Author's notes
...Okay, I'm never writing at one AM again. EVER. I've written fanfics before, but this is the first one I've uploaded to I'm pretty sure I didn't make any grammatical errors, but then again, I checked over it as soon as I finished writing it, and it was like...two AM when I finished this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. 'Nuf said.
Happy endings didn't exist. It was as simple as that.
Matsumoto had always been more observant and thoughtful than her captain took her for. She knew when it was okay to hope, when it was fine to slack off, and when it was better to do her duty. She also knew that no matter what happened, the inevitable wouldn't change.
Aizen, Gin, and Tousen weren't coming back..not as free beings, at least. If they were brought back to Soul Society, it would be so that they could be put to death.
Matsumoto knew that; she had resigned herself to that. She knew that Kira and Hisagi had accepted that too. Perhaps someday, Hinamori would understand that too. The three former-captains were traitors, and they would die. The vice-captain of the fifth division would accept that sooner or later, and Matsumoto knew that Hitsugaya-taichou would wait patiently until she did. After all, he'd waited for a long time already.
Gin wasn't coming back. Matsumoto could plead for his execution to be halted, but she wouldn't do so. She knew what he had done, and, unlike Hinamori, she knew that there was no way to reverse those crimes.
There would be no happy ending for Aizen, for Gin, for Hinamori, for her.
All that the former-captains would have would be death. Perhaps it would be at the hands of another captain, a vice-captain, or perhaps the ryoka Kurosaki Ichigo. Perhaps they would be brought back for a death at the Soukyoku. No matter what the method, the outcome was the same. Gin would die, Aizen would die, and Matsumoto would have no happy ending. She wasn't like Hinamori; she didn't have someone patiently waiting to realize how much she really cared for them. The fifth division vice-captain had a chance at a happy ending, if only she'd take it. But for Matsumoto, there was no happy ending.
In the life of humans, there's no such thing as happy endings.
Why would the life of a shinigami be any different?