Hello everyone! Many of you recall this story from way back when. Well, just like I mentioned in my profile, this story is now off hiatus and I'm so happy to be able to finish it! This is one of my favorite Mario bros stories and I was and still am proud of the work I did (although I hated my grammar back then...) In any case, all chapters will be edited and the story will continue! Remember, this is way before the bros ever made it to the Mushroom Kingdom, but I will do my best to explain how they became the brothers we all know and love.

One major/minor edit: I did a bit of digging and found out the Mario bros were about four years apart. For the sake of that, I will be changing their ages to match the current information. I also made up their parent's names since there still appears to be no backstory on these boys and their past life (or the information is pretty much all over the place so their parents backstory is mostly my idea).

As always, thank you for taking the time to enjoy and read this story! Please let me know what you think of the new style! I own nothing.


A Simple Promise

Chapter 1

Ever since the Mario bros were born, their parents noticed their son's distinctive personalities. They quickly noticed how fast Mario filled his role as big brother and protector to younger brother Luigi. Their mother insisted it had to do with their birth-or rather, the circumstances that surrounded their entry into the world.

Mario and Luigi were born four years apart. On October 11th, 1991, Mario was born into the world. He was a healthy baby, born just under seven pounds even, and was a loud crier to boot. Their parents, Sylvia and Charles Mario, happily held their firstborn son as he made his presence known. At the time, the two had been married for almost five years and were so happy to finally be starting a family.

Four years later, they got another shock when Sylvia discovered she was pregnant again. Nine months later, on July 14th, 1995, Luigi was born, although his circumstances were not as good as his brother's.

While Luigi had been a bit smaller than Mario, just under five pounds six ounces, he was still a bit of a crier... at first. A few days into the world, one of Luigi's lungs just stopped functioning properly. No one knew why, and it was strange since all other vitals showed he had been healthy. He was placed on a breathing cannula to force air into him as the doctors tried to figure out why his lung stopped working.

Three weeks later, besides the collapsed lung, Luigi developed a bad upper respiratory infection that rendered him helpless. Doctors placed him on life support as Sylvia and Charles were told their secondborn's chances of survival were low. The small family were taken upstairs to see him, and to say their farewells.

Four year old Mario hadn't fully understood what was happening to his baby brother. He looked sick and frail, and all the machines making weird noises were annoying him. As his father spoke with the doctor, Sylvia came to sit with her two sons, eyes red and wet.

This, she says, was when Mario's protective nature came out.

As Mario watched Luigi fight for his life, Mario took his little hand carefully and said to him, "Heya, Weege. I'm Mario, and I'm ya big brother. Mommy and Daddy are sad because you're really, really sick. I don't really get it, but... you'll be okay. I'm gonna be right here, and so is Mommy and Daddy."

Mario fingers closed around Luigi's tiny hand. He smiled in a strangely mature fashion and whispered, "I'm your brother. I'm not leaving you alone, okay? So get better soon so we can play together. Okay?"

The hospital allowed Mario to stay with his parents overnight- the reason? The moment Mario was about to leave, Luigi's vital dropped lower. Bit by bit, it decreased, and he eventually nearly coded. Mario had been confused, he just saw Luigi and he was only sleeping!

He darted back into the room, past the nurses struggling to keep Luigi alive, and right up to his brother's bed. Nothing the nurses said to him made him budge. Not even his father threatening to pull him away budged the older brother.

"Come on, Luigi! You can't do that! You're scaring me and Mommy and Daddy!" Mario said, nearly screaming. "Wake up, Luigi!"

Miraculously, Luigi's vitals stopped dropping. He was slowly, very slowly, getting his blood pressure back up, and the machines around him soon displayed somewhat average numbers. The two parents could not believe what they had saw, and neither could Luigi's doctor or nurses.

Charles and Sylvia recalled how happy Mario was when his brother kept fighting, or his temper when the doctor tried to pull Mario back from Luigi. Sylvia had never seen a four year old lash out so badly a day in her life, and her and her husband had no clue how to begin to respond to that.

Luigi was being watched over by a fiercely protective guardian angel. That was the only way she could put it.

Mario refused to let anything more happen to his baby brother.

Things began looking up Luigi's way, though. After a surgery to correct his lung and powerful antibiotics for the infection, Luigi was finally transferred to the standard infant patient room. Shortly thereafter, he was taken off the cannula and given a mask, began eating so he could regain weight he had lost, and his stiches taken out, which left a scar on Luigi's left side. After four and a half months, Luigi was finally sent home to be with his family. He had also been diagnosed with an early stage of asthma, and was sent home with a pump in case of emergencies.

Luigi was still very weak, and couldn't eat as much as Mario could when he was a baby, but managed to smile and laugh at the funny faces of his family and cry for a bottle and his nap. He grew at an otherwise normal pace for infants, except for the fact he was lighter in weight than his older brother, had his asthma, and had certain sensitivities that had to be monitored. Due to his infection, his parents also kept a closer eye on Luigi whenever he came down with a cold.

Mario cared for his baby brother, help his parents potty train him, and celebrated every birthday milestone. Luigi got to see his big brother do things that mde him both look up to him and wish that he could be like him. Sylvia and Charles didn't care- they had the perfect family, and things were good for awhile.

As Luigi grew older, however, Sylvia noticed another habit that grew with him.

Luigi had begun to turn into a crybaby something fierece.

Whenever something happened he didn't like, he cried. Whenever Mario made fun of him, no matter how light the joke, he cried. Charles wondered how he got such a strong firstborn, but such a wimpy second born, and chalked it up to Sylvia babying him too much. Sylvia believed Luigi was just oversensitive and emotional, and he would outgrown this part of his life. Mario didn't really care either way-Luigi was still his brother. Even if he was a crybaby.

