A smiling green goblin face was the first thing he saw and it was always there, watching, waiting. At first he thought it was important, but slowly he realized it wasn't, it was just a reminder of things that were missing. Unfortunately it was the only thing that accompanied him in the endless black void he was in, so he never tried to make it disappear or leave.
As for how long he was there for, he had no idea, it was hard to track time when you have nothing to base it against. It wasn't like he even slept and could track the amount of times it happened. No, it was just him and that creepy green goblin face. Sometimes he wished that it could talk, then he wouldn't be so bored. But what would he talk to it about, he couldn't even remember who he was half the time…
Marcus's consciousness slowly flickered back to life as he heard the sound of horseshoes clopping against dirt and stone along with wagon wheels rolling over uneven ground. His body shook gently as his eyes slowly opened and through the blur he found himself in a wooden wagon without a top. His hands were bound tightly at the wrists with leather and he apparently wasn't alone inside the uncovered wagon. He glanced over the people around him but with his vision blurred he couldn't tell who they were.
Marcus quickly blinked his eyes to help clear them as he looked out of the wagon at his surroundings. As his eyes slowly cleared he realized he was in some type of forest with a lot of massive pine trees. The ground itself was sporadically coated in snow and there was a light fog that hung in the air as they traveled deeper into what looked like a valley.
After a minute he finally turned back towards the wagon itself and someone said, "Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."
"Damn you Stormcl-"
"Why the fuck am I in Skyrim?!? Did I die again?!?" Marcus asked in a confused tone as he cut the man off.
"Shut up back there!"
Marcus frowned slightly as he took in the situation and as the others talked he reached for his haki. He quickly found it but it felt weird, like it was far away and hard to interact with. Marcus closed his eyes in concentration and reached out for it again as he pushed through what felt like a fog in his mind. It took time, but slowly Marcus pushed through it all and brushed against his haki.
As soon as he touched it, everything around him became muted and his body felt weird. It was almost like he was in syrup or something but when he opened his eyes he was still in the wagon as they rolled into a stone walled city. The others were saying something, but Marcus couldn't understand them at all. Marcus just ignored them and reached for his haki again and this time it felt a little easier to reach, but it didn't respond to him.
Marcus frowned when he found his haki unresponsive and reached out again with more force. It was easier to reach again but when he tried to coat his arms in it, it still didn't respond to him. As the wagons came to a stop, Marcus reached for his conqueror's haki this time. His connection was almost immediate this time and when he flared it, everything around him shook but his conqueror's haki didn't manifest and no one seemed to notice what happened.
The other people in the wagon were being pulled out when Marcus tried again. Marcus's conqueror's haki flared again with even more effort this time and again everything shook. But still no one noticed and his haki didn't manifest. Marcus closed his eyes as he attempted to reach for his conqueror's haki once more, but one of the guards grabbed him before they tried to pull him from the wagon.
Marcus's eyes snapped open as he reached for his conqueror's haki again and flared it to the maximum he could. This time something happened as everyone was knocked off their feet while the ground shook as if an earthquake was happening. Marcus didn't see a manifestation of his haki, but as soon as he stopped concentrating the earthquake stopped. Everyone around started to get up before Marcus channeled his conqueror's haki at maximum again and didn't stop.
The ground rocked so hard that the wagon Marcus was still on was thrown over five feet into the air. Even though Marcus was tossed into the air, he didn't feel like he was in the air at all. He felt like his body was moving through syrup as it floated through the air. Marcus didn't stop channeling his conqueror's haki the entire time and as he fell towards the ground he heard a clear voice as it said, "Young man, please stop, you're going to break important lab equipment."
The world around Marcus shattered into pieces and he was back in the black void again for a few moments before his eyes snapped open. Everything around him was tinted green and he had some kind of respirator over his face as he floated naked in some kinda glass container. The glass around him was slightly cracked and outside of the tube seemed to be some type of laboratory. But what Marcus found most interesting was the man standing in front of the glass tube he was in.
A relatively tall, elderly man with a massive forehead stood in front of him, with slender limbs and red cheeks. He wore a white lab coat and black dress pants, while his incredibly long tongue hung out of his mouth past his stomach and reached his groin. Marcus stared at the man who put on a friendly smile as he said, "Thank you, it would have been tedious to rebuild some of this equipment."
Marcus wanted to ask questions, but considering his current situation he was basically stuck with no way to talk. Marcus glanced around for a few moments before the man said, "I'm sure you probably have questions, but you'll have to forgive me, it will take a while to get you out of that. It wasn't designed for easy access in mind."
Marcus frowned slightly as he glanced around the inside of the tube before he tried to move closer to the glass. It was like swimming through syrup but Marcus reached the glass before he pulled back his fist and coated it in haki as the man's eyes widened. Before the man could say anything Marcus's haki coated had slammed into the already broken glass and it shattered in that spot. The glass and the green liquid rushed out of the hole and spilled all over the floor as the man said in an exasperated tone, "Now the fluid is contaminated and will need to be replaced."
Marcus ripped the mask off his face once the tube leveled out and he could breath normally. Marcus then grabbed the edge of the thick glass with his haki coated hands before he pulled himself out of the hole and fell towards the ground. It wasn't a far drop and even though he tried to land on his feet, his legs gave out and he slammed into the floor instead. The man stepped in front of Marcus on the ground as he let out a sigh before he said, "You're just like your grandfather."
Marcus let out a horse laugh that hurt his throat as the man said, "Don't try and talk for now, you need medical attention before anything else, you've been inside that container for a long time."
