little blue cat.

Krysta was grateful to them for going with her. She had sent the head count a few days before by mail to Dale once she finally had the courage to write him after she read his letters regarding Lena's passing a couple of days later. Then yesterday evening, they all boarded a train for her home town and arrived in time to join Dale for a dinner at his home. However, instead of staying at Lena's, Krysta stayed with her guildmates at the inn in the town. It was just too painful for her to be there alone at the moment.

Now Krysta stood in the court yard of the cathedral, dressed in a black dress with a set of flats on, watching as the people entered. She was nervously rubbing her hands together while being lost in thought. She was trying to mentally prepare herself to go in and see the casket. But the closer she got to the door the more her stomach turned with queasy feeling. Soon everyone who was attending was inside, except for her. Krysta glanced up as a figure approached her from the doors of the cathedral. She recognized it to be Gray. He was in a black button up with matching pants, shoes, and tie. He frowned as he approached her.

"You okay?" He asked, his voice laced with concern.

Krysta kept her gaze forward as he now stood in front of her, as if she could see what was happening right behind him.

"I… I don't know if I can do this," Krysta explained as she fidgeted with her hands.

"No one is expecting you to," Gray reminded her as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "If you want to stay out here, you can. I'll stay out here with you."

Krysta didn't answer him immediately. She just glanced up to meet his gaze. She still had that feeling like she was going to be sick. But she knew she had to go in there. She had told Dale that she could give an ullage, but now she couldn't walk in to the building. She sighed as she leaned herself forward and rested her head against his shoulder. Gray wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Thank you," Krysta started. "But I know I should go in there. It's just… I'm not ready to say good-bye."

Gray nodded. "I know, but you are not alone. You've got Dale, and Gramps, and the team. And me. We will all be there for you, okay?"

Krysta nodded against him before pulling away. "Please stay with me."

Gray nodded and laced his left hand with her right. "I'm right here."

With that, Gray and Krysta entered into the church. They moved around the edges as the service had already started and didn't want to interrupt by walking down the main aisle. Once they reached the front row where Dale, Zira, and a few other people Lena had considered family resided, they took a seat. The row directly behind them was where Makarov, Erza, Natsu, and Lucy sat. Krysta felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and turned to see Lucy giving her a comforting look. Natsu, Erza, and Gramps doing the same.

The service went off without any problems. There were many tears shed as well as several moments of laughter. When it was time for Krysta's ullage, she went up to the podium with Zira following her as extra support. Krysta managed to keep it together through the whole speech until the very end. At the end, she said:

"I miss you so much, Lena. I wish you could see all of the new friends I've made and how much strong I have become. Rest well. Good-bye… sis."

That resulted in not a dry eye in the house and Krysta breaking down against Zira once she returned to the pew. Gray reached over and allowed her to grab his hand as both of them provided her with comfort. Dale then had taken to the podium next to give his ullage. That's when Krysta was hit with the biggest bomb shell of the day. Part way through his speech, he said this:

"Now, before I finish up here, I do have an announcement. As many of you knew, Lena and I were close. I mean you have to been to be with the amount of trouble we got into." Everyone laughed as he was alluding to a few of the short adventure stories he had told about the two of them, or three of them if Krysta was there, earlier on in his ullage. "But many of you knew of my feelings toward Lena. What you may have not known was that during the many years we spent raising Krysta together, we grew even closer. And shortly after Krysta joined Fairy Tail, I asked Lena to marry me."

A wave of gasps filled the room. "Even though we never officially dated, we were practically like a married couple based on the fact we raised a kid together, saw each other every day, cooked for each other, and so much more. She made me the happiest man alive. And when I asked her, she said yes." Everyone cheered. Krysta sat there, mouth agape. "She also said what took me so long too, but," he chuckled. "That's beside the point. Anyway, we had a very small ceremony here at the church. Just me, her, and the priest as it was very last minute. Like not even a whole day after I asked her. And for the remainder of her life, I gave her the best married life I could. In every way shape and form. So Lena, I miss you much my dear. Rest well, my bride." And then the tears returned.

Not long after that, the funeral came to an end. The procession headed outside to where the casket would be buried among the many others in the church's cemetery. This part of the funeral went by in a blur for Krysta. She was almost grateful for that. And once everything was done, they returned to Dale and Lena's for the reception.

