So, um, I know I've been gone for a long time, a real long time, but I hope to be back, depends on many things like school, my mood, how much time I have, ... I don't know if I'll finish the stories that I have published that are currently unfinished, I wrote those a long time ago and I am in another head space then I was back then. Some things I wrote back then even make me cringe or realize that this was not how I intended the stories to come across sometimes. I'm pretty sure my writing style has changed too and won't fit in those stories. But, I'll see what I'll do with them. Oh well, let's get on with this new story, I hope you'll enjoy it!
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Marco, Mario and Luigi's dad, put the last suitcase in the trunk of his car and closed it. Inside the car already were Louise, Mario and Luigi's mom, and the brothers themselves. Mario seemed annoyed, sitting in the car with his arms crossed over his chest, while Luigi looked kinda sad to leave his hometown. Their mother looked unsure and worried. Marco got behind the steering wheel and looked at his old house once again. Then he started the engine and began to drive off.
"Why do we have to move?" Mario asked his parents while uncrossing his arms and looking out of the window.
Louise looked in the rearview mirror at her oh so annoyed son and said "Don't worry about it Mario, we lived there a long time ago, I'm sure you'll remember some of it and love the place once again, like you did when you were younger." she answered sweetly, trying to get her son to be a little less annoyed about this whole moving away thing. She herself didn't like the idea either, but tried to make the best of it, like always.
Mario huffed annoyed and angrily answered "What about our friends here? We barely got to say goodbye to them and now we're moving to another fucking country?!"
"Mario! Be nice to your mother." his father answered kinda angry "We're all trying to make the best of the situation."
"But dad-"
"What is this situation you guys are talking about the whole time?" Luigi interrupted, while looking at his parents backs instead of out of the window.
The car grew silent and the brothers got more and more curious. Neither of their parents knew how to answer their kids, considering the 'situation' wasn't a good one.
Mario grew impatient and said "Well?"
Luigi, being the good observer he is, picked up on his mother's nervous ticks: not making eye contact, fiddling with her wedding ring, waiting for his dad to say something instead, ... This made Luigi think that it wasn't a good reason that they had to move to this weird world their parents were talking about.
"We'll explain when we'll get there, the whole situation is confusing to us too, Mario." their father eventually answered in all honesty, after thinking about it for a long time.
"That isn't an ans-"
Before Mario could finish his sentence, Luigi gave him a nudge, as if he meant "shut up". Mario huffed annoyed once again, but decided not to press the matter any further.
After a half an hour drive, their father came to a halt at an old, abandoned warehouse. The boys looked confused while their mother handed their father a set of keys. Their father got out of the car and walked up to the gate of the warehouse. He grabbed the keys and kinda struggled with which one was the correct one. Eventually he got the right key that opened the gates. Mario grew tired of being kept in the dark of all of this and grew more curious about what they were doing here.
"What are we doing at an abandoned building?" Mario asked when his father entered the car.
"It's um... It's better if you see it for yourself son, this is where this trip gets kinda weird." his father answered, unsure how to answer his son about how they're going through a portal to another world.
"Okay?" Mario said in confusion while looking at his brother, who just shrugged, Luigi didn't know what to make of all this either.
Marco started the engine once again and drove the car through the gates, all the way to the back of the building. He parked his car there, as it was out of sight there and (hopefully) save from thieves and such.
"Wait here for a second, I'm going to close the gates." Marco said while getting out of the car once again.
While Mario was still annoyed, Luigi started to add everything up about this other world and this abandoned building. And he could only come to one conclusion.
"Is there some kind of gateway to this 'other world' in this building?" Luigi asked his mother, who seemed taken back that her son figured this out so quickly, while Mario looked at his brother as if he said something an insane person would say. Louise didn't know what to answer, but luckily for her, Marco had arrived at their car once again.
Marco opened the door and said "Come on, help me with the suitcases."
They all got out of the car and helped with the suitcases. When they got all of their suitcases, Marco locked the car. Mario was still annoyed and confused as to why they were here.
Mario couldn't help but ask "Why are we here?". His parents looked at each other and didn't know how to answer, until Louise finally cracked.
"Your brother actually wasn't far off with what he said just now in the car." she answered, making Marco look confused.
"I asked if there was some kind of gateway to this other world in this building." Luigi enlightened him.
Marco pondered for a second and answered "Well, you can kind of call it that, it's best if you two see it for yourselves, follow me."
