*Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter!!! Yeah!! This is published on May 18, 2021. I think you will all really like this one. If you like this chapter,  please don't forget to vote and spam the comment section! That will be greatly appreciated. Warning: this might be emotional and a slight mention of homophobia. This does not encourage homophobia at all but just to give you all a heads up. The song used is called "Bottom Of The Deep Blue Sea" by Missio. Enjoy!*

Eddie, Milla, Ms. Crawly, Boba, and Leonard were approaching a huge mansion that wasn't Eddie's nana's, helping drunk Gunter, Whoopi, Dareel, and TweetTweet up on their feet. They finally entered the mansion, which Leonard claimed belonged to him given by his rich father. Leonard guided the others inside while the huge house appeared bigger than Nana's, earning a trademark gasp from Eddie.

"It's not much but it's doable," Leonard responded while the others were too drunk to register the mansion.

"Holy cow, I wished my father was that rich," Eddie mumbled to himself as Leonard checked his front door to make sure they weren't being followed.

"Do you have any butlers?" Dareel asked with a hiccup.

"Yeah, they're at home," Leonard responded while guiding the drunk turtle. The rapper turtle flopped on the couch, almost slipping off of his shell.

Whoopi wandered aimlessly down the hallway while sitting on the couch in the other room to crash and sleep.

Boba looked around the mansion. "You have a lovely home, Leonard."

"Thanks. Dad, uh, paid for it. Along with the butlers and maids coming by here and clean the place up. If you asked me, it gets irritable when they don't let me cook," Leonard responded with eyes rolled up skywards.

"Why would you want to cook?" TweetTweet asked. "You rich as f--"

"I'll be taking him to bed now," Boba cut off the drunk parrot before he could finish his sentence.

Gunter, despite being drunk, pondered about what Leonard was trying to say. "So...Leonard, if you don't hafe anyone to cook for you...vhat do you usually cook for yourself?"

Leonard became embarrassed. "Well, if my butlers and maids aren't around, I would cook something like lasagna and spaghetti. Sometimes I like to grill a steak in the barbecue out on the back porch. It's what I feel like tonight."

"How'd you learn to cook?" Eddie continued the conversation while walking down the hall with Milla, Leonard, and Gunter.

"Oh, I would sneak a little cookbook read from one of my cooks. However, handling two kitchens can take a lot of practice," Leonard responded with a giggle.

Gunter stared up at Leonard in fascination in his drunken state.

"That's a lot of work," Milla replied meekly.

"Eh, it's not so bad once you get used to it," Leonard responded with a shrug while noticing Gunter staring at him in fascination, awkwardly staring at him back. "Hi."

"Hi," Gunter hummed as he was able to pull himself back to reality and glanced around the mansion.

Eddie noticed this strange exchange while clearing his throat. "Uh...so, where do we sleep?"

Leonard turned back to Eddie with a shrug. "Anywhere you want. Just clean up after yourselves if you make a mess."

Eddie chuckled a bit. "Of course." He gently guided Milla, exploring the mansion while Leonard gazed off into the distance. He turned back to drunk Gunter, who just shifted his stare right back at him.

"You need to sleep," Leonard responded while guiding Gunter into the halls of his mansion.

"Boop," Gunter replied while booping Leonard's nose, who twitched at the contact.

"Okay, you're drunk. You need to get your head cleared," Leonard added while entering a huge living room while sitting Gunter down, who just smiled dumbly.

"You look nice up close," Gunter mumbled while laying on the couch.

Leonard rolled his eyes while a shiver went down his spine. He heard a phone buzzing as he took his phone out of his pocket to see that it was his father calling him. He sighed heavily while answering the phone, taking it out of the room.

"Hey, Dad," Leonard uttered while he heard rambling and lecturing. "Yeah, yeah, I'm home...look, Dad--"

He sighed heavily while listening to the ongoing rambling. "Can I talk now?"

Leonard pulled his phone away from his ear while hearing the constant blabbering and lecturing about he should be talking to his father. With eyes rolled, he put the phone back into his ear. "Dad, come on. I like the theater--Look, just cause I work in the theater--"

Leonard sighed deeply while leaning up against the wall. "It's the theater, Dad. I have a lot of fun and I was able to make some new friends...I mean...well, you are the CEO of Panda Express but--"

Leonard rolled his eyes. "I'm not quitting the theater, Dad. Goodbye now."

