At the mutant headquarters, many mutants were picking up the furniture that had been knocked over. Winona sat on the couch, her eyes closed as she tried to rest in order to keep her strength up. "So, who is she, anyways?" Andy asked. Winona opened her eyes and looked over at Clarice.

"She's a refugee, escaped from jail," John answered. "Jail?" Lauren asked. "We found her," John continued. "What did she do?" Lauren asked next. "She used a portal to steal food from the back of a supermarket. Happens a lot with mutants who can't pass for human, they can't get jobs, one thing leads to another--" John is cut off by Clarice grunting. Her body lurched again, her back arching as her hands glowed that same purple color.

Winona hastily stood from her seat as another portal began to open. "Hey. It's happening. Get everyone safe," John ordered. Clarice was gasping for air as Winona moved over to her. "Everyone, move! Let's go!" Sonya commanded. Loud sirens could be heard on the other side of the portal.

Winona concentrated on Clarice, her eyes turning silver and glowing brightly. She began doing what she did before, which was push Clarice's mind into a wanted state. A calming state. She was starting to feel Clarice's pain again but did her best to ignore it. "Lauren? You got this?" John asked pointing to the portal. Lauren looked at Winona who briefly glanced the blonde's way and nodded.

Lauren nodded back at Winona and began using her shields to close the portal. Winona pushed Clarice down by her shoulders as the green eyed girl began to writh around. A pained grunt left Winona's lips as she, once again, tried to get Clarice to calm down. "Lauren hurry," John urged. The blonde grunted.

Winona concentrated harder as Clarice's mind continued to remain unsettled. It was all over the place. It was hard to concentrate on one thing when there was so many things going on. The girl then began to calm down and Lauren was able to close the portal. Winona gasped as she leaned against the metal table. Her breathing became ragged again and she tried to get it under control. "That was way too close," Andy commented.

"Winnie? Hey, you okay?" John asked, his voice laced with concerned. The girl nodded weakly and he came to stand next to her. He placed a warm hand on her lower back to steady her as she swayed. Ignoring the strange feeling that his hand on her back gave her, she turned to face him and gave him a weak smile. "Your nose," he whispered. Winona brought two fingers up to her nose and felt the slippery substance.

She knew it was blood before looking at it. The crimson liquid coated her fingers and she sighed. She brought the back of her hand up and wiped under her nose. "You're not okay," he realized. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," she assured. "It's hard to not worry about you. What you're doing is draining you of your energy. Among other things," he said, motioning to her face.

"It's okay. I can handle it. I'll be okay, Johnny," she said, her tone teasing as she said his name. He sighed and shook his head. "Do not push yourself too hard. If you feel too tired to continue, then don't continue," he said and she nodded. "I mean it, Winnie," he said. She nodded again, "I understand."

He sighed quietly. "I'll be back in a minute. Anything happens, you yell," John told the three before turning to Winona. "Take it easy, all right?" He said. "Yeah," she said. "I'm serious," he said. "I know dad," she replied. His eyes narrowed. "Don't call me that," he said and she smiled. "Aye aye captain," she responded, giving him a salute.

He rolled his eyes whilst shaking his head before running off. Winona released a pained breath as she stumbled over to the couch, taking a seat on it. She slowly slid onto her back and laid down. "What you're doing it's insane," Andy said to his sister. "Thanks," she replied. It was quiet for a moment. "Do you think, um do you think mutants drink soda? I'm kind of thirsty," Andy jokingly asked.

"Soda doesn't help when you're thirsty. Drink water," Winona spoke up. The two siblings looked in her direction. Winona laid tiredly on the couch and tuned out whatever conversation the two siblings were having. She had lied to John when she said that she was okay. She was mentally and physically exhausted.

Winona wasn't sure if she could do this for much longer.

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Lauren was sat next to Winona on the couch. The older girl was sitting up now. She still felt like shit but was better than before. The blonde was attempting to hold a conversation with Winona. But the older girl was out of it.

"So how long have you been here?" Lauren asked. Winona wracked her brain for the answer. "Uh, um. I can't really think e-efficiently? E-effectively? I c-can't answer question," Winona stuttered out. "Maybe you should take a nap. Rest your brain for a while," Lauren suggested.

"Might open portals," Winona said, barely lifting her finger enough to point at Clarice. "I'm fine." Lauren scoffed, "You don't look or sound fine to me." Winona barely registered John returning with Sonya. Lauren took ahold of Winona's hand and gave it a slight squeeze before she stood and moved over to Clarice. "She's burning up. This is getting worse," John noted.

