Chapter 8 - First Mission

The girl with dark black hair and deep red eyes slowly opened her eyes, with her black hair covering her cheek. She tucked them away, hazily gazing at the roof before sitting up on the bed.

She got up before going to freshen up and have a quick shower. She stood in front of the bathroom's mirror, seeing herself in black overhauled shorts and a white top. Although, her eyes stayed on her breasts and body, "Too young."

She sighed again, wearing her shoes and going out to the standard room. She looked around to see the boy she was trying to find.

"He's late," Tifa took a breath, calming herself, taking a stance as she narrowed her eyes.

She started with a punch, starting a routine before moving on to the kicks, one after the other. If she did it at her average speed, then the routine was ten seconds, and if she did it slowly, she could drag it to 3 minutes. She could squeeze it down to three seconds if she did fast without losing power. It used to be faster than that, but this was all her body could do right now.

She did her routines, one after the other, training, until about thirty minutes passed that she stopped.

"Hah, Cloud…he's so late."

"Not really; I have been here a while."

"Hm?" Tifa looked up, turning her eyes around the room to find Cloud leaning against the wall, with his hands crossed, waiting for her to complete her training.

There was a blade in his hand, dark grey, which he was watching, studying.

"You are still fascinated by that Keyblade?"

"You still practice every morning," He let go of his grip on the blade's hilt, and it disappeared.

Tifa clenched her fingers, smiling, "Not everyone gets gifts from that place. We common people have to train."

"Common, you?" Cloud scoffed, "Where is she?"

Tifa sighed, "She's probably still asleep since we are late, then I'll wake her up."

Cloud curled his lips, sighing, "Fine."

Tifa looked over her shoulder, watching him summon the Keyblade and open the lock on the space before putting his hands inside, bringing out tools to make potions one after the another.

She chuckled silently, walking back into her dorm room, gently pushing Aerith, "Aerith, wake up."

"No~~~" Aerith turned over in the bed, burying her face in her pillow.

Tifa rolled her eyes; it was apparent she was awake, but she didn't want to get up.

She sat down near her head, leaning on the headboard, "You know, Cloud has started making potions because he knows it will take long before you get up."

"Aw, Cloud knows me so well," Aerith gently chuckled on the pillow, relaxing.

Tifa stroked her head, "Come on, Eri, wake up? Or I'd be forced to use that."

Aerith felt a sudden shiver down her spine and leaned forward, curling up, "No…."

Tifa put her hand inside the blanket, placing it on Aerith's waist, and she felt her eyes trembling in fear of what was to come.

"Eri…"

Aerith bit her lips, sitting up, "Fine!! Fine!!! You devil! I am awake!"

"Gosh, if you are, then go; you wake me up," Angelina yawned, turning her face to the other side and closing her eyes.

Aerith puffed her cheek, only for Tifa to force her to stand up, dragging her to the bathroom, throwing her in, "Be out in fifteen minutes!"

Aerith leaned on the sink, yawning, "Yes, yes…."

"Hurry up, or someone might see Cloud making potions."

Aerith slowly opened her eyes, opening the faucet, "That's blackmail…."

Tifa chuckled, waiting for Aerith to get ready until she came out, reminding her of the time in between before bringing her to the standard room.

Her eyes went towards Cloud, who had just completed making the potion and had put it on the side to brew.

"I don't like seeing him like that…."

"I know," Tifa whispered. They had learned much about this world and its ways in the past few months. It could be said that their practical magic knowledge had reached that of third years. It was possible that they'd have completed the fourth-year course by the end of the first.

But that wasn't all that changed; what changed the most was Cloud, whenever he created potions, it was like he was a different person, and since they knew that it was the voice of the woman, they noticed some of the feminine movements in most of Cloud's actions when he was like that.

Especially now, when he was a child, and he had grown out his hair a bit, he gave the feeling of being a girl.

That is not what they disliked; that part was cute; they disliked that he was so liberal in stepping in another personality.

