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Chapter Text

Monsters are always confused for demons. What’s the difference? They're both dangerous and horrific. And it’s not like anyone cares enough to tell them apart. A sad truth that Luigi has had to deal with since the day he was born. 

He stood before the full length mirror in his room, watching himself as closely as possible. Staring back at the human was a scaly forest green reptile with sharp fangs, finned ears laying flat on the sides of his head, and sharp blue eyes with snake slits and black scleras. Retractable spikes ran down his neck and trailed down the fluffy end of his tail. 

Then there was the extra set of arms and the four wings on his back. The two on one side had the fluffiest feathers and the other were identical to the wings of demon depiction.

If only his brother knew. But his mother had told him more than once throughout his life to never utter a word to anyone about it. From her own experience, she knew that if one person found out, it would lead him down a path of pain, regret, betrayal and misery. Even his family would turn on him the minute they discovered the freakish truth.

He grabbed the amulet he always kept locked in a padded box sitting on his nightstand and tied it around his neck. The green gem glowed and formed a bright light around his body. Once the light ceased, he was left in his signature human appearance.

The smell of breakfast punched him in the nose when he opened the door. A smile lifted his mustache and mood. Nothing changed as long as he kept hiding himself away.

“Morning, Luigi,” his brother said with a smile. “Rest well?”

Luigi sat at the counter behind one of the two plates laid out for them. “Had the monster family dream again.”

His brother shook his head. “You being a monster with a husband and child is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”  He nervously laughed as he ate the eggs shoved onto his plate. 

“So anything happening for you today?”

“Peach says she has something important to discuss with us both. Something about the lands beyond the dark forest.”

Bowser’s , Luigi thought. His brother had mentioned him more than he had fingers to count with, but he’s never been faced with a situation in which he’s had to face him. He’s seen him from afar multiple times and been stabbed with fear and frozen by his intimidation. Everything else he felt, he’d take to the grave.

After breakfast and a shower, the brothers were on their way to the palace. Everyone in the palace village smiled and waved to Mario as he passed. He waved back and smiled wide like a true celebrity. No one did that for Luigi and maybe it was a good thing they didn’t. He’s never done anything worth noting, save for beating King Boo’s nonexistent butt. Even then, it’s not like those he saved cared as much as everyone did when Mario saves Peach from Bowser.

The palace was bright and cheery when they entered, until theory made it to the throne room where Peach was pacing around Toads looking down at a table in front of her. The brothers shared a concerned look and carefully approached the princess. 

“There you two are,” she exclaimed, rushing over to drag them to the table. “We got a problem.”

“Bowser again?” Mario asked, unimpressed and almost disappointed. Dealing with the koopa was so constant, whenever he was summoned, Mario expected every problem that arose to be his fault and treated it as a nuisance instead of a real threat. Not that Luigi held it against his brother. If he weren’t such a wuss, he would feel the same way about Boo.

“Yes and no,” said Peach, cautiously. Mario raised a brow in confusion. “I sent some Toad’s into his palace to give them a letter to a peace treaty signing meeting I’m holding Thursday. But when they arrived at the Darkland Gates, they were locked together than an iron vault. They tried prying it open, until guards chased them back into the woods with a warning.”

She handed them a paper notice signed by Bowser stating that the gates were now inaccessible to anyone who wasn’t Peach or a monster. Mario stared at the slip of paper like it was a puzzle he couldn’t figure out.

“ ‘Non monster not allowed. Otherwise, they will feel the wrath of Darklandians .’ Why do you want to invite him to a meeting he won’t participate in, anyway? Bowser’s not going to agree to peace.” 

“Is what someone with a closed mind would say. It’s been a decade since his last attack and if he’s able to make that note to a Toad or anyone from another kingdom, then he must be done with his bouts of rage.”

“Or he’s just biding his time, plotting his next elaborate scheme.” Mario went on to question and argue over the ethics of the situation. Luigi slid through the cracked open door and walked down the hall. They weren’t going to get anything done, he thought. Might as well go to the market for the day. 

It had been awhile since Luigi had been on his own. His brother was always dragging him into problems and forcing him to solve them even when he was too wimpy to get involved. Any other person would’ve gotten a straight no from him, but after the childhood he’s had where only Mario was there to protect him, Luigi could never say no. In a way, getting him out of trouble was a way of paying him back.

A surprise met Luigi when he made it to the market grounds.

No one was there. All the stalls were trashed and abandoned, like they had been under attack. Fruits were strewn about the ground, juices splattered on stalls surfaces and building walls. Veggies were squashed all over the road. Store windows were left open or on their hinges. Keeping his wits together, he crept down the road like a predator stalking prey, only the reverse felt true to him.

“Is anyone there?” he called out in vain. But there was no one, not even animals clearing the roads of the decimated produce. 

A shadow whipped by behind him. He turned abruptly, but saw nothing. A scratchy little cry broke the air. It was nothing like Bowser’s earth shaking roar. It had to be a koopaling. Suddenly, Luigi wasn’t as afraid. The damage they inflicted was something he was more impervious to then whatever their father could conjure up.

He found them on the other side of the market, holding all the toads hostage in cages. They were covered in bruises and smothered in the produce they threw likely in defense of the mini koopas. Junior stood atop his cloud with his little claws on his fist in victory. He was only covered in one or two splatters of produce, which was surprising given the carnage. But his three brothers he brought with him looked like they acted as koopa shields, covered in splatters. 

“What should we do with them?” a spiky haired koopaling asked Junior.

“Take them to the dragon grounds,” he said. “Papa has a plan to question them about the missing crystals.”

Missing crystals? Since when do people steal from the koopas? , Luigi wondered in confusion. It’s one thing for the koopas to steal and then the owner(s) fight them to regain what they stole. But it’s never been the other way around. No time to think about it, the green creature scolded himself. The plumber man hopped out of his hiding place and surprised the koopalings. 

“Green Mario?” Junior scoffed. He looked from his brothers to the green plumber with a smirk. “For a second I thought this would be hard.”

He snapped his claws and three buff henchmen appeared out of the forest behind them. They rushed at him with thorny clubs while their prince(s) latched the Toad filled cages to their clouds and flew off.

He made sure no one from the palace was around to watch and let his freak flags fly. The henchmen stumbled back in surprise before collecting themselves and rushing back at him with their swinging clubs. Luigi bounced high in the air, flying over them until he landed behind and scorched them with his fiery breath. 

Since they were from the Darklands, he assumed they wouldn’t catch fire. Today Luigi learned his flames were hotter than that of Darklandian fire. Those two henchmen smacked their butts as fire burned their skin and disintegrated their pants. He returned to solid ground and disappeared into the woods, shifting back into his human appearance as he did. 

He looked across the forest, finding clues that the little koopalings had been there like a tuft of hair snagged on a brush or a little footprint in the mud. He traced it across the forest all the way to the border between kingdoms. They had to be at least halfway to their destination by now. Those goons were probably hot on his tail and would be bouncing back for revenge if he didn’t move now. 

Luigi decided to return to the palace. There was no point in going into unknown territory alone. Mario knew the lands better than he did for all the times he’s had to rush through them to get to Peach. The entire way he wondered what crystals were so important the koopalings would go looking for them.

Chapter Text

Bowser impatiently stomped through the dragon grounds, constantly checking the skies for his children. Kamek rushed back and forth in an effort to console his easy–to–piss–off master. When it came to the slightest thing, he could blow a fuse and everything would go downhill from there. It was worse when his children were involved.

Finally, the outline of Junior on a cloud reached the peripheral of one of the guards sitting in a watch tower above. As soon as he saw his son approaching, the king rushed onto a hill and waved his arms to get Junior and the other two to land. But instead of their clouds landing on the hill, Bowser was surrounded by tall cages full of Toads.

Confusion knit his brows together. “You brought Toads from Peach’s kingdom?” 

“That’s why we left,” said Junior in a matter–of–fact tone as he hopped off his cloud. 

“We overheard you talking with Kamek about it when they went missing,” Larry piped up. “Junior told us to bring them here for you, King Dad.”

Smoke shot out of the king’s flaring nostrils. “The three of you are in serious trouble!” All three koopalings huddled together and shook in utter petrification. “You disappear from the Darklands entirely without telling anyone where you were going , then come back with Toads I didn’t ask you to bring, and you expect me to be proud? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”

They shook their heads, still clustered together. “Wh–what’s the big deal, Pa–Papa,” Junior tried to ask with confidence. “It’s not like anyone’s going to notice by the time you get through with them.”

“What about Green Mar—” Junior elbowed his brother’s side before he could finish. But the king had already heard enough.

“The green one found you?” 

Junior gulped and nodded. “But it’s fine, Papa. Some grunts took care of him. They’ll probably knock him out so hard, he’ll forget we were ever there.” 

“Even if he doesn’t, who’s going to believe him? He’s such a wimp, he could probably get into a fight with a tree and lose,” Roy chuckled nervously.

The king considered their words. He knew very little about the tall younger twin, not having as many interactions with him as he did his brother. If the green one was there to help Mario during any endeavor the koopa king was involved with, it was out of obligation to stick at his brother’s side. He never said much and always looked like the crap was scared out of him.

Bowser calmed down with these revelations, but not enough for him to not punish the little koopas for their mischievousness. “You went out of kingdom bounds and said nothing to anyone about your whereabouts. Two weeks of no dessert and no video games for each of you.”

They complained and begged their father not to take their games, as that meant they’d have to play house with their demanding sister, Wendy, but the king wouldn’t budge and sent them off to clean the castle. 

“What if the green one does get word to Peach and she listens?” Kamek asked.

Bowser’s confidence was high as always, but even he felt the princess’s kind heart would find it in her to believe someone who’s afraid of his own shadow. He was the Hero’s sidekick; they’re cared for too. 

The king could only scoff and wave off his caretaker. No use in worrying about a situation that hadn’t happened yet.

A few minutes after they returned to the place, the goons Junior sent returned with bruises littered across their bodies like they were part of a skin defect. Kamek and Junior stood in shock beside Bowser as they regaled their tale of a monster in human’s clothing.

The royal koopas broke into fits of laughter. “ Moscostries have never been seen,” Kamek informed with his matter–of–fact voice and a shake of his head. “They are nothing more than myths from tales of the creatures in the BelowLands.”

“And even if they were, no one’s been able to see them and live,” scoffed the young prince.

“But it’s true,” they cried. “The green sidekick turned into this monstrous beast and burned and scratched us until we were running for the hills.”

The king stopped laughing. “He burned you both?” The goons nodded and showed off the burns. “Something was able to burn a creature born from the Darklands?” 

Junior stopped smiling as well. Looking closer at their damaged bodies proved their story to be true. Scorches marks covered their legs, burn patches on their ripped clothes, and scarred scales. Junior rushed to hide behind his father with daunting dread spiraling in his head.

“Only a moscostri could do this, Papa,” he whimpered. “No other creature we’ve seen has the ability to damage a Darklandian with fire.”

