Copyright: I don't own final fantasy 8. How I wish I did. But nope I don't. I am in no way associated with it. Well I played it a lot. And I own a copy. Actually that's not strictly true, I just stole my brothers. But yeh, much with the not owning it or the characters.

Note: Well here's another chapter. We are getting very near to the end of the story. There's no song in this chapter because I couldn't find one I thought fitted well enough. Again not a lot of action and a lot of dialogue. But it's all pretty interesting and emotional in this chapter. So read if you want to. Lol there is a little bit of 'mental squall' in it if that interests you hehe. Again thanks a bunch to r, Rinoa the wastelander, savannahX and kirstenfor reading and reviewing. Am glad you are enjoying this story. Thanks as usual to Hannah and Wayne the rockingest people I know : ) . I am going to start this chapter with the two quotes which actually inspired it. One very memorable one from Squall which is my one of my favourite quotes of all time. And one from the vanessa carlton song 'rinse', which is another of my favourites Thanks for reading

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"How she'd be soothed, how she'd be saved if he could see, she needs to be held in his arms to be free"

"Even if you end up the world's enemy, I'll be your knight."

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Rinoa stared for a moment with utter disbelief. It was Squall. He came for her. Or had he come to hurt her. Seeing him only compounded her confusion.

The voice hissed in her mind immediately.It spoke with a mix of anger and desperation. Whoever, or whatever, this was suspected exactly what Squall and maybe part of Rinoa did; that he would be the one to save her, he could restore her faith. That he loved her enough to save her soul.

"He's here to hurt you. Don't trust him"

Rinoa immediately stood up and backed away from the door .She held her hands out in front of her and shook her head from side to side "Stay away from me" she breathed.

Looking at her ,Squall could see immediately that she was not herself. Something in her eyes seemed so different. Her eyes that had once been so soft, so warm and so gentle now seemed hollow, cold, empty and hard..

He took a few steps into the building and she tried to back even further away from him, but she smacked into the wall behind her. "I told you to stay away from me….." she said sounding even more angry.

"Ok. What's going on? I just wanna help you Rinoa" Squall said gently taking a few more steps towards her slowly.

"He's a liar Rinoa. He's against you like the rest. Here's here to hurt you"

There was something so cold and hard in her voice when she spoke that it was starting to scare Squall, but he sensed they were perhaps not completely her own words "You're a liar. I know why you're really here. You're against me. You're here to hurt me"

'No. I'm not. I'm on your side Rinoa. I just want to help you." after a few more steps he finally reached were she was standing. He reached out and took one of her arms "Just please come with me. Ok. Were just going to go home, yeah?" he said reassuringly.

Rinoa was conflicted and confused, part of her wanted to reach out to him, let him help her. But the part that seemed stronger was still being controlled by this evil voice

"Home? Home were everyone who hates you is waiting to punish you for what they think you did."

Rinoa instinctively and swiftly drew her other hand up from her side and scraped her sharp nails down the side of Squalls face, causing him to release his grip on her arm. "I am not going anywhere with you" she hissed scurrying to the other side of the room "You just want to take me back to all the others, so you can all get your revenge. You all think I'm so evil. You're just like everyone else. I know exactly what's going on. I'm not stupid Squall" there was such a painful undertone of malice and hatred in her voice.

Squall put his hand up to the 3 deep scratches on his face. When he drew his hand away, the tips of his fingers had blood on them. He knew this wasn't Rinoa's fault, he didn't even know if it was Rinoa he was talking to anymore, but he was finding it increasingly hard to control his anger. "you're not stupid Rinoa. You're crazy"

She narrowed her eyes at him " I am not crazy. I wont listen to you. You don't know what you're talking about and I don't trust you"

'This is insane Rinoa. How can you not trust me, I've never done anything against you"
Rinoa seemed taken aback for a moment she stuttered "I…." but then in a second something changed back in her, she became cold and harsh again. Squall sensed she was wrestling with herself "No. No I know I can't trust you. Everything about you is fake. All you're lies all you're empty promises…"

Squall's anger was building up and up inside him and was close to exploding "What the hell are you talking about?" he yelled

"You never loved me!" She yelled back at him.

For a moment Squall was just frozen in shock, was he really hearing this right? It was at that moment that he completely lost his temper

"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU EVEN SAY THAT?"

"because" she hissed, slightly shocked by his anger "I know"

"You know? Really. What, some freakin' voice in your head told you that? And you believe it? You really have lost it completely. After everything we went through, the fact that you could even let that thought enter your head is a sign that you have gone completely insane. But seeing as you seem to think you know so damn much about this then maybe you can do me a favour and tell me what the hell it is you want from me?"

Rinoa just looked completely confused "what?" she breathed

"I'm serious. What do you want from me? What more do you want me to do to prove to you that I love you? What cry for you? Because I've done that plenty, no matter what you want to think. What else, you want me to die for you? Because believe it or not Rinoa, I came pretty fucking close to doing that too Rinoa"

She was completely taken aback by all that, and Squall saw something in her change. He saw some of the cold in her eyes replaced with a flicker of the warm-hearted girl he once knew

"I want…." she whispered "I wanted you to keep your promise"

Something about those words, or perhaps the helpless despair with which they were spoken, seemed to melt away Squall's anger. "Don't you see? I did keep it. I'm here aren't I?"

