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SKIN & BONES
vii. TRAINING FOR THE OLYMPICS

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WHENEVER LORELAI SWAN THOUGHT about training in the past, her mind would shoot straight to training for the Olympics. She would think about the blood, sweat, and tears people would shed just to even compete. Now, here she was, shedding her own version of blood, sweat, and tears to fight newborn vampires. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Lorelai couldn't stop thinking about her manipulative gift. She hadn't considered the extent of her powers until she met Stella. Lorelai had always limited herself to manipulating thoughts and actions, as well as the air and gravity around someone or something.

The list continued to grow in Lorelai's head. She could manipulate people, thoughts, actions, air, gravity, the elements, emotions, time, matter, how something may appear, the biological mechanics of the human body—the list kept going. Just how powerful was Lorelai Swan?

Stella Capulet bounced over toward Lorelai, bright and bubbly as usual. "Thank you so much for coming on such short notice," Lorelai gratefully told the time witch for what felt like the millionth time.

"I told you, babe, it's not a problem. I've been itching to be productive again since graduation," Stella mentioned. "Irene sends her best wishes, by the way. She would've come, but..."

Lorelai shook her head. "No, I get it! Seriously. If I were her, I'd probably do the same," Lorelai responded. She was by no means upset with the human-vampire hybrid. Lorelai would want to lock herself far away from the Volturi and other kinds of trouble if she were in Irene's shoes. Lorelai pointed toward the crowd of vampires and Bella behind her. "Have you met everyone already?"

Stella flashed the girl a charming smile. "Actually, I know some of them already," Stella revealed. "Carlisle and I were one with the Volturi once, Alice and I go way back, and Jasper is, well, Jasper, I suppose."

Lorelai made an o-shape with her mouth, nodding. As she did, Bella approached her older sister's side. "B, this is my friend, Stella. Stell, this is Bella," introduced Lorelai, hanging her arm around her little sister.

Gasping, Stella's eyebrows shot upward. "Wow! È come guardare uno specchio!" exclaimed Stella in Italian. "You two look like you could be twins!" She extended a hand out. "I'm Stella, as she said, though you may know me better as Shakespeare."

Bella's eyes widened. "Wait, you're Shakespeare?" she wondered, her inner nerd shining through. The two shook hands as Bella continued to speak. "But I thought he was a...?"

"A boy?" Stella interrupted. She shrugged. "It was a pen-name."

Lorelai leaned toward her sister. "Stell is very proud of pretending to be a man," quietly explained the older sister, knowing that Stella could hear her fully well.

Bella cocked a small smile before turning to her sister. "How can you be so... calm?" she wondered. "There's an entire army trying to kill us."

Lorelai just shrugged. "B, I struggle with depression. I'm not exactly opposed," she darkled joked. When Bella frowned at the comment, Lorelai wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders. "I'm kidding. Besides, what do I have to worry about? I'm already dead."

Their eyes drifted to the side as the werewolves of Forks arrived for training.

Edward looked over to Carlisle. "They don't trust us enough to be in their human forms," he explained.

"They came. That's what matters," said Carlisle, taking a step forward. He turned to his adoptive son. "Will you translate?" Then, he turned to the wolves. "Welcome. Jasper and Stella have experience with newborns. They'll teach us how to defeat them."

There was a pause as Edward read their thoughts. "They want to know how the newborns differ from us," Edward translated.

"They're a great deal stronger than us because their own human blood lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months of this life," Carlisle explained. "We may have the upper hand because of Stella and Rory's gift and the fact that technically Rory is still considered a newborn, but it won't be enough." He glanced over at Jasper and Stella, allowing them to step forward.

"Carlisle's right," Stella confirmed, her American accent growing stronger as she projected her voice to the wolves. "That's why they are created. A newborn army doesn't need thousands like a human army, but no human army could stand against them."

