DP: Going Grimdark

Okay, it's been a while since I posted. Here's a new Marceline drawing to make up for it.

This image of her is set in the Ultimate Enemy and as you can see, she looks a lot different. While thinking of a backstory, I was listening to "Magia", "Decretum", and "Sis Puella Magica" of the Madoka Magica soundtrack on youtube.

She's supposed to be walking forward on a street of a destroyed city in the background, but since I forgot and was too lazy to do one on either SAI or GIMP, you get a half-assed gradient bg

Perhaps I will make a real bg in the future...one day...eventually...

Also, I'd like to ask for a critique in your comments.
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Background:
When Danny decided to go live with Vlad in Wisconsin after the terrible Nasty Burger explosion that killed his friends and family, Marceline (who by then got promoted from one-star to two-star) opted to stay in Amity Park to dedicate herself to her soul reaping job full-time. Wracked by guilt at her inability to help prevent the tragedy that had befallen Danny (due to being incapacitated at the time), she vowed to get stronger so that another incident like that would never come to pass. As Marceline was the only one that remained of their original gang, Danny was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to come with him to Vlad's. But she promised to visit him whenever she could. And before getting into the limo that came for him, Danny asked Marceline to say 'hi' to his friends and family should she ever see them in Fiddler's Green or the Ghost Zone--a request she was more than happy to oblige. Soonafter, they parted ways. Life went on...

During their time apart, both soul reaper and ghost boy kept in touch either through e-mail, chat client (Danny made her download the mobile version of a popular human chat application named 'BadgerBuddy' for her rPhone), or if either one decided they missed hearing each other's voices--phone calls. Their discussions usually involved how each other's day went and if anything interesting happened during a particular day. And when Marceline visited, they would often either play video games, explore Vlad's castle, or go out into the nearby town (with Marceline in her fake human body) and just hang out like typical best friends do. In those days, Danny seemed to have accepted his new life and began to smile and have fun again like a normal kid his age should. However, that doesn't mean that he had forgotten the horrible event that changed his life. When alone, the awful memory of that day haunted him and often gave him nightmares, waking him in the middle of the night either screaming or crying; not even Vlad's reassurances helped make him feel better. After a few months and several days worth of bad memories, night terrors, and guilt trips, Danny finally had enough. Some time before making what best be the most risky decision of his life, Danny spoke to Marceline over chat. He told her that while he saved a lot of people with his ghost powers as Danny Phantom, what good are they if he couldn't even use them to save those he really cared about. Not knowing what appropriate thing to say, Marceline asked if she could come over as she felt that something was bothering Danny and it was best to talk it over face to face rather than online. He refused, saying he didn't want to bother her and keep her from her job over something simple and stupid.

That was the last conversation Marceline LeGrimm had with Danny Fenton.

Several weeks later, after doing her usual round of sending off souls of the deceased and fighting rogue ghosts, Marceline received a report from her scientist friend and teammate, Archie Poindexter that an emergency warning has been put up for all soul reapers stationed in areas within several miles around the state of Wisconsin stating to watch out and be on guard for a very powerful and destructive ghost wreaking (spelling?) havoc. Worried for Danny (and Vlad's) safety, she immediately went off to Wisconsin and saw the town closest to Vlad's castle destroyed--looking as if the apocalypse came down upon it. As for the castle itself, it has been reduced to a huge pile of rubble, much to Marceline's horror. It was during that time that a presence invaded her ecto-sensory perception. The young reaper turned around and her eyes widened at the sight of none other than Danny Phantom himself...or was he? He looked different than usual. Granted that he had on his signature jumpsuit, but his skin was a light greenish color and a plume of ghostly white flame sat atop his head instead of hair. His eyes were a deep red and full of malice; coupled with a crazed smile that showed rows of sharp teeth that certainly did nothing to ease her budding apprehension.

If it weren't for the suit, Marceline certainly wouldn't have recognized him.

She stood frozen as Phantom came forward to her and grasped her stiff shoulders with his white gloved hands and pulled her closer to him; all the while telling her how much he missed her and that he had been looking all over for her. Not knowing how to react, Marceline remained silent.