Marco walked to the back entrance of the building and got the keys, once again struggling to find the correct one and now that the boys were close enough, they could hear their father curse under his breath. After four keys, he had the correct one and the door opened. He pushed the door open and let his children and his wife enter. Once inside Marco locked the doors once again. Mario took a deep breath out of annoyance, but soon regretted that as he inhaled a lot of dust and started coughing like maniac. Luigi struggled to hold back a chuckle, but this only made his brother mad.
"Stop laughing!" Mario said angrily while trying to stop coughing "How can you be so okay with all of this?"
Luigi looked confused and answered his brother "Who says I am okay with all of this? I'm just handeling it okay, which you're clearly not."
Mario looked angry, but before he could say anything his father said "Stop it the both of you, now follow me."
To everyones surprise, Mario listened to his father. They followed them and he grabbed his key bundle to once again struggle to find the correct key of one of the few doors that was in the abandoned building. Once opened, he let everyone inside. Mario and Luigi stared confused at what was in front of them while their father locked the door behind them.
"Why is there a gigantic, green pipe in the middle of this room and nothing else?" Mario asked confused.
Luigi put two and two together and added "Is this the gateway?"
Their mother couldn't help but feel proud at how Luigi had this all figured out already. Marco thought for a second and answered "The official name of this thing is a warp pipe, it's, like Luigi said, kind of a gateway to the world we were talking about."
"So... Do we just fall in this warp pipe?" Luigi asked carefully.
All of the sudden Mario said "Is this all a joke? Can't we just go home?"
"No." their parents answered at the same time.
Mario sighed in defeat. Marco got closer to the pipe and asked "Anyone wants to go first?"
Neither one of his boys answered, still confused about the whole thing.
"I'll go, then you 'men' can throw the suitcases in and I'll put them to the side." Louise said.
Nobody answered, so Louise took this as a yes. She got on the edge of the pipe and said "See you on the other side." Soon after she went down in the pipe.
"Mom?!" Mario and Luigi yelled worriedly in the pipe at the same time.
"She can't hear you." Marco answered quickly, to reassure his kids "She's fine don't worry, help me with the suitcases."
The boys helped their father and threw the luggage down one by one, slowly, as to give their mother time to put them out of the way.
"Who wants to go?" Marco asked his sons.
Mario looked kinda scared, but Luigi offered to go.
"Alright then kid." Marco said while Luigi got in the pipe.
When Luigi got on the other side, he felt kind of weird, kinda dizzy too. Louise helped him up on his feet.
"First time warp traveling might make you a lil bit dizzy, you alright?" his mother asked in concern.
"Yes, I'm fine ma, the dizziness is starting to go away." Luigi answered to reassure his mother.
"Good, sometimes people puke when they do that for the first time, wasn't looking forward to that." Louise answered relieved, but that didn't last for long.
Mario came down the pipe and immediately started puking in a nearby bucket. Louise hurried by his side to help him.
"Okay, maybe I was wrong with Luigi being the one with the sensitive stomach." Louise said.
Luigi rolled his eyes at that remark. Soon after Marco came down too. Luigi helped him up and his father thanked him. Marco looked to where Mario and Louise were.
Marco laughed and said to his wife "Told you at least one of them would puke."
"Marco, this is not funny!" Louise answered angrily while she saw Luigi holding back his laughter "Luigi! Have some compassion!"
Mario got up from the bucket and wiped his mouth with a paper handkerchief. "I think I'm alright now." he said and then added "Why did I puke and you guys didn't?"
"We've used warp pipes many times, we're used to this." Marco answered "As for your brother, he probably got lucky."
Luigi shrugged and Mario rolled his eyes.
"Grab your suitcases and follow me." Marco said. He opened a door, which he this time didn't need keys for, and closed it once again when everyone was out of the room. The room that they were in now, looked like an underground tunnel system.
"Where are we?" Luigi asked.
"This is the underground, only some people from our world and important people from this world know about these, so don't just go around telling people about this." his mother answered.
"Come on, this way." Marco said while he led his family out of the tunnels.
After walking for a good ten minutes, they had arrived at another door. Marco opened the door and the room looked nothing like the tunnels. The room looked very luxurious, but still had a basement vibe to it.
"Welcome once again!" an old voice beamed, which was weird cause the person who said that, isn't known for being cheerful.
"Toadsworth, long time no see." Louise answered with a friendly smile.
Toadsworth, as their mother had called the weird creature that stood before them, gestured to follow him and said "I wish it were under better circumstances, but good to see you all." he looked over at Mario and Luigi and said "The boys have grown so much. How old are they now?"
