*Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter for the SING fanfic! I'm so excited! I already got the next chapter done and the next chapter...ooh, you'll get more intense in the next chapter. So, this was published on May 10, 2021. If you like this chapter, don't be afraid to vote and spam the comment section.*

Meanwhile, Buster searched for Johnny and Ash through a surprisingly unlocked garage, blue diamond eyes wandering around the huge place.

"Johnny, Ash, you guys didn't answer my calls," Buster called while searching around the garage. "Guys?"

"Mr. Moon?" Buster heard Johnny groan awake.

Buster smiled as he entered Johnny's bedroom. "Hey guys, I--"

Buster noticed both Ash and Johnny covering their naked bodies.

"Ack! Moon, get out!!" Ash barked.

Buster screeched back and shut the door quickly with wide eyes in shock.

"Alrighty then...that happened," Buster mumbled to himself while strolling into the living room to wait for the teenagers to get up and dress themselves up for the day after what appeared to be their love-making. The koala walked past the folder that was laid on the coffee table.

He looked to see the label: Milo Rambo.

Buster tilted his head in confusion as he looked around the house to see no one nearby. With a shrug, he picked up the file and stared at it quizzically, opening it to see a familiar house burning.

His blue eyes went wide with some odd recognition of it...it's that house that he entered into. That weird house with the raging fire inside in his dreams. He scanned to see the parents...unknown.

Strange. Where did Johnny get this?

His thoughts were interrupted when he turned a page to see adoption papers. The original unknown parents were deceased according to the paper. Buster glossed over the signatures made by people that worked with the Child Protection Services. However, he immediately stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted a familiar name signed on the paper.

Arthur Moon.

"Dad?" Buster uttered his thought until he saw the child's name.

Original Name: Milo Rambo.

Adopted Name: Buster Moon.

Buster's heart stopped right when he read his name. How come he never remember being an...an orphan?! He's adopted...how does he not know he's adopted?!

Although, it's not obvious since his father was a koala like him. His adopted father that was.

Buster blinked, trying to process this information until he heard a familiar voice that didn't even sound like his adopted father...but far more cruel than his loving adopted father.

Don't you get the joke? You were never his to begin with.

Don't you remember your name? Your name? Your mother and your father?

I know who you are. Wanna know why? Because you're my son and you are nothing but a burden that killed me.

Buster immediately dropped the adoption papers, gripping his head while hearing voices and whispers through him.

Get a good night's rest and dream big dreams tomorrow!

SHUT UP!!! JUST SHUT UP!!! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A BURDEN!!

"Please...make it stop," Buster muttered to himself.

Moon! Moon!

The mixture of both familiar and unfamiliar voices shouted for him but he couldn't see what's going on. He felt big hands on his arms while being carried onto a couch. He squeezed his eyes shut tight, breathing heavily while his little body was trembling.

Mr. Moon! Mr. Moon!

"Make it stop!" Buster screamed while tears were streaming down on his cheeks. "Just make it stop!"

"I got the aspirin!" Buster could've sworn he heard Ash shouting.

"Mr. Moon, can you hear me?!" Now he heard Johnny's voice over the other voices screaming at him.

What's wrong with you?

Why me?

What's wrong with me?

Just make it stop.

Make everything stop...please.

Buster immediately heard other voices fade away as he felt hands massaging his shoulders and a familiar comforting voice.

"Mr. Moon, are you alright?" Johnny's voice questioned Buster while Buster opened his eyes, his vision swimming from the tears held by his closed lids.

"Moon?" He heard Ash speaking to him.

"Give him some air," Johnny replied gently.

Buster lifted his gaze up at the aspirin right in front of him with a cup of water beside it. He looked to the side to see Johnny's hands rubbing on his shoulders to make sure he's relaxed. He looked up at the gorilla's worried hazel eyes.

"Mr. Moon, is everything alright?" Johnny asked softly while examining him to see he's okay.

"How long have you kept that?" Buster questioned, words came out a bit harsh but he didn't know how else to say it.

Johnny tilted his head in confusion while looking over at the file that was laying on the floor. He gasped in realization as he turned to the desperate koala. "I was planning on telling ya after the cheetah incident is over."

"How long have you kept it?" Buster asked again, more shaky and desperate than the first time.

Johnny frowned with a deep sigh. "I've found it at the...the apartment complex...where you and your father used to live."

"And you kept it since then?" Buster inquired, tears almost ready to burst out.

