Disclaimer: I don't own the Mario series and sadly, won't be making money off this.

Author's Notes: I've had this story in my headcanon for years, but I didn't want to make a one-shot featuring an OC, and it wasn't until recently that I figured out how I could get around it (a very simple solution in retrospect, but ah well). It retcons some backstory mentioned in my earlier stories The Queen of the Koopas and the Super Koopa trilogy, but I'll get around to updating them eventually. The events depicted here were also discussed in my first ever Mario fanfic, Morton Loses His Voice (years before I ever considered actually depicting it), but I already tweaked a line or two in that one to ensure they fit together. Anyway, I hope you like the story, and my apologies for the severe lisp I had to give one of the characters: hopefully it's not too terribly rendered!

Blind, Deaf and Dumb

Bad genes. Recessive alleles carried by the two last known surviving Dragon-Koopa breeders, bubbling to the surface in their progeny. The first one, Ludwig, had his two front teeth fused together – hardly the ideal face of a future King of the Koopas, not to mention the horrendous lisp the handicap caused.

The second one, Lemmy, was far more unfortunate. He was a runt, with a disproportionately large head perched atop a thin neck, he couldn't point his eyes in the same direction, and he couldn't walk straight. Instead, he had to use a rubber ball for locomotion, with the balancing act somehow kicking his motor control back into gear. There were more concerns too, but further testing was put off until he was older, for despite all his physical problems, the child wasn't mentally impaired, and that had been his parent's main concern when he was born with bone tumours where horns should have been.

Compared to Lemmy, the third child, Roy, was much better off: aside from his unfortunately pink head and shell colouration, his only problems were vision-related, with both nearsightedness and photosensitivity. None of those should have been a problem, but there were two additional factors not taken into account: his older brothers. Or more specifically, his eldest brother.

"Fhat's sthat? My baby thisthter coming to bosther me?" Ludwig would sputter whenever Roy wandered up to him. If he was feeling particularly nasty, he'd add in digs like "Fisth her big ugly glastheths?" Or even go so far as to say "And her creepy black eyesth." At first, Roy would grin toothily at Ludwig's jokes and giggle along to the older Dragon-Koopa's cackling, but over time, he started to figure out that his brother wasn't laughing with him at all, but at him. Still, Roy sought out his company: he was the only friend he had, since Lemmy spent most of his time with the fourth Koopaling, Iggy, who had rainbow hair like him, and thick glasses like Roy, but who was still too young to recognize Ludwig's bullying for what it was.

Roy didn't like seeing Ludwig making fun of little Iggy, but no one ever stopped him. Their parents were too busy to notice, what with the newborn fifth Koopaling and all. This one was a female, with a bald head and a pink shell just like Roy – which only added fuel to Ludwig's mockery, and was the main reason Roy avoided baby Wendy like the plague. And there was already another egg: a sixth Koopaling – a sixth try for a kid that wasn't riddled with mutations according to some, although the King and Queen themselves insisted they simply wanted a big family for their children's' sake. Both of them grew up as only children without friends, and neither wanted the same fate for the next generation. But they also didn't anticipate the acrimony that would bloom among the children along with the hoped-for companionship, nor did they notice it much.

Ludwig was smart enough to know not to antagonize the others within earshot of the King, Queen, Kammy , Kamek or anyone else who would punish him. He knew it was wrong, but it didn't stop him from having his fun, and once the sixth child was born, Roy knew Wendy's tiny feet and unladylike baldness would attract the Koopa heir's cruel attention. He had a feeling Ludwig would probably call her "brosther" like how he called Roy "thisthter", or maybe even start using each-others' names on purpose like he sometimes did to Iggy and Lemmy (who, fortunately, didn't mind at all).

