Marshall hummed as he sat on a beach, watching the waves move back and forth during sunset.
The breeze brushed through his hair as he took a deep breath.
"Who knew retirement could be so relaxing." Said Marshall calmly as he stared at the horizon. "Probably everybody, but it's still so weird."
Marshall closed his eyes and enjoyed the air before he felt something approaching. He opened his eyes to see a small raft on the waves.
Marshall stood up and walked to raft to find a baby on board. A blonde baby with a stick that made bread.
"*Sigh* guess I should fix this too."
And at that moment, Marshall woke up..
xxXxx
Sand was the first thing Marshall felt as he opened his eyes. A lot of it. On his bed. There was also a lot of water.
"Ugh." He groaned wearing a red shirt and black shorts as well as Billy's nose gem dangle earring. "Someday this won't happen, Lee. Someday."
Marshall floated off his wet sand filled bed before he magically waved all the wet sand away.
"Magic. You love it and you hate it."
Marshall yawned before floating to his kitchen for a snack and a cup of magically decaffeinated coffee.
As he sat down on at the dining table, a living glass orb hopped onto his knees then onto the table.
"Show me everything interesting from the past week." Said Marshall as he conjured a sandwich and began eating as the orb began projecting a slideshow of interesting events. "The Lich is still sealed so we still haven't gotten to that part. Should I have made a better seal?"
As Marshall pondered his decisions, he heard his door spam open.
"Marsh!" It was Marceline holding an umbrella and she looked excited.
"Macry!" Exclaimed Marshall happily as he floated to his twin sister and gave her a hug. "Watcha doin?"
"Not much. I was around and decided to stop by and not die by the sun." Said Marceline cheerfully.
"Cool. Wanna grab a bite?" Asked Marshall as he led his sister into the kitchen.
Marceline followed her brother into the kitchen before seeing the orb creature projecting the image of the Lich.
"Marsh, are you monitoring bad guys again? I thought you retired." Said Marceline with a tone filled with frustration.
"I did. I'm just making sure everything is fine from the sidelines." Said Marsh with a shrug.
"That's not retirement." Deadpanned Marceline. "You need to let go of the whole Nightclad persona. Plus, that was a terrible hero name."
"I was going through an edgy phase! Where I liked wearing star patterned capes and pitch black clothes!" Said Marsh blushing. "I mean, I still like them despite throwing the cape away, but-"
"That's not important! What's important is that you need to stop worrying all the time."
"I just don't want us to be one of the bad timelines. Remember-"
"Farmworld? Yes, I remember. Yes, it was terrible. Yes, the image of old lady me protecting the corpse of Simon was traumatizing. But we're not even close to that world." Finished Marceline calmly.
"But what if, I don't know, Glob turns evil or Golb suddenly attacks or the Coconteppi is revived or Gunther remembers his old life as a primordial being and no one stops him or what if Peppermint Butler elopes with dad and they take over Ooo together?!"
The twins both went silent. Marshall fiddled with his fingers nervously as his sister stared at him in concern.
"And you say Bubblegum is paranoid." Said Marceline narrowing her eyes. "You should try making some friends or finding a date."
"But what if I mess up and they judge me?" Said Marshall as a rain cloud formed over his head and started raining. "I'm more socially awkward than dad and that's an achievement."
That was only partially the reason, however.
"Pfft, please. You had a lot of friends befoooooo-"
"Before they all died?" Finished Marshall nonchalantly as the cloud above his head started spewing lightning, causing Marceline to nervously laugh. "Marcy, it's just easier to be alone than get hurt again trying to find someone only to lose them."
Marceline frowned at her brother's words. Why does everyone in this family have issues? She thought to herself.
"On another note, I'm planning to visit mom today. Wanna come along?" Asked Marshall calmly, brightening his sister's expression.
"Oh, sure. Wanna go now?"
Marshall nodded. And so, the two were set to-
"Wait!" Said Marshall in a panic before going to the over and staring at it for exactly twenty seconds then heading to the sink and doing the same thing before going back to Marceline. "Okay, oven and sink are still off. We can go now- wait, let me check one more time."
Knowing where this is heading, Marceline promptly picked her brother up and kidnapped him.
xxXxx
In the thousand years Elise lived as a monster, she grew in size and became what one could only describe as a biblically accurate angel.
