(A/N - Boy oh boy am I a sucker for grim-dark AU's! Sorry I ain't sorry .3.)
Simon.
Her dad.
Bubblegum.
Finn.
Jake.
Ask her who any of them are and she'd do one of two things; Stare you down cold, vaguely aware you said anything to her or were even there, then float away, gone. Harsh, but certainly not as cruel as she could be. Your other much more likely chance was she would strip you down in a heartbeat, leave you for the buzzards by the time it was all said and done. This girl, this monster, wasn't Marceline. Not anymore.
Anyone who dared leave the safety of a meager underground sanctuary?
Good luck getting them to talk.
Ooo's hero just up and left one day. He never said why or where he was going, but when he finally showed his face again, the Lich had seized control and turned the world upside down all over again.
Flame Princess' kingdom was the first to go, and he still hasn't been able to find her anywhere.
Just how his best, most awesome Vampire buddy went mad? Like Nightosphere he knew! But he's almost certain her dad, that crazy Abadeer, or the Lich himself had something to do with it. She didn't even look the same! More...Evil. That side of her must have gotten thrown out of whack somehow.
How could he have let this happen?! Let it all slip through his fingers so easily?! This doesn't make any sense! He wants to kick and scream, or maybe curl up in a hole like the complete failure he is...
"Marcy..."
She blinked slowly, a pointed ear twitching under her long black hair. No response. Not a word.
Rumor is that all these murders...Some even doubled up with...He cringed at the thought of her doing that to innocent, good guys...Some girls too...His age, though most were only two or three years older...His pal was nothing but a shell, something that got lost in the wreckage this time around and replaced by whatever was in her now, making her do all this. They're a little over a hundred yards from eachother, staring.
"Marcy, please...Ya gotta talk to me...What's goin' on?"
Still no answer, just the painfully slow raising of a clawed hand, nails pointed right at him. Her eyes were dangerous slits, forked tongue licking her lips. Blood. This pathetic thing was filled to the brim with it.
The boy had only seen that subtle change three times in the forever he's known the person she was. Once when he accidentally gave himself a papercut while they were writing on some sheet music, again when Jake's pads got scratched up from walking on rocks all day, and most recent when he broke his arm.
She never once lost her cool, only covered up her nose and patch him up as quick as she could.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, his eyes were already welling up with tears and he hadn't even finished brandishing his sword. "D-Don't...Don't make me fight you...I...You know we don't wanna." He begged.
The Demoness hissed wickedly, took a few sauntering steps toward her chosen prey, then pounced.
"I'm sorry..." He whispered, lunged straight at her.
She told him more than once about how awesome it is to be her, to be able to go anywhere and do whatever she wanted, but also that she was so tired. She was more than ready to sleep and never wake up.
That spooked him, made him sick to his stomach, and it took all he could to snap her out of it, get her back to that carefree, radical dame he knew she was. Ever since Jake tried to rush his croak dream back when he was kid, along with all this new, very real carnage, Death was one of his greatest fears. The ocean was nothing but water to him now. Anything he thought he was scared of before? Kid stuff.
Heroes are supposed to be ready for anything and everything, stand strong, give the helpless whatever they need most. Friends, complete strangers, it didn't matter. It's just something he's always known.
There's a tiny, almost eerie calm, a realization.
If worse comes to worse...
If he can't save her from herself...
At least he can try to give her that one saving grace she always wanted.