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Chapter Text

The rays of sunlight shining through the window disturbed my peaceful sleep, forcing me to acknowledge the world around me. All I wanted to do was roll over and go back to sleep but no matter how much I tossed and turned I couldn't return to my blissful slumber. 

With a sigh of defeat, I finally pulled the covers off of my aching body. I feel like I got run over by a truck. I thought to myself, but just as that thought passed through my mind I felt an icy chill pour down my spine at what I just recalled.

Oh my gosh! The crash! What happened to my car? How did I even get here?! My mind races a mile a minute trying to remember what happened to me. I get out of bed and for first time today, I take in my surroundings. Where the hell am I?! Whose room is this?

I glance around the room and my eyes land on a mirror opposite the bed. I take my appearance, eyes widening as I realise the person I see in front of me looks like me but isn't me. What happened to my hair? It was never this long. And when did I get so many piercings? Did I grow a few inches? What the heck is going on?

It quickly dawned on me that, although the facial features and general physique was the same. This wasn't my body. This wasn't me. Before I could reflect on the matter any longer, a few sharp knocks caught my attention.

"Alyssa. Time to get up, honey." A familiar voice said from outside the door. Before I could think of what to do next the door was already opening.

"Morning, honey. I see you're already up. That's great, you've got a big day ahead, you know. Your agent, Melissa, called, said something about recording your new song." The woman rambled on while folding laundry on the bed but I continued to stare at her in disbelief. Mum? She looks so different. She sounds different too? 

The mother I was used to had short dark brown hair, tan skin and blue eyes yet the woman standing in front of me had longer, curlier brown hair, darker skin and hazel eyes. She was slightly shorter too.

What in the fresh hell is going on?

"Alyssa, are you okay honey?" She asked, concern showing on her face. 

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, mum." I stuttered in shock. She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Are you sure you're okay. You sound a bit different. Are you sick?" She says, placing the back of her hand against my forehead.

"No, no. I'm fine mum, don't worry." I say, gently removing her hand from my forehead.

"Okay then. Well, go get ready. Melissa said she will be here at 12 to take you to the studio." She said, continuing to fold laundry.

It was then that I realised the my mother's accent was different than what I was used to. I looked around before quickly reaching for what I'm assuming is my phone on the bedside table to look at my location. America? Last time I checked I was still in the UK! I continue to look at the map in disbelief. The states and cities don't even look the same. I've never seen Redshore city on a map before? It does sound familiar though. Something is clearly going on here.

Before I completely zoned out earlier I remembered mum talking about an agent and a studio. Something about recording songs but why would I be recording a song. Unless... There's no way!

I quickly open a search bar and type in my name. "Alyssa Mercia". My eyes widen in shock as I scroll on the webpage. 

"Alyssa Mercia is an American singer and songwriter. She is seen as an influential figure in contemporary pop and R&B music. Her most popular songs..."

I continue scrolling until I come across a video of me singing Set Fire to the Rain. I thought this song was by Adele?! I eventually continued scrolling seeing more songs that were by other artists but apparently I sang them. Until I come across another video. "Open concert at the Moon theatre - this guy killed it!" It was a video of a guy singing I'm still standing by Elton John while playing the piano. He wore a green shirt with dark wash jeans and a leather jacket. 

Wait a damn minute! Moon theatre! Redshore city! Don't tell me... I quickly open new tab to confirm my suspicions. "New Moon Theatre". 

"The New Moon Theatre is an elegant, recently restored theatre in Calatonia owned by Buster Moon and sponsored by the legendary Nana Noodleman..."

I nearly dropped my phone at the revelation. I'm in the world of Sing!? But no one is an animal? My phone eventually dropped to the floor. I felt myself tilting off axis and my vision going blurry before everything went black.

Chapter Text

"Alyssa!" I blearily open my eyes as I hear someone calling my name.

"Oh my God, thank goodness you're okay!" Mum exclaimed as she wrapped me in a bear hug and breathed a sigh of relief. 

"I think we should cancel the recording for today. Wouldn't want you fainting in the booth. Rest up okay." A woman I don't recognise says after helping me to the bed.

I still in shock, reeling from what I've just discovered. Still feeling a bit lightheaded but determined to figure this out. I need to tell someone about this. Where do we even go from here? Would they even believe me?

"Mum. Uh, I need to tell you something. Something important." I say, trying to be as serious as possible.

"Of course honey, what is it?" She says, a loving and encouraging smile on her face. Brows still creased with worry from my fainting spell earlier.

"Okay this is gonna sound crazy, but hear me out, alright."

"Go ahead, dear."

"Okay." I say taking a deep breath in. "I'm not who you think I am...I'm not really from this world. I think I'm in an alternate reality." 

Her eyebrows raise in suspicion but before she can question my sanity I continue.

"I know it sounds crazy but I can prove it." I fish around in my pocket for something. Aha! Got it. What I bring out is a folded Polaroid photo of me standing with my family. It's something I always keep on me because it's one of the only pictures I have of my family all together. I hand it to her and eyes widen in shock as she scans the photo.

"In the world I'm from we look completely different and live completely different lives. I also never became a singer in my universe." I try to explain.

"You didn't?!" She questions as if that's the most astonishing part of this whole situation. I laugh as her shocked expression amplifies.

"I guess this universe's version of me has more confidence than I do." I mutter sombrely.

"So if you're here, where is my Alyssa." She says looking both concerned and confused.

"I have no clue, but if I'm in her body I'm guessing she's in mine."

"Will she be okay?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine, I'm pretty sure my universe isn't that different from here. Although we do live in the UK instead of America." 

"So that's why you sound different! The accent." We both laugh.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"Melissa! We need some help in here." She called out.

Velvety red curtains draw open to reveal dark spooky woods. From the trees, Meena bursts out, fearful and panicked, flashlight in hand, dashing for her life. In her haste, she stumbles to the ground but before she could even catch her breath or collect her thoughts, the very earth beneath her crumbles away and she falls.

When she lands, Meena is mesmerised as the the room is filled with fireflies until she sees light coming from a small door leading to somewhere but when she tries to look through, the door expands to reveal 3 women in funky looking outfits playing the guitar.

"Let's go crazy!"

The flowers around them started coming to life, dancing to the music.

"Let's go crazy!"

More of flowers start to dance and form a pathway for Meena to walk towards some bushes.

She walks close enough to see Rosita dressed as the Cheshire Cat, standing up and joining in on the dance.

(ROSITA):

"If you don't like

The world you're living in 

Take a look around

At least you've got friends."

Meena turns to the sound of the piano, seeing Johnny dressed as the Mad Hatter.

(JOHNNY):

"You see I called my old lady

For a friendly word

She picked up the phone

Dropped it on the floor

Ah, ah, is all I heard!"

Rosita makes her way over to him, standing on a mushroom.

(JOHNNY & ROSITA): 

"Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down 

Oh no, let's go!

Let's go crazy!

Let's get nuts!"

Rosita goes over to Meena and drags her into the middle to join the song.

(ROSITA):

"Look for the purple banana 

Till they put us in the truck!"

(ALL):

"Let's go!"

Meena and Johnny start to vocalise before Meena joins in with dancing.

(MEENA):

"We're all excited (all excited)

Don't know why (don't know why)

Maybe it's cause

We're all gonna die!"

Just as she says that, a death knell rings out and the lights are cut to reveal the cast as glow in the dark skeletons.

(MEENA):

"When we do

What's it all for? (What's it all for?)

Better live now

Before the grim reaper comes knocking at your door, tell me."

The tree behind her splits in half to form a table with food and a tea set on it.

(JOHNNY & ROSITA):

"Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down?"

(ALL):

"Oh no, Let's go! 

Let's go crazy! (Let's go crazy)

Let's get nuts! (Lets get nuts)

Look for purple banana till the put us in the truck! Let's go!"

They all point to the exit door to show Gunter in a caterpillar costume.

"Come on baby, let's get nuts!" He says skipping down the aisle, throwing candy out to the audience.

(ALL):

"Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down 

Oh no, Let's go! 

Let's go crazy! (Let's go crazy)

Let's get nuts! (Lets get nuts)

Look for purple banana (Let's look till)

Till the put us in the truck! (They put us in the truck!

Let's go!"

(JOHNNY & MEENA):

"Dr. Everything will be alright 

Will make everything go wrong!"

(MEENA):

"Ooh, ooh."

The music slows as tent hovers over Meena before covering her completely. When it lift up again, Meena's outfit has changed to a blue and white dress with a bow and black shoes.

(MEENA): 

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go!"

The song ends and the audience cheers, but then upbeat music begins to play with trumpets blaring. The doors open to reveal a woman dressed as the Queen of Hearts, causing all the cast on stage to panic.

"What's going on?" Meena asked, confused by all the commotion.

"No time to explain, run away!" Johnny drags her off-stage while the rest of the cast do the same.

Backstage, Buster is walking around checking on things when he runs into one of the children playing as the flowers.

"Oh, hey, Sammy. You really got those moves locked down now, hmm?" He mused, buzzing with excitement.

"I sure do, Mr. Moon." Sammy replies, giggling.

"Yeah, look at you. Great job, everybody. Great job." Buster says, addressing the main cast.

"Thanks, Mr. Moon." Johnny replies, a pleased grin on his face as he hold his hat.

"Yeah! I think we pretty much nailed it." Gunter exclaims, sheer excitement clear as day.

"So, is she here?" Rosita asks, eagerness coating her tone.

They move to peak out of the curtains.

"There. See the red-head, middle third row?" Buster asks.

"Oh, she's younger than I imagined." Rosita mentions in surprise.

"Yeah, well, supposedly, she's the best scout in show business." Buster replies

"I can't tell if-if she's enjoying it." Meena stutters worriedly.

"Come on, let's get a better view." Buster encourages.

The 3 women from before sing Can't Feel My Face by The Weeknd as the crew are lifted up to the scaffolding above the stage.

"And how we doing over here, Miss Crawly?" Buster asks the elder lady.

"Oh, very good, Mr. Moon. So far, I counted nine smiles, two belly laughs and five chuckles. Uh, though the last one could've just been gas." She says happily, she goes back to look through the spy glass with her good eye.

"Well, that's proof, right? She must like the show." Rosita says.

"Oh, my gosh. You think so?" Meena says excitedly.

"I hope so." She responds.

"All right, now, keep up the good work. Come on, everybody, back to positions." Buster encourages

"She'd be, like, cuckoo not to love the show." Gunter says confidently.

They all leave to prepare for the next segment of the play.

"Dream big dreams. That's what I always said, right?" Buster sighs in satisfaction.

"Mm-hmm." Miss, Crawly replies distractedly.

"Well, looks like we're about to take this show to the entertainment capital of the world." He says, basking in this feeling of awe.

"Mr. Moon, she's leaving." Miss Crawly says sounding concerned 

"Huh?"

"She's leaving the show."

"Miss Crawly, stay right here." He instructed.

"What are you gonna do?" She asks, in trepidation.

"I'm gonna follow that red-head." He answers, full of determination.

Chapter Text

Mum and I have been trying to come with a solution to our predicament, It's been so tiring trying to figure out how to deal with this issue but thankfully Melissa, who is apparently my agent, has helped tremendously.

"Alright, so here's the game plan. We'll just push back the recording of your new album until next week so you can fully settle in. Then, we can teach you all about yourself so no one suspects a thing." Melissa explains, confident smile on her face.

"Okay, sounds good to me." I reply, nodding in agreement.

"Perfect! However, before we teach you about yourself from this dimension or whatever, you should tell us about yourself. What are things like in your world, so we know what we're working with." Melissa said.

"Good idea." Mum agreed

"Well, where should I start?" 

"You mentioned earlier that you didn't become a singer. How come?" Mum asked.

"WAIT! You didn't become a singer!?" Melissa yelled, jaw practically on the ground.

I chuckled sheepishly, and looked away. I figured this topic would come back up. It would kinda be unavoidable seeing as I seem to be such an "icon" here. It's definitely gonna take some getting used to. I thought, remembering the average life I was used to that I've now apparently left behind.

"Well, um. I struggled a lot with my confidence and self-esteem during my teenage years. I had a hard time fitting in when I was growing up because we moved around a lot for mum's job so it took a long time get out my shell. So the mere thought of singing in front a crowd was terrifying to me." I say.

"Wow, I'm sorry you had to go through that, honey." Mum says, a sympathetic smile dawning her face.

"Thanks, mum. I'm doing a lot better now" I smile back.

"What about your family? Are they the same as here?" Melissa asks, clearly curious.

"It's just me, mum and my older brother Aaron. My dad died around the time I was born so I never knew him."I say sombrely.

"That's odd, my Alyssa's dad walked out after I gave birth. Haven't seen him since." Mum says, a bitter tone to her words.

"Damn, does Aaron even exist here?" I ask.

"Oh yes, in fact, he should be home soon." Mum says.

Just like magic, the outside door opens and a deep voice calls out.

"Mom! Alyssa! I'm back!" Aaron calls out.

"Speak of the devil. We're in here, honey!" Mum replies.

"Hey mom, hey sis. What are you all doing in here?"

"Sit down, hon. It's a bit of a long story." Mum says, Aaron just raises an eyebrow, but complies anyway. Mum and Melissa then start explaining the whole situation, while I fiddle with my hands. What the hell am I gonna do now?

Buster dashes down the staircase to try and catch up to the tall lady.

"Uh, Suki? Suki Lane? I'm Buster Moon. Uh, hi. So glad you could make it. Um, would you like some popcorn?" Buster offers kind of desperately. 

"Oh, no, thanks. I'm not staying for the second half, so..." She replies, seemingly bored.

"Oh. But, uh, we thought you were enjoying it. I mean, not that we were watching you or anything." He says somewhat nervously.

"It really is a cute little show." She chuckles, looking to the cut out off the cast as she walks to the exit. "Just not what we're looking for."

"But-but wait. Y-You got to see the second act. I'm-I'm telling you, it's a smash." He chuckles nervously.

"Okay, Mr. Moon, can I be honest?" She cuts him off.

"Of course."

"Are you sure? 'Cause folks say that when they don't really mean it." She tries to warn him.

"No, please, please, be as honest as you like." Buster smiles, agreeing unassumingly.

"You're not good enough." She says bluntly leaving no room for discussion as she opens the door to leave.

"What?" He replies, absolutely stunned.

"Taxi!" She yells. "You know, maybe I will have that popcorn. Look, you've got a nice little local theater here, and it's great for what it is, but trust me, you'd never make it in the big leagues. Bye, now." She explains as she gets in the car and drives away.

Nana rushes to Buster by the entrance of the theatre, hopeful that good news was awaiting.

"Well, what did she say?" She asks in trepidation.

"I'll be right back." Buster replies, rushing off again.

Suki is in the taxi, talking to a colleague about the show.

"Nah. Mm-mm. A few laughs, bunch of quirky ideas. But, anyway, about Thursday..." She says, trailing off chewing on the popcorn.

Then she hears a few taps on the car window, only to see Buster pedalling beside the taxi with his bike.

"Oh, my..." She says in awe.

"Yeah, hi. It's me again." He says, out of breath from keeping up with the taxi.

"I'll call you back." She says into the phone before ending the call.

"Are you out of your mind?" She yells at Buster.

"When are you holding auditions?" He asks, ignoring her question.

"Tomorrow." She stammers in disbelief. "But there is no way you'll..." She tries to dissolve the issue.

"Uh, listen, it..." He starts but is cut off by a car honking next to him.

"Get out of the road, ya idiot!" The driver yells.

"Hey, do you mind? I'm in a meeting here." He yells back, the driver zooms off in a huff.

"Could-could you at least give us a chance to try out for your boss?" Buster asks.

"Driver, could you please lose this maniac?" She says rolling up the window, completely done with the absurdity of this situation.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second. No, no, no, no!" He screamed as the bike was headed straight for the canal, he landed with a big splash. He climbed out, completely drenched and trudged back to the theatre, cold, wet and completely disheartened.

When are you gonna come down?

When are you going to land? 

I should have stayed on the farm 

I should have listened to my old man 

You know you can't hold me forever

I didn't sign up with you

Buster goes into the bathroom to dry himself off, hair now in completely disarray.

I'm not a present for your friends to open

This boy's too young to be singing

The blues

 He trudged on as the audience spill out at the end of the show. The babble excitedly about the show but the noise is drowned out by Buster's despair.

Ah, ah-ah, ah, ah

Ah, ah, ah

"Mr. Moon?" Nana called out before setting of to find him elsewhere.

So goodbye, yellow brick road

Where the dogs of society howl

You can't plant me in your penthouse

I'm going back to my plow

Back to the howling old owl in the woods

Hunting the horny-back toad... 

Nana cuts off the music with her fan to find Buster sulking under his desk, staring at his photograph him and his dad when he first opened the theatre.

"Oh, for heaven's sake." She says in exasperation.

"What can I say, Nana? I'm a failure." He sighs dejectedly.

"Oh, poppycock." She says, dismissing him.

"I was reaching too high." He says.

"Honestly, one negative comment, and it's all, "Woe is me." She places the back of hand against her forehead, feigning dismay.

"Nana, come on. She said I'm not good enough. I mean, heck, I've just been told that my destiny, all of my hopes and dreams, uh, they all end right here." He says, utterly discouraged and frustrated.

"Well, what did you expect? That she would drop to her knees and declare you a genius? Roll out the red carpet for the great Buster Moon!" She tone dripping with sarcasm.

"She-she ran me off the road into a canal!" He exclaimed.

"Well, you're still in one piece, aren't you?"She replies.

"Well, yeah, but..." He says reluctantly.

"Well, anyone who dares set out to follow their dreams is bound to face a lot worse than a dip in the canal." She refutes.

"Ah, Hobbs. I found him. Uh, bring the car round, will you? There's a good chap." She says to her butler through the doorway.

"I-I... I just thought she'd at least see we deserved a shot." He tries to reason.

"Never mind what this person you don't even know said. Do you think you're good enough?" She asks.

"Of course, but..." He trails off.

"Then you must fight for what you believe in. Guts, stamina, faith. These are the things you need now, and without them... Well, maybe that scout was right. Maybe you're not good enough." She says with finality as she leaves the room. She looks back through the door to see if her speech affected him and then leaves the theatre.

Chapter Text

"So let me get this straight, you swapped bodies with my sister so now she is in your world and you're in ours." Aaron says still looking confused. I nod confirming what he's saying.

"And in your world, you didn't become a singer and live a normal life in the UK, not America." I nod again.

"And now you're saying our world is a movie series in your world." I nod, a sheepish smile on my face, understanding how absurd this all sounds.

Aaron just puts his head in his hands and groans. I can't imagine how weird this must be to hear as soon as you get back home. Finding out that your sister is no longer your sister but still kind of is and that your world is based of a movie series.

"You know what, I think it's time to get some lunch. I'll order pizza, you're welcome to join us Melissa." Mum says trying to ease the tension.

"Thank you, Ms M." Melissa says, sending me a sympathetic smile before getting up to leave.

"I've told you before, dear. Call me Sara." Mum says, lightheartedly.

