God, it's been forever since I've written something for the site! It kinda feels good to write again. Anywho, I bring you a multi-chapter fic that I will hopefully finish!
Disclaimer: I own natta. Not even my clothes.
"Master Koopa, we know it is a lot to take in for such a short amount of time, but I implore-"
"My son is of royal blood! We Koopas don't just have random accidents that injure us for life! We have shells and bones of steel! Nothing can break them! I guarantee he'll be up and wrecking havoc on the Marios by tomorrow morning!"
"Please sir, you don't understand! Master Ignatius suffered a severe blow to the head when the explosion caused the roof to collapse on top of him! An injury like that usually instantly kills the victim! The external signs are worrying enough, just imagine the damage his brain-"
"Shaddup with your medical crap already! I'm telling you, Iggy will be fine by tomorrow. In fact, I'll just prove it to you right now, that you're just making a big deal about nothing, by just taking off these bandages!"
"Master Boswer! No!" The Medi-Koopa who worked for the House of Koopa reached out to grab Bowser's arm, but was effortlessly pushed to the ground by the large appendage. "Sir, I strongly advise you that removing Master Ignatius' banda-"
Bowser only snorted, smoke billowing out of his nose in annoyance as he reached for his son's bandages and pulled them off. "See? Fit as a…"
While Iggy Koopa looked horrible enough with most of his head covered up, with various burns and bruises littering his body; ripping off the bandages exposed the horrific wound that covered almost a forth of the right side of his face. The entire area was dark purple from excessive bruising, and in the center; the white of his skull, cracked and dented, surrounded by exposed red flesh, partially burnt from the explosion earlier that day. Bowser was visibly taken aback by the sight of the injury that he had not predicted, faltering backwards a few feet.
"Master Bowser, please, I'm sure you see now how dire a situation your child really is in," The Medi-Koopa said, taking advantage for Bowser's moment of weakness to quickly rebandage Iggy's head. "The other Medi-Koopas are preparing for Master Ignatius' surgery-"
"Surgery?"
"Yes sir, surgery. An injury as severe as this has a high risk of infection, which could easily kill him. Brain damage too, is a definite possibility, but to what degree we don't know. We have to cut out the burnt and dead tissue, and then-"
"Enough of the medical explanations and shit. Just tell me, what are the chances of him living through this?"
"Mortality rate is about fifty percent, sir."
Boswer's face sunk into a deeper frown than his usual scowl, but his eyes showed his raw emotion. The worry and fear of whether his middle child would make it or not, and apprehension of the after-affects of such a devastating injury and what its impacts could be on the Koopa family.
Glancing back at Iggy, the Koopa King watched for a moment his unconscious son lying on the large medical bed. The white sheets made his scales look paler, thus making his numerous injuries much more prominent. His rainbow Mohawk, which normally stuck up straight in a somewhat neat fashion, was either burned, or shaved off to make room for the bandages. It was a rather comical sight, and Bowser would of fallen down laughing if it weren't for the melancholy situation that led to it.
"I'm going to my Study. When Iggy gets out of surgery or if there's any other news, send up a Troopa and I'll be right down."
Bowser closed the door behind him, but instead of going off to his study he stopped in the middle of the hallway. Sadness was a rather foreign emotion to him, and he hated it. The Koopa King hated how it twisted his stomach into such a large knot it felt like it would never come undone. He felt numb almost, and in denial that his son could very well die.
The many rejections of Princess Peach never made him feel like this. Sure, it made him feel a little hurt that such a beautiful princess could feel so utterly disgusted at someone as handsome and powerful as the Great King Bowser himself, but he always held optimism that one day he wouldn't have to kidnap the princess, that she would come to him instead, and Mario would come all the way to the Darklands only for him to see the princess happy in his arms. It would be the perfect revenge on the plumber.
Revenge… Was that it? The fact that there was no one to blame for his son's injury? Bowser pondered the thought. If someone had attacked his child instead of his injuries resulting in some freak accident, all his emotions would be instead anger directed into beating up and killing whoever did it. There would be no time to worry or be sad, just on getting revenge. Today, however, was the first major accident Bowser had ever had to experience with any of his children.