Then one day, and seemingly out of the blue, Luigi came down with a nasty cough. Soon the cough came with fever, chills, and a headache that made Luigi irritable. Having dealt with her four year old sicker than that, Sylvia didn't worry too much- she took him to the family pediatrician, who prescribed some medication and told her that he'd have to stay home until he got one hundred percent well. Everyone knew how bad colds and flus knocked Luigi back, so they all rallied to care for the sick child. It seemed like an everyday case of the flu.

One night, as Mario walked past Luigi's room door to head to the bathroom, he heard a strange sound. Backtracking, he poked his head in Luigi's room, where the sound came from. And he winced.

Sitting upright on the bed, four year old Luigi was trying to breathe. He held his asthma pump in a shaky hand, and his cheeks were bright red. Mario ran over to him, scared out of his mind for his brother.

"Weegie, What's wrong?! Do you want Mom?!" Sylvia was asleep down the hall, and Charles was at work late that night. Mario had a strong mind to call for help- even though he'd help care for Luigi, it never got easier seeing him so sick.

"M-Ma... rio...?" Luigi weakly panted, struggling to look up at him. His cheeks were red from the coughing fit, and it only scared Mario more. But he didn't want to leave him and something bad happened.

He took the asthma pump out of his hand and popped the top off. Maneuvering his brother in his arms so he was using him for support, Mario placed the mouth of the inhaler in between Luigi's lips and compressed it. One puff, and Luigi felt a bit better. After the second one, he felt his chest opening up more and he sighed heavily.

"Thank you, bro", Luigi mumbled sleepily as his eyes began to slip closed. Mario still wasn't comfortable with his brother being this ill and wondered if their mom had heard his coughing. She'd been working, came home and made dinner and cleaned the house before their father had left. Mario smiled a little- his mom was definitely tired. She would have been down here if she had heard Luigi coughing so bad.

He decided to let her sleep- he could handle his sick little brother. After all, that's what he's for, right?

He palmed Luigi's forehead and nodded to himself. Luigi definitely had a fever, and he was still trying to cough up something. Mario looked next to him on Luigi's nightstand and noticed that a box of tissues sat there, opened and almost halfway done. Grabbing a few, Mario pressed it to his brother's mouth and patted his back, recalling the same motion his mom did when he was smaller- and sicker.

Luigi coughed hard, and something came up- green and clear in color. It was gross, but Mario was pleased his brother was fighting his flu. He smiled a little to himself a he noticed Luigi's drowsy body sinking more and more into him. He shook him awake a little.

"Hey bro." Mario felt scared, but the fear slowly went away as his brother opened slightly glazed eyes and struggled to focus on him. Pulling up the blankets, Mario decided to stay with his brother tonight. He had seen his brother like that before, but he never wanted to see it again, and yet here they were.

Luigi was a sickly child. Mario decided to leave it at that.

Luigi let out a small yawn, warm and secretly happy his big brother was there to keep him safe, and snuggled closer to him. He still felt strange breathing, but the coughing seemed to have calmed down for the time being. He was just exhausted and really wanted to sleep. Mario realized Luigi wasn't the only one who wouldn't be able to sleep by themselves tonight.

Luigi tried to apologize to Mario. "Mario...I'm sorry. I... I..."

"Shhh. Don't talk too much, Luigi." Mario said quietly, stroking his brother's cheek out of habit. Luigi didn't say much, but he nodded so he knew his brother had heard him. He reached up and gave his brother his asthma inhaler so he wouldn't forget about it come morning, but not before Mario made him inhale three times more- could never be too safe, although he figured he should ask his mom how many pumps Luigi takes when he gets sick.

"You know, Weege... you were really sick when you were a baby, you know that?" Mario suddenly started saying, zoned out. Luigi mumbled a sleepy 'hmm, really' and Mario laughed.

"Yeah. Mom said when you were born you got really, really sick... like you almost... died... because you got like this... sick..." Mario shuddered; that was one memory that the eight year old could do without. Luigi never knew the circumstances behind his birth, just that his family was really paranoid whenever he got a bad cold... like now.

"We had to wait a long, long time for you to come home. But we always visited you in the hospital and I was really mad at the guy with the white coat- he tried to say you almost died!" Mario still grew angry at what happened that particular day he and his family were leaving that night after visiting hours were over- that doctor hurt him and bad!

"...I ... was hur'..." Luigi tried to ask but it came out slurred. Mario pulled Luigi closer and smiled.

"Yeah, you were hurt. Really bad. But then you got better, and Mom and Dad and me finally took you home... I was so happy to have my little brother home."

"Re'ly..."

"Really." Mario heard soft breathing as Luigi finally dropped off to DreamLand, and decided to keep talking as he felt himself starting to join him.

"Mom always told me... that you were gonna be strong one day. And that you were fighting every day of your life, and you always came out... strong. Happy. Even though you're still the big crybaby..." He chuckled to himself at that one.

Unable to keep his eyes open anymore, Mario shifted a bit so he could have Luigi close, and kept the inhaler between them in case it was needed. The green blanket covered both small frames as they drempt about cartoons and all the junk food they could eat.

Sylvia came in the next morning, cold and flu medication in hand for Luigi's daily dose, and her heart melted when she saw her younger son wrapped in the protective arms of her older one. Granted, Mario did get sick two weeks later, and Luigi was upset and crying every night while Mario fought over his cold. But as all older siblings do, Mario brushed it off and comforted him.

This was only the beginning for the Mario family, Sylvia knew. Things were changing, the boys were getting older, and soon, they would have to learn to stand on their own feet.

But she wasn't sure her small family were ready for the upcoming years ahead.