“What are we going to do?” Kamek wondered.

What were they going to do, Bowser mentally echoed.

Upon returning to the castle, Peach was in a daze trying to figure out where her Toads had been taken to. The Hero wasn’t surprised when he heard it was the work of the koopas. He even went so far as to scold Peach for her decision to make peace with them. She didn’t listen, and continued to believe they could be reasoned with. 

Mario brushed his brother off when he mentioned he had been the one to fight off the henchmen, assuming he was telling stories again. Luigi held back the hiss he wanted to fling his way. His brother should’ve been the one to believe in his abilities, yet he was always the one who doubted he had any. It was the one part he regretted about not revealing his secret to him.

“It’s one thing for him to go after me, but Bowser has never gone after the Toads,” said the distraught princess. “What could he possibly gain from taking them?”

“The koopalings said something about missing crystals,” the green human piped up. “From the way Junior spoke, it sounded as if the koopa kingdom originally had the gems and didn’t steal them from anyone. They took the Toads because someone did and they’re trying to find out who and why.” 

Mario could only shake his head in disbelief. “Bowser’s stolen things from others, but no one’s ever been stupid enough to steal back from him. It would justify his outbursts and complaints.”

“Why are these crystals so important to him, anyway,” Peach wondered. “Are they part of a secret ploy he has for the kingdom?”

Or are they more sentimental?, Luigi wondered to himself.

His brother went back to declaring war, with the remaining Toads agreeing with him. But Peach had a look in her eyes directed at Luigi. There wasn’t a scratch on him other than a few scrapes earned from his trek through the forest. If he had faced the koopa goons and won, he should have something on him to make it look like he put up a strong fight.

Luigi noticed her tilted head and shifted on his feet. No one’s ever paid enough attention to him for staring to be normal, which had always been a good thing. But the look she gave him was full of skepticism and that’s what made him shift.

“So how did you shake off the koopa goons?” she asked calmly.

“Oh, I, uh, led them through the forest. A lot of rivers and ditches they didn’t know about. Hiding from the trees made it hard for them to find me and a way out since they’ve most likely never gone farther than the barrier river.”

Skepticism still remained in her eyes. With that bleak and slapped together explanation, he would be too. Without a clear voice and confidence, his cover up had the durability of a paper plate loaded with food. She circled him like a vulture, eyeing him with dangerous intent to purge the secret out of him. 

“And how come you’re barely covered in bruises or tears? Did they rush after you?”

“When I confronted Junior, he targeted them on me. I rushed after him as he flew on his cloud through the forest. The goons just followed me as I tried to follow him and his brothers.”

Her face was still covered in skepticism. The discomfort became too much for the green human to continue taking, leaving him to make up a poorly thought up excuse and disappear. Her fiery gaze could be felt on the back of his head the entire time.

Anxiety coursed through him, rising like waves about to crash over and submerge him. One thing his mother always made sure he was aware of was how much his human disguise counted on Luigi’s maintenance of emotion. Too much anger or anxiety would make him flare up and turn from human to monster. 

When he couldn’t hold back his feelings, he always made sure he was alone in a room where no one could see him. The princess’s piercing gaze felt as if it followed him home, forcing him to lock himself away from the world.

The anxiety overtook him and transformed him into what he really was: a freakish monster. If Bowser believed those two goons and knew what he was, even he would be afraid. Luigi would be a monster among monsters, a freak to all freaks, something even a king of villainous soldiers wouldn’t dare touch.

This lonely double life he lived was one he wasn’t sure he would ever be used to.

Deep down, Luigi always knew it would end this way; always knew someone would uncover the truth. And he always knew his brother would be disgusted. He saw the disdain for the abnormal every time he fought a new enemy. 

The princess had sent him and his brother to search for any grunts still hanging around. He went off in the direction of the Miracle Pond, where he and Mario first met Peach. It was also the first time he ever came into contact with Bowser when he wasn’t involved in some plot. The memory was one he cherished and kept to himself, but he thought if he was involved in anything, he would return to reminisce. Or seek him out. 

He was searching the shores, eyeing the water every now and again like something would jump out of it, when he heard a rustling from the woods. The spikes on his back almost broke through his overalls in automatic defense. The goons from before lurked up on Luigi, clubs in the air and chest close to the ground, ready to pounce.

The green human rushed up a tree just as they bolted towards him. He climbed onto a sturdy branch and swung his body back and forth until he had enough energy to swing to the next sturdy branch. Branch after branch, he swung until a branch broke and he fell into an empty clearing. 

He thought there was no one around but those two. He’d been aware of their surroundings.

With no sign of anyone else, the green human let his dagger–like fangs protrude out of his mouth and his spikes pop out of his spine. The two fell back as he screeched at the top of his lungs before hurling scorching flames at them.

They disappeared, but so did something else. 

A twig snapped behind him and on instinct, he turned around baring his teeth. But his face fell when he saw who was behind them.

There stood his brother and Peach and the handful of Toads not behind Darkland borders. The princess’ eyes were flown wide in shock, the Toads cowering behind the two. But it was his brother’s reaction, the horror and disgust flying across his eyes, that really solidified the truth his mother had always been holding over his head. 

Luigi’s heart sank below the world half his family emerged from. His carefully curated world had broken from the truth. 

“Who are you?” the red human whispered in hoarse disbelief. 

The green human swallowed and forced on a nervous smile. “It’s–a me, Lu—” 

“You’re not my brother. My brother is not a freak who’s been lying about what he is.” 

It broke his heart to hear it. The words always echoed in his head when he was alone, thinking about why he was keeping the secret from his own brother. Or the nights when he dreamt of this exact scenario occurring and leaving him with nothing. Each time, he was sure he’d be able to handle it if it happened in reality.

He was wrong. So wrong.

Mario’s eyes went stale and lifeless, not an ounce of emotion sparkling in the now dark blue sea. An anger rose within that sent him flying and landing a punch in Luigi’s face. The green beast cowered back, cradling his cheek and looking back at his brother like a kicked puppy.

“Leave.” The word came out like a growl. “Leave and never return.”

“Mario, please, let me explain.” He knew there was nothing he could say to get him to listen, but he tried anything. “Please listen to me—” 

“I said leave, you abomination !”

“It’s still me, your twin brother. I’m just—”

“I never had a twin brother,” he laughed like the beast was playing mind tricks. “He died when we came here. He was a figment of my imagination I kept with me all this time. Now it’s time to move on. Leave this kingdom and keep your terror out of it!”

Through his hysterical speech, the red human jumped into the air and raised fist like he was about to slam it into him. Luigi quickly dodged it and disappeared into the forest before he could deliver another one. As he ran, the only words Mario kept screaming into the forest were “never come back”.

The tears blurred his vision, his mind fogged with nothing but the newly made memory of losing the only family that stuck by him when they moved to this magical land.

Now he was alone. He had no one. He was no one. 

Nothing but . . . another monster .

Chapter Text

Days seemingly went by before Luigi emerged from the forest at the Darkland border. The gates were unguarded from the guards, likely changing posts. There was nowhere else he could think of that he could go and be as monstrous as he looked. 

He had already slithered into the dark shadows by the time the new guards realized someone had crossed the border. They would of course alert their king, but he would be well hidden in a swamp somewhere by then. Bowser finding and killing him would be better than living out the rest of his life alone and hated.

Wipe away the tears, Luigi , he furiously scolded himself. They never got you anywhere then, they won’t now.

He walked aimlessly through the Crooked Woods, past murky lakes and dangerously empty clearings the sunlight fell on. The green monster finally came across a small village of Dry Bones. The small civilization had a dark, eerie atmosphere to it, pairing well with the land it resided in. He observed them from the bushes surrounding the little pit full of decomposing, discarded koopa carcasses.

Well, that explains how Dry Bones came to be , he disturbingly noted. Luigi slipped through the shadowy streets in search of a market he could nab food from. From his place in the shadows, he got to watch the koopas acting like citizens in a functioning society instead of army pawns for an easily pissed off king.

A Dry Bones gasped behind, causing Luigi to turn abruptly and hiss through his bared teeth. The Dry Bones held up its hands in caution and backed away. Luigi’s body relaxed upon realizing they wouldn’t attack.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you around here before,” he asked. It surprised Luigi that a creature from these lands could speak with such honest kindness instead of sarcastic concern or intimidation. It gave them a sense of humanity, er, koopanity.

Recognizing the skeleton had spoken, Luigi gave him a fake name, Lergi, and said he was a monster from another land who had been wandering aimlessly for a place to stay after being thrown out of his old home. Even more surprisingly, the Dry Bones bought it and showed him pity by allowing him into the home he was hiding behind. 

Of course, Luigi was thankful and was more so when he offered to take him to the market and find some much needed supplies. The Darklands didn’t produce everything the moscostri needed to survive, but it had enough to last him until he could find a place that did.

However, once at the market, patrons at almost every stall were fighting over products or harping on the stall runner over the products for sale. Both Luigi and the Dry Bone watched the chaos in confusion. The Dry Bone approached a patron and owner fighting to ask what was going on.

“Low on products,” the owner said. “Every stall’s suffering from the shortage.” 

“Shortage,” Luigi asked.

The Dry Bone nodded. “Something is decaying the soil, making it hard for anything to grow and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it. We don’t even know what’s causing the decay.”

“The missing crystals?” The generous Dry Bone gasped. “King Bowser claimed they were missing a few days ago and has been looking for the culprit, with no luck.”

So that’s why they did. No wonder Bowser was desperate to know who took them. If he couldn’t find them, his world would be purged in darkness more dangerous than the one they constantly lived in. He had to get to Peach and tell her—

It took everything in him for Luigi not to break down in a fit of tears. The recent memory of the events that occurred slammed into his mind and made it hard for him to swallow the pain. 

Everything. He lost everything. His entire life was gone and there was no likely chance he would be able to return to it. And the worst part about it was there was nothing he could do about it.

At that moment, a trumpet blaring at the town fountain caught everyone’s attention. A Paratroopa flew above the rushing water with a scroll opened in front of him. A message from Bowser discussing an intruder on his lands.

The Dry Bones all turned to stare at Luigi as if he said something stupid. On instinct, the guest turned intruder rushed out of the market with his tail between his legs. He should’ve known he would be discovered. Someone at the gate had to have seen him disappearing into the darkness once they made their way to their post. Or were leaving it.

The Dry Bones went after him, hollering for answers. Some had stone hammers in hand, others had rope to bind him with. He was chased into the forest where he hoped he would be safe but instead found himself skidding to a stop to a familiar pair of monstrous feet. 

The daunting King Bowser towered over him with a growl fixed on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. The three koopalings who had kidnapped the Toads stood behind him, eyes wide and quaking behind their father.

“Who do you think you are, walking into my kingdom without clearing it with the guards,” he growled. He grabbed Luigi by the hand and half–dragged him to a bone horse carriage. He was all but thrown in and shoved to the wall as the king shoved inside and took the seat beside him. The koopalings followed behind the carriage on their clouds.

