Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality.

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I truly believe that no one wants to die. Ask anyone on the street if they want to die and you'll get three different answers.

1: They'll say "No, of course not."
2: They'll laugh and jokingly say "Yeah, kinda."
3: They pull out a phone to call the cops.

That being said, death was the last thing on my mind when I walked to my first college class that morning. Something I had done hundreds of times by that point. But I guess God chose that day to put me in a classic scenario.

In order to get to class, I would have to walk across a small highway via the crosswalk, and right as I approached said crosswalk, my eyes had caught a glimpse of a pink rubber ball bouncing across the road, a little girl who couldn't have been any older than six chasing after it. I almost had time to roll my eyes, though in hindsight, no cars were coming from one side, and the other side had a red light, and it wasn't exactly a busy highway anyway. Guess her parents taught her some basics.

Cue a truck barreling through the aforementioned red light at high speeds. It was swerving out of control and the driver seemed to be panicking. The girl had heard the tires screeching and froze up, staring at the vehicle. I didn't have time to think, so my body acted on its own accord, making my way towards her.

Everything seemed to slow down, adrenaline pumping through my veins. At only the last second did I realize that I wouldn't be fast enough to tackle her out of the way; but I was fast enough to push her out of the way. No time to make peace with myself, just enough time to make sure this girl I didn't even know before a few seconds ago didn't. I leaped forward and I felt my hands connect to her shoulders, shoving her a good few feet away. Just enough. Right before the truck hit, my last thoughts weren't about the girl, or my friends, or even my family.

No, my last thought just had to be, Aw man, I'm gonna miss Halloween-

And then everything went black.
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AUTOPSY REPORT

Deceased
Name: Liam Aldine
Sex: Male
Age: 21

Time of Death
October 30th, 2026
7:36 A.M.

Cause of Death
Blunt force trauma; vehicle moving at speeds approaching 50 mph, the fender hitting multiple points on the body, including the skull. Dead on impact.
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All in all, Liam Aldine led a rather unremarkable life.

Not to say that his life didn't matter. He had both parents, a sister, a group of close friends, and was at least mildly successful in school. Perhaps a more accurate way to describe his life was that nothing was outstanding about him. He was a normal guy living a normal life that was harshly cut short by the malfunctioning brakes of a speeding truck about to hit a seven year old girl. His only legacy was his death.

In the end, there was no real trial. The driver pleaded guilty for manslaughter, and even offered payment for any funeral charges on top of his prison sentence. The family humbly refused. They saw the driver's remorse was genuine, so there was no need to kick him while he was down.

Liam's family and friends grieved, but eventually moved on. His parents lived on and eventually died of natural causes, while his sister went on to be a successful doctor with children of her own. The Saturday night after his death, the time Liam and his two best friends would normally meet up every week to just hang out, those two friends would meet, crack open a soda, and toast in memory to him. Every Saturday after that, they would leave an unopened can on the table next to them.

The funeral itself was a quiet but crowded affair. On top of Liam's own family and friends, the little girl and her family also appeared. The girl was near inconsolable. In the coming years, she would eventually come to grips with what had happened, and while the guilt never went away, she grew to eventually move forward as well. Many years later, she would name her son after the man who saved her life.

Nobody truly questioned why Liam saved the girl's life that day, or at least not out loud. Anyone from the outside looking in on his life would be confused, however. Liam was a guy who always seemed to avoid trouble, his fight or flight response aiming towards the latter at pretty much every point. So before watching the last few seconds of his life, one would assume he would just freeze up at the moment of truth and watch helplessly as the truck hit the girl. But, by some divine intervention, he moved and sacrificed his own life so that another would keep living.

Perhaps human nature is more good than we tend to give it credit for.
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When I opened my eyes, I wasn't sure what I was expecting.

Would I be immediately put in front of the big man himself, all of my sins laid bare before me? Would I be in front of the pearly gates, ready to go in? Would I immediately be surrounded by fire and brimstone for an eternity as punishment? Would I just be surrounded by the big white void of Purgatory? So many scenarios buzzed through my head in the short time it took to open my eyes.

DEATH'S BALLAD #0

The last thing I expected to see was feudal era Japan.

THE IMPACT

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Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Death's Ballad", my self-insert for Bleach! I hope you enjoyed this short prologue, because HOO BOY, the actual chapters are going to be much longer. After getting back into Bleach, the ideas for this fic came into being and eventually spiraled into a super long form story that went far beyond the scope of the original plan.

As such, Liam Aldine is going to be an expert when it comes to Bleach. The manga, the anime, the movies, and more is Liam's forte. In fact, it's easier to list off the things Liam doesn't know. So I'll be covering that in the next chapter. But before that, one last thing.

Aside from the next chapter where I describe what Liam doesn't know, I will not be updating this story until the TYBW anime comes to an end. This prologue was just a brief taste of what is to come. I don't want to actually start this story without knowing how its inspiration came to an end. And considering how much stuff is getting changed in the anime from the manga, I view this as necessary. Sorry for blue-balling you all, but I am incredibly passionate about this story and I want it to be as accurately planned out as possible.

That being said, when this story eventually comes out, I sincerely hope you all enjoy it! Till next time guys!
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NEXT TIME: "STARTER (REMIX)"