What the restaurant feared the most has come to reality. The restaurant was now closed. To make the situation worse, the building was now on the bid that it was going to be sold to someone else. Again, Anton Ego lost credibility, so he was not able to become a professional critic nor a business investor. Linguini and Colette were in the newspaper for having a rat in the restaurant and in the competition. The three were now the most notorious restaurant workers, not just in Paris but in all France. Remy tried to not stay devastated as he saw Linguini, Colette, and Ego so unhappy and depressed, but Remy's dreams were also shattered into pieces, like a wine glass that dropped from the cupboard.

Lalo, Larousse, Horst, Mustafa, and Pompidou were looking for a new job. They all went to separate restaurants, or at least somewhere that needed some culinary skills or experiences in the kitchen. It was hard for them to find another job due to their past experiences AFTER Gusteau's restaurant. They have been fired in at least three other places that they were working in. 

Lalo was fired in his first job due to spilling sauce everywhere and making other cooks fall and injure and making dishes shatter on the floor. In his second job, he got into a fight with other cook and severely burned him.

Larousse was fired in his first job because he threatened a customer to eat a lobster that he cooked, which was not buttered. Then he was fired in his second job because he threatened another customer to eat the steak that was medium rare when the customer wanted it medium well. In his third job, same threat, just with the pasta that was still crunchy.

Horst was fired in his first job when he spilled cream all over the kitchen, spread grease all over the kitchen floor, and made all the workers and customers fall on the floor, injuring some of them.  He tried to work at some cafes. They all rejected him. He never knew why. 

Mustafa was fired in his first job when he accidentally spilled the tea on a child, leaving a burn on his hand and face. In his second job, he got the orders mixed up... his boss counted 15 times. 

Pompidou lost his first job when he didn't wash his hands before making dough, making everyone who ate that day sick. He was probation since then. 

Now, all of them are trying to find themselves a new job, but with all the records that are stuck with them, it was fairly difficult, nearly impossible to get the new job. They all stayed in one apartment, with one bedroom, one kitchen, one bathroom, and one living room. The rent was fairly cheap, 500 euros per month, however, with all the failures that they caused after quitting Gusteau's restaurant, they were now barely able to afford three more months. 

"Anyone found a job yet?" Larousse asked as he was lying on the old, scratchy couch on his stomach.

"I wish..." Pompidou said as he was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

"Now, let's have some drink to cheer you guys up," Mustafa said as he brought a tray with four glasses.

"If it's tap water, throw it away," Horst demanded. Mustafa flipped his hand upside down to drop the tray and four glasses of tap water.

"What do you think Linguini and Colette are doing?" Lalo asked. They all ad-libbed, saying that they did not know. 

********

Linguini and Colette never left their apartment. They sat in the living room all day, drinking wine, stuffing their faces with whatever that was left in the house, and sat there, not doing anything else. The fancy interior of the apartment was now covered with dust and cobweb, cockroaches were crawling across everywhere in the apartment, and all the pans and knives were rusty. 

"What are we gonna do...?" Linguini asked.

"We have to find a cheaper apartment in one month," Colette answered.

"What do we do after we find a cheaper apartment?" Linguini asked.

"Find a stable job," Colette answered.

"How are we going to find a stable job now...?" Linguini asked.

"I don't know..." Colette answered hopelessly. They both sighed and took another sip of their wine. "Where's Little Chef?"

"I wish I knew where he was," Linguini said. "He left without a note. There is his typewriter over there."

Remy's typewriter had dust between and under the keytops, platen, everywhere. There were few baby spiders crawling on it. The ink that was in it was now rock solid.

********

Remy did not want to show his depression to Linguini and Colette, so he stayed at his secret place in Paris. He was crouching, lying down on his right side, and facing the Eiffel Tower. His face was rather emotionless. Not even a single drop of tear ran down from either of his eyes. He just lied on the piece of cloth and breathed. Due to shock, he could not think about anything. He did not want to talk to anyone, see anyone, greet anyone, or even think about anyone. He just crouched there, being the loneliest rat he can ever be.

Even with all the hatred in his mind, he still wished one thing that would miraculously happen to him: someone would pardon him and let him have a permit to cook so that he is licensed to be clean, and whip something up deliciously. He fantasized that for a second, but still did not reflex a smile across his face. He felt out a deep sigh. A meaningless sigh.

His family was also deeply concerned about him. Even Django was saddened by the destruction of his son's dream. "We have to give him some time to recover," Django said. "Poor kid. He lost his dreams..."

"Poor baby..." Desiree sniffed. "He was so happy when he cooked and bow he can't..."

"Poor little brother..." Emile seeped and wiped his nose. "What is he gonna do now?"

