A/N: This story is a figment of my imagination. I don't own Harry Potter or Final Fantasy VII.
CHAPTER 1
"So? What are we up against?" asked a tall, young man with spiky black hair and eerie, glowing, blue eyes to a young brunette sitting in front of the fire with him and three of his friends. She had just opened her eyes and seemed a bit out of reach before she regained herself and turned her attention to the four males surrounding her. She fingered the locks of hair twisted around each other over one ear and grew thoughtful, as if she was unsure of what she was going to say.
"Well?" the same male asked, anxious.
"There's a war waging in this world," the young woman began, the atmosphere getting a little tense. "There is a handful of people that are able to manipulate the lifestream without actually knowing what it is. These people are hidden from the populace and they have their society, their own government. They call themselves wizards and the rest of the world doesn't know of their existence. Unfortunately, this war they are waging within themselves, extends to those unable to use magic. Apparently, their 'dark lord' dislikes these people and wants to… eradicate them completely." She sighed heavily, the thought of innocent people unable to defend themselves weighing heavily in her mind. "Gaia wants us to find and protect the lifestream here. If this 'dark lord' were to find it and harness the power it contains, it would be chaos."
The four men around her knew exactly what she was talking about. Mako infusions, materia, all of that and more could bring about the end of this— no, their new world, considering the nations, the countless innocents that are currently working together in the midst of this war they know nothing about. It was heinous. It was what almost happened to Gaia and what most of them died to prevent.
There was silence, thick tension that one could cut with a knife, made it hard to breathe. A man with long, silver hair and eyes like glowing jade decided to speak. "It is best that the knowledge of the lifestream be kept hidden from the world. From what I understand, they can surely manipulate it but not so much as to be adept or enhanced like us. That means, they have no materia, no mako—"
"And definitely no SOLDIER wannabe's", finished the spiky haired man. "I think this world doesn't need any more SOLDIERs than it already has. Or better yet, no Hojo's!" He gave a shudder, and the tension seemed to lift with his carefree attitude and teasing. "Man, that guy's creepy! Anyway, if this 'dark lord'," the man made quotation marks in the air, "is as psychotic as I think he is, he might pull a Hojo if he finds out about the lifestream."
The young brunette woman couldn't help but giggle at her beloved's antics as he ranted about the mad doctor who caused so much damage to all of them and made some impressions of him.
"Zack, can't you take anything seriously?" asked an older man with black hair framing his angular face, his shining amethyst eyes narrowed in disapproval at his former student's lack of urgency.
"Apparently not", the silver haired man answered for him rather blankly, as if he was used to the attitude, which he probably was considering their friendship.
"I don't know how you lasted this long", muttered a male with reddish brown hair and eyes as brilliant as sapphires, shaking his head regally as the man named Zack sputtered indignantly. "Going back to the matter at hand, what does this 'dark lord' know of the lifestream? He has to know something in order for the planet to sense the danger."
"It is something of a legend here, but I only have a little informantion and it may not help us much," said the woman as she leaned forward to address all of them. "It was supposedly hidden a long time ago by the ancient people to keep it safe. Gaia mentioned that it was the reason for the decline in magic here, even though it is still flowing throughout the planet. Because of the decline, the knowledge of the lifestream's existence and location has become unknown and the stuff of legends of the foundation of all the ancient rituals that are now gone."
"I think we would need to find some manuscripts about these legends," the other raven haired man suggested, turning to the male brunette. "Genesis, do you think you can find anything about this?"
Genesis looked at him, affronted. "Angeal, you insult me. Of course, I can. But I need access to this wizard society, too, and compare it for similarities and authenticity. By my guess, I think this 'dark lord' would be ahead of us, though not for long."
"So, we are dealing with a man we have to presume to be extremely dangerous and is currently working on locating the lifestream," Angeal started thoughtfully. "He has the advantage of knowing the terrain, of people working for him, magic we are not familiar with and valuable information we don't have. Yet."
"Not to mention that he would be highly unpredictable if he were mentally ill," Genesis added for good measure, remembering the time that he was driven to madness, unknowingly, inciting the silver haired man's own memories.
"This mission will be treated with utmost confidentiality. This means, no talking, Zack," said the silver haired man, staring hard at his former subordinate, who spluttered yet again and choked on the chocolate chip cookie he was nibbling on. He turned back to the others, ignoring a string of protests from Zack. "We need to gather more information about what we are dealing with and as Genesis pointed out, we need access to this hidden world. We will have to do this for the time being."
"Sephiroth," came the slightly timid voice of the young woman. "It would probably help to know that your neighbor is a wizard. One named Harry Potter. He is, from what Gaia told me, the savior of this planet and it is his destiny to destroy the 'dark lord'."
"Thank you, Aerith," said the once titled Demon of Wutai, a little uncomfortable. "The best thing we can do is gather information from this boy, maintain secrecy," a pointed look at Zack, "protect the lifestream, and to not meddle as much as we can."
"Don't forget assisting the civilians," Zack added. "These people are defenseless against magic. You have to admit, they are somewhat advanced in the weapons department but magic is still a different story. We don't know what kind of spells wizards use or if it's the same as ours. I mean, we have to assume the worst. If we can destroy buildings with Firaga spells, what can they do?"
The group nodded in agreement. There was so much they had to do but very little to work with. It didn't matter that much as it should though. They were all inexplicably excited and anxious about this development, especially the four First Class SOLDIERs who had not discarded their love for the battlefield just yet and needed to prove their worth to themselves and to their new home.
A/N: so what do you guys think? Is it okay? There will be some additional characters a little later and yes, Cloud will be one of them. Not sure when he will be popping up though. Hope you like it and be assured that I'll be updating soon. It's pretty uneventful now but it'll get better soon. I promise! .;
