Live to Rise (Avengers Bruce Banner Fanfiction)

Chapter 28

"She died." Tony blurts out. Belle whimpers and wraps her arms around her chest tightly.

Bruce frowns and looks between her and Tony. "What the hell do you mean she died? She's right there!"

"Belle do you want to explain it?" Tony asks and looks over to see Belle had skid down to the floor and was asleep. "No no no!" You says as he runs over to her to feel for a pulse. "Not yet. Not yet Belle!" Tony says before trying with no avail to wake her. "Damn it!" He yells and punches the wall.

"What happened is she okay?" Bruce asks worried.

"She's asleep." Tony says as he picks her up bridal style and carries her out of the room.

"That's okay though. Just asleep." Bruce says confused.

"She in a coma Bruce." Tony says as he rounds the corner and goes into Belles room. Laying her on her bed and covering her with the blankets.

"How do you know that?" Bruce asks. "Shouldn't we be taking her to a hospital?"

"We've been waiting for it. And no Bruce. A hospital couldn't do anything for her. Her shields back up." Tony tells him.

"What do you mean back up?" Bruce asks confused.

Tony sits on Belles couch and motions for Bruce to as well. Bruce looks back and forth between Belle and the couch before sighing and sitting on the couch.

"Might as well start you from the beginning. The very beginning." Tony tells him.

"Sir?" Jarvis asks to get Tony's attention.

"What is it Jarvis?" Tony asks a bit of irritation in his voice.

"Belle made videos to several people explaining what happened to her. She made one to Bruce as well but it explains everything." Jarvis tells them. "They're on her computer. I already have Bruce's video pulled up if you'd like me to play it?"

"Over the tv." Tony tells him and a second later Belle shows up on the screen. Dark rings under her eyes but looking much healthier than she has in days.

"Um.. H..hello Bruce. If you're watching this, which I seriously doubt you ever will, but if you are watching this it means that I have been in the coma for longer than six months. I'm not really sure how long I will sleep or if I will ever wake. I don't really know if you ever knew I was in the coma or not. If you didn't then I'm sorry for sending this but there are some things you should probably know. You dont need to watch any further into this video if you do not want to." Belle pauses for about thirty seconds. "If you are still watching this then I'm sure you are probably wondering why I am in the coma. I will start with that. Do you remember my friend Rogue? She was the one to help give you control. I told you once how dangerous her powers were, what I didn't tell you is that she was the first that I gave control to. What I hadn't realized at the time was that when I give an ability to Rogue or use her to give it to you all of my other abilities including my shield are turned off. Not only did her abilities take the control but they also took some of my life force. When I gave it to her I didn't know that and then I spent Nine weeks in a coma and aged from 23 to 27. I knew that it would quite a bit worse when giving you control since she had to take more to transfer it into you. Afterwards I realized I must have given her quite a bit of life force and I wasn't sure that I would wake if I slipped in a coma. So I decided to stay awake as long as I could. Hoping that somehow I'd outlast the effect and not go into the coma. Right now it has been three days since I gave you control. I'm not sure how long it has been for you. I set this to send to you after six months." Then Belle switches topics. "Bruce I... I know that the last time I saw you, you were angry with me. You had every right to be. I'm so..." She stumbles over her words as her voice chokes up. "I'm so sorry I broke my promise to you Bruce. I wanted to help you And when it came down to it I... I couldn't..." A tear slips out of her eye and she quickly wipes it away.

"You need to tell him why." Tony's voice says from behind Belle and she quickly turns around to reveal him standing in the door way.

"It won't make any difference." Belle says before closing Tony out of the room.

She sets back down in front of the camera. "There's one more thing you should know. On March 7th twelve years ago you were hit by the Gama radiation. It spread across the world and a mutant named Mae felt it. She was wounded not long before and was 8 months pregnant she was dying and they couldn't induce labor but when your pain and anger and sorrow reached her it was enough to induce labor; she had a baby girl and then she died. As that baby grew up she displayed a wide verity of abilities but the one that showed the most was that she aged two times too fast. I'm telling you this because that baby was me. I didn't know that your pain was what my mother felt that day until I touched you for the first time. I felt it in your memories instantly and I realized then that I could help you. I gave you the control, not because you saved my life or because I owed you after failing you, although those would have been good reasons, but I gave you the control because it hurt me to feel your self hate and to know that you saw yourself as a monster. I just want you to be happy Bruce. To see yourself as a good person because you are, you're amazing. It doesn't matter weather you choose to be just Bruce or you choose, as I hope, to be both Bruce and hulk, I just want you to be happy. So I guess here is where I sign off." Belle says before Tony's voice carries through the door.

"You have to tell him that you-"

"I AM NOT GOING TO TELL HIM." Belle yells at tony before turning back to the camera. "Goodbye Bruce." She says before ending the video.

"What was she not going to tell me?" Bruce asks as he turns to look at Tony, sadness hinted in his features.

"After the bomb went off we all got separated. You and Thor ended up off the ship. Barton was back. Coulson was killed and Belle was missing. We had no idea where she was. When we found her it was four hours later and she had fallen into a water tank and trapped. She drown.... There was.. There was nothing we could do she was long dead. Her shield didn't stop her from drowning."

"So how is she alive now?" Bruce asks as he realizes that's why Belle didn't keep him from going green.

"She told us that Loki showed up and touched her hand. Showing her all the pain he went through when being tortured an how they stopped his heart and then shocked it back to life. It was enough to start her heart again. And then as wonderful as she is she forced his to to the same for Coulson." Tony tells him as he sits in a chair beside Belle and holds her hand. "She told me that when the bomb first went off she knew you'd need help to remain you. So she shut off all other sinces and searched for you trying to keep you calm. But she felt it when Coulson was stabbed and gasped only to realize she was under water. She tried to get you under control but you became the hulk and she couldn't get herself out. Then her lungs filled with water and she drowned."

"Why did she not tell me that she drowned?" Bruce asks quietly.

"Part of her thought that you wouldn't believe her. That you'd think she was just making it up. And a much larger part feared that you wouldn't care." Tony tells him.

Bruce looks up at him shocked. "Why would she think that?"

Tony looks down at Belle sadly. "She has really low self esteem. She can't feel wether people like or love her and so she has a hard time believing that they do. It's just makes her feel like no one does."

"I was horrible to her Tony. I treated her like shit. And even after I treated her that badly she gave me control knowing she might never wake up. Why?" Bruce asks as he puts his head in his hands. Guilt and shame and pain wash over his and somewhere he realizes that he should have hulked out but hasn't because of Belle. "Belle..." Bruce whispers, his heart shatters, as he realizes what an idiot he is.

"It's because she loves you Bruce you dumbass." Tony tells him. "She's loved you for a while. We all could see it."

"How?" Bruce asks his voice cracking. How could anyone love him?

"All she had to do was touch you a few times to know everything about you. All your good. All your bad. I mean you were the first person to willing and freely give her memories without her asking. Did you honestly not notice how she was always trying to touch your skin? Everyone else she would actively avoid when she could or she'd have gloves on but with you she was constantly bumping into or sticking close by. She loves you Bruce." They both look at belle. "She loves you a lot."