Epilogue:

Mylo glared at Topaz, who quivered under his glower.

"You shouldn't have said anything about Deep Blue to them!" He yelled.

"I'm sorry," Topaz said, her eyes filling with tears. Mylo had never yelled directly at her before. "I didn't know that they shouldn't know… I just… I thought…"

"What? That now that they know they won't try to kill Deep Blue-Sama again?" Mylo demanded. "They are heretics, traitors. Deep Blue, his powers and his might should be let nowhere near them."

"And yet you want nothing more than for one of them to be by your side."

Mylo turned to glare at Cayenne, who leaned against a pillar, his arms crossed over his chest, staring off into space.

"Stay out of this, Capsicum," Mylo growled.

Cayenne didn't look at Mylo as he said,

"You never directly told any of us to keep Deep Blue-Sama a secret. There is no need to reprimand Topaz for something she didn't know was wrong."

Mylo was still furious, but he looked at Topaz, who was still somewhere near tears. She flinched as Mylo put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," He muttered, averting his eyes. "I let my frustration get the better of me."

With that, he turned and floated out of the room without another word.

There was silence in the room, then Bell whispered,

"Do you think they will try again? To kill Deep Blue-Sama?"

"Who's to say they didn't succeed the first time?" Cayenne spat.

Topaz, Zen, Chile, Bell and Pepper turned to stare at him in horror. Jalapeno alone averted his gaze to the ground.

"Cayenne, what are you saying?" Zen demanded. "Deep Blue can't be dead. We've been following his orders for the past ten months."

"No, we've been following Mylo," Cayenne said as he turned around to face his siblings, Zen and Topaz. "Anyone else find it a little odd that Mylo's the only one to have had an audience before Deep Blue?"

There was silence, then Chile said,

"You think Mylo would lie to us?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Cayenne said. "He's also good at hiding things from us. We tend to be the last to know everything. We were the last to know about his plan to lure the Ikisatashis and Mew Mews back to Cynnth. Last to know he kidnapped Rin. The last to know about these elements and Deep Blue. Mylo knows everything in advance. Plans things months ahead. He doesn't tell us until the second before he's ready for his plans to be put into motion."

There was again silence in the room.

"Onii-Chan, Deep Blue-Sama has to still be alive, has got to be the reason we fight the Tokyo Defenders, why we got to capture Earth," Pepper whispered. "We need-"

"What do we need from Earth that we didn't have on Cynnth?" Cayenne demanded. "Because of the Mew Aqua, we had clean water, plenty of food, better medicine, are able to create more technology, more places to live. Despite what Mylo's so-called 'research' said, the Mew Aqua isn't failing.

"So why are we here?"

"We are here because Deep Blue-Sama wants us to be here, wants us to capture Earth," Topaz said, her hard purple eyes glaring at Cayenne's green ones. "Do you doubt Deep Blue-Sama and his cause?"

Cayenne stared long and hard at Topaz for a moment.

"I am hesitant to believe in something I haven't seen," He said. "And I suggest you do the same."

With that, he teleported away.

"Do you think he's right?" Bell asked, looking to her other two brothers, but neither had an answer.

"I'm starting to question what I believe in," Zen said softly. "Need to figure out what was so attractive about this Earth conquest in the first place."

"Yeah, me too," Chile said. He tilted his head, his face full of confusion. "I don't remember what Mylo said. Just that it felt… right. Right that we get Earth. Right that Earth belongs to the Cyniclons."

"And it will," Topaz said. "Earth will belong to the Cyniclons, the rightful occupants of this planet. We just have to fight harder for it… show those humans who's boss…"

But even as she said this, it didn't feel right. Her voice trailed off into silence.

Silently, wordlessly, one-by-one, each stood there, staring at their teammates and asked themselves something they had all yet to ask:

Why did they want Earth this badly, when they could start their lives anew amongst their people on their newly restored planet?

What was it about Earth?

And, did they even really want it at all?

Or was it just Mylo?

And was Deep Blue even really, truly alive?

To be continued...