— to be doomdriven is to tread a path of death, destruction, or ruin, toward a fate most terrible. to be doomdriven is a curse, one that seeps into every fiber of being, one that cannot be seen until it is far too late, one that will swallow whole both loved and loathed in equal, vicious measure; onward, however, do doomdriven souls march toward their ill-fate, for it is only in their own destruction that they will finally find peace.
an independent, low-activity, canon-divergent, bleach-related multimuse, controlled by mark (30, he/him). au/crossover friendly. mutuals only.
MUSE DIRECTORY
RULES
— psa(s):
1. highest muse rn is amagai
2. as of 5/28/2026, i am tentatively no longer on hiatus here, but we'll see how it all goes. still wise to expect low-activity.
3. Blogroll: @doomxdriven (you are here) // @windestanz
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I — Shusuke Amagai's Captain Exam and the people involved
it's revealed later on after this that zaraki was one of the captain's (along with yamamoto) that were present during shūsuke's captain exam, and furthermore, it was zaraki who sparred with him during said exam. however it's never been revealed who the third captain involved in shūsuke's captain exam was. based off what they say throughout the arc, we know for sure it wasn't toshiro, shunsui, or komamura, but that still leaves a lot of options on who it could be-- soifon, mayuri, ukitake, unohana, byakuya.
of those left, i've seen a lot of people assume that soifon is the most likely candidate, since she would have been shūsuke's captain (he came from the onmitsukido/2nd division),
but immediately after this scene she doesn't scene she doesn't come off as very impressed with him, and since yamamoto claimed all the captain's involved were 'unanimous' in their agreement of promoting shūsuke, i doubt even more that it was her.
mayuri would.... that would be pretty funny if it had been them LMAO, but i doubt it was. i have to imagine that mayuri's criteria for elevating someone to captain is far crazier than anything shūsuke could ever openly display.
byakuya? well, right after this scene, he gives shūsuke this long, silent, very judging look
that does not scream 'that's someone i support to be a captain right there 💯'. so probably not them either.
that leaves two others.
unohana. she doesn't say anything during or after this scene that seems dismissive of shūsuke, and doesn't give him any weird looks either, and given what we know of her nowadays, i could see her possibly being the other captain that sat in for shūsuke's captain exam. since shūsuke was made to fight zaraki during the captain exam, where he presumably held his own against zaraki rather well, i could see that coming off as incredibly impressive to unohana.
ukitake, is, honestly, the one i feel the strongest about. outside of shunsui, ukitake is the only one in this scene who seems genuinely pleased to see shūsuke,
and afterward, ukitake is the first one to talk with shūsuke, and is immediately very supportive of him. ofc, ukitake is just nice like that in general, so that could just be indicative of him... just being ukitake, and honestly we love him for that. he should've lived.
but, follow me right; i feel like, where zaraki was chosen to be a definitive test of skill and power, ukitake would have been one of the only two captains (the other being shunsui) yamamoto would likely trust enough to judge someones character and demeanor.
but, officially, we may never know. it's definitely one of them-- unohana or ukitake-- and either is an interesting prospect, and maybe sets up some more interesting ground between. also a kinda unfortunate prospect, too, given neither unohana or ukitake lives post tybw....
II — Shūsuke Amagai's position prior to becoming a Captain
shūsuke was part of the onmitsukido and the 2nd division before he became a captain, that is known, and in this scene it's stated he was the leader of a 'expedition unit', and i've ran with that myself for a long time but, kubo actually recently threw a wrench into the headcanons i had haha-- they were vague headcanons but still, a wrench has been thrown.
see, the onmitsukido has five divisions, and each division is lead by a corp commander, and each of those corp commanders are also ranking members of the 2nd division. while, in this scene, shūsuke was implied to be the leader of an 'expedition unit', we know it couldn't be the actual expedition unit.... as in the patrol corps, because that division on the onmitsukido is and has been led for a long time by marechiyo ōmaeda. so i always just headcanonned that the 'expedition unit' referred to here was actually the, until recently, unnamed division of the onmitsukido, and just kind of left it at that.... alas, kubo,
just recently, casually, dropped the name of that onmitsukido division, AND detailed the function they serve, which... overwrites what i had in mind for it (the idea that the onmitsukido division shūsuke oversaw dealt with tracking down dangerous individuals or beings that threatened the balance of souls, i.e, like an external assassination force). so i went back in some of my headcanons relating to this and kinda vague-ify'd further. the idea still is that shūsuke led a special unit that had the function i had in mind, but.....??? i don't know!