She pressed her lips, "Cloud, I can mix potions quite well. You don't have to do that, you know?"

"I know, but this is practice for much harder ones, and then we have to make new ones too."

Aerith crouched before him, cupping his cheeks, "Cloud, when you say, we…who do you mean?"

"I…mean…"

"Cloud, how about you stop? Aerith and I can do this. We already have enough money, so you don't need to work so hard."

"Tifa, Aerith, I am alright," Cloud stood up, putting the potions and containers inside the space, "If I feel like I am slipping, I'll stop. Although, that wouldn't happen. It would be something to worry about if it were one voice or even two. There are so many that they wash over one other; rather, I can be sure of who I am because there are so many."

He sealed the space with the Keyblade and started to walk towards the exit, "So don't worry so much. I won't break."

Tifa let out a sigh of relief and smile when Aerith whispered in her ear, "You better make your move…or I will."

"Get your mind out of the gutter; we are still kids," She pulled on Aerith's cheek, pulling her forward.

"Ow, ow, ow, Tifaaa~~! Sorry~~~!!!"

Tifa smiled, having returned to the track of their typical day. It was hard to have ordinary days for some time now, not since they had the Quidditch matches.

Since then, Cloud's popularity had shot through the roof, and even she started getting some extra attention. Once that started, others students started noticing other things like their academic performance and performance in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Fred and George didn't spare any efforts to bring even more attention and then used these fans to start making more contacts and selling the potions. It could be said that life is good right now.

It was good because soon, the winter holidays were coming, and things were bound to calm down.

Tifa let out a troubled sigh, tucking her hair behind, when she noticed two pairs of eyes on her.

"It's nothing. I was worried that everyone would be in a festival mood."

"Oh, you mean that your fans wouldn't give you the chance to breathe? That's what you get for being polite to everyone."

Tifa puffed her cheek, "Mm, not everyone can be like you, Cloud. Even if you ignore them, they swoon all over you."

"I know, right," Aerith put her hands together, whispering, "I love Cloud even more, when he ignores me."

Cloud shot a look at her, "You hit your head somewhere. Maybe when we fell?"

Tifa chuckled, rolling her eyes, "We should make haste if we want to exercise and come back before everyone's filled."

"Right," The three of them made their way to the ground to jog and exercise, but their footsteps stopped at the gate.

"Is it just me, or there are more people around?" Aerith tilted her head, seeing tens of people on the ground, training.

"There are about fifty or sixty this time," Tifa pressed her lips, "How did they even wake up so early?"

"We should look for another place," Cloud scratched his hair, "How about going to Hagrid's place? We can go to the Forest and train there as well?"

"Sounds like a good idea."

They carefully left before anyone noticed them and went to Hagrid's Cottage, surrounded by flowers and herbs. Aerith crouched in front of the flowers, tracing them with a smile, "They are growing well."

Tifa was about to pull her up since they wasted so much time getting here when she heard another sound. She turned her eyes towards Cloud, who sat down under the tree, "Cloud?"

"Let's…take a break today?"

"Oh," Tifa blinked, moving her eyes towards Aerith, who looked up and smiled at her.

She hesitated, nodding, letting out a smile, "Very well. If you two insist so much."

Tifa walked over to the tree that Cloud was sitting under, sitting down on his left, smiling at him, "What made you want to rest? Too tired?"

Cloud gently shook his head, "No, I wondered why we are even here."

"Didn't we decide we would stay here for seven years to access everything Hogwarts offers?"

"Yes, but only a few months have passed, and we have done so much. It's not that hard to grasp magic, not after using Materia for so long. The only thing that has changed is that we have to remember the spells rather than taking the Materia."

"Still, there are potions and creatures and so much more to study about," Aerith crawled closer to the two of them but didn't get any attention. She pursed her lips, dropping down, resting her head on Cloud's lap, turning on her back, closing her eyes.

