AN: I'm baaaaaack, haha. Oh it's been too long. I've had this written for a while now but was stuck with where to go from here. I have some ideas so I decided to upload and start working on this again. My other stories haven't been updated in FOREVER and I'll try and be updating them soon. Aaaaand I have an idea for another story... but anyways, here's this one...

It's a story about Pietro's journey from the brink of death. I know it's been done a lot but give my version a chance :) It's set in Pietro's POV post Age of Ultron and through Civil War. I'm still pretty new with the plot line for this story so updates for this may come slowly. Couple of disclaimers next...

Disclaimer 1: All my knowledge of Marvel/Pietro comes from the movies, not the comics.

Disclaimer 2: Yes, my story's co-star is an OC; don't like it, then don't read it.

Disclaimer 3: I own nothing besides my OC. Pietro, the Avengers, and all other concepts related are property of Marvel.

Hope you enjoy! :) Please read, review, and follow!

Rebirth

Chapter 1: Waking Up

His body felt like it was on fire. Everything hurt. It hurt just to breathe. He had a raging headache. He was afraid to open his eyes.

But he didn't remember. He didn't know where he was. The last thing that came to mind was running in front of the archer, the one called Hawkeye. And then… nothing.

He had to open his eyes and figure out where he was. Where his sister was.

He took a deep breath, even though it made his chest sear with pain, and he steeled himself to open his eyes.

Everything was so bright white it hurt to look. He was laying in a bed of some kind with a thin stark white blanket covering him. It was then he realized he was naked save for some gauze wrapped around his chest and back. There was a table next to him with an EKG beeping along with his heart beat.

He looked further around the room and realized he wasn't alone. There was a woman in the room with him. She was wearing a white lab coat that fell to her knees. The embroidery above her breast pocket said Dr. A. J. Short. She looked over and her eyes widened when she saw he was awake. Their eyes locked for a moment. He tried to sit up.

Dr. Short rushed to the side of his bed and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently urging him back into the bed. Her hand was cool against his bare skin. He allowed her to push him back into his pillows but began to open his mouth to speak.

"Pietro, please," the doctor interrupted. Her voice was soft and gentle but Pietro Maximoff, otherwise known as Quicksilver, could tell she was excited. "I know you must be confused but please rest. You've been in a coma for a month. Your body needs to recover. I promise all of your questions will be answered once you're up to it. But please, sleep now." She pulled a syringe out of her pocket and palpated a vein on the inside of his arm.

Pietro was too weak and confused to fight.

She pierced his skin and slid the needle into a vein. "My name is Alexa Jane Short. We'll talk again soon." The doctor depressed the plunger and Pietro felt his eyelids grow heavy. He blinked twice, focusing on her face, determined not to fall asleep but his mind clouded over and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The next time Pietro woke up he wasn't in so much pain. It was more of a dull throbbing ache. His headache was gone and his head was clearer than it had been the last time he was awake. He vaguely remembered the doctor who had greeted him when he first awoke. Her name was Dr. Short. Pietro pushed himself up on his elbows to look around the room. A shock of his white-blonde hair fell into his face. Pietro didn't remember his bangs being this long. Had he really been out of it long enough for his hair to grow down into his face? He blew his hair to the side and looked down at himself. His chest was still bare save for a sheet of gauze wrapped around his torso. His muscles had wasted a bit and his runner's physique looked more like a lean teenager. Pietro fully sat up and a bolt of pain went down his back. He inhaled sharply and closed his eyes. Gingerly, he reached around and blindly felt along the gauze wrapping his back. When he drew his hand forward, his fingers were sticky with congealing blood. Looking down at his blood stained fingers, Pietro remembered the archer again.

His name was Hawkeye; at least that was what HYDRA called him. He had abandoned the rescue ship to save a child left behind. Ultron had opened fire. Pietro remembered seeing the archer shield the boy with his body and how his own body had acted before his mind processed what he was doing. He ran towards them, faster than bullets flying through the air. The next memory was nothing but pain. Excruciating, agonizing, searing pain. He remember mumbling, "You did not see that coming?" before everything went dark.

The next thing he remembered was the doctor's face.

I died, Pietro thought. He looked down at his hands again. How am I here? How am I alive? He turned his hands before his face as if seeing them for the first time. He knew the type of medical experiments HYDRA was capable of. Had they taken his body after the battle and rebuilt him like they had the Winter Soldier? Pietro shuddered at the thought. His eyes had been opened to what HYDRA truly was.

But that doctor. She didn't seem HYDRA. Her face had been kind and she was gentle when she urged him back in bed.

Where am I? Pietro wondered. He looked around the room. There were medical instruments lining the walls. Most of them were off but he had a feeling they had been connected to his body not too long ago. The room was sterile white, every surface sparkling clean. Large sliding glass doors made up the wall across from him, a hospital curtain pulled halfway along the panes of glass. Pietro searched his mind for memories of when he and Wanda were in the HYDRA facility receiving their enhancements. That place was nothing like this; it had been more like a dungeon.

Wanda. His sister. She must think me dead. Pietro's stomach turned just thinking about it. They were all each other had. He couldn't imagine leaving her alone; the pain she must feel believing him dead.

And then a worse thought crossed his mind. What if she is dead?

Pietro swung his legs over the side of his hospital bed. His legs were thin and pale. Just as he was about to place his bare feet on the cold linoleum of the hospital floor, a 'whoosh' signaled the opening of the glass doors at the other end of the room. Pietro turned his head and saw the female doctor pushing aside the curtain as she entered the room.

