Family Sticks Together is an Elfen Lied Fan Fic written by JRB95
, which can be read here.
The fic follows the life of Alex, a young boy who ends up in the same orphanage as none other than Kaede (aka Lucy/Nyu) and becomes the first person to ever treat her with any human decency. Over time, the two become so close that they declare one another brother and sister, with the two leaving the orphanage together after the infamous puppy-killing at the hands of Kaede's tormentors. Eventually, Alex discovers his origins: that he is the son of the product of Project Cherubim, a Super-Soldier project conducted by Director Kakuzawa with the intent to create "angels" to keep the Diclonii under his control, and that he inherited his father's power. With that in mind, Alex learns to control his powers in order to take vengeance on Kakuzawa and free the Diclonius race from his manipulations, forming bonds with the series' primary cast along the way.
A sequel, titled Elfen Lied: Dark Seraphim, is currently in progress. Not to be confused with the Harry Potter fic of the same name.
Now has a character page under construction.
This fic contains examples of the following tropes (Beware of spoilers):
- Abusive Parents: Prior to ending up at the orphanage, Alex lived with his maternal uncle, who beat him regularly, called him a freak, and locked him out of the house to fend for himself.
- Aerith and Bob: In addition to Japanese names (Kouta, Yuka, Mayu, Kaede, etc.), we have Alex, an English name.
- Alternate Universe Fic: The fic adapts the anime quite well, but adds in the Original Character Alex.
- A Million Is a Statistic: Though Alex admits that he is not entirely comfortable with Kaede's killings, he is nonetheless fine with it as long as she is able to survive and explicitly tells her that her life means more to her than a thousand others.
- And Show It to You: In chapter 9, which details Kaede's capture after the death of Aiko Takada, Alex, while embarking on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Aiko's murderers, rips out one soldier's heart and squeezes it until it bursts, guts another and uses the second's intestines to strangle a third to death, and finally breaks off one of the second's ribs and impales him through the skull with it.
- Back from the Dead: At the end of chapter 9, Alex is fatally shot by Yu Kakuzawa while trying to stop him and his men from taking Kaede, but is resurrected in the next chapter in order to save his sister and stop Director Kakuzawa's plans.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Alex steps in to save Kaede from Tomoo in chapter 2:Tomoo: Surely, you noticed the girl is a freak, so you shouldn't give a damn.Alex: You're right, Tomoo. I did notice the freak. He's standing right in front of me.
- Berserk Button: Do not gang up on girls or call anyone a freak in front of Alex if you want to stay healthy.
- Big Brother Instinct: Alex becomes extremely protective of Kaede.
- Bully Hunter: Alex first befriends Kaede when he stands up to Tomoo and the other bullies on her behalf.
- Cooldown Hug: Alex gives one to Mayu after she confides her past to him in chapter 14.
- Crash-Into Hello: Alex first informally meets Kaede this way.
- Cruel Mercy: In chapter 14, Alex tracks down Yu Kakuzawa just as he's about to try to rape Nyu, but when he finds out he's not the Director Kakuzawa, he decides to leave him to be killed by the resurfaced Lucy, stating that nothing he would do to him would compare to what Lucy was about to do to him.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: In chapter 20, Alex is completely pounded by Mariko. Even working together with Kaede in the next chapter, the two prove little match for her.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: As revealed in chapter 10, Alex's parents were aware that Kakuzawa was hunting for them, so they left the infant Alex in his uncle's care for his own safety.
- Deadpan Snarker: Alex is quite prone to sarcastic taunts and one-liners, which also show quite prominently in his narration. According to chapter 10, he inherited it from his mother.
- Dead Person Conversation: In chapter 10, Alex meets the spirit of his Missing Mom, Asuka.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Alex's parents, Zale and Asuka.
- Defector from Decadence: In chapter 10, it's stated that Zale fled from the Diclonius Research Institute upon discovering that the Diclonii were far from the savage, murderous monsters that Kakuzawa made them out to be.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Alex dies in Kaede's arms in chapter 21 after being shot.
- Disproportionate Reward: When Alex walks Nyu home, Yuka thanks him by letting him stay for dinner and even letting him use their shower; Alex himself thinks she's going a little overboard.
- Don't Say Such Stupid Things!: When Kaede asks Alex to be her brother in chapter 4, Alex remarks that it was a stupid question before telling her that he would.
- Doomed Protagonist/The Hero Dies: The first chapter establishes that Alex is dying and the events of the fic are his life flashing before his eyes. He does die in chapter 21 after Taking the Bullet for Kaede.
