All right, I'll keep this short so that you can get to the story.

Leap of Faith is a full-length, post-game Shadow fic. Yes, I have finished the game; no, this does not take place a generation afterwards. Try one week.

[pause, as ten thousand readers click the "back" button in unison]

Ahem. As I was saying, this kind of limits my options as far as plot goes; fortunately, this is pretty much untouched ground in the realm of FF VI fanfic. (What can I say? I seem to have a talent for finding umined niches. Of course, they're usually unmined for a reason, but still.)

Anyone still here should be warned that you're going to hate my guts by the time this is over--if not for my "scenery = BAD" style of writing or my haphazard pacing (both in and out of the story), then for what I'm going to do to the characters. No one, and I mean no one, comes out of this story without being dragged through the mud and/or the wringer. Setzer fans in particular, beware--I detest Monsieur Gabbiani, and it shows.

How bad will it get? This story is rated "R" for a reason. Bad language, graphic violence, rape, murder, suicide, and various sexual acts and deviations are all present, and in many cases prolific. I will try to avoid anything explicit with regards to that last item. However, I make no promises.

Acknowledgments (to be promptly denied by all affiliated parties, of course) go to Jeff Singleton, for proving with his The Last Days that it was possible to write a good post-game Shadow fic; Second Impact, Madam Hydra, Taiko Hirichi, et al for writing fanfic good enough to inspire me, of all people, to apply butt to chair and finger to key; and to Nobuo Uematsu, for being the musical god that he is.

I am also deeply indebted to Shack and Kami, my beta-readers, without whom this story would be far worse than it already is.

Legal and technical preliminaries are in the story proper.

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