Leonard hanged up the phone with a groan in irritation.

"Who vas zat?"

Leonard glanced up to see Gunter standing by the doorway, barely sobering up. "Just my Dad."

"It doesn't sound like a good confersation," Gunter pointed out while leaning up against the wall right next to him.

"Well, Dad wanted me to quit the theater because he thinks that it will make me a queer...I don't know how he even came up with that but Dad can be bull-headed at times," Leonard answered with a heavy sigh.

Gunter furrowed his brow. "Zeater makes you queer? Zat doesn't make sense."

Leonard chuckled. "I guess dressing up as someone you're not might be where he gets the idea but...it's entertainment."

Gunter snorted. "Ya, you vere supposed to entertain people."

"Hmph, well, Dad thinks that I'm not who I'm supposed to be...I am supposed to be...the next CEO of Panda Express. I'm supposed to take over the family business that he started but...I want something different. You know?"

There's a tender pause as Gunter took a moment to think about it.

"Nevermind. It's not something to worry about," Leonard replied with a sigh.

Gunter took a moment as he scooched closer next to the panda. "You know, a long time ago, my mother ahnd my father had ziss...vell, ziss business zat sells soap. Before I got into der zeater, I knew I vanted to be something zat my parents didn't vant me to be. So, I go out of my own vay ahnd forged my own path by der time I vas ahn adult ahnd...ahnd I regretted it for a vhile. I regret not becoming something my parents vanted me to be. I vould stretch ahnd dance vith my body but...until I heard about der Moon Zeater, I vent to der zeater ahnd put my auditions in. Vhen I got in...I found out zat I vas in lofe vith der zeater. I vas in lofe vith der family zat I get to call my own ahnd I don't hafe to be ahfraid of being myself. Aht zat point, I didn't care vhat my parents sink. it takes time ahs I got lucky to have a best friend vith tventy-fife kids ahnd people zat I feel comfortable vith. It'll take some time to get used to but vhen you do feel like a part of der group...you don't hafe to vorry about vhat your father sinks. Just a train of zought before I get sobered."

Gunter giggled again while patting on Leonard's shoulder and entered back into the living room, leaving Leonard alone with his thought about the flamboyant pig's story.

~.~

Eddie organized the bed for both him and Milla, too deep in thought.

Milla sat on the edge of the bed to glance up at Eddie. "We'll get Nana out of there in no time."

"Yeah...but we don't know where. We got nothing so far and...we might not be able to rescue her in time--"

"Hey, don't think like that. We'll be able to rescue her in time. It'll be okay."

Eddie groaned deeply while sitting on the edge of the bed next to Milla. "Maybe doing a search party isn't such a good idea. Serpent must have noticed us figuring things out...somehow."

Milla frowned as she scooted next to him. "It's my fault."

"Your fault? For what?"

"I turned in the check Nana gave me. He didn't take it. He just...He just went on killing me...because I was always above him or something like that. I almost died because of that snake. I should've just...face my death so that Nana wouldn't be kidnapped and you wouldn't have to worry about your nana--"

"Whoa, whoa, Milla. Don't blame yourself. You did what you thought was necessary. Serpent is a madman...that's who he is. It's not your fault for how he acted."

Milla chuckled sadly. "Well, I'm starting to think Serpent was right about me...I am a waste of space and I shouldn't even be here."

"Hey, he's not right," Eddie replied while turning her to face him, seeing tears in her orange shiny eyes. "He's wrong about you. You wanna know why? Because I don't see you as a waste of space. I don't see you as a burden upon anyone, including me. You are valuable to me...and everyone in the theater. You are a wonderful and kind person who has been through a lot of hurt. You deserve better things than this. You really do."

Milla had her eyes watered from Eddie's talk, which made him curse at himself.

Okay, what did I just say?

Before Eddie could ask Milla what's wrong, the snow leopard leaped forward, her arms wrapped around his neck while he could feel her heart beating against his chest. He breathed heavily for a second while slowly wrapping his arms around her.

"Thank you, Eddie," Milla whispered while snuzzling her head into his wooly neck.