- Energy Ball: In chapter 20, Alex creates one in his rage at Nana's apparent death at Mariko's hands and hits her with it, managing to disable all of her vectors (which shielded her from the attack), but leaving him too drained to do anything else. In the next chapter, he creates two more to attack Mariko, with less favorable results.
- Eye Color Change: Alex's eyes change from blue to purple with slit pupils whenever he transforms.
- Eye Scream: In chapter 11, after witnessing Lucy and Nana's fight and covering Lucy's escape from the soldiers, Alex proceeds to tear one soldier's eye out while quipping that he should "get his eyesight checked."
- Family Eye Resemblance: Alex inherited his father's sapphire blue eyes.
- Femme Fatalons: Alex manifests claws when he transforms.
- Fiery Redhead: Alex has auburn hair and quite the temper.
- Friendship Moment: In chapter 14, Mayu ends up trusting Alex enough that he becomes the only one who she confides in about her sexually-abusive stepfather.
- He Who Fights Monsters: After spending most of the story preaching equality between humans and diclonii, Alex becomes so outraged at Mariko for nearly killing Nana that he promptly writes her off as a monster. When he sees her break down in tears over her failed reunion with Kurama, however, he realizes he forgot his most adamant belief and is immediately disgusted with himself.
- Hellish Pupils: Alex when he transforms.
- Heroic BSoD: Alex suffers one at the end of chapter 14 after yet another dead end in tracking down Kaede. By the next chapter, he's so depressed that he briefly attempts to goad Lucy into killing him, stating that she'd be doing them both a favor.
- Homeless Hero: After leaving the orphanage with Kaede, Alex takes up refuge in an abandoned church up until chapter 13, where he becomes acquainted with Kouta and Yuka and takes up residence at Maple House.
- Inheritance Of Acquired Traits: Alex inherited his father's eye color and powers, as well as his mother's hair color and sarcasm.
- It Was with You All Along: Alex spends over ten chapters searching for Kaede, and in chapter 20, he finally realizes that Lucy/Nyu was Kaede all along.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite Alex's sarcastic and rude tendencies, he is generally a nice guy, sympathizing with the Diclonii, bonding with Kaede, and being moved to tears over Mayu's plight.
- Like Brother and Sister: Alex and Kaede grow so close at the orphanage that they consider each other surrogate siblings.
- Playing Both Sides: In chapter 12, Alex jumps in and briefly fights Lucy to stop her from killing Nana, and then sides with her when Kurama and a group of soldiers show up to capture her.
- Power Glows: Alex's Battle Aura and Energy Balls are purple.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: After Mayu confides in him that she was sexually abused by her stepfather, Alex reflects that people like that "deserve to die the most cruel death ever."
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Alex embarks on one in chapter 9 after the soldiers shoot Aiko.
- Secret-Keeper: Alex becomes this to Mayu and her abusive past, and Mayu and Nana also become secret keepers to his true nature.
- Sibling Team: In chapter 21, Alex and Kaede team up to fight Mariko.
- Something Only They Would Say: In chapter 21, during the fight with Mariko, Alex remarks to Kaede that "family sticks together"... which enables Kaede to recognize him.
- Supernatural Sensitivity: Alex is able to sense the presence of the Diclonii, though they are unable to sense him back.
- Superpowerful Genetics: All of Alex's powers belonged to his father and were passed on to him.
- Super-Soldier: In the backstory revealed by the spirit of Alex's mother in chapter 10, Kakuzawa, fearing that the Diclonii might turn against him when he established his new world order, put in motion "Project Cherubim," kidnapping countless babies and genetically experimenting on them with the intent to turn them into "angels" with enough power to keep the Diclonii in check, though only Alex's father, Zale, survived, with Alex inheriting his father's abilities. As a result, Alex possesses superhuman strength and speed, can morph into a demonic form with claws and fangs, project Energy Balls, as well as sense Diclonii and see their vectors; with all of this power, Alex is actually stated in chapter 20 to be just as dangerous as the Diclonii themselves, if not even more so.
- That Man Is Dead/Meaningful Rename: At the end of chapter 12, Alex decides to take on the name of his late father, Zale, in order to move on from his past mistakes and failures.
- Time Skip: Five years pass in-between chapters 8 and 9, and another two years pass in-between chapters 10 and 11.
- Title Drop: Alex tells Kaede on more than one occasion that no matter what, "family sticks together."
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The fic explicitly states that the Diclonii are not savage monsters, and that all they need is some love and acceptance.
- What the Hell Are You?: Lucy, Nana, and a Diclonius Research Institute soldier all ask Alex this on different occasions.
- You Are Not Alone: Alex phrases this trope word for word to Mayu in chapter 14 while comforting her.
