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SKIN & BONES
ii. OOPS

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"IS SHE DOING IT?"

"I can't tell... Rory, are you doing it?"

"Guys, shut up! She needs to concentrate!"

"Wait, I think she's doing it."

Fluttering her golden eyes open, Rory abruptly whipped her head around. A bolt of lightning crashed down beside her as she glared at those around her. "I can't do anything if you're all gonna keep screaming in my ear!" she complained, irritated.

She sat on the grass with her legs crossed over one another. Ever since Bella and Edward had left Forks for their honeymoon, things were anything but interesting for the Olympic coven. Perhaps that was because there was no real danger for them to deal with anymore. Forks was calm for the first time in three years.

That being said, the Cullens sought out Rory Swan as their source of entertainment. They were fascinated by watching Rory train her gifts. Despite the fact that Rory was very independent and a fast learner, they never failed to honor her presence when she was training.

In the past couple of months, Rory had officially mastered the manipulation of the weather, the main elements, gravity, thoughts, visual projections, and emotions. While this seemed like an extensive list, there was still much to learn. Now that Stella had left Forks once more, Rory had taken an interest in learning the ways of time.

Rory looked around at the people observing her that August afternoon. "Seriously, guys, it's only been two weeks since they left. Is there nothing else you could do to waste time?"

Jasper shrugged, sitting beside his girlfriend with a fond smile on his face. "Well, you're my girlfriend, so I have an excuse."

Rosalie and Emmett exchanged glances in an attempt to come up with a proper excuse, but all Emmett could muster up was, "We're just so bored, Rory, please!"

She folded her arms over her chest. "What exactly are you doing, anyway?" Rosalie wondered. "I thought you mastered the elements already?"

Rory looked down at the potted flower sitting directly in front of the immortal teenager. "I did," confirmed Rory. "I'm trying to figure out how time works now." She adjusted her sitting position, feeling much like a professor in a lecture as she continued to speak, "See, it's a bit trickier using a plant because I could easily just manipulate the plant into growing. However, I'm trying to see if I can speed up time within the plant to allow it to grow."

Jasper furrowed his eyebrows together at the concept. "Yeah, you lost me," he declared.

Giggling, Rory teased, "At least you're cute." She pecked his lips before turning her attention to the flower.

"I can't believe my own girlfriend finds a flower more interesting than me," he pouted. Rory shook her head at her boyfriend, who seemed to resemble a lion cub more and more every day.

She directed her attention back toward the small flower. Her pale hands hovered over the plant, causing her skin to sparkle as the sunlight struck her body. She shut her eyes, concentrating. Every cell in her body worked twice as hard to simply invoke change within the small flower.

Rory slowly exhaled before faltering. Her eyes peeled upon when she noticed that the bodies around her had vanished. Rory glanced down at the flower, only to be surprised that it was gone, as well as everyone else. Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett were nowhere to be seen.

Rory hesitantly stood up. "Guys?" she called. She frowned. "Weird." She shrugged before deciding to run back to the house; however, she stopped halfway when she heard voices.

Now, normally, Rory would have ignored the voices, especially if it were one she didn't recognize. Moreover, Rory was curious. Why? Because she was pretty sure she was hearing her own voice coming from a body that wasn't her own.

Her gaze landed on two figures conversing not too far away. The first was a girl she didn't recognize. She appeared to be around Rory's age, perhaps a few years younger. Now, the real issue was that the second figure looked exactly like Rory Swan, meaning something was wrong.

Very wrong.

"C'mon, Ren, you're being ridiculous. Don't be a pussy like your mom."

"But Aunt Rory," protested the stranger. Aunt... Rory? "What if he doesn't like me back?"

The one called Aunt Rory rolled her eyes and shook her head. "How can we be literal carbon copies of each other, yet I'm way cooler than you?" she wondered aloud, mostly to herself. "Rennie, of course Jake likes you! You're literally his imprint!"

"Yeah, but—"

"I can't believe this!" interrupted Aunt Rory. "You know, after Bella came back from her honeymoon and she gave birth to you, I was convinced that you were going to be the coolest niece ever. Seriously, with me as your aunt, I just knew we were going to be unstoppable. But now I'm listening to that same niece—the one who had an entire army defending her against the Volturi before she was a year old—pussy out of telling her crush she likes him! Unbelievable!"

"Sorry not all of us can be like you and your husband," continued to whine Ren.

Rory's eyes widened as she listened to the conversation. She reached up to her hair. If she was one and the same with this 'Aunt Rory', how did she have long hair while the other version of her had shoulder-length hair?

'Holy shit,' thought Rory as she hid behind a tree.

She stood there for a moment, putting the pieces together. She didn't have a niece and she had long hair, not short hair. That could only mean one logical thing.

'I actually traveled through fucking time.'

Her eyes widened to the size of bowling balls, attempting to block out her future-self speaking to her future niece, who went by the name of Ren. Rory looked down at her hands, still in shock. "No fucking way," she whispered.

Suddenly, the girls went silent. "Rory, did you hear that?" Ren's voice came.

Future Rory paused before shaking her head. "Probably a rabbit or something," inducted Future Rory. "Speaking of rabbits, I'm starving. Are you up for hunting?"

Ren groaned. "If I eat and then tell Jake how I feel, I'll probably throw up all over him."

Future Rory snorted with amusement. "Well, now, we have to go hunt," she declared, laughing.

"Rory!"

Future Rory, then, went on to exclaim, "Come on, loser, I'll race you!"

"What! You're on!"

As Ren took off, Future Rory paused and looked over in her past self's direction as she hid behind a tree. She shook her head. "You're welcome, stupid," she stated aloud before dashing off into the other direction.

Rory released a loud sigh of relief, pressing her back against the tree. "Jesus," she mumbled, shutting her eyes. "That could've been so bad." Her eyes suddenly snapped open. "Oh my God, am I stuck in the future? No, no, no, no. Go back, go back, go back, go—!"

Rory was interrupted by her body flying through the space-time continuum. One second, she was standing before her future-self, and the next, she was back in present-day Forks, Washington with her boyfriend and her friends.

Gasping for breath, Rory glanced around frantically. "Jesus fucking—!" she exclaimed, her hand slapped over where her heart most likely would have been beating like there was no tomorrow if she were still alive.

Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper stared at Rory in surprise. "Rory, are you okay?" inquired Jasper, clear concern written across his divine facial features.

"I...! I just... Holy shit," she stammered. Rory looked around at the others in a panic. "What just happened?"

"Well, your boyfriend said something about you finding a flower more interesting than him, then you disappeared for a second, and then you reappeared freaking the fuck out," Rosalie calmly explained.

Suddenly, Alice went sprinting onto the scene. "Rory!? Where's Rory?" called Alice. The psychic's eyes fell on the Manipulator, allowing her to release an exaggerated breath of relief. "I stopped being able to see your future for a second there. What happened?"

Rory shrugged as Rosalie repeated what she just said. Still shocked at what had just happened, Rory stared down at her hands. Her mind wandered to the thought of being referred to as 'Aunt Rory', a married woman, and having a niece who went by the name of Ren.

She closed her hands into a ball. She knew she could never speak of what she saw in case it caused some kind of dramatic tear in the fabric of the universe, at least not until what she saw happened in present day.

So, Rory just ran a hand through her hair and mumbled, "Oops."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

lmao rory is highkey so fuckin powerful and badass, yet so soft. we love a versatile icon

Revised: January 7th, 2020