After they both leave a tense silence fills the room. I wonder how he feels about this situation, it can't be easy. I feel bad about it but at the same time it's not like I asked to be here.

"Look, I get this is probably weird for you and trust me it's weird for me too but I think it's best for us to just make do with what it is, whatever it is. I'm sure you're worried and confused about all this but I'm sure everything will work out. Okay?" I give a small smile, trying to look on the bright side.

"Okay." He says returning the smile. "Come on, let's go get pizza."

That night, Buster turns and turns in bed unable to get Nana's words out of his head. Eventually, he gets out of bed, determination clear on his face. He gets changed, puts some essential props together and heads out to Rick's Club.

"Oh, I... No, I know, Rosita, but trust me on this. It'll be totally worth it. And listen, I'm outside her place now, so can you call the others and have 'em meet up in half an hour? Great. Thank you." He gets off the phone with Rosita, so the crew can meet up to his plan into action.

(ASH):

"Off, off with your head

Dance, dance till you're dead

Heads will roll

Heads will roll

Heads will roll 

Heads will roll 

On the floor 

Off, off, off with your head

Dance, dance

Dance till you're dead, dead 

Off, off, off with your head 

Dance, dance, dance till you're dead."

The song finishes and the crowd goes wild cheering on Ash's performance.

"Thank you so much. Good night." She waves to the crowd before running off backstage. "Moon! Hey." She exclaims giving Buster a tight hug.

"Wow. You were great out there." He compliments.

"I got to go back out for an encore." She says, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Okay. Hey, but what are you doing after the show?" He asks, hopefully 

"Uh, nothing." She replies.

"Well, listen, I know this is crazy short notice, but you always said you'd come back to work with us when the time was right." He says.

"Of course." She says, no hesitation.

"Well, this is that time." He says, happy that she's on board.

Before he can explain further, he's almost knocked over by Rick, the owner of the club as he gives Ash her payment.

"Here, paycheck." He grunts, handing the piece of paper to Ash.

"I'm getting the gang together to go audition for this huge show..." Buster continues but is cut off when Ash looks at her paycheck. "Just-just a second." She walks over to Rick, steps casual yet purposeful.

"Hey, Rick, how come you're only paying me half what the other acts get?" She says, in an accusatory yet nonchalant tone.

"I pay what I think you're worth, sweetheart." He says smugly.

"Oh, okay. See, I have this rule about not letting guys like you tell me what I'm worth, so, you know, unless I get paid like everyone else, I'm out of here." She says, confident.

"This is the only club in town. Where else you gonna play?" He chuckles in disbelief.

"I have no idea, but I'm sure as heck not sticking around here. Let's go." She tells Buster.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You-you got to do the encore. Hey, Ash!" He says, realising she was completely serious.

"Deal with it, sweetheart." She winks, throwing his own words back in his face.

Eventually the two get to the bus station to meet up with the others.

"Okay, I got the tickets. Anyone seen Miss Crawly. Here you go, Johnny. Here's yours, and..." Buster says, trying to get everything organised.

"Mr. Moon. Uh, uh, I'm sorry, but I'm really having second thoughts about this." Johnny says, obviously feeling self conscious because of the scout.

"What? No, no, no, wait." Buster says, trying to refute.

"All right, last call. Let's go." The bus driver calls out, ready to start the journey.

"Johnny's right. I mean, that theater scout, she didn't think we were good enough." Meena adds, dejectedly.

"She sounds like a jerk." Ash comments.

"Yeah, total jerk." Gunter huffs in agreement.

"Yeah, but she's wrong... dead wrong. There's a reason our show is sold out every night, and I'm telling you, her boss is gonna love it." Buster tries to ease their worries.

"Ooh. Or maybe we could just, like, do a different show, you know?" Gunter suggests. 

"Gunter, please, I got this." Buster insists.

"Seriously, I have this idea for, like, a space musical." Gunter says.

"All right, we're rolling out here." The bus driver says, as the doors close and he starts driving.

"You don't want to hear about the space musical?" Gunter questions.

"Guys, come on! Wait!" Buster says clearly frustrated, as he attempts to call after the bus.

Suddenly the tires of the bus squeal, and the air brakes hiss. Everyone looks up to see Rosita standing in front of the bus.

"Listen, you guys, I have dreamt of performing in Redshore City since I was a little kid. And besides, I just convinced my husband to babysit for the next 24 hours, and I am not gonna waste an opportunity like that. So come on. We've got nothing to lose." She says, lifting everyone's spirits. They all board the bus, newly inspired.

"Here, Ash. You come in on page two." Buster hands her a copy of the script.

"Wait. We're just gonna rehearse this here at the back of the bus?" She says, momentarily concerned.

"Yes, we are." Buster replies.

"Course we are." Johnny chuckles, not surprised.

"Yep. We got to get this show in the best shape ever. Ah, Miss Crawly, you made it. Good. You are an angel, and we're sure gonna need that..." Buster says, absorbed in his plans before he looks up to see Miss Crawly in a sparkly, bright pink dress, gold heels and and orange wig.

"Whoa! What the..." He says confused and shocked.

"Uh, well, you did say, "Dress to impress."She smiles sheepishly.

Whilst on the bus, the crew practise the play. The other bus passengers even singing and dancing along until they finally arrive. 

Time 

All the long red lines

That take control 

Of all the smoke like streams 

That flow into your dreams 

That big blue open sea

That can't be crossed 

That can't be climbed

Just born between...

"Absolutely right. Let's just cut that line and have you just play the guitar part through the whole of scene." Buster says to Ash. 

"Got it." She replies.

"Guys, we're here." Meena alerts them.

They all take a moment to admire the beauty of Redshore. All the mesmerising attractions, the colourful rides, the large billboards showcasing all kinds of entertainment. 

"All right. Let's go spread a little Moon Theater magic." Buster says as they get off the bus and head straight to Crystal Entertainment.

Chapter Text

In an attempt to get me more comfortable with this alternate lifestyle, we decided to watch a movie while we ate pizza. Living like my alternate self has been so surreal but it's nice to know that even in a parallel reality, I managed to surround myself with some good people. It turns out that when I became famous, I lost all of my friends due to me overworking and them always asking for money. Some friends they were, huh.

We decided to watch Annie (2014) only for me to find out that in this world it's called Abbie instead. How weird! While we're watching the movie, Mum and Aaron tell me more about myself. Some of the memories end up being the same, we are the same person after all.

The movie continues and I sing along with the songs absentmindedly. 

(ALYSSA): 

"This is just the start of your story

If you got guts you get glory 

Anyone can make it even you

In New York City

And now's time you gotta stand tough

'Cause if you work hard you can rise up

Anyone can make it even you

In New York City

Look at me I'm just blood pumpin'

You and me are two hearts thumpin'

We are two souls giving the same feed

So take it all

The city's yours

It's worth fighting for 

It's all yours

So take it all

The cities yours

It's worth fighting for

It's all mine

It's all yours..."

The song finishes, and I feel the others eyes on me.

"Wow, Alyssa. I know you're kinda the same person but you're really talented." Melissa says, smiling softly at me.

"That's my girl." Mum says proudly.

"Wow, Lys. You're amazing." Aaron comments, the familiar nickname that reminded me so much of Aaron from back home.

I feel my face heat up at the compliments. Back in my world the I'm only people I had the courage to sing in front of were my mum and brother and a few friends.

"Thanks guys." I say, a big, albeit sheepish smile on my face.

"I don't want to pry too much, but if you're this good why didn't you try singing professionally." Melissa asks, genuinely curious.

I think for a second before answering, trying to phrase this the best way possible.

"I can't lie, my self-esteem has always been sort of low for as long as I can remember. It has always been something that stopped me from expressing myself and become more self conscious so I never really gave myself the chance to express myself and my talents. It's gotten a little better these past few years because I've been trying to work on myself but it's still probably not where it should be." I say, a sad smile on my face.

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry." Mum says, wrapping me in a hug.

"Damn, I'm sorry you're going through that Lys." Aaron places a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"You know, Alyssa, I think we should get you a therapist. What you're dealing with doesn't sound normal." Melissa suggests gently.

"I can't afford therapy." I scoff.

"Girl, you're forgetting something. In this world, you're a celebrity. We have money!" She says.

"Oh, right. Forgot." I chuckle.

For the rest of the afternoon, we continue chatting and watching the movie.

"No." The receptionist says bluntly.

"No? What do you mean, "no"?" Buster asks.

"For the last time, sir, no appointment, no entry." She says leaving no room for argument.

"Um..."Buster trails off.

"Sir, do I need to call security?" She asks, getting annoyed.

"We should go." Rosita says, nudging him towards the exit.

"Yes, you should. Next, please." She snarks, looking at them with disdain and impatience.

"I don't like this." Gunter says, clearly upset. "This is so unfair. She's, like, totally unfair, that lady."

"I mean, why's she got to be so snotty about it?" Ash replies.

"I got all dressed up for nothing." Miss Crawly complains.

"Let's just find somewhere for lunch and hang out." Johnny says, trying to make the most of it.

Suddenly, Buster shoves everyone into a staff only room.

"Everyone, in here. Quick. Get in." He pushes them all.

Everyone complains about the darkness and tight squeeze.

"Shh! I got to think. I've got to think. I've got to think." He says, trying to find a solution.

"Mr. Moon? I'm not so good in small spaces."Meena says.

"Okay, okay, okay." He says, still not paying attention.

"Ow! Somebody stepped on my foot." Gunter complains.

"Sorry. Sorry." Ash apologises

"Okay, honey. Come on. Let's get you out of here." Rosita tries to comfort him.

"Aha! Look at this. Meena. Do you think that's kind of your size?" Buster asks, pointing to a janitor uniform while looking at an employee of the month photo that looks a lot like Meena.

Next thing you know, Meena is riding an electric cleaner with fake moustache and hair hidden in a hat. Whilst all the others are hiding in the side of the cleaner away from the receptionist.

White shirt now red, my bloody nose 

Sleepin', you're on your tippy-toes 

Creepin' around like no one knows 

Think you're... 

"Hey, Ricky." The receptionist greets.

"Hi." Meena says in a deep voice after clearing her throat.

"Crystal Entertainment. Uh, hold one moment, sir. I'll-I'll connect you." She says into the phone after it rings.

Suddenly, the cleaner starts to tilt due to the unbalanced weight.

"Oh, no."Meena whispers in a panic.

"Everybody, hold on." Buster says.

"Oh, Mr. Moon?" Miss Crawly says as she leans closer to the ground.

"Hold tight, Miss Crawly."

Make your girlfriend mad type 

Might seduce your dad type 

I'm the bad guy 

Duh 

I like it... 

"Good job." Buster says, as they all make it passed the doors and get of the cleaner.

"Now, into the elevator. Quick. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Meena! Come on!" He hurries her as Meena goes to get mops for them before getting in the elevator.

I'll let you play the role

I'll be your animal... 

"We could all get arrested for..." Rosita points out, but gets cut off by the elevator zooming up at top speed.

I'm only good at bein' bad 

Bad... 

The elevator doors open to reveal the presentation members all staring at them.

"Everybody, mop." Buster says.

The mops squeak against the floor in awkward silence as they move from the doors to the hallway, awkwardly smiling.

"Where are you going now?" Rosita questions Buster.

"I'm gonna find somewhere to change out of this stuff." He says trying a bunch of doors.

As he finds one that opens, a woman is singing on stage with her dance partner.

Like a vendetta-ta 

I-I-I see how this is gonna go 

Touch me and you'll never be alone 

I-Island breeze and lights down low 

No one has to know 

In the middle of the night 

In my dreams 

You should see the things we do 

Baby, mm 

In the middle of the night... 

They enter the room and take off the janitor get ups. Buster looks through the curtain to see the performance up close.

"Look, that's him. That is the Mr. Crystal." Buster says to the rest gesturing towards a man with platinum blonde hair and icy blue eyes wearing an expensive looking suit.

I know I'm gonna be with you 

So I take my time... 

"Garbage." Crystal groans in annoyance, pressing the red buzzer.

Hi 

My name is 

What? 

My name is 

Who? 

My name is... 

Three boys popping out of chimneys with soot and dirt all over them.

Crystal presses the buzzer again.

Abra-Abracadabra 

Abracadabra... 

Two men perform a magic trick with one of them entering a box while the other throws a stick of Dynamite in as well. When it explodes a woman is standing where the man was.

Crystal presses the buzzer again.

Bangs, she bangs 

Oh, baby, when she moves, she moves... 

A tall woman dances vigorously, shaking the platform where a shorter man sings while people dance gracefully around them.

Crystal presses the buzzer again.

Hello... 

A woman in a glamorous dress sings beautifully.

Crystal presses the buzzer again.

The next act is of 6 men playing loud drums passionately, to the point where the buzzer is muffled under the drum beat. Eventually, Jerry, Crystal's assistant manages to cut them off.

What do you want from me? 

Why do you run from me? 

What are you wondering? 

What do you know? 

Why are you scared of... 

A woman sings while balancing on an aerial hoop, and rotating her head 360 degrees.

Thoroughly creeped out, Crystal presses the buzzer again.

Some ballet dancers dance to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Crystal presses the buzzer again.

You used to call me on my cell phone

Late night when you need my lo... 

A young man sings, while creating the beats on his DJ set up.

Crystal presses the buzzer again.

Talk to me, baby 

I'm going blind from this sweet, sweet craving, whoa-oh 

Let's lose our minds and go crazy, crazy 

I-I-I-I-I, I keep on hopin' we'll eat 

Cake by the ocean, uh 

Walk for me, baby 

I'll be Diddy, you'll be Naomi, whoa-oh 

Let's lose our minds and go crazy... 

Men and women wearing colourful costumes and roller skates dance acrobatically. Their clear talent makes Crystal hesitate, his hand floating above the buzzer. He watches closely, as if looking for a fault in their routine.

Yet, Crystal presses the buzzer again!

"Okay, everybody, if you can leave immediately, single file, we'd appreciate that. Thank you very much." Jerry says.

"Jerry, for the love of..." Crystal complains as he almost stumbles into Jerry.

"Sorry, sir." Jerry apologises.

"Well, where's the next group, Jerry?  Why am I standing here waiting?" He huffs impatiently.

"How about I... I just... I just, uh..." He stammers.

"Be useful or be gone, okay?" Crystal says bluntly.

"Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Um, okay. Um, you. Hey. Hey. Yeah, you. Little guy, you're here for the audition?" Jerry asks, addressing Buster who was peaking through the curtain.

"Uh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yes, we are. Guys, we're on right now." Buster says, caught off guard, but takes the opportunity.

"Your name? Hey, your name, please?" Jerry asks.

"Uh, it's Buster Moon from the New Moon Theater.

And we're very excited to share our story with you today, sir. Right, guys?" Buster says, enthusiastically.

"Yeah, great. Now, get to it." Crystal replies disinterested.

"Of course. Yes. Okay, guys, just like we rehearsed." Buster says.

The drumbeat intro to "Let's Go Crazy" starts playing.

"This is the story of an ordinary high school girl who discovers..." Buster starts .

Crystal presses the buzzer again.

"Stop." Crystal says.

"Stop?" Buster asks,

"He wants you to stop." Jerry confirms.

The music stops playing.

"Ordinary" and "school." Two words I will never be associated with." Crystal concludes.

"Never. Never." Jerry echoes.

"Where the heck did you dig these guys up from, huh?" Crystal comments unimpressed.

"If you could all leave very quickly, we'd appreciate that, please." Jerry says.

"I need big shows, Jerry. Big ideas!" Crystal exclaims, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, sir, big. The biggest." He parroted.

"Hey, I have a big one." Gunter says, optimistically.

"Okay, honey. Come on, let's go." Rosita guides him offstage.

"You know, the sci-fi musical. That's big, right? I mean, it's got the aliens and the robots and the lasers and these amazing songs from, like, Clay Calloway to..." He continues.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Clay Calloway? I love Clay Calloway." Crystal says, suddenly interested.

"I know, right? I mean, doesn't everybody?" Buster chuckles nervously, ushering everyone back on stage.

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, Jerry? This is exactly the kind of big idea I'm talking about." Crystal says.

"So, uh... so what's the show called?" He asks.

"What's it called? Um... Gunter, you, uh... you want to... uh, tell Mr. Crystal what it's called?" Buster says.

"Uh-huh. It's called Out of This World." He says dramatically.

"Out of This World." Crystal echoes.

"That's right. Just imagine it. Ash?" Buster says nodding to Ash who starts playing her guitar.

"Uh, yeah, I got it." She says.

"A spectacular musical that takes your audience out of this world." Buster says dramatically.

(ASH):

"I wanna run"

She looks at Johnny to sing the next line, who thankfully gets the hint.

(JOHNNY):

"I want to hide"

(ALL):

"I wanna tear down the walls 

That hold me inside"

"I love this song." Crystal comments, seeing the vision the cast create with the song.

(ALL):

"I wanna reach out 

And touch the flame 

Where the streets have no name."

Suddenly, Suki walks in to talk to Crystal. 

"Sir, your lunch meeting with... Oh, my..." She trails off before realising who was in the room.

"Not now." Crystal says, still thinking.

"Moon, how did you get in here?" Suki whisper-yells.

"He said not now, Suki." Jerry parrots to Suki.

"Yeah, I heard him, Jerry." She replies in annoyance.

"Are you telling me you-you got Clay Calloway's permission to use his song?" Crystal asks.

"Well, what if I told you I did?" Buster answers, indirectly.

"Okay, so what, you got some kind of personal connection to this guy?" Crystal asks.

"How else would I get it?" He replies.

"Moon!" Ash discreetly chastises him.

"Wait, if you know him, then you could get him in the show, right?" Crystal asks. To which Buster sheepishly nods.

"Oh, that'd be huge for me. Huge." Crystal says, rubbing his hands together like he's just hit the jackpot. 

"Sir, I'm sorry, but seriously? You think this little guy from nowhere can get Clay Calloway in the show." Suki raises her concern.

"Well, Suki, for your information, I am not just a little guy from nowhere. Consider it done, sir." He states, matter-of-factly.

Double doors blast open leading to the helicopter pad outside.

"I'll give you three weeks, Moon. Three weeks to get this show up and running, okay?" Crystal says.

"Yes, sir. Thank you." Buster replies.

"Moon, do you really know Clay Calloway?" Ash asks, worriedly.

"Shh, shh. Not now." He says dismissively.

"Jerry!" Crystal yells suddenly. 

"Oh! Right here, sir." Jerry answers.

"I want these guys to start work right away. Set 'em up with our designers, our dancers, whatever they need. And get 'em rooms at the hotel, okay? The very best suites. The whole shaboodle." Crystal lists off.

"Yes, sir. Yes, of course." Jerry says.

"Uh, hey, one last thing. Don't you ever do nothing to make me look bad. You got that?" Crystal says, seriously.

"Oh, I will never let that happen, sir." Buster says confidently.

"You better not, or I'll throw you off the roof." He threatens, making Buster laugh nervously.

"Great job, everyone. Take it away, Raoul." He says climbing into the helicopter and flying off.

"Oh, my gosh. Is this really happening?" Rosita asks in disbelief.