Tifa gazed into the distance, resting her head on Cloud's shoulder, "I understand what he is trying to say, though. It's not that I am unhappy with the conditions, and at the end of the day, when we succeed, we could save our parents and take Shinra down. There couldn't be a better deal…still, it makes no sense. Why are we here? Doesn't that make you curious?"

Aerith slowly opened her eyes, peering at the sky through the leaves, "I think about those things…the System, it knows everything about us, and even our desires, but we know nothing about it. What does it seek to achieve? Or even if it's good or evil? Why doesn't it fulfill the mission itself if it possesses such power? What's stopping it?"

She sighed, "I wonder if it will ever even provide us with a mission."

Aerith had barely closed her eyes when Tifa opened her eyes, realizing that the System screen had popped up. She looked up towards Cloud, who looked back at her when Aerith spoke up, realizing what had happened, "I did it again, didn't I?"

Tifa pressed her lips, stifling her laugh, turning her attention towards the System's Message.

[Three Days Later, Wendy Lawson (Mar-Vell) will die, and her creation Light Speed Engine will be destroyed.]

[Give System the Chance to Analyze Light Speed Engine. Be in 5 M Range.]

[The Sensing Capabilities of the Trace have been blocked. You are free to move as you like.]

[The Coordinates have been provided.]

[Fast Travel Function has been Activated.]

[Note – Be careful lest Hogwarts Staff catches you.]

"This is all your fault," Cloud shot a look towards Aerith, who puffed her cheeks.

"It's not!! It's bad timing! Tifa!!"

Tifa glanced away, curving her lips into a smile, looking towards the System Screen, "Hm. Three Days…we might have to take turns and miss a few classes."

Aerith opened her one eye, pouting, looking at Cloud's face, "What wrong?"

"It says…this Wendy Lawson person will die, but it says nothing about saving her. It's her creation that the System is worried about. What makes me wonder is the name of the creation."

"Light Speed Engine," Tifa let out an amused chuckle, "Did we change the Genre?"

Aerith chuckled, "It does feel like it a bit."

Tifa stopped laughing, "I doubt System needs this Engine since it could teleport us from another Universe and to another continent according to these coordinates. So, it'd be safe to say this mission is but a part of a much bigger mission."

"It's collecting the pieces?"

"Doesn't matter," Cloud closed the System screen, gazing at the flowers, "We have Three Days, and in Three Days, our time would be cut short because we can only skip out at certain instances and never all together. We need to find out about this Wendy Lawson or what that name Mar-Vell represents. And then decide if we will save her or not."

"Mm?"

"What?" Cloud asked since he knew he was getting strange looks from both of them.

"No, I thought you'd say we should focus on the mission without worrying about her. Like sticking to do only what you are paid for?" Tifa said.

"No, even though voices are irritating, they are helpful. I am just wondering if this person might be helpful for the larger mission. I am still doing it for the mission."

"Right," Aerith chuckled, "Let's go with that."

Cloud exasperatedly sighed, standing up, "Aerith, help me."

Aerith sat up, turned to face two of them, took the wand out from her pocket, and pointed it towards Cloud and Tifa.

Both of them were covered by a light, their body twisted, becoming bigger. When the blurriness disappeared, they stood there, the same age as before.

Tifa looked at her clothes, pleated skirt, tank top, and boots before looking at Cloud wearing his black sleeveless turtleneck, a pauldron on his left shoulder, dark brown boots, black pants, light armor, and glove on his hands.

She blinked, looking at her breasts, and a smile appeared on her lips before she noticed that Aerith had taken her form as a well.

"Human Transfiguration. It was meant to be used for a human to take on the form of animals or magical creatures. But to think, you'd use it so that we can get back in this form. It's genius," Tifa praised Aerith, who grinned at them.

"Now, before the breakfast, let's go and see what we are dealing with."

Tifa raised her hand, running her fingers through her hair, pushing them back, "Then, let's do this."