History FanFic / Downfall

Shadowsforge has woven a deviation from canon Bleach: What if Sosuke Aizen— and, by extension, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen —are not, and never were, the villains.

Has not been updated since May of 2012, and thus is likely a dead fic...

* AFatherToHisMen: According to Momo, Aizen is this.

* AlmightyJanitor: "''Yeah. The only reason [[spoiler:Nelliel]] wasn’t the Segunda Espada was because Starrk hadn’t wanted the top position. Sometimes she forgot that.''"
* AlternateUniverse: The premise in general. Comes with toppings:
** AlternateHistory
** ForWantOfANail
*** Or, maybe, InSpiteOfANail. Depends on who you ask.
** Either way, it's definitely AlternateContinuity.

* AnyoneCanDie: Well, if [[spoiler:Rukia]] can, you've got to wonder.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Played with. Due to different leadership--[[spoiler:Unohana, Ukitake, and Kyoraku]]--the Espada are ranked according to their roles, not due to Reiatsu levels. Probably because the motives behind the traitors is different this time around.

* BetaCouple: Byakuya and [[spoiler: Alive!Hisana]]; Gin and Rangiku. Kyoraku/Nanao.

* CannotSpitItOut: For starters: Toshiro, Momo, Renji, Kaien, Rukia, Nanao, and Shunsui. Honestly. You could even say the same for Nel and Nnoitra.

* TheChainsOfCommanding: [[spoiler:Aizen.]]

** Kaname Tosen isn't nearly so bland as he was in canon.
*** Tosen still seems to hold a great capacity for anger, as shown when he [[CurbstompBattle went to town on]] [[spoiler:Cirucci]].

-->"Not a bit. [[spoiler:Baraggan]] was pretty much the king of Hueco Mundo before [[spoiler:Unohana]]showed up."
-->"So...?”
-->"He tried to kill her."
-->"And...?"
-->"[[spoiler:She wasted him.]]"

* DeconstructionFic: Oh yeah.
* DeathFromAbove: Nanao's shikai works a bit like this.

* FriendsWithBenefits: What the relationship with Kisuke and Yoruichi seems to be. [[spoiler:Confirmed in the latest chapters]].
-->'''Kisuke''': "Love the pajamas, by the way."
-->'''Yoruichi''' (who sleeps naked): "It's not as if you haven't seen this before. Or gotten up close and personal with it."

* HappilyMarried: Byakuya and [[spoiler:Alive!Hisana.]]

* IAmNotLeftHanded: Apparently, [[spoiler:Kenpachi]] is better at flash-step and kido than people thought.

* ItsAllMyFault : [[spoiler: Aizen]], again.
* LoveableSexManiac : Kyoraku is less so (due to the timeline divergence). Also, Gin.

* MissionControl: Nanao, with her shikai, a series of mirrors that can be moved at will to show her the battlefield.
** And later Momo, too.
* MomentKiller: Comedically enough, Aizen. Earns him a DeathGlare from Momo.

-->[[spoiler:'''Mila-Rose''']]: You're [only] a Soul Reaper. How are you able to do this?
-->[[spoiler:'''Yachiru''']]: How? I had a poor upbringing.

* NotSoStoic: Byakuya's reaction to [[spoiler: Rukia's death]].
** Tousen's reaction to [[spoiler: Komamura's death]]

* SparedByTheAdaptation / DeathByAdaptation: At this point there's no telling who'll live to see the war's end...

* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands, MagicalSecurityCam, and SinisterSurveillance, by various characters attached to the Hueco Mundo Intelligence unit.
** Nanao's shikai is specifically designed to accomplish this. See MissionControl entry.

* TookALevelInBadass: Holy ''Christ'', [[spoiler:Momo.]]

-->[[spoiler:"Exactly. Torture is, for the most part, counterproductive. Oh, for amateurs it could work. For someone as skilled as you—and don’t deny that you’re a well trained espionage agent; I read up on you—you should be able to resist giving away useful information. Eventually, though, your mind is going to be so overloaded from the pain that you’ll start blurt anything that you think we want to hear. You don’t know anyone named Sydney? With enough torment you’ll insist that you do. You might even start to believe it."]]

