A/N: Please note that English is not my first language! I apologize in advance if you find grammatical mistakes (which you most probably will). This is my first time writing a story in English, and my first time writing a fanfic. Lots of firsts!

About the story: After watching Apocalypse, I thought Quicksilver had the potential to be a very interesting and complex character, so I decided to give him an important part in this story. I like giving my characters a rich background so it will take a couple chapters before getting into the mutant madness. Bear with me, and most importantly enjoy!

She found the flames dancing in front of her to be hypnotizing, mesmerizing even. She was standing so close to the blaze that the smell of burning hair was already tickling her nostrils. No matter. The heat was drying the tears that were silently running down her porcelain cheeks. Behind her were muffled sounds, screams, sirens, agitation. A powerful gush of water was raining down on the flaming building. Suddenly, a cold little hand pulled her out of her trance, removing her from the fire a couple steps back. Still holding her hand, the frail silhouette took a few moments to watch the scene beside her then sighed.

"I'll go pack our things."

...

"We're fine. Ellie is a little shaken obviously, but we'll live. We always do."

The man sitting in front of her wouldn't meet her eyes. A rush of love and guilt seized her stomach as he was pensively running his finger on the edge of his glass of beer. Fighting the urge to hug him, she looked around. She loved this café. The burgundy seats and the dark wooden floor gave a nice and soothing ambience to the place. It made her feel safe. That's where she had met Alex.

Alex was a guitar player. Not the sweet yet gloomy acoustic guitar player that serenades you on a beach kind. The hard core electric guitar ACDC and Rolling Stones tee-shirts kind. He and his band were playing on a Saturday night in this very café. The songs they were playing were pretty soft for rock songs, but Alex had spent the whole night banging his head and adding unnecessary loud and passionate back-up vocals, living a whole other concert on his own. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed this much. At the end of the concert, as the audience was surging on the stage to get the charismatic lead singer or bassist autographs, she approached Alex who had gone on a dark corner behind the stage.

He was putting away his guitar and wiping his sweaty face with the bottom of his tee-shirt revealing a soft belly, unaware of her presence. He was wearing large jeans and a pair of used black sneakers of which laces were undone.

"I liked your concert."

He jumped, hitting his head on the top of the box he was putting his guitar in.

"Jeez", he sighed rubbing is messy brown hair. "You scared the hell outta me."

His bright green eyes scanned her. His round face was softened by a short stubble.

"The rest of the band is still on stage, if you want an autograph. They'll probably be leaving shortly though."

"Are you calling me a groupie, mister?"

She laughed at the look of surprise on his face.

"No I- I just thought you…" he mumbled.

"I said I liked your concert, not theirs."

He frowned, definitely confused.

"Why do you play with them? They're clearly not letting you express who you really are on stage. They're muzzling you."

"They're ok…" he said, lacking conviction.

They turned to watch the lead singer run his hand in his long blond hair, showing off his perfect body highlighted by an awful black leatherette costume. He was signing a lady's cleavage.

"Ok" he scoffed. "They're assholes. But believe it or not, being a guitar player doesn't pay that much in L.A. Gotta pay the bills".

She nodded.

"I get that. I'm just saying there's something in you, an energy I've never seen before. I'd hate to see it go to waste."

He squinted.

"What did you say your name was? Right now I'm referring to you as hot-girl-giving-me-life-advice. Not very poetic."

They laughed.

"Thea" she said with a lovely smile that he mirrored back. He grabbed the delicate hand reaching out.

"That's much better. I'm Alex."

The glasses on the table were starting to shake, spilling a little beer on the table.

"Thea? Still with me?"

She blinked. The glasses were still again.

"Sorry, I was… sorry. You were saying?"

"I said Ellie seems to be really thriving here. She's got her friends, her school –well, before it burnt down-, the apartment, and…"

He shook his head, unable to finish his sentence.

"You" Thea finished as her voice was cracking. "She's got you. I know we've been really good the three of us, but I warned you Alex. A year ago, when we started dating, I told you that we weren't going to stay here forever."

She angrily tore apart a piece of paper on the table.

"I knew I was going to break your heart" she whispered so softly that Alex barely heard her.

"Hey". He put his warm hands on hers, ending the poor piece of paper's torment. "This is not your fault, I knew what I was in for. It's just… after all this time I was starting to believe I could actually make you stay."

"This isn't about you, Alex. Trust me when I say if I could, I would stay here with you. I'm so sorry."

He sighed, powerless against the deep sorrow he saw in her turquoise eyes. There was this dark, scary part of her that he could never understand, but somehow learned to live with. Whenever he would ask about her past, she would freeze, or change the subject. Everyone has their own secrets, but hers seemed way too heavy for her to carry around. And then there was this weird… empathy she had, as if she always knew how everybody around her was feeling. It was unsettling at first, but then he grew very fond of the way she would always seem to understand him, always knowing what to say or what to do when he was feeling down.

All his life, Alex had been told that he wasn't good enough, that his dreams were weak and foolish. He was the chubby, loser kid. But Thea saw past that. She saw the passion and fire inside of him and she didn't try to make him change. For the first time in his life, Alex had felt loved -truly loved- for who he is, not for who they wanted him to be.

She was amazing. He loved her. And he had to let her go.

"This doesn't have to be goodbyes" he said quietly. "You're moving to New York, you're not leaving for another planet. We don't have to disappear from each other's lives."

She had a sad smile. She knew he was wrong. She had to disappear for his own good. She had to break his heart.

And no matter what he said, it was all her fault.

A/N: Please don't hesitate to leave a review! I'd be more than happy to correct my mistakes if you point them out.