i've thought about maybe merging this new info with my idea, because you know, we don't always have to strictly follow 'canon', and that would be cool to do because it could serve to be a basis of shūsuke's insight into the functions surrounding hell (which i already figured he would have, but actually serving in and leading a division that dealt with such things would fit even more) but i'm not sure yet. i simultaneously and constantly live in a state of 'fuck canon and do you what you want, mark' and 'wait mark, don't fuck with canon too much or people will think your ideas are a joke and won't take them seriously' SDFHJGSDFGHJ.
being real i guess neither of these things i'm talking about here are really headcanons in a strict sense and are more just me yapping about things but i'm putting them down as headcanons anyway. thank you for reading all this if you did SDFJHGSDGHJF
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"I see what you mean," Amagai replied, a 𝗃𝗈𝗏𝗂𝖺𝗅 grin cutting across his face while his eyes, though 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 and 𝗌𝗆𝗂𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 as well, were ever 𝗏𝗂𝗀𝗂𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗍 of Akari, carefully taking her in piece by piece, "odd how there's a moon up there but no stars, makes you wonder."
Amagai lets out a chuckle, wagging a finger at Akari in a lively fashion.
"But I'm glad we can agree on the 𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 for sure, that's the 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 part."
Would they agree past the metaphorical, though? Amagai hoped so, considering the 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚔𝚜 he was taking in coming out here to see Akari of all people.
"Most of my colleagues don't know 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 they're looking at in the first place, despite all of them getting a glimpse during Ukitake's 𝙺𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚘̄ 𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚒; they don't see the 𝚃𝚁𝙾𝚄𝙱𝙻𝙴 that's brewing. The only other people with any vague idea of what's coming is the 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 and the 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘪𝘥𝘰̄ 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧, and neither seem eager to do much."
Amagai continued, still maintaining a friendly air, "There's also 𝘆𝗼𝘂, if what I've been told is true, but maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. We've never been properly introduced."
In an 𝗈𝗉𝖾𝗇, 𝗂𝗇𝗏𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀, but most of all 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝖿𝗂𝖽𝖾𝗇𝗍 manner, Amagai extended a hand, an offer to shake Akari's, though he expected she probably wouldn't bother.
"𝚂𝚑𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒, 3𝚛𝚍 𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙲𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗, that's me! Kyōraku has more than a few 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜 for you, but your actual name is Akari, am I right? Great to meet you."
this scene has a lot of interesting stuff going on.
— A: it's a great example of amagai's approach to being a captain, or part of his approach anyway. amagai believes that it's a good thing for a division to have a captain that's charismatic, and he definitely fits that role, but he also thinks that can be a weakness, too, if all the stability in a division depends on that factor alone (which he surmises was the case with ichimaru), and so he opts to give his seated officers more responsibility, so that the division as a whole is better supported. more than that, though, amagai, by taking this approach, also heavily encourages the growth of his seated officers.
in practice, to the captains and seated officers of other divisions and maybe sometimes to the 3rd division's own seated officers , this might look like amagai is just shoving more of his own workload and responsibilities on others, and not going to lie, sometimes he does do that (with paperwork), but he genuinely wants to cultivate a stronger 3rd division than the one immediately before him, and he wants those under him to thrive and become their best selves.
—B: it's.... kind of funny how amagai talks about trust here and how it's a hard thing to earn, funny when you remember what amagai is eventually going to do in the anime. it's definitely a manipulative thing on amagai's part, because at this point he is doing everything he can to earn everyone's trust for the sake of his ulterior motives, BUT.... just because amagai is being manipulative, and has ulterior motives, doesn't mean he was just yapping and saying shit™️either.
this is veering into the realm of headcanon on my part, but amagai intended to be captain of the 3rd division for a very long time, he had every intention of carrying out his duties, and genuinely wanted the 3rd division to regain its status and grow with the rest of the gotei 13 (just like it is in his captain verse on this blog). amagai would have chosen his words a little more carefully here if he intended to throw everything away like, mere days later (something like that does happen in his exile verse, but like I said, not intentional, more so the result of a lapse in judgement), and the way it's played out in the anime like that was his plan is just bad writing™️.
amagai has his ulterior motives, he's aiming at central 46 and a lot of the bullshit connected to them, but when he inevitably goes to openly bat against them, he wants to do it in a way that has the whole gotei 13, or most of it, behind him-- it will take a long time, but he wants to do it with their trust and maybe even camaraderie, not as a traitor and foe. this section might have gotten away from me a bit i admit, but, well, there you go LOL
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 2
— C: there's more going on in the small exchange right before all of this. while izuru was definitely having some residual gin trauma™️, i do like to think that they are a very perceptive person, and that they might have picked up that.... something isn't quite right with amagai. a gut feeling kind of thing, maybe one that passes quickly, but definitely a thing™️. i imagine they have more of these as the years go on in amagai's captain verse, but with time it gets easier to just brush those off.