Marcus's eyes widened and he was gonna try to ask a question anyways when gas was sprayed into his face as the man said, "Just rest, we will talk when you wake up."
Marcus slowly woke up to the sound of steady beeping as his consciousness returned. When he opened his eyes he found himself alone in some kind of hospital room with modern looking medical equipment attached to him. Marcus glanced around for a moment and afterwards he tried to get out of bed.
His legs almost gave out on him when he put his weight on them, but after a few moments he found he could walk with help. It was just a little awkward since his legs felt weird to him, but by using the IV poll he could move around slowly. Afterwards testing it near his bed for about a minute, Marcus disconnected the monitoring devices from his arm.
The moment they were removed one of the monitors flat lined and an alarm went off. Within seconds a couple people rushed into the room and paused when they saw Marcus standing up. One of them, a tall man in a white coat and glasses, stepped forward to help Marcus as he said, "You… You shouldn't be out of bed, your body needs time to recover."
Marcus's voice came out in a weak, almost whisper-like tone as he said, "Food, I need food!"
The man helped steady Marcus as he said, "You can't eat yet, your body is still recovering. Let's get you back into bed and I can have the nurses hook up a new IV bag for you."
Marcus pushed the man away as he said in his weak voice, "I need food. Either give it to me or point me towards the kitchen."
The man frowned and the others stepped closer to help him as he said, "Dr. Vegapunk gave us strict instructions, your body needs time to recover and you shouldn't have any food until your body has recovered enough to process it properly."
Marcus stared at the man and the two nurses next to him before he flared his conqueror's haki and they collapsed to the ground unconscious. Afterwards Marcus snorted as he slowly walked towards the door and mumbled, "Stupid doctors, always thinking they know my own body better than I do."
Marcus stepped out into a wide hallway as he leaned on his IV poll for support. He was currently only in a hospital gown and the tiled floor felt cold under his bare feet. He glanced around the hallway and didn't see anyone else, so he headed for the closest intersection. Within a few minutes he reached his destination and still didn't see anyone else, but found signs posted on the walls. After examining the signs, he headed towards the one that read, 'Habitation.'
Marcus slowly made his way towards the habitation area and after a little while ran into people. Most of them gave him puzzled looks but otherwise avoided him as they went about their day. It wasn't until he entered what seemed to be a housing area that an older woman finally greeted him and asked in concern, "Hi, are you lost? Do you need help?"
"Food. Where can I get food?" Marcus said in his whisper like voice.
The woman frowned slightly as she examined Marcus before she asked, "I can show you to the cafeteria, but shouldn't you be in the hospital wing resting?
"I just need food. Please lead the way." Marcus said as he shook his head.
The woman hesitated for a few moments but reluctantly led Marcus to a very modern looking buffet style cafeteria. As soon as Marcus entered the room, the smell of fresh food almost overwhelmed him and he quickly moved towards the buffet area. The woman watched him for a moment before she rushed over to an intercom unit on the wall and used it as she kept an eye on Marcus.
Marcus ignored the other people in line and just walked directly to the buffet itself. He stopped in front of an area that was filled with meat before he grabbed a large chicken wing and took a bite out of it. As he chewed his first bite a man next to him frowned and said, "Don't you have any manners?!? Don't eat in the buffet line!"
Marcus ignored the man as he tried to swallow his first bite and found it incredibly hard to do. It did go down, but it hurt his throat in the process and he ended up choking slightly. The man next to him laughed as he said, "That serves you right."
Marcus glanced towards the man and noticed he had a cup on his tray full of liquid, so he reached over and stole it. Before the man could even move, Marcus chugged the entire cup and let out a satisfied sigh before he said in a slightly louder voice than a whisper, "That's better."
The man frowned and reached for Marcus as he said, "What do you think you're doing brat?!?"
Marcus shot the man a glare with a burst of his conqueror's haki as he took another bite of his chicken leg and a moment later the man collapsed to the ground. Everyone who was paying attention froze in place and those standing close by all stepped back in fear. Marcus ignored everyone else as he swallowed his second bite and found it went down easier this time.
Marcus took another bite of his chicken leg as he glanced around the buffet and spotted an area with pitchers of different drinks. At this point everyone in the cafeteria was watching him and a few were next to the woman on the intercom who helped Marcus find the place. Marcus didn't care about everyone else and was only concerned about eating so he could heal properly. He stuffed the chicken leg in his mouth to hold it, while he grabbed a couple more in one hand before he moved towards the drink area.
Everyone moved out of his way and a couple people moved to check on the man who passed out as Marcus stopped in front of the drinks. He placed his extra chicken down before he started to eat his first piece again. After his next bite, he used one of the pitchers as a cup and chugged half the contents down.
Marcus could feel his stomach protesting about the amount of stuff he was feeding it, but he concentrated on his stomach and forced it to quickly digest everything with Life Return. He wasn't a master of the skill by any means, but he could easily use it for certain things like digestion.
As Marcus was working on his third chicken leg, Vegapunk entered the cafeteria with a couple of other people as he said, "Young man, you shouldn't be eating yet, it will just make your recovery time longer."
"I know my own body better than you old man, I just need food and sleep and I'll be better in a couple of days." Marcus said in something closer to his normal tone of voice as he waved his chicken leg dismissively and a moment later his slightly fat belly disappeared.
Vegapunk's eyes widened slightly as he asked, "What was that? Life Return?"
Marcus shrugged as he asked, "Yeah, but I've only really figured it out for digestion… Also, do you know where my sword is?"