Night 0: July 10, 1982
Ruckus continues outside despite the sun sinking below the horizon hours ago. Bombs defuse only dozens of feet away from Koopa Castle, shaking the citadel to its core and frightening its residents. The castle's denizens only desire a peaceful night's rest, but alas, peace remains unknown in a state of civil war caused by a successor crisis.
With the confirmed death of Morton Koopa Senior and the disappearance of his eldest son Traw Koopa, the second oldest son, Bowser Koopa, ascended to the throne per Dark Land's Royalty Law. However, with Traw's rediscovery two years into Bowser's reign, Traw states Bowser and his younger siblings lured him into a trap; he feels Bowser's responsible for his disappearance to gain the throne. Thus, he and his supporters rebelled against the current Dark Land government, sparking the current unrest cursing the land and threatening those in the Castle.
In one of the Castle's bedrooms, Ludwig von Koopa, Lemmy Koopa and Roy Koopa huddle together, none of them able to sleep through the night due to the noise and their fears.
"The loud things that go boom… I'm scared. I want Mommy," Lemmy cried as one of the Castle's bullet bill blasters sounds followed by faint screams.
"I-I hope it ends s-soon," Ludwig replied, shaking as he wraps his arms around both Lemmy's and Roy's necks. He attempts being brave for his two younger siblings, but even the collected Ludwig remains fearful. If they're together, then they have nothing to fear.
Unlike the other two, Roy doesn't understand what peace is due to his young age; war's been occurring in Dark Land since before he hatched almost two months ago. Despite being used to the loud sounds from war, Roy feels uneasy; the enemy troops never came THIS close to the Castle, ever.
Ludwig stares at Roy in pity. His youngest brother understands death and violence before he could even speak or walk. No kid should ever have that fate bestowed upon them. Kids should be playing with cars, not participating in endless bomb drills whilst witnessing the massacring of hundreds.
"Here," Ludwig said as he pulls out his wand. From the tip of the wand, a soothing lullaby blares louder than even the largest of bob-ombs can disrupt. The uneasiness in Roy melts away, and the koopaling closes his eyes before expelling little snores. Being careful not to wake him up, Ludwig picks Roy up and lays him down in his crib.
"I'm still scared, Luddy!" Despite the music, Lemmy still whimpers to his brother.
"Shh, Lemmy, Roy's asleep, and we know how hard it is for him to get to sleep. We need to calm down and sleep too. Just focus on the music. Mom and Dad and their army will protect us."
Lemmy nods as he rises from the floor and lays down in his bed, with Ludwig doing the same. With the lullaby continuing, the two then were able to fall asleep.
Day 1: July 11, 1982
A hectic and somber morning greets the residents of the Castle. Servants run two and fro, each carrying a crate loaded with mysterious items. Soldier patrols march throughout the Castle's exterior, threatening to use force on anyone bent on destroying it. Despite the mess, the three koopalings never wake up until Bowser and Clawdia barge into their room.
Frightened, Roy utters a short cry of surprise while Lemmy and Ludwig shoot up from their beds, alert yet confused.
"Bowser? Clawdia? What's wrong?" the eldest koopaling questioned.
With tears in her eyes, Clawdia attempts to speak, but she's unable to state a word without breaking down in anguish. Patting her shoulder, Bowser instead takes the liberty of addressing the three.
"Please gather around."
Lemmy approaches Bowser and sits on the floor, while Ludwig grabs Roy from the crib, nears Bowser, and sits on the floor cross-legged, placing the youngest koopaling on his lap. The two brace themselves; nothing good ever comes from an impromptu meeting during the morning hours. By Clawdia's reaction, this meeting shows no exception.
"The battle yesterday and last night was tough," the king sighed, "Traw's forces were pushed back, and the Castle's no longer under threat. But there's bad news. I'm sorry to say but due to last night… Your parents are no longer with us."
Ludwig feels as if a thousand needles pricked his heart. His family, slaughtered only because of a throne. Ludwig abhorred this war; he wants it to end. But he also doesn't want his other uncle ruling the Land with Morton's iron fist. Meanwhile, Lemmy stares at Bowser, confused at the announcement.
"What? Did they get lost?"
Not wanting to talk further about the tragedy, Bowser sighs in anguish. Ludwig takes the exhale as a sign to clarify; he whispers in Lemmy's ear, resulting in the younger koopaling now frowning and trying to hold back tears.
"No…" he squeaked, a tear escaping his control.
Bowser nods his head, attempting to compose himself after a moment of silence, while Clawdia hugs the children in comfort. Bowser then hugs the three before continuing, "They fought valiantly to the end. We should commemorate their efforts, and always keep them in our memories. But now, we received info from our spies that Traw's now sending mercenary forces to... Possibly kill me, Clawdia and you three."
