No Other Way
by RandyPandy
This is the first story that I've tried writing for the Mario universe. I am quite aware that there are plotholes in this fic. Blame Partners in Time. I will attempt to keep this as canon as possible while still adding my own ideas. At first, it will be about the Mario Bros. lives before they head to the Mushroom Kingdom. It will then head into the Mushroom Kingdom world later. I was very tempted to do Yoshi's Island and Partners in Time before this part, but I decided not to.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mario, Luigi, and any other character names you probably recognize. I do, however, own the man and the woman in the beginning fic (the man is identified by name later) and the Mario couple.
"Is there no other way?"
The speaker was a woman, dressed in a black cloak. She wasn't very tall, and her voice was light. Standing next to her was a taller man. He too was wearing a black cloak, although the tell-tale signs of a blue hat with a 'T' on it was on his head. Both of them were holding a blanket-wrapped bundle in their arms each.
The man sighed. "We have no choice. You heard why the stork was late in delivering them. Koopas were interested in them; even Dark Wizard Kamek went out of his way to kidnap them. If the Yoshis hadn't helped them, they would have never made it here. And they were quite formidable during the Shroob invasion. When they disappeared, we were worried that something had happened to them. But Toadsworth gave them back to us, perfectly unharmed. How could two babies survive an alien invasion unchanged when everyone else was being Shroobified right and left?"
"Still... do we really have to take such drastic measures?" the woman sniffled. She clutched the bundle in her arms even tighter, but not too tightly.
"I'm afraid we have no choice," the man told her gently. "Come. We must do this before the Koopas attack again. I have already explained to the king why they will not be able to play with the princess anymore. He was unhappy, but knew that it was necessary."
"Where are we going?" the woman asked.
"I'll show you. There is a warp pipe hidden between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Beanbean Kingdom. People rarely head over there, and few know about the warp pipe's existence."
"But thousands must cross the border everyday!"
"I know. But I have a feeling that the warp pipe will only appear for those that know of its existence and are looking for it. It must lead somewhere very secure – possibly secure enough for our children. They can go grow up there, safe and sound."
"But will they ever come back?"
"We must take that risk," he told her gently. "You would rather our children grow up safe and sound rather then be constantly attacked by forces of darkness, correct?"
"Y-yes..." she whispered.
The man glanced at the sky, and then at the bundle in his arms. The baby inside the blankets was asleep, but one could see a bright red hat with an 'M' stitched on it. The baby inside the bundle on his wife's arms also had a hat, except it was bright green with an 'L' stitched on it.
"We must go."
Looming in front of them was a bright green warp pipe. At first, they had not even noticed it, but after looking around for it, the warp pipe was suddenly in plain view. The man's theory about the warp pipe had been correct.
"So, this is it... we go inside the pipe, leave them, and come back," the man said. He stepped into the pipe. The woman hesitated for a moment, and then followed.
They made nothing of the experience through the warp pipe; the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom dealt with them on a daily basis. It was when they climbed out of the warp pipe that they were shocked.
They were standing inside an alleyway. Tall buildings, some even taller than the king's castle, littered the place. The alleyway they were standing in had nothing in it, save the warp pipe. It was late at night, so when they left the alleyway, no one was on the streets.
"W-wow..." the woman breathed. She glanced around at her surroundings, wide-eyed. "What is this land called? I don't ever recall hearing anyone talk about this style of buildings..."
"I do not know," the man replied.
"Where shall we leave the children?" the woman asked him.
The man pointed at a building in the distance. "There." The building was labeled 'Brooklyn's Children's Home for Boys and Girls.' "If I am correct, whoever lives there takes care of children. Surely they will take care of our sons!"
The couple walked over to the steps of the orphanage and gently placed their bundles down. They stood there, staring at the babies for a moment. The woman began to sob lightly. Alarmed, the man turned to her.
"Shh... it's okay..."
"I-I can't help it..." she sniffled. "W-we might n-never see them a-a-again..." She kneeled down and gently kissed the foreheads of the sleeping babies. "Goodbye..." Still sobbing, she and the man walked away, back to the warp pipe which whisked them away to another world...
On the doorstep of the orphanage, a pair one-year-old boys slept through the night. In the morning, they were found and taken into the orphanage that would be their home for a few years.
The boys appeared Italian in origin, so, going by the letters on their hats, the orphanage people named them Mario and Luigi. The two brothers were unusually close, having no one else to really turn to. They felt as if something isolated them from the other children, as if they were not like them.
The odd thing was, they came up with the strangest things. When Mario was four, he drew the image of a two-legged dinosaur with a large mouth, shoes, and a saddle, colored it green, and said that it was a 'Yoshi' and that it was a real animal. He was laughed at by everyone except Luigi, who had been drawing the exact same thing.
Sometime after this, while Luigi was out, he was struck by lightning. Amazingly, he was only knocked unconscious and suffered a few light burns, which were minor compared to what most victims suffered. The Brooklyn doctors were unable to explain why Luigi was perfectly healthy, and dismissed it as a 'miracle' and an isolated incident.
Not long afterwards, there was a fire in the orphanage. Mario, as well as a few other children, was trapped in the burning section. Two children died, and many others had severe burns, but Mario only had some blistered skin which quickly healed. Doctors were unable to explain this as well, and people grew more and more curious about the odd pair of twin boys with the almost identical hats.
The first turning point in their lives was when they were five-years-old. An Italian couple had come looking for children since the wife was unable to get pregnant, and the one time she had, she had delivered a still-born child. The couple had given up trying to bear their own children, and had instead turned to adoption.
They would like a pair of boys, brothers, preferably, as they told the orphanage. After a long, drawn-out process, they adopted Mario and Luigi. Curiously, their last name was also Mario, much to Luigi's amusement.
They moved in with the Mario family, who loved the two boys as if they were their own sons. The two brothers spent several more happy years there before finally going their own way. However, that's for later...
No, this is not the end! I felt this an appropriate place to leave off. It could be a one-shot or a multi-chapter story. Hopefully, it will be multi-chapter.