¹ Roar || The Gifted: John Proudstar

33|iMprint

Taylor woke up to someone loudly just knocking on her door and she groaned at the pounding knock. "Go away!" Taylor shouted, looking around at her surroundings and she realized that she hadn't even gotten into her bed last night.

Taylor had ended up falling asleep on the couch, still exhausted from the events at the hospital and with Michael at the clinic.

"I need your help." John replied to her grumpiness through the door and Taylor sighed, before she was walking over to the door and she opened it. "Well, you look like you got a good night's sleep." John said and she was looking at him.

"What is it?" Taylor asked.

"I need your help with training Reed." She lifted her eyebrows at the words. "Uh, yeah, right. I never told you about Reed's manifesting abilities, in between everything else that was going on." John said as she was narrowing her eyes.

"Reed has powers?" Taylor asked and John was nodding. "Jesus Christ." She whispered and he was looking at her.

"Thank you for staying with me last night, it couldn't have been easy." John said as Taylor was grabbing new clothes out of her closet as she scoffed. "Look, you didn't have to..."

"You were grieving and hurt, Johnny." She interrupted and John watched her. "I would have done it for anybody here, no matter who they were."

"Then why won't you look at me?" John questioned and she was indeed avoiding him, not wanting to look at him. "Taylor... I told you that I was sorry, what more do you want from me?" He asked.

"I don't have the answer to that, John." She admitted and John sighed. "But, as for why I don't look at you... It hurts, knowing that you're with someone else." Taylor stated and John was looking at her. "Why aren't you asking Clarice for help?" She asked.

"Because Clarice only learned how to fully access her powers, from Sonya's memories being implanted into her head." John said and he was looking at her. "Please Taylor. I need your help. You have an anchor for your abilities. Not many of us do." He said and Taylor was lowering her head, before she was nodding.

"Yeah, okay." Taylor agreed quietly and she was pulling her jacket on. Taylor walked out after him and then, she was swiftly putting her earbuds in.

John and Taylor watched as Reed was unwilling to access his powers, she was watching him be completely unwilling to try and access them through painful memories.

"You want a shortcut? There isn't one." She said bluntly and John looked surprised that she was even speaking up, as she pulled out her earbuds and she was looking at him. "I manifested my powers and in doing so, I killed someone... And I got kicked out of my own home." Taylor said sharply.

"You don't know anything about what I'm feeling! You don't know anything about this!" Reed shouted at her and the radiator, it crumpled into dust and Taylor was looking at him.

"I have watched far too many of my... Our friends have been dying since 7/15. If they didn't die, it was containment and if it wasn't containment... Then it was the Hound Program." Taylor was shaking her head as she felt pain rushing through her.

"I have lost too much across the board, whether I can use my powers or not. But I can promise you this, Reed Strucker. If you don't learn how to control this, there will be a day that you will need them and they won't come!" Taylor snapped and Reed looked stunned at her anger. "So you are going to have to face whatever the hell is going on with you, before you lose somebody that you care about." She said angrily and John looked over at her, before she was walking back into the building.