Ludwig and Lemmy, not expecting to be a target due to their obvious noninvolvement, gape at the news.
"I'm too busy leading the armies, and Clawdia's too busy performing healing surgeries on our troops," Bowser continued, breaking off the hug, "And the servants are loyal to the war action. None of you three have protection here. I can't risk you three being in danger here, especially not together. You're the Kingdom's next heirs."
Figuring out what Bowser's about to announce, Ludwig continues frowning while Lemmy looks at him in confusion.
"So…?"
"I'm having three servants take you three to the Real World."
Lemmy's eyes bulge while Ludwig continues his frowning. The duo heard about the Real World and about how discriminatory they are towards any species not human. How is going there safer than staying on Plit?
"We need to send you there. Traw's magikoopas cannot track you down there," Bowser replied, seemingly reading their minds, "I don't want any of you dead. Now, meet your new, and hopefully temporary, guardians! Kamek, Kammy, Kamella, come over here!"
The three magikoopas fly into the room on their broomsticks, each carrying forged documents about the koopaling they're tasked to care for. Kammy hovers before Lemmy while both Kamek and Kamella stand by Ludwig.
"Ludwig, you'll be living in Austria with Kamek. Anywhere in Austria works, considering it's a neutral country. Swap places every now and then."
Ludwig grins; he loves German and Austrian culture, from their musicians to their food; he can taste the Mozartkugeln already. Despite missing his parents and siblings, he considers this experience to be a once in a lifetime offer. Likewise, Kamek offers a little smirk to his adopted-son-turned-boss.
"I'll take care of him, Your Mightiness. I'll make sure he gets taught the EVIL lessons you so desire to present to him!"
"Good, raise my Crown Prince like you raised me," Bowser nods his head, "Lemmy, you'll be living in Canada with Kammy, possibly in limbo between British Columbia and the Yukon. Switch between the two."
Lemmy, not knowing where Canada's located or what a Canada even is, doesn't show much emotion to the decision. Kammy only nods her head in understanding.
"Lastly, Kamella, take Roy through the sewer in New York City's borough of Brooklyn; it's clear from the rats that nobody ever goes down those sewers, so no one will suspect a thing. I have a rented apartment there in Brooklyn for you and Roy to stay in, and a summer house in the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts to stay in. Again, switch between the two."
"I will, sir," Kamella obeyed, "But why these three, err, multiple places?"
"The kids will be spread out, Traw won't suspect a thing, and most importantly, I believe the best places for them are the ones I assigned. Any other questions?"
The magikoopas shake their heads. Kamek and Kammy beckon their koopalings to get on their broomsticks while Kamella snatches Roy from Ludwig.
"Let's leave now before Traw puts us in danger," Kamek advised.
As the magikoooas fly off into the blue sky, Bowser stares at them in grief. Last night, he lost his two siblings; now today, he just lost his three adopted sons. He hopes all three will be able to come home to a safe Dark Land soon.
And that hope is why he's continuing his fight against Traw's usurping army.
NOTES: Presto! First chapter done!
But with that out of the way:
So, during Shards of Love Chapter 6 (as well as several other chapters), I mentioned the childhoods of the three elder koopalings... Yet I never went in depth over why their childhoods came to be in the story solely because I consider it filler for that specific story (and I'm not a fan of fillers). Instead, I created this, told in Roy's account (starting in Chapter 3). As you get to the later portions of Shards of Love, or even in this story, you'll see why I specifically chose Roy to base this story on rather than Lemmy/Ludwig.
This story also explains more in-depth of my personal headcanon of Bowser, the Koopa Troop and even the Mario Brothers, all wrapped in one. Hence, reading Shards of Love is not required to understand this.
Yes, if you could tell from Bowser's dialogue, the Koopalings aren't Bowser's kids in this story (matching established canon); their relationship and perhaps the concept of Bowser Jr will be explained throughout. And yes, much of my headcanon of the three eldest koopalings were inspired by Britain's Operation Pied Piper conducted during WWII, which had millions of children evacuated from London in a matter of days. Their voices in the DOS/CD version of Mario is Missing! (although it's not a canon game, I actually find it intriguing) also led me down this path. Of course, I found oddities that Ludwig had a near-stereotypical central European accent I'd associate with Transylvanian vampires (but I picture him as Austrian or German due to his name), while Roy has a hint of a Brooklyn accent in many areas of Mario is Missing!, although not as thick as his (Bully's) in the cartoons. The others, despite their awful voices (other than Wendy), didn't seem out-of-place in the Mario world, so I kept them only inside the Mario World. Interesting fact: The unused Lemmy soundclips in that game also indicate a more proper, gentleman-like tone, which is one reason why I picked Canada for Lemmy (along with his apparent love for cold environments).