Since the two lived right next door to each other, Dale had actually knocked down the fence in the backyard between the two houses to allow for more space for the people to gather, but also the ability to use Lena's kitchen as hers was nicer and better than his. After all, he did come over for almost every meal they had. The small crowd of people gathered across the two properties. Many of them had food and drinks. Many were talking in small groups. And almost all of them paid their respects to both Dale and Krysta. She would talk with the several people that she did recognize that came to give their condolences, but there were many that she just said thank you and would then move on. A few, however, caught her before she could escape them by telling her a couple of stories between them and Lena. She enjoyed the stories, but still wished she could just spend time with her friends.

As the day slowly came to an end, everyone was soon long gone. There were a couple of stragglers that remained to talk with Dale and there were her Fairy Tail family that stayed to help Zira with clean up. Krysta, on the other hand, disappeared into her old bedroom at Lena's house. Krysta stood in the open doorway, looking longingly into her old room. She slowly entered and walked over to the bookshelves that still had items on them. When Krysta had moved out, she hadn't taken everything with her. She had left stuff behind so she could have some place to stay when she came to visit. However, now, she didn't know what to do with it all. As she scanned the shelves, she came across a series of Sorcerer Weekly Magazines that she had collected over the years. These were the ones she had drawn in and scribbled all over with markers and pens. She grabbed them and then made her way over to her bed. Sinking down onto the bed, Krysta set the magazines down next to her then slowly started to flip through each one.

"So this was your old room, huh?" a male voice spoke from the doorway.

Krysta looked up to see Gray leaning against the doorframe in the door way. He was looking at her with a soft smile. Krysta slowly nodded as she looked around the room.

"Yeah…thirteen years in this very room," Krysta said. She went silent for a moment. "I thought that it would still be my room when I would come back and visit. Now… I don't know what's gonna happen to her place."

Gray nodded. "I'm sure that it will still be your room, no matter what, right? I mean I don't think Dale is going to be selling it anytime soon."

Krysta shrugged. Gray came over from the doorway. Once he was next to her, he gestured to the edge of her bed. She nodded and he sat down next to her.

"So how goes all the cleaning?" Krysta changed the subject. "I'm sorry I'm not a big help at the moment."

"It's pretty much done," Gray answered. "And don't worry about it. No one is expecting you to clean right now. However," he paused. "You're friend Zira is scary."

That caused Krysta to chuckle. "What to do mean she's scary? What is having you guys do?"

"I mean like she is a very nice person and all. And the cleaning she is having us do is reasonable. It's just the way she commands it of us. She reminds me a lot of Lucy, but she definitely has her Erza side when she wants to," Gray stated.

Krysta laughed which caused him to smile that he got her to brighten up.

"I hope you know I'm gonna tell her you said that," Krysta pointed out.

Gray paled. "Oh geez. She's going to kill me isn't she?"

Krysta shook her head. "No, she might be slightly offended that you find her scary, but she will be extremely complimented that you compared her to Lucy and Erza. She really looks up to those two."

Gray sighed in relief. "Yeah, I noticed based off the way she was talking to them."

"So are the others still with her?" Krysta asked.

Gray shook his head. "No, they decided to head back to the inn. I told them I would meet them there. I just wanted to make sure you were okay first."

Krysta smiled and leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you for your concern," she said.

Gray nodded at her with a smile.

"So what are you gonna do?" Gray asked. "I can stay and wait here so we can walk back together."

"I don't know yet," Krysta said with a shrug. "I think I might stay at Dale's for tonight. And I know we are all supposed to head back to Magnolia tomorrow, but… but I think I might stay a couple extra days and help out around here."

"Are you sure?' Gray asked.

Before Krysta could answer, a knock came from the door.

"Am I interrupting you two?" Dale said as stood in the doorway with one hand behind his back and the other on his cane.

Krysta and Gray exchanged a glance before she shook her head.

"No, we were just talking. What's up?" she asked.

"I was just looking for you," Dale said as he entered into the room. "I've got something that I think Lena would want you to see."

"What is it?' Krysta asked unsure. "It better not be another huge secret like you two being married. I hope you know I am mad at you two for not telling me. Let alone inviting me."