The fear gripping Luigi by the heart was enough to pop it like a balloon. His breathing was uneven and his body was as frigid and unmoving as ice. He’s been scared before, but this was fear like he’d never felt before. He’s never been on the rightfully angry side of Bowser’s rage. 

“So tell me,” the king began, “why did you sneak through the gates? Why come here at all?”

The last question seemed a bit obvious at first glance. “I am a monster with nowhere else to go. My previous home tossed me out and won’t be coming to collect me. I fit in with no other crowd than the one in these lands.” 

The king took a moment to consider the beast. He wasn’t wrong, if no other place was willing to take in a koopa, they wouldn’t do the same for whatever creature this beast was. The only good rep the Darklands got was being a safe haven for monsters that didn’t fit. But something about this one told Bowser he wasn’t like all the others that strolled through the gates.

“But why not walk through the gates? We would have admitted you in.” 

“I have no documents to my name. The land I’m from is very close–knit and secluded from the rest of the world.” It was half a lie. Moscotries were known for not engaging with the rest of the world and had a small section in the Belowlands where they kept to themselves. But they most certainly had documents for authorization like any other kingdom.

No one in the lands above knew this. 

Luigi played it off like he was truly left without a choice. How he had been thrown out for being different from everyone else, how everyone thought of his appearance as monstrous without even getting to know him. Even his own brother found nothing good about him and turned his back.

The king’s heart softened, though his face didn’t show it. He knew what it was like to have his appearance misinterpret his feelings. Everyday he was reminded of that fact. 

“I swear, I didn’t take your crystals,” Luigi was quick to add. “I didn’t even know you had any of your own until I was on my way to the Darklands.”

Browser let out a sigh. “I believe you. You don’t strike me as the kind of creature who would steal from a place like this, especially if you want to be a citizen.” 

Luigi sighed in relief. At least that part of his name was cleared. There was a calm moment of silence before the king asked if he had a place to stay or a job. The Italian beast shook his head. The king glanced out the window at his sons rough–housing with each other and instantly got an idea.

“Be the new nanny to my kids,” he said aloud. Luigi blinked at him in surprise as if he revealed that  he was getting married to someone who wasn’t Peach. “Kamek is the one who raised me, hence why I put him in charge of the Kooaplings and Junior. But I’ll admit, the workload is too much for one person to handle on top of resuming his royal sorcerer and advisor duties. I need a person to be the sole caretaker of my children when I’m not around.”

Luigi considered the thought. The koopalings couldn’t be any less rowdy than a Toad or Mario. And the way they rough–housed was the same way Mario used to tackle all their cousins as children. Luigi was always off to the side watching until he had to break up the fights and scold them like a mother. It was one of the few cases where people were afraid of the green man and his mother was proud of him for it.

But the difference between human children scraping with one another over nonsense and the koopalings were the fireballs, the magic scepters, and the claws. It would be more like handling feral cats that are semi–used to humans.

There wasn’t much else he could think of to do in the castle that didn’t involve cleaning and serving the beastly king. So, Luigi agreed.

As soon as they came upon the intimidating, eerie castle with the lava moat surrounding the main building, Kamek stood waiting at the gates with his scepter at his side. Just from where Luigi sat in the carriage, he could see the overworked exhaustion rimming underneath his eyes.

“Who is this,” he asked, waving his stick at Luigi. 

“You’re replacement,” Bowser boomed. “He’ll be watching over the koopalings from now on. No more restless and exhausted nights for you, old friend.”

The magical koopa let out a relieved sigh so big, his entire body sagged. Clearly, the struggle had been real. Luigi began to worry about this job he was tasked to take on. Almost made the green moscrostri back out then and there. The magical koopa patted his shoulder as he walked inside, growing Luigi’s fear. 

As soon as he walked inside, there was nothing but a mess waiting for him. Toilet paper hung from the chandeliers, empty knight suits lay dismembered on the pedestals they stood on, paint splatters spotted the walls, and the carpet in the center of the corridor leading off into the other sections of the castle was left in disarray.

Bowser’s mouth hung open in disbelief, as did Luigi’s. Fighting and crashing floated through the air from the back of the house. Bowser stormed in the direction of the noise at top speed. What he was met with were Wendy, Larry and Lemmy throwing whatever was close by at each other while yelling as if they were on the other side of the castle.

Bowser let out a mighty roar, ceasing all cries and forcing all koopalings at fault to look over with guilt in their faces. They formed a line, side by side, in front of their father with heads bowed in practiced shame.

The king went on a tangent speaking down to them like the troublemaking toddlers they had been acting like. They were each tasked with cleaning the entire castle together, without magic. He was gone before they could argue. Junior and the others stood off to the side snickering and pointing at their siblings’ misfortune.

Luigi wouldn’t have it. “Since you three want to be worse, why don’t you help them. No magic helping you three, either.” 

Junior wanted to protest, but the fiery look in his new caretaker’s eyes told him to keep his mouth shut to avoid added punishment. The other punished koopalings tilted their heads in confusion.

“Who’s this guy?” Larry asked.

“Some monster Papa found in a Dry Bone village,” answered Junior. “He gave him Kamek’s job as our nanny.”

Wendy, Larry and Lemmy slowly circled the beast, observing him top to bottom like an art exhibit or a predator. His finned ears and spiky spine, the four wings folded on his back and the four arms at his side. The longer they looked, the less hostile they felt.

“You’re not like other monsters I’ve seen,” said Wendy.

“You’re kind of . . . majestic,” added Lemmy.

Luigi blushed with his eye blinking rapidly in surprise. No one’s ever called him majestic while in this form. He didn’t think anyone would. 

“Where are you from,” Larry interrogated. 

“The land below.” No hurt in being a little honest. Surprisingly, the koopalings looked at him with eyes full of wonder. They went on to bombard him with questions about the place. When they started getting a little too personal and harder to answer, he shoved them in direction of the broom closet to get them started on their punishment.

They had their eyes on him the whole time, small smiles adorning their faces as they did. It warmed Luigi’s heart. No one had ever thought so highly of him in this state. They would’ve called him a monster and run screaming, crying for help as if he robbed them. Here, he was majestic. He was interesting. 

He was accepted. Maybe Mario pushing him out was the best thing for him. He bit his lip to hold back the tears.

Peach sat on her throne, the remaining Toads hounding Mario for answers. The man was still fuming, storming around like he had been insulted. She was mentally slapping herself for two reasons, the first being that she hadn’t noticed Luigi’s moscostri traits sooner. It had been right there in front of her since the day they met. 

Moscostries need blood–berries to remain sane around Abovelanders. They were shaped like strawberries, but darker in color and seedless. There were bushes of them growing in the forest bordering the Darklands and every week, Luigi would emerge from it with a basket full of the things. He always made the excuse that he was handing them off to a friend with a demonic situation.

Moscostries also thrive in high places, living in mountains and cliff–sides like dragons. The only thing different between their homeland and here was their skies were full of skyholes: swarms of clouds with a body of water floating above it. Skyholes created in the Belowlands naturally, but they could only be man, or in this case, monster–made by moscostries. They were used to hydrate their skin and fill up on fish. There just so happened to be one above his house. 

But the main sign she should’ve taken was the pile of scales in their backyard. They shined like emeralds and were sharp as blunt daggers. Luigi always made the excuse he found them in the forest, closer to the Darklands where the dragons would sometimes step out to enjoy the sunlight during the summer. In reality, moscostries hide away every three months to shed all their old scales and grow new ones in under two days.

Second reason to beat herself up over this: she made it look as if she were horrified when really she was surprised. Peach has been known to make faces that don’t correlate with her actual feelings. It was worse when she was talking to someone in distress and they assumed on instinct that she was annoyed or hateful towards them.

She had been so shocked at the reveal, and was stunned silent by Mario’s reaction, she couldn’t bring herself to speak. But that was no excuse. Luigi took it as he saw it, and now was gods’ knows where, alone and afraid and self-deprecating. 

Not all of this was her fault. Mario stormed up and down the throne room, waving his hands and spouting profanities. Her fist balled on the armrests and a sneer set on her face. The man he was disrespecting aloud was his brother for crying out loud, his twin brother at that. They had been through almost everything together. And here he was treating him like an imposter. 

Sure he had a small right to be angry because he never knew about this side of his brother, his family, and like Peach was reconsidering everything he knew about the man. But there was no reason for him to speak of him as if he were a criminal traitor.

“Can you not talk so foul,” she piped up. 

The man side eyed her like a deranged psycho and scoffed. “Why? Don’t you think I have a right to act this way about being deceived? I don’t even know who he is anymore.”

“He’s still your brother. There’s just a part of him you haven’t met yet.”

“You mean the part that needs to be removed. Either from his body so he can die or from my life so I don’t have to be in danger anymore.”

The princess was starstruck. Clearly, he wasn’t going to be of use, so she would have to handle finding his brother herself. The princess got up and walked out of the room to let him simmer for all eternity. Alone. Just as he deserved. The Toads were there for now, but they would see she was right. 

In her room, she dug through her closet to find the travel pack full of emergency rations, first aid, and a sleeping bag. Last minute, she grabbed three knives out of her drawer and hid them under her clothes.

One of the Toads saw her leaving. She sighed and gave him a serious look. “I’m going to make things right and figure all of this out.” She looked back at the corridor leading to the throne room. Disdain filled her stomach and smudged the smirk on her face. 

“Make sure the red monster doesn’t do anything reckless and follow me. If I don’t come back in a month, search for me.” 

The Toads simply nodded with an understanding look on his face and rushed back to the throne room. Peach walked through her deserted kingdom, feeling a sense of eerie dread creep over her. Alone and with no help.

Now she understood how Luigi felt: the lone creature of their kind in a deserted town.

Chapter Text

The following day, after being handed a job he never thought he would take, Lergi, walked through the halls cleaning up toys strewn about from the koopalings first hour of play for the day. Kamek’s exhaustion was starting to make a little more sense, and that terrified his replacement. 

He threw the toys he managed to collect in the toy bin stored in the playroom at the end of the koopalings’ room hallway. As he was looking around at the mess he was being tasked with cleaning, a little koopa with spiky blue hair bounced inside.

“Yes, Larry,” Lergi said, a fist on his hip and a silently irritated glare in his eyes. The little koopa didn’t think much of the glare, or notice it, and started tugging Lergi by his pants leg to the door.

“We’re hungry and we need someone to cook for us and Dad’s already gone.”

“Doesn’t Kamek handle it?”

Larry hissed through the side of his mouth. “The last time he tried, Dad banned him from the kitchen for burning half of it down.”

With that explanation, Lergi couldn’t be mad and walked him to the kitchen. His brothers and sister were already at the table, bouncing in their chairs and chattering like birds in the trees. Having gone to public school his entire life, Luigi was surprised the sounds were louder than a crowd of kids in a school cafeteria.

He hopped behind the counter and got to work cooking the little royals’ food. All talking slowly came to a halt when he put food on the stove and delicious fragrance floated across the room. A smile lit the corner of his face as he finally had some silence. 

