Bloodlines is a Zootopia fanfic co-authored by Berserker88
, Mind Jack, and Upplet.
Serving as a side-story and prequel to both Born to Be Wilde and When Instinct Fallsnote , Bloodlines stars sadistic villainous Lucy Sang and how she became sadistic villainous Lucy Sang. Originally, she was just aspiring artist Lucy Sang, struggling to fulfill her dreams of creative greatness while held back by a strict upbringing. She's a bit of a rebel and prone to occasional violent outbursts, but all great artists have their eccentricities, right?
Well, they're generally not framed for the murder of their own brother and thrown into prison, abandoned by everyone they've ever known. And that's precisely where Lucy's descent into darkness begins...
It can be read on Fanfiction here or on A03 here.
The fic provides examples of:
- Alliterative Family: Every member of the Sang family has a name that starts with an "L".
- Broad Strokes: Its relationship with When Instinct Falls may be a bit unclear at first, given that Upplet is one of the authors but the story itself is explicitly in the Born to Be Wilde canon. In short, everything in Bloodlines is canon to When Instinct Falls as well, except for anything that outright contradicts it.
- Call-Forward: Lucy first sees the Infernum's emblem on a wall at the beginning of Chapter 6. This is the very same spot where Carla Hyenandez will also see the emblem many years later. It even rips the description straight from that chapter, with the altered detail of it being in much better condition here.
- The Caper: In Chapter 3, Lucy goes on a string of heists under the tutelage of La Bruja to steal a bunch of items from around the prison.
- Childhood Friends: Cruelly subverted with Lucy, Leo, and Martina.
- Description Cut: Three in a row at the beginning of Chapter 5, where Lucy denies Ci-Ci's claims that she's "changing", with each denial then cutting to a flashback that proves her claims accurate. Overlaps a bit with I Resemble That Remark!, especially when she responds to the claim that she's becoming addicted to blood with "I can stop anytime I want!"
- Easter Egg: Lucy's prisoner number, 04232-016, is the publishing date of Born to Be Wilde, April 23rd, 2016.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Lana, compared to Lucy. They mutually dislike each other for it.
- Foregone Conclusion: As tragic as her circumstances are initially, Lucy will eventually become a full-blown villain. Not only that but the Felidae Infernum, which Lucy ends up joining, will eventually be destroyed by her hand, its former existence literally becoming a Running Gag in Born To Be Wilde.
- Great Escape: Teased in Chapter 3. Actually happens in Chapter 5.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Lucy Sang may be guilty of a lot of crimes later in life, but she's completely innocent of her brother's murder. She still ends up in prison for it.
- Prequel: Is one for Born to Be Wilde, but loosely, starring a different main character, a different setting, and only minor connections to the events of said story. It's even more loosely a prequel to When Instinct Falls. See Broad Strokes above.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: This story is one for Lucy, starting as a lonely artist struggling to deal with a false conviction, and inevitably earning that conviction several times over.
- Pun-Based Title: Like its parent fic, both the main title and the chapter titles are puns, now with a bloody twist.
- Secret Test: La Bruja gives Lucy a list of items to steal from around the prison, all items that would prove useful for a potential prison break. As it turns out, the task was merely to test Lucy's thieving skills and La Bruja had no intention of escaping just yet. She never even told Lucy otherwise, just letting her make the assumption herself.
- Self-Deprecation: Lucy receives a mysterious note signed by an "LB". She spends the beginning of the next chapter wracking her brain over what it could stand for and is relieved to find out soon after, remarking that it would have gotten really annoying had it been dragged out much longer. This is a jab at the similar unknown acronym "HB" in Born to Be Wilde, which took much longer to be revealed.
- Sibling Rivalry: One exists between Lucy and her older sister, Lana, who she knows is clearly the favorite in their father's eyes. She also has a friendlier one with her brother, Leo, over the scholarship.
- Timeskip: Between chapters 4 and 5, of three years.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 5. Three years have passed and Lucy gets pulled into a sudden and violent prison escape by the Felidae Infernum. Two early and seemingly-innocuous characters are revealed to have been Infernum members the whole time and the Infernum itself turns out to be not just a criminal gang but an Illuminati-esque organization that has supposedly existed for a very long time. It ends with Lucy being brought to the Nocturnal District and into an Infernum base that is implied to be the future Belfry.
- Worst. Whatever. Ever!: When Lucy is taken out of her cell in solitary (where she had no perspective of the time) and brought to the shower room under threatening circumstances, she comments on it being the "Worst ambiguous time of day ever!”.
