*Hey guys, how are you doing? Okay? So-So? I'm back with another chapter for this fanfic! I've already made a chapter, but I won't publish it until I have the chapter ahead of the next one done. I figured I work on it for a while and then publish the already done chapter. However, if you don't see many updates from me, it's either I'm busy at school or spending time with family. Anyway, this is published on April 3, 2021. If you like this chapter, don't be afraid to vote and spam the comment section. That will be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a blessed day. Enjoy!*

It's early dawn as Ms. Crawly entered the theater with two mugs of coffee so that she could drink one on the way up the stairs to Buster's office and the one for Buster. She finally made it up the stairs at an old age as she wobbled towards the door to Buster's office and opened it. She found Buster sitting on his office chair, bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept at all.

"Morning, Mr. Moon--"

"Shut the door," Buster demanded in a mix of firm but soft tone.

Ms. Crawly didn't expect this attitude to come from Buster but she did as she was told. "Alright, Mr. Moon. What's going on?"

Buster took out the letter he got from the secret office and looked at Ms. Crawly, tears in his eyes. "Dad died of a stroke, did he not?"

Ms. Crawly arched a brow. "Why yes, he did."

"You told me that in the hospital while Dad was laying on the hospital bed," the koala replied, almost ready to lash out again.

"Yes, I did." Ms. Crawly nodded her head, unaware of what's going on.

"But you lied," Buster responded in a growl.

Ms. Crawly had her eye wide while taking a seat in front of Buster's desk. "Wh-What--? No--I--"

Buster threw the letter in front of the old lizard so that she could read it. "Read that."

Ms. Crawly took the letter and read it, her soft gasp escaped from her lips. "Oh, Buster...where did you--?"

"I found it in Dad's secret office," Buster answered right away. "He told you to lie to me, did he?"

Ms. Crawly paused while sighing heavily. "Mr. Moon, I promised your father...your father made me promise in the hospital before you got there. Before I called you. When you asked me to deliver the papers to your father...I heard choking in the apartment. I was so scared...I had to do something so...I cut down the rope he's trying to hang from. However, your father was still gagging...almost like he's slowly losing his breath...so, I took him to the hospital as fast as I can. And well...I was praying and praying that your father will make it...and your father was so scared...he's so scared and wanted to hug you if he ever made out of the hospital alive. He wanted to live and he's so sorry, Mr. Moon. But if he couldn't live through this...he made me promise that I don't say what happened to him to you. And I did...I kept my promise to him--".

"Why doesn't he just let you tell me the truth?" Buster interrogated.

Ms. Crawly sighed again. "I don't know...I guess he didn't want to inflict his pain on you."

Buster breathed heavily. "Well, guess what? He already did." Buster spun on his chair, trying his best to hold his sobs but he failed.

Ms. Crawly noticed this while getting up from her seat and went up to hug Buster but Buster pointed at the door, telling her to go away. Ms. Crawly sighed heavily while she sauntered out of the office.

The next people who entered his office were Eddie and Milla, with cups of coffee in hand.

"Hey, Buster, what's up--?"

"Leave," Buster uttered while trying not to cry in front of both Eddie and Milla.

Both Milla and Eddie glanced at each other and then back at Buster.

"Buster, is--?"

"Please, leave," Buster demanded, his voice growing a bit louder.

Eddie blinked for a moment while tilting his head. He glanced behind him to notice Ms. Crawly in a sour mood. He left Buster's office to ask what was going on while Milla glanced at her baby brother, who's shaking in his clothes. She took a deep sigh and closed the door.

She took a couple of steps towards him, causing him to growl.

"Please leave--!"

Milla interrupted him with a hug, not sure if what she did was the right move but she didn't care. She held onto her brother tightly while he embraced her hesitantly, He began to sob on her shoulder.

"Dad's dead!!" Buster cried while hugging her tightly.

"I know...I know."

"It's all a lie!! All of it!!" Buster's voice became dry from crying out. "It's all a lie. It's all a lie. It's all a lie."

Milla shushed him while rubbing the back of his head. "Shh, shh. It's okay--"

"No...no, it's not okay...it's not--"

Milla hugged him tighter while shushing to soothe him.

This went on for a good moment while the two siblings hugged each other tightly, letting the silence fill the air.

Buster breathed heavily while sniffling. "I'm so sorry."