As soon as the plates were placed in front of them, the koopalings reached across the table with their bare hands to scarf down as much as they could. Lergi was quick so smack his hand on the table hard enough to freeze them in place. His piercing gaze sweept across the table to each koopaling. 

“Most of you are already in trouble because of yesterday’s mess. Don’t make it worse on yourself by acting so ill–mannered at the table.” They all gulped. “Now, you’re going to use the utensils beside your plates to reach for food in front of you and place it on your plates. If there is something you want that’s out of reach, ask the person closest to it to pass it along. Do we have an understanding?”  

They all nodded and shivered. Not even Kamek was this terrifyingly direct. This monster meant business. Knowing there was likely more punishments boiling in his mind based on the look he passed to all at the table, they followed his instructions.

Standing in the doorway, observing with a smile, were the king and the sorcerer. Bowser was impressed with the newbie's ferocity, while Kamek was surprised that the koopalings were so quick to obey. It would take him more than an hour for them to even sit down properly. He had to wonder where he got this ability he would never master.

Once everyone had cleaned their plates, they all jumped down and made a b–line for the door. That is, until, their monster caretaker slammed his foot on the ground, causing a tremor that disrupted their hopping. All turned to Lergi with a dissatisfied pout.

“Can’t we go play,” Junior huffed. “We’re allowed to do that.” 

“You are, however, we’re doing something new for you,” Lergi said. “It’s time you little ones learned some responsibility. First, when you’re finished with the dishes, you have to clean them yourselves.” 

They all groaned and gasped at the audacity of the monster to suggest they had to do extra steps before playing. Kamek did the work, therefore, Lergi should be the same way. This was not the treatment they were used to (and preferred).

“Don’t grumble at me because you like being lazy and doing whatever you want. Some of you won’t have others to do these things for you, so you need to learn the basics of taking care of yourselves like big koopas.”

Knowing if he rambled on anymore, they’d stop listening and attempt to slip out the room, so the monster pointed a finger at the dishes with an expectant glare. Larry and Junior walked back to the table and started piling the dishes high enough they could waddle into the kitchen and throw them in the sink. 

The other koopas slowly followed suit, two washing the tables and helping put the clean dishes away. Satisfied with the work ethic, their new caretaker grabbed a broom and swept under and around the table. 

The king was in shock over the entire thing. Not once had he ever seen his children forced to act mature. He should put them in more situations like this. 

The koopalings were hoarded out of the house, lunch boxes packed with whatever they could dig out of the fridge and pantry. Lergi took a deep breath and walked inside to get to work cleaning the mess they left behind. If he weren’t so worried about tripping down the hall, he would’ve forced them to do it themselves when they returned home.

As he was walking to the playroom, a heavy grunt behind him nearly startled the toys out of his four arms. Bowser had his arms crossed and eyes fixed on the creature an inch shorter than him. There was no anger, though his resting face always looked like it was, but the warmth in his eyes was disarming.

It never occurred in Luigi’s personal assessment of Bowser that the large koopa could express any other emotion. Or feel it. His anger was always on display. 

“Can I help you, Your Majesty,” Lergi said, trying to play off his nerves. 

The king chuckled lightly. “No need for formality when you're the one raising my kids.” Lergi smiled a little. “I just wanted to say I’m impressed.”

He was a little surprised. “Impressed by what?”

“How you handled the koopalings. I’ve never seen Kamek, or anyone, handle them with such authority. It’s like you’ve been dealing with them for years.”

Lergi felt this face heat up from the praise. This would be a shock to anyone who knew him as Luigi, but he didn’t get praise often. It always went to his brother or he was to hand it off to someone else. Even as a child, his achievements were barely recognized in favor of his brother or cousins. It always being second best; it was worse when you knew and had to accept it.

“Thanks,” he said with a bashful red tint on his cheeks. “This will shock you but I don't get recognized for my accomplishments often.” 

This did shock the king who stood straighter. “I find that incredibly hard to believe. You’re so genuine and kind.”

“All that from less than a day of knowing me?” he scoffed. 

“Yes. You might find this shocking, but I know what kind looks like. Peach is the perfect example. She doesn’t judge based on looks alone. She bases it off actions.” A frown slowly lit his face. “That actually explains a lot when I put it that way.”

Luigi felt a little bad somehow. Bowser was a single dad to multiple children and a king to an entire land of creatures deemed monstrous by almost everyone outside the land’s borders. His whole life was baked on the fact he looked hard to approach.

Sure, he could try to act better. But maybe he didn’t truly know how. It’s not like he was trained as a child what “nice” looked like.

“Can I try something with you?” Luigi asked. The koopa king tilted his head curiously, but slowly nodded. Lergi put the toys down and led the king away from the children’s bedroom hall.

They stopped in one of the lounge rooms for guests. He was very aware how close he was to the king. He never thought he would get this close to a guy like him, or him specifically, without getting punched in the face.

“Have you ever tried speaking with a less . . . authoritative tone?”

Bowser looked confused. “Authoritative?” 

Lergi nodded. “Your tone comes out as . . . aggressive a lot of the time. It’s one thing when you’re giving instructions to other koopas. But when you’re trying to have a casual conversation, you can come out as . . . abrasive.”

This caught the king by surprise. No one had ever said that about him before. In fact, no one had ever really criticized him about his behaviors other than the obvious stealing and kidnapping. It made sense that they wouldn’t.

For the next hour, Kamek watched from a safe distance as the newbie taught the king tone control. This monster was not like the others that came seeking asylum from the cruel world past the gates. He had a relatively strong grasp on human behaviors and reactions, he knew the right way to get little ones to do what they are supposed to, and much more they had yet to discover. 

Before Bowser could thank the monster for his lesson and patience during it, a parakoopa speeded in with a phone. Lergi took it and listened to the man on the other line, who turned out to unfortunately be the principal for the koopalings’ school. Junior was being sent home early for disruption of class with a stink bomb exploding in the classroom. 

To Lergi’s surprise, the king koopa was infuriated with his son and ordered a hammer bro to bring the little prince back to the castle to receive punishment outside of school suspension.

Junior dragged his feet through the castle doorway, grumbling to himself about how unfair the whole punishment was. Both his new caretaker and his father stood above him with dissatisfied glares in their eyes. He gulped and put on a nervous smile to appear innocent, but they had both been trained in detecting attempts to play off mischief.

“It was only a small stink bomb,” he began. But the two adults stopped him.

“Enemies outside the kingdom are one thing, but classmates, people who are equal to you, are an entirely different situation,” the king growled out. The little prince bowed his head in shame.

“I haven’t known you long enough, but I know you have the sense to tell when and where and who you use a stink bomb,” Lergi added. “As a prince, you set an example for everyone around you.. If you do something, they think it’s ok to copy it. They don’t see the problem with it because you’re a leader, someone important who others look to for answers and standards. You better have a good reason for doing so.”

Junior swung his foot back and forth, hands behind his back and eyes glued to the ground in disappointment. Not a word left his mouth. The furious king sent him up to his room until he had devised the extension to the punishment he was already facing.

He stormed back to the other end of the opposite wing of the castle to cool off in the privacy of his room while the caretaker went up to talk to Junior. There was more the little koopaling wasn’t telling and he needed to know what and why.

The mini Bowser was curled into a ball on his bed, silently crying to himself. Now Lergi was worried. He knew the school’s here weren’t the best (then again, neither were the ones he went to) but he was sure Junior would like it a little at his age.

“Junior,” he cooed softly. The little koopa turned his head to side eye him then went back to curling in on himself. The bigger monster sat on the edge of his bed, reaching a hand out to place on his shell.

“Junior, please,” he cooed again. “I know we aren’t close, and I don’t know you like everyone around you does, but you can trust me enough to help you with your feelings. I won’t judge you if you’re honest.”

The prince turned on his side to face the caretaker and sniffed. He fiddled with his claws and looked around the room before returning to the caretaker’s encouraging eyes. 

“There’s this . . . bully at school. He knows better than to approach me or Roy, but he doesn’t know to stay away from Larry. He’s been throwing food in his hair and stealing his food at lunch since the start of the year. We tried going to a teacher, but they gave that lame excuse of ‘they have to see him in the act before they act’ and turned their backs. Even when the act happened right in front of them, they punished Larry for defending himself.” 

Boy, had Luigi been there. He was the biggest target in their grade. Every year, it was the same bullies, same excuses, same punishments. They always tell you to tell an adult, but what they really mean is act like an adult and deal with it yourself. What they’re really enforcing is how your trials don’t matter to those above you. 

He placed a hand on the prince’s shell. The reassuring gaze was returned with one of surprise.

“Why didn’t you explain this to your father when you walked through the doors,” Lergi asked.

“Until I walked through the doors, I thought he’d understand. He does this to everyone all the time. Then when you said there was a time and place for stink bombs, I couldn't bring myself to explain.” He looked at the other monster with curious, but pained eyes. “How do you understand this so well?” 

“I used to be the same as Larry, getting picked on and having no help from authorities. Anything I did to defend myself resulted in the bullies actions being permitted and mine being forbidden. Everything I did was a mistake, just being me was a mistake. It took me leaving my original home to realize that.” He looked away with a sorrowful look in his eyes. “And even then, there were people, some closer to me than others, who didn't accept who I was because it was different. And different was scary and dangerous.” 

Throughout his short life, it’s always been Junior and the koopalings, and maybe their dad, against the world. No one else understood what it was like to be monster among monsters, to be the outcasts no one wants but deals with for the sole fact that they rule over the world they sit in.

Yet here was this new outsider, someone who’s been unable to find his ground among others because being himself was not allowed in society outside the Darklands. Seeing someone beside the people he’s grown up with relate to his problems was a shock to Junior’s system he never thought could be possible.

Without realizing it, Junior placed a clawed hand on the one resting on his shell. For once, he felt relieved someone else came to know the pain he felt. And he didn't have to bomb them to understand it. 

“Thank you. For understanding” 

“I should be thanking you. It’s been a while since someone felt the same. And . . . you have to be the first who’s listened.” 

The two shared little smiles.

Chapter Text

No one had ever been able to understand Bowser. It was hard getting close enough to speak let alone understand him. He was prone to screaming in the faces of anyone who dared speak out against his orders. His screams were the least of the concern if that was possible.

Lergi watched the king from afar like some spell–stricken fool. For a reason he couldn’t explain, he found himself captivated by the way he confidently walked about. Maybe it was due to the fact he grew up without confidence and belief in himself from constantly degrading pretty much everyone around him.

He strolled through the path to clear his head over his son’s recent misbehavior. Lergi stood on a second–floor balcony watching with intent to understand. He wasn’t sure how to view him now that he knew he wasn’t just a bundle of constant rage. The more he wondered, the more the green monster wondered how long he’d gone without someone he could trust with his feelings. You only get that made after years of bottling up your feelings because no one wants to deal with them, or they won’t listen and understand. Or won’t approach you at all.