Johnny nodded his head hesitantly. "Yes."

Buster breathed heavily while looking right at the aspirin and a cup of water. He turned to Ash, who was wearing a huge green shirt with the thunderbolt in the middle...appearing as it belonged with Johnny.

"You knew about this too?" Buster asked Ash, his tone shaky and desperate again.

Ash blinked while looking at Johnny, who shrugged his shoulders. She sighed as she looked at Buster. "Look, Moon, I was with Johnny when we found it. We saw what happened and we don't know if we should tell you right away. You seemed to stress about the cheetah situation that we thought we wait until it passed over."

"Do you think it will ever pass over?" Buster interrogated both Ash and Johnny. "That cheetah has driven me to the brink of insanity, I've been constantly having night terrors, I kept thinking about the musical and-and-the theater production, I've been having hallucinations, I've had people getting hurt from the assassin, and-and now I found out that I was adopted by my own father, who I thought was a loving, caring soul but turned out to be a murderer and committed suicide because of the guilt he had! He couldn't even face me about what he'd done! I've been running into walls and circles to the point where I can't even think anymore! Spinning around and around until I collapsed! Do you think that this will ever pass over?! All of this pain and being torn apart...is that going to pass?!"

Johnny and Ash leaned back away from Buster when he's shouting his pain and questions at them.

Buster realized that he's yelling at the people he cared about while trying to calm down as best as he did, his ears drooped down. "I'm sorry, guys...I...I'm sorry."

Johnny gazed at Buster with a frown. "I'm sorry, Mr. Moon."

"No...you and Ash were trying to help but...if something like that...just so happens to be in your grasp that I need to know or just something important...please...don't be afraid to share it with me. Please," Buster requested of both Johnny and Ash.

Johnny and Ash looked at each other while nodding their heads.

"We can do that, Moon," Ash responded softly.

Buster smiled softly at both the couple. "Thank you."

Johnny hugged Buster unexpectedly, as Buster hugged the soft gorilla back. Ash joined in the hug while hugging Buster's back. Buster smiled warmly while opening his eye to see the file dropped on the floor. He frowned when he saw the file while beginning to sob, causing the couple to hug him tighter.

~.~

Meena was at a coffee shop with her father this morning. He asked if they could get coffee and Meena didn't think much about saying no. She was letting her walls down slightly so that her father could walk right through to see her passions and goals in life.

Her father enjoyed the frappucino he managed to order and buy for both him and his daughter.

"This is great, Meena," her father complimented. "It's been a while since I had these."

"Yeah, it's really good," Meena responded with a smile.

"Well, this is a great suggestion."

"Thank you." Meena paused while the young elephant had questions to ask. "Dad...what was your relationship like with Mom?"

Her father merely choked on his frappuccino, but he gulped it down and cleared his throat. "Well, I managed to get her pregnant somehow. Um...I don't know really. I've been so busy days that I barely spend any time with your mother. And it's not because of what your mother thinks. I didn't have a love affair with that cheetah. It's work. Pile of work from being the mayor's assistant. I quickly stepped down and this cheetah came to my house and well...tried to get me to work for her boss in a seductive way...I'm not going to lie. But...I had no intention of being in a relationship with her."

"Why don't you tell Mom that?"

"I have. I tried to explain but she wouldn't listen. Your mother is as stubborn as a mule. She refused to believe my story," her father answered Meena. "It's a very complicated situation."

Meena bit her bottom lip. "Do you happen to know that cheetah's name?"

"Chirea. Chirea Bellows...but I don't know anything else from her. Why?"

Meena sipped her frappucino. "I worked for this theater. And she wanted to take the theater from my boss, Mr. Moon. So, in her efforts, she hurt Ms. Crawly and was in the office with Mr. Moon from time to time. Sometimes, I'm scared that one day...she's going to actually kill him."

Her father frowned at this. "She'd probably will if I know her. She wouldn't kill unless Serpent tells her to do it though."

The elephants heard the television turned up as they glanced up at the corner of the coffee shop. It's the news broadcast that had a dog as the news anchorman with the picture of a familiar dead mayor.

"On Today's Parker's News, there has been a massacre on the cruise ship docked on Catalonia, involving twenty-four deaths, including Mayor Bradley of Catalonia. We have Serpent Rattler here with us today. So, how do you feel about this massacre?" the news broadcaster asked the familiar snake with his blue eyes staring at the anchorman.