"Yeah! We're playing Redshore City, baby!" Gunter exclaims.

"Yes, we are, Gunter." Johnny comments happily. They all celebrate this new opportunity, smiles all around.

"Gunter, sci-fi musical? You're a genius." Buster shouts, excitedly.

"Yeah, well, Mama always said, "Gunter, you're not as stupid as your papa." He says.

"No, you're not." Buster agrees.

"Hey, Suki. No hard feelings, huh?" He boasts.

"You have no idea what you're getting into." She replies unfazed. Little did he know how right she was.

"Whoa!" Buster exclaims as he's pulled aside by Ash.

"Are you out of your mind?" She almost yells.

"What?" He asks confused.

"Clay Calloway? I'm, like, his biggest fan, and I can tell you, the guy is a recluse. Seriously, after his wife died, no one's seen him in over 15 years." She says, worriedly.

"Ah. That's not good." He says in shock.

"No, it's not." She confirms.

"Uh... Miss Crawly, I need you to help me find Clay Calloway. An address, a phone number, anything. But we've got to find that guy." He orders.

"Yes, sir." She answers.

Chapter Text

Mum, Aaron, Melissa and I had so much fun yesterday. We just spent the whole time, watching movies, doing karaoke, telling jokes and catching me up to speed on my life in this world. After the first movie, we were in the kitchen getting some snacks when Mum revealed something to me that I didn't expect.

"I know this situation isn't ideal, but I'm really glad you're here." She said, a gentle smile on her face.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but why?" I say, confused.

"Well, it wasn't obvious or expected, but I could tell that these past few months Alyssa seemed unhappy. A mother can always tell when something's wrong, you know. You'd think that being so successful in her career would allow her to live her best life. It shocked me to no end, when she moved back into the house. She said it was because she missed me and Aaron, but eventually it started making sense. She would come home from events, recordings, interviews with bags under her eyes and a fake smile. I got really worried at one point, but I realised that she wasn't enjoying being artist as much as she did when she first started out. It's not uncommon for artists to experience burnout. I was going to suggest taking a break a few days ago, but as soon as she came back from work she went straight to bed. Then you came along. Hopefully she will have time to take care of herself in your world." She finished, with tears prickling at her eyes.

I immediately wrapped her in a hug. "Don't worry, mum. I'm sure she'll be fine where she is." I said comfortingly. The news about the other Alyssa really shocked me. I guess this is the unspoken truth about celebrities. Hope she likes my world then, can't get more boring than that.

The rest of the evening went great, it felt just like my family back home. A few differences in looks and mannerisms, but they're still the same loving family I know. We all ended up falling asleep sprawled across the couches, the TV screen turned off automatically a while ago.

Suddenly, a harsh ringing noise invaded my eardrums. My eyes snapped open and I sit up quickly, I looked around to see Melissa's phone blaring from the table. I reach over and shake her arm.

"Melissa! Your phone is ringing!" I say, shaking her shoulder.

"Hmm." She says, blearily opening her eyes.

I reach over and hand her the phone, she stares at it for a second, rubs her eyes and picks the call.

"Hello, Alyssa Mercia's office. This is Melissa speaking." She says in a neutral tone.

The person on the line talks for a while, as their speaking Melissa's eyes slowly widen in shock.

"That sounds great but I will need to confirm this with Miss Mercia before anything else. Hold, please." She says, making my eyebrows furrow. 

"What's up, Melissa?" I ask.

"Okay big news, you've been hired to perform in a play sponsored by Crystal entertainment, called Out of this World..." the rest of her explanation gets drowned out as I am lost I'm in my own thoughts.

So this is where the film comes in. I should have expected this, to be honest. I should probably still get involved, so my presence in this world doesn't affect the future, or something.

"So, I know you said you haven't really sang in front of people before but, are you up for it?" She asks, hopeful.

I smile, "I'd love too." I say, despite the nerves twisting in my gut. What have I gotten myself into now? Sigh.

Think about it

There must be a higher love

Down in the heart or hidden...

Nana is lying comfortably in her bed as the news plays on the TV across from her.

"Good morning! I'm Linda Le Bon, and have I got some hot news for you. Infamous billionaire Jimmy Crystal has hired an unknown theater producer by the name of Buster Moon." Nana wears a proud smile seeing as Buster managed to achieve his dreams.

Look inside your heart and I'll look inside mine 

Things look so bad everywhere 

Everywhere 

In this whole world, what is fair? 

We walk the line and try to see 

Try to see 

Falling behind in what could be 

Oh, oh, bring me a higher love 

Bring me a higher love, oh 

Bring me a higher love 

Where's that higher love I keep thinking of? 

That love, that love 

Bring me higher love 

Love, that love, that love... 

"Okay, so this guy is coming in from that side, and it's, like, cuckoo crazy, and then I think we should have, like, this cool alien tango scene." Gunter dramatises, doing the tango around the room.

"Alien tango scene." Buster parrots, typing the idea down. "Oh. I love it."

"Wait. I've got a better idea. What if it was, like, a big underwater scene instead?" Gunter says getting excited again.

"Underwater?" Buster questions.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure of this. Write it down." Gunter insists.

"Mm, okay." Buster says, sounding unsure.

"Wait, wait. Stop your clicky-clacky. I have a better idea." Gunter says, bouncing in excitement.

"Uh, you can't keep changing your mind." Buster says, slightly frustrated.

"Why?" He asks.

Why? Because in exactly 20 minutes, the stage crew are coming here to start work on our show, and we need to lock this stuff down." Buster says, adamant and clearly worried.

The doorbell then rings.

"Oh, my gosh, they're early." He groans.

"Ooh, and I want to have, like, this beautiful love scene..." Gunter continues, despite Buster's words.

"Miss Crawly, anything on Calloway?" He asks.

"Hmm, not a thing." She replies, sadly.

"Oh, geez." He sighs and goes to open the door.

"Ah, Mr. Moon. We're your production team, and we're here to start..." Mason introduces.

"Yes, yes, yes. Uh, you're here to work on the show." Buster interrupts. "And I would gladly invite you all in right now, but..." He says.

"We should totally do, like, a battle scene!" Gunter yells, swinging the double doors open.

"Gunter, no, not now." Buster chuckles nervously. "I just need a little more time to, you know, hammer out a few minor, little details, so would it be okay if you all could come back in, like, I don't know, an hour? Or maybe four? And I really appreciate your patience. Thank you so much." Buster rushes out, then closes the doors.

"Hmm. Okay." Mason says, clearly a little confused.

"Okay. That was not a great start." Buster sighs.

"Oh, look, it's a gift from Mr. Crystal. Huh. It-it says, um, "Don't screw up, Moon, or else." Miss Crawly points out.

"Ooh, I've got a better idea." Gunter suggests again.

"What about the mambo? 

And everyone's in space suits 

A great idea, I think so." He sings as Buster buries his face in his hands out of exasperation.

The next morning Buster gathers the cast and crew together in the theatre to display what the play will be about.

"Good morning. May I have everyone's attention, please? Thank you. Yes." He starts off.

"Okay, um, on behalf of myself and the cast, I just want to say that to be given this incredible opportunity to work with you all here at the Crystal Tower Theater, well, it's an honor for all of us. And I believe that, together, we can make a show that'll take the audience out of this world." He says, revealing the model detailing the outline of the play.

"And a big thanks to Steve over here for staying up all night to make this model. Great work, Steve." He says pointing to a disheveled man what with heavy eye bags and covered in paint.

"And here she is, folks. The star of our show, Rosita."

"That's you, baby!" Gunter congratulates.

"The lead role?" She gasps.

"Trust me, you are perfect for it." Buster assures.

"Wait till my kids hear about this." She says, tearing up.

"And so the story goes like this. Rosita plays an astronaut searching for a missing space explorer.

Together, with their trusty robot..." Buster explains.

"That's me." Gunter adds excitedly 

"Mm-hmm, yes. They follow the trail across four planets. There's a planet of war, a planet of love, a one of despair and one of joy. And each planet will have its own spectacular musical number performed by one of our terrific cast." He finishes.

"A-And how does it end? Do I find the explorer?" Rosita asks.

"Oh, we have no clue what we're going to do at the end." Gunter reveals bluntly, earning groans and confused looks from the crew members.

"Gunter, no, no, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa. We do have great ideas for the ending. We just... All right. We've only got three weeks to make this reality, folks. Let's get to work." Buster saves.

"Johnny, you are gonna play an alien warrior in a fantastic battle scene." Buster says.

"Yes!" Johnny exclaims, clearly pumped.

"Come with me." He says.

"Johnny, I want you to meet your fellow dancers." He says.

"Hello, lads." Johnny greets awkwardly. "Uh, wait. You said mine was a battle scene." He looks around, confused.

"Well, it is, but Gunter saw it as more of a... a dance battle." Buster replies.

"Yeah!" Gunter encourages.

"Okay..." Johnny trails off, feeling unsure.

"Johnny, don't worry. You're gonna be working with the number one choreographer in Redshore City." Buster assures him, handing him the greeting card.

"Klaus Kickenklober." Johnny reads off the card.

"Yep. Klaus will turn you into a pro in no time." Buster replies.

"Okay." Johnny says, feeling slightly better about it.

"Oh and one last thing, Suki confirmed this just this morning but you will have a romantic partner in your scene." Buster says.

"Really? Who? And I thought my planet was for war." He says, both surprised and confused.

"Well, the idea is that the two of you are from opposite sides of this war but fall in love despite the conflict. Think Romeo and Juliet." Buster explains

"Cool. So who is it with?" He asks.

"Ever heard of Alyssa Mercia?" Buster asks.

Johnny's eyebrows raise and his jaw drops in shock.

"As in the famous singer!" He says, in awe. "You're joking." He says in disbelief.

"No I'm serious, Suki called her agent this morning. She said she would love to be in our show!" Buster says excitedly.

"Uh... Mr. Moon?" Meena calls from the doorway. Buster heads for the door, leaving Johnny in shock and slightly nervous.

"Meena, you okay?" Buster asks.

"Gunter said I'm in a romantic scene and, uh, uh... I have to kiss someone." She whispers the last part.

"Yeah. It's gonna be an amazing, beautiful, romantic scene." Buster says, not getting the point.

"Mr. Moon, I've never even had a boyfriend or any of that stuff." Meena confesses.

"Ah, don't you worry. I'm gonna cast a great partner for you." He assures.

"Promise?" She asks.

"Promise."

The crew members are getting things cleared up so they can start work on the rest of play. 

"Mr. Moon, we're ready to start building the rest of the sets and..." Mason starts.

"Okay, okay, okay, listen." Buster cuts him off.

"I don't exactly know what they are yet, so could you give me one more night to figure this out?" He asks, to which Mason nods.

"Hey, this guy doesn't have it figured out, so we can't start work right now." Mason yells loudly to the rest of the crew.

Buster tries to signal to him to stop talking but Mason doesn't seem to notice.

"Did everybody hear that? He does not have the show figured out. I'm looking into his eyes, and all I see is fear. And a little bit of shame." Mason continues.

"Look, I-I think everyone heard you, Mason. Thank you so much." Buster says sarcastically.

"Gunter." Buster clears his throat. "We have work to do." He says, seriously.

Chapter Text

Since we already live in Redshore city it won't take us long to get to the Crystal Tower Hotel. We explain to Mum and Aaron that the plan has changed and once I get packed we leave.

"I'm so proud of you, honey." Mum says, " I know you've only been here for a few days but I'm gonna miss you." She wraps me in a hug.

"I'll miss you too, mum. I'll call you. Okay." I say, despite being from another world, she still cares for like my own mother. 

"Bye Lys, have fun out there. I'm sure you'll do great" He says, ruffling my hair. I playfully punch his arm in retaliation.

"Bye, I'll be back soon." I reply, taking my suitcase out to Melissa's car. I get in the passenger seat, as we're driving Melissa fills me in on what the play is about. Obviously, I've seen the movie in my world so I know the plot but she tells me what my role in the production is.

"So, the theatre producer called to tell me what your role will be." She says.

"Buster Moon, right?" I ask. 

"Yes, exactly. Anyways he says that you'll be in the war planet scene. You'll be a warrior princess who is in love with the prince of the other kingdom. A forbidden love story, basically." She explains.

War planet? Ah, so I'm doing the scene with Johnny.  Ugh, I can't dance for shit. That means I have to deal with Kickenklobber. 

"That's cool." I say, nodding in approval.

"I'm glad you think so because this what we're gonna spend the next 3 weeks doing." She replies, "Anyway, we'll be at the hotel in about 20 minutes." 

"Alright, thanks Melissa." I say, deciding to play a game on my phone to pass the time.

"And then I'm thinking, Ash, you know, she can, like, totally have a duet with Clay Calloway, 'cause, like, she's a star that is, like, guiding them all the way back home again." Gunter explains his ideas for the end of the play.

"Yes, Gunter. That's perfect for Ash." Buster comments.

Then the doorbell rings and 8 hyper children burst through the door with a very tired looking Norman trailing behind them.

"Mommy!" They all shout, in excitement.

"Oh, my darlings, you're here." Rosita say as they all gather around her.

"Yeah, Johnny!" Two of them jump on to Johnny playfully. 

"My gosh, I wasn't expecting you till the morning." Rosita says in surprise as they dogpile her.

"I know, but they couldn't wait to see you. The star of the show, huh?" Norman says, a proud smile on his face.

"Can you believe it? It's literally my dream come true." She replies.

"I know." He says giving her a kiss.

"Ew." Some of the kids comment.

"I am so proud of you, honey." He beams at her.

"Uh... help." Buster says one of the children hanging of his arm and one fiddling with the laptop.

"Mr. Moon, I found him." Miss Crawly announces.

"Clay Calloway?" He asks clearly shocked.

"Yeah. I found his home address." She confirms.

"No way." Ash says in disbelief, rushing over to see for herself.

"Yes way. Miss Crawly, I'm gonna need you to go visit him first thing tomorrow." Buster says, feeling hopeful.

"Oh, yes, sir." She replies.

"You'll need to rent a car and take him a letter and, uh, maybe that fruit basket. Yes, the fruit basket. You got that?" He instructs.

"Got it." She agrees.

The doorbell rings again, to which Buster checks the time.

"It must be our other celebrity." He chuckles to himself and goes to open the door.

Melissa and I walk through the hallways to get to the hotel room where the rest of the cast are. Melissa explained that our hotel room is just next to theirs for convenience.

I walk up to the door and press the doorbell. The door opens to reveal Buster Moon, who greets us with a wide smile. 

"Ah, Miss Mercia. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Buster Moon. And you must be her agent, Melissa." He says politely, hand reaching out for us to shake.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr Moon. And please, call me Alyssa." I say, as we each shake his hand.

"Why don't you come meet the rest of the crew." He ushers us inside.

"Everyone, I didn't get the chance to say this to you all yesterday but we have a celebrity joining our group for the show. Please welcome Alyssa Mercia," He announces with enthusiasm.

I hear gasps all around the room as Melissa and I step into view. 

"Hey everyone, I'm glad to be here and I can't wait to start working with you all. My hotel room is next door if you need me for anything and if you can't find me, you can talk to my agent Melissa." I say, both nervous and excited.

"Let me introduce you to everyone, that's Rosita, her husband Norman and all their kids. She is the star of the show." Buster says. I give a small wave in her direction.

"This is Meena, her scene is on the planet of love." She gives me a wave and an awkward smile, I wave back.

"This is Gunter, he is the brains behind the play and the robot assistant of Rosita's character." He gives me an enthusiastic smile and wave making me laugh a little.

"This is Ash, she will be doing a duet with Clay Calloway at the end of the play." She smiles and I smile back.

"And finally, this is Johnny. He will be your scene partner on the planet of war." Buster finishes.

"I guess we'll be working together." I stretch out a hand for him to shake. 

"Y-yeah. Look forward to it." He says, shaking my hand, slightly nervous.

"Well, guys. I'll see you all tomorrow for rehearsals. Bye." I say, turning to the door with Melissa.

The next morning we start rehearsals bright and early, we are finally introduced to our dance instructor, Klaus Kickenklobber. And let me tell you he's just as much of an arsehole in real life as he is in the movie.

"And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. We're dancing. We're dancing. We're holding. We're holding. Stay en pointe. Shuffle and hold." Klaus instructs and everyone follows with almost no effort, except Johnny and I. As neither have any dancing experience we're both caught bumbling behind everyone else.

"I said hold, Johnny. He's not holding. And one, two, three, four..." Klaus says, directing his attention to Johnny.

"All right, I'm... I am trying." Johnny tries to reason.

"Let's not forget, this is Redshore City, not your little local theater." Klaus says, and I roll my eyes. I look over to Johnny seeing him look so discouraged.

"And five, six, seven, eight. Ryan, that was excellent. Johnny, you are doing it wrong. That was awful." Klaus continues to insult, completely ignoring that I'm also doing everything wrong and focusing on Johnny's mistakes.

"Come on, Johnny. You can do better." Buster tries to encourage him, making me very annoyed. Is he not seeing the blatant favouritism.

"He's freaking me out. I'm trying." Johnny justifies.

"Thrust. And thrust, and thrust.You're not thrusting, Johnny. Come on. Thrust. Thrust, and thrust. Still not thrusting. Can you thrust, please? Five, six, seven, and tippy-toes, tippy-toes. I don't see your tippy-toes."

"Oh, come on, he's having a laugh." Johnny says exasperated.

"Tippy-toes. Come on, let's go. Seven, and... That is rubbish, terribly poor, really bad." Klaus says hitting Johnny with his stick, then I've had enough.

"Alright, stop the music." I say loudly and the music cuts off. I take a deep breath to steel my nerves.

"Why are you picking on him." I say accusingly to Klaus.

Klaus looks taken aback for a moment before answering.

"Well, he wasn't doing the choreography correctly..." Klaus tries to justify his actions, but I'm not having any of it.

"Oh, don't be daft. It's not like he has any experience dancing, as an instructor you should know better. And you failed to notice that I wasn't doing the choreography correctly either but you were focused on his mistakes." I raise a brow, unimpressed. Everyone stares at me in shock, including Johnny. Must be the first time anyone's told him off.

"If you wanna have any students left, you better fix that attitude." I finish, walking calmly out of the room.

Johnny follows me out a few seconds later. We head to where the rest of the rest of the cast are getting ready. I head over to the snack table, grab a bottle of water and chug some down. Dealing with that piece of work is exhausting.

"That bloke absolutely hates me." Johnny groans burying his face in his hands.

"Hang in there, Johnny. The first week's always tough." Rosita tries to comfort him.

"Yeah. You're right. You're right." He sighs, then turns to face me.

"Thank you for standing up for me back there." He says, giving me grateful smile.

"I couldn't just him bully you, besides my dancing was just as bad as yours. If not worse." I chuckle to myself, "It also really annoys me when people think they get to treat people differently because of something as silly as status." I say, recalling some distinct memories from my days in secondary school.

"Still, I really appreciate it." He replies.

"It's no problem, it seems all of Klaus' student are used to his behaviour by now. Let me know if he gives you anymore trouble. I'll give him a right telling off." He chuckles, I smile and pat him on the shoulder.

