Disclaimer Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8, Square Soft does....Madonna owns the right's to the song.

Note: This fic takes place after the game, and Rinoa and Squall have- well just read...but in my fics the 'original' couple always prevails...

~*Drowned World*~
-------------------------
I traded fame for love
Without a second thought
It all became a silly a game
Some things cannot be bought
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rinoa ran threw the halls of Balamb Garden not caring who she ran into, what she stepped on, or what rule she broke. "Rinoa, what's wrong!?" Zell screamed as he began to try to catch up with her, but once he caught up all he got was a tear that seemed to have fallen into his face, he wiped the small spray of water away as he stopped, "A tear?" he quietly said looking at the small drop of water that was nicely keeping its shape on the end of Zell's finger, he shook it off and began to run the opposite direction of Rinoa knowing that his friends were all behind him, when he reached his friends they all asked. "What happened Zell?"

"Well, she didn't tell me anything but she did give me a tear to help us figure out what was wrong!" Zell said bending over and resting his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath, everyone looked at each other, "Squall" they all said in unison, turning toward the dorms. Once at Squall's dorm, Selphie was about to knock but decided against as she heard sobs coming from Squall. "sobs" she said pressing her ear up to the door. "What? what is it?" Irvine asked propping his ear against the door as well, they both listened, "I hear," Irvine began, "I hear loud thuds" Irvine said pressing his ear even harder into the door. "GODDAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a voice yelled from behind the door, Selphie and Irvine backed away from the loud sound. "here" Quistis said pushing Zell and the others out of the way to get to the door,"Squall? I'm coming in there!" Quistis yelled as she slowly began to turn the knob. "Don't!!!" he screamed, there was a loud smash from behind, "He's throwing things!" Quistis said turing to face her friends, everyone ducked except Quistis knowing what was coming she quickly pulled the door open and ducked as soon as she a large vase hurdling toward her face, the friends quickly scattered trying to avoid getting hit. "Tell us what's wrong!" Selphie screamed avoiding more objects being chucked at her. Squall after hearing this topped throwing. "Only Selphie can come in!" he yelled, he motioned Selphie into his seemingly broken room, while she was walking in Quistis mouthed her good luck, she nodded and continued into his room as the door closed right behind her, blocking anyone else out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got exactly what I asked for
Wanted it so badly
Running, rushing back for more
I suffered fools so gladly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She just ran, she couldn't think of anything else to do, well there was crying but she was already doing that. She began to remember why she was crying

*~Flash Back*~

"Squall?" rinoa asked hesitantly. "Yes?" Squall asked, walking over to her. "well...I...uhh...need to talk to you in your room, privatly" she said quietly so no could here but they did, people began to whistle and shout. Squall blushed but not Rinoa, she just took Squall to his dorm. Once they were both inside his room they sat down on his bed, he took her hands in his and began to rub them, she pulled away from his firm grasp, he gave her a wooried look but she just ignored it, this was it she was gonna give it to him straight in the face, maybe it will be better that way she thought, "I think we should see other people" she said as the words tumbled out of her mouth with different tones attached to each word, Squall felt tears slide past his eyes, they didn't want to well up, they just decided to poor out like a waterfall, he just stared his cheeks so glossy she began to see her reflection them, "Squall?" she asked getting closer to him, he just backed away. "Please leave" he calmly stated. "but...."she began but was cut off by Squall's husky voice. "I SAID GO!" he yelled begining to sob, she also began to cry, he never yelled at anyone before, not even seifer, he took out a rose from his pocket tha he planned to give to her, he got up went to the window, he made sure she could see and tossed the rose out the window. and with that she ran off.