"They're 16." Marco answered while following the old toad.
All of the sudden, Mario asked "What are you?"
"Mario, don't be rude!" his mother said.
Calmly, Mario answered "You have to understand mom, this is all so weird for the both of us, I'm just confused."
Toadsworth butted in the conversation and said "Don't worry Louise, of course the boys have questions, it's been such a long time since they were here." Toadsworth smiled at the boys and added "I'm a Toad, nothing special really, we're just like humans, we only look a lot different."
They continued following Toadsworth until they ended up in a big room that looked like a big hall with stairs and big doors that lead outside. The boys looked around themselves. This place seemed familiar to them, but it also looked like a-
"Stay here, I'll go get the King." Toadsworth said to them.
When Toadsworth had left the room, Luigi asked "Is this a castle?"
"Yes." his mother answered "We'll be meeting with some old friends of ours, they're royalty, so be at your best behavior!"
Mario rolled his eyes and Luigi shrugged. Toadsworth had returned to the room, with a tall, blond man, who was wearing a crown and a girl in a pink dress, also with a crown.
"Old friends." the king started with a big smile "It's been such a long time."
"Good to see you're still around here." Marco answered, receiving a nudge from his wife.
"What he meant was, it is good to see you again." Louise added.
"Why, of course, though I wish it was under better circumstances." the king spoke. Seeing that the boys were confused, he added while looking at them "All will be clear soon, boys."
Mario shrugged, while Luigi gave the king a small smile as a thank you.
The king turned to the girl standing next to him and said "I don't know if you still remember her, but this is my daughter, Peach, you boys used to play with her when you were younger, along with her cousins."
Peach gave the boys a shy smile and they returned the smile with one of their own.
One of the workers came in and said to the king "Your highness, all of the suitcases are packed up, we are ready to go when you are."
This made the family look around and notice that their suitcases are gone.
"We'll be there shortly." the king answered in return.
The worker bowed en went outside again.
"Are we leaving already?" Marco asked in confusion.
"Yes, I will explain during the car ride." the king answered "If it's alright with you that the kids are in a separate car?"
"Of course." Louise answered, then she looked at her sons "You'll be fine with the princess, right boys?"
They nodded unsure in return.
"Alright, now that that's settled, let's leave." the king said, then looked at Toadsworth "You sure you can handle the kingdom while we're gone?"
"Of course, your highness, it is not the first time I have done this." Toadsworth answered.
"Okay, let's go." the king said.
The car ride with the boys and the princess had been kind of awkward so far, well actually silent: no one said anything.
"So, um... How old are you, princess?" Mario asked.
Luigi rolled his eyes and thought very smooth, brother.
Peach seemed kind of surprised by this question and answered "I'll turn 18 in a couple of months, what about you two?"
"We're 16." Mario answered "We're twins."
Peach was taken back by that, she in the rearview mirror at us and said "I don't mean to be rude, but you don't really look like twins."
That was true, Mario was a lot smaller and chubbier than his brother, who was tall and muscular.
"Don't worry, we get that all the time." Luigi answered.
"I'm the oldest though." Mario added.
And that was the last thing that was said the entire car ride.
After a long drive, they arrived at another, bigger, castle with giant gates. The car drove through the gates and came to a stop.
Peach had a bright smile on her face and said "We're here."
"Um, where are we?" Mario asked "I don't even know where we were before."
"Now, we are in Sarasaland, at the main castle, which is located at the borders of the four kingdoms." Peach answered "The castle we were in before was in the Mushroom Kingdom."
Those names seems familiar Luigi thought.
"Come on, we can get out of the car now." Peach said.
They all got out of the car and met up with their parents. Mario and Luigi were staring at the enormous castle in front of them.
I thought the other castle was big but damn, this ones even bigger Mario thought.
The guards signaled for them to go inside.
"Follow me." the king said "Let's see where that babybrother of mine is at."
Marco chuckled, knowing that if his brother heard that, he wouldn't be very pleased. They all walked through the doors until they ended up in what looked like a living room, but 10 times bigger.
"Home sweet home." the king said.
"You still call Sarasaland your home?" Marco asked.
"Marco! He grew up here, this'll always be his home." Louise said to her husband.
"Can't really forget the place you grew up, Marco." the king answered with a smile.
One of the doors opened and two young men and a young woman walked through them.
"Peachy!" the girl basically screamed, while running to Peach, hugging her while almost making her fall over. "It's been too long girl." she added.