After saying that, Buster enters the room with Melissa trailing behind him.

"Meena, come and meet your partner." Buster announces.

"Oh, my gosh, he's here?" She says, nervously.

"Yep. He's called Darius." Buster replies. "Won a ton of awards. And I think you guys are gonna have great chemistry." He says as they leave the room. After they leave Melissa walks up to me.

"Alyssa, here's your script." She says handing me the papers.

"Oh thanks, Melissa." I say quickly reading over all my lines and taking a look at the songs. Sky full of stars by Coldplay and Glimpse of us by Joji. These are some good choices.

"Hey, do you, uh, wanna go over our lines together?" Johnny asks.

"'Course, the sooner we practice the better." I agree as we head over to where the rest of sets are.

"Well, I'm sure you're well practiced at these type of things by now, right?" He says.

"Let me let you in on a little secret, I've never actually been in a proper production before." I reply, scratching the back my head nervously. His eyes blow wide in shock. "Seriously?" He asks.

"Yeah, I've always been more of a singer than a performer so I just stuck with that." I say, feeling slightly guilty for lying.

"Well, you're really talented so I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time." He gives me a reassuring smile.

"Thanks Johnny." I smile back.

We enter the room to see Meena and Darius starting to practice songs.

(BOTH):

"Don't wanna close my eyes"

(DARIUS):

"Don't wanna fall asleep

'Cause I'd miss you, babe"

"Uh, uh, uh..." Meena stutters uncomfortably as Darius puts her hand on his chest.

(BOTH):

"And I don't wanna miss a thing..."

I look at Johnny as if to say, Is this guy for real. He chuckles at my facial expression. They end up trying a different song entirely as Darius was making Meena very uncomfortable. I would be too.

(DARIUS):

"When I saw you in that dress"

(BOTH):

"Looking so beautiful

I don't deserve this"

Darius continued what he was doing earlier, this time by gripping her jumper sleeve.

(BOTH):

"Darling, you look 

Perfect tonight."

"Oh, boy." Buster sighs in defeat.

"So, where's Calloway?" Suki asks, sceptically.

"Uh, he'll be here very soon." He says, caught off guard.

"Mm, is that so?" She says, not believing him in the slightest.

"It is indeed so. In fact, my trusty assistant Miss Crawly is on her way to meet him right now." He says, with confidence. Only I knew that interaction wouldn't go as smoothly as he had planned.

Chapter Text

Wake up

"Wake up"

Grab a brush and put a little makeup 

"Makeup"

Hide your scars to fade away the shake-up 

"Doo-doo"

Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?

"The table"

Here you go, create another fable 

"You wanted to"

Grab a brush and put a little makeup... 

Miss Crawly was speeding down the road in a bright red sports car, blasting music and singing along.

"Your destination is on the right." The navigator's voice said.

"On the right. Okay." Miss Crawly said, taking a sharp right turn and going off the road.

Soon enough, Miss Crawly was driving through a dark, creepy looking forest. Eventually, she stops driving when she comes across a gate with a "KEEP OUT!" sign on the front. Ignoring this, she gets out of the car, fruit basket in tow and climbs over the fence and into the property.

"Mr. Calloway? Hello? Is anybody home?" She calls out. As she's walking, she steps on a tripwire which sets off an alarm. Then the garage door opens to reveal a figure in a motorcycle who starts shootings her with paint gun, scared out of her mind she starts running back to the car, screaming all the way. She tries to climb over the fence, but trips and falls over. She eventually managers to get into the car and starts backing out into the forest. As she's going the motorcyclist takes off his helmet.

"Clay Callowa..." She says in shock, but it trails off into a scream as she starts rolling down the hill. The car picks up speed and eventually crashes into some trees causing the car to finally stop.

"Oopsie-daisy." She says.

"Hello. I can't take your call right now, but please leave me a message after the beep." Miss Crawly's voice says as Buster tries to reach her phone.

"Miss Crawly, it's me, Mr. Moon. I haven't heard from you in a while. I'm starting to worry here." He says into the phone.

"Moon!" Crystal's loud voice booms as he enters the room.

"Mr. Crystal." Buster greets, slightly worried.

"Your set designs are a disgrace." He comments, with an angry expression on his face.

"What?" Buster says in confusion.

Crystal suddenly bursts out laughing, "I'm just messing with you. Where's your sense of humor, huh?" Buster chuckles nervously.

"Anyway, this is my daughter Porsha." He says, gesturing to a young, tall woman with pale skin, hazel eyes and cool grey and platinum blonde hair. 

"Hey." She greets.

"Nice to meet you, Porsha." Buster says.

"She wants to meet Calloway. Big fan, aren't you, baby?" Crystal says, nonchalantly.

"Oh my gosh, I'm, like, so into vintage right now." She says excitedly, showing off her Clay Calloway t-shirt.

"So, where is he?" Crystal says expectantly.

"Uh, well... I-I'm not expecting Clay on set just yet. I mean..." Buster excuses. 

"Wait. Is this, like, a sky-fi show?" Porsha asks cutting him off.

"Uh, sci-fi? Yes. Yes, it is." He confirms.

"Oh, my gosh, I love sky-fi." She says, in awe.

"Mr. Moon! We're ready on the tower." One of the crew members call out.

"Oh. Thank you, Sasha. We, uh... We're gonna rehearse, Mr. Crystal, so..." He replies and then addresses Crystal.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You go and do your rehearsing thing. Go, go, go, go." Crystal says, dismissing him.

"Playback." Buster calls out, then the music starts playing. 

"Okay. All set. Just remember to release the safety catch before you jump, okay?" Sasha says to Rosita as she preparing to jump.

"Okay, yeah." She says.

"Is Mommy gonna jump off that?" One of Rosita's children ask.

"She sure is." Buster says, causing them all to gasp.

(ROSITA):

"If you want it

Take it 

I should've said it before

Tried to hide it

Fake it 

I can't pretend anymore..."

Rosita peers over the ledge, when all of a sudden her vision starts to swim and she drops to her knees. We all look up in concern.

"Mr. Moon, I think Rosita's having, like, a major freak-out up here." Gunter shouts from the platform.

"Oh, no." He says.

"Hey, Moon, you really think she's gonna pull this off?" Crystal says.

"Absolutely, sir. Believe me, there's nothing Rosita can't do." Buster says, going up to check on Rosita. I exchange glances with Johnny expressing my concern. Is she okay? Suddenly we see Porsha going up to the platform and talking to everyone despite Rosita's clearly panicked state.

"Daddy, he won't let me jump!" She suddenly shouts.

"Moon, come on. Let her do the thing." He replies, not even looking at them.

"Yay!" She says excitedly 

"Porsha, wait!"

"Whoa, hey. Uh, just a minute." Both Buster and Sasha try to get her attention, but she jumps off the platform soaring around the area.

"I love it! Whee! It's easy!" She shouts in excitement.

"All right, let's get you down, Rosita." Buster tries to comfort her.

"Oh, my gosh, you guys. This is exactly like the dream I had last night. Seriously, you-you were all there. And you and you and that funny-looking guy over there." She finishes pointing at Klaus, making me snort a laugh.

"All of you. And you asked me to sing for you." She says to Buster.

"I... I did?" He asks in confusion.

"Yeah. And so, I was like..." Porsha clears her throat while standing on one of the planet props, before taking off again. Soaring across the room.

(PORSHA):

"This girl is on fire

This girl is on fire

She's walking on fire

This girl is on fire."

"Well, that's a lovely dream you had there, Porsha. Um, okay, everybody, back to first positions, please.

Here, Rosita. You want to try with the helmet this time?" Buster says, obviously more focused on the show than on Porsha.

"Oh, but now I know what the dream meant. Yeah. She's afraid. She'll never be able to play the part. But here I am, and I'm young, and I'm not afraid at all." She says, audaciously grabbing the helmet from Rosita and putting it on.

"I-I can't just give you Rosita's part. I mean..." Buster says.

"Moon, walk with me." Crystal says, tapping his shoulder. They go over to one of the planet props to talk. 

I walk over to Johnny where the rest of the cast are sitting.

"I can't believe she just did that." I say, getting really annoyed.

"I guess she can just do whatever she wants want because of Crystal." Johnny sighs.

"Daddy, I'm hungry for French toast." She calls out.

"Jerry! Get her some French toast." Crystal shouts as he steps off the planet prop.

"And, by the way, I like the set. That whole 'rings moving around' thing. Creative, quirky. I like it." He says leaving the room.

"Bye, Daddy." She calls out, to which she gets no response.

"Mm-kay. Let's have Porsha measured for a costume right away, please." Suki says to the crew.

"You okay?" Buster says to Rosita.

"A little shaky, but I'm okay." She replies.

"Yeah. You know, uh... Look, maybe this is for the best, huh? I mean, you really were scared up there." He says, knowing how wrong it feels to this to her.

"Right." She says, hiding her disappointment.

"I'll write you another part, Rosita. A really... a really, really great part." He assures, as the rest of the cast walk over to check on her.

"You all right?" Ash asks.

"Oh, I'm fine." She says, masking her true feelings.

"Really?" Johnny asks and I nod.

"Yes. You're all very sweet, but like Mr. Moon says, this is probably for the best." She says with a fake smile.

"Seriously?" Meena asks.

"Seriously. I am completely fine with this." She says, going back to the hotel room to calm down after the events of today's rehearsals.

"She's lying. I know a fake smile when I see one." I say.

"Yeah, you're right." Johnny says, agreeing with me. 

"We should do something nice for her, to make her feel better." Meena says.

"Good idea, do you guys know what she likes." I ask.

"We should get her some chocolates. I think I remember which one's she likes." Ash says.

"Alright, we can get them for her when we're done here." I say, the others nod in agreement and we go back to rehearsing for the show.

Chapter Text

"Thank you for choosing to drive with Royalty. All right. Bye-bye." The worker at the car rental greets. A look of shock takes over his face as he takes in the sight of the car Miss Crawly rented.

Yo, yo, yo, they wanna know

Who's that girl?

Uh, yo, yo, come on, come on...

"Oh, hello, young sir. Um, oh, yes, you'll-you'll be pleased to hear I did bring it back with a full tank." She says despite the fact that rest of car is completely totalled and covered in paint. Then the airbag hissed.

Johnny and I decided yesterday to get up early and practice our dance to avoid any problems with Klaus. I pulled up the choreography instructions on my phone and we watched it together.

"How does he expect us to do this if we've never danced professionally?" I say, getting frustrated already.

"No clue. He's such a weirdo!" Johnny sighs.

"Weirdo is an understatement." I say.

We try following the steps of the choreography for a good hour but we barely make any progress, still bumbling around like before.

"Okay, we're not making any progress with this. Do you want to take a break?" I say, slightly out of breath from what is supposed to be dancing.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Johnny replies, in a similar state. I walk over to where I kept my water bottle, take a swig and then pull out my phone. When screen turns on, I feel my eyes widen in shock. The time reads 9.15 AM, practice started 15 mins ago. Damn it!

"Johnny! It's 9.15! We have to go, now!" His jaw drops in surprise before he quickly gather his things.

"Shoot! Klaus is going to kill us for this." We both rush out there, making a mad dash to the practice room.

"Let me make the excuse, I think it will sound more believable coming from me." We just arrived outside the practice room.

"And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And..." Klaus instructs as I open the door.

"Sorry we're late, Mr. Kickenklober. We were practicing all morning and just lost track of time." I say giving him an apologetic smile as Johnny walks in behind me.

"Oh, I thought maybe you had been involved in a terrible accident and we'd never have to see you again, but never mind." He mutters under his breath, turning away from us but I heard it.

"Excuse me? Why do you have to be so rude all the time?" I accuse, already annoyed and we had only just got here.

He looks surprised for a second, but continues nonetheless.

"'Cause only when we suffer...can we be great." He says dramatically, then strikes one of his students with his cane. I just roll my eyes and go get ready, not having the energy to deal with him right now.

"Places, everyone! Ryan, you'll be playing his opponent in the climax of the scene." He pointed to a guy with dark hair, brown eyes and olive skin.

"Now...let's see if little Johnny has learned the steps." He taunts annoyingly. I can see how out of place Johnny feels about this whole thing but he get's ready anyway.

Both Ryan and Johnny perform the choreography, Johnny still wobbling a little. It was all going fine they get to the manoeuvre where they have to stand and balance on the sticks. Johnny wobbles and falls, landing on his feet.

"Whoa. S-Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry." He apologises, trying to find his balance again.

"Ow!" Klaus hits him with his stick for getting the moves wrong.

"Wrong." He says bluntly.

"Sorry." Johnny apologises again, clearly distressed.

"Again!" Klaus commands, so they start the routine again.

This goes on for seems like forever, little to no progress being made. This is going absolutely nowhere! 

"Yuck! Again! Come on!" Klaus shouts again, not actually helping anything. We haven't even gotten to the duet yet, he's just focusing on Johnny. I notice the sun has already set. Practice should be finished by now.

At this point, Johnny is shaking, visibly deflated and exhausted. I decide that enough is enough and walk over to Johnny with his water bottle.

"Thanks." He says between shaky breaths and guzzles down some water. When he's done I simply loop his arm over my shoulder and lead him out of the practice room.

"And where do you think you're going?" Klaus asks, voice dripping with annoyance. I pause sending him the most withering glare I can muster.

"You wasted the entire lesson focusing on Johnny's part. We didn't even get to practice the duet. It's literally night time and Johnny is absolutely shattered. Where the hell do you think I'm going? Fat-nosed prick." I mutter the last part under my breath and walk out with Johnny in tow, not even sparing him a second glance. I hear a few snickers from the other dancers in my way out.

I grab a few snacks from the food table where the sets are displayed and take Johnny back to the hotel room. We sit down on the couch, munching on the snacks until I break the silence.

"You alright?" Hesitance clear in my voice. He sighs deeply before answering.

"I've been better." He replies, rubbing a hand over his face in distress.

"We can't keep doing this, you know?" I say.

"What do you mean?" His brows furrow in confusion.

"We can't keep taking lessons with Klaus. If every lesson is like this, there's no way we're gonna be able to perform." I say.

"Yeah, you're right." He sighs again. "What should we do then?"

"We should ask Ryan for extra lessons. He must be capable if Klaus chose him to be your opponent." I say.

"Good point. We can ask him tomorrow." He agrees.

"You know what we should do?" He raises an eyebrow in question. "We should relax and have some fun. We don't have practice until later so we can do something before then, yeah." I nudge his shoulder playfully.

"Alright then, what do you suppose we do?" He chuckles.

"I don't know, what do you like to do?" I say, wanting him to choose so he'll get to relax.

"I like skateboarding, you up for that?" He suggests.

"Well, I've never skateboarded before, but I'd try it if you could teach me." I chuckle.

"I can do that, we just need to get you a board." He says.

"Okay then, all set for tomorrow. We should probably get some rest. Long day." I get up from the couch and head over to the door.

"One more thing before I head off. When it comes to people like Klaus, you should try and stand up for yourself. You know your worth as a singer, an actor and as a person, you shouldn't let any one treat you different." He seems to ponder my words for a moment before nodding.

"Good night, Johnny." I wave.

"'Night, Alyssa." He smiles back.

The next day, Johnny and I are exiting the store so we go skateboarding. In order to not be recognised in public I'm wearing a blonde wig and sunglasses that Melissa gave me we left. I'd never thought I would need a disguise in public.

"You didn't have to pay for it, you know. It was my idea for you to teach me how skateboard." I playfully punch his shoulder.

"I wanted to, besides, you're the one who did this to make me feel better. I wanted to return the favour." He grins. Before I can protest any further, we get distracted by a crowd forming around some loud music. We decided to check it out, to see a young woman with hazel eyes, platinum blonde shoulder length braids and golden brown skin and freckles. She wore a green hoodie with pink leggings. 

She was hyping up the crowd as the music was blasting before dishing out some serious moves.

Hot tamale, hotter than a Somali, fur coat 

Ferrari, hop out the stu', jump in the coupe

Big Dipper on top of the roof 

Flexing on... as hard as I can 

Eating halal, driving the Lam' 

Told that... I'm sorry, though 

'Bout my coins like Mario, yeah, they call me Cardi B 

I run this... like cardio, whoo 

I said I like it like, whoo 

I said I like it like, whoo 

I said I like it like 

The song trails off in Spanish as she finishes her dance while doing the splits in the air, balancing on one arm. The crowd goes wild with cheers and Johnny and I stand there in shock.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, everyone. Wow, wow. You are an amazing crowd." She thanks as she goes around collecting money from the viewers.

"Mate, you're amazing." Johnny compliments, dropping a coin into her hat as she moves on to the next person.

"Yeah, you're so cool!" I add on, dropping a coin as well.

"Much appreciated." She replies.

"Thank you so much. Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming. Okay. Thank you very much, little guy. Wow, so kind." She smiles as a young boy drops a sweet into her hat, ruffling his hair.

"Listen, could I buy you a coffee or, uh, maybe something to eat?" Johnny asks, making me confused for a minute.

"Whoa, that's forward, ain't it? Aren't already with someone else." She gestures towards me.

"What? No, no, no. I didn't mean... I just would love to talk to you about maybe..." His face flushes as he stumbles over his words.

"Hey! You got a license to perform here?" A police officer shouts from a few feet away.

"Actually, I'd love a chat. Let's go." She says rushing off with her hoodie up and we quickly duck into some dessert diner.

There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back by Shawn Mendes plays over the speakers as Johnny explains his idea.

"Here you go. Two volcano smoothies with extra chocolate lava." The waitress brings our drinks and places them on the table before rollerblading away.

"Shut up." Nooshy says in disbelief, my expression matches hers as I take in the size of the smoothie.

"Here. 50 bucks. Honestly, if you could just give us some dance lessons, you would literally be saving our lives."

"Wait, if you guys are in a real show, how come you don't have a choreographer?" She questions.

"We do, but it turns out he's a massive weirdo." He sighs.

"Complete dickhead is more like it." I scoff.

"Well how do I know that you're not a weirdo? Hmm? How do I know that you're legit?" She asks, clearly skeptical of the whole thing.

"Well, just come with us to rehearsals. See for yourself." I suggest.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not just gonna follow some people I don't know to rehearsals." She says.

"Well, how else are we supposed to prove that we're legit?" He asks, to which she just shrugs.

And maybe I should stop and start confessing 

While he's thinking the music is still blasting in the background when he smiles and vocalising the melody to the song. I smile, figuring out what he's up to and decide to join in.

(JOHNNY):

"Confessing, yeah"

(JOHNNY & ALYSSA):

"Oh, I've been shaking, I love it when you go crazy 

You take all my inhibitions"

"What are you doing?" Nooshy asks in confusion.

"Baby, there's nothing holdin' me back

You take me places that tear up my reputation

Manipulate my decisions

Baby, there's nothing holdin' me back "

The others in the diner start clapping in rhythm.

"Oh-oh, oh-oh 

Oh-oh

There's nothing holdin' me back..."

"I knew you guys were weirdos." Nooshy comments jokingly.

"There's nothing holdin' me back."