Eddie blushed madly but tried to hide it with his voice. "Uh, it's, uh, no problem."

Milla purred in Eddie's hold, causing him to blush even more now.

"Uh...you don't have to purr," Eddie muttered until he felt her muscles relaxed on him, falling asleep in his embrace.

Eddie felt his face extremely hot.

You have a crush on my sister, Eddie!

Eddie could hear Buster's voice, laughing at Eddie trying to hide his feelings. Eddie couldn't hide his feelings anymore as he took a deep breath, his mind numb to what he was about to do next. He slowly moved her away from him, just to look into her tired eyes.

Without even thinking about it, Eddie pressed his lips against hers. Milla's eyes were widened at first, she didn't expect this to come from Eddie. She knew in the back of her mind that he had some sort of a crush on her but she didn't think it would go that far. Milla couldn't hide her feelings for him either, kissing him back gently.

They pulled back away from each other, searching in each other's eyes for any comfort.

Eddie felt butterflies in his stomach with the look of guilt. "Uh...sorry...um...maybe I should--"

Milla gently grabbed his face, kissing him again on the lips. Eddie was shocked at the display but gladly welcomed as he collapsed onto the bed with her on top of him.

~.~

In the morning, Johnny was the first to wake up out of everybody. He noticed that he's holding Ash in his arms, smiling softly at her sleeping figure. He caressed her quills gently while laying her on the floor. He stood up, shivered the cold blowing at his back, and walked into the laundry room to get the scroll that he was given by Darrell last night. He took out the piece of the map that only showed the part of the city that was familiar while rolling it across the dining room table. His hazel eyes scanned for any riddles the gorilla guard mentioned...however, he couldn't find it anywhere.

Where do you hide your riddles, Mum?

"Hey, babe."

Johnny jumped and turned to see Ash looking up at him with her tired crystal eyes. "Ello, love. Did I wake ya?"

"Nah, it was just getting cold," Ash responded with a shiver. "What are you doing?"

Johnny frowned. "Darrell gave me this map. He said that my mother tore the map into sections and hid them throughout the city. The riddles were supposed to be on the part of the map to tell us where the rest are...or where the next one is."

Ash smiled a bit. "Like a Scavenger Hunt."

"Yeah."

"Seriously?"

Johnny and Ash turned their heads to notice Mike and Nancy entering the kitchen, their brows arching by the looks of confusion.

"We're doing a scavenger hunt now?" Mike whined. "Why can't your mother just tell us where to look for those pieces of the map?"

"If she did that, Serpent will be able to find the pieces as well," Johnny responded harshly to the white mouse, who climbed up on the table with his girlfriend.

"Well, what kind of clues did she give?" Nancy asked in curiosity.

Johnny sighed deeply. "Darrell said last night that my mother had put riddles to give us a clue."

"Wait...when did Darrell say that?" Mike responded while covering his head.

"You were drunk, Mike," Ash pointed out. "Besides he took Johnny to a private room."

Mike glanced at the map with Johnny and Ash. "Well...guess we'll do a Scavenger hunt then. So...where is the riddle?"

"I don't know. It must be written in invisible ink," Johnny replied.

Mike furrowed his brow. "Or maybe your friend, Darrell is pranking ya last night."

"If it's written in invisible ink, maybe we can read it with the UV light," Nancy hypothesized.

Johnny quickly got up from the seat and searched through the drawers, finding the UV light in one of the kitchen drawers. "Aha! Found ya."

Johnny pulled the light out of the drawer and headed back to the map.

Mike smiled a bit. "That was fast."

"Shh," Ash shushed Mike as Johnny shined the light on the paper.

The words were revealed, earning a smile on Johnny's face. "Invisible ink, of course."

"Well, what does it say?" Mike urged, anxious to know what the words say.

"Alright, um...let's see." Johnny scanned the words before reading them to the group.

"Kept in a wooden box.

The silence is my friend.

The whispers are the voices of my people.

Six feet below is thus where I lie."

Mike blinked for a second. "I get...none of that."

Nancy pondered. "Me neither."

Ash repeated the words back in a mutter. "Kept in a wooden box...six feet below is thus where I lie." The porcupine's eyes grew large when realizing what the riddle meant. "A graveyard."