"How will I tell them?" Bowser mumbled to himself. The other seven were around when the accident happened, but they never actually saw the state their brother was really in. After the explosion, everyone in the nearby wings who heard had scrambled to see what the noise and commotion was, and the children were blocked out for safety. Ludwig, however, being the oldest at seventeen, was later allowed in.
Bowser cringed at the memory, playing like a movie, reforming in his head. Iggy, when his father arrived, was still conscious and screaming as Kamek and a few Medi-Koopas who were close by when the explosion happened were trying to bandage his quickly bleeding head. Traces of smoke still filled the room that was now filled with the collapsed ceiling, preventing Bowser from seeing what caused the chaos. His primary goal, though, was to get to Iggy.
Kamek had mumbled something about something treatable brain damage (Which Bowser now realized was actually something he misheard and what had caused his denial, and that Kamek instead said untreatable), but Bowser was not listening to him. A rare fatherly instinct, deeply buried in a soul of hatred and scorn, was telling him to get to Iggy, that something was wrong with Iggy. By then Ludwig was allowed in, and was kneeling by his brother's side, trying to get his brother to calm down and stop screaming. He quieted down a bit, reverting instead to sobs of pain while holding Ludwig's hand in a death grip. The oldest Koopa tried to keep him awake, but Iggy only stayed conscious for a few more minutes before collapsing from pain and exhaustion.
Quickly after he was bandaged, two Medi-Koopas laid Iggy on a stretcher and sent him down into the infirmary, a small wing in the back of the castle. Ludwig was sent, after much protest, to watch the other six children and keep them occupied and out of the way. Bowser was told to wait outside, while the Medi-Koopas looked Iggy's injuries.
Bowser imagined how his children would take their brother's possible mental handicap, or even death if the event occurred. Ludwig would try to hide his sorrow, and probably would want to be alone for a while. Lemmy… He would be crushed. Lemmy and Iggy were almost like twins. Roy would probably stop beating him up, and hide his emotions much like Ludwig. Morton… Bowser cringed. Morton loved to deal with his problems by talking. Wendy and Larry weren't very close to him, and Bowser Jr. was probably too young to fully understand.
"Father?" A quiet yet deep German voice called from behind him. Turning around, Bowser came to face Ludwig, who was trying to hide worry with a straight face.
"I thought I told you to go watch the others?" Bowser said, raising an eyebrow. When Ludwig was told to do something, the oldest child would always try to do the task perfectly and never disobeyed. Yet currently he stood before his father, no siblings in sight.
"Kamek was worried about you; he told me to check on you and he would watch the others for a while. How is he?"
Bowser shrugged. "Damn Medi-Koopa said he needs surgery or something for his head injury. Who knows how long that will take. Outlook is fifty-fifty." He said guilelessly. Ludwig bit his lip in worry, but said nothing. "I'll be in my study. Keep those kids occupied and tell them not to bother me."
Ludwig watched as his father turned and walked down the dim hallway. The halls were lined with torches which casted large shadows on the walls, giving the moment a somber and cold feeling. Sighing, he turned the opposite way and trudged upstairs to where Kamek and his siblings were, in the playroom.
Much like his father, Ludwig hated dealing with emotions. Unlike Bowser, however, the eldest Koopa bottled up his emotions and retained a calm stature; anger released rarely and when it happened, he was crueler than his father himself. Today, Ludwig felt like he had betrayed his siblings. Naturally as the eldest, it was his job to watch over and care for his troublemaking siblings, so they would not get into any situations that were more dangerous than living in a castle full of fire. Yet Iggy had a fifty percent chance of dying.
"Yo Ludwig? How's Pop?" Roy greeted him as he stepped into the playroom. Ludwig hated the room; toys were scattered across the room, paint and crayons covering the walls from Bowser Jr.'s moments of artistic genius. Nothing was in the right place, and half of the things in the room never had a place to go in the first place.
"In his study. Bother him you die situation," Ludwig replied simply, grabbing a book about Beethoven and plopping down in a beanbag chair.
