Rock Bottom

Disclaimer: All characters, names and places belong to their repective copyright holders
I don't own Final Fantasy VIII
I don't own Gundam Seed

Author's Notes: I've brought back the origonal Rock Bottom. It was abandoned and discontinued but now it's back and I plan to keep it. This is the one that was inspired by a dream and in turn inspired my Gundam Seed story: Seeds Sown Under the Earth's Crust. If you like it then please let me know.


Prologue - Who Wants to Canp Out Anyway? (part one)

"I know my rights!" the girl shrieked. "I deserve better than this and I deserve better than you."

The boy was taken aback by this. "You talk about your rights, but what about the way you and your father have been treating me all this time. Did you ever think about that? No, you were too busy thinking of yourself. What about me?" he demanded furiously "what about my rights?"

The girl seemed shocked by the boy's response. She soon regained her composure and a superior smirk found its way onto her spoiled rotten lips as they began to move, spreading their poisonous words that could cause more damage than the thin paper cuts of fifty razors.

"You're rights?" she said spitefully. "You don't have any rights."


State highway three was a winding road that stretched by two mountain passes before arriving at a quiet area that was often occupied by young lovers on quiet days such as these.

Beyond the winding passes, the tarmac road became one of dirt and the only thing a switched-on cell phone could kill was its own reception. Surrounding the road was lush greenery, trees and hills that the money-grubbing city developers had not yet destroyed with their bulldozers of 'improvement'.

The only sign of chaos in this serine backdrop came in the form of a small red car, a two-door coupe'. Within this vehicle were seated two passengers. One, in the driver's seat was a teenage girl. A red jacket sat on her shoulders and a smile of self-satisfaction was plastered on her features.

The other, also a teen but two years younger sat in the passenger's seat. He had a somewhat bored expression on his face and was clad completely in black.

Something appeared to be troubling him. He turned his neck to face his carefree companion who was beaming as though driving down a deserted road at an excess of fifty kilometres per hour was giving her the thrill of her life.

The teenage boy turned his attention to the radio. The speakers were blaring out the 'peppy' music of a popular rock song. The boy couldn't understand why people listened to this... for lack of a better word, this shit.

For each of his sixteen years on this earth, he had not really lived a day in his life. He had simply followed instructions to the letter. Now, he was doing something he hadn't attempted before, he was taking a risk.

The music was coming from a CD owned by the driver. She was the kind of girl that could get anything she wanted, paid courtesy of Daddy. The music was starting to give the adolescent boy a headache. He reached out with his hand to touch the volume knob. Maybe the girl beside him wouldn't notice.

She did. The subtle movement of his hand was enough to catch her eye.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Sorry" he mumbled

"Squall, how many times do I have to tell you not to touch my radio?"

"Your radio, I thought your daddy bought you this car. Wouldn't that make this his radio and his car, you don't own shit." He knew he shouldn't have said that, he just lost control. He had gone too far.

"I won't tell 'daddy' as you put it, as long as you make it worth my while." This trip was a bad idea. His companion was turning ugly.

Squall ran a hand through his thin brunette hair and rested his elbow on the car door. His thoughts were soon distracted by the sound of an approaching car. It was white and it was coming up fast.

The other car was heading for them so hastily it might have crashed. The car pulled out into the other lane so it could overtake them. Squall's companion grinned and stepped down on the accelerator.

Squall's eyes widened. He knew what was about to happen. When one driver overtakes another, the second always pulls over and allows the first to pass. It was a golden rule that all knew. When this rule was not followed it was the initialisation of a race. "Rinoa, what are you..."

"Shut up squall" his companion rudely interrupted but she didn't sound angry. On the contrary, she seemed blissful. She was laughing. She was ecstatic. "I'm gonna teach you something new. We're gonna have fun for once."

The other driver was clearly in control of an old car and couldn't get in front of them. Squall saw an S-bend coming up in the road. Rinoa must've seen it as well because she applied the brakes, slowing down to take the corner.

The other driver however, didn't slow down at all. In fact, he seemed to be accelerating.

"Doesn't he know there's an upcoming curve in the road?" Squall thought to himself.

"What's this guy thinking?" Rinoa remarked. "He's gonna crash if he doesn't slow down."

Sure enough, the other car's rear tyres locked up, drawing smoke and creating a loud high-pitched screeching sound. The rear of the car swung out and pushed the driver into the corner.

He was loosing control. He was going to crash. Squall waited for the collision... but there was none. The driver was in perfect control the whole time. He had planned it all from the start.

Rinoa was laughing again. "If we see him again, remind me. We have to ask him to teach me how to do that."

"Why?"

"Forget it! You're no fun, Squall."

