In an endless empty white room.
"Hello! Anyone there?" Asked Marshall wearing a grey button up shirt and dark grey pants calmly as he stared into the the nothingness of the room. "Anyone?"
He heard no reply save for the echoes of his own voice. This made him frown. What was this place and why was he in here?
"Okay, what's the last thing I remember?" Asked Marshall putting a hand on his chin. "I remember going to bed and... that's it. I went to sleep...am I dreaming again?"
Marshall narrowed his eyes. If this was a dream, then his control over his magic should be much weaker. He needed to stay calm in case he was actually dreaming.
"Okay, deep breath. Just calm dow-" muttered Marshall before a question entered his mind.
The question was "wouldn't it be funny if I made some sharks right now?"
And there they were, right next to him. Sharks flopped helplessly all around Marshall as there was no water to accommodate them.
"Hah! Take that intrusive thoughts!" Exclaimed Marshall before another intrusive thought hit his brain.
'I could just make water for them, can't I?' as if responding to this thought, water began to flood the endless room causing Marshall to panic and fly above the water.
'Make the sharks fly so you can't.' another intrusive thought hit his mind and immediately turned into reality as a new breed of sharks flew high above him to make sure he couldn't fly to safety.
"Boat boat boat BOAT!" Exclaimed Marshall as he tried to conjure up a boat for him to stand on. "Why would I think of this?!" He yelled as fishing boats riddled the infinite shark filled sea.
Marshall quickly climbed onto a boat and sighed in relief before another crazy thought hit his mind. 'what if the sharks were super aggressive?'
Marshall barely dodged a bite to the face by a shark before he melted said shark with his magic. Alas, it was only one of many circling around his boat.
Knowing his magic was wilder in his dreams, he couldn't use too much magic and risk hurting himself or OC outside. So he improvised by creating a magical sword and slashing the next shark to try to eat him in half.
Marshall smiled. He just needed to stay safe on the boat until he woke up. Very easy. He just had to not think of anything crazy like a thunderstorm or something.
As if spiting him, a raging storm formed over his head causing the flying sharks he made a while ago to head downwards for safety as his boat struggled against the waves.
Now surrounded by the raging sea and sharks from every direction, all Marshall could do was fight. He couldn't even undo everything because the thought of redoing it would enter his mind and just bring everything back.
The wizard slashed sharks left and right, slicing each one with one attack. The slices were all subpar in terms of technique and strength put into them, but the magic sword more than made up for it.
That was until, he started getting overwhelmed. There were just too many and they started eating away at his boat, causing him to slip and fall into the water.
One of the sharks saw this and immediately dashed towards Marshall and bit into his arm. Luckily, Marshall was able to put some armour over the arm to protect it from getting chomped off. This didn't stop the shark's teeth from sinking into his arm, however.
The pain from the bite quickly jolted him awake.
xxXxx
At Marshall's.
Marshall quickly woke up to find himself drowning in water with a small shark biting down on his arm. It was bad situation, but this was not inside his head anymore. He could handle this.
Marshall grit his teeth and drained all the water in the room before firing a magical blast with the hand inside the shark, blowing it up into confetti.
Seeing as there was no more danger, Marshall sighed in relief. "...I need to clean this up." He muttered as he inspected his bleeding arm.
Disinfecting the wound and wrapping in bandages was done with a snap of a finger. Dealing with the pain of the bite for who knows how long was the difficult part.
Marshall groaned as he got out of bed and walked downstairs tiredly until he made it to the couch and layed there as if it was a bed.
OC, who was coming from the kitchen, noticed Marshall's generally exhausted aura and his lack of coffee. She then noticed the bandages around his arm. "Hey, you okay?" Asked OC in concern.
"I just had another lucid dream." Muttered Marshall tiredly as he brushed his head against the couche's arm.
"Oh. The whole week?" Said OC in realization. "I'll go make you something nice to eat. You just rest your body and I'll take care of everything."
"Thanks, OC." Replied Marshall tiredly as OC headed into the kitchen to make something for her friend.
But as if to spite her actions, the doorbell began to ring causing Marshall to telekinetically open it to reveal Canyon on on knee peeking through the door.
"Hey." Greeted Canyon with a smile. She was wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck top, black boots and white pants as well we a yellow scarf and a water canteen hanging on her waist. Her blue hair was tied into a giant braided ponytail.
"Uhh, hi?" Replied Marshall tiredly before enlarging the door and living room with magic to allow the water elemental inside.
Canyon raised a brow as she entered the house. "Are you okay? You don't look so good." She asked in concern as she sat on the floor next to the couch noticing the bandages around Marshall's arm as well as his exhausted look.
"It's fine." Replied the ex hero calmly. "Just a bit unrelaxed."
Canyon nodded. "Then we need to get you to relax." She said with a smile. "Let me call Mar-"
"NO!" Exclaimed Marshall quickly. "It's not that I don't trust or wanna worry her, but this is something I wanna find out on my own without Marcy or OC."
Canyon raised a brow. "What is it?" She asked tilting her head.
Marshall flinched. "I... I'm trying to find my purpose, I guess?" He said awkwardly. "I've decided to start from blank and see what I'm meant to be from there and my magic is going all out of whack because of it."
"Hmm, how about being a comic book artist?" Asked Canyon cheerfully as he put a hand on her chin. "That comic book you gave me was the best thing I've ever read. I LOVED all of Zoe's tricks."