"What?" Johnny, Mike, and Nancy responded simultaneously.

"It's a graveyard. Kept in a wooden box and six feet below. That's a graveyard," Ash pointed out excitedly.

Johnny gasped in realization. "You're right! Silence is also part of it and the whispers can be from ghosts of the dead."

"Whoa, whoa, there are a bunch of graveyards all over Catalonia. How are we going to narrow down our search?" Mike questioned the group's tactics.

Nancy pondered for a second while glancing up at Johnny. "What's your mother's name, Johnny?"

Johnny shrugged. "I-I don't know. Why?"

"Maybe she was buried with the piece of the map," Nancy theorized.

Mike smiled brightly at his girlfriend's answer. "You know, that seems like a logical place to start."

Johnny walked away from the table and grabbed the phone to dial the important number.

"Hello?" the receiver answered.

"Ello, I want to speak with my father," Johnny requested.

"Who is he?" the stern voice asked.

"Dexter," Johnny responded, leaning up against the doorway.

"Alright, we'll have him here right away. You get five minutes."

"Alright."

Johnny waited for a while until he heard someone familiar talking on the phone.

"Oi, Johnny?"

"Ello, Dad," Johnny responded with a smile.

"Did she get you?" his father asked, the fear caught in his voice.

"Who?"

"Chirea."

Johnny shrugged. "She hasn't gotten me at all."

"Oh, thank heavens. You're safe--"

"Ya, Dad, I need to ask you a couple of questions," Johnny replied urgently.

"What is it, son?" Dexter inquired, trying to recover from the stress in his voice.

"What is my mother's name?"

There's a pause in the call.

"Tabitha," Dexter answered finally after a brief silence.

"And where is she buried?" Johnny asked softly.

"Oh...uh, Folklore Cemetary. Why?"

Johnny sealed his lips, knowing that the call is being recorded. "I want to pay my respects to her. I want to see her."

Johnny could sense a smile growing on his father's face.

"That's good, son. When you get there...could you tell her I say hi and I miss her?"

Johnny almost wanted to cry as he nodded. "Yeah, I can do that for ya, Dad."

"Thank you, son. I had to get back. Come visit me, ya?"

"Yeah, of course," Johnny responded happily.

"Love ya, son."

"Love ya too, Dad."

The phone hanged up as Johnny placed the phone right back to its handle, covering his face so that he wouldn't cry so loud to wake Meena, Buster, and Maya up from their long sleep.

Taking deep breaths, Johnny turned back to Ash, Mike, and Nancy, who noticed something was wrong.

"Is everything okay, babe?" Ash was the first to ask in concern.

Johnny plastered a soft smile at Ash on his face. "I'm alright, love."

Mike blinked a bit. "So...do we know any more about your mother?"

Johnny nodded his head. "Yes, and I know where she's buried."

"Where who's buried?"

Everyone turned to see Rosita entering the kitchen, ready for the day ahead.

"Uh, we're paying Johnny's mother respect," Mike lied, coming out naturally as if he's telling the truth.

"Yeah, we're going to see her grave," Nancy responded, going along with Mike's lie.

Rosita smiled sadly. "Oh, well, I'm going to make breakfast--"

"We'll be back by the time you get done with breakfast," Johnny urged the group to get up as he rolled up the map and put it back into a scroll. He put the scroll back in his pocket.

"You're going out in pajamas?"

"Uh, yeah. We feel like relaxing," Ash responded with a chortle as the group went to the front door.

"We'll be back by the time you're done with breakfast," Johnny reassured Rosita. "Also, make sure you watch over Meena, Mr. Moon, and Maya."

Rosita smiled softly. "Of course."

Johnny, Ash, Mike, and Nancy left the apartment, leaving Rosita alone to cook breakfast.

~.~

The smell of breakfast tickled Buster's nose. He didn't think he would wake up more peacefully than before, lifting his tired eyelids to see Maya laying close against his body. Her face was inches away from his, causing his face to go red at the sudden sensation from someone being so close to him. Buster heard the pots and pans clanking as the smell of breakfast got stronger the more he became aware of his surroundings. He noticed his arms wrapped around Maya, with her snoring quietly in peace.