* WarFic
* WarIsHell: [[AnyoneCanDie It is indeed]].
* WhatTheHellHero: But who is the hero, one wonders.
** Yenni calls out Aizen on how the Soul Society treats Wholes:
--->'''Yenni''':"'Beasts?' Where do you Soul Reapers get off? Every single damned one of you is so freaking arrogant."\\
'''Aizen''':"You prey on defenseless souls and Hollows weaker than yourselves."\\
'''Yenni''':"And so what? If you can fight back, you can. If you can't, too bad. Better than your Seireitei. If people don't have your bullcrap noble blood or a Soul Reaper's spiritual pressure, they get tossed out into the Rukon slums to rot. Yeah, we prey on souls. What do you do? You herd them away from your exclusive little club and pretend they don't exist. How, exactly, are you people any better than us?"
*** She's got a point. [[spoiler: That's the whole point ... We think...]]
* ZergRush: Exequias employ this tactic occasionally as skirmishers. Otherwise- as mentioned in the HollywoodTactics entry, unrealistic tactics are usually avoided.

** It is implied that there is either a possible BiggerBad, or a case of TheManBehindTheMan - based on the repeated runarounds we've had, and different insights offered the readers from the many points of view. But it's more a general feeling or theme than foreshadow.

* {{Badass}}: Quite a few characters have already touched on this, but of special note, Unohana. [[spoiler: Unohana slaughters an entire platoon of Soul Reapers in Chapter 17- all with her ''bare hands'''.]]

This story can be found [[FanficRecs/{{Bleach}} here]]. Has nothing to do with either [[Film/{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] (seriously, the YMMV section keeps linking to that one's) or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

Seems to be a Dead Fic now...

This story can be found [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6310403/1/Downfall here]]. Has nothing to do with either [[Film/{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] (seriously, the YMMV section keeps linking to that one's) or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

This story can be found [[FanficRecs/{{Bleach}} here]]. Has nothing to do with either [[Film/{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] (seriously, the YMMV section keeps linking to that one's) or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

* OutOfCharacter: Averted, hard. All characters act realistically within canon constraints. Even with significantly altered circumstances, Aizen is [[GuileHero Machiavellian]], Unohana is [[TechnicalPacifist technically a pacifist]] and TeamMom while she [[SilkHidingSteel plots]], Gin's a [[AntiHero bit of a snake]], Tosen's [[DeadpanSnarker the straight man]], Ukitake's an [[BenevolentBoss ideal commander]], Kyoraku still moons after Nanao. The difference is new aspects added to these existing templates.

-->'''Yoruichi''' ([[FetishFuel who sleeps naked]]): "It's not as if you haven't seen this before. Or gotten up close and personal with it."

* AlmightyJanitor: "''Yeah. The only reason [Nelliel] wasn’t the Segunda Espada was because Starrk hadn’t wanted the top position. Sometimes she forgot that.''"

-->"Not a bit. [Baraggan] was pretty much the king of Hueco Mundo before [[spoiler: [Unohana] ]]showed up."

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Momo to Toshiro]], kind of. The actual moment is [[MomentKiller aborted]] by Aizen, of all people. [[spoiler:Renji's and Rukia's]] fairs a bit better, but was still not resolved. Then ItGotWorse, and [[TearJerker war happened]].

* ItGotWorse: Things snowball out of control after [[spoiler:Nanao]] kills the off-duty Soul Reaper.
** Chapter 18.
*** ''Chapter 20''.

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6310403/1/Downfall Downfall]]'' by ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/~shadowsforge Shadowsforge]]'' is a DeconstructionFic of {{Bleach}}

This story is avaiable [[FanficRecs/{{Bleach}} here]]. Has nothing to do with either [[Film/{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] (seriously, the YMMV section keeps linking to that one's) or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

This story is avaiable[[FanficRecs/{{Bleach}} here]]. Has nothing to do with either [[Film/{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] (seriously, the YMMV section keeps linking to that one's) or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

Shadowsforge has woven a masterfull deviation from canon Bleach: What if Sosuke Aizen— and, by extension, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen —are not, and never were, the villains. Not a unique AU, but it is rare that any be portrayed as well as this.

In fact, it is rare that ''fanfiction'' is as good as this, at all.