Feeling persistent, he jumped from the balcony and landed in a tree. The king was surprised and put on alert by the rustling that came from the fall. When he saw the caretaker slide out off a branch, his shoulders fell and his brows fell from their raised state.

“Can I help you?” the king asked gruffly.

“You look like you’re in distress,” Lergi said. “I thought you could use someone to vent to.”

He blinked as if the green monster said something stupid. “Th–thank you,” he said in a stunned voice. “I’ve just been thinking about the koopalings, especially Junior. I just . . . I always thought I taught them how to act around others and when it was appropriate to what. Then I get a call that Junior sets a stink bomb off in class, Wendy and roy have been picking fights with the other girls, Larry’s getting in trouble for fighting off bullies (which I don’t understand), and the others are badmouthing the other kids and causing a slew of problem.” 

Lergi blinked rapidly in shock. The messengers sent no notice to him about the koopalings school misbehavior, not since Junior was suspended. But these were minor problems compared to what Junior had been busted for. And Larry was his own slew of issues. But Lergi was beyond himself at the amount of trouble a few children caused on a regular basis. No wonder they felt like outsiders in their own realm of monsters; those kids were acting more like bullies who could do and get away with anything they wanted rather than the future of the kingdom.

He listened to the king vent about his visual show of bad parenting, how he clearly wasn't doing a good enough job and he was a failure. Eventually, Lergi had enough and grabbed his arm before he could scratch off his arm scales.

“Parenting is never easy. Hating yourself for what  you do and did isn’t going to change how they act. You just need an outsider’s view and pointers.”

He smiled and listened closely as the shorter monster explained his way of parenting. It was amazing how easy Lergi was to talk to. Just as he listened to the man, the man would listen to him without interrupting him. And his voice was easy to listen to compared to almost every other man he’s been around.

Eventyay, their conversation switched up. They spent the entire afternoon trading life stories and relating to one another’s experiences. There was laughter and gasps and light shoves. 

There was happiness between them.

From their place on the balcony, the little koopalings and Kamek watched their movements and felt something blossom in their chests. It was fascinating seeing their father, this almighty god of monsters laugh without someone hurting in front of him. It was a welcome change to see him express anything besides anger.

“ . . . and so he walks through the doors, jumps in the air when a ghost randomly pops out and squeals and tells me in a professional voice, ‘ Pretend like that squeal came from underground cause that’s where this secret stays. ’”

The king roared in laughter and leaned over as he wheezed. “God, your brother sounds like a scaredy cat hiding in a dare devil’s skin suit,” he wheezed out. “I don’t know why anyone would call him the hero. Clearly, you’re the one doing most of the work.”

They chuckled a little, then sighed to calm down. When was the last time someone laughed with me instead of at him with Mario? , Luigi thought to himself. Because everyone thought of him as the clown they can pile high with work and laughter, he didn’t get real or any friends. So having someone who laughed with his experience in a friendly gesture was a breath of fresh air he didn’t know he needed.

And this was with Bowser, someone who was known for being unapproachable. It was a shock to the system to see him as more than just an angry beast wreaking havoc on the world outside his kingdom. Then again, the same could be said to anyone who had seen Luigi in his monster form.

“You ok,” came the king’s voice. “You’re looking pretty hard there.”

Lergi shook his head and nervously scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, went off into thought. All the stories I’ve heard of you depict you as this ferocious fire breathing beast who won’t listen to reason. No offense, of course!”

The king chuckled sadly and avoided locking eyes with the other monster. 

“Yeah, I don’t blame you,” he said. “Everyone believes the same thing: I’m too harsh, too angry, too unapproachable. I’m just .  .  . too everything. I don’t know how to be like everyone expects. Out here, being rough and angry and flaring, that’s part of what makes this a monster safe haven. Monsters don’t have to hold back like they did outside of these lands. They can be themselves free of judgment. Then again, my children don’t set that example. But I act the way I do because it’s the only way I know, and it’s the way others expect of a king.”

“That’s not how a king acts.” There was a moment of silence as he looked at the smaller monster in surprise. “You see how I act: calm and insightful as opposed to a dangerous, anger ridden creature with sharp teeth. It’s why the koopalings find it easier to approach me.” 

“But?”

“But the reason they’re causing so much mayhem in school is because they’re mimicking you. That’s how children learn to interact with people. The only thing they’ve ever seen you do to others is yell and blast fire to get your way. Just like you, they’ve never seen any other way.”

The king blinked rapidly in disbelief. All these years, he assumed the children would learn on their own from Kamek. He never stopped to think he had an impact on their behavior too only because they never saw him nearly as much as Kamek. Then again, he was infamous in all the neighboring kingdoms. And they were there to witness some of his behavior. It does fall on his shoulders to regulate it when Kamek isn’t there, or even when he is.

Bowser looked down, ashamed. His attitude and actions towards the others around him was the problem. But what was he to do? He didn’t know how to act any other way than the one he’s been taught his whole life by surrounding peers.

Lergi placed a hand on his arm, reassuringly. “I can show you how,” he said. “You don’t have to live in complete oblivion and despair. I’ll show you if you’re willing to learn.”

The king nodded. 

In under a week, Bowser was different. He seemed calmer and more approachable. The first two days of his new outlook on life, everyone was a little on edge because they were sure he was about to blow up. His face was scrunched together and his eyes looked forced. Lergi spent a large portion of his time while the koopalings were at school, calming him down and easing the tension in his body.

Speaking of the koopalings, Junior’s suspension from school was concluded and sent back with everyone in his class on edge. He felt smaller than he already was when everyone took a single glance at him and scooted away. Everyone except the bullies. 

Larry was never going to get his way if he used punches. Lergi had learned that long ago. The spiky blue haired koopa was a little suspicious and unsure of befriending the person who always brought pain to his body for the smallest reasons. And he wasn’t sure ignoring them or using words that didn’t provoke would work. But his caretaker seemed certain and so he tried.

The minute he returned to the castle Junior’s first day back, there was a bright smile on his face. He was bouncing on his feet with excitement overflowing in his system.

“What happened?” Lergi asked, kneeling down to eye level.

“I did exactly as you said and they didn’t punch me,” he cried. “Loxman, the worst of the bullies, came up to me as usual to use me as a punching bag. But this time, I simply turned my back and walked away with a book in hand. He was so confused at first, but brushed it off and stood in my way, yelling and stomping his feet impatiently. But I kept my back straight and said, ‘ How does hurting me make you feel any better about your painful life back home? All you’re doing is inflicting the same damage onto someone else as someone is doing to you. So why don’t you realize you’re no better than your abuser and grow up?’ ”

A proud smile slowly lifted in the corners of Lergi’s mouth. “And what did he say?”

“He stopped as if he’d been hit and broke donw crying. Everyone around me was able to see I didn’t lay a hand on him and when the teacher’s walked over, for once, those who weren’t my siblings took my side. The other bullies were so taken aback, they didn’t come anywhere near me. I don’t know how he or the others are going to act tomorrow, but I’m going to be proud of myself forever after this.”

Proud tears filled Lergi’s eyes as he patted the little one’s head. Before he could say a word, the younger koopaling wrapped his arms around the caretaker and chirped against his chest. 

“Thank you, Lergi, for teaching me how to fight my demons.” 

The monster took a second to register the affection and words before wrapping his arms around the little creature’s form in return. 

Larry hopped off to his room to treat himself to a game just as Junior sagged through the door. He looked deflated and (emotionally) beaten, which immediately alarmed Lergi. He barely lifted his head when the moscostri addressed him.

“You were right. Now everyone’s afraid of me. Any chance of me having friends at school just plummeted to nothing.” His voice broke on the last word. His lip trembled, the tears threatening to rush out like waterfalls in his eyes. “How do you fix mistakes everyone’s going to associate you with? How do you change when everyone’s assumption of you has been permanently made up?”

The pain he felt was too great. Before he could push away and protest, the moscostri embraced the crying koopaling. Of course, the little prince resisted at first, but quickly returned the man’s embrace. 

“I don’t know how to make everyone see I’ve changed, er, want to change. I don’t know how to be better for everyone.”

One thing Luigi learned from his days in public school, friends were hard to come by when labels had been made. He was always the guy who was too wimpy to stand up for himself and fight back, so all bullies associated him with stress relief. And because he was always a target, everyone knew not to go anywhere near him. 

The reverse was true for Junior. Now that  he was associated as a bully for bullies, no one, not even other bullies, would go near him. Not unless they saw he wanted to something from them.

“Sometimes the best thing to do is know when there’s no changing something and starting fresh somewhere else,” Lergi said. “Look at me: I couldn’t fit in with everyone else until I came here. The same applies to the school you’re at now.”

“Are you suggesting I go to a new school?” His voice slowly rose with hope, though it was masked with confusion.

“I’ll have to talk to your father, but maybe we can set you up with some after school activities in another school. People might know who you are there, but showing them you’re a changed koopa will change their minds.” 

His eyes flew open. “After school activities,” he echoed. “Papa never let us do them before. He always said we got plenty of running around in the palace.”

“Well, now you can run around with other kids outside the palace.” What he didn’t tell say aloud was that it also allowed Bowser and him to get a break from their exhausting energy.

The koopaling jumped into the air and hopped his way to his room, shouting with excitement that had yet to be gratified with a “yes”.

Surprisingly, Bowser wasn't in the castle. According to Kamek, he had to deal with a situation in the dragon grounds. “Someone intruded on the lands to free some .  .  . suspects in the crystal stealing case.”

The Toads, Luigi thought with mental gasp. He told Kamek he had to run an errand outside the palace and asked him to watch the koopalings ‘til he got back. Then, he zoomed through the air on his great wings in the direction of the dragons lands. 

If there was an intrusion, it was either Peach or Mario, and he prayed it wasn’t Mario. The last thing he needed was to see the painful rejection of their brotherhood in his eyes. Peach might not be as bad considering she hadn’t said anything during the reveal. But he feared her rejecting him after the monster peace she preached about so much.

He flew into a tree overlooking Toad cages. They were clambering around just as Bowser came stomping over. He inspected each cage with a discerning eye, walking in a slow menacing walk to appear threatening, which he clearly did the shaking Toads huddling together.

Luigi spotted her first, lurking around the bushes surrounding the clearing the cages sat in. The moscostri slipped through the treetops until he stood above Peach and landed with a rustle at her side. Before she could speak, he slapped hand over her mouth and pulled her away. She fought him, of course, thinking him a guard or dragon planning to sneak off with her as a prize.

But when they were far enough away that Bowser wouldn’t see them at first glance, he turned her around in his arms and looked into her eyes. The roaring storm fighting on the dark seas calmed to one of gentle waves lapping the shores in the cloudless, sunny sky. Without warning, she threw her arms around him and held tight like he planned to fly off at that moment.

“I’m so, so, so, so, so sorry,” she mumbled against his chest in panicked cries. 

