"I've got the mother of all headaches…" Fred groaned, sitting up cautiously as Mrs Jones walked in, her face creased in concern.

"I got you some aspirin, and some coffee to help you wake up. Loszina said to your dad that you should be there for about midday, and we've let you sleep in until ten, so now you should be getting up. The shower's free."

Fred groaned again and took a sip of the coffee, opening his eyes properly to take in his room and his worried mother fussing like a hen around him, leaning him forwards slightly and positioning his pillows under him to make him more comfortable. Fred slouched back into them and gladly accepted the aspirin, his mind weighed down under a huge block of lead that was the knowledge that today his uncle would not exactly die, but he would cease to exist.

The shower did little to ease his mind, although normally hot water and shower gel helped Fred to calm, soothed him slightly. Fred sighed and was about to wrap the towel round himself when there was a knock at the door and Daphne's voice filtered in.

"I thought I'd come along, for support. I don't want you to have to do this alone."

"Dad's coming as well, but thanks for coming," Fred replied, wrapping the towel firmly round his stomach and walking out. Daphne smoothed his hair back and grabbed another towel from the banister to dry his hair. Fred bowed his head slightly and let her rub the moisture from it, knowing it would be sticking up in all directions when she took the towel away and not caring.

Daphne slid the towel back onto the banister and once again smoothed Fred's hair down, trying to even it out and get it back into its normal shape. Naturally it went all over the shop, and for ten minutes the pair's shared mission was to get it back to how it should be. Fred sorted out the front and Daphne attacked the back and sides, which hurt at times but at least looked good when she'd finished.

"There," Daphne said gently, flicking a stray hair back into place and picking up some clothes that Mrs Jones had pointedly left on a chair. "Get those on, we've got half an hour before you need to leave. I'm right outside the door."

She left to give him his privacy and he got changed slowly, hesitantly, dreading what was to come. In an odd way, his mind was trying to block it out, almost make it like it wasn't happening and this was just another boring normal day when Daphne had just happened to pop round out of the blue and he had had a beer the night before and now had a headache from it. Although that might have been a combined effort, with the beer and the sleeping pills working together.

Fred barely even tasted his breakfast; the half hour passed in a haze and the next thing he knew he was in the back of the car, leaning back against the seat and with Daphne's arms round him as the car backed out of the driveway.

Fred held her back, thinking hard about what he would have to do. Was it killing his uncle? Was it merciful, was it brutal- what was it? His mind almost buzzed as he tried to work it out. Mr Jones didn't say a word until he parked the car at the base of the hill and got out, opening the door for Fred and watching as his son unclipped his seat belt and slid a leg out, standing up on the ground and shivering slightly as a chill wind whipped his fringe over his eyes.

"Come on then," he murmured, his own heart weighed almost as much as Fred's, and slid his arm around his son's shoulders as Daphne held him round his waist. Fred smiled slightly at the feel of them supporting him as he took a step towards his uncle's doom, and then another, and another, and then too many for him to count. He bowed his head and resolved not to let his eyes fill with tears. Crying wouldn't help anything now; he would have to do what he had to do.

The walk seemed to take barely any time at all, and before he knew it Fred was standing in front of Loszina and Myrrh in the clearing and his uncle's spirit was a little way away, leaning against a tree as if he didn't have a care in the world. His face conveyed a hard-to-read expression- thankfulness was in there, and happiness, but there was also fright and sorrow and apprehension.

Fred turned and spoke straight to his uncle, his resolve not to cry still there, an iron core on his heart.

"Are you ready, Uncle James?"

James Jones nodded, his luminescent eyes drinking in the sight of his nephew standing resolute and pale-faced but strong in the centre of the glade he had been trapped in for so long and was going to be released from now.

"Yes. And Freddy… I don't blame you for this. I prefer it to being stuck here forever. Don't feel like you're killing me or hurting me, because I won't even feel anything."

Fred bowed his head again, still unsure.

"Go on, kiddo," James said softly, using his old name for his nephew, his affectionate name, to try and calm him, make him feel that everything was OK again. It couldn't be, but he could try and soothe him a little.

Fred began to spread his arms, to start the process of becoming an official Mana-Bringer, but then faltered, biting his lip and looking once again to his uncle. Daphne walked over and put her arms round him as James walked up and stood in front of him, staring into his son's eyes, refusing to break eye contact with him.

"It's OK. Just- get it over and done with, kiddo. I don't blame you, nobody here does. I promise. Just do it, and it'll be over before you know it."