Jasper nodded. "Now, the two most important things to remember are, first, never let them get their arms around you. They'll crush you instantly," he instructed. Lorelai immediately slid her arm off of Bella's shoulders and took a small step to the side. "And second, never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that, and you will lose."

"Your boyfriend is really encouraging," Bella mumbled to Lorelai, causing the brunette to snort in amusement.

"I always knew you had a sarcastic bone in your body that you were hiding from me," she teased quietly.

Emmett kissed the top of Rosalie's head before walking over to the clearing behind the Cullens. Everyone turned to observe him and Jasper as they commenced the training session.

"Don't hold back," Jasper instructed.

Emmett smirked at his adoptive brother. "Not in my nature," he remarked before sprinting at Jasper.

Emmett pushed Jasper backwards as his shoulder rammed into the blond's abdomen. Jasper was, then, thrown over Emmett's shoulders. This caused Jasper to go flying in the air before landing on his feet gracefully. He spun around instantly, running at Emmett. Once they met each other halfway, Emmett cocked back his fist to punch Jasper, which the blond flawlessly dodged. Jasper hit Emmett in the chest, sending the boy to the ground.

"Never lose focus," Jasper told Emmett before calling Carlisle and Edward forward.

Lorelai glanced over to the side where Stella had been observing the fights. "So how do you know Alice?" wondered the Manipulator.

Stella choked on her nonexistent spit, coughing slightly as she turned to face Lorelai. "Sorry, what?" she wondered. Lorelai narrowed her eyes at the brunette, repeating her question. "Oh, well, we're old friends, just like Carlisle and I."

"Sure, but you and Carlisle were in the Volturi coven. That's a little different," pointed out Lorelai, noticing how Edward took Carlisle down. "How'd you and Alice meet?"

Stella paused, her eyes stuck to the boys as they trained. She shook her head as Carlisle stood up, taking Edward down. "One more thing," added Jasper, almost mockingly, "Never turn your back on your enemy."

Meanwhile, Stella stepped forward. Her eyes fell on Alice's figure. "Alright, my turn," she decided. "Let's go, Alice."

As Stella and Alice trained, Lorelai watched in awe as Stella used her manipulative abilities to train with the psychic.

Still, Lorelai couldn't help but allow her curiosity to grow. Stella was easily a very open person. She didn't seem like the kind of girl who kept secrets, nor did she seem like the kind of girl who grew awkward at confrontation. Why had she been so awkward and unsure of herself when it came to Alice Cullen?

Lorelai continued to rack through the thoughts in her mind as Esme and Rosalie stepped forward to train. She hadn't even noticed when they were done because she was so preoccupied with creating theories in her head. Her ears perked up, however, when she heard Jasper call her name.

"Darling?"

Lorelai peered back at her boyfriend in an instant, noticing as he gestured for her to join him. With a cheeky smile, Lorelai approached him and joked, "I don't wanna hurt you."

"Something tells me you won't," called Emmett from the sidelines.

Lorelai scoffed and held up her arms. "Do you see these guns?" she called. "They're almost bigger than your ego, tough guy."

A small eruption of chuckles came from the others as Lorelai turned back to Jasper. Lorelai didn't have much experience, so she was admittedly a little nervous to spar against her boyfriend.

Almost immediately, Jasper swung his fist in Lorelai's direction, which she dodged by bending backward. She quickly reached up and grabbed his arm, flipping him over her before she readjusted herself.

Lorelai paused for a split second, realizing that this would be a great opportunity to train her manipulation abilities. She shut her eyes, remembering that a lot of her manipulative gifts were simply based on imagination and vision. She opened her eyes, spotting several versions of herself surrounding Jasper.

"Nice!" Lorelai and her projections exclaimed, sprinting around Jasper as he attempted to find the real Lorelai.

Giggling, the brunette jumped upward into the trees as Jasper punched through the projections of her. As he hit a false Lorelai, the projection would disappear. Once there weren't any left, Jasper was left by himself. He scanned the scene, looking for his girlfriend.

