Elfen Lied Continuation Fic written by Seraphobia and first published on August 17, 2011; takes place roughly 7 months after the anime ( as well as Seraphobia’s other fan-fictions, “I am What i Am” and “One Bullet Left”) and follows Lucy as she tries to fit in and live a normal life with the Maple Inn residents. Elsewhere, the director of another Diclonius research institute in Rome, Italy; Director Erich Vanith arrives in Kamakura, with him he brings Angel; A sterile Diclonius queen who takes a different approach to killing compared to other Diclonius. Wanting to offer the life Kouta had offered to her to someone else, Lucy frees Angel from her confinement and takes her into the Maple Inn. However, as time passes on, Lucy begins to suspect Angel is not who she appears to be. Around the same time, the Institute finds and captures Nana along with Mayu who was caught in the crossfire. Before she was captured, Mayu sent out a cry for help to Bando, prompting him to also go to the Institute on a rescue mission. Things only get more complicated from there.
The story can be found here
What is Written in Blood provides examples of:
- Acceptable Breaks from Canon: Diclonius age slower than in cannon. Additionally, the Diclonius problem is implied to have gone on longer than in the cannon material.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Lucy and Bando as well as Yuka to some degree.
- Adaptational Expansion: Bando is given a more detailed backstory.
- Alone with the Psycho: Erich, Lucy, and Yuka’s time with Angel; who tries convincing them to engage in more morally bankrupt activities, that who they used to be was a better person than who they are now, and to be dangerously more forward with their love interest respectively.
- Badass Crew: Theres Lucy and Nana obviously, but the other members of the Maple Inn crew have taken several lessons in bad-assary. And thats not even mentioning that Bando and Arakawa sort of join with them and bring their own levels with them.
- Badass Normal: Mayu is able to handle herself really well against trained institute soldiers and later Angel
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Double Subverted. Both Angel and Erich believe that love doesn’t even exist. Ironic that they both have feelings for each other.
- Big "NO!": Nana when Mayu is shot in the chest.
- Black Comedy: All over the place, though more often than not is done through Angel
”OH PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!" she screamed amidst bouts of laughter, her voice carrying louder than his own, "SOMEONE HELP THIS MAN! HE'S GOING TO DIE! HEEEELLLPPPPP!”
—Angel as she’s chasing Ghost
- Can't Stop the Signal: Angel effectively blows the lid off the existence of the Diclonius and the danger they pose by broadcasting herself all over TV.
- Changing Yourself for Love: Lucy continuously try's to better herself as a person for Kouta throughout the story's duration.
- Chase Fight: Most of Chapters 38 and 39 are this.
- Character Focus: Certain chapters explore the deeper thoughts of a select character. The first few chapters are mostly just this.
- Chekhov's Gun: The dissonance grenades used during Nana’s capture as well as the assault on the Maple Inn are used to give Bando a fighting chance against Angel.
- Conveniently Timed Guard: In chapter 10 as Lucy is catching her breath, she is spotted by Ghost who alerts the Institute to her presence.
- Diehard On An X: Chapter 47 features Mayu on her own in an incomplete building surrounded by SAT soldiers and a rampaging Diclonius, basically making this Die Hard on a construction site.
- Doomsday Device: The Red Sky missle, intended to wipe out all Diclonius as well as all those infected with the vector virus. It only gets worse when Kakuzawa sabotages the missle to spread the vector virus, much like in the manga
- Dressing as the Enemy: Lucy considers this, but ultimately decides against it. That doesn’t stop Kouta from doing it.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Despite being fatally stabbed, Bando is still able to throw Angel in position to be shot by Mayu and to then beat her and throw her out of a building.
- Dysfunction Junction: With the exception of Takashi, everyone seems to be dealing with something.
- Empty Promise: Bando promises Mayu that he will return to her after he frees Arakawa from the Institute knowing that it was unlikely he would even survive such a task. Luckily, he gets out alive. Nana’s promise to Kurama to never kill is also broken.
- Evil Versus Evil: Angel and Ghost in chapter 14.
- Four Lines, All Waiting: The majority of the fic is broken into main four plot-lines with the cast broken up into these four groups. Lucy, Kouta, and Yuka form the first. Bando, Arakawa, Mayu, and Nana form the second. Erich the third and Ghost the forth.