Winona pushed herself to a standing position and stumbled over to where Clarice lay. The girl was gasping in pain. "It hurts. It hurts. I have to get away," Clarice said between gasps. "We need to start getting everyone out of here," John said to Sonya. "We are not gonna abandon this place," Sonya protested. Winona rolled her eyes. "I-I don't know if you realized, b-but Lauren and I can't c-close these portals forever. If this keeps going on, you're g-gonna have to abandon this p-place," Winona said.

Sonya gave her a look, which softened when she saw Winona's state. She then placed a hand on Winona's back though she didn't seem to feel it. Winona took Clarice's clammy hand into her own. "You're gonna be okay," she whispered. "I promise." Clarice's eyes were disbelieving. John silently watched the exchange before turning to Sonya. "Winnie's right. And I don't see what choice we have. All right? She's opening portals every few minutes now, and they can't keep this up," John said.

Lauren noticed Sonya's eyebrows raise and expression change as John said Winona's nickname and she tried not to smile. Lauren's eyes then met Winona's and the older girl nodded slowly. "We can keep trying," the blonde said. "But mom has to be back soon, right?" Andy asked. "Maybe. We need to consider the possibility--" John was again cut off by Clarice's loud gasp. She seemed to be in more pain than before.

John grabbed Clarice's arms and tried to hold her down. "This could be it. We might have to evacuate. Clarice!" He said. Once again, Winona's eyes changed to their silver color as she tried to get into Clarice's mind. This time she not only tried to calm the girl down, but also make her forget about the pain that she was feeling. Another portal began to open and Lauren got to work at closing it.

Winona's attempts at helping Clarice were failing. The pain that she was feeling was becoming unbearable. She placed two fingers onto Clarice's temple to get a deeper connection with Clarice's mind. Wisps of silver energy began to gather in her hands and fell to her fingers. The energy flowed to Clarice's head. Winona's nose began bleeding again and she cried out in pain as she struggled to calm her friend down. Nothing was working. She was too weak.

"I can't! I can't do it!" She screamed. Lauren almost had the portal closed. Images began flashing through Winona's head. Images of the road. Of a home. Of two adults, a man and a woman. Of mutant children. Winona let out another cry of pain before a force threw her backward, knocking her off her feet. Her back painfully hit the ground and she began gasping, trying to breathe properly. Clarice screamed in pain. The portal opened wider and Lauren released a shout of surprise.

Through her blurry vision, Winona could see John's face looking down at her. His mouth was moving, his eyes frantic, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. He placed a warm hand onto her cheek and continued talking. No, shouting. Winona could only stare up at him in confusion, her ears ringing. Lauren grunted. "I can't hold it!" She exclaimed. But she continued trying, using the remainder of her strength to try and close it. It was no use.

The portal opened completely, the force of it throwing the blonde into the wall. Winona moaned in pain, rolling her head to the side to see what was happening. The warmth left her face and she tried to take a breath. One of the police officers, or maybe it was someone from the SWAT team, had gotten through the portal. John was fighting him off.

Winona gasped and tried to sit up, releasing a quiet cry of pain as she did so. She felt hands on her arms, keeping her from moving. Sonya was looking down at her, shaking her head. Her mouth was moving but Winona still couldn't hear the words. A force pushed the two back slightly, Winona sliding across the floor. She could faintly hear a crash. It was Clarice falling to the floor.

"Hey, hey! Clarice, wake up!" John said, trying to shake the girl awake. Sonya stood from her crouched position. Winona managed to look up. What she saw would've made her scream in terror if she wasn't in her current state. Through her blurry vision, she could see a numerous amounts of portals all throughout the bank. The ringing in her ears slowly started to subside.

John was ordering for everyone to get out. Winona began crawling to Clarice before giving up. It was no use. She rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes tightly. A warm hand on her face caused her to open her them.

"We gotta get you out of here," John said. Winona attempted to shake her head. "I have to help her," she croaked. "You can't help her. Not like this. You're too weak, he protested. "I have to do something," she mumbled. "You could die!" He replied. "Have...to...help," she said in between deep breaths. John shook his head and motioned someone over.

Arms wrapped themselves around Winona's body. She was lifted from the ground. The person began moving away from John and Clarice. Winona squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She began to feel a cool breeze. She peeled her eyes open to see that she was outside. It was just as chaotic out here as it was in there.

Whoever was carrying her stopped and she could hear them speaking with another person. She was quickly, yet carefully, handed off to the other person and taken further away from the building.

Marcos gently set Winona onto the ground and held her up in his arms. Her eyes landed on his face for a brief moment. "You're gonna be all right," he said. That was the last thing she heard before passing out.

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A light chatter filled Winona's ears as she slowly came to. She moved her head to one side and sighed quietly. She could feel a warm sensation on her right hand, which confused her. After a few attempts, she managed to peel her eyes open. She immediately closed them and let out a groan, the light hurting her eyes.