"It is a great tragedy. My family was really close to the mayor. I mourn for a close friend of the family," Serpent replied while his tone came out depressed.

"Sir, were you there at the scene?"

"Of course not. As I told the police, I was doing paperwork for the mayor in his office while he had to go away on a ship. I don't know where he was going. The mayor never tells me anything."

"But you're his assistant--"

"Just because I'm his assistant...it doesn't mean that he tells me everything," Serpent interrupted the news anchorman.

Meena and her father looked at the television.

"He did it," her father muttered.

"He did what?" Meena asked while turning to her father.

"He became the mayor," her father uttered in shock.

"Another breaking news," the news anchorman was switched over to a beaver with glasses. "Former actress and performer, Nana Noodleman has been kidnapped out from her home."

Meena gasped in shock while running out of the coffee shop, concerning her father.

"Meena?"

Meena didn't respond as she made her way towards the theater.

~.~

Buster sat in the passenger seat of Johnny's truck. Johnny had his clothes back on along with Ash as they were silent in the car. Buster was deep in thought about what he discovered back at Johnny's garage. He knew that both of the kids had well-intentions but he couldn't get over the fact that his father had been hiding...those papers from him the entire time. Well...for one thing, some part of Buster knew that he wasn't...Arthur Moon's.

He had no idea how or even why but he had a lingering feeling in the back of his mind that made him question if he's really like his father. Like, practically a saint until recently when he discovered what happened between him and Chirea's father. Although, his father had deep regrets about it to the point where it killed him. He felt like he had to be the person like his father...only to realize that he could never be that person. But adoption never came to mind. He never thought that his father was his adopted father rather than his real father.

He now wanted to know more about his real parents, did they abandon him? Maybe forgot about him? He looked through his night terrors and tried to pick apart what's real or just overexaggerated.

"We're here, Moon," Ash's voice broke through his train of thought as Buster glanced to the side to see the theater beside them.

Buster took a heavy sigh and prompted the door to open. "Thank you, guys."

"Mr. Moon," Johnny called before Buster could get out of the vehicle.

The koala shifted his gaze over at the gorilla, who frowned at him.

"Are you going to be okay?" Johnny asked in concern.

Buster smiled at the sweet gorilla. "Yeah, I'll be okay, Johnny. Thank you."

Buster slid out of Johnny's truck, sauntering into the theater. Johnny turned off his engine while both Ash and Johnny followed Buster, holding each other's hands.

The koala entered the building with Gunter helping with the new cast with warm-ups.

"Okay, here ve go. Ahnd one. Ahnd two. Ahnd---Oh, Mr. Moon!" Gunter stopped with the stretches while noticing Buster walking past him.

"Yo, how long we doing a warm-up?" Dareel, the rapper turtle, asked the pig.

"Just keep stretching," Gunter encouraged.

"How can I? I'm stuck in a turtle shell," The turtle reminded Gunter.

"Oh, quit your whining and lose that shell of yours," a female hippo in the cast replied.

"And exposing my glorious nakedness? I don't think so," Dareel responded to the hippo's sass.

"Hey, guys, just listen to Gunter," the panda, Leonard, interrupted the conversation until he cracked his back again. "Ooh, that hurt."

"Nice job, Panda Express," The hippo mumbled while stretching her limbs.

Leonard heard that as he gave the hippo a deadpan stare. "Just because I'm both black and white, does not mean I work at Panda Express."

There's a brief awkward pause as the hippo had her hand on her hip.

"Okay, I do admit that my dad is a CEO of Panda Express but that's it," Leonard added defensively.

The hippo rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Good morning, guys," Buster replied to his new cast.

"Morning," Boba, the ferret, greeted politely with a cute smile.

"Sup, homie?" Dareel spoke back while trying to exercise in his turtle shell.

"Uh...sup?" Buster uttered back while trying to understand the lingo the turtle was talking about. "You guys ready for rehearsal?"

"I got a question, Mr. Moon. How come I have such a small role?" the hippo asked while arching a brow. "You guys cast me as a 'protestor' against the Capitals."

"You are claiming that they are frauds. Did you not read the scripts?" Buster asked the hippo.

"Oh, I read the scripts...All I say is 'Shut the Capitals Down' and some snarky lines along with it," the hippo responded with a bit of sass.

Buster shrugged his shoulders. "Well, maybe you can improvise during one of the protests. Just think of something fun to say."