"Don't come up with such good points while I'm trying to be intimidating, will you? It ruins the mood of the scene --AND, it makes me look like the villain."
He speaks no lie. Performers think alike, and Amagai could rival the ruffians lashed by devils of the Malebolgie. No doubt remains on how he could get away with so much before finally falling.
His warms almost, almost make a dent on his stone-cold façade. Amagai has his charm, that is certain, and yet, he sounds genuine.
Truthfully he would have preferred the circumstances to be different. He's always been drawn to the incandescence of the Sun, and those who embody it.
"However, you're not entirely wrong. You do sound like terrific company. Unfortunately - and, believe me, I'm certain it was not your intention - you seem to be forgetting a teensy little detail there."
"You've used my men for personal gains, and toyed with Izuru's trust. That is simply unforgivable, Shusuke Amagai."
But this Sun has scorched the Earth, and withered the fruits of an already unkept garden of Souls. He's threaded on a weathered path, contributing to its abandonment. Deplorable.
"And since we're on topic, being the pleasant conversationalist that you are, surely you'll entertain me a little longer. What do you have to say for yourself on that matter? Why?"
There was at one point more jests coming, and no shortage of laughter with them, but the mention of Amagai's gravest misdeeds brings about a sudden shift in his demeanor, and a change of course.
"Oh, yeah, about 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝."
Amagai's smile doesn't vanish so much as it 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗌 and loses its spark-- it remains on his face, enduring, but weaker now, 𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖿𝗎𝗅, as it held back the torrent of 𝖱𝖤𝖦𝖱𝖤𝖳 that swells within him.
"𝚄𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 is probably right, but it wasn't my 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 to 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚢 the trust of anyone in the 3rd Division, least of all Izuru's."
Poor Izuru. Amagai had only known them a relatively short time, but he came to 𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚎 them in a way when they served together. Amagai had taken a liking to many within the 3rd Division, of course, he had been 𝖤𝖠𝖦𝖤𝖱 and 𝖯𝖱𝖮𝖴𝖣 to lead all of them and call himself their Captain, but his appreciation of Izuru had stood above the rest.
Few of the betrayals Amagai committed that fateful day stung more in hindsight than his betrayal of Izuru's trust.
"If everything had gone like I 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 planned, and 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 I needed it to, I..."
Amagai trails off for a moment-- there was a lot he wanted to say, but he felt those words were only meant for Izuru's ears and the rest of his former Division members, and so he opts instead for a brief silence, and then a long sigh.
"Well, let's just say that 𝙰𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚗'𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 ruined mine, and made me 𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚢 when I should have been more 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝. If I had waited longer, and looked into things more thoroughly, Izuru and the rest of the 3rd would never have gotten hurt, emotionally or otherwise."
Though his 𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗌 is still a bit 𝗌𝗎𝖻𝖽𝗎𝖾𝖽 overall, it is still 𝗋𝖺𝖽𝗂𝖺𝗇𝗍 when he 𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗍𝖾𝖽𝗅𝗒 shrugs his shoulders and says, with a wide smile, "That's something else we have in common, actually, Aizen problems! The longer we talk, the more and more 'kindred spirit' we get!"
Wildly different problems, with Amagai's being far less personal and more circumstantial, not to mention that despite the 'problems' he couldn't really hate Aizen either (truly he sort of 𝖺𝖽𝗆𝗂𝗋𝖾𝖽 them for what they almost achieved), but Amagai wasn't going to pass up further likening Rose and himself.
Amagai also wasn't going to pass up a chance at learning about the current state of his former subordinates-- he hadn't heard from, spoken to, or reached out to any of them since the day of his betrayal, and he had long wondered if they were all 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢.
"But, how are Izuru and the rest of the men doing?" Amagai continued, with a mostly 𝗃𝗈𝗏𝗂𝖺𝗅 cant of the head, "You aren't working them all too hard, are you?"