She took a breath before slowly opening them again, wincing at the pain. She turned her head to the other side and looked down at her hand. Another hand was in hers and she looked up, her brown eyes meeting John's. "Hi," she croaked. "Hey," he said. Her eyes scanned the area. "Where's Clarice? Is she okay?" Winona asked.

John nodded his head, "She's fine." Winona sighed in relief and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "What happened?" She asked. "You passed out," he answered. Winona's eyebrows furrowed. "I did?" She questioned. "What you were doing, it really took a toll on you," John said, releasing her hand. It felt cold now that his touch was gone.

"Oh," she muttered. Winona grunted as she tried to sit up. "Whoa, what are you doing?" John asked, gently pushing her down by her shoulders. "I'm trying to sit up," she said. "No. You need rest," he objected. Winona pushed his hands away and tried sitting up again. "You could help," she said. He sighed before helping her.

"Is everyone okay?" Winona asked next. "Everyone's fine," he responded with a nod. "That's good," she said. The two grew quiet for a long moment. "What you did was stupid and dangerous," John said, breaking the silence. "You knew that you weren't okay enough to do it and yet you still continued. After I specifically told you not to. Why would you do that? You almost died!" He continued.

"I was trying to help my friend. And everyone else here. Clarice was in trouble. We all were. I couldn't just do nothing. And in case you forgot, you're the one who told me to do something," Winona defended. "Yeah that was before I knew that what you were doing was actually hurting you. And I regret ever even suggesting that you do something in the first place," he said, not meeting her eyes. "Well I'm fine. I'm alive and so is everyone else. I'd call that a win," she said.

He shook his head and sighed. "Do you not realize the extent of this situation?" He asked her. "I realize that you're overreacting," Winona muttered. He contained an eye roll and looked at her. "Well at least now you'll always have something to remember this crap experience by," he said. Winona furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She questioned. John leaned forward and reached for something on her head. He pulled strands of her hair forward and showed ot to her.

Her once black hair was replaced by strands of silver. "Aw great, again?" She muttered. "This has happened before?" He asked. She nodded and turned the back of her head to face him. She moved some of her hair away and he could see the strands of silver at the base of her head.

"I guess it's nature's way of punishing me for using my power in such large quantities. I overexerted myself and when I do, my hair turns silver," Winona explained. "What other times have you overexerted yourself?" John asked. She was thoughtful for a moment. "Well, when I first discovered my abilities at the store. But that was unintentional, I couldn't control that. Another time when a friend was helping me control my telepathy," she answered.

"You have friends?" John joked, attempting to lighten the mood. Winona rolled her eyes. "Ha ha," she muttered. He smiled at her before standing up. "I gotta go check on some things. Try to get some rest, okay?" He said. She nodded and saluted him. "Aye aye captain," she agreed. He gave her one last smile before turning away.

"John!" She said, grabbing his hand. He stopped and turned to look at her, eyebrows raised expectantly. "Thanks," she said. "For what?" He asked. "For caring," she replied. He nodded his head and turned to begin walking again. His hand slipped out of hers as he walked away.

Winona sighed and slowly scooted down in the bed. She got herself into a comfortable position and prepared herself to sleep. The chair beside her bed was pulled out, the legs scraping against the ground. Winona opened her eyes to see Lauren taking a seat in the chair. "Hey, you okay?" Winona asked the girl who gave her an incredulous look.

"You almost died and you're asking me if I'm okay?" The blonde questioned. "Is it wrong for me to do that?" Winona asked. Lauren scoffed out a laugh. "How are you feeling?" Lauren asked. "Well, if I knew how it felt to get hit by a car, I'd say 'like I got hit by a car'. But seeing as I don't know the feeling, I'm just gonna say that I feel awful," she answered.

"You could've just started with, 'I feel awful', and ended it there," Lauren stated. "Where's the fun in that?" Winona asked jokingly. Lauren chuckled before sighing. "Well, I just wanted to see if you were okay," she said. "I'm alive so I'd say I'm pretty great," Winona replied. Lauren nodded, "That's good." The blonde stood up and gave the older girl a smile.

"Thank you, by the way. I never would've been able to close those portals if it weren't for you," Lauren said. "Nah, that was all you. I just aided a little," Winona dismissed. "You helped more than just a little. So thank you," the blonde said. "You're welcome, I guess. And I should be thanking you," Winona said.

"No need," Lauren replied. Winona sent her a weak smile and the girl departed. With a sigh, Winona settled into the bed and closed her eyes again. After a few minutes, she was out.

°°°°

My poor Winona. I'm sorry for what I've done to you. Here's chapter six. This was a long one so I hope that makes y'all happy. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Do not comment for me to update, ask me to update, say "please update", or anything along those lines. Also, if you didn't know, The Gifted was renewed for a second season! And please check out my new book Day by Night. Have a good one.