“I thought you—”

“Hated you? Thought you were a lying freak? A threat?” She scoffed. “My face doesn’t always match my feelings. I’m sorry if it came out that way. Unlike the monster in red that is your brother, I don’t see you any differently than I did before. You just have another part of you I have yet to understand.” 

Luigi smiled in relief. He was so sure she was against him when she laid on his monstrous form. Her face then had been one he was used to seeing when someone saw him transform. At least with Peach, she was understanding enough to see the problem wasn’t Luigi.

“The Toads,” she quickly remembered. “I have to get them out of those cages. None of them would’ve stolen the crystals Bowser’s looking for. We keep our distance from the Darklands.”

He knew. But how to get Bowser to believe that?

Chapter Text

“He was so angry, he didn’t know what to do with himself,” Peach huffed in disappointment. “What I will never understand is how he can exhibit so much anger without thought for the other person’s feelings.”

Luigi shared the disappointment. He doesn’t understand a lot of things about his brother, but this was the worst thing. He always liked remaining angry at someone for the sake of it being justified. It didn’t matter if he was the one who started it or not. If it escalated, he had the right to be obnoxiously angry.

Bowser roared his heir’s name as he stormed around the cages, which meant Luigi had to get going. “Stay hidden in the trees and get the Toads out of here while I keep them distracted,” he told her. “Don’t look back or you’re likely going to attract attention and get caught.”

The princess nodded and flattened herself against the ground, using the tall underbrush as coverage. Lergi rushed to the front to find the little koopa prince climbing all over his father on a sugar high. His mouth was covered in what looked like brownie bits. The worst part was he knew where those brownies came from. Kamek made them with extra sugar to help the guards during training. Junior was the only one in the house they had to be wary of because of his addiction.

“What happened,” the moscostri asked with an exhausted look on his face. At this point, this was expected behavior from the mini koopa.

“Kamek left the brownies unattended. It’s his fault,” Junior said like he was on fast forward. “If you don’t want me to get something, prepare better.”

“Junior, leave your father alone and come with me so you can ride out this sugar high somewhere less distracting and dangerous.”

The little koopa hopped on the monster’s back and held tight as he fanned out his wings, ready to fly into the air. He turned to the exhausted father and suggested he return home to rest off his son’s energy. 

While he was letting Junior’s hyper energy rampage the castle, Lergi was trapped in thought over the king. Something about Bowser had always captivated Luigi in a fearless way. He was a majestic beast with sharp teeth and large muscles. His eyes were a fiery red captivating those who stared into it with their misinterpreted beauty.

Luigi shook himself. A fierce red blush coated his cheeks in self embossed embarrassment. Thinking about the father of his assigned children, his employer, in such a manner was improper on so many levels. Why was he thinking about him at all in such a manner? He knew better, he was raised to know better.

Just as he was thinking of his emotional dilemma, someone knocked on the door. They wore a cloak over their head with fake horns sticking out of two holes in the head. Golden hair spilled over the face. He knew on instinct who it was.

“You like him, don’t you, Lu,” Peach chuckled. 

His face flushed a bright pink. The moscostri looked up and down the hall in a panic before pulling her inside and locking the door. “Peach, why are you here?”

“Because your hurricane hero brother appeared just as I was about to lull the guards to sleep and steal the key,” she scoffed, throwing off the hood and freeing her golden curls. “Those same guards are fighting him all the way to the gate. But he’ll be back to look for me, which means I don’t have a lot of time to help you out with your Bowser dilemma.”

“Sh–shut up, Peach!” 

Her smile grew wider as he confirmed her words. She always adored how easy it was to guess how Luigi really felt. The princess sat on the edge of the bed and looked back with a calm, smug look on her face.

“Come now, Luigi, you know you don’t have to hide the truth around me. Be honest, does the koopa king make you feel something other than fear?” 

He spent a long moment staring her in the eyes for any signs of doubt. When he couldn’t find any, he decided to sigh and let out some of his feelings. 

Luigi searched the corridors for any signs of his bo—for Bowser. Peach enticed him to start talking to Bowser regularly. It didn’t only have to be about business—basically not using the koopalings as a cover–up reason to approach him—like when they had their little walk through the garden. 

He came across a large library, almost every wall covered top to bottom with shelves full of books. Surprisingly, he found the oversized king sitting in a chair by the window with small round glasses on the bridge  of his snout, reading a small book sitting between two claws. 

It was a sight he was not ready to see. He shouldn’t have been as surprised by this as he was. Bowser was a king who should be able to read. His willingness to do so in his free time is what got to Luigi so much. 

“Is there something I can help you with, Lergi?” Bowser addressing him out of nowhere startled Lergi, which made him realize he had been staring. A light tint of embarrassment colored his face. 

“A–apologies, sire, I jus—uh, . . . I wanted to talk to you,” he stammered, nervously fidgeting with his body. The king marked the page he had stopped on and looked up from his book. Lergi took a deep breath and stepped out of the doorway. “I know I haven’t been here long, and that our relationship extending outside the koopalings doesn’t need to happen, but I . . . I wanted to, um, . . . ”

The king smiled softly and gave the nervous monster caretaker an encouraging gaze. He had been wondering the same thing since their last conversation. The moscostri had to be the first and only creature who ever managed to get through to him. He spoke softly and firmly in a way that wasn’t demeaning and hateful.

“If you want to pursue a non–professional relationship, I was just about to ask the same thing. You intrigue me, Lergi. I want to learn more about who you are outside of the monster running from the world outside the Darklands.”

He got up to put the book back on the shelf, when Lergi asked what genre it was in. Once again, the large koopa was taken aback by the moscostri digging into his character, as if he were more than just a monster everyone was used to roaring and making demands for his selfish gain. 

And so they began discussing fantasy books. Fantasy was so much easier to read because you got to see into the eyes of someone else in a world different from your own. 

While Lergi had spent his entire childhood in a world unlike the one they were currently in, the prospect of reading fantasy fiction remained. His life had always been full of secrets and pain that others caused him, both directly and indirectly. So it was easier to forget the problems he struggled with internally by picking up a book that would lead him to a mystical realm under the sea or in space.

 For Bowser, it was the same way. He had spent his entire life being feared by everyone who came into contact with him. Even amongst the koopalinsg and Kamek, his own caretaker, he felt like a disturbance in their lives, something that wasn’t meant to be there. Within the books filling the shelves of the library, he could escape to a world where it was easy for him to find long lasting friends and not be seen as a nuisance or monster. 

As they spoke, Luigi found it was easy for him to speak to Bowser without fear of getting shot down for the smallest things. Specifically with Mario, saying anything out of line of his beliefs and feelings meant he was against his entire being. This wasn’t the case with Bower. Instead, the previously unapproachable, anger ridden king was calm and understanding, really taking to heart the lessons they had been going on during their walk(s) in the garden. It was heartwarming to see Bowser’s progress. 

“. . . after that, and never went back to the house in the mysterious woods,” Lergi finished, holding back his laughs.

The king, however, cried out in laughter. “Your brother is an idiot,” he chuckled, wiping away the joyful tears. “It doesn't surprise me he would go the extra mile when you revealed your true self.” 

Lergi flinched. It had been a while since he thought of the “betrayal” scene in the woods a few weeks ago. Mario was probably still wandering the Darklands in search of Peach right now. If he came anywhere near Boswer’s palace and saw him, his identity would be outed.

The longer he stayed and grew to know the king and his children, Luigi wondered how they would react to his identity reveal. The koopalings were taught to hate anyone associated with Mario and should run if they don’t have the resources or strength to fight him. Bowser hated him for more than one reason and has kidnapped those close him as payment for his actions. 

He was shaken from his thoughts by the king’s hand falling on his shoulder. “Lergi, I’ve been thinking,” he began. The moscostri raised a brow in curiosity as he eyed the king’s avoidant gaze. “We’ve known each other a few weeks now and . . . I was wondering if you’d want to go out—just as friends of course.” 

“Out? You mean, like, out into the Darklands? Just the two of us?” Lergi was a little shaken up by the offer. Well, it was less of an offer and more like a suggestion.

“Yes. I know you can’t leave the Darklands because of the incident that forced you here, and Peach has yet to come and interrogate me about her missing subjects. But, if I’m being honest, we could do with getting out off these grounds and just enjoying each other’s company.”

His smile widened. “Why don’t you take me on a little tour of the lands around the castle. We can go tomorrow when the koopalings leave for school.”

From the safety of behind the bookshelves, the koopalings listened with a snicker on their faced as they overheard their father make plans with their caretaker.

“You think he’ll show him the diamond caves,” Roy whispered. “Papa Lergi does like shiny things.”

“I’m sure he would,” Wendy giggled. “Mayube he’ll even make a necklace to give to him as a gift. Oh, it would be so romantic.”

Junior rolled his eyes while Ludwig exasperatingly gagged beside him. “Don’t make this any weirder than it has to be, Wendy.”

The king and the royal caretaker were set to leave. The koopalings had left minutes ago and Kamek was taking over the meetings set for the day. Bowser was jumping with excitement as he stood in front of his room mirror, admiring his shined scales and combed hair. 

Lergi sat in front of his vanity, thinking of all the things he would get to see while on the trip. He wasn’t sure he'd be able to take it all in properly. And what would they talk about while he was observing everything they drove past? Would he be able to carry a conversation the same way he did the day before?

He steady his breathing. Doubting himself was not going to get him anywhere. It never had in the past so why would it now? As long as he was enjoying himself, it wouldn’t matter too much. 

“Are you sure you will be able to handle this?” Peach asked from the corner behind him. He watched her in the mirror approach him. “You’re jittering in your seat.”

He turned his head to meet her gaze. “This is kind of our first real outing since I’ve been here,” he admitted. “I’ve already wasted enough time watching the koopalings and worrying about you and my brother. I don’t want anything to go wrong while we’re out.” 

“Luigi, something will go wrong. It always does.”

“Thanks,” he said flatly, turning back to the mirror.

“But it’s whether what goes wrong is relationship–based or trip–based that you have to decide on. You can either let something put strain and distance between you and Bowser, or let it affect your experience on this journey through another kingdom. The choice is yours.” 

His nerves relaxed with this bit of advice. Before he could thank her, someone knocked on the door, forcing her to retreat into the bathroom. 

There stood the koopa king, wearing a loose button–up with the first three buttons undone and gray slacks. Of course he was barefoot since there were no shoes that could comfortably fit his feet. But his slick red hair swept to the side was something he wasn’t ready to see. Lergi didn’t realize he had been staring until the king waved a hand in his face.

“Sorry, I just . . . don’t normally see you with many clothes on.” The fact he had to say that out loud made him feel more uncomfortable.

The king scratched the back of his head, nervously. “Yeah, we koopas don’t have a need to cover as much of our bodies as most other creatures do. But, this is a rare occasion and I wanted a reason to wear this top.”

He offered the moscostri his elbow to thread his arm through and walked him to the awaiting carriage. The driver saw them off as soon as the door closed. From the window, Lergi watched as the world quickly turned into a blur before slowing down to allow them to see what lay outside.