That somewhat bittersweet reunion was cut short by an exceptionally aimed bullet from one of the other Fiddler's Green soul reapers who wielded a musket--grazing Phantom at the back of the neck, and making him shove the former away due to the sudden burning and stinging pain. Both youngsters realized that they were surrounded from all sides by soul reapers deployed upon orders to deal with Phantom (all of which are Marceline's superiors), who as it turned out, to be the one who caused the destruction around them and the deaths of many innocent humans. Marceline stared at Phantom in shock, not quite believing at what she had heard. As a battle ensued between Phantom and the reapers, she was pulled from the fray by her former platoon leader, Joe Macintosh, before joining in himself. Marceline could only watch in utter disbelief as the reapers faced off with an enraged Phantom in a battle that quickly devolved into a massacre as the boy that was once her best friend easily tore apart his assailants while laughing madly at their demise. The once army of more than fifty elite (3-stars) and veteran (4-stars) soul reapers dwindled into seven in a matter of minutes, Joe being one of them, albeit heavily injured and bleeding.

Not wanting to see anymore bloodshed, Marceline called out to Phantom, begging and pleading to stop all the unnecessary killing; even went as far as offering to do anything for him as long as he stopped with his madness. The survivors watched as Phantom turned to her as if to respond, half amazed and half puzzled at the fact that the demonic ghost was actually listening to one of their own. However, one of them took it as an opportunity and attacked Phantom from behind. Now even angrier than ever, Phantom took out his attacker and the rest with Joe being the last one standing. The last remaining soul reaper of the deployed team being unable to fight properly due to his injuries, picked up the musket from one of the fallen and aimed at Phantom's head, hoping that one final shot would finally end it. Unfortunately, it only narrowly missed the target by a few sparks of his flaming hair. Phantom retaliated by shooting a powerful ecto-blast. Seeing his own demise approaching, Joe could only close his eyes and resign to his fate.

Except he didn't.

A familiar high-pitched scream cut through the air. Joe opened his eyes and his expression became of shock as he saw Marceline standing right before him and took the blast full on. An equally mortified Phantom watched as she fell back, her front sporting terrible burns and heavily bleeding. Joe examined the fallen girl with trembling hands as he called her name and pleaded for her to wake up, but it was already too late. The blast that she took for him destroyed her core and instantly ended her ('ending' is for ghosts and supernatural beings as 'death' is for mortals). Phantom, unable to accept it, snatched Marceline away before the elder reaper could do anything else.

Phantom went into hiding in the Ghost Zone after finding at entering one of the natural portals that appeared from time to time on the human world and secluded himself from inquisitive spectral eyes as he tried to revive Marceline by giving her some of his own ectoplasm and force her body to heal. It worked to an extent, but it wasn't enough as the body was beginning to break down into wisps of ecto-energy that made up the atmosphere in the Ghost Zone. Refusing to give up, Phantom went and (painfully) broke a chunk of his own core and put it in place of the one he unintentionally destroyed. The effect was nowhere near instantaneous, but Marceline's body pulled itself together and absorbed the ectoplasm offered to it. A few hours later, Marceline was revived to Phantom's delight. But she was never the same ever since...both inside and out.

Ten years later, the two of them become notorious in both worlds as the most evil ghosts in all of history.
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Oh my glob! I only meant to give a brief explanation of how Marceline turned into the image you see right there, but I blew it up into a mini-fanfic!

Now about Marcy herself, when she got 'revived', it didn't necessarily meant brought back into the waking world as one would expect. While she exists, in the twisted sense of the word, Marcy here is practically a ghost version of a zombie. The only things that keep her tethered to the instance of being is Phantom's ectoplasm and the chunk of his ghost core that he gave her. And while it comes with perks that make her stronger, faster, and more dextrous and durable than her alternate counterpart, she really can't do anything unless Phantom tells her to do so. Otherwise she'll just stand there and stare in space with her half-lidded eyes and never-changing uncaring expression. She's basically a servant like the Fright Night, except she'll obey any orders without Phantom having to be concerned about any kind of objection. Not that she could anyway; zombies don't talk. Her outward appearance is the direct result of the influence of Phantom's ectoplasm. But since ectoplasm serves as the catalyst for a ghost's powers, they get used up quickly especially in battle, so Phantom has to refresh her supply every now and then so she wouldn't break down and dissolve as the piece of core inside her isn't powerful enough to bind her ecto-particles completely. A syptom of ecto-breakdown is similar to a third-degree acid burn, and thus leaves ugly scars when fixed, hence the bandages.

Phantom often dresses her in blue as it was the color of her old reaper uniform.

Bluh! There I'm done. Aren't you all relieved?