Again her eyes widened when she saw him, as if she was surprised he was awake.

"Pietro," she said. Her voice was quiet and gentle. She had an American accent. She held up her palms in a sign of peace. "Please, you are still too weak." She began walking towards him.

He pulled his legs back into the bed and pulled the stiff hospital blanket back over his legs and up to his waist.

"Where am I?" He was shocked at how hoarse his voice was, as if he hadn't spoken in ages.

Gingerly, almost nervously, the doctor perched herself on the very edge of the foot of his hospital bed. "You're in a rehabilitation facility," she said without really answering his question. "There's a lot that has happened. Please, let me get you something to eat and I promise I will tell you everything."

Pietro watched as she stood and crossed the room, pressing an intercom button on the wall beside his bed. His eyes followed her as she moved to his bedside table and picked up a tablet. She ran a finger along the screen, her bright blue eyes scanning through what he assumed were his medical records.

"Who are you?" His voice was still heavy. "Why do I sound like this?"

The doctor opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by the 'whoosh' of the door. A younger woman dressed in blindingly white scrubs walked into the room with a tray of food. She set it on the bedside table and left just as quickly as she had come.

It was then Pietro realized how hungry he was. But years of working with HYDRA had made him wary of strange people bearing food. He would wait to eat until this doctor explained things to him.

As if sensing this, the doctor rolled her eyes but seemed more amused than annoyed. "God, I hate working for spies and secret agencies. You're all so suspicious." The doctor put a hand on her hip and with the other, plucked a piece of fruit from Pietro's plate and ate it. "No poison. No drugs." She swallowed. "Eat. You've been in a coma for a month."

Pietro jammed half a banana into his mouth. "Who are you?" he mumbled around his mouth full of food.

"My name is Dr. Alexa Jane Short." The doctor perched at the end of his bed again. "I'm SHIELD's lead research physician."

Hearing the word SHIELD made Pietro looked up at her.

"After the battle with Ultron, your body was brought here to SHIELD's medical facility. I was in charge of you autopsy. But you weren't dead. I had just begun to open your chest cavity when I saw that you were still breathing. Your heart was still beating. It was astonishing. Your respirations were so slow and shallow you shouldn't have been alive. Same with your heartbeat. Add that to the wounds you sustained, there was no possible way you should have been alive. I hooked you up to a brain monitor and you were cognitively intact despite being in some type of a coma I had never seen before. I fully expected you to die within the next few days but you didn't. Your body began to show signs of regeneration, healing. It was amazing.

"For the next few weeks I studied your body. It seemed your body had somehow shut itself down except for the most basic life-sustaining functions while you healed yourself. That wasn't entirely surprising. Many enhanced individuals have similar defense mechanisms. Captain America, for example. He was in a similar state when he was brought here after being found in the ice. But still, your wounds were fatal regardless of the fact that your body went into survival mode. Multiple bullet wounds through each lung, the amount of blood you'd already lost. But somehow you were still alive.

"We examined the cells at the borders of your wounds and saw that their metabolic rate was a thousand times that of a normal cell. The way they were replicating allowed your wounds to begin to heal at a phenomenal rate. Thanks to your increased metabolism, what should have killed a normal man simply put you in a coma-like sleep, therefore giving your body time to regenerate. We all regenerate during sleep but most of us don't come back from the verge of death. You're a miracle really."

Pietro had finished his banana while the doctor talked. His head was spinning. He didn't understand a lot of what she'd said, but he knew enough to know he shouldn't be sitting here, alive, right now. It was a strange feeling; knowing you were supposed to be dead. But he could deal with that later. As usual, he was more concerned about his sister.

Looking Dr. Short in the eye, he asked, "Where is my sister? Wanda?"

The doctor's eyes fell to her lap and she bit her lip. Pietro feared the worst.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you." Dr. Short looked back up him, her eyes sad.

"Is she…" Pietro swallowed, "Is she dead?"

"Oh no!" Dr. Short said quickly. "No, no, no. Don't worry. She just…." Dr. Short paused as if she was unsure what she should say next. She took a breath to steady herself and started over. "Your sister is fine. We can't tell you where she is right now. Things have been pretty crazy since Sokovia fell out of the sky. Dr. Banner is missing, the Avengers have reformed, the U.S. government is organizing a strike force against gifted individuals. A lot has happened Pietro, until we know you've fully recovered, it's best you stay here, away from the real world."

Pietro's head was swimming more than ever. He had no idea what Dr. Short was talking about besides Sokovia falling from the sky. He sighed with frustration and balled his hands into fists, dropping them down on the bed.

Dr. Short reached across and placed one of her hands on his. Her skin was soft and warm against his; he didn't realize how cold he was. He looked up at her and she gave him a small smile. "I know this must be hard for you. A lot has happened. I'll tell you everything in time. And when you're better, you'll see you sister. But for now you need rest." Dr. Short withdrew her hand and stood up. "Just relax. Know you're safe here. Your sister's safe too."

Dr. Short turned and began to walk towards the door.

"Wait!" Pietro said. He didn't want her to go. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts.

The doctor stopped and turned to look back at him, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"I… um… where am I?" He asked.

"SHIELD's medical research facility. We're tucked away in the Swiss Alps, hidden safely away." Dr. Short nodded towards a purple button implanted into the wall beside Pietro's bed. "That button is a direct link to my office. If you need anything, let me know." With a final smile, Dr. Short turned and left the room. After a 'whoosh' from the doors, Pietro was left in silence.