Taking it upon herself to show herself, Lorelai jumped out of one of the branches, landing on his back. Jasper's hands immediately went under her thighs to support her.

"Well, that was fun," Lorelai commented, kissing his cheek lovingly before hopping off.

It was moments like these in which everyone was suddenly reminded of how powerful Lorelai Swan truly was.

"Aw, wait a sec, that was child's play!" Emmett's voice came from where he had been observing. Lorelai glanced back over in his direction.

"You tellin' me you could do better?" she wondered challengingly. Emmett walked forward, his figure towering over her as though he were a skyscraper. Still, Lorelai folded her arms over her chest with a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.

Emmett shrugged. "All I'm sayin' is if you're so tough, then fight me, newborn," Emmett challenged. "Unless your guns aren't as tough as you think they are."

"Emmett," Esme called, knowing that it was all playful banner.

"No, that's okay, Esme," Lorelai assured her. She didn't break her gaze away from the vampire. "Are you sure you wanna fight me, Em?" She raised her hand, wacking him with a nearby tree. This caused him to go flying. "Are you really sure?"

The others laughed quietly as Emmett struggled to stand up. "Nah," he spat out breathlessly. "I wouldn't... I wouldn't wanna break you... or anything like that..."

Lorelai smirked deviously at this as Carlisle announced to the wolves, "That's all for today. Thank you for coming."

The group scattered upon hearing this. Lorelai had begun to make her way toward Stella to continue asking about Alice, but she was suddenly stopped by the sound of Bella and Jasper's voices seeping into her ears.

"Jasper, are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?" Bella's voice came as she sat on a jeep with Jasper standing before her.

"Your presence alone, your scent will distract the newborns. Their hunting instinct will take over, drive them crazy."

"Good. I'm glad," Bella commented. "Hey, how do you know so much about this?"

"I didn't have quite the same upbringing as my adopted siblings," Jasper vaguely answered before diving into his tragic backstory.

It reminded Lorelai of when Jasper first told her about his past. It felt like an entire lifetime ago, which was technically true.

"How did you get all those scars?" She watched Jasper, observing as his eyebrows knitted together almost as if he was receiving some kind of intense flashback. She flashed a small smile at him. "What, do I have to be level 4 to unlock the tragic backstory?"

Lorelai smiled to herself at the memory.

"Isn't it weird seeing them talk?" Lorelai asked as Alice joined her side, their eyes stuck on Jasper and Bella as he told the Manipulator's sister his story.

Alice laughed with a nod. "Yeah, a bit," she admitted. "It's like they're characters in the same story that were never supposed to interact." (a/n. lol)

Lorelai would have looked up into the sky at an camera like the Office had that been the case. Instead, she looked back at Alice. "So... not to pry or anything, but Stella tells me you two are old friends," Lorelai started.

Alice scoffed. "Is that what she's calling it?" she wondered. She shook her head. "Stell and I have history, that's for sure."

Lorelai furrowed her eyebrows together, but chose to not push Alice, seeing as her mood suddenly fell.

"I thought I was a monster for the longest time," Jasper said as Lorelai tuned back into the conversation.

"When did that change?"

"When I found Rory," Jasper admitted, laughing at the memory of when they first met. "Or... I guess, I should say when she found me. I'd look at myself and only see a monster, but all she saw was someone who was alone. She looked past the darkness and saw... me, I suppose." Jasper smiled to himself. "Likewise, I looked into the darkest parts of her mind and only saw someone I knew I'd love for the rest of my life." As he finished, he found himself directly looking into Lorelai's eyes from across the field.

The smile that emerged onto Lorelai's face was one that was impossible to eradicate. She didn't know how she got so lucky to find someone like Jasper.

But now that she had him, she knew for sure she wasn't letting him go—not now, not ever.

Revised: January 6th, 2020
PS: twilight eclipse was a fucking win for jasper hale stans, and i'll go to my grave screaming it. PERIOD.