Megan: The Orphan Redux

Hello everyone! This is my third time writing this story. The original version and the last remake I made have been deleted years ago and only the second remake is up. But unlike those ones, this version will be a short story instead of having multiple chapters. Well, I hope you all enjoy this version!

Disclaimer: I only own my FCs!

It was midnight in the Koopa Kingdom and everyone was sleeping peacefully in their beds. Well, everyone except for one little Koopa girl. She was tossing and turning in her sleep, having another nightmare. She had them often. A few moments later, the little girl woke up and looked around, realizing that she was in the Koopa Kingdom Orphanage. She trembled in fear from the dream and breathed heavily.

"Why… Why do I keep dreaming of that ?" She whispered as tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiped them away and tried her best to calm down. When she did, she lied down and tried to go back to sleep.

"I don't wanna dream about them anymore…"

"Hi Lilly! Hey Ms. Kooper!" Luke, King Ludwig's and Queen Jasmine's 9 year old son, greeted his best friend and her mother as they walked out of the orphanage, giving Lilly a high five.

"Oh, hello Luke." Ms. Kooper smiled at him.

"You were helping out at the orphanage today, Lilly?" Luke asked.

"Yep! I always love helping out here whenever mom says I can." Lilly replied.

"Well, I'm definitely gonna need your help tomorrow. Two of my other co workers are on vacation and a few won't be there." Luke thought for a moment after hearing that.

"Why don't my parents and I help you out? My sister's sick right now, so she wouldn't be able to come." Luke suggested.

"Oh that's sweet of you, Luke. But your parents are the rulers of the kingdom. Aren't they too busy?" Ms. Kooper said.

"Nah. I'm sure they can finish that boring stuff later or ask my grandparents to do it for them." Luke replied.

"Well… If they're able to, I'll be very grateful." Luke said goodbye to them and headed back to the castle.

"Mom! Dad!" Luke called as he ran through the castle halls. He made his way to the throne room where he found his parents.

"Luke? What's wrong?" Ludwig asked. Luke rushed over to them.

"Can you guys help out at the orphanage tomorrow?" He asked.

"The orphanage?" Jasmine, Ludwig's wife, repeated. After he explained everything, Ludwig and Jasmine looked at each other.

"I think we can help out for a bit." Ludwig smiled.

"Yeah! And I can make the children some snacks!" Jasmine replied. Luke cheered and left the throne room.

The next day Ludwig, Jasmine, and Luke were getting ready to leave the castle. After making sure they had everything, they were making their way to the front doors when they heard a cough coming from behind them. The three turned around and saw Jackie, Luke's 7 year old Human/Koopa hybrid sister.

"I wanna come too!" Jackie said after coughing some more. Ludwig knelt down and smiled at her.

"Princess, you're still sick. You have to stay here." Ludwig said, making Jackie pout.

"That's not fair!" Jackie whined. Ludwig sighed.

"Jackie, I promise when you're feeling better, you can come with us to help out. Now, please go back to your room and rest. Kamek should be bringing some more medicine for you." Jackie looked at her father and sighed.

"Alright daddy…" They watched Jackie head back to her room and they left the castle.

The children in the orphanage were playing with their toys and coloring when they heard a boy speak up.

"Guys! Look who's coming!" The children ran towards the window and saw three new visitors.

"Is that the king?" Another boy asked.

"It is! It's King Ludwig! And Queen Jasmine! Oh! Prince Lucas is with them too!" A girl cheered. Another girl gasped.

"Are they here to adopt one of us?!" She asked.

"Oh I hope they'll adopt me! I wanna be a princess!" Another girl grinned. Lilly, who was entering the room, heard the kids talking and walked over to them.

"Sorry guys, but they're just here to help out. They're not adopting anyone." The kids looked disappointed, so Lilly spoke up again.

"But who knows? Maybe one day they will adopt!" Lilly smiled as the kids cheered. Then, Ms. Kooper entered the room along with Ludwig, Jasmine, and Luke.

"Hello everyone! Look who's here! And they brought you all snacks and new toys." Ms. Kooper said. All of the children rushed over to the royal family, except for one little girl. She took one look at Ludwig and began to tremble in fear.

"He looks scary!" She thought. She quickly hid under one of the beds.

Luke offered to help Lilly and Ms. Kooper with the babies in the nursery while Ludwig and Jasmine stayed with the children. As they gave the children a snack and toys, one of the boys dropped their ball.

"I'll get it." Ludwig said and walked over to the bed that it rolled underneath. As Ludwig knelt down to grab it, his eyes widened when he saw a girl hiding under the bed. He smiled at her.

"Hello there, little one. What are you doing under there?" He asked. The girl didn't say anything.

"Would you like to come out from under there?" He asked. The girl shook her head.

"I'm scared…" She replied. Ludwig gave her a small smile.

"It's alright. I promise we won't hurt you. We just wanna help out. We brought snacks if you want anything. And toys too." Ludwig reached into the bag he held and took out a small brown teddy bear. The little girl gasped when she saw the toy. After handing the boy his ball back, Ludwig got a good look at the girl when she crawled from under the bed. She had short dark pink hair, blue eyes, black spiked cuffs on her wrists, and a dark pink shell. Ludwig handed the stuffed bear to her and smiled as she hugged it.