Marshall paused. "I...I don't know." He said tiredly as he curled into a ball.
Canyon went silent at his words. He felt so aimless and fragile, nothing like Nightclad ever was. It made something inside her ache to see him like this. But what could she do in this situation?
Suddenly, an idea hit her. "What if we look for it together?" She asked with a smile. "Like old times, we can go on a journey to who knows where and see what we can find."
Marshall went silent, feeling unsure about going on an adventure. But before he could reply, OC returned with a basket and exclaimed. "That's a great idea! A new perspective is always nice to have and I've already packed food for your trip in this basket."
Marshall sighed. There was no harm in trying. And so, he and Canyon headed outside with no destination in mind and only a purpose to find.
xxXxx
In a desert.
Marshall and Canyon rode on a giant speeding motorcycle as monsters tried to attack them from all sides.
"Does this feel like your purpose?" Asked Canyon calmly as she drove the motorcycle.
"Not really." Replied Marshall narrowing his eyes from all the sand and wind washing over his face.
Canyon nodded before water flooded out of the canteen hanging off her waist before turning into a mace. Canyon took the water mace and in one swift swing killed all the monsters around them before pressing the brakes and stopping the motorcycle in its tracks.
"Sorry, Canyon. I don't think adventurer is for me anymore." Said Marshall tiredly as he layed on the motorcycle.
"That's fine." Replied Canyon calmly with a smile. "What's next on our list?"
Marshall hummed as he pulled out a notebook filled with different things Marshall could be and crossed off the word adventurer with magic.
"Next is comic book author." Said Marshall calmly. "Okay, what kind of story should I make?"
"Maybe you can make the next issue of Zoe in Space?" Suggested Canyon with a smile.
"Oh, I already finished that one. I should make something new." Replied Marshall calmly, causing Canyon to pout. "Maybe romance? I've never done romance before."
"Whatever." Grumbled Canyon, a little upset that she didn't get the new issue.
Marshall ignored the grumbles, silently promising to give Canyon a copy of the issue later before starting to brainstorm ideas.
"Let's start with...an astronaut. They're lost in the void of space and then there's this person from a space station tasked with saving them. They don't know each other nor have ever met face to face." Said Marshall calmly. "They only have each other's voices. At first, their relationship is purely professional. But over time, they get closer and closer. They crack jokes, tell personal stories and eventually fall in love."
Canyon smiled. "That sounds beautiful." She said with starry eyes.
"Yeah, would be shame if I gave it a tragic ending." Replied Marshall nonchalantly with a smile.
Canyon glared at Marshall. "Don't you dare."
Silence filled the area as sand blew by the two ex heroes before they burst into laughter.
"Yeah, this feels like part of what I'm meant to be." Said Marshall with a smile. "I just need to find the other parts."
The water elemental heard this and went silent. "Hey, what purpose do you want?" Asked Canyon curiously.
"What?" Asked Marshall in confusion. He was taken aback by the sudden question.
"You want to find your purpose and you've found part of it, but what would you like it to be?" Asked Canyon tilting her head.
Marshall froze. He never really thought about what he wanted his purpose to be. He just thought it was something always meant to be.
"I...I don't know. Do I have a choice?" He asked in confusion, causing Canyon to shrug. "*Sigh* I never thought about it. Without a clear purpose, I just feel like an outsider. Like I'm left out. Everyone else knows their purpose, they know what they're here to do and they do it. Finn's a hero, PB's a scientist ruler, Marcy's the coolest person ever and you're a badass adventurer. What about me then?"
"Heh, you think I'm badass?" Canyon asked with a sly smile, causing Marshall to blush slightly. "But when I look at that stuff you just said, I think you're just broadly describing who we are."
Marshall froze. "I guess. I know people are more than just labels, but...I don't know," He muttered clutching his hair.
Canyon nodded before she flopped face first onto the sand before screaming into it, causing Marshall to jump back in confusion. A few seconds later she got up and spoke as if nothing had happened.
"Keep going."
"Uhh, are you okay?" Asked Marshall in confusion.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Replied Canyon blankly. "But you should really stop looking for a purpose."
Marshall paused in confusion, prompting Canyon to continue.
"Just something you wanna do and let's call that a purpose. You did that with comics, you can do that with everything else." Said Canyon in desperation. "What do YOU want to do right now other than find a purpose?"
Marshall was taken aback by the sudden question. He turned to the list of purposes in his hand before turning to Canyon. He thought back to Peppermint Butler's purpose. Wasn't he just doing what he wanted to do? Was that the secret? Just doing what he really wanted? But...what DID he want to do?
"I guess drink some coffee. I haven't had a mug today." Said Marshall with a shrug.
"Then let's drink some coffee!" Replied Canyon overenthusiastically before Marshall snapped a 2 cups of coffee, one of which was giant, into reality for the two of them to drink.
The two drank sipped out of their drinks almost immediately and while Marshall relished the taste, Canyon wasn't so lucky.
"So hot." Said Canyon spitting out the coffee immediately, causing Marshall to chuckle. "Darn your heat resistance."
"It's weird to see you flustered." Said Marshall cheerfully. "It's nice."
Canyon blushed at the compliment. "Yeah, this is nice."
The two stayed in the desert until sundown.
xxXxx
I hope I gave Canyon good characterization. The reason she shoved her face in the sand was because her tolerance for philosophical problems is very low and she got frustrated.
Tell me how I did. Leave a review.
Toodles.