Disclaimer: Not mine.

I will also say this: the religious views expressed in this story are not necessarily my own. This was written without the intent to insult anyone's religious views.

A/N: I thought I'd have another, er, stab at writing Aizen. I'd like to go into his motivations in a bit more detail. This is a really new thing for me- speculating about past events with absolutely no evidence, writing something multichapter…ah well. The chapters will probably be short. Forgive me please.

Everything in italics is taken from chapter 178 of the manga.

Chapter 1- Death Before Life

"Since the beginning, no one has ever stood in the heavens."

Aizen Sousuke could remember his death quite clearly. The circumstances of it had been the very start of his path and the beginning of all his plans. It was highly ironic, really, how his death began the greater part of his life.

Not that it was an extraordinary life. He had been only vaguely aware of the existence of things such as Hollows and Shinigami, only seeing them as blurs on the edge of his perception. They made no real impact on his life and therefore accorded them little interest, instead concentrating on what he saw then as the bigger picture- the injustice of the world and its social systems. Aizen thought that given a few more years he might well have accomplished more.

As it was, he had been sitting at his kitchen table one night, reading some literature he had bought that afternoon by candlelight. He had always been interested in the different, and the ideas in these pamphlets certainly were. It was a shame the world could not accept different ideas as simply different, and not threatening. He had always tried to be innovative in his life.

One thing he wished he could have been liberal with was his marriage. His family had foisted her on him the first chance they got. They had needed the money, true, but it had bought them her. An unimaginative and fanatical young woman who found she did not enjoy married life as much as her family had told her she would.

Aizen could hear her footsteps coming towards him. He sighed. He'd been avoiding her all day, and was not keen to deflect her probing questions about his activities now. His wife disapproved strongly of the things he read and the way he thought.

"What are you doing?" she asked from the doorway, chilly as ever. Aizen noticed her discourtesy, and attributed it to her hatred of him. The thought did not bother him in the slightest; the feeling was mutual.

"Reading. Return to your room. I shall be there momentarily."

It was then that he realised that she had moved to stand near him, something she never voluntarily did. Even when they were forced into the other's company, they preferred not to touch each other, stand close together, or even make eye contact. Curious, he turned to face her-

-and suddenly there was a knife in his stomach.

"I know what it is you do in the evenings," she said, her eyes burning with all the fire of her misguided religious zeal. "He who sits on the throne in Heaven will not judge you favourably."

Even now, Aizen had no fear. Not of her, not of the pain in his gut, not of death. He felt only a cold desire to hurt her, to shatter her complacent little world with the truth he was now absolutely sure of.

"There is nobody on the throne in Heaven."