Chapter Five: The Seventh

"Emperor Peony!" one of the guards rushed to his door and forcefully flung it open.

"What? I'm in the middle of a important conversation, and why so late at night?" Peony looked at the guard with eyes filled with annoyance.

"Well… the news of Arietta the Wild dying… she's here requesting she see you personally."

"WHAT? Impossible! I was there when he died!" Jade scorned.

"I'm sorry, but it really does seem to be her." The guard saluted and left.

"Jade, we should see." Jade nodded and they ran out of the room, leaving the door wide and open.

"Alright. Let the infiltration begin." He reached for his helmet and slowly removed it. His green spiky hair was slightly flattened, and his sharp green eyes narrowed. "Not all the God Generals are as pathetic as the others." He closed the door behind him and turned his head side to side. Pacing around the room, he looked at Peony's desk and found a picture with a newborn child and ripped top. He tenderly picked it up and flipped it over. "What's this?"

Where is Arietta?" Peony demanded.

"Right here." A girl with long pink hair and a black dress stood before him. She clutched her doll and bit her lip.

"How come you're not dead, Arietta the Wild?" Jade crossed his arms and looked at her direction.

"When I was fighting with Anise, Largo took me away. I wasn't dead, but unconscious…" she mumbled.

"I thought your reason of living was for the Fon Master Ion. He's dead, yet you still live?"

"Ion's not dead! He's still with me!" Arietta cried. "He told me to live for my friends, and that'd what I decided to do."

"Then why are you here?" Peony walked towards her.

"I want you to return an important friend of mine," she demanded in a soft voice.

"I don't believe that I have any people you might know. Nor do I have any monsters stored away in this palace." He said half-jokingly.

"He's not a monsters. He's human."

"Really? Is one of our prisoners your father? Or is he your brother?"

"Its none of your business! Just give him back to us!" Arietta glared.

"'Us'? I'm assuming there's more of you?" Jade continued to stare.

"Yes. He's right behind you." Arietta pointed, clutching her doll with one arm.

"You…" Jade exclaimed. The figure emerged from the shadows.

"In the flesh. Sync the Tempest." He had removed the armor and replaced the helmet with his regular beak-like mask.

"Who is this person you speak of?" Jade formulated his spear and waited for an attack.

"Oh, nobody special. Here, maybe you recognize him?" Sync dangled the strip of paper between his two fingers and waved it.

"Kyle? Why him?" Peony questioned.

"He's a close friend of ours. He was the seventh member, of the Six God Generals. His identity was kept a secret because Van considered him to be our "secret weapon." Van had told him to conceal him with society because if he were put into our plan, he might've done an over kill." Sync sighed.

"How can you expect us to believe something like that?" Peony shouted. He clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes.

"Why not ask him yourself?" Sync started a run towards them. He jumped over them and grabbed Arietta. He ran for the door and leapt down the stairs.

"Emperor Peony, stay here!" Jade dashed after them. "Luke! Tear! Everyone! Wake up and grab your weapons!" They threw their doors open, clutching their weapons in their night clothes and saw Sync with Arietta at the door way.

"Gloomieta!" Anise gasped.

"Sync!" Guy took a step forward.

"Why are they here? Why are they even alive?" Luke called out to jade at the top of the staircase.

"Leave the details for later! Where's Kyle?" Jade demanded.

"Kyle? Why are you worried about him now? He's probably sleeping!" Luke responded.

"He's connected to them! He's a god general!" Jade jumped over the ledge and landed on the tile floor.

"But that can't be! There are only Six God Generals!" Tear went to Jade's side.

"He was kept a secret, a shadow in the darkness. The God Generals were keeping this from the world all along!"

"That's right! Now that the plan has failed, we want him to return to our side." Sync snickered. " How bout it, Kyle?" Kyle yawned and walked unsteadily.

"Dammit you had to wake me up so damn late?" Kyle poked his head from behind his door with his brown hair flying in different directions.

"Shut up! I thought you loved the dark!" Sync crossed his arms and sighed.

"I do, but I work in the day, I can't sleep any other time besides night." Kyle stuck his tongue out.

"Grab your stuff Kyle, we're leaving." Arietta turned to the door.

"Wait! You're not really going, are you?" Anise ran towards him desperately. His bag was strapped to his back, but he remained in his nightclothes.

"Why must you go?" Natalia clasped her hands together. He remained silent and made his way to Arietta and Sync's side.

"Next time, could you at least change into normal clothes? It's awkward seeing you leave this place in such in a solemn mood with pajamas on."