"Oh, I got something fun to say," the hippo responded with a little mischievous laugh.

Buster went through backstage and traveled up the stairs to his office while Johnny and Ash were checking up with the new cast. Buster entered his office and shut the door, sighing deeply. He sat upon his desk, staring down at his own desk, deep in thought.

A knock came from the door as his blue eyes shifted upwards to see Mike walking in.

"Hey, Moonster, do you know where Nancy is?" Mike asked.

Buster shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea."

"Huh, she said that she had something to do with her friend and she'll be with me in the theater shortly."

"She's probably got distracted with talking with her lady friends," Buster assumed.

Mike shrugged. "Maybe."

Buster had a far-off gaze that worried the mouse for a moment.

"What's with a long face?" Mike managed to question.

"Oh...nothing really. Just...well, it's kind of hard to explain."

"Is it needlessly complicated?"

"Depends on how you look at it."

Mike twisted the corner of his mouth while sitting on the edge of his desk. "I'm listening."

Buster sighed deeply. "You got to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this."

Mike laughed. "Since when do I suck at keeping secrets?"

"I don't know...that bears incident seemed a bit--"

"Whoa, whoa, you didn't tell me to keep it a secret. In fact, no one told me to keep it a secret. Besides, how bad is it going to be?"

There's a brief pause.

"I'm adopted," Buster finally spoke.

Mike blinked a bit. "That's a bit random."

"No. I'm serious. I'm adopted...by my dad," Buster uttered while rubbing his arm. "And...my birth name was Milo Rambo."

Mike blinked a bit more in disbelief. "So...let me get this straight. You got adopted by...your father who just died and he's a koala like you."

Buster nodded his head. "Yeah."

Mike took a moment to process this. "Who else knows?"

"Well, Johnny and Ash since they found the adoption back in that apartment," Buster responded with a sigh.

Mike gasped in shock. "So, that's what they're hiding!"

"You knew?!"

"No...I just know they're hiding something but I assumed that it's their relationship. I didn't think they would hide that out of all things to hide," Mike replied with a shrug.

Buster let out a breath. "Yeah...but I don't fault them for it...they had good intentions."

"Yeah, I guess they didn't want to pressure ya further," Mike added.

"Yeah."

There's a brief silence.

"Is it stressing you out?" Mike finally asked.

"What?"

"The fact that you're adopted?"

Buster shook his head in denial. "No...no...no way. There's a good reason why Dad kept that from me. I mean...there's a lot of things he kept from me. Heck, I don't know who my parents were."

Mike pondered about it. "Wanna find out?"

"How?"

"Well, you just got done telling me that your name was Milo Rambo...maybe if we searched up your 'original' last name, maybe we'll find something about them."

"How are we going to do that?" Buster asked, earning a deadpan stare from the mouse.

~.~

Five minutes later, both Buster and Mike turned on the computer for the office.

"So, there's this wonderful thing called the Internet," Mike informed sarcastically, earning an eye roll from Buster.

"Geez, I'm not an idiot, Mike," Buster responded with a pout.

"Well...the internet is wonderful for looking up stuff like...Milo Rambo." Mike began to type out the name and clicked enter. The search engine buzzed and revealed search results. The results were endless abound but an image was the first thing that popped up. It's a koala with eyes hazel, different from Buster's blue eyes. However, his body and facial features appeared a lot like him except for the black stripes around his face and his fur was grey with a slight tan in some parts. His smile didn't seem to settle when looking out into the real world.

Mike tilted his head. "He looks a lot like you."

Buster blinked incredulously, seeing the spouse's name.

Sheila Rambo.

"Sheila?" Buster muttered, gaining attention from Mike.

Mike moved the mouse over to click on the name. It's another koala, woman koala, in fact. Her eyes were diamond blue like Buster's, soft and loving. Her fur was grey like Buster's, although...she looked familiar. Buster got a closer look at the image and gasped.

Flashback:

Her soft touches and her angelic soothing voice were all he remembered. A baby was being put to sleep with a familiar lullaby.

"Just close your eyes...

You'll be alright...

Come morning light...

You and I will be safe and sound."

In the background, he heard clashes sounds with an angry voice coming throughout the blurry house. His vision was trembling as he felt his mother's arms holding him close to her bosom. She sobbed...that's the last thing he remembered.

Present:

Buster gasped a bit...as if he just woke up from a horrifying nightmare.