But until Wendy became easy prey in the absence of her helicopter parents, Roy bore the brunt of Ludwig's lisping barbs. Sometimes he paid it forward when Iggy or Lemmy annoyed him enough, but for the most part he tried to weather it as best he could. For the most part, he put up a pretty good front of pride and fledgling toughness. So it took everyone by surprise, even those in the know of the bullying, when Roy finally snapped. Unable to take the harassment anymore, one day he just threw his glasses to the flagstones and stomped them into pieces and then hid in the dungeons. It was nearly two days before they found him sneaking through the lower passageways of the castle, half-blind from repeatedly going from the extreme darkness of the catacombs to the intense brightness of the lava caves, all the while forcing his myopic eyes to strain in vain to try to bring anything into focus.

The damage was permanent. His irises had always been underdeveloped, hence his unnaturally large, black pupils, but the ordeal in the tunnels had left them shot, and the damage to his sensitive retinas was beyond repair as well. They called it Magikoopa's Blindness: it wasn't unknown in Dragon-Koopas, and the doctors said it probably would have been inevitable that Roy's sensitivity would degenerate into the syndrome eventually anyway, but it was still a punch in the gut for the King and Queen of the Koopas.

They asked Roy why he did it, but he refused to squeal on Ludwig, or admit how much he had been conditioned to loathe his appearance. Lemmy knew the truth, but Ludwig terrorized him on occasion too for his lazy eye, balance issues and garish rainbow hair, and he knew better than to tattle as well. Instead, he found himself wandering around outside the castle with his older brother the day after they found out that Roy would have to wear eye protection from then onward, like a Magikoopa. Iggy was with them too, but not baby Wendy: she was napping.

"I thought bein' blind means you don't see nothing?" mused Iggy as he idly kicked rocks off the edge of the cliff, watching as they fell into the moat below. Usually, the castle they stayed at was at the heart of Dark Land, and was ringed with lava, but they were visiting the northern fortress, and instead, the castle was surrounded by the toxic purple water that made up most of the rivers in the Koopa Kingdom. It wasn't so good for drinking or irrigation, but it was great for defense.

"That's normal blindness, but Roy's got Magikoopa's Blindness," explained Lemmy.

"Magikoopas go blind differently?"

Lemmy shook his head, causing his eyes to ping-pong around their sockets and forcing him to stop rolling forward and clutch at the sides of his head until the world stopped spinning. He was used to this, however, and didn't miss a beat in his explanation. "Well, maybe they can go normal-blind too, but they're also always sorta blind."

Iggy quirked an eyebrow behind his glasses. "Whatcha mean? Kammy an' Kamek see fine."

"Yeah, because they have glasses," nodded Lemmy, before remembering that was a bad idea too and once again turning his world into a roller-coaster.

"But I have glasses too, so am I Magikoopa-blind?"

"No, you can't see in a different way. Everything's blurry without your glasses, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, for Kammy and Kamek and Roy now, everything's too bright without glasses. Like Mom and King Dad said, remember?"

"Ohhhh. Yeah, I 'member. I need glasses to make things not blurry, an' they need glasses to make things not bright," repeated Iggy.

"Yep," smiled Lemmy, remembering not to nod his head.

Iggy grinned and kicked another red rock into the purple moat below. But then he frowned. "But Roy already had glasses. Will he need two glasses now?"

Lemmy paused. "Hmmmm… I dunno. I don't think that would work so well…"

"What do you think Luddy?" Iggy turned to his other brother, who was standing apart from the others, staring down into the moat, lost in thought.

"Fhat?" he grunted, realizing he was being addressed.

"Do you think Roy needs two glasses now?"

"I sthink sthey'll give him new glastheths sthat will help bosth hiths blurry vision and sthe blindnethss."

"Oh…"

"Makes sense," shrugged Lemmy. "They'll need to give him new ones anyway since he broke his."

"Why did he do that? Did he get mad?"

Lemmy looked from Iggy to Ludwig and then back to Iggy, unsure what to do. If he told Iggy the truth, then he'd innocently blab to their parents, and then they'd both be in trouble. "Ummm… Well, Mom and King Dad said he wouldn't say why."

"Oh…"

"Fhy didn't he tell sthem?" said Ludwig suddenly, looking over at Lemmy.

"Ummm…" Lemmy fidgeted nervously on his rubber ball, avoiding eye contact.