"It's going to be okay...okay? Whatever happens, we'll be okay," Milla reassured Buster, who broke away from her brother just to look at him in his red puffy eyes. "Please tell me what's been a lie."

Buster breathed in and out heavily, ready to tell her the truth.

Meanwhile, Ms. Crawly told Eddie the whole story about what happened to Buster's dad outside of the office, leaving Eddie in shock.

"Oh my gosh...I didn't realize," Eddie said in a gasp.

"Yeah, now Mr. Moon is mad at me," Ms. Crawly stated sadly.

Eddie blinked while trying to process the information given to him. "I oughta check on Buster and Milla."

Eddie entered back into the office to find Milla crying in Buster's chest while Buster comforted her.

Eddie had his eyes wide, now knowing what happened. Then he frowned and sighed in grief.

"I'm so sorry, guys," Eddie uttered, speechless. He went up to Buster and Milla and joined in the hug while Ms. Crawly watched from outside, teary-eyed.

The trio broke away from the hug while wiping the tears away from their eyes.

"I-I don't know how to think." Eddie was the first to speak.

Milla frowned while looking at her little brother. "What are we going to do?"

Buster looked while noticing the scripts that Ms. Crawly wrote on the corner of his desk while pulling them to him. "My father...whether a crook or not, worked hard for the theater...with swindles involved...he bought this theater for me...for me to own. I don't know what he did but that doesn't matter. We're going to perform. We're going to perform the musical that will let everyone remember down in history as the greatest of the greats before we fight this war. And we're going to work harder than ever before. So, we're going to pitch our scripts today."

~.~

Throughout the morning, Johnny drove the green truck from his garage while Ash sat on the passenger side and Mike and Nancy were on the dashboard.

"I gotta say, kid, I didn't think you had any vehicles in your garage. I thought that black truck was the only one," Mike ignited the conversation.

"Well, it's actually my dad's favorite getaway car," Johnny stated while driving through the streets to find Ash's cottage.

"Ah, that's understandable," Mike responded with a nod.

Johnny pulled up to Ash's cottage, noticing a new vehicle parked in the driveway. His damaged truck was nowhere in sight, which everyone could guess that it got towed away during the scene of the shootout.

"Who owns this sweet ride?" Mike asked with a smile.

Ash groaned deeply. "Lance."

"Oh, it's a pile of garbage then," Mike responded with his arms crossed.

"How in the world did he get into your cottage? Did you lock the door?" Johnny asked Ash.

Ash sighed. "No...I was too focused on helping you."

"Yeah, given to the situation, kid, you were hurt," Mike responded.

Johnny rolled his eyes at his group. "Well, I'm fine now and I'm going to hurt this prickly fellow--"

"Whoa, whoa...Johnny-boy, first off, you got shot. Your arm needs to relax. And second off, I would love for you to punch him in the face again with your one muscular arm but the scripts are in there and we need to get them," Mike warned Johnny, his voice appearing a snark. "If we just march in there and take down Lance, it'll boil up another fight and more stalking ensues. And I don't think Ash will want to put up with that boilicks anymore."

"Alright, then what is your suggestion?" Johnny asked quickly.

Nancy pondered. "Well, we can't just send Ash in there. She'll get assaulted."

"Oh, Nancy, you don't have to worry--"

"Nah, Ash, Nancy's got a point," Mike chided. "Look, as much as I didn't really care about you guys, in the beginning, I got the jest of your story and I don't think sending you in would be a great idea."

Johnny sighed heavily. "Well, I'm going in--"

"Uh...no, you're injured. You're immediately out of the ball game," Mike interrupted.

Johnny groaned irritably. "Are you suggesting that either you or Nancy should go in?"

"I'm suggesting that I should go in. What? Do you think I'm going to send Nancy in there with that jerk? Nah-uh. Not my style, pal," Mike answered with his arms crossed.

"Well, if that what it takes. Just don't screw it up," Ash cautioned Mike.

Mike let out a laugh. "Please, since when have I ever screwed up?"

Everyone in the truck gave Mike a deadpan stare, who just winced back a bit.

"Ouch," Mike responded. "Well, guess this is the first time where I won't screw things up."