"Moonster?"

Buster turned to Mike, who just gazed at him quizzically. "That-That's her."

"Who?"

"Her!" Buster pointed at the screen. "That's...That's my mom."

Mike widened his eyes in shock. "Hey, look at that! Now we could find her--oh, wait...she's dead. Oof, never mind. And the father is also dead too. Well, so much for searching for your real parents."

Buster breathed heavily, backing away from the computer and shaking his head. "This...This has got to be all a lie."

Mike blinked while looking at the koala. "What's going on with ya?"

Buster shook his head and squeezed when flashes of fire showed up in his vision. Even though there's no real fire in the theater...there's fire everywhere in Buster's mind. He heard gunshots and people screaming...but not screaming as in terrified screaming...as in angry scream.

YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A BURDEN!!!!

Buster breathed heavily, falling over on his chair and crashing onto the wooden floor.

"Moonster!" He heard Mike called out for him in concern.

Buster's face was glued to the wood floor, tears escaping him without reason. He tried to get up but his body was stuck onto the floor like a magnet. His migraine began to rage, pounding his head like a sledgehammer being swung into metal repeatedly. His eyelids began to close, losing consciousness and the darkness surrounded him.

~.~

"Moonster! Moonster!!" Mike yelled while jumping onto the floor and shaking Buster's head with fear and panic in his breathing. "Moonster, wake up!"

"What's going on--?" Mike glanced up to see Ms. Crawly entering the office, a gasp escaped from her dried lips. "Mr. Moon!"

"Call the hospital or something! He's having some anxiety attack or something! Just somebody do something!" Mike cried out while trying to shake Buster awake.

Ms. Crawly quickly exited out of the office and dialed the emergency number. "Hello, this is Ms. Crawly from the Moon Theater! My boss, Mr. Moon, fainted--! Okay, the address is 1280 North Multon Street! Hurry!"

Johnny entered the lobby, hearing Ms. Crawly crying in panic.

"What's going on?!" Johnny asked loudly.

"Come on, Moonster, wake up!" Johnny heard Mike shouting from Buster's office. The gorilla busted into the office, coffee brown eyes darted down at Mike trying to wake up unconscious Buster. The gorilla huffed as he slid on his knees on the wooden floor, his jeans protecting him from getting scrapes.

"What happened, Mike?" Johnny interrogated the mouse.

"Mr. Moon just-just fainted! He's breathing heavily and then he fainted! I think he's having a panic attack or seizures or heck I don't know!"

"Mr. Moon!" Johnny called while shaking Buster gently to wake him up. "Mr. Moon!"

"The ambulance is on their way right now!" Ms. Crawly informed loudly from the doorway of the office.

Buster was mumbling something incoherent while Johnny checked his pulse.

"His pulse is beating like crazy," Johnny muttered to himself but Mike heard it.

They heard sirens approaching the Moon Theater.

"Oh thank the Lord! You're going to be okay, Moonster! Do you hear me?! You are going to be okay!!"

The paramedics made a run up the stairs and entered the office, checking his pulse and lifting him up to carry the unconscious koala onto the hospital bed. They strapped him down so that he wouldn't fall off and sprinted out of the office and theater as fast as they could go. Johnny and Mike followed after them with Ms. Crawly looking over worriedly.

Meanwhile, the others were downstairs when they saw the paramedics carrying Buster out.

Ash gasped in shock. "Moon?!"

Johnny stepped down the stairs with Mike by his side.

Ash noticed her boyfriend chasing after the paramedics. "What happened?!?"

"Mr. Moon fainted! Mike said that it might have something to do with anxiety or something like that!" Johnny answered while Mike nodded his head in confirmation.

"Yeah!" Mike replied.

Ash turned to Gunter and the new cast, who looked at them confused. "Gunter, keep practicing with the others. We'll check to see if Moon's okay."

"Got it!" Gunter nodded while calming the new cast down.

Johnny, Ash, and Mike went outside of the theater, seeing Meena just approaching them.

"Is Mr. Moon okay?" Meena asked, seeing Buster on the bed stroller.

"Come with us, Meena. We'll explain everything to ya!" Mike offered the shy elephant as she nodded and hopped into the ambulance with them, surrounding Buster to see if he's okay.

The paramedics shut the door behind Meena and the ambulance sped down the hallway, sirens wailing at the cars to get out of the way.

To Be Continued...