"Fhy didn't you tell sthem?" he took a step closer to his younger brothers, his expression dark.

"Ummm…"

"Do you know why he did it, Luddy?" asked Iggy eagerly.

Ludwig looked down at him, frowning deeply, and before he could do anything to make his youngest brother pay for his innocent curiosity, Lemmy spat out an answer. "I was scared."

Ludwig looked back up at him, taken aback. "Fhat?"

"I was scared of what you'd do if I told on you," blurted out Lemmy. "Maybe Roy was too – you're always so mean to him and everybody!"

"Luddy's mean? But he's always making funny jokes an' laughing!" Iggy looked between his two brothers in confusion.

"They're not funny jokes, they're- they're just mean!"

"Why?"

Lemmy paused for a moment, looking between Iggy's distressed face and Ludwig's unreadable one, eventually settling on the best explanation he could think of on the spot. "Because they're meant to make us feel bad."

"They are?"

"No," said Ludwig softly. "Sthat's not fhat I fhanted to do…"

"Yes it is!" said Lemmy, unable to hold back now bat he was finally saying what had been on his chest for so long. "Why else would you say all those things!"

"Because I… I…" Ludwig looked down at the rocks between him and his brothers. He didn't know why he did it. He just… He just liked it – how they had these problems and he didn't. He couldn't speak right, but at least he didn't have dumb glasses or a dumb ball or dumb crooked eyes or ugly rainbow hair or a girly shell or… or… "But I didn't mean it – it faths juthst… I juthst..." He trailed off as the sound of his own voice sent a pang of guilt coursing through him like a lightning bolt. He hated the lisp like Roy hated the glasses – the glasses he threw away when he ran away. Ran away to hide from Ludwig. Because Ludwig was the one who made him hate his glasses. Ludwig made him sad, and mad, and scared, and blind.

"I didn't mean to hurt him," he whispered, clutching at his belly he fought back the nauseating disgust rising up to his chest. "I didn't fhant to make you thscared of me… I just… I didn't mean it." He squeezed his eyes shut against the tears pricking at his vision and turned away from his confused brothers. "I'm s-s-s-sorry," he shuddered, suddenly wishing Roy had told on him. Or Lemmy, or someone. He was terrible. He hurt his little brother. He hurt all of them. He deserved to be told on. To be punished. He opened his eyes, looking over the edge of the cliff. If his brothers were too scared to punish him, he'd punish himself.

"LUDWIG!" screamed Lemmy and Iggy in terror as their brother suddenly lunched off the edge. They rushed to the edge in time to see him splash into the moat far below.

The water was cold, and made Ludwig gasp, filling his mouth with liquid that tasted the way he imagined rotting vinegar would taste and making him gag and sputter. He managed to surface and heaved in a proper lungful of air, but his throat and mouth and nose were burning and his eyes were stinging from the toxins in the water. Too late, he realized that he had made a terrible mistake, and started to panic, coughing and flailing and barely staying afloat as the currents below the deceptively calm surface tried to pull him back under.

I'm going to die, he thought as his vision began to blur and black out. I'm going to die! He could barely breathe against the icy cold and the pain, much less scream for help. It was only in his head that he told himself again and again I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die

Then suddenly something large and warm wrapped around his middle and pushed him out of the water. He forced his eyes open wide enough to see his father surrounded by churning purple water as he held Ludwig aloft in one hand. He could hear him too, bellowing orders at someone, and then suddenly, he was airborn. He recognized the feel of magic levitation, and heard the chattering of a familiar Magikoopa witch as he was lifted away from Bowser. But by the time Kammy floated him up to his mother's arms, he was already unconscious.

-xxxxx-

Ludwig opened his eyes to fund that he was in the medical wing. Looking down, he saw that his mother was slumped down on his bed, while to his right, Bowser was sleeping in a chair beside the bed, and beyond him, Iggy and Lemmy were asleep in another bed, huddled together for comfort. Must be late, thought Ludwig to himself, turning to look the other way and see if there was a window.

