Charles K. Hurst wrote:

If I am wrong, I apologize in advance, but I did not see a [darkfic] or
any other warning (beyond the title, in retrospect) about the nature of
the story before I read the whole thing.  Please do so next time!  Not
everyone finds darkfics something they can read.

I want to amplify what Charles just said, please label your fics.
I think that since the list came back up, some of us have fallen 
off on our labeling disipline.  There have been two or three stories
where there was nothing in the subject line to indicate what series
the fic was related to.  

Please take a minute to type [ranma] or [1/2], or some such.
I'll be careful to put [AMG] on mine, so those of you with
Goddess avoidance don't have to look at my fics.

Personally, when I really get into a story, "me" stops existing and is
replaced by the universe of the story.  The net affect is that I deeply
experience every bad and good thing that happens to the characters that I
begin to love or care about.  The fact that I am a powerless spectator
makes it worse.  So a sad outcome leaves me feeling many things, rage,
hatred, a desire to smash things, a deep apathy for life, to name a few.
Nothing that makes me want to wake up in the morning! ^ ^ I try to avoid
darkfics for this reason.  :)  "There Be Monsters," as the old maps say.

I relate to this.  I'm also a "full imersion" reacer, or whatever
Charles and myself and any others want to call ourselves.  I prefer
to prepare to endure the dark before I expose myself to it.

I'll also agree that Zen wrote an excellent story.

And I'm one of the people who desparately needed cheering up
after reading it. 

Jim Nutley
Jim-Net Prime Node
A Kinder, Gentler, World Conquering Artificial Intelligence