Part Thirty

Seifer's Malice

Esthar City

Guest Apartments

Leon was worried. Since arriving in the apartments he had been restless and worried about Sora and the others. When Cloud turned up and told them about the plan to help Seifer the brunet began to feel a little better. But after three hours he was on edge with worry and he wanted nothing more than to go down to the labs and talk to Sora.

Baralai, Ienzo, Roxas and Cloud were waiting to go with him or to at least find Edea and lean what progress she was making with the President of the city. The brunet sighed heavily as he slumped on the plush bed. He would like nothing more than to enjoy his time here but until he talked to Sora he wouldn't be able to rest.

"Still worrying about the others?" Cloud asked.

"When are we gonna be able to do something. I don't like sitting around feeling helpless." Leon scoffed.

"I know." His blond companion nodded.

"Edea should've been able to talk to president into helping Seifer by now." Leon put his head in his hands.

"Don't worry about it so much." Cloud rubbed Leon's back. "Things will be fine."

"How can you be so sure?" the brunet looked at the blond.

"Because Sora won't rest until he helps both Riku and Seifer." Cloud pointed out.

"Sora is the most stubborn boy I've ever met." Leon smirked.

"True so stop worrying." Cloud offered him a tiny smile before leaning forward and placing his lips against Leon's.

"I needed that." Leon murmured softly when Cloud pulled away.

"If you two are gonna have sex lock the door." Roxas called from the next room.

"I really wanna hurt something." Leon muttered as a blush painted his face.

"Look if Edea doesn't come back in the next fifteen minutes we'll go look for her and Sora ok." Cloud offered.

"Fine with me." Leon nodded.

Cloud nodded then got up and walked into the next room to see the others. Hopefully Edea would be back soon and then they could find a way to stop Ultimecia and Saix from opening the Gateway. He honestly didn't want to imagine Heartless pouring into this world and consuming everything in their path. He wouldn't let that happen, not as long as he still drew breath. His attention was drawn towards the door however when he heard yelling.

"What's going on?" Baralai asked when he emerged from the other side of the room.

"Let's go find out." Leon approached the door.

"Hey what's going on?" Roxas asked a passing man when the group left the apartment.

"A Sorcerer is loose in the city!" the man screamed. "He's gonna kill us all!"

"What?" Roxas cried.

"RUN!" someone screamed from the other end of the corridor.

"Oh god..." Baralai's hands flew to his mouth.

From the other side of the corridor Leon could see Seifer Almasy and the sight made him freeze. The blond Gunbalder was hovering a few feet off the ground, his arms spread out and purple energy blasting in all directions. His eyes were glowing yellow and at his side Saix was grinning like the cat that got all the cream. He turned his gaze on Leon and smiled. Roxas, Ienzo and Baralai were already getting ready for a fight. Cloud stood alongside Leon, his sword gripped in both hands.

"What do you think?" Saix gestured towards Seifer. "Magnificent isn't he?"

"How the hell did you get here?" Roxas yelled.

"I have my ways Roxas." Saix shrugged. Seifer cocked his head when he caught sight of Leon.

"What did you do to him?" Cloud demanded.

"Nothing much except Ultimecia repressed his memoires." Saix grinned again.

"Damn you." Ienzo hissed.

"Zexion...so good to see you again." Saix inclined his head.

"Don't call me that." The slate haired man snapped.

"Follow me Seifer." Saix motioned for Seifer to follow him.

"No!" Leon yelled and charged forward. "Seifer, snap out of it."

"He doesn't know you." Saix replied.

"Seifer, please wake up." Baralai called.

"You won't stop us." Saix laughed as Seifer moved to intercept Leon.

The blond man raised his right hand and a bolt of purple energy erupted and slammed into Leon. The brunet flew back down the corridor and crashed into Cloud. Roxas and Baralai had moved aside while Ienzo ran into the corridor and called up Demyx.

The Siren emerged and immediately created a shield made from water to protect the others. Roxas joined the fight and called up Axel who looked like he was going to be violently sick. Seifer had been his first host and now he was being forced to fight him. The red head sighed before raising his hands and summoning his chakrams.

"Seifer..." Axel groaned.

"Make them bleed." Saix commanded and Seifer nodded.

"I can't let you go Seifer." Axel gripped his red and silver blades. "I'm sorry."

"Axel..." Roxas felt his heart break for the red head.