Johnny took out a small case of the walkie-talkie carefully to not crush it. "Here, I built this last night--"

"Seriously? I was just joking about the miniature walkie-talkie last night. And how did you put it together with such big fingers?" Mike questioned.

"Well...thought you might need it on the way in. So...be careful."

"Wow, Johnny-boy, glad you're worried about me," Mike responded while putting the small walkie-talkie that fit his hand perfectly into his pocket. Johnny rolled down the driver-side window as Mike climbed down and made his way towards the house.

Mike climbed up to the window to the kitchen in Ash's cottage and made his way quietly to see Lance sitting on the couch and watching television with a bored look on his face.

Mike growled lowly once he saw that the scripts weren't where they left them yesterday. "Guys, we got a bit of a problem."

He talked into the walkie-talkie in a hushed tone so that Lance wouldn't hear him.

"What do you mean?" Johnny asked from the walkie-talkie.

"Well...the scripts aren't here." Mike snuck under the couch while watching Lance's legs dangled in front of him.

There's a pause in the truck.

Ash and Johnny glanced at each other in shock while Nancy pressed into the walkie-talkie laid for the three of them to share.

"Are you sure there aren't any scripts in the cottage, Mikey?" Nancy asked in a timid voice.

Meanwhile, Mike searched discreetly while avoiding being spotted by Lance. He managed to hide between the wall and the refrigerator in the kitchen while speaking. "I just searched the place, sweetheart. They ain't there."

Back at the truck, Johnny was about to say something until a phone rang in his car. It turned out to Ash's as she picked it up.

"Hello," Ash greeted.

"Where are you guys?" Meena asked nervously from the other end of the line.

"Uh...we're just getting our scripts from my house," Ash answered while putting her phone on speaker to hear her friend along with Johnny and Nancy.

"Oh, I got the scripts here!" Meena chirped.

The trio in the car glanced at each other in confusion.

"I'm sorry...you have the scripts?" Ash questioned.

"Yeah, I took it while we're on our way to the hospital yesterday," Meena responded.

"Well, we'll be on our way shortly," Ash uttered.

"Awesome! See you guys!" Meena hung up before anyone could say anything. Although, no one had any words to say at the moment.

Johnny turned on the walkie-talkie. "Uh...Mike, abort. Meena's got the scripts."

Within the cottage, Mike sighed in relief. "Oh, Meena, you're a life-saver." Mike looked back at the room while noticing Ash's guitar along with Lance's and her laptop on the table in front of him. Mike put the walkie-talkie back to his face. "Uh...Ash, do you happen to need your laptop and guitar case?"

"Well...if we want to rehearse then yeah..why?" Ash asked over the walkie-talkie.

"Well, Lance has his guitar case next to yours and your laptop was right in front of him," Mike responded over the walkie-talkie. "And I can't carry it unless I can come up with the distraction."

"Are you saying that you need someone to come in the cottage and get the stuff?" Johnny questioned.

"Uh...yeah. Hold on, I think I can get him out of the cottage." Mike had an idea. Was it the brightest idea? In his mind right now, it's the pinnacle of greatness for ideas...however, maybe later on he wouldn't think so.

Mike put the walkie-talkie away as he stepped out into the light so that Lance could see him...and Lance saw him with an arched brow.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to have--"

"Hey, are you that mouse from the singing competition?" Lance asked with a brow raised. "I mean, if you are, you sounded like Frank Sinatra."

Mike paused while nodding his head with a proud smile. "Why thank you--"

Lance laughed. "You sing like an old man."

Mike's face was turning red in boiling anger, ready to yell at him. "Hey! I ain't an old man!"

"Well, both your voice and your music are so boring," Lance responded while turning his gaze back to the television.

Mike twitched his brow, ready to punch him. "Okay, kid...I want to ask if you have some crumbs for a fellow but I guess you're too conceited to even want to find Ash."

Lance froze while turning to look at Mike slowly. "You know Ash?"

"Yeah, I work with her. Ugh, she could be so moody sometimes," Mike responded, rolling his eyes skywards.

"That's Ash!" Lance responded excitedly. "Do you know where she is...like right now?"

Mike shrugged. "Well, last time I saw her, she went that way." He pointed at the back door, causing Lance to immediately run out of the house.

Mike cast a small smirk while walking into the living room.

"Good job, Mike."

Mike screeched while noticing Johnny peeking out of the dark corner. "Johnny boy, you gave me a heart attack! How did you get in here?!"