Despite the name and the atmosphere from the gates and palace, the Darklands were quite beautiful. A bustling city full of different koopa variants and other monsters lay beyond the carriage. Some flew in the skies and landed in clouds or trees to trade with others. Some lined the roads in carts or with baskets in arm, running errands or other things.

It had been a while since he saw a thriving city full of people. Homesickness touched Luigi’s heart for a moment. But a sense of belonging filled him at the sight of all the mismatched monsters living amongst each other without hiding their true identities.

“Don’t be so excited. We have plenty of time to see everything,” Bowser chuckled. Luigi laughed embarrassedly and pushed away from the window. 

“Sorry, I’ve just . . . I’m still getting used to being in a monster world that isn’t a giant furnace. And there are so many creatures here other than koopas. No offense, but I wasn’t expecting that from a place like this.”

The king merely chuckled. “Don’t worry, I get it. From what you’ve explained to me about the world outside this one, we don’t come off as the friendly type. We’re abrasive and constantly in battle mode. What people don’t understand about us is that being aggressive like that, fighting all the time, establishes understanding and respect among individuals or groups in our world.”

“Well, what you all need to understand is that not everyone outside your world understands that,” Lergi countered. “Sometimes, appearing nice upon first glance instead of rushing into a fight is the best way to get people to befriend and understand you.”

The carriage stopped as two eyes met. The two looked down, saw their hands intertwined, and immediately pulled away with faces redder than cherries. The driver said nothing, but smiled to himself as they walked away.

When royals go out into their public, they're usually stopped on the spot and haunted by subjects and reporters. This was the case Lergi was prepared for when Bowser stepped into the crowded street. But instead, passerbys greeted him as if he were just any other monster walking through the streets.

No, he was treated like a normal person and not a monster constantly terrorizing people. 

The two walked down the street, Luigi observing the world around him as Bowser rattled off facts about the different shops. Some had been made in the last decade because of the last major fight against the Mushroom Kingdom.

Listening to the koopa king was so easy for Luigi. Whenever he listened to someone like Peach or Daisy (and even Mario), it was like trying to stay asleep while someone droned on in a monotone voice. His deep voice was not abnormally soft and informative, which was engaging for Luigi. 

This was strange. The two most misunderstood monsters in the world just casually walking each other down the streets of the Darklands, chatting like friends. Bowser would never talk over Luigi, instead standing there with a small smile as he watched the taller monster ramble about the smallest thing. Somehow, he found it absolutely adorable when he did. Then there were the little sparkles that would appear in his eyes whenever he saw something exciting being sold in a shop window or at a stand. The sound of his voice, something calm and positive towards him, made the koopa king relax and smile inside for what felt like the first time in his life. 

This feeling blossoming between them felt unfamiliar. For once, he felt . . . comfortable. But it was warm and fuzzy in his chest, which is not something that felt a lot of tingly and warm actions in recent years.

This was the connection Bowser had been looking for with Peach that clearly wasn’t there. The more he thought about it, he wasn’t going to find this with anyone else, not even the princess he claimed to love more than anything.

Was he . . . no, he couldn’t be . . .  falling in love with someone who wouldn’t bring him power in the political or physical sense, but emotionally. He never thought that could ever be true for him. And yet here he was feeling it.

The “date” was successful and left both monsters feeling a little more whole. 

But neither one knew where to go from here.

Chapter Text

Junior called all the koopalings to the playroom for an important meeting. One of the doors was left slightly askew so Peach could listen in (thanks to her agreement with Wendy). She listened with a deep intent and a little amusement. Ludwig smacked his scepter against the ground like an elder wizard in a video game to gain everyone’s attention. He pointed to Junior and stepped back with an acknowledging bow of his head.

“As you know,” he began, “we’ve recently had a new member of the staff join us. In the last month, everything’s changed. We’ve grown to accept ourselves, we can tolerate being around each other more often, and we’re not getting picked on as much in school.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, giving each other reassuring looks. Peach smiled proudly from behind the door. In the week she’s been there, they’ve spent more time together than they have apart, a far cry from the days when she first met them. 

“But it’s not just us who’s changed,” Ludwig interjected. “Since their first date, King Papa has been rather bashful and calm. He’s less hostile and . . . trying to be more emotionally available for us.”

“I’ve never been able to just come to him for emotional advice,” Larry shyly admitted. “Just yesterday, he was calming me down when I started spiraling after a stressful day at school. He’s never calmed my emotions down by just talking to me.”

“And he has a spring in his step. He has something exciting to look forward to every day,” Wendy chimed, holding her joined hands against her cheek. “There’s stars dancing in his eyes anytime Lergi’s around, he has someone new to show around the kingdom, and finds new things to love about him.”

“Not even Peach had him this lively,” Roy admitted sheepishly. There was silence for a few minutes as they steeped in their thoughts. “So, what’s the verdict?”

They all glanced at one another and nodded. “So it’s settled. Lergi becomes our new mama,” Junior said with a large smile. The koopalings silently cheered in agreement.

Peach tiptoed down the hall with a smile on her face. The koopalings’ acceptance meant everything in this blooming relationship. With it, she could do her job free of fear and family interference.

The only interference would be Mario when he inevitably came looking for Peach. But that was for her to figure out when this job was done.

Lergi paced the gardens, wondering where to go from there. He had to return to Mushroom Kingdom to bring Peach back and eventually confront his enraged brother. But he adored the little royals and was slowly finding interest (definitely not romantically) with their father.

The kingdom itself was beautiful and more alive than he ever expected. The people were friendly, despite their different monster backgrounds and didn’t judge as harshly as others did.

Just thinking about his brother made him sick. He had been so judgemental on sight, treated him like some intruder he didn’t recognize. All their progress over the years of getting closer and overcoming battles, lost to someone’s hatred. How someone could let their wrath engulf them to the point of pushing someone out was something Luigi could not fathom.

And how long could he go about keeping the secret from the royal family. With his reputation as Mario’s brother, he would probably get kicked out and lose any sort of trust and loyalty. So, he said nothing. But the little koopalings were growing more curious about his past. He could only evade the truth with them for so long until someone said something.

What was he to do?

As all his thoughts were clouding his brain, making it impossible to think of anything else, a clawed finger tapped him on the shoulder. Instinct kicked in and he swerved around about to smack the king koopa with his claws, but stopped mid swipe upon seeing his face.

“Sorry for startling you,” the king chuckled with a lopsided grin. Lergi’s cheeks colored as he retracted his arm and looked away.

“You needed me for something, or was it the pacing?” Lergi shyly asked with a huff.

“I’ve got something to . . . to ask you.” The king scratched the back of his neck with worried brows furrowed together. “I, uh, really like your company and showing you around my kingdom the other day. This might shock you, but we don’t get many friendly allies who want to view the lands. On top of that, you’re . . . surprisingly easy to talk to. I’ve never seen anyone handle the kids so well, . . . or spend so much time with me and enjoy it.”

Lergi shyly rubbed his arm andbraved a glance up at the nervous king. “I could say the same thing about you. I grew up thinking there was no place for someone like me and here I find there’s a place for everyone who’s different from the world outside. My perception of you has changed as well. You’re not this terrifying, constantly easy to anger beast always stealing Peach for whatever plan you have that day. You’re kind, emotionally misinformed, considerate and concerned for others, and friendly to those new to this world. It’s no wonder you have your eyes set on Peach. She’s so much like you in a way.”

“Yeah, about that . . .” The king aggressively cleared his throat and pulled on the collar of his button up with a single claw. “. . . I’ve been thinking. She and I are a lot more different than we are similar. The whole reason I even went after her was because I wanted my children to grow up with a mother who loved them, and by default, hopefully, me.”

“But you brought her here by force, without reason.” 

He nodded, sheepishly. “As I’ve gotten to know you, the qualities I pretended were there for Peach were instilled in you. I can’t really see my children being taken care of the way I see you handle them.”

The dangerous red creeped across both their faces, seemingly spreading to the rest of their bodies. They avoided any eye contact with their other, looking away from their face when they thought the other spotted them. From afar, they looked like shy teenagers confessing their love.

Bowser took a deep breath and berated himself for the shyness in his head. He could do this, just spit out the words. 

“Lergi, I want to go on another date with you. O–only if you want to, of course. I understand if there’s something holding you back or someone else involved—”

“No, no, no . . . I’d love to.” 

Smiles were exchanged and gazes were avoided. Junior and two of the koopalings silently cheered in the bushes. Peach watched on with a smile on her lips.

She had never seen her beloved friend so calm and happy in the many years she’s known him. The idea of throwing this away because his brother would return at some point ruined her mood.

What could she do to get Mario to understand?

Just as the thought popped in her mind, a messenger approached the king and whispered something in his ear. His face turned cold. A nod sent the messenger away, but he turned to Lergi with heavy concern. It weighed down his heart to see the royal father so grave.

“Mario’s fighting his way through the Darklands to get to me.” Luigi’s face paled. “He’s looking for Peach, and as usual, assumed I took her, but I didn’t. Not this time. Should he grow more relentless than he already is, I need you to hide the koopalings in the playroom.”

With that, he rushed inside and followed the guards to the front of the palace. Everything in the moscostri’s body ran colder than snow. He wouldn’t just be looking for Peach. Eventually, he would start spouting about Luigi and once he did, the king would connect the dots and send him away.

Once she was sure he was gone, Peach approached the panicking monster. “You have to get back to him, Peach,” he whispered hoarsely. “You should’ve left ages ago. Now my cover’s—”

“—remaining as it is,” she finished reassuringly. “And it’s not a cover, it’s a new chance at life. I’ll leave as soon as the guards change shifts in five minutes.”

Which she did.

Lergi kept the koopalings in the same hallway as the playroom. He tried to keep their faces happy and unknowing, but it was like they knew. There was that bit of tension in their shoulders every time they looked out a window facing the front of the castle. Somewhere along the line, Lergi started glaring out the window, into the horizon Bowser had disappeared into it with worry.

Guards shouting somewhere in the background caught his attention. His wings flared dangerously on his back as he herded the koopalings into the playroom. They clustered together after he turned out the lights. His tail wrapped around them to pull them against his oversized body, his wings hiding covering them like dragon eggs.

Doors burst down outside the locked doors, the sound scaring the koopalings and forcing them to cluster closer to their caretaker. “It’s him, isn’t it,” Junior shivered. “He’s gonna hurt us again. We deserved it before, but we haven’t done anything this time.” 

The words burned Luigi’s heart like acid. Anger rose like smoke and a low growl drawled out of his throat. His brother’s disrespectful antics had gone on long enough. If he had to fend him off to protect these kids he’s grown to call his own, he would do it without hesitation. The doors broke open and a figure back illuminated by the hall lights stood in the doorway.

He was a short man with a round nose and overalls over his red long sleeve top and brown boots. The red human looked around the room until his blue eyes fell on the moscostri huddled in the corner.

As he walked closer, Luigi’s back raised like a cat, the spikes running down his spine flaring up like daggers and the wings not protecting the koopalings rising with it. Mario straightened up when he realized who was there.

