At 01:35 PM 10/16/97 -0400, Douglas A. Reeves wrote:

Don't read this if you haven't yet read Bubblegum Collapse!  You've been
warned!

David Johnston wrote:

More importantly, when someone dies that ends hope.  No matter how
depressing a fic might be, as long as people remain alive, they may
still be able to change something.  Ranma can leave his abusive
spouse, or Akane her neglectful one, Ryouga can get over his despair
to some extent and find a different girl, Kodachi can get therapy,
Tatewaki can kill himself, whatever.  Things can always get better,
as long as people stay alive.

And yet, consider this... when I wrote Bubblegum Collapse, I considered
as an alternate ending allowing Nene to live.  Then I realized that the
story would be much, MUCH darker if I had done that... forcing her to
witness the consequences of what she had done firsthand, to see the
devastation she had wreaked, the lives she had taken... *shudder*

I couldn't do it.  It was too much.  There are fates worse than death...

  I had forgotten about it, but there was a fic where some supernatural
power gives Kuno the choice of which of his loves he will gain.  No one
dies, but the story was really depressing, more so than many other fics
where someone dies.  

                                                                       dml