Buster carefully moved away from Maya so that he wouldn't wake her up as he got up from the floor and walked into the kitchen where the smell came from.

He saw Rosita humming a bit of music to herself while scrambling eggs.

"Good morning, Rosita," Buster uttered tiredly, his smile weary.

Rosita turned to glance at Buster for a second and then shifted back to her breakfast. "Morning, Mr. Moon. Sorry if I wake anyone up with the pots and pans--"

"No, you're good. It's actually the smell that woke me up. It smells good," Buster complimented Rosita's cooking. "It's been a while since I had decent breakfast."

Rosita chuckled. "Well, you're going to get more than a 'decent' breakfast."

Buster smiled at Rosita. "Can't wait." His stomach growled loudly, causing him to blush in embarrassment. "Sorry--"

"No, you're fine, Mr. Moon. If you want, you can sit down and talk to me," Rosita replied with a smile.

Buster sat on one of the chairs while his eyes wandered off to look at Maya's sleeping figure, who's so peaceful compared to his sleep.

Rosita used the corner of her eyes to glance at Buster to see him staring at Maya and then shifted her focus back to the food she's cooking. "So, Mr. Moon, got any crushes?"

"Huh?" Buster immediately snapped his focus back at the mother pig. "Oh no, no, not at all. I mean...nope. I-uh-haven't dated since uh...uh--"

Rosita gave him a smirk while looking over her shoulder. "Since when, Mr. Moon?"

Buster blushed a bit while plastering a grand smile. "Since never. I mean, who has the time to date anyone?"

Rosita giggled as she got started on the pancakes. "You still got a life ahead of you, Mr. Moon. But if my motherly instincts are correct, you're developing a crush on a certain someone."

"What? Pfft, that's preposterous," Buster replied with a quiet guffaw.

Rosita kept that smirk on her face as she flipped the pancakes. "And that certain someone happens to Maya Hart, is it?"

There's silence in the room as Rosita turned to see Buster holding his breath to not say anything, his face burning red from blushing madly.

Rosita played a smirk at the corner of her lips while the pancakes were finally ready. "A mother has a way to see through people."

Buster giggled nervously. "It's not like that."

"Yep, it's certainly that way, Mr. Moon," Rosita replied while putting the scrambled eggs on the plates.

Buster took a moment to glance at Maya's sleeping figure, her peaceful figure.

Rosita saw it while chuckling to herself. "And I was right."

Buster sighed heavily while turning back to Rosita. "Well...I-uh-don't have time to date anybody."

"Why not? You're not running the theater at this hour. Why not ask her out?" Rosita urged in a soft tone.

Buster groaned deeply. "If I do ask her, and I'm not saying I'm asking her, she's--well...she's not going to like a son of a crook who had the theater without knowing about the duel and the frauds. I mean, who would go out with a broken person?"

Rosita frowned while placing the pancakes on the plates, she turned to look at Buster. "You are not a crook or even a son of a crook. And how could you possibly know about the frauds and the duel when your father never told you? And to answer your question, we're all broken. Broken people date each other in order to become whole, which I wouldn't suggest doing for that reason but...some broken people date because they don't want to be lonely for the rest of their lives. You know, when I met Norman, he...he has an abusive father."

"Because of the alcohol--?"

"No...no alcohol involved. Poor Norman would show up to school with black eyes and crooked teeth. His mother was never around since she's a workaholic like my husband used to be. Norman is so broken, he didn't think it's possible to fall in love. When we met and dated, we fell in love and got married. To this day, I love that man, Mr. Moon. Despite being almost dead to the world and broken in pieces, I love him and I'm willing to help him fix his brokenness while he can help fix mine. Mr. Moon...that's what this kind of a relationship is all about."

Buster paused to think about Rosita's story. "Wow, I didn't know that about Norman."

"Well, that's just the surface of it, Mr. Moon. I don't want to get into detail about it...it's hard enough as it is," Rosita informed the koala while serving the plates of the breakfast.

Buster frowned while staring down at his breakfast, taking a bite of his eggs and a smile grew back on his face. "Mm, this is delicious."

Rosita smiled. "Thank you. I'm glad you like it."

There's a brief pause as Rosita looked out of the window.

