Intermission: No Time, No Place.

The confines of the prison were driving it insane. That is, more insane than it already was.

There was barely enough room here to house its thoughts, never mind its body, but soon. Very soon its time would come.

The Serpentine creature metaphysically curled itself tighter around the mind that it inhabited, struggling to maintain the already tenuous hold on the owner. After all, the slightest mistake and all it's plans would come to naught and that was unacceptable.

Had the creature a mouth, it would have smiled. Things at long last, after literally millennia, were finally happening as they should have, before the accursed Hyne had banished it to the outer most dimensions, imprisoning it in a cell with no bars or walls. But very soon…

The thoughts and plans were good to pass the time with, but the creature had things to do. The connection it held with its reserve plan was already waning, much faster than it had anticipated. It had to go back to its original plan, one conceived long before the bodies of these children had even been envisioned.

Using the subtle connections Hyne placed in all humans, it was able to slowly gain control of various people, although at the moment the control was limited to a few adjustments of the primitive's perception. It pleased it to know that it was able to use Hynes own devices to reclaim what it had lost millennia ago.

The body it inhabited trudged slowly along the corridor, the slow place maddening to a creature that once upon a time was able to move at the speed of thought, when it came across one small human that could help its cause a great deal.

One that had power, albeit in a raw untrained form.

Reaching out into the simple human mind before it the connection was made and the link solidified. One more convert for the new future, it mused with no small amount of satisfaction. For the smallest of a microsecond the grip on the mind it inhabited relaxed and a slight tremor spread through the human's body. Stringently control of the motor functions was reaffirmed. That must not happen again. Control was everything and everything relied upon control. Control was its survival.

"Quis? Are you ok?" Rinoa asked, concerned as she reached out to steady her friend who seemed to have had a tremor of some kind.

"I'm fine Rin, just… I'm just worried about Squall and the others, they've been gone for almost three weeks now and we last heard from them a week ago. It's not like Squall to be so quiet for so long. It doesn't seem right."

A pensive look passed across Rinoa's beautiful features for a moment before her face cleared and a smile appeared on her lips.

"I know Quis, but I'm sure there're fine. I can feel it, kind of. Squall and I have always had this sort of … bond, we just know each other that well I guess. I know I'll see Squall again and I know he'll be safe and sound."

Again a slight shudder passed through Quistis' body as she looked deep into Rinoa's brown eyes, then she finally smiled, as if a large weight had been lifted.

"Yes, yes I suppose you're right. I'd best get up to the office actually, there's so much paper work to do I just don't know how Squall copes!" She said, the burden of her responsibilities at Garden coming down around her.

Rinoa however was having none of it. There was something wrong with Quistis, some deeper fear that hadn't been dissuaded. She was concerned, and wanted to help. "Would you like to meet up for lunch?' she offered, eager to get Quistis to open up and speak her mind, 'The Sea View hotel in Balamb does great salads."

"That would be great, thanks Rin, if I see you here at about 1:30ish? I'm sure I can drag myself away from Squall's desk for a little while."

"No problem, I'll see you at half one then Quis."

"Looking forward to it Rin. Ja ne."

"Ja ne." replied Rinoa, in her usual upbeat manner and started to walk towards the Quad, where she was due to meet up with a few of her aides to go through the negotiations between Timber and Galbadia that she was adjudicating.

Quistis also turned around and headed toward the main lift to go up to the headmaster's office and as she did so a slight smile formed on her lips and her sapphire eyes twinkled gently.

The creature tightened its hold on the mind that was moving away slowly. Another human serving her, another step closer to its goals. Everything was going perfectly.

Control was established.