Daphne walked back to her position near the entrance of the glade, standing next to Mr Jones. James stayed where he was, and Fred's eyes never once left his uncle's as he held his hands out and bowed his head as the mana began swirling round, pulling the air with it and throwing Daphne's hair over her head like a scarlet halo. Loszina and Myrrh were huddled together against the onslaught, and normally Fred would have been unable to even stand, but due to his uncle standing right in front of him and the force with which his mana-body repelled the mana and wind around them, he was barely even feeling a light breeze.

And then the air began dying down. The mana settled on trees, people, the earth.

Loszina and Myrrh stood and performed their clan's special gesture in perfect unison, obviously practised, making the star sign on their chests and thrusting their chins skywards.

And James Jones disappeared.

Daphne rushed forwards as Fred reached out, like a child, and touched the empty air where moments later his uncle had been standing, his face a mask of sadness and loss.

"Freddy…"

He turned and she threw her arms round him, letting him hide his face in her shoulder and not caring as she felt a tear seep into her clothing. His resolve had failed; he had lost his uncle for a second time and he was unable to stop the tears.

"Don't think that you're not supposed to cry," she murmured to him as she pressed her cheek against his thick soft hair, a tear running down her own cheek at the emotions in the little glade. "Crying is fine. You can cry. I don't mind in the least. You're OK."

He nodded slightly and Mr Jones put his arms round his son's shoulders as well, guiding him towards the car and home. Loszina and Myrrh had agreed he could return when he felt he could face the glade and its inhabitants, the Arruichi.

It took a few days, for him to be able to say he wanted to go back, to start the job he had trained for.

But he did.

"You ready?" Fred asked, smiling as Daphne carefully positioned herself under the tarpaulin and nodded, grinning as well.

"Ready. Just channel it away from me."

Fred nodded, no longer smiling, his face a mask of concentration and effort.

Daphne watched as a wind began swirling around Fred's extended hand, which shook slightly but which he had the strength to hold reasonably still, and seemed to be in a tunnel of some sort, which was strictly controlled. The air allowed her to see the actual boundaries of mana as Fred channelled it, biting on his lip and narrowing his eyes, and Daphne's eyes widened as the flowers in Mrs Jones's flower patch suddenly and miraculously rejuvenated and began flowering.

"Mom asks me to do that almost every day, she doesn't want her violas to wither," Fred said, withdrawing his hand and his face relaxing. The mana settled and the air went back to normal almost immediately.

"Wow," Daphne said, smiling and forgetting herself after seeing such an amazing thing happen right in front of her eyes and courtesy of her best friend and boyfriend. "That'll be handy when we're living together…"

She stopped and gasped, her hand travelling to her mouth and slapping on top of it with a sharp crack of skin on skin. Fred turned and stared at her with a strange expression on his face.

"When we're living together? Is that saying that you want to… to live with me?"

Daphne thought quickly, but her mind was whirling in circles.

"Well… I sort of… I didn't mean to say it like that… but I was thinking… if you wanted to… we could… when you move out… we could rent somewhere… together… and just sort of… be together…"

Fred smiled slightly.

"You're embarrassed, so I'll allow you a second to get your cheeks under control. They match your hair, though."

Daphne giggled and put her hands up to them. They were cooking.

"Ooh…"

Fred laughed as she pressed the backs of her hands against them, and walked over to her, his eyes staring into hers, burning but not fiercely, burning with something that Daphne had never thought she'd see in them. Want. Desire. And maybe… maybe love?

"And I'm moving out soon. I accept your offer."

Daphne laughed as his face coloured slightly as well and threw herself into his arms, holding him as tightly as she could without crushing the life out of him and pressing her lips against his, certain that she would never, could never love another man the way she loved this one.

"I love you," she whispered, losing herself in his aqua orbs of eyes. He wasn't much better; it was impossible, in that second, for either to look away.

"And I love you too."

Daphne smiled a smile of true love and kissed him again just as the sun dipped under a branch and cast its setting rays on them, bathing them in orange and caressing their features.

Can life get any better? Fred thought, holding Daphne still as they slid onto the bench and snuggled against each other. The look in her eyes was adoration.

No. I don't think it could.

And just for a second, the air seemed to form a familiar face, a smile that Fred would never forget, and James Jones lived for one more second in his entirety, watching Fred with the girl he would love for the rest of his life.

I always knew you were destined for things greater than riches, kiddo.

Daphne slid her hand into Fred's and her other into his hair as he fell asleep with his uncle's final words echoing in his ears and her presence warm and loving against him.

A/N: Woo! Done. Don't forget to review, and thanks for bearing with me and reading! A special thanks to Angel1008, Swamp Fairy and Hayles45 for help and encouragement and just lovely comments- you guys make all the difference, I live for my writing and you make it so rewarding. Jazzola :)