The song ends and Johnny and I share a smile knowing that now we finally get the chance we need to master this choreography. We then head over to the theatre to do the hard part, talking to Klaus.

"Whoa. This is sick!" Nooshy looks around taking in everything.

"See."

"Now that we're here, I can take these off. That wig is so itchy." I say removing my disguise.

"No way! You're Alyssa Mercia!" Nooshy exclaims.

"Nice to meet you." I chuckle.

"First positions, please." Buster calls out in the distance.

"Whoa. Mate, look at that. Look at that." She picks up and twirls one of the props for our scene.

"Hey. Who are you?" The worker asks.

"Ah, it's all right. She's with us." Johnny reassures him.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Nooshy. I'm their dance coach. And I really love that hat." She introduces herself.

"She's right. Great hat." Johnny says and I nod in agreement. We make our way over to the practice room to talk to Klaus.

"You think some riffraff street dancer can help you more than me?" He says, looking deeply offended.

"Riffraff?" Nooshy yells at the insult.

"Okay, okay. Hang on. She's just gonna give us some extra lessons, that's all." Johnny excuses.

"Oh, because I, Klaus Kickenklober, master choreographer, am not good enough for Johnny and the oh-so perfect Alyssa Mercia." He says, blowing everything out of proportion.

"No, that's not what I meant." Johnny tries to reason.

"Yes, I'm irrelevant to him. I'm just a stupid, fat, old man." Klaus say, victimising himself.

"I don't think that at all." Johnny says, refuting what he said.

"I do." Nooshy says, still offended at his comment.

"Same here." I agree, giving Klaus a nasty glare.

"She's only trying to help us, that's all." Johnny says.

"Dude, anyway, I only need two days with them." Nooshy says, clearly confident.

"Two days? Ha! 200 years, more like." Klaus retorts.

"Two days. They'll be amazing." She insists.

"Oh, really? Well, if they are, I will eat my hat." Klaus threatens before leaving the room.

"Okay, everybody, from the top. Stand by, playback. Lots of energy now, and..." Buster says as they're about to start rehearsals.

Suddenly Miss Crawly bursts through the door, looking disheveled and covered in paint.

"Miss Crawly?" Buster says in surprise.

"You can't go back there, Mr. Moon. Never. Never." She says, looking haunted.

"What? What happened to you?" Buster asks, clearly concerned and confused.

"That guy, you see, he's crazy. Crazy! Oh, he's crazy. Pew. Pew, pew." She says in a warning tone before practically crawling away.

"Wow, she's a mess. So, you're not gonna go out there, are you?" Ash looks to him, worried.

"Gonna have to. I mean..." He trails off.

"All set over here, Mr. Moon." One of the stagehands call out.

"Okay. Playback!" Buster says, focusing on the rehearsal.

"Stand by, Rosita. And... action!" He shouts, as Rosita bounces up from under the stage in her green alien costume. Jumping from trampoline to trampoline.

(ROSITA):

"Ooh, look what you made me do 

Look what you made me do 

Look what you just made me do 

Look what you just made me 

Ooh, look what you made me do"

"And cue Porsha." Buster calls out as Porsha comes out with one of the props as a staff.

"Look what you made me do 

Look what you just made me do

Look what you just made me, ooh."

"Take that, you nasty alien monster." Porsha says in a flat monotonous tone. She swings the staff and Rosita falls on an airbag under the stage. "Did I do good?" She perks up, bouncing from side to side.

"Yeah. That was so good." He replies, clearly taken aback at her poor acting skills.

"Yay! Did you hear that? He thinks I'm awesome." She rejoices, showing off to Rosita who is still on the airbag. Rosita just groans in disappointment.

"Okay, she cannot act." Ash declares bluntly.

"Shh. I know. I know. But I got to keep Mr. Crystal happy." He excuses.

"Take that, you nasty alien monster." Porsha repeats in the same monotonous tone, while knocking over a few boxes with the staff.

"Excuse me, but Mr. Crystal wants to see you." Suki interrupts.

"Oh. Well, I could come by this afternoon." He suggests, thinking of all the things they have to get through with rehearsals.

"He means now. Right now." She says bluntly, leaving no room for argument.

"O... kay." He trails off, not knowing what to expect.

Chapter Text

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Buster walks into Crystals office.

"Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Come on in." Crystal says with a welcoming smile.

"Whoa. This place is incredible." Buster looks around at the elegant decor of the room before sitting.

"Pretty great, huh?" He chuckles. "So, how's it going with Calloway?" Crystal asks calmly.

"Calloway? It's, uh... it's good. Yeah. Very good." Buster replies hesitantly, knowing what Miss Crawly has just been through involving Calloway.

"Right, right. Well, let me ask you something. What did I do to make you disrespect me, huh?" He asks bluntly, a blank expression taking over his face.

"What?" Buster replies, brows furrowing in confusion.

"Oh, what? You think I'm an idiot? Some kind of bozo?" Crystal says with concealed anger.

"No. No, sir, not at all." Buster denies vehemently.

"My team, they talked to Calloway's lawyer, and they say he's never heard of you or your show." Crystal says calmly as his security show up behind Buster.

"Really? They said that? Uh..." He trails off, trying to think of an excuse.

"You lied to me!" Crystal suddenly shouts, standing up in fury and slamming his hands on his desk.

"I-I didn't mean to. Okay? Honestly, I really thought I could get him." Buster says shaking and trembling in his seat.

"No one makes me look like a fool! No one!" Crystal yells, thrashing and throwing things off the table.

"I-I wouldn't dream of doing that to you." Buster stutters once more.

"I swear, if you didn't have my kid in your show, you'd be out of that window by now!" He snarls, leaning towards Buster threateningly.

"Please, please, please. I-I'm so sorry." Buster begs, still shaking.

"You'd better have Calloway by the end of next week, or so help me!" Crystal threatens, nails digging into the desk.

"I-I-I will. I-I-I'll get him. I won't let you down, sir." Buster stutters.

"Oh, I know you won't let me down." Crystal collects himself, standing upright and adjusting his tie.

Buster speeds down the hallway to the elevator as if on fire, bumping into Jerry on his way.

"Jerry, get in here!" Crystal bellows from his office.

"Yes, sir. Right here, sir." Jerry responds dutifully.

Back on the set, Buster informs the rest of the crew about the next steps for the show as he packs his things up.

"Listen up. I got to go to Calloway's, and I got to go ASAP." He states, matter-of-factly.

"Oh, no, please don't go there." Miss Crawly pleads, worried for his safety.

"D-Don't worry. Don't worry. I know you said he's crazy, but I'll be all right." He reassures.

"Oh, can I go with you, please?" Ash asks, literally bouncing with excitement. "Uh, I don't know." Buster says, a little unsure.

"Come on, you're gonna need me. I know everything about this guy." She begs.

"Uh... I think you're right." He agrees. "Yes!"

"Now, listen, Gunter, you've got to figure out the ending of this show on your own." He instructs.

"On my own?" Gunter repeats, unsure of himself.

"Yes." Buster affirms strictly.

"Miss Crawly, I need you to take charge while I'm away." Buster says to Miss Crawly. "Yes, sir." She replies, smiling.

"Now, listen to me." He takes on a serious tone. "You got to bring your A game here, Miss Crawly. I'm serious. You got to be tough."

"Yes, I got to be tough." She replies.

"You got to be firm." 

"Oh, and I got to be firm. Yes." She repeats, nodding.

"And you cannot... I repeat, cannot... let production fall behind, not one little bit. Is that clear?" He says, trying to make it as clear as possible.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Moon, sir." She salutes, as if she's in the military.

When Buster and Ash left, Miss Crawly took his words to heart and made completely sure that things would run smoothly.

"Mason!" She moves the scissor lift behind him, voice blasting from the megaphone.

"That volcano should've been finished yesterday!"

"W-We're on it, Miss Crawly." He stutters, caught off guard but determined to get it done. "You better be!" She threatens sternly.

"Meena, Darius, take it from the top, and this time, put a little juice in it, will you?" She moves lift towards them.

"I'm trying my best, Miss Crawly." Meena says, worriedly. "A little juice?" Darius says looking both confused and offended.

Then Porsha strolls in, a multitude of shopping bags on each arm, sunglasses on and holding a drink. "Hey, everybody." She greets nonchalantly.

"You're two hours late for rehearsal!" Miss Crawly yells, not missing a beat. "Wait. Wait, where's the other guy? Who are you?" She says, taken aback at the sudden screaming.

"I'm in charge! That's who! Now, get your tail to wardrobe, sweetheart." Miss Crawly yells once more.

Ash and Buster rustle through some bushes as they come across the same warning signs that Miss Crawly ignored when she first encountered Clay Calloway.

"Oh my gosh. There he is. That's him." Ash says in astonishment. Sitting on the field of grass was Clay Calloway, fixing up his bike. "Holy moly, it really is." He affirms in disbelief himself.

"He doesn't look so scary." Ash says, hopeful that things would go smoother this time around.

"Mr. Calloway!" Buster calls out. "Go away!" Clay shouts back, not even sparing them a glance.

"No, please. We-we-we just want to talk to you for one minute. That's all." Buster pleads, still hopeful only to be met with silence.

"We are not leaving until you talk to us." Ash adds in yet still being ignored.

"Fine. If you're not coming over here, we're coming over to you." She threatens resiliently as she approaches the fence to climb over. "No! Stay off the fence!" Clay warns. "Don't listen to him." She says, confident nothing will happen. However, as soon as they touch the fence, an electric pulse sends them both flying back as they lay on the grass unconscious.

Back on set, Porsha and Gunter are practicing the choreography for their flying scene. They each glide through the air with ease. Porsha easily manoeuvring around the planet props but as soon as they are meant to come together, they miss and Gunter goes flying and smacks into one of the asteroid props.

"Stop, stop, stop! Porsha, you're still messing it up." Miss Crawly yells sternly through the megaphone.

"It's not my fault. He keeps missing the catch." She groans in frustration as she lands back on the ground.

"I think she's trying to kill me." Gunter groans wearily as he hangs upside down from the harness.

"Reset. Let's go again." She continues to yell. "Meena! Darius! We're coming to you next, and I better see some chemistry between you two." She threatens, pointing the microphone in their direction.

"Okay, let's run these steps one more time." Darius says, wanting to get some more practice in.

"So, music starts, I step out, do my moves, fancy moves." He says, snapping his fingers to the beat as the practice. "Step together, drop." They both say, moving accordingly.

"Gazing at each other like we're burning up with love..." He says, turning to Meena who was wearing a wide awkward smile with eyebrows furrowed as if concerned.

"What are you doing with your face? Your face looks broken." He recoils in disgust.

"Uh... I was falling in love?" Meena replies, feeling confused herself. "Yeah, Gina, listen. I'm sorry, that-that's not what falling in love with me looks like." He informs, shaking his head.

"I... I should know. I see it day after day, week after week." He chuckles confidently. "Let's run it again. From the top! And five, six, seven, eight." He practically commands.

Suddenly overwhelmed, Meena rushes to through the hallway and out of the building. She presses her back against the wall as she closes her eyes and collects herself.

"Would you like some ice cream, ma'am?" A young guy with brown hair, warm bronze skin and green eyes approaches, offering some ice cream cones on a tray.

"Or should I say, Your Majesty? Uh... I just... You look like a goddess, and, uh... and-and-and lucky for you, it's 'free ice cream for all goddesses' day." He adds on nervously.

"Aw. " Meena chuckles, accepting the ice cream. As she does their fingers touch for a second and they lock eyes for what seems like eternity.

"That's cherry cheesecake, and I-I make it all myself." He breaks the silence. "See, my truck's right over there." He gestures to a truck a few feet away.

"Come by anytime...Your Majesty." He adds on playfully.

Meena then rushes back into the building but crashes into the door, smearing ice cream all over the dress.

"Ooh, that... Are you okay?" He asks in concern, she says nothing and hides just inside, back against the wall once again trying to collect herself.

"Buster?" Ash calls out as Buster wakes up from unconscious. "You okay?"

"Ash?" He hisses in pain. "Where are we?" He looks around disoriented.

"We're in Clay's house." She replies. "Oh my gosh. Have you talked to him yet?" He says, both shocked and concerned, yet hopeful.

"Uh-huh." She replies shortly. "You have?" He asks.

"We were just discussing whether he'd consider being in our show."

"What did he say?" He asks in anticipation but still groggy. "He said no." A deep voice suddenly says, Buster turns to find Clay in the armchair behind him.

"Not in a million years."

"Please, Mr. Calloway. Look, you don't... you don't realize how much it would mean to have you in our show and..." Buster pleads despite his current state.

"Will you stop your yakking?" Clay groans in annoyance.

"And I want you gone in the morning." He gets up and starts towards another room and then slams the door.

"And that's why they say, 'Never meet your heroes.'" Ash concludes solemnly.

Johnny, Nooshy and I are in an empty car park when they start practicing the choreography. Johnny starts by showing Nooshy the moves that are his dance with Ryan.

"Step, two, three, four. One, two, three, four." Johnny keeps count of the steps as he follows the dance moves until he get to the part where they have to balance on the sticks. He manages to balance without falling off.

"Yes!" He shouts in success, unfortunately he wasn't balancing properly so the staff begins to wobble and shake with his weight.

"Wait, Johnny!" I try to warn but I was too late and he lands on the ground, flat on his back.

"Are you okay?" I ask, helping him off the ground.

"Yeah, I'll be alright." He dusts himself off.

"Whoa, mate. You're not ready to be busting out these moves." She picks up the staff. "Look at you. Klaus has thrown you in the deep end and drained out all of your confidence like..." She makes a slurping sound with her mouth mimicking a straw, causing us both to laugh.

"What about the duet? Have you been able to practice that?" She asks. 

"Not with Klaus." Johnny says, almost bitterly.

"Don't worry. We'll build up to it step-by-step." She encourages. "Just forget what Klaus told you and go with the flow."

She starts with some simple moves which we copy with some trepidation but eventually we get into the swing of things.

Soon enough we're actually dancing and keeping up with Nooshy's moves. So we start practicing the actual choreography.

Hey, uh, uh

I'd rather be nobody other than me 

Mark my words, my talk ain't cheap 

Life's a dream, but I'm not sleep 

I, I feel like a work of art 

I'm not easily forgot 

Had to set myself apart 

I'm just following my heart 

I'm just following my path 

I'm just here to make it last 

I'm not living in the past 

If you don't feel me, kiss my 

Uh, uh, suéltate 

Uh, uh, suéltate

When we get back to practicing with Klaus, Johnny performs the dance with Ryan and freestyles some the moves Nooshy taught us. And when comes to the move with the sticks, he balances perfectly. 

Everyone bursts into cheers and Klaus just looks on mouth agape.

Uh, uh, suéltate.

"Nailed it!" Johnny cries in victory. "You were perfect!" I say, excited for him.

"Now, didn't you say you were gonna eat your hat Well, there you go. Mmm. Yum-yum." Nooshy rubs Klaus' hat on his stomach as he yells in surprise.

As she walks away, Klaus makes eye contact with Johnny. Glaring and huffing at his sudden success. Noticing the change in Johnny's demeanour, I trace his line of sight to Klaus and squeeze his shoulder in reassurance. 

"Don't mind him, alright. Focus on the progress we've made. He's just a bastard, okay?" He nods in response and we go back to practicing.

Chapter Text

"Señorita" is playing over the speakers of the dressing room as Meena dreamily licks her ice cream cone.

I love it when you call me señorita 

I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya... 

"Girl, that is your fourth today." The seamstress comments jovially. "I know, I know. But I can't stop. It's 'cause I really want to talk to him. But... but when I get close, I get nervous, so... so I just buy another ice cream." She says bashfully as the seamstress shakes her head.

It felt like ooh-la-la-la, yeah. 

Back at Clay's house, he is hammering in a sign to warn people about the electric fence as Buster floats around him, pestering him about the show.

"Uh, honestly, th-this is gonna be the greatest show I have ever made. Whoa!" Buster says as Clay throws the hammer right past him into the toolbox.

"And when you see the sets and the..." Buster continues to ramble as Clay reaches for hose.

"Turn on that tap for me."

"Tap? Uh, sure. So, anyway..." Buster tries to continue but as soon as he turns on the tap, he gets blasted with water and sent tumbling down the hill. "Whoa!"

"Oopsie-daisy." Clay chuckles in amusement. Ash the approaches Clay with two mugs in hand. "Moon, you okay?" She yells as in concern. "I'm okay!" He confirms.

She then hands one of the mugs over to Clay, to which he just looks at. "It's tea. You drink it."

Buster then comes running back up the hill, pant heavily. "I promise, this is going to be the most wonderful... I mean, fantastic show ever."

"Did you put honey in this?" Clay questions as he takes a sip of the tea. Disgust clear on his face.

"A-And the ending? Oh, boy. I mean, i-it's gonna end with you and your song..." Buster continues not getting the memo.

Clay groans in annoyance. "You don't want to do the show." Buster concludes nervously as Clay leans in menacingly.

"Besides, lost my singing voice, so..." Clay offhandedly comments. "Your voice sounds fine to me." Ash argues.

Ash thinks for a second, stirring her tea before speaking. "This... This is all because you lost your wife, isn't it?" Her voice lined with trepidation.

"Okay, girlie." Clay says, clearly aggravated. "We're not talking about my Ruby."

"Look, I know she inspired so many of your songs..." Ash starts but is swiftly interrupted. "All of my songs." Clay's voice heavy with emotion.

"Right. I... I can't imagine what it must be like to lose someone so special, but do you think this is what Ruby would've wanted for you? I mean, you out here on your own and never singing again?" As she rambles, Clay stops watering the flowers thinking for a moment.

"No, y-you don't understand. There's... there's no rock star living here anymore." He argues sounding defeated.

"Clay, you just need to play again. Your songs will bring you back. You can. You can reconnect with..." Ash tries her best to convince him.

"No, I can't!" Clay shouts as his frustration boils over. "I haven't even heard one of my songs in over 15 years. And for good reason." He takes a deep breath to calm himself.

"Ruby was everything." He says tenderly. "And I don't like honey in my tea." He adds on bitterly as he pours away the tea and drops the mug on the ground. He then leaves to go back inside the house.

"He's not gonna change his mind." Buster sighs in defeat. "He will." Ash replies with determination. "But you should go back."

"Me? What about you?" He questions. "I just need time with him. I can't just leave him like this." Ash says sympathetically.

Buster arrives back on set the next day. As he walks through the door he finds everyone acting more like the military than cast and crew.

"Ten-hut!" Miss Crawly shouts as everyone salutes Buster as he walks in.

"Whoa." Buster says, surprised by the attitude. "Welcome back, Mr. Moon, sir." Miss Crawly says sternly.

"Uh, thank you, Miss Crawly." He replies awkwardly.

"You can... ease off the attitude now."

"Oh, oh, yes, yes." She says, visibly relaxing.

"So, any luck with Clay Calloway?" Gunter asks excitedly. "Shh! Not yet. But if anyone can convince him, it's Ash, so..." Buster mentions, confident in her abilities.

