Thank you all for the positive feedback. I really appreciate it, particularly as I wrote this so quickly. I wasn't even planning to post it at first.
I will say that despite the fact that I said I was originally planning for this to be a sad story, it was much shorter in my mind then. Now, I'm still toying with the same storyline, but I doubt it will end poorly. There is just likely to be a part in the middle that's not so happy. On the other hand, maybe I'll decide not to deal with that at all.
I actually have most of the next chapter written, so I'll likely post again in a couple of days.
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