Wow. Just a good, if not deeply haunting story. You missed some commas in there, and a few apostrophes when you used the word won't, but the story itself shrugs off the errors well enough that the ending hits home, and hard. I've never been very into DS9, but even without a great deal of knowledge, the story itself is very good. The touching relationship he had with his young apprentice adds a whole other layer, as well. Well done!

Author's Response: Yay! Warms my little heart that you like it. And yes, the grammar here is not good, but I got me a beta shortly after this, so most of my fics should be ok.