"All right, folks, tomorrow, we have our first run-through, so let's get this show in shipshape shape." He encourages the cast and crew before they run through all the scenes.

Rosita pulls off her part as the green alien with ease, we all know that she's capable of much more as an actress.

Johnny and I do the choreography smoothly for our parts thanks to Nooshy's coaching. I can visibly see Klaus' eye twitching whenever we pull off a particularly difficult move.

Despite having such a difference in personalities, Meena and Darius seem to flow a little better with their song and choreography.

The crew get all of the props and sets ready to go for the dress rehearsal and everything looks fabulous.

"And cue Porsha." Buster says as they go through Porsha's scenes.

"Captain's log. I must take care, for I have landed on the Planet of War." She says into the recorder flatly.

"Ooh. Okay, so let's just hold it right there, folks. Uh, everyone, take five." He cringes slightly at her acting.

"What the heck is a captain's log, anyway?" She asks to no one in particular.

"Um, Porsha, can I have a word?" He asks, already worried about what the outcome of this conversation could be. They enter one of the break rooms to talk privately.

"Porsha, you know I truly believe that this show, i-it... it's close to being fantastic, maybe even perfect." Buster says with conviction.

"Thank you." She assumes it was a compliment intended for her.

"Y-Yeah, yeah, but-but, see, to make it the best it can be..." He takes a deep breath. "...well, I got to make some changes." He says, trying to hint at the root of the conversation.

"Uh-huh." She replies nonchalantly, not understanding.

"Like... uh... I have to give the lead role back to Rosita." He stutters before just blurting it out.

"What?" She exclaimed mouth agape in shock. "I'm just offering you the opportunity to switch roles with..." He tries to placate her and diffuse the situation but to no avail.

"You're firing me?" She shouts outraged. "No, I-I'm not firing you." He tries to reason once again but she storms out of the room towards the stairs.

"Oh, wait till my dad hears that you fired me." She threatens, words coming out a mile a minute.

"But I'm not firing you. Please, wait!" Buster tries to catch up to her when she suddenly stops in her tracks.

"Oh my gosh." She chuckles sardonically. "You all hate me, don't you?" 

"No, no, no, we don't hate you. We all think you're terrific!" Buster tries again in convincing her.

"Well, I don't care if you hate me." She says, completely ignoring everything Buster has said.

"Please stop." He pleads. "You and your stupid, stupid sky-fi show can go to heck!" She declares before storming out of the door.

"Porsha, stop. Wait!" Buster calls out but then sighs in defeat. "I am a dead man."

Back at Clay's house, Clay is still inside, alone with his own thoughts. Ash is outside on the porch singing and strumming her guitar.

(ASH):

"I'm not afraid 

Of anything in this world

There's nothing you can throw at me

That I haven't already heard 

I'm just trying to find 

A decent melody 

A song that I can sing 

In my own company 

I never thought you were a fool 

But, darling, look at you, ooh 

You gotta stand up straight 

And carry your own weight 

These tears are going nowhere, babe 

You've got to get yourself together 

You've got stuck in a moment

Now you can't get out of it"

 She stops singing and strumming as she notices Clay coming to sit by her in the porch. He sighs and gives her a nod as if to say "continue".

"Oh, love, look at you now

You got yourself stuck in a moment

And you can't get out of it."

Back in Redshore, the TV in Crystal office is displaying the news. The latest of which being Porsha's recent 'firing'. The TV screen is then swiftly broken by Crystal hurling the remote at it.

"He fired my daughter? My daughter?" Crystal yells in fury as Porsha sobs in background,

"Would you be quiet? You've embarrassed me enough." He says, cold and dismissive.

"But, Daddy..." She tries to reason.

"Now the whole world thinks I got a talentless loser for a daughter." He comments bluntly. "Take her home." He orders his bodyguards, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Bring me Moon." He commands, voice eerie and sinister.

Minutes later, Buster slowly walks down the hallway to Crystal's office. He gulps as he's about to open the door when suddenly his phone rings.

"Ash? Now is not a good..." He says nervously into the phone.

"Moon, I've got him!" She shouts, wind blowing through her hair as Clay zooms through the roads on his motorcycle.

"What?" He asks confused.

"I got Calloway! Here, he wants to talk to you." She hands the phone over to Clay.

"Your friend is even more annoying than you are." Clay comments jovially.

"Don't listen to him." She laughs. "We're heading to Redshore right now."

"You are?" Buster asks hopefully. "Yes."

"Oh, my gosh." He gasps. "Okay, this is great news, seriously. You may have just saved my life here." He says breathing a sigh of relief. He then ends the call before entering Crystal's office.

"Mr. Moon, what have you done?" Suki asks, knowing what's about to happen. Buster walks right past her, an enthusiastic smile on his face.

"Mr. Crystal. Aah! I got some great news. Clay Calloway is on his way here right now." He says expecting a positive reaction.

"Everybody, out." Crystal says sharply. "Okay, I think I know what this might be about, and I..." He trails off, realising the severity of the situation.

"You fired Porsha." Crystal cuts straight to the point. "No. No. I never fired her." Buster argues "You calling her a liar?" Crystal asks as if daring him to say yes.

"No, no, no, no, she just got it wrong, is all. I was only trying to help her do the best she could, and be-believe me, I-I-I just wanted to do the right thing." Buster tries to justify his actions, stuttering as Crystal gets closer to him.

"The right thing to do... is what I tell you to do!" Crystal yells, getting all up in Buster's face.

"But I did!" Buster tries to reason as Crystal grabs him by his collar and drags him out to the balcony. "I-I-I delivered a great show. And Ca-Calloway, he's coming."

"No, no, no! Stop! Stop!" Buster pleads as Crystal dangles him over the edge of the balcony, however his begging falls on deaf ears.

"You really think I'd let a lowlife little amateur loser like you humiliate me?" Crystal says, nearly strangling Buster. "You made me look bad."

"No, no!" Buster continues to beg for his life. "I didn't mean to! No!"

"So I'm gonna have to let you go." Crystal says with finality as he lets go of Buster's collar.

"What? Whoa!" Buster screams as he falls.

"Sir. Uh, sir, sir, sir." Jerry says desperately. "I'm-I'm so sorry, um, so sorry to bother you, but, uh, you have a live TV appearance in just a moment, so it-it might be better if we just put a pin in this right now. Um..." Crystal looks at Jerry with a withering, menacing glare. As he turns, he shows that Buster didn't plummet to his death as he was hanging on to the railing of the balcony.

Crystal then drags Buster back up by his collar and walks across his office. He opens a door and throws Buster inside.

"You-you nearly killed me." Buster stutters, gasping for breath.

"And I'll finish the job later." Crystal threatens before storming off and locking the door.

"No. No! No!" Buster shouts, banging on the door. "Help! Help! Jerry! Anyone! No. Help, please!" He continues panicking.

Suddenly the door opens to reveal Suki. "Shh! You need to get out of this city and never, ever come back." She instructs sternly. "Do you understand? Never."

"Okay, okay. I understand." He tries to catch his breath.

"I told you, you were not cut out for this." She says. "He tried to kill me." Buster says, still in shock.

"Yeah, and when he finds you're gone, he'll have his thugs looking all over for you." She says, trying to help him understand the severity of the situation.

"Okay. Thank you, Suki. I'm so, so..." He trails off.

"Get out of here." She insists, he nods once before taking off.

Chapter Text

Buster rushes down the street, phone to his ear as yells at Miss Crawly in a panic.

"Uh, what did you say, Mr. Moon?" She asks, sounding confused.

"Get out! All of you! Get out of there right now! There's no time to explain. Just get the cast and meet me back at the hotel!" He yells, but then ends up crashing into someone in his haste causing his phone to go flying into the road and getting smashed under a car's tire.

"And we're live in five, four, three, two..." The floor manager of Linda LeBon's show calls out.

Hot News

Hot News...

Crystal is off stage getting ready for his appearance on the show when he instructs, "Jerry, go get my snacks."

"Yes, sir." Jerry replies dutifully before rushing off to Crystal's office.

Linda talks leisurely to the audience, as music continues in distance.

Jerry gasps and quickly rushes off when he reaches the office to find that Buster has escaped, the door that was once locked now wide open and empty.

"Here to discuss the drama surrounding his new show..." Linda introduces Crystal.

"Sir! Uh, sir, sir, sir." Jerry gets Crystal attention before whispering the new found information in his ear.

"Mr. Redshore City himself..." Linda continues

"What?" Crystal growls lowly.

"...please welcome Mr. Jimmy Crystal. Come on out here, Jimmy. Don't make us beg." Linda ushers.

Still off stage, Crystal snaps his finger then two bodyguards appear behind him. "Moon got out. Find him." He instructs before switching his expression to a more jovial one as he enters the set.

"Does this guy know how to make an entrance or what?" Linda laughs.

"Hey, everybody! Good to see you." He greets the audience with a smile.

"Linda, I got some hot news for you. You look terrific." He compliments.

"It is so good to see you." She replies.

"Well, thank you. Thank you for having me."

Back at the hotel Buster is furiously packing his stuff, waiting for the others to arrive when the doorbell suddenly rings.

He gasps in shock, looking for somewhere to hide as he thinks those are Crystals men coming to kill him.

Someone continues knocking and ringing the doorbell when Buster dives and folds himself into his suitcase and zips it up from the inside.

"Buster?" Ash calls out. "Ash? Ash, in here!" He calls out from inside the suitcase.

"Buster?" She says again in clear confusion.

"I-I'm stuck!" He yells.

"You got to be kidding me." Clay says in disbelief.

"Hold still. What are you doing in there?" She asks.

"Ash, the show's off. Crystal got mad and tried to kill me." He says, out of breath from panicking.

"What?" She says as she finally gets the suitcase to open and Buster all but tumbles out.

"I thought you were his thugs coming here to finish me off." He pants as the doorbell suddenly rings again.

"Oh, no. It's them." Buster says, worriedly. "Shh. Pretend we're not here."

"The first time I leave home in 15 years, and what do I find? The show is off, and this guy is hiding in a suitcase." Clay groans, done with all the dramatics.

"No, no, don't... don't open the door. No, no, no." Buster mutters frantically.

Clay swings the doors open, only to reveal the rest of the cast as they all gasp at his presence.

"Clay Calloway." We utter in shock.

"I remember you." He says to Miss Crawly who promptly passes out. Johnny lays her down on the couch while we figure out what to do.

"Miss Crawly." Buster says gently.

"Pew, pew. Pew." She mutters in her sleep.

"Miss Crawly, wake up." He says.

"Wha... Mm, what?"

"Wake up. We got to get out of here." He repeats.

"Coast is clear. Let's go." Johnny says, my arm linked with his as we make our way to the exit.

"Come on, Miss Crawly. Come on. Come on. Come on." Buster helps her get up from the couch. "We'll all feel better when we're safe at home."

"You sure about that?" Clay says making us all turn to him. "'Cause I can tell you, running and hiding away is not all that it's cracked up to be."

"Well, we don't have a choice." Buster tries to excuse.

"Yeah, well, all these years, I thought the same, but turns out there's always a choice. Just never had the guts to make the right one. Know what I mean?" He says, speaking from experience.

Suddenly Crystal's voice pipes up from the TV. "I shut down my show 'cause of a talentless little twerp called Buster Moon." He says, clearly name dropping.

"Seriously, you should've seen this teeny, tiny loser. Oh, and his pathetic amateur friends... let's just say, whatever Podunk town they crawled out of, that's where they belong, 'cause it sure ain't this great city." He says, making them all look so downtrodden and defeated as they head towards the door. However, Buster looks deep in thought.

"Wait, guys. Don't listen to what Crystal says. You all know just how much effort we put into this show to make it the greatest it can be. Just because some big shot didn't get his way doesn't mean that we're amateurs or pathetic." I give a smile, trying to get their hopes up, earning a few smiles and nods in return as we continue to the exit.

"I see, Clay and Alyssa are right." Buster mumbles. "What we're trying to do here, it takes guts." He said, recalling Nana's words of encouragement from earlier.

"Guys, wait. We-we cannot let that-that-that-that... that bully steal our hopes and dreams." Buster tries to reason.

"No, no, no. We are way past singing and dancing now." Rosita shakes her head.

"Look, I-I know this might sound crazy. If we got the theater back... Just for one night only." Buster suggests.

"Oh, come on. Seriously? It's not like we can just sneak in there and put the show on behind Crystal's back." Johnny says frustrated, I pat his arm to comfort him.

Buster's eyes widen in realisation. "That is exactly what we're gonna do." He says excitedly.

"Yes!" Nooshy shouts in happiness

Just then, the doorbell rings again. This time we're all sure of who it is.

"Maybe it's, like, room service?" Gunter suggests hopefully.

"Open up or you're dead, Moon!" One of the bodyguards yell from outside, banging in the door.

"Okay, it's not room service." Gunter admits.

"You and your dumb friends better not be hiding in there." He yells again.

"What are we gonna do?" Rosita says worriedly.

"Guys, we just got to be brave now." Buster says.

"Are you saying we should fight these thugs?" Johnny asks incredulously.

"No, no. They'll beat us to a pulp." Buster says matter-of-factly.

The banging continues as Buster speaks. "We're gonna put this show on whether Crystal likes it or not." Buster says determinedly. "But first, we're gonna jump out that window." He points to the balcony outside the floor length windows.

"What?" We all ask in shock.

"I'm beginning to like this guy." Clay mentions offhandedly.

Outside the room, one of the bodyguards grabs a fire extinguisher and bashes at the door until it swings wide open. But by then, we had already gotten to the edge of the railing and jumped off, landing with a splash.

"Security. Yeah, we got ten suspects loose on the river ride." One of the bodyguards says into a walkie talkie as we cascade down the river ride. "Repeat, ten suspects loose on the river ride."

"Uh, this is pool security. I don't see anyone here. Over."

"There!" One of the pool security points at us weaving through the trees. "They're heading east through the back lot!"

"Oh, I wish I didn't have... such short legs!" Gunter gasps for breath.

Soy yo

Soy, soy, soy

Soy, soy, soy, soy

Soy yo

Yo, yo, yo, yo...

"Thank you, Linda." Crystal says walking off set as the audience cheer loudly. "Thank you. Thanks, everybody."

"Well?" He says into the phone that Jerry hands him.

"Uh, no sign of 'em, sir. We think they might have split town." One of the bodyguards reply.

Crystal storms into his office and angrily throws his phone and kicks over some furniture, making a mess in his rage.

We all run to the back entrance of the set, Buster swipes his card to let us in which thankfully still works.

We all stop and stare as about 20 janitors stare back at us.

"No one is supposed to be in here." One of them pipe up.

"Uh, who are you?" Buster asks confused.

"We're the night cleaners." He responds.

"Oh, I see. Well, we don't need any cleaning right now, but it'd be better if you didn't leave, so..." Buster says. "Mm, I don't suppose any of you can tap-dance, huh?" He asks hopefully as one of them raises their hand sheepishly.

"Huh. Well, let's move it, folks." Buster instructs. "Here, Rosita." He says softly, handing her the space helmet. "It's your role." He says as I try to find all the pieces of my costume with Johnny and Nooshy.

"Miss Crawly, let's see if we can get us a new green alien."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Moon, sir." She replies, entering a military like state once again.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart!" Miss Crawly yells on the scissor lift from Porsha's window, who is still sobbing at being 'fired'.

Soy yo...

"Hey! You made it!" Buster cheers, giving Porsha a big hug as she strolls back on set.

"Yeah, well, uh, maybe I overreacted a little before." She says sheepishly.

"A little? You were, like, a total drama queen back there." Gunter says bluntly, placing his hand over his forehead, mimicking her theatrics.

"Yeah, okay, we're all good now." Buster says.

"Wow, my dad's gonna flip when he finds out about us." Porsha comments.

"Well, we're safe for now, but listen, let's..." Buster says but is cut off by Porsha.

"Safe? Uh, no, no, no. None of us are safe." She scoffs, knowing her father's violent tendencies.

"Mr. Moon, I know someone who can protect us." Johnny says with a smile and Buster grins and nods knowingly. I raise an eyebrow in confusion but continue getting my costume together.

"Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Protection? Say no more, son. We're on our way." A deep voice says from Johnny's phone.

"Alright, thanks dad." He says before ending the call, then giving Buster a thumbs up to show that it has been sorted.

Soy yo

Soy yo

Soy yo

Soy yo

Soy yo

Soy, soy, soy

Soy, soy, soy, soy

Soy yo

Yo, yo, yo

Yo, yo, yo, yo

Soy yo

Soy, soy, soy, soy

Everyone hustles and bustles to get everything in order for the show. I call the other dancers to help with our scene. Meena reaches out to Darius. Porsha and Rosita put on their makeup and Nooshy helps me with mine. One of the night cleaners teaches the other how to do some basic tap dancing for Porsha's scene. So far everything seems to going smoothly.

"Hey Melissa, can you get a hold of my mum and Aaron. I want them to come see the show." I ask through the phone as I put my costume together.

"Good night, Porsha." Crystal says into the hallway of his house.

Soy yo.

Receiving only silence due to Porsha's absence, goes back into his own room. "All right, be that way. I don't care."

"Spoiled little brat." He mutters under his breath.

"All right, time to get us an audience." Buster says adamantly.

"Wait. Moon, as soon as you start inviting folks in here, hotel security will just shut us down, right?" Ash looks concerned.

"Oh, it's okay. Rosita's got that covered." He says.

Rosita then rings Norman on her phone. "Norman, release the children." She says, a serious expression on her face.

The elevator bell on floor 17 dings and out come all of Rosita and Norman's kids who immediately attack all the sugar filled treats in the buffet.

No, not today...

"All security, we have a situation on floor 17." The buffet host says desperately over the microphone. "Repeat, all security to floor 17."

"This is the best day of my life, Daddy! Whoo!" One of the children yell excitedly as she dives out from the chocolate fountain, avoiding one of the workers who dives in right after her.

"Repeat, everybody to floor 17!" The floor host calls out again, causing all security guards to rush to the scene.

Just then, Buster appears on the big screens around the Crystal Tower Hotel.

"Wait, uh, is it on?" He asks.

"Yes, it's on now." Miss Crawly replies off-screen.

"Oh, now?" He asks.

"Yes, now." She repeats.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Before I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, okay." He stumbles over his words.

"Good evening." He clears his throat addressing the viewers.

"Uh, my name is Buster Moon, and it is my great pleasure to present to you, for one night only in the Crystal Tower Theater..." He continues to introduce the show as one of the hotel workers make a phone call.

"Mr. Crystal's office. This is Jerry speaking." Jerry says tiredly into the phone.

"...a brand-new show called Out of This World. A musical space odyssey featuring the beloved star Alyssa Mercia and the return of the legendary Clay Calloway." Buster says, knowing that name dropping will definitely get people to come. "That's right, Clay Calloway."

Meanwhile, Jerry rushes to Crystal's house to alert him of the news.

"And what's more, this show is completely free, so step right up, folks, and take your seats. The journey of a lifetime is about to begin."

Chapter Text

"All right, folks, we all set back here?" Buster says, checking in with everyone.