- Friendship Moment:
- Arakawa runs into the middle of a battlefield to assist Nana see as she had been shot. She tries to stop the bleeding and assures Nana she will make it out of this.
- Lucy takes a moment to hug Mayu in an attempt to assure her Bando will be okay.
- Before their final attack on Ghost, Bando expresses how proud he is of Nana.
- Grand Finale: Chapters 45, 46, and 47 act as this.
- Groin Attack: Angel does this to Bando.
- Heroic Resolve: Lucy yearning for death after the events of chapter 32 is able to find the will to live after a stern talking to curtesy of Bando. From there on, she takes on an overwhelming force of SAT and a tank just to reunite with Kouta.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Bando takes a killing blow from Angel in place of Mayu.
- History Repeats: For Lucy in Chapter 27 faces a similar situation as she did in “I am What I am”. She herself acknowledges this and resolves herself to make her choice faster than last time so as not to cause any unnecessary death.
- Hurt/Comfort Fic: There is a lot of this going around with a number of characters.
- It's All My Fault: Lucy when Angel is running around Kamakura on a murder spree, a sabotaged Red Sky being deployed, and the both of those leading to Kamakura being quarantined with the possibility of being nuked off the map to get rid of both problems. This understandably feeds into her I Am a Monster belief about herself.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Lucy at many points attempts suicide believing Kouta would be better off without her in his life.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Mayu does this twice in chapter 47
- Locked Out of the Loop: Kouta and Lucy keep the truth of Kanae and Kouta’s father’s murder from the other Inn residents, believing if it would tear their family apart if known by the others
- Love Is a Weakness: A philosophy that Angel embraces. According to her, love does not exist and is mearly a lie that makes one forget their pain, and subsequently themselves.
- Mirror Character: Several. Lucy and Angel, Bando and Ghost, hell even Erich can loosely be seen as a twisted version of Kouta.
- Mistaken Identity: Mayu mistakes Angel for Lucy, twice.
- Mook Depletion: So much so that Westmore had to call in a lot of his own men from Maine to supplement the Kamakura Institutes weakened forces. Too bad it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
- Most Fanfic Writers Are Fans: Most of the stated geography of Kamakura is correct to the real location, minus a few mistakes where the author says the characters are going to Fujisawa Hospital when he means Kamakura hospital.
- OC Standin: Bando is given backstory and explanations for why his is like he is. Additionally, Arakawa is further delved into.
- Original Character: Several. The important ones are noted down in the character section.
- Perspective Flip: Done several time though the fic, though its most apparent with the institute raid arc, Chapters 10 to 16.
- Red Shirt Army: The SAT soldiers, just like in cannon. Though by the third act, this is narrowed down to only the American division of soldiers.
- Retcon: Lucy isn’t the only queen like she is in cannon. More so, the Diclonius problem has been present long before she’s even been born.
- The Reveal: In chapter 38 it is revealed that Ghost is a Diclonius, and not only that but he was indirectly responsible for the slaughter of his town.
- Party Scattering: Mayu and Nana are captured in chapter 8 and remain apart from the other inn residents for the majority of the story.
- Sensory Overload: Dissonance Grenades.
- Series Fic: “I am What I am” and “One Bullet left” were written and come before this story. Bridging the gap between the anime and this fic.
- Shock Collar: One is used on Angel in multiple instances.
- Shoot Everything That Moves: The American SAT’s solution to whatever problem they come across in chapter 45.
- The Stations of the Canon: The events from episode 9 of the anime are revisited sometimes, showing off the inner thoughts of Kouta and Lucy during some points of the episode.
- Taking the Bullet: Yuka does this for Lucy
- Tooka Levelin Badass: Mayu certainly becomes one as the story progresses; shooting with a scary level of accuracy as well as stomaching the war-zone Kamakura is turned into pretty well. Kouta also qualifies for this trope, disguising himself as a SAT soldier and infiltrating the institute to help Lucy.
- Tracking Device: Erich holds unto one and hands the tracker off to Kouta. He also knew Angel would track him with it too.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 32. Angel reveals to Yuka that Lucy was the one who killed her uncle and Kanae. Saying she didn’t take it well is an understatement.
- Xenafication: Mayu in both interpretations of cannon is a rather peaceful and non-violent person. Though out of the coarse of the fic, she becomes more willing to take on the forces of the Institute with lethal force.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Kouta to Lucy at several points through the story.