Rinoa carefully manoeuvred the small car through the corner and sped up. She drove at high speed until she reached their destination − Lake Noissap.


Squall had a bad feeling about this trip from the moment Rinoa first mentioned it. Rinoa had seemed excited but squall had agreed with her father, for the first and only time in his life. This was a bad idea. For once, Squall was right. This was a bad idea.

"Damn it Squall!" Rinoa said. Squall could tell she was pissed. You didn't need a major in psychology to see that. "Don't look so smug. You're nothing without me. We took you in, we didn't have to but we did. If it was up to my father you'd have been out on your ass long ago."

"Yeah, so?" he retorted.

"So, you owe me everything! I stuck up for you. I convinced him you were worth keeping around! I guess I was wrong."

"Wow, you admitting you're at fault, I don't believe it" Squall commented sarcastically.

"Don't talk to me like that Squall, you don't deserve human kindness."

"You call what you've put me through so far kindness?"

"It's more than you deserve. I should've let you rot on the streets. I should've passed you by, neglecting your pitiful begging face. No more, I'm gonna do something right for a change. Fuck you Squall, we're through."

"What are you going to do, tell your father?"

Rinoa's eyes widened at his challenge of her threat and he smirked. Now it was his turn to feel superior. He had wounded her deeply and they both knew it.

If Rinoa's father, whom Squall was only to address as 'Mister Caraway' were to find that any discomfort was to befall his daughter on Squalls behalf, the two would never see each other again.

If Rinoa didn't want that to happen, she'd have to do what he wanted. Finally she'd have to respect him and treat him as an equal, even when the two were alone. He knew that would be killing her most of all.

"I hate you." Squall froze in shock. He certainly hadn't been expecting her to say anything like that. "Squall, just do me a favour okay?"

"What?"

"Just go and jump in the lake."

With that, she ran off toward the cementitious block of land that was commonly used as a parking lot.


The past events of that day were running through Squall's mind. He couldn't believe what had happened just as he couldn't escape the fact that he had underestimated the limits of Rinoa's treachery.

He shook his head, as though he could dismiss the dark thoughts from his mind so easily. Too bad, he thought. What would he do now, he had nowhere to go. No one would want him. He had no food, no money, nothing to offer anyone.

What was he to do? The scenery around him seemed so familiar, as though he had been in this exact spot before, not so long ago. Maybe he was lost. Was he going around in circles? He swore under his breath.

Then again, what did it matter? So what if he was lost? It's not like he had any friends he could stay with. Rinoa surly would have taken care of that. Since he had fallen out with her, he would have fallen out with everyone. He was, as of now a social outcast.

"Who cares?" he said to himself in his head. He tried to look on the bright side of this situation but was instead greeted by a sly voice in the back of his head. A voice that thrived in the art of undermining his every attempt at positive thought.

"Hermits can survive for years in places far worse than this" he said to the empty space surrounding him.

"You may as well stay here" the dark voice said in the back of his head, voicing the gloomy views of his negativity. "You blew it with Rinoa and now... Now you will be welcomed by no man... and of course, no woman. But that goes without saying."

Squall swore under his breath again. How was he supposed to know what to do? He wasn't prepared for something like this, who would be? These circumstances were beyond his control.

This wasn't his fault, he didn't tell his father to go for it. He should've known what he was risking. He had it all, risked it all and lost it all; and all in the pursuit of lust. In the end, he got caught. Of course he did, what had he been expecting, and now, Squall was paying the price for his fathers mistake.

"Fucking bastard" Squall muttered to himself. If his father wasn't already dead, Squall would kill the lustful bastard himself for putting him through this misery. After all, he was only sixteen. He had two more years before he could collect his inheritance, two long years, of what? He had no clue. No idea whatsoever. Not one. No fucking clue!

He wasn't even old enough to live on his own. The legal age for that was eighteen. He still had two more years to go, two more years of being forced to devour pre-regurgitated bullshit to please a sick master. It was funny; Squall had always thought families were supposed to stick together.

It had begun to rain. If he were in the city, the searing kiss of sulphur would be stripping away all of his woes and he wouldn't have to worry about trying to piece together the scattering shards of his sad life.

Squall continued to walk. He wandered around the place, trying to find his way but it all looked the same. He had no idea how long he had been wandering but it must have been a while. Since he had no watch and it was raining, his only indication was a feeling of exhaustion that had come over him, wrapping him up in a cosy blanket like the mother he didn't have, like the mother that was never there.

He collapsed right there and then. The sky's tears wept over the distressed condition of his body and saturated the clothes on his back, the only possessions he had, as his vision blacked out and his mind began to leave him.

Quietly, he passed out of consciousness.


There you go for the prologue, I will rewrite the remaining five chapters and hopefully upload them at regular intervals before drafting more.