Homecoming
By AquaRias

Summary: Harry Potter was sick of living, until an accident brings him to the most interesting of places. He was almost glad that nothing happened the way he had meant it to, because if everything had gone to plan he would never have found his home. Bruce/Harry AU/EWE

Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by me and this is not for profit, purely for entertainment.

Warnings: Slash (Bruce/Harry, possibly other character pairings also both het and slash) Some violence, some sex scenes much later on, some swearing. Currently rated T could go M later on but a new warning will be given if that happens.

Note: Haven't written for Avengers before, but hopefully I'm not too noobish. Mostly movie based but some comic/cartoon characters or events may be mentioned later. Set post DH but epilogue is clearly ignored. My Bruce in this fic is based off the 2008 "Incredible Hulk" Bruce, (Edward Norton) because I like him better (No offence Mark Ruffalo) and will follow the Incredible Hulk storyline in the beginning as well as the Avengers storyline. I have taken some liberties (because this is fanfiction god dammit) with magic, Master of Death etc. I realise it isn't canon, but that's why it's an AU people. Please let me know what you think :) This chapter is more of a prologue to let everyone know the context and what is happening, the actual fic will be written very differently style. tense and POV wise. Sorry if it's boring but that info has got to be given somehow, will be more interesting next chapter I promise.

Chapter one: Lifeless

He had never planned to be where he was. In all honesty, it was completely the result of an accident. A rather fortunate accident with far reaching consequences, but an accident nonetheless.

If he'd had his way, Harry James Potter wouldn't be among the living at all - if he had his way, he would have joined his loved onces in a final, peaceful slumber.

But he didn't have his way at all, and perhaps that was very fortunate...because if everything had gone to plan he would never have ended up where he was - he would never have found his home.

-.-.-.-

Harry Potter was sick of living. Decades of watching life progress while you yourself remained completely stationary could have that affect on a person, and Harry was no exception. For more then a century he had watched from afar as the people he loved grew old and died, as the places he knew evolved and changed.
He watched as the wizarding community moved into the open following his defeat of the Dark Lord, and he quietly viewed as muggles and wizards learnt to live in harmony. He witnessed the first wizarding and non-wizarding treaty that would soon see the integration of muggle and wizarding schools, living areas and workplaces.

While for the main part he existed as a recluse, holed up in his ancestral home with very little interaction with the outside world, there were a few instances in which he braved the 'real' world and returned to the public eye. One of these was Ron and Hermione's wedding - another was their funerals. He attended many more of his friends' funerals, some earlier then others; Ginny Weasley died only years after final battle in an unfortunate quidditch accident while playing for the Chudley Canons.
The final funeral he attended was that of his good friend and confidant in recent years, Neville Longbottom. Neville had been a resilient fellow, and had lived to the ripe age of one hundred and forty seven before being laid to rest by his three daughters and eight grand children. That had been the very last time Harry left his sanctuary, his ties to the world now broken he felt he had no reason to leave.

It hadn't taken long after becoming the Master of Death for Harry to realise that something wasn't right - just a few years after the final battle it was becoming apparent that while his friends grew and changed with time, Harry was stuck. Unable to age, unable to change and as it became apparant later on, unable to die. The relisation that he would one day be completely alone once his friends passed on had been staggering, and was the main reason Harry found it difficult to live in society.

After years of being alone, Harry found himself thinking of things he had never before considered - his mind went to dark places, wondering and calculating what it might take to actually destroy him. He knew by now that he was immune to many common causes of death- for example, he could not die from strangulation, or lack of air. Bloodloss also would not kill him, although he did fall unconscious after enough blood was shed, and remained that way until his body had a chance to regenerate the lost blood cells. Stopping his heart also seemed only to render him unconscious until it mysteriously would restart on it's own - the same could be said of all his vital organs.

The answer came to him out of no where one morning, and left quite the impact on him. So much so that he could not stop thinking about it for days on end, until finally he decided to give it a try. Resigned to his life alone though he was, he still could not quench the lingering hope that maybe this solution would work; just maybe he could finally move on and join his friends and family in peace.

Armed with a dangerous idea and a deadly resolve, Harry prepared to apparate. He had no idea what would happen, or even if it was possible to apparate so far - since becoming the Master of Death his magic had been amplified, but also changed. He no longer required a wand or words to perform his spells, but he also didn't have the reserves of a normal wizard. Instead of channeling the magic through his wand and thus using less of his core, Harry had to siphon the magic straight from his core and focus it into his spells with sheer willpower. It took several decades to perfect, but once controllable he was as efficient as any normal wizard - the only downfall being that he had to be very careful not to use too much. While draining his core had not yet managed to kill him, it had sent him deeply unconscious for weeks on end while his core recuperated from the overuse of his magic.

Taking one final deep breath Harry gathered both his resolve and his willpower, before reaching for that bundle of magic for all he was worth. He would definitely need all of it to make this jump because the destination was so very far away - he was headed to outer space.

When Harry regained consciousness he was breathless - literally. There was no oxygen to be found, and his body was careening through space, seemingly with no direction. He felt an impossibly strong tugging, like the strongest of winds was attempting to blow him away. He opened his eyes in time to see a huge swirling mass of black energy, before being swept inside.