"I used the window in Ash's room," Johnny said quietly while picking up Ash's laptop and put it in his leather jacket. He grabbed Ash's guitar case while Mike climbed upon his shoulder. "By the way, nice acting."

"Why thank you. I happened to study Lincoln School of Music...little did they know, they also have theater," Mike responded in pride with a wink.

They heard footsteps coming back quickly to the back door, causing the gorilla to hide back into the corner.

"I thought you said Ash is--" They heard Lance's voice as Johnny quietly went into Ash's room and hopped over the window. Mike held onto the fur of Johnny's neck as Johnny bolted to the truck. He quickly dove right back into the truck with Ash and Nancy.

"Here, Ash." Johnny handed Ash the laptop and guitar case, driving away from the place as fast as he could.

Ash blushed while holding on for dear life.

~.~

"What's taking them so long?" Rosita asked while standing in front of the theater with Gunter and Meena.

"Ash said that they'll be here--"

On cue, the green truck sped down the road and parked right in front of the three. They had their eyes broadened as Johnny and Ash got out of the car with both Mike and Nancy on their shoulders.

"Where were you guys?" Gunter questioned in curiosity.

"Eh, we're at Ash's cottage and her dumbbell of an ex was there--"

"Wait...he's at Ash's house?" Rosita repeated what Mike said.

Mike paused. "Uh...yeah."

"Is he trespassing?" Meena probed nervously as they all walked through the studio together.

"Well, he has the key to the house so I wouldn't entirely say that he's trespassing," Ash responded while carrying her guitar case and computer.

Mike climbed down of Johnny's shoulder with Nancy sliding down from Ash's shoulder.

"I wouldn't even think about him right now, sweetie," Nancy talked for the group. "Right now, we should be impressing Mr. Moon with the scripts."

"Hope we didn't write anything dumb," Mike muttered under his breath, earning a soft nudge from his girlfriend.

The theater group went up the stairs, finding Ms. Crawly on her desk, typing slowly with the sad look on the old lizard's face. While the group went ahead, Johnny stayed by Ms. Crawly to check on her.

"Everything okay, Ms. Crawly?" Johnny asked softly.

Ms. Crawly noticed Johnny, faking a soft smile. "Oh yes. Nothing's wrong, Johnny."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes...I wouldn't keep Mr. Moon waiting," Ms. Crawly reminded the gorilla, earning a nod from him.

"Okay," Johnny answered and made his way to Buster Moon's office, knowing deep down that there's something wrong. It might be just his gut feeling but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. However, it confirmed his gut feeling when he entered the office, seeing bags under Buster's red puffy eyes like he hadn't slept in days and he'd been crying. Milla's eyes were also puffy while tearstains were shown on her cheeks. Not only Johnny noticed this but Meena and Rosita as well. Rosita smiled at the koala while explaining the situations surrounding the scripts with Gunter's enthusiasm added to it.

Meena saw Buster faking a smile, wiping his black nose to hide the sniffle and coming up with excuses as to why he's sniffling. It's flu season, and Mr. Moon's excuse would be valid but Meena knew something was wrong with Buster. Buster's fur would be darker and his mood would be soured. His voice wouldn't be as optimistic as it would be every day she worked with him. At the moment, the tender-hearted elephant wanted to ask him what's wrong but her fear was still a bit stronger than her bravery, so she kept herself silent and let Rosita and Gunter do the talking.

"Is it just me or did we miss something?" Mike whispered to Nancy, able to see something off in this room.

Nancy shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me."

Ash stepped into the conversation. "--Yeah, Rosita helped me with the music while Gunter came up with the choreography."

"That's wonderful," Buster responded, a smile and a tired voice combined. He looked at the twelve scripts. "Well, I had Ms. Crawly helped me...so...there may be typos."

The group chuckled quietly at Buster's joke as he opened the scripts.

"There's Gromeo and Muliet...uh...um...The Beauty and the Werewolf--"

"Ha! I almost came up with that one!" Mike shouted with determination.

"Uh...I'm sorry, Ravengers The Last Game?" Buster uttered in confusion.

Rosita gasped in recognition. "Is it where IronFly dies?"

Johnny gasped in shock. "IronFly dies?"

Everyone glanced up at Johnny.