"There he is!" A tall, broad man with tan skin, dark brown hair in a similar style to Johnny and brown eyes walks up to Johnny, arms open for a hug.

"Dad." Johnny chuckles. "Come here." He says wrapping his arms around Johnny.

"What are you wearing?" Johnny asks, pulling back from the hug.

"Oh, well, we're still doing our community service, ain't we, lads?" He says, Stan and Barry nodding in agreement. "Yeah." "That's right."

"Dad, there's someone I want you to meet." Johnny says.

Nooshy is still helping me do my hair and makeup before I go to put my costume on.

(Own artwork: Please ignore lack of facial features, hair and skin detail. I was more focused on completing the outfit than anything else.)

 https://www.wattpad.com/1418152114-sing-2-johnny-x-oc-chapter-13

I see Johnny approaching, with a man who looks very similar in tow.

"Dad, this is Alyssa Mercia. You know the famous singer." He says to his dad.

"Pleasure to meet you sir." I give a smile and stretch my hand out for a handshake.

"Pleasure's all mine. And please, call me Marcus." He shakes my hand, returning the smile.

"I just have to say, your son is one the most talented, amazing people I know." I compliment, smiling at Johnny.

Johnny's face flushes at the compliment giving me sheepishly smile as his dad replies. "Don't I know it. That's my Johnny, couldn't be more proud."

"Oh my gosh. He's here." Meena suddenly says, sounding panicked.

"Crystal's here?" Buster assumes, making us all turn in worry.

"No. M-My ice cream guy. And he's sitting in the front row." She stutters nervously.

"Mr. Crystal! Mr. Crystal!" Jerry barges into Crystal's bedroom.

"Aah! Jerry!" Crystal springs up in his bed in a panic.

"I tried to stop him, sir." One of the bodyguards says sheepishly.

"I-I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry to wake you up, sir. It's Moon. He's taken over the theater, and he's putting on a show right now." Jerry rushes out, talking a mile a minute.

"He's what?!" Crystal leaps out of bed in fury, causing Jerry to scream in abject horror as he sees his boss completely in the nude.

The audience claps in rhythm as they wait for the show to start.

"Okay, this is it, guys. You ready?" Buster says, as the group huddle up before the show begins.

"Oh, my gosh. Are we really doing this?" Rosita asks, feeling like this is all too surreal.

"Yeah, you better believe it!" Johnny says, beaming from ear to ear.

"Damn right!" I exclaim, bursting with excitement.

"Yeah, big-time, baby!" Gunter says, clearly pumped.

"Remember..." Buster starts. "There's only one way left to go, and that's up!" We finish off together.

"Gunter robot activating glitter power." Gunter says, practicing his robot moves before prancing off. "Beep-beep, boop-boop."

"Playback!" Buster call out.

The music starts playing as the theatre goes dark and the audience are met with a view of the cosmos.

"All creatures great and small, welcome to outer space." Buster's voice echoes as he introduces the show.

Then Rosita's ship zooms through the stars. "My name is Captain Rosita." She declares dramatically. "My mission: to find and rescue a space explorer who mysteriously went missing long ago."

"Captain, I am picking up his signal." Gunter says in a robot voice.

"Excellent. But from which planet?" She inquires. "I see four of them ahead."

"It is impossible to know which one the signal is, like, coming from." Gunter replies in the same voice.

"I see. Then I'll have to explore them all." She proclaims. "Take us down."

Backstage, Nooshy is encouraging us for our scene. "You've got this, guys. Remember what I said... just go with the flow."

"Mission report. I must take care, for I have landed on the Planet of War." Rosita says, meaning it's time for us to be on stage.

As Rosita and Gunter get off the ship, they find themselves in a clearing. Judging by the terrain, it appears to be a no man's land between two kingdoms.

Johnny and Alyssa are facing each other in the middle of the area. Sensing the tension, Rosita and Gunter hide behind some rocks and listen in on their conversation.

"You know we can't keep doing this anymore Johnny." I say, turning my back to him. "As royals, we each have duties to fulfil. We can't meet like this anymore."

"But I don't love my betrothed, Alyssa. I love you. Please don't do this." Johnny pleads, trying to change my mind.

"And you think I don't? Our kingdoms will never see eye to eye long enough to even remain in the same room. It will be better if we just end this here, and save ourselves any more heartache. Goodbye, Johnny." I say, moving to leave. After a few steps, the music starts and I turn as Johnny starts singing.

(^^^Johnny's verse)

 https://youtu.be/fgkwkzlVO4w?si=qrOr78qL0hdt0bDj

(^^^Alyssa's verse)

https://youtu.be/qZjnjTJQ6qE?si=eGEI7JMf3hFE7rwX

(JOHNNY):
"She'd take the world off my shoulders
If it was ever hard to move" He reaches out and grabs my hand before I leave and pulls me in but I twirl away.
"She'd turn the rain to a rainbow
When I was living in the blue" Johnny comes towards me again and we waltz in circles and he dips me.
"Why then, if she is so perfect
Do I still wish that it was you?" I pull away again, and his arm stretches towards me.
"Perfect don't mean that it's working
So what can I do? (Ooh)" I take his hand and he lifts and twirls me as my hands are balancing on his shoulders.
"When you're out of sight
In my mind" He puts me down slowly and we stare into each other's eyes, I push him away but he grabs my hand and pulls me into him.
"'Cause sometimes I look in her eyes
And that's where I find a glimpse of us" We waltz around in a circle.
"And I try to fall for her touch
But I'm thinking of the way it was" I fall but Johnny catches me and pulls me up slowly before dipping me.
"Said I'm fine and said I moved on
I'm only here passing time in her arms" He twirls me, hand intertwined with mine over my head.
"Hoping I'll find
A glimpse of us" We separate, and I twirl away and hug myself.

https://youtu.be/GcuyRw5KOd4?si=-R9xsg8bN97rbafh 

(Video above describes the dancing for the rest of the song)
(ALYSSA):
"Tell me she savors your glory
Does she laugh the way I did?
Is this a part of your story?
One that I had never lived
Maybe one day you'll feel lonely
And in her eyes, you'll get a glimpse
Maybe you'll start slipping slowly
And find me again
When you're out of sight
In my mind
'Cause sometimes I look in his eyes
And that's where I find a glimpse of us
And I try to fall for his touch
But I'm thinking of the way it was
Said I'm fine and said I moved on
I'm only here passing time in his arms
Hoping I'll find
A glimpse of us"

(ALYSSA & JOHNNY):
"Ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
'Cause sometimes I look in their eyes
And that's where I find a glimpse of us
And I try to fall for their touch
But I'm thinking of the way it was
Said I'm fine and said I moved on
I'm only here passing time in their arms
Hoping I'll find
A glimpse of us."

I pull away from Johnny again, taking a few steps back. "I'm sorry, Johnny." I say, voice breaking. "I can't do this anymore."

"Wait, please don't go." Rosita pipes up from where she was hiding.

"Who are you?" Johnny says, getting into a defensive position.

"I promise, we mean you no harm. I just want to help." She says calmly, hands up in a placating manner.

"What could you possibly do to help? I assume you heard our conversation." I ask, feeling defeated.

"I admit there's not much I can do help solve your problem but I do have some advice, if you are willing to hear it." She offers with a gentle smile.

Johnny nods with an arched brow in curiosity. "I can see just by looking at the two of you, how in love you are. If you pledge your case to your parents, you could potentially end this war with your union." We both seem deep in thought at her words.

"Well, Alyssa. Are you willing to risk it? For us?" Johnny says, taking my hands in his.

I smile, tears prickling at my eyes. "Yes. Let's do it, I'm tired of hiding." I wrap my arms around him as Rosita watches us with a pleased smile.

Suddenly an alarm blares making Rosita cover her ears.

"It's the alarm. That means a fight is about to break out." I say, looking worried.

"Don't worry love, we have a solution now. Let's go." He says grabbing my hand. We run to where Johnny's kingdom is to see the soldiers of my kingdom closing in.

Johnny takes a seat at the piano and I lean next to it facing him. He begins to play as the soldiers from both sides turn and look at us.

(JOHNNY):
"'Cause you're a sky
'Cause you're a sky full of stars
I'm gonna give you my heart
'Cause you're a sky
'Cause you're a sky full of stars
'Cause you light up the path"

"That's my boy." Marcus says proudly from off stage as he watches the performance beside Nooshy.

"I don't care
Go on and tear me apart
I don't care if you do
Ooh
'Cause in a sky
'Cause in a sky full of stars
I think I saw you..."

Johnny then gets up from the piano and starts dancing to the music as the crowd roars.

Meanwhile off stage Ryan is waiting for his cue in his costume when Klaus starts yelling.

"Give me that!" He snatches the staff from Ryan. "And your costume. Now!" He demands.

"Wait, what?" Ryan says, in obvious confusion.

"Take it off now!" Klaus continues to shout.

The rubber tires of Crystal's limo squeal against the asphalt as his driver zooms across the road in attempt to arrive to the theatre as soon as possible.

"Uh, we'll be at the theater soon, sir." The driver says to Crystal.

"I don't want to be there soon. I want to be there now." Crystal demands.

"Yeah, we want to be there now." Jerry echoes.

"Yes, sir." The driver responds, immediately slamming down on the accelerator and they zoom off, causing Jerry to even tumble back and land almost in Crystal's lap.

(JOHNNY & ALYSSA):
"I don't care if you do
Ooh
'Cause in a sky
'Cause in a sky full of stars
I think I saw you" I harmonise with Johnny's singing making it seem as if my character is encouraging his.

Johnny then turns to face Ryan in the battle scene but instead of Ryan standing there, Klaus prepares to dance fight with a menacing grin on his face.

Due to Klaus' overly aggressive moves and him changing the choreography up, he knocked Johnny down much to the audience's dismay.

"You see? You will never be great, Johnny." Klaus smirks deviously, then turns to revel in the audience's applause.

"Oh, come on." Johnny says, feeling defeated. I quickly move from the piano to help up Johnny. Just as I'm helping him, a drum beat echoes through out the auditorium.

We look to the source to see Nooshy banging on a steel cylinder, giving us an opportunity to get back at Klaus.

(JOHNNY):
"I don't care
Go on and tear me apart
I don't care if you do
Oh
'Cause in a sky, 'cause in a sky
Full of stars"

Johnny raises, banging his staff against the floor in time with Nooshy's drumbeat as the other dancers join in and do the same.

"Yeah, that's more like it." Nooshy smiles.

"I think I saw you!"

Johnny does all kinds of flips and turns, catching Klaus off guard. Johnny whacks Klaus in the face with the staff and knocks him to the ground. The drumbeat stops and Klaus bows to Johnny in surrender.

The audience goes wild with cheers as Johnny stands victorious. Now for the big finish.

I walk up to Johnny, taking both his hands in mine. I put one hand on his cheek and pull him in for a kiss, causing the audience to explode with cheers at the clear victory.

"Mission report. It seems the two lovers will be able to end the war with their courtship. I must now continue my search for the missing space explorer." Rosita says, as her ship takes off.

The audience cheer once more as the planet of war scene comes to a close. I can make out my mum and Aaron somewhere in the middle, standing and cheering for us. I'm glad they got to see it.

As the audience applaud our scene, Marcus' walkie talkie sounds. "This is Barry. Come in. Over."

"Yeah, go ahead, Barry." He replies.

"Crystal's on site. Repeat, Crystal is on site. Over." Barry says, spotting Crystal's limo pulling up outside.

"Roger that." He replies before putting away the walkie talkie. "Right, let's go to work."

Chapter Text

"Mission report. My search takes me to the second planet, the Planet of Joy." Rosita's voice echoes over the scene as we start Porsha's scene.

"All right. Here we go, Porsha. Time to show the world what you're really made of." Buster encourages her.

The audience cheer as the music starts playing. Porsha is launched into the air from under the stage as she starts to sing.

(PORSHA):
"Don't wanna live as an untold story
Rather go out in a blaze of glory
I can't hear you
I don't fear you" An inflatable balloon shaped as a monster pops up, she pokes it making it explode with glitter and a friendly one appears in its place.

"I'll live now 'cause the bad die last
Dodging bullets with your broken past
Oh, I can't hear you
I don't fear you now" She continues this as more inflatables pop up.

"Wrapped in your regret..."

"Hey, who the heck are you? Where's my security?" Crystal asks as he sees Johnny's dad and uncles in place of his security.

"We're security now, mate." Stan pushes him back as Marcus responds.

"What?" Crystal snaps his fingers and immediately a fight breaks out between his security and Marcus, Stan and Barry.

"I wanna taste love and pain
Wanna feel pride and shame
I don't wanna take my time
Don't wanna waste one line
I wanna live better days
Never look back and say
It could've been me
It could've been me, yeah" She jumps and twirls as more colourful monsters pop up.

While she's still singing, Crystal sneaks away from the brawl to try to stop the show.

"Don't wanna wake up on a Monday morning"
"Porsha!" She turns to see her father, glaring angrily at her.

"The thought of work's
Getting my skin crawling" She continues to sing despite his yelling.

"Get off of there!" He yells. "Don't you make me come out there!"

"I can't fear you
I don't hear you now" She prances towards him and sings in his face pointing at her ears before prancing back to the stage as he tries to grab her.

"Wrapped in your regret
What a waste of blood and sweat
Oh" She jumps on the trampoline and launches into the air as the night cleaners from earlier sing the chorus while tap dancing.

(CHORUS):
"I wanna taste
Love and pain"
(PORSHA):
"I wanna taste love"
(CHORUS):
"Wanna feel pride and shame
I don't wanna take my time"
(PORSHA):
"No"
(CHORUS):
"Don't wanna waste one line..." She continues to jump on the trampoline while singing.

"You traitor. That's it, I'm coming out there!" Crystal seethes in anger off stage.

Suddenly, the ground beneath him collapses as Buster pulls a lever to reveal storage under the stage.

"Miss Crawly put some cushions and snacks down there, so you should be comfortable till the show's over." Buster says, nervously.

"You little..." He tries to reach for Buster but is cut off as Buster pulls the lever that closes the entrance.

(CHORUS):
"I wanna taste love and pain"
(PORSHA):
"I wanna taste love and pain"
(CHORUS):
"Wanna feel pride and shame"
(PORSHA):
"Wanna feel pride and shame"
(CHORUS):
"I don't wanna take my time"
(PORSHA):
"I don't wanna waste my time, don't wanna waste one line" The night cleaners gather around her as a platform starts to lift them up.

"Never look back and say
It could've been me
Oh, it could've been me
It could've been me." Fireworks go off in the background as Porsha finishes the song. The audience goes wild with cheers and Porsha tears up at their reaction to her performance.

"Mission report. No sign here of the missing space explorer. I'm moving to the next planet." Rosita's voice echoes as the audience are still cheering.

Chapter Text

"Ready, Gina?" Darius asks as he warms up for their performance.

"It's Meena." Meena replies curtly.

"Wait, what is?" He says, looking confused.

"Never mind." She sighs.

"Listen, find that feeling. It is now or never." He says dramatically, gripping her costume.

Meena looks towards the audience spotting her ice cream guy then looking at Darius. She inhales sharply and closes her eyes for a second before opening her eyes again and instead of Darius she sees her ice cream guy standing next to her.

"Okay. I'm ready now." She says determinedly as she enters the stage.

(CHORUS):

"I say a little prayer for you"

(MEENA):

"The moment I wake up

Before I put on my makeup"

(CHORUS):

"Makeup"

(MEENA):

"I say a little prayer for you" She sings putting her hands together in a praying motion, before gesturing to Alphonso as he enters the stage.

(ALPHONSO):

"While combing my hair now

And wondering what to wear now"

(CHORUS):

"Wear now"

(ALPHONSO):

"I say a little prayer for you"

(MEENA):

"For you" He lifts her up into the air and her blue dress melts into a flow white gown in the wind. He spins her in the air before letting her down.

(ALPHONSO):

"Oh, baby"

(MEENA):

"Forever, ever"

(ALPHONSO):

"You'll stay in my heart and I will love you" They separate as Meena twirls away and Alphonso reaches towards her.

(MEENA):

"Forever, ever"

(ALPHONSO):

"We never will part

Oh, how I love you"

(MEENA):

"Together, together..."

Meanwhile, Crystal's security are brawling with Johnny's Dad and uncles. Jerry, who almost gets flattened by one the security guards being thrown by Barry, is on the phone to Crystal.

"Oh, Mr. Crystal, where are you?" He asks into the phone.

"I'm trapped somewhere under the stage." Crystal growls out with barely contained anger.

"I'll find you, sir." He replies determinedly before ending the call. "Mr. Crystal, I'm coming!" He runs off towards the stage.

(ALPHONSO):

"I run for the bus, dear

While riding I think of us, dear"

(CHORUS): 

"Us, dear" Meena takes his hand and leads her up the stairs towards the planet prop.

(MEENA): 

"I say a little, oh"

(CHORUS): 

"Prayer for you"

(ALPHONSO):

"Oh, shawty"

(MEENA):

"At work"

(BOTH):

"I just take time"

(MEENA):

"And all through my coffee break time"

(CHORUS):

"Break time"

(MEENA):

"I say a little prayer for you" They dance on the planet and separate as the rings rotates them to meet behind the planet so their silhouettes are showing.

(BOTH):

"Forever and ever

Oh, yeah

I will love you

Ever

I say a prayer for you

Oh, how I love you

Together, yeah

Oh, yeah" They run down the stairs together before he lifts her up and twirls her around before setting her down in front of of the flowery arch where the hold hands in a romantic embrace.

(BOTH):

"Would only be heartbreak for me" 

(MEENA):

"Only be heartbreak for me" Meena sings the last note as the audience erupt into cheers and then kisses Alphonso as the music trails off. When she opens her eyes and looks towards the cheering crowd, she sees the real Alphonso applauding next to his friend. When she looks back she sees Darius looking at the crowd where she had imagined Alphonso and her eyes widen in shock.

"Yes!" He jumps away suddenly. "I am gonna win a ton of awards for this." He laughs victoriously, bouncing in excitement before running off to another part of the stage.

Meena approaches to front of the stage in front of Alphonso, whose friend nudges him to look at her.

"Hi." She waves as him.

"Um, hi." He replies, slightly shocked.

"I'm Meena." She introduces.

"Oh. Um, Alfonso. You-you were incredible." He stutters.

"So were you." She compliments, referring to her imagined version of him.

"Um, what?" He says, confused.

"Oh. Uh, uh, never mind." She realises her slip up. "Um, want to meet up after the show, maybe?" She asks, shyly fiddling with her hands as Darius leaps around behind her.

"Uh, okay." He says, sporting a pink tinge on his cheeks.

"Okay, great. Bye." She says, excitedly before scurrying off the stage.

Chapter Text

"Captain, we cannot land on the last planet. There is, like, a huge wormhole." Gunter says in his robot voice as the ship hovers over a swirling vortex. "The ship will never make it." The audience gasp, wondering how they will complete the mission.

"You're right. It won't make it." She ponders for a second. "But I will." She says determinedly, Gunter hands her her the space helmet before she struts confidently to the entrance of their ship.