She made herself a nest atop some mountain and lives there peacefully with the Abadeers as the only visitors.
At least, that's how it should've been.
The twins heard a loud screech come from their mother's mountain before they saw her flying away with people and nets over her.
"Mom!" Exclaimed the twins in union.
"They're heading to the candy kingdom." Said Marshall as his old armour as Nightclad covered his body. "Stay here. It'd be bad if my identity is found. Plus, sun is up right now."
Now with his identity concealed, Marshall rushed into the sky and followed his mother and the hunters.
Sadly, he was too late. Elise had already crashed into the candy kingdom and was subdued by the hunters and...Finn and Jake.
There was no doubt anyone seeing his panicking mother would think she was just a mindless monster attacking everyone. He definitely would let this slide for the adventure duo.
Those hunters however...
Marshall quickly made it to the candy kingdom and landed in front of his mother and her captors making a crater with his entrance.
When the dust settled, everyone stared in awe as the one of the greatest heroes of Ooo arrived, Nightclad.
Ignoring how embarrassing it was that everyone was eyeing him wearing edgy clothes he picked out centuries ago, he was too angry for that, Marshall walked up to his mother to check on her.
xxXxx
Finn and Jake shook with excitement as they saw their idol walking up to them.
It was the legendary Nightclad. The person who defeated the Lich! The guy who fought a giant bear! The one who defeated a giant colosseum of monsters!
And was a companion of Billy! Also their idol!
And he was standing right in front of them!
How did they know it was truly him? The pressure in his presence, THE PRESSURE!
"Uhh, Nightclad, sir-" Finn said before Nightclad walked right past him.
Nightclad patted the feathers of the monster before freeing them in front of everyone.
Everyone expected the monster to attack, but all it did was brush its feathers against Nightclad.
"I can't believe I had to come out of retirement for this." Said Nightclad in frustration. "Who brought my- ehm, this creature here?"
One of the hunters spoke up nervously. "It was attacking a village and we drove it away."
Nightclad went silent.
Finn and Jake stared at their hero, feeling that something was wrong and as if affirming their worries, the earth began the shake violently.
"A better lie, please." Said Nightclad angrily as lava began to flow from the cracks in the earth.
Everyone began to run away upon feeling the danger.
"We were gonna sell its parts to a wizard!" Exclaimed one of the hunters causing Finn and Jake to glare at him. "It has a lot of eye balls and feathers. Some wizards pay a lot for that kind of stuff!"
Suddenly, Nightclad went calm as the damage he caused reversed in front of everyone. He snapped his fingers before the hunters fell through a bunch of portals.
No one knew where those portals led and no one asked.
"Let's get you back home." Said Nightclad calmly as he brushed the feathers of the monster before it started to fly back to its mountain.
xxXxx
Marshall breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing his mother flying back to her mountain. Now, it was time to leave.
But before he could, Finn and Jake stood in his way.
"Uh, sir Nightclad. Sorry we helped those jerks."
"Yeah, we didn't know that." Added Jake.
Marshall stared at the adventuring duo and paused. Finn was a lot like Billy down to their recklessness.
He needed to give the boy some good advice, advice that would've saved Billy. And so Marshall spoke from the heart.
"A rookie mistake. It could get you, a friend or an innocent killed. You need to look deeper than the surface. It's what's on the inside that counts. Reflect on that"
Marshall smiled on the inside as he walked away, hoping that his advice helped Finn while in reality his words were like a punch to the gut for the young hero.
As he walked away, he noticed Marceline watching the whole thing and teleported to her with the Nightclad armour disappearing.
"Ready to go back?" Asked Marshall cheerfully.
"Yeah, but did you have to be so blunt to that kid? You're his idol, your words matter a lot to him." Said Marceline calmly.
"Pfft, c'mon. What kind of idiot would look up to ME of all people? I'm like, the failure of heroes." Said Marshall cheerfully with a chuckle. "Ha! I'm like the lumpy space princess of heroes!"
Marceline blew a raspberry before a question popped into her head. "Oh, by the way, where did you send those hunters?"
"The Nightosphere." Said Marshall nonchalantly.
And that was how a group of hunters were sentenced to eternal damnation.
xxXxx
Tell me how I did. Leave a review. And tell me which episodes from the show you want me to make with Marshall in the mix.
Toodles.