"Where is he?" Desiree asked in concern. "Is he in the colony?"

"I haven't seen him here," Emile replied.

"There's only one place he goes that is neither our colony nor his human friends' house," Django explained. "But the problem is, we don't know that place either."

Git overheard the conversation. I have to find him, he thought as he ran out of the colony. If there is someone who can save his life, it's gotta be me!

Git went to the top of the building and looked around. He turned towards the direction of the Eiffel Tower. Remy always feels hopeful when he's looking at the Eiffel Tower, Git thought and proceeded his search towards that direction. Knowing Remy, Git knew that he wanted the whole Eiffel Tower to be in his sight. Also, when Remy likes to be himself, he chooses not to go high above the ground. So he would stay either at the basement level or at the ground level. In addition, he would not want to deal with humans anymore, so he would choose an impacted area where only he can fit in. Git had all of then calculated. He gestured with his finger towards all direction as he eliminated which part of Paris Remy would not go. About 500 to 900 meters radius from the Eiffel Tower, Git thought as he finished analyzing.

He slid down the building using the metal pipe, hopped from the pipe and landed in an extremely narrow alley that human, not a cat can fit in. He got closer to the river where the gondola boats and small cruise ships floated around. He knew Remy would definitely not be in one of the ships. There's gotta be some kind of... oh... Git found him. He saw Remy crouching and lying down on his right side, inside the pipe. Never expected he'd be there but I found him anyways... Git ran to the opposite side of the river, climbed carefully down the wet wall, and hopped into the pipe.

"AHHHH!" Out of surprise, Remy screamed and repeatedly punched Git in the stomach.

"Remy! Remy, it's me! Git!" He screamed as Remy punched him like the way Git punched the meat to tenderize.

"Oh?! How did you find me?" Remy asked as he stopped punching him.

"Wait..." Git had to rub his stomach so that he can ease the pain. "Oh my... Remy... you're really good at punching these days..."

"I'm so, so sorry," Remy said. "I was just so emotionally disturbed at the moment..."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Git said. "Looks like you sent a portion of your feelings to my belly."

"If I was not depressed, I would have laughed at that..." Remy laid back down as he crouched. His eyes were filled with tears that did not spill from his eyes. His lips were twitching, trying very hard not to cry. Git looked at him with heavy sympathy. At this point, he knew that saying something nice or any type of words of wisdom would not be able to cheer him up. Git did not know what to do but he knew he had to do something to make him feel better. He sat down behind Remy's back and slowly and cautiously started to gently caress Remy's side of his head. Git was ready to have Remy push or slap his hand away. But Remy did nothing. Nothing at all. He just laid down there, letting Git's palm pass through his fur and slide on his skin. After a moment, Remy's face muscles trembled and his eyes shed tears, a sniffling sound exited through his nose, and his crying gasp escaped his lungs. 

"Aw... Remy..." Git said sympathetically. 

"I... I tried..." Remy said in between his sniffs and gasps. He even coughed as he choked on the air while crying. "I really... really tried... not to cry... in front of you... you helped me so much... and, and I did not want you to feel like... like you did not help me... when you... gave me so much... emotional support..."

"But something worse happened," Git said. "And it was something that you were not able to control. You can't blame yourself. Also, I know you appreciate my words and support. That's all I need from you." Remy jumped into Git's chest and sobbed his feelings out. Git patted and caressed his back and the back of his head.

"I also tried... to not cry in front of them..." Remy continued. "They were going through... much more than I am right now... the whole country probably hates them now... I did not want to look sad in front of them... I would be too selfish..." Git did not know how to react to this. He proceeded to make him physically feel better by embracing him. Remy cried for a while, almost until the sunset.

********

After exhausting himself from sobbing for a long time, Remy fell asleep. Git carried him in his arms to the apartment. He thought about sending him to the colony, but he knew that there was no personal space for Remy. When he's at the apartment, Remy can still isolate himself from everyone. As he entered the apartment, he felt that something was ironic. The atmosphere was not depression at all, despite the fact that there were still dirt and cobwebs everywhere around the apartment and the bugs were still roaming around. 

Linguini and Colette were supposed to be gloomy, but they were a bit excited about something. Git wondered what was going on. 

Colette found Git carrying Remy in his arms. "Oh! It's the Little chef and his friend!" Colette called.

"What?! Really?!" Linguini asked with a bright smile across his face. "Little chef? We have good news to tell you!" 

Git showed that Remy was fast asleep. 

"Oh..." Colette understood. "Let's wait for him to wake up then?"

Git nodded.

"Well, Little chef is going to love what good news we have for him!" Linguini said. "We have an opportunity to bring our fame back!"

"Yes, it is going to be a great opportunity for us!" Colette said.