Chapter Text
The bus ride home from Red Shore City was the first time Buster Moon had slept in days, not counting catnaps or dozing off while writing.
It’s safe to say it was not a peaceful sleep (not by a long shot,) but nevertheless, it was still sleep.
Buster turned back around to face the front of the bus as the final glimpse of Red Shore City faded into the sunsetting horizon. He tried to reassure himself.
He had a show lined up, his family was safe, he was safe, and Jimmy Crystal was in custody.
Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness he had.
He looked to his right at the sleeping form of Portia Crystal. What would happen to her? He had fully accepted her into his family, but there were legal issues to be dealt with.
If they could somehow foster her for a few months until she turned 18, maybe she could stay in the show permanently and stay with the crew family.
He looked around at the other cast, all of them either sleeping or conversing quietly as night fell, and he sighed happily. They were safe, and neither Crystal or his goons had managed to lay even a finger on them.
They were, physically, at least, all right. They were safe.
They were safe.
He gazed through the window beside him, and was greeted with a breathtaking view of the clearest, starriest night sky he’d seen in years.
His eyes began drooping, his utterly exhausted body taking advantage of this moment, and shutting off to recover. He willingly went with it, hoping to be rid of his uneasiness…
+++++++++++
Buster Moon was not one to have nightmares.
Sure, he may have had the occasional jumpsca re in his dreams, but who hadn’t?
His dreams were mostly about the theatre. He felt it was how he got some of his best ideas.
While he did dream about the theatre that night, it was not nearly as pleasant as his usual dreams. Not by a long shot.
“Uurgh,” The koala groaned as he sat up, rubbing his face with his hands. His…dusty hands? He looked around himself, and gasped in horrible recognition.
He was back at the collapsed theatre.
“What…?” He mumbled, stumbling towards the cracked photo of him and his father opening the theatre at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. But…something was wrong with the photo.
The scout from Crystal Entertainment - Suki - was standing behind Moon and his father, and she had this expression of pure, unchanging fear on her face.
As he looked closer at the photo, the scene around him changed. He was…back at the theatre when he was six? He missed simpler times like those.
He peered down at the stage from his spot on the balcony, and saw Crystal’s assistant, Jerry, standing on the stage, shaking his head the same way he did after Moon fired Portia, and he tiptoed down the long, stretched hallway towards Crystal’s office.
The office he was now standing in. He tried to turn around, to leave, but his legs seemed to have other plans.
He walked towards the balcony that overlooked all of Red Shore, his ears sinking lower and lower as he approached the shadow of the wolf, hidden behind the frosted glass of the double doors. He rounded the corner, his face slack with fear. But not to see Crystal.
He saw..”Portia??”
He stared at her, but she didn’t look quite right. Her face was turned away from him, and her stature was that of fear. “Portia? Are you alright?”
He reached a paw out towards her, wiping the sweat off his other paw onto his pants.
He turned her towards him, but as she rotated to face him, he saw something he would never forget. Her face was gone. She was completely blank.
He flinched back, but hit something as he backed up.
He peered upwards, his ears slipping lower and lower, his face that of pure terror.
Crystal.
The wolf grabbed him by his shirt, and he was back on the scaffolding.
The music behind him was distorted and in a minor tone, and the drop beneath him seemed endless.
Crystal brought his snarling snout right beside the trembling koala’s face.
“I can do whatever I want.”
And then he was falling.
It was happening again.
But there was no Rosita to save him this time.
Falling.
Falling..
Falling……
.........
++++++++++++++
He jolted awake, his arms reaching forwards as he did. “Gaack!” He yelped, bringing the attention of Ash and Clay on him.
“Moon? Are you okay?”
He snaps his eyes open, his head whipping around.
“Oh! Yes, yes, yeah, I’m fine!” He rubs an eye with the heel of his paw.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you, just a bad dream,”
“Sounded a little worse than ‘bad’, kid.” Clay places his paw on the back of his own seat, craning to face the koala.
Moon gives a small smile. “Could’ve been worse?” He shrugged.
The commotion seemed to have woken Portia, because she stirred against him.
“Mr Moon?” She murmured, still half asleep.
“Yeah, Portia, I’m here.”
“Mmm…I’m glad you’re here..” She sighed deeply, and curled back into herself.
“You sure you’re okay, moon?” Ash looked back at him again.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. Go back to sleep, Ash. I think we’re still a few hours out.”
He pulled out his laptop, being careful not to disturb the adolescent wolf beside him, as Ash settled back against Clay.
And in the darkness of night, the bus lights dimmed, and the cold, blue light of the laptop screen shining on his face, Buster Moon found comfort.
Surrounded by his family, away from Crystal, and set up for another show.
He’d worry about the messier stuff when he got back in the safety of his own theatre.