"That's funny, they're supposed to be back by now," Rosita uttered.

"Who?"

"Johnny, Ash, Mike, and Nancy. They said they'll be back by the time breakfast is made," Rosita responded.

"Where did they go?"

"To Johnny's mother's grave. They're going to pay her some respects."

Buster paused while pinching his chin in thought.

That seems out of character of them to rush to a graveyard to visit Johnny's mother. Mike didn't really care much, Nancy and Ash didn't know Johnny's mother unless Johnny talked to Ash. Johnny is the only person who would visit and that would make sense...but why are the others there with him?

~.~

Johnny had a shovel in hand while he walked through the graveyard called Folklore Cemetary with Ash, Mike, and Nancy with him.

"You know, what we're about to do is illegal," Mike spoke in the group.

"Well, it's got to be done to find the second part of the map," Ash responded to the mouse.

"Okay, just want to make sure we're aware," Mike replied while they finally found a headstone that read:

"Rest in Peace: Tabitha Willows.

Loving Mother and Wife

Her Last Words: Thus Where I Lie."

Johnny gasped in recognition of those words. "Mum?"

He set the shovel aside while kneeling down to see the headstone, caressing it gently like he's stroking a person's cheek.

Mike, Nancy, and Ash looked at him in concern.

"Are you sure you're emotionally prepared for this, kid?" Mike spoke softly, earning a teary gaze from the gorilla, looking over his broad shoulder to glance back at his girlfriend and friends.

"I--I need to talk to her first," Johnny responded while shifting his focus back on the headstone.

"Alright, take your time, babe," Ash gently soothed while giving him some space. The three people were still watching while Johnny let the silence fill in his ears.

"'Ello, Mum," Johnny spoke, tears already escaping him. "I know that you haven't seen me since I was a baby."

He looked at the headstone. "I could barely remember ya. According to Dad, you are one of the kindest people that I would never get a chance to meet. I wish I was here sooner. I wish I found you sooner but...I'm glad it happen the way it did. Dad misses you a lot. I love you, Mum."

He began to sob quietly while rubbing his hand against the headstone belonging to his mother. Ash walked beside him, hugging at his broad shoulder to comfort him. Nancy's heart was turned to mush as she strolled and hugged his arm that he wasn't using. Mike frowned softly while climbing up to his other shoulder and stroked his hair.

"You know, if you want, we could have someone else dig the map up from your mother," Nancy suggested gently while rubbing his leather jacket.

"Yeah, you don't have to if you don't want to, kid," Mike agreed with Nancy.

Johnny took deep breaths while wiping the tears away. "But...But I want to do it. I want to be the one to do it." Johnny glanced up to see his mother's headstone while grabbing his shovel. "I'm sorry, Mum."

Johnny stood up, causing Nancy and Ash to stand back away from him. He jabbed the shovel onto the ground right in front of his mother's gravestone, and he began to dig.

It's been a couple of hours that Johnny made a pile of dirt right beside the hole he had been digging until he hit the wood. The soft gorilla let out a gasp as he uncovered it to see that it's a coffin. With a deep breath, Johnny slowly opened the lid, revealing the bones of a female gorilla, decaying with a gold chain necklace around her neck. Mike, who had been standing on Johnny's shoulder the entire time, saw the skeleton inside of the coffin while rubbing Johnny's sweaty neck just for the sake of comfort.

"You can do it, kid," Mike soothed while Johnny took a deep breath and reached down to the skeleton and gently grabbed her necklace that was holding a locket. He opened the locket easily and noticed a small folded-up map hiding within the gold locket. He carefully picked it up. Before Johnny can close the locket, his eyes saw a picture of his father, his mother, and him as a baby gorilla. They were smiling and having fun. In the picture...they seemed happy. Her mother was buried with that necklace for a reason, one to hide the map and two, so that she can keep remnants of what's left of her family, even when she died.

Johnny took deep breaths as he closed the lid and kissed the locket before placing it back into the coffin with his mother. He closed up the coffin as he climbed out of the hole he dug for himself. With deep breaths and Ash, Mike, and Nancy watching, Johnny grabbed the shovel and hauled the dirt back into the hole where it belonged. 

To Be Continued...