Angrily the voice in her head boomed " Don't listen to him Rinoa. He's a liar. You know that, he was lying then and he's lying now. It's a trick. He's against you."

"But" She protested "he's…no. no… I." she dropped down to her knees and pressed her hands tightly over her ears "I don't want to hear it" she wailed

Seeing her like this stung at Squall's heart. He could see that he was loosing her. She was there in body but the spirit and soul of the girl he knew was being pulled away.

He crouched down and took her hands in his. "Rinoa. Trust me, you have to listen to me ok? You have to fight this. You can do it, you're strong. Whatever you're being told, don't believe it. None of it is right. I love you that's all you need to know"

Rinoa felt as if she was being torn apart inside. She wanted to believe Squall, and just end all of this but this voice was pulling her away, or at least trying. It spoke urgently, sounding frantic to convince her "it's lies, it's all just LIES! You're a sorceress, you're evil, no one can love evil."

"I'm...evil" Rinoa whispered

"No, you're not Rinoa" Squall said to her "I know you're not and you do to. Just fight it."

"Don't fight me child. You can not fight your future. And he is not a part of your future. Don't listen to him"

"Squall" Rinoa pleaded "Please make it stop"

Tears were starting to roll down his cheeks " I can't Rinoa, I wish I could but I can't. only you can do that. I'll do anything I can for you but it has to be you"

The voice spoke angrily, causing her head to throb "Don't listen! Trust me, I'm your only hope. I know the real you"

"No. No you don't. leave me alone!" Rinoa cried

"You can never get rid of me child. I'm a part of you. I'll always be there"

Rinoa broke into a wave of hysterical tears "Squall you have to end this for me" she squeezed her eyes shut trying to control to control the tears for a few seconds. Then she opened them and they were full of sorrow. "Kill me"

Squall's face became a mask of shock. "W-what?"

"Kill me, squall. It's the only way to make this all stop. It's the only way to stop me becoming evil…and it has to be you"

"No way. No you can't ask me to do that. I wont do that"

"Squall. You said you'd do anything for me…"

"I would. I'd do anything except that. There's another solution to this"

"No" she shook her head slowly "No, that's the only way" she started to scratch at the inside of her arm trying to dig her sharp nails into the veins beneath her skin.

Inside Squall felt as if he was completely dying. He could see that Rinoa had been driven to a point of complete madness. He knew he was loosing everything he'd ever loved. He reached out and pulled her close to him. He could feel her sobbing violently in his arms. Between sobs she whispered "Save me Squall"

"I will baby, ok. Look just keep fighting and we'll go and we'll find help. We'll go to garden and…no wait we can't go back to garden. The police are looking for you, and probably me now too."

"There's nowhere I can go Squall. You should just go. Save yourself at least"

"No. we'll find somewhere. Even it means being on the run for the rest of our lives we'll find somewhere."

"But, Garden's your home. You should…"

"Home is not a place Rinoa. My home is wherever you are ok. We can…we can go to Esthar. We can easily get you help there."

The voice hissed with rage "Help you? HELP YOU? He wants to change you. He can't accept you the way you are. You're destined for evil, he doesn't want that. He doesn't want the real you. He doesn't love you."

"You're….wrong." Rinoa cried "You're wrong and I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"

But the voice did not respond. She felt a strange and sudden calm in her head. "It's stopped" she whispered.

"You did it" Squall breathed "I think you're safe now. But we still can't stay to long here. We can't risk either of us being found. At least not yet."

"We can go to Esthar, and find Dr. Odine…and then we'll…."

"We'll figure it out" Squall said softly stroking her hair " we'll find a way" He could see something in her, something that showed that she was the old Rinoa once again. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her softly. "I thought I lost you" he whispered to her.

" I think you did. For a while at least."

"Well I'm not doing it again" he said holding her tightly

She rested her head on his chest and sighed "I'm so tired"

"You might as well get some sleep then. There's no point going anywhere now it's to dark. We'll leave in the morning." Rinoa drifted off to sleep and for once, as she lay in the arms of her knight, she had no nightmare or haunting visions of her bleak future. She was peaceful. Before Squall realised it, he too had drifted off to sleep. A few hours later he flicked his eyes open. The building was flooded with the darkness of the sky outside. Squall glanced at his watch. It was 3.23am. He was about to shut his eyes again when he heard a cloud of voices. They sounded as if they were approaching, and quickly. Immediately he jumped up and went to look out of one of the old broken windows. "What the…." he glanced at what he saw. Outside the old orphanage was an approaching group of 15 or 20 people, lots of them armed with weapons. As they got closer Squall noticed they were…Students? Students from Balamb Garden! Squinting at them Squall noticed that leading the party, holding a flaming torch, was the same troublesome student who seemed to so badly hate him and Rinoa. "What is this" squall muttered to himself. As the party came up close to the old building Squall opened the door and stepped outside.

"what the hell are you all doing here?" he yelled

The leader-student narrowed his eyes at Squall "We're here to get rid of that Witch. Once and for all."

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DUM DUM DUM! Whatever will happen next. Well you'll find out soon, as I'm nearly done with the next chapter