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Jamack rested on the Mega Bunny's head, enjoying the Las Vistas view.
He didn't have any customers yet, it seemed to be a call day, which he decided to take advantage of by doing absolutely nothing. Except for some thinking, that is.
It had been a year since Dr. Emilia's downfall, which also meant that it had been a year since... Scarlemagne's death. His real name was Hugo, Jamack knew that, but using his given birth name just felt wrong. Hugo was the innocent child who had been abused his entire life and deserved to live happily with his family, and Scarlemagne was the evil king of Las Vistas who'd enslaved humans for 13 years. Somehow, saying Scarlemagne made his death hurt less. Scarlemagne deserved to die for his crimes, not Hugo.
Jamack had always been a fan of Scarlemagne, even as a little tadpole. He was amazed by his ability to make everyone listen to him, the way everyone respected him just because he was Scarlemagne. Jamack was bullied as a tadpole, but nobody around noticed and he never dared saying anything. Sometimes, Jamack would stay up all night and fantasize how it would be if he was Scarlemagne. Nobody would bully him, for everyone would fear him. They would give him the respect that he deserved.
When he first saw the pink colored burrow girl, he was desperate to catch her before anyone else did. Neither Harris or Kwat understood why he just needed to have that specific burrow girl, when there certainly was more who could be taken at any time. For Jamack, catching Kipo was the most important mission in his entire life. It would get him closer to Scarlemagne, closer to the hero he'd looked up to since he was a tadpole. Scarlemagne had asked every mute who were under his command to catch the pink burrow girl, and Jamack was determined to catch her before anyone else did.
When he went to bed at night, he would dream about being in the palace, drinking tea with Scarlemagne around a big table, covered in food and sweets. They would talk about how they would rule Las Vistas together, only the two of them, and they would laugh evily together. Jamack imagined learning to play the piano with Scarlemagne at his side.
It was no surprise that his obsesssion over Scarlemagne turned into a silly little crush that never really went away, not even after his sacrifice.
When Scarlemagne's coronation were ruined by Kipo and her friends, he was thrown into a cage where he stayed for several months until Kipo could trust him again. Jamack had sworn himself loyal to Kipo and her friends, but he was still pulled to the former king of Las Vistas. At first, Jamack would spend his afternoons having one-way conversations with Scarlemagne outside his cage, but after a while, the former king started to join his conversations.
Only a week or so before his death, they would spend hours talking with each other. Jamack realized how similar they were, outside of their will to rule and control Las Vistas.
While Scarlemagne definitely had a worse past than Jamack, which he would never deny, they seemed to be very similar. Scarlemagne had been betrayed and kicked out of his only home as a child, while Jamack had been kicked out of his home as an adult. Either way, both of them had learned not to trust anyone, that the only person they could count on to stay were themselves.
Another similarity was Kipo. She had made them both realize that living in a mute-eat-mute-world, where everyone was targeting humans, was not the way to live, and then she offered both of them something better. She made Scarlemagne step down from his throne and help her defeat Emilia. She made Jamack choose her and her friends instead of Scarlemagne, and then he did what he could to help her every time they crossed paths. Both of them had become better people because of Kipo, and she was the reason either of them was still alive. Well, at least one of them...
Jamack and Scarlemagne had pronounced themselves as friends before Emilia attacked them, but they never got the chance to get any closer than that. Jamack had been too afraid and Scarlemagne had been too proud. Jamack wished that he'd taken that step, and maybe things would be different. When he'd gathered the courage to ask Scarlemagne out to go with him to PRAHM, he and the short, intense kid had left to kill Emilia and Jamack felt a little betrayed. Scarlemagne seemed to rather go with a ten year old kid wearing a dead wolf on her head instead of Jamack, who had been there for him all this time. He wanted to be mad at Scarlemagne, but he just couldn't. He was just too in love.
When the two made it back to PRAHM in time, it was too late for Jamack to ask his crush out again, because Emilia had decided to betray everyone, even the humans who had been on her side. Jamack and Scarlemagne were separated as the fireworks with the cure were fired and everyone had to hide under the table to not be cured for life. After Scarlemagne's death, Jamack always wondered if he'd have survived if he'd protected him like he should have all this time.
When Emilia transformed into the Mega Walrus, Scarlemagne didn't run to safety. He stayed with Kipo, his sister and watched the fight between her and Emilia. Jamack ran away, but came back when Emilia started to get the upper hand. He had to pay Kipo back for protecting an entire city that had once been against her, and especially for helping him getting him closer to Scarlemagne.
"You need to do some soul searching!" Jamack called out, quoting what Kipo had told him after he captured her and accidentally led the Mega Bunny mother straight to the Mod Frog Pond.
In the corner of his eyes, he could see Scarlemagne smiling at him from the beach at Skyscraper Ridge, as if to say that he was proud of him. Jamack had looked back, only for a second, to smile back. It was the last time he saw his lover smile before he died.
Jamack couldn't help the slight anger he felt when Scarlemagne sacrified himself to save Kipo. His sister. He was mad because Scarlemagne left him. That he chose Kipo over him. Jamack realized after a while that expecting Scarlemagne to chose Jamack over Kipo was totally unreasonable. Kipo was his sister. Jamack was just a random guy who was fangirling over a dictator while imagining them being together. He was nothing special.
After the crash, Song and Lio went to search for him. After Kipo had managed to cure Emilia back to a human, she returned for her brother. Jamack didn't join them, knowing that it was a family moment and he had no authority to be there. Jamack stood beneath the building that his crush had crashed on, knowing that he was dying. He felt guilty for not joining him, but he thought that Scarlemagne would want to spend his last minutes alive with his family.
Jamack attended Scarlemagne's funeral. He watched as the rest of the humans and mutes left one after one, not knowing Hugo well enough to have a reason to mourn his death. He was Scarlemagne to them all, the mandrill who controlled everyone in Las Vistas by force. He never got the chance to be loved for being Hugo. When Jamack eventually had to leave, Kipo was still sitting by Scarlemagne's grave. Jamack understood why the two had loved each other so much.
He'd decided not to disturb Kipo. She deserved to be alone with her brother for once, although he wasn't really there. Jamack later regretted not sitting down by Kipo's side. Maybe, if he'd stayed with her, he wouldn't feel as alone as he did. They could have grieved together, but he decided to do it alone.
Several months later, when it was time to apply for jobs to keep Las Vistas going, Jamack was at a loss as to what he wanted to do with his life. At first, he thought about working at the local pool and teach children how to swim, but it didn't feel like him. He wanted to do something bigger. Something better. Jamack wasn't someone important, not like Kipo or her friends. There was no reason for him to have a big role in Las Vistas.
But one night, it hit him. He knew what he wanted to do and it would do the community a great favor.
Just a week later, he sat on the head of the Mega Bunny mother, taking mutes and humans alike around in Las Vistas to get them to their destinations faster than walking ever could.
Jamack knew why he had chosen that particular job, although there were many reasons for it. Still, one reason stood out to him. It reminded him of Scarlemagne. It reminded him of how Scarlemagne would fly around in his flamingo car. How he could fly other people around in it as well if he wanted to. Although Jamack wasn't driving a flamingo, a bunny was close enough for him. Jamack liked the feeling of people depending on him. He was needed and wanted for once in his life.
Although he still missed Scarlemagne every day, five years later, he was healing from the loss of someone who could have been more than just a friend. He knew that Scarlemagne was proud of him, wherever he was.
Jamack wouldn't have it any other way.