This story comes [[FanficRecs/{{Bleach}} highly recommended]]. Has nothing to do with either [[Film/{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] (seriously, the YMMV section keeps linking to that one's) or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

** And now Momo, too.
* MomentKiller: Comedically enough, Aizen. Earns him the YamatoNadeshiko version of a DeathGlare from Momo.

* BoobBite: "Gin, you bit my ''boob''!"
** [[RuleOfFunny "It was]] [[BlatantLies self-defense!"]]

-->'''Yenni''':"'Beasts?' Where do you Soul Reapers get off? Every single damned one of you is so freaking arrogant."
-->'''Aizen''':"You prey on defenseless souls and Hollows weaker than yourselves."
-->'''Yenni''':"And so what? If you can fight back, you can. If you can't, too bad. Better than your Seireitei. If people don't have your bullcrap noble blood or a Soul Reaper's spiritual pressure, they get tossed out into the Rukon slums to rot. Yeah, we prey on souls. What do you do? You herd them away from your exclusive little club and pretend they don't exist. How, exactly, are you people any better than us?"

This story comes [[FanficRecs/{{Bleach}} highly recommended]]. Has nothing to do with either [[Film/{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

* VillainousBSOD ([[{{YMMV}} Or Anti-Villainous BSOD]]): Nanao after [[spoiler:she killed an off-duty Soul Reaper... After disabling and hiding several wholes--children, including said Soul Reaper's nephew. In other words, she not only knew the enemy's face, but some measure of the fallout her actions would leave...]]

** [[spoiler: Gin]] due to a different set of circumstances, qualifies more along the lines of HeroicSociopath, heavy on the hero, lighter on the sociopath. He admits it.

** Nanao's sikai is specifically designed to accomplish this. See MissionControl entry.

* ZergRush: Exequias employ this tactic occasionally as skirmishers. Otherwise- as meantioned in the HollywoodTactics entry, unrealistic tactics are usually avoided.

** Chapter 17- [[spoiler: Unohana and many big names from the Espada cut an escape route for the outnumbered and surrounded forces in the Hueco Mundo expeditionary force.]]
** Chapter 20- [[spoiler: Momo and a platoon from Squad Five arrive to reinforce Rangiku and the exhausted Squad Six detachment denying the Arrancar retreat to the Garganta.]]

* EarlyBirdCameo: In chapter 16, Nanao briefly describes some of the unnamed Arrancar troops- [[spoiler: "The most senior of these artificial Arrancar, a bald, dark-skinned, sinister-looking man, was kneeling on one knee, silently, at the perimeter of the force."]]-[[ChekhovsGunman Guess who ends up being pivotal in the upcoming battle?]]
* FriendsWithBenefits: What the relationship with Kisuke and Yoruichi seems to be.

* GambitPileup: Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society are each trying to gain the upper hand in the conflict. [[spoiler: Aizen apparently has some plans of his own]]. And now there's a [[TheStarscream mysterious, powerful Hollow]] that wants [[spoiler:change of management.]]

* {{UST}}: More and more, Aizen is acting a bit... unusually when it comes to [[spoiler:Momo. It might not be sexual per se, but he clearly cares for her more than he lets on]].

* SparedByTheAdaptation / DeathByAdaption: At this point there's no telling who'll live to see the war's end...

This story comes [[FanficRecs/{{Bleach}} highly recommended]]. Has nothing to do with either [[{{Downfall}} the film regarding the end of the Nazi empire]] or the [[Series/{{Downfall}} TV show]].

* OutOfCharacter: Averted, hard. All characters act realistically within canon constraints. Even with significantly altered circumstances, Aizen is [[GuileHero Machiavellian]], Unohana is [[TechnicalPacifist technically a pacifist]] and TeamMom while she [[SilkHidingSteel plots]], Gin's a [[AntiHero bit of a snake]], Tosen's [[DeadpanSnarker the straight man]], Ukitake's an [[BenevolentBoss ideal commander]], Kyoraku still moons after Nanao. The difference is new aspects added to these existing templates.
* OnlyOneName: Averted with Kanisawa, the character seen briefly in canon. The author seems to have interpreted the name as a surname, and has given her the given name Moriko.

* MomentKiller: Comedically enough, Aizen. Earns him the YamatoNadeshiko version of a DeathGlare from Momo.
* TheNicknamer: Yachiru is a known quantity, but the new character Yenni Laiggs brings some interesting ones to the table.