“Luigi, what are you doing here,” he called. 

The koopalings looked up at their caretaker when he flinched hearing his name. Their tear filled eyes flew open with realization. Pieces of his past began sticking together. Looking from one brother to the other from under the wings, seeing their matching blue eyes, they grew angry.

“You have no right to talk to him,” Wendy called out. Surprised, Luigi lifted hi wings to look down at her. “You cast him out so cruelly as if he were some hidden traitor and now you speak like he’s an old friend?” 

Larry joined in beside her. “We love him for all his monstrous flaws and ‘fearful’ appearance. His outward appearance may have changed, or more accurately, revealed itself, but the loving, generous, sometimes strict, and understanding man inside hasn’t changed once.” 

“He doesn’t judge someone based on face value like you did,” Junior added. “He gets to the root of the issue instead of letting the action go unchecked. He listens to us when no one else will. He doesn’t just act; he understands first. So before you go on and start screaming and treating him like a predator in your territory.” 

“Which wouldn’t be accurate considering you burst into Bowser’s castle,” Ludwig smugly added.

The others stepped forward with their arms crossed and eyes narrowed on the supposed hero. Mario stepped back with every word in shock, eyes wide and mouth agape. No one’s ever talked back to him before. 

A long moment of silence passed. 

Finally, Mario chuckled and put up his hands. The monster group looked from one to the other in confusion as joy lit his eyes. Luigi was cautious and confused as he saw the Mario he had grown up with, the kind one.

“What’s so funny,” he growled.

“You care for him, don’t you,” Mario said to the koopalings. They nodded. “That’s all I can ask of you.”

“Who are you and what did you do with the raging tornado that was my brother?”

It was then that Peach walked through with her arms crossed and eyes fixed on him. Her gaze pierced his skull like daggers on his throat, then transitioned to reassuring comfort when looking back at the monster protecting the koopalings. 

The closer he looked, Luigi saw that his brother’s body was bruised and covered in torn up overalls. Peach’s hands were balled into fist with bruised knuckles as well. Whatever negotiations she underwent with Mario had been physical. Luigi was kind of proud of her for that.

“Are you done with the tantrums,” Luigi asked experimentally.

The plumber nodded vigorously. “Peach explained—I mean, I’ve learned from . . . what everyone told me that just because you look differently, . . . doesn’t mean your emotions are any different.”

The words tumbled over each other by force. He kept pausing to think of the next words to say and looked anywhere but at him and Peach while he did.

Luigi crossed his arms and glared daggers at the red human just like Peach. He didn’t fully mean every world. The only reason they were leaving his mouth was because Peach was behind him with the proof of her strength and the danger it held waiting to pounce should he mess up. In the month he spent with the koopalings and their father, here in the world where monsters of all backgrounds and species could gather to live in peace, Luigi has accepted the acceptance around him.

He doesn’t have to hide who he is for the sake of maintaining relationships that would otherwise reject him the minute they saw his real body.

He doesn’t have to pretend like he fits into a room where the only one being praised was the red twin he was told to love and protect and who was supposed to return the affection.

And while the identity of his normal half has been leaked, he knows that these little koopas won’t treat him any differently than they do now. Because they loved him and not what he is.

Not like this faker.

“No.” It was sudden and shook the red plumber up a little.

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I mean I don’t forgive you.” Mario’s eyes widened. “Peach was the only one who bothered to go and find me, not just her subjects but me as well, and try to understand. The minute you saw what I really was, you assumed I was some alien impersonating your brother. And the only reason you are apologizing to me right now is because Peach used brute force to get you to come here passively. I am not excusing or forgiving your actions until you mean what you say.”

Mario’s shoulders slumped and his brows knit together. He huffed and turned his back on the green monster.

“I won’t mean it until my brother returns to his kingdom the way I remember him.” 

“I’d rather be here, anyway.”

Peach’s eyes followed Mario as he walked out the door, flinching as he passed her. 

With a disappointed sigh, she got off the doorway and walked over to Luigi with her arms open. He fell into them like an exhausted child falling into the embrace of their mother.

“I am so proud of you,” she whispered. “What you did took a lot of strength. Strength that a lot of people would not have been able to muster and use that way.” 

His blue eyes looked back at the door the man he once considered his brother walked through. “Did I do the right thing?” His voice was barely above a whisper and hoarse from the unshed tears.

“I know you did.”

Chapter Text

Everyone in Bowser’s castle was jumping for joy upon hearing Luigi was staying. From their place in the background, they watched the rowdy kooplaings slowly shape into less destructive young adults and their easily pissed off king soften for someone else.

Mario’s presence had jostled Luigi severely. Having to cut him out of his life was the most painful thing he ever had to endure, more than his monstrous identity revealing itself in the forest. He had known Mario his entire life, had been by him through all the troubles of being teenagers in school, then adults with jobs. A lot of the emotional troubles he endured had been with his brother beside him.

Now he has to walk the rest of his life alone. 

But he had the koopa family, a group of monsters who adore one another in their own special way and stood by him despite everything. Hearing his real name wasn’t a turn off for them. Like Peach, it shocked them and gave them a new perspective on him, but they didn’t leave his side. If anything, they grew closer. 

“Thank you,” he said to Bowser one day, “for sticking by me.”

The king looked up at the monster’s tear-stained face and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You’ve done something no one else has done: you understand. The least I could do was stand by you in return. Now I get to understand a whole new side of you.”

He embraced him. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—stop himself from wrapping his arms around the king koopa and burying his face in his shoulder. The koopa didn’t shy away from it and embraced him in return. From their spot around a corner, the koopalings snickered at their father and caretaker with pride.

Kamek watched on from a perch in a tree, smiling down at the king he raised, finding comfort in someone without kidnapping them first. The only thing left for them now was to see where this relationship would go.

1 ½ Years Later

Bowser was stressing out. He could do this. It was only Luigi. They’ve been together for more than a year. They’ve been comfortable with each other since he started working in the palace. But what he was about to do was a major step. And Luigi had never explicitly said how he felt about taking this big leap in their relationship before.

 Junior looked down at the box in his father’s claws. Then, looked up at his father nervously mentally debating with himself.

“He won’t judge you if you go through with it, you know,” he assured the stressed older koopa. “He’s not like Mom who rejected you faster than I can run.”

“I know,” Bowser said with a grimace. “But I’m wondering if it’s the right time. We’ve only been dating for a year and a half. And we just got into good graces with Peach’s subjects after signing the peace treaty. I don’t want to come off like I’m scheming a plan to overthrow her.”

Junior rolled his eyes and shook his head at his father talking himself out of letting himself be happier. He patted him on the back like he was the child struggling with coming to terms with themself. Sometimes it was so hard being the logical thinker in this parental relationship.

The moscostri sat waiting at the castle gates, anxiously tapping his foot. Bowser appeared beside him, scratching the back of his neck shyly.

“Sorry I kept you waiting,” he chuckled. “I had a little . . . thing to handle before we left.”

“You are forgiven,” Luigi mused. “Now are you going to show me this mystical garden or are you going to keep talking about it?”

The king snapped his fingers to alert the couch door in front of the gates to open and bowed dramatically for Luigi to step inside first. They drove in silence until the carriage stopped in front of a random stone path cutting through the thick woods.

Bowser helped the moscostri out the carriage, which drove off when they were both on the ground, and led him down the path. Luigi wasn’t sure what to expect when Bowser told him to close his eyes, but he did, anyway. He led them down the path for what felt like half an hour, Luigi telling him as much and receiving a light pinch to silence him, until Bowser stopped and stepped away.

“Alright, you can take off the blindfold.”

Luigi’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the scenery, then watered with overwhelmed astonishment. A waterfall trickled over rocks into a little pond surrounded by stones of varying sizes. Gems nestled at the bottom acted as the light source that appeared to bounce off every leaf and stone surrounding it. Surrounded by candles was a blanket covered with dishes of food and a bottle of wine in a bucket of ice sitting by the ring of stones. 

Luigi was in shock, looking at the scene with a hand on his chest and a smile on his lips. No one had ever gone the extra limit for him before this. 

“Bowser, this is beautiful. You didn’t have to do all this for me.”

“Yes. Yes I did.” The king’s determined face told him everything. He grabbed the moscostri’s hand and led him to the little scene. They sat across from each other, each with a plate to lather with food.

It was so easy to talk to each other. Neither judged the other for habits or past actions. They understood one another more than they did themselves. It was easy for them to confide in their feelings after years of hiding it from everyone else. And they loved hearing the other’s voice.

Watching the other green monster laugh and watching his eyes water with joy filled Bowser with a sense of peace he hadn’t felt with anyone else. And with that peace came confidence. 

You can do this. This is the right step for you to take, he thought to himself.

“Luigi.” The other monster’s eyes found the koopa king’s, surprised at the determination shining in them. “I’ve been . . . debating whether to ask this for a while, but seeing you like this, happy and content, I get the confidence to ask.”

The koopa took both hands in his and held them between them. Luigi’s blue eyes glistened in the light of the jewels beneath the watery surface. He could hear his heartbeat picking up in his chest, the sound reverberating throughout his mind.

“Before I met your monster form, I was a little surprised by you. You were calmer, more passive and thoughtful than the moron that was your reckless, adrenaline–fueled brother. I always wondered what it would’ve been like had I gotten to know you a little more, even if it was under an alias from afar. You made me think I had a chance with a human from outside my kingdom. Then, when I met you as a monster, I learned things about myself and my children I don’t think I ever would’ve found with Peach. You taught me how to be gentle and how to understand how others feel and think in a way I understood. 

“Learning you were my enemy’s brother didn’t change anything. Because I didn’t know who you were before the incident, and you had given me your side of the events leading up to and before it, I didn’t see you as any different than when we first officially met as monsters. You’re still the same person as far as I can see; your outer shell is just different. And I love who you are, flaws, outer shells and all.”

His blue eyes watered from the heartfelt acknowledgment. He took a hand away to wipe stray tears from his face, looking away as he did, then turned back to Bowser to let him continue.

“You have been the healthiest, happiest thing that has ever happened to me and my family, and I can’t imagine a better life with anyone else, so . . . ”

Bowser dug his hand into his pants pocket, took out the black box and opened it in front of Luigi. The moscostri gasped, slapping both hands over his mouth to keep a screech loud enough to wake the dead from leaping out of it.

“Luigi, would you make me the happiest koopa alive and marry me?”

There was a moment where everything in the background faded in a blur of colors. His heart beating was the only sound Luigi could hear. Bowser sat there with the blood in his ears, begging his heart to calm down.

“Yes, yes, yes!” the moscostri exclaimed with his arms wide open. He entraped the koopa in a deathly hug, then glued his lips to his.

Time slowed around them. The world reconstructed itself into something brighter, friendlier, and theirs. It was their world now. They weren’t alone in this. They never were as long as they were together. And now they could spend the rest of their lives together. 

THE END!