I am a bit conflicted about the ending. If he would have died, it would have been very predictable (exactly that was, what got us in the first half), but him surviving also doesn't quite satisfy me (guess it's more of a me-problem).
Obviously a one shot doesn't give you enough room to flesh out the characters and tell a story long enough, so that the reader and characters can go through a journey together (simply put, I haven't really got to know them more personally).
Tough I still wish that there would have been some sign before to tell us that there exists a possibility, however small, that he too would live, somehow. At least it wouldn't come out of nothing.