But he saw only Roy. The Koopaling was lying in his own bed, like he was last time Ludwig had seen him, but rather than the bandages that had been wrapped around his head then, he was now wearing nothing but a pair of red sunglasses. I was right, thought Ludwig, blearily thinking back to the conversation he had had with his other brothers on the cliff. He frowned in confusion as he tried to piece things together, but then the frown deepened as he remembered the guilt, and then how he tried to make himself pay for it. Once more, he felt tears welling up. All he did was make everyone worry about him – he truly was terrible.

"Hey."

Ludwig started. The voice was faint, like someone talking to him from far away, but he swore he heard a-

"Hey."

He looked back to Roy – he thought he had been asleep, but clearly his eyes were open behind those sunglasses because when Ludwig turned towards him, he smiled faintly.

"You 'K?" he asked.

Ludwig tried to muster a response, but all he managed was a dry moan.

"Is dat a yes?"

"Uuuughhhhgh…"

"Well, you not dead, so dat's good," shrugged Roy. "See my new sunglasses? Kammy gave 'em to me. Dey're cool."

"Uuuughhhhgh…" Ludwig felt himself growing heavy again – the more Roy spoke, the further away he sounded.

"Gonna sleep again? That's 'K. I'll tell dee odders you say 'hi'. Sorta."

And then there was nothing for Ludwig but silence.

-xxxxx-

Even when he woke up, Ludwig was trapped in silence. The toxins in the moat had seeped into the thin layer of skin and scales covering his internal ears and knocked out his hearing. Fortunately, it was only temporary, but Ludwig was still scared more than he ever thought possible. He was old enough to read a bit, and his parents communicated to him with messages on white boards, but none of the other family members were old enough to read, and his speaking was bad enough even when he could hear was saying, so he didn't dare try talking to them.

But to his surprise, they still came to visit him. Even Roy. They played ball, and tag, and all their other favourite games that they always played together. But it was different now, and not because Ludwig couldn't hear them, but because he knew that even though he was so terrible to them most of the time, they still reached out to him. They always had. And Ludwig promised himself that they always would, resolving to never again make fun of them for anything. Not Roy's pink shell, not little Wendy's bald head, not Iggy's thick glasses, not Lemmy's multitude of oddities.

And for the most part, he stuck to his resolution. As with all siblings, it was impossible to be nothing but kind all the time, and the Koopalings were more fractious than most broods, especially as their numbers increased with Morton and his babbling, Larry and his painful shyness and eventually with spoiled rotten Bowser Junior. But Ludwig managed to be a good older brother to them all – or as good as they'd let him be. He even managed to take care of his lisp problem, by adapting a fake accent to emulate his namesake – a human composer known as Beethoven, who composed beautiful music even after he went deaf. Ludwig always liked music, and when his parents told him the story when he was sick, he was inspired – along with the love of his brothers and baby sister, it helped him weather the few weeks he spent deaf.

However, while he was too ashamed of his earlier behaviour and his reckless plunge into the moat to talk about anything from that time, privately, Ludwig felt grateful for the whole experience. Just realizing he had been responsible for Roy's Magikoopa's Blindness could have been enough to set him straight, but there was no guarantee, and Ludwig felt that the extra hardship was the push he needed to take care of his lisp instead of continuing the cycle of bullying with Iggy and the younger Koopalings.

Instead, Roy was the one who saw to that. Even after he embraced his ever-present prescription sunglasses and pink colouration, Roy would get his kicks from harassing his siblings as Ludwig had done to him – both as a way to prevent others from trying to hurt him, but also because, like Ludwig, he just enjoyed it. He got it more from Bowser than Ludwig: surliness was in their blood, but while Ludwig was forced to reconsider his behaviour, Roy lost the memories of his own suffering to the mists of early childhood, and never saw any reason to stop being a bully.

Still, it wasn't all bad news. Unlike Ludwig's youthful, ignorant callousness, Roy knew well enough to never take it too far, and never drove anyone to hurting themselves. And while he was the Koopalings' biggest troublemaker, he was also his siblings' first and strongest defender from any external threats. Followed in a close second by Ludwig.

The End