Peach couldn't help but smile at her younger cousin and hugging her back. "I missed you too, Daisy."
Daisy got off of Peach, considering that she's a lot smaller than her older cousin and smiled. When she looked over to the king, she saw her brothers hugging him. When her brothers were done, she went in for a hug too.
"Hiya uncle Georgie." she said to the king, making him chuckle.
"I still hate your dad for making you call me that as a kid." George answered, then added, while also addressing her older brothers "Missed you too kiddo, all of you."
"Mom and dad are on the way." the oldest said.
"Their meeting was longer than they thought." the other boy added.
"Don't worry boys, in the meantime we can talk." George said, then he looked at the oldest boy and added "Especially you, Nash, I heard that you don't want to take over the country?"
"Uncle G, I just turned 18, I'm not ready for that shit." Nash answered, then added "To be honest I don't think I'll ever be."
"Your father wasn't even prepared to take over, but he's done a good job at it." George answered.
Nash rolled his eyes and answered "I know, you were supposed to take over but fell in love with a princess from another kingdom, blah blah, I know the sappy story."
Now it was the kings turn to roll his eyes. Nash added "Also Hayes can take over, he's only a year younger than me."
"Hell no, I'm not taking care of four kingdoms, are you crazy?" the younger one, Hayes answered "For all I care, let Daisy take over."
"I'm 15, the fuck am I supposed to know about that." Daisy answered while rolling her eyes.
I don't know how my brother does this George thought while rubbing his face.
"You probably don't really remember these people." George said, trying to change the subject.
The Sarasa siblings looked at the Italians. Luigi looked shyly away from Daisy, now realizing that he had been staring at her the whole time.
Can you blame me, she's beautiful Luigi thought while blushing she also seems so familiar.
What was that about? Daisy thought while raising a brow and why does he look so familiar?
They both regained their posture as the king and queen entered the room. The king, as usual, had a stern look on his face while his wife was smiling brightly. They joined the group and also sat down on a sofa.
"It's been such a long time since we've seen you all." the queen spoke.
"Lily, how do you do this, you still look as young as when I saw you years ago." Louise answered while smiling.
Lillian, the queen, smiled back and answered "Good genes I guess."
"Your diet still not working?" the king said to Marco, making Louise laugh and his wife mad.
"Keep you manners, Richard." Lillian said to her husband.
Marco chuckled and said "He's not wrong."
Lillian looked at her children and said "I hope these three were nice, and not cursing for once."
This only made her children roll their eyes, as well as her husband.
"You teach them bad behavior." Lillian said to her husband, who just chuckled as an answer.
"They were very nice, don't worry." Marco answered, leaving the cursing part out for the sake of the children.
After a while, they all caught up with each other. Now, it was time for dinner. They all made their way to the dining hall.
This place is huge Luigi thought and fancy.
They all took their seats and started digging in once the food arrived. Everyones attention went to Mario, who was basically eating as loud as possible.
"Mario!" Louise said "Where are your manners?"
"I can't help it ma, this is too good." Mario said while his mouth was still stuffed, making Hayes and Daisy chuckle.
Louise turned her attention to the royals and said "My apologies, this boy and his love for food."
"It's not that surprising." Richard said, then he looked at Marco and said "He's your son after all."
This made the older people at the table and Luigi laugh, considering that the others didn't get the inside joke. Mario just rolled his eyes.
Once everyone finished their plates, their parents suggested to call it a night, considering that it was a long day for the boys and them. One of the workers showed them all to guest rooms close by each other.
These are guest rooms? Luigi asked himself this is bigger than my room back home.
Home. Luigi thought about what he called his home. I still don't know why we're here, this all feels surreal, but also familiar.
After thinking about his home for a while, Luigi started putting his clothes in the walk-in closet.
That girl, Daisy, she also seemed to familiar Luigi thought and beautiful. Luigi couldn't help but blush at the thought of her.
After thinking a bit about her, Luigi decided to call it a night and went to bed.
Daisy couldn't seem to get Luigi out of her head. I know that this isn't the first time I've met them. Daisy was sure of it, hence why she was looking through some old photo albums. After what seemed like hours to Daisy, she finally found some pictures with what looked like younger versions of the boys and her brothers and her cousin. Bingo she thought I knew it!
Daisy decided to take one of the pictures out the album and went to Hayes' room. She knocked at the door, but Hayes didn't answer. Then she went to Nash' room and did the same, he also didn't answer. Weird she thought eh, I'll save it for tomorrow. With that, Daisy returned to her room and decided to call it a night.