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They walked around to the parking lot and Quistis slid her SeeD card through the machine and the lock turned green and beeped. She pulled the door open, Kelsey beside her. They walked to the end of the garage. It was full of vehicles. SeeDs didn't really need cars. Balamb was so close and SeeDs got car rentals for free. The lower students couldn't go out as late until they were at intermediate level and they had to pay to rent cars. SeeDs were free to go out whenever but they did have guidelines. As one of the top SeeDs and SeeD instructors at Balamb Garden, there wasn't much restricted to Quistis. She slid her key through the door to the rental office. No one was there. She planned on being back before the first guard came to work at 6:30 but night rentals were only open to SeeDs and all SeeDs had to sign in and out on a log.
Kelsey pointed this out, but Quistis said nothing. She picked out the keys to the car at the furthest end of the hanger. Then they walked to it.
They were speeding towards Balamb with little conversation. Kelsey had no idea where they were going. Was Lisse really an insomniac or had Quistis told her to meet at 4 in the morning? Kelsey thought both scenarios sounded highly far-fetched.
Suddenly, as though trying to avoid something in the road, Quistis pulled over onto the side of the road and turned the car off. Kelsey didn't see any lights nearby and that ruled out that they were going to Lisse's house. Kelsey thought that maybe they were meeting somewhere. That somewhere being wherever they had just stopped.
Kelsey expected some kind of hint from Quistis to let her know that they were in the right place. Perhaps a simple, "We're here" from her lips or the knowledge that she was getting out of the car but Quistis just stared through the windshield. Kelsey thought she looked as though she were about to cry but she didn't speak. After about five minutes, Kelsey ventured out.
"Are we meeting her here?" Quistis hung her head but remained silent. "Is she not here yet or something? Is that why you're not getting out?" She shook her head.
"She never leaves this place but to dwell in the hearts of others." Kelsey was taken aback. It was as if Quistis was a different person, sitting there staring into the darkness. Her words were strangely poetic and elegiac.
"Well, if she's already here, they why aren't we getting out." Quistis shot her a nasty look.
"You haven't seen where we're going. I have and I know what its like. You have no idea. You will never know Lisse like I have and therefore you can never appreciate how much I suffer every time I walk through the gates to see her."
"I'm sorry. You're right. I don't know where we're going or what we will see." Quistis sighed.
"Then
I guess it is time for you to understand." Quistis slowly got
out of the car. Kelsey's adrenaline was pumping. She was going to
meet the person Squall was so intent on keeping secret from her. She
felt so free breaking his rules, without a care in the world.
Quistis
began to walk. It was hard to make out anything. It was dark and the
blue haze hadn't even started over the horizon. Without the car
lights, she was hardly distinguishable from the air around her. She
could barely make out Quistis and stayed close by her side. She
seemed to know where she was going without the aid of light. The only
sounds that echoed through the stillness were the sound of their feet
imprinting the dewy grass and the crickets scurrying at their
movements. After walking a short distance, they turned. Kelsey had no
idea where they were but continued after Quistis. Then abruptly, she
stopped. Kelsey thought maybe they were lost but Quistis wasn't
talking or looking around, from what she could see and her eyes were
beginning to adjust to the dark. In fact, Quistis wasn't doing much
of anything but staring down.
She pulled something out of her pocket and knelt down. With a burst of eerie light, Kelsey saw that Quistis had lit a candle with a lighter from her pocket. It threw into her eyes the dismal scene around her. She was standing in a graveyard. Quistis looked over to see Kelsey sharply intake her breath.
The tombstone nearest her read:
Lisse Leonhart
The dates labeled her a child, merely ten or eleven years at her death but the date of death was almost ten years ago. The dew from the air made the candle sputter and hiss as it crept up towards the wick and made it shine sinisterly in dips of unearthly light.
Kelsey didn't believe her eyes.
"Leonhart?" She asked in a whisper.
"You know the name?"
"It's not a very common name!" She said, almost hysterical.
"No it certainly isn't. I've only ever come across one family with the name." Kelsey's head was spinning. Surely Quistis was talking about Squall. She had graduated only a year before him. They were both SeeDs. She remembered Squall saying that she was a fair teacher when she told him that her class was first. Did that mean...
"There is a boy at the school with the name Leonhart." Kelsey stated, trying to not to let Quistis know she knew Squall.
"I see you are well informed of the Leonhart's. Yes, Lisse and that boy were very close."
"They were practically the same age!"
"No, Lisse was a year ahead of him. My age."
"Were they related?" Quistis nodded. Kelsey swallowed hard. "How?"
"Lisse was his older sister."
