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Squall was having a rather rough time of it. He was standing just inside the door of his room with a sobbing thirteen-year-old on his chest. Having mostly avoided dramatic women all his life, it was kind of uncomfortable to have one on him, weeping frantically.

She seemed to have sensed his uneasiness.

"Kelsey…"

She looked up through her tears.

His heart stopped. He knew that face.

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"LISSE!" The boy was screaming for the girl, but she was much weaker than he was and was using all her strength just to reach out for him. He was fighting with all his might to grab her own outstretched hand but two adults were holding him.

"Let's go!" The children's mother was yelling in her struggle to keep the little girl back.

"LISSE!" The boy continued to shout loudly. The girl began to cry and her mother continued to drag her away. She was weeping, losing her vigor, already weak from being so sick.

"I don't want to go!" She was shrieking at her mom.

"We're leaving!" She shouted back at her daughter. She began to haul her daughter away by the stomach. Her face protruded over her mother's shoulder, bouncing away as she was flailing every piece of her body.

"Squaaaaaaaaaall!" She was screaming, kicking and screaming and pounding her little fists, which hit her mother in the eye, making her drop the girl who hit the floor in front of her mother's feet. But as her mother bent over to pick her up, ignoring the searing pain now in her eye, the child escaped between her mother's legs. She pulled her frail body to her feet and ran to the boy who was still putting up a terrific fight to get back to the girl. She ran to him, dodging her mother's arms. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. Her mother ran back and grabbed her arm as tight as she could, ready to yank her away. The little girl winced as the man grabbed the boy's arms to do the same. They were being torn apart. "I love you." He whispered a second before their separation.

She looked up through her tears. His heart broke as their grip slid apart.

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Squall was suddenly jolted back to his seemingly nonexistent reality. He looked into the same face as he had so many years ago. He felt his uneasiness drop off him. He saw this girl. He saw that she needed him, without him she wouldn't survive. Her tearstained eyes were still staring at him as a confused expression played on his face. He dropped his keys as his fingers went limp. He unexpectedly pulled her into his arms and hugged her as though he not seen her for years, as he had not.

After a minute of this, the girl pulled away. He felt something inside his heart sting suddenly as though his touch was disgusting to her. She had the visage of uncertainty, but he was so sure. How could she not be?

"How do you know your little sister's face?" She asked, her cheeks still shining with tears. Her speech seemed more confident, as though she were demanding an answer to something she'd been dying to know but wasn't able to look him in the eye for fear of the answer.

"How could I not?" He reached for her shoulder, but she didn't seem to want to look at him, and she stepped out of reach, as though he had lied to her and she knew it.

"Don't lie!" She demanded again.

"What reason would I have to lie?"

"We have not met since I was six years old. Though you recognize me like you saw me just this morning."

"And I ask, how could you know so well your big brother's heart, when we have not met in so long?"

"How could I not?" She replied, mocking him.

"You want to know how I know your face. You look just like Lisse."

"Who is Lisse?" He opened his eyes, bewildered that she did not know.

"Mother...never told you?"

"I have not seen mother since I have seen you last." His eyes were still confused. "Mother and father were divorced after you were sent here." She added.

"It should not matter, father never told you?" He shouted, burying his face in his hands.

"About what?"

"Lisse."

"I've never heard that name before." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "But who is it?"

"I can't tell you." Squall told her.

"Why?"

"It shouldn't matter. You said you knew my heart and if you were telling the truth you should not ask questions about it."

"Squall!" She reached for his arm but she turned away. She pulled her hands to her heart.

"I don't want to talk about it." Squall said sternly. "Now, please, come and talk with me. It's been years since I have seen you. I want to hear of your life."

"No!" She tore towards the door and wrenched it open, hesitating whether to step over the threshold or not. She swallowed hard, eyes full of tears again.

"I know you don't want to go." Squall said quietly.

"You leave me no choice. You're refusing to speak!"

"I am refusing to speak on that issue, yes." She turned and he was again struck by her appearance. He closed his eyes in his own grief. She sensed his pain. Whoever this Lisse girl was and whatever relationship she had had with Squall must've really hurt him, thought Kelsey. She closed the door and returned to the bed where her older brother was sitting, waiting for her.