Remembrance of a dream

As Marcus and his father walked, Marcus took in the sights and sounds around him like a fish in water, slowly remembering bits and details of this event in his life.

The sights, the sounds, even the smells, they all felt quite familiar, as he started to remember this day that he thought he had forgotten for a very long time.

As they arrived at the corner of the street, large metal barricades separated the sidewalk from the street as the crowd started filling in, lining the sidewalks with hundreds of people waiting for the parade to begin, eager to see the large balloons of popular caricatures of beloved cartoon characters.

The parade began as large balloons and floats started moving slowly down the street as heroes, and characters started floating in the sky as they traveled down the street with the crowds filling the air with joy and the smells of sweets awaiting to be enjoyed.

During this time, Marcus was reliving his childhood, seeing his favorite day of his life, right before his eyes, as heroes and legends went down the street, while parents and children watched on in fondness.

Marcus wanted to just be here, reliving his favorite memory forever, as it would allow his bad memories to fade, Until he remembered Revenant's warning.

"You must find your dream in a sea of memories. If you fail, you will be trapped in a prison of memories." those were the last words Revenant said before Marcus ended up here at the parade.

As Marcus watches the parade, he starts to remember another memory, one much more mundane yet still important, as this was a memory from a few days after this parade.

Flashback of a Flashback:

A 7-year-old Marcus is drawing in a superhero coloring book, currently on a page with superman and batman as his father comes in, half-drank coffee in hand, seemingly just woken up on a Sunday morning.

As Marcus colors Superman's S green, he starts thinking about a question his teacher asked 3 days ago, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" As Marcus is thinking about his future and who he wants to be, he looks down at the coloring book in front of him and starts contemplating something.

After a while, his father comes up and says "Hey bud, Whatcha thinking about?" After saying that, Marcus jumps up and says out loud "I wanna be a superhero!" With a large Cheshire smile on his face.

After hearing that, his father says "but superheroes aren't real, buddy?", as he hears this, Marcus starts to frown as he learns that superheroes don't exist and that he can't be one, crushing his dreams in the process.

Marcus's father, seeing the downtrodden look that had fallen on his son's face, kneels and puts his hand on Marcus's shoulder, and tells him "While you may not be able to be a superhero, there is the next best thing." Marcus wipes his eyes and looks at his dad and asks between sniffles "What's as good as being a hero?"

Marcus's father looks Marcus in the eyes with determination and says "To be a legend and to be forever remembered! Tell me bud, what do you think of when you hear superman?"

"Red, Blue, and the S?" Marcus says with a tinge of confusion, not sure where his father was headed with this. "Exactly, he has a memorable look and name! If you're going to be a legend, you need an outfit and name that is easily recognizable to people, for example, the name batman is simple, and describes him well, same with ironman and hulk, they both have recognizable colors and names." Marcus's father states with pride at his great explanation, Marcus's face lights up in delight, and he stands up and declares with gusto "My dream is to be a legend!".

Back to the first flashback:

As the parade ended, Marcus's father looked at his son and asked him if he was ready to get home, this woke his son from his stupor as they start walking home from the parade. When they arrived home, Marcus went to his room after wishing his dad goodnight, Inside the room, Marcus was contemplating what he remembered, finally realizing that he had tried to leave his dream with his childhood but failed to do so as it still affected him during his old life, always wanting to be the best, to be the greatest ever, but almost always being second place.

as Marcus sat down, he thought about how he finally found his dream. as Marcus finished this thought process, he laid down on his bed and raised his fist to the sky and shouted to the sky "MY DREAM... IS TO BE A LEGEND AND TO NEVER BE FORGOTTEN EVER!" and then it all faded to black once more.