Amagai then also adds, mostly in jest but also with the tiniest sliver of shame, "Not harder than you have to work I hope, after all that unfinished paperwork I left behind."
@doomxdriven said: "..... do you remember our encounter in the forest of menos?" [amagai to shion!!]
Unprompted/Lost Meme // ???
The six eyes blinked slowly, simultaneously as he looked over the soul reaper... He thought he seemed familiar but frankly, Shion couldn't care less about this one.
"no. I do not."
Already his hands were itching for his blade, like a feral animal in a corner even if Shion's eyes remained on Amagai. He never knew what would happen and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of if things went south.
Lucky for him, he could possibly walk away unscathed.
"...what business would I have in recalling an encounter with an ant?" his fingers started closing around the handle of his zanpakuto, "It has significance to you if you're so eager to ask if I recall it. Talk."
"Really, you don't 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛? I know it was a long time ago but...?"
Quizzically, Amagai gestures down to the fine Captains Haori that adorned him.
"Maybe you don't recognize me because of 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? I wasn't a Captain back then."
Amagai intended to go on, but the way he noted Shion reaching for their blade said everything he needed to know; it was apparent that 𝙽𝙾, they didn't remember their encounter long ago, and to this Amagai says, with a shrug and a 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 chuckle, "ah hell, guess there's no point trying to jog your memory, eh?"
A second later, Amagai flash steps to a nearby outcropping of rock that jutted from the surrounding Hueco Mundo sands, putting a little distance between him and Shion, but more importantly, giving him a better starting position against them if this all went south, though hopefully things wouldn't take 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 turn.
"We'll start from the top then," Amagai says in a tone that was 𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚟𝚎, 𝚓𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚊𝚕, and 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚍, all as he crosses his arms and peers down at Shion with his ever perceptive amber eyes, "I'm Shusuke Amagai, Captain of the 3rd Division, pleased to 𝚛𝚎-𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 you, Shion!"
Amagai bows his head somewhat, a gesture of respect but one that, with Amagai anyway, wasn't without a degree of 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚜𝚢.
"The last time we spoke, back when I wasn't half as 𝗐𝖾𝗅𝗅 𝖽𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗌𝖾𝖽 as I am now, I was hunting one hell of a tricky Arrancar who coincidentally turned out to be an enemy of yours; 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍 to help me search for them, though we never did find the bastard."
"I figured they wound up dead somehow, but lately, I've been led to believe that Arrancar is back, so I thought I'd come find you again! Maybe you're willing to come to a 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, since you don't remember the old one? You're still sore at that guy for what he tried on you right? Must still want him dead?"
That's all assuming Shion remembered the other Arrancar and their shenanigans, too, and Amagai wasn't too certain they did... but amid the ensuing silence, he was hoping they would.
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//it's for this reason that amagai's zanpakutō (raika, i.e, lightning flash) is named as it is,
and why it seems to, visually at least, show off bolts of lightning here and there in some techniques, and why some techniques even include 'thunder' in the name (like raiendan, i.e 雷炎弾 / thunder-flame bullet) despite it squarely being a fire type zanpakutō!! because it was originally his father's zanpakutō, which was a lightning type. practically everything about it was overwritten when amagai imprinted upon raika, but even so, some of the zanpakutō's original essence was carried over in these small ways.
//so i've long headcanon'd that the flames of amagai's bankai, raika gōen kaku (lightning flash: karmic flame shell) lean heavily on the 'karmic' part of the name, i.e, they do way more damage and shenanigans to opponents who harbor notable degrees of 'bad' karma-- it's fire, really strong fire, so ofc it does a lot of damage to most people anyway, but the souls with a lot of 'bad' karma are put in a whole other realm of shit.
but, how do we define 'bad' karma in the world of bleach, and how could i myself possibly quantify who has enough 'bad' karma to be affected by the special shenanigans of raika gōen kaku, and to what extents?? the answer to both is; i have no fucking clue.
i mean i have some ideas, like, obv, we could probably assume that a lot of the antagonists have 'bad' karma in notable amounts given the things they've done, and gotei captains too (considering that after they die they get cast into hell-- yes i know the official reason is that their spiritual power is too great to be left alone but think about the implications of why that is, and why they go to HELL, the place where only the wicked are supposed to be sent), and people who have committed obviously heinous acts, but as for everyone else?? ehh thinking about it feels like getting lost in the weeds.
anyway uhhhhhh i don't know what else to add so; here's amagai doing the 🧍♂️emoji
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