Work Text:
Kipo had a secret. A big secret that she was too afraid to tell anyone about. Because talking about it would make it real.
Five years had gone since Emilia's downfall. Five years since... Hugo died...
And yet, she could still see him everywhere she looked, at the most random places. It wasn't like she was looking for reminders of her older brother, or that she wanted to be reminded of him constantly, but she couldn't help herself. It seemed like nobody else in her environment had the same problems as she did.
Hugo died because he sacrified himself for her and the entirety of Las Vistas. Whenever Kipo had the will to talk about him, she couldn't make herself say that he was dead out loud. Because he wasn't dead. She could still see him. He still existed, even if his physical body was far underneath the surface.
After his funeral, Kipo had fallen into depression. She knew that she should've been happy. Las Vistas a safe zone and her friends and family were safe. There was nobody out there to hurt them, all because of what Kipo had done ever since she was separated from her dad. Yet, she couldn't find any reasons to be happy now when her beloved big brother was dead.
Her family barely noticed that they were only talking to a fake shell that Kipo fought to keep around herself. To keep her emotions hidden. She had never been good at hiding her emotions, and to her little sister, it was noticable what she was doing, but the younger girl never dared to crush Kipo's shell.
Kipo did everything that she was supposed to do. She went to school, did her homework, spended time with her family, and made sure that her change in appetite wasn't obvious to her parents. Luckily, nobody noticed her lack of sleep.
She was afraid that they would find out about her nightmares. About the way she cried herself to sleep on most nights. If it hhad been Hugo, she wouldn't have fought to hide her emotions as she did to the rest of her family. Because he would understand her. He would understand what she was feeling and why she was feeling the way she was feeling. He wouldn't question her, give her empty promises that everything would be okay when it was obvious that it wouldn't.
She was afraid that opening up about the truth would kill her the way it killed Hugo.
She was afraid to reveal that she was terrified of seeing Hugo in her dreams. That acknowledging him brought her to tears. That whenever she cloaed her eyes, she saw Hugo's dead body in front of her.
She could never let anyone know how much she was suffering.
Why would she bother them with her own issues when everyone else was doing so well?
Wolf was living her life as a normal teenager, with hobbies and friends and things that Kipo wished she could have gotten to experience. Benson had moved into a new house with Troy, and Benson was planning to propose to his boyfriend sometime during next summer. Her parents were teachers at the Academy. Her mom was catching up on the 13 years that she hadn't been able to be a human, and she was doing very well. Jamack, who a had been close to revealing his feelings for Hugo before he died, was also doing well. He had a job as a Mega Bunny driver and he was seeing other people again. Everyone in Kipo's life was moving on. Kipo didn't understand why it was so hard for her to do the same.
On what would've been his 28th birthday, Kipo brought a cupcake with her to his statue to wish him happy birthday. She talked to him and told him about everyone's progresses in their new world.
When Kipo put the cupcake down beneath Hugo's statue, she felt a weight lifting off of her shoulders. Hugo was still there, she could feel him. She could see him. She could see his statue smiling down at her, showing how proud he was of everything that she'd accomplished.
She left his statue with a smile, for once feeling happiness fill her chest. She was finally able to let go.