(ROSITA):
"If you want it
Take it"
(GUNTER):
"Beep-beep, boop-boop" Gunter presses the button that opens the door.
(ROSITA):
"I should have said it before"
(GUNTER):
"Boop-boop-boop, beep" Gunter latches the safety harness to the back of Rosita's suit.
(ROSITA):
"Tried to hide it"

Back where Crystal was locked under the stage, Jerry finds him and snaps the chain with metal shears.
"Watch your fingers." Jerry warns, yelping when Crystal suddenly kicks down the metal gate.

(ROSITA):
"Fake it"

Crystal growls in anger as bolts off looking for Buster.

(ROSITA):
"I can't pretend anymore"
(GUNTER):
"Boop." The platform extends from the entrance of the ship.
(ROSITA):
"I only want to die alive
Never by the hands of a broken heart"
(GUNTER):
"Boop"
(ROSITA):
"I don't wanna hear you lie tonight." Rosita walks down the platform until reaching the end before panicking and gasping for breath. She fearfully, shuffles backwards to the ship.

"Rosita, you've got to jump." Gunter tries to encourage her but to no avail as she stumbles falling back into the ship.

"Come on, Rosita." Buster hopes, seeing her reluctance to jump.

"Look out!" Meena suddenly shouts as Crystal swoops in and grabs Buster by the shirt collar, dragging him to the lift.
"Whoa!" Buster exclaims in a mix of fear and surprise.

"Daddy, stop it!" Porsha tries to get her father to listen to reason but with no luck.
"Mr. Moon!" Johnny tries to grab Buster but the lift is already out of reach and we can do nothing but watch in anticipation.

"Well, I've got you now, you lowlife little loser." Crystal growls in rage and anger.
"No, sir. I'm not a loser." Buster argues. "We did what we came here to do. And there is nothing you can do or say to change that." Buster pants in fear yet certain in their accomplishments. The lift stops and Crystal drags buster to the edge of the scaffolding, a sadistic look in his eyes.

Crystal chuckles darkly, "Oh, I can do whatever I want." He says dramatically before dropping him, Buster plummeting to his death.

We all gasp in shock and panic but just when we think Buster's a goner, Rosita bounds from the edge of the platform and swoops in to save him.
(ROSITA):
"This is
The part when I say I don't want ya" Rosita drops Buster to safety on another part of the scaffolding. Crystal grunting in annoyance at Buster's survival.
(ROSITA):
"I'm stronger than I've been before
This is
The part when I break free" She soars across the stage, carefree and gracefully. All previous inhibitions having dissipated.

"Aah! Whoa...!" Gunter leaps off the platform, flying around with her.
(ROSITA):
"'Cause I can't resist it no more
Whoa, whoa, the thought of your body 
I came alive" Thankfully, Johnny's Dad got a hold of Crystal before he could cause anymore damage.
(GUNTER):
"Whoo!"
(BOTH):
"It was lethal, it was fatal
In my dreams, it felt so right" Rosita and Gunter glide over the audience with ease as they erupt with cheers at the sight.
(ROSITA):
"But I woke up
Every time" They circle the ship and let themselves fall into the wormhole in flashes of bright colourful lights, before landing on the last planet.
(GUNTER):
"Oh, baby" The dance around the icy terrain as the audience cheer.
(BOTH):
"This is
The part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before
This is
The part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more"
(GUNTER):
"Beep-beep, boop-boop."

The audience explode with cheers as their dance ends with a pose.

"Woo-hoo! I love you!" We can hear Norman scream, bursting with pride for his wife.

"Oh, Mr. Moon, are you okay?" Miss Crawly asks Buster behind the stage as he catches his breath.
"Yeah. Never better." He pants, clearly overwhelmed at his almost death, again.
"Uh, where's Ash and Clay?"

Chapter Text

While the audience are still cheering, backstage Clay opens his guitar case. A picture of Ruby staring back at him. He shuts it again with a thud, overwhelmed with memories he wasn't ready to face.
"Clay." Ash calls out from a distance. "Clay, you back here? We're on next." She peaks around, looking for him.
He sighs, still bothered. "You okay?" She asks, concerned for his wellbeing.
"Uh-huh." He replies unconvincingly.

"Mission report. We have survived the wormhole." Rosita says, still out of breath from their previous escapades.
"Yeah!" Gunter shouts in success.

"Yeah. And arrived on the last planet." She replies before stating the importance of their mission. "The missing space explorer must be here somewhere, but there's no sign of life on my scanner."

"That's your cue. Clay, it's time to go on." She tries to encourage him.

"But I see no signs of life. Nothing but an empty cave." Rosita's voice echo's from the stage, trying to distract the audience from the delay.

"Clay." Ash says gently.

"Oh, no." He mutters anxiously.

"It's okay. Just sing. Your songs will carry you." She advises.

"No. This is a mistake." He whispers in defeat.

"Please. It's been so long. I'm not ready. I'm sorry. I'm not ready." His voice shakes with nerves.

Ash nods solemnly in understanding. She steels her nerves, grabs her guitar and traverses on stage. The silence from audience is palpable nevertheless she begins to sing.

(ASH):
"I have climbed
The highest mountains
I have run
Through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found"

Ash raises her arms to encourage the audience to sing along with her, the classic tune choruses throughout the theatre. Meanwhile, Clay is taken back down memory lane at hearing one of his songs again. He looks down at his picture of Ruby and smiles, tears gathering in his eyes.

"What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for"

The audience erupt into cheers, at Ash's performance but before anything else happens, an electric guitar riff rips through the theatre. Everyone starts cheering in excitement and Ash turns around with a beaming smile. Clay starts to sing.

(CLAY):
"I believe
In the kingdom come
Then all the colors
Will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes, I'm still running"

(BOTH);
You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame, of my shame
You know I believe it
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
I still haven't found
What I'm looking for"

The song finishes but the audience, still so moved by the performance continue singing joyfully.

(AUDIENCE):
"But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found"

Rosita and Gunter join Clay and Ash at the end of the song to say the final line to end an amazing night. "Mission accomplished. We're heading home." Rosita finishes as the transparent platform lift them into the air.

(AUDIENCE):
"What I'm looking for."

The audience explode into cheers for the last time of the performance as confetti burst across the theatre signalling the end of a brilliant show.

The cast wait behind the drawn curtain to take their final bows, buzzing with pride and happiness.

"Hey, Mr. Moon! Come on!"

"Get out here, Moon."

"Come on out here!"

The cast implore Buster to join them in their final bow, knowing how dedicated he was to make the show a success. Buster smiles and goes to join his team, walking by Crystal who tries to reach him but is thankfully still being held back by Johnny's Dad.

The curtains draw back revealing the cast holding hands and taking their bows, the audience once again burst into cheers to show their appreciation of the cast for their wonderful acts. Clay even steps to side and presents the rest of cast to show his appreciation.

Johnny's Dad, being the proud father that he is, joins the crowd in cheering but in his excitement he lets go of Crystal, who manages to slink away.

"Jimmy!" Linda enters the room to congratulate him. "Oh, my gosh, listen to that crowd. You are a genius."

"Yeah, you really are a genius, sir." Jerry says, stroking his massive ego.

"Yeah, you got that right, Linda." Crystal, realising his opportunity, straightens himself out and heads for the stage.

"Thank you, thank you." Crystals booming voice echoes across the theatre as he walks in front of the cast to steal all the credit.

"Too kind. I appreciate it, really. I-I do. Look, I am very proud of this show. We did great work here. Great work. And my good friend, Clay... great to have him back, right?" He asks rhetorically and the crowd cheers in agreement.

"Yeah! And listen, I look forward to seeing this show run at my theater for many, many years to come. Right, Moon?" He then looks back to where Buster was standing only to be met with thin air causing a cacophony of laughs from the audience.

"Moon?" Crystal looks around in confusion and embarrassment as the audience continues to laugh. His ego shattered into a million pieces

Suki then enters the stage, policemen in tow to ensure justice is served. "Officers, arrest that man."

Crystal is then lead out of the building in handcuffs and forced into the back of a police car.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! He's innocent! Mr. Crystal, please! I love you!" Jerry, pathetically, runs after the car, in hopes to free him.

Chapter Text

The cast were all exhausted from the events of the night. Everyone was chilling, full of pride and satisfaction from what the they were able to achieve, but also glad to go home.

Was a Monday morning

'Bout a quarter past 4:00

Johnny and Nooshy were listening to music, Johnny waving to his Dad through the window as he drove past with the gang.

You were busy dreaming

So what did you wake up for?

Meena and Gunter were chatting animatedly with Alphonso through FaceTime.

Are you a stranger in your own life?

What are you hiding behind those eyes?

Clay was looking out of the window, lost in thought as Ash slept soundly beside him.

Is no one looking for you there?

You know your song saved my life

Miss Crawly was surrounded a bunch of sleeping kids.

I don't sing it just so I can get by

Won't you hear me

While Porsha and Buster sat at the back, looking at the city as the bus left.

When I tell you, darlin'

I sing it to survive

As Johnny was listening. Alyssa's departure crossed his mind.

(Flashback)

The police car had just zoomed off with Crystal in handcuffs. The theatre exit was crowded with reporters and the audience leaving the building. Johnny and Alyssa were in the lobby waiting for the others to arrive.

"So, I guess this is it huh?" Alyssa starts off, hating how awkward the situation has gotten.

"Yeah, I guess so. Crazy way to end the night though." Johnny says with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I really thought Buster was goner in that moment. I'm glad it's over." She sighs, still a little shaken up.

"Honestly, same. If not for Rosita catching him, everything would've got a whole lot worse." He says.

"On the bright side, I think we did pretty well. You did so well with your solo, especially standing up to Klaus like that. I'm proud of you." She smiles.

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you, you know?" He smiles back.

Before she can reply, Melissa runs up to them. "Oh my gosh, Alyssa. I'm so proud of you girl. Are you okay? You need anything?" She says, wrapping her in a hug.

"Hey Melissa, thanks but I'm good, don't worry about it." Alyssa returns the hug.

"Alright then, you ready to head home? I'll call us a taxi." She replies.

"Yeah, sounds good." Melissa then goes off to hail a taxi.

"So, I guess it's time to say goodbye." Alyssa says, directing eher attention back to Johnny.

"Yeah, I guess." He smiles solemnly.

"Alright, hand me your phone." She smirks, sticking her hand out.

He looks at her confused. "Why?"

"So I can give you my number silly. How else are we going to keep in touch." She chuckles.

"Right, right." He says with a smile.

He puts his phone in her hand and she types in her number before handing it back to him.

"Thanks." He says. "Wasn't sure you'd still wanna talk after the show was done."

"Well-" She starts but is interrupted by Melissa calling her name from the door.

"Be right there!" She calls back. "Goodbye Johnny, hope to hear from you soon." She wraps him in a hugs which catches him off guard but he eventually reciprocates before she rushes off to the door.

(Flashback ends)
Some tapping on the bus window breaks Johnny from the memory.

"Stop the bus!" Suki shouts from her moped, before zooming in front of the bus to stop it.

Suki enters the bus, removing her helmet to spread the good news.

"I just got a call from The Majestic. They think your show is fantastic, and they want to put it on at their theater." She says, buzzed with excitement.

"Well, what do you say, Mr. Calloway? You in?" Buster asks, Clay in a hopeful tone. Clay looks around smiling before giving a firm nod. They all cheer in happiness.

"Wow, this is amazing! I've gotta tell Alyssa." Johnny says, whipping out his phone.

"Damn, since when did you get her number." Nooshy waggles her eyebrows playfully.

He rolls his eyes. "She gave it to me before she left."

"Alright, alright I see you Johnny." She smirks at him.

He rolls his eyes again with a smile before dialling her number.

Your song saved my life

The worst and the best days

Nana steps out her car outside The Majestic theatre, already impressed from the posters outside displaying the show.

Of my life

I was broken, now I'm open

The cast start walking to their positions, Alyssa intertwines her hand with Johnny's. This time with Nooshy joining them as one of the warriors.

Your love keeps me alive

It keeps me alive

Nana and Buster go to greet them and wish them luck before it starts.

Your song saved my life

The worst and the best days

Buster and Nana settle into their seats with Alphonso, Miss Crawly and Norman.

Of my life

Your song saved my life

Song saved my, song saved my.

As the lights dim, Buster perches his head on the edge of the railing to enjoy the show like he did as a child. And so Out of This World begins again.

Chapter Text

The owner of the Majestic said our contract for the show was for 3 weeks with nightly performances. Due to the circumstances of our initial performance all the tickets were sold out like lightning. It was such a whirlwind but I'm grateful for every second of it. Being a part of this experience has brought a vibrancy to my life that I've never felt before.

Thanks to Suki recording the whole Crystal situation with her iPad, it was used as evidence against Crystal and he was sentenced to life in prison. I'm just glad someone was able to put that thug away.

To be honest, I was more worried about how Porsha was coping with her Father in jail. She seemed to know that her Father was bad but she never knew the extent of his endeavours. She's 21 years old, so she doesn't need anyone to look after her. But her dad is all she ever known. 

Now that Crystal is incarcerated, Porsha was still able to have shares in the company if she chose too but she wasn't interested in the business and took out her shares. The board members and investors decided to appoint Suki as the new CEO as she was his most reliable assistant.

Meena started dating Alphonso and they are a really cute couple. He managers to break Meena out of her shell and be less shy. She's even started writing her own music!

Ash and Buster visit Clay often, to keep him company, which is really thoughtful of them. Meanwhile Buster now directs shows for both The Majestic and The New Moon Theatre and Gunter has taken a more fundamental role in coming up with ideas.

Rosita also has been able to star in more shows with Norman's help with the kids and Buster seeing all the potential she has as an actress.

As for Johnny and I, we started dating after about a week of performing at the Majestic. Nooshy has been teasing him about it nonstop. Honestly, it has been nothing but bliss. I introduced him to Mum and Aaron which went as well as it could go. Right now I'm working on a new album, a few songs will be duets with Johnny which I'm quite excited for.

Life is good. Except...

Something weird has been happening to me. Whenever I look in the mirror, I can sometimes catch a glimpse of myself but from my original universe. I think she might be trying to reach out to me but I don't know what to make of it.

"Hey Lys, Johnny's here to pick you up." Aaron says from my door, throwing me off my train of thought. Every few weeks, the cast all meet up to have dinner at a restaurant to catch up and keep in touch.

"Thanks, I don't know why you don't like him. He's such a sweetheart." I say, grabbing my phone and purse.

"Yeah, whatever." I roll my eyes at him. "Would it kill to just be nice to him, for me?" I punch his shoulder jokingly.

"Alright, alright, I'll lay off your boyfriend." He puts his hands up in a surrender gesture.

"Thank you." I stop by the mirror to fix my hair as my mind travels back to my earlier train of thought.

"I think I'm gonna tell him." I say, absentmindedly.

"Tell him what?" Aaron asks, raising an eyebrow.

I turn to face him, "About my alternate self." I say slowly, as I'm processing my own words.

His eyebrows raise in shock as his eyes widen. "Are you sure about that Lys. That's a serious thing to address. You guys have only been together for a few months."

"Well a relationship has to built on trust and not lies, and I'm serious about us so I'm gonna tell him." I say, mind made up.

He sighs. "Alright, good luck then." He says, patting my shoulder before heading to his room.

"Thanks, Aaron." I reply, closing my door.

Before he enters his room, he turns back a says. "Oh and uh, say hi to Melissa for me."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" I smirk at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He glares as his cheeks are dusted pink.

I stare pointedly at him for 2 seconds before saying. "Oh nothing. Anyway I'll see you later."

"Yeah, whatever. Bye, Lys." He rolls his eyes with a smile and walks into his room.

I make my way downstairs to meet Johnny, but not before stopping by the kitchen to say goodbye to Mum.

"Hey mum, I'm gonna head out now. I'll see you later." I say, going to hug her.

"Okay, honey. Have fun and stay safe." She wraps her arms around me.

I smile at her before making my way to the door where Johnny is leaning against the doorframe.

"Hey, you ready to go?" He smiles as I approach.

"Yeah, let's go." I smile back, as we walk out to his car.

As we're driving to the restaurant, my mind running a mile minute as I contemplate what I'm about to do. The car stops, signalling our arrival at the restaurant.

"Is everything alright?" Johnny asks cautiously. I sigh deeply before answering his question. What did I do in my alternate universe to deserve this man.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, but um... I need to tell you something. It's really important." I try to approach the topic gently.

"Okay, what is it?" He asks, now looking more concerned.

"Well, um, there's no easy way to say this. So I'm just gonna say it...I'm from an alternate universe." I ramble before ripping off the band aid and blurting out the last sentence.

"Ha ha, Alyssa. Real funny, you almost had me there for a second." He chuckles after a sigh of relief until he sees my unchanged facial expression. "Wait. You can't be serious. You're-you're joking, right?" He stares at me in disbelief.

I slowly shake my head and allow him to process the new information. After a few moments of silence, he simply asks. "How?"

I then outline how I got here, what my universe is like and the Sing movies. By the time I finished explaining everything, I looked over to see his reaction.

"It all sounds believable but too impossible to be true." He leans his head against the steering wheel. I sigh before I remember the mirror thing.

"Let me show you something." I pull a compact mirror from my purse. "Look at this mirror, right." He furrows his brows in confusion but nods his head.

"When I look into it, you can see my alternate self." He leans over to see my reflection and gasps at what he sees. In the mirror, instead of seeing how I look, he's met with a shorter haired, lighter skinned, piercing-less Alyssa Mercia before it flickers back to my appearance.

"What the hell?" He whispers in shock. "This is crazy. You're-you're really from alternate universe." I nod to confirm. "Yeah..."

"Well I guess that explains the accent." He says causing me to chuckle. "Wait so that means, our universe is just a movie series in your world." I nod again. "Does that mean you knew everything that was going to happen?" He asks almost incredulously. I immediately shake my head. "No, no, no. I didn't actually watch the movie back in my world. I only knew certain things from trailers and stuff."

"Okay then... Why do you think this happened? I mean waking up in an alternate universe is a really big deal. Surely it happened for a reason, right?" He reasoned, causing me to pause. For some reason, I never thought of that.

"You know, I think you're right from what I know my alternate self. Despite, her successful career, she was burnt out from the celebrity lifestyle, borderline depressed. She wasn't happy. And as for me, I had always dreamed about becoming a singer but it took me a long time to get out my shell and build my confidence but I could never bring myself to take the leap. So I tried to do other things, but it never felt fulfilling. Maybe the powers that be decided to swap us so we could do what we wanted." I smile solemnly, thinking of my childhood that caused so many of my confidence issues. I look to Johnny to see him, already smiling at me.

He puts his hands over mine. "I'm glad you trusted me with this, if anything it makes me appreciate you and your talent more knowing that you only been here for a few months."

"Thanks, Johnny. I really want us to work and that can't happen if I'm keeping such a big secret like this." I smile as he plants a kiss on my forehead.

"Come on, let's head in before the rest call us a search party." He chuckles as we exit the car and make our way to the restaurant.

Chapter Text

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/1057220081290093591/

(If I feel up to it, I might draw them in animal form. Bye!)