"What's your name, sweetie?" He asked.

"M-Megan." She replied.

"That's a pretty name. How old are you Megan?"

"I'm four years old." She said. Megan looked up at Ludwig and smiled.

"You're not scary! You're nice!" Her smile widened when she looked at his hair.

"Your hair looks so soft!" She said. Ludwig chuckled and picked her up so Megan could feel his hair. When she did, she began to giggle.

"It's so fluffy! You have fluffy hair!" Megan exclaimed. Jasmine looked over at the two and smiled. After talking to the other children, Jasmine walked over to Ludwig and Megan.

"Do you like it here Megan?" Ludwig asked.

"Yeah! The grown ups here are really nice! It's better than being with my mama and papa." Megan replied. Ludwig and Jasmine were shocked.

"I-If you're alright with talking about it, what's wrong with your parents?" Jasmine asked.

"Well… They would hit me, yell at me, call me bad names, and…" Megan trailed off and began to tremble in fear as she thought about her parents. Ludwig held her in his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Shh it's alright, Megan. You don't have to say anymore." Ludwig said, trying to calm her down. He sang a song to her, hoping that it would help. It did, as Megan calmed down.

"Thank you so much for helping out today!" Ms. Kooper said as she talked to Ludwig and Jasmine in a separate room.

"We were happy to help." Jasmine replied.

"It was so nice seeing Megan interacting with you two. Usually when there's new people here, she hides from them until they leave." Ms. Kooper explained.

"She told us about her parents. I feel so bad for her." Ludwig said. Ms. Kooper then frowned.

"Did she tell you everything?" She asked them.

"No. She started to get upset and I calmed her down." Ludwig replied. Sighing, Ms. Kooper spoke again.

"Her parents are in jail right now." She said, making Ludwig and Jasmine gasp. She then explained everything that Megan's parents did to her. Especially her father. Ludwig became sick to his stomach with each new information. Now they understood why Megan hid from them. How could someone hurt their own child?

That night after heading back to the castle, Ludwig and Jasmine couldn't stop thinking about Megan. They thought she was the cutest thing and she deserved to be in a loving home. After discussing it with the rest of their family, they decided that they were going to adopt Megan.

Three days later, Megan was playing a board game with a few of the children when Ms. Kooper entered the room and walked over to her.

"Megan? Can you come with me for a second? I have a surprise for you!" She said.

"Really? A surprise?" Megan picked up her teddy bear and followed Ms. Kooper out to the lobby. When they got there, Megan gasped when she saw Ludwig and Jasmine. She looked up at Ms. Kooper, a little confused.

"Megan, meet your new parents! King Ludwig and Queen Jasmine!" Ms. Kooper said. Megan gasped again, then smiled as she ran towards them, hugging their legs. She looked up at them, still smiling.

"You wanna adopt me? You really do?" She asked.

"Of course we do!" Jasmine smiled at her.

"We both knew that you deserve to be in a loving home. So, we thought that you should be apart of our family." Ludwig explained. He picked her up and hugged her.

"Oh! Can I call you guys Mama and Papa?" Megan asked.

"Hehe. Yes you can!" Ludwig chuckled.

Ludwig and Jasmine introduced Megan to the rest of their family when they made it back to the castle. Megan thought Lemmy was silly and loved his circus tricks. She also got along with Iggy's son Frankie and Roy's daughter Ray since they were around the same age. Luke and Jackie decided to give their new little sister a tour around the castle while everyone else was setting up the small party they were throwing for Megan. She looked around the castle in amazement.

That night Ludwig and Jasmine took Megan to her new room. The walls were pink, Megan's favorite color. There was a toy box near the closet filled with different toys. The window had light pink curtains and there was a dresser against the wall where the window was. On the right side of the bed was a nightstand with a lamp on top of it. Megan smiled as she looked around.

"I love it!" She cheered. She got into bed and sat her teddy bear next to her. Ludwig and Jasmine gave her a kiss, said goodnight, and left.

An hour later, Megan woke up from another nightmare. She looked around and saw that she was in her new room. Crying, she grabbed her teddy bear and left the room. She remembered where Ludwig and Jasmine's room was from the tour Luke and Jackie gave her earlier. When she found it, she knocked on the door. A few moments later, Ludwig opened the door and got concerned when he saw the tears flowing down Megan's face.

"Megan? What's wrong?" He asked as he picked her up.

"I-I had a bad dream, Papa! A really bad dream!" Megan cried. Ludwig hugged her and tried to calm her down.

"It's ok, honey. It was just a dream." Megan wiped away her tears, but more continued to fall.

"P-Papa? I don't want to get hurt again." Megan said in between sobs. Ludwig hugged her again.

"Don't worry Megan. I won't let anyone hurt you again. We'll always protect you. I promise." Ludwig said. Soon Megan calmed down and Ludwig smiled at her.

"Do you wanna sleep with us tonight?" He asked. Megan nodded as she wiped the rest of her tears away. Ludwig put Megan in between him and Jasmine. After making sure she was comfortable, the three of them fell asleep.

I hope this version is alright. I feel like certain parts were rushed or could be a little better. After I go through the chapters of "Ludwig's Wedding Redux", I will FINALLY remake "A New Baby".