~.~

Within the Ravenger's movie, the purple gorilla stood proudly in the destroyed battlefield with the golden gauntlet and six infinity jewels. "I'm inevitable."

The small fly in an iron suit flew through the wind to fight the gorilla. "Bzz, Bzz, and I'm IronFly-". The fly was zapped by the light in front of him, earning a gasp from all the Ravengers.

"TONY!" Everyone screamed in shock.

~.~

Mike gave Rosita a deadpan stare in Buster's office. "You know, you might want to refrain from spoiling the movie, toots."

"I'm sorry. These won't do...uh, what about your ideas?" Buster asked the group, moving on with the subject.

"Well, we came up with three plots," Rosita continued to explain. "First, we have the historical musical called Hamulton. You know...like Alecander Hamulton, one of the Founding Fathers of Catalonia."

"That sounds a bit interesting...but we need something with more energy," Buster replied, bouncing ideas.

"Well, we also came up with a musical called Dance Monkey. Where a monkey goes to Paris and becomes a famous tap-dancer," Rosita suggested.

"Wow...you guys come up with something better than we did," Buster muttered under his breath. "Anything else?"

"Well...I think everyone voted for this one as the best but it's up to you. We came up with a musical where there are a Gromeo and Muliet in it but between gangsters and citizens. We don't know what we're going to call it but we're thinking NorthSide Story or something because it's supposed to take place on the NorthSide where Johnny lives," Rosita explained excitedly.

Buster froze while thinking deeply about the musicals he's going to choose. He turned to his sister. "You know...I think we oughta do that musical...NorthSide Story...we might come up with something great with it."

Everyone became excited while Buster smiled brightly.

"We need to find more cast of people," Buster responded in determination.

~.~

Everyone walked out of the office except for Meena and Buster. Buster sighed heavily while rubbing his head.

Meena knew now that something was wrong and now that it's in private, she could ask him.

"Is everything okay, Mr. Moon?" Meena asked the koala.

"Huh?" Buster looked up at Meena. "Oh yeah, everything's fine."

Meena arched a brow. "Are you sure?"

Buster faked a smile. "Yeah, it's all fine and dandy."

Meena wanted to probe further but she frowned and sighed heavily, knowing that the koala wouldn't say anything. When she's about to walk out, Buster frowned and sighed deeply.

"Did you...ever have this feeling where you thought the person you admired was the greatest person but then...you found out that they did something terrible and it's eating you up inside because you don't know what it is?" Buster asked while Meena turned and shut the door.

"Well...I never knew anything about my dad. My mom told me he left. She told me that he's a horrible elephant and...well, I believed her. I mean...I don't know him to judge him but by the way, my mom explained to me...it's pretty bad," Meena responded shyly.

Buster frowned. "Well...what if your mother did something horrible and unforgivable that you have a hard time wrapping your head around...what do you do?"

Meena pondered for a moment. "I would find a way to forgive her. I love her because she's my mother and I want to forgive her for the terrible thing in this imaginary scenario. I want to forgive her not just for her sake but for me as well. I find that if we have forgiveness towards one another, there can be peace for both her and me. But...that's just for me."

Buster sat there, taking in Meena's words as if they were comforting him more than hugs and soothing words combined. It's probably the words he needed to hear and it came from Meena of all people.

"You know, you sound very wise, Meena. Thank you," Buster spoke with a genuine smile, earning a smile back from the elephant.

"It's no problem...why do you ask?" Meena questioned Buster.

Buster shrugged. "It's just a thought."

Meena could tell that Buster was still hiding something but she didn't want to pry further. "I'll leave you alone now...I-uh-I gotta go with the girls to dress-shopping."

"Great...um, do you mind if Milla can come with you?" Buster requested.

"Of course, we don't mind," Meena responded with a smile and exited out of the office.

Buster sighed heavily while looking at the script with all the songs in them. "This is going to be different."

"What's going to be different?"

The koala jumped back to see Johnny at the doorway. "Oh...uh, hey, Johnny, what's up?"

"Well, we were wondering if you want to come with us to the tailor's shop or...whatever Mike's calling it," Johnny answered while scratching the back of his head.

Buster thought about it for a good moment until he realized that he needed to get his mind off of everything right now...just a little distraction won't hurt...right?

"Sure. I'll go." 

To Be Continued...