~*end flashback~*

This memory only made her cry harder then she already was, she was outside on the plains of Balamb as she stumbled and tripped face first into the mud, 'why am i crying?' she asked herself picking herself up frm the mud and wiping it off of her face, 'I broke up with him, unless I still, no! no i dont anymore" she yelled to herself ', he didn't let me finish!' she got up from the ground as her week legs began to wobble beneath her from all the crying, 'hey! I'm single! I'll go on dates, yeah lots!' she slowly made her way back to garden, 'I guess all that running has really put my mind off Squall!' she thought excitedly, 'no wait, I just did,' she thought, 'your so stupid' she heard someone say to her mentally, "who said that!?" she called out, ' you will never get over him!' it said again, 'besides he might be to good for you, you barely gave him a chance, how long have you guys been going out what? 2, 3 months at tops!?' those words kept questioning her over and over and over racing in and out of her head one by one until she answered, she couldn't answer any of them, 'You can't answer them can you?' the voice asked sounding slightly sympathetic, 'he loves you, you love him, there is no problem here.' Rinoa nodded in approval to the voice and began to race back to garden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now I find
I've changed my mind
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once she was at the dorms, and was at the trun you make to get to Squall's room and many other rooms, her smle turned to a frown as she found all of her friends leaning outside his door, but there was one person missing, Selphie. Irvine took a glance at me then did a double take as he stood up slightly stumbling as he got up. "What's wrong with Squall!?" were the first words out of his mouth. "I have to talk to him!" she said running past all of the bodys on the floor near Squall's door, she got to his door after jumping over Quistis. She turned the door knob, lighty, it wouldn't open...she turned the knob faster and harder again and again, it wouldn't open, "Damn" she cursed as she turned her back to the door and propped her self against the door, she heard a soft voice mumble something behind the door, then a very stern and cold one, 'Selphie and Squall,' she thought she propped her ear up against the door, to get a much better listen than before. After about a minute of listening the door swung open and rinoa stumbled forward because of her loss of support but Selphie caught her with all of her strength, but quickly began to collapse under Rinoa's weight, Irvine hussled over and helped Rinoa off of Selphie, once Rinoa was standing properly she pushed Selphie out of the way, and began to search the room for Squall, there was no Squall here. "What happened to him!?" she asked running to Selphie. "I can't tell you!" she said her voicing dieing down as she continued the sentence. "What!?" Rinoa screamed as she turned to his room for any trace of him or his leaving, no trace, "The window!" Rinoa exclaimed, as she ran to the window and stuck her head out of it, "SQUALL!!!" she screamed, thunder and rain were her only response. she drooped her head down, and began to clime out of his window. "What are you doing Irvine yelled to her. "I'm climing out of a window, nothing more!" she yelled back already out of his dorm and running across the wide open spaces of balamb's plains. Selphie raced to the window to jump out and stop her but thought better of it.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The face of you
My substitute for love
My substitute for love
Should I wait for you
My substitute for love
My substitute for love
I traveled round the world
Looking for a home
I found myself in crowded rooms
Feeling so alone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selphie sprung from Squall's dorm and raced to the Gardens entrance, the other's followed Selphie racing down the halls knocking down as many students as they could. Once outside Selphie looked around and found the road that lead to Balamb's parking lot, she ran into the garage as the other's followed close behind her, she dipped her hand into a pocket as she raced for her car, after fishing threw her pocket enough she pulled a pair of keys, she shoved the keys into the lock and twisted it to the right, the door clicked open and Selphie dove in, the other door opened and in piled in Zell, Irvine, and Quistis. Selphie not caring if anyone had there seat belts on, backed up and drove off into balambs plains. "Selphie!" Quistis yelled to her, "I can get you into big trouble for you not having your seat-belt on!!!!!!" Quistis said trying to grip herself so she wouldn't bash her head against the roof of the car as they went off road. "Shut up Quistis!" Selphie yelled, she shut up quickly, and Selphie began to drive faster, chasing after Squall and Rinoa....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had so many lovers
Who settled for the thrill
Of basking in my spotlight
I never felt so happy
The face of you
My substitute for love
My substitute for love
Should I wait for you
My substitute for love
My substitute for love
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rinoa ran and ran and ran, until she just couldn't anymore, she felt to her knees sobbing of pain and of anger to herself for saying those thing she didn't mean, 'why did I say them?' she suddenly began to question her actions, 'you were scared of losing him,' the voice said, 'but I just broke up with him' she calmly stated to the voice, 'you were scared of having your heart broken by him or something that might tear you both apart so you decided to end it now,' the voice responded, 'I should not have said that, I want to live out my life with him as much as I can' she said finding new meaning to get up and keep running for him, 'got to keep running for him, this time I'm not running away, I'm running for him!' she said as she began to run again, all the pain in her knees disapearing quickly, after running a good 2 miles, her clothes soaking wet and not getting anybetter due to the rain, losing her breath, she felt her world become a carousel as it spun around and around, she had stopped running and now was just wavering her body walking slowly in all directions trying to keep forward, until she felt something catch her foot and she fell face down into the mud......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mmmmm, ooohhh, mmmmm
Famous faces, far off places
Trinkets I can buy
No handsome stranger, heady danger
Drug that I can try
No ferris wheel, no heart to steal
No laughter in the dark
No one-night stand, no far-off land
No fire that I can spark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

She got up slowly using all of her energy just to get herself onto her knees, something was missing she thought to herself, she felt around her kneck, the knecklace she thought as her eyes widened she pushed herself to the ground again frantically searching for it, until it dropped in front of her face.....

Selphie drove like a maniac searching for the both of them, Rinoa her primary concern. "What did Squall talk to you about?" asked Irvine, but Selphie wasn't paying attention, she was to busy trying not to make the car tip over on the screeching turns she made. "You guys!" she yelled turning her head to the back, still managing to keep her eyes on the 'road', "Help me look! Or I'm letting you out here!" her commands were quick and obediant, and everyone followed with no questions asked.....

Rinoa looked up to find a red puffy eyed Squall she looked down at her necklace and gave it back to him. "I'm sorry" she said quietly, "I didn't mean to..." she said looking up into his eyes. "Why did you end what we had, Rinoa?" he asked, she looked down to his boots. "I was scared, of losing you...." she trailed off. "You just did." Squall said turning his back towards her and began to walk away. "Wait!" she called out, he stopped and turned around to look into her now puffy red eyes, "I was scared of you running off dieing in the midst of battle, I was scared of you feeling that I wasn't good enough for you or I didn't set your standards on how women are!" Squall leaned down in front of her trembling, wet body. "Your the one I set standards on, Rinoa" he said, a small touched his face, the smile quickly drifted to her as she began to smile. "Then will you except me back?" she asked hesitently. "Have I ever not excepted you back into my arms?" her smile grew wider as she slung her hands around Squall's neck.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mmmmm, mmmmm
The face of you
My substitute for love
My substitute for love
Should I wait for you
My substitute for love
My substitute for love
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selphie drove even faster now, they had been searching for hours now, they were all beginning to worry now. Until she saw two lone figures standing in the middle of the field hugging, she stopped the car and got out, and was met by a down pore of water, everyone else single filed out of the car and stood watching the couple hug each other, just standing there, unaware of anything......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now I find I've changed my mind
This is my religion

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????

Well? Was it good bad? was it to rushed? tell me! I did feel like this wasn't my best since it didn't take as long....but I hope it lives up to my hype! R+R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!