Dale frowned. "Look, I'm sorry about that. I truly am. We both are. It just happened so quickly. And I did tell you in one of my letters that got sent back. Which I have those for you, by the way. But I really am sorry, Krys. We both wished you could have been there."

Krysta nodded with a frown as she lowered her gaze. "I am happy for you two. It just was a big shock to find out during the funeral. I wish you would have given me some warning."

Dale knelt down before her. He set his cane down on the ground then reached up to place a comforting hand on her knee.

"I do hope you can forgive me," Dale pleaded.

Krysta looked up at him. She slowly nodded. "I could never stay mad at you."

He beamed at that. "With that now cleared up, I wanted to give this to you. Well actually Lena did. It was her final wish."

Dale produced a folder from behind his back. He held it out to Krysta. Setting the magazine she was still holding aside, she grabbed the folder. On the front of it was a sticky note that read To Krysta. Raising an eyebrow, Krysta stared at the folder with confusion.

"What is this?" She asked.

"When Lena was resting one day, she had me going through her office to clean it out. During the clean out, I found this folder. I recognized it immediately and brought it to her. I asked her if she ever showed it to you. She said she had completely forgotten about it. She then asked me to give it to you the next time I saw you. She also wrote a note to go with it. It's inside the folder," Dale explained.

Krysta looked back down at the folder. Very slowly, she opened the folder, unsure on what was inside. Her confused gaze grew more confused as she was met with a stack of papers. She glanced up at Dale as if it was a joke, but the smile he wore told her that she should keep going. Krysta looked back at the papers. The closer she examined them the more her confusion faded and was replaced with pure shock. The paper work before wasn't just some ordinary documents. No. They were adoption papers. Completely filled out and signed by Lena and Dale. As she flipped through the pages, she noticed at these were put together several months before her fourteenth birthday. There was even a seal of approval from an adoption board. Krysta looked up at Dale with a shock expression. Even Gray, who was reading over her shoulder, gave him the same look.

"Dale…" her voice trailed off as she didn't know what to say.

"Keep going," He urged.

Krysta looked back down at the papers. As she flipped through the rest, she found the letter he mentioned. She pulled the letter and read it over.

Krysta,

If you are reading this, then that means you found your adoption papers. Or Dale did as I asked and gave them to you. Yes, what you are seeing is for real. We were going to surprise you with this when you turned fourteen. However, that was the year that we had to leave you at Zira's because our former guild mates need our help. So I told myself that I would give these to you at a later date. I admit. I completely forgot about it. I only did because in the back of my mind I thought I had given it to you already and you knew you were now my legal daughter. Well mine and Dale's even though we weren't married yet. However, even though I did not give this to you, you were and still are legally my child. I'm sorry you had to find out so late, but you are our family. Now and forever. Happy 19th birthday, Krysta.

Lena

A shaking hand came to her mouth as she re-read the letter over and over again. She then looked at Dale who was still beaming at her. He then slowly opened his arms to her. Krysta handed the paper work to Gray and moved forward into his arms. She hugged him so tightly, she might break him in half. As tears fell from her eyes, she smiled as she hugged him.

"Thank you so much for this, Dale," Krysta wept. "I mean Dad."

He laughed. "Okay, that's too weird to hear. Please stick with Dale, but," he pulled away. "I am thrilled to be your adoptive father. Well I always was, but I'm happy you finally know."

Krysta was at a loss for words, but her smile spoke volumes.

For the rest of the evening, Krysta, Gray, Dale, and Zira finished cleaning up from the reception before hanging out for a bit. Krysta had told Zira about the adoption and Zira squealed so loud it could have woken the dead. Also while they chatted, Zira was practically drooling over Gray and asking him a million and one questions. Including one if they were dating. They both blushed, but said no even though that wasn't the correct answer. They had been seeing each other for the past week to the knowledge of no one. Anyway, as the day finished, Krysta had decided to stay the night at Dale's in his guest room while Gray returned to the inn and Zira returned home. The next day Krysta remained behind as she told Gray she was going to so she could help pack up Lena's things and the rest of her stuff. Gray had opted to stay behind to help her while the others returned to the guild. They all wished her the best and their condolences again before returning to the life of a Fairy Tail wizard.

REVIEW! Hope you enjoyed it so far! And there is more epicness to come!