"That bad huh?" Wendy called from the corner. She held a mirror and was currently applying a second layer of lipstick. "Daddykins will cheer up soon. He hasn't kidnapped the Princess for a while, he'll probably be doing that soon. How's Iggy?"
Ludwig shrugged, not wanting to talk. Wendy rolled her eyes, mumbling something about hating life with all boys.
"Knowing Iggy, he's probably okay. But then again, that was quite an explosion earlier. What if he has no head? Then we'll have to stuff food down his throat to keep him alive! Or he could have no legs, so he'll have to wheel around in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. I wanna ride in a wheelchair too. It looks like fun! I bet-"
"Shaddup Morton!" Roy said, chucking a couple of nearby markers at his brother's head. Morton glared at him in return while rubbing his head, but didn't say anything to retort.
"I hope Iggy gets better quick!" Lemmy piped up, ever enthusiastic and optimistic. "I have a new game I wanna play with him!"
"For all you know Lemmy, Iggy could already be DEAD!" Roy teased, turning from his coloring book to look at the smallest koopa.
"Shut up, that's not funny!" Lemmy cried, visibly upset and looking like he was about to cry. The second oldest koopa at fifteen was the smallest, and also the most emotional out of all of them. Roy turned back to continue coloring, feeling slightly guilty. He liked to push his siblings around for a little fun, but he hated to see them actually hurt or upset.
Ludwig cringed from behind his book. Unlike his siblings, he knew the dire situation Iggy was in, and that there really was a possibility he could die. Part of him wanted to tell the others what was wrong with their brother, so they would stop torturing him with their cruel jokes about him being dead.
"I'm sure he's fine," Wendy said. She had finished with her lipstick and was now applying thick coats of mascara. "He'll just be a big baby and whine about it for a while before going to his lab and blowing up more things."
"Did ya see the hole he made in the ceiling? Man wish I could do that," Roy said, pumping his fists in the air. "I should ask him to make me some kind of potion when he gets better so I can have the strength to break down stone walls and ceilings."
"You wish," Wendy snorted. Roy growled and stood up, pointing an accusing finger at his sister.
"Ya wanna say that again to my face instead of that mirror ya always carry around reflecting that ugly face of yours?"
Wendy threw down the mirror and tube of mascara and stood up with equal force as her brother, glaring back at Roy. "I said… You wish you could have super strength to do something like that. You can barely lift thirty pounds, wishful thinker."
"Why I outta…" Roy pulled back his fist to punch Wendy, but Ludwig appeared by his side and grabbed his arm before the largest koopa could move.
"You punch Wendy, and I'm throwing you in Father's study so you can deal with his wrath.," Ludwig threatened, his voice low and dripping with venom. He hated dealing with his siblings when the fought. Which happened a lot. Letting go, Roy lowered his fist and gave Wendy one last glare, before sitting down and returning to coloring his flowers.
For the next few hours unsteady peace remained in the Koopa Castle. Bowser, still holed up in his quiet study, impatiently tapped on his large ornate desk, waiting for the news from the Medi-Koopas. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, he sighed. He last talked with them at one thirty. Currently it was almost seven. Five and half hours without any sort of news was not good.
A timid knock was heard at the door. "Master Bowser?"
"What?" Bowser snapped. "This had better be important, or you'll be swimming with the cheep cheeps when I throw you out of the window!" Slowly the door opened, revealing the same shaking and nervous looking Medi-Koopa from before.
"Master Bowser, I must bring you some unfortunate news…"
"Unfortunate news?" Bowser stood up with a menacing look, causing the Medi-Koopa to cringe and shrink back against the wall.
"A-About Master Ignatius S-Sir…"
"Yes, I know that!" Bowser roared. Impatient and stressed, the Koopa King grabbed the Koopa and held him out the window. "Tell me, what about my son?"
The Medi-Koopa yelped as he looked down, cheep cheeps jumping out of the water at the sight of a delicious meal.
Don't ask about the Medi-Koopas, 'kay? Bowser has all kinds of weird soldiers and servants working for him, so why not Medi-Koopas? Basically, they're Koopa doctors. Sorry for the awkward cliffhanger too, but from the summary you probably know what's to happen. Keep reading anyway!