He watched as Axel flew towards Seifer and the Sorcerer cocked his head before bringing up his hands and using purple energy. Axel cried out when the energy hit his body and he was slammed into a wall. The fire GF moved away and threw a chakram at Seifer.

The blade sliced into Seifer's arm but the blond didn't flinch. Instead he tossed more energy towards the Phoenix and the winged man was sent flying back down the corridor. Demyx glided towards Seifer and used Ocean's Fury on the Sorcerer. Seifer cocked his head before waving his hand and sending a bolt of lightning towards the water GF.

"He's too powerful." Demyx cried out amide the pain.

"Demy!" Ienzo ran to his fallen GF. "Are you ok?"

"It hurts..." the blond whimpered. Ienzo felt rage building within him. Gripping the Venus Gospel Ienzo got to his feet and ran at Seifer, his anger blinding him.

"Ienzo get away from him!" Roxas cried. The lilac haired man reached Seifer but slammed into a barrier erected around the blond.

"Get away from him now." Cloud commanded. The blond and Leon stood side by side and charged towards Seifer. When they attacked the blond the barrier prevented them from hitting him.

"He possesses the combined powers of Edea, Adel and Ultimecia. You cannot hope to defeat him." Saix smirked.

"I'd like to test that theory."

Saix spotted Riku at the other end of the corridor and the silver haired boy raised his hands and unleashed energy towards Seifer. The purple light managed to pierce through the barrier for a moment and the energy hit Seifer in the chest.

Riku kept his gaze fixed on the blond while Sora and Squall armed themselves. Saix scowled at Riku but he remained unfazed by the attack from the youth. Seifer placed his empty gaze on Riku before waving his hand and releasing wave of fire at the silver haired boy. Riku managed to create a barrier in time but the force of Seifer's attack knocked him off his feet.

"Let's go Seifer." Saix motioned for the blond to follow him.

"No!" Squall cried and ran towards them.

"If you want to save your precious blond..." Saix ran his fingers through Seifer's golden locks, forcing Squall to snarl in rage. "Then follow us to the Lunar Station."

Seifer glanced up and shot purple energy towards the marble ceiling. Pieces of rubble rained down onto the floor and Saix stepped into Seifer's barrier. Squall had to dive to one side to avoid being hit by marble blocks.

Before Squall could move Saix and Seifer began to float towards the open hole in the ceiling. The last image Squall had of Seifer were those cold, empty golden eyes before he and Saix vanished from sight. Riku was being helped to his feet by Sora and the others were getting back on their feet again.

"We are in very serious trouble." Baralai said.

"He was too strong even for us." Demyx gasped just before Ienzo summoned him back into his mind.

"Are you ok?" Roxas was cradling Axel.

"Damn...I'm gonna be feeling that for a while." The red head moaned.

"Just rest now." Roxas murmured as he summoned Axel back.

"We need to get to Edea now." Squall scowled. "They're going to the Lunar Station."

"I'll take you to Edea." Romana said when she emerged from another room.

"Romana come up here. Something is emerging from the ocean." A man called to her.

"But we don't have time." Roxas cried.

"Just follow me." Romana ran towards the nearest lift.

Squall ran after her with Leon, Cloud, Riku, Sora, Baralai, Ienzo and Roxas following closely behind him. They took the nearest elevator up to the top of the central tower where they could see the vast ocean and the large black object emerging from it.

The object was made from some sort of black material and was emerging from the glass like surface of the ocean. The oblong shaped structure continued to rise from the water and then, after a few moments, it stopped. Leon noticed that the people of the city had gone quiet and some had even fainted.

"What is that thing?" he asked Romana.

"It's the Lunatic Pandora." She whispered. "At the end of the Sorceress War the building was sunk to the bottom of the ocean."

"What's inside that thing that's so important? Is Adel in there?" Cloud turned to the girl.

"Yes, that was the reason the Pandora was sunk. The military didn't want to destroy it and risk destroying the city in the process so they did the only thing they could think if." Romana explained.

"But why is it rising now?" Cloud asked.

"Seifer must've done something..." Roxas murmured. "He's a Sorcerer now. We don't know half of what he can do."

"We need to get to the Lunar Station now." Squall barked.

"What about the Pandora?" Ienzo pointed out.

"I'll get Zell and the others to protect the city until we get back." Squall replied. "You guys told me you took on a Sorcerer once before. Then you can do it again."

"But he's too strong." Roxas said.

"If we don't do something Adel will be released." Squall said. "We don't have a choice." he